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Cocina Savant
http://cocinasavant.blogspot.com/
Weekly pictures, recipes, and thoughts from a husband and wife who love books and cooking for each other.

This is a good question.

Firstly, make sure you read this post about the misleading fiber claims on food labels.

Then, check out our database where you can search for any supermarket foods and compare them by fiber levels to find the highest fiber. Try searching for things like high fiber bread or high fiber bran cereal.

Incidentally, the highest fiber cereal in the foodessentials database is the Kellogg's All Bran at 50g of fiber per 100g (which is really pretty good).

But suprisingly the higest fiber bread is Wonder White Bread at 11g of fiber per 100 - I would have thought it was a wholegrain bread etc...however, i'm sure there are other reasons to eat wholegrain and other breads.

So, as you can see from just those figures, a good cereal in the morning is one of the best ways to increase your fiber intake.

I hope this helps.

Anton Xavier
CEO Foodessentials.com

My pleasure bareneed, especially when it is to bring new people into the TJ's cult. Unfortunately there isn't a store in SC yet. They have locations in Chapel Hill, Charlotte, and Cary in NC, and half a dozen locations in GA. Perhaps a road trip is in order once you get there; you can even use the excuse that you want to compare the 'cue in NC and SC (well beyond the scope of this thread).

bareneed: There is a recently posted video of a fan-made TJs "commercial" on this site. It sums up the store better than I can, but here is a brief overview. TJs sells mostly private-label products, which are often identical to brand name ones, just with different packaging. They sell them at much lower prices than the branded counterparts, but even when they do carry items you can find elsewhere, they are often significantly cheaper. Their basic "philosophy" is to cut out middle-men as much as they can, and buy directly from manufacturers. Other ways they keep prices low are by having a more limited selection (and smaller stores) than most suburban supermarkets, limiting advertising to radio ads they record themselves, getting rid of products that don't sell well, buying from suppliers in large quantities, etc. etc. While they do sell a lot of organic and healthy food, there is also a ton of snack food and other items that are upscale but definitely off-limits to anyone on a diet (witness the bacon spinach salad containing 50 grams of fat). The stores are done up in a mock-maritime decor, with wood paneling, a ship's bell for signaling the crew, Hawaiian shirts for full-time employees, etc. As you can probably tell, people are fanatical about the place. Aside from the food and prices, there is a fun atmosphere to the stores; I worked there for three years, and constantly had people telling me that it was their favorite place to shop (for anything). The company also treats its employees better than just about anyone else does; IMHO, the only reason it never appears on Fortunes Best Companies to Work For is that it is privately held.

Ditto on the gyoza. Sesame-crusted cashews. Marinated tri-tip (almost impossible to find in any other store in New York). Frozen pizzas. Greek yogurt. Frozen raspberries at half the price of any other store. Double-roasted salsa.

kqrbob: The edamame are from Thailand.

the manhattan store is just too crowded and can't keep the stock on the shelves as quickly as things are purchased. they probably gear it towards nyu students because they are the only people who can go during the middle of the day when its empty. its frustrating, but it is so much cheaper then our neighborhood grocery stores and the quality is much better so my roommate and i go every few weeks to stock up on staples. we love the gingersnaps and all of the cereal is great.

Cream-topped whole milk – Never thought I'd see that again!
Naan – my daughter's favorite. Fortunately, our new copy of How to Cook Everything has a recipe! (The nearest Trader Joe's is an hour away from where I now live.) Actually, almost all the TJ breads I've tried have been good.
Double Gloucester cheese. Like cheddar with extra butter. And chives. Mmmm.
Maple syrup – affordable at last!
King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour – beautiful stuff, but it's about $6/bag at Safeway.
Spelt Farrotto!
Sugar/salt scrubs for getting extra gooky stuff off your hands. My son swears by it.

TJ's brand: Organic mint tea, Organic orange juice, vegetable chips, original beef jerky, frozen brown rice, frozen Thai shrimp dumplings, gyoza dipping sauce, jalapeno stuffed green olives, whole wheat pizza dough, challah bread rolls, garlic naan, orange blossom liquid hand soap, and their french chocolate truffles.

I'd definitely go for the stainless lined pans. I recently made the mistake of purchasing tin lined pans from Lara Copper - a Tasmanian hand made pan - and after only 8 minutes on low heat, the pan melted!!

On further inspection, these pans are very heavy tin, but have minimal copper. I realize they're cheaper than say Mauviel, but I thought I was doing a good thing supporting a small business - when I called them, they just didn't want to hear about it. Realize most of you are in The States but save yourself the postage if you're considering Lara Copper pans.

I would never use oven cleaner, it contains ammonia and other reactive chemicals that can adhere to the metals and taint your food.

I have several cast iron pans from Lodge, I wash mine in hot water with a scrub brush, place it in a cool oven on 350 degrees for a half hour or so until it's dry. Shut off the oven, open the door and let it cool. I then rub oil all over it with a paper towel. Place a cookie sheet on the lower rack (to catch any drips), put the pan in upside down and turn the oven back on to 350, and leave it in there for an hour, again shutting oven off to let it cool.

My pans don't get gummy, and I have a good seasoning on them.

Mine were initially a bit bumpy, but I did sand them down, and reseasoned them.

i have found that my very old cast iron pan (one my mother got at an estate sale years and years ago) is superior to my 'pre-seasoned' pan. it has a smoother cooking surface and is far less likely to stick.

that being said, even the pre-seasoned ones, if they are properly taken care of (or seasoned from scratch as mamiller35 suggested) can become as good as nice, old, well-used pans.

also, regarding bacteria - i don't use soap on my pans ever. but i do preheat my pans very well before each use (to kill any leftover bacteria) and i heat them with oil after each use (to kill bacteria and to refresh the seasoning). Detergent works as a physical agent to remove most bacteria (yes, that's right, not all). Heat kills bacteria. (food-service training). of course, i still say do what you're comfortable with - if you won't use the pan otherwise, use soap! :-)

I bought a pre-seasoned cast iron pan as well - and had the same trouble you did. I had to "start from scratch" so to speak to get it to where it needed to be. I treated it like an old, rusty pan and took sandpaper to it, removing whatever coating it came with. I then seasoned it with shortening in the oven (upside down for an hour). After it cooled down I put it on the stove over medium heat for an hour with about an inch of veg oil in it. After that it was good to go and I haven't used any of my other pans since. It took some work but it was well worth it.

I've had a lot of trouble with my cast iron. It came "pre-seasoned", which of course means nothing, so i seasoned it in the oven for an hour or so. I've been using it, but it is HARDLY non-stick. I've roasted a chicken in it which means it had a nice puddle of fat in it for an hour or two, still not non-stick. I've fried things in it (not bacon yet, though), and still not non-stick. I never use soap. And what's more, i can never get that papertowel-dipped-in-oil trick to work... whenever i try to wipe out the pan with an oily paper towel, the rough spots of the pan slightly shred the paper towl and i get all these itsy bitsy tiny little clumps of paper towel stuck to the pan! Then i have to spend 30 minutes trying to get them out, otherwise i know they will "incorporate" into the pan over time and make it bumpy. What a mess! HELP! I want to love my cast iron, i really do! :)