Strawberry cream cheese spread at Costco.

Have you tried the cream cheese spreads at Costco yet? I usually buy the caramel nut one, but this time we tried the strawberry cream cheese spread, their newest flavor. I also use these spreads as emergency frostings for cake. Cream cheese spread is quite versatile...you can also put it on sweet crackers or bagels.

Honey Dijon Kettle Chips at Costco...and cheap sour cream

We found these chips at the Shihjr Costco, and they're very tasty and very flavorful. I don't even like mustard, and I dig these chips.

And now the price of sour cream is half what it used to be (only NT$160!), so I highly recommend a bag of these chips and a tub of sour cream if you need something yummy to bring to a party.

"Power Buns," Mrs. Field's Cookies, and yummy ice cream sandwiches at Costco

New item alert: "Power Buns." Not sure what makes them so powerful...maybe a few flaxseeds or something?


I know the guy who brought Mrs. Field's cookies to Taiwan. I wonder how long they'll last here...

And these ice cream sandwiches aren't a new item, but I splurged and bought a box of them for the first time last night. They're gooood. As in, "worth every penny" good.

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.

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.

Chewy oatmeal chocolate chip bars---TRY THIS RECIPE!

I finally stumbled on a recipe for oatmeal bars that's a winner...and I tweaked it a bit to make it even better. I think the key to these bars is the oatmeal, though...the Quaker oats are just too big and tough for me. I like to use the "First Choice" oats from Wellcome.

They're a smaller-sized oat, and it makes the bars taste better for some reason.

Here's the recipe if you want to try it at home:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup oil

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

2 cups oatmeal

3/4 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup chocolate chips

cinnamon (add as much as you want)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

honey (to drizzle on top of the bars)
pecans (optional)



Directions:

1. Mix the sugar, oil and eggs together.

2. Stir in the oats, flour, peanut butter, chocolate chips, baking soda, salt and cinnamon

3. Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes.

4. Drizzle generous amounts of honey over the baked bars.

5. Enjoy!

How easy is that?

(*I forgot to add how much oatmeal you need in the original recipe...sorry about that! The recipe should be complete now.) :)

Orange-flavored M&Ms at (DaZhi) Carrefour

Just in time for Halloween!

Pretty yummy granola cereal at Carrefour

New cereal alert: Museli (tastes just like granola) at Carrefour. It's chock full of dried fruit, and although it gives your jaws a bit of a workout, the taste is really good (in my opinion).

Bacon Cheeseburger at Costco

Has anyone tried the "Bacon Cheese Hamburger" at Costco yet?

New things (for me, anyway) at RT Mart

This is the first time I've seen Diet V8 splash...it's only 10 calories/ serving. (NT$99/ bottle)


RT Mart is carrying at least two different brands of rice cakes now.


And you can also find "light" juices. Snapple is on sale, too...only NT$39/ jar.

More juices. I almost felt like I was in the U.S.

New goodies at Carrefour

This one is just for fun...Hi Wheal Creak Pie, anyone?


I'm sure "immunity blend" veggies are just a marketing ploy, but if frozen veggies are your thing...


And you can also find Sara Lee cheesecakes for (probably) a limited time only.

These look yummy...chocolate cheesecake bites. Nice.

Items on sale at Jason's Marketplace

Bulla ice cream is on sale right now at Jason's...I was surprised at the variety of flavors they're carrying at the moment. All of their ice cream bars and popsicles are also on sale.

And I found a lot of other great products that were quite a bit cheaper than usual...all of these products were under NT$70. (some of them are up to 75% off!) The sale should last until 9/24.

These Canterbusy Naturals products are usually very expensive...but they're dirt cheap right now. I bought the Chocolate Orange Pound Cake and Chocolate Raspberry Muffin Mix...these mixes are so easy because you only have to add one or two ingredients and you have a very quick and delicious dessert.

Minute Tapioca pudding is also at a very reduced price.

And I bought a box of Green's Lemon Cake...anytime I can find a cake mix for about NT$50, I buy it! You never know when you might need to whip up a cake, and I don't always have the ingredients on hand to make a cake from scratch.

While you're in the baking section, grab some white chocolate baking squares...I think the box was only NT$99. (it "expires" in a month or so)

Sometimes I find great sales at Jason's...today was one of those days. I only spent around NT$1000 and got one cake mix, three muffin mixes, two pound cake mixes, white chocolate squares, tapioca pudding, two boxes of granola bars, a box of cereal, and two packets of sauce mixes. That's far more groceries than I normally get for NT$1000. Everything I bought was on sale...big-time sale.

Guacamole dip and taco sauce at Carrefour

Lo and behold, I saw guacamole dip at Carrefour last night for the first time. I haven't tried it yet, but I bought a jar for around NT$100. It looks like there's some salsa in the dip, too.


And I also saw taco sauce! Happy day!

I was shopping at the DaZhi Carrefour, and they have several new "Mexican" products on their shelves. I also saw some tortellini for the first time.