Hellooooooo everyone!
How are you doing on this fine Thursday? I'm doing just fantastic thank you! What's new with me? Same ol Same ol. You know - blogging, working, eating,researching, listening to music, etc. Although - I do have a bit of really big news that i'll reveal within the next few weeks or so. I just don't want to reveal things too early, or cause any unnecessary stress on myself or something of that nature.
On that note - let's take a look back at the past day or two shall we !?
:)
You should listen to this wonderfully wonderful song while you read the rest of this post......
Yesterday I woke up with an urge for toast, yogurt, and chocolate......
The chances of my having an urge for anything else is pretty slim to none these days lol. Pictured above: Two pieces of whole wheat toast, one with pb and one with Sunbutter, vanilla activia yogurt, a mixture of herbal teas, and soy milk
Breakfast isn't complete if it fails to be followed with a block of extremely dark - dark chocolate. Have I ever told you I'm mildly allergic to dark chocolate? This amuses me ever so, because seldom days have gone by in the past few years where I didn't enjoy a piece of this heavenly goodness in the morning. Every single time I take my first bite into a piece of dark chocolate - I sneeze. I'm serious lol. The very first bite makes me sneeze about 6 or 7 times, and then I'm good to go. Like I said - mildly allergic. But that doesn't stop me! I actually like sneezing, so bring on the chocolate!!!
Yesterday's clothes.......
I absolutely love this dress, not because of the way it looks, but because it's so darn comfortable! The fabric feels fantastic! It isn't particularly figure flatting which I can overlook due to the comfort factor. I usually buy dresses that are cinched under the chest, because my chest is so big. If the dress isn't cinched in the right spot the clothes just hang from the top of my chest down, and I end up looking like a giant frumpy mcfrumfrump. Gotta make sure you accentuate your best assets ladies! ;)
::Side note:: I have a hell of a time shopping for clothes - I can't help but wonder if it's as difficult for everyone else as it is for me :/
This wonderful woman sent me a coupon in the mail for free one dozen EB eggs! How great is that? The price of the eggs wasn't determined on the actual coupon - which meant I could purchase whichever dozen of EB eggs I wanted!
There were three different varieties of EB eggs.
It took me about five minutes of staring at the cartons of eggs, and five minutes on the phone with my best friend to determine which carton of eggs I should use the coupon towards. And when I say determine.....I mean my best friend made the decision for me because I couldn't lol.
Before I discuss EB eggs - I'd like to give you guys a handful of basic/nifty egg facts....
- Eggs contain the highest quality of protein in any food
- The Albumen (egg white) contains 57% of the eggs protein.
- Egg shells are not solid. There are thousands of pores on the shells that allow moisture to come out, and air to go in.
- The size of eggs are determined by their weight. From smallest to largest: Peewee, small, medium, large, extra large, and jumbo.
- The color of the yolk has absolutely nothing to do with the freshness of the egg. The color of the yolk is a direct result of the diet of the hens. If the yolk is a light yellow, a hen that has a wheat-based diet produced it. If the yolk is dark yellow then the hen consumed a corn or alfalfa-based diet.
- Why is the shell brown? The color of the hen has absolutely nothing to do with it. The color of the egg shell is genetically determined. The taste of the egg is no different whether the shell be white or brown.
-The taste of the egg depends on the health and the diet of the hen that laid it.;
- Omega 3 eggs are eggs that are produced by hens whose diet consists of 10-20% flaxseed.
- How to determine if an egg is fresh: Fill a pan with enough cold tap water to gover the egg. Place the egg in the water, and if it lies on it's side on the bottom, the air cell in the egg is very small and very fresh. If the egg stands up and bobbles around on the bottom, the air cell is a bit larger and it isn't as fresh. If it is floating then MAYDAY MAYDAY DANGER DANGER throw that thing away!!!!!
Egglands Best Eggs......
A few fun facts about Egglands compared to other conventional eggs:
-EB has two times more vitamin D
- Three times more vitamin B12
- Ten times more vitamin E
- Twenty give percent less saturated fat
-Double Omega 3 fatty acids
- Etc.
Basically.....EB kicks other eggs butt lol. I know for a fact that this brand of eggs is the brand most commonly used amongst fellow food bloggers, and based on the above factors I can see why! Unfortunately I can only afford these eggs on a good week, because I'm on a budget, but boy is it ever a treat when I do!! Ealier this week I treated myself to a carton of EB original/regular eggs, and yeseterday I used the coupon Elena gave me for the organic ones!!
::Organic::
::Original::
:: What do I think?::
Holy Yum!! It's no wonder EB Organic Eggs were awarded the Gold Medal for Superior Taste by the American Masters of Taste. I almost forgot why EB is my favorite brand of eggs- it's because they are absolutely delicious!!
To see how EB eggs differ from conventional grocery store eggs - I decided to conduct a little experiment. I scrambled one egg from a cheap carton of eggs, and one of EB organic eggs, and I could actually taste the difference! It might sound strange to those of you who have never compared eggs to each other, but eggs do taste very different depending on many factors including freshness, and the animals feed. Egglands Best eggs actually taste better due to the freshness of the eggs and the extra care the hens are given, especially when it comes to their all natural all vegetarian feed diet.
This is a trusted brand to say the least, and it's surely shows through the ever so loyal customers.
EB eggs are the only eggs I'll bake with, and I'll continue to be a loyal customer as long as I have money in the bank :) If you've never tried this brand I suggest you give it a go. I highly doubt you'll be disappointed.
Have you ever wondered what I top my food with? No? Well...I'm going to tell you anyway!!
I never use salt.
I never use pepper.
I only use Trocomare to season every day foods.
I'm sure a few of you thought "GASP! You're a foodtasticculinaryschoolfoodgoerculinarian of sorts and you don't use salt and pepper to season your food?" No....no I don't.
My family has been using this particular seasoning for years, and we've gotten several friends of the family hip to it as well! It is the perfect seasoning. I put it on eggs, meat, potatoes, salad, soups, etc. Salt and pepper is unnecessary when you have this. I literally can't remember the last time I put salt in anything besides baked goods.....it's probably been years.
I love Trocomare so much that I carry a small shaker of it in my purse just in case I go out to eat and need to season something. Is that weird? Lol. There was a time when I carried both Franks Hot Sauce and Trocomare in my purse at once.........But then I had an accident and had to throw the purse away lol. Let's just say, the hot sauce had to go :)
Long story short: Buy this. Tell me what you think. Use it forever. Carry it in your purse/pocket so all of your friends think you're a freak too :)
It's 'tea time' all day long in my house.....
Sigh...I love drinking my fancy tea.
It makes me a little fancier every day.
Yesterday's lunch was that of a champion.....
I went a little crazy today....and by 'a little' I mean VERY. For some reason I decided to think outside the box.... you know - order something different for a change. Instead of purchasing my usual healthy/small/quaint turkey sandwich.....I ordered the mother-load.
I purchased a mini Club Supreme: Roast beef, turkey, swiss, bacon, and mayo (Mikes way) on a wheat bun!
This is a MINI. There is nothing mini about this sandwich lol.
I'm so glad I didn't order the original size.
I would've had a heart attack right on the spot.
Omg. This sandwich was like a flavor explosion in my mouth! It was nice to get out of my comfort zone a little bit and order something that I wouldn't consider particularly healthy. I'm doing my best to try new things these days, and be more adventurous with my food purchases than I've been for the past few years. What kind of culinarian would I be if I didn't? No culinarian at all that's what lol.
I took ned out of the tank, put him in a glass cup, cleaned his tank, put him back in the tank, and he went CRAZY!! He darted around for about thirty minutes, spinning in circles, running into the side of the tank, eating his food as if I haven't fed him in weeks, knocking over his tree, etc.. I don't know what caused this lol. I cleaned his tank last week and he was really chill about it.I think Ned has a dark side he never told me about.
It's always the quiet ones.
I'll sleep with one eye open for now.....
Yesterdays Dinner/Today's featured recipe......
This sunflower seeed spread cookie was my dinner. Ok. Not just this one. I had five.....err....six.......seven?......ok the number isn't important. Let's just say that sunflower seed butter is the new peanut butter. And I can't resist!! Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this here post to collect your brand new recipe!!
-Which brings us to today!
Today's breakfast.....
- Whole wheat toast topped with Sunbutter, honey, and one EB organic egg - fried....
- Strawberry Activia yogurt topped with walnuts and raisins..
- A blend of herbal and oolong tea + Sily soy milk....
And as always - a brick of dark chocolate :)
(If not. Click the link and relive the magic lol)
Let's Get It's very first full length album is coming out on May 24th and I couldn't be more excited for them!! They've released two songs so far. Their second one was actually released today! So you should do me a solid and check out/ download their first and second song that they've released here: We Don't Care (Download) Eyes On Me (Listen)
You won't regret it :)
Well it's time for me to go to work!
I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful day!
Choose to be happy and choose to treat your body right.
You are in sole control of your life.
Never forget that!!
Let us begin.....
[[Today's recipe]]
SUNFLOWER SEED BUTTER COOKIES
I was day dreaming about my wonderful peanut butter cookie recipe the other day, and thought, "it's a shame that some people will never be able to enjoy these cookies due to health issues" Then a lightbulb went on upstairs. I thought "I can put recipe up that taste just as good as my peanut butter cookies, but instead of using peanut butter I can use sunflower seed spread!!!"
If you've never tried sunflower seed butter/spread then you haven't lived! It's a wonderfully healthy alternative for people with peanut allergies that aren't able to eat peanut butter, or for people who just want to spice up their life and try something new! Sunflower seed butter is very flavorful, very spreadable, and very nutritious!
These sunflower seed butter cookies taste very very similar to peanut butter cookies, but with an added pizzazz that you can't quite put your finger on. Sort of like peanut butter cookies with a secret!!
I suggest you give these cookies a go (read the disclaimer below prior to making them). And if not the cookies, then at least sunflower seed butter! You won't regret it :)
::WARNING::If you don't take the proper precautions then these cookies will most likely turn green.
"WHAT? GREEN????" Yes. Green.
All plants contain chlorogenic acid, mostly in the leaves and stems, but sunflowers have chlorogenic acid in the seeds. When using sunflower seed spread when baking, often times the inside of the baked products will turn green as they cool due to various chemical reactions. The solution to this problem is to balance the acidity of the ingredients to keep the color the same by either:
1. Reducing the amount of baking powder and baking soda in the recipe BY HALF or
2. Adding a bit of lemon juice.
When making this recipe I didn't reduce the baking powder/soda, because I wasn't sure if it would mess with the rising factor of the cookie. I instead added 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, and my cookies didn't turn green at all! But, on the off chance that your cookies do turn out green, just pretend that you wanted them to be that way! Tell everyone you wanted to make green cookies! Lol. They are not harmful to your body, and taste exactly the same as the color-appropriate cookies I can assure you :)
::Ingredients::
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup room temperature butter
- 3/4 cup sunflower seed butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs (I used egglands best of course)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
::Directions::
- Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium size bowl.
- In a large bowl, mix together softened butter, sunflower seed butter, and both sugars until fluffy.
- Add eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice. Mix thoroughly.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture.
This is where the trouble began....I tasted the batter...and COULDN'T STOP! I probably ate about 5 cookies worth of batter lol. I advise you don't taste test this along the way haha.
- Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until it is well chilled, about two to four hours.I only chilled mine for one hour, and I immediately regretted it. Due to the fact that I didn't let the dough chill long enough - it was too sticky to work with. I advise you wait for at least two hours before working with it. Unless you don't care about the mess - then have at it whenever you'd like! :)
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator after the allotted time, and preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- While the oven is preheating - roll tablespoonfuls of dough into tiny balls with your hands.
- Place the dough balls about three inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. I like to use parchment paper every time I bake - only to reduce the risk of the cookies sticking to the baking sheets. - Dip a fork into water and press on the tops of the cookies, making a criss cross pattern on top. Be careful not to press too hard! You don't want to flatten the cookie out.
- Prior to placing in the oven (if you'd like a sweeter cookie) place a pinch full of brown sugar on top of each criss crossed cookie. I found that the ones with brown sugar on top tasted a lot sweeter than the ones I baked without!! They were a family favorite in my house :)
- Bake the cookies for about 8- 10 minutes or until golden brown. Be very careful not to burn the bottoms!
- Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely!
Enjoy!!!
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