So how exactly did a reality cooking show fail?  First of all, there was the set-up.  Pairs of 2 friends or family members formed two larger teams that each had a restaurant.  Across the street from one another, these restaurants would compete every week in a challenge, be judged by a secret critic who would dine at each, and then one of the pairs on the losing team would get the axe by Marco Pierre White.  Not only could I have cooked anything better than a lot of the “chefs” on the show, but no one was even interesting to watch.  Usually a few people emerge in a reality TV show who just add entertainment value.  But no Stephen or Marcel (both of Top Chef fame) existed; the contestants were untalented and uninteresting.  Furthermore, most of them were complete wimps.  They would complain that cooking with fresh produce picked out of Central Park was too hard, and a lame excuse for a “harsh judging” would have people leaving in tears.  I honestly wanted to smack them.

But the worst part of this show was the host, Marco Pierre White.  Hailed as a world-renowned chef who once made Gordon Ramsay cry, I was expecting him to be mean, loud and massively entertaining.  Instead he was conceited and annoying, and by the end of each episode I wanted to take an axe to the screen just to make him go away.  He never raised his voice, but rather looks down on the contestants with scorn and contempt.  Often he is shown lounging in a chair reflecting on the goings-on in the show, but he does so in a completely egotistical way.  If he wanted to go the route of disapproval when interacting with the contestants (as opposed to Ramsay’s fiery blow-ups or Colicchio’s curious interest), he should have been more personable in his confession-like sessions, because as a viewer I just ended up hating him.  Perhaps he could have cracked a joke now or then, or maybe even shown an emotion other than scorn.  He’s basically completely obsessed with himself.  No wonder he and Ramsay no longer speak!

Normally the prospect of a cooking show being canceled would upset me to no end.  But in this case all I can say is Thank God!

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Enter 3 Buck Bites, Citysearch’s remedy for the monetarily-challenged.  Foodies who have searched their local area for the best and cheapest food they can find can submit pictures and reviews of restaurants and dishes, and the best part is that everything is $3.99 or less!  Essentially this is the Dollar Menu for people who like good food (except not even Subway’s $5 footlong could make it onto this list). From fries to shrimp ceviche, you can find almost anything to satisfy your current craving without breaking the bank.  The site is visually interesting and easy to navigate, not to mention full of delicious pictures to satisfy our guilty love of food porn.

Searching for food reveals four categories for price range: Cheap, Super Cheap, Dirt Cheap and Ridiculously Cheap.  You can also search under city name, type of cuisine, and specials (happy hour, limited time offer…etc).  Unfortunately for those of us who don’t live in one of the larger cities in the US there is only the “other cities” option for searching, which means that your results will include restaurants from all across the country as opposed to simply local.  Since I live an hour and a half away from the nearest city, this presents a problem.  As the site develops I would like to see an open-ended search option where you can enter a state or cities’ name (right now the only search option you can type into is for a restaurant’s name).

To try it out I did a search for deals in my childhood hometown of Chicago instead of attempting to find a restaurant using the “other cities” button.  There were not that many results due to the fact that the site just launched, but I saw some deals on there that I would definitely like to seek out when I go back.  If the site gains a following, I would expect their archives to hopefully grow exponentially.  This is one to keep an eye on!  3 Buck Bites is on Twitter and Facebook for those that are interested.

Swapped and Popped Corn

Ingredients:

• Popcorn kernels (however much you want to make)
• non-fat cooking spray, no-calorie butter substitute spray or Season Kernel’s Popcorn butter spray
• 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2  + 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

Mix seasonings and salt in a small bowl.  I use a microwave air popper that requires no added fat, so I pop my corn in that.  Alternately, you can place some of the popcorn in a brown paper bag like a lunch bag, fold over the top a few times and microwave it that way.  This only works for small batches, though.  After popping the popcorn, spray with cooking spray/butter spray lightly and toss (if you want, you can just use olive oil or melted butter here).  Sprinkle a little bit of the seasoning over the top and toss again.  Enjoy!

Note: I just made some more and threw on some White Cheddar Seasoning and Bacon Salt and it was out of control!

Nutrition Facts: Serving Size: 1 cup popped.  31 Calories. 0.4g Fat.  0g Saturated Fat.  0.2g Polyunsaturated Fat.  0.1g Monounsaturated Fat.  0g Cholesterol.  Sodium varies, 1mg in the popcorn alone.  6.2g Carbohydrates.  1.2g Dietary Fiber.  0.1g Sugar.  1g Protein.  0 WW Points.

• Woman’s Day highlights 10 unusual flavor combinations that I fully intend on trying as soon as possible.  Just not the pickle jellybeans!

• Burpee develops a Seedless Tomato!  This may be something that I will be attempting to grow this summer in my backyard!

• The New York Times wants you to find out what your cooking personality is.  I actually fell under every single category, so I guess I’m a cooking mutant

• Now that spring break’s almost over, some of us suddenly realize all the procrastination we’ve been doing was not a good idea. Yahoo helps in avoiding hyperventilation with 7 anxiety-fighting foods. Now I have an excuse to try and review Vosges’ Chocolate Bacon bar!

• Smoothies aren’t always good for you!  ABC News teams up with Mat Bean of Men’s Health to highlight 4 of the worst mall foods you can eat. I don’t know about you, but I’d take the 13 chocolate frosted Dunkin’ Donuts over the grape monstrosity any day!

• Fast food meets sustainability?  Enter Burgerville, the restaurant chain in the Pacific Northwest that offers seasonal cooking with local and sustainable ingredients.  Anyone been?  I want to know if the food’s good, because to be honest, the name of the place is horrendous.

Initially I used this alone just to figure out how it would taste cooked when chicken was marinated in it.  It’s a little thicker than regular teriyaki sauces, and you have to shake the bottle pretty well to ensure that all the sesame seeds that aggregate at the bottom are mixed in.  I had some chicken thighs, so I dumped them in a plastic bag with a generous amount of the sauce.  About 2 hours later, I removed them from the bag, put them on a baking dish with some of the sauce and cooked them at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  What I ended up with were honestly some of the best chicken thighs I’ve had.  The sauce is slightly sweet, although the saltiness and tartness of the soy base really shines through.  The sesame seeds add a delicious nuttiness and the ginger balances the entire flavor out with a really nice tang.  After tasting the chicken alone I even ended up heating up more of the sauce for dipping madness.  You can use it for anything:  stir-fries, baking, roasting, cooking rice, as a sauce, on top of sandwiches, even mixing it with a snack mix of things like rice-based cereal, sesame sticks, Goldfish and peanuts and baking.  You can’t go wrong with grilled spareribs marinated with this and served with honey.  Whenever I cook with it now people are always surprised to find out that I used a pre-made sauce base given it’s unique flavor (if I even tell them).  Honestly, this is the only teriyaki sauce you ever need to buy.  You can’t beat it even if you spent all day chopping garlic and ginger!

The second Soy Vay sauce I highly recommend is the Hoisin Garlic Asian Glaze and Marinade.  For those of you who haven’t been introduced to the wonderful world of hoisin sauce, this is a good place to start.  If you’ve ever had Peking Duck, chances are you already know what it tastes like.  While “hoisin” literally translates to “seafood”, there is actually no seafood in the sauce itself.  It is characterized by being both sweet and spicy and is generally made from a mixture of soybeans, flour, sugar, water, spices, garlic, and chili (although recipes vary).  Soy Vay’s Hoisin Garlic sauce is a slightly different take on this with a touch of caramel.  The garlic taste is strong but not too overpowering, and there is a definite sweetness and smoothness (from the caramel) that lingers on your tongue and balances out the tanginess of the soy perfectly.  It is fairly thick, although the sauce will thin once you start cooking with it.  Like the Veri Veri Teriyaki, the possibilities with the Hoisin Garlic sauce are endless, although I love marinating meat in it for kabobs or using it in a stir fry.  Another easy delicious use is to marinate some New York strip steaks overnight and then throwing them on the grill.

One of my personal favorite (and fun!) use for the Hoisin Garlic sauce is a take on what they recommend doing on the back of the bottle: I cube some boneless, skinless chicken breast and marinate in the fridge for as long as possible.  Then I tear some squares of aluminum foil and put some of the cube in them along with some coarsely diced or chopped onion and some freshly minced garlic.  I wrap up the packets and bake for about 20 minutes in the over at around 400 degrees.  Meanwhile, I steam some broccoli florets (in a steamer or in the microwave) and cook up some white rice.  When the packets are done, I remove them from the oven, place the entire packet (foil included) on top of some of the broccoli and surround the while thing with some of the white rice.  Serve as is: people always have fun opening up the steamy packets and mixing everything together as they please.  If you don’t want to steam the broccoli, just throw it in the packet with the chicken and onions.  I steam them only because I tend to like my broccoli a little more on the crisp side (sometimes I mix the steamed broccoli into the packet about 5 minutes before removing them from the oven).

The moral of the story is that you absolutely have to go buy these immediately.  Not only do they pretty much guarantee a delicious and easy dinner in a pinch, but they’re also massively fun to experiment with.  So to celebrate National Poultry Day without the effort, pick up some chicken and dump some Soy Vay on it.  Cook, enjoy, and toast to the staple of the American diet!

Soy Vay is now carried in most supermarkets, but if you can’t find it you can buy everything online.  They also have a compendium of awesome recipes to try (trust me, I’ve tried most of them)!

Stars:5/5

Veri Veri Teriyaki Nutrition Facts: Serving Size: 1 Tablespoon, 35 Calories.  10 Calories from Fat.  1g Fat.  0g Saturated Fat. 0g Trans Fat.  0mg Cholesterol.  490 mg Sodium.  6g Carbohydrates.  0g Dietary Fiber.  5g Sugar.  0g Protein.  1 WW Point.

Hoisin Garlic Nutrition Facts: Serving Size: 1 Tablespoon, 40 Calories.  10 Calories from Fat.  1g Fat.  0g Saturated Fat. 0g Trans Fat.  0mg Cholesterol.  400 mg Sodium.  7g Carbohydrates.  0g Dietary Fiber.  7g Sugar.  0g Protein.  4% Vitamin A.  1 WW Point.

Sounds pretty good, right?  Searching terms like “chicken” or “stir-fry” produced a plethora of recipes with nice pictures and easy-to-follow directions.  Furthermore, there  were links to information on techniques and equipment involved.  All together, it was a pretty sweet package for someone who hasn’t been to culinary school but wants to try completely new things and cook delicious food.

I can foresee a few problems, though.  I know that if I were to submit one of my personal recipes only to find it completely altered the next day I would be pretty angry. Furthermore, the editing is incredibly easy to do; all you have to do is click the little “edit” tab on the recipe’s page.  I can see someone having a lot of sadistic fun going through recipes and making tiny (or massive) adjustments that would make the entire thing disgusting.  Hopefully the folks at Foodista will be moderating changes vigilantly.  Also, some changes could change the dish entirely.  For example, I just made Chicken Scallopini the other night and added capers to the cream sauce, an ingredient that seriously changed the entire dish.  They should be a little clearer about what recipe edits are simply edits and which ones make the dish an entirely new recipe.

So to try it out, I signed up and added my recently posted Spiced Sweet Potato Fries recipe. So if you’ve tried the recipe and want to change it, do your worst!  Just click on the little widget, and click the edit tab.  Let’s see how long it takes for someone to edit it (or if it’s edited at all).

So in true oxymoronic fashion, I brought a bottle to McDick’s with me, ordered some fries and sat down to do a taste test between the original Heinz and the One Carb Heinz.  Let me tell you, there’s nothing like sitting down to eat McDonald’s fries with a bottle of reduced-carb ketchup.  The verdict?  Not much of a difference!  One Carb Heinz is still nice and thick, and despite being slightly less sweet and a little more salty it essentially tastes just like the original stuff.  If you want to add the sweetness back in it’s an easy fix: just add a packet of Splenda or something similar and you’re set (which I tried.  It worked pretty well!).

The next test: I sat down with a massive plate of Hungry Girl’s Butternut Squash Fries and dug in.  In one sentence: Best Gastronomized Swap Ever.  Completely guilt-free in every aspect and I felt like I was eating fries with real ketchup!

Stars: 5/5

Nutrition Facts:  Serving Size: 1 tbsp.  5 Calories.  0g Fat.  0g Cholesterol.  190mg Sodium.  1g Carbohydrates.  0g Protein. 0 WW Points.

• Not just nuked: in Italy, a Pizza vending machine that actually prepares and cooks your pizza!  Forget delivery, even forget DiGiorno; these babies are freshhhh.

• And you thought the Wendy’s Baconator was unique!  Check out McDonald’s menu items from around the world.  Most unique invention goes to the McRice, although I’m digging the Prosperity Burger and the McAloo Tikki Burger.  And why do they not sell the Volcán de Chocolate in the US!?

• George Clooney tofu?  PETA’s newest harebrained scheme in their attempt to convert the populus to a vegan lifestyle.  At least they chose someone attractive.  Seriously, could you imagine Michael Jackson tofu?  Jack-ofu!