Oh Trader Joe's, I Love You So!

Sharing some yummy things I've come up with in the past few days, with Trader Joe items:  

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter
This is delicious! I think that even if you're not a pumpkin flavor fan, you'll enjoy this pumpkin butter. It's not overly pumpkin-y, and not too sweet. I just picked up the jar and tried it for the first time the other day. This will be a staple in my kitchen.


Cookies
Trader Joe's Gluten Free Ginger Snap Cookies
Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter

Spread some pumpkin sauce on top of a ginger snap. Snazzy and elegant treat!  
Fruit compote with Pumpkin Butter
Sliced banana
Sliced peach
Chopped walnuts
Pumpkin butter.

Put all the above in a bowl. Drizzle pumpkin butter, and enjoy. Very tasty desert.



Pasta with Tomato and Lemon Alfredo Sauce
1 Jar Trader Joe's Alfredo Sauce
Trader Joe's spiral brown rice pasta
 Sliced lemon
1/2 small can tomato sauce
Red pepper flakes
Parsley
Oregano,
basil,
black pepper to taste
Cherry tomatoes, halved

 I use the rice pasta or corn pasta because I try to avoid gluten as much as possible, but any type pasta will be fine. Heat contents of Alfredo sauce in sauce pan. Add half can tomato sauce, tomatoes, spices. Squeeze in lemon juice to taste. Pour over cooked pasta.

Research: A Tsp. of Aloe Daily Reverses Signs of Skin Aging

Research: A Tsp. of Aloe Daily Reverses Signs of Skin Aging | GreenMedInfo | Blog entry | Natural Medicine | Alternative Medicine | Integrative Medicine | Consumer Advocacy

They say drinking aloe vera juice daily is especially good for banishing wrinkles. I'm on it!

Seven Year Old Girl Bullied for Being Star Wars Fan; Fans Give Support

Seven year old girl was being bullied at school for loving Star Wars, and having a Star Wars water bottle because Star Wars is "for boys." Amazing little girl: she's adopted, and has had to go through some difficult things in her short life, but she has a strong spirit. Star War fans in the cyber world sent their support, and for the rest, read here: Internet rallies behind teased Star Wars girl

More Adventures in Grocery Land

Jim and I were just at Target. The cashier was ringing up our items, then all of a sudden she asks Jim "What's your birthdate?" Jim says, very nicely but confused (as was I) "Why do you need to know my birthdate?" She said "Because of the wine, we have to ask." (Among our items was a bottle of red Zin; Gnarly Head)  We both cracked up and I said (nicely, like anyone would know that was a needless question to ask) "That's ridiculous," but she didn't get it, in fact, looked offended. The people in line behind us were making jokes too.

At first, when she asked us, we thought it was some weird Big Brother thing, like places that ask for your zip code and phone number and stuff. It never occurred to us that buying wine would be an issue.

I understand that state law probably requires cashiers to ask someone's age if they appear to be under 25 or 30 or something. But where's the common sense? Here's a picture of my darling Jim:

Does he look like he's over 21? LOL.

In the Grocery Store: Snarky Cashiers and Grabby Baggers

There's one market we shop at every week; it's like a Whole Foods but that's not the name of the store. And like most places now, you're encouraged to bring in your own bags and get a few cents off for each bag you bring in.

Every time we go in there, we bag our own groceries. We do this because we've had such awful experiences with the people who bag; it's incredible! One of our own bags is an insulated cooler type bag; which would tell anyone with a brain that perishable items go there. But nope, they'll toss any old thing in there. They might put, say, the fish in there but then on top of that, they'll put tomato cans. Speaking of cans, they also put all the cans in one bag, all the glass bottles in another, etc.

So instead of coming off like uptight mean people, (because no matter how nicely you might say something to the person bagging your groceries, they take it the wrong way...) we gave up and just started bagging our own groceries.

A typical encounter goes like this:

I set up the bags at the end of the counter. Person comes over to start bagging, or the clerk will start to bag. I'll say, very cheerfully, very friendly, something like "Oh, thank you, but we'll bag our own stuff," and sometimes make a joke or something. Almost always, the clerk will say something like 'OH, well, by all means..." super sarcastically. I've had the baggers just stomp off! What kind of customer service is that?

To top it off, I've had baggers come over when I'm done, and I'm putting the bags in the cart, and the person will take a bag from out of my hand!!!! and put it in the cart. I'll say, "I have it thanks," but they ignore me. Ignore me! They either stomp off again, or act all offended.

I don't want to be rude but next time some clerk or bagger cops an attitude about me, the paying customer, bagging my own damn groceries, I'll tell them why it's so. Because you all don't know how to bag stuff using common sense.

A random thought on foodiness

It occurs to me sometimes that my rather unhealthy obsession with food stems back to childhood.  Not in the way most would think though.  I grew up mainly living with my grandmother, who on Christmas or Easter, could be a great cook.  However the rest of the time our meals were totally dull and easy -- some sort of meat, baked potato and some sort of canned vegetable.  To this very day -- I can't force down more than a bite of canned veggies.  This is also true -- I was around 12 years old (whenever kids stop getting kids meals at restaurants) before I EVER had a salad and only then because I was served one with a meal at a restaurant.  After that I wanted salad all of the time and this seemed to totally shock my grandmother.  There were lots of foods we just never had, like ethnic foods.  Even pasta, except for mac and cheese, was something we never had.  Once I became an adult I realized there was a whole world of food out there that I had never been given and that were totally delicious!  I blame that for turning me into such a foodie, kind of like I am making up for lost time.  :-)  Luckily, for most of my life I had an incredibly high metabolism.  I could easily out eat my sister's 200+ lbs husband without blinking an eye and without gaining an ounce -- God, I miss those days!  I know that I am over 40, but this new waistline totally depresses me at times, but at least I can blame it on Grandma.

7 Reasons You're Still Overweight (and How to Get Slim Fast)

7 Reasons You're Still Overweight (and How to Get Slim Fast) on Yahoo! Health

#7. Overweight people skip breakfast.
A simple habit, but missing this crucial meal raises your risk of obesity by a whopping 450 percent! Start your day with some lean protein and fiber—which will jumpstart your metabolism and keep you full. (An egg sandwich is actually a great choice.)

I keep hearing this and so I guess I will try to start eating breakfast. I have never eaten breakfast, except for when I am on vacation, which for some reason makes me extra hungry. Even as a child my grandmother would cook these huge breakfast meals with hash browns, bacon, eggs, toast and I would take about two bites and feed the rest to the dog. I am not hungry when I have just got up from sleep, it normally takes at least 2 hours.

Evolving Diet Thoughts

So it occurred to me at the grocery store today, it isn't that I eat a lot - it is what I eat that is the problem. Most days I have 1 meal, instead of three meals I snack a lot. Normally my snacks are more fattening than my meals. My favorite being salami, yogurt with mint (and/or sometimes cheese) and crackers (triscuit hint of salt) or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Also, add lots of chocolate throughout the day and anything else that is easy to grab like crackers (luckily I have never cared much for potato chips, unless they are BBQ which I rarely buy). So anyway I thought to myself that I will never eat more healthy and less fattening unless those healthy snacks are easy to grab, which means I always need a lots of washed and cut fresh veggies and fruit, ready for me to grab and eat. So that is what I did when I returned from the grocery, washing and cutting -- ready for when I get hungry.

I also bought some Boca burgers. I have never really minded those. They don't taste like a hamburger and anyone that tells you they do are lying, but they don't taste bad. I also found these amazing buns -


I have never really cared for big thick buns anyhow and these only have 100 calories, which is less than half of a regular bun and less than a wheat pita pocket or whole wheat tortilla. I haven't eat one yet, but I took a nibble and they seemed tasty.

All that said, somethings I consider outside the realm of diet. For example, when we go out to dinner (which we don't do very often, once a week at most) I will eat whatever I want. If I make myself feel too deprived this will not work. I will do my best to stay away from white at home and to make the less fattening choice, so long as it is bearable. There are some low fat things that are unbearable - mayo and cheese come to mind. I would rather have neither if I have to do the no or low fat alternative. I also stay away from most things that are not naturally low fat because often they have aspartame sweetner or something equally as bad. If I wanted to eat formaldehyde I would just buy some. Also, I am convinced that the stuff they call margarine is really just whipped plastic. Although, there is a yogurt spread (that I will start buying again) that is pretty tasty and all natural.

So those are my updated plans. We will see if they do any good.

Diet Dummy

For most of my life I was one of those rare and lucky women that could eat whatever I wanted and not gain an ounce. As a result, I have never learned anything about dieting. I don't know how many calories someone is suppose to have and I totally have no clue about this "points" system that people talk about.

A few months back I read about Jennifer Aniston's diet, which is simply that she doesn't eat white food -- that I could understand. I noticed that Rapunzel over at In Pursuit of my Inner Pin-up also seems to follow this. I am sure like all diets it isn't as easy as it sounds, but it sounds easier than counting calories or points. I don't buy white bread, except tortillas, but I rarely eat those. I am going to guess my biggest problem will be the no potato part. I love them in any form, mashed, baked, fried and I like to put more white stuff on them, like sour cream, butter (is butter considered white?), gravy and sometimes ranch dressing. Still, at least I can understand the basic concept of it. Best of all, by those guidelines white wine is out (which I don't like anyway) and red wine is perfectly fine!

So anyhow, that is my plan because so far over the last 6 months (most of which I worked out pretty regularly during) I haven't lost a pound, in fact, I gained 2.

BTW, Rapunzel also has a yummy sounding veggie recipe on her blog that I am dying to try!

Not a resolution, but...

I have now not had a cigarette in 8 hours. I know that doesn't seem like much to non-smokers, but it is to me. It isn't a new years resolution (I hate those) it is a coincidence that it happens to be new years. Last week when we were in Taos Ski Valley, there were very few places we could smoke and all of them were outside where it was freezing. So during that time I got down to about 6 cigarettes per day and it really wasn't that hard or bad. So I have been thinking about that and decided to try to quit once again and just maybe this time I won't fail. Really, you would think that watching my older sister die of lung cancer should be enough to make me quit because it was a really horrible death and not the way I would like to die if there is any way I might prevent it. Not to mention that I am genetically prone to have heart problems, though to my knowledge my heart is in pretty good shape.

However, just to warn you - it is quite likely that I will be posting a lot about food. Yep, even more than I do. As I look back on my vacation status updates at facebook they totally revolved around food because I was hardly smoking and I also am a foodie. :)

Kind of girlie stuff

For those of you from other parts of the country and world -- that is a Navajo Taco. That one is fry bread with beans, lettuce, tomato and cheese. Normally they also contain ground beef and red chili rather than green, but I prefer no meat with green. Fry bread is a wonderful thing. Luckily it is not something you find everywhere, not even in NM. Aside from the tacos it is yummy with just honey. If you have ever had a sopapilla, it is like that only not as puffed and much bigger.

Anyhow, we spent part of the day at the Wild West Antique Show, at the fairgrounds. That is kind of a girly thing, but plenty of men like antiquing -- including mine.

Normally I like to buy trade beads at this annual show, but since I haven't beaded in ages -- I bought nothing other than food. Oh, I still would have bought beads if I found any really unique trade beads, but I didn't. A couple years back I bought a strand of rattlesnake rattles and I still need to make those into something because they are awesome!

Britton talked me into sitting on a bull to have a photo taken. Actually, I am glad he talked me into it because it was fun and I can now say that I have rode a bull. :-)

Free eclairs at the health club!

So after 5 days of swimming a few other activities I finally weighed myself again. I was happy to discover that I had lost 3 lbs! However, I then stayed for the "tennis party" and probably gained it all back. Yes, there at the health club they had trays of fattening food. Seafood salad, chicken salad, veggies with ranch dip and so on. Worst of all though, they had these fabulous dessert trays with one of my favorite things - eclairs! I had a chocolate one and a caramel one, oh, and a fruit torte too. Mind you, they were about 1/3 the size of regular eclairs and tortes (maybe even smaller), but likely I should have only had one. Did I mention the wine? Bottles and bottles of it. I probably drank down 3 glasses before we left. No, I didn't bother to weigh myself again. :-)