The Perfect Substitute: Potato Chips

 

I was making tacos for lunch when I suddenly realized we had eaten all the hummus. What could I use as a replacement alongside the beans and cheese? Then I spotted an open bag of potato chips. Why not crumble some of them and sprinkle on top of the tacos before serving? 

They worked perfectly, adding some crunch. Who needs hummus!

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Pinto Beans: What Are They and How Do I Use Them?

Dried Pinto Beans (left), Cooked Pinto Beans (right)

Anyone who has eaten refried beans has eaten pinto beans.  They are brown—sometimes light brown, sometimes dark brown—and are often speckled.  They are available cooked in cans and uncooked in plastic bags.

Back to Basics: Black Beans

If you find you are cooking more because you are sheltering at home, it’s time to add black beans to your shopping list.  You can buy these beans already cooked in a can, but they are also available uncooked in 1-pound packages.  Sometimes they are sold loose in bins.

How much would you pay for the convenience of cooked beans?

You Can Put Anything in Tortillas

I grew up on sandwiches, mostly tuna but sometimes deviled ham.  My mother must have gotten sick of making them, but every school day morning there was a nicely prepared sandwich on white bread in a brown bag in the fridge.  Occasionally a dried-up carrot or other undesirable item would be there too—my father’s joke contribution.

Appreciating the Corn Tortilla

If you want to get my attention at the grocery store, you have three options:

1) Put up a big sign that says SALE.

2) Place the item prominently near the check-out.

3) Put it next to something I am likely to buy.

Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce: What Are They and How Do I Use Them?

When I moved to California, my neighbor told me about Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, a key ingredient in some Mexican recipes.  Eventually I bought a 7-ounce can to try it.  Here is what learned:

Sriracha: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

Start the year off with a taste bud bang with this super-spicy hot sauce.  Popularized by David Tran, a Vietnamese refugee who emigrated to the U.S. in 1979, Sriracha Hot Sauce is the most in-demand condiment Tran created in his Southern California factory.  No one knows exactly what else is in this sauce, but sugar, salt, vinegar and garlic are likely ingredients.

Oh Tortilla! How I Love Thee!

Chicken Tikka Masala Tortilla

Tortillas came into my life when I moved to California a few decades ago.  Up until then I didn’t even know there were two types—flour and corn—let alone what to do with them.  Today flour tortillas have become a key ingredient in my diet, although not in the way you might think. 

I use flour tortillas as wraps.  I’ll wrap anything, be it scrambled eggs, tuna salad, black beans with cheese and hummus, shredded rotisserie chicken, pulled pork, sardines--even a tossed salad. 

Nopales: What Are They and How Do I Cook Them?

Nopales are cactus leaves, called paddles (calling to mind ping pong paddles without handles).  They are various shades of green and have bumps and thorns, which must be removed.  I often see nopales in Latino grocery stores in Southern California, where I live.  Curious about their taste, I decided to buy some at the bargain price of 3 pounds for 99 cents. 

The first person I consulted about how to cook nopales was the young woman at the checkout.  She told me that her mother boiled them to get all the ‘liquid’ out. 

Hominy: What Is It and How Do I Cook It?

My first encounter with hominy was in a California supermarket.  A store employee was offering samples of Pozole, a traditional Mexican stew, and stacked on the table were cans of hominy.  The picture on the label showed large kernels of corn, so large that they could have been on steroids.  They tasted like corn, only more so. 

Hominy on the left, Corn on the right

Is hominy a new vegetable?  No.  Here’s how corn transforms into hominy: dried corn kernels are soaked in an alkaline solution, and that process causes the kernels to swell.  You can buy hominy in ready-to-eat form in cans or you can buy it dried in bags.

I bought a can and added a cup of hominy to homemade vegetable soup.  It was definitely a conversation-starter.

The Plantain: What Is It and How Do I Cook It?

The first time I saw a plantain in the produce aisle, I thought, “Who would buy this overripe banana?”  The skin was mostly black.  In fact, the whole pile of what I thought were big bananas looked ready for the compost pile.

Banana at top, Plantain below

Here’s what I didn’t know:

Letting Kids Control Your Menu

Stuff Your Own Tortillas (photo by Andy Mills)

When I was growing up in Western Pennsylvania, I had almost no say in what the family ate for dinner.  My mother cooked it and served it, and my father, brother and I choked it down.  On Monday nights, if Dad was out at his Kiwanis dinner meeting, my brother Steve and I begged for Chef Boyardee Spaghetti.  It came in a can, and the noodles were as soft as pudding. 

I’m sure my mother obliged us because all she had to do was get out the can opener, dump the spaghetti into a pot and turn on the gas.  We lapped it up and begged for more.  It was the best-tasting dinner we were likely to have in any given week.

Flash forward to Sunday dinner...