Cooking Light picks best supermarket, artisan products

So many products, so many choices. Here's some tips: Cooking Light magazine has announced its pick in two lineups for the 2nd annual Taste Test Awards, due out in the October issue.

First, they made picks in 18 categories of the best-tasting supermarket products, including things like reduced-fat ranch dressing (Hidden Valley Light), applesauce (Musselman's Unsweetened Natural) and balsamic vinegar (Whole Foods 365, Pompeian and Progresso all got nods).

There are more than 18 winners, because they gave grand prize and test-taste prize in most categories. It's posted as one of those annoying slide shows, but give them points: You can go here to get an overview of all the products. (Thanks, CL techs.)

Next, CL editors picked the best small-batch artisan products from around the country.

The Carolinas did very well: Johnson County Ham Curemasters Reserve, Cardinal Gin from Kings Mountain, Kerala Curry Curried Lemon from Pittsboro, Looking Glass Creamery Ellington (huh, didn't I just put something about them in the blog last week?) and of course, Blenheim's Hot Ginger Ale.

Whoo-hoos are well-deserved all around.

We have a cookbook winner

Sorry for the delay. We should have had the totally-random cookbook drawing Wednesday. But when that big food holiday called Thanksgiving lands in my life, time gets gobbled. (Ow. Did I really type that?)

Speaking of our Thanksgiving package and books, I hope you've taken a look at the Holiday Cookbook posted at www.charlotteobserver.com/food. It takes about 1 minute to load, but it's worth the wait. It was a co-production of the Observer and the Raleigh News & Observer, spearheaded by my food-writing colleague, Andrea Weigl, and we're very proud of it. Also, Paul Malcolm's video on turkey-carving is worth reviewing before you have a hot turkey on your hands.

OK, without further ado, the winner of Cooking Light's "Way to Cook": It's Ann from Fort Mill. Ann, do the equivalent of coming on down -- send your mailing address to me at kpurvis@charlotteobserver.com and I'll find a box for this big fat book.

To the rest of you, thanks for playing. The Monday Cookbook Giveaway will take a break next week (as will your food editor -- I'm taking a vacation). It will return when I do, on Nov. 30.

Monday Giveaway: See the 'Light'

Ready for another cookbook giveaway? This time, we're offering "Cooking Light Way to Cook: The Complete Visual Guide to Everyday Cooking."

This one is filled with step-by-step photos, plenty of tips and useful stuff. Like most Cooking Light productions, the recipes are sort of healthy and sort of indulgent. Clocking in at almost 500 pages, this would be a great guide for an eager beginner or intermediate cook.

Enter your name in the comments here. Remember, if you're signed in as Anonymous, make sure you include a name we can recognize you by. Deadline is 9 a.m. Wednesday. We'll announce the winner Wednesday afternoon, so make sure you check back here.

Something to cook: Friday night

The rain has finally pulled out, but it's still looking gray out there. Here's a simple supper that you could do with a quick supermarket stop, adapted from Cooking Light's new book, "Cooking Light: Way to Cook." If you've got milk, bacon and onions at home, you could even use the 10-items-or-less lane:

New England Clam Chowder
4 (6.5-ounce) cans chopped clams, undrained
2 (8-ounce) bottles clam juice
4 strips bacon
1 cup each chopped onion and celery
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups cubed red potato (about 5 or 6 medium)
1/2 teaspoon dried or 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups reduced-fat milk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup half-and-half
Drain the clams through a colander over a bowl, saving the liquid. Combine clam liquid and clam juice.
Cook the bacon in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and drain all but 2 teaspoons of the drippings. Crumble bacon and set aside.
Add onion, celery and garlic to pan and saute about 8 minutes. Add clam juice mixure, potato, thyme and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
Combine milk and flour, stirring together until smooth. Stir into the soup. Stir in the clams and half-and-half. Cook 5 minutes. Serve sprinkled with the bacon.
Makes 8 servings.