Category: Food

Birthday Treats and Green Tongues

Birthday, Cake, Food, JSL, NHL, Photos

Yesterday, as is our birthday tradition, we went out to dinner.  The boys wanted to have dinner with B’s parents, so B and I went to Mr. Fuji.  B has already featured the meal on her blog, but I had to feature some of the items in depth.

First up was vegetable sushi and a cucumber roll.  When I ordered this, I was expecting a few rolls with a mix of chopped veggies inside.  This is what I got instead.

P1040365

You really need to click the photo and look at the large version to truly appreciate this.  It was quite a pleasant surprise over my admittedly bland mental picture.  The colors of all of the vegetables popped nicely.  There were yellow peppers, orange carrots, green asparagus and more.  The textures were nicely varied as well.  From the crunch of the carrots and peppers to the creaminess of the avocado and the chewiness of the mushrooms.  This was an amazing dish all around.

I had a birthday cookie cake awaiting me at home so normally I wouldn’t have ordered dessert.  However, I had a birthday coupon for a free tempura ice cream so I decided to get it.  I’m so glad I did.

P1040368

I wish we got a good photo of the inside of this, but we were too busy eating it.  At its core, this dessert is a large, hard scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Right outside of that was a huge surprise: Cake!  In retrospect, it makes sense.  You need something to protect the ice cream from the hot frying oil.  Of course, outside of the hard, cold ice cream and the soft cake was the warm, crunchy tempura batter.  It was all topped sundae style with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a cherry.  Considering that this all would normally cost $4 (and that they also have a Tempura Cheesecake), I think I’ll be bringing the boys here for dessert one day!

After a brief walk around to digest our food, we went back to B’s parents’ house.  There, we had a cookie cake.

P1040388

I’ve got to admit to a fondness for cookie cakes.  Regular cake is ok and cheesecake is great, but I really love a good chocolate chip cookie.  Make it a giant chocolate chip cookie with frosting and YUM!

The only downside?  Green fingers and tongues.

P1040412 P1040413

Of course, photographer-me had to try a macro shot of my boys’ tongues.

P1040414 P1040416

And, with that, this post has gone from drool-inducing deliciousness to disgusting!

My Most Controversial Post Ever: Nutella vs Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter

Food, Peanut Butter

For quite awhile, I held off trying Nutella.  I loved chocolate but wasn’t sure if I would like a chocolate hazelnut spread.  Eventually, I gave in and bought a jar.  I was instantly in love as were my boys.  Around the same time, I also found Peanut Butter & Co’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.  I guess, it was inevitable that I would decide to put them up to head-to-head competition.  After much thought (meaning a quick brainstorm), I decided to award points on Price, Taste and Nutrition.

Price:

First, we need to buy the spreads, of course.  Taste and Nutrition won’t matter if the product is so expensive that you shy away from buying it.  I purchased a jar of Nutella for about $7.60 and a jar of Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter for $3.  Win for Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter, right?  Well, not so fast.  The Nutella was 26.5oz while the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter was only 16oz.  This might seem like a per-ounce victory for Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter except for the fact that I purchased it in the Christmas Tree Shops where it seems to be heavily discounted.  Other places, it seems to retail for at least dollar more.  Meanwhile, the Nutella was purchased in a store I happened to be in, not the one with the best price.  This narrows down the price difference to be negligible.  Verdict: Draw.

Taste:

I put some Nutella and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter on some bread and gave it to the boys to try.  In the past, they’ve tried (and loved) both spreads.  This time they waffled back and forth between liking one or the other.  Finally, they settled on the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.  Later, I decided to try it myself.  For me, the taste tied.  Then, I made my patented (not really) Quick S’mores.  I spread Nutella onto one graham cracker, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter onto another one, and marshmallow fluff on two more.  Smooshing them together (a technical term), I had two S’mores, ready to eat.

IMGP0615 IMGP0624 IMGP0626

So how’d they taste?  Great.  Both of them.  I had trouble deciding which one I liked more.  I guess it all boils down to whether you prefer the creamier consistency and milk chocolate flavor of Nutella or the peanut-buttery consistency and dark chocolate flavor of the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.  Another draw.

Nutrition:

So far, this contest was turning out to be quite boring.  So I turned the jars around and compared nutrition labels.

NutellaNutrition 17010006_nutr

Nutella comes out ahead in fat, sodium and calcium.  However, as far as calories, saturated fat, carbs, fiber, sugar and protein are concerned, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter wins.  Once you examine the ingredients, the reason for this becomes apparent:

Nutella: SUGAR, PALM OIL, HAZELNUTS, COCOA, SKIM MILK, REDUCED MINERALS WHEY (MILK), LECITHIN AS EMULSIFIER (SOY), VANILLIN: AN ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter: PEANUTS, EVAPORATED CANE JUICE, COCOA, COCOA BUTTER, PALM FRUIT OIL, VANILLA, LECITHIN (FROM SUNFLOWERS), SALT.

The first ingredient in Nutella is sugar while the first in Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter is peanuts.  This leads to increased carbs and sugar in the Nutella and slightly increased fat in the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.  Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter wins this round.

Final Verdict:

I’m not going to lie.  Nutella will still have a place in our cabinet.  However, when my boys are being picky and I want them to eat something healthy, I’ll definitely offer them a Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter sandwich.

Disclaimer: This post was not sponsored by anyone.  I wasn’t paid or encouraged to write this.  This was my own idea, I used my own money to purchase the products above and the opinions above are my own.

A Cherry Filled Adventure

Food, Fun, Outside, Photos

Three years ago, on a visit to B’s brother, we decided to go cherry picking.  While I love picking fruits and vegetables, I’ll admit that I was skeptical.  After all, I don’t like cherries.  Never have.

Still, I went and had a blast.  We picked a ton of cherries.  One great thing about cherry picking was that the trees were so short that we could easily reach the top branches and NHL (then 4) could easily reach the bottom branches.  Meanwhile, JSL and Cousin S (then 1 and almost-1 respectfully) sat in their strollers holding hands.  We collected 22 pounds of cherries.  Enough for everyone to split and feast.  I wound up trying a few and, for the first time ever, found that I loved cherries.  Especially the rainier variety which tastes like peaches.

Last year, we went with B’s brother, his wife, Cousin S, and B’s parents.  Between all of us, we collected 33 pounds.

So how did we do when we went cherry picking yesterday?

We arrived at the cherry fields, got some buckets and hopped on the wagon.

IMGP1165 IMGP1166

We could have walked, but the kids loved this.  It was like a ride before the cherry picking fun.  Once we got off the wagon, we headed to the trees.

IMGP1200 IMGP1209 IMGP1220 IMGP1222

As you can see, there were cherries everywhere.  We immediately got to picking.  NHL went on a quest to find the perfect cherry.  Meanwhile, JSL and Cousin S formed a team to work together.  Cousin B just was happy having room to move and big buckets to try to tip over.  (He didn’t manage to, but he was having a blast once we let him loose.)

IMGP1198 IMGP1193 IMGP1230 IMGP1187

One big challenge was keeping them from eating too many cherries.  Ok, let’s admit it… We ate a lot of cherries too.  They were just too tasty!  Still, most of the cherries wound up in the buckets until they were filled.

IMGP1240

So how many cherries was this?

IMGP1243 IMGP1244

Yup, we picked 45.2 pounds of cherries.  Even after we split it with B’s brother, give some to B’s parents and perhaps to some others, that’s a LOT of cherries to eat.  Luckily, they’re healthy as well as tasty.

Hmm…. I wonder if there are any cherry peppermint recipes.

Plenty of Peppermint

Cooking, Food, Gardening, Photos

IMGP0627 B has written before on our gardening efforts this year.  We planted zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppermint.  (In pots, thanks in part to the low quality of the soil where we live.  Also because peppermint, if given half a chance, will take over your entire yard.)  While the cucumbers have yet to appear and the tomatoes and zucchinis aren’t ripe enough to eat yet, the peppermint is more than ready.

I’ve already broken off some sprigs and munched on the leaves.  NHL and I both loves doing this.  The taste is incredibly minty.  It doesn’t hurt the plant either as it just grows more faster than we can munch them.  We even gave a few sprigs to B’s parents and kept them alive in a cup of water for days.  Those peppermint pieces might just be appropriate for planting in a pot soon.

IMGP0631We’ve grown peppermint before.  A couple of years back, it was one of our only successful plants.  I used it’s leaves in hot water to make peppermint tea and even tried my hand at drying them (unsuccessfully).  I brought the pot into our porch during the cold winter months to try to save it for next year, but the cold must have been too much for the poor little thing.  It never did grow again.

This year, I have plenty of time to consider winter season options.  IMGP0628Until then, though, I need to consider what I should do with our plethora of peppermint leaves.  Most of the recipes I’ve found online call for peppermint candies or peppermint oil.  Never for the leaves themselves.  Perhaps I should puree them and mix them into brownies or into fudge.  Or add to our watermelon smoothies for a minty touch.  Or maybe I should break off a bunch of stems, grow them indoors in small pots and hand them out as gifts.

What would you do with a lot of peppermint leaves?  (And, if you live locally, do you want any?  I’ve got plenty!)

Don’t forget to enter my Outback Steakhouse $45 gift certificate giveaway!

1 … 8 9 10 11 12 … 24