Why I Love HEB, Part 2

As if HEB had not given me enough reason to adore it already, it recently reaffirmed my devotion to the grocery store. Sometimes, it is the small things that count the most. As I was waiting to check out at HEB one afternoon, I noticed a green bag hanging on a hook to the right of the cashier's area. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was a reusable grocery bag. "Neat, " I thought and looked to see how much the purchase of one would set me back. 99 cents, something I think I can spare. So, on the conveyor belt it went.

When I got home, I noticed a small insert in the bottom of the bag that explained HEB's environmental stance. Since I cannot find the verbiage on HEB's website, I will write what the bag's insert says,

"Doing Our Part to Take Care of Texas
We believe that our work to care for the environment not only makes us better neighbors - it helps us serve you better. By being energy efficient and conserving natural resources, we're not only helping the planet, we're also creating savings we can pass on to you in the form of everyday low prices.

"Doing Your Part
We know many of our customers share the same concern for the environment as we do. By purchasing and using reusable shopping bags, you can make a difference, one trip at a time.

"About Your Bag
This bag is made of non-woven polypropylene, which is tough, strong, water resistant, and recyclable. It is the same type of material typically used for yogurt containers, syrup bottles, straws and medicine bottles."


And, though it may have looked small on the shelf, the bag opens up to about an 12x12x12 bag. On my last grocery trip, one bag held:

3 46-ounce V8 VFusion Tropical Orange bottles
2 Yoplait Fridge Packs
1 Kashi Frozen Entree

And it could have held more. It even has a flap on the inside that you can tuck a glass bottle, celery stalk, or loaf of bread in so it does not tip over or get squished. With two of the HEB bags, and one Half Price Books bag, I was able to buy about a month's worth of groceries and only use 3 plastic bags. In that past that number would have been 12-15 plastic bags. If I have not given you reason enough to go buy one or two already, here is a final selling point - the handles on the HEB green bags will not tear away and the bottom will not fall out.

Also, check out everything HEB is doing to promote environmental awareness to both their customers and as a company. I think they are doing a wonderful job at being pro-active and paving the way for other stores locally and nationally to look at how they can be environmentally conscious. What HEB is doing is helping them as a company keep costs down through checking air filters and seals, updating equipment and structures in their older stores to be more cost and energy efficient, and much more. What is phenomenal about this is that that focus as a company will seep into the day-to-day lives of its employees and customers as they assess their places of work and home for cost and energy savings. And all it cost was 99 cents.

Christmas, Italian-Texan Style

Christmas dinner is the more casual of the two winter holiday meals for my family. And no year was it more apparent than this. After poring over dishes and dinners, we reached a consensus. Christmas Dinner 2007 would feature green beans, fruit salad, and star mashed potatoes and chicken fried steak. It was a great Christmas dinner. Nothing screams "holly jolly Christmas" more than fried steak and white gravy.

I was in charge of dessert and, having planned the dessert before the dinner had been decided on, it did not quite fit the rustic Texas dinner. I made tiramisu. And let me tell you, it is so much simpler than I thought it was to make. See for yourself!


Isn't it beautiful? It came out perfectly, which is hard to do the first go 'round. The only thing I will do differently next time is not soak the ladyfingers in the espresso as long. I did 3 seconds this time around, and should have done 2 seconds. The bottom layer of ladyfingers melted into mush quickly. But the second layer turned out well, but that was because I started running low on espresso and therefore only dunked them for a short time. Lesson learned.

The recipe I used is from Giada De Laurentiis and I only changed one ingredient. Not having any rum on hand, and not wanting to buy a bottle for two tablespoons, I substituted Kahlua and it did not appear to adversely affect the dessert. Oh, and in case you had no idea how many cheese ounces were in a pound, it is 32 ounces. Also, the recipe, though it says to put this in a 13x9 dish, that is not true. Something closer to a 9x9 would work better. Or, you could double the recipe for a 13x9. If you tried the recipe as is in a 13x9, the ladyfingers would be few and far between and the cheese layers quite thin.

The taste of this dessert is wonderful. The cheese has been whipped up so it is light, creamy and sweet. The espresso is sharp and cuts through the cream excellently. Taking a bite, you want to let it sit and marinate on your tongue, getting all those scrumptious flavors. I think I could eat tiramisu every day. I would be overweight, but my taste buds would be very happy.