theyummyblog

With the peanut butter scare still going on and more items being recalled, it’ll make anyone not want to eat peanut butter. That included me, too, as I was sure I wasn’t going to eat another peanut butter product until it was resolved.

Then today I was in school and with my first class being over, I felt hungry, so I went to the vending machine and brought the only freaking peanut butter product in the machine– Funny Bones! 

In case you’re not familiar with them, this is what they are:

Actually I had completely forgotten about the peanut butter thing when I purchased them, but then as I was talking to my boyfriend and I mentioned I was eating them and that “the peanut butter was SO yummy”, he was like, “Um, but what about the recall?” Then I blurted out something that I won’t say on here, though I did eat two out of the three cakes (which was both because I started feeling weird and thought I had already caught salmonella and I was late for my next class). I did read, though, that salmonella poisoning symptoms show up within 12-72 hours, so I guess I wouldn’t have started showing signs THAT early.

However, I don’t remember ever reading about Drake’s products being recalled, so I’m pretty sure I will be okay. Still, this time I will definitely take extra caution to avoid any other peanut butter products until it is announced that it is safe again.

Hopefully it’ll be done with soon, though. I’m starting to crave for more Funny Bones…

Yahoo! Food wanted to find the best BOXED macaroni and cheese, so they invited a “trusted panel of macaroni and cheese enthusiasts” to taste-test various brands. Mind you, as I have stated previously, I would go with homemade mac-and-cheese to a boxed brand any day, but if on a particular day you’re just not up to cooking this dinner favorite, maybe you can try this brand that placed #1 in the test. First place goes to… Pasta Roni shells and white cheddar!

Personally I’m not a fan of white cheese of any sort, but perhaps if someone gave me this dish without telling me anything about it, I might think otherwise! Who knows, my distaste for white cheese could very well be psychological. Hey, I could simply have some sort of OCD to the white color of cheese, as whenever I think of cheese I automatically think of the color orange!

Anyhow, the other honorary mentions include the Kraft macaroni and cheese dinner (original flavor) taking second place, then after that the Kraft macaroni and cheese dinner (premium thick-and-creamy), Kraft Velveeta shells and cheese (original flavor) and Back to Nature macaroni and cheese (tied for fourth), Annie’s Shells and real aged cheddar, and a generic store brand macaroni and cheese.

For more info on the contest and results, you can check it out here: http://food.yahoo.com/blog/yahoofreshpicks/2745/boxing-match-the-new-mac-cheese-winner/

Hopefully you’ll get some dinner ideas along the way, too. :)  

I wrote a post on cookie-chocolate bars a short while ago, in which I promised you guys that if I found more info on them that I would post it. And FINALLY yesterday, my boyfriend and I were at his co-worker’s house, and the co-worker granted permission that my boyfriend could have the cookie/candy tin at his house, which also consisted of the exact same cookies! My boyfriend, though (being the nice guy that he is), gave them to me instead, so I was able to get the name (off the tin), search it on Google Images, and be able to post pictures of what they look like. Trust me, it’s a relief that I was finally able to locate them off the internet!

The tin comes in an assortment of cookies and candies in Belgian chocolate, but obviously my absolute favorite is the one with the cookie on one side and chocolate bar on the other. The first picture (with the three of them in the middle of the plate) is probably more accurate of the ones I have, as they have the floral design on them. But either way, really all the candies that I have tried in the assortment are quite yummy, so I would recommend them to any chocolate addict. You can go on their website (www.delacre.com) for more information, although I have to warn you that the only languages you can choose are French and Dutch. However, this URL (http://www.delacre.com/products/selections.html) is actually in the English language, so it might be more helpful.

Enjoy

Yes, just as the title describes, I have an addiction to junk.

Junk food, that is.

Well, today was my first day back to school after a nice, long winter break. Though trust me, it is more winter out than ever. I have to walk to three different buildings out in the teen-30 degree weather, and today I could hardly feel my feet and hands!

Anyhow, the point I was attempting to get at was once I am back in school, I go straight for the cursed vending machines! Not to mention the drinks and snacks in there are expensive as hell (a water bottle was $1.45– I guess it is even more expensive at places like the movie theater but I think the last time I brought water from a vending machine it was like $1.25, so it did take me aback a bit). But basically what I ate/drank today was of course, water, along with a Nestle Crunch bar, and a marshmallow treat and a large (or viente?) iced chai tea latte from Starbucks. Now I don’t need to look at any nutritional info to know that from this morning to now I just consumed a load of calories and sugar that could probably last me the whole day (but I’m sure that’s not ALL I’m going to eat for today!). Hopefully I will add some sort of nutrition to my body some time today, but even my less-than-healthy diet isn’t as bad as my sweet-but-kind-of-dumb boyfriend’s diet! He is under the impression that he will lose weight if all he has are several cans/bottles of Pepsi Max (which I have tried and I felt kinda jittery from it, I think) and weight loss shakes! I don’t know about you, but I think that just because Pepsi Max has zero calories and the weight loss shakes also have less calories doesn’t necessarily make them good for you- at all, actually. Trust me, I’ve tried to tell him that, but then I give up after remembering that he’s a man (no offense, guys). Well, I guess we’ll just have to work on our eating habits together if we have any chance at conquering our poor nutritional choices.

Oh, and I should probably start taking a multi-vitamin, too. Really, we all should have a multi-vitamin a day, ESPECIALLY if you’re one of those people who barely get any vitamins as it is (*gesturing toward myself*).

Over the weekend, we had a get-together with the family at our house and of course (according to the old equation), family get-togethers=cooking/baking=food. And as usual, what did I go for? The dessert! I am still attempting to eat healthier foods, too, but I am finding myself eating less healthy foods (if any at all) on some days compared to other days where I try to get some veggies and fruits in here and there. But come on, with chocolate pudding pie on a graham cracker crust and banana cream pie (ahh, my favorite!) staring right at you, how can you resist?? I love pretty much anything on a graham cracker crust, but for me if it’s banana cream pie, then it’s especially irresistable! Now, from experience, I find that it can quite difficult at times to go out somewhere to eat, order a banana cream pie, and trust that it will be good. At three diners I have been to, for example, I have ordered banana cream pie, but then when I get it, pretty much all I see is cream! Barely any crust and certainly not enough banana filling, though. Now, why is it called BANANA cream pie again? But to put in an exception, this one cafe I have been to several times (though I haven’t really been there recently), called Cafe Ferraro’s, makes EXCEPTIONALLY delicious desserts. And my favorite there? Their banana cream pie! Actually, I think it’s the best pie I have tasted ever! The cream is there but not too much, an adequate amount of banana filling is in the pie with real cut-up bananas, and the crust, though not graham cracker, is still mouth-watering-ly yummy!

Now though banana cream pie and macaroni and cheese are hardly related at all, there is one thing they do have in common: They are both delicious, if they are made right! And if the only macaroni and cheese you have ever had is the Easy Mac/Kraft or the fast food dinner ones, then you are missing out big-time! Homemade mac-and-cheese is definitely the way to go, but I’m sure there are hundreds of ways to make it. It depends on the types of cheese you prefer, what ingredients you like added to it, whether you want it baked, fried, or just made in a pot, etc. I have baked it plenty of times before, and it does turn out good (though sometimes it’s a bit too brown or burnt on the top), but I feel it’s just as good and easier to make in a pot on the stove, where you cook the pasta and then mix the ingredients in the pot. I have used mostly cheddar cheese and sometimes orange American cheese (I’m not really a fan of white American all that much), though because I also love colby and monterary jack cheese, I will probably mix that in with the American and cheddar and see how that multi-cheese mac-and-cheese turns out. After all, it’s always good to try new things, even if you end up not liking it. It’s a learning experience, and it helps a beginner cook like me become better!

But a huge difference between yummy homemade mac-and-cheese and the ones you get at some restaurants or the boxed and frozen ones at supermarkets is that compared to the homemade, there’s not enough of a cheesey and buttery taste, and/or it’s too freaking salty! Of course, salt is used in foods sold in stores to preserve them, which can also either put a positive or negative effect on the food’s taste.

And besides the better taste that foods made at home may have, the cheaper cost of preparing yummy meals at home can make anyone a happier (and slightly richer) person!

The FDA is now telling us to avoid peanut butter. Well, specifically peanut paste and peanut butter produced at a facility in Blakely, Georgia, owned by Peanut Corp. of America, according to an article on Yahoo! News. This is due to a deadly outbreak of salmonella contamination, which is currently being investigated.

 But the FDA states that most other peanut butters sold in jars at grocery stores appear to be safe. Hopefully they’re right.

Honestly, I just found out about this, so I’m definitely going to have to let my mom know about this one (if she doesn’t already). I know we recently did a bit of grocery shopping, but I can’t recall if we brought any peanut butter or peanut butter/paste-containing food items. And if you didn’t know about this beforehand, either, it is probably safest to cut down (a lot) on peanut butter items.

I know this will be especially difficult for peanut butter lovers. It would be like me hearing about an announcement to avoid all chocolate bars (or maybe more specifically, all items containing sugar hehe). But just like all other food scares, remember that this one will also eventually be resolved, so hang in there.

We hear about politics everywhere. And now, it is even in ice cream.

BaRocky Road was introduced by Penn State Creamery (in State College, PA). It is basically a variation of the well-known Rocky Road flavor, but with more chocolate swirl and chocolate-covered peanuts mixed into vanilla ice cream. Mmm.. now that sounds like some good ice cream.

But there’s more presidential-related flavors, too. The two others are ”Biden Berry”, which is a strawberry parfait ice cream, and “Obama White House”, which is based off the creamery’s original “White House” flavor of vanilla ice cream with maraschino cherries added to the yummy mix. 

But sadly for us more ”common people”, there are no current plans for BaRocky Road to be offered to the public.

One other thing: For the second time in a row, I wrote on the same topic for this blog as I did for my page on Examiner, so you can go check that out, too (URL in my previous post). And as I stated on the Examiner page, I based that article off of an article on the CBS website (just so I don’t get accused of plagarizing hehe).

Today my sweet, but also kind of annoying beau (at least today he was) took me out to Old Country Buffet. I have been there numerous times before with him, and though some days the food is better than other days, overall it’s a good place to get all the food you want at an affordable price. I should also mention that since yesterday, I have decided to eat a bit healthier, as in a little more fruits and veggies. So unlike me usually simply getting pasta, grilled cheese, and dessert when I eat there, I also added some corn, carrots, potatoes, and green beans to my plate. I admit I am still not too accustomed to the taste of vegetables so I still just sort of force it down, but I don’t think my only-junk food diet was doing me all that good, anyway. Sure I still had quite a bit of dessert there too, but hey, I can’t completely rid my diet of junk food! Plus it would be nice to have this food blog and be able to honestly admit that my diet doesn’t just consist of pasta and fast food.

Also on today’s subject, I decided to write about my eating place for today on Examiner as well. Basically I write on there about local and some other news, and since I am writing on a new category added to the site called ‘city secrets’, I figured Old Country Buffet is an appropriate local restaurant to write about. And prices there are more reasonable than a similar restaurant I have been to in Abington called Old Town Buffet. Well, basically it was orginally Old Country Buffet, but then they went out of business so it turned into a more Asian kind of buffet, though the price there is about $16 per person (compared to $8-12 at Old Country).

You can always get more info on Old Country at its website (http://www.oldcountrybuffet.com)

While I’m at it, I’ll also give y’all my other food-y article on Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-1316-Lower-Bucks-County-Examiner~y2009m1d14-Old-Country-Buffet-great-food-affordable-price

Feel free to indulge to your satisfaction!

Oh and one more thing (I promise!): About the cookie-and-chocolate bar blog I posted a few days ago, unfortunately I couldn’t get much out of my boyfriend about it except that it came in a tin or something that said Belgian chocolate. And you think that he would do me one little favor by taking a picture of the cookies so I could post it on here? Well, let’s just say that unless he swallowed a camera, I don’t think that’s going to happen! 

I’m sure many of you ladies have heard of the Philosophy beauty brand. You know, the shampoo, shower gel, and bubble bath products?

Well, my sister received two Philosophy flavors (spiced apple cider and vanilla wafer) from her boyfriend, and I noticed that they had a recipe on both of them. Yeah woo hoo, but I thought that it would be a good subject to post on my blog for today, as it does relate to food. Though you can’t eat it (and you’re strongly advised not to, no matter how tempting it might be), the aromas they give off are quite delicious! I never really used any Philosophy products (except for a cinnamon bun flavor my mom had that I used a few times), though I have seen them advertised on QVC. And no, I am not going to steal some “Philosophy” from my sister while in the shower, as I am developing a bit of bodily acne and I am probably going to have get some body soap or whatever to treat it (that’s what I get for using a moisturizing body wash). I did, however, want to post a photo of these two flavors (mostly for the recipes on each of them), but I have the slightest clue where the digital camera is at the moment, and it is difficult to see the recipes from the images on the internet. Plus, for some reason, I can hardly find any vanilla wafer-flavored Philosophy on the internet, anyway.

But Philosophy comes in many, many flavors and categories, so whether you prefer a particular scent, recipe, or use, your possibilies are endless! Not to mention it can be very useful for aroma-therapy as well

OK, here’s a yummy treat- a cookie on one side, a chocolate bar on another. Trust me, I’d give you guys more information if I could, but all I can say is I had three of them at my boyfriend’s house, and I loved them! He had originally received these cookies/candy bars from the owner at his workplace, so I’ll try to get him to get more information on these treats from the guy, then later post the info on here.

Anyway, I can tell you all that the cookies were round and vanilla-tasting, and the chocolate bars had flower designs on them and came in milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate (I’m not too much a fan of the dark chocolate, but then again dark chocolate is the healthiest of the chocolates). As I already mentioned, the cookie was on one side, and the candy bar was on the other. Both treats blended in quite well together for a delicious snack. Careful how many you eat, though, as they’re not exactly the healthiest of snacks.

Hopefully I’ll get more info on these, and maybe if I’m lucky a picture, too!