More Cottage Cheese...and CUPCAKES!

Good morning lovelies! You know, sometimes the only thing that gets me out of bed is the thought of breakfast. I know you can relate! Lately I've had just one thing on my mind: April's Pumpkin Pie in a Bowl. How could you NOT want to try this? (P.S. Don't forget to check out April's NEW site here.)

I started in true April fashion by whipping up some cottage cheese is my food processor until it was a delightfully smooth and creamy texture. I almost at this little pillow of dairy delight just by itself, it looked so good.
But I abated and continued on instead. Mixed with 1/2 c. pumpkin, 1 packet of Sun Crystals, and CINNAMON...it looked so pretty all swirled together, I just had to take a picture.

Dolloped with a spoonful of Bee's Knees...you know I wasn't that impressed with my initial taste of this peanut butter, but it's starting to grow on me. No, I still don't think it tastes like honey, but it does taste delicious...
And topped off with cereal trio: Fiber One (as usual), Quaker Oat Squares and Cinnamon Heart to Heart, plus some banana slices to truly replicate the original.
H-E-A-V-E-N!!! You guys know how much I love cottage cheese, and this is only helping to fuel the obsession! Witness the infatuation here and also here, over at sweet Susan's blog as featured in my guest post.

In fact, guess how many times I've eaten it in the last three days? 8 times. True love baby! I always think to myself that it's too bad that something as yummy as cottage cheese has to have such an unfortunate, unappealing name. It should be called like "refined and cultured dairy droplets" or something...But regardless of what you call it, my adoration has grown thanks to April's addition, which, by the way, I have eaten THREE times in the last three days. It's just that good people. That good. Well done my friend!

April was unsure if this tasted like cheesecake since she's not really a fan, but I can vouch that it tastes almost better than that! It actually reminded me of the Olive Garden's seasonal Pumpkin Cheesecake. I know some ladies that wait all year for that fancy thing. Personally, I would rather concoct my own mess like so. Little tidbit: I used to work at the OG while I was in college. I did take out and it was a pretty decent job, but I can totally live the rest of my life without seeing their food and be perfectly happy.

Speaking of being happy. Thanks again for building me up so wonderfully on my last post. You guys are all so wise and caring, and it's great! I buoy myself with the knowledge that the more I deal with these things now, the more I am able to step into recovery.

Special K had some great thoughts that you may be interested in regarding doughnuts and other office treats here. One doughnut, or two, is not the end of the world, and is not an excuse to hate myself, give in to Ed or otherwise ruin my day/weekend.

I was even able to actually enjoy the time I had planned with my brother, which involved celebrating his birthday with dinner, and yes, CUPCAKES!

My sister and I got these from a little bakery called Mini's in one of our favorite neighborhoods. SLC chicas need to check this place out. To be honest, I have seen cuter cupcakes, but these were by far the best tasting teenies I have ever had. It's always nice when something tastes as good as it looks, or even better.

Obviously I had to have this one. It was chocolate cake with pink cream cheese frosting called "The Diva." Yes, I got it just because it was pink :)

In true Experimentarian style, my sis and I gifted my brother with a new waffle iron and some fun food goodies, including this freaky food find: pancake batter in a can. He was impressed.

Well, it was morning when I started writing this and it's now later in the afternoon, which just goes to show you what kind of a day I'm having. I feel a little badly that I haven't been more productive, but that's what Sundays are for right? I did accomplish taking a loooong shower and partially pedicuring my toes, so I think that counts for something, yes?

Hope you guys had a great weekend and a realxing Sunday as well. xoxo

Doughnut or Dough-Not? and Freaky Food Friday Round Seven aka Yougurt Overload

Well, i think this will be another long post dudes and dudettes. If you can't tell by the extra-long 3-part title, I've got a lot to say today! I hope you'll stay tuned for it all, but I won't blame you if you skip a little :) Be prepared for some ranting, but I didn't forget about Freaky Food Friday, so if you're just interested in that and would like to skip the self-hate babble, scroll on down y'all.

Let me tell you a secret. You guys probably don't know this about me, but I love doughnuts. LOVE them. they are my favorite times ten. Times eleven. Times a billion. Just call me Homer Simpson. Obviously, they are not something I eat very often. In fact, I rarely let myself indulge because I like them SO much (thanks Ed, you a-hole). They also happen to be kind of a trigger food, by which I mean that i try to stay away from them because I am so afraid I will have not one, but two, three or the whole dozen and then everything else in sight, too.

So I was in quite the quandary yesterday when one of my favorite doctors brought in a big old box of glazed glory for our office. I love this doctor. He is so incredibly kind and gentle, and he LOVES me. Just about as much as I love doughnuts. He thinks I am the bomb--it is always nice to know people like that! Of course, he had no idea that I'm addicted to doughnuts, or addicted to food, and he certainly could never know what a frenzy this type of gift would throw me into. So it became an all-day battle. Doughnut or dough-not? Eat one, stay away? Have one now, have one later? Ugh. It was so frustrating. I couldn't tell if I was giving in to Ed (DO NOT EAT ANYTHING! Eat one, eat the whole box!) or fighting him (have one, it's ok! Normal people eat doughnuts all the time!). I decided to take one home and eat it for my dessert, but I also took two more for Dustin and because they would go bad otherwise over the weekend (heaven forbid). Duh. that was a mistake. I tried to make the absolute healthiest choices throughout the day, ate my snacks so I wouldn't be starving and fixed a pretty substantial dinner SPECIFICALLY so I could avoid the binge. Guess what? I ate one. And then, I ate another. the first one was a maple bar which happens to be my favorite. But it wasn't that good and kind of dry, so my craving wasn't satisfied at all. the other one was so good--soft, chewy, sticky and delicious. Everything a doughnut should be. I was so ashamed. Now, you may be thinking that a two-doughnut day is no big deal, and I'm trying to convince myself of that as well. I think the big deal is that I feel/still feel so out of control and confused about the way I handled my hunger and cravings. I have a bunch of fun things and food related adventures planned for the weekend, and now I feel like I don't deserve to enjoy any of those. Why is that?? I would just like to be a normal person please! So this is what I'm telling myself:

• I did not binge. I just ate a little more than I meant to
  
• My goal is normal eating, and normal people probably eat two doughnuts all the time
• I am helping to keep my metabolism on track by giving it fuel to burn
• I planned a long run for this morning and the extra calories will help sustain my energy
• Doughnuts fight off colds (whatever. That one's really just to make me feel better)

I'm trying really hard to keep myself on track for today, and not let this little incident spoil my weekend. Just to prove to Ed that I can do what I want, I ate breakfast, went for a beautiful run and made the choice to nourish my body with a snack when I came home. So there. Fortunately, this snack was also part of my plan for Freaky Food Friday, which hopefully goes to further fly in the face of eating-disorder induced panic.

On we go: A while ago, I was fortunate enough to receive a packet of goodies from the generous people over at Oikos yogurt. I lost track of it in all the moving hustle and bustle, but found it again this week (YESSSSSSS!). Get ready for some yogurt overload here peeps!

I have had Oikos before, but it can be a little more expensive than other brands (most likely because of it's immaculate production and organic standards), so I was excited for the chance to try it again and compare! I got a little 5.3 oz container for on the go eating and a larger one for more regular use (who I am kidding? How about DAILY use. hee hee). I adore the texture of this stuff! That should come as no surprise since I like things thick (TWSS), but I actually find this brand to be even more thick and creamy than even Fage. Besides the textures, this yogurt also seems a little more tart and tangy. I would imagine it is closer to true Greek style than most other brands. Either way it is wonderful and I've been eating the heck out of it.

Oikos is produced by Stoneyfield, makers of Brown cow yogurt, and when I was perusing the greek style stuff, I found this little beauty as well. I remember seeing these quite a while ago on some of the other blogs, but I had never seen them in the SLC before, so I got one fer sure! Quite delicious and very fruity strawberry flavor. It wasn't as thick, and definitely not as sour as the Oikos. In fact, I was trying to decipher if the yogurt was actually strawberry flavored, in addition to the fruit on the bottom (I think it was). It was a little more sugar than I care for, and dissimilar to the Fage and other Oikos with fruit on the bottom. If you are a true Greek lover, you would probably prefer the plain style with mix-in, but if you are new to the taste or enjoy regular yogurt, I would recommend this as an excellent (and yummy) introduction.

And finally for my freaky food! ( I know, I know, you've been waiting!) I also picked up this decidedly bizarre little treat with the rest of my yogurt yumminess. This tastes very weird! but not really bad at all. The yogurt itself is EXTRA thick and creamy, probably due to the fact that it's made with WHOLE milk. yikes! The green gloppy stuff on the bottom tastes more tart than anything--not really discernible as either pear or green beans, which I guess is a good thing! Kind of like a green monster smoothie, you'd never know the vegetables were in there. the yogurt also had a slightly grainy texture after I mixed it up, most likely from the pear puree. 6 oz contains 160 calories, 5 g fat, 5 g protein and a good portion of your daily calcium, Vitamin D and Zinc needs.

I would probably purchase this again as a special treat, but most likely try another flavor. They had a squash/ peach and a sweet potato/apple style as well.

Huge thanks to Kristina and the folks at Oikos and Stoneyfield Farm for letting me try some of your products. I'm a fan! If you haven't had the chance to try Oikos, or any of their other brands, please give this stuff a try!

Well, if you made it this far, you are truly an outstanding reader and I love you! Thank you so much for being here and letting me rant and rave about all the things on my mind. I can't tell you how soothing and comforting it is to know I can really open up on the blog and be my big dorky self. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and ENJOY all your food, whether it's yogurt or doughnuts or anything in between! xoxo

Sweetener Smackdown Part 2

I got a little crazy ants in my pants this morning and decided to run from my apartment to our new house. Um, it was far. Not so much that it was far (5.75), but it was all UPHILL. I don't mean like rolling hills, either. This shiz was hard core. Dang. I almost had to stop and walk a couple times, but I persevered and surprised my husband at the house where he was already hard at work. And then I made him give me a ride home. :)

When I got home it was time for a little snackie, and also---another addition of Sweetener Smackdown! Last week, I experimented with agave, and this week my new find is this: It's crystalized honey! Such a wierd little product, I HAD to try it! Ok. I have the same problem with this sweetener as I did with the last. Ugh! You are dead to me tastebuds, dead! A serving size is two teaspoons, only equaling 16 calories, which is twice the size and half the calories of regular sugar or honey. Of course, I'd like to minimize the amount of sugar in my diet whatever the form, so I hated to use the suggested amount in my tea, but I gave it a shot anyway.

Nothing. Maybe a little sweet, but not exactly NatraTaste territory. The crystals don't dissolve all that quickly, even in boiling hot water, so despite my best stirrings, I often end up with nasty honey gloop at the bottom of my cup instead of an evenly sweetened beverage. It tastes like honey (obviously), but I think honey is a very distinct sweetener, and I'm not always super in the mood for it. One thing this does work rather well for though, is a coaxing some sweeteness out of my beloved cottage cheese and cin. It mixes in pretty well and doesn't taste like poo, or like aspartame, so that might be a good solution for this dietary aspect of mine in the future.

Oh yeah, when that sweet hubby of mine drove me home, we made a little pit stop at Einstien Bagels--check out my hot new mug!!! (It was actually cold, cuz it had water in it, but whatevs) Also, in case you missed it on Friday, don't forget to check out my interview over at the Runner's Lounge. Have a great day off everyone, and try to relax and take it easy (unlike me and my cockamamie power runs up the ever-living hills). xoxo

Crackers

To kick off the weekend, D and I headed to a super fun concert at a cool venue called Red Butte Garden.

Representin' the Diet Coke, y'all!SLC ladies, if you have never been to a concert there, you should go. It was way chill (and a little chilly, because it's outside), and it's really pretty. Red Butte usually features artists that are a little off the beaten path, and Thursday was right on tune with Booker T and the DBT's as well as my new favorite band, CRACKER!!

I vaguely recall hearing at least one of their songs before, but seeing them in concert was rad (does anyone say rad anymore?? I do!)! They have a really unique alterna-country-punk sound, and I totally dug it. It's no wonder I love their sound--the band's bio page states that their drummer, Frank Fuanro, had played with Joey Ramone. The Ramones! Duh, my all time favorite band ever! I got a CD and I even got to meet the band to get it signed but I was too shy (ah too shy, shy hush, hush eye to eye) to get a pic with all the dudes. Please incorporate these two songs into your download queue immediately:
Low
Show Me How This Thing Works

Loves it.

On another cracker-related note, my cute little brother in law shares some of my experimentarianism and had ventured into a raw food store at my recommendation. He came out with these:
Raw Crackers

Little bro wasn't a fan, so he left them for me (Thanks Ollie!). These fascinating little crackers are cellophane thin sheets of savory flax seeds and dehydrated veggies. They were described by some others that I shared them with as "slimy," but I beg to differ. It's just the smooth feeling of flax seeds gliding over your tongue (which happens a lot because they are so smooth, they slip right between your teeth before you can mash em!) The flavor on these tastes a lot like a minestrone soup mix, and they are particularly tasty with hummmmmus. No, not the dessert kind, just regular.

These crackers are pretty odd, but also pretty delicious--just like my taste in music. Given the fine production of both music and edible delight in this context, you can call me cracker anytime. I don't mind.

For you baby

As I've mentioned before, my husband is incredibly supportive of all my experimentation, especially in the fight against Ed. He always encourages me to try new things, especially if they are fear foods, and even if they are not so completely healthy sometimes (cuz, hey, that IS healthy, right?).

The other day I sent him to the store to get some drinks for us, and he came home with a little present for me, too. I don't know how he thought of this, but he must have remembered a time when we got some candy and I only ate the pink ones of the kind we were having. Whatever. Pink makes things taste better :)

Anyhoo, he handed me these PINK Strawberry Mentos with the cutest look of pride and warned me that he better not find them in his lunch (yes, I pack it for him). So I packed them in my lunch yesterday instead.

They were sweet and chewy, just like you'd expect. I didn't eat them all, but I had a few and I was glad to have something a little wild and crazy to make my day more interesting. Very pink and a sweet little treat (and sweet reminder of D) in the middle of the day. Thanks babe. This one's for you. I love you! Even more than I love pink, and even more than mustard :) xoxoxo

Lemonheads

Guess what these are:

Nope, NOT lemons, as the title would suggest, or even melons (which is sort of what they look like)...they are actually lemon cucumbers!

I forgot my camera AGAIN (aargh!) during my Tuesday trip to the farmer's market, but I guess that ok since it was just a very small sampling of what is normally available on Saturdays, so no pics. But you can check out my Saturday buys here.

I actually didn't do too much damage this time around, only snagging some raspberries, more corn and two of these lovely lemon cukes. Given my love for all things lemon and SOUR, I was super intrigued by the name. The guy actually laughed at me when I asked him if they tasted like lemons, which I didn't think was very nice, but he assured me that they tasted like just like a sweeter variety than your average old cucumber. He was right, and the taste is nothing too out of the ordinary, and definitely not lemon-like, but they are very light and crisp and a wonderful addition to my lunch snackies for today.

I loooooove you, Farmer's Market! You are the perfect haunt for my produce-lovin', veggie-curious, experimental self.

Around the blog world, parfait-making K is hosting a cookbook giveaway, and in just another example of how amazing the blogging community is, check out this very Special K exchange--great idea!

New Love

I have tried (and liked) Popchips before, but today I've found a new love. Sorry Salt and Vinegar flavor, you were more of a school-girl crush. BBQ Popchips, this new love must be true love!

These are the most amazing chip I have ever put in my mouth! Yum with a side of yum and more freaking yum. The flavor on these is fantastically smokey and sweet. Everything my beloved barbeque should be, shimmied down on one bite-sized snack. I must be on some sort of chip kick lately, and luckily, my local markets seems to be complying with my every whim because they keep having these dang things on sale.

While I've been reviewing Popchips, evidently they've reviewed me as well--you'll notice the company listed as a "follower" to the side. I'm sure it's just someone working the web optimization but holla to you for amazing chips, and hey, I'm all for sampling some new Popchips products if they taste anything like this! (Was that shameless? I don't care.)

Super Size Me

Well, not me exactly, but my groceries for sure! Erin was interested to know what else I scored at Whole Foods besides my yummy tea from last night, so here's a peek! Everything was so jumbo! There's only one Whole Foods in the area that carries that huge tub of Fage. It's much more cost effective to buy that large size--it's only $2 more than the 16 oz container! Along with that I got some ginormulous peaches. Holy cow, they're like the size of my head! I also got a garnet yam and a new type of yogurt which I got to try this morning.
Very very unique flavor. As I mentioned in my last post, I don't love orange flavor, but I picked this based on the ingenuity of the combo. The orange flavor was still very prominent, but not too overpowering. Super thick texture and lots of grated ginger for an extra kick in every bite. I loved that it was sweetened with agave nectar--very light handed with the sweetener I might add.

Other ingredients: pasteurized skim milk, candied ginger, orange extract, live active cultures and vegetable rennet. I'm not sure what vegetable rennet is, but I'm guessing it's some sort of natural thickener or stabilizer. Can I just say that it makes me giddy when I find products with so few ingredients!! I mean compare the ingredient list on that luscious, tangy, satisfying little snacklet to the label on any other light yogurt. I guarantee the other yogurt will have a list a mile long, chuck full of preservatives, artificial flavorings and aspartame or sucralose. Not that I completely shun things like that, but the closer I can get to clean eating, the better. 16 grams of protein for this, too!

Snacky time

I'm loving this snack right now: mini bell peppers stuffed with Light Garlic and Herb Laughing Cow cheese. Sooooo good! My personal preference is the red peppers, but as you can see, I already ate all the ones out of this pack. Try it!