Name a few must-have ingredients

This is my response.  I’m especially interested in what you have to recommend as must-have ingredients.

1) Dark sesame oil – This oil adds a quality smoke flavor to what you’re cooking.  If you’re going to use oil anyway, you might as well use something delicious.  Use care as a cooking oil, as it’s already close to being scorched.  For an incredible salad dressing, combine rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey and dark sesame oil.

2) Spanish Olive Oil – Shunned by many cooks of Mediterranean food because of its “strong” flavor.  I like it precisely for that flavor, and I use it as much for a flavoring as a limpid.  The same applies here where you’re in a situation where you have to use oil; skip the Wesson.

3) Smart Ones – Despite my reservations about each serving coming its own packaging, those easily-acquired individual servings help us watch our weight.  Our faves: three cheese macaroni, salisbury steak with asparagus, pepperoni pizza.  The last one can have any number of ingredients added with a minimal increase in calories or fat.

4) Raw almonds – At least for now, I have a source of raw almonds for under $3.50/lb.  I keep them raw until I use them, as pre-roasted almonds are always stale.

5) Designer cereal – We don’t use natural, high-fiber cereal as a breakfast food.  It’s better as a type of snack or candy.  We lean towards ones with lots of flax, which is really high in healthy oils.

6) Canned squash puree – I bought this once out of curiosity, and because the ingredients said “squash”.  Indeed, no other ingredients whatsoever, and the cooking does not eliminate the natural sweetness of the squash.  I like to make soup by combining it with pumpkin pie spice and either chicken broth or soy milk.  We were recently at an Afghani restaurant and Janie had the good sense to order squash flavored with cinnamon, cardamom, lemon and chiles.  I stole a little of it.   Oh, man was that good . . .

7) Canned black olives – I always buy small olives.  More of the can by weight is food, and large olives tend to be squishy (bleahhh).  Though higher in sodium than I’d like, they make a good snack, and are a handy ingredient for all sorts of dishes.

8) Jello fat-free, sugar-free instant pudding – combined with two cups of fat free milk it makes two large servings at 40 calories each.  It requires you to whip it for 2 minutes, but I’ve started to use a hand-held blender (the type with the little fan on the end, not the one with the “beaters”).  It’s so much easier that way, though perhaps whisking it does burn a few calories.

9) Frozen strawberries – This is another item that comes with only one ingredient on the label.  These make great smoothies.  Avoid canned, as they come with as much sugar as fruit.

10) Cheddar cheese – Janie likes her regular old cheddar.  Not too sharp.

11) Peppercorns – I buy a piddly bit of peppercorns at the co-op every few months, and grind them in a mortar and pestle as needed.  I forget who said it, but I love the maxim, “Pre-ground pepper has all the flavor of sand.”

12) Sea salt – Iodized salt tastes like iodine.  Iodine is an important nutrient; so eat fish once a week, and get all the iodine you need.  There’s a great difference in taste.

12) Beer – I prefer an American-style India Pale Ale with just enough hoppiness as to not be bitter, and just sweet enough to complement that hoppiness.  For an example of what I mean, try a Colorado brew called “Mo-Jo”.  A good barleywine also meets with my approval.  Viking brewing out of Wisconsin (hard to find) makes a barleywine called “Berserker”.  Yummy with a blueberry finish.

13) Boxed wine – Janie prefers her wine affordable, and I applaud her for that.  If all beer tasted the same to me, I’d load up on Old Style (which, among cheap beers is only surpassed by Coors, but I’m not a pilsner guy so I pay more).

14) Coffee roasted nearby a couple days ago – We spend a lot on coffee, but we like it that much.  If we spend $20,000 on coffee before we die, so be it.  Going back to Folgers isn’t an option, and even it would cost us $7,000 over the same period.

15) Chiles – Hmmm.  None fresh at the moment, but I’ve got dried: chipotle, guajillo, chiltepines, thai, habanero and paprika.  In a jar or in preparations I have: habanero, chipotle Tabasco, mole verde, coriander chutney and garlic pickle (an Indian preparation not to be confused with garlic-flavored pickles).