Bargain food shopping... you get what you pay for [?]

For unknown reasons, after moving to Pittsburgh, I was excited to visit the local Aldi and see if the savings were as good as the chatter.

We decided to try out some food items, so here's the verdict:

• Garlic Hummus -- tasty, extremely garlicky. Good value, but would try the Red Pepper flavor next time. 
• Frozen Dinners -- Purchased an Asian Stir-Fry and Southwest Fiesta flavor. The Asian Stir Fry one smelled good when microwaving at work. Even received unsolicited comments about the nice smell. However, it was not very tasty. The noodles were mushy and falling apart, and the sauce was just lacking. Not looking to eating the second one I already purchased. 
• Butternut Ravioli -- Sounded like a good idea. But, oh boy. Way. Too. Sweet. Mr. RY stopped halfway through dinner and said he would have to finish the rest later. In addition to being too sweet for dinner, it just didn't taste like a pumpkin anymore. Not to mention the pasta was too thick and chewy. Even at $1.99 for 16 ounces, I will never buy again. Totally makes the $5.99/8-ounce pouches at Whole Foods seem worth it.   
• Kettle Chips -- Yummy! Best thing about Aldi. Good value. Not as delicious as Kettle brand, but the Salt & Pepper, Barbeque, and Jalapeno flavor have been happily consumed in the Random Yummies household. Don't know why we haven't tried the plain (salted) ones yet, but I am sure they are tasty as well. And the price was $1.69 for an ounce bag. 

Non-food items.

• Had been excited to see that Pumpkins (the Jack O'Lantern variety) were only $2.99 each. Alas, when I located a big crate of moldy (and smelly! rotten!) pumpkins in the store, that was a no-go. 
• Resealable Food Bags -- Bought resealable sandwich size and quart size freezer bags. Both worked out to be cheaper than Target brand bags. I haven't noticed a difference between the brand name products--certainly nothing affecting their utility. 
• Aluminum Foil -- Mr. RY thinks it's a bit thinner, but it gets the job done. 

Conclusions
The non-food items seemed like a good value and generally were low risk to purchase. The food items turned out to have a 50/50 chance of being something that seemed decent enough to purchase again. Curious to try their cheese and produce (those things are hard to mess up, right?). Where do you shop when you're looking for the most value?

Salted Fudge Brownies

I had planned to make cupcakes for bookclub, but a combination of procrastination & laziness changed the plan to brownies. One of the many great things about brownies is that you're likely to have everything in your pantry that you need to bake 'em.

There were no regrets about changing the plan today [from cupcake-making]--these were some of the best brownies I've ever had! If you've never had salted brownies, you must go to your kitchen and make up a batch immediately!

Here's the recipe, from Food & Wine Magazine.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
  
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
  
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
  
• 2 cups sugar
  
• 3 large eggs
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 teaspoon Maldon sea salt

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9-inch square metal cake pan with foil, draping the foil over the edges. Lightly butter the foil.
  
• In a large saucepan, melt the butter with the unsweetened chocolate over very low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat. Whisking them in one at a time until thoroughly incorporated, add the cocoa, sugar, eggs, vanilla and flour. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the batter. Using a butter knife, swirl the salt into the batter.
  
• Bake the fudge brownies in the center of the oven for about 35 minutes, until the edge is set but the center is still a bit soft and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out coated with a little of the batter.
  
• Let the brownies cool at room temperature in the pan for 1 hour, then refrigerate just until they are firm, about 1 hour. Lift the brownies from the pan and peel off the foil. Cut the brownies into 16 squares. Serve at room temperature.
  

According to the original instructions, these brownies can be refrigerated for up to 3 days, and frozen for up to 1 month. But chances are they'll be gone by the end of the first day! I recommend making a double-batch.

Unlike my usual self, I followed the recipe pretty accurately. For the chocolate, I used Endangered Species brand Intense Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs, which has 75% cocoa content. The brownies are sweet, and not overly so. They are gooey and moist (fudey, if you will), with firmer crust & lovely saltiness in each bite.

Ginger Experiment

Lately, I've found myself buying a small piece of ginger root and having it go bad before I get to use it all. To prevent this from happening in the future, I had the idea to freeze it. By freezing it, I would be able to have access to ginger without having to run to the store or finding that my stash had gone bad. It's probably not a very original idea, but I've never done it before and haven't heard of anyone doing it with ginger, specifically.

Before freezing, I peeled it then minced it to the normal size I use. Then I split it out into sections of an ice cube tray and compressed each "cube" of ginger. I debated whether or not to use a little bit of water to ensure that it would stay in cubes, but decided I would just try it this time without adding the water. So then I covered it in plastic wrap and stuck it in the freezer. Next time I get the urge to use ginger, I'll be prepared!

Not the best picture, but want to illustrate anyhow: