What New Foods Have You Tried?: Like It? Hate It? Share Here!

[BW Manilowe]

Today at a staff meeting we had pizza and snacks. Our office assistant brought some Cheetos Sweetos. They look like little Fun-yuns, but have a buttery, cinnamony flavor. I found them to be very addictive and plan to buy some soon. Apparently, they came out earlier in the year on a limited basis and are now back on a limited basis. Delish!

Sweetos are back??!! Thank you for posting this!

I posted about them when they were out originally; that's probably way upthread now. I loved those things like crazy.

My Mom just went to the store yesterday, but I'll have to have her start looking for them again next time she goes. Hope she finds them soon; some things sometimes take awhile to get to our stores.

[annzeepark914]

I've seen recipes for Romesco sauce over the years and thought it sounded odd (due to the ingredients).  Tried it at Jaleo's, Chef Jose Andres' restaurant in downtown DC, and it is wonderful.  I need to make this!

 

Wow--those figs stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in prosciutto and grilled sound wonderful.  I really like Joanne Weir (her Fried Oyster & Caesar Salad combo is terrific).

[Qoass]

I just accidentally had a Dunkin Pumpkin Munchkin and it was quite tasty!  No resemblance to actual food of course, but a happy snack.

[NewDigs]

I just accidentally had a Dunkin Pumpkin Munchkin and it was quite tasty!  No resemblance to actual food of course, but a happy snack.

They have Pumpkin Munchkins?

I need to go to your Dunkin'.

Mine seem to only have the pumpkin donuts. I look forward to them every year.

I wonder what pumpkin really tastes like.

[bosawks]

Gingerbread Tastykakes, sigh.....

[BooksRule]

I'm glad Cheeto Sweetos are here on a limited basis only.  If I could get them all year round I would OD for sure.  Those are addictive!  (I have two bags that I bought for the family to snack on during Christmas.  They're in the back of my car.  I'm afraid if I bring them into the house I will eat both bags in one day.)

Edited December 22, 2015 by BooksRule

[BW Manilowe]

Not for nothing, but the limited edition Wavy Lays chocolate covered (Milk or Dark) potato chips--which I think were originally out at the same time as the Cheetos Sweetos originally were--are also back. My Mom found those but hasn't found the Sweetos yet, darn it (insert sad face here). The only problems I have with the chocolate covered Wavy Lays are, the chocolate never firms up enough NOT to melt off on your fingers & the bags are WAY smaller than a regular-sized chip bag.

[mansonlamps]

I was going to start a new topic, but I guess this fits the bill. I'm talking about independent label foods for want of a better term. I've recently found a couple of good ones that I thought I'd share.

Tate Bakeshop out of Southampton, NY makes the best store bought cookies I've ever tasted. They are thin and crispy with enough chocolate chips but not so many that it's not like eating candy instead of cookies. You can really taste the butter and vanilla, mmmm. They are a little pricey which helps with me wanting to eat the whole bag as soon as I open them.

Then there are Unique brand pretzel splits out of Reading, PA. These are really crunchy and really good. They even have an extra salty flavor for those who like a little extra, I know I do when I eat pretzels with dip. They sell all kinds of pretzels and flavors, but I like the crunchy splits best.

Love to hear about other specialty foods you can recommend.

[chessiegal]

I was going to start a new topic, but I guess this fits the bill. I'm talking about independent label foods for want of a better term. I've recently found a couple of good ones that I thought I'd share.

Tate Bakeshop out of Southampton, NY makes the best store bought cookies I've ever tasted. They are thin and crispy with enough chocolate chips but not so many that it's not like eating candy instead of cookies. You can really taste the butter and vanilla, mmmm. They are a little pricey which helps with me wanting to eat the whole bag as soon as I open them.

Then there are Unique brand pretzel splits out of Reading, PA. These are really crunchy and really good. They even have an extra salty flavor for those who like a little extra, I know I do when I eat pretzels with dip. They sell all kinds of pretzels and flavors, but I like the crunchy splits best.

Love to hear about other specialty foods you can recommend.

Ina Garten has an Icebox Cake recipe that uses Tate's cookies. They are now widely available as I can get them in my regular chain grocery store. I saw the owner featured on a show today, probably on PBS, but can't remember what it was. I think she said she started selling the cookies at a local farmer's market, and things took off from there.

[chessiegal]

I can't get on the kale bandwagon. I tried it raw and hated it. I bought some dried and salted - hated it.

[mansonlamps]

Ina Garten has an Icebox Cake recipe that uses Tate's cookies. They are now widely available as I can get them in my regular chain grocery store. I saw the owner featured on a show today, probably on PBS, but can't remember what it was. I think she said she started selling the cookies at a local farmer's market, and things took off from there.

OMG that recipe looks fantastic! I will have to give it a try.

[BW Manilowe]

Ina Garten has an Icebox Cake recipe that uses Tate's cookies. They are now widely available as I can get them in my regular chain grocery store. I saw the owner featured on a show today, probably on PBS, but can't remember what it was. I think she said she started selling the cookies at a local farmer's market, and things took off from there.

It could've been The Chew, on ABC. They ran a repeat today, from their "Cookie Week", & Michael Symon did a story on some cookies out of somewhere in New York (I can't remember the brand/bakery name), interviewing the company/bakery owner & saying to them--or before or after the filmed segment--that their chocolate chip cookies are so good he eats a whole bag in 1 sitting. When the original poster said something similar about the cookies they were talking about, that made me think of it.

Edited December 24, 2015 by BW Manilowe

[chessiegal]

It could've been The Chew, on ABC. They ran a repeat today, from their "Cookie Week", & Michael Symon did a story on some cookies out of somewhere in New York (I can't remember the brand/bakery name), interviewing the company/bakery owner & saying to them--or before or after the filmed segment--that their chocolate chip cookies are so good he eats a whole bag in 1 sitting. When the original poster said something similar about the cookies they were talking about, that made me think of it.

That's it! The Chew repeat. I spend a lot of time watching PBS, so my mind went there first. Thank you.

Edited December 24, 2015 by chessiegal

[BooksRule]

I can't get on the kale bandwagon. I tried it raw and hated it. I bought some dried and salted - hated it

 

Me either.  I made roasted kale once.  It's okay, but nothing special.  If I'm going to eat greens, I'll eat turnip or mustard greens (and maybe baby spinach).  If I'm going to roast veggies, I'll roast Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, or asparagus.

[MargeGunderson]

Trader Joe's now has thin and crispy cookies that are dead ringers for the Tate's. Rumor is that they actually are Tate's in Trader Joe's packaging. I think they only have chocolate chip though.

The Ina Garten icebox cake is fabulous. I made it with chocolate chocolate chip cookies, which were so good with the mocha whipped cream. And I could scale it for just my husband and I, which was a bonus (although I totally wanted more).

Edited December 25, 2015 by MargeGunderson

[Snow Apple]

I tried the new Lay's olive oil and herbs chips and I didn't like it and it had a weird texture. So disappointed since I was looking forward to that flavor. The picture on the bag looked delicious.

 

The sea salt and cracked pepper flavor is excellent though.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Snow Apple

[stillshimpy]

I tried the Vegan Ben and Jerry's flavors.  At least three of them :-)  

 

PB and Cookies, Coffee caramel crunch and Chocolate Brownie.  Listed in order of awesomeness. 

 

The PB and Cookies is as good as any actual ice cream.  I'm not a Vegan, although I skew more and more away from dairy and I live within walking distance of a frozen custard place, so I'm telling you:  PB and Cookies is fabulous.  Very slight, odd mouth feel after but I think that's from the oreo cookies in it...that cream filling....because none of the other flavors have it.  But other than that? Oh my God, so good.  

 

I thought the exact same thing about the Coffee caramel crunch.  

 

I didn't actually care as much for the chocolate brownie.  That one you can actually tell that it's not an ice cream.  It's not bad, it's just not interchangeable with ice cream, which the other two I tried were.  I think it's because it is a chocolate base and so if you're used to chocolate ice cream, the finish on it feels ever-so-slightly watery.  

 

But what a great line.  I'm so glad I tried them.  

[Talky Tina]

Does anybody here eat venison? I recently retired and moved up to my vacation property permanently. One of my neighbors brought me some venison steaks and some jerky from a deer he hunted as a welcome present. I've eaten it before but have never cooked it and have no clue how to do it.

The jerkey is delicious.

[Athena]

Does anybody here eat venison? I recently retired and moved up to my vacation property permanently. One of my neighbors brought me some venison steaks and some jerky from a deer he hunted as a welcome present. I've eaten it before but have never cooked it and have no clue how to do it.

The jerkey is delicious.

 

I have eaten it, but never cooked it either. I have learned that you would treat it as you do most game and similar to beef. What cut is it? If it's a steak or flank etc., you treat it as you would beef except you cook it in shorter time. You can roast and marinate it as well. Venison is leaner and as with all game, err on the side of cooking it more rare or medium-rare. If you think it's about to be done, it's probably done.

[Talky Tina]

He just said they are steaks. Thanks for the tips.

Living down here is going to be great, when I moved in my farming neighbors brought me fresh eggs, meat, fruits and vegetables. I'm going to love it here. I just have to ride my little bike a mile or so and I can get all of the fresh eggs and chickens I want.

[stillshimpy]

There's actually a way to tenderize lower fat meats also, America's Test Kitchen did a whole segment on it, complete with the chemical breakdown of why it works.  Basically involved a salt rub, then wrapped in plastic wrap for a minimum of 24 hours and there's this who thing with water diffusion that I won't get into.  

 

But if people keep giving you deer meat, that might be something to look into also, as a way to treat a venison roast.  

 

I don't eat meat any longer, but I do know that if you look up ways to cook skirt steak, that tends to translate to venison well apparently.  That's not my personal experience, by the way, I just used to know a guy who was Full Metal Bow Hunter and knew how to cook just about everything from Mountain Goat to Moose and every other critter he could bag.  

[Talky Tina]

Thank you Still Shimpy. I appreciate you and Athena taking the time to answer my questions.

I think I'm going to try one of the steaks this weekend. The venison jerkey he made is so darn good I can't stop eating it.

[Qoass]

On the rare occasions that I get venison, I like it ground for meatballs and chili.

[annzeepark914]

I tried falafel for the very first time at a Turkish restaurant on Saturday night.  Delicious!  Kinda crunchy, a little spicy but not too much. It was sitting on a bed of creamy hummus that was out of this world good.  I really like Turkish food - it's like Greek with the volume turned up (as Ina would say).  On a side note:  I've read about falafel for years and years, in books and in articles about food but I couldn't remember how to pronounce it.  Finally I came up with fell awful...that worked ;>)

[ethalfrida]

I like venison tacos and venison sausage. 

[Wings]

I tried falafel for the very first time at a Turkish restaurant on Saturday night.  Delicious!  Kinda crunchy, a little spicy but not too much. It was sitting on a bed of creamy hummus that was out of this world good.  I really like Turkish food - it's like Greek with the volume turned up (as Ina would say).  On a side note:  I've read about falafel for years and years, in books and in articles about food but I couldn't remember how to pronounce it.  Finally I came up with fell awful...that worked ;>)

 

 

I keep a box of falafel mix on hand.  Restaurants clearly use this because they are EXACTLY the same.  Good quick sandwich in a pita for a casual dinner.  I have made a variety of different sauces for this and some shredded ice berg.  The typical tahini sauce is thick and rich. I prefer a sour cream/cucumber based sauce because they are salty.  

Edited March 11, 2016 by wings707

[auntlada]

I had falafel once and hated it. A restaurant I was writing a story about gave me a sample. Maybe it was just a bad recipe. I have never tried it again because that one was so bad.

[DeLurker]

Falafel is just a funny sounding word. I find the actual food so so, but the word always makes me smile.

[Qoass]

Especially when you google it plus Bill O'Reilly...

[Quof]

I love that everyone touts falafel as healthy, because it's vegetarian.

 

It's deep fried. 

 

Kind of like calling Caesar salad healthy because it includes the word "salad".

[chessiegal]

I love that everyone touts falafel as healthy, because it's vegetarian.

 

It's deep fried. 

 

Kind of like calling Caesar salad healthy because it includes the word "salad".

I've seen recipes that make it in a waffle iron eliminating the deep frying. Better.

[auntlada]

Kind of like calling Caesar salad healthy because it includes the word "salad".

 

I can't hear you! La, la, la, la, la!

[Quof]

Hate to break it to you, auntlada, but frozen yogurt isn't made by tossing a carton of Activia in the freezer.

[auntlada]

Eh, I don't like frozen yogurt much. If I'm going to have something sort of like ice cream, I'm just going to eat the ice cream, preferably chocolate with streaks of fudge or chunks of brownie or candy bars or cookies or something in it.

[krimimimi]

Hate to break it to you, auntlada, but frozen yogurt isn't made by tossing a carton of Activia in the freezer.

Heh. Tried that with coconut yogurt. Got a coconut dairy brick. Oh, those sad days before google.

[harrie]

In college, I'd put a container of yogurt in the freezer at night, take it out in the morning and it was a nice slushy consistency by lunch. Not anything like dessert, but not as soupy as regular yogurt (this was long before the Greek yogurt trend).

 

That was my go-to lunch in high school - Dannon Dutch Apple, back when yogurt cups were 8 oz.  Loved the icy/slushy texture; and it took a while to eat in that condition, so no time to go grab a pack of cookies at the cafeteria.  

[Talky Tina]

The venison was great! I just gave it a marinade with some soy sauce and a little garlic and onion. I grilled it on the charcoal grill and it came out really good. I'll definitely be buying some from him in the future. I've already been back and bought some more jerky.

Thank you for the tips.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Talky Tina

[Qoass]

Sounds like your friendly neighbor is also a savvy businessman!

[biakbiak]

I can't get on the kale bandwagon. I tried it raw and hated it. I bought some dried and salted - hated it.

Kale isn't something that I love or even like, I know I have eaten too many rich foods if I happen to start thinking any kale salad sounds awesome! But I love this kale salad and it's converted a lot of kale haters. It sounds ridiculous but massaging your kale really makes a huge difference.

Edited March 17, 2016 by biakbiak

[JTMacc99]

I buy a new bunch of kale every week.  Our bearded dragon loves it. Apparently, it goes well with raspberries and mealworms.  I agree with the lizard on the raspberries. They're great.

[ethalfrida]

I tried black Hawaiian salt today. I bought it a couple of months ago and forgot about it. Found it in my truck yesterday. It is delicious!

[krimimimi]

Ha! I got Mr. Mimi some for his birthday. Nice to hear I'm in good company. (I put together a gift basket (via an amazon marketplace spice shop) of stuff to make rubs with for his grilling obsession.) Also, some red Himalayan salt and super fancy sea salts. I'll be honest, though, I'm not sure I really can taste the differences. But they look snazzy.

[BW Manilowe]

Today at a staff meeting we had pizza and snacks. Our office assistant brought some Cheetos Sweetos. They look like little Fun-yuns, but have a buttery, cinnamony flavor. I found them to be very addictive and plan to buy some soon. Apparently, they came out earlier in the year on a limited basis and are now back on a limited basis. Delish!

I'm not sure why it took until March to find them here, but my Mom finally found Sweetos again at our grocery yesterday. Woo-Hoo! And the bag we have doesn't say anything about it only being a limited time thing, so maybe it's a permanent thing now... I hope!

[BooksRule]

I'm not sure why it took until March to find them here, but my Mom finally found Sweetos again at our grocery yesterday. Woo-Hoo! And the bag we have doesn't say anything about it only being a limited time thing, so maybe it's a permanent thing now... I hope!

 

I haven't checked into this further, but I noticed that someone ahead of me in the Winn-Dixie checkout lane a few weeks ago had a bag of store brand 'cinnamon sugar crisps' (or some name like that).  In the brief look I had at the bag, it looked like some type of puffy chip.  I'll check into this to see if they are anything like Sweetos.  If they are, they might be an alternative if Sweetos turns out to be limited (for those who have Winn-Dixie stores nearby, that is).

Edited March 23, 2016 by BooksRule

[backformore]

I just discovered Jiff WHIPPED peanut butter.   It's peanut butter, only fluffy, and it comes in a salted caramel flavor that is delicious.

[WendyCR72]

Speaking of good stuff in a jar...not new, but has anyone ever tried Reese's Spread? OMG. Tastes EXACTLY like Reese's peanut butter cups in a jar. Except for no annoying wrappers.

 

It takes a LOT of willpower to not just sit there with a spoon and devour the whole thing at once. I tried the Hershey's version but was not as impressed.

[BooksRule]

Speaking of good stuff in a jar...not new, but has anyone ever tried Reese's Spread? OMG. Tastes EXACTLY like Reese's peanut butter cups in a jar. Except for no annoying wrappers.

 

You are making it very hard for me to stick to my diet.  That sounds heavenly!

 

My 'new foods' (kind of) to try tonight are fresh beets.  I bought a bunch at the store the other day and just got around to cleaning and cooking them.  I'm using Ina Garten's recipe for roasted beets.  It won't make a big panful (only three beets in the bunch), but I'm hoping I'll like them.  Canned beets are about the only canned veggie I buy (which is why I call this 'new food' in quotes--I've had canned, just not fresh).  I'll report back.

[Quof]

Ina's roasted beets are the bomb. 

[BooksRule]

The roasted beets were pretty good.  The next time I make them, I'll mix them in with some other root veggies, such as potatoes and carrots (and maybe toss in some cauliflower).

[Quof]

Next time, make Ina's beets with orange vinaigrette.   The recipe calls for canned, but you should cook fresh beets as in the roasted beet recipe.  And add feta or goat's cheese. Trust me.