Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Delicious sweet potato casserole recipe.



Ingredients:


4 cups sweet potato, cubed
1/2 cup brown sugar (use brown sugar from Wellman's)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup chopped pecans


Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Put sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash.
In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, brown sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish.
In medium bowl, mix the sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.
Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown.

New fitness products and vitamins at Costco





Bodybuilders and health nuts will be glad to find whey protein and muscle milk back in Costco. Also, I was geeked to find Krill oil. I've been having my mom send me krill oil for a couple of years now, and it's nice to finally find it in Taiwan. If you don't know much about krill oil, google it. It's proven to be much more potent than regular fish oil. I'm a firm believer that it's incredibly healthy for the brain and body.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Thanksgiving food---where to find it?

So you want to make a Thanksgiving dinner? Well, there's no such thing as "one-stop shopping" here. You need to visit several stores to get everything you need. Here's the official "Food for Foreigners" guide to Thanksgiving shopping.


TURKEYS
Costco (best deal, I think)
Wellman's
TAS (you need to know a TAS parent)
American Club (not a good deal...waaaay too expensive)

STUFFING
Jason's Marketplace
(as of 11/17, Wellman's didn't have any stuffing)

FROZEN GREEN BEANS
Carrefour

FRENCH FRIED ONIONS
can't find them anywhere. But you can try the Chinese version of fried onions...I think City Super carries them

MUSHROOM SOUP
you can find this anywhere...even at Wellcome

PUMPKIN PIE
Costco sells them for about NT$300 each and they're big.
If you want to make your own, you can get frozen pie crusts and pumpkin pie mix at Wellman's.

PECAN PIE
you can get big bags of pecans at Costco.
The dark or light corn syrup can be purchased at Jason's Marketplace or Wellman's.
Also, the best brown sugar can be bought at Wellman's. Don't bake with the Chinese brown sugar. It's not the same.

MASHED POTATOES AND SWEET POTATOES
visit your local vegetable vendors. Marshmallows for sweet potato casserole can be found at Wellman's. Sometimes Carrefour carries marshmallows, but they're not the Jet-Puffed ones, and they don't melt as well.

JELLO
Jason's Marketplace, Carrefour

Am I missing anything? Of course, this list isn't comprehensive...but hopefully it will give you a good start with your holiday cooking!

Green beans at Carrefour...just in time for Thanksgiving


What's a Thanksgiving meal without green bean casserole? I found these large bags of green beans at Carrefour at a really good price. They are also carrying other frozen veggies now---like broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, etc.