Archive | January, 2017

Random Dessert

28 Jan

I have noooooo idea what to call this but names don’t really matter, taste does, and it turned out surprisingly tasty. Definitely going to make it again!

Looks wise though, um, yeah, so not pretty!

banana-pancake

Take one banana, it needs to have a little brown on the peel so it is easy to mash. Mash the banana, add two eggs, mix. You’ll have a runny mix that may be slightly lumpy, depending on how well you mashed the banana so mash it well!

Pour the mixture in to a frying pan, cook, flip, cook some more.

Top with PB2 that has been mixed back to peanut butter consistency, or use almond butter, or real peanut butter, whatever takes your fancy. Actually, I might not use normal peanut butter because it is made with a decent amount of sugar and the banana makes this sweet enough as is, the PB2 is not as sweet as real peanut butter so it is a nice counter taste to the sweetness of the banana. That’s just my opinion though…

My picture shows the banana pancake (that is my working title for now) covered in PB2, I should have taken a pic of it prior to topping it, sorry ’bout that.

I maaaaaay have accidentally burnt the one side, well, maybe overcooked is a better description of what happened, but it didn’t ruin the taste so bonus! Also, it is such a runny mixture that when I flipped it well, it basically turned into a big ‘ol mess , which is why I say it isn’t a pretty dish. I think if I cook it on a lower heat so it cooks more in the middle before burning on the one side I can flip it and it just might hold its shape…maybe?

The final consistency weirdly enough reminded me vaguely of custard, despite the fact it is in pancake form, I guess because it stayed so gooey, but a good gooey, nothing gross happenin over here, I promise! The PB2 was a great topping because the banana made the pancake sweet and PB2 is sooooo not sweet, together they matched perfectly. 🙂

So yeah, healthy snack / dessert / treat…whatever you want to label it. If you wanted to make it thicker and more filling you could probably add some oats to it, or if you want only the egg and banana in it but not as runny I suppose you could use just one egg. Tweak it whatever way you want, lemme know if you try something and it makes a tasty result! Sharing is caring people! 😉

 

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Costco Toys With My Heart

27 Jan

Oh Costco, you are so mean!

A while ago I wrote how they took away Kodiak Cakes from their stores. Devastation! Horror! Tragedy!

Well happy news, they brought them back so yay! Kodiak Cakes came back in to my life and I was a happy camper.

Costco, being worse than a jilted ex who keeps popping in to your life to mess with your head, has now discontinued another staple of my food world.

Devastation! Horror! Tragedy!

Costco, what are you trying to do to me? 😦

PB2, a food you may or may not have heard of, was most affordable if bought at Costco but sadly they have removed it from their regular stock. *pout*

Guess who blew their food budget out of the water to stock up on 4 containers of the stuff? This girl!

Yes ok, it can be bought at GNC and other health nut stores but in smaller containers for more money. Uh…no thanks! Hence stocking up today, before the last store in my area ran out of the last little bit of their stock.

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In case you have no idea what PB2 is lemme give you the lowdown. It is a peanut butter alternative, a powdered peanut butter. You can either add water to the powder to bring it back to normal peanut butter consistency or add it in powdered form to smoothies, oatmeal, all sorts of things.

Some of the ways I have used it…

(1) 2Tbls PB2 mixed with 1 1/2Tbls water so it is a bit runny, like heated up peanut butter, then I dipped sliced apples in it

(2) mix it with water to normal peanut butter consistency and spread it on my Kodiak Cakes (like pancakes), or on bread

(3) in powdered form put it in oatmeal, omg so good in oatmeal!

(4) in powdered form added it in to a smoothie

(5) made it in to peanut butter consistency and used it in a baking recipe

Basically anywhere you use peanut butter you can use PB2 for fewer calories, fat, etc.

I haven’t used it in anywhere near all the ways others have, a lot of people use it to make a peanut sauce for cooked dishes, which I like the sound of but have no idea how to make a normal peanut sauce let alone a modified version lol

A source told me when she lived in a small town and had no stores nearby to buy it from she ordered it online for about $8 a jar so I guess that will be something to look in to once my stockpile runs out. I reeeeeally hope by then Costco has come to their senses and brought it back though because seriously, taking it away, so mean!

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Crackslaw

26 Jan

Yes you read that right, Crackslaw, that is the name of a recipe I tried out. It is so named because it is supposed to be freakishly delish and addictive.

It is super tasty, and I guess I could see how it could become a frequently cooked dish, especially if you are someone cooking for a family and you have to find something that will at least partially please more than just yourself while not going crazy over your food budget.

It is a definite keeper. 🙂

The original recipe can be found here…

http://www.food.com/recipe/crack-slaw-low-carb-434863

I of course made variations because heaven forbid I make it exactly like the recipe said to! Mostly the changes were because I wasn’t buying new ingredients for a recipe I might never make again when I had slightly different versions that I figured would work just as well. Also, I have it on good authority it is a good dish for customizing, you can tweak it to your preferences and my preference was to not have to buy any more ingredients than absolutely necessary lol

The ingredients for my version are as follows…

1 package of Coleslaw mix (14oz bag)

2 gloves garlic, minced (I have the kind in a jar)

chopped white onion, I didn’t measure how much, just diced till I had a bunch, maybe 1/3 of an onion?

1/2 tsp tabasco sauce

shake of jalapeno flakes

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp white vinegar

2 Tbls soy sauce

2 Tbls extra virgin olive oil

1 pound extra lean ground chicken

So my changes were:

(1) it is supposed to be sriracha sauce, I didn’t have any, so I used tabasco

(2) it is supposed to be toasted sesame oil, same as above, I didn’t have any, so I used evoo because I had that already

(3) it is supposed to be 3 green onions chopped, I already had white onion on hand so I chose to use that

(4) it is supposed to be beef, I was going to get lean ground turkey but the lean ground chicken was the cheapest of all the meats so chicken it is!

(5) it is supposed to be Splenda but I refuse to use things like Splenda or Truvia so I opted for real sugar

(6) there is supposed to be ginger paste in there but I am not a huge fan of ginger so I left it out

(7) the jalapeno flakes aren’t in the original recipe, shrug, I wanted it a bit spicier than what I thought the tabasco sauce would get me and I had jalapeno flakes on hand so I shook some in

So ya know, some minor changes…but nothing I feel ruins the overall structure of the dish.

To make Crackslaw you…

(1) brown your ground meat, season with salt and pepper to taste (if you so desire…I don’t use salt when cooking and I forgot to use the pepper so I added that later)

(2) remove browned meat from the pan and set aside

(3) put oil in pan, sautee garlic, onions, and coleslaw until the coleslaw is at your desired tenderness…remember it will wilt down so you don’t need as huge of a pan as you may be imagining…having said that I almost overflowed mine so use a decently large one…

(4) mix the tabasco sauce, sugar, white vinegar and soy sauce together, pour in to pan, mix (this is where I added the pepper)

(5) add back in the meat, mix well, keep in pan until meat has come back up to serving temperature

If you want you can garnish it with more chopped green onion (uncooked of course), and more hot sauce, for those who like things spicier.

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A bonus to using a bag of coleslaw rather than shredding your own cabbage is it comes with other veggies mixed in already but if you are really anti carrot you could always just shred a cabbage…ya weirdo 😉

It is dead easy to make, and because it is so flexible with what you put in it you can make it as tasty or as bland as you like. I ate a serving of it the day I made it then portioned out the rest for two more servings. I could probably have divided it up to 4 equal portions but the day I made it I was super hungry and took a bit more so I opted for 3 equal portions so I could calculate the Weight Watchers points easier. Cuz hey, this is all about me, right? 😉 Just like with pasta the flavours got stronger as it sat so when I heated up the leftovers it was noticeably spicier than my first meal.  Thank you jalapeno flakes! 😀

So yeah, I’d say it is a good dish to make. The ingredients aren’t too expensive to procure, the meat cost me $7 and the ready made coleslaw cost $1.47. I was lucky that I already had the other ingredients, or at least things that could stand in for the other ingredients, so minimal shopping had to be done. Bonus is most of the ingredients are things you’d have on hand anyways, like the garlic, oil, hot sauce, jalapeno flakes, soy sauce, etc, so you’d probably only really need buy the meat and coleslaw and maybe one other ingredient depending on how low you are running on other items…I’ll have to buy the garlic next time since this used up almost all I had left. But you get my drift right? Easy to make. Fairly cheap to make. Makes a large portion so if you are feeding a family it is definitely a cost effective dish to make, and if you’re feeding yourself you’ve just food prepped for 3 to 4 meals, depending how you divide it up. Go you go!

Oh, and if you are on Weight Watchers, my version, divided in to 3 portions comes out to 8 Smart Points a serving.

 

 

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That Consumer

20 Jan

So apparently I am that consumer, you know, the one that calls stores and complains about something.

Ugh. I hate the idea that I am that person and yet…I did it, and I would do it again lol

The other day I went to Costco, you know Costco, the store that convinces you buying everything in bulk quantities is a great idea, even if it means you’ll be eating the same thing every day for a week just so you can finish it up before it goes bad.

I sound like I don’t like Costco when in fact I love Costco lol

Anyways!

I was at Costco and one of the things I bought was Diet Coke, which to me is a requirement for living a happy life. A case of Diet Coke at Costco has 32 cans of pop in it, yay!

diet-coke-2

So, I get home and start putting the cans of pop in the fridge. Because of the size of the packaging I take the cans out of the main package and put them loose in the fridge. Normally I put a couple cans in the fridge and as I drink one I put a new can in but this time I decided to put them all in, that way the room temp cans aren’t taking up valuable floor space.

Well, turns out I was missing a can. Sadness! No way was I attempting to get the cans back in the packaging and carting them back to the store but…I didn’t want to be shorted a can of pop.

Which is how I became that consumer. The one who called customer service, told them what happened, and just by being on the phone with them was obviously expecting a solution to the problem that would not inconvenience me lol

The lady I spoke to was entertaining, and didn’t make me feel like an idiot for calling about such a thing, which was nice. I told her I couldn’t get back there until Sunday so they have a can of Diet Coke waiting for me at customer service that I can pick up this Sunday after work.

I’m sure she was rolling her eyes at having to put one can of Diet Coke to the side for me but I kinda don’t care…I paid for that can of pop so I want it…obviously. lol

The whole thing is ridiculous, and I think in the past I would have just shrugged and figured oh well, but I am on a strict budget this year and every penny counts…can I still say that or should the expression change to “every nickel” since we don’t use pennies anymore?…hmm, something to ponder…but yeah, I’m being super strict with money this year and apparently that also covers something as silly as a single missing can of Diet Coke.

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Kodiak Cakes

7 Jan

Oh Kodiak Cakes, how I will miss you!

Kodiak Cakes, in case you don’t know, are a high protein pancake / waffle mix that make a pretty decent pancake. I don’t have a waffle maker so I can’t say from actual experience how the waffles made with this mix are but I’m sure they are also good.

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An Aunt Jemima pancake they are not! Don’t be tricked in to thinking they will be just like the pancakes you get from iHop or that you ate growing up as a kid, before we all got convinced white flour is devil food and never to be touched *rolls eyes*

Despite not being like a “real” pancake, they are good, and a less guilty indulgence on a lazy morning day when you have time and the inclination to whip up some pancake goodness.

Sadly though, I ate my last Kodiak Cake today and will not be buying more. Not because I don’t want to be buying more, but because Costco has stopped carrying them (meanies!) and the closest place to me to buy them is a Safeway that is an hours drive across the border into the States. sigh.

Every time I am in Costco I ask if they have them back yet, maybe nagging them will change their minds?

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Kodiak Cakes covered in PB2, Mmm!

So there they are, my last two Kodiak Cakes, I savoured every bite, *wistful sigh* Oh, and no, I don’t eat them with syrup, I regret to inform you I stopped eating syrup due to the high sugar content, ugh, who have I become? 😉 Instead I took two tablespoons of PB2 powder, added water, made it pretty close to peanut butter consistency and spread it on the Kodiak Cakes when they were still hot. It actually tastes good despite my being all whiny that I no longer eat syrup lol I use PB2 on a lot of things, quite the useful little food!

If you live somewhere that still has access to Kodiak Cakes I highly recommend giving them a try, and hey, if you end up not liking them send the rest of the mix to me, I’ll eat it! 😉 lol

(fyi, that is a joke! )

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