Costco Hot Dog $ Food Hack by Ruth Paget
Hot dogs in Costco’s food court cost $1.50 today with mustard, relish, and catsup available for dressing.
There are all beef hot dogs and beef and pork hot dogs available usually.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Oregon: Organic Food Rules State by Ruth Paget
On the West Coast of the United States, Oregon is a beacon for organic food production. Many of the delicious recipes in Dishing Up Oregon: 145 Recipes that Celebrate Farm-to-Table Flavors by Ashley Gartland, can easily be made throughout the U.S. now that the organic food movement has spread throughout the country.
The following recipes are examples of how flavorful, simple ingredients can make a superlative whole:
-chanterelle rillettes – buttery wild mushroom spread that goes well on mashed Idaho potatoes says the girl who grew up in the Midwestern U.S.
-shaved radish “carpaccio”
-Northwest black truffle butter – this is another item that should go on Idaho mashed potatoes or a steak
-shaved zucchini and basil salad with guajillo chile vinaigrette
-apple-celery root salad
-parsnip-almond soup
-sunchoke and fennel gratin
-raw beet salad with Asian pears and goat cheese
-heirloom carrot bisque
-polenta cakes with goat cheese, cured salmon, and poached eggs
-pan-seared duck breasts on wild rice pancakes
-espresso stout-braised pork shoulder
-flat-iron steaks with apple brandy sauce -molasses ginger stout cake with ginger glaze
-tomatillo-green apple sorbet
The dishes in Dishing Up Oregon: 145 Recipes that Celebrate Farm-to-Table Flavors by Ashley Gartland can be showstoppers at potlucks and hearty meals for family; I recommend it highly.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Washington State: A Dining Destination Worth Seeking Out by Ruth Paget
As I read through Dishing Up Washington: 150 Recipes that Capture Authentic Regional Flavors by Jess Thomson, I thought that the employees of Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon, Starbucks, and Costco, whose headquarters are in the state, all eat very well.
Very good recipes are amplified with the addition of choice ingredients like saffron, Dungeness crab, and cognac. However, the recipes stretch these choice ingredients to flavor humbler ones like Idaho potatoes and carrots to make these recipes a tasty good deal.
The following selection of recipes all prove what I just wrote. Even the zucchini ganoush, sesame seed paste flavored dip made here with zucchini not eggplant, judiciously uses tahini to make a healthy chip and vegetable dip for many people.
I would plan a trip to Washington state just to try the following dishes and later make them at home with Dishing Up Washington:
-saffron clam chowder
-smoked salmon rillettes – a buttery spread
-grilled prawns with curried dipping sauce
-zucchini ganoush
-watermelon gazpacho
-northwest Dungeness crab chowder
-roasted carrots with mustard and dill
-prime rib with cognac-roasted vegetables and crunchy greens
-green curry mussels
-pale ale oven-roasted clams
-classic brasserie sole with brown butter and herbs
-espresso brownies -banana pancakes (with maple syrup, of course!)
I think cooks with some experience might enjoy making the recipes in Dishing Up Washington: 150 Recipes that Capture Authentic Flavors by Jess Thomson to expand their culinary skills in working with expensive ingredients.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Vermont’s Edenesque Cuisine by Ruth Paget
Vermont is justly famous for its artisanal cheese, but the state’s contribution to American cuisine also comes from using French cooking techniques with organic produce.
These French cooking techniques are part of Vermont’s culture as it shares a border with Canada’s French province of Quebec in the north. Gratins, puréeing vegetable soups to thicken them without other thickeners like flour, quiches, and ground nut cakes can all be found in Vermont’s cuisine as in French cuisine.
Using French techniques to make dishes is not as difficult as you would think when you read through the cookbook Dishing Up Vermont: 145 Authentic Recipes from the Green Mountain State by Tracey Medeiros.
The following recipes give a sample of dishes that really shine when you use organic produce:
-grated celeriac and green apple salad
-cream of garlic soup
-butternut squash bisque
-creamy Vermont winter pumpkin soup
-roasted summer vegetables
-cheddar mashed potatoes
-squash casserole
-apple-butternut squash soup
-strawberry soup
-cheese scones
-cheddar cheese quiche
-root vegetable chowder
-winter squash gratin
-Normandy chicken with apples and cream
-cranberry
-almond squares
-maple-walnut cake
As a former sub-zero weather resident of Detroit (Michigan), I know that many of these recipes can be made during the fall harvest when prices are low and frozen to be eaten during the winter months to save money. (The French do this, too.) For that reason alone, I would recommend purchasing Dishing Up Vermont: 145 Authentic Recipes from the Green Mountain State by Tracey Medeiros.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Maryland’s Spa Cuisine by Ruth Paget
It is hard to think of Maryland as a place with spa cuisine when you think of the state’s famous crab cakes that you dunk in lots of tartar sauce made with dill and capers. Maryland’s cakes are really not spa cuisine either with their many layers separated by buttercream frosting.
However, on a trip to Maryland where I visited the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Fort Meade, and many grocery stores during a long stay, I saw that you could easily make what I consider home spa food with dishes described in Dishing Up Maryland: 150 Recipes from the Alleghenies to the Chesapeake Bay by Lucie L. Snodgrass. My home spa regime includes small portions of reward noshes (snacks), salads, soups, and one easy and terrific dessert.
The following recipes may not necessarily be spa food, but in small portions eaten throughout the day they promote health and happiness:
Reward Noshes
-shrimp pâté with crostini
-corn fritters – deep-fried spoonfuls of corn kernals held together with flour, egg, a little milk, and seasonings like horseradish. I have used canned and drained corn to make these.
-zucchini fritters
-spicy crab dip with shredded Jarlesberg cheese -blueberry buckwheat pancakes
-roasted turnips and rutabagas
-gratin dauphinois (scalloped potatoes made with gruyère cheese)
Salads
-asparagus salad with spring onions
-three-beet salad with dill and feta cheese
-cucumber salad with dill, feta cheese, and red onion
-carrot and fennel slaw
-creamy kohlrabi slaw
Soups
-cream of asparagus soup with rice
-cream of spinach soup with sesame seeds
-Solomons Island clam chowder – you can use canned clams for this dish
-Chesapeake oyster stew – you can use canned oysters for this dish
-cream of broccoli soup with parmesan cheese
-mushroom bisque
-curried pumpkin soup
Dessert
-stove-top rice pudding with maple syrup
If you would like a cookbook that has both spa cuisine and English fancy food, you might be interested in adding Dishing Up Maryland: 150 Recipes from the Alleghenies to the Chesapeake Bay by Lucie L. Snodgrass to your home cookbook reference shelf.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
New Mexico’s Real Dishes by Ruth Paget
I have been eating spicy Tex-Mex food since I was a teenager in Detroit (Michigan) and still love it.
However, I would like to try some of the Hispanic food I read about in Dishing Up New Mexico: 145 Recipes from the Land of Enchantment by Dave DeWitt in restaurants.
I would like to order the following dishes from Mexican restaurants and they might interest other restaurant goers, too:
-chilaquiles en salsa chipotle
I have eaten this dish once and liked the fried tortilla chips coated in spicy tomato-pepper-onion-cilantro salsa topped with melted cheese. The chilaquiles I ate at Norma’s Diner in Salinas (California - now the 31st Restaurant) came with two over-easy eggs and sliced avocado. That was breakfast fit for a king, and it tastes great with piping hot coffee.
-creamy green chile chicken soup
-Anasazi refried beans made with bacon not lard
-jalapeño – cheddar cornbread
-summer squash with red serrano peppers
-chile con queso de cabro (goat cheese chile dip)
-green chile and goat cheese muffins
I make this with cheddar and jalapeño peppers as a home cure for colds.
-chicken braised in white wine, garlic, and green chiles
This is a short list of recipes, which I can make at home, but it is fun to get some exotic cuisine for take out once a week, too.
There are many good recipes for familiar and new dishes in Dishing Up New Mexico: 145 Recipes from the Land of Enchantment by Dave DeWitt; I recommend it for home cookbook reference shelves and take out orders.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Virginia’s Colonial Cuisine by Ruth Paget
Virginia’s modern-day survival cuisine was born out of its disastrous first years of colonial existence where gentleman farmers died of starvation in cold, damp winters.
My Pennington family had a gentleman farmer at Jamestown, who died of starvation, so when my husband Laurent was stationed at Norfolk (Virginia) when he was in the Navy, I researched recipes that Virginians eventually developed to allow English settlers to survive and thrive in a hostile environment.
The cookbook Dishing Up Virginia: 145 Recipes that Celebrate Colonial Traditions and Contemporary Flavors by Patrick Evans-Hylton preserves many pantry recipes that the entire United States can enjoy to add variety to their daily fare and manage grocery budgets.
The following recipes are some of my favorite colonial recipes from Virginia that allowed my family to eat well on a budget:
-hoe cakes – these pancakes are mostly made with cornmeal and very little expensive white flour which still has to be imported into Virginia from wheat growing states.
-cornbread – my grandmother Pennington from Pennington Gap (Virginia) used the same recipe in this cookbook to make cornbread, which I ate with buttermilk, strips of bacon, and tomato and cucumber salad dressed with cider vinegar and sugar
-sweet potato pancakes – vitamin-rich sweet potatoes are cooked and mashed with flour, a little white flour, eggs, butter, and milk in this pantry winner recipe. I like sweet potato pancakes with a thin honey-lemon syrup.
-mashed potato pancakes – Sir Francis Drake brought potatoes to Virginia from the Caribbean (originally from the Andes) in the 1600s.
-clams with leeks and white wine – leeks are cut into strips and sautéed in butter in this recipe with clams and wine added in once the leeks are translucent. Mussels can also be prepared this way.
-apple smothered pork chops with molasses melted on top. Virginia has a multitude of apple trees.
-porter beer batter fried shrimp – porter beer tastes like chocolate and almonds which enhances the sweet flavor of deep-fried shrimp. Virginians also know that chunks of saltwater or freshwater fish can be made this way. Beer drinkers would probably like porter beer with this dish.
-oyster stew – this recipe calls for oysters and their liquor (juice), cream, and milk. This recipe is super easy and tastes great with crumbled crackers.
I made all of these recipes when I lived in Virginia and thought my family lived well on a budget, because we made use of local products.
If seafood, freshwater fish, sweet potatoes, beer, and wine dishes appeal to you as a cuisine, then Dishing Up Virginia: 145 Recipes that Celebrate Colonial Traditions and Contemporary Flavors by Patrick Evans-Hylton might interest you.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
