Whole Foods #2

Did you read what my friend, Hilde, the Tubeworm, did with her stuffed chicken breast from Whole Foods? THAT’S what I’d call being creative in the kitchen. I just plunked my chicken breast stuffed with broccoli and cheddar cheese (so it said) into the oven for a while, testing it now and then with a meat thermometer. I did not overcook it, but the meat was dry. And the stuffing had something in it besides broccoli and cheddar that stirred up the acid production in my stomach – again. Is this fair? I, who loves to eat, can eat only small portions at a time and must be sure nothing contains anything delicious, like fat, tomatoes, citrus, coffee, hot spices, mint, chocolate, etc. Anyway, I agree with Tubeworm that the stuffed chicken breasts would feed four, but that four will not include me. I have whole chickens in my freezer from a local farmer whose meat I’d much prefer, just plain roasted. Even My Man Who Only Eats The White Meat of Fowl didn’t care for the Whole Foods chicken breast meat. We threw more than half of it away.

The haddock I made the next night I would not buy again either. Oh well. When I opened the package, it smelled like it does when you walk into the Empire Fish Co. store. Hmmm... And then I tried to serve the garlic bread from Whole Foods. It was a half loaf of Italian bread, sliced the long way, spread with garlic and olive oil. I paid $9.95 for it, which I thought was a lot, but decided it looked really good, so.. Well, it was a total loss. The loaf was dry, old bread, even unable to be revived when warmed in my oven. I threw it out.

So... Hilde and I have decided: we’re glad we made the trip to the east side to check out Whole Foods (also known as Whole Paychecks), but we will continue to do our shopping at Grasch’s. Whole Foods vast selection of bulk olives was exciting, the tomato basil soup I bought was very good, and their cheese section is extensive, but Grasch’s has them beat in both the deli department (by a LONG shot) and the meats and fish section. Whole Foods fish section is huge, with a greater selection, but that may be the problem. Can they sell that many varieties of fish and have them all be fresh? The bakery we tried from Whole Foods was very good, but Grasch’s is too. And I have never gotten stale bread from Grasch’s. Of course Whole Foods has a much larger organic produce section. Grasch’s produce is lovely, but the organic section is limited. In addition, the Health Hut on nearby Bluemound Rd. is a small organic grocery that is adequate for most fresh produce.

Last night I made lamb chops for dinner. I buy a whole lamb (butchered, of course) from a local farmer who raises them “free range”. (I have no idea if there is any other way to raise sheep. There are many areas in which I am not an expert. Farming tops that list.) Anyway, The Man Who Never Notices What He Has Eaten Unless He Doesn’t Like It commented upon biting into his lamb chop, “I think you should always stick to preparing your own food.” I took that as a compliment for the lamb chop. I used a lamb chop recipe from www.epicurious.com If you want to try it, go to the site and search for “Cider-Glazed Lamb Chops.” Tasty, tasty.

And now I am going to try to figure out how to establish a cookbook of my favorite recipes on the epicurious website. I think you can save recipes from their site in your “favorites” and even type in your own recipes, and even your mother’s. Why am I keeping files and folders and searching for the old recipes that I like?

Dragging myself oh-so-painfully into the 21st century,

Stirring the Pot