Veggie Cuisine Indian Style Masala Review

I didn't get a lot accomplished today, but I do feel more rested this evening. I still felt sort of tired when I got up, but not that bad. I really just felt sort of lazy, like my get up and go, got up and went, not like I needed to go back to bed. I went straight for the cereal bowl instead of the coffee maker. I had a bowl of cinnamon roll mini wheats, which I nearly forgot I had. 

I did not skip coffee, but I did take my time making it. I did make half caf. intending to get a few things done, but I just vegged out today, doing as little as possible. Hopefully I'll get some things done tomorrow.

I had a oven roasted tofurky sandwich for lunch with spinach, white American cheese, spicy ranch dip, and a jalapeno pickle on the side. I also thought about having green pepper and onion on my sandwich, but I just skipped that part. It would have probably been better that way, but lazy won out.

I did toast my bread lightly, but I couldn't let it brown. Store bought bread has gotten so thin, that if you let it brown, it turns into a cracker. Is it just me or have you noticed this too?

I made dessert for later and just had an orange for snack. DH picked up a bag at the grocery store for me, said they were navel oranges, but they weren't. These have seeds and no navel, but they were sweet & juicy.

I had a LC Veggie Cuisine frozen dinner. I tried their Indian Style Masala with Gardein Chick'n Strips in a creamy tomato curry sauce.

I've never had curry sauce or anything that I knew had curry in it, but I didn't taste anything I hadn't tasted before. It does have cauliflower in it, which, I don't care for, but only 4 small pieces. There was also peas & carrots with brown rice. The sauce really just tasted like tomato sauce to me. It was pretty good. I chopped the cauliflower up and mixed it in, hoping it wouldn't be noticeable since it doesn't have a lot of flavor on it's own, but the texture was noticeable. It was a little al dente, which is how I like most vegetables, but not the ones I'm trying to hide. This is how it looked straight out of the microwave. I'm barely giving this 4 stars, because of the whole cauliflower thing, other wise it would get an easy 4 stars.

For dessert I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cups. I love these. They are quick and easy to make, not to mention delicious. It is hard to eat just one, but I did it.

I'm going to work on getting better sleep and try snacking less, eating healthier than I have been lately. I've been doing a lot of late night off camera raisin munching. I know raisins are not bad, it's the late night eating that is. It's more like continuous grazing. It may mean fewer posts, until I can find a routine that works. Now I'm off to bed. Have a great night/day!!!

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!!!

A Slow Day

This morning I was awake again after only 5 hours of sleep. I'm not sure it was the coffee from yesterday. I think maybe my body clock is wound too tight or something. I decided to go caffeine free today. I made myself a no recipe smoothie for breakfast, just throwing in half an apple, a few slices of frozen banana, and 2 teaspoons of the vanilla instant pudding along with my usual smoothie ingredients. I'd just added one tsp of the pudding mix to begin with, but my smoothie was a little thinner than usual. I also threw some cinnamon in. It was really cold and tasted pretty good.

I guess due to my lack of sleep, I wasn't feeling all that great today. The day seemed sort of slow. It was nice outside, but I just wasn't impressed by it. I did as little as possible. I guess the day would have went by quicker if I'd been doing something.

I made a pizza for lunch, a tofurky tortilla pizza. I laid out my flour tortilla, then I spread on a thin layer of light cream cheese. I put a few spoons full of salsa over the cream cheese and topped it with 3 slices of peppered tofurky that I'd cut into shreds. I sprinkled shredded Mexican blend cheese over it all and place it in my toaster oven to bake for about 6 minutes. The tortilla was crisp on the edges, but still soft underneath. The cheese had melted and had started to brown. It was just right. I cut it into wedges like most pizzas. I could fold the wedges and eat them in 2 or 3 bites. It was really good. I liked the cream cheese on the bottom. It keep the tortilla from getting too soggy and the tofurky apparently goes pretty well with just about anything or at least it's went well with everything I've tried so far.

I had a cup of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding, this one was as good as the first. If you don't try it, you're really missing out.

I took a nap this afternoon. It was my plan all along. I slept really deeply for a couple of hours. I was even dreaming, which I rarely do, but I can't remember it all that well, just enough to know I did. When I got up, Lucas & DH and gone to the shooting matches. I had the tv all to myself again, but there wasn't much on tv. I decided to make dinner and watch the movie we'd gotten from Netflix. 

I made dinner. I laugh. What I did was cut a piece of bread into chunks, spray it with butter flavored cooking spray, sprinkled it with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, & parmesan cheese, then I baked it in the toaster oven for 5 minutes, while I opened and heated a can of Amy's tomato bisque soup.

It was simple, but I liked it and it filled the void.

I had my soup while the movie started. I watched The Rum Diary with Johnny Depp. As usually it was sort of a weird movie. It was based on a novel with the same name written by Hunter S. Thompson. While the movie had potential, I really didn't care for it. I kept thinking it would get better as it went, but it basically just stayed about same all the way to end where it took a nose dive. I hate it, but this one is only getting 2 stars from me.

Done....and it's not even 2am yet. Am I good or what? I laugh. Have a great night/day!!!

Fusia Asian Inspirations Miso Soup Bowl Review

I definitely slept in this morning. It was 10:45 when I finally got up. I normally don't sleep that late, but I was sleeping pretty good. I could have slept longer if I hadn't saw what time it was. My breakfast became a snack to tide me over until lunch. I had a big cup of the Benner Lemon & Ginseng tea to get me going and a small bowl with part of a pink lady apple some Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal and a few plain almonds.

I tried the Fusia Asian Inspirations Miso Soup Bowl that I got at Aldi. It's Udon noodles with tofu and scallions in a blend of rich miso.

It looks a lot like the Udon Soup Bowl I had the other day (noodles, seasoning packet and dried vegetables), but the sauce in the seasoning packet was thicker and a bit milky looking.

The little dried vegetable square also looks similar to the one from the Udon noodles. This one contains scallion, spinach, and tofu.

I added some sliced baby portabella mushrooms, which I cooked in a little of the broth for 2 minutes in the microwave.

The tofu in this is hardly noticeable. The broth, I liked better than the broth in the Udon soup, but it was still very different than most broths. I'm not sure what it is about it, but it sort of tastes as if there might be a bit of vinegar in it, but just a hint, a sort of sour tast. I'm just not sure it's vinegar, but that's what it makes me think of. It's not bad, but definitely different.

The mushrooms help give the soup some character, otherwise it just looks like noodles and broth. What is funny about the soup is the way I eat it. I have to take my glasses off or else I wind up with speckles of broth all over them. I instinctively suck in the long noodles like spaghetti, but because of the broth it's a bit sloppy. I had to keep reminding myself not to do that. I finally just gave up and took my glasses off until I finished. I am also giving this soup 3 stars, even though the broth in this one is a little better than in the Udon Soup Bowl, it's still not good enough to say I really liked it, which is what would bring it up to the 4 star rating.

For my evening snack I had half a cinnamon raisin bagel from the freezer. It wasn't a Panera bagel unfortunately, but one I'd gotten from the grocery store a while back. It's not like a real bagel, but it was alright. I spread on some peanut butter and topped it with some chopped dates and some raisins, cranberries, & seeds from my TFM Men's Omega3 Energy Mix. It was actually better than I was expecting.

I also made a cup of decaf blackberry pomegranate green tea to wash it down.

I wanted to eat some of my Peppered Tofurky for dinner, but didn't really want a sandwich. I did want one of my pita pockets, but not stuffed. I tried that and it just didn't work for me, so I made salad of bagged iceberg salad, sliced muenster cheese, peppered tofurky, and chopped dill pickle slices. I had some fresh broccoli on the side and drizzled it all with light ranch dressing.

It was really good this way and not nearly as messy. I toasted my pita a little and cut it into small triangles just to make it more manageable.

I had a few raisins while typing this up. Now I'm finished, plan to read a bit and then I'm off to bed. Have a great night/day!!!  

Have you tried any great vegetarian products lately? I'd love to know some of your favorites. I'm always looking for new things to try.

Two Days In One

I've decided to get this mess caught up and out of the way in one fell swoop. Because I am behind, I am suffering and the blog is suffering. I'm not sure yet how this will turn out, but it will be done and I will feel much better. 

Breakfast will be the easiest of course, because I ate the same thing basically on both mornings. I had a fruit and yogurt cereal bowl, with dried wild blueberries, which I'd gotten on sale half price. I also used half a pink lady apple, Dannon vanilla yogurt, cheerios, bran flakes, and life cereal. On Friday, I also threw in a few frosted mini wheats.

 

On Thursday, I went with Mom and Lynda for a GDO. We went to Fresh Market, Panera's Goodwill, The Restore, and Walmart, not necessarily in that order. We got a few goodies from Fresh Market and tried a couple of samples. My first sample was their chocolate cherry coffee. Normally I'm not big on flavored coffee, but occasionally I find one I like. This was one that I liked.

I added a little raw sugar and cream to mine. I even managed to get just the right amount of sugar, but just a little too much cream. It still tasted very good. I'm giving it 4 stars (no star photo this time).

 My second sample was their edamame salad, which I didn't care for and forgot to get a photo of. It had cranberries and what tasted like rosemary along with the edamame, which didn't appeal to me. 

We went to Panera's for lunch, Mom & Lynda also got bagels. I had the same thing I had last time. You just can't beat their Mediterranean Veggie on tomato basil bread and the creamy tomato soup. It was sort of cool and rainy, a perfect day for soup. I also got an apple with it to eat later and a bottled water.

Once I got home I did some sampling of my goodies I'd gotten. I had a bit of the Men's Omega 3 Energy Mix while I fixed a bite to eat. For dinner I had the Smart Ones Pasta with Ricotta and Spinach, which I wasn't sure about. The photo didn't look all that great to me.

The dinner prepared actually looked better to me than the photo, unusual right? I also had a piece of the garlic herb focaccia I'd gotten at TFM, with a couple of sliced marinated mozzarella balls, also from TFM. The Focaccia was delicious, but we weren't impressed with the mozzarella. I was expecting the marinade to taste like more than just olive oil and Italian seasoning. You know mozzarella is a sort of a flavorless cheese compared to other cheeses, even marinated apparently. The pasta with ricotta and spinach needed a pinch of salt, but was not bad. The sauce sort of reminds me of gravy. I'm giving it 3 stars.

I had one of the Russell Stover coconut cream eggs that Lynda gave me, after dinner and threw the other one into the freezer for safe keeping.

 Now on to Friday.

 

You already know what I had for breakfast, so it's on to the next thing, which was a cup of green tea, the White Mangosteen and Peach flavor with a dab of honey, two bags.

Next was lunch. I had a tofurky sandwich with more of the mozzarella on the focaccia bread.

 

The tofurky was their Italian Deli flavor with sundried tomato and basil. Unfortunately it wasn't as good as I had expected it to be. It wasn't bad, but it just didn't have the flavor I was expecting. It was sort of like they'd added a little sundried tomato to the peppered version. The pepper in it was over powering and you could hardly taste the tomato or basil.

I cut a piece of the focaccia bread in half and put on 4 slices of the tofurky. I grated a few of the marinated mozzarella balls over the tofurky after wiping them across the top piece of bread to leave the seasoning and drizzled on a little olive oil. I also sprinkle on some marjoram. I then popped the whole thing in the toaster oven on bake to melt the cheese, toast the bread a little and ultimately heat the whole sandwich.

Although I wasn't impressed with the marinated mozzarella or the tofurky on their own, together on the garlic herb focaccia, they were awesome. I would have thought I'd died and gone to heaven if there had been marinara and spinach involved.

I later had a bowl of Peanut Butter Multi Grain Cheerios.

We think the Banana Nut flavor is better. I'm not sure if it was the milk or the peanut butter, but after eating it, I developed the worse case of indigestion. I thought I'd die.

After eating lots of antacid, I was still battling my indigestion at dinner time. I had planned to try my new Veggie Patch Chick'n Cutlets.

My indigestion was slowly subsiding, which made it hard for me to have a good appetite. I made whole wheat pasta with some plain old Ragu spaghetti sauce to go with the cutlet. I'd planned to do something a bit more elaborate, but I just wasn't feeling up to it.

I put the cutlet on top of the pasta, added a little more sauce and grated some of the mozzarella balls on top. I was really impressed with the cutlet. It was one of the best fake chicken patties, I've ever eaten. I like that they are thin and larger than most veggie patties. The breading has that strange chicken patty color, but it was really pretty good. I'm not so crazy about the way the cheese looked, but it's one way to use it up. I can't wait to try the cutlet in some other ways. I'm giving it 5 stars.

Well, that's it for Thursday & Friday. I'm caught up. No late posts hanging over my head. Now if I can just keep it that way. I didn't get everything I wanted included, but it's done. If there's any questions, just leave a comment, love those. Have a great day and don't forget to subscribe and/or follow me on Twitter. Thanks.