What gourmet or specialty food products do you buy that make your diet easier?

[gailr42]

Wow, I just went back and read all the links. Great stuff - Thanks!

[CountingDown]

Many of the items already listed. A couple more that I love:

• European extra dark chocolate
• Porcine mushroom sauce from Meijer's "Gold line"
• European deli cheeses (we have an Austrian chef that owns a butcher shop, deli and gourmet restaurant)

[gailr42]

Meijer's has such a wonderful mix of things! We need one in southern CA.

[kaplods]

We have a liquidator store (like a private Big Lots) that gets gourmet products in once a month from gourmet and health food stores. This is always fun to find new things to try (unfortunately, if I get hooked on a product it may never show up again, and I have to hunt for it in the shops and pay gourmet shop prices).

I love the Spices,Etc catalog. I haven't placed an order recently, because I've been buying my spices from a baking supplies store very inexpensively, but I think I'm going to try to get a few friends to go in on an order because they have a few products I just love. The wine and cheese powders for example, and the broth powders. Unlike bouillon, the broth powders do not have salt or seasonings added, just the meat. The wine powders add the flavor of wine, but no alcohol, and especially if you don't use or drink much wine, they're nice to have on hand. They have several "flavors" including sherry, chablis, and burgundy. They also have several good curry blends besides the generic american "curry powder."

[BlueToBlue]

Originally Posted by cbmare

Barbara, where is your farmer's market? I love farmer's markets. I love supporting the local people and you are making me want some pickles.

I go to the one in downtown Pleasanton on Saturday mornings. I usually start with a swim a Dolores Bengstrom pool in Pleasanton and then stop by the farmers' market on the way home. The market isn't at it's best right now because it's winter, so on a good day when it isn't raining, it only has about half the vendors it has in the summer. But even with only half the vendors I can still get fish, eggs, soap, excellent prepared Indian food (for my SO, sadly not for me), pastries (also sadly for my SO), bread, pickles and soup, grass-fed beef, nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, jams and jellies, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, flowers, and tortillas (the best corn tortillas you've ever had and only 70 calories a tortilla). And that's in addition to all the vegetable stands. You can pretty much get any vegetable or fruit that's in season--there are even a couple of stands that will have fresh strawberries all winter. If it's raining, though, not all those venders are there (but there are still plenty of fruit and veggie vendors and the fish guy will be there). In the summer, when there are twice as many vendors, it's a huge market.

In the summer, the Fremont farmers' market (in Centreville, I've never tried the one in Irvington) is also excellent. It operates in winter but there are so few vendors there it isn't worth it.

I think Palo Alto also has a really nice farmers market. You can get a list of all the farmers' markets in the bay area at sfgate.com; I can't remember where you are at but you might be able to find one closer than Pleasanton. For me it's just a short trip through beautiful Niles Canyon. There's also a number of CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) in the bay area if you can't get to a farmers' market.

[jade408]

1. Variety of olive oils (great for finishing and salad) Stonehouse is pretty good. Or I go cheap and get some interesting ones from Trader Joes. Or there is a local place that has awesome blood orange oil
2. Since I see a few bay area people here I'll mention Phoenix Pasta...good stuff. Some times in te regular grocery, usually in the whole Foods, sometimes makes an appearance at a few farmer's markets
3. Pomegranate molasses (or pomegranate glaze from trader joes. Here is how I use it: pomegranate chicken, mixed with balsamic vinegar as sauce for grilled salmon
4. Frozen mangos (great mixed with plain yogurt! or topped with shredded coconut)
5. Good hot chocolate or sipping chocolate. The trader joes one is pretty yummy. I also like the Dagoba
6. Soy ginger broth from Trader Joes (great for an instant soup!)
7. Flavored Vinegars (anything is fair game here: fig balsamic, organge flavored, rice wine, champagne...etc
8. Marcona Almonds. These are the best for a little snack!
9. Sundried tomatoes
10. Capers
11. Roasted peppers (combine the items 9-11 with some parsley, garlic, and lemon juice for a killer sauce on chicken, bread, chickpeas or pasta
12. smoked paprika (great to add depth to MExican inspired foods
13. Piave cheese (really sweet and buttery cheese in the vein or parmesan
14. Dry jack chease (this is so great!)
15. jicama (great as a snack or on a salad)
16. sparkling water (just to add a touch of class to my dinner)
17. Whole Foods brand wheat pasta...almost tastes like white pasta!
18. Sumac (used in Persian foods, middle eastern foods) great to add a pinch of tartness to a dish ..maybe to add to rice as is done at persian places or to kick up a sauce
19. Lavender Salt. This is a bit weird, but adds a cool touch to chicken, herbs de provence or even some honey. A little goes a long way, but I tend to mix it with a bit of thyme for roasted chicken/potatoes

[knitsforfive]

Miso paste. I combine it with rice vinegar, olive oil, and the spices used in ranch dressing for a yummy dressing. I also add it to soups and stews.

[cbmare]

We found some Russian red kale at the farmer's market this morning. We also got another one that looks like romaine but it is another type of kale. I made a pot of white bean and kale soup for tomorrow night. That red kale is awesome!

I love farmer's markets.

[PhotoChick]

Spices from Penzey's (http://www.penzeys.com). I redo all of my spices every year to keep them all fresh. It's a worthwhile expense to me.

Olive Oil - there's an Australian olive oil that you can get at Trader Joe's that is to die for. Just a little of it has amazing flavor and I use it for dressings and sauces. Mmmmmm.

Sushi from our local gourmet grocery store. I will sometimes have sushi for dinner as a splurge.

[Sorcha33]

The main thing I do is treat myself to the best quality ingredients I can afford - I want to eat real food, not fake stuff. Organic meats and dairy products are a big deal to me, and I'll happily pay more for them any day of the week.

Other than splurging on better quality meats and dairy, I also love greek olive oil, wildflower honey, Fage yogurt, really good quality dark chocolates, and smoked salmon is a favorite "treat" of mine!

[beegoss]

These are my favs:
-bragg's, it's sort of like a soy sauce with tons of protein
-almond breeze, so low cal, and so good with cereal

[JuleeCeeS]

Trader Joe's has crushed garlic and ginger in bottles. It is fabulously intense and easier to deal with that grating or slicing fresh. I also love the herbs (basil, garlic and something else) that come int he little frozen cubes. I have seen them in the frozen section at TJ's as well.

Also, for you tea lovers, Good Earth original tea. Very spicy sweet, nees nothing added to it. It comes in regular and decaf and the flavor of the decaf does not lack at all.

[JulieJ08]

Originally Posted by BlueToBlue

Fresh Fish: I get it from my local farmers market. Sometimes it has literally been caught that morning and is so fresh you can eat it raw. It costs a small fortune but the taste is so superior to grocery store fish that I can't eat the store-bought stuff anymore.

Every time I eat fish (and I'm trying to learn to love it), I think of the trout I had last fall that my brother-in-law caught that day at Convict Lake (near Mammoth). *That's* how to eat fish

[JulieJ08]

Originally Posted by jade408

15. jicama (great as a snack or on a salad)

19. Lavender Salt. This is a bit weird, but adds a cool touch to chicken, herbs de provence or even some honey. A little goes a long way, but I tend to mix it with a bit of thyme for roasted chicken/potatoes

1. How well does jicama keep? I've been wanting some for snacking, but they're big and I only shop for me.

2. My sister once had lavendar mints. They were good.

[KristasMom]

Canfield's Chocolate Fudge Soda

0 calories

enough said