Coca Cola is Making Milk Now?!?!

Last week we bought a slick new milk called FairLife.



I'm not going to lie, it tasted delicious, and they say they have 50% more protien, 30% more calcium, 50% LESS sugar, and NO lactose.

As we did a quick little video on our thoughts I kept saying, "what's the catch?"

Turns out there are a loooot of catches.

1. For starters, the name FairLife, sounds organic right.  (Can you hear the fowl buzzer in your ears?).....not organic, "Fair" comes from the name of the farm "Fair Oaks".

 2. On their bottle they say they believe in the well being of their cows....so much so that on their website they put a cute little spin on the description of a feed lot saying that they are "sheltering the cows from the elements"...they are allowed to walk around freely in their stalls.  If you look on their website the stalls look pretty tiny, but slightly spaced out...but on visitors photos the cows look a million times more crammed together.



3, Their slogan is "grass to glass"...the grass they are talking about is grown across the street from the cows! (Can I get a WTF?)

3. The actual milk gets a little strange.
             a.  They are ultra pasteurizing the milk which destroys the whey.  Whey helps you digest lactose.  Their solution?  Add lactate enzymes!  (The med you would take if you were lactose intolorent that would neutralize out the lactose....so meds for everyone!)
             b.  The lactose is the sugar...you take away the lactose your lowering the sugar...so how should we make this sweet....add artificial sugar...but of course! Hahahaha.
             c.  They brag that there is 30% more calcium, but your body can only process so much calcium per hour....so that extra calcium is not helping, unless you are drinking smaller portions.
             d.  They are bragging that there is more protein, (which I'm kind of excited about) but a lot of nutritionists argue that the average american gets plenty of protein.

So for a price point that is three times more pricey than "generic" milk, you can buy DIET milk.

I've gotta admit, it makes me feel full, it tastes pretty good...but really coca cola?  Remove all the lactose and replace it with artificial sweetener?

That's a pass from me!  My friends were shocked I was even willing to give it a try...but I was open to the idea, until I did a little research!

Here's the video explaining all of the catches we found: What's Wrong With Fairlife Milk?

Night Shift in Kansas City

My husband and I both have been working night shift for over 4 years (9 years for me) and we are always on the hunt for late night restaurants to eat at.

I thought I'd share what we've found so far. If any of you people passing by know of another restaurant please share it!

For starters, grocery stores:
We have found Sunfresh in Westport and Hyvee in Overland Park are good solutions.  Walmart and CVS both have 24 hour locations, CVS even has a 24 hour pharmacy.  (HyVee is my choice grocery store...the big one on 95th and Antioch is amazing - they have a large produce section and a decent organic section, I just adore them.)

For food you've got the low brow choices:
Taco Bell is open until 2am most nights 3am on the weekends
There's a 24 hour McDonalds several places in the city
Wendy's is open until 1:00am
Jack in the Box is 24 hours
Panchos Mexican Food (24 hours)
Town Topic (there are two of them really close together, one is 24 hours the other is not)

Then you've got the obvious 24 hour diners:
IHop
Steak and Shake
Denny's
Chubbys (in westport)
Winstead's

And for a little nicer food:
Old Chicago is open untill Midnight M-Wednesday and until 2am on weekends!
Buffalo Wild Wings is open until 1am most nights
Sullivan's Steakhouse is open until 11pm on the weekends
On the Boarder is open until 11pm
YJ's Snack Bar is open 24 hours Thursday through Sunday.
Sarpino's Pizzeria is open until 4am!

And if you stay up all night you can go to Einsteins Bagels at 6am (they have lunch sandwiches you can order even at 6am).

Where do you go to eat late in the nigh in Kansas City?

The Most Beautiful Vegetable I've EVER Seen

HyVee is is my grocery store of choice.  I love Whole Foods and Trader Joes...but HyVee is open 24hrs and has THE best fresh produce selection.

I swear I've been introduced to more variety at HyVee than anywhere else.

So what's the newest most beautiful vegetable I've discovered this week? Teenage Romanesco, also known as German Romanesco, Brocoli Romanesco, Romanesco Cabbage....the names seem to be endless.

It was derived in Itally, fairs well in the cold weather climates, and it tastes like a cross between cauliflower and broccoli (only a little nuttier).

They are saying you treat it just like you would broccoli or cauliflower. I served it raw with ranch dip, but it's also amazing steamed with cheese on top.

Like any green it's got vitamin A, iron, calcium, and fiber, but what I find shocking is 1.5 cups of romanesco has 145% of your needed vitamin C and 2.4 grams of protein!

This vegetable looks so cool it's my new "go to" for parties.  It looks like a fractal, which will pique the interest of almost anyone...so much so that I've even given it away as a gift. (yeah, I know, I'm weird).

Go find it!  It's the most amazing thing out there.

When one aims for a strange Christmas gift....

My husband is super talented at finding just the right gifts for me, but this year, he fell down an unusual path. Knowing I love exploring food...good and bad...he found a list of the most unusual foods out there and decided to go after chocolate made with camel milk.

The chocolate it's self was not bad, but I wouldn't rank it in the top 25 best chocolates.  He bought me two bars, one high in cocoa (which tasted pretty normal) and a milk chocolate bar high in camel milk which tasted...salty, very salty. (One friend said the milk chocolate bar had a mildly coconut taste to it....personally I didn't taste it).

This of course led to lots of discussions with others...Would you drink camel milk?  Would you drink other animals milk, like rhino's or hippos?  Personally, I decided, yeah sure...anything except cat, dog, or rodent....but this lead to some strange internet searches - apparently horse milk is popular in Europe.  They say it has a burnt caramel taste...until that day it didn't occur to me that dolphins and whales produce milk (I know they are mammals, but I've never seen their boobs)...and of course, almost any animal you can dream of, someone out there is selling it's milk.....

Including Whole Foods.  Last night when I was in Whole Foods, I found my camel milk...strait up, in a bottle..in the freezer section.  $20 for 16 ounces.  So there I was, faced with the reality of the question - would you try...no thank you!