Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Food Review: Mint OREO Fudge Cremes

These are gross. Let me tell you why:
  1. They left one of the chocolate cookies off.
  2. The fudge creme makes the chocolate cookie a little soggy.
  3. There's too much chocolate flavor and not enough mint.
All in all, this is a poor excuse for a cookie. The lack of crunch was the worst part.

I'm always looking for ways to get that Thin Mint experience during the off-season, but thinking that Mint OREO Fudge Cremes would be a good substitute was a mistake. What was I thinking?!?

I'm actually going to throw the box out. I don't know if I've ever done that with chocolate/cookies. (So trust me on this: Save your money for a different chocolate-y treat!)

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Everybody Likes a Parfait!

Donkey was right about parfaits: Everybody likes them! And you know what? I have found the perfect ingredients for one. :)

I use variations of three ingredients:
Low-fat vanilla yogurt
I use low-fat vanilla yogurt (preferably Kroger brand) because it's a little more tart than regular vanilla yogurt or non-fat yogurt. I like it because it gives anything a little kick!

Granola cereal
Granola cereal is best for parfaits because there are biggish chunks that make the granola extra crunchy. (I like the Kroger brand for this, too.)

Fruit
I used to use fresh blueberries almost exclusively. Then I switched to fresh strawberries. Today I discovered that frozen fruit is divine in parfaits. The bit of juice you get in frozen fruit provides a nice syrupy texture that gives the parfait a cobbler feel. Right now I'm using Kirkland's Trader Farms Triple Berry.*

So basically, just layer each ingredient on top of each other. I don't put too much effort into creating multiple layers. Usually, I just scoop some yogurt into a Tupperware container, throw a large handful of berries on top, sprinkle about a third of a cup of granola cereal on top of that, and finally, add a few more heaping spoonfuls of yogurt on the very top. Then I put the lid on the container and let the parfait sit in the fridge for a few hours.

In my opinion, those last two steps are crucial. At least some of the granola cereal has to be touching a layer of yogurt. Then, when you let the parfait sit in the fridge for a while, the granola gets a bit soft and chewy. But because it's granola cereal, some of the granola chunks stay crunchy. In the end, you get a sort of tart cobbler concoction -- but it doesn't have ice cream! So it's healthy!

Try making a parfait my way! I promise that you won't regret it!


*"But, Sara?" you ask. "What's a marionberry?" I know, I know -- I wondered, too! Let's let Wikipedia tell us: marionberry.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Eat a Peach!

Better yet, eat a peach while listening to Eat a Peach! (Boy, those Allman Brothers knew what they were singing about!)

Seriously, though. Peaches are wonderful this season. I've had a peach almost every day for the last couple of weeks! You'd think I'd be tired of them, but I'm not! Because they're so good! There's almost nothing worse than a bad peach (Okay, there are a lot of things worse than a bad peach), but there is almost nothing better than a good one! (And that is true!)

I have just been eating peaches plain, but my mom always uses them to make peaches 'n' cream. You just dice a peach, put it into a cereal bowl, sprinkle a bit of sugar on top, and pour milk and a little whipping cream into it. It's basically peach cereal. I may or may not add a little extra cream . . . which makes it sort of unhealthy . . . But it is so good! In fact, I may have peaches 'n' cream for breakfast tomorrow!

Eat a peach!*


*But don't eat an apple. In my opinion, apples are sub-par this year. What happened?