Krave the Krunch Grainless Granola

I just realized that I had this post languishing in Drafts. For some reason I wrote it a couple months ago and then forgot to post it! Anyway...

I found this grainless granola when I went to the natural foods store on my way home from volunteering in my old hometown. I'm always looking to try something new and grainless granola seemed like a good idea. I won't lie--this was not cheap by any means.  I cost $8.29; however, there was no tag on the shelf or the bag, so I had no idea until the cashier rang it up. I wasn't thrilled, but I wanted to try it because chocolate!!

So, what's in it? According to the Just Real Foods website:  Walnut, Shredded Coconut, Dark Chocolate (Cacao Powder, Cocoa Butter, Wildflower Honey), Wildflower Honey, Almond, Pecan, Maple Syrup, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Coconut Oil, Golden Flaxseed, Cinnamon – Grain-Free/Grainless – Certified Paleo – Non-GMO Project Verified – Kosher Pareve – Certified Gluten Free – NO Processed/Refined Sugars.  So, basically it's granola made out of walnuts instead of rolled oats.

And how does it taste?  I thought it was good. It had a nice chocolate and coconut flavor; however, it had too much walnut flavor for my taste. It wasn't overwhelming, but I definitely knew it was made of walnuts. I'm not a fan of walnuts in general, so a product whose main ingredient is walnuts doesn't make for a great treat for me. If you like walnuts, though, you may like this product.

As I said, I like trying new foods, especially when it's low in carbs, sugar and calories. I usually don't eat granola, because it has a lot of sugar and I just don't want to spend that many calories on such a small, non-filling snack. This granola has only 116 calories, 6 grams of carbs (!!) and 4 grams of sugar. That's pretty good for something called "granola."

Would I buy this again? No. It was good, but it has too much walnut flavor for me. Plus, it was $8.29 and that's a bit expensive.

peanut butter bites

I made some peanut butter bites this week. Recipe was courtesy of my trainer. I believe he got it from vshred.com.

I changed the recipe a little bit, but only because I thought coconut would be a good addition. Also, I didn't have unsalted natural peanut butter. I bought some previously, but it was incredibly difficult to stir so I ditched it.

This recipe is based on the one he sent to me, which I doubled. This makes 24 peanut butter bites. If you want only 12 bites, just cut this in half.

My calorie count came out to about 150 calories each, which I feel it quite high; however, they're very satisfying and fairly filling. These are great to have when you have a junk food craving and they keep very well in the fridge. Protein is 4 grams and sugar is 6 grams per bite.

4 TB honey
1 1/3 cup unsalted peanut butter (I used regular creamy peanut butter)
2 cups rolled oats (not instant or steel-cut oats)
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup coconut
1 cup ground flax seeds (flax meal)

Combine all the ingredients and then put in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes. This makes it easier to roll them.

Roll them into 24 bites and then store in the fridge or freeze.

homemade blackberry jalapeno jelly

Alright, I've depleted my supply of homegrown jalapenos, so here's my last batch of jalapeno jelly for the season (unless I decide to go buy some jalapenos, which I may do!).

This time we have blackberry jalapeno. I LOVE blackberry jam and figured this would be a good combo, and it is! Lucky for me I found blackberries at three 6 ounce containers for $10.00, which is a good price. Usually they're about $5.00 per container and I refuse to spend that much on something that may or may not turn out good. I've learned the hard way that I should wait for a sale when making certain recipes for the first time. There's nothing worse than spending a bunch of money only to have the dish turn out bad.

I used this recipe:  Blackberry Jalapeno Jelly. What I like about this recipe, even though it is slightly more work, is that it produces a seedless jelly. I love blackberry jam/jelly, but I hate the seeds. They're just annoying, and I don't like being annoyed while I'm trying to enjoy my food. I was able to put the berries in the food processor, which saves a ton of time and effort, and then mash them through my fine-mesh sieve. It wasn't difficult or time-consuming like I thought it might be. Note:  Make sure your food processor is big enough to handle all the berries at once. If not, break them into batches. When you puree the berries they tend to go up the sides of the food processor bowl and can ooze out between the lid and the bowl...onto your white counter top. Deep purple oozing out on to a white surface that stains very easily is not good. Thank the universe for the Magic Eraser! (Come to think of it, a blender would have been easier and less mess I think.)  I increased the jalapenos on this since the ones I had left were small and not as mature as the ones in my previous batches of jelly. It worked out just fine. As with the other jellies, the heat mellowed out overnight and the result was a pleasant, but present, heat. Also, this jelled firmer than my other jellies. It was likely a combo of this recipe calling for two packages of pectin instead of one, and boiling the jelly after the pectin is added for three to four minutes, rather than just one minute.

Marty was back to work, after an extended visit at the vet, and supervised this batch. (I can't tell if he approves or not?) Whenever I'm cooking, this is his spot.

Here's the finished product. I brightened up the picture a bit so the peppers are easier to see; blacberry jelly is pretty dark.  Although the recipe says it makes eight jars, I only got six full jars and one half-full jar, even though I used more blackberries than what the recipe says to use. Not sure what happened there. Maybe I didn't mash the pulp enough to get more juice out? No matter, it's still a lot of jelly that will take me awhile to use.

Since I have a very old house that has limited storage, and I have a lot of crap stuff as it is, I've been storing my jellies on one of the shelves of the hutch. It works for now. 

I'm thinking I'm done with jelly for the moment, although if the mood strikes I still have some pectin left. I have a lot of herbs in my garden, so I'm thinking I may try my hand at making herb jelly. I'm guessing I would use for glazing chicken on the grill or mixing it with goat cheese to make a spread, since rosemary (or sage or thyme) jelly on toast doesn't sound all that appetizing. Although I'm sure someone out there would enjoy that.

homemade jalapeno jelly

Yup, more jelly! I told you I had a lot of jalapenos to use up. And I'm finding I like this whole canning thing.  Once I figured out the timing of when I should start the empty jars to heating, when to start the jelly on the stove, etc., it got easier and not such a big project. I also decided to chop all the peppers ahead of time using my food processor, which made it flow a lot better. Plus, I'm quite happy that I've had only one jar fail to seal out of four batches of jelly. That's way better than when I first tried making jelly many years ago. That...didn't go very well.

For this recipe I used the Jalapeno Jelly recipe I found on Kraft's website.  Kraft makes CERTO, which is the liquid pectin I use to make the jelly gel, so it seemed like this would be the easiest and most fool-proof. There are SO many recipes out there for jalapeno or hot pepper jelly, and even when you Google "jalapeno jelly with liquid pectin," you get a ton of recipes that call for powdered pectin, which I didn't have on hand. Powdered pectin can be used, but there's a different order in which you assemble and cook the jelly. Since I'm new at this, I wasn't comfortable trying to adapt a recipe for liquid pectin.

As you can see, it looks pretty good even though Marty wasn't there to supervise this batch. (He loves to sit in the pass-through from the dining room to the kitchen and watch me cook.) I'm happy to say it jelled up firmly and isn't runny. It has a pleasant heat and isn't very spicy at all. I'm finding that the jelly has a lot of heat at first, but as it sits overnight it tends to mellow out. Because of this, my plan next time is to leave more of the jalapeno seeds intact--that's what holds most of the heat.

So, what will I use this for? I already gave away several to friends and family. The remaining jars will likely be used for making a goat cheese panini with jalapeno jelly. Messy, but delicious! I could also mix it with cream cheese to make a dip or spread. 

Next on this list is blackberry jalapeno, as I have several more jalapenos on my plant to use up before the end of the season. I LOVE blackberry jam, so I'm thinking this will be a good combination. Although blackberries are expensive, so I will wait until I see them on sale. 

homemade strawberry jalapeno jelly

OK, I'm officially on a jelly-making kick!  I just made strawberry jalapeno jelly and it's so yummy!  Marty supervised again, but I didn't get a picture of him this time.

The recipe I made was actually for strawberry habanero jelly, but I had jalapenos on-hand and needed to use them, so I just used more jalapenos. I couldn't figure out how many jalapenos would be required to replace three habaneros, and Google failed me this time on that front, so I just guessed. I used five and left most of the seeds in, which is where a lot of the heat comes from. It worked out just fine:  after leaving one jar of jelly in the fridge for 24 hours (jar didn't seal properly), the heat had mellowed out and the result was a sweet, very mild heat. When I first tried the jelly it was quite hot from the peppers, so letting it sit for a bit helped tone it down quite a bit.  Actually, I'd consider adding more jalapenos next time, or just leaving in all the seeds.

I'm not sure if it's because the jar didn't seal properly, or if I didn't boil the jelly long enough after adding the pectin, but it didn't set firmly like jelly normally does. It came out more like jam, which is fine because I actually prefer jam.  It just makes it more difficult to eat on a hot bagel or piece of toast.

As you can see, all the strawberries and peppers floated to the top. That happens with homemade jelly. Since you're not supposed to disturb the jelly once you take it out of the canning pot, you really can't shake it up while it's hot; you run the risk that the jar won't seal properly. That's OK. All I need to do is stir it up once it's opened at some point in the future.

This is the recipe I used:  Strawberry Habanero Jelly.  I used two 16 oz. containers of fresh strawberries to make this, along with five jalapenos. This made eight, 8 oz. jars.

Next I'm making hot pepper jelly. Then it's crab apple jelly using the crab apples from my own trees--I have six of them!

homemade pineapple jalapeno jelly

So, what to do with all the jalapenos that are growing in my garden? And how about all those canning jars I have? Make pineapple jalapeno jelly, of course!

The first and last time I canned anything was probably about 20 years ago. I had a cookbook for jams and jellies that I'd bought thinking, "I'm going to make delicious jams and jellies! I'm going to can them all! I'm going to sell them at farmer's markets!"  That's usually how my thought process goes with anything new and crafty I try...just like my mom. And, as usual, I lose interest quickly, either because I'm not as good at whatever "it" is, or it doesn't produce results quick enough, or any other excuse I can think of. I differ from my mother in that way; she'd follow through.  It might not always be a success, but she stuck with it to the end and then moved onto something new.

Armed with my new jam and jelly cookbook, I made the strawberry jam recipe a couple times and decided I wanted to can it, since there's only so much strawberry jam you can use at one time. It...didn't go very well. I must not have stirred it enough, or maybe the burner was too hot,because every time I ended up with a browned mess on the bottom of the pot. The jam itself was good, though. (I made it at my parents' house one time years ago, and my mother kept telling me I "burned" her pot. I disagree...)  The jars never sealed even though I followed the canning directions. Although I'll admit that I'm not good at reading through directions or a recipe BEFORE I start, which sometimes leaves me very surprised that I was supposed to X before doing Y, or I need to do something with a certain ingredient before using it, and that's why the recipe or whatever I'm doing doesn't go quite according to plan. A long way to say, it was probably me and not the recipe or the directions for canning, or an equipment failure. Pilot error...

On to the garden.

I have two raised bed gardens since I can't be bothered, at least right now, with digging a garden. Also, I'm a reformed plant killer and two 4x8 raised beds makes gardening easy and there isn't too much space in which to kill things. I have one bed for tomatoes and green beans (OMG the beans are producing big time right now!) and one for all my herbs; some are perennial, like sage and thyme, and others are annual, like basil.  I also planted one lonely green pepper plant; I got a whole two peppers off of it so far!  Anyway, I normally plant jalapenos, but I ran out of room in the garden. I planted one plant in a large pot this year, and it's really taken off. I'm glad I planted only one, because I have a TON of jalapenos!

I made jalapeno poppers last year, and those were pretty good, but I wanted to do something different this year. I decided to try my hand at jelly-making! I have plenty of jelly jars I've never used. although I do use them for homemade seasoning mixes sometimes. But what kind of jelly should I make? Something with jalapenos obviously. I thought about what combo I like most when eating something hot and spicy and the answer was easy:  pineapple and jalapeno. I'm always buying pineapple salsa (probably next on my list to make since, as you can see, the tomatoes are starting to ripen), so it made sense to make pineapple jalapeno jelly.

As usual, there are tons of recipes for the same thing. This is the recipe I settled on:  Jalapeno Pineapple Jelly.  It's just pineapple, jalapenos, red pepper, white vinegar, a little salt, liquid pectin, and a TON of sugar, which explains the sugar content in just a small amount of jelly. (Large amounts of jam/jelly on a bagel is something I really miss after gastric bypass; I can eat it, but definitely not as much as I used to.) It made six 8 oz. jars.

The process was easy enough, but, man, was the kitchen HOT! Not only because I had to stand in front of the pot and stir constantly for 10 minutes once it got boiling, but because of the pepper fumes.  I made the mistake of leaning over the pot to enjoy the scent of peppers--bad idea! Don't do that! I also had to prepare the jars for canning. That was a little tedious, but only because I have a small kitchen and haven't done it in many years.

As you can see, Marty supervised the whole process and kept me on track. He was there from start to finish.

No special canning equipment needed other than the jar lifter (special tongs). You also need a wide-mouth funnel to make the process of putting the screaming hot jelly into the jars, but it's not a requirement; it just makes it much less messy. I used my huge stock pot and the rack from my Instant Pot as the insert to do the canning part.

Batch #1

The finished product is delicious! It gelled up just the way it should. It has some heat, but it's a pleasant amount of heat. It looks pretty, too. It's a golden yellow color with red and green specks of pepper (I chopped them in my mini food processor) with some little bits of pineapple. I really want to dive into the jar, but the sugar content works out to 21g for one ounce (and 84 calories)! One ounce of jelly is a lot, though--a more realistic serving size is probably half that. I just used ounces since it was easier for entering the recipe into My Fitness Pal.

Isn't it gorgeous?! Liquid gold!

Overall, the first run through was a bit tiring, but I did it again last night and it went much easier this time. I prepared all the peppers first, then prepared the canning jars and pot for canning, then did the cooking. It was still a very hot process, and the whole house smelled like peppers and vinegar (sorry, dear!), but I found it easier this time. This time I used my big food processor for the chopping and it came out chunkier. I like chunky, so I'll probably stick with using the big one. I found that the mini food processor kind of pulverized the peppers and pineapple. That's fine, though, if you like a smoother product.

Batch #2
The jars are still hot and steamed up. Plus my phone camera sucks sometimes.

Some of the jelly is going to a family member and the rest is staying with ME!! (It's shelf stable for about 18 months.) I'm thinking I'll need to mix some of this with cream cheese to make a dip, or spread for bagels or crackers. Crackers are probably a better bet since bagels are my kryptonite...

Next on the list:  strawberry jalapeno jelly, hot pepper jam (or jelly), and crab apple jelly (I have crab apple trees in my yard).

taste test: Swell Ice Cream

I've tried some of the other high protein, low sugar ice creams, like Halo Top and Enlightened, and wasn't all that impressed. I posted about it last year. 

Recently I found out about Swell. It used to be ProYo, but it has been rebranded to Swell.

I tried three flavors:  Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Mint Chip, and Dark Chocolate Toffee. No, I didn't need to buy three pints of ice cream, but someone had to.

Each ice cream averages about 120 calories per half cup serving, 1-2 grams of fat, 9 grams of sugar, 10 grams of protein, and about 19-20 grams of carbs. They also contain sugar alcohols. If anyone is sensitive to that, make sure you take a test bite or two before diving in. Xylitol and cane sugar look to be the sweeteners of choice. 

Here are my thoughts about each flavor.

Mint Chip:  This was my favorite, probably because mint chocolate chip was my favorite flavor for most of my life. Again, good texture and taste. Very minty and there were a good amount of mini chocolate chips that were REAL. 

Dark Chocolate Toffee: I liked this one and would buy it again. It actually tastes like chocolate. There are small bits of toffee, but they're fairly few and far between. I'd like to see more, but I guess if more were added, the calories and sugar content wouldn't be quite as low. Update:  I was enjoying some of this right from the container while writing this and I found a BIG chunk of crunchy, gooey toffee towards the bottom. YUM! It was the only one that wasn't tiny.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip:  I liked this one, too, and would buy it again. I liked the bits of peanut butter. They're very small, but I can actually see them rather than just taste a hint of peanut butter like some of the other brands. Texture is good, too.

Just like the other ice creams I tasted previously, this melts quickly, but I don't care since I'm eating it from a dish and not a cone.  But if you're craving a cone, eat that thing fast. Be warned!

I mentioned sugar alcohols earlier. For some reason, this ice cream doesn't bother me the way the other brands did. I found I was able to eat the serving size and I felt OK.

Just like all the other high protein ice creams--actually most premium ice creams, now that I think about it--it's not cheap. Normal price in my store is $4.99 per pint; however, it happened to be on sale when I bought it so I got it for $3.50. And since this will last me quite awhile, I don't think that's a bad price. I'm no longer sitting down to eat a whole pint at once like I did pre-surgery. (Gotta admit, I really miss that sometimes. I don't miss the 130+ extra pounds on me, though.) One thing I want to mention in regards to keeping it in the freezer for awhile:  I feel like this type of ice cream forms freezer burn faster than regular ice cream, so you might want to lay a piece of plastic wrap over the ice cream (so it's touching the ice cream) after you scoop in order to block the air, and then put the lid on.

Something I like about this ice cream, other than the truer flavor and better texture, is the fact that most if not all of the ingredients are recognizable. For example, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip contains:  skim milk, whey protein concentrate, xylitol, cane sugar, inulin (not sure what this is), semi-sweet chocolate (sugar, unsweetened chocolate, butter), peanut butter (roasted peanuts, sugar, peanut oil, salt), natural flavors, and salt.

As a whole, I enjoy this product more than Halo Top and Enlightened. It just more like real ice cream to me. I mean, sure, it's not Ben & Jerry's or Haagen-Dazs, but it's good for what it is. I mentioned this previously when I posted about Halo and Enlightened, but it bears repeating:  this is not Ben & Jerry's. The reason I'm mentioning it again is because there's always that one person who will say, "This doesn't taste like Ben & Jerry's. :( "  No shit, Sherlock! That's because it's not. It's high protein ice cream with a lower fat content, somewhat different ingredients, and a lot less calories.

Anyway, I'll be sure to post if I try any other flavors.

Protes Protein Chips: Zesty Nacho

I wanted to like these. I really did. But I don't.

I like trying new protein foods and most of the time I like what I buy, but sometimes I get a dud and it makes me really regret that I spent $x.xx. That's what happened this time.

I've long loved Doritos and I was hoping maybe these would be a good substitute. Yes, I totally realize they're protein chips and they won't taste just like a Dorito-- that's the reality of most protein products--but at it's at least somewhat likely they'll be a little cheesy tasting (no pun intended).

I can only describe these as vaguely spicy cardboard. I've never eaten cardboard, but I can imagine that if I did and I added some spicy seasoning to it, it would taste like these chips. It seems like the manufacturer watered down cardboard, rolled it out flat, cut it into triangle, added some nondescript seasoning and them left them out to dry.  My guess is it has something to do with the type of protein they use, which is pea protein; I'm not a fan of peas.

The stats are decent:  120 calories, 4g fat, 7g carbs, and 15g protein.

Final answer:  I love the crunch and the thickness, but that's about all I can say. I wouldn't buy these again.

homemade goodies, family and lots of snow

Emily enjoying the Christmas tree. Or plotting. Not sure which.

(I give up on trying to format this post to get things in the right spot. It is what it is. LOL)

I've been so bad about blogging lately. Something I said I'd do in the new year is to get better at posting more often. I guess it's better late than never!  The last couple weeks have been pretty busy, both at work and home. Mainly because of the holidays. Lots of cleaning, shopping, preparing, etc., as well as a new project at work, time off among team members and so on.

Last weekend we had our annual family Christmas get-together.  It was a bit smaller this year without my father and brother, plus some people couldn't make it, but it was a good time as usual. We had so much food left over! We had ham, lasagna, crock pot bourbon meatballs, potatoes, pasta salad, carrots, etc. We really didn't need that much food, but that's how it always plays out at the holidays, right?

The family room tree. 

Here are a few things I made last weekend for the get-together (sorry, forgot to take pictures):

• Homemade onion dip:  I've made this before and I love it. People still tend to favor the salty store-bought dip, but that's OK. 
• Shortbread:  I made this for the first time and it was so delicious! Crispy, light and so, so buttery.
• Rum Balls:  Another first for me. The recipe was super easy and made a lot, so this was a win for me. BUT....they are very potent. The recipe uses a combination of rum and bourbon, along with vanilla wafers, honey and pecans. They're supposed to mellow out in the fridge, but they really didn't mellow all that much over the course of a week. Very yummy, though.
• Chocolate Pie:  I've made this several times and it's always a winner. Very, very rich and chocolaty. And my pie crust came out perfect:  very crispy and flaky. Instead of hand-mixing the ingredients I used the food processor. It's so much easier and I think it comes out better since there's really no risk of overworking the dough.

Above is the family room Christmas tree. This is where we put the bigger tree since it's a bigger room. I also reserve this tree for all the modern lights and ornaments. Below is the living room tree. This is always the smaller one, and this is where we use the old-fashioned C9 lights, as well as the ornaments that have a more traditional look. We always get two because we use the family room the most, but we like having a tree that can be seen from the street. Since we normally go cut them down, the cost isn't much at all. This year, however, we had to buy from a lot since the timing just didn't work out right. As you can see, they look nearly perfect. I prefer a tree that looks more natural--fat with uneven limbs--but they're still really nice. This year I skipped using tree skirts. Mainly because I get tired of constantly fixing them--the cats love to lay on them or play under the tree, so they tend to make a mess of the them.

Living room tree. 

We had a white Christmas this year, which was really nice. There wasn't all that much snow, but it was just the right amount. Last weekend, however, we got about a foot and it was officially a blizzard. Oh, and the temperatures were BELOW ZERO! We had the wood stove and fireplace going the whole time since our house is old and drafty. We burned a ton of wood! (And today? The snow is all gone because it was 60 F and pouring rain all day yesterday, and now the yard is flooded.)

And now that it's all over, it's time to clean the leftovers out of the fridge. I really don't think I could look at another piece of ham. let alone eat one. Lasagna went into the freezer, along with the leftover kielbasa. The rest of it is getting tossed; there are only so many leftover potatoes two people can eat. Actually one person, because I haven't had any of them.

All the decorations are down; however, I can't claim they've been put away in the attic. They're sitting either in the hutch, ready to be brought upstairs, or they're upstairs and waiting to be put into boxes. I really want to go through all the boxes and toss whatever is broken or doesn't work, and maybe donate anything I don't want anymore. I know, I say that every single year and I've done it maybe once. Maybe this is the year?

I'll be posting an update about my back pain very soon. It's an ongoing battle, but I think there could be light at the end of the tunnel finally.

cinnamon baked oatmeal

So, I made this while I was on vacation a couple weeks ago:  Cinnamon Sugar Baked Oatmeal. Just click on the name to go to the recipe.

This oatmeal was so yummy and the recipe was so easy! What I liked about it was that it came out more like an oatmeal bar. I'm thinking I could add raisins and pass them off as actual oatmeal bars. Yup, I think I need to try that!

I also liked that it calls for only one banana, as opposed to the three bananas in this recipe I made awhile back for peanut butter brownie oatmeal.  There are times when I forget I'm saving the bananas for a reason and then I end up eating them. So, I'm left with one overripe banana. What does one do with just one overripe, mushy banana? Make this recipe, of course. :)

If sugar is an issue for you, just omit the cinnamon sugar topping. Or you could use an artificial sweetener that scoops like sugar. I kept the real sugar, but was careful to test the waters before eating a bigger piece. The oatmeal itself has only one banana and 1/4 cup of brown sugar, so it has a bit less sugar that the peanut butter brownie oatmeal recipe, which uses three bananas. You could even sub in a different milk, like nut milk that's unsweetened, for even less sugar. I used whole milk this time around, but next time I might use my Fairlife milk, which is half the sugar of regular milk.

So, what baked oatmeal recipe should I make next? I'm thinking something with blueberries, since I have a bunch of fresh blueberries in the freezer. I've also got some unsweetened coconut in the fridge. I have cocoa powder galore. Maybe another batch using the cocoa and coconut. I'm sure if I scour the cabinets and freezer enough I'll find lots more that I can whip into a batch of baked oatmeal!

my first batch of homemade salsa

Now that summer is pretty much over, I find myself with lots of tomatoes and jalapenos, which I grew myself thank you very much! There's a certain amount of pride in the fact that I grew these edible items in my own backyard.

My regular tomatoes are finally ripening (I'm STILL waiting on the Romas....), which means I need to find a use for them fast. I'm not a fan of the seeds and goop that's inside a tomato, so eating them in a salad or on a sandwich is out of the question. Plus I generally don't eat salads and sandwiches anymore. I figured my options are: tomato sauce, salsa, roasted tomatoes, on pizza, or chopped up for tacos. I decided on salsa since I needed to use the jalapenos, too. I Goggled for a recipe and found one easily.

Making the salsa was incredibly easy. Probably because I picked a "fresh" recipe (no-cook) and used my food processor. I was done in like 10 minutes, which includes peeling and chopping the veggies.

As you can see, it's a little chunky, but not much. And it's more on the thin side. It tastes great; however, I was skeptical at first. It definitely doesn't taste like your standard store-bought salsa, which is cooked and contains vinegar and/or sugar. I was tempted to fiddle around and add more of this or that, but I resisted. It tasted like there was too much onion and it didn't seem to have any heat even though I used two jalapenos (minus the seeds). I waited a couple hours and the heat started growing. Then the next day I tasted again and it was perfect. The heat had mellowed and it tasted less like onions. (I was later told that fresh salsa takes at least a day or more for the flavors to meld and develop; they were right!)

The verdict for my first time making salsa? It tastes great, it was super easy, and I used up some tomatoes. I'd make it again.

Here's the recipe.

Fresh Salsa

6 garden tomatoes, cut into quarters
2 jalapeños, seeded and roughly chopped
1/2 large yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Toss it all in the food processor and pulse until it's at a consistency you like. Taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary.

Note: The flavors of the salsa will change the longer it sits in the fridge. If you don't need it right away, you might want to wait until the following day to make adjustments.

chocolate almond protein balls

For the last couple years I've been buying protein powder, only to let it go to waste . I keep buying it because I get into a funk about my diet--I get tired of eating X food, grocery shopping, trying to decide what to eat, etc., or I start overeating just about everything--and then decide I'm going to go back to something similar to my pre-op diet: two protein shakes per day, plus a meal. So, I spend some money on protein powder, make one or two shakes, quickly realize that they don't fill me or satisfy me the way they used, and then stop making shakes. Then the protein powder sits in the cabinet forever, until such time I toss it or either give it away or resell it. Then I start the cycle all over again. And now that I'm 3.5 years our from gastric bypass surgery, I really don't need protein shakes anymore anyway; I typically get all my protein from food with little effort.

I finally decided that I'm going to put the protein powder, as well as some ingredients haunting my cabinets, to use by making protein balls.

They're super simple to make and you don't have to bake them, either. You can use pretty much any kind of protein powder, nut butter, and mix-ins you want. Just keep the same measurements I stated below. I used chocolate protein powder, almond butter, and rolled oats to make these.  If you like a strong, more traditional almond flavor, you could add a little almond extract. Otherwise it will taste more like almond butter. I also added some cinnamon.



Chocolate Almond Protein Balls

Make 12 protein balls

1 cup rolled oats (not instant oats)

1 scoop chocolate protein powder (my scoop is 80 cc)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

4 TB almond butter (or another nut butter--up to you!)

4 TB milk (more or less, as needed)

1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)

 

1. Put the rolled oats, protein powder and cinnamon in a bowl.
2. Add the almond butter and mix it up. (You could use your hands, which will mix it better, but you might want to spray your hands with some non-stick cooking spray first; it's gets messy!)
3. Add the almond extract if you're using it. This will give it more traditional, sweet almond flavor, but you might prefer the natural flavor of the almond butter.
4. Add the milk and mix. You may add more or less. It depends on how dry the mixture is and how well it hold together.
5. Scoop out some of the mixture. Press it together in your hands and then roll it into a ball. How well it holds together will determine if you should add more milk or some water. It should hold together and be a little sticky, but not runny or crumbly. In other words, it should hold its shape.
6. Store these in the fridge in an airtight container for about a week.

This recipe using almond butter from Aldi and Syntrax Nectar Sweets Chocolate protein powder is about 73 calories and 5g protein per protein ball. This will vary depending on the type of nut butter and protein you use.

homemade flavored goat cheese

I think by now everyone knows I LOVE goat cheese. I spread it on toast and top it with a fried egg. I put it in my sausage and goat cheese egg muffins. I spread it on crackers. I even make paninis with it.

Recently I found myself with three (THREE!) 11 oz. logs of plain goat cheese. What to do?

I also recently started growing herbs outside:  parsley, rosemary, sage, lavender and basil. While the others are growing nicely, the basil plant has pretty much exploded with leaves. That's normally great, but I typically only use basil when I make caprese salad. Since my tomatoes aren't ready yet, and I don't want to spend a small fortune on buying grape tomatoes and mozzarella (and there's really only so much caprese salad I should be eating--very caloric because of the oil and cheese), I decided to Google and see if there are any recipes for making flavored goat cheese. Of course, there are many.

I found a recipe similar to the one below; however, it's supposed by be a coating for the goat cheese log, not really a mix-in. (I prefer the cheese to be flavored throughout.) But I wanted to use this one, because I could use up some of the lemon I have in the fridge as well as some of my basil. It calls for fresh oregano, though. I loathe buying fresh herbs, because I never use them all before they wilt. However, our neighbors up the road, who moved in last year, have a huge garden and are selling their harvests. Guess what they have this week? Fresh oregano! They also have dill and cilantro; I bought both.

I made two goat cheese spreads with the herbs I got today. One is based on a recipe I found online and the other I just made up and totally guesstimated the amount of lemon and dill. You'll need to taste and see what works for you. I'd say there's a strong lemon tang in both of these, so if that's not your thing just use less lemon. Also, if you want to use dried herbs instead, that's fine. Just use roughly 1/3 of what the recipe calls for below and let the finished spread sit longer in the fridge.

Goat Cheese with Basil and Oregano

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
1 TB fresh lemon juice
1 TB extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 to 12 oz. of plain goat cheese, room temperature
(if you like the herb flavor really strong, use 6 oz. of cheese; if you like it less potent, add more cheese)

Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate for a bit to develop the flavors. Spread on crackers, crusty bread, etc.

Goat Cheese with Lemon and Dill
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1 TB chopped fresh dill
6 oz. plain goat cheese, room temperature

Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate for a bit to develop the flavors. Spread on crackers, crusty bread, etc.

Lemon and dill on the left (make sure you chop your dill a little more than I did.); basil and oregano on the right.

weekly cookbook project: blueberry muffins

Surprisingly, I've never baked a blueberry muffin in my whole life. Not sure why, since it's probably the most common muffin out there.  I'm thinking it's the high price of blueberries, or maybe always opting to make something with chocolate. That changed this week, though, when I made my first blueberry muffin ever.

I dipped into my King Arthur Flour cookbook again and made their Classic Blueberry Muffin recipe. (I tried to find it online so I could post it, but couldn't.) They have an all-purpose basic muffin recipe that calls for sour cream and a classic recipe that doesn't. Since I didn't have sour cream--no surprise there--I went with the classic recipe.

It was really very easy. Just a matter of rinsing the blueberries and then mashing some of them, then mixing all the ingredients together. These are made like a cake batter, where you cream the butter and sugar first, then add eggs, then alternate flour and milk. I topped each with a little table sugar. The other option was cinnamon sugar, but I didn't feel like making it. I opted for cupcake liners for the pan so I wouldn't have as much cleanup. I was thwarted, though, by all the runny blueberry juice. Oh well. I tried. Actually, the mess isn't that bad--I'm just being lazy. I'm thinking next time I'll spray the whole pan with Bake Easy spray and then put the cupcake liners in. Double protection.

I have to say, it was insanely hard to not grab a hot muffin right from the pan. They were quite delicate because they were so hot and I didn't want to damage them, so I put them on the cooling rack without grabbing even a crumb. I was strong--I made it a whole five minutes before I gave in and grabbed one, which I promptly slathered in butter. They were absolutely delicious and so soft! And they were jam-packed with blueberries.

The sugar content in these was about 16g of sugar according to the recipe. I don't know if that's supposed to include the optional sugar topping, but I thinking not. One whole muffin was a bit much in the sugar department, as I felt a bit queasy for about 20 minutes afterwards (fellow WLS post-ops know what I mean...) But oh man, it was SO worth it! I took another one later on; however, I cut it in half and took about a 10 minute break in between halves. That helped me to not feel queasy.

Just a note:  I realize that I can alter recipes to include more protein, less sugar and carbs, etc., and as a gastric bypass post-op I probably should.  But I'm not super creative when it comes to that. (Kudos to those that are--there are some great websites out there!) I also don't like buying a bunch of alternative ingredients that I may use only once.  Plus, I want to feel that I'm like everyone else. That I can eat regular foods, just in smaller portions. I don't want to alter something that's going to trick my mind into thinking I can eat double because it has half the sugar. Kind of like those 100 calories snacks. They make you feel like you're being virtuous because they're only 100 calories, but then you eat two portions because, really, is one usually enough? Not for me.  

weekly cookbook project: oatmeal raisin muffins

I'd said at the beginning of the year that I was going to commit to making one recipe per week from one of my cookbooks; I have a bunch of them and I never really use them.  I was going fine up until my tummy tuck surgery at the end of February. I knew there would be a few weeks where I was out of commission, but I didn't think it would take me almost three months to get back into the swing of things. To be fair, my incision opened up a bit and was quite sensitive for many weeks, my dad died, and then I was sick for over two weeks. So, here I am. It's almost the end of May and I haven't cooked much at all in the last few months.

I was aiming for a recipe for which I had all the ingredients, or nearly all of them. And I wanted a recipe that would make use of a few ingredients that I've had on hand for awhile and just haven't used. In this case it was rolled oats and raisins. I flipped through my King Arthur Flour's Baker's Companion book and found a recipe for oatmeal muffins--raisins optional. It looked really easy and the only thing I needed to buy was buttermilk. And I HATE buying buttermilk. It always seems way overpriced and the carton is way bigger than what I need and will use. But I went for it anyway. Luckily I found a quart container for $1.69, which was a bargain compared to some others I've seen. And if I had to dump the rest, I wouldn't feel like I'd wasted a bunch of money. Worse comes to worse, I can make banana cupcakes or buttermilk pancakes and freeze them.

So, this recipe was super simple. You just put the rolled oats and buttermilk in a container to soak overnight and then the next day you dump in all the other ingredients, stir, fill the muffin pan and bake for 18-20 minutes.  The recipe stated a yield of "12 generous-sized muffins." That tells me nothing. My muffin pans are all standard size, but they certainly didn't look like they would yield a "generous-sized muffin," So, I checked the back of the book, which has a "Tools" chapter. It mentioned the depth of the wells in the muffin pan and according to what it said, the recipe would be too much for my pans. No big deal--I simply got 17 smaller muffins instead of 12 bigger ones. And, actually, that worked out better for me. The smaller size meant I could eat a whole muffin without making me feel stuffed or overloading me with sugar.

I like these muffins. The texture is a little on the chewier side, which I actually like. I can taste the buttermilk and the raisins are very plump, although they pretty much settled at the bottom for the most part.  My only complaint is that I couldn't detect the pieces of oatmeal. I tasted it, but the oats themselves disappeared. If I make these again, I plan to soak the oatmeal for a shorter period of time. Maybe I'll put them in to soak in the morning and then cook them in the early afternoon.

The nutritional content is as follows based on the number of muffins I got out of it (17):  112 calories, 13g sugar, 4g fat, 19g carbs, and 2g protein. Bigger muffins would have been about 160 calories. Obviously these will be tough to eat for someone who can't have a lot of sugar, but they fall right in the sweet spot (no pun intended!) for me. No, I shouldn't be eating them, but this is how I live post-WLS life--in moderation and including treats now and then.

ice cream tastings

First of all, Happy Easter! I'm home sick, so I figured I'd finish this post I started a couple days ago.

Awhile back I tried one of the new light "ice cream" products that came out and it didn't blow me away.  (Actually, it was an ice cream alternative, to be fair.) Since then, I've seen Halo Top all over Facebook and recently was told about Enlightened. Both of these are light ice creams that claim to be a better ice cream:  less sugar, fat and calories, and more protein.

This past week, one of my co-workers bought five pints total of Halo Top and Enlightened and brought them to work for a late-afternoon ice cream tasting. She's a body builder and is very health conscious, so leave it to her to find better alternatives to high-calorie and high-fat snacks. She miraculously found it on sale for less than $3.00 a pint (standard price is $4.00+).

Here's what we tried (links included since I hadn't planned on a blog post and have no pictures):

Enlightened:  Sea Salt Caramel:  This was good. I'm not usually a fan of this flavor in general, but I thought it was pretty good. The texture was like real ice cream and the flavor was better than the Halo Top Sea Salt Caramel.

Halo Top:  Sea Salt Caramel, Pistachio, Oatmeal Cookie, and Chocolate Almond Crunch:

Sea Salt Caramel: I didn't like the texture, which was like ice milk. And it seemed very artificially sweet.

Pistachio:  I didn't taste any pistachio flavor at all. It was basically sweet and green with a non-descriptive flavor. Texture was more like ice cream, though. It would have been nice if they added some actual pistachio nuts to it, too.

Oatmeal Cookie:  This was my favorite of all the ice creams we tried; everyone agreed. It has a good oatmeal cookie flavor and there were chewy bits of rolled oats. And the texture was like real ice cream. (This was the winner.)

Chocolate Almond Crunch:  I didn't taste the chocolate ice cream at all. All I could taste was almond, which was more of an almond extract flavor. The crunchy almonds were nice, but it just piled on more almond flavor, which wasn't needed. It was very sweet, but the texture was good.

My own personal taste test

Fresh off the Friday afternoon ice cream tasting, I decided to try a pint of Enlightened Brownies & Cookie Dough ice cream. I got it at my local grocery store and it was $4.99 a pint. I normally would not spend that on ice cream, even Ben & Jerry's, but I wanted to try something new and was excited about diet ice cream that might possibly taste good. This is a brand new flavor and it's not even on their website yet, so I have no link to post.

Here is the nutrition label. As you can see, it has only 6 grams of sugar, but there are sugar alcohols in there to make up for that. It also has fiber, is low in calories, and has some added protein (milk protein isolate).

This ice cream freezes VERY hard. I couldn't get a spoon into it at all. I don't know if it's my freezer setting, or if it's the ice cream. I had to microwave it for about 30 seconds at full power to soften it up so I could scoop it. Even then, chunks of it broke off and it didn't scoop very smoothly. Also, the core of the container was melted while the outsides were soft and the inner ring was hard.  That was bizarre.

I measured out the correct serving, which is a 1/2 cup. No, a serving is not the full pint! Although it would have been prior to weight loss surgery. Also, it gives the total calories for the whole pint on the lid. And even though this has 7 grams of protein per serving, you will not get brownie points (ha!) for eating the whole container under the guise that you're "getting in your protein." (It's not like I thought of doing that...)

This tasted good and had a good texture to it. It was somewhere between ice milk (blech!) and ice cream. It didn't taste as good when it started melting, so you might want to eat this before it melts. I didn't find it unpleasantly sweet. It has lower sugar, but also has sugar alcohols to add more sweetness. The ice cream didn't taste all that chocolatey, but that's pretty standard with light ice cream. Considering cocoa powder isn't high in calories, I'm thinking the could have added more to give it more of a chocolate punch.

Onto the chunks, which is the most important part of any ice cream (for me). It had some decent brownie and cookie dough chunks, and also had chocolate chips. It didn't mention chocolate chips on the container aside from the cookie dough, so it was puzzling at first, but it was a nice surprise. I'm a lover of chunky ice cream, so I was happy that I could actually see the chunks and they had some bite to them. Prior to surgery, my ice cream of choice was one that was more chunks that ice cream. Actually, I often added more to whatever ice cream I bought. When I was a kid I used to take chocolate ice cream, or whatever was in the house actually, and add cereal, peanut butter and sometimes hot cocoa powder or chocolate milk mix. Yes, all at once in the same bowl.

I mentioned earlier that it gives the total calories for the whole pint on the lid. See what it says on the back of the pint?  It tells you to go ahead and eat the whole thing. I'm not usually a stickler or the food police, but this just seems wrong to me. I understand it's basically the same amount of calories for the whole pint and one serving of a premium ice cream, but still. I don't think a company that's supposed to be making good-for-you ice cream (it says it right on the container!!) should be encouraging people to gorge themselves on a whole pint of ice cream in one sitting.

I would buy this again; however, I definitely would wait until I could find it on sale. I'm not enough of an ice cream eater to want to spend $4.99 a pint. Not on light ice cream, anyway. Also, I would have to limit it to half a serving due to the sugar alcohols. If you think it will bother you, or already know that it does, eat just a couple spoonfuls at first to test the waters. I find that some sugar alcohols bother me and others don't, and that's mainly why I don't eat light ice cream or other "diet" snacks. I'd rather eat one or two spoonfuls of the real thing, both for the taste and satisfaction.

I definitely did not taste any of these ice creams with the notion that they would be identical to Ben & Jerry's or Haagan Dazs ice cream.  How can they be when these ice creams have a fraction of the sugar, fat and calories? I went into this knowing that these are substitutes for the real thing. That said, most of them were disappointing. Although, a couple were good enough that I would buy them again. If you're someone who really misses ice cream, you might like to try these.

Do you eat light ice creams or snacks? Have you found ones you like? Ones that are ghastly? Let me know in the comments!

gluten-free granola: nutty cranberry maple

Recently I had a chance to try new snack:  Nutty Cranberry Maple Gluten-Free Granola by Bakery on Main ( a gluten-free bakery). It was purely by chance. A box of snack bags was shipped to someone at work and they put it in the cafeteria for all to enjoy.  I had more than one that day. :)  (Note:  I don't have celiac disease, or any other issues with gluten.)

I honestly didn't think I'd like a gluten-free product. I'd seen all the gluten-free breads and such in the grocery store, and they just don't look very appetizing. The sandwich rolls look like they could kill someone if they went airborne, and most of the products just don't look quite right. This granola was delicious, though, and I really enjoyed it. I really liked that the maple flavor wasn't overwhelming. There was just a hint, which is usually not the case with products containing maple flavor.  One thing I will say is that this shouldn't be left out in the open air. It can get a little sticky.

I love how this looks. You can see all the little goodies packed into the mix. If you're someone who likes the folded, super crunchy potato chips, you'll probably like this texture. It's got a ton of crunch. 

As you can see, the ingredients are all natural. I don't see anything artificial in there, so I'm thinking you can find this in Whole Foods and other natural food stores. Actually, I found this in the mainstream grocery store in the natural foods isle. This bag (12 ounces) was $5.79.

Calorie content appears to be less than regular granola.  There's 8 grams of sugar, which is manageable for me.  Carbs are high at 20 grams, but it's granola so there's really no getting around that.

Would I buy this again? Most definitely. But I'll need to eat it in moderation, because it's just so good!

If you want to check out their other products, go here:  Bakery On Main.  You can shop online!

Pure Protein Crunch, Double Chocolate

I saw these in the grocery store and decided to give them a try. They remind me of candy, so I thought this would be a good substitute since I really don't need to be eating candy.  It's a new product by Pure Protein.  I don't care for their protein shakes, as they're quite sickeningly sweet. I also don't care for their bars, either. But I thought I'd give these a try. 

I tried the Double Chocolate flavor. Apparently they make a peanut butter flavor, too, but my store didn't have them.

 

As you can see, they're small, but there's a lot of them in the bag. This is about 1/4 of the bag I'm holding in my hand.  I felt like the portion size was good for the price. I want to say they cost $1.99, but I can't remember. It wasn't more than that, though.

I really like these. They're crunchy, very chocolaty, and satisfying. Are they filling? Nah, not really. But they will likely satisfy your sweet tooth.  I can see myself bringing these to the movies. Before my surgery, I would stop at the drug store on the way to the movies to grab a huge bag of M&Ms. Then when I got to the movies I'd get a big popcorn and a diet soda (yes, I know, but I actually LIKE diet soda).  Nowadays I get a small popcorn, sometimes get a small bag of M&Ms (or none at all), and bring bottled water with me. 

arctic zero ice cream alternative

It seems that every time I scroll through my Facebook feed, I see sponsored or suggested pages for products I might like.  It's no big deal.  If it looks interesting or like something I might like, I click.  I normally get a lot of pages for protein bars and shakes, healthy snacks, and diet foods.  The other day I saw one for Arctic Zero.  What lured me in was the claim that it was only 35 calories for a 1/2 cup. Ice cream isn't really my thing, but now-distant memories of chowing down on a pint of Ben & Jerry's every few months are vivid and magnetic. That's what made me click, I think. 

 

I checked out the website and found that it's actually billed as an ice cream alternative:  no lactose, no gluten, no fat, etc.  I definitely wondered how it would taste, but I was optimistic; there are lots of foods like this that are actually good.  I found several local grocery stores, such as Stop & Shop, carry it.  I headed to Whole Foods this past weekend to check out the produce isle in hopes that something would inspire me to try something new--it didn't--and I decided to see if they carry Artic Zero--they do!  But it was $4.99 a pint.  I figured I could probably find it for less at Stop & Shop, so I went there afterwards.  It was the same price, unfortunately. They had a few different flavors, like Cake Batter and Salted Caramel.  I got the Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor.  As I was picking up the containers to check the ingredients, I noticed they're suspiciously light in weight.  It definitely didn't feel like a pint of Ben & Jerry's. (That should have told me everything I need to know.) Despite the price, I decided to buy it.  If I had finally found a low-calorie ice cream-like product that I like, it would be worth it.

As you can see, water is the number 1 ingredient, 

which probably makes this more like a sorbet.

I went right to my sister's house from the store, which meant I had to store my cold foods in the fridge or freezer.  I decided to try the ice cream right away, and my sister tried it, too.  I cracked open the pint and was prepared to be amazed by the goodness within.  And...I was not amazed.  It scooped like ice cream, but it tasted more like the diet ice cream, AKA ice milk, I remember from childhood.  I tasted just a hint of chocolate and peanut butter.  I wasn't impressed.

Would I buy this again?  Only if I really had an ice cream craving.  And even then, I'd rather have just a couple spoonfuls of the regular full-fat ice cream; it would be much more satisfying and less expensive.  The upside to buying this is there's more room in your calorie budget to add toppings. And if someone really feels they can't live without ice cream and has certain dietary restrictions, this might be something that works for them.

harvest snaps snacks

Say that five times, fast!

I recently tried these snacks and I have to say, I'm in love.  It's something different and I can honestly say I'm not eating potato chips.  I try to stay away from crunchy carbs, like chips, pretzels, etc., but once in awhile I want something crunchy that isn't raw veggies.

I can't seem to do anything without one or more of my cats being involved....

When I first saw these--pea snacks, in general--in the store, I remember thinking, "Who would want dried pea pods??  People who like twigs and bark, that's who!"  ("Twigs and bark" was the name given to bran cereal by a friend of mine.) At the time, I didn't know that they're more like a puffy cheese doodle in texture. Anyway, I recently discovered them in the grocery store and decided to buy them. I noticed they also make snacks with red lentils, too, so I bought a bag of those as well; they were two for $3.00.

So, what are Harvest Snaps? They're pea pod-shaped snacks that resemble, in texture, a puffy cheese doodle.  They're made with peas or lentils, which are ground into a flour, and they're baked, not fried.

And what do they taste like?  They taste a bit like peas, but not quite as strong.  I'm not a fan of peas at all, unless they're buried in a pot pie, but I like these snacks. The lentil snacks taste a bit like lentils. The two flavors I tried were really good.  The lentil snack had a nice onion-y flavor and I could taste the thyme.  The pea snacks were really good, too.  They had a Caesar-ish taste, though not as strong as Caesar salad dressing.

Are they healthy?  Not really.  Are they better than potato chips and other kinds of chips?  Probably. There are less calories, about half the fat, and more protein and fiber.  The carbs are about the same. Below is a pic of the nutrition labels.  Peas on the left, lentils on the right.

Would I buy these again?  Yes, as long as the price is right. I thought $1.50 was pretty good. However, it's not something I would buy often because I tend to have a really hard time eating just one portion.  And that goes for any snack, not just these.  Crunchy carbs are a trigger and I try to limit exposure.