Red Gold Tomatoes

Not long ago, I got a fun box in the mail. When I opened it up I found Gold! Red Gold Tomatoes ~ Yum!!  I love their mission, “To produce the freshest, best-tasting tomato products in the world.” - sounds good to me!  Let's give them a whirl.

I eagerly found a recipe in the book, opened up a can of 'maters and set to work. I hadn't ever used Red Gold Tomatoes before so I opened up a can of my typical brand to compare. They look pretty much the same and the flavor was pretty close but the Red Gold can had firmer tomatoes, less mushy.

I made the Cheeseburger Macaroni dish (since I didn't have a can of stewed, I used the can of diced) from page 52, living in Wisconsin I knew anything with cheese would be a hit with my boys. We all loved it, very simple, easy clean up, and I not only used the lean ground beef I used wheat noodles to make it even a bit more healthy.

A few days later, we decided to check out the ketchups - my husband loved the jalapeno ketchup - he said he could taste the flavor of the jalapeno but it didn't drown the tomato taste.  He was pleased.  I love the standard ketchup (I'm not a jalapeno girl), it was thick and tasted very tomatoey - NICE!  We've found a not-so-bad-for-us hotdog that's pretty tasty too - Hebrew National has a fat free version that only has 40 calories per dog - pretty impressive if you've ever checked the calorie content of one - if you pair it with a low cal slice of bread and mustard and ketchup you can have a hot dog for about 90 calories - great for summertime cookouts.

Yesterday we took what was left of the cheese and mixed it with one of the cans diced tomatoes and green chilies and started dipping.  I wouldn't mind getting a box like this in the mail every month!

Red Gold has been producing premium quality tomato products since 1942 and Red Gold’s Tomatoes are processed from vine to can within 24hours from their Indiana, Ohio and Michigan farm fields.

We are trying to eat healthier and the more I read about the company, the more I am impressed. Wish the billboard was still up in Memphis I would stop by on our way through and check out those huge 3D cans "big enough to hold 1,500 racks of Memphis ribs".

Which lens is right for you?

originally posted Monday, 11 February 2008

Have you wondered what the difference is between the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens and the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens, besides the $400-500 price difference? Well, I’m here to help.

How much will you be using the lens? What types of things will you be shooting? Will you be using a tripod? How much do you want to spend?

The above photos were taken with the EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III, you can generally find this lens for under $200 and as I think you can see from the photos it is a very good lens. It uses a DC motor instead of a USM to drive the AF. It’s fairly lightweight at 16.8oz/480g. Chances are you will need to use a tripod when using the lens at 300mm. I did use a tripod for those two photos.

 

The two photos above were taken with the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens, this lens can generally be found for under $800. It offers an ultrasonic motor helping to make auto focusing almost noiseless and fast, precise and practical. It has two stabilization modes, and you are able to turn the Image Stabilization off when you are using a tripod. The lens can be locked at 70mm, making transport easier; it weighs in at 22.2 oz/630g . But my favorite thing about this lens is that I don’t need a tripod at 300mm.

All photos were taken with the respective lens on a Canon Rebel XTi, EOS Digital SLR Camera.

Please note: The above links are for your convenience in comparing the two lenses, I get no credit for you clicking them. Canon offers many different lenses and I am trying to assure that you know precisely which two lenses are covered in this review.