Let’s be clear about the fruit known as the Pomegranate. Even when you get it for free as I did, it can be difficult to justify the effort of “eating” this very messy fruit. Wow, it is probably the messiest fruit I’ve ever eaten.

Pomegranates come from a tree and according to Wikipedia are believed to have come from an area extending from Iran east to northern India and have been actively cultivated around the Mediterranean for a really long time.

From the outside, the pomegranate is pretty unassuming. It sort of looks like a small magenta colored gourd. Inside though, you’ve got all these red seeds that are usually super-sour. The seeds are closely clumped together inside and the bunches are separated by paper thin membrane walls. It’s fairly difficult to actually separate the seeds from the membrane walls because they’re jammed in there so well.

Those tiny pomegranate seeds are what people eat. I’ve heard a lot of people actually eat all of the seed, but I usually don’t. I just chew up the outsides and then spit out the seeds. This is actually a lot of work for very little reward. But one of the most difficult parts is not getting the juice splattered everywhere! Pomegranate juice stains like the dickens, it’s pretty similar to cherry juice. I believe that it stains clothes permanently unless you use some sort of bleach to get it out.

I’m actually not sure how to open up a pomegranate other than inserting a knife and sort of prying it open. The explosion of seeds and juice that this causes is sort of crazy. You definitely don’t want to wear a white shirt when eating pomegranate. Actually, it might be best to eat it while shirtless. =)

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Over at The Impulsive Buy, Marvo recently held a drawing for a box of “goodies”. All you had to do to enter was to add a comment to the post about the drawing. I entered it as I usually do, not really thinking about it, and to my surprise I won! I never win anything, so it was kind of cool.

Even more cool was that the box ‘o goodies that I received containted quite a few “reviewable” products for Cheap Eats. Interesting things, like Jolly Time Mallow Magic Popcorn, S’mores Poptarts, Lo-Carb Pears, Reese’s Cookies, Aquadrops, and Dentyne Fire.

The fact that they were free is probably the greatest thing about it (and thus the high score), and it was extremely good timing since most are snacks that I wouldn’t ordinarily buy. Anyhow, look for some of them to appear in upcoming weeks at Cheap Eats…

Cheap Eats Score: 10/10

If ever there was a Cheap Eats food that so many people around the world already eat without knowing it, it’s probably Peanut Butter. Besides providing endless hours of fun for your dog’s tongue, it can be a real life saver to have in the pantry for those between meal snacks. And it’s (relatively) cheap. I know some people who subsisted on peanut butter sandwiches in the “lean years”…

You can make the traditional peanut butter sandwich, or use it as a dip with veggies like carrots or celery. Or you can go Elvis with a Peanut Butter and Banana sandwich if you’re feeling adventurous. Or maybe make Vietnamese peanut dipping sauce for spring rolls. And there are a billion deserts to make with peanut butter in them from cookies to pies.

We usually buy the smooth variety of Jif Peanut Butter. The smooth type just seems to have more uses for it; I know a lot of recipes specifically call for non-chunky peanut butter. Not that I don’t also dig chunky peanut butter. Also, I always get the “Jif” and “Skippy” mixed up; and quite often call it “Jiffy”. Maybe because Jiffy is the popcorn brand (Jiffy Pop).

Peanut Butter also seems to last nearly forever, even after it’s opened. I know it can go stale though (smelling stale peanut butter = not recommended). But if you aren’t making sandwiches on a regular basis and just using it for between meal munchies, a jar can still last you a long time.

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I haven’t put a recipe up on Cheap Eats in such a long time because I haven’t had much chance to cook lately. Well, the other day at the supermarket we picked up 2 packages of Barilla Thin Spaghetti because they were only 99 cents each (this is fairly cheap for Barilla which is more expensive than Anthony brand spaghetti or super market generic spaghetti). But I didn’t really get to make a “real” recipe, just some fast tomato basil pasta… but I’m going to put up the recipe anyhow. We got basil for free (someone actually grew it) so that was why I decided to make it.

I don’t know if it’s because Barilla comes in a box so it seems more “upscale” or something, but I always preferred their quality over generic. Their mostaccioli, penne, and bowtie pasta is actually pretty decent too. We dig “Thin Spaghetti” over Angel Hair pasta… angel hair doesn’t seem to soak up enough sauce and also seems too much like Japanese Somen which we eat a lot of already. It also seems easier to cook thin spaghetti exactly “al dente” than normal spaghetti. Somehow more forgiving.

Anyhow, here’s one take on fast garlic, basil and tomatoes pasta. Note this isn’t conventional thick “spaghetti ragu sauce” … I just make it to barely coat the noodles. I’m sure you have your own variations:

Quick Basil and Tomato Pasta

1/2 box Barilla pasta — $0.50
Basil, cut in a chiffonade — Free, hopefully
6 cloves garlic, slivered or minced — $0.10
Olive oil (1-2 tbsp) — $0.10
1 Can Petite Diced Tomatoes — $0.45
Parmesan cheese (1/4 oz of $3.50 8oz can) — $0.11
1 tsp of dried oregano — $0.05
pinch of red pepper flakes — $0.02
1 tbsp sugar — $0.02
salt, pepper — negligible

Total: $1.35

Start boiling a lot of water in a big pot for the pasta. Wash the basil, remove stems so there are only the leaves. Set aside. Peel and mince (or sliver if desired) all 6 garlic cloves. In a skillet, heat up 1 tbsp of the olive oil (extra virgin olive oil tastes best) over medium heat for a minute or so. Add the oregano (if dried, roll between fingers to release more flavor), garlic, red pepper flakes and a few grinds of black pepper to the oil and cook for about 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Don’t let the garlic and oregano burn, turn the heat down if needed.

Open up the can of tomatoes and add it to the pan, along with the liquid from the tomatoes. Add the sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10-20 minutes. Depends on how blended you like your sauce. Meanwhile, add thin spaghetti to boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain pasta in collander, reserving about 1/4 cup of the cooking water.

Now cut up your basil. Add pasta, cooking water, and remaining olive oil to sauce in pan and toss to coat. Add salt, pepper to taste. Serve in plate topped with parmesan cheese and basil.

Continue reading “Barilla Thin Spaghetti” …

I went to Boston a few years ago to visit a friend who was just exiting the MIT program there. One of the best things I remember about the city was the food, and that included quite a few seafood joints… some good and some not. There were also a lot of bowls of Clam Chowder to be had there, and I did manage to try the Legal Seafood Clam Chowder which I thought was good though a bit on the salty side.

Not that we have any standards of excellence at Cheap Eats, but it is quite another thing to go from homemade or restaurant Clam Chowder to the kind in a can. This is the subject of today’s Cheap Eats special: Progresso Clam Chowder.

I know a lot of you are going to say you wouldn’t touch canned clam chowder with a 10 foot spoon, but there’s times when you just don’t feel like farking around with a fishmonger who doesn’t know a clam from a ham.

I have always stuck with non-condensed versions for canned chowder… that is soup that you can drink straight out of the can instead of adding bunches of water. One of the problems for me though, is that I think the “salt” taste buds on my tongue are malfunctioning compared to the average American because in nearly every case canned clam chowder straight up is just too powerful for me. It’s also quite thick and viscous and sometimes hard to eat; almost like clam slime instead of soup.

I think most people actually like their clam chowder really thick and while that may be a good thing in homemade soup, for the canned variety I think they just add a whole mess of thickener starch to it. It’s gloppy like corn starch. I’m not even sure what that is, nor do I care to know!

So, I always add a bit of water to the mix. About 1/8 to 1/2 a can will do ya good. And this is keeping in the spirit of Cheap Eats because you’ve just created more food out of thin air by just adding some water.

Continue reading “Progresso Clam Chowder” …

I have a lot of good memories of eating Corned Beef Hash fried up straight out of the can for breakfast in my parent’s motorhome on camping trips when I was little. My mom was a stickler for home cooked food that if possible was not preseved or canned, but she made allowances for camping when it was difficult to cook up stuff in the camper.

She’d get a few eggs and crack them on top of the whole mess and let that sit for awhile while it crisped up in the pan. It was usually served with toast, though I’d been known to shovel it in as is.

But I hadn’t eaten this for awhile, so since I was trawling at the Dollar Tree (a la Bottom Feeder) the other day I decided to pick up a can of Hartford House Corned Beef Hash and see if it still tasted the same. Now, I think the Corned Beef Hash we used to eat before was made by good old Hormel. I couldn’t even really find the Hartford House company or band online, which definitely was not a promising sign!

The extreme consolation here was that it only cost a buck. Dang, but it IS dangerous shopping at the 99 cent stores. You come away with all of this junk that costs a buck each, but it sure adds up. We bought about $12 worth of stuff. The store was packed too… no wonder they’re so popular!

Opening up a can of corned beef hash can be an enlightening experience if you haven’t opened one before, or you’ve never opened up a can of dog or cat food. Wow. Another helpful hint in opening the can… don’t smell it. There are plenty of foods that taste great but smell bad, and this is definitely one of them. It smells pretty much like dog food. The consistency is nearly the same, except this has tiny squares of potato in it instead of ground up with the meat.

Continue reading “Corned Beef Hash” …

A few months ago, Cheap Eats reader Earl had suggested that I try out Chicken Bouillon Cubes instead of canned Chicken Stock in cooking. I had always been interested in this, though a bit leery because I remember trying soup made out of bouillon cubes when I was a kid and being disappointed. It just had a really artificial taste to it.

A side note, I keep wanting to type “boullion” instead of “bouillon”, darn french…

But I still wanted to see how it would do as a flavor agent for simple pastas and other sauces, if not straight up as soup. Because with canned chicken stock the majority of what you’re buying is basically water. So I went down to Albertson’s to look for some bouillon cubes.

They had the generic cubes and the “Knorr” brand and a few other ones there. But I was really interested in getting one that had NO MSG in it. Not that I’m a health nut about it, but if I could avoid it I might try.

In the end I picked up Herb-ox Bouillon Cubes. What a weird name. It sounds like a combination of Herbs and Botox, haha! Or maybe herb-flavored ox. Yums. Interestingly, this is made by Hormel of chili fame. In any case, it warn’t that cheap (I think it was 2 something for 25 cubes.) But I figured I’d give it a shot just because of the lack of MSG.

Reading the Hormel website I saw that Herb-ox has been made for nearly a century! I guess I’ve never bought bouillon before so I’ve never heard of it. Maybe I’ll ask my mom if she remembers it.

Continue reading “Herb-Ox Bouillon Cubes” …