The Haul and the Wall

Heya strangers! I'm back from glorious Arizona and things have been CRAZY! Crazy and cold! It seems like only Friday I was sitting by the pool and soaking up the sun. Wait, I was. And now here I am back in the SLC and working away. Drat. BUT...I do have some fantastic reminders of my trip to cheer me up: my Trader Joe's haul!

OMGgggggg. I literally could have spent all day in that store poring over new products and searching for stuff that I have seen on all of your bloggies. My friends, however, were not so enthralled, so I had to choose my products and use my time wisely!

This is what I ended up with: Dark Chocolate Crisps (um, PERFECT after lunch treat--they are just the right amount of chocolate to get me through!), vanilla meringues, pita puffs, baked jalapeno cheese puffs, dark chocolate pomegranate seeds, crunchy salted almond butter with flax seeds, peanut butter jam frakas bar (I am not so impressed with these) spicy black bean dip, chili covered pineapple, pb&j chocolate bar (guess what?? It has potato chips in it too! How awesome!), ginger mango chutney and fig bars. yeesh. Oh, plus a way cool tote bag that I just want to use as my purse because it's so cute and large.

...and the one perishable thing I allowed myself to get so I could eat it while I was there


I tell ya, I am a sucker for Greek yogurt! I just HAD to try this one. I did make a delectable breakfast bowl using this and some cereal I brought from home, plus pb snagged form the breakfast bar at the hotel. Unfortunately, no pic as it was eaten by the single kitchen light bulb in our suite. Didn't wanna wake the roomies!

Not only did I score some wonderful treats in AZ, but I also had a completely fabulous package waiting for me upon my return home.

I was SO excited to learn that Chrysta from Living Fit!

Tea, fabulous tea! Chrysta was sweet enough to send me two amazing teas from Teavana that I have been dying to try, along with a very fancy storage set.

Both of these are wonderful, and I particularly love the spicy notes in the Azteca. Thank you so much Chrysta!!

In other news, I walked into the exposed brick wall in my bedroom this morning. Just goes to show that I can't be trusted to do anything complicated like walking before I eat breakfast. ;) Hope your day is going well and a little less discombobulated than mine. I have missed you all so much and still have a ton of catching up to do in the reader, but I will "see" you soon :) xoxo

P.S. I did not check to see how many times I used the word "fabulous" in this post, but I'm pretty sure it was a lot. Please excuse the abundant overuse. Apparently walking into a wall reduces your ability to think of synonyms as well.

Freaky Fake Noodles and Pretty Pink Everything Else

Hi there everyone! Well, when I mentioned I would probably be blogging less frequently, I certainly didn't expect a whole week to go by before I posted anything! Speaking of my last post, thanks so much for all your incredible sweet comments on my wedding and your anniversary wishes! You guys are so nice! Anyhowzzles, there has definitely been a lot going on in the food world and other wise, so lets hop to it shall we?

First up, let me show you a little of the things that have been keeping me occupied...
one the food front, we have experienced the passing of a few greats recently including my beloved PB2 (unpictured), crunchy Sunbutter and super chunky peanut butter.
You can see I don't typically leave enough remnants for OIAJ so that was no consolation, but to be fair I'm not that disappointed. I tired them once, and found it a little too messy and not nearly enough nut butter to go around (as evidenced by my thorough cleaning job above).

We also had our very first meatless Monday, which sadly, went undocumented, but was delicious. I know it would be a lot more appealing with pictures, but I enthusiastically encourage you to try the Rice and Beans recipe from Eat, Drink and be Vegan. I modified it a little bit, adding half an orange bell pepper and 1/2 c. frozen corn kernels. I also used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth since that's what we had on hand. Very delicious, but beware, because it makes "four" VERY generous portions (we got 6). Even though I am not vegan, I checked out that cookbook from the library a while ago and found a lot of great recipes. I would love my own copy because I only got to copy down a few especially enticing ideas.

I have a fantastic Freaky Food Friday for you today, too! I have been looking for this particular product FOREVER since seeing it on the other Emily's blog this summer. I had just about given up hope of ever locating them in Utah, when I spotted them at a local natural foods store:

Kelp Noodles!


Yipeeeeeeee!!! I was so, so pumped to try these, but upon opening the bag,

I made the mistake of taking a big whiff---ick!! Like sea water and brine. Of course! Luckily, I am not one to let a little weird smell deter me from my plans ( this IS freaky food, after all!).

After rinsing them very well and steaming them for a few minutes in the microwave, I topped them with garlic powder, chunky tomato marinara sauce , two extra lean meatballs and a sprinkling of Parmesan.

Not bad! Although the texture was not really similar at all to traditional pasta--kind of chewy and oddly crunchy--I thought it tasted just fine and was a perfectly reasonable substitute. If any of you have ever tried the tofu shirataki noodles, they reminded me a lot of those. I used to think those things were so cool before I discovered my soy sensitivity. Now I know why they gave me such a bad tummy ache!

No problems at all with the kelp noodles, though. The stats were really interesting, too. Actually, there almost were NO stats! A four ounce serving only has 6 calories and the only ingredients are kelp, sodium alginate (sodium salt extracted from a brown seaweed), and water. The only other component of nutrition was 15% DV of calcium.

I don't know that I'll be eating these on a regular basis because they are pretty expensive (plus I am pretty sure D wouldn't touch them with a 10-ft pole), but they were really fun to try!

Some other fun things I have been keeping myself busy with:

Making Fruity Pebbles treats for my little Sunday School class. Ok and let's be honest, for Dustin, too :) Look at how cool that picture is though! I have to admit that I snuck some Fruity Pebbles into my greek yogurt, and holy cow those puppies are SWEET!! Even against the sour tang of the yogurt, they were almost too much. Wow. Do people really eat those for breakfast? Dang. I'm not saying it wasn't delicious though!

I have also been making an attempt to work out my brain as much as I work out my body--


D got me a subscription to our local newspaper for our anniversary. This may not seem very romantic to most, but he knows me so well! Usually, the only source of real news I get is from the Today show, so it's nice to be able to keep informed on public affairs. Plus, I used to love getting the morning paper and reading the comics and doing the crosswords every day when I was growing up. Now, I love the ads and the Sunday coupons, too! Lucky girl, I got a 12 week subscription and I feel enriched already!

I am making a concerted effort to read more as well, but sometimes it really does hurt my brain too much after a long day. reading is seriously my all time favorite hobby next to cooking, but these books aren't' exactly as light and fluffy as the Sookie Stackhouse novels I've been hooked on! Jenny Scheaffer's new book, Goodbye Ed, Hello Me, is incredible and even better than her first offering (Life Without Ed). Unfortunately sometimes it really hits me in terms of my recovery and I have to take a break from reading it in order to process.

I also love this Malcolm Gladwell book, The Tipping Point. Yeas, I know it's old and you've probably already read it, but it is so interesting! Sadly, I don't think I hold any of the qualities he elaborates on just yet, so it kind of makes me feel like a loser. I am only a few chapters in though!
More fun things!

I got this most adorable mug at Target the other day and I am completely in love! I collected polar bears when I was younger, plus it's pink, plus it has a heart on it! And it holds tea! What could be more perfect? Ha ha! I love that my birthday is in February because everything in the stores is pink with hearts, so I feel like it's all decorated just for me! ( I wonder how it is possible to simultaneously be 82 and 12 at the same time--old lady and little pink princess!)

Speaking of hearts, my hottie friend Janetha B is holding a sweet Valentine's Day exchange, so don't forget to sign up and spread the love!

Special K is also caring and sharing again with a tea exchange (you KNOW i was all over that one!), so check that one out too!

I really will be posting more frequently to avoid the textbook-sized entries, so thanks for sticking this one through til the end :)

Questions: Are you closer to 82 or 12 yourself? I think it's hilarious that I would rather spend Saturday night at home with my crossword and mug of tea and at the same time die over anything that is pink and foufy. That's just me :) And you now know I used to collect polar bears--what about you? Any kiddie collections you may or may not still have an affinity for?

Happy Friday! (AND Happy End of this Post--you really are a trooper!) xoxo

Boring...and a Surprise?

First off, big thanks to my wonderful guest posters, Ollie and Sarah, for keeping up on things for me this weekend. You are both awesome and supportive and an inspiration to me both in the kitchen and out. You are very experimentarian and i am lucky that we're family. Muah!

In other news, wait--there is no other news. Sorry guys. I am boring. My food is boring, my pics are boring, my thoughts are boring. Boring Boring Boring. Anyway, since I can't think of anything new, I thought I'd introduce you to some old favorites...

Besides the stuff that I talk about all the time and you all know I love, like cottage cheese and green tea, here are some more yummy products I can't live without:

P.S. You;ll just have to excuse my gross old lady hands in every.single. pic. Obviously I am too boring to even crop these or jazz em up a little. Lame.


Goes in everything, on everything. All the time. Yogurt, cottage cheese, applesauce, oatmeal, tea, salad dressing, sliced fruit--the works. Everything is better with cinnamon, and all cinnamon in recipes must be multiplied by at least 2 to get it right. And guess what? This shiz is only a dollar. A dollar! Best investment EVER.

I call this my tiger tea. It just sounds better than Bengal Spice as far as I'm concerned. If I run out of this in my house, it's a sad day for sure. I think it is perfect with dessert, especially ice cream, and the spice warms you up perfectly. meow!

Ah lover! You can check out my full review of Sun Crystals here. But suffice it to say that I think these are the bomb dot com, compared to traditional chemically laced sweeteners. This is made out of just two ingredients: stevia and cane sugar, so I don't think it gets much more natural than that, but you can still use a lot less than regular sugar and get the same sweetness bang for your buck. I put this in almost as much stuff as cinnamon. Stevia and spice, that's me.
Have you had this??? OMG. It is to die for! Sweet and salty is definitely a combo I adore and this definitely fits the bill. It comes in a pretty big bar, with large thin squares that can be easily broken up for portioned consumption. It tastes so, so indulgent. And coming from someone with a mad sweet tooth, you can take me at my word when I say that even I am satisfied with just one piece. It's that good.
Ok, seriously, has anyone NOT tried this yet? So delicious. If I had to choose between this and peanut butter, it would be one tough call. It's slightly sweeter than most pb's, but the salty contrast is much sharper and the crunch is so luscious!

Is there anything that little Quaker man can't do? This is the best cereal of all time. I don't even know how I survived 25 years without it. It makes the perfect finishing touch to any yogurt mess, cottage cheese concoction, cereal trio (or quadruple, whatever), or ice cream, too. Yeah, it's dessert. It's amazing.

Another fantastic multi-purpose product. I am still weary of cheese in general, but I just slather this little 35-calorie wedge onto anything that required a nice cheesy bite, and I've got it made. Especially handy in sandwiches. My favorite combo is turkey slices spread with laughing cow, cranberry jalapeno preserved and Dijon mustard, stuffed with tons of spinach and crammed into a whole wheat pita. Yum.

So there you have it--some of the best foods ever that I eat on a pretty regular rotation, hence the boring-ness.

Anyhoodles, just because I am boring, doesn't mean you have to be! As usual, I am turning to you guys for some inspiration, but even better, in an effort to be NOT-boring, I am hosting a GIVEAWAY!!!! Yay!

Everyone needs a little extra holiday cheer and a little more love (and presents!), so here is something to get December started off right! Winner receives all my fave products featured above, plus some super yummy homemade treats and maybe a couple surprises (so as not to be TOO boring).

So easy to enter (same old boring way)--just leave a comment down below with some of your old favorites and "boring" standbys, and link back for an extra entry if you're feeling generous. Or maybe if you're just feeling boring, too and need something to post about ;) xoxo and love you lots!

P.S. Giveaway ends Friday at midnight, so try not to be extra boring and enter before then :)

Family Food/FFF #15

I am taking the weekend off from blogging, but fortunately, my family members have pitched in to help out. I received a holiday card from my mom that was pretty funny. It said something like, "The holidays are full of turkeys, hams and nuts....and that's just the relatives." Of course, no matter how nutty, there is nothing better than spending time with the people you care about, no mater how nutty.

Today, here is a special guest post form my brother in law, Ollie. He has similar adventurous food tastes to mine, only minus the barbeque and philly cheese steaks because he is a vegetarian :) He is also so smart, witty and generally hilarious. Plus he cooks, too, as you'll see below. And guess what ladies, he's single!

Happy day after Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you had a great holiday and hope you enjoy this post too. Love you! xoxo,

E

Hi everyone! My name is Ollie and I'm subbing for Em on her blog today. I don't really have anything too freaky for freaky Friday. I think the freakiest part was just the idea of me cooking. Today wasn't that bad, and I put out the fire immediately (but not quick enough to save the blender. Oops.).

I've been experimenting with making my own bread for a few months now; unfortunately, I've made little progress. Today I followed a recipe from the New York Times. The best part of it is the amount of ingredients: 4. Water, flour, yeast, salt. There's also a video of it floating around. Anyway here's a foto of today's loaf; the crust wasn't as good as it normally is but it was still fairly stiff:

The crumb was actually better than I usually get it; I got a few more air bubbles than normal, but it was a little dense. Still it tasted impressive:

I also finally got around to making my bobas. I've been looking for these for a while. I found them in a little Thai store and cooked them up. They are really easy to prepare; they only need to be cooked in water for a few minutes:

Note that smiling spoon--it seems to know something that I don't (maybe that my blender is too close to the stove). I don't know if you guys have tried bobas (usually used in bubble tea or peal milk tea), but they are big purple tapioca pearls. The lady who sold them to me recommended that I try them in a mango smoothie. She convinced me pretty easily; I also tried them in some milky chai rooibos tea. The bobas went well with both. They don't add much flavor but they are fun to slurp up and chew:

Also I've been wanting to try persimmons since reading Li-Young Lee's poem. So when I found them at wal-mart I had to try one. I forgot to take a picture of them whole, so I found a pic online and while I searched for the picture I learned that they were called by ancient greeks "the fruit of the gods":

This probably wasn't the best way to try an unfamiliar food but I just cut it up and popped it in my mouth. It was sort of like eating a ripe mango but it made my mouth feel like it was covered in fuzz. So I would recommend cooking them--unless you enjoy the fuzzy-mouth sensation.

Anyway thanks for reading my about my experimentations and don't worry Emily will be back soon. And thanks Emily for letting me post. Hugs and Kisses.

Random Monday

Well,l this just might be my most random post ever!

I have a lot of things to show you, but they're not really related in any particular way so.....

Now that October is over, I guess it's ok to begin appreciating the holiday season as opposed to the fall season.

Pee my pants tea find of the day:
I love this stuff. Maybe even more than the gingerbread chai. Maybe. Plus the box is pretty.

Oh Target, how I love you. Please jump inside my brain and come up with a more perfect yogurt flavor. Impossible.

Not only this, but I also picked up an eggnog and pumpkin pie flavor as well. It will be interesting to contrast that with the last pumpkin one I tried. Something tells me I will like this one better. I usually have pretty good luck with the Archer Farms products.

The bread pudding flavor didn't taste exactly like bread pudding, but it certainly tasted delicious. I immediately threw it in with some raisins, Kashi Heart to Heart and Quaker Maple Oatmeal Squares.
Almost as good as the real thing!

Inspired by my above pictured divine little lunch from Friday, on Saturday, I ventured out of my cottage cheese comfort zone and made another luscious mess for breakfast.

This one was decidedly unseasonally inspired--think more summer sunshine!

Look closely and you can see the crispy crunch-ness of my homemade pineapple chips! Pineapples were on sale a while ago at the Sunflower Market for 99 cents EACH! 99 cents! So I bought three of them and sliced ht em super thin to make these. Funny how three pineapples made a sandwich bag and a half full of chips :) Totally tropical with raisins, banana, honey almond butter drizzle, typical (cereal) trio and of course, some Fage down below. This was a winner! I know someone who'd agree!

I'm kind of curious about YOUR winners--I am SO stuck in a rut with my breakfasts and lunches lately. Bo-ring! Please share some of your favorites with me--I'd love to hear.

I know you guys are always the best source of inspiration for me, meals and otherwise :) Hope your Monday is off to a great start, and is slightly less random than these ramblings! have a great week! xoxo

Return of the Sweetener Smackdown!

Laaaadies and gentlemennnnnn! It's time for the eagerly-anticipated return of...Sweetener Smackdown!

Ok, well, whether you've been eagerly anticipating it or not, here it is again! You can check out previous episodes here, here and here.

The contender in this latest edition:
NuNaturals NuStevia powder. My pal Janetha B. was almost as sweet as this stevia, and brought some over for me to sample a couple of weeks ago. THANK YOU babe!

I wanted to wait until I'd used up the sweeteners I had before I tried this out, so it's taken me just a bit longer to get to it than I wanted.

The first hing I noticed about his was the difference in texture. The NuStevia had a very fine grain to it, quite unlike the SunCrystals I have taken to of late.
And the next thing I noticed was how SWEET this stuff is. I have been using just half a packet per cup of tea, CCC, yogurt or whatever else I'm sweetening for the most part, and that has been perfect. Half a packet of this stuff, though, is like licking the bottom of a Frosted Flakes bag. Wow. Anyway, so I've been trying just a third of a packet (jeez louise, is THAT ever difficult to portion out!).

I also find this product to have the slight aftertaste that turns so many people off to the use of stevia on a regular basis. It doesn't taste bad necessarily, but it does kind of give a lingering licorice-y effect.

One thing that I really like about the SunCrystals is that there are only two ingredients, very clearly defined as raw cane sugar and stevia. the NuNaturals stevia is a little more vague:
I mean, yes, I'm glad it has stevia in it, but why the maltodextrin? And what other "natural" flavors are they talking about? Isn't it just supposed to be flavored like stevia?

For the most part, it's not bad, and I will probably continue to use of my stash before returning to the SunCrystals. I am such a creature of habit! Luckily, it's no longer "THE habit" of sucking down dangerous and chemically altered blue devil packets.

Especially grateful to have a teensey bit of sweetener available for this gem:
You know, I don't even care that they start putting our the Christmas stuff before Halloween if it means that this gets to make an appearance,too. Delicious. Well, I guess I still care a little bit... What are your thoughts on that whole thing? Does it just bug ya to death to see all the glittery ornaments and plastic Santas before the pumpkins are even out of the way?

I totally believe that each season and holiday should be enjoyed to the fullest. thankfully I have selective tunnel vision and can enjoy browsing the aisles of ghostly Halloween goodies with turkey feathers tickling my nose and red-nosed reindeer breathing down my back ;)

By the way, thanks for encouraging my pathetic poetry on Friday, and I was glad to see that many of you got a laugh at the his and hers plates--I knew you would be able to relate!

Hope your week is off to a glorious start (or at least a start, right? I take what I can get. lol) xoxo

New Favoritea!

Oh em gee! I have a new favorite tea!!! It's so delicious I can hardly stand it. While browsing Whole Foods (dangerous) this afternoon, I found myself in the tea aisle (even more dangerous) and selected this
to try. Look! It's a cascade of yumminess right there on the box! I was a little leery of the orange taste since I don't typically like citrusy flavors (except SOUR lemon!), but I am a sucker for almond so I wanted to give it a try. It's brewed from carob, chicory, cinnamon, orange peel, natural almond flavors, blackberry leaves and anise seed. The tea smells amazing and tastes just as good, with sweet almond notes and a spicy contrast. I was so excited to test it that I brewed some just now even though it's like 100 degrees outside. It was so worth it even though now I'm all hot--and def all hot and bothered for the tea, too ;)