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My new favorite dessert

Have you tried Publix brand PeachMangoPassion sherbet? It is dee-licious! This tri-flavored sherbet is very creamy, it's pretty and the calories are decent, especially for such a rich-tasting experience. So far, I've just eaten it plain, but it would be good on a slice of angel food cake or with a couple of sugar cookies. Something like this would be perfect at a bridal or baby shower because it's so refreshing and the colors are so festive.

As far as the price? I don't remember, but it didn't seem inexpensive at the time.

I like the sherbet package because it's plastic and holds up better than cardboard packaging. (And, to appease the green people out there: I do plan to re-use the container!)

Give your tastebuds a lift!

Cucumbers weigh a lot!

I had a hankering for one of my favorite salads today at lunch: iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and ranch dressing. Yum!

Sticker shock hit me though at the checkout when I set my salad on the scale. The total came to $5.25. This was not a huge salad either; it probably would have fit on a medium-sized paper plate. I was surprised but too hungry to return it for something cheaper. The cashier explained, "Yeah, those cucumbers will cost you..." Who knew that cucumbers weighed so much!

A good snack

A good afternoon snack can be challenging! Anything sweet, and I completely lose my appetite for supper. I usually end up grabbing a hand full of smoked almonds about 4:30 in the afternoon. They are yummy, but even I who loves salt thinks they are a bit salty. Yesterday, on a whim, after I grabbed my little portion of almonds, I also added some raisins to the mix. Yum! It is delicious! The salty almonds combined with the chewy raisins will really perk up your taste buds! After several experiments, I've determined that one smoked almond with two raisins is the perfect ratio.

What about you? What is your perfect afternoon snack?

Yummy Arugula

I'm a fan of Arugula lettuce! A medium green color and very delicate looking, it makes a delicious salad and the leaves are a good size that don't require much cutting up. Add feta cheese, some sliced almonds and it's just a perfect lunch. My preferred dressing is an olive oil / red wine vinegar dressing that I first had at my friend Virginia's.

Believe it or not, if I have them on hand, I add Bacon Bits... the artificial kind. Did you know that they are actually quite healthy, being made primarily from soy? The crunch is their best part!

Do you like salads too? What are some good "extras" that you like to add to salad?

A salad dressing that will turn you into a salad eater!

The friend whose two little girls we kept a few weeks ago had a jar of salad dressing ready for us that we served with supper one night. Not including all the good times we had with the girls... this salad dressing was the highlight of my weekend! I asked her for the recipe, and although it exceeds my normal 3-ingredient limit, it's worth the trouble!

Miss Eloise's Italian Salad Dressing
6 T Olive Oil
1 garlic clove, mashed
2 T wine vinegar
Juice of one lemon
1 t salt
1 t pepper
1 T Parmesan cheese

Stir oil and garlic well. Discard bits of garlic. Add remaining ingredients and stir well.

This salad dressing will turn you into a salad eater!

A foolproof recipe

I asked my friend for a recipe for chicken thighs: she is a good cook, and Kroger had a sale going on for boneless, skinless thighs.

Her response, via email, is a foolproof recipe that even I can't mess up!

"Here is the easiest recipe in the world. I skin the chicken so it won't be so fatty. Arrange them in a baking dish so they are not touching but can be close together. Pepper and lightly salt the bottom. Flip them over and sprinkle a good bit (to your liking) of paprika on top. You can salt the top, too if you want but too much salt will make them dry. Put 2 tablespoons of water in the bottom of the pan and cover it with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 min at 350 (you'll need to check them since it may be more/less depending on thigh size and how many there are.)  I usually flip them over once during that time. If you want them not sweaty, take the cover off when they are close to done.)

Of course, I've been know to a) forget the water b) forget to flip them c) forget the temp (325? 350?) and forget they are in there (50 min!) but they always taste fine since they have so much moisture (read: FAT). So it's not an exact science...you can't ruin them. We eat them with Heinz 57 sauce!"

My beloved cookies - gone...

There are very few cookies that I deem worth the calories. I can count them on one hand, and now, there is even one fewer because Archway cookies recently and very suddenly went out of business. My favorite cookie was their Iced Molasses cookie; the icing was the best. (I love iced cookies!) When I searched for them tonight at the grocery store, it was sad. On top of that, there was no other iced-cookie option.

Cooks and entrepreneurs and out there: make and sell me a good iced cookie!

Delish!

I've been meaning to eat more yogurt these days but when I buy it, it tends to just sit in my fridge until past the due date. Then I pitch it. The dilemma has been whether to have it as dessert (and waste my opportunity for dark chocolate) or whether to have it for a late afternoon snack (and spoil my appetite). It's a big dilemma!

A week or two ago, I bought another round of yogurt. It was Dannon All Natural Vanilla yogurt. I took some to work today with a side of strawberries. Wow! It was delicious even by itself, without the strawberries. I could get hooked! Hmm, does Dannon makes a dark chocolate variety?

Do you like yogurt?

Another super fruit, but it doesn't come cheap

My friend commented in a previous blog that blueberries are also extremely beneficial to our health because of their anti-oxidants. I'd heard that before too, and even as I was reading the article, I wondered why they left off blueberries. After her comment, I vowed to add blueberries to my new superfruit regime.

By the way, here's the original blog entry: http://frannie.typepad.com/blog/2008/10/the-superfruits.html.

So, tonight I was in Publix, on a quest for blueberries. I found them but was shocked to see that they are $3.99 for a little bitty container. Even more surprising was the marketing sign that said, "Surprisingly low price." My goodness, how much are blueberries regularly priced? Frozen blueberries were also pricey. I ended up getting a bag of frozen blueberries for about $4. I hope they taste good.

Man, eating healthy is expensive!

The super fruits

According to an article on WebMd, we should eat more super fruits: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/new-superfruits

If you don't want to go to the article, here is the list of the recommended super fruits.

1. Figs - contain lots of calcium and potassium
2. Lychee - Their antioxidants may prevent breast cancer.
3. Guava - Chock full of wrinkle-preventing vitamin C
4. Asian pears - You can get almost half your fiber from one Asian pear.
5. Papaya - Helps with digestion; and used topically, a papaya will speed a burn recovery!

Unless a fig newton counts, I don't think I've ever had any of the above fruit. I'm going to change that the next time I'm grocery shopping.

My favorite fruit is honeydew, although I rarely buy it because it's such a hassle to cut up. But honeydews are so sweet and delicious!

What about you: what's your fave fruit? And can you recommend any of the above super fruits?