What I eat

Curry chicken tenders from Trader Joe’s

the kid — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:16:38 +0000

Recently, Trader Joe’s added another kind of chicken to their fresh meat selection – this time marinated in curry. We have enjoyed these curry chicken tenders twice now – they come out moist and full of flavor. We’ve eaten them with whole wheat cous cous (threw in some raisins), and simply with some vegetables. I typically eat them with a bit of the chutney you can get from TJs. Highly recommended.

Peanut butter cream cheese pie – super-low fat, and freakin’ delicious

the kid — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:11:17 +0000

This is an adaptation of a recipe from the fine folks at Bell Plantation, who sell the always great powdered peanut butter. I changed the amounts quite a bit, so it tastes completely different – but what goes in is the same. I also had to try it twice to get the preparation right (there were no directions on how to prepare it, so I really screwed up the first time).

Anyway, here goes. This is my favorite dessert, and is very low fat (around 3.5 grams for 1/8 of the pie).

Ingredients:

1 keebler ready crust, reduced fat
1 cup of PB2 (powdered peanut butter (review) , order it here))
16 oz of fat free cream cheese (2 blocks)
8 oz of fat free cool whip (1 small tub)
1/8 cup splenda

To prepare:

Warm the cream cheese up in the microwave until it’s soft. I think I put it in for a minute or two at medium heat. (check it after a minute, and continue if needed)
Once soft, use a hand mixer to start whipping up the cream cheese.
Slowly integrate the PB2 while whipping the cream cheese.
Once fully integrated, add the cool whip.
Blend until fully mixed.
Dump into the crust.
Chill in the fridge.

Nature Valley 100 calorie granola bites – get them from Amazon for cheap

the kid — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 02:56:51 +0000

My favorite, ever, are these granola bites from the folks at Nature Valley. I put them on my cereal on a daily basis, and they’re fabulous. They finally became available at places such as Safeway and Target (before I had to drive 50 miles to get them, and yes, they were delicious enough to make the drive!) I can’t recommend these things enough – six months going, and I love them just as much.

However, they’re now available from Amazon. And even better than the fact they can come to ME at the office and I don’t have to drive anywhere, I can get them on subscription, save money that way, and don’t even have to remember to order them. How freakin’ awesome is that?

Note that you can cancel a subscription any time, so if you just want to get these once to try them out, you can cancel the subscription right away and just save 15% on the single purchase (why not, eh?)

100 calorie granola bites from Amazon

Garlic ginger marinade from Primo Gourmet

the kid — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 02:48:52 +0000

We first tried this sauce after finding it at the Burlingame street fair (or something – those things with all the tables of art and stuff). We used it as a dipping sauce for Trader Joe Lemongrass Chicken Stix, Chicken Egg Rolls, and fresh vegetables. It is fabulous for that purpose – slightly spicy, a slight hint of… vinegar like sourness. We both absolutely love this sauce! Nothing has come close for dipping. Even better, the nutritionals are good – 0% on the fat, sodium, and carb, and only 1 g of sugar per serving.

We ended up getting several bottles from their store online – arrived quick and wrapped in a lot of bubblewrap (bonus!)

Online: http://www.primosgourmetfood.com/GARLIC+GINGER+MARINADE+12oz.html

Or wait until they come to your area: http://www.primosgourmetfood.com/eventschedule.asp

Oh yeah, and the Thai Peanut sauce of theirs is my husbands favorite: http://www.primosgourmetfood.com/THAI+PEANUT+SAUCE+12oz.html

Trader Joe’s Greek Style Nonfat Yogurt… in honey, blueberry, or pomegranate

the kid — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 02:19:12 +0000

I just found the best flavored non-fat, fat-free yogurt EVER (edging out Brown Cow’s fat free Vanilla for top place in me books). It’s at Trader Joe’s, and it’s greek style. It’s like their 0% Face yogurt (plain fat free greek style), but flavored. It’s thick and simply amazing – you have to try it. Comes in Honey, Blueberry, and Pomegranate in the individual size cups – 120 calories each (not bad!).

The Blueberry is my favorite, but only by a bit — all three flavors are delicious. The Honey is particularly great with stuff mixed in (like granola and/or berries). God bless Trader Joes (again!) — now just don’t go discontinuing this fabulous yogurt!

Spotted: Nature Valley 100 Calorie Granola Bites at Target!!!!!

the kid — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 03:38:10 +0000

One of my favorite foods – in the world – are Nature Valley Granola Bites on top of my cereal. For serious. I am addicted and have a pack a day on my cereal (typically a small bit of oat bran, a small bit of grape nuts, some berries, and these granola bites. ).

My review is here: 100 Calorie Nature Valley Granola Bites — on your cereal

So, until now, the only place I could buy them was at Sams Club, which is about 50 miles away. I’d stock up on each visit. So I was within 20 packs of running out, so we headed out to Sams Club to get them. They were out. I nearly cried. So we headed out to the next Sams Club – another 20 miles further away from our house – (after calling, they weren’t sure if they had them… they only had the lame Quaker Oat ones). Yeah, so both Sams Clubs didn’t have them any more. I cried. Then I came home and googled online grocery retailers and everyone was “out”. I thought they were discontinued or something.

So I’ve been sulking for the last couple weeks. But I **just** found them at Target, which is a mere 20 minutes away. And they just got them in too, because they didn’t have them yesterday. So I guess Nature Valley was really in the process of rolling them out in a major way – because these things are SO FREAKING AWESOME!

Please give these things a try – without cereal they’re good, with cereal and some milk soaked in they’re AWESOME. Target is starting to carry them, and they’re cheap. YAY for Nature Valley 100 Calorie Granola Bites!!!

UPDATE: You can now buy them from Amazon, even on subscription to save money!

Brown Cow brand non-fat yogurt – specifically, vanilla

the kid — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:48:18 +0000

A few weeks ago at the Burlingame street fair I was enlightened to the best darn yogurt I’ve ever tasted – vanilla non-fat yogurt from Brown Cow. It’s different in that it has the most amazing texture of a non-fat yogurt — it’s stringy it’s so creamy. Simply amazing texture. Plus, it has enough flavor to carry itself on it’s own, without the aid of some fruit (although, it tastes even better with fruit!)

Anyway, I really recommend trying this out. Note though that only two of the non-fat yogurts I’ve tried have this particular texture – vanilla and lemon (both are good, vanilla is better). I’ve also tried the non-fat chocolate, blueberry, strawberry, and apricot mango and all of those don’t have the same stringy/creamy texture. They’re good, but not great. I’d rather have my regular non-fat Yoplait “thick and creamy” style (which has fewer calories to boot).

But rock on Brown Cow – your non-fat vanilla is seriously my favorite yogurt going!

I’ve found this stuff at Rainbow Grocery, Whole Foods (new one in Potrero Hill has large and small containers), and Draegers (Safeway carries Brown Cow too, but not this flavor… or any non-fat variety for that matter).

Dr. Praeger’s Sweet Potato Pancakes

the kid — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 03:28:18 +0000

We found these really delicious sweet potato pancakes (more like a patty) in the frozen section of Rainbow Grocery (Folsom St, San Francisco). And they are absolutely fabulous, especially with a bit of fat-free sour cream on the side.

A tip – cook them for a bit longer than the instructions until they’re slightly browned (for us, about 10 or 11 minutes per side).

We also tried the Dr.Praeger spinach pancakes as well – they’re not good, neither of us liked them. I didn’t even finish mine, but the husband finished mine and is in fact cooking another one right now. But they weren’t too popular – not nearly as good as the sweet potato ones.

Update: We tried the Brocolli pancakes – they’re quite good (not as good as the sweet potato ones – but close). We’d definitely get them again.

Dr. Praeger’s Sweet Potato Pancakes

Rainbow Grocery, San Francisco

Promise Activ Supershots

the kid — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 16:09:33 +0000

I’ve never been a fan of the “watery” yogurt – the kind that comes in drink form. I’ve always been a fan of the thick yogurts that are… not runny. However, I decided to give these Promise SuperShots a try when I saw them arrive at Safeway – we use the Promise fat-free spread as a margarine substitute for some time now (sometimes – we do prefer Benecol but it’s so expensive so we usually get both…), and I like to get as many plant sterols into my diet to try and reduce cholesterol.

I was shocked to find out how great these things taste – they are very flavorful. We’ve tried Raspberry, Peach, and Strawberry. Raspberry and Peach were great, Strawberry wasn’t nearly as good. The flavor is the main thing – it’s a nice strong flavor, and the drink is very nice and smooth (a milky consistency), so it’s not offputting. If it was thicker I think I might not enjoy it – but because the consistency is nice and thin it’s more of a drink than a “drinkable yogurt”.

They are a bit pricey (almost $5 for 4 of them), but that could be Safeway.

Info/nutritionals: Promise web site

Mac and ChReese – Vegan low fat mac and cheese!

the kid — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 00:00:55 +0000

So I’ve always loved me some Kraft Mac and Cheese. But after going on a low-fat diet, it was off limits.

So recently I found this Mac & Chreese stuff (Road’s End Organics) – vegan mac and “cheese” – at Rainbow Grocery (1745 Folsom St, San Francisco). We tried the “Shells and Chreese” first and this stuff is really tasty, and low fat. I dare say it might almost taste better than the product they’re imitatin’! We made it with 1/4 + a splash of skim milk, and a bit of Promise (fat-free-margarine). And it ROCKED. It was creamy, flavorful – almost tasted like a real white cheddar on there. It didn’t have any odd, soy-ish, non-authentic after taste at all (like some of the fat-free cheese products do…)

We tried another flavor, the Mac and Chreese with the whole wheat elbow macaroni – it wasn’t quite as good as the Shells and Chreese.

But I absolutely recommend finding this stuff, especially Shells and Chreese, and trying it out. Again, we found it at Rainbow Grocery in the pasta aisle.

Road’s End Organics – Mac and Chreese

Rainbow Grocery, San Francisco