Products to Try

Crofter's Organic Superfruit Spreads - I had no idea what a superfruit was before this, and I'm still not sure I do, but it wouldn't make a difference to me with these spreads, they're so good it doesn't matter! Chock full of real fruit (a full pound in each jar!), tons of flavor and antioxidants like you've never seen before, you won't need another jam, jelly or preserve after you taste these. They are available in four different World-Traveled flavors:

• Crofter’s North America Superfruit: Classic Cranberry and Blueberry
• Crofter’s South America Superfruit: Exotic blend of Maqui Berry and Passionfruit
• Crofter’s Europe Superfruit: Old world Pomegranate and Black Currant
• Crofter’s Asia Superfruit: Bright blend of Yumberry and Raspberry

We had these on toast and English muffins every morning and I used a jar of Asia Superfruit for these delicious Fruit and Grain Bars I made for Family.com. Perfect! Find a location near you that sells these - NOW.

Gourmè Mist™ Olive Oil and Vinegar Misters are not only healthy oil and vinegar alternatives and organic to boot, they're also great for the environment. These misters work with a pump-action cap that dispenses a continuous stream of product without using aerosols.

Swanson Natural Goodness™ Chicken Broth has 1/3 less sodium and is 100% fat free but there's no way you'd know either. I've been making my own chicken stock for years and this is as close as I've come to it in a prepared product. I used it straight up as a soup base and also to cook rice and the flavor waas right on. Anything better for you that also tastes good is something I appreciate.

Le Towelé™ - Lost your towel? Not anymore! This handy little invention makes it easy to keep your towel at your side at all times. My kids like to run off with my kitchen towels at every turn and this gadget has thwarted them and kept the towel on my side. Check out Le Towelé™ and many other fine products at ARGEE Corporation.

Review: Perfect Salad Partners

Jennifer Chandler's Salad Niçoise

I was fortunate enough this month to have two products offered to me to review that just happened to be the perfect pairing: Simply Salads -a cookbook by Jennifer Chandler, and Tanimura and Antle Artisan Lettuces. What a great combo for this time of year!


I adore salads, so any cookbook that focuses solely on recipes for delicious salads is perfect for me. Add to it the fact that each of these salads is made using a base of any one of 26 bagged salad blends, and I jumped at the chance to read it. I love this book and it's going to be getting a lot of play in my kitchen this summer.

The book begins with Salad Blends 101, a chapter detailing each of the most common bagged salad blends available, with photos, so that you know just what you're looking for. It then goes on to the best-possible pantry for salad making and then offers up more than 100 different salad recipes listed by main ingredient. Jennifer Chandler has matched up ingredients with greens creating gourmet recipes that are simple enough to serve every day.

The Tanimura and Antle clamshell design protects these beauties and keeps them fresh.

I took these recipes and paired up one of them with the Tanimura and Antle lettuces that I received and the result was pure bliss. Tanimura and Antle have been selling the freshest of the fresh in produce since 1982. These new Artisan lettuces, Tango, Oak and Gem are petite and perfect. I received 8 lettuces total: 2 red Tango, 2 green Tango, 2 red Gem and 2 green Gem. The website and literature state that these have an extended shelf-life of 16 days, and they are 100% correct. I've never had lettuces hold up so well for so long and still taste good. Think about it, my samples were shipped from California, not purchased at the store, and they made their journey here in absolutely perfect condition and held up stored in the refrigerator until I had time to use them.

They were the perfect base for the salad recipes in Simply Salads and something I hope my own local stores begin carrying.

Copies of Simply Salads are available at Amazon.com.

Please see the Tanimura and Antle website for more information on Artisan lettuce and recipes for all of their wonderful produce.

Restaurant Review: Outback Steakhouse

Before last night, I had never been to Outback Steakhouse. I know; How is that possible? Our server actually laughed and didn't believe me at first, but it's true. So, when I was offered a gift card to try it out and give a review, I jumped at the chance. It's OBSH's 20th Anniversary! Twenty years, and I hadn't been there. It was high time I stopped in to check it out.

We went to the Outback Steakhouse here in Bethlehem, Pa and this is how our dining experience rated.
Scaling is 1 for Poor and 5 for Excellent so the total Perfect Score for any restaurant would be 25.

Parking - 5 - Keep in mind it was a Sunday evening, so we basically had our choice of parking spots.

Ambiance - 4 1/2 - The only thing keeping this from a 5 was the lighting - it was a little dark, but that's a good thing when it's just two of you. Everything was clean and shiny and I wasn't bothered by other conversations going on in the restaurant, so the sound aspect was good.

Service - 4 - This would have been an easy 5 if the service had been consistent. We had the nicest waiter - Jarrett H. - but we didn't have him the whole time. We had three other servers drop off various parts of our dinner and they were all super nice so they get a solid 4 for service.

Food - 3 - I really, really wanted this to be a 5, especially after the appetizers. My companion had Grilled Shrimp on the Barbie and I had Gold Coast Coconut Shrimp. Both were excellent, perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned and at just the right temp. The grilled shrimp came with a remoulade sauce that was very good, but my companion said the shrimp were so good as-is that he didn't even need to salt them, and that's saying a lot since he's a real salt-oholic. The Creole-marmalade that came with my shrimp was to-die-for and my companion kept stealing it to put on the bread that was served with our drinks (which was also awesome). I was so wowed, that I expected it to continue on to the entrees.

I ordered Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad and my companion ordered the Bacon Cheese Burger with Swiss Cheese, medium-well. He was going to order medium, but when the server said "a little pink inside", he changed his mind and went for a bit more done.

When my salad came, it looked odd and I couldn't figure out why at first until I realized that there were no croutons- a must for Caesar and also part of the menu description billed as "hand-cut". I did eventually find them all buried in a little pile under one side of the salad. I don't know if the dressing was bottled or not, but there was so much garlic in it that it was very hot. I love lots of garlic, don't get me wrong, but I won't be breathing near anyone for a week, and that much garlic in a Caesar isn't the norm.

My companion didn't do so well on the burger front, either - his burger was too done and dry and he only ate about half of it. I was thoroughly bummed out because they had started so strong with the appetizers.

Pricing - 4 - We ordered cheaper meals, so our total was $57, but if we'd actually ordered a steak from the steakhouse, our total would have been that just for entrees. So, for this cheap Scot, the pricing for value gets a 4.

Total for Outback Steakhouse? 19 1/2 out of a possible 25.

The bottom line? I'd go again, but I'd order a different entree, and go with my own instincts about burger doneness.

OBSH Gift Card provided by Charlie Kondek of MS&L. This is not a paid product endorsement.

Look, Ma - No Hands!

For any fervent cook there comes a time when cooking and phone calls don't mix. Now, I know some of you turn the ringer off or let the answering machine pick up, but what happens when you're waiting for an important call and still need to be cooking at the same time?

I know what I do when that phone rings - I rush to wash my hands and hope to get there before the machine does. Once I pick up the phone, there's one hand lost. I know, I know, what about the "shoulder hold"? Right. A stiff neck and the chance that the phone will drop into the vichyssoise is no way to handle calls.

Well, Plantronics has the perfect solution, the Calisto Pro Series phone. This is a completely hands-free wonder. Switch between landline, VoIP and Bluetooth mobile phone calls all with one product. Add up to 200 contacts - with 3 phone numbers each - from Outlook. How about a range of 300 feet from the base? That's farther than my garden out back. The sound quality doesn't suffer, either.

What about simple moments like sitting and nursing the baby? You'd figure there's at least one hand free for phone calls, right? Nope - not always! Having the freedom to sit down and relax while still being able to answer calls, hands-free, is priceless.

Check out this fabulous phone HERE and see if you're not convinced that this is the best thing going in hands-free phone technology.