February 2nd, 2008

QUICK TIP: Easier Macaroni and Cheese Preparation

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Spirals

The directions for preparation on a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Spirals are:

  1. Boil 6 cups water. Stir in Macaroni. Boil 6 to 8 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.
  2. Drain. Do Not Rinse. Return to pan.
  3. Add 3 tablespoons spread[/butter] (or 1/2 tablespoon unmelted butter for lower fat preparation), 3 tablespoons 2% milk (or skim milk for lower fat preparation), and Cheese Sauce Mix, mix well. Makes 3 servings.

Here’s a simple trick my wife, Lacey, taught me to make step 3 a little bit easier:

After returning the drained pasta to the pot, turn the stove back on, at its lowest setting. Then, add the butter, which will be much easier to stir in with a little bit of heat melting it. Next, add the milk, and stir that up. At this point, the pasta is coated in butter and milk, which makes the cheese powder stick to it better. I leave the heat on until I’m completely done mixing it all up, which also ensures that the finished Mac and Cheese will actually still be warm by the time you dish it out.

Image and preparation directions taken (slightly cropped/rearranged) from product info on Amazon.com: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Spiral, 5.5-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 24)

Posted by spugbrap at 12:22am EST 4 Comments 

Categories: cooking, pasta, macaroni, cheese, food, tips, lifehacks, personal

February 19th, 2007

Primo Taglio cheese (from Safeway) is really nasty

We bought some Meunster cheese from the deli at Safeway recently, and it is the worst Meunster cheese I’ve ever had. It looks pretty normal, aside from some little tiny holes throughout it, but it smells wrong, and hardly tastes like Meunster at all. Meunster is one of my favorite kinds of cheese, but I can’t bring myself to eat this stuff. The brand on the label is Primo Taglio.

If this was an isolated incident, I would just chalk it up to one bad batch of cheese. But looking back, we’ve made the mistake of buying cheese from the Safeway deli before. We kept forgetting which grocery store had the nasty cheese. In the past, we bought Provolone, there, and I’m sure it was also Primo Taglio. It tasted like some kind of freak of nature, like 25% old Provolone + 75% extra-smelly Swiss. It even had holes — some of them pretty big, like domestic Swiss. I tried to eat it, because I like Provolone, and I like Swiss, but that stuff was disgusting!

Anyways, I highly recommend not buying Primo Taglio cheese from the Safeway deli. Yuck! Buy some pre-packaged/sliced Kraft or Sargento cheese from the regular cheese aisle instead, or buy your cheese elsewhere!

Posted by spugbrap at 10:24pm EST No Comments 

Categories: safeway, disgusting, cheese, food, recommendations, products, rant