Shop Smart, Eat Well

This is the Easter cake my sister Pati made...I just ate the last piece! It's amazing how well cake freezes! Mmmm, it was another good Pati-cake!

I've barely had time to cook lately, let alone write about it! But I'm glad to be blogging again. I want to talk about grocery shopping because if you don't have the right stuff in the house to cook with, you'll get discouraged. I've become an expert at keeping the "right stuff" in my house because I live 25 minutes from the nearest grocery store so I can't just run out to buy an ingredient. I have to make due with what I have...it makes you creative!

I'm going to give you a list of things that I keep in my house at all times. These are items that I cook with often. One thing that I learned from reading the South Beach Diet and have stuck with, is that you should shop the perimeter of the grocery store. That's where all the fresh items are...produce, meat and dairy. When you go up and down the aisles, think twice about what you put in your basket. That's where all the processed foods are. Also, I try to buy everything "lite" but never fat-free. It's good to cut down on the fat content but fat-free items lack taste and aren't even good for you.

Before I start, let me tell you that I shop at Publix, where shopping is a pleasure! I would even pay more money if I had to. Publix is clean, has wide aisles, good customer service and best of all, I know where everything is. I even go out of my way to go to "my" Publix because I know where everything is! Heaven forbid they should move something. I also like the "buy one - get one free" sales and stock up on lots of my canned goods that way.

I do shop at the Fresh Market occasionally even though they're expensive. I've found that they sell a handful of items that are actually cheaper than the grocery store so I'll share that secret with you: spices (sold in baggies), the mixed greens (salad) that are sold by the pound, ground breakfast sausage sold in the meat case, "Anything Goes" sauce...it's a great barbaque sauce, and they have a really nice selection of cheap wines. I stock up on these items when I shop there but buy other items sparingly.

Here are some items I like to keep on-hand (I'm sure I've missed some!)

Olive oil, extra virgin (take advantage of the buy one, get one free) I even cook eggs in olive oil!
Fresh garlic
Fresh mushrooms
Sweet onions
Red and/or yellow peppers
Avacados
Fresh ginger root
Olives (black, green, calamata)
Artichoke hearts (I buy Virgo, whole in water)
Balsalmic vinegar
Fresh spinach
Real butter (never margarin! but use this sparingly)
Lemons and limes
Cheese (all kinds, whatever you like best...mozerella, provalone, feta, goat)
Tomato paste
Rotel (Original)...these are canned tomatoes with a kick...I use these a lot!
I try to can enough of my own garden tomatoes so I don't have to buy regular canned tomatoes in the grocery store but if I need to buy them, I buy "crushed tomatoes"
Light sour cream
Cheap wine (red and white) I never pay over $8 or $9 for a bottle of wine since there are lots of good cheap wines...that's another blog subject!
Chicken & beef broth
Soy sauce

Spices you should have: (assuming you are growing your own herbs such as basil, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, etc.)
Cumin
Garlic (always good to have garlic powder on hand in addition to fresh)
Lemon pepper (I use this on everything!)
Pepper corns (for grinder)
Goya Adobo Seasoning (good for latin food)
Parsley
Oregano
Thyme
Basil (I keep dried herbs on hand even though I grow fresh)
Chili powder
Paprika
Cayenne pepper
Cinnamon
Ginger

I'll leave you with one recipe. Here is Emeril's Essence...

2 1/2 Tbs paprika
2 Tbs salt
2 Tbs garlic powder
1 Tbs freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs onion powder
1 Tbs cayenne pepper
1 Tbs dried oregano
1 Tbs dried thyme

BAM!