Product Reviews

My Kitchen Favorite Things

December 2, 2011 by Marci 1 Comment

Here is something a little different for a Friday. How about a look into some of the things I’m eyeing for the kitchen, and some of my favorite things I use often?

1. I saw this Cuisinart Immersion Blender in a Sur La Table catalogue and it comes in about 10 fun colors for under $30. I don’t know why we never bought one, but I think Santa might bring one this year. Immersion blenders are mostly for soups to puree in a soup pot so you don’t have to pour a hot soup into a blender. We have done that plenty of times, but for $30, maybe we’ll make more soups this winter.

immersion blender.jpg

2. Last year in Destin, we bought a Le Creuset cast iron skillet at the outlet store. It was a great idea. Le Crueset goods are very heavy and high quality allowing you to cook with them on the stovetop and move to the oven. We have used our skillet less than a handful of times probably, but we are glad to have it. Le Crueset items are very durable and great for cooking meats. Jeffrey really likes this item.

I also have a lower-end Le Creuset soup pot for the stove but not oven and use it often. Great brand, just heavy pieces!

3. Silpats. These are baking sheets that go on top of your baking sheet. Does that make sense? They are basically nonstick silicone sheets that protect your cookies and your baking sheet. I LOVE Silpats. I don’t bake cookies without them. They are amazingly nonstick. NOTHING sticks to a Silpat. And for me, the best part is the cookie sheet goes right back on the shelf because it didn’t get dirty. These are dishwasher safe.

4. This item is not on my “want” list or something we have. But I thought you might be interested because they are trendy and gaining popularity. It’s a Breville Juicer. I watched a movie called “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” a few months ago and wrote about it, and it’s all about how great juicing is for your body.

Juicing takes a LOT of produce and I have heard that these machines are quite messy. We aren’t much for the juice drinkers, but many blogs I read that promote juicing love their juicers. It’s a great way to get in a lot of produce!

5. Along the same lines is the Vitamix. Also not something I really want right now, the Vitamix is like a commercial grade blender. It is verrryy powerful and can blend about anything smoother than your regular blender. They are quite pricey–around $500–but many people who love to blend really love their Vitamix.

I have seen a lot of TV ads lately for the Vitamix. I think they are trying to get more mainstream. They used to be very high end for chefs and restaurants I think.

I have a thing in my kitchen about not wanting appliances that take up a lot of space with few uses, like a juicer or waffle maker. Did you know I didn’t have a toaster when I lived by myself?! Took up space and I really didn’t eat toast! We do have one now, but for the longest time, we had a toaster oven because I liked the dual use. Then it died, and now we have a normal 4 slice toaster.

What’s on your kitchen want list this year? Happy gift giving!

Filed Under: Things I Love, Thoughts · Tagged With: Product Reviews, Things I Love

Canvassing

July 19, 2011 by Marci 4 Comments

A few weeks ago, a company out of Austin, TX called Easy Canvas Prints contacted me through my blog about their product. They take a photo you have and make it into a canvas wall print. They wanted me to try their product in return for writing about them, so this post is sponsored by Easy Canvas Prints.

A little background first–Recently, I started a new job and moved into my first office. Like four walls and a door office. Yep, like a big shot. I have these four white walls, and nothing to put on them. I really like some of my food photos and printed them for an album. I never really thought about blowing them up for display.

I did, however, have an idea to mount a blown up picture of Lily and started researching Etsy sites who paint on canvas. They were pretty expensive, and I also didn’t have one perfect picture of her I wanted to have painted.

Then Easy Canvas Prints contacted me about trying their product, not knowing I was actually thinking of something similar. The way Easy Canvas Prints works is that you have a photo in mind that you would like to blow up and show on your wall. They do canvas prints in 8 x 8 (inches) for $30 all the way to 30 x 40 for $130.

You can choose how thick your border is, if your photo wraps onto the border or not, and of course, you choose the size. It is all done online and mine arrived within two days of ordering via UPS.

Below is the original photo I had blown up into a canvas print. Above is the actual print. I haven’t hung it in my office yet. I was given an 8 x 10 print. It’s a great size, especially if you had a few photos and hung them all together.

I am really excited to hang the final product, and really like the quality that I would consider buying one or two more of the same size for different photos to hang together.

Do you have anything like this in your house or at work?

Filed Under: Product Reviews · Tagged With: Product Reviews

Odds and Ends

December 15, 2010 by Marci 4 Comments

I had planned to show off some banana nut muffins on the blog today, but our kitchen had a plumbing issue and I couldn’t bake. How terrible!

So instead, I have two product reviews of pumpkin related foods I’ve tried lately. I’m still on a pumpkin kick.

But first–a foot trick:

For the past month or so, my left heel has been sore. It started before the half marathon and hasn’t let off. It’s not terrible, but it’s noticeable. I googled “foot heel pain” (because Google is smart) and realized that it’s probably plantar fasciitis acting up. That is the reason I wear orthotics in my shoes, and it’s just being cranky. The treatment is to rest, but that’s boring and I’ve been taking it easy with a lot of yoga and not running. It was also recommended to roll my foot on a golf ball or tennis ball. Amazing! I highly recommend you roll your heel, arch, ball, sides, etc. on a golf ball. It made an immediate difference when walking.

Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola

I bought this granola to add to oatmeal or cottage cheese, and it is crunchy and sweet, although I don’t think it tastes much like pumpkin. Granola is usually high in calories and fat, and this was no different. For 3/4 C, it has 260 calories and 10 g fat, 6 g protein, 10 g sugar. It’s not great for you, and not a great addition of nutrients, just good tasting in moderation. I don’t know if I would buy it again besides for the taste because it’s so high in calories and fat. Grade: B-

Stonewall Kitchen Pumpkin Butter

I have been using this pumpkin butter on a variety of things, like toast, apples, muffins, etc. It is low in calories and similar to a jam in nutritional info. The color is a pretty burnt orange, and it also goes great with peanut butter on a sandwich. The stats are for 1 tablespoon: 30 calories and 6 g sugar. So it is a little better than a jam. I recommend it to add a little pumpkin flavor to whatever you’re cooking. Good anytime of the year. Grade: A

Have you tried anything new lately? Share it here!

Filed Under: Product Reviews, Thanksgiving · Tagged With: Product Reviews, Thanksgiving

Monsters, Balls, 3 Ingredient Soup

November 17, 2010 by Marci 10 Comments

Happy birthday to my sister, Shelley! She is in her second year of her Master’s in Hospital Administration program at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and just found out that she’s moving to Atlanta in June for a two year fellowship at Emory. Way to go, Shelley. A fun added birthday celebration. Now we know who gets the bragging attention next week at Thanksgiving.

(Lily has since had her bangs trimmed)

There are only eight days until Thanksgiving! Then the madness of holiday shopping, continuous cool weather (we hope) and busy weekends of travel commence. And the looming half marathon that I’m not thinking about until my poor IT band heals…

Until then, let’s eat clean before the temptations start.

Green Monsters:

The blog world loves their green monsters, and if you haven’t tried it, you should to see what the hype is about. I have tried various additions and quantities, I’ve tried freezing them to defrost later, and played with lots of colored monsters. But in my opinion, the best tasting and prettiest monster is the original.

Basic Green Monster:

1 banana
1 C any milk
2 C spinach

Blend, add ice, blend again, enjoy.

Other monsters:

If you’re interested in more green monsters, check out the Green Monster Movement. I like to drink my monsters with a PB&J Sandwich for lunch or a light dinner. The monsters are quite filling and refreshing.

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls:

When I was in San Francisco for Foodbuzz Fest, one of the vendors at the Tasting Pavilion was Annie the Baker who made cookie dough balls of different flavors. They were all the rage, so of course, someone was going to replicate them at home. Mama Pea was the first at it, and then everyone made them within a day. Here are mine, and they are really really good. Approval by Jeffrey too! Click here for full recipe on her site.

Here are the changes I made: I un-veganized them because I don’t have vegan ingredients. So I used real butter (well, a stick of Fleischman’s margarine), regular chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. When I went to scoop out the balls to bake, the dough was very crumbly, so I put it back under the mixer and added 1/4 C water. It worked perfect, and the crumbles became dough.

3 Ingredient Soup: Tomato Soup with Tortellini and Broccoli

This is not really a recipe, but it was a healthful, colorful, and fast way to eat at home. We recently found Wolfgang Puck organic canned soups, and they are really tasty! We like the Country Tomato with Basil that has little chunks of tomatoes and tastes good as homemade.

I heated up the soup, and at the same time, I boiled water for Buitoni 3-cheese whole wheat tortellini. And at the same time, I microwaved fresh broccoli to steam it. When everything was cooked, I added it to the soup pot to stir together and heat for a minute.

Voila, a one bowl 3 ingredient soup.

Filed Under: Blog Conference, Dessert, Dinner, Lunch, Product Reviews, Recipes · Tagged With: Baked goods, Blog Conference, Cookies, green monster, Product Reviews, Soups, vegetables

Product Reviews and Heart Rate Discussion

November 3, 2010 by Marci 10 Comments

This is a two part post. One is a question about how hard your workout is and how you measure it, and the second is two products I’ve tried recently.

Heart Rate Monitor:

I have mentioned a few times recently that with my new Garmin, I’ve been trying out the heart rate feature. The Garmin measures your heart rate with a strap you wear and the watch shows the beats in real time. It also calculates calories burned, but I’m not sure how it is calculated. After a workout, I plug in the watch to the computer and I can see a graph of my heart rate over the workout time. My HR has been all over the board–low at spinning, high at Crossfit (170-180), and somewhere in the middle while running, lower while cross-training on the elliptical machine (120-130).

I recently wore the Garmin and HRM to a 90-minute yoga class. I like yoga for the stretching, especially for my hamstrings and hips. However, if you spend 90 minutes doing any exercise, it’s nice to burn some calories! In this particular class, it was a Vinyasa Flow heated style, and I burned around 110 calories and my average heart rate was 87.

I still like going to yoga for the stretch, but as far as calorie burning, I could run one mile and get the same results. I go to make myself stretch for 90 minutes and not quit like I would at the gym stretching after a machine.

So my question to you is: How do you measure a good workout? Is it by sweat puddles, heart rate, total minutes, calories burned, miles, what? I don’t really know the answer, but when someone says “How was your workout?” I don’t know why I answer the way I do.

What do you think?

Product Reviews:

There are two products I have tried lately, and they are both winners.

Peanut Butter & Co Awesome Apricot Jam: I love this company. I love their customer service, I love the way they name their products (seriously, how can you resist a peanut butter called Smooth Operator?!), and most importantly, I love the taste. I didn’t even know they made jams and jellies until I saw it at the grocery store. I have an open bottle of strawberry jam from a different brand, so I decided to try apricot. It is delicious, smooth and not clumpy, spreads easy, and not too sweet. It has 50 calories per tablespoon, and has simple ingredients of apricots, sugar, and lemon juice. I highly recommend anything from PB&Co, especially my new favorite jam! Grade: A+

Bonus–look for a Peanut Butter & Co. giveaway on my blog next week!

2. Dagoba Organic Chocolates: Lately when I go to the grocery store, I haven’t been buying packaged cookies to snack on for dessert at home. I tried a few brands, especially for chocolate chip cookies, but I didn’t love anything like I do homemade cookies. I still like to have a chocolate fix, so I decided to try a dark chocolate bar. These bars are very rich, so they actually last a long time. You just need a few squares to get a strong chocolate kick. There are 200 calories per 1/2 bar and 17 g fat, so you could eat 1/4 bar guilt free, in my opinion. I don’t understand too much about dark chocolate, but I know they vary on the amount of cacao, and the percent is listed on all the Dagoba brand bars. I bought a few other bars to try, but each bar takes me a long time to eat. I definitely like this option as opposed to a packaged cookie to get my chocolate fix. Grade: A

Do you eat dark chocolate bars? What’s your favorite?

Filed Under: Dessert, Exercise, Product Reviews · Tagged With: Product Reviews

Snap Kitchen Review

October 22, 2010 by Marci 4 Comments

A new pre-made food place opened in Houston, and I checked it out. Snap Kitchen has two locations in Austin, and this is their first store in Houston. Their tag line is “fresh, healthy take-away” and “eat right. live clean. buy local.” The storefront is really colorful and clean, there are tables to sit at inside and eat, and they have a full salad bar that is as close to awesome as I’ve seen in Houston. I still love and miss Snappy Salads from Dallas.

Snap Kitchen is great for people with special eating styles like vegetarian, Paleo (if cavemen didn’t eat it, they don’t either–think meats and nuts and no sugar), gluten-free, dairy free, etc. They also do full meal plans where you can buy your meals and snacks from there, and they have a dietitian on site.

The food I tried at Snap Kitchen:

I picked up three meals–a lunch, dinner, and dessert.

For lunch I had the Provencal chicken wrap. It was $7.25, and had chicken, olive tapenade, sun-dried tomato pesto, and spinach in a whole wheat tortilla.

This was the most flavorful of the three dishes I tried, but it seemed pretty high in calories at 420, with 44 g carbs and 15 g fat. It only came in one size (lunch), whereas some entrees for dinner come in small, medium, etc.

I paired it with green beans and berries, to add more fruit and vegetables.

For dinner, I tried the Scottish Dill Salmon.

I really wanted to like it, but I didn’t. The vegetables were a little slimy from the fat of the salmon I think, and I thought the salmon was a little undercooked. I didn’t like the flavor. It had 210 calories, 7 g fat. It was $8.50 for size small, and was also Paleo, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, and low sodium.

And for dessert, I tried the Blueberry Crumble with agave nectar, almonds, oats, vanilla bean, and a lemony marshmallow topping. It had 180 calories and 7 g fat, and 30 g carbs. It was also a one-size dessert and on the lower calorie scale. There were cheesecake options in the same sized container of up to 400 calories. I just did not like this. The marshmallow texture was just not right.

Things I liked about Snap Kitchen:

They have more than just square meals–they have Larabars, Pop chips, flavored waters, and store-made snack packs.
Their employees were very friendly, and the inside of the store was pretty.
The salad bar looked fresh and it had a big variety.
The food choices looked like a big variety, especially if you don’t have time to cook and don’t want to eat frozen meals.

Things I didn’t like:

I think $21 for three meals is a lot, but I think it compares with similar concepts in town. It would be very expensive if you’re buying for two or even a family.
I picked up a cookie and it was 130 calories per serving, but the cookie was 3 servings. Yikes!
I didn’t think that the lunch wrap I had for over 400 calories was filling enough for lunch.

Overall, I think it’s a great concept for people who don’t have time to cook, don’t like to cook, or like knowing the calorie count of their meals. But to me, the process of grocery shopping, meal planning, and cooking is fun and enjoyable, and eating every meal from a container takes the fun out of food.

But give it a try and let me know your thoughts!

Filed Under: Houston, Product Reviews · Tagged With: Houston, Product Reviews

Easy Homemade Foods

October 17, 2010 by Marci 5 Comments

Over the weekend, I updated some pages on the blog, including adding more categories and pictures to my Recipes page and changing out some other pictures on the Fun Pictures tab and About Me tab. Head on over to check it out!

I also recreated some favorites and tweaked some recipes too. The recipes below are some of my favorites that I always have ingredients on hand for.

Always make the ice cream and nut ball bites together while the food processor is dirty.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana “Ice Cream”

Ingredients:

2 frozen bananas
1 T peanut butter (I use Peanut Butter & Co. Bee’s Knees)
1/4 C chocolate chips

Instructions:

In food processor, swirl bananas until chalky texture.
In microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate.
Add peanut butter to chocolate and stir.
Add peanut butter chocolate mixture to bananas and swirl until like ice cream.

YUM.

Breakfast for Dinner:

This is half the box serving of Kodiak Cakes pancake mix. 1/2 C pancake mix, 1/2 C water. Then I added sliced peaches to one on the griddle, chocolate chips to one, and peaches and chocolate chips to the third!

For the eggs, I did 1 egg + 2 egg whites cooked like an omelette but with nothing inside.

And the star is maple syrup from Vermont!

For more details from a previous breakfast for dinner, see this recipe.

Homemade Larabars:

This is also a repeat of a great snack. I love this little nut balls when they’re frozen. I keep them in tupperware until they’re gone.

The bowl below has Cherry Nut Balls and Cookie Dough Ball Bites. Click here for recipe.

Easy Tofu with Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Vegetables:

This is a favorite weeknight dinner that lasts two meals. I microwave one sweet potato and roast a big tray of vegetables on 400* for 30 minutes. Then I pan sautee diced tofu and it lasts 2-3 meals.

Click here for easy peasy tofu. These instructions made all the difference in cooking great tofu.

The vegetables (brussels sprouts, broccoli, red peppers, yellow peppers, asparagus) were drizzled with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. I think broccoli tastes best when it’s roasted.

Almond Milk:

I recently bought a carton of almond milk. I don’t like regular milk and read a lot about almond milk, so I wanted to try it. It tasted much sweeter than I expected. I rarely have cereal with milk (usually have it with yogurt) because I don’t like the milk! But when I do have it with milk, I find that I eat way too much cereal because I don’t drink the milk. It happened with this too. I’ll probably use it for baking or smoothies, but not in cereal. It was great in oatmeal! Definitely has a different flavor than regular milk.

It doesn’t seem that it has many nutritional benefits–it has fewer calories and fat, but also far less protein.

Do you drink almond milk? Why did you switch?

Filed Under: Breakfast, Dessert, Dinner, Product Reviews, Recipes, Snacks, Vegetarian · Tagged With: Product Reviews, tofu, vegetables

Three Things Thursday

September 30, 2010 by Marci 2 Comments

1. Scottish Oats, Take 2

I tried Scottish Oats again, but this time I looked to the expert for how to do it. (see here for Tuesday’s attempt.) Instead of the microwave, I used the stove. I still want to experiment with the microwave because it’s faster, but I understand why the stovetop makes it easy too. Both would need two bowls–one for cooking, and one for eating. The stovetop for me is a fine when I have time to cook breakfast, but not for on the go.

Ingredients:

1/3 C Scottish oats, I use Bob’s Red Mill brand
1 1/4 C water (way more than Bob’s Red Mill package says and what I did before)
1/4 C milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 banana, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (can use cinnamon)
1/2 T chia seeds

Instructions:

Bring water to a boil. Whisk in oats, reduce to simmer for 5 minutes. Add other ingredients and cook together for 5 minutes. That’s it!

Here were my thoughts on this: The volume was night and day, and the consistency was more what I am used to. I really liked cooking the banana with the oats, I think it helped make it creamy, and the banana was very soft. You could also mash it and whisk it in. The extra flavors were also great in the mix.

I kept it simple so I could really taste the oats. Now that I understand the basics, I can experiment!

Here’s the microwave version:

2. The weather + running

I frequently complain about the heat and how hard it is for me to have happy jogs when it’s so hot. This week Houston finally cooled down, and the humidity went away. We are sure it won’t last long before it heats up again, but I’m enjoying it while it’s here! I went outside with no goal in mind, but hoping to jog around 3-4 miles. I successfully ran 4 miles very slowly and enjoyed it. It was one of those “this is why I run” runs that I really enjoyed the scenery and felt ok while running. It was hot enough to still wear shorts and a tank top and sweat, but cool enough to enjoy.

I also understand why the Houston Marathon is at the end of January. It takes until October for the weather to get nice. The Dallas Half Marathon is in 9 weeks, and I’m hoping that training will progress smoothly with good temperatures so I can really get prepared for this thing!

3. Grocery Finds:

I am always on the lookout for new things to try. Here are a few I’ve tried lately:

1. Amy’s Spinach Feta Pocket: I had this little burrito looking thing as part of a dinner one night with a side of vegetables. I keep some frozen things on hand when I don’t have anything or don’t want to make something. It’s not very filling on its own, so I still had to find something to go with it. One pocket, sold as singles, has 260 calories, 9 g fat, and 11 g protein. The ingredients are very basic–whole wheat flour, spinach, feta milk, etc. Amy’s is a natural frozen food distributor, so it’s a brand I feel happy about going to if needed. Grade: B

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2. Kashi Cinnamon Harvest: These little bites are great! I love the Kashi brand, and have been looking for a new cereal to try that is low in calories and sugar. Cinnamon Harvest has 3 ingredients–wheat, cane juice, cinnamon. How great is that? And it has 180 calories, 1 g fat, and 6 g protein for 28 biscuits. Watch the carbs though, it’s straight wheat. Anyway, the taste is great–even Jeffrey ate it repeatedly! And it’s a great snack on its own, no milk or yogurt needed. I love these. Win. Grade: A+

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3. Erin Baker Organic Brownie Bites: I am always searching for a great, low calorie/not terribly bad for you cookie. I found these at Whole Foods, and they are individually wrapped 100 calorie brownies. The Double Chocolate Chip ones that I tried have 90 calories, and all organic ingredients. 8 brownies come in a box. They taste like a regular chocolate brownie in a cookie shape. I also find that being individually wrapped makes me less likely to nibble on them in the pantry, which is usually how cookies disappear. I was also not familiar with this company. Erin Baker is a true health foodie in Washington State who wanted to bake using quality ingredients. All of her packaged goods have none of the bad stuff-HFCS, trans fats, hydrogenated oils, etc. I need to try more flavors! Grade: A-

Filed Under: Breakfast, Product Reviews, Recipes, Running · Tagged With: Product Reviews, Running

Yom Kippur in San Antonio

September 21, 2010 by Marci 2 Comments

Project Food Blog:

From now until Wednesday, you can vote for food bloggers to advance in Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog. Miss my first entry? See it here. And click here to vote.

Great iPod Earphones:

I noticed the the earphones I use for my iPod don’t stay in my ears well and I have the volume turned up high. I had been using the ones that come with your iPod, so I went to the Apple store to look for better earphones and came home with these by Scosche. These suckers are “noise isolating” and work great. They truly reduce noise even with no music on (I had to take them out to hear someone who came up to me at the gym), they stay in my ears comfortably, and they don’t hurt my ears. The cord is very long and lightweight, and it has a speaker and clicker which I haven’t played with yet. A keeper!

Weekend in San Antonio:

This past weekend was Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday where we repent for our sins of the past year and pray to be sealed in the Book of Life for the next year with a clean slate. To our grandparents house we went to go to temple and eat together. Yom Kippur also involves fasting for 24ish hours, which I did not do this year. But at the end of the fast, you feast. So here are pictures of our Break the Fast dinner.

Oh, and Lily came too, and she did try to fast. She also wanted to be rewarded with salami, doggie bacon, non-puppy dog food, and other scraps she doesn’t get at home.

My plate was salad with hearts of palm, tomatoes, and avocado, salmon croquettes, a blintz with strawberry jam, and noodle kugel. This is not healthy food blogging, but it’s good Jewish food!

The rest of the buffet had beef tenderloin, potatoes, salami, and plenty of appetizers and desserts too!

Our little longhorn family.

Filed Under: Dinner, Lily, Product Reviews, Travel · Tagged With: Holidays, Lily, Product Reviews

Products to Try and Breakfast for Dinner

September 8, 2010 by Marci 6 Comments

It’s always fun to taste test new things I see. These are a few products that I’ve tried lately.

1. Flat Out Light Original Flatbread: I saw this brand at Publix in Florida, and then found it again back in Houston. It is delicious! They are not really like a tortilla, and not like bread. Their shape is not round, but a mix of oval edges with a long inside. Perfect for wraps. Here is what I like about this bread: It tastes great, soft and fluffy. They are gigantic and really hold a lot. They have 90 calories, 2.5 g fat, and 9 g protein. These are my current bread obsession, and I’ve already had them for breakfast with peanut butter and banana inside, and for lunch as a turkey wrap. Grade: A+

Galaxy Granola: I mentioned one of these flavors before, and I always endorse the Galaxy brand because they use fruit juice instead of oil to bake their granola which lessens the fat. Their newest flavors are Hint of Honey and Vanilla Almond. They are tasty, have good nutritional stats (around 120 calories and <2 g fat per 1/4 C serving), and are great toppers for breakfast or snacks (with yogurt, mixed with other cereals, milk, etc). My favorite flavor is Not Sweet Vanilla, but these are good too. More crispy than oat-y tasting. Just depends what you’re looking for. Grade: B+

Athenos Original Flavor Hummus: I have talked about the Athenos Feta cheese before, but I ate the hummus even before the feta came out. My favorite of the hummus flavors is Original, and not because I’m boring, but because I think it goes great with everything. I have tried other flavors, but enjoy Original best. I am also a hummus connoisseur, and of store brand ones (as opposed to homemade), I like Athenos. It is creamy and thick but not too creamy. You just have to try hummus to see which you prefer. This has 50 calories and 3 g fat per 2 T. It is great on sandwiches (or wraps!), and for dipping vegetables. Grade: A

Breakfast for Dinner:

I love breakfast for dinner. It is one of those simple things that makes me happy. And since I found Kodiak Cakes pancake mix, it has become even tastier. This BfD (breakfast for dinner) made 3 pancakes and a plain egg omelette. Here are the Kodiak stats: 130 calories, 1 g fat, and 7 g protein per 1/3 C. I used 1/2 C, so you can do the math.

Omelette:

1 egg plus 2 egg whites, whisked together. I prefer to let it cook in the pan and then fold and flip rather than making scrambled eggs. Looks prettier to me even if nothing is inside.

Pancakes, serving for 1:

1/2 C Kodiak Cakes mix

1/2 C water

add ins: strawberries, walnuts, chocolate chips

Cook on grill pan or griddle and flip when browned. Add authentic maple syrup from Vermont that sister gave you over a year ago for extra special sweetness.

Eat alongside husband who is picking players for Fantasy Football Draft #1, and puppy who is helping make the picks (or looking for scraps).

Filed Under: Breakfast, Dinner, Product Reviews, Recipes, Uncategorized · Tagged With: Lily, Product Reviews

My Kitchen Favorite Things

Canvassing