Crescent Roll Pockets With Walnuts And Smoked Cheddar

After a bit of a winter hiatus, I am back with a post that is good for a cold night.  We recently made a fine pot of chili in the crockpot using some ground beef from Costco.  Chili is a pretty typical dish with ground beef but that is not what this post is about. My lovely wife decided it needed some accompaniment and she got creative with some Pillsbury Cresecent Rolls we bought from Costco.

She laid out the dough flat and added a piece some Smoked Coastal Cheddar from Costco and a large walnut piece.  She then folded it over into a pretty square and baked it about the normal time according to the package.

Here is a photo of the one of them broken in half.

Aside from being attractive these were also easy, tasty and quick.  When having soups, stews or chili, it is nice to have a bread product to help make it a full meal and this worked fabulously.  I have to say these were a great return on investment in terms of both time and money.  Also, they were a great way to use some of a large multipack of Crescent Rolls.  

I am sure we will do something like this again and these would also make a cute and easy appetizer for a party or a potluck.

Noodles With Tuna, Sun-Dried Tomatoes And Artichoke Hearts

The other day I was talking to my wife and she asked if I had any ideas about dinner. I said how about some tuna, artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes served over pasta. My wife was pleased with my suggestions and when I got home, that is what was ready for dinner.

Aside from the above ingredients, she also added some ground pepper, some garam marsala and some tumeric.  For pasta, she used some spaetzle we had on hand.

We were both very pleased with how well this turned out. The tuna, artichoke hearts and tomatoes all worked well together and my wife's seasoning of it gave it some zing and character. And aside from being easy and flavorful, this had a great blend of textures.

This was definitely a "very Costco dish" since the tuna, artichoke hearts and tomatoes all came from Costco. And certainly, I would say this would work with a variety of noodles and pastas.

I am pretty confident something like this will show up at our dinner table again.

Savory French Toast With Antico Artichoke And Asiago Tapenade

We are big fans of the Antico Artichoke and Asiago Tapenade at Costco  and recently my wonderful wife surprised me with a dinner of savory french toast featuring this as an ingredient.  In addition to the tapenade, she used eggs, fresh herbs and soy milk. (The soy milk and eggs also came from Costco).

The looks and the smell of this had me intrigued even before I tasted it and my expectations were certainly met!

This was a wonderful and easy midweek dinner that was a great change of pace. It was also a good use of some bread and other ingredients we had laying around.  The actual dish had a good french toast texture and the tapenade's flavors blended well with the fresh herbs.

I hope to see this on our dinner table again and if you have some bread you don't know what to do with, this is a fantastic use of it.

Costco Coupon Book-Good Until November 25

Thanks once again to my friends at Addicted To Costco, I have this month's coupon book.

Among the items I recommend are the Spanakopita, the DiGiorno Pizza and the Pillsbury Crescent Rolls are all items we tend to buy.

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Quick Review of Nature'd Path Flax Plus Pumpkin Flax Granola

Generally, I tend to eat simple cereals like frosted shredded wheat, raisin bran and such. However, this granola looked pretty tasty so I thought I would give it a try. I have to say that I am very pleased with it.

It comes in a two pouches in one box. A lot of cereals seem to be doing that these days and if you don't eat the cereal fast, this helps it from going bad.  I suppose it is also makes it easier to work with than one big bag.

As for the cereal's nutritional profile, it had a good quantity of fiber at 20% of your daily requirement per serving. It also has low sodium if you are watching that. Finally, the only allergen mentioned on the label is soy, although they have the caveat that this is made in a facility that uses tree nuts, peanuts and wheat.

As for the taste and texture of the cereal, it is, being a granola, nice and crunchy. The pumpkin seeds make it more interesting that your typical granola in the area of taste. While the cereal is good just by itself, I have discovered it is absolutely delicious with dried cranberries.  My wife followed my lead on this and she definitely thinks that while the cereal is great plain, the craisins add a lovely touch.

My wife and I both give this cereal two big thumbs up and I highly recommend stocking up on it while it is on sale.  This is a flavorful cereal, low in sodium, with a good quantity of fiber and it is a great change of pace.

Review of Tiramisu Cake On Sale This Month At Costco

We have bought a variety of baked goods at Costco and I thought the Tiramisu Cake that is on sale this month looked like a great thing to take over to our friend's house for a casual get-together.  I have to say I was definitely pleased with the decision.  Before we get in to how fun it was to eat, I have to say it does make for a pretty presentation.

As the cake is very rich, even a small slice, like the one below, is satisfying.

As for the reviews of the cake, my brother in law used the word "yummy" and I would concur with that. The flavors are balanced with the coffee/expresso flavor being well presented without being overpowering.

The combination of the textures were also very good with the smooth filling and topping contrasting and complimenting the cake.

The cake was very well received and we had some more again last night at my in-laws, who have also been won over by it.  This cake is a good value at full price and an outstanding value on sale and I absolutely, positively recommend it without hesitation.

Quick Quinoa Beef Soup And New Link

Many of the readers of this blog will know that we are big fans of quinoa. It is nutritious, tasty, versatile and easy to make. (We usually make it in a microwave rice cooker).  The other day we made some to go  with a rotisserie chicken and we made enough so we would have some left over for another use.  That "future use" turned out to be a ground beef soup.

We bought another package of ground beef and before we froze it, we took some of the beef and the liquid from the cooking and used it as a base for a soup. We also added some onions, celery and carrots, plus a bit of seasoning and some quinoa.

This dish came together in minutes, it has some solid nutritional value and it sure was tasty!  Having the right ingredients around speeds up any food preparation and this is a classic example of that. It also illustrates the value of quinoa as a soup ingredient.  Aside from being nutritious and tasty, this also helps make the dish gluten-free for those that have that requirement.

As I said, we are big fans of quinoa and I am pleased to add another fine blog to our list of links: Queen of Quinoa.  This is a wonderful blog with lots of great recipes and I hope that you will take the time to visit it.

Save $550 And Over 2000 Grams Of Fat A Year With Quaker Chewy Granola Bars And A Banana From Costco For Breakfast

Costco has Quaker Chewy Granola bars on sale this month in the Coupon Book.  Even at full price of $10.99 for a box of sixty, they are a bargain.  On sale, they are an absolute steal!  They are tasty, easy and quick to eat and they are decent nutritionally.  Have a couple of these and add in a banana and you have breakfast for less than 50¢.

Compare this to an Egg McMuffin and you have a huge cost and fat gram savings.  Over the course of the year of eating a breakfast like this on the way to work  would save you over $500 and over 2300 grams of fat!  Plus, you get more fiber, although I will admit an egg is a great source of protein.

Also, these are easy to store in your car for a breakfast on the go and it saves you the hassle of stopping at a drive through to get breakfast.

Thus, you save massive amounts of:

• Time
• Money
• Fat

I highly recommend these granola bars and if you eat breakfast on your way to work or school, these are a fantastic option.

Costco Food Court Review: Hot Turkey And Provolone Sandwich-Hot, Meaty Cheesy Goodness At A Costco Price

While we primarily buy our food at Costco to take home, we also often like to get a snack or a quick lunch before we head home. Not too long ago, Costco added a hot turkey and provolone sandwich to their food court menu.  Anything with hot melted cheese sounds good to me, so I had to try one!

This is a good sandwich. The choice of bread for this works very well in terms of flavor, texture and construction of the sandwich.  I am definitely glad that they chose a bread that makes the process of eating this sandwich relatively neat.

The quality of the ingredients used in the sandwich are certainly up to par and that really helps to make this a success.  I like that they added the tomato, that made really helps make it seem like more of meal than just a couple of pieces of bread with some meat and cheese.

Finally, choosing turkey and provolone for the meat and cheese is a good idea. Turkey goes well with provolone but it is considered a healthier meat, so people will feel less guilty about eating it.

I enjoyed the sandwich and I will order it again, but the one negative is that at $3.99 it is not as good a value as the hot dog or the pizza by the slice. However, It is still a good value and a great change of pace.

Costco Coupon Book August 16-September 9

Once again, thanks to my fabulous friends at Addicted To Costco, I have a link to Costco's current coupon book.

Once again, Costco has a sale on their Chicken Alfredo and you will find my review of it here.

They also have a variety of other products on sale, such as the Tomato Basil soup which I also recommend.

Tasty Bites Madras Lentil Dip And A New Link

My wife and I are big fans of the Tasty Bites Madras Lentils we get at Costco.  They are delicious, easy heat up and a great way to work some fun flavors into our menus.  Recently, we had a family reunion to go to and my wife suggested making a dip out of them. I thought that was a fabulous idea so I did some research online and then went grocery shopping.  After provisioning for all the raw materials, my lovely wife was eager to spend a few minutes making the dip. (We got the recipe from the appetizer section of the Tasty Bites website. The specific recipe is the Madras Lentils Dip).

The recipe was easy, quick and delicious.  It was also a bit of an exotic change of pace from your normal bean dip.  But while it was a bit on the exotic side, it certainly went well with tortilla chips.

This dip was a huge success and I think I will probably bring it into work for my friend Bill that has Celiac's Disease.

I am also adding a link to Tasty Bites recipe page.  We think they have a great product lineup and I am looking forward to have more fun with variety of their products.

Kirkland Signature Atlantic Salmon-Easy And Delicious Pouch Preparation

Note:

One of the items on sale this month at Costco is the Kirkland Signature Atlantic Salmon.  This is a great product that is delicious and healthy and a serving only costs about the same as a Whopper or Big Mac. Below is a repost of a wonderful meal we made for the anniversary of our first date. We have since served this meal to both my mother and my father in law for their birthdays and they have also given it rave reviews.  I hope you will consider making a meal like this because it is affordable, delicious, easy and elegant.  

Now that I am settled into my new 1st shift job, I have a lot more time to spend with my lovely wife.  Normally, to celebrate the anniversary of our first date, we go out of town or have dinner out. But my wonderful wife thought it would be romantic to have a nice dinner at home and watch a movie, and I concurred.

However, as much as we wanted a nice dinner at home, we had no desire to spend three hours in the kitchen, so we came up with this elegant, simple and quick meal to celebrate eight years together as a couple.

For the main course, my wife  took some Kirkland Signature Atlantic Salmon and cooked it in parchment paper with butter, dried dill, salt, pepper and a little lemon juice. She set the oven to 350 and baked it for 20 minutes.  While that was going, I snapped some fresh green beans and my wife cooked up some pancetta from the local Italian deli.  After steaming the beans, we added the pancetta to them and they were good to go.

For the potatoes, I made some Honest Earth potatoes we bought from Costco and dressed them up with bacon bits and dried chives.  The resulting dinner, along with being tasty, was also quite attractive.

The salmon comes in individually wrapped portions, which made the preparation of them simple, neat and quick.  The potatoes were also a snap to prepare, but as I said, adding the chives and bacon (real bacon!) made them more upscale.

The salmon was tasty and a great value for the dollar and we have already decide to make a meal like this again for entertaining my mother.

Once again, Costco gave us some great food at a great price that was easy to cook with.

Baked Omelet With Feta And Olives And Why You Should Always Have Extra Batteries For Your Camera

Recently, I was looking through the fridge and I found some leftover feta from Costco that looked like it needed a purpose.  Being that it was Sunday morning, I thought an upscale egg breakfast was a great idea.

I started with some of the Christopher Ranch Chopped Garlic we get from Costco and I browned it gently in some EVOO. Then I added three eggs and scrambled them with a little soy milk. However, I did not completely cook the eggs, for I had additional plans for them!

I took some foil and lined the little pan that is in our toaster oven.  I then sprayed the pan with some EVOO and poured the egg mixture in.

Finally, I topped the egg mixture with some of the feta and some chopped Tassos Mediterranean Gourmet Stuffed and Double Stuffed Olives.

I then put the omelet in the toaster oven and cooked it until the eggs were finished and the cheese was melted just a bit.

The results were fantastic and I am sure I will do something like this again.  And aside from the dish being tasty, using the foil lined pan made for easy serving and cleanup.

I was going to show a photo of the finished, baked omelet, but alas, my camera battery died on me in the middle of this and I had forgotten to have another one charged.

I learned two lessons on this day: baked omelets in the toaster oven are a wonderful thing and always have a second camera battery on hand.

Costco Coupon Book July 12 To August 5

Once again, thanks to my friends at Addicted To Costco, I have this month's coupon book.

I certainly hope I can convince my wife to let me buy some of the Chocolate Chunk Cookies that are on sale with no limit and no coupon required.

These cookies have been on sale during previously during the summer, so I will keep my eyes open for them.

My list of recommendations also includes the Oberto Jerky.

Finally, for your canine friends, I recommend the Jerky Treats they have on sale.

Elegant Mediterranean Cheese And Vegetable Platter

Recently, my wife had a party to go to and while she didn't want to spend a lot of time cooking, she wanted to make something that would be appreciated and show our love of food. Her decision was to make a fantastic cheese and vegetable platter using a variety of ingredients from Costco including:

• Kirkland Signature Artichoke Hearts
• Feta Cheese 
• Bell Peppers
• Grape Tomatoes
• Tasso Mediterranean Green Olives

As you can see, the presentation was as good as the food was tasty:

When my wife got home from the party, I asked her if there were any leftovers and she said no!  That certainly indicates it was a success in both ease of prep and flavor.

Review Of Costco Calzones

A while back we tried the Costco brand of calzones in the deli and I have to say, I was pretty impressed with them. They are easy to heat up in the oven and they come with their own marinara sauce.

Upon cutting them open, you will find they done have a good quantity of filling in them.

I found these satisfying in everyway: texture, taste and serving size.  You can easily get two meals out of each one if you extend it with a nice romaine salad.

The price was pretty reasonable and I would definitely give these a thumbs up.  While these are not a gourmet meal, they are tasty, filling and extremely affordable.  An excellent value in every way.

Costco Coupon Book June 14 to July 8 Plus A Review Of The Apple Strudel

Thanks once again to my friends at Addicted to Costco, I have this months coupon book.

The Craisins are on sale again and I highly recommend them.  Here are links to some previous posts about them.

Trail mix with craisins, M&M's and peanuts.

Pork Loin with cranberry relish.

Apple, cranberry and quinoa salad.


The take and bake pizza is on sale again and I have done a variety of posts on them.  Here is one.  They are a great deal to start with but on sale they are simply a crazy deal. In fact, we are having one for dinner tonight. (And the leftovers will be lunch tomorrow).

And while I haven't written about the Sun Chips, I have posted about the multi packs of chips in regards to the Baked Lays products.

As for the apple strudel, I highly recommend it. It has a good, flaky crust and a well executed apple filling. I also like the fact that they are miniature strudels which make for easy serving.  My mother in law put some sharp cheddar on hers and thought it was excellent.  And I am positive that heating these up and serving them with some good vanilla ice cream would be totally awesome!

And for extreme decadence, some of my wife's family topped them with fresh strawberries and Cool Whip, although I did not go far myself. I did use some Cool Whip though and that worked well.


I highly recommend them and with the coupon, they are about 80 cents each, which makes them an excellent bargain.

Pasta Prima Chicken and Mozzarella Ravioli With A Sauce Of Grape Tomatoes and Cheese

We are big fans of Pasta Prima ravioli and my lovely wife took a package of the Chicken and Mozzarella Ravioli and made of a sauce from:

• Fresh Grape Tomatoes from Costco
• Some frozen rotisserie chicken from Costco
• A left over sauce packet from some frozen Pasta Prima ravioli
• Some lemon EVOO

The results of this were absolutely fabulous and kudos to my wife for thinking of this.  If you don't have an extra sauce pack laying around, just substitute some of your favorite herbs and grated cheese. And if you don't have lemon EVOO, just use some fresh lemon and your favorite EVOO.

The dish had a great chicken flavor and the ravioli and the sauce also added a couple of cheese components. 

The tomatoes were fresh and made the dish lively and the remaining herbs and seasonings rounded out the dish and just put it over the top.

I am sure we will do something like this again and I have to say, having all these Costco ingredients on hand really made this quick and rewarding work.

Last Day for Costco Coupon Book

Sorry I have not been posting much lately, but things have been keeping me busy outside of the blog.

Courtesy of my friends at Addicted To Costco, here is this months coupon book.

I have done postings about a couple of items that are on sale this month.

Here is a review of Sabatasso's Mini Pizzas.

And a entry on making trail mix with M&M's.

Antico Artichoke & Asiago Tapenade With Grilled Naan Bread

We recently discovered the joys of toasted naan bread and I thought it would be great as a replacement for crackers.  And as it turned out, I was right and the outcome of this experiment was absolutely delicious.

We bought some Antico Artichoke and Asiago Tapenade at Costco recently and I was eager to try it.  When we got to our friend's house for a get together, I took the naan bread and cut it up with kitchen shears.  Using the kitchen shears works very well and it makes quick and easy work of the project.  Then my lovely wife toasted the bread in the oven and it was ready to go.

This was a major success and it disappeared like magic.  I have the jar of the tapenade open by me right and I was so overwhelmed by the smell of the cheese, herbs and garlic that I had to run into the kitchen and grab a spoon and have a taste of it!

Artichokes and asiago by themselves are delicious but they have the right mix of herbs and garlic to really put this over the top.  And the naan bread as a base to serve it on made it elegant and added a toasted flavor and some crunchy texture.

I highly recommend this combination. I am also sure toasted naan bread would be a great base for a wide variety of spreads. And I am positive this tapenade is very worthy of spreading on crackers and other breads.  My wife also suggested putting in on a pizza or using it as a pasta sauce and I am sure we will try at least one of those ideas.