Garlic, how can it taste so good but make your breath smell so bad?

I brought in some dip to work today. Tastefully Simple Garlic, Garlic dip. It tastes awesome. But I only had one bite — two hours ago – and my breath smells bad now. Really bad. So bad that I can smell it!

All the experts say that smell and taste are definitly linked. But in that case, how can something that tastes so good make your breath smell so bad? Onions are the same story. And vinegar. In fact, my friend Jackie made me dinner a few weeks back and she concocted a sherry vinegar and onion sauce for the meal.

As soon as I stepped into her apartment I was afraid. In fact I was regretting the fact that I had said yes to her cooking me dinner. The entire apartment smelled kind of pickled — because of the sherry vinegar in the sauce.

At first I thought the apartment smelled funny because, well she has a male roommate and young men are just notorious for being bad house-keepers and a little smelly to boot. But when I realized that the smell permeating the place was actually the food that Jackie expected me to eat I was afraid.

I briefly tried to think of a bunch of excuses that might allow me to go home. I had nothing. I was going to have to eat it. So we sat at the table, prepared our plates and as I lifted the fork to my mouth to take the first bite I was getting ready to fake a polite response.

But it was actually great! I enjoyed the meal and even got over the smell. That is until I left the apartment. The smell had permeated my clothes. Kind of like when you eat at Subway and when you leave you smell like bread for a couple of days. I hate that. And how is it that the scent of baking bread smells disgusting when it’s in your hair or t-shirt?

Anyway, after my garlic, garlic breath I just had to go on about how smell and taste baffle me.

By Crystal Hohenthaner
Rapid City Journal staff 

I have been told by friends and family members that I have unusual tastes. Okay, I like to eat some weird stuff and I do it in some weird ways.

For example, at restaurants I often eat my salad like one might eat chips and dip. It seems perfectly logical to me — it’s a simple way to ensure the right amount of dressing gets on the lettuce. It’s especially useful with thick dressings like ranch and thousand island. Nonetheless, it drives my father crazy every time the family goes out to eat.

I also have a penchant for sweet and salty food combinations — especially in breakfast food. For example, I really only like sausage if it is dipped in syrup or smeared with jelly. My friend Dee caught me eating turkey sausage patties slathered with strawberry jam just Saturday and she was truly aghast. 

I have even been known to eat my french fries with mustard instead of ketchup. That one really grosses out my sister.

I could probably go on an on about my strange eating habits and tastes (I have some especially interesting tales about Worchestershire sauce), but I’m more interested in the oddities of others. What are the strange things you all like to eat — or even the strange ways you eat them?

What’s buttered on the outside, has melted cheese on the inside and is grilled all over?

Well, that’s a dumb question — grilled cheese, duh.

Wrong-ola.

I was referring to one of the newest food fads, the panini.

If you’re a cook, a chef, a restaurateur, or you just like to watch the Food Network, you’ve probably been hearing about panini’s like crazy in the last few months. Personally, I first heard of a panini this past November while I was Christmas shopping with my mom. My sister had asked for a panini press for Christmas and as a result mom and I were left confused and bewildered in search of this specialty item. (By the way we found a great one at Kohl’s.)

Well, ever since I learned what a panini was I feel like I’ve been hearing the word every time I turn around. In fact, I just Googled “panini” and got 9,240,000 results. Now that’s a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches.

Yes, I said it, and I’ll say it again: paninis are just grilled cheese sandwiches. Now, to be fair, it is clear that these are the fancy version of this old-fashioned favorite. But let’s be honest and call a rose a rose — or at least call a sandwich a sandwich.

Well, whatever you call them, this food fad has some great appeal for several reasons. One, we love to grill everything here in America. Two, the charm and versatility of the sandwich is impossible to deny. Three, melted cheese is the ultimate in comfort food.

According to Wikipedia the panini (or panino if you’re going to use the real Italian word for this snotty version of the grilled-cheese sandwich) is a sandwich made from a small loaf of bread, typically a ciabatta. The loaf is often cut horizontally and filled with salami, ham, meat, cheese or other food and sometimes served hot. A grilled panini is buttered on the outside and grilled in a press.

Now, if you’ve been watching the Food Network you know that to qualify as a panini on TV it has to be hot, grilled and include cheese. Plus, no one seems to care if you use ciabatta, rye, frech bread or even sour dough. That means there are a lot of classic sandwiches — some are even my personal favorites — that can be reinterpreted into panini-style yumminess.

So, now that I’ve insulted this food fad it’s time to give you some of the panini ideas I got from my sister — who is both a Food Network junkie and panini-press owner. Remember, one of the great things about making any kind of sandwich is the fact that you don’t have to be very precise about the amounts of ingredients you use.

Panini Reuben
Rye Bread
Corned beef
Sauerkraut
Swiss cheese
Reuben sauce or Thousand Island dressing
Butter

Assembly couldn’t be easier. Put the amounts of each ingredient that you want into the sandwich, butter the outside of the sandwich and grill. If you don’t use a panini press or similar device you’ll have to flip it on the grill — just like you do when you make a grilled cheese.

Cheesy BLT Paninis
Sour dough bread
Cooked bacon
Sliced tomatoes
Swiss Cheese
Spinach
Butter

Again, put the ingredients on in the proportion you want and grill until the cheese melts. You don’t have to butter the outside of the bread, but butter is just good stuff.

Pizza-nini
Crusty garlic bread
Spaghetti sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Other pizza toppings (like pepperoni)
Butter

Spread the sauce on the bread. Put cheese on the sauce. Stick any other toppings in there you want, butter the bread and grill it!

Bruscetta Panini
French bread
Mozzarella
Sliced tomatoes
Basil
Butter

By now you get it right? Assemble to your liking and grill.

I’ve got more panini goodness for you all next week!

Much like other people who make a living behind a computer 8 hours a day I have a bit of a weight problem. I’m not obese, but – like many people in America – I need to lose about 20 pounds. And it would probably be best if I lost 30 – or 40.

Plus it’s diet season.

Okay, I want to lose weight – I do. But my sedentary lifestyle isn’t the only obstacle I have to overcome. First of all, I’m lazy. Not sit on the couch and fondle the remote lazy. (Well, I am that kind of lazy sometimes.) But I mean cooking lazy. I want stuff to be easy. I want it to be easy to prepare, easy to store and I want it to keep in the fridge for at least week.

Diet food is rarely easy. And if it is easy – like NutriSystem – it is freaking expensive! Which is a problem, because I’m also somewhat monetarily challenged. So I need food that is cheap. I can’t afford to buy expensive cuts of meat for all of my meals. Heck, I can’t even afford the good cold-cuts for my sandwiches.

In the rare occasions that I have found easy and inexpensive diet foods – like Weight Watchers frozen dinners – they tasted like cardboard. To be fair the Weight Watchers frozen dinner tasted like cardboard with pretty good marinara sauce on it; but cardboard nonetheless. So, to top it all off I have these pesky taste buds that desire elaborate heavy flavors that diet food rarely delivers.

I know my problem is that I want it all from diet food. I want it to be easy, cheap and tasty. Which is why I’m usually not on a diet. Heck, I can barely find non-diet food that is easy, cheap and tasty. (Think Ramen noodles – easy and cheap, but yeah not so tasty.)

Unfortunately – and I know it isn’t the best way to live – due to my fast paced and low budgeted lifestyle most of my food comes out of a can, a box or a jar. Let me tell you eating such food is an easy way to gain weight – not lose it.

In my search for the elusive ”easy, cheap and tasty” food I haven’t found much. But I have developed a killer tuna salad recipe. Now, I don’t know how many calories, or carbs, or grams of fat are in it – but tuna is one of those foods that is good for you. And most Americans don’t eat enough fish. So if you manage to eat a small amount of this tuna salad it is a truly satisfying, easy, cheap and tasty food that might qualify as diet food.

Crystal’s Tuna Salad
2 pouches/cans of tuna (even though I’m cheap I’m picky and I spring for the white albacore Bumblebee tuna)
2 tablespoons of yellow mustard
1/2 cup of Light Miracle Whip
1/4 cup pickle relish
1/4 cup dill pickle relish
1/4 cup yellow pepper rings (chopped)
1/4 cup roasted red peppers or pimentos (from a jar/chopped)

Make sure to drain all the yummy pickled stuff really well or the mixture will be a little runny. Don’t worry if it’s runny, it will still taste great. Then just throw it all in a big bowl and stir. That’s it.

 Depending on who you are you’ll probably want to add or subtract some items. This is just where I start personally. Sometimes I add in some chopped green onions too. But this tuna salad is nice and colorful with lots of flavor and it does keep in the fridge for almost a week.

This recipe makes a lot so it usually lasts me almost a week. Personally, I eat it on white bread, but I suppose you should eat it on lettuce or whole wheat bread if you’re serious about dieting.

Anyone else got a recipe that’s easy, cheap and tasty that could qualify as diet or health food?

So, several fast food chains have recently started selling breakfast in the area. All I can think is that some super-secret information has been leaked from McDonalds about how profitable their breakfast endeavors have been.

Just a few short years ago Hardees expanded it’s breakfast menu. Since then Arby’s has joined in. And recently Taco Johns has joined the breakfast action.

That’s right. You can now get tacos for breakfast.

Well, they aren’t really tacos, they’re burrito thingies. Personally I don’t do spicy food for breakfast. My German heritage and my Irish stomach can’t handle it. But this morning I did go to Taco John’s for breakfast because I had an insane craving for Potato Ole’s.

Now I didn’t have much hope that they would have the lovely golden bits of potato goodness available before 10 a.m. – I mean, McDonald’s doesn’t serve French fries in the morning – but I was pleasantly surprised! I got my Ole’s and started the day off with a kick. Well, as much of a kick as my South Dakotan digestive system would allow.

I don’t think I’ll do that very often, but it’s great to know that the option is there. How about all of you? What do like to eat for breakfast? Does anyone out there gett a craving for fast food items in the a.m. – or is it just me?