fact: I love Newman’s Own

Last night I got the best surprise.  After 10+ hours of traveling I was so excited to find a HUGE package waiting for me (TWSS).

Holy So.Much.Stuff.

 

Newman’s Own hooked it UP!!  Can you even believe all these goodies fit in a box.  This is my heaven.

I hardly knew where to begin!  Even though it was well past midnight I had to try something (duh).  I think it’s pretty obv what I wanted, since K has been making my mouth water for days…HERMITS!

Stats for the original flavor: Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour, Organic Raisins, Organic Molasses, Organic Sugar, Organic Palm Fruit Oil, Oats, Organic Figs, Raisin Paste, Spices, Leavening (Baking Soda, Monocalcium Phosphate), Salt, Rice Bran Extract

I love that these are SO tasty and at the same time, all the ingredients are organic and wholesome.  No HFCS, no weird chemicals that I don’t recognize…all organic, pure and natural.  They reminded me of my Mom’s homemade molasses cookies, which I haven’t had in AGES.  I could have eaten the entire box in one sitting.  Thank god it was so late, because being super tired was the only thing that prevented me from doing so!

Original: Serving Size: 1 cookie (22g), Calories per Serving: 80, Calories from fat: 15, Total Fat: 1.5g (saturated fat: 1gm), Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 65mg, Total Carbohydrates: 16g (dietary fiber less than 1g, sugars: 10g), Protein: 1g

THANKS a ton to Nell and Pa, along with Sally and Peggy for sending these treats my way.  I was a huge fan of this company before, for reasons even beyond their great food products (did you know that since 1982, Paul Newman and the Newman’s Own Foundation have donated more than $250 million dollars to  educational and charitable organizations worldwide). 

Anyways, it should be no surprise that I also wanted these cookies for breakfast.  So in addition to my AM java loading, I nibbled on some hermits (ok, I inhaled ‘em).  A true lady never discloses the real numbers, right?  Nah, I keep it real with all y’all, I had 4.

In my defense: Rain + Monday = Need cookies

To continue my morning trend of ridiculous food choices, I had some medjool dates stuffed with carob raisins with carob almonds on the side. 

I’m pretty sure this is what leads to what we nurses refer to as a diabetic coma. 

…so while waiting for my impending (and undoubtedly imminent) hyperglycemic attack, I decided to veg on the couch with the ladies of The View while shopping for Mother Day gifts (for my momz AND my future-momz-in-law). 

Some days I just want sweets.  Period.  No point in fighting it. 

In honor of Sarah, I opted out of exercising and didn’t shower or change out of my pajamas ALL DAY.  LovIN my tummy?  Prob not after today, but I’ll get back into my normal routine tomorrow.  You have my word…I can’t continue to shovel down kcals the way I like to sans gym time or I’ll end up with a Hugh Jass fo’ sheez.

I still craved sugar, so in an effort to get in some natural CHOs (chem nerds?) I made a massive fruit plate filled with apples, melon, kiwi, pineapple, grapes, and oranges. 

Meals be damned.  I may have crumbled a hermit into this vanilla greek yogurt snackeroo.

I definitely passed out for an hour or so after this.  As we all know, what goes up, must come down, and after my massive AM sugar high, I crashed hard!

Zzzzzz.

I woke up confused and groggy.  I wasn’t hungry at all, so I did some reading and (more) wedding crap.

OMJC! 

So rich they make the Donald jealous.  I savored each calorie in pure delight…I drooled a bit too, but that was from Joel, not the medjool/PB bombs.

 

Dinner was entirely unnecessary because I was in no way hungry, but I thought I should try to salvage what was left of the day by incorporating some greens and protein into my PM eats.

I scooped out half an avo into a bowl, added in some sprouts and shredded carrots, and mashed until it was all mixed up.

Then I piled it high on top of a toasted english muffin…

…with sliced up seitan cutlets on the side…HOLY YUM!!!

Fave meal alert!!  This was a filling dish.  The crunch of the carrots and sprouts combined with the creaminess of the avocado were freaking DE-lish!!

Still, dessert was a clear choice. 

Hermits!!

I’m already well over half-way through the box…eek!

Newman’s Own might be my downfall.  It’s so good, though.

Who would believe me if I said I didn’t finish the whole thing?  Nobody?  I thought so.  You know me well.

I was so full, Kyle had to roll me to bed.

May showers?

I thought the phrase was “April showers…” but apparently not.  Gotta love the Bay Area.  I felt like I was in New York because we had a non-stop drizzle the whole weekend interspersed with some serious downpour action. 

Saturday we woke up extremely early (again) for no reason other than lack of time zone adjustment. 

Since I was already up, I had a bowl of frothy coffee and a vanilla greek yog.  Then I did some errands with my pops, which took all of 5 minutes, but still earned me a coffee from Peet’s.  That got me really buzzing!  We also ran to a few different newsstands in town to pick up extra copies of the ContraCostaTimes since our engagement announcement was in the paper.  Just presh, I know.

 

FOr lunch, I polished off the last of the soup, along with far too many crackers.  Seriously, EVERY Trader Joe’s product is better than the last.  I have SUCH a weakness for TJ’s treats.  I ate the rest of the (above) sesame thins – which was approximately half the container (and most likely 25 servings) – and an apple.

Then I busted out the rest of the hummus from yesterday, and finished that off, with (you guessed it) MORE crackers.

Seriously?  Yes, I ate the entire box of Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil flavor (sooooo good), and a handful of the Rosemary & Olive Oil flavor.  I’d never tasted either before, because ordinarily I’d never buy Triscuits.  I have no moderation for such things, and without any self-control, it’s too $$ to keep stocked in our NYC apartment.  But at my parents house, the pantry is loaded with enough grub for WWIII and WWIV – a very dangerous thing. 

Not my ideal lunch, since it was about as balanced a meal as the latest pasta bread bowl from Domino’s. 

C’est la vie.  Right?  As Heather previously posted, this was one of those times when my snack-self overpowered my rational-healthy-eating-self, and the only thing to do is blog about it move on. 

Instead of exercising, I decided to chill on the couch in my food coma state while watching the Kentucky Derby.  Puh-leez, it was raining, who would want to go for a jog around the neighborhood when it’s wet and cold outside?  No thanks.

Eventually I showered and got ready for THE main event of the weekend…Elaine and Dave’s wedding! 

Gorgeous much?  She’s taken now!

My pics are a bit on the blurry side, but trust me, it was a beautiful ceremony, and the reception was a total blast. 

Calla lily cake!

Me and Kyle.                            Me and Lauren.

Me and Mrs. Ernst.

The first dance.                        Cutting the cake.

What a night – it was so much fun!!  Congrats again Elaine and Dave.  You guys are such an adorable couple!

Sunday morning started just as early.  Can’t a girl sleep in, geez! 

I had TJ’s spiced chai tea in the cutest mug and watched old school episodes of 90210.  Ideally, I think that’s how I’d spend all my weekend mornings.

Eventually the time came to get to the airport, so I packed everything up and off we went. 

Tips for meals on long flights:

• There is no such thing as over-packing.  I am far happier with having left-over food options than being forced to eat crappy chips because I’m starving and desperate.
• To get around the liquid rule, I use salsa, or black bean/green sauces from the condiment stand on my salads.
• Variety is the spice of life.  I try to give myself all sorts of choices, from salty to sweet to spicy because then I am less likely to cave and eat 500 of JetBlue’s mini-snack packs (this is something I have definitely done before and I left the plane feeling like ass).
• Fluids, fluids, fluids.  Hydration is key, even if it means stepping over your neighbor to pee every 15 minutes.  Flying is horrible and dehydration only makes it worse, especially if you are chomping down salty foods.

Here’s most of what I packed for the 6+ hour trek back home:

Bread with hummus + veggie slices + spinach + dried cranz

Sammie packed with yummy salty, sweet, and crunchy ingreds.

Leftover BBQ tofu + spinach/butter lettuce + multi-colored cherry tomatoes + dried cranz + carrots + snap peas

Additional treats: strawberry pom odwalla bar + apricot clif bar (and the obligatory starbucks run)

Thanks to The Celebrity Apprentice and my latest read, The Glass Castle, the flight wasn’t too bad.  More wedding talk, crosswords, yadda yadda…and finally, at long last (well past midnight), we made it home.

Still raining…sweet.

Wanna win stuff!  Gena’s first giveaway!

Happy 81st Walt

I don’t have AM pictures because we were out and about looking at wedding sites all over the Bay Area.  But let’s be real, you guys know exactly what I had (starbeezies)!

After conquering most of the places on our list, we headed to the store (it was already 2 pm).  I picked up this yummy soup at Trader Joe’s. 

When it’s raining outside, I crave soup – warm, thick, butternut squash deliciousness. 

Trader Joe’s is definitely a must when I’m visiting home.  The line (or lack thereof) at the Lafayette store is a breeze compared to Manhattan’s cluster f%&^ mob scene. 

I also had an Ezekiel english muffin, which was the perfect dipping device, and sopped up the soup like a sponge.  Mmmm.  Naturally I ended lunch with the apple slices – gotta have the crunch factor.

Since it was still raining, I nixed the possibility of exercising (as if it was ever a real option) and decided to go in the hot tub instead.

Can you imagine anything lazier better than lounging in a 100+ degree hot tub?  Spa time literally makes any weather tolerable…if ONLY we had this option in NYC.  I love being home :)

(It really was raining, even though you can’t tell in the pictures)

After our little R&R break, it was back to work.  Not wedding stuff, but cooking for my grandpa’s 81st birthday party. 

I love me a BBQ party.  Weather wasn’t a factor since we have a pavilion in the backyard providing shelter to the outside cooking area.

Here are some food and family pics from the rest of the night.  Minimal explanation needed.

3 types of hummus + 2 types of veggies – I all

There was also a brie/crackers platter – but there’s no photo because I’m a hater. 

My dad BBQ-ed some tofu and ‘shrooms for me (everyone else got chicken and rib eye).

 

Here’s my glorious plate, laded with salad, butternut squash risotto, fresh bread, and the BBQ goodies.

Here’s the real star of the event.  My mom made this baby from scratch. 

My sister and I didn’t plan to match. 

Do pictures get any cuter than this?  I don’t think so…

Chocolate-y heaven.  Eat your heart out.

The best part of the night was the wine.  I think I have mentioned my wino upbringing before.  My family has a vineyard in Sonoma run by my grandpa, and we had a very special bottle for tonight’s occasion.

1999 Quivira Zinfandel

The label was written shortly after my grandpa’s dog Zin Tin Tin died, so it has extra sentimental value…plus there were only 564 cases made. 

Peace out bloggies!

Product reviews

I’m writing this while stuck on a plane, half way across the country, bored out of my mind since The Office and 30 Rock have already aired and Kyle’s preoccupied with the Celtics/Bulls game.  Why not blog about some of the latest products I’ve tried?

I was a bit hesitant to try Raw Revolution’s Tropical Mango flavor, since my previous experience with the Chocolate Coconut was not so pleasant.  But I got over it (once I realized my presh odwallas and clifs were done-zo). 

This bar was EVERYTHING short of spectacular.  In no way would I recommend it.  Let’s just say, I should have listened to my inner voices and thrown it in the trash along with it’s brother way back when…

First of all, it was really small.  Second, the consistency was like the offspring of a larabar and a fruit chew (both great parents, I admit, but try to look beyond that part), instead, it’s like the two parents had a hideous demon of a child.  Like Bruce Willis and Demi Moore (sorry Rumor…but you know it’s true).

The bite missing from above ended up in the sink (I couldn’t even get to the trash soon enough)!?!  It had no real flavor at all which is why I had such a visceral reaction to the texture (there wasn’t much else to judge).  Plus I love the Clif bar’s apricot flavor SO much, I think this bar was doomed from the start.

Sorry Raw Revolution, you are 0 for 2.  And I don’t think I’ll be going for #3.

Next up we have Torani’s SF Hazelnut syrup.

This was a gift to me, but I only tried it once and now it’s on time-out in the unreachable part of the cabinets.  In it’s defense, I’m pretty picky about my coffee add-ins.  But I do like the Starbucks SF vanilla syrup, so I thought I’d give this a shot (never mind the fact that I don’t even LIKE hazelnut…).  Well, as I mentioned above, it was only used once, and I doubt it’ll get another shot.  I like my coffee like I like my men Kyle , strong with no fake shiz. 

I almost said nut-free, but then I realized that makes the analogy untrue    ;)

And now for the final product review…and this one is a GOOD one.

 

Ocean Spring’s Harvest of Heaven Mixed Fruits

I liked so much about these, I hardly know where to begin.  First off, the container is fun to open, it reminds me of a can of tennis balls. 

I was expecting a crunch similar to a banana chip, but they are lighter.  They are crispy without being airy (you know how some products have that empty feeling).  With these you feel like you are eating actual food, but it’s not as substantial as something like trail mix.  Basically it is the perfect thing for me on the subway ride home from work because I always want a snack that will tide me over until dinner but won’t ruin my appetite or make me angry that I wasted calories on an unhealthy snack right before dinner.  The nutritionals are great, and I could easily see myself buying these again and again and again (if I can find them).  I brought them on the flight and Kyle was LOVING them too.  There were several different kinds of fruit and I bet they would be good as add-ins to cereal or oats.  I’m so excited at the possibilities with this product.  A HUGE thanks to Missy for sharing this product and George at Ocean Spring for sending these babies my way.  I can’t wait to try the veggie ones now.