Breakfast, lunch, or dinner dessert

"You know I like Snack Pack... why can't you just gimme a Snack Pack!"

Snack Pack pudding - Cinnamon Roll Fun Flavor

Where purchased: Meijer
Price: $1.00 on sale (Regular $1.20)
Overall rating: 4/5

Who doesn't love a Snack Pack? It's cheap, delicious, and satisfies a sweet tooth with only 110 calories and 3.5 grams of fat. While looking at the selection of flavors and trying to decide what I would be craving this week, I came across a new flavor - Cinnamon Roll. I can't say I have ever had a flavor I didn't like, but this one did sound particularly delicious. So into the cart it went.

One spoonful elicited the desired response - YUMMMMM. Very creamy and full of flavor, the taste almost exactly mimics that of a cinnamon roll. An ewey gooey sweet cinnamon roll... but with far less damage to the diet. I ate this as a post-lunch snack at work, and I'll admit it took considerable restraint not to lick the plastic cup clean.

ConAgra released this flavor along with a new Blueberry Muffin flavor, hoping to create a snack that people will want to enjoy any time of day - including mid-morning or as a late night snack or dessert. I think they accomplished their goal.

Chocolate travesty

Chocolatey delight? No, there was nothing delightful about the "chocolate" pieces in this cereal.

Kellogg's Special K Chocolate Delight cereal

Where purchased: Meijer
Price: $2.50 on sale
Overall rating: 2.5/5

Don't get me wrong. I like Special K. It's a crunchy, slightly sweet and hearty cereal. And the one with red berries? Delicious. So I figured this chocolate delight variety would not be a huge gamble. At most, I thought, there would be very few chocolate chunks and I'd think to myself "I might as well have just gotten the regular Special K."

Instead, I found an abundance of "chocolate" chunks. The problem was... they tasted nothing like chocolate. They looked like chocolate, but tasted like... well, nothing. They didn't even have a fake chocolate taste. So all you end up with are a bunch of strangely-textured things in your cereal that get stuck in your teeth and keep tricking you into thinking sooner or later you are going to taste chocolate. I actually went through and picked out all of the chocolate-looking pieces when I ate my second bowl.

Disappointing, Kellogg's. I expect more from you. But now I know better than to believe your commercials claiming that this cereal will fulfill that late night chocolate craving. No... I think I'd be better off eating some chocolate chips. Or chocolate pudding. Or chocolate covered raisins. Heck, I'd even go for my Chocolate Outrage Gu Energy Gels - they may not be actual food, but it at least they taste chocolatey!

The perfect pair

Several months ago, one of my sisters requested that I explore some "non-traditional" uses for a couple of items - goat cheese and tomatillos. I had never tried goat cheese, so I purchased some goat cheese crumbles and tried them on my lettuce salad in place of the crumbled feta I had recently been favoring. I wasn't a huge fan. The taste of the cheese just didn't seem to quite "go" with the flavor of the salad. Not knowing what else to do with it, I kept it in my fridge and searched for some recipes highlighting goat cheese.

When I stumbled upon a recipe using both goat cheese and tomatillos, I knew I had to try it. So I patiently waited as the tomatillo plant in our garden grew and grew. Last week, it finally produced some mature tomatillos - and my recipe was waiting!

I picked up a few ingredients I needed at the grocery store that I don't normally have on hand, including an avocado and some pita bread (the recipe calls for miniature white pita rounds, which I couldn't find. I decided regular white pitas cut into 6 slices worked just as well) and awaited my opportunity. Tonight was the night!

Guacamole-Goat Cheese Toasts

I give this recipe a 5/5 - it was delicious! It turns out that avocados and goat cheese crumbles are actually the perfect pair. I can't say I go crazy for either ingredient on its own, but together with the red onion and other seasonings, this was a fantastic little appetizer. The pita bread provided the perfect amount of crunch without being too hard or crumbly, and the components of the topping all complemented each other while also providing their own unique flavors. As someone who does not particulary enjoy raw tomatoes, I loved the sweet tomatillos on top (I also used yellow pear tomatoes instead of a plum tomato). This is a great alternative to the traditional chips and guac - a bit more sophisticated, but really just as easy. It can be made ahead of time, and can be served at room temperature.

You can bet I will be making this recipe again for the next appropriate event! Thank you, Keels, for inspiring me to get creative and find a new use for a couple of tasty ingredients!

Free the freezer!

I'm on a mission to rid the country of frozen pizzas. Or at least my readers' freezers.

About a year ago, I gave up buying frozen pizza. This was hard to do, simply because they are so cheap and easy. But let's face it - the traditional ones are loaded with fat, calories, salt, and preservatives, and the newer, healthier ones are way overpriced for what you get. So, I started buying my own ingredients for pizza... and fell in love. Here are 5 reasons why:

1. Your crust options are almost unlimited. You can make your own, semi-make your own, buy a fresh crust (white or whole wheat, round or square, thick or thin), buy a refrigerated crust, or be creative with pita or other flat bread. You can make the crust as quick and easy, as inexpensive, or as wholesome as you want. I am not personally loyal to any one of the many available options, but I'm open to suggestions for any "must try" crusts!
2. Your sauce options are almost unlimited. I'm betting at any point and time you have something that you can make into a pizza sauce. Of course there are always the pizza and marinara sauces you can buy at the store. But what if you don't have any in your pantry? Try making a homemade alfredo or pesto. Or use some barbeque sauce. Or grab some canned tomato sauce and add some italian spices. Heck, if all else fails you can even just use some garlic and olive oil.
3. Your topping options are almost unlimited. What do you have in the house today? I bet it goes on pizza! Last night I opened our fridge and said "Hmmm... we have half a package of mushrooms and about a 1/4 can of black olives. Those are going on a pizza." Then I went to the garden and said "Hmmm... we have some red onion, some tomatoes (yellow pear and regular) and some fresh basil. Those are going on the pizza." Then I went to the freezer and said "Hmm... we have half a package of sundried tomato and herb turkey sausages. Those are going on the pizza." Maybe not all combinations of all ingredients will work, but almost anything can go on a pizza! Your only limit is your imagination!
4. You can suit individual tastes without extra effort. My husband doesn't care for black olives, so I only sprinkled them on part of the pizza. He likes pepperoni, so sometimes I put pepperoni on half and leave half without. Even super picky eaters will be happy with a plain cheese pizza - how easy is that?
5. No matter what is on there, now matter how much time or effort I put into it, I always get the same reaction from my husband: "Pizza? Yum!!"

Check out my new blog features!

I've updated my blog with a few new features that I'd love for you to take advantage of. On the upper right side is a "search this blog" area. This will search keywords from my blog posts, links that I've posted, as well as other blogs that I follow. Try "ice cream" as an example, and check out each tab - it's pretty cool!

I have also added some share buttons at the bottom of each post, as well as a "Reactions" area. If you don't feel you have enough to warrant a comment, at least click on a reaction! To me, these buttons act similar to the "like" feature on Facebook.

Let me know if you see cool features on other blogs that you think would be helpful on mine - I'm always looking for suggestions!