Gardein Chipotle Lime Crispy Fingers Review

I'm am so late getting this post done. I've not really been in the blogging mood lately. It seems like I have more I want to do than I have time to get done, not to mention that I am so easily sidetracked (Pinterest mostly). Well, if you know me or have been reading my blog, you have probably resigned yourself to this quirk of mine. I, however, have trouble excepting it, constantly trying to improve without any real change. Oh, well.

As for yesterday, I had coffee and what I refer to as an egg salad quesadilla, which is just egg salad that is spread onto a tortilla and then placed in the toaster oven to crisp it up a little. It was pretty good.

In case you haven't noticed, I've been on a coffee kick lately. It has been mostly decaf though, which kinda sorta sucks. I've still been using Melatonin off and on for sleep. I had a few FL Oreos with my second cup of the day.

Not only did I have 2 cups of coffee yesterday, I also had 2 quesadillas. My second was for lunch. It was a Tofurky and cheese quesadilla. I layered the Tofurky peppered deli slices with shredded colby and a slice of American cheese, which I'd broken up and distributed evenly over the deli slices. I topped everything with some red & green pepper and onion combined with oil, salt, garlic, & cumin, which I'd micro-waved until tender. Then I place another tortilla on top and toasted it in my toaster oven until it was all hot & melty.

I dipped the quesadilla wedges in some salsa. It wasn't quite as good with the salsa for some reason.

Lucas and I went to the grocery store before dinner to pick up a few things. He and I got us both a Sour Melon Powerade, our favorite flavor. I drank half and saved the rest for today.

I also picked up some Gardein Chipotle Lime Crispy Fingers.

 They look really good, except for the spots where the breading stuck to the pan. They are a little spicy, but not bad. I wasn't particularly crazy about these. The breading was crispy sort of. It had a kind of cornmeal crunch, but it was all crispy. There was more breading than I liked, of course the breading had all the flavor, which was mostly just the spice. I felt the need to eat each bite with the Mahatma yellow rice or the salad. I don't think I'd care to eat the crispy fingers alone. For that reason, I am only giving these 2 stars. The Gardein Chick'n Scallopini is so much better. They are my favorite.

The yellow rice and the salad were delicious. Lucas even ate one of the crispy fingers to try. He said it was better than he'd expected but was still not crazy about them either. He liked the texture. He said it was firmer than the cheap chicken nuggets the grand babies eat. Maybe I will get the plain Gardein Crispy Tenders next or their Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick'n. 

Now, I am going to see if I can do a few of things that delay my blog. Have a great day!!!

Birdseye Lightly Sauced Mushroom & Green Bean Risotto Review

I could have kept right on sleeping this morning if my alarm hadn't went off, if the phone hadn't rang, and if the dogs hadn't been ready to go out & then have their breakfast. It's hard to make big changes in routine, when everything around you doesn't make the change as well.

Yesterday was pretty much the same, except I'd had a little less sleep and I'd gotten my blogging done the night before. I got a late start on my post last night because we made a late run to the store and because we found a lost dog in our front yard. Luckily it had a collar with a name & phone number to call.

For breakfast yesterday, I had an everything bagel from Panera's. Grocery store bagels just don't compare to real bagels. It's been a little while since I'd had one. I use to buy the ones from the grocery store, but they just aren't quite the same. There's nothing like a good everything bagel spread with light cream cheese.

 

I also had an orange. I've been craving oranges lately.

 

I had a nice strong cup of Lipton orange, passion fruit, & jasmine green tea with honey.

I had leftover mac & cheese that I'd fixed for the girls with some steamed broccoli.

I sprinkled it all with a little Worcestershire sauce. Boxed mac & cheese just isn't quite as good this way, but I love eating homemade mac & cheese like this.

I had a piece of cheese cake from the freezer topped with a dark chocolate caramel sauce made from a couple of pieces of my Christmas candy and a little milk.

For dinner I had Birdseye's Steamfresh Lightly Sauced Mushroom & Green Bean Risotto.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/2 package (142g)

Amount Per Serving
Calories from Fat 25
Calories 170
 % Daily Values*
Total Fat 2.5g     4%
      Saturated Fat 1.5g     8%
      Trans Fat 0g    
Cholesterol 10mg     3%
Sodium 430mg     18%
Total Carbohydrate 33g     11%
      Dietary Fiber 1g     4%
      Sugars 2g    
Protein 5g    

Vitamin A 2%         Vitamin C 4%
Calcium 6%         Iron 0%
*    Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

I had extra frozen green beans & a Gardein Chick'n Scallopini patty with the risotto. I don't think I've ever eaten risotto, but this was pretty much like rice with cream of mushroom soup, a few mushroom slices and a couple of green beans, which I assumed would be good.

I wasn't impressed. I'm not sure if it is because it is risotto or because the mushroom sauce isn't that great, but I don't think I will buy this again. It had a taste that I didn't particularly care for. I ate it, I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it. It had sort of a powdery or floury taste or something. I'm not sure exactly, but it wasn't working for me. I gave the risotto only 2 stars. The green beans and the scallopini were great though.

I had a blood orange Chobani yogurt for dessert. I'll have to make another trip to Bi Lo for more of these.

I guess now I will get this posted and get on with my day. I still haven't quite finished my rearranging, so I will see if I can get that finished up. Have a great day!!!

Brunch & Dinner

I feel a little more rested this morning than I did yesterday morning. I didn't sleep well the night before, I assume because of my caffeine overdose (too much coffee). Luckily I didn't have to keep the girls as early as I had thought. I was up at 5am, went back to bed at 6:30, slept until 8am, only to find out that I wouldn't have the girl until 12. I went back to bed.

When I got up around 10:30, I fixed brunch. I made a potato, egg, & cheese sandwich. I used one of my multi grain sandwich rounds from the freezer along with a hash brown patty. I browned the hash brown in the toaster oven while I scrambled an egg with chopped pepper and onion. I also topped the hash brown with a slice of sharp white cheddar and taco sauce.

A little salt and pepper and I was in business. It was yummy!

I had a red velvet brownie, as well, minus the icing. I decided to skip the icing.

I had made coffee, but forgot about it until after the brownie was gone. It would have been better with coffee, but isn't everything better with coffee.

The day went pretty well. I got my coffee in before the girls arrive. Lexi was very good the whole time. She discovered games on my ipod. Oh, how I love my ipod. Mary was the one who kept me busy. My legs were so ready for a break when she finely took a nap.

I still haven't gotten my tree decorated. I did work on the branches. Those of you who have ever had a cheap tree, know that you have to do this or it looks rather scrawny. I still have a branch or two to position & shape. Maybe I can get a few decorations on today. I'll also be waiting on the phone man. If you've been following me on Twitter you may have saw where I was discussing my internet problems. Fingers crossed, right?

For dinner I had WW Smart Ones Three Cheese Ziti Marinara with a Gardein Chick'n Scallopini as a sort of chicken Parmesan.

I used a little tomato sauce with Italian seasoning, salt, & garlic to go on top of the scallopini, along with Parmesan cheese. I would have preferred an Italian blend of shredded cheese on top, but you use what you have. It was still pretty good.

Well, that was my day and I really to need to get started on this one. Comments and subscribers welcome! Don't forget you can follow me on Twitter as well. Happy Thursday!!!

From The Freezer

I am afraid I will never be a morning person. I would love to wake up, all chipper & cheery, ready to greet the day, but that just isn't me. I'm not really in a bad mood when I was up, but I would really rather sleep a few more hours. I think it would help if I knew I had some place to go.

Usually after I finish up with the blog, even though I'm starving, I still fool around on the computer for another 30 minutes to an hour. Why? I don't know. My smoothie yesterday was mixture of what fruit I had left, some blueberries, strawberries, & a few slices of frozen banana.

 

It's mostly berries. I usually just throw what I have in a one cup measuring cup. Almost full to full works. I then just add the usual amounts of everything else.

 

I've been trying to eat food out of my freezer since lately it seems to stay packed. It's had to open the door without something falling out. It seems like everything we buy lately goes in the refrigerator. My refrigerator is pretty much the same as my freezer. I am constantly have to rearrange things to fit something in and I always have to do a clean out before buying groceries or for Sunday dinner leftovers. My vegetable drawer is brimming and what is suppose to be a meat draw usually holds leftovers or extra vegetables. 

I did pretty good eating out of the frig yesterday, though. I had the leftover rice with spinach & tomato as well as the corn out of the frig and a Gardein Chik'n Scallopini to go along with it.

 

I added a little butter to my corn, but it had melted away while I was taking photos.

I also had a piece of apple cake out of the freezer for dessert. It's really good frozen on a hot day. It's one of those things that will never see the back of the freezer.

 

You know when you're search for things in the freezer and you find things in the back that you'd completely forgotten about. Well, this won't be one of them.

 

I need to get a large cooler and really go through my frig and clean out everything that has accumulated. You know all the bottles of sauces & condiments, like jellies, salad dressing & such, that you buy to try, that wasn't really that good or that was passed on to you by someone else because they didn't like it and you didn't either. Well, I think that may be what I'm dealing with, so I may go through and get rid some stuff as badly as I hate throwing stuff out. It needs to be done, I'm afraid.

To make things worse we went to the grocery store. I didn't really need anything except for more yogurt and fruit. I didn't buy anything for the freezer, even though I wanted to. I didn't buy anything for the refrigerator, except the yogurt. So, I did pretty good. 

For dinner, I had Amy's Vegetable lasagna. I had both the light and the regular version. I chose the regular, but after stepping on the scales this morning, I think I should have gone with the light. It was really good though. I was sort of surprised. Amy's usually does better at Mexican type dishes and some of the others I've tried haven't been so good, but this one gets the thumbs up. Hopefully the light version will too. I'll let you know.

 

I had a slice of everything bread buttered and toasted to go with my lasagna. I thought about a salad but wasn't feeling all that hungry. I guess I should have just done half of the lasagna and bread with a small salad, but you know my salads are never all that small.

 

The sauce on this was very good. I scraped the sides, lol.

 

Later I kept craving something sweet, so I was good and just had a gala apple, which was probably a good thing since I now over my weight limit. I usually allow myself to fluctuate a little. It used to be a fluctuation between 1 & 10lbs., but I've been inching forward until lately it's been between 7 & 10, but today was eleven and I've got to get it back into my comfort zone. 

 

Well that's all folks! On to the rest of my day. Happy Tuesday! I can't wait until this evening. It's Zumba day! Yay!

Pasta Salad Saturday

Up this morning after a late night. I've still got lots to do today. I'll be posting 2 recipes today as well as a post for yesterday.

For breakfast yesterday I had a cinnamon roll and an apple. Fried apples poured over it would have been nice, but I didn't think about it then.

I like to warm mine a little, but Lucas just eats his cold. Straight out of the oven is best.

For lunch I swiped some of Dale & Lucas' leftover spaghetti noodles. I used them to make some vegetable lo mein. I stir fried some mixed vegetables, added some Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame dressing, soy sauce, garlic, & ginger and I had veggie lo mein. I also heated a Gardein Chick'n Scallopini patty to go with it. I really enjoyed it.

 

The noodles tasted very similar to the ones you get in the restaurant. The sauce had a hint of sweetness sort of like what they serve.

 

I had 2 kinds of pasta salad to fix for Sunday dinner. The pics may come as an update if I don't get this post out quickly. I waited to take the photos this morning when the light is better.

#1 Creamy Dill Pasta Salad

#2 Italian Pasta Salad

I had a chocolate monkey smoothie for dinner, minus the chocolate. Yummy & delicious, I could drink it while fixing the salads and I had vanilla yogurt to use up as well as banana which, I've had to freeze a few.

 

This is my goodwill purchase from yesterday. Ooooh, bright yellow, right? Well, I figure the color didn't much matter as long as it would suck up man dirt and dog hair, my two worst enemies, but it would even do that.....at first.

Luckily I've been well versed in redneck engineering over the past 25 years. I figured out that since the motor did run, something had to be causing it to lose suction. It wasn't a clog, so I looked for an anything unusual and found an opening on the bottom. I Googled the model number etc. and checked it out and sure enough, there was suppose to be an access door there, making it easy to clean out clogs. Unfortunately it was missing and the part with S&H would cost another $10-$15, which I'm not willing to spend. 

I was time for some redneck engineering. I cut a sour cream lid down to fit the opening and put some painters tape on to secure and seal it. I tried it out and voila, a working vacuum.

 

It doesn't have the best suction, but it serves the purpose and I don't think that has anything to do with the missing door. It was after all just a cheap vacuum to begin with.

I was a couple of minutes late getting today's post out. I'm hoping the email subscribers receive their anyway, but if not, sorry. Happy Sunday everyone! If you're celebrating the 4th today, enjoy your day and be safe!!

Gardein Buffalo Wings Review

Not fully awake this morning. I stayed up late, watched tv, & worked on the blog so that I wouldn't have much to do this morning, only to wake and find blogger didn't save any of my work. They are really pissing me off. It really might be worth starting over to switch to Wordpress.

Yesterday I had a Strawberry Fit & Active Fruit & Cereal Bar for breakfast. I was hungry and didn't want to wait until after my post, so I grabbed one of these instead. This is more of an emergency breakfast. I don't think I would want this otherwise. It was too sweet and for some reason, I'm just not a fan.

I had my Chinese dinner leftovers for lunch. As leftovers the broccoli in garlic sauce lost something. It just wasn't as good the next day. It didn't seem to have as much flavor and the rice as sort of dried out a little. I sprinkled the rice with a little water before heating to remedy the dryness, and sprinkled the broccoli with a little lite soy sauce to cure it's ailment. Maybe I'll ask if I can get a little extra sauce next time.

 

I had a piece of lemon meringue pie for dessert.

 

I love this pie, but it is rich. The lemon is tart and the meringue is sweet. I needed water with it, so that I could eat the whole thing, even with the tart lemon, I was in sugar overload.

 

We went to Bi-Lo yesterday and I found these Gardein Classic Style Buffalo Wings (meatless of course), since I loved their Scallopini and I love spicy, I decided to try them. Their are 10 nugget sized pieces (maybe a little larger) in the bag, which is about 2.5 servings according to them and only 2 according to me. This makes them a little more expensive than the Scallopini, which gives you 4 servings for about the same price. I forget the exact price, but it's around $3.50-$4.00 depending on where you buy. 

The buffalo wings come frozen, unseasoned in the bag with a buffalo wing sauce pouch, so that you can adjust the heat, which is good. This sauce is spicy and unless you are a glutton for punishment, you won't need more than half for them all. I decided to fix them all. I put them in a skillet with a little oil, because they do tend to stick when they start to brown. I browned them a little and added some of the sauce. I didn't use a lot this time, but they could have used a little more. I had 3/4 of the pouch left. I didn't go too spicy, but after eating them, thought, I should have.

 

I had the wings with some sweet potato tots and my creamy cucumbers and broccoli for which I am posting the recipe. It was originally just cucumber w/ onion, but I had broccoli to use along with some bell pepper and it all went very well together, of course if I'd have red bell instead of green it would have looked better or maybe some purple onion. The important thing is I have some green on my plate.

 

 These were yummy, although, I may just buy the Scallopini, cut it up and put some hot wing sauce on it, which would be about the same for less money. I'm posting a pic of the nutritional facts for the wings at the bottom because the picture was awkward to fit into everything. I may edit it with some the better later on. I have a had a dead line and this one was quick. Now, I'll be off. Happy Sunday!! Enjoy your day!