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!

Cold weather = fire = s'mores

In Kansas City once a year they have a WaterFire festival.  (This years festival is TODAY, in the plaza at sundown).  They float 55 bonfires in brush creak and play live music while floating down the creak.  It's actually rather moving to see hundreds of people flock around the fires peacefully watching the flames/occasional performance.

Last year while my friend group was sitting at the WaterFire festival my boyfriend and a few others decided we should have marshmallows. My boyfriend, who can solve any problem in the most efficient yet humorous way, decided we should get a remote control boat, attach a marshmallow roasting stick, and presto....drive the boat to the fire, drive it back when it looks to be cooked.  He actually found a boat on clearance this summer, and was quite delighted with his plan.  Personally I'm terrified the police may misread the situation as a bomb threat, so I think I've talked him out of his shenanigans. *cue the booing crowd*

But, with all the talk about WaterFire and illegal s'more making, one of my friends decided to have a small bonfire at her place after the festival.  So now I'm contemplating what kind of s'mores I should bring to the party - classic or something fancier.  I've done s'mores with cinnamon graham crackers, a smear of nutella and a marshmallow.  I've also done the classic using andes mints instead of hershey's chocolate...I've seen the suggestion to add a smear of peanut butter to the classic s'more (which sounds delicious!)...not sure yet, still looking for my magic recipe.

All I can say is I know I'm not bringing jumbo marshmallows.  While they look awesome, we learned last year that they are just too big.  They don't have the right ratio of gooey warm marshmallow wrapped in a thin crispy golden shell. (They are so big that in the end the center is always still mildly cold/uncooked).

Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather.  Get some pumpkin ale (or pumpkin ice cream), have a bonfire with marshmallows, caramel apples...and if you live in the Kansas City area, by all means go to the WaterFire fest. http://www.waterfirekc.com/index.html

Booze Cakes

I hate to sound like a lush, but the BEST cookbook I own is a little book called Booze Cakes.  I've made about a dozen recipes out of this book, and not one of them has been a flop.

In general, I prefer to find my recipes online, because of the beautiful system where people can rate the recipe and add their comments...If the recipe has 1000+ five star ratings I know it will be a winner, and I always scan the comments to see if everyone is saying to cut the baking soda in half, add a splash of pineapple juice, etc.

But this little book Booze Cakes has the best pictures, very clear instructions, suggestions at the bottom of the page for 'tweaking/altering the recipe,' and as I said, I've yet to make a bad cake from this book. It's great!

I will say, some of the recipes end up being quite pricey.  Basically if I have to buy a few different types of alcohol that adds up quickly, but I'm ok with splurging when I know it will be a stellar cake!  And when you take cupcakes, a jelly roll, or a fancy cake to a party that is reeking of alcohol you know your the cool kid. Everyone wins.

In other words - BUY THE BOOK!  YOU'LL THANK ME!
http://www.amazon.com/Booze-Cakes-Confections-Spiked-Spirits/dp/1594744238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347180460&sr=8-1&keywords=booze+cakes


If your into cakes, here's another interesting site
http://0bcb6edb2leo0w5wdvrsuzaodg.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=YUMMYARTS

Baked Kale Chips?

So I've heard a lot of rumors lately of how awesome baked kale chips are. They are easy to make, healthy, and a great substitute for potato chips.

I'm not really a potato chip fan, but my boyfriend is a serious snacker and veggie hater, so I instantly fell in love with the idea of a 'green chip.'  How great would that be to replace the worst food on the planet with the best food on the planet?!?!?

All you have to do is pick up some fresh kale from the grocery store, wash it, dry it, tear it into bite size pieces, drizzle a little olive oil and salt...then bake 10-15 minutes, and presto...magic green chips!

However, these magic green chips are super fragile, and if you chew them long enough, I swear the kale will rehydrate itself and BAM bitter veggie taste. Not so yummy.

Needless to say my boyfriend did not swoon at the new food option.  He did eat them and I think he'd eat them again, maybe, but they are no potato chip...and I waited a few days to see if maybe they are something that gets better with time, but they don't get better...they get stale and chewy really quick, they almost taste like kale flavored gum, and I swear the kale smell gets worse over time.

Sounds like a great snack right?  Do not be fooled!  This is not a green potato chip!  I mean it's 'fun,' it's different....maybe if I had an afternoon tea group I would serve a bowl of dried kale along with some other munchies like pitta and hummus...but I would never bring baked kale to a potluck meal for fear I would be dubbed the insane woman who brought health food (gasp).

Is there such a thing as too many kitchen timers?

We have three timers in our kitchen.  This happened by fluke, but I love having all three timers.

We have two cheep timers that stick to the fridge, which is awesome because I'm always carrying one of them into another room, and it's a 50/50 chance if the timer will be returned to it's proper place when I'm done cooking, but inevitably one of the two timers is always where it needs to be, so two little timers seems to be plenty...but those are cheep timers that only go up to one hour...and while I have the best intentions, if I'm cooking something that takes several hours, I need a buzzer to remind me to check on it.  So we have a fancier larger one that sits on top of the stove.  The fancier timer will even count up to 24 hours (which is nice when I'm making yogurt), AND after the timer goes off, it starts counting how long it's been since the timer went off...so if you miss the buzzing noise and wonder how long did you overshoot it this timer will tell you....(which I can see the need for, but I've never actually needed this function since all three timers are portable, you just take them with you wherever you go!) To me this backwards counting seems to act like a nag saying "It's been 16 hours since you last cooked."

It seems to me that many people when getting married request a kitchen timer in their registry, but I firmly believe they should not get just one kitchen timer, they should get two...or three....but then I would be the weird friend, insisting they need two of everything...so maybe I should buy them one, and not mark it off on their list with hope that someone else will buy them one too "by mistake."

New Fruit!

It seems like whenever I'm in the mood to try something new all I have to do is hang out in the produce section at the grocery store.  Have you noticed that they keep bringing in new strange fruits and veggies?

Last year my biggest finds were pluots (a hybrid of a plum and apricot) and rambutan (a crazy fruit that looks like a sugar gum seed - a round ball covered in prickly spines) you split the spiny shell in half and there is a watery grape in the middle that tastes kind of like a pear.

This year my biggest discovery to date were champagne grapes......it never even occurred to me that one could buy champagne grapes, but there they were in $5 plastic boxes at Whole Foods.

They are about the size of small blueberries, and they taste like an extra sweet/extra flavorful grape.  We bought them to share with friends, but honestly they are so tiny that its a little difficult to pluck them off the stem, so they didn't share well...I bet if we would have cut them into small bundles so everyone could just take a bundle they would have like them better.

Have you been to a frozen yogurt shop where they have tiny little boba balls?  These grapes tasted just like that!  When you squish them they just burst with flavorful liquid.  Which now that I'm thinking of it, they would be great as an ice cream topping!

If you happen to see them in the store you should get them!  They're totally worth the mini splurge.

Seeking to Create an Heirloom

For years I have written in cookbooks, saved the links to all my favorite recipes online, and shoved random torn out pages from magazines into my desk....I've been lucky, I've lost very few recipes along the way.

One was an amazing five layer mint brownie I found online...it was famous in my friend circle, absolutely everyone loved it, but one day I discovered the website was taken down. From time to time I still click on the link hoping it will be there again, but alas it never is, and lets be honest, it never will be again.

Another recipe was one I cooked for a boyfriend ten years ago (good memory right?)...the right occasion came up, I remembered this recipe was a smashing success the last time I made it...but one problem, the recipe was in a magazine ten years ago. I searched online with no luck, dug through all my random stacks of paper, looked in all my folders...then luck hit, I actually found a shopping list for that recipe from ten years ago...searched the internet and was able to figure out which magazine printed it...and bam! still had the freaking magazine on my bookshelf.  (I promise I don't keep everything, but I was very grateful I kept this one)...however, fast forward another year or two...I don't have the slightest clue where that recipe went!

So I've decided, I want to get a three ring binder and print ALL of my most loved recipes on acid free paper and put them in one place.  So when I get tired of my most recent collection of recipes, I can flip through the book and be guaranteed to love any recipe out of that book.

I want this book to become an heirloom, so I want it to be a cool book.  I'd even be willing to pay for a leather bound three ring binder, if I could find one that looked right....but unfortunately I couldn't find ANYTHING....until I stumbled upon www.zazzle.com

Way back in the day I remember seeing this site. You or anyone else can create their own online store on Zazzle.  Your or they design tee-shirts, coffee mugs, THREE RING BINDERS....and if someone else finds it and likes it, they can buy it. Zazzle will custom make it and ship it to the buyer, and the "artist" gets a cut of the profits.

There are thousands of three ring binders. I'm overwhelmed by all the choices.  Do I stick with a classic?  Monogrammed?  Something wacky, and so ugly it's charming?   I've been looking for a couple days now and I've narrowed it down to eight choices, but I love them all, I'm not sure which would be my perfect heirloom book.

Here's what I've got so far:

I'm kind of leaning towards the middle row. Blair's favorite is the top right, which I love too, but I just don't know. Anyone out there got an opinion?

Could You Be a Vegetarian?

The older I get the harder it is to keep the pounds at bay.  I feel like I'm constantly exercising but it just isn't enough any more.  About a year or two ago I finally surrendered to the fact that food choices also have to play a role in fitness, so slowly but constantly I strive to eat better/healthier.

This year, I was pondering the vegetarian life style and I realized I don't even know enough vegetarian recipes to last a week.  What would you eat for seven days?  You shouldn't just lean on breads, but as much as I love fruits that can't be all one eats......so as an experiment I signed up for the vegetarian meal plan at www.fresh20.com

At the start of each week Fresh20 emails me a grocery list of 20 fresh ingredients (they use very few canned or processed foods) for five vegetarian meals.  I spend about $20-$30 on the ingredients, but the recipes are for a family of four, so really one weeks groceries last me about two weeks. I've been using their system for a few months now (not every week, but some) and it is so much fun, I'm discovering new foods, cooking with ingredients I've always loved but never cooked with before, and I feel like I'm eatting a much more well rounded diet than I ever had before!

I've made homemade pesto sauce, stuffed mushrooms, polenta (I didn't even know what a polenta was before the fresh20)...one week I made my own black bean veggie burgers...as I said, it's so much fun!

The only down side is that these meal plans are getting created each week by the fresh20 team, so while you have variety and excitement, you also have typo's and confusing instructions from time to time....It helps that I already know how to cook, so I can say "no way, that can't be right..."  We're all human, I can forgive the typos, it just makes me sad when I make a wrong meal, because normally I would write notes in my cookbook and make the meal right the next time, but with their system I don't know if I'd remember if I see the same recipe a second time...

Another issue I had to overcome: it seems like each week one out of the five meals is a little too adventurous for me. This week it was Ginger Bok Choy and Tofu.  I'll admit I don't even know what ginger bok choy and tofu would taste like, but it just doesn't sound good. In the past, I would buy the ingredients for the meal with the intention of 'expanding my horizons', but then come up with every excuse possible to not make that meal, leaving all those precious ingredients to spoil in my fridge...I've learned it is better to stick with my first impressions, if the meal doesn't sound good, don't buy the ingredients, and don't plan on making it.

I think the Fresh 20 system was worth every penny.  It would be an awesome gift for foodie, someone going vegetarian, or someone striving to cook at home every night.  

Pizza and Art in Westport

We went to the coolest pizza place in Westport today….it’s artsy, it’s foodie friendly, and green earth hippie…..

The place is called Open Fire Pizza (3951 Broadway, Kansas City MO 64111).  It’s kind of easy to miss but defiantly worth stopping for.

It looks like an artist and a cook/chef got together and created their dream place.  There are huge paintings all over the walls, a big open floor plan, with repurposed decorations.  (My favorite was they cut a bunch of pvc pipes all the same length, strung them parallel to each other and used them almost like a bamboo shade separating the tables with their home made ‘shades.’

They have event rooms, a hippie looking coffee shop, a small stage, real brick ovens, low cost art classes….the place is cool, real cool.

The pizza was great, they are sort of big enough to split, but cheap enough one could get their own. (I want to say a three topping pizza is $7).  It is a thin crusted pizza with really good pizza sauce.

The staff seemed laid back and super friendly….. but honestly, what we liked most was the interior design, it’s just crazy unique.  For instance I was so blown away by the painting in the bathroom I actually drug my boyfriend in to see it…then I took a picture, hahaha (see below).

We’re defiantly going back.  Here's their website if your interested: http://openfirepizza.com/

Pot Roast Gone Wrong

We've all seen it happen in the movies.  Girl invites everyone over for a huge turkey dinner, but girl forgets to turn the oven on and at the last minute the turkey, which is the main event, is discovered raw, cold, uncooked, chilling in the oven.

My mom did this a few times when I was a kid, but I had never done this before...seriously, 'forget' to turn on the oven, are you kidding me?

Go figure, for my thirtieth birthday I found myself making this very mistake....

When I was younger and I pictured myself as an adult, I pictured cooking a family style dinner for my friends once a week...we'd have a designated day that we would all gather around a home cooked meal, play games, drink wine, etc....

Now that I'm an adult I've come to terms with the fact that this would be a very expensive pastime, not to mention a huge logistical problem, trying to appease everyone's food likes and dislikes, and food allergies/odd diets would be a huge undertaking.  So instead I strive to do this only as my birthday celebration...

I like the challenge of cooking for a larger number of people, planning out the time that everything has to be done so that it is all ready at the right time, and inviting others to try some of the recipes that I've discovered.

This year I decided to go simple, just a simple pot roast with roasted with the classic potatoes, carrots, a couple types of bread, and strawberry lemonade smoothies...

Everything was going smoothly....I managed to make it to three grocery stores within the hour...got a 3.5 pound pot roast specially cut for me (three tresses to hold the darn thing together...and it barely fit in my dutch oven)...put it into the oven right on time....set an alarm to cut up the potatoes and carrots and add them to the oven an hour and a half before dinner...but when I went to add the veggies I discovered the oven was completely cool....I'd set the temperature but didn't turn the stupid thing on! To make matters worse, I had already set the dinner time a little late in the evening, so now, dinner wouldn't be ready until 10pm.


One by one as people arrived I broke the bad news "I'm so sorry, should we go out to eat or wait out the 3.5 slab of meat in the oven?"  They chose to wait it out (thank goodness...what would I do with all that food otherwise....we ate dessert first, played a game or two then delved into dinner....

However being that dinner was two hours later than I intended, I was a little short on food.....Everyone seemed happy with the meal, but there were no left overs which means everyone was probably a little ravenous and a little bit more of everything would have been better. C'est la vie.... I guess you can't win them all. 

Free for All at the Grocery Store

So last week I got a gift card to a organic grocery store, and I was hoping it would be a fun free for all.  Throwing anything and everything in the cart without a care, but instead I was a penny pincher.

This week I unexpectedly had my moment.  Everyone knows you should never shop at the grocery store when you are tired and hungry...I was tired and hungry and shopping at Whole Foods.  We found bing cherries, and bought them even though we already have sweet cherries in the fridge...but they were so beautiful, and they were bings (the BEST type of cherry that's only around for a small season).  Then we started  scooping out anything and everything from the self serve bins - dried mangoes (that taste kind of like fruit roll ups), cherry vanilla granola, unsalted cashews....

And candy, when your tired and hungry candy is a must.  We bought two different brands of peanut butter cups, some caramel cups....and THE BEST lemon pound cake from the bakery....

It was madness I tell you...but so much fun.  Blair would sheepishly say "I kind of want to try that," and I'd say "then get it, throw it in...I'll split it with you..."  Which was fun and all until I discovered that we spent almost $80 on random junk food.  NEVER go grocery shopping when your tired and hungry!  (Unless your prepared for the consequences.)

Kombucha

On our shopping spree at Natural Grocers we bought some locally made berry flavored kombucha.  I wanted to like it soooo bad since it's locally made, obscure, and bubbly (I seem to love anything bubbly), but I've got to say - not my cup of tea. It's got a strong vinegar taste, that's not bad, but not necessarily good either.

I will admit, I had no clue what kombucha was when I tried it.  The bottle we bought had no label what so ever, just a paper tag on the top of the bottle indicating what was inside. After scouring the internet, I think my hopes were misaligned with reality.

Kombucha is basically/fermented moldy tea. It looks like it originated in China, and according to wikipedia there are loose references to it being referred to as the "beverage with magical powers enabling people to live forever" all the way back in 206 BC....had I known that, I would have expected a sour stinky drink.

So why would someone want to drink a bubbly moldy tea that tastes like vinegar? According to wikipedia this stuff has hundreds of healing powers/health benefits.  Kombucha will:
- Detoxify the body and energize the mind
- Add in cancer recovery
- Increase energy
- Sharpen eyesight
- Aid in joint recovery
- Improve skins elasticity
- Aid in digestion
- Help keep foods like rice and pasta from "sticking" when eating

But, there is no research backing any of these claims, so buyer beware.


I also found it intriguing that just ten days ago Whole Foods pulled kombucha off their shelves because it may be an alcoholic drink.  They ferment the tea just like alcohol, and I guess .5% alcohol content is allowed as non-alcoholic, but they are suspecting the tea continued to ferment while it was shipping to the stores, meaning it could be up to 3% alcohol content, at which case it needs to be marketed and sold as alcohol.  (In Kansas this will be a big deal because they have all kinds of crazy laws about selling liquor - it can only be sold between 6am and midnight, if it's over 3.2% it can't be sold in a gas station or grocery store, etc.)  


According to articles on the net Whole Foods is currently in the process of testing all of their kombucha brands, but that was days ago, and I swear I was at Whole Foods just yesterday and saw a kombucha section in the refrigerated section...but I was unable to find any official statement from Whole Foods on the mater.  Maybe they were wrong and tried to remove all evidence of the questioning?  Who knows?

Regardless of the matter, bubbly fermented tea that is suppose to make me live forever, and may or may not get me buzzed sounds awesome.  (I just wish I liked the taste!)

If your interested in trying it, Whole Foods and Natrual Grocers both sell a brew that is made here in Kansas City "Local Bucha."  http://www.localbucha.com/Home.aspx  and I read that the BadSeed farmers market has some for sale too (I think I'm going to try their farm brew next).  Also note, according to Local Bucha's website, some batches are more acidic than others, and some are more bubbly than others, so maybe I'd like a milder batch?  The search will continue.

Natural Grocers

There's a new health food grocery store in town.  It's on Metcalf right in front of the large Whole Foods (where Boarders use to be).  I received a gift card to this place a week ago, so I was super excited to check it out.

The store has a huge assortment of health and beauty supplies (way better than Whole Foods in that category).  So if you looking for health pills, powders, oils, makeup, shampoos, etc. you need to check out this store, the prices are good and the assortment is wide.

For everything else, they seem to have a little bit of everything, a little bit of fresh fruit, a small amount of frozen foods, etc. (but it's so new, they may not be fully set up yet...the grocery part may get larger in time). For most things the price was better than Whole Foods, but I think Trader Joe's is cheaper on a lot of stuff (but Trader Joe's has their own brand, so it's not exactly apples to apples).

Out of the three health food stores - Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Natural Grocers - Trader Joe's is my favorite because their private brand is cheep and fantastic, but there is something to be said for TWO organic stores right next to each other.  Talk about convenient!

I was given a $75 gift card to Natural Grocers, so in my head my boyfriend and I were going to skip through the isles and throw in all sorts of strange new magical foods, and I'd buy them with my magic card without a care in the world, but I quickly snapped back to reality when I caught on that everything at Natural Grocers seems to be $5.  It's organic, green earth friendly, produced "the right way, not the cheap way," so even if its "cheap" it's still expensive compared to places like Walmart.  My dream of magically being able to buy anything and everything that our hearts could desire with that $75 gift card popped when we found a small box of cookies that we wanted (only eight cookies in the box) for $9! I instantly snapped "no way am I paying $9 for eight cookies!" Sigh, oh how wonderful it would be to not have to consider money...but we did buy quite a few more reasonably priced fun foods.

I hope the place does well, I think I will like having them around, especially for the health and beauty section. (I found a new shampoo that I'm in love with that's not sold at Whole Foods or Trader Joes, but it's cheap, smells fantastic, and doesn't have any 'bad' stuff in it).

P.S. If you go to Natural Grocers, bring your own bags or you'll have to buy bags.

The Kolache Factory - in Overland Park Kansas

Lately I’ve been on the look out for early morning restaurants.  Thanks to groupon, I found a new one to add to our list – The Kolache Factory.  Its way down south (135^th and Metcalf) but it opens at 6am every day but Sunday and they have great breakfast and lunch items.

So a kolache, in case you’re not in the know, is a type of pastry bread that holds fruit or meat.  They can be made into tiny little pie shapes with jam in the middle, or they are made into 2 or 3 inch balls filled with ham, steak, or some other kind of meat.  Since this is a bread based food, the restaurant also has cinnamon rolls, cinnamon twists, and a few other non-kolache pastries.

There are probably 25-30 different kolache’s to chose from, and for the most part they are all $1.39-$2.29...so it’s a pretty cheap meal, you only need two or three to fill up.  My boyfriend got the philly cheese steak kolache and a ham kolache (the philly one was our favorite).  I ordered a mild polish sausage (which was like a high end hot dog wrapped in their soft kolache bread – it was fantastic!) and a strawberry kolache (which was only ok – it was great bread, but the jam onto was only mediocre).

The place isn’t fancy, but it was fun to find something other than bagels, waffles, and doughnuts. 

Being Healthy(er)

Blair and I watched the documentary Unforked on netflix a few months ago, and the movie really moved me. I've always had slightly ill feelings towards vegan people, mainly because I've seen so many malnourished vegans. (Speaking of young adults). But this was a documentary that was arguing for a vegan lifestyle. Scientists talking about their strong beliefs that milk and meat are causing cancers and illnesses, and how they truly believed we should strive to live a life eating low processed whole foods.

Honestly what moved me the most was how beautiful their food looked. It really got me thinking about how difficult it is to "eat healthy." I'm pro food, I hate the idea of banning any food, so I'm never going to completely go vegan, but lets say you wanted to for one week eat only truly healthy foods. Could you do it? I don't think I know enough sin free, completely healthy recipes.

I know lots of pasta dishes, but there's the whole gluttony of starches, and I know how to cook any meat strait up, but there's the whole "how much is too much?"...so what should I be eating instead of pasta or meat?!?!

To answer this question Blair and I decided to buy the book that is tied to the movie, which has 125 recipes. We agreed to make all 125 recipes at least once no matter how scary they sound (and some of them are pretty frightening). We are marking each recipe with our rating of how much we liked it, and notes about what would make it better, or what tips would help next time we make the recipe.

Honestly, we seem to like the deserts and snacks the best, but hey, they are really good for you, and most munchies I eat are not "really good for you," so I still think it's a win. Plus it's a lot of fun cooking with all kinds of ingredients I've never used before. I'm hoping in the end I will have a couple dozen super healthy recipes that I will add to my weekly/monthly/yearly rotation.

So far our absolute favorite recipe is
Frozen Chocolate Banana Bon Bons:

(to make about 50 bon bons)
1/3 cup maple syrup (I use real maple syrup)
1/3 cup plant-based milk (I use real milk)
1/3 cup cocoa power
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 ripe bananas
2 cups of rolled oats (not the instant stuff)
and grape nuts to roll the stuff in

Puree everything except the oats and the grape nuts, stir in the oats, then scoop up a little ball of the mixture (bite sized balls) and drop it into a bowl of grape-nuts and cover on all sides (it will be pretty sloppy, covering it in grape-nuts is kind of what holds it together), then place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper…freeze the entire pan, them move them into a tubberware dish of some sort.

After they are deeply frozen, 5 minutes of thawing can help soften them a little, but they are so yummy…they fulfill chocolate cravings, as well as ice cream cravings.

Oh no!

I have THOUSANDS of superstitions in the kitchen...
- If I cook chicken, every utensil goes directly in the dishwasher, and whatever surface came in contact with the container gets sprayed with bleach
- If anything gets put in the sink, it does not get used again
- Don't cross contaminate your butter, jelly, etc
- When ever using a wooden cutting board I try to clean it asap so bacteria doesn't have time to grow

I could go on and on about my kitchen beliefs. I'm constantly gasping at my boyfriends laid back attitude "Don't do that, are you nuts?!?!" My favorite of these was his genius idea of cooking hot dogs in the toaster...it actually sounds brilliant, until you get the the part about cleaning up. You just cooked a meat in that little metal box, how do you disinfect it?  But I will say, you can buy a specialty toaster made specifically for cooking hot dogs, so he's not the only one that thinks toasters and hot dogs go hand in hand.


Anyway, the reason I mention all my paranoia's is that I just read an article that tops anything I've ever seen - salmon cooked in your dishwasher - published by Real Simple Magazine!  In case your not cringing at this idea, think about how poisonous dish soap is. Just a tiny bit is enough to give a person diarrhea.  Dishwashers have all kinds of strange build up in the corners, bacteria and soap, and now they are suggesting cooking fish in that...YUCK!

Here's the link to "Bob Blumer's Dishwasher Salmon Recipe." -- And if you have the guts to try this recipe, please, please, please, let me know....I wont judge you I promise. 
*mustering best angel face possible*
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-techniques/cooking/bob-blumers-dishwasher-salmon-recipe-00000000022899/index.html?xid=yshi-RS-062012-dishwasher-uses

That's MY piece of pizza!

When I was a kid my mom use to put mushrooms on her fourth of the family pizza.  Everyone would avoid her two slices and leave the pieces right next to the mushroom ones until very last because some mushrooms would inevitably fall over the edges.

We were the kind of family that could snarf down a meal in the blink of an eye, and as a small kid many times I would have to fight to get my fair share when sharing a dish. I always thought my mom's mushroom thing was kind of genius.  She could eat as slow as she wanted, and no one would fight to take her pieces...

I think I may be following in her footsteps, because in the last six months I've learned I really like blue cheese on my pizza.  It's odd tasting, but sinfully good (and I'm sure wildly unhealthy).  But I realized today, those pieces covered in blue cheese are off the radar in my boyfriends mine, they are non-existent, no matter how hungry he may be I doubt he'd ever ask, "can I have one of those slices?"