Costco Cuisine

A Collection Of Costco Quinoa Salad Copycat Recipes

2024-09-14T05:47:00.000-07:00

Costco has a lot of great products in their deli section and one of the most popular is the Quinoa Salad. While searching online I discovered that a lot of people have been coming up with copycat recipes and I thought I might share them with you today. I do want to be clear, I haven’t made any of these but the reviews are overwhelming positive so I thought they should be be brought to others attention.

Here is one from The Tasteful Tribe.

Nourished by Nic also has one.

Another blog focusing on good nutrition, Wellness by Kay also has one.

And finally, we have one by Clean Eating Kitchen.

As you can see, given quinoa’s well deserved reputation as a superfood, many of these copycat recipes are from nutrition focused individuals. That these recipes are also delicious according to their readers makes for a win-win situation!

So please check out these fellow food bloggers, they have done some great work

I hope you enjoy checking these out and happy eating!

Costco 12 Piece Anodized Cookware on Closeout for $119-It has an Asterik!

2024-09-05T02:51:00.000-07:00

Most experienced Costco shoppers know the asterisk on a price tag means an item is discontinued. I saw that on the Kirkland Signature 12 Piece Non-Stick cookware set.

This generally gets good reviews so this is probably your last opportunity to buy this value priced set.

I also noticed they had a bent box unit of it for $95 at the Kalamazoo, Michigan store.

That is a pretty good price. Somebody is going to get a great deal!

Sweet and Savory Grape Appetizers Inspired by the Costco Connection Magazine September 2024 Issue

2024-09-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

I was reading the September 2024 issue of the Costco Connection magazine and I came upon a recipe for Sweet and Savory Grape Appetizers. (When the magazine goes live online, I will add a link to the recipe). I asked my lovely wife what she thought of the idea and she was quite enthusiastic. We already had some Jarlsberg cheese in the fridge so I stopped at Costco and bought some grapes, mini mozzarella cheese balls and some salami. My lovely wife has a garden with fresh basil so we were set to try this out.

My lovely wife thought of making two types of skewers: one set with grapes and Jarlsberg cheese and another set with a mixture of cherry and grape tomatoes from my lovely wife’s garden and the fresh mozzarella. Both turned out to be attractive as well as tasty.

We took these over to our friend’s house for gaming night snacks and they were a tremendous hit. People liked the mixed of sweet and savory and there were three different food groups in one snack!

To sum up, these were easy to make, a real crowd pleaser and they had some real variety with just one style of snack. And you can customize them with the cheese of your choice.

We were so impressed with these that we decided that we will take them to our company picnic to impress my coworkers!

Eat, be well and be happy!

Review of Ajinomoto Pork and Chicken Gyoza

2024-08-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

With this on sale until Sunday 9/1, we thought we would try them. They come 60 to a box.

They then come wrapped in sub-packages.

They do cook up as quickly as described on the package. My lovely wife made a pretty presentation and kept with the Asian theme by serving them with green peas and mandarin oranges.

We liked these and they are tasty enough and made for a good meal. But we also definitely enjoy the beef mandu significantly more. The Ling-Ling Potstickers are also somewhat better and even at the current full price are a better value.

Let me be clear, they were okay, but simply put, other similar products at Costco taste better and/or are a better value so my assumption is we will never buy these again.

New link posted-Cooking the Costco Way Facebook page

2024-08-28T01:41:00.000-07:00

While browsing Facebook for Costco related pages, I found a fine new cooking site.

Cooking the Costco Way.

I have added it to our list of links.

He seems to be a pretty good cook with a different focus than what we do so I thought he deserved a solid shout out.

Jarlsberg and Gouda Penne with Chicken Sausage.

2024-08-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

Jarlsberg is on sale this week so we wanted to try something cheesy and different than our previous dinners by making a pasta dish. The Sabatino sausages were also on sale for some added punch to the dish.

I grated Jarlsberg and Smoked Gouda (about 2 cups total).

I added a couple tablespoons of corn starch and distributed it to allow the cheese sauce to thicken and to avoid clumping.

In a Dutch oven, I added a cup of Pinot Grigio and started slowly adding the cheese after it came to a simmer. We will admit we bought the wine from Aldi but Costco has plenty of affordable quality wines that we could have used.

After all the cheese was melted, four sausages were cut up and added. The dish was seasoned with freshly ground nutmeg and black pepper and finished by adding a half pound of cooked penne.

In the end, this was a very satisfying and easy to make dish which we will surely replicate. The cheeses worked well together with the simple white wine sauce. Adding the sausage gave some variety and lent a meat portion to the dish. The cost for six servings was probably less than the cost of one meal at a restaurant and it took about the same if not less time than going to a restaurant or getting delivery.

A good home cooked meal like this is satisfying, tasty and quick. And shopping at Costco makes it an absolute bargain.

Review of Rana Beef and Short Rib Lasagna on sale at Costco

2024-08-24T02:27:00.000-07:00

Like many people, we love lasagna but it is a dish that takes some time and effort to prepare so something that you can just put in the oven has a lot of appeal. And it being on sale made it easy to try.

It comes refrigerated, so that definitely makes it a bit more upscale than frozen.

You take it out of the cardboard box and is pretty much ready to go into the oven.

Since it is refrigerated, it only takes 20 minutes to bake and you are all set for dinner!

My lovely wife and I both enjoyed it. It has good texture and flavor. It also had solid portions of meat and cheese- it wasn’t all tomato sauce and noodles. While not as good as the best homemade or restaurant lasagna, it was tasty and a good value. And at 20 minutes of baking time, it is faster than ordering out.

It also has a really good shelf life so you can stock up.

Go ahead and indulge in some lasagna, it’s easy, quick and affordable.

A Review of Kevin’s Paleo Thai-Style Coconut Chicken at Costco

2024-08-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

With it being on sale for $3.50 off this month, we definitely thought this was worth a try. It comes in a 32 oz total package with the sauce and the chicken packed separately.

It can be heated up on the stove top or in the microwave which does increase its versatility. In either case, the prep is pretty easy.

The heated chicken and sauce came together quickly and looked tasty and smelled good.

We are big fans of the Lotus Foods Millet and Brown Rice Ramen Noodles at Costco. The big bag of them is pretty affordable about at Costco and they are more flavorful and and have more fiber than your standard ramen.

Being ramen noodles, they cook up in just a few minutes.

As we expected, the noodles paired very nicely with the chicken and the sauce.

This is not the best coconut chicken you will ever have but it is certainly tasty and a good value at full price. On sale it is definitely a bargain. My lovely wife did suggest the next time we get it that we throw in some frozen vegetables, most likely frozen peas. We also might try it with rice.

If you enjoy curries, this an affordable, easy to prep option that will save you lots of time and money over getting takeout.

Summary of Some Food Deals at Costco from 7/31-8/24 2024

2024-07-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

I felt some commentary on this months deals might be useful. I do realize that the numbers are going to be different, but since all food has gone up, Costco is still clearly a leader in value.

This month they have the Frito-Lay Classic Mix 54 pack on sale for $5 off. I have previously written about the Baked Lays saving you calories and money. While the Classic Mix pack won't save you calories, it will save you a lot of money over vending machine or the overpriced bags at the store checkout.

Save yourself some money and have some portion control and buy these at Costco!

While not a food item, the Ziploc Variety Pack is also on sale. While reusable containers are have a lot of advantages, at this price the occasional use of disposable bags makes some sort of financial sense.

The Ocean Spray Craisins are again on sale. Over the years we have done a number of posts about them:

An Apple Compote.

Homemade Trail Mix.

Pork Loin with Cranberry Relish and Mixed Grain Salad.

Bacon and Tomato Ravioli with a Salad of Romaine, Almonds and Cranberries.

The Ling Ling Potstickers are again on sale. Here is a review of them we did.

The Columbus Reduced Sodium Sliced Italian Dry Salami is also on sale again. This is a great product just as a snack, on a charcuterie board, in sandwiches and on pizza. We have done a variety of posts about this lovely product.

We are thinking about trying the Coconut Chicken and the Lasagna that are on sale. Hopefully we will be reporting back with reviews.

Cinnamon Breadsticks with Glaze

2024-03-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time but things have happened in my life that I have thought of restarting the blog again. I found this mostly completed post so I thought why not?

Readers of this blog are probably familiar with our enjoyment of pizza and cheesy breadsticks. It is something that works really well for us. I make a couple of pizzas using Tyler Florence's very reliable pizza dough recipe and set aside some dough in the refrigerator for breadsticks later.

The cheesy breadsticks do certainly rock but my wife suggested that we branch out into cinnamon breadsticks and I thought that was an awesome idea.

I started out with some dough I set aside in the fridge and rolled it out to about the same thickness I use for pizza. I think slathered it with some melted Kerrygold butter.

Then we give it a hearty sprinkle of a mix of 1 part cinnamon/3 parts sugar. We use the wonderful and affordable Saigon Cinnamon from Costco

My lovely and smart wife suggested instead of slicing and then moving the breadsticks to the cookie sheet that we just slice it on the cookie sheet and pull the pieces apart later.

My wife is a very smart woman and it made the job much easier and made the breadsticks prettier.

These are very tasty, very easy and very affordable. They are great as a treat or for breakfast. If you like cinnamon these are definitely worth making.

Enjoy!

Rana Gnocchi Skillet Kit Review-A Quick, Tasty and Affordable Side Dish

2020-08-25T17:09:00.001-07:00

The Rana Gnocchi Skillet Kit is on sale at Costco unit 8/30, so you still have a few days to buy it. The regular price on it is definitely okay but on sale it is a pretty solid deal for a yummy side dish. It comes in about a 1 and a half pound bag, it serves six and it is refrigerated.

It is really well organized and packaged. That certainly helps speed up the prep which takes 10 minutes or less.

You start out by melting the butter and then cooking and browning the gnocchi.

Then you add the cheese sauce, mix and warm the sauce and you are ready to go! We made a very light supper out of this by serving it with the Normandy Blend Vegetables that we keep in the freezer.

This was a great light supper since we wanted something less heavy that night. But if you are doing a complete meal of a vegetable, a side dish and a meat this is a fabulous choice for something chicken or pork based. I am thinking we might serve this along with some other side dish options to go with some grilled chicken sausage on Labor Day.

You could also stir in some cooked Italian sausage or some chicken and turn it in a main course pretty easily.

So indulge yourself affordably and easily and pick up some of the Rana Gnocchi Kits while they are on sale. After trying it out we bought two more bags of it! It has a great shelf life of well over a month so you can keep it around for when you need it.

They are not to be passed up.

Be safe and be well.

Summary of Food and Related Items on Sale at Costco From 8/5 to 8/30

2020-08-11T07:04:00.001-07:00

Costco has a number of food, beverage, pet food and related items on sale this month. Here is a summary:

FoodSaver Multi-Use Food Preservation System $50 off, $99.99 after discount, Limit 5

FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing Combo Pack, $10 off, $29.99 after discount, Limit 5

Snapware Platic Food Storage Set, 38 piece, $4 off, $15.99 after discount, Limit 5

Pyrex Mixing Mixing Bowl Set, 8 piece (4 bowls with matching lids), $3 off, $11.99 after discount, limit 5. This is a favorite of ours. We love them. They are functional, affordable, attractive and they store easily stacked inside of each other. Aside from mixing, these are also nice serving bowls for casual use. We also use one of these bowls for making our weekly batch of oatmeal.

Keurig K-Duo Plus Coffee Maker, $40 off, Limit 5

NutriBullet Blender Combo, $20 off, $79.99 after discount, Limit 5

Kirkland Signature K-Cup Pods, 120 count, $5 off, $31.99 after discount, Limit 5

Red Bull Energy Drink, 24 count / 8.4 fl oz, Save $7, Limit 2

Folgers Ground Coffee Classic Roast, 51 oz, $2 off, Limit 5

Sambazon Organi Acai Superfruit Juice, 64 fl oz, Save $3, Limit 3

S. Pellegrino Essenza Sparkling Water Variety Pack, 24 count / 11 fl oz, $4 off, Limit 5

Perrier Sparkling Water, 24 count / 16.9 fl oz, $4.50 off, Limit 5

Perfect Hydration Water, 24 count / 20 fl oz, $4 off, Limit 10

Hint Flavored Water Variety Pack, 15 count 16 fl oz, Limit 5

GoGo SqueeZ Organic Blastz Fruit Pouches Variety Pack, 16 count / 3.9 ox, $3.50 off, Limit 10

Capri Sun 100% Juice Variety Pack, 40 count / 6 fl oz, $4 off, Limit 5

Starbucks Pike Place K-Cup Pods Medium Roast, 72 count, $7 off, $29.99 after discount, Limit 5

Skinny Pop Popcorn, 28 count / 0.65 oz, $4 off, Limit 5

Sensible Portions Sea Salt Garden Veggie Straws, 25 oz, $2 off, Limit 10

Black Forest Organic Gummy Bears, 65 count, $4 off, limit 4

Meiji Hello Panda Chocolate Creme Filled Cookies, 32 count, $2.50 off, Limit 5

Oberto or Pacific Gold Original Beef Jerky, 16 oz, $4.20 off, Limit 4

Edward Marc Coconut Almonds with Dark Chocolate, 32 oz, $3.90 off, Limit 10

WildRoots Trail Mix Coastal Berry, 26 oz, $2.70 off, Limit 10. While we enjoy making our own trail mix this certainly looks like a tasty alternative.

Pepperige Farm Goldfish Crackers, 45 count / 1 oz package, $3 off, Limit 5. Where I work we bring in treats for our birthday and I brought these in last year. They were very popular. Now with Covid-19 they make even more sense for a safe and tasty indulgence.

Nature Valley Granola Bars Oats 'N Honey, 49 count, $3.80 off, Limit 10

Kellogg's Rice Krispie Treats Original Flavor, 60 count, $3.50 off, Limit 6. A few years ago I had to provide refreshments for a training session for Toastmasters and I used these are desert. They worked well since they were safe for people with food allergies and they are individually packed.

Pure Protein Bar Variety Pack, 21 count, $5 off, Limit 10

Premier 30g Protein Shakes 18 count / 11 fl oz, $7 off, Limit 2 each of four different flavors

RXBAR, 16 count / 1.83 oz, $5.50 off, Limit 4

Frito-Lay Classic Mix Variety Pack, 54 Count, $3.60 off, Limit 5. While these aren't the baked versions that I wrote about some years ago, the cost savings for buying these over the vending machine are real and have only gotten more substantial where I work. And now with Covid-19 they have shut down our break room so we can only bring in our own snacks.

Kellog Eggo Waffles Homestyle, 72 Count, $3 off, Limit 6. While we prefer homemade waffles these are definitely convenient for school/workday breakfast.

Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats, 2/35 oz boxes, $3 off, Limit 10.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch, 2/ 24.75 oz boxes, $2.10 off, Limit 5

Chobani Non-Fat Greek Yogurt Variety Pack, 20 count/ 5.3 oz, $4 off, Limit 8

Hellmann's or Best Foods Mayonnaise, 64 fl oz, $2 off, Limit 6

Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, 2 / 40 fl oz bottles, $3 off, Limit 2

Marinara Sauce, White Linen and/or Organic, 2 / 40 oz jars, $3 off, Limit 10

Hillshire Farm Lunch Meat Variety Pack 3 packages / 1 pound each, $4 off, Limit 1

Columbus Antibiotic Free Seasoned Sliced Chicken Breast Nitrate Free, $4 off, Limit 3

Season Skinless & Boneless Sardines in Olive Oil, 6 count / 4.375 oz, $3 off, Limit 10. These are an easy way to add fish to your diet.

Sandwich Brothers Chicken Melts Flatbread Pocket Sandwiches, 15 count, $3 off, Limit 3

Don Lee Farms Organic Chipotle Black Bean Burger, 12 count, Save $5, Limit 3. We have previously enjoyed other brands of black bean burgers at Costco and I have full confidence that these are also a quality product.

Don Lee Farms Organic Veggie Bites 28 oz, $3 off, Limit 3. I would think these would be good to dip in the Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing that is on sale this month. They are also an easy way to add a healthy fish to your diet.

CJ Bibigo Steamed Dumplings Chicken and Vegetable, 36 count, $3.50 off, Limit 3. These come in 6 trays of 6 each along with 6 sauce packs. They make a great quick and easy lunch. I am very fond of these.

Snapdragon Vietnamese Pho Bowls, 9 count/ 2.1 oz, $3 off, Limit 10. My lovely wife is particularly fond of these and this will be another item we purchase this month.

Rana Gnocchi Skillet Kit 23.6 oz, $2.50 off, Limit 3. I love gnocchi and I will definitely be buying this and hopefully doing a review before the sale is over.

And for our four legged friends, we have three Costco Canine Cuisine Items:

Jerky Treats Dog Snacks Beef Flavor 60 oz, $5 off, Limit 5

Nylabone Edible Dog Chews Grain Free with Real Bison, 48 count, $5.50 off, Limit 10

Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Adult Dog Food, Chicken & Brown Rice, 38 lbs, $13 off, Limit 10.

I recommend checking with your local human society or animal rescue to see if they take donations of pet food and other products. It is a great way to help out homeless animals. There are also pet food pantries that help out by providing food to owners that are in financial need. Given the current unemployment rate I would certainly think there are plenty of pet owners that could use a helping hand.

Take care everyone and be safe and be well.

Peppers And Tomatoes Stuffed With Quinoa And Chorizo

2020-06-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have been intrigued by the idea of stuffed peppers for a long time. My mother's side of the family immigrated from Eastern Europe two generations ago and stuffed peppers are a favorite in those cultures. I thought the idea of using something hearty and healthy to stuff peppers with sounded like a great idea, but I thought I could put my own spin on it. I have seen various quinoa stuffed veggies over the years and that seemed like a good start. After some further thought, I decided to use cooked chorizo as the meat in the dish. Admittedly the sausage makes the dish way less healthy but I do feel less guilty since quinoa rocks as a superfood. I do have to be honest I made the food more for taste than nutrition but there is at least some nutrition to it with the vegetables, the quinoa and the chia seed.

But that was not the only way I experimented with the dish. While discussing this idea with my wife, she suggested adding a poblano chili to the stuffing and I thought that was an excellent idea. Then, to round out the flavors, we added some chopped onion. Finally, since my wife is not fond of cooked peppers, we stuffed some tomatoes to suit her tastes. The final dish was as follows:

1 small sweet onion chopped
1 pound chorizo
1 poblano, seeded and chopped
1 cup quinoa, cooked according to directions
About 1 tablespoon of chia seed(Available from Costco)

Peppers and tomatoes, tops cut off and centers cleaned for stuffing

Oven was preheated to 350 degrees.

The chorizo and onion were sauteed together, until the chorizo was cooked through. The chopped poblano was then added and cooked for a few moments. Finally, the cooked quinoa was added, along with chia. The filling was mixed together and then the vegetables were stuffed.

The stuffed vegetables were placed in the oven and cooked until the tops were browned a bit, about 20 minutes. (Please feel free to cook these to your preference).

Aside from being good eats, I thought the results were attractive:

This was definitely a success and I highly recommend experimenting with stuffed peppers and tomatoes.

A Review of Costco's Beef Bulogi Korean BBQ

2020-06-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

As readers of this blog know we like to cook but sometimes we like a tasty meal that is not a lot of work. Costco's Beef Bulogi Korean Barbecue nails this for us.

It is sold in the deli section in a good family sized portion and as soon as you open it, it looks good!

Before cooking, my wife cut it up a bit and then put it in our red Tramontina skillet we got from Costco. We have affectionately nicknamed this pan "Big Red" and it gets a lot of use in our house. It is one of the few items we kept when we upgraded our cookware with that fabulous set of Calphalon from Costco.

After cooking it smells good and looks great.

We served it with brown rice and Costco's Quinoa Salad. I imagine some people find the two side dishes redundant but the rice and the salad really have very different tastes and texture profiles so there is a lot of good variety in this meal.

This worked really well for us. The beef was a flavorful and quick meat dish, the rice was a nice compliment to eat with the beef and the salad was a tasty, brightly flavored side dish.

The beef bulogi also works well in a beef sandwich so you can leverage into a variety of different meals.

This is has definitely become one of our favorite deli items at Costco and we will definitely buy it again.

Our Best Pizza Ever-Chicken and Artichoke Hearts with Pesto Sauce and Fresh Mozzarella

2020-06-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

We have made a lot of pizza at home over the years and with the current pandemic we have been make it about every other week lately. We do a lot of pepperoni by itself or with a variety of toppings. But we do tend to make two pizzas at a time and we also go for some variety. We had some chicken in the freezer that I pulled out for the meat on the second pizza. For a crust, I made our extremely reliable and easy recipe from Tyler Florence.

For a sauce on the pizza we used the Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto.

Here is the crust with the pesto on it:

I add some Artichoke Hearts from Costco.

After adding the chicken the pizza is starting to look pretty good!

Finally, I add the Belgioioso Fresh Mozzarella and it goes in the oven with its companion pepperoni based pizza.

Bake it until it is golden brown and delicious and you end up with this magnificent pizza.

The pesto sauce gives a very different cheesy, herbal flavor versus the more typical marinara sauce. Chicken as a meat is a good match for the other major topping of the artichoke hearts. Finally, the fresh mozzarella completes the profile of brighter, less heavy flavors.

As I said, we tend to make a lot of pizza. We always have enjoyed what we have made but this one really stands out as the best pizza we have ever made. And with all the quality ingredients we get from Costco at a great price it is really easy and affordable to make.

I absolutely recommend getting some pesto, cheese and artichoke hearts from Costco and making your own killer pizza like this.

I am really confident you will love it.

Enjoy!

Costco In Warehouse Hot Buys for 6/13 to 6/20

2020-06-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

Costco is again running a weeklong Hot Buy Sale. Below is a summary of food, beverage and cooking related items.

Kerrygold Salted or Unsalted Butter, $4 off, Limit 3. Here is a link to various posts involving Kerrygold Butter.

Beyond Meat The Beyond Burger, 8/4oz patties, $3 off, Limit 3. While I have not had these burgers yet, we have enjoyed meatless burgers and burgers in general.

Trident Alaska Salmon Burgers, 12 count, $4 off, limit 3

San Pellegrino 24/15.9 fl oz bottles, $4.50 off, Limit 5

Cheetos Crunchy, 28.8 oz bag, $1.50 off, Limit 4

Mini Watermelon, Organic or Conventional, $1 off, Limit 10

Sonoma Creamery Bacon Cheddar Crisps, 10 oz, $2.90 off, No Limit

Kind Bars Nuts and Spices Variety Pack, 20 count, $5 off, Limit 5

Sabatier 10 Piece Cutlery Set with Acacia Wood Block, $15 off, Limit 5

GoGurt, 32/2.25oz, $3.20 off, Limit 10

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookie, 60 count, $1.50 off, No Limit

Raisin Bran Crunch, 2/28.3 oz bags, $2.40 off, Limit 10

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Keurig K-Cup Pods, Hazelnut Flavored, 54 count, $19.99, Limit 5

Review Of Hawaiian Style Chicken by Naples Kitchen On Sale At Costco Until 6/14

2020-06-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

We saw this in the monthly sales flyer and I knew we had to try it and we are very glad we did. It was normally $14.99 but with the coupon it was only $10.49 for the three pound package.

The directions were to warm up the chicken in the oven and the sauce separately in a pan on the stove but I was lazy and ignored the directions and just dumped it all into a 9 by 13 glass baking dish.

I put it in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F and it came out like this:

We served it with rice and some of the Normandy Style Vegetables we keep on hand in the freezer.

We really like this chicken. It had a bit of tang and sweetness, but it was definitely not a Sweet and Sour Chicken. It definitely had character, flavor and good texture. Serving it with rice gave something to up soak up every little bit of the yummy sauce and the vegetables on the side made it a complete meal.

My only comment is that I should have followed directions. Heating up the sauce separately like the directions said would have made for a better temperature of the chicken and the sauce. But that is completely my fault-next time I will follow the instructions!

Also, we found that this made six really nice servings with the meal as we served it. The package says 10 servings but to do that you would probably want more on the side to make it a complete meal. But even at full price at six servings per package that $2.50 a serving and on sale it is less than $1.80 per serving. You can use this as a foundation of a really nice meal and even with sides still come out at a less than the price of a Whopper Junior meal.

We will definitely buy this again and it gets a full and complete recommendation from me and my wife.

June 2 Is National Rotisserie Chicken Day And Here Are Some Of My Favorite Posts

2020-06-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

Rotisserie Chicken is one of the best food inventions ever and it is fitting that there is a day to celebrate this glorious food! I thought this was a good time to go over some of our best posts about the fine birds we get at Costco.

One of our favorite things to do with Rotisserie Chicken is to remove the the meat and put it in recipe sized containers and make stock from the carcasses.

Two Birds in the Hand is Worth Five Packages of Chicken and Four Quarts of Stock in the Freezer.

Using the chicken and stock we have in the freezer I made some wonderful Chicken Soup with a couple of twists to it.

Chicken Quinoa Soup with Vegetables.

It is getting warmer and summer salads make a great meal. They can also be lighting fast. Here is one that came together at warp speed.

Caprese Con Pollo Salad.

Here is another salad idea but this one has beans in it for a totally different but tasty character.

Chicken Salad With Cannellini Beans, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Green Pepper and Sweet Onion.

Sometimes I like to take a recipe from someone else, make a a bunch changes and then have some with similar flavors but essentially a brand new dish.

Chicken with Artichoke Hearts in a Piccata Style Sauce Over Rice.

I can say with complete confidence I will have more posts using this versatile, flavorful and affordable food.

Be well and good eating to you all.

Dinner with Kirkland Signature Pesto on Pasta with Sabatino's Sausage and Normandy Vegetables- A True Costco Meal

2020-06-01T04:16:00.000-07:00

We like to cook but sometimes it is nice to have a meal at home that you put together yourself but is also a real time saver. That was this dinner. I started by turning on the Griddler and getting it warm. At the same time I got the water boiling for the pasta. For a sauce for the spaghetti I chose the Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto. This is an excellent pesto at a great Costco price.

For the meat serving I chose the Sabatino's Smoked Mozzarella with Artichokes and Garlic Chicken Sausage. Being a chicken sausage they are somewhat lower in fat than beef or pork sausages but they taste great. They are also fully cooked so all you have to do is get them warm. However we do like to brown them for maximum taste but that is your choice. While I used our Griddler for quick indoor cooking these are also fabulous over a charcoal grill.

They were on sale at Costco earlier this year and we tried them in part because of that. But we will definitely consider buying them again for their great taste and convenience. They come in a three pound package with four smaller packages of four each for a total of 16 sausages.

For the vegetables we had some Kirkland Signature Normandy Style Vegetable Blend. Having frozen veggies on hand is a nutritious and convenient strategy. All you have to do is microwave them and you are ready to eat.

While we cooking the pasta I microwaved the veggies and grilled the sausage. Dinner came together very quickly and easily. And it was a breeze to serve.

This meal was complete with vegetables, meat and pasta. It was also darn tasty too and pretty affordable. Add in the fact that it came together in minutes make this a real winner for a weekday supper or an easy weekend lunch. Actually, it is a fine meal anytime but when you need some speed this really rocks!

Enjoy!

Summary of Costco Food on Sale in Coupon Book for 05/20-6/14

2020-05-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

After a hiatus of regular monthly food sales it appears that Costco is back on track. Below is a summary of all the food some charcoal (for grilling) and a dog treat. Pets get special consideration here at Costco Cuisine with us referring to the items for them as Costco Canine Cuisine. (When some cat items show up that are treat related I will refer to them as Feline Cuisine).

Most of the items below are warehouse only but a few can be shipped.

Happy Eating!

Snack Factory Organic Pretzel Crisps 28 oz, $2.90 Off, Limit 5

Angie’s BoomChickaPop Kettle Corn 25oz, Buy One Get One Free, Limit 5

Power Up Trail Mix Variety Pack 24 count, $4.10 Off, Limit 5

Clif Bar Variety Pack, 24 count, $5 Off, Limit 2

Innofoods Organic Dark Chocolate Nuggets 18oz, $2.30 Off Limit 4

Shelia G’s Chocolate Chip Brownie Brittle 16oz, Buy One Get One Free, Limit 5

Nature Valley Sweet and Salty Peanut Granola Bars 48 count, $3.90 Off, Limit 5

Heinz Picnic pack (Two Bottles Ketchup and One Each Sweet Relish and Yellow Mustard), $3 Off, Limit 2

Kingsford Professional Briquets 2/18 lb bags, $6 Off, Limit 2

Nylabone Natural Nubz Edible Dog Chews 22 count, $5 Off, Limit 2 (Costco Canine Cuisine)

Bai Antioxidant Variety Pack 15/18 fl oz, $4.50 Off, Limit 10

Red Bull Energy Drink Original and/or Sugar Free 24/ 8.4 fl oz, $7 Off, Limit 2

Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino 15/9.5 fl oz, $4 Off, Limit 5

Spindrift Sparkling Water Variety Pack 30/12 fl oz, $4 Off, Limit 10

Humm Organic Kombucha Variety Pack, 6/14 fl oz, $4 Off, No Limit

Activa Variety Pack, 24/4 fl ox, $3 Off, No Limit

Nestle Drumstick Variety Pack, 16 count, $2.50 Off, Limit 3

Melona Frozen Desert Bars Variety Pack, 24 count, $3.30, Limit 3

President Feta Crumbles, 24 oz, $2.70, No Limit

Hawaiian Style Grill Chicken 3 lbs, $4.50, Limit 2

Rana Tagliatelle Grilled Chicken & Portobello Mushroom Sauce 40 oz, $3 Off, No Limit

Noosa Yoghurt Variety Pack, 12/ 4 oz, $2.90, No Limit

A Family Tradition-Sunday Waffles with Kirkland Signature Maple Syrup and a Link to Kerrygold Recipes

2020-05-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

When I met my wife she informed that her family had a major tradition of Sunday brunch with the main course being waffles. Alas, as some family members have moved or passed away those brunches have become more of an anomaly versus a regularity. We do go through changes in life and I appreciate that but I do feel a sense of loss of such a righteous family activity.

With the Coronavirus we don't currently can't attend a live church service although we do watch ours (which is performed in an empty church) via a live stream. As part of connecting to family and food we have started the tradition of Sunday morning waffles before we watch church.

The waffle recipe below is a core part of my wife's family. They have been using it for decades. It was created by my wife's grandfather when he took her uncles on scouting/camping trips. (That is why it has powdered milk in it.) Later, they started using at the family cabin and that is why it is called the Cabin Recipe.

This recipe will also work for pancakes, the kind that grandpas make for their grandkids with their initials or other shapes. Also, the recipe scales down very effectively. The version below is for eight servings but we scale it down for four servings. With four servings my wife and I each get two waffles on Sunday and another two as leftovers on Monday. Leftover waffles are definitely a great way to start the week!

I would like to thank my wife for two things. The first is for sharing this recipe and the second is for translating this recipe. Grandpa was a mechanical engineer and the way he wrote the recipe reflects that with most measurements in decimal format (example- 0.61 C Powdered Milk)! My wife converted the quantities and other things so that it would make sense to a non-engineer.

Cabin Waffle Recipe

Eggs	4	Each
Sugar	¼	Cup
Vanilla	1	Teaspoon
Powdered Milk	¾	Cup
Water	2 ½	Cup
Oil	½	Cup
Salt	1	Teaspoon
Flour	4	Cup
Baking Powder	2	Tablespoon

Whip the eggs until fluffy, add the rest of the ingredients in order. Incorporate the flour and baking powder until just barely mixed. The batter should still appear lumpy. Do not overmix.

Substitutions: 3 cups milk for powdered milk & water. This recipe was created to allow for use while camping.

While the waffle recipe is excellent, there are two things that really put the waffles over the top. The first one is Kerrygold Butter. Speaking of Kerrygold, I have added a link to their recipe page.

The second is Kirkland Signature Maple Syrup. This is definitely another great Costco product at an excellent price.

And finally, it all comes together in one delicious breakfast.

At some point we will go back to attending church in person and won't have time before church to make waffles and relax eating them. But we will still have occasional brunch on Sunday and breakfast on Saturday as opportunities to make them. Now that we have waffles back we aren't going to give them up!

Some Pizza Ideas With BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella and a New Link

2020-05-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

We like making pizza at home fairly occasionally. We enjoy the ownership of making our own food, the flavor, the fun of cooking and the value. Sure, we get takeout pizza also, but making our own pizza is something we value and frankly do very well.

I have blogged previously that our preferred pizza dough is from Tyler Florence at the Food Network. It is a great tasting dough with good texture and it is really reliable. This is important because having the basic components of a dish be of good quality is important. Another important fundamental item for pizza is cheese. While we have made pizza without mozzarella, it goes on most of our pizza. Our preferred choice for mozzarella is BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella from Costco.

It is a very high quality cheese and at $6.99 for two pounds of it, the price is really right at Costco. We also like the convenience of it. It comes in two separate one pound packages which makes it handy to use. Finally, it is sliced and that saves some hassle and timel. All in all a great product at a great price.

Recently, we made a couple of pizzas using some homemade marinara sauce (which we will cover in another post) and some various toppings.

One pizza was topped with marinara, pineapple, ham and finally with cheese. The other was a triple meat of pepperoni, ham and bacon topped with cheese, although my side of it had mushrooms and olives which are not to my lovely wife's liking.

We really enjoyed both of these pizzas. The Hawaiian style pizza had a sweeter, brighter taste with the glazed ham and the pineapple. The triple meat pizza was very hearty and also really hit the spot.

Yes, it is sometimes nice to get pizza from your local place, a chain or Costco but there are also the times when making a killer pizza at home is delicious and satisfying to the heart and the wallet. And as I write this, we are still dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic and this sort of food and cooking does bring me a sense of accomplishment that helps me to deal with the world.

So make some dough, save some dough and have a delicious pizza. And for more ideas on what to do with BelGioioso Fresh Mozzarella, visit their recipe page that I have added to the link sections.

Take care and be well!

Costco Sale From 05/09/20 to 05/17/20

2020-05-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

I noticed that Costco has a sale going on until 5/17/2020. They have changed their sale schedule lately in what I assume is a response to the Coronavirus.

Among the various food items on sale are:

Organic Blueberries: 18 oz $3.99/ 32 oz $6.99

Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats $3 off

Gourmet Chocolate Chunk Cookies $1.50 off

CJ Bibigo Beef Bulgogi Mandu-$3 off

Columbus Seasoned Turkey Burgers-$3 off

Season's Sardines-$3 off

Carr's Table Water Water Crackers Variety Pack-$4

They also have some Costco Canine Cuisine on sale for your dog:

Top Chew Flame Grilled Patty-$5.50 off

There are a variety of non-food items on sale.

Enjoy!

Comfort Food for Trying Times: A Review of Idahoan Buttery Homestyle Mashed Potatoes

2020-05-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

The most commented post I have ever had has been about Honest Earth All Natural Creamy Mashed Potatoes. Unfortunately, Costco does not carry these anymore or at least not on a regular basis. With the last of our stash of them gone, my lovely wife restocked us with some Idahoan Buttery Homestyle Mashed Potatoes.

They come eight pouches to a box for $6.49 so the cost is reasonable for upscale instant mashed potatoes.

The individual packages are easy to open foil pouches. Each package has four servings each so the whole box is 32 servings, making the cost about 20 cents a serving.

My wife likes to make them a measuring cup so she doesn't have to dirty more than one dish making them. Obviously, if you are serving company and want a nice presentation then you would want to use a more elegant bowl or dish to serve them in.

We recently had these with some ham with glaze and a salad and it made for a quick but very tasty complete meal.

These are very good potatoes but I am sure people are wondering if these are as good as the Honest Earth ones. While these are excellent instant mashed potatoes, they are not as good. I definitely prefer the texture and body of the Honest Earth Potatoes along with the flavor. Also, the Idahoan Potatoes are made so that butter is not part of the preparation. You can certainly add butter to them and it adds to the taste but it also does affect the texture and body a little so that does impact the comparison.

Now let me be perfectly clear, these are very good potatoes at a good price that are well packaged but they are not as good as Honest Earth. But they absolutely have my full and complete endorsement
and we will definitely buy them again. They are a tasty, affordable and easy way to add potatoes to a meal.

Also, in these trying times of Covid19, these are a fabulous comfort food that helps to make life better.

Enjoy and be well!

Buttery Cheese Bread Sticks

2020-05-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

We like to make pizza at home and we found a great recipe for dough from Tyler Florence. This is a very straightforward and reliable dough to make although we do reduce the salt by half (for our tastes) and use one cup of whole wheat flour for part of the dried ingredients. Typically, we have some dough left over after making two pizzas so we put it in the fridge and do something with it a couple of days later. One thing we like to do is make cheese bread sticks.

We start out by rolling out the dough.

After that, I melt some of that wonderful Kerrygold butter from Costco and brush that on top. Next comes some garlic powder and I finish it with Kirkland Signature Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese.

I slice it and then move it to a cookie sheet for baking.

I bake it at 425 degrees until golden brown and delicious. You can have them as a snack by themselves although we made a meal out them with some homemade marinara sauce and a salad on the side.

Easy, quick, delicious and fun these are a tasty snack or a satisfying part of a meal. They are also very affordable. Add it all up and you definitely have a winning combination.

Enjoy!