Dark Roast at Dunkin' Donuts, sodium in roasted seaweed and more

With a little whole milk, the new Dark Roast from Dunkin' Donuts makes a terrific cup of coffee. A medium cup (14 ounces) was only 99 cents, plus tax, today at the store on Hackensack Avenue and University Plaza Drive in Hackensack, compared to the usual price of $1.94.

At Joe Coffee at 405 W. 23rd St. in Manhattan on Saturday, a 12-ounce cup of drip coffee was $2.30, plus tax. I prefer the smoothness of the Dunkin' Donuts Dark Roast.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I had some time to kill today while the Firestone store in Hackensack checked out a slow-leaking tire on my Toyota Prius, so I walked across the street to try the new Dark Roast at Dunkin' Donuts.

I'm a loyal fan of Starbucks, but have to admit this is a nice cup of coffee, especially for the special price of 99 cents for a 14-ounce cup.

Costco Wholesale's Kirkland Signature Roasted Seasoned Seaweed, imported from South Korea, has less sodium that the brands I've purchased at Korean supermarkets. The quantity of addictive seaweed in each Costco package is about three times what you get with other brands.

For a snack, I wrapped seaweed, smoked wild salmon and homemade canned fish salad in a slice of reduced-fat Swiss cheese. Most of the ingredients came from Costco.

A display of roasted seaweed packages at the H Mart in Little Ferry.

This brand of roasted seaweed or laver I saw at H Mart on Sunday comes in .17-ounce packages, compared to the .6-ounce packages sold at Costco. The nutrition labels of the two brands list different serving sizes, making it difficult to compare sodium, but Costco's seasoned seaweed tastes less salty and its label lists less sodium and a lower percentage of the recommended daily maximum allowance.

When I combined organic quinoa and organic brown rice with organic diced tomatoes, black beans and whole peeled garlic cloves and prepared them in an electric cooker, I found the resulting dish a little drier than when made with quinoa alone. Use two cups of liquid for each cup of quinoa and rice -- plus olive oil and a little salt. Here, I had the side dish with fresh wild Atlantic cod from Costco that I had coated in a homemade Super Spice Mixture and baked in the oven. The fish, long-line caught in Iceland, was $7.99 a pound.

I took a break from eggs this morning and had the organic quinoa-brown rice dish with a curry sauce I prepared for a tofu recipe last week, and leftover sauteed cabbage and sweet peppers.

Organic quinoa with black beans, diced tomatoes and garlic cloves

Organic quinoa with leftover Icelandic haddock, both from Costco Wholesale. I poached the fish in Roasted Green Salsa from Whole Foods Market.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss preparing a one-pot meal, adding fresh sweet-corn kernels to canned-fish salad, a sale on grass-fed beef from Australia, the return of parchment paper and peeled garlic at Costco Wholesale, and a good buy on sweet potatoes at ShopRite.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

What could be simpler than placing ingredients in an electric rice cooker, plugging it in and enjoyed a one-pot, protein-rich meal in about 15 minutes?

That's what I did with:

•  2.5 cups of Nature's Intent Andean Gold Organic Quinoa from Costco Wholesale
•  5 cups of Kirkland Signature Organic Chicken Broth, also from Costco
• 1 can of low-sodium Goya Black Beans
• 1 can of Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes
•  A big handful or more of peeled Christopher Ranch garlic cloves.
• Several grinds of Costco's Himalayan Pink Salt or other sea salt
• And a couple of ounces of extra-virgin olive oil.

The resulting dish is wonderfully moist, and even though the garlic cloves hold their shape, they are creamy and melt in your mouth.

Andean Gold Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is imported from Peru.

It is organic, gluten-free and non-GMO. Quinoa also has fewer carbs than pasta or rice.

No pre-washing is necessary.

Third brand of quinoa

This is at least the third brand of organic quinoa sold by Costco Wholesale in Hackenack.

In December 2012, I bought a 4-pound bag of Nature's Earthly Choice Organic Quinoa from Bolivia for only $7.99.

This year, in April, I bought a 4-pound bag of Tru Roots Organic Quinoa for $18.99.

On Sept. 30, on a second or third attempt to find more Tru Roots qunioa, I saw the 4-pound bag of Andean Gold Quinoa for $17.99, displayed prominently at the end of an aisle.

I had two leftover steamed cobs of sweet corn last week when I prepared my crunchy, no-mayo canned-fish salad with yellow-fin tuna, pink salmon, sardines, Dijon mustard, fresh lime juice; chopped green pepper, celery and onion; and ground spices, including cumin, curry powder and garam masala. I cut off the kernels with a sharp knife and added them to the salad. 

At the ShopRite in Paramus last week, I took advantage of a deep discount on Nature's Reserve Whole Beef Tenderloin for Filet Mignon, which is 100% grass fed. The Australian beef loins were reduced to $5.99 a pound from $8.99 a pound. The two, shrink-wrapped loins I bought weighed about 5 pounds each, and they went right into the freezer.

More lost and found at Costco

After at least a half-dozen attempts to buy more Kirkland Signature Parchment Paper, my wife finally found a twin roll at our Hackensack Costco on Friday ($9.69)

We use the parchment paper to line a pan for roasting poultry, beef and pork, or for cooking fish in parchment packages.

My wife also found a refrigerated 3-pound bag of peeled Christopher Ranch California Monviso Garlic. 

The company said it couldn't meet the demand from Costco customers, and the Hackensack warehouse store was without the peeled garlic for about 10 days.

The bag my wife bought on Friday was $6.49, a hike of 50 cents. 

Baked sweet potatoes from ShopRite in Paramus make a great side dish for a smoked-salmon-and-pesto frittata oozing with reduced-fat Swiss cheese, all from Costco. The 3-pound net bags of pre-washed sweet potatoes are only $2.99, and the bags often weigh close to 3.5 pounds.