SUPER ZERO (diet soda) Sarsparilla at 7-11

Hey Song has jumped on the "zero calorie soda" bandwagon. Introducting "Super Zero" (better than Coke Zero?), an artificially sweetened soda you can find at 7-11. (that's the only place I've seen it so far)

I bought one to try it, and it's not bad. It's worth a try if you drink diet soda.

Blueberry Buckle recipe

When I lived in the States, I had a friend named Lori who made the best Blueberry Buckle you've ever tasted. Recently, I picked up a big bag of frozen organic blueberries at Costco (NT$399), and I have finally found a great recipe that (almost) rival's Lori's. Thank you, Martha Stewart. Blueberry Buckle is easy to make if you have the frozen blueberries. And you can actually buy "Crumble topping" at Jason's if you're too lazy to make your own topping. I added pecans to mine and drizzled honey over the top.

Check out the recipe here:

New---Macadamia Nut Ice cream at Carrefour

Endulge. It's delish. The Duroyal "Super" ice creams are much better than the regular Duroyal flavors.

Nanaimo Bars- recipe

-The final product.

Recipe can be found here:

You can easily make these yummy bars with ingredients in Taiwan.
Use Digestive crackers instead of graham crackers. (they are easily crushed) Pudding powder can be found in Tianmu. Chocolate chips are at Costco. Cocoa powder is everywhere. The best butter comes from Costco. I also added raisins to my "middle layer" and pecans to the top.

The crust.

The middle layer.

The top layer.

Easiest ever strawberry cream cheese brownies

Once in awhile, I like to post a recipe. I'm a bit of a brownie fiend, so I like to experiment with the Ghirardelli brownie mixes from Costco. These are a good deal...you get 6 mixes for about NT$350. And you really can't screw these up too badly---all you need to add is an egg, some water, and some oil.

Now that Costco is selling strawberry-flavored cream cheese, I decided to combine the brownie mix with the cream cheese spread to create a chocolate-strawberry concoction.

I threw a few chocolate chips on top, and voila!

And then I gave one to my husband...still warm out of the oven...with a little vanilla ice cream on top. He called it "pure perfection."

Want the recipe? Here you go!

Ingredients:

One brownie mix

About 1 1/2 cups of cream cheese (I prefer the flavored kinds from Costco...in this recipe, you'll use 1/2 of the carton)

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup sugar

red food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. Grease and flour a 9 x 13" pan. Preheat your oven, of course.

2. Make the brownies first. Follow the directions on the box. If you use the Ghirardelli mixes, you'll add 1 egg, 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup oil. Spread the brownie mix in the pan.

3. Mix the cream cheese (1 block, 1 tub or 1/2 carton of the Costco kind) with 1 egg and 1/3 cup sugar. Add red food coloring if you want a prettier look. I mix this with a mixer so it's all nice and smooth. Just mixing by hand won't work as well.

4. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the brownie mixture. Swirl with a knife to make it look pretty.

5. Bake for about 35-45 minutes. Baking time all depends on your oven. Bake at 320 degrees...or 160 degrees if you're using a Taiwan oven. I'm not very scientific on the baking times or temperatures. I just know how my little convection oven works, so I apologize that I'm a little vague on this part.

Don't overbake, though...nobody likes rock-hard brownies.

ENJOY! Let me know if you try my recipe!

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).