The Global Kitchen

 



The good folks at Buitoni sent me a coupon for one of their free premium frozen meals for two.

I really wanted to try the Chicken and Spinach Cannelloni but my store didn't carry it so I selected the Shrimp and Lobster Ravioli. I thought it was a bit pricy at $8.99 but I don't usually buy frozen meals and Buitoni is higher quality than say Stouffers. I talked to some friends and they didn't think the price point was out of line. And because I cook and don't use convenience food I may be over critical. Part of me says I could put the $8.99 towards ingredients and get a few meals. But these are all about convenience.

This was easy to prepare. Just boil the bag of sauce with the ravioli's and serve. I added the red pepper flakes for color and punch.

The ravioli was very good. The garlic butter sauce not so much. I tasted more salt than garlic and thought it was a bit one note. If the ravioli were sold separately I would definitely buy it and make my own sauce.

I still want to try the cannelloni if I find them on sale.

 

There's no way to make this little powerhouse of a drink look good. But it is very good for you! And yes these are the same seeds that grow in the pets.

I first heard about the magic of chia seeds in the book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall, which is an amazing book even if you aren't a runner. The people in this tribe run 50 to 100 miles through rugged terrain as if it were a walk in the park. Their fuel is a paste made from the chia seed which McDougall compared to making a 'smoothie of wild salmon, spinach and human growth hormones.'

The seeds were essential in both the Mayan and Aztec diets and chia seeds and water were the main ingredients that fueled Aztec warriors in their conquests.

After hearing all that plus everything in THIS excellent article I had to try them!

I've been mixing about a tablespoon of seeds in my morning smoothies and oatmeal and they really do help me stay full longer. Some say they taste a little nutty, which I only noticed in the drink. Otherwise they really have no flavor.

You can find various recipes for chia fresca all over the web but I just soaked a tablespoon of seeds in water for about 15 minutes and added lemon juice. Apparently this is best consumed about 30 minutes before a workout. I don't think it will enable you to run a 100 miles a day but it will help you stay hydrated and give you energy.

I found chia seeds at the health food stores but balked at the price. I ordered mine online from NutsOnline but Amazon has a great price on them too.

Bertolli was kind enough to send me two jars of their newest sauces, Four Cheese Rosa and Arrabiata. The Four Cheese Rosa is an alfredo with tomatoes and the Arrabiata is a spicy tomato sauce.

They came in some mighty fancy packaging with recipes!



Hmmm what to make first...

Or



I had all the ingredients for the pink shrimp on hand so that was the logical choice. I confess I'm not a fan of alfredo-type sauces and was underwhelmed with my first taste of the sauce on it's own.

The finished dish on the other hand was great! Leftovers even heated up well and I got a request to make it again. I am going to buy another jar and try the stuffed checken breasts.

The only changes I made was using spaghetti instead of fettuccine and I used more garlic. I also skipped the cheese at the end.



Pink Shrimp with Bacon and Onions

4 servings

4 slices of bacon, chopped
1 large onion, sliced thin
1 lb raw peeled and deveined shrimp
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 jar Bertolli Four Cheese Rosa Sauce
8 oz cooked and drained fettucine with 1/2 cup of cooking liquid reserved

Cook bacon in 12 inch skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon and cook onion in reserved drippings over medium heat until golden, stirring occasionally about 10 minutes.

Add shrimp and garlic and cook until shrimp is pink. Stir in sauce and pasta sauce and heat through. Toss with hot pasta and garnish with chopped parsley and grated fontina cheese.

I was going to make the pizza recipe on the box with the Arrabiata sauce but decided to make a plain pasta with a green salad instead. I wouldn't call the sauce spicy-more so than the average. I did like it and have enough left over to try that pizza!

AsianFoodGrocer.com just became a member of Food Buzz's Tastemaker program and were kind and generous enough to send me a $30 gift certificate!

I was really excited! Their products are more Japanese, which, I don't have a lot of experience cooking so this was the perfect opportunity for me to try some new products.

Service was super fast. I had my order in 2 days and it was very well packaged. I would definitely order from them again.

My favorite item is my Maruman Organic Soy Sauce. I sipped a little out of a spoon and it is good. Plus I'm a sucker for cool packaging.

One thing the company asked is that I create an original recipe. Yipe! Like I said I am not proficient in Japanese cuisine so this was a real challenge.

It also probably didn't help that I waited until the last minute either. Anyway I got home one night and realized I was at my deadline. I checked the fridge to see what I could come up with and found some ginger and a package of snowpeas.

It's also hot here today and I wasn't in the mood to cook but I thought a cold noodle salad sounded appetizing. And it was!

So I don't know how original this is as it's a riff on some of the soba noodle salads I've had in the past but I did not use a recipe. If I were to make it again I would add shredded carrot and maybe swap out the peas for shredded baby bok.

Soba Snow Pea Salad with Miso Dressing

3 oz soba noodles
1 cup Snow Peas
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs white miso
1/2 tbs mirin
juice of 1/2 lime
1 tsp fresh ginger chopped fine
Chopped salted roasted peanuts if desired

Boil noodles until just about done. Drop in snowpeas and boil for 15-30 seconds, until they turn bright green.

Drain and pour ice water over noodles and snowpeas to chill.

In a small bowl combine soy sauce through ginger. Combine with noodles and snowpeas and top with chopped peanuts.

Nature's Pride Bread was kind enough to mail me 2 loaves of bread to try. I received a loaf of 100% Whole Wheat and a loaf of 12 Grain.

I'm not a big bread eater because a lot of supermarket breads have the dreaded HFCS or other objectionable preservatives. Natures Pride has none of those.

I've tried both varieties and I will say I was impressed. I was skeptical of the 12 grain because I like chunky grainy bread and with the exception of some seeds the texture was smooth. My skepticism was erased when I bit into my sandwich. The bread tastes very good and has a bit of a sweet taste. The Whole Wheat was equally impressive and had a nice chewy crust.

I would definitely choose these breads on my own.

For more information the company's website is HERE