Snack Hacks

I love cooking. LOVE it. Stress baking is a reality for many a graduate student -- or even an undergraduate student if your housing had a kitchen. I can remember making cookies in my dorm. 

I am also an MB (Market Basket, in longhand) devotee, and it has brought me two of my favorite food joys: Pawleys Island Palmetto Cheese and Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce. 

MMMMMMMMMMMMMCHEESEINAJAR.
Pimento Cheese is essentially shreddar (shredded cheddar), mayonnaise, cream cheese, and pimentos (they also make jalapeño and bacon flavors). It is remarkable. Other brands exist, but there is no reason to buy them if you have access to Pawleys Island Palmetto Cheese ;-). They also have a cool thing on their website: if you take a picture of yourself and a grocery store manager together with a jar of Pawleys, and then post it to the company's Facebook page, they will send you a free cookbook! If you're not up for public posts, you can order one for $5. A steal!

I have recently discovered a delicious hack for elevating my m&c game (a staple in a toddler household). Here it is:
-make a double batch of Annie's gluten-free rice mac and cheese according to the directions on the box 

​-add peas, if you feel like reminiscing about your childhood/being healthy
-take out an appropriate amount for the littles
-add 1-2 tablespoons of Pawleys and stir
-enjoy the heck out of it while making yummy noises

Pimento Cheese is also delicious on raw broccoli! 

RIP Phil Hartman (seen at end).

If you're in the Boston area and on Local Tasty Food Patrol, Moody's Delicatessen in Waltham makes their own pimento cheese. It is a lot hotter than Pawleys and adds some different seasonings, including Worcestershire sauce. Moody's also doesn't hype it up for some reason, but they serve all-day breakfast that is delicious and decidedly cheaper than many of the items in their Backroom restaurant.

Another culinary joy is Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce (shown in a reasonable-sized gallon jar). 

This sauce has more of a ketchuplike consistency, whereas regular Tabasco is thinner. 

Ground beef is more affordable than many cuts, and it is even usually reasonably priced at farmers' markets (hurray for local and grass-fed!). Add some of this delectable delight to hamburgers or a ground beef stir-fry for a last-minute, oh-no-meal-plans-really-do-help-but-now-it's-6:00-and-everyone-is-starving meal.

Crockpot chili: Google some recipes! Make a mash-up of what looks best (usually, meat, beans, onions, garlic, corn) and then add Chipotle sauce and smoked paprika (which always makes me think of the commercial where a girl about 8-10 years old is told a new baby is going to be called "Paprika" and the girl says, "Perpika? What kind of a name is Perpika?"), let it sit, and then eat it with an unreasonable amount of Mexican cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips.

Happy eating!! Enjoy the second half of baseball season. RSN misses you, Don.