It’s kind of fun to try different flavors of potato chips. A few are really great. Some are beyond terrible and most fall in-between. I really enjoyed the regular Lay’s Seaweed Chips from Taiwan so I thought the Spicy Roasted Seaweed Chips could be another winner.
The bag is small and only weighs around one and a half ounces.
Here’s the back of the bag.
Here are the ingredients.
There are many ingredients and these chips also are made with milk and fish.
I open the bag and take a whiff.
These chips smell strange. Kind of like something fried like pastry and tea…..
Now I am afraid to taste them……
I go and do the duty not expecting much.
PHEW!
They don’t taste as bad as they smell.
I eat a chip the way I’d normally eat a chip.
They are small chips with a powdery surface. They have a pleasant crunch to them. A slight sweetness, but more salty than sweet and more than anything they have a medium heat to them that builds a little. You do taste seaweed but it isn’t the dominate flavors.
I try to eat a chip very slow to taste it differently.
YUK…..can taste the fish this way and something that taste like burnt tea….
WOW they aren’t horrible if you just eat them but they aren’t great either.
They aren’t even as close to as good as the regular Lay’s Seaweed flavor is.
Not the best….but not the worst either
Don’t eat slow. You need to munch them down to skip over some of the flavors.
I got the idea to make Asian Style Vegetables. I thought they’d be healthier with the sauce on the side. That way I don’t use as much sauce. That means less fat, sugar and salt. The vegetables are very easy to prepare. Just set your oven to 500 degrees F. Spread out a single layer of the same kind of vegetable on a baking sheet spray with neutral or peanut oil. Most vegetables go on the middle rack. Depending on the vegetable and size of cut they usually take either 10 or 20 minutes. Vegetables I used were cauliflower, shishito peppers, celery, shallot and a red bell pepper. You can use whatever vegetables you like.
1/2 teaspoon granulated ginger (you can substitute about an inch of fresh grated ginger……I didn’t have)
1 Tablespoon chili paste (or to taste..the different brands taste different)
2 Tablespoons honey
pinch allspice
pinch ground star anise
hot pepper flakes to taste
neutral or peanut oil I think I used around a quarter cup of oil (for spraying vegetables)
cauliflower – cut in florets
3 shallots – cut in slices
8 oz shishito peppers – trim off stems
4 stalks celery – cut on diagonal around one inch pieces
1 red bell pepper cut in strips
2 Tablespoons scallions – for finishing
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds – for finishing
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro – for finishing
sea salt – to taste
ground black pepper – to taste
Directions
Set oven to 500 degrees F.
In a small mixing bowl mix together the shaohsing wine, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame paste, black vinegar, hoisin, ginger, chili paste, honey, peanut butter, allspice, star anise, and hot pepper flakes. Set to the side and use when ready.
Each kind of vegetable that you are using gets done at a different time. but they all get sprayed with oil and go on their own baking sheet. Your results might differ from mine.
Cauliflower I put in the middle racks. Mine took 20 minutes. Celery took close to 20 minutes to but I cooked my celery on the low rack.
My shishitos, bell peppers and shallots got done pretty fast. Around ten minutes at 500 degrees F. I cooked them on my lower rack of the oven.
Season vegetables with fresh crushed sea salt and ground black pepper.
Serve with sauce and finish with scallions, sesame seeds and cilantro.
This is a collection of most of the sweet memories (desserts) I took out from Metro Phoenix Restaurants during the pandemic. The desserts are not in any particular order. Some were better than others but all of them were yummy!
Above is the macerated strawberries from Confluence Carefree. it was so light and not too sweet. it even had these macadamia nuts that taste so good. When I buy macadamia nuts from the store they don’t taste as good..
A chocolate brownie with fresh raspberries and fruit sauce also from Confluence in Carefree.
Next is the complimentary snickerdoodle cookie from –
Chino Bandido in North Phoenix. What’s not to like?
Beignets with delicious sauces from Twist Bistro and Galley in North Scottsdale.
Also from Twist Bistro and Gallery was this amazing Mascarpone Cheese Cake with Pistachio Praline, Salted caramel whipped cream and strawberries.
This was really great. It’s like when you go to a fancy resort restaurant and they have a pastry chef that makes the desserts. This one was just as great. (better than some from resorts)
Next one is….
Chocolate Mousse Tort from Aliello’s East Coast Italian in Phoenix. Also from another visit to Aliello’s East Coast Italian was the Cannoli. Both very good.
From La Piazza Al Forno is the cheesecake.
Ii’m very picky about cheese cake and most I don’t like because they are very rich and too sour for me. This one is lighter with the right amount oof sweetness.
From Vincent Market Bistro in Phoenix was the Lemon Pomelo Tart. To the left was complimentary sponge cake they generously gave us. VMB always makes great desserts. They are among the best.
The next one I took out but can’t find the photo so I added my photo from previously dining in.
Here’s the Mascarpone Chocolate Cake from Cucina Tagliani in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. I’m not the biggest fan of chocolate cake but this really is very good.
From Twist Bistro & Gallery in North Scottsdale is a strawberry rhubarb cobbler.
Next-
Strawberry cobbler from Confluence in Carefree.
Great pies are served at all the Collins Restaurants.
From Wally’s American Gastropub in Scottsdale-
The coconut custard pie. My husband hates coconut and even he said it was a delicious pie.
From The Collins in Phoenix –
This Chocolate Mousse Tort
From The Collins –
The Key Lime Pie made with 40 hand squeezed key limes in every pie. It’s an amazing key lime pie. It might be the best key lime pie in metro Phoenix.
From Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale –
Came this amazing rich Triple Chocolate Cake….yes it’s worth the calories. It really was REALLY GREAT!
I couldn’t find the picture of the strawberry tub of Gelato I took out from Fabio On Fire in Peoria/#UpperWestSide. I did find my photo of the tub of peach Gelato I took out but that picture didn’t come out so good so I’m showing a picture of some of his FABULOUS Gelato from visiting his restaurant.
This gelato is to die for. I haven’t tried all the flavors yet but everything I tried so far was FORKING AMAZING! Fabio should sell his gelato across the country. His gelato really is FABULOUS!
From Alzohour Market in Glendale we got this AMAZING Kunafa noodle pastry stuffed with cheese and topped with sweet syrup and pistachios.
OMG! This was prepared fresh for us and came out piping hot. This was so freaking epic!
Here is another astonishing dessert from Confluence in Carefree.
it was Sake Poached Pears with Angel Cake, Candied Almonds and Yuzu Curd.
This was 19 delicious desserts we took out from restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic.
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.
According to the experts take out is a less risky option than dining in and we aren’t risk takers so we do take out during the pandemic. Our first take out of the week was from a little casual place in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide called Skewers Mediterranean Grill.
They make really great $7.50 salads. I got the one with pickled turnips and chicken kabob. My husband got the chicken shawarma with chickpeas and pickles. I just love the fresh herby tabouli it’s only $3. so why not? My dogs enjoyed some of the tasty chicken kabob.
Next take out was from Twist Bistro & Galley in North Scottsdale. They are a small modern restaurant that swings towards Mediterranean.
We started out by sharing the falafels. They were crisp and herby inside. They came with tahini aioli and garlic yogurt sauce. For my main I had the Mediterranean Salad. WOW! it was packed with all kinds of goodies. The salad came with marinated olives, almond golden raisin couscous, crispy chickpeas, minted cucumbers, good ripe tomatoes, really good creamy feta, hummus and really delicious sauces..and I added the salmon as my protein (the salmon here is very good). WOW! It’s like a special occasion Birthday salad. My husband got the steak sandwich pallard. It’s a really good beef (tenderloin) on a really great baguette (garlic toasted Noble Bread) with mozzarella cheese, horseradish and demi sauces. The cheesecake here is very good so we shared that too. It’s not heavy and sour like most cheesecakes I’ve tasted. It’s light creamy and delicious and detailed with pistachio praline, salted caramel, strawberries, whipped cream and a tasty crumb crust. Dogs helped with the generous portion of salmon.
Our last take out of the week was from a brand new restaurant that just opened this week called Gabriella’s Contemporary American Cuisine in Scottsdale. They were just on TV and the food looked so good from TV we wanted to try some.
On the left is the short rib grilled cheese and on the right is the fish and chips. I live 35 minutes away so the food didn’t travel as well as from some of the closer places that I go to but all was tasty. As per usual I always share some with my dogs.
“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all that delicious food”
That was week 25 oof take out during the coronavirus pandemic. The restaurants that we did take out from –
I had some tofu that I had to use so I thought up marinated tofu in tomato curry. Tofu is very versatile and can be used many ways. I think if you are just using plain tofu to eat that it taste better marinated. I made a simple marinade for it with sriracha.
Shark brand sriracha is on left…I think any of the bottles on right will work with it
I used the Shark brand that taste sweet and tomato-ee so that was the inspiration to do tomato curry. If you use a different brand of sriracha yours will come out different and might need some adjustments. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. To me this makes about three smaller servings. You also need to add some vegetables to this dish. I didn’t have much around the house so I only used onions, a few extra tomatoes and a carrot. You can use whatever you like.
Ingredients for around three servings
14 oz tofu – I used firm – cut in bite size pieces
1/4 cup sriracha – preferably Shark Brand (marinade) With a different brand you might need to add sweetness.
1/4 cup – tamari or soy sauce or Golden Mountain (whatever you like best) (marinade)
1 teaspoon honey (marinade)
1 – 13.5 can coconut milk
2 hot chili peppers or to taste – fine chop
1 inch grated ginger
3 garlic – ground to paste (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon crushed cardamon
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon vegetable soup base (instead of salt and adds more flavors)
12 oz peeled cooked tomatoes
1 sweet onion – chopped or small slices
1 carrot sliced
a few roasted small sweet tomatoes (tossed in at end)
handful fresh basil – torn
small amount of oil, non stick spray or a little oil that might be on tomatoes
Directions
Start by marinating tofu. The tofu goes in a gallon ziplock bag and you add the sriracha, honey and tamari (or soy sauce or Golden Mountain) This needs to marinate about 90 minutes. Leave it sit one your counter for around an hour and then start up the rest.
A little oil goes in your fry pan or sauce pot on medium high heat and you cook up the onions and hot pepper till soft. Then add in garlic. Then add coconut milk and ginger, cardamon, turmeric and vegetable base and thin carrot slices. I let it cook down a little and when the carrots are soft I added the roasted tomatoes. Next add the roasted sweet tiny tomatoes.
By this time it’s around 90 minutes for the tofu so I drained it and add to the curry. Finish with fresh basil.
I thought this flavor (Kettle Cooked New York Pizza) Potato Chips sounds tasty. After all I really like pizza. I really love east coast style pizza. Most east coast pizza is made with a rich tomato sauce and a really delicious cheese blend. Usually it’s made with a sprinkle of seasonings that many pizza places around Phoenix don’t use. New York style taste different because of the water and usually is made thin with lots of oil. It says on bag that these chips are suppose to be in the style of Grimaldi’s pizza. I haven’t had a Grimaldi’s pizza in years so I can’t tell if it is like Grimaldi’s. Anyway so here we go. I bought a small 2 1/2 ounce bag.
I open it up and take a whiff.
To me it smells just like mozzarella sticks.
I open the bag and read the back.
It seems safe to eat.
I spill some out.
The chips are smaller sized and very crisp. They have a very powdery finish.
I taste one. It’s not bad but it doesn’t taste like pizza to me.
I think it’s too oregano heavy to taste like pizza.
This doesn’t usually happen but I am actually tasting the potato here. Usually these chips lack potato flavor but the potato shines threw.
I guess it taste like a crispy Italian potato croquette.
Could pass for a mozzarella stick though.
It’s not bad but it doesn’t taste like pizza to me.
My bag of chips seems to lack the rich tomato flavor.
Maybe your bag might come with more tomato flavor?
Worth a try!
Those were my Forking Thoughts on Lay’s Kettle Cooked New York Pizza Flavored Grimaldi’s Flavor Icon Potato Chips.
Your experience may indeed differ from mine and everything is subject to change.
I was sort of gifted with a case of Mexican Mangos. We don’t eat many mangos. I don’t want to make a dessert I don’t need. So I got the idea that mangos are sort of creamy naturally and they are very sweet. I thought I can just blend them up and freeze them.
So I blended them up.
I poured them into a container and put the container in my freezer. For the next day about every 8-10 hours I’d scrap the harder frozen ends to distribute the freezing mango.
Around 24 hours latter I have a tub of frozen dessert without any added sugar, colors or added fat.
Easy One Ingredient Mango Ice
This would be amazing with added strawberries. It would be great with pineapple and or coconut. I would also like it with little chunks of crystalized ginger. Maybe shaved chocolate would be tasty too.
We got many places around North Phoenix where you can take out DELICIOUS food for $10.00 or less around North Phoenix. One restaurant that is on my local rotation is Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Bistro in North Phoenix. They are a pho free Vietnamese Eatery that offers around a dozen different Banh Mi Sandwiches and many other Vietnamese Favorites except for pho. Pictured up above is the noodle bowl. It’s a lot of different flavors in one (or two) meals. Minty salad, fried shallots, tasty protein that taste even better with fish sauce, lots of rice noodles and a tasty egg roll for me.
Here’s the shaken beef Banh Mi my husband recently got.
shaken beef from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery
Below is a $5. Chicken and cabbage salad and on right are the potstickers $4. They are delicious and tasty. The $5.00 is the right size for many people. The papaya salad and the lotus root salad both come with shrimp and are the same size as the chicken and cabbage salad.
Below is a rice plate. It a large amount of tasty meat with a double scoop of rice, a fragrant pickled salad and a pork egg roll.
Rice Plate
Another restaurant that we enjoy is Taco Fusion in Glendale.
They sell the BEST tacos in the area!
It sure doesn’t cost much to eat from Taco Fusion. Most tacos are less than $3.00 each and are made on hand made tortillas that just TASTE BETTER than from most taco places. It isn’t just the tortillas….The FILLINGS ARE DELICIOUS TOO!
I usually don’t even like carne asada from not all but most places. It has to have a really good flavor and be tender for me to eat it. I do really like the carne asada tacos here. My personal favorite taco at Taco Fusion is their mild chicken habanero taco on flour with pineapple salsa and a little pico. That taco is stuffed with flavorful moist dark chicken meat. It’s even better than chicken tacos I ate in Mexico. I also like their fish taco but I prefer that one is better on a corn tortilla. My husband eats the different styles of asada tacos here and he always tells me that they do shrimp tacos very well here. The salsas differ everyday. Sometimes they have.a real interesting black salsa that’s next to too hot but really delicious. I really enjoy their pineapple salsa because it usually has so many flavors in it. All the salsas I tried are good but you have to ask for the salsas. They also offer cilantro rice and two kinds of beans here and MORE.
Also in Glendale is Skewers Mediterranean Grill.
I get big beautiful salads here for only around $7.50.
On the left is my chicken kabob salad and on the right is the salad with shawarma. Look at the GREAT LOW pricing below. You get your meal as a pita, rice bowl, fry bowl, wrap or salad like I always get.
Almost across the street from Skewers MG is Phila-Deli in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.
My husband enjoys the cheese steaks from Phila-Deli but they cost over ten so we will talk about the really great $7.50 salads that Phila-Deli offers. (My salad was 75cents extra because I added avocado.)
You can get a very good salad for only around $7.50 at Phila-Deli to FILL YOUR BELLY!
We also like Rocket Burger in North Phoenix for burgers, Mexican Fish sandwiches maybe the largest collection of bottled sodas anywhere and MORE!
It doesn’t cost much to eat from Rocket Burger. Not all but more than half of the menu is priced under $10.
On the left is a cheese burger with a big fried chili pepper on it. At the right is the Mexican Fish Sandwich. The slaw and rocket sauce are so tasty that you can slap it on a hamster and the hamster will be delicious.
In Glendale we love going to CHZBURGR. They offer great cheese burgers, FORKING delicious crispy chicken thigh sandwiches, hot dogs, milk shakes, SPECIALS and more!
Most of the time I get the Crispy Chicken Thigh Sandwich with added Calabrian Peppers because IT’S FORKING AMAZING!
It’s crisp! It’s delicious, It’s Juicy! It sort of POPS from the house made pickles! The bun is delicious and not too big. It’s just perfection. My bigger dog is usually well behaved when I eat but when I have this sandwich she slaps me for some.
My husband gets the Triple cheese burger.
He said it’s just so perfect he can’t get anything else.
CHZBURGR is a GREAT Place for $10. or less. During the pandemic CHZBURGR offers the safer Curbside Pickup.
In North Phoenix on Bell Rd inn an older strip mall is Wraps ‘N’ Curry. They offer aromatic delicious Indian Food in fresh made naan wraps and many Indian Dishes and MORE! Below is one of their delicious wraps that you can order for take out that is only around $9.00.
Wraps ‘N’ Curry expanded their menu since opening and now offers at least 20 different Indian dishes priced at $9.99.
In North Phoenix is the home of Chino Bandido A sort of Chinese and sort of Mexican and Other foods type of restaurant. According to Food Network Chino Bandido offers (starting at $9.35) NINTY THOUSAND different combination plates. You get a BIG Pan of food that is BETTER than fast food and cost LESS than fast food if you figure that amount of food you get for your money. During the pandemic they even offer curbside pick up. Once I got the veggie salad combo with the Chili Relleno.
Our most recent take out is more typical of what to take out. I got a chili Relleno again because it is good! They use a real pepper that doesn’t taste canned (like from certain more costly restaurants) The cracker coating is unique and all that cheese is darn tasty. I like the emerald chicken with scallion ginger sauce. I get lots of rice and lots of black beans. It’s more food than I can eat and could be two meals for some people. They also give you a BIG complimentary snickerdoodle for dessert.
That was EIGHT $10. or less food from Restaurants for Take Out in North Phoenix AZ
Fry’s supermarket was practically giving corn away for free so we got some and I did something different but delicious with it. Made easy to roll pasta dough. I cooked the corn in the oven with seasoning and water. The corn got a really great flavor to it and the water had a good flavor to so I made it into sauce. You will have FOUR extra ears of corn that you have to freeze and use for something else. You also will have a small amount of leftover corn filling that would be delicious to have in an omelet the next day. I made mine into raviolo. They are larger than ravioli. You can make yours into whatever shape you want. Mine made me 7 LARGE raviolo. To me that is 7 servings. But my idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. I thought one was enough per person but my husband said he’d prefer two.
Ingredients for about 7 servings (plus extra corn)
2 eggs (pasta)
3 yolks – plus save one egg white for sealing ravioli (pasta)
1 1/3 cup flour (all brands of flour are ground different so you might need more or less (pasta) + extra for dusting the dough
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (pasta)
2 pinches sea salt (pasta)
6 ears corn peeled
4 oz salted butter – cut in half
2 Calabrian Chili Peppers – fine chopped
1-2 garlic cloves – minced (I used one clove but it was oddly large)
8 cups water
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme – in two portions for two pans
All the liquid from cooking the corn – sauce
8 oz heavy cream – sauce
4 Tablespoons corn starch – sauce
2 ears cooked corn kernels – filling
5 oz wild mushroom brie cheese – filling
2 Tablespoons sliced scallions – filling
around 1/4 cup corn meal to rest ravioli or raviolo on
a little extra virgin olive oil to sprinkle on ravioli or raviolo so they don’t stick
finish with some fresh parsley
grated Italian cheese
Directions
Make dough. Combine two eggs and three yolks and mix well. Add olive oil and salt and mix well. Add flour..Start with one cup and add more if needed. (I usually need 1 1/3 cup but every brand of flour is ground different so the amount you need will differ). Knead the dough and when smooth wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.
Now cook corn.
Set oven to 350 degrees f. The corn goes in two large pans (I use 1/2 buffet pans) 3 ears in one pan and three ears in the other pan. 1/2 the butter, Calabrian Chili, garlic, water, bay leaf and thyme go in each pan. Cover pans tightly with foil and place them in the middle rack of oven. Let them cook for 90 minutes. Then remove the pans from the oven. Use thongs and let the corn cool off. Throw out the bay leaves but DON’T THROW OUT THE LIQUID. Leave the liquid cool some on the counter. (It smells wonderful and all those flavors are infused into the corn)
When the corn is cool enough to handle make the filling.
Kernals get removed from the ears of corn. Mix the kernels with the cheese and scallions. Cover with plastic wrap and set in the refrigerator.
Make the sauce. Get a big cup or a bowl and mix the corn starch with a cup or two with a whisk so you don’t get lumps. The corn liquid, corn liquid mixed with corn starch and the heavy cream go in a pot on medium high heat. Mix well so you don’t get lumps. Once it bubbles turn the heat down to medium and let it reduce till you are happy with the consistency. (this takes a while) Take off heat and set to the side.
The quick and easy part is rolling the dough. Roll it out till it’s nice and thin. You will need to dust both sides with a little flour.
Cut dough however you want and paint edges of dough with egg white. Then stuff the dough with some filling. Edges of top dough also get egg white. Lay the top dough over the bottom dough and press them together and try to get the air out of center.
The stuffed pastas rest on a pan with corn meal (so they don’t stick) till you are ready to cook them (cover with plastic wrap so they don’t dry out. Gently boil for around two minutes or until it floats. Serve with sauce and a little fresh parsley and grated Italian cheese.
Corn and Wild Mushroom Brie Raviolo in Creamy Corn Stock Sauce
There are all kinds of salsa verde recipes out there. The Mexican Style Salsa Verde made with tomatillos is very popular. Other salsa verde recipes are basically herb sauces. My favorite salsa verde recipe that I’ve come across is the chef Richard Blais recipe for salsa verde. I’ve discovered that now I’m making salsa verde semi regularly. It’s so delicious and goes so well with just about any protein. The other reason why I’m making it so often is because it’s a great delicious way to use up your fresh herbs so they don’t go to waste.
Below is a picture of what I put in my no measure salsa verde.
In the orange colander is all my leftover tarragon, lots of parsley leaves, scallions and a little cilantro. (tarragon is really delicious in salsa verde………)
You need a chopped up hot green or yellow pepper ….I like using my own pickled hot peppers (the pickled adds something and it helps make the sauce stay fresh.
You need something sweet I used honey because it is a preservative.
You need fresh squeezed lemon.
You need olive oil
capers are very good in salsa verde.
Depending one how it taste you might need salt.
Maybe you might use a small amount of water to thin the sauce.
It comes out amazing all the time. You can play around with the sauce. Maybe add something like almonds for a different taste. Richard Blais uses golden raisins for sweetness and also uses anchovies for depth and salt flavor.
