Yesterday I was hurdled into an early case of the Januarys.  I was born in January, so typically I thrive in its frigid, unpredictable nonsense.  Last year the death of my Grandfather was just a little bit too much January for me to handle and this year January seems to be stepping it up once again.

Thanks to a little extra time at my disposal, I am going to fight the Januarys with food.  Just this morning I learned my darling husband can cook a perfect over medium fried egg.  He’s an expert at scrambled eggs, but I must say I was rather surprised when I received two completely unbroken yolks.

I always thought the phrase “when life hands you lemons make lemonade” a bit cliche, but for once I just may take a cliche and try to live it.  So if you’re interested, you can follow me along on the journey.  There might be a lot of lemonade, lemon bars, lemon curd, and even lemon chicken.  Please bare with me and I’ll try to mix in a bit of  oranges when I get the chance.

it really was the box that made me want to buy it...I kind of felt like a 5 year old again

I sent Matt a package with a few things to get him through a long stretch at work.  This new box of Kraft Mac and Cheese caught my eye while shopping, so I thought I’d let him try it out.  Honestly I was surprised by what he found.  I’m sure you will be too.  Another reason why it is really important to look at the labels of the things you’re eating.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Well since my wonderful girlfriend decided it would be a good idea to send me a box of food, which by the way it was.  I thought it would be an even trade if I wrote this review of this new Kraft Mac and Cheese “Extreme Cheese Explosion.”  Now I love mac and cheese.  I eat it for lunch all the time, usually the cheaper store brand.  There really isn’t any difference, however there is no store brand equivalent to this new Kraft, holy powdered cheese batman.

Well first of it takes ½ cup of milk, which is double what I normally use.  I guess it makes the cheese creamy.  I put in about 1/2tbsp of butter, which happens to be the perfect amount according to the box and less than the usual 3-4 tbsp that is supposed to be used for a regular box of Kraft Mac and Cheese.  I made the noodles like usual, boiling for 7 ½ minutes. Then when I stirred in the cheese something different happened, it got really creamy and smelled really really good.

the gooey goodness

BUT and I do mean BUT in big capital letters, when I tasted it, was it creamy? Yes.  Was it orange? Yes.  But damn what I wasn’t expecting was it to be so SALTY.  It was like I dumped extra salt on my mound of cheesy goodness.  I must say I was quite disappointed, even with a full glass of green Hawaiian punch, I was incredibly thirsty.  Then I read the box only to find out that this mac and cheese has 1000mg of sodium per serving or 2000mg per box.  That’s what did it in.

Final line:  Kraft did a good job with this product, but with all the salt it’s unbearable with out some sort of drink.  Maybe they are planning on breaking into the beverage world and this is their way of making you buy more, or maybe not.  Either way, pass by the “Extreme Cheese Explosion” and go with the 66 cent generic box.  Your thirst glands will thank you.

Happy Anniversary to me!

Happy Mother's Day to all of my favorite moms!

Don't worry there are plenty for sharing

One year ago today I started this blog.  I was making my mom biscotti when I first started.  Today I made my mom scones.  And I am not winning the best daughter of the year award, even though I should.  Dad said the dog has that award for at least a year or two.  The dog is just so darn cute I really don’t mind losing to her.

Anyway tonight was a terribly busy night.  I made lunch for tomorrow.  And I made the scones.  Oh how I love scones!  I used a basic scone formula.

3 cups of flour
2/3 cup of sugar
5 tsp. baking powder
2 sticks of butter
1 egg
3/4 cup of milk

But because a basic scone is just terribly boring, I added a cup of shredded coconut, a cup of white chocolate chips, and a cup of frozen blueberries.  Be sure to prepare it like I prepared my non-mother’s day scones.  I added the extra stuff before I added the milk and egg.

So faithful readers thanks for sticking by me for this last year.  Don’t worry I won’t be disappearing anytime soon.  And maybe by next year I’ll be able to close that narrow gap and win daughter of the year.  It takes attention to detail all year round.  It’s tough to compete with a ball of fur that licks your face to wake you up.  Oh and there are plenty of scones.  Who’s coming to enjoy a cup of tea and scones with me?

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Flying can be a lovely experience. It can also be a horrid experience. When I fly Southwest Airlines, which is probably 6 or so times a year, I have lovely experiences. I get on, I fall asleep, sometimes I wake up for the free peanuts, and then I walk off singing their praises.

Today my family and I were traveling for vacation. I would tell you where we were going, but my mom’s a psychologist and I’d rather not have any What About Bob moments. Speaking of What About Bob, that has to be one of my favorite movies of all time, and I really hope you go out right now and find it somewhere. Just buy it. It really is a classic.

Anyway we were flying Delta Airlines and I was gearing up for a long day. I packed snacks, because I am not one to go without food. I pack food when I go to certain friends. You know those people who don’t ever offer you food and never eat snacks. They appear to never eat at all. Freaks of nature! I don’t go to the great extent of not being friends with these non-eating people, but I come prepared.

I assumed my purse full of goodies would hold us through the long day. Little did I know Delta Airlines sucked at life. I don’t normally give this kind of review for something that tries so hard to bring me to a fun destination, but seriously Delta should have a -5 star rating.

First we have to walk out onto the tar mat because the plane is the smallest one they could find. I think some kids got larger toy planes for Christmas. We were of course in the last aisle of the plane. The temperature back there was probably 102 degrees. I don’t know why.

This was just our first flight. The snowy scene we arrived at after the 102 degree ride made me thankful for all things frosty. I kind of wanted to bask in the coldness. It was ridiculous.

We had a little bit of a layover before our next flight, so we went to find something to eat. Many of the snacks had already been consumed. Quiznos was a surprisingly pleasant option at the airport. I honestly have never tried Quiznos. I have of course seen their “mmm mmm mmm mmm toasty” commercials. Mara and I split a large Italian, which I did not let them toast. Anyone who likes Italian hoagies toasted needs to get their head examined. Those meats just taste so much better cold.

The little bit of the layover came and went and we weren’t boarding the plane. Supposedly there was a crew member who we were waiting on. Don’t they have to show up on time for the plane to take off??? Yeah I know I thought they did too. Turns out that they don’t. We were delayed an hour, because the flight attendant was called in and had to drive 2 and a 1/2 hours to get to the airport. I may be going out on a limb here, but shouldn’t a large company like Delta Airlines have a better system to get their employees on time for flights. No, because Delta Airlines sucks!

Southwest Airlines has flight attendants that sing to you while getting you to your destination on time or early. My family started calling me a Southwest commercial after about the 15th time of me saying that on Southwest Airlines would have never had this problem. When we finally got on the airplane, we were all of the way in the back of an equally tiny plane. Within about 15 minutes our seat area was 102 degrees again. The flight attendant, who had been late, was pleasant, which was a plus; but definitely did not get Delta out of the doghouse with me.

We did make it safely to our destination. We found some dinner, and now I’m relaxing with my dad and sister watching Mythbusters. It’s not 102 degrees and I am not crammed in a tiny plane. Life is good. Matt called me to find out about the trip. I told him about the flight situation, and he says “That’s why you fly Southwest.” If there was any question, this is why I’m in love with this man.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

45% of Americans make new years resolutions according to the Today Show this morning. That’s a lot of people sitting around today staring at those 5 lbs of fudge rolling over their pants. I’m really not one for resolutions. I mean if you want something to change in the New Year then change it. Going around with a list of things to do differently sort of defeats the purpose of a new year. The old is behind. Those 5 lbs were gained. If you want rid of them, get rid of them; but don’t go around talking about how you’re going to stop eating this and start doing that. Such plans hardly get carried out.

Last night my family and I rang in the New Year with our neighbors. We have had this tradition since I can remember. Normally we play games or just sit around and talk. There is always plenty of food involved and it’s all around an amazingly good time. Anyway I said that to bring up this epiphany that our neighbor had, Pennsylvania is the snack capitol of the world. Now I can not say if this is true, but I did like the sound of it.

When my mom’s uncle was living in Florida and California, his mom (my Nana) would send him pretzels, because he couldn’t get PA pretzels when he was living across the country. Since then Herrs, Utz, and other PA distributors have branched out. Unfortunately the really good pretzels and chips are still only found in PA.

Everyone does kettle-cooked potato chips now, but I remember as a little girl thinking that some people had potato chips that tasted a lot better than the ones my mom bought. Kettle cooked wasn’t quite as popular then and my replace-ground-beef-with-ground-turkey mother was not into buying the greasier Utz kettle cooked chips. Boy were they tasty though. They are still the best kettle cooked chips I have ever tasted.

How did my home state and its surrounding area come to be the go-to spot for snack food? That’s kind of like asking how New England came to be filled with textile mills. We just knew what was up in PA. Pretzels and potato chips kind of make the world go round.

For all of you who are still staring at those 5 pound rolling over your pants, I am sure snack food is the first thing you will cut out of your diet. I am warning you, that would be a grave error on your part. Sometimes you just have to have some Utz kettle cooked potato chips. Moderation. Eat a hand full, think wow that was tasty, and then move on. My problem (well I have don’t often have those 5 pounds of rolls, but that’s another story) is that I want some chips and then I eat some pretzels and some ice cream and I keep eating until I realize that really all I wanted was a few chips.

I really hope not a one of you are making a New Years Resolution. Too many people spend their lives making plans and deciding what they are going to do and how they can make their lives better and they never get around to actually doing anything. It is time to actually do something. Finding some potato chips from PA would be a reasonable start.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

I was pleasantly surprised while opening a pack of Blast-o-butter popcorn that only 5 cups of the popcorn equals a full serving of whole grain. Ok pleasantly surprised might have been a strange word to use. I was kind of appalled. If anyone consuming popcorn that has enough fake butter in it to make the bottom of the bowl pool with yellow grease, thinks that said popcorn is at all healthy they should probably just stop eating right now.

I am not going to lie I tried to eat a whole bag of the popcorn so I could say I had a whole serving of whole grains, that and I was hungry. I am a little bit surprised though that it takes 5 cups of popcorn. Corn is a grain. You’re supposed to get 48 grams of whole grains a day, according to the USDA Dietary Guidelines. That’s about 3 ounces. I have no idea how the makers of Blast-o-butter popcorn got 5 cups out of 3 ounces. I guess they just tried jump on the whole grain bandwagon in an awkward way. Eating a bowl of cereal for a complete serving of whole grains is totally doable. A whole bag of buttery popcorn is going to give you a heart attack by the time you’re 30.

Looking back on this decade in food, there have definitely been many crazy fads. Now everyone wants whole grains. Bread went from wheat to whole grain to 7 grain to enough-grain-that-there-is-no-bread. It’s hard to forget the no carb craze. I think my mom lasted a week, but everything around that time was low-carb or no-carb. Of course low fat is always a good old stand by. I love when those disgusting sparkling waters say no fat, no calories. They just sort of ignore the copious amounts of fake sugar that will make you hungry within a few minutes.

I think the best food craze of all was the organic craze. A lot of people fell for the idea that mass produced organic food is any better than mass produced regular food. Buying from a farm is good. If the farm smells like poo, then it is probably a good farm. Whole Foods doesn’t smell like poo, but your wallet will be empty by the time you leave.

I am hoping that the next decades aims at real food. I would love to see “Real Food” labels everywhere I go. I would love even more if there was “fake food” labels on food as well. Honestly I don’t trust labels, so food manufacturers should start making light of the fact that food labeling has become a sort of comical thing, and in the new decade use their labeling to inform me that what I am eating is real or fake.

Tonight at 12 and 1 second it will be 2010. I can’t wait. As I get older, the year seems to fly by faster and faster. I can’t wait to see what kind of year 2010 brings. It’s bound to be tasty.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

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Happy Eating!

Emily

I have begun to say goodbye to 2009. It was a fairly good year. Any year that involves a puppy, a wonderful boyfriend, sharing my food life with the world, and lots of chocolate can not be a bad year at all.

I think one of the most important lessons of 2009 was how smart my mom really was. The dinners that she made us every night were edible, normally tasty, and mostly wholesome. She knew what she was doing. One of my favorite of these meals is stuffed peppers. My mom made stuffed peppers and stuffed cabbage on a fairly regular basis when we were little. It was an easy meal, tasty, and could be adjusted to each of her picky eaters.

Stuffed Peppers:
1lb of ground turkey (if you are anti-ground turkey (Matthew), you can use ground beef)
1 cup of rice, cooked
3 Green Bell Peppers, cut in half (If you aren’t a pepper fan stuffed cabbage is the same basic concept only you stuff the mixture in a cabbage leaf.)
Salt
Pepper
Adobo
32 oz. can of tomato sauce

Mixed the ground turkey, rice; add some salt, pepper, and adobo. Cut the peppers in half the long way. Stuff the peppers with the meat mixture. Place the peppers in a 13×9 inch pan. Pour the tomato sauce over the peppers. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour. If you are worried about doneness, cut it in half. You pour the extra tomato sauce over pepper so no one will know.

If you have a few brats on your hands, like my brother and I were as children, you can take the meat out of the pepper once it’s all cooked. You can also not pour the extra sauce on top. Mom says the pepper flavor is still there, but I still don’t eat the pepper. This meal is great because it is cooked exactly the same, but can presented a few different ways. Makes the pickiest eater think they are being treated special and in reality they aren’t. My mom was not into actually making different meals, but she was all for tricking us into eating the food she made.

I hope you are enjoying your end of the year festivities. For all who care, I am still waiting on one of my grades because my professor is a nut job; but everyone else gave me an A. That would bring my GPA to a 3.972. GROSS!!! Oh well I’ll get over it. If the nut job gives me a B I’ll probably have a post full of tears; lets hope it just doesn’t happen.

Enjoy the pictures and my continued look back on 2009 and this crazy decade that took me from PA to JWU to Oregon to Maine to Boston. Hope you are overindulging till the New Year!

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

I was told that today was national chocolate day, so like any good chocolate lover I wished everyone a happy chocolate day and then I searched it out. It appears October 28th was National Chocolate Day too. I am a tad bit confused, but I am all for celebrating chocolate whenever I can.

I am in a desperate need of chocolate today, because I am anxiously awaiting final grades. I work myself to tears during the semester for that illusive A. Anyone who tells you that it’s not about the grades is probably getting B’s and C’s. I am neurotic about my grades. Right now my GPA is at a 3.962; that grade actually frustrates me to no end. One A- and I’m not at a beautiful 4.0. All I have to say is if I get a B, I will be devastated and by devastated I mean I will cry myself to sleep for the rest of break. Yes chocolate day could not have come at a better time.

I know the picture has nothing to do with chocolate day or food, but a pit bull and a cat happily chilling on my sister’s leopard sheets is a rather unusual occurrence. Luckily this is an every day event at our crazy house. And you wonder why I need chocolate?

Happy Eating!!!

Emily