New Summer Food Finds + Reviews

  I’m off for my little vaca—right now I will already be on my way! We had to cut our time a day short due to the fact that I will be attending the Rhubarb Fest to have my contending recipe tested. I will also be posting a segment on how I pack snacks and food when I travel. I am pretty high-maintenance I would say, but not in a bad way! I just always like being prepared and who says a cooler loaded with healthy goods is a bad thing? So definitely stay tuned for that!

  Now that summer time is here, I find myself on the lookout for lighter fare and basically just tend to lean towards the “summery” foods. Here’s a couple I’ve recently tried out & had to share!

• Fiber Gourmet Mac and Cheese & Light Fettuccine

Usually pastas and mac and cheese would be categorized as comfort food which I would associate with winter eats, but Fiber Gourmet has really done a great job of lightening up these dishes while still keeping that comforting taste! I love mac and cheese, but after countless Kraft boxes consumed as a kid(c’mon, you know you did too!), I finally realized how unhealthy they are with preservatives and such—plus there is so many other healthy options now like Fiber Gourmet, Annie’s, Tofu Shirataki, etc. So what did I think? Well first off, the Light Fettuccine was super! No difference whatsoever from real pasta! Plus I noticed just a little bit made you full vs. times when you eat a giant plate of regular noodles and still don’t feel satisfied. The Mac and Cheese is a new staple on my shelves(I just ordered another batch of boxes!). Creamy, cheesy, the whole nine yards. You get a whopping serving for only 170 calories. It feels so sinful, yet it’s not! All you have to add is milk—I added unsweetened Almond Breeze instead of skim milk which made it creamy and delish! More about all the products here.

• Swiss Premium Diet Iced Tea With Lemon

Normally, this is not a product I would buy because it’s much cheaper to buy iced tea mix and make your own, but I had a BOGO coupon, so I couldn’t pass it up! If you are a Splenda hater, beware this does contain it! Iced tea totally screams summer and this was perfect in a glass with a big ol’ lemon wedge. Not too sweet and not too tart. Perfect thirst quencher for 0 calories! Cheers to that =) Find out more health benefits of this product here.

• Imagine Creamy Red Bliss Potato & Roasted Garlic Soup

In the winter months, I love sitting down to a steaming bowl of soup that is nice and thick—in the summertime, not so much. That’s why this soup is a staple May-September here because it’s light, yet filling, creamy, yet flavorful. All the goodness of a thick potato soup condensed! I actually love eating this chilled along with a bunch of other Imagine soups! Check out the whole line here.

• Kellog’s All Bran Strawberry Medley Cereal

I’ve never been too big of an oatmeal fan—although all the blogger’s out there with there wonderful bowls of goodness do make it tempting, I am still a cold cereal girl at heart. But it’s definitely not a bad thing when companies keep doling out yummy kinds! I got a sample of this in the mail along with a coupon. I loved it so much mixed with some Kamut puffs, that I immediately went and bought another box! It has many various “pieces” in it. Check out the pic!

Got to love variety, right?! This has dried strawberries, some flakes, some puffs, and some waffle looking things. It stays great in milk, doesn’t get soggy, and has a taste that has me hooked—way to go Kellog’s! Find out all about it here.

And now I would just like to share a summery lunch I have been having a lot lately—so good!

A Joseph’s Pita fried in a dry skillet until crispy—topped with egg whites mixed with pineapple and topped with some turkey. On the side some grilled squash fries in parm cheese with a juicy peach on the side. (Excuse the fork BTW, I just finished stirring up my Fiber Gourmet mac & cheese!) And for dessert we have—>

Banana yogurt, crumbled Corn Vitamuffin topped with whipped cream, chocolate syrup and blueberries. This times about 3 was consumed!

I Scream,You Scream,We All Scream for Ic—Frozen Yogurt!

Yesterday was a glorious day outside—today is another story; rain, clouds, wind—you get the drift. Good thing I am going to spend the day shopping. That always makes a rainy day ten times better right? Hopefully I will stumble upon some good food finds(as if I need more!)ha ha. So before I leave for the day, I just wanted to share a new summer-like treat. Let’s just say I am beyond happy to have a full-sized freezer again =)

Please let me introduce you to Kemp's FF Frozen Yogurt in Wild Blueberries and Cream! I was stoked to find this because I was sad when I left my college town because no more Cold Stone Creamery. =( My fav mix up there was the Sweet Cream with Blueberries and now I can prolong my love with this stand-in. But just for now hehe! Kemp’s describes this frozen yogurt as “Creamy vanilla ice cream with swirled blueberry revel and fresh blueberries”. Are you drooling yet? It didn’t have that “fat free” taste like some things do & it has live active cultures which are good for digestion—so it’s like a treat for your body & soul!  

My only complaint is not enough giant blueberry chunks, which is why I decided to take Mr.Kemp’s on a blind date with another lovely friend of mine—a Blueberry Vita Top! Needless to say, they fell in love at first sight and lived happily ever after—in my belly! =)

 

Have a glorious day regardless of the weather!

[[Healthy]] Brownie Bowl!

There's nothing better than sitting in class & blogging! Lets just say it makes the time go by way faster! The class which is Tech.Foundation is actually fun because it involves design work on and off the computer. But no matter how fun the class, 2 hours can make me antsy. Anyhooo..today I opened my fridge and noticed I still had a VitaBrownie stuffed in my freezer[[Definitely need to get home to stock up]] A brownie seemed like something I could use to concoct another yummy bowl to share w/everyone! So then the birth of my new "Brownie Bowl" took place. My inspiration was the Brownie Batter Blizzard at DQ that looks ever-so-tempting, but oh-so-unhealthy. So I based it with one container of vanilla Dannon Light&Fit yogurt like the last bowl instead on vanilla ice cream in the DQ creation. I then added 1/4 C pumpkin(I always do just for the vitamins, but you could sub some PB for all ya PB lovers out there, or just add more vanilla yogurt) Then I poured in about 2 TBS(?) of Walden Farms Maple Syrup to add some more volume. Next came the VitaBrownie all crumbled up to equal pure goodness, and last but not least, I knew I had to add in some Annie's Cinnamon Bunny Grahams(a handful) for more crunch factor. All together now-->Ok, so it's a little(or a lot)different than the DQ Blizzard, but it's totally on the same track and would be good for a snack,dessert,light lunch or whatever your fancy is. I think trying to recreate restaurant favs that are unhealthy to healthy dishes that you can tweak to your liking is soo fun.

What are your fav restaurant re-creations?!