Unusual/limited ingredients...where do you shop?

[blissful]

This is the way I feel about most Italian food. More specifically, I am not a big lover of pasta dishes. I think it's the texture. Pasta is kind of... squishy?

I can't say I hate it. I will eat it if it's put in front of me. But I'm not as crazy about it as a lot of people seem to be.

Since we switched to whole wheat pasta, it's more chewy and has more substance than white pasta. We love it. We've had regular white pasta since and neither of us like the texture anymore. Barilla makes a nice WW macaroni.

 

[caseydog]

Since we switched to whole wheat pasta, it's more chewy and has more substance than white pasta. We love it. We've had regular white pasta since and neither of us like the texture anymore. Barilla makes a nice WW macaroni.

I tried WW pasta once... once.

CD

 

[Kathleen]

We have the “I Only Have This” section which has members suggesting recipes for whatever you have in the pantry. That might be helpful.

I actually loved that section. It was fun to see what people would come up with for a person's ingredient lists. Sadly, I think Google took that fun away as it can do the same thing.

What I love best about this forum is that people will ask questions for clarification and help when asked. I grew up in a family where we knew what was for dinner based on the season and day of the week. Because of this, I love experimenting with different kinds of foods and exploring various cultures and foods. The downside is that I have too many items that I struggle to find different dishes to make using it. Ah well. First world problem.

It's exciting to me to see what all there is to try in the world. It's winter and Saturday. Happy to not have to have country fried steak tonight. Though I do like it, but not every Saturday night in winter.

 

[taxlady]

I tried WW past once... once.

CD

I like most stuff to be whole grain rather than white flour. I actually prefer the taste and texture. But, I tried ww pasta a number of times and it was nasty. I gave up on it. Then, I came across some that was imported from Italy. I gave that a try and it was lovely. My favourite is a brand called Bionaturae. I haven't seen it in a long time, but it was soooo good. I would start munching on it as soon as it was done cooking, no sauce, just nekkid. I couldn't help it. It was that good.

 

[larry_stewart]

I try to keep things local, when I can. We have local Indian, Korean, Filipino, Chineee, Mexican/ South American and a few stores that have a variety of health/ vegetarian/ vegan products. I love going into those stores to pick up what I may need, and browse the aisles to see anything that looks new and interesting to me. Maybe things I never even would have known about unless I saw it first hand. Online, Amazon makes it very convenient, so it is always my back up. Tthe guy I do a lot of test cooking for uses a lot of exotic/ unique ingredients to me. I wouldn't even know where to get them without searching online, so those I usually get off amazon.

Ive tried whole wheat pasta a bunch of times. Not crazy about the texture, probably cause I've eaten the other pastas my whole life.

Once every few months I'll make a bibimbap bowl. The crispy rice at the bottom of the the bowl is the best!!

 

[dragnlaw]

Maybe things I never even would have known about unless I saw it first hand.

One of my favourite things, is when I see something different and say "I saw a recipe using that stuff!"
I buy it - never to find the recipe again... sigh...

 

[taxlady]

One of my favourite things, is when I see something different and say "I saw a recipe using that stuff!"
I buy it - never to find the recipe again... sigh...

Next time you have a recipe in CMT (Copy Me That) with an unusual ingredient, add the ingredients to the shopping list*. I do that. I used to have exotic ingredients that I couldn't remember which recipe. Now, I add them to the shopping list. When I want to find that recipe later, by ingredient, I open up the shopping list and have it sort by recipe. Then, I use my browser's search function, control F, and find the ingredient. It will be listed with the other ingredients for the recipe that uses it and you will be able to click through to the recipe from there. Sometimes you have to scroll through several listings of that ingredient to find the right recipe.

*When you are looking at one of your recipes on CMT, there is an icon to add ingredients to the shopping list. It is in the row of icons above the title of the recipe.