What I learned from September's Food Network Magazine

The Next Big Thing – the Grapple

(c) Food Network

What is a Grapple, you ask?  A Fuji or Gala apple infused with grape flavoring.  There’s just one thing… it isn’t the next big thing – I’ve  been eating these for several years.  And I’d like to say that THEY ARE TASTY!  However, I did learn from The Grapple’s website and Facebook page that they aren’t available year round, and that makes sense why I haven’t seen them in a while.  If you’re interested they should be hitting the shelves soon (next to the “regular” apples) and I’ve seen them in both Meijer and Jewel.  Apparently you can order them online too!

How to make the Salad Bar work for you

If you’re brave enough to shop the salad bar at your local grocery store, you can save some cash on buying bulk for specific ingredients.  The items that you can buy significantly cheaper:

• Blue Cheese – 57% cheaper
• Peas – 40% cheaper
• Bacon Bits – 55% cheaper (oh I am SO there)
• Grilled Chicken – 44% cheaper
• Walnuts – 19% cheaper
• Ham – 14% cheaper
• Cheddar – 14% cheaper
• Dried Cranberries – 11% cheaper

But don’t be fooled into thinking everything you want to buy is cheaper.  The following are not worth buying at the Salad Bar.  Even if you're only putting them on your salad:

• Radishes – 302% more
• Celery – 150% more
• Chickpeas – 368% more
• Mandarin Oranges – 188% more
• Baby Corn – 277% more
• Green Beans – 201% more
• Cucumbers – 274% more
• Beets – 212% more
• Mushrooms – 200% more (wow… this is one of my favorites for my salad)
• Hard-Boiled Eggs – 167% more (crap – this is another favorite of mine)

That you make “Homemade Yogurt” with… Yogurt

Seriously, there are 4 ingredients and one of them is yogurt.  That’s like saying I’m making homemade spaghetti sauce and one of the ingredients being Ragu.

There are some things you CAN’T Deep-Fry

Whenever my husband and I come across something deep-fried and delicious my husband will say, “Everything is better deep-fried.”  Turns out Food Network determined that isn’t necessarily true.  Here are some things on their “don’t fry” list (please note that they never say why, which kind of made me angry - if I can't deep fry m&ms, I want to know why):

• M&Ms
• Roasted Red Pepper
• Dried Fruit
• Marshmallows
• Tomato Slices
• Pizza
• Graham Crackers
• Baked Potatoes
• Bologna
• Avocados
• Peanut Butter
• Liverwurst
• Cucumbers
• Watermelon
• Iceberg Lettuce
• Gum Drops

Still, my husband debates this list.  He feels we could probably form some sort of “mortar-esque” M&Ms ball and then deep fry them.  I’ll let him experiment.

50 Things to Make with Bacon

The list starts with Bacon Guacamole and ends in Bacon Brittle.  Both are dishes that I plan on making.  The list includes Bacon Burgers which consists of nothing more than a pound of bacon pulsed in a food processor and then shaped into 4 patties, bacon meatballs where the meat is 6 ounces of pancetta pulsed in a food processor and formed into balls, and Bacon Banana Bread.