Blog Archives

Valentine’s Post: How To Cook As A Couple!

Today we’re gonna talk about cooking as a couple. Working together as partners. Being a team in the kitchen. And actually I have to admit I’m surprised we haven’t really written about this subject yet considering we’re called Poor Couple’s Food Guide. But I guess the last three years have just been busy.

 

(Actually, no, we just keep forgetting to)

 

Read the rest of this entry

Cheat Codes: Helping Bread Last Longer

When you live with a bunch of other people, food tends to disappear rather quickly, and you don’t usually have to worry about it going bad before it gets eaten. But when you’re living on your own or with one other person, the food doesn’t fly out of the cupboard as fast anymore. Things that used to be gone in days can now take weeks to finish. And that can be a problem for perishable food items.  You don’t want to end up throwing away food you spent good money on. Luckily there are ways to help a lot of foods last longer. Today we’ll focus on bread.

IMG_20160114_125900_289

Read the rest of this entry

Spices 101: What is Pepper?

Go to your dining table right now. Go look at your place setting. What are the two things that always must be there. That’s right salt, and pepper. And don’t tell me you don’t have salt and pepper, because everybody knows a real dining table’s gotta have salt and pepper shakers. If you don’t have ’em, buy ’em. But hey, what is salt and pepper, exactly?

Actually I take that back, everyone knows what salt is. It’s salt. It’s made of sodium and chlorine and turns into a cool, white crystal rock thing that makes all food taste better. But! Let’s be real, everyone here has seen pepper before, but most people like yourself are probably dying to know what it really is. Well, I’m glad you asked.

Black Pepper

Origin: India
Appearance: Very small, round, black berries
Scent: Fruity, spicy
Taste: Spicy, dark, pungent
Foods:
Like everything ever
Rareness: Common
103_1680

 

Read the rest of this entry

Test the Recipe: Glazed Pineapple Cookies

“Test the Recipe” is a recurring column on PCFG where we test vintage (anything published before 1990) recipes and see if they stand the test of time or need updating. In this post we test the recipe as exactly as possible for the most accurate outcomes. Those recipes that need updating will be featured later in a “We Can Do It Better” post.

I knew when I started the “Test the Recipe” column that I had to do at least one cookie recipe around Christmas-time. I didn’t want to take on any family favorite Christmas cookie recipes though, mainly because I already know that they’re good. To find a new old cookie recipe I turned to a book from Erik’s mom, McCall’s Cookie Collection from 1974.

DSCF7928

There are a lot of interesting cookie recipes in here, but I wanted one that was definitely different from the cookies I knew me, Erik, and our moms would be making. I ultimately decided on this one because it was different from the usual Christmas cookies but also still had a bit of a Christmas call-back since it sounded like it could be a bit fruitcake-esque (without being a food no one wants to eat). So I set to work testing this glazed pineapple cookie recipe.

Read the rest of this entry

The Cereal Report: Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch

The Cereal Report is a column in which PCFG conducts various cereal reviews, of new or limited products, as well as providing brief backgrounds on the cereal. Cereal is delicious and fairly cheap as far as meals go. Everyone should eat cereal!

Obviously there’s been a stupid number of food companies taking advantage of the “limited edition” hype train the past couple of years, though I have to say that one niche was left out of the mix was Christmas editions. Especially cereals. Outside of Cap’n Crunch’s Christmas Crunch, there’s not really any Christmas-themed breakfast cereals I can think of. Lo and behold however, General Mills came to the rescue and added two special editions of two of their biggest IPs: Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cookie Crisp. This review will focus on the former, which gave us Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch.

103_1652

 

Read the rest of this entry