Introducing Jalapeño Bacon Wrapped Totino’s Stuffed Nachos

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I am so done with the Internet. 99.999% done. Not because there are all these miscellaneous memes featuring frogs and one-eyed characters in overalls popping up everywhere, or even the overwhelming amount of cat videos (for which, let’s be honest, the limit does not exist).

I’m done because there are just too many tasty, delish-ious, droolworthy food mash-ups and food-en-steins being produced and released out unto the world every second, yet not nearly enough time to take advantage of them all! Luckily, there are food creations out there that are both highly craveable and simple enough to make even during your toughest moments (aka, when you barely have enough energy to leave the couch).

Case in point: these Jalapeno Bacon Wrapped Totino’s Stuffed Nachos. It’s already convenient that you can pop the Stuffed Nachos alone into the oven at 10 and be snackin’ on ‘em by 10:15, but tastemaker and honorary Foodbeast Josh Elkin found a way to turn these hot new items into cute (and still convenient) little hor d’oeuvres!

The process is straightforward and requires only three ingredients, including the Totino’s Stuffed Nachos—they’re petite yet plump enough to fit snugly inside of a jalapeno, and that queso filling combined with the spicy pepper and savory bacon is gonna blow ya gosh-dang mind. Also doesn’t hurt that most of the method allows you to just sit back and wait while the magic takes place in the oven.

So that being said, perhaps I’ll continue my business with the Internet just a bit longer…

Endurance Athletes And Runners Are Drinking Pickle Juice

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By Leigh Campbell   –   Huffington Post Australia

Just when we thought buzz ingredients couldn’t get any wackier, well, they do. Forget coconut water for a post-workout nutrition hit — long distance runners and workout junkies are now drinking pickle juice. Yep, the water in a jar of pickles.

The reason? It’s thought that the brine from a jar of pickles aids in treating muscle cramps.

“This has been an interesting new development, but so far we have limited research to determine the effectiveness of pickle juice. Anecdotally it appears that it may be helpful in preventing and treating muscle cramps,” Jemma O’Hanlon, accredited practicing dietitian, told The Huffington Post Australia.

“It’s thought that the vinegar in the juice stimulates receptors in the mouth, esophagus and stomach, and that this allows the receptors in the muscle fibers to relax where a cramp is occurring.”

Pickle water is mostly made up of vinegar. While some may find the tangy, acidic-tasting liquid nice, it might not be the best drink to skoll after a gym session.

“What we do know about vinegar is that it has an anti-glycemic effect. Essentially this means that it slows down the digestion of starches, meaning that blood sugar levels will not rise as high.”

“The juice from pickles can contain a substantial amount unnecessary kilojoules (from vinegar and sugar) and salt, not to mention being quite sour and unpleasant to drink. I wouldn’t recommend that pickle juice is something that Australians start drinking, unless it is under the guidance of a health professional,” O’Hanlon said.

If you do want to leverage the benefits of vinegar, it’s probably better to consume it in smaller doses, and in dressings instead of drinks.

“Vinegar is commonly used to make dressings and sauces. A good way to lower the GI of a salad is to add a vinegar-based dressing. You could make up a simple one from scratch using extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar and some wholegrain mustard,” O’Hanlon said.

In terms of what athletes should be drinking when they train, not surprisingly, water is the best. Specifically formulated sports drinks are also useful, in moderation.

Formulated sports drinks play an important role in many athletes’ diets as they provide the balance of electrolytes and hydration that athletes need. Although we’re starting to see some athletes using pickle juice to assist with cramps, this is not a not a replacement for formulated sports drinks. Athletes dietary needs vary significantly depending on the type of sport they’re involved in and their individual nutrient needs, so I’d always recommend consulting an Accredited Sports Dietitian to advise on which beverages are most suitable.”

“Water will always be the best drink for all Australians to enjoy. Sports drinks should be limited as they contain added sugar and can increase the risk of dental cavities and excessive weight gain, not to mention have a negative effect on our bone health. Sports drinks should only be consumed by sports people taking part in long duration endurance activities,” O’Hanlon said.

 

 

 

Miss Jenny’s Pickles to shut down Today

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Bruce Chapman/Winston-Salem Journal
Miss Jenny’s Pickles were featured on an episode of “West Texas Investors Club”

WINSTON-SALEM — Miss Jenny’s Pickles, which started eight years ago in a church kitchen, is shutting down today, Jenny Fulton, the company’s owner, said Tuesday.

In describing her closing announcement, Fulton said, “Today stinks.”

Fulton said one of the reasons for the shutdown is increasing competition from large pickle-makers.

In addition to Fulton, the company, officially named Old Orchard Foods LLC, has one other full-time employee, a warehouse manager, and three part-time employees.

“It is with mixed emotions to announce the closing of a company that has been my passion for the past eight years,” said Fulton. “I have such gratitude for everyone that has supported me during this amazing journey.”

Fulton co-founded Miss Jenny’s Pickles in 2009 with Ashlee Furr, who left the company in 2015.

Fulton started Miss Jenny’s Pickles at Fountain of Life church in Kernersville. When the business outgrew the space, it moved to the Winston Lake YMCA then to its current headquarters in Kernersville.

Back in the company’s early days, most large pickle-makers did not offer additive- and preservative-free options, Fulton said. Miss Jenny’s did.

“I saw this as a huge opportunity and created the “No Junk In Our Jar” product line,” she said. “Now you can find pickles without artificial colorings or chemicals nationwide. Knowing that we produced a great product and were part of the change in the pickle category gives me great pride by giving consumers a healthier choice.”

She said that the company’s distribution grew to more than 1,200 stores in the United States and included an international footprint with exports to China, Canada and the United Kingdom.

At its peak employment in its initial years, when everything was done by hand, Miss Jenny’s Pickles had 25 employees.

Today, the company is down to five people, including Fulton and a full-time warehouse manager. Three part-time employees work when needed for projects.

“I’ve reached out to local businesses here in Kernersville, trying to find her a place,” Fulton said of the warehouse manager.

In the past seven years, Miss Jenny’s has been showcased on a number of national shows, including “60 Minutes” and Fulton has more than 100 public speaking engagements from North Carolina to Slovakia.

Miss Jenny’s Pickles was also featured in 2015 on CNBC’s “West Texas Investors Club,” which allows entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to multimillionaires Rooster McConaughey and Butch Gilliam.

Fulton asked the investors for $250,000 for a 20 percent equity in her company.

Fulton said although Miss Jenny’s Pickles made a deal on the show, “They didn’t actually ever invest any money with us.”

Fulton said that limited quantities of Miss Jenny’s Pickles are still available at these retailers: Harris Teeter, Ingles, Lowe’s Foods, Food Lion, The Fresh Market, Company’s Coming, Musten & Crutchfield, Salem Kitchen, Fred’s General Mercantile and local specialty stores.

Fulton is still figuring out her next move, but first she’s going on a long-planned trip to France.

“It’s been planned for over a year, so I’m going to France,” Fulton said. “Then I’m going to come back and reset, and figure it out.”

Fran Daniel is a reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal. Contact her at fdaniel@wsjournal.com and 336-727-7366.

Kernersville-based Miss Jenny’s Pickles to shut down on Wednesday

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BY    –   My Fox 8

Miss Jenny’s Pickles (WGHP file photo)

KERNERSVILLE, N.C. — Miss Jenny’s Pickles will close for business on Wednesday, owner Jenny Fulton told FOX8 Tuesday.

Fulton said operating the pickle business has been a struggle for the past six months and said she has known for several months that she would have to close by May 31 if things didn’t turn around.

There are multiple reasons the pickle business is closing, Fulton said, including competition in the business and new rules coming down from the FDA next year that would make things harder for her pickle company.

Fulton did not go into specifics about the new rules, but said it was not one specific thing causing her to close the pickle business.

The Kernersville-based pickle company was named the 2015 North Carolina Exporter of the Year and was featured on FOX8’s Made in North Carolina segment.

Pollos Asados Los Norteños

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By Mike Sutter, Staff Writer   –   San Antonio Express News

Photo: Mike Sutter /San Antonio Express-News
Do-it-yourself grilled chicken taco with rice, onion, jalapeño and guacamole on doubled-up corn tortillas from Pollos Asados Los Norteños.

Need to find Pollos Asados Los Norteños? Just use San Antonio GPS: Geographic Positioning Smoke. It pours from a contraption like a rocket motor on top of the building, signaling some of the city’s best grilled chicken.

What’s really pouring from that contraption — a smoke scrubber — is steam, owner Frank Garcia said. It’s his $150,000 solution to neighborhood complaints about the smoke. So instead of smoke, it’s the world’s most expensive vape pen, filled with pollos asados juice.

Garcia’s been grilling chicken at this address on Rigsby for 10 years, the first three from a mobile kitchen outside the bar that used to be here. In that time, he’s built a following strong enough that even between standard lunch and dinner hours, the red-and-white checkerboard tables are full, just a busy blur of greasy fingers and high-gloss smiles as the meat-cutters’ cleavers keep time with loud conjunto music.

Tacos: Desire breeds resourcefulness, and the drive for chicken from this San Antonio citadel of smoke leads straight to a do-it-yourself pollos asados taco, with the building blocks collected from a $7.69 medio pollo plate that includes half a grilled chicken cut into four rough pieces, boilerplate Mexican rice, commercial corn tortillas and onions and jalapeño grilled black on one side. Add thick charro beans with fat bits of chicharrón for $1.50 more.

Now, to the taco. The rice and tortillas are just starch and binders. The real magic comes from chicken whose beauty doesn’t just go skin deep; it’s all the way down in the meat, that alchemy of salt, chile spice and marinade, with a coral blush of smoke from a fire just hot enough to caramelize the skin and lock the juices in.

I’d normally just pull meat from the leg and thigh, but the Pollos Asados process makes for a bird that’s colorblind to the usual differences between dark and white meat; it’s all good. Accessorize the taco with burnt onion and the soft green part of the roasted jalapeño for color and bite, then spring for a $2 side of simple, fresh guacamole for color and cool, smooth flavor.

The internet calls this a life hack; I call it another way to make a taco from a menu that doesn’t mention tacos, per se. Along with chicken, Pollos Asados will sell you fajitas, sirloin and asada by the pound and half-pound.

Fine, but I don’t want to drop another $10-$20 on a DIY taco kit.

But there’s this: a single link of salchicha asada for $2.50. It’s a fat, red, barbecue-style link that’s grilled, split down the middle, filled with queso blanco and served in a basket with smoked bacon. Tell me that doesn’t make a killer sausage, bacon and cheese taco.

Tortillas: If this were a straight chicken series and not a taco series, Pollos Asdaos would get the top “worth a drive” rating in a heartbeat. But a good tortilla’s the heart and soul of a good taco, and these are really bad corn tortillas, even by commercial standards. Flabby, pale, weak and wet, they couldn’t even hold together for a photo shoot, not to mention the next-level chicken and fixings they tried to hold.

Salsa: I can’t quite place the pepper in this creamy green salsa, but the sweet pulp it leaves behind makes a squeeze-bottle verde on the level of an Indian coconut curry for style and texture.

I’m not alone wondering what’s in it. Garcia said he’s had people asking for the recipe ever since he opened. Except for the one guy who didn’t ask; he just tried to sneak a squeeze bottle out the door in his back pocket.

Location: 4642 Rigsby Ave., 210-648-3303, no web presence

Rating: A solid neighborhood option

Follow the complete 365 Days of Tacos series at ExpressNews.com/Tacos. Get 365 Days of Tacos sent to your inbox. Sign up here.

msutter@express-news.net

Behold, the Fresno Grizzlies have unveiled the Chickle: chicken in a pickle

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By JON TAYLER   –   Sports Illustrated

Chickle – Pickle with Chicken

The arms race that is minor league food has just seen the deployment of the greatest weapon yet. On May 17 and 18, fans attending the final two games of the Fresno Grizzlies’ four-game set with the Nashville Sounds will be treated to something truly out there: a bunch of spicy chicken stuffed into a pickle, which they call a Chickle.

There’s a lot going on here, so let’s break it down: The Fresno Grizzlies took a pickle, turned it into a bun, then filled it with some Nashville-style hot chicken. In the process, they created the Chickle, an unholy marriage of sweet, spicy and salty that, quite honestly, sounds pretty good (or at least worth trying).

The Chickle (which is an awful name, to be frank) will only be available today and tomorrow. The Grizzlies, meanwhile, have yet to respond to this reporter’s question as to whether or not the Chickle is a sandwich*.

*It is not a sandwich, for the love of God.

 

You Can Now Get the Pickle-Peppermint Snow Cone You Never Knew You Wanted

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C’mon. Just try it.

BY JANET RAUSA FULLER   –   Chicago Mag

It’s salty. It’s sweet. It’s crunchy. It has pickle juice. What’s not to like? PHOTO: DS SHIN

The Internet can lead you down weirdly wonderful paths, such as when your search terms include “pickle juice” and “snow cone.”

Melissa Yen, owner of Jo Snow Syrups, was working on a new snow cone menu several weeks back and had heard such a thing existed, so down the virtual rabbit hole she went.

What she turned up was that in Texas, this sort-of-gross-sounding snow cone has a name—the Piccadilly—and the added appeal of chopped pickles.

She could’ve stopped right there. She already had a good source of locally made pickles and their juice in Carol Watson, owner of Milk & Honey Cafe. The women work out of the same commercial kitchen space. But then Yen saw a Chicago Tribune article about a South Side curiosity that’s nothing more than a peppermint stick jammed into a pickle, and her version of a Piccadilly snow cone crystallized.

Yen introduced her salty-sweet-spicy creation ($4)—shaved ice layered with chopped pickles, pickle juice, cherry syrup, and the optional (and recommended) topping of crushed peppermints—Sunday at the Logan Square Farmers Market, where she is a regular vendor.

The verdict, according to customers, seemed mostly in the Piccadilly’s favor.

“Very refreshing,” said Lorell Marin, who was with her husband and two daughters. “The combination of the two is surprising because you have, like, two different flavors going on in your mouth and you wouldn’t think it tastes as good as it does. It doesn’t look as good, but it tastes delicious.”

Marin’s older girl, Cailyn Caballero, 7, also tried it. “I like it,” she said, not quite convincingly.

“There’s peppermint in it? No fair!” her six-year-old sister Gracie wailed. Still, she refused a bite. “I just want a cup of mints. That’s all I want,” she said.

My take? Like Marin, I was pleasantly surprised by the balance of sweet and sour. And while the Internet might prove me wrong, I doubt there’s a more texturally satisfying icy treat than this one.

The Jo Snow Piccadilly snow cone is available all summer at the Logan Square Farmers Market, which runs Sundays.

Extra pickles please

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I finally broke down and took my youngest to “The McDonald’s of the Future.” We had a mission. See, Daniel loves pickles. He will eat them straight out of the jar, on the sandwich or on the side. It really doesn’t matter. The boy likes his pickles.

This new-age fast food was boasting how customers go to a kiosk and order their own food exactly they way they want it. Now, as a parent, this makes eating out retro-productive. I want to go out, sit down and be waited on. That’s my idea of a good dining experience.

The mere genius of the marketing team who is trying to sell this idea of self-service at a fast food restaurant does deserve props, but it really is just another example of how, at times, consumers are so gullible.

But back to Daniel and our mission.

Daniel had this dream of being able to order his own cheeseburger and add his toppings. The question remained, how many extra pickles could he request?

For the record, there are typically two pickles on a burger. For those of you with high hopes of fulfilling your pickle craze, “extra pickles” at this kiosk, meant one.

The look on Daniel’s face when he opened up his bun to see the big reveal was both sad and humorous. The boy lost a little innocence right then and there.

But what did I learn?

I looked at this young teen who sat across from me and smiled. What lesson did I have the opportunity to share with this kid?

And then it hit me. Technology cannot replace eye-to-eye human contact.

I told him that as well. A young man of his good looks and winning smile — the one where his eyes smile too — could get more pickles out of an employee than an electronic kiosk.

And with that thought, Daniel hopped off his stool and headed to the counter.

Just as I suspected, this Love boy put on the charm and walked back to our table with not just a few pickles but a whole bowl full.

Point made.

Now, maybe I could have taken the lesson of you don’t always get what you want and let the boy eat his three-pickle-topped burger. It is a worthy lesson that all too often this youngest sibling hasn’t had to process. (Just ask his older brother and sister!)

But I wanted instead to teach him something that his hand-held technology doesn’t. Human contact is essential for learning not only etiquette but also compassion, empathy and just being plain ol’ nice.

He had to muster up some manners to approach that fast-food worker, clearly articulate his desire and then graciously receive his request.

He didn’t punch an arrow at a kiosk to the desire number of pickles as he had hoped, but instead he learned in that moment the importance and value in talking to a person.

Maybe advancements in technology are helping this next generation in developing new innovations or life-saving materials, but for this mama, nothing will ever replace a please and thank you.

As I told each one of my kids, I might not be able to buy you everything you want, but I can teach you manners and that will get you anything you need.

Mango pickle: A childhood memory with its many avatars

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By Avantika Bhuyan   –   The Economic Times

“On social media, they were telling stories, reliving memories, sharing pictures and documenting old recipes,” says Ghildiyal.

It’s not usual for poets to write paeans to pickles, but you would have to agree that the mango pickle, with its tart flavour and heady aroma, deserves that extra bit of praise. In fact, scholar KT Achaya in his book, Indian Food: A Historical Companion, mentions a couple of lines written by Annaji in Soundara Vilasa, about a domestic meal way back in AD 1600. “There was mixed rice, kattogara and kalasogara; a sweet payasam… a pickle of tender mangoes, the stalks of which had not even lost their .

“All our memories of train journeys and school lunchboxes are redolent of aam ka achaar, duly stained with turmeric and spice-infused oil,” writes Sangeeta Khanna in her popular blog, Banaras ka Khana. It is no wonder that when Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal, an author, consultant and founder of the APB Cook Studio in Mumbai, organised an Aam Achaar Day on April 22 — the first in a series of Indian food observance days that she has initiated to celebrate seasonal produce and timeless dishes — it became hugely popular on social media.

When Ghildiyal did a hashtag assessment, she found out that #AamAchaarDay had reached out to 4,75,000 people on Twitter and had got 8 lakh impressions on Facebook. A Facebook Live video of half-a-dozen food bloggers and home cooks making various pickles had reached out to 1 million people. “On social media, they were telling stories, reliving memories, sharing pictures and documenting old recipes,” says Ghildiyal. While one person wrote about the khatti kairi his Nani used to make, another posted about Andhra Pradesh’s signature pickles.

Hullaballoo in the Mango Tree
If you were to embark on a mango pickle trail through the country, you would find the route peppered with rare heirloom recipes and heartwarming stories around the pickling process.

For instance, food blogger, Harini Balakrishna Prakash remembers learning different variants of the aam achaar as her father got posted in various parts of the country. “My father was an officer in the defence estates service. Wherever we lived, the local cooks would teach my mother the regional fare, including pickles,” she says. Her childhood memories evoke flavours of the avakkai, which was made in the third week of April when absolutely firm mangoes hit the market. The spicy pickle would liven up a meal of hot rice, doused with sesame oil, and fried appalams on the side.

“The Tamil version is not as spicy as the one in Andhra Pradesh. Another popular pickle, which we had to have, is the vadu manga — tiny baby mangoes marinated in a spicy brine, which is made in mid-March as that’s when tender mangoes appear,” she says. Another variant is the manga thokku, which is more of an instant pickle and is very easy to make. “Raw, hard mangoes are shredded or finely diced, and cooked in a medley of spices and oil,” says Prakash.

Getting people to reminisce about their favourite mango pickle throws up revelations, like the Maharashtrian Saee Koranne Khandekar’s mohricha loncha, which is a rare recipe that her greatgrandmother standardised. “It is considered a rite of passage in our family. All the children were introduced to this, when they reached a pickle-eating age,” says Khandekar, who is a food consultant and author of Crumbs! Bread Stories and Recipes for the Indian Kitchen. The recipe features chopped mangoes and finely ground mustard, which is then mixed with water that is boiled and cooled and jaggery.

Then there is the Parsi buffena, made with whole ripe mango and a special sugarcane vinegar, which used to make an appearance in shops in South Mumbai for a brief period at this time of the year. A pickle is an heirloom and an adventure. Even as a recipe is passed down, every generation is tempted to wrap its ladle around a new pickle. If Ghildiyal swears by a hing achaar, typically made at her in-laws’ home in Garhwal, her mother Heena Munshaw reminisces the Gujarati chhundo of her childhood. It’s not just recipes that are bequeathed but songs on pickling as well. For instance, Prakash hums the lines of a rustic Tamil song that used to be sung during the pickling process, the snatches of which she learnt from her grandmother: “Mela irrukkum thol, kashakum maadhalal/Mella kathiyaal, cheeva vendume (On top is the skin, which is bitter/Peel it delicately with a knife, sister).”