Heinz Beans In Tomato Sauce Review

Looking forward to a good day today. A good sign is that the skies are blue and the sun is shining.

Yesterday morning started off with gray clouds and rain, but despite that the day wasn't bad. I had the girls (Lexi & Mary) for a while. They were both in a good mood. It did seem quite hectic for a bit, with both of them running in all directions, but I managed to get their breakfast fixed, which helped to slow them down for a bit. I didn't get breakfast before they arrived, so mine was delayed. When I finally got around to fixing my own breakfast, I toasted the half of a cranberry bagel, spread on some light cream cheese and topped it with chopped dates, pumpkin seeds and a few chunks of walnut.

It was a good combination. Pumpkin seeds are a good source of vitamin K, as well as Omega 3, beta carotene and minerals like copper, zinc, magnesium and manganese. Those are just a few of their benefits. The dates are an energy booster and an excellent source of iron, both of which I think I need yesterday.

I also had 1 1/2 cups of  1/2 caff coffee. I added creamer & raw sugar to the first and a little peppermint cocoa mix to the 1/2 cup.

For lunch I tried one of the $2 cans of Heinz Beans in Tomato Sauce, I'd gotten from World Market

They are the vegetarian version of pork & beans.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/2 cup

Amount Per Serving
Calories from Fat 0
Calories 100

% Daily Values*

Total Fat 0g                                                    0%
      Saturated Fat 0g                                      0%
Cholesterol 0mg                                             0%
Sodium 440mg                                             18%
Total Carbohydrate 18g                                6%
      Dietary Fiber 5g                                    20%
      Sugars 7g    
Protein 6g    

Vitamin A 0%         Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 6%         Iron 10%
*    Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

I added a couple of Veggie patch veggie dogs to the beans. The beans taste pretty much like pork & beans without the pork.

Personally I prefer my own version of Porkless Beans, which I think had more flavor. After eating my own I thought the Heinz beans tasted sort of watered down.

They were good and will pass as a quick vegetarian option for meals and recipes, like homemade baked beans. I would like to think that they could be made & sold at a little cheaper price. They are hard to find in my area. They don't have them in regular grocery stores here, so I will probably stick to my recipe. I will give them 3 stars.

We finally had Zumba again last night, after having been off for 2 weeks. I have really missed it. I was very tired yesterday before Zumba. Reluctantly I took about an hours nap after lunch, which helped.
I had a salad for dinner before going to zumba. I did a repeat of the salad I'd had yesterday with iceberg lettuce, carrot, broccoli, dill pickle slices, fiesta blend shredded cheese, and French dressing. I also had the saltines on the side, but forgot the bacon bits.

I realized I'd forgot the bacon bits immediately, but I didn't bother to add them since I was also getting ready to go to Zumba while eating. I'm so glad I chose a salad for dinner, anything else may have been too heavy before a workout.

We had a great workout. I was afraid after having done nothing for two weeks, I would be feeling it this morning, but I'm good. When I got home I had a snack or maybe I should say a couple of snacks. First I had a little Muddy Buddy Chex mix while deciding on a snack.

Then I had a Friendly Farms Peach Greek yogurt, which by the way was very good and even better than the strawberry.

It gets 5 stars.

I also had some Cinnamon life, I'd nearly forgotten about....

...on top of my yogurt.

Later I had a few more of the Muddy Buddies. I watched the Victoria Secret Fashion Show; not much else on. I sorted and uploaded photos as usual. Well, not exactly as usual. They changed my photo storage a little and made it more of a pain to link to photos, but I managed. I also did some reading before bed and that was my day. I'm looking forward to an even better day today. Happy Wednesday!!!

Friendly Farms Strawberry Greek Yogurt Review

As promised, an early post. I'm getting this post up the night before, since I'll have a busy morning tomorrow. 

This morning I was feeling somewhat energized, unlike the last two mornings. I even made coffee, first thing.  I also helped myself to not two (as pictured), but 4 Hostess Gingerbread donuts. Having eaten two first, the last two looked so lonely in the bag, I couldn't bare to leave them (yeah, liked they'd rather be eaten than lonely). They were really good with coffee, half caff as usual, with just a little powdered cream & raw sugar. Oh and I did have another cup of coffee as well and as expected, I was very energetic today.

 I still haven't managed to get my tree up as I had planned, but I did get a few other thing accomplished, however. 

Lunch was sort of a repeat of the last few days meals. I had the last of the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and stuffing with some cheese melted over the potatoes and beans, just to change it up a bit.

As of today I am so ready for something different. It was good, but it's so much better when you haven't eaten it for a week.

I had a cup of Friendly Farms Strawberry Greek yogurt from Aldi for my afternoon snack. I've posted a photo of the label, the yogurt prior to stirring, and a photo of the yogurt after being stirred. Strawberry yogurt with fruit on the bottom is not my favorite particularly because the strawberries tend to be sort of brown, but this one was not so bad. The strawberries didn't exactly look fresh, but most were still a faded red with pink juice. 

 The yogurt was thick and quite similar to Chobani, which I love and if I remember correctly, I wasn't as impressed with Chobani's strawberries. The FF strawberry yogurt smelled really good and the nutritional info was very similar, with the Friendly Farms, actually having more Vitamin C and less sodium. I've posted the info for both, so that you can compare the two. I am giving FF 5 stars. I didn't find anything about it to dislike.

Nutrition Facts
Aldi Friendly Farms - Greek Yogurt - Strawberry (Non-Fat)

1 Serving - 6oz.
 
Calories     140     Sodium     50 mg
Total Fat     0 g     Potassium     150 mg
Saturated     0 g     Total Carbs     21 g
Polyunsaturated     0 g     Dietary Fiber     0 g
Monounsaturated     0 g     Sugars     19 g
Trans     0 g     Protein     14 g
Cholesterol     0 mg           
Vitamin A     0%     Calcium     15%
Vitamin C     8%     Iron     0%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Compare to Chobani

Another thing I loved about today's food was dinner. I had a sort of unusual combination of things in my salad. I used iceberg lettuce, carrot, broccoli, and dill pickle slices, to start off with and several saltine crackers on the side. 

I added a fiesta blend of shredded cheese to the top.

.......then came the French dressing and imitation bacon bits. I wasn't sure about how good it would be with the sweetness of the dressing and the sour pickles, but it was actually quite good and I would eat this type of salad again. It might also be good with a honey mustard dressing. 

Now I'm off to read, before it gets any later than usual. I've only gotten in a few pages lately, but I've already met my goal for year on Goodreads and I plan to set it a bit higher for next year. Have a good night/day!!! Happy Tuesday!

Cake And Coffee

I'm feeling a little more rested this morning. I didn't go to bed any earlier, but I suppose I slept better. Yesterday was a less than energetic morning. I wanted coffee, needed coffee, but was too lazy to fix coffee. I had a smoothie and don't ask me why, but making a smoothie does seem easier than making coffee. My smoothie was a pumpkin spice smoothie.

I added a little extra spice to this one.

 

The smoothie didn't quite give me the energy I needed. I was still too lazy to make coffee, so I made tea, Lipton Orange Passion Fruit Jasmine Green tea with wild flower honey, which helped give me a little boost.

For lunch I had TG leftovers again, mashed potatoes & green bean casserole + the pinto beans I'd opened the day before.

I added a little hickory grill seasoning to the beans just to change things up a little. I like them that way.

I still had my coffee craving later in the afternoon and I gave into it. I also gave into a piece of apple cake from the freezer, which I thawed while making the coffee. It was a good motivator for fixing the coffee.

The coffee was half caff. with powdered creamer and raw sugar. I made it almost black so that it would not add to the sweetness of the cake.

For dinner I just had the last of the leftover mac & cheese with the couple of spoonfuls of pinto beans that were left.

This was very filling.

After dinner I proceeded to procrastinate until it was later than it should have been to get started sorting and uploading photos, which caused me to be later getting to bed. I also insisted on reading a little before going to sleep, even though I was sleepy, despite having drank the coffee later in the afternoon. Luckily as I said earlier, my sleep quality was better than usual, though the quantity was lacking. I'll have to get myself in gear this evening. I'll be putting out an early post in lieu of the usually morning post, due to another busy morning. Happy Monday!!!

Movie Night

This morning is looking a little dreary with just a spot or two of blue sky peeping through the clouds. It seems that rain is on the way. Fortunately I don't have to go out in it. I plan to work inside the house today, since Sunday dinner is off. We're considering Thanksgiving our Sunday dinner this week.

Yesterday I started off the day with a new smoothie recipe. I am calling it my Cran Apple Orange Smoothie. I added half an apple plus some Cranberry Orange Relish to my usual smoothie ingredients. Once it's all blended there are tiny bits of orange, apple & cranberry, giving it some texture. It has a great flavor and I don't mind a less than smooth smoothie. It would probably be more smooth in a better blender, like the Vitamix, which I hope to have one day.

I had a bit of lunch before going to Lindsay's yesterday. We went over to help her get the house ready for Christmas and also for the new baby which will be here sometime in March.

For lunch I had the last of my spinach stuffed mushrooms and the spinach & feta salad with French type dressing.

I also ate the piece of apple pie I'd brought home after TG dinner. There was more there than I could eat and I wished I'd had some whipped topping. Apple pie just isn't the same without whipped topping, ice cream, etc.

 

We stayed a Lindsay's for a while and it was dinner time when we got home. I was trying to eat a little lighter yesterday than I did the day before. I think I did do better having had some salad for lunch and then again for dinner.

I had a MSF Garden Burger & leftover stuffing with my salad of iceberg, broccoli, carrot and ranch dressing.

I should have passed on the Russell Stover chocolate, since my pants are too tight, but I was weak and decided to indulge.

We also indulged in a movie. We watched "The Lincoln Lawyer" with Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, and also Trace Adkins. This is a movie where you need to stay focused, each part is important.  I really liked the movie and I gave it 4 stars.

After watching the movie and uploading pictures, I got a little reading in before bed, even though it was late. I haven't really had time to read lately. Maybe I can squeeze in some more today. I am more of a night reader though and my nights run too long without reading. I think I will be needing coffee today in fact I think I'll make a cup now. Happy Sunday!!!

Cran Apple Orange Smoothie Recipe

This smoothie is really good, but it does have a bit more texture than some smoothies, because of the fruit. I don't mind the texture (tiny bits of apple, orange & cranberry). The flavor is delicious.

 Ingredients

1/2 c. apple chunks w/ or w/o peel (approximately 1/2 medium apple)
1/4 c. cranberry orange relish
1/2 c. vanilla yogurt
1/2 c. milk (this might also be good w/ apple or cranberry juice)
1/4 c. old fashioned oats (you can grind oats in a coffee grinder first)
4-5 ice cubes

Directions

Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth or as smooth as possible. You could also use apple sauce in place of the apple. Enjoy!!

Eating Heavy Foods

I slept a little later than I'd planned. The alarm on my phone is not going off at the right time or I'm hitting the snooze and don't even realize it. Luckily I sort of realized it might be later than usual and I put my glasses on to look at the clock. It would be nice to have one I could see without them.

Yesterday morning was very similar to this morning. I wanted coffee, but was too lazy to fix it. I made another pumpkin spice smoothie and hoped that would be enough. It was enough to get me going, but not enough to keep me going.

I'd love to throw a graham cracker in just to make this feel more like a pie, but I didn't have any.

Once the smoothie wore off, I was feeling far less than energetic. I was still too lazy to fix coffee and I was afraid it was getting too late for caffeine, so I had lunch instead. There were lots of Thanksgiving leftovers.

I had part of a stuffed mushroom, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes with ranch dressing.

Lunch didn't make me feel any more energized. I did work on my living room, making a spot for my Christmas tree, afterwards I went for a piece of sweet potato pie. I still felt so sleepy and it usually gets worse in the afternoon.

Then I remembered that I had honey for tea, so I fixed myself a cup of orange, passion fruit, & jasmine green tea with wild flower honey. I really enjoyed it and the tiny bit of caffeine kept me going without keeping me up all night.

Another snack before dinner. I had 2 little rolls which I wrapped in foil and heated in my toaster oven, then I split them in two and topped them with some of the cranberry orange relish.

I ate a lot of heavy food yesterday and dinner was no exception. I think I do this mostly when I am tired. I had leftover stuffing and mac & cheese with some canned pinto beans seasoned with a little onion powder.

After taking this shot I added more bean soup and covered it all in black pepper.

I didn't feel like I'd eaten a lot of heavy food yesterday, but I feel like I did today. I still have leftovers, but maybe I can eat lighter today. We'll see how it goes. Happy Saturday!!

Turkey Turkey Turkey Day

Well, I'm not out shopping this morning. I don't care anything about camping out to get the best buy. It kind of ruins things for me to watch people run past you with a cart full of the latest toy, knowing they probably don't have 15 children or grand children, who want the same toy and that they'll probably be hoarding them up until a week or two before Christmas, so they can jack the price up and make a big profit from people who are desperate to get the most popular toy. I also don't care about hunting down the hottest product and paying whatever it takes to get it. So it won't be me filling the pockets of some Black Friday shopper with dollar signs in his eyes. What I enjoy is the day before Black Friday, when food and family come together and people are thankful for what they already have. We had an abundance of food and it was a day to be thankful for.

Turkey Day started off early, with plans to deep fry our turkeys and to help Mom get dinner together, we got up and got ready to go. I'd already made the dough for my rolls. Having rolled it out and placed it in pans, all I needed to do was preheat the oven this morning and throw them in to baked for about 20 minutes. 

We had breakfast a Mom's. I will warn you now, that I was completely scatter brained as usual and there are missing photos, but of course, people would be suspicious if I didn't miss taking a photo of at least one thing. There are still lots of photos despite missing a few things.

For breakfast we had scrambled eggs, angel biscuits, rolls, jams, jellies and my cranberry orange relish. They also had turkey bacon, which I didn't eat and I didn't get a picture of either.

This is one of the turkey shaped biscuits. Lynda made some of them into holiday shapes. 

 

  We had 3 turkeys for Thanksgiving. We deep fried two of them. Lindsay and Reese brought a big 16 lb. organic turkey and we brought a smaller one. It weighed 12 lbs. We injected both of them with Creole Butter . Mom & Lynda had the 3rd bird, a turkey breast already in their electric roasting pan when we arrived.

Dale & Lucas frying up the first bird.

They did the big turkey first.

Then ours.

Mom's was ready by then.

Cathy brought a big ham. There was no shortage of meat.

This is my un-bird in a bag. I had Gardein's Chick'n Scallopini, which I fixed in the microwave. They are really juicy, when you fix them that way.

We had stuffing, no meat here.

Mac & Cheese

Rustic mashed potatoes. This is how we like them, not whipped. I saw on Rachael Ray that they were called rustic.

Pasta salad

Green Bean casserole in the crockpot.

Crockpot corn casserole.

Cathy also brought a salad. I have no idea what the original name is, but it's spinach, red onion, feta cheese, bacon bits, and croûtons. We call it "stinky feet salad" because of the the feta and a comment made from someone who doesn't like it.

Cranberry Orange Relish. BTW it's almost gone this morning.

Cranberry sauce

On my plate I piled a stuffed mushroom (no other pic), green bean casserole, salad, mac & cheese, chick'n scallopini, CO relish, a piece of stuffing & a roll.

I was definitely full after dinner. Dessert came later. I had a bit of chocolate pie. I also had a small piece of sweet potato pie (no pic) while we were cleaning up to leave and I took home some of it along with a piece of apple pie (also no pic).

Cathy brought her big tree for Mom to put up and the kids got started decorating.

With Mary there was no need for hooks and hangers. She liked just laying the ornaments on the branches.

Lexi has always enjoyed decorating the tree.

It was such a nice day. The kids were even able to go outside and play in the sandbox.

For dinner #2, I had a little more of the "stinky feet salad".

It has a French type dressing.

I also had a cup of Arctic White Chocolate. I like this better than the usual hot chocolate.

It calls for water + the mix, but I used 2% milk for a creamier drink. It was good.

I was so tired last night. I was glad when I finally laid down. It didn't take long to go to sleep, one more thing to be thankful for. I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving day as much as I did. Happy Friday!!!