Food Bazaar's sales for Mexico's independence day

 Mexico celebrates independence day on September 16, and Food Bazaar put little Mexican flags next to a few things in its weekly ad. I didn't realize they carried Victoria. I drink that the most when I'm in Mexico City.

Mexicans celebrate with chiles en nogada, but that's pretty complicated for a store ad to cover. It's so complicated that the last chapter of Like Water For Chocolate is making them.

Sausage pasta

 This is the story of how I wound up with my pasta last night, which was rather good.

A month ago I went to the local library to get a cookbook, The Art of Mexican Cooking by Diana Kennedy. She told me to buy lard. So I went and bought lard (I got ripped off too. I paid $5 and the other store 3 blocks away had it for $3).

Then I had too much lard, so when pork shoulders went on sale I thought I could make sausage and incorporate the lard. I don’t know if that’s how sausage is actually made, but I read a different cookbook about sausage once that said anything qualifies: meatloaf is sausage. A hamburger is a sausage. So no one can yell at me. I froze my sausage when I was done.

A local vegetable store had fennel bulbs for $1 and I had never seen such a good price so I bought one. Then I hid it in the refrigerator and forgot because I rarely own fennel.

Later in the week I remembered it and my sausage and thought it would be a good basis for pasta. I bought some nice lacinato kale to add bitterness against the fatty spicy sweetness of the other stuff. And I turned that into pasta. 

But I still forgot the fennel! So the next day I cooked the fennel down and then blended it with some cottage cheese and reheated the pasta with that. And it was delicious. And nobody will ever know because when am I ever going to have this same turn of events?

But next time I’m going to cook the sausage with dandelion to really amp up the bitterness.

Pre 4th of July sales. What's out there?

This is the last full week of sales before the 4th. Next Friday, there will be some new ones but I will only have Friday and Saturday to use them. So this is an important one. My Chase Freedom card is going to give me 5% back on groceries starting July 1, so I am not doing my shopping until then except for daikon pickle, which should fester for a week. So actually, anything good I find here I have to buy all on Thursday.

So let's see what's out there.

Bravo: Peaches are 99¢. Corn is 40¢ per ear. Premio sausage is $3/lb. I wouldn't make that for the 4th, but I am making pizza tonight and it might be good. An 8 oz can of tomato sauce is 45¢. Fage Greek yogurt is $3 for 17 oz.

Brooklyn Harvest Market: Peaches are 99¢. Beefsteak tomatoes are $1.49. I hope I can find a better price. The sausages are $2.99 here too. Cafe Bustelo is 2/$5. Fage 17 oz is $3 here too, but Chobani 32 oz is $5. Hmm. Fage is better though. A can of tomato juice is $2.

C-Town: Peaches, corn, and sausage are all the same price here too.

Food Bazaar: A pound of mozzarella is 3/$10. (See, my dinner tonight). Limes are 9/$2. Scallions are 40¢.

Green Corner: Peaches are 89¢! Limes are 12/$2.

Key Food: Hot dog buns are $1.25. I might get some to practice. Chobani is $5 here too. Jerk sauce is $3.5

Ozzie's: There's nothing unique here

Memorial Day Grocery Sales

I hope they have good ones. That Key Food beer deal was a scam, because Key Food didn't have rebates. Just a sign about rebates. They eventually put something up for getting a Coors rebate, but nothing else. That deal is back again this week.

I guess I'll start with Key Food. A big bottle of Heinz ketchup (38 oz) is $2.50. Memorial Day is good for condiments. They have Hellman's on sale, but I want Heinz mayo, which is hard to find. I wanted to do a project at school researching why Heinz and Kraft both had mayo brands after their merger, but I had to do it on Starbucks instead. Breakstone cottage cheese is $2.50, which is a good price for that if you only eat that brand. I find that still too expensive, but I know someone who cares. Peaches are $1.47/lb. They probably aren't very good in May, but I also like using peaches in savory applications (i.e. salads with corn) and having sour hard peaches works ok then. Spike's salsa is $1.50/jar, which is good, but then I have to eat tortilla chips.

That's it for Key Food. They like all my pictures on Instagram about food, so maybe I'll ask them why they scam me about beer.

Associated: Peaches are $1.49 here--2 cents more. Various incorrect ketchups are on sale at irrelevant prices. 16 oz of sausage is $2.99, which might be good. These sales were not very good.

Bravo: 38 oz of Heinz ketchup for $2.49. I don't go through ketchup that quickly anymore since my little boy exroommate moved out, but I still might get some. B&G stuff is on sale. It was at Key Food too. I guess it's pickle time. 2 liter Fresca (and other Coca-cola products) are $1.25. Fresca is good. I heard that LBJ liked it too.

How to Turn Last Week's C-Town Specials into One of the Best Foods I've Made

 Yesterday I invited Dylan over for dinner before I knew what to make, so I went to C-Town. The manager let me know the Heinz pickles I requested are in now. I wandered the aisles with only vague ideas of what to make. Luckily, I had bought all types of pasta earlier in the week because Ronzoni was 4/$3. And all I can ever improvise is pasta.

I decided something like baked ziti, but made only on a stove top, would be good. I got hot sausage, which was $1 off. I don't know why it seems to be on my receipt twice, two different ways. I got a can of Colavita crushed tomatoes, which they now carry for me at $1.50. I bought some frozen spinach because Laura told me I need to have Vitamin E if I want to quit being ugly in one specific way. Mozzarella was on sale. I already had the pasta. I also had some frozen onions that they sell and I like to keep on hand because, like I told Dylan, I'm never going to chop an onion for fewer than 6 people. I tasted one out of the bag and it tasted like an onion. You'd expect that from something whose only ingredient is "onions." I also threw in some garlic powder, a ton of pecorino romano, and some dried parsley. I got those at Key Food, but you can get them at C-Town too.

Seeing Western Beef Through New Eyes

I took Eric with me to Western Beef yesterday. Since he doesn't have a bike, we walked. It's only a little over a mile. We weren't even in its parking lot before he was gasping in awe. And that's how he spent the whole trip. He was too awestruck to really purchase much of anything. He only ended up with some cheese, a box of Wheat Thins, and a Western Beef bag.

I, on the other hand, got a big butternut squash for $0.79/lb that I turned into one of the best soups I've ever made. I got a pack of sweet Italian sausage for $3.99/lb, which I turned into pungent pasta along with the can of mushrooms and the pecorino romano I FINALLY got. I also got myself a Western Beef bag. I don't really waste $1 on anything, but I couldn't not buy one even though I have so many bags already.

Here she be.

I just got one of the best deals of my life!

I just got 24 Italian sausages for $2.49! It had a label saying "Special: Today" and I didn't believe it but I got it because I didn't know what to eat for dinner but I knew I wanted meat. I haven't eaten Italian sausages since I lived in Italy back in my heyday.

I also got balsamic vinegar, mozzarella, anchovies, capers, and penne rigate. I like C-Town because it has all my Italian food. Key Food isn't as good for that.

Salsiccie!