New Favorites

I am still in love with VitaTops. Deep chocolate ones to be exact. I have been busy trying to find new things to snack on that provide the different nutrients I need and add some variety around here!

PIC #2 and I have recently tried 3 of the 4 Market Pantry protein bars. The bars are the store brand for The Zone bars, quite a bit cheaper and free from peanut anything. We have tried the fudge graham, double dark chocolate and the chocolate mint. All three are GREAT. Seriously. The double dark chocolate one is not as high in protein as the others, but it still tastes good. The difference with these bars as opposed to the other 19 brands I have tried is that the chocolate is actually chocolatey. The other bars all had a waxy chocolate. The waxy chocolate that is also found in the Special K cereal chocolatey delight. Gross. One bowl, threw the rest away. Awful.

I did try a Zone bar that was a coconut flavor. It was really good, too, but a lot more expensive and with as much of this stuff as I need in a day, I need to conserve the funds.

I have cooked spinach a couple of times now. The first time was not so good. The second time was not so good. The verdict is that I don't really like the consistency of cooked spinach. It was slimy and slimy. I still ate it, but had to think of something else while I was eating it because I was so incredibly close to gagging once I put a fork full in my mouth. I shall stick with the raw spinach salads. Hey, I tried!!!

I'm back to snacking on edamame in the pods sprinkled with a little sea salt. Such a filling snack and if eaten in moderation, not too bad for you.

Since I had the spinach in the house, I thought I would make Baja Rolls or Pinwheels. These are one of my favorites. Lightly spread whipped cream cheese, seasoned however you wish, minced onion, spinach leaves and deli-cut chicken or turkey rolled up in a tortilla. Yum! Except, this time around, I found that I don't really like them anymore. I couldn't even eat half of one and tried again today and couldn't even eat a quarter of one. Too bad because it has 4 food groups in it!

I have found that my taste buds have changed in the last few months. Like the Baja Rolls, I have found that I don't like Doritos much anymore, I didn't like my usual favorite Jimmy John's sandwich the other day and don't appreciate bread the same way I used to. It does seem a little easier to swallow (no pun intended) that my body is choosing these things rather than having to give something up like, say, peanuts. Sigh.

Something else that I have discovered for a sweet snack is cinnamon sugar pita chips. Hy-Vee makes a decent product right there. Not a great for you snack, but not a horrible one, either. Good to squash the sweet tooth.

The apple of choice around here is the Jazz apple. For a couple of months, we tried every apple that Hy-Vee and Fareway had to offer to find the one we liked best during this time of year. Of course, Honeycrisp apples are our all-time favorite, but they aren't the greatest right now. Okay, I won't lie, they absolutely suck right now. No flavor at all and they are just water with apple consistency and shape. Yuck.

I recently got a new Allrecipes.com spinner app. I'm going to be brave and try something new out once a week to expand our horizons. I'll let you know how that goes.

Signing off for now, to all of you near and far and to those of you just hanging out reading my blog, until next time...