Why does my SOYJOY bar contain butter?

Ingredients are listed on the wrapper, but they are under a flap.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss SOYJOY bars, and two items at Costco Wholesale, frozen acai pulp and the wonderful, preservative-free smoked wild salmon.

SOYJOY -- baked whole soy with dried fruit and other ingredients -- is one of the snack bars I rely on to still hunger pains when I skip lunch.

But recently, when I looked at the ingredients on the wrapper, hidden under a flap, I was surprised to learn that butter is used to make the Mango Coconut and other SOYJOY bars.

That explains why they taste like cake to me. The wrapper declares the bar is now "moister and fruitier."

Butter is listed after ground whole soy beans and raisins, meaning its in the third highest proportion in the bar.

Two others bars I always carry with me are from Kashi and Kirkland Signature, the house brand at Costco Wholesale, and neither contains butter.

I've been trying to avoid artery clogging butter for decades, and that's why I favor ethnic restaurants, most of which don't use it.

Asian Indian restaurants are the exception.

I'll probably stop ordering SOYJOY from Amazon.com when my supply runs out.

And why is the name written in capital letters? Maybe "butter" should also be in capitals instead of hidden under a flap.
 

Among the frozen fruit at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack are Grade A California strawberries, bottom left, perfect for making smoothies.

I'm still looking for the frozen acai pulp I read about in The Costco Connection magazine a few weeks ago, but my Costco Wholesale in Hackensack doesn't seem to have any.

The article specifically said customers would find frozen acai (AH-SIGH-EE), a super food from the Brazilian Amazon, next to the frozen wild blueberries.

I saw a 6-pound bag of frozen strawberries, and I bought one for $9.39 or a bit more than $1.55 a pound.

This morning, I made a smoothie with the strawberries, a little orange juice, vanilla soy milk and mango juice.

Disregard recipes that call for ice cubes, which only water down the smoothie. 

 

A snack of reduced-fat Swiss cheese, smoked wild salmon, Dijon mustard and Earthbound Farm organic spring mix. Roll it up and pop it into your mouth as a deconstructed sandwich.

One of my favorite items at Costco Wholesale is the Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon, which comes sliced and sealed in plastic in two separate half-pound servings.

Once, the sliced salmon was sold by weight, but someone figured out how to package exactly 1 pound of this rich, delicious wild-caught fish.

It's $15.39, the lowest price around, and free of preservatives.

But the system isn't perfect. The other day, I found myself tearing at the salmon, trying in vain to find where it had been sliced. 

Then, I turned over the slab, and the slices came away easily.

The slab had been placed on the black cardboard backing upside down.

I use the salmon in frittatas, in salads, and as a snack rolled up with sliced, reduced-fat Swiss cheese.

In about three months, fresh sockeye salmon fillets will be appearing at my Hackensack Costco. 

Can't wait, but I'll really enjoy the smoked sockeye until then.

Costco: Our Amazon Connection is good for you

Two 1-liter bottles of 100% juice are $8.59 at Costco Wholesale.

 Editor's note: Fonts available on Google's Blogger are ill-suited to a discussion of food, because they don't contain the accents needed to write acai, sautee and so many other words commonly used in kitchens. Today, I also discuss Costco Wholesale, Trader Joe's, and a sauce for fish and pasta.

 
As much calcium as cow's milk. The same Omega-3, -6 and -9 fatty acids found in fish and other seafood. And oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat that may reduce high blood pressure.

Those are just three of the reasons The Costco Connection magazine is promoting a new juice on the shelves of the warehouse store: Sambazon Organic Acai (AH-SIGH-EE).

The thick, tart, antioxidant-rich juice is being hailed as a superfood -- direct from the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest.

My wife first saw refrigerated 1-liter bottles of the juice on the shelf at the Hackensack Costco last week, and I brought home two more this week.

But I couldn't find the Sambazon frozen acai pulp mentioned in the February 2013 edition of the magazine.  

The pulp can be used in smoothies, and it's served in bowls topped with granola and bananas at beach snack shacks in Brazil. 

The acai beverage sold at Costco contains other organic juices and organic agave syrup as a sweetener.

Two pounds of Jarlsberg Lite Swiss Cheese would cost about $16 at Trader Joe's in Paramus, above, compared to $9.99 at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

  

Costco trip costs 17 cents

In addition to acai juice, I picked up Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, fresh cod fillets, 4 pounds of frozen wild blueberries and another bag of frozen blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.

The total was $50.17, but I used a $50 Costco gift card sent to me when Costco.com couldn't fulfill our order for a digital camera in December.

Wild-caught cod from Costco was cooked in a sauce of sweet peppers, onion, tomato, garlic and olive oil, above, and served with mashed sweet potatoes, below.

One sauce, three meals

For the cod, I used a food-processor attachment on my blender to puree sweet peppers, tomato, onion, garlic cloves, tomato sauce and lime juice, then poured the mixture into a non-stick pan with a cover.

I added extra-virgin olive oil, dried Italian seasonings, some red-pepper flakes and black pepper before turning up the heat.

I cut up the fillets, squeezed more lime juice over them and sprinkled on Costco's Organic No-Salt Seasoning.

They cooked in the bubbling sauce in about 10 to 12  minutes.

A breakfast of fish, egg and sweet potatoes.

For breakfast today, I had the last piece of fish, some mashed sweet potato and a simple egg-white omelet with grated cheese.

Tonight, I'll add leftover tomato sauce, heat up the sweet pepper mixture and use it to dress a pound of Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti.

Trader Joe's v. Costco

Although the Trader Joe's in Paramus is much smaller than the Hackensack Costco, it manages to carry a few items I can't find at the cavernous warehouse store.

A box of Spanish clementines was $5.99. Sliced yogurt cheese with jalapeno peppers was $4.79.

Uncured, antibiotic-free bacon and uncured hot dogs were $4.49 each.

And 1-pound packages of organic whole-wheat spaghetti and fusilli were $1.39 each.   

Sweet potatoes are a holiday item at Costco, but Trader Joe's has them year-round for 85 cents a pound.

A half-gallon of Joe's vanilla soy milk and 32 ounces of organic plain yogurt were $2.99 each.