Drowning sorrows in a Pecan Bar

So lately I have been having a rough time. More specifically, my eyes have been really sensitive to light, they tear up a lot, and they are very irritated. All because the contact lenses I was prescribed are the wrong size and caused ulcers and tiny scratches. Greeeat.

So I have been wearing my glasses, not using much face moisturizer or makeup, and generally feeling sorry for myself.

In what I guess was partially a way to indulge my self pity, Chris brought me this delicious Pecan Bar from a place in Philadelphia called Sofisticakes. Let me tell you, it was as tasty as it looks!

How do you deal when you have a bad day? I have to admit, I may be a bit of an emotional eater!

A healthier rice pudding for once!

I know the first picture looks like wall paper paste, and the second one is just blurry. But try to imagine a really delicious rice pudding, ok?

So I love rice pudding- the really good kind that is creamy and a little sweet and the perfect base for mix-ins like fruit (dried or fresh.) But rice pudding (especially the rich, creamy tasting kind) can really stick to those areas you try so hard to keep slim.

Not this kind though! The batch above was made with rice milk (you could use lowfat or nonfat dairy milk or soy milk too), arborio rice, and a bit of honey (agave nectar works well too!) to sweeten. I left it plain so Chris and I could add mix-ins as we please. He prefers more raisins than I like, I love to throw in some toasted nuts and cinnamon. You can find the recipe here. Let me know how it goes for you if you try it! :)

Pancakes :-D

Don't these look amazing and full of juicy blue-ness? We had some blueberries we needed to use up before they started going bad. We also had some leftover toasted almonds, from that ice cream I posted about ealier. So we whipped up some pancake batter (from scratch! No Bisquick needed when it is so easy and you probably have all the ingredients in the house already, right?), tossed in the fresh berries, and voila. We topped them off with the almonds and pure maple syrup (no HFCS here, and the taste is soooo much better.)

Chris and often wake up on a lazy weekend morning, and turn to each other and say simulataneously, "Pancakes?!?!?"

What do you like in/on your pancakes?

Let's have a smoothie

I love smoothies. They are just so, so SO versatile. You can put just about any fruit in them. You can use chocolate in them to make them more of a sweet treat, you can use peanut butter to make them more filling (and delicious.) You can add green tea matcha powder- a small dose of caffeine, some antioxidants, and all around goodness. You can make them vegan by using rice milk or soymilk instead of regular milk or yogurt. Really, the possibilities are just endless. And you can pack it up and take it to go in a travel coffee cup or some other container. You can have it as a snack, or a small meal, like for breakfast. What is not to love?

This combination here (and believe me, I have many more up my sleeve to share in the future) is frozen berry medley, rice milk, Organic Midnight Moo (Trader Joe's version of chocolate syrup- High Fructose Corn Syrup free!), and some ice cubes. I generally put the ice and any frozen fruit in the blender first and press the ice crusher button first. I add softer or liquid ingredients once the hard, frozen stuff is broken up a bit, and blend or puree.

We make smoothies like this a lot, but most often when we want something filling and healthy, but we want it quickly and without much work. Like Saturday mornings when we have a lot of yard work and house cleaning ahead of us. Or weeknights when we are too hot and exhausted to make a real dinner. We definitely vary the combination depending on how filling we need to make it, or if we want more protein in it.

Do you like smoothies? What do you put in yours?

I scream you scream... well you know how it goes

Chris and I don't smoke. We barely drink any alcohol. We don't do drugs. But our one real, true vice- one that is just unavoidable- is ice cream.

We try to buy healthier, more natural kinds. The fewer ingredients, the better. We don't buy low-fat or non-fat kinds- they just don't satisfy the craving, you know? And we figure if we don't do it often, buying full fat ice cream is ok. We have found some really good ice cream made from soy and rice milk that we really loved, but nothing beats Haagan Dazs or Ben and Jerry's.

Except maybe making your own. Above are two ice creams we made ourselves. The first is called Aphrodisiac Ice cream, I guess because the ingredients could be considered to have that effect. Aside from the cream part, it contains figs (mmmm, fresh figs), honey, and toasted almonds. I don't think the original recipe called for the honey, but it just compliments figs so well!

The second flavor you see above is Green Tea Ice cream. It came out just... ok. The recipe calls for six (six!) eggs. Since I had never made the recipe before, I followed it exactly, and the end result was very.... eggy. It is still ice cream and not green tea scrambled eggs, as some reviewers found, but next time around I will definitely cut back the eggs to three, maybe four.

Neither one of these treats is anywhere near lowfat, and eating too much of it could result in thighs that do resemble scrambled eggs in texture. But, we don't make ice cream often, just as we don't buy it often. But when I get the urge, I sure am glad I have my Cuisinart Ice Cream maker!

Have you ever made ice cream? What is your food vice? Do you have a hard time indulging only once in a while?