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Friday Favorites #18 – Link Love Edition

Friday Favorites

Welcome to another Friday Favorites!  This week seemed to fly by!  My sister and her family visited from Maryland over the Memorial Day Weekend and the kids got in some quality time with their cousins.  My two week recovery from my surgery ended Wednesday and I started back at work.  So, we are back in the swing of things!  It’s been hard readjusting to regularly scheduled life!  This weekend is busy.  I am helping my daughter early Saturday morning do a road clean-up with Girl Scouts.  My son has a soccer game and then the Weekend Chef and I are going to our monthly Supper Club.  Sunday, my son has a birthday party and the rest of the day will hopefully be relaxing (you know errand running, grocery shopping, cleaning…..relaxing, right?!).  I really don’t have any special favorites for this week.

So, I’ve decided to share some random things I’ve been reading on the web:

America’s 20 Most Popular National Parks, Ranked – I would love to visit all of these some day.  America is so beautiful and it would be amazing to get the chance to see nature at its best.

If I was maybe in my 20’s and didn’t have two kids, I’d totally be up for this.

Summer is quickly approaching.  We will continue our weekly trips to the library and I am going to print up this Library Adventure Challenges.  This looks like a lot of fun and will help us discover new books and authors!

Summer hasn’t even officially started yet and I’ve already started to get eaten alive by mosquitoes.  I have itchy bumps all over that I know I’m NOT supposed to scratch…..but it’s so hard!  I should definitely look into finding some of these plants.

I can’t believe that Monday is the first day of June!  I hope to follow this Simple Summer Challenge for keeping the house clean.

We are trying to plan a summer camping trip.  We may have to try out some of these recipes.

I know they’ve created a newer game, but is anyone still hooked on this game, like me?  I stopped playing awhile ago and don’t know why I got back into it.  It’s a total time waster and I’m stuck on level 140.  But it’s so addicting and I’ve been playing every night!

I love hard apple cider like Angry Orchard.  However, I’ve been really wanting to try this hard pear cider?  I haven’t found it yet…..have you tried it?!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Linking up with Tif @ Bright on a Budget, Amanda from Meet @ The Barre, Andrea @ Momfessionals and Jennie @ The Diary of a Real Housewife!

 

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Family Armchair Travel: Israel

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As mentioned yesterday, our subscription to International snack box Universal Yums!  sparked the idea of our family to armchair travel to the featured country each month.  May’s snack box featured country was Israel, so off we went!

Prior to receiving the box, I knew that the featured country was Israel.  I printed up a blank flag of Israel found at Coloring Castle and using an online picture I had my son color the flag (see picture above).   We have a children’s atlas and the kids found Israel.

We watched volume 1 of Shalom Sesame: Welcome to Israel.  This is a 12-DVD series that includes episodes on Passover, Purim, Shabbat and more.  My children are almost seven and nine years old.  I figured that this DVD was going to be too babyish for them.  Although Sesame Street characters like Grover and some new characters from Israel are featured, this DVD was surprisingly informative and engaging for even my older children.  Viewers accompany Anneliese as she goes to Israel to visit a relative.  You get to see the sights and food of Israel and meet children from the country.  Hebrew words and numbers are also introduced.  There’s a special appearance by actress Christina Applegate who teaches viewers the different meanings of “Shalom.”  (We borrowed this DVD from the library.)

We read the following books:
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Count Your Way Through Israel by Jim Haskins
Rating:  3 out of 5 stars

This book was published in 1990 and has a dated look and feel to it.  There’s an informative introductory note that gives a little background information on Israel and the alphabet and pronunciation of some of the letters.  The book counts from 1 through 10 showing the Hebrew word and pronunciation for each number.  It also connects each number to information about the country.  While the Four Questions is appropriate for number 4, for the number 5 Haskins writes about five agricultural products that Israel is known for.  The book also shows illustrations, whereas I think photographs would be much more engaging.  This book had difficulty holding the interest of my six year-old son.  (We borrowed this book from the library.)

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Exploring Countries: Israel by Joy Gregory
Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

This book is part of the Exploring Countries series AV2 Media Enhanced Books collection.  There’s a special code in the beginning of the book that when input into the AV2 website makes a variety of additional resources available to the reader.  This is one of the most recently published children’s books about Israel.  It includes information about the land and climate, plants and animals, goods and services and much more.  The supplemental online media includes videos, quizzes and activities.  Each set of pages includes a “By The Numbers” feature, with factual information relating to the particular topic.  For example, under Politics and Government, the “By The Numbers” feature notes that Israeli citizens can vote at the age of 18 and that there are 15 judges on Israel’s Supreme Court.  The book is colorful and includes lots of photographs.  The text on each page is semi-lengthy and the book is geared towards older elementary students.  (We borrowed this book from the library.)

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The Remarkable Journey of Josh’s Kippah by Barbara Elissa
Rating:  2 out of 5 stars

In this picture book, we follow a kippah from Joshua Jacob’s Bar Mitzvah as it travels around the world.  From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur the kippah travels from New York to places like Israel, Argentina and Miami before making its way back to New York.  Unfortunately, we were not big fans of this book.  There were lots of words that many readers may be unfamiliar with.  While there’s a glossary in the back of the book, the number of words that are unfamiliar, and not defined in the story, disrupt the flow of the book.  While many Jewish holidays and special days are identified in the story, there’s little to no description as to what the day is about. This was not a favorite book of ours. (We borrowed this book from the library.)

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Welcome to Israel by Elma Schemenauer
Rating:  3 out of 5 stars

This book is part of the Welcome to the World! series from They Child’s World.  This book is a little older, but still very informative.  Again, the amount of info and detail in this book makes it geared toward middle to upper elementary students.  It covers information about the land of Israel as well as its people, food, holidays, school and work.  At the back of the book there’s a list of famous people from Israel as well as a glossary and pronunciation guide for some basic Hebrew words.  This book was informative but did not keep my six year-old son’s interest.  (We borrowed this book from the library.)

To finish up our Armchair Travel we ate some Israel-themed dinners. 

The Weekend Chef’s family is part Jewish, so we celebrate Passover and Hanukkah with them.  Our kids are familiar with latkes, gefilte fish, matzo ball soup, matzo and haroset.  I wanted to make some dishes that were new to us.

I made Fresh Mozzarella, Mushroom and Eggplant Shakshuka from blog May I Have That Recipe?  Although, my shakshuka didn’t come out quite as pretty as theirs!  I served this with some Italian bread which we used to scoop up the sauce and veggies.  I was pleasantly surprised that both kids ate this, eggplant, mushrooms and all.

I made a whole roast chicken in the slow cooker and made Noodle Kugel from the Food Network to go with it.  The kids loved this sweet noodle dish!

The last dish I made was Baked Falafel, adapted from allrecipes.com with a Tomato and Cucumber Salad.  This wasn’t a new dish for us, but I hadn’t made it in a long time.  I love falafel  but the kids aren’t the biggest fans.  They ate theirs mixed with the tomato and cucumber salad inside their pita.  I wanted to have them try it again before we had the falafel-flavored snacks in the Universal Yums! snack box.

We are looking forward to see where we will be traveling next month!  Stay tuned so you can travel along with us!

 

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Universal Yums! May 2015

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There’s something fun about getting a surprise package in the mail!  After waiting for months, I finally got off the wait list for ipsy and was receiving make-up bags each month.  The Weekend Chef was getting a monthly subscription to Birchbox for Men.  However, as fun as these boxes were to get every month, there’s only so many male grooming products out there that the Weekend Chef could use.  For myself, I just don’t wear make-up very often, so most of the products went unused in the cute bags I received each month.  We decided to cancel our subscriptions and find something the whole family could enjoy.

As food lovers, what a better subscription for our family to enjoy than a food-themed one?!!!  But, there are so many different ones out there to choose from.  Well, we decided to try Universal Yums!  This is an international snack subscription box that started in December of 2014.  Each month they send a selection of snacks from one particular country.  Previous countries include Scandinavia, China, Italy, Brazil and Germany.  Unfortunately, you cannot currently order a previous month’s box.  The selection includes a mix of salty, sweet, spicy and more.  You can choose between either The Yum Box (6 or more snacks in each box) for $13 or The Yum Yum Box (13+ snacks each month) for $25.  Of course we decided to opt for the larger, Yum Yum Box.

I received an e-mail on a Wednesday that my May box had shipped and the box arrived on Friday, shipped 2-day priority mail.  May’s snack box theme was Israel.

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When you first open the box, the snacks are wrapped in tissue paper that looks like the flag of the country.  an information card is enclosed that provides facts about the featured country as well as a run-down of the products included in the box.

So what was included in the box?

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1.  Original Bamba – This was a 1 ounce bag of Bamba peanut snacks.  These have the appearance of a puffed cheese doodle with a peanut butter flavor.  They only have four ingredients, peanuts, corn, palm oil and salt.  The adults thought these were okay, the kids liked them a lot.

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2.  Bamba with Hazelnut Crème Filling – This was a 2.1 ounce bag of Bamba snacks that are similar to the original, but include a hazelnut filling.  The flavor reminded the Weekend Chef of Reese’s Puffs cereal, with a hint of chocolate and the shape reminded him of Combos.  We all enjoyed these and this was my daughter’s favorite snack in the box!

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3.  Elite Popping Milk Chocolate – This was a 3 ounce chocolate bar and definitely won has most fun item in the box.  This is a chocolate bar that contains Pop Rocks so with every sweet bite you get a popping party in your mouth!  This was the Weekend Chef’s favorite snack in the box!

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4. – 7.  Toffee Fruit Chews  – The box contained four of these fruit chews – 2 strawberry, one peach and one green apple.  We all got to have one.  The kids liked these, the Weekend Chef and I thought they were okay.  They tasted like fruit toffee and were okay.  This was my son’s favorite snack in the box!

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8. Falafel Bissli – This was a 2.5 ounce bag of super crunchy little falafel-flavored sticks.  Prior to eating these, I made falafel so the kids would be familiar with the flavor.  Although they weren’t the biggest fans of these, these were my favorite snack from the box.  I love falafel and thought these snacks were flavorful.

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9. Pinuki Cola Dragees – This roll included 12 pieces of cola-flavored candy.  Our son really liked these, but no one else did.  I’m a big soda fan and to me, these had an “off” type flavor that didn’t remind me of the alleged cola flavor.

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10. Achva Marble Sesame Halva Bar – This 2.45 ounce bar was the family’s least favorite snack in the box.  From the wrapper, our daughter thought it would have a chocolatey-flavor.  Boy was she disappointed!  This bar was chalky and dry with a sweet flavor that none of us liked.

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11. Pesekzman Elite Classic Chocolate Bar – This 1.59 ounce milk chocolate bar consisted of five squares that had a wafer-like hazelnut filling.  This was one of my favorite candy’s in the box  The wafer filling reminded me of the inside of a Ferrero Rocher chocolate.  The Weekend Chef wasn’t a big fan of this one, but that meant one square for everyone else and two squares for me!

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12.  B&B Pretzels Mega Sesame Sticks – This was a 5.3 ounce bag of pretzel sticks.  These sticks are baked, not fried and are covered in sesame seeds.  They are pretzels…….nothing special, but a decent size portion of the snack.

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13. Kif Kef Chocolate Bar – This 0.65 ounce candy bar was about the size of a snack size Kit Kat bar.  Even the name Kif Kef sounds like Kit Kat.  It tasted like a Kit Kat bar to us.  This was a “snack size” serving so we each only got a bite.

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14.  Mini Elite Hazelnut Chocolate Bar – This 0.63 ounce chocolate bar was the size of a Snicker’s snack size candy bar.  Again, we each only got  a small taste of this candy bar.  This had a nougat-like filling with hazelnuts.  The Weekend Chef thought this was similar to a Snickers bar, which the info card compared it to (and he didn’t look at the card!).  I didn’t think it tasted like a Snickers and it wasn’t my favorite.

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15.  Bissli Smokey snacks – This 2.5 ounce bag of crunchy wheat snacks had a smoky flavor to them.  My son thought they had a “bacon-y” flavor and liked them, where my daughter thought they were just okay.  I love salty, crunchy snacks, so I enjoyed these a lot.  While the bag notes that it’s 2 1/2 servings, if I was eating these out of the bag, I’d eat the whole thing in a sitting!

This was a fun box of snacks!  Although we didn’t love everything, it was a great experience getting to try new snacks from another country.  There was a great mix of sweet and savory.  Size-wise, the majority of the snacks were shareable for our family of four where we each got a decent taste of each snack.  Although, we literally each only got a bite of the couple of snack-size chocolate candy bars.   We paced ourselves to try about one snack a day, so the fun of our box lasted for quite a bit of time.   Although now I can’t find it, I thought that I had read somewhere that Universal Yums! was not going to be sending chocolate items during the summer months (probably so you don’t have a melty chocolate mess!).

While this box is fun and tasty, as a former teacher, I feel like this box is a great teaching tool as well.    Although this was only our first box, we enjoyed it a lot and the Weekend Chef and I think it’s a fun way for the family to experience a new culture together!  Be sure to check out tomorrow’s Armchair Travel:  Israel post on how we extended our learning about Israel after receiving our snack box!

*We purchased this box.

Recipe for Adventure: Hong Kong!

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Recipe for Adventure:  Hong Kong! by Giada De Laurentiis
Rating:  5 out of 5 stars

This book is the third in Food Network chef Giada De Laurentis’s Recipe for Adventure series.  While most children’s chapter book series don’t have to be read in order, this is a series where I do recommend starting with the first book Naples! This way, readers will get a little background into Zia (Aunt) Donatella and how siblings Alfie and Emilia travel to different countries.  In this book, the brother and sister are transported to Hong Kong and are mistaken for foreign exchange students who are supposed to be visiting Ying and her family.  The two end up helping Ying’s family as they get ready to open a restaurant, The Golden Lion.  The book takes place at the start of the Chinese New Year.  The reader gets an in-depth look into the food, traditions and symbolism of the holiday.  Alfie and Emilia receive new clothes, which is a custom of the New Year (and helps since they never arrive in the selected country with luggage!) and watch parades and fireworks.  As with the other books in this series, De Laurentis really gives a detailed description of the food in Hong Kong.  Red melon seeds, kumquats,  chicken feet and pan-fried oyster cakes are only a few of the foods mentioned.  Alfie struggles with learning how to properly use chop sticks and discovers stabbing the food with the chopstick is considered bad luck.  Other superstitions, like not cutting or breaking long noodles, which represent prosperity are also mentioned.  There’s also a side story that takes place in which Ying disobeys her parents and sneaks around to practice gymnastics, which she’s really passionate about and very good at it.  Alfie and Emilia help Ying show her parents how skilled she is.

There aren’t many food-related, travel fiction books for children.  This is a fun series, geared toward older elementary-aged students (grades 3 through 5) that gives them an in-depth look at the food and customs of different countries around the world.  Alfie and Emilia are characters that children can relate to and the stories are engaging and adventurous. Each book also comes with two recipe cards, which for this book included “Zia’s Scallion Pancakes” and “Zia’s Shrimp Dumplings.”  There are currently five books in this series.  We highly recommend this book, as well as the first two and we will continue to read the rest of the series.

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Friday Favorites #17

Friday Favorites

This week has been a week of trying to relax and recover.  It’s been a little over a week since my surgery.  The doctor told me to take a two-week recovery from work, heavy-lifting, etc.  While I thought I was starting to feel better, I felt bad about being so useless.  The other day I decided to organize and clean out my bedroom closet and my nightstand and I ended up in a lot of pain that night.  Guess I over did it!  This Memorial Day weekend should be a pretty quiet one.  Knowing I was having my surgery and would be in recovery period, we didn’t plan anything major.  We will be watching my nieces this weekend while my sister and brother-in-law go to a wedding.  I haven’t seen the girls in ages so I’m really looking forward to getting in some quality time with them!  Here are some of my favorites this week:

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1.  My gardening boxes!  The past couple of years my dad has made these garden boxes up at my parent’s house in Rhode Island.  He gets amazing vegetable yields of tomatoes and peppers.  This year, I was determined for us to make some, since I have had minimal to no luck container gardening.  The Weekend Chef finally completed the boxes last weekend and they are out on the deck!  Look for an upcoming post on how he made these boxes!

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2.   Universal Yums! Snack Subscription Box – The whole family is loving this box!  Each month, a new box is shipped filled with snacks from one country.  This was our first box and the snacks were from Israel.  Look for an upcoming review post on our snack box and how we are using the box as for additional cultural enrichment!

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3.  Currently reading:  Since I’ve had a lot of rest and relaxation time I am in the midst of two books which I hope to finish this weekend.   Her by Harriet Lane was recommended on some site or list for those who enjoyed The Girl on The Train.   I can’t say this has the same suspense and draw as The Girl on The Train.  I’m feeling pretty “eh” about it but I’m more than half-way through so going to finish it.  I’m also reading All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.  This book has gotten tons of positive reviews and I am enjoying it.   It takes place during WWII and is a bit of a heavy topic, thus me reading two books simultaneously.   I’d love some recommendations for some other books to read!  So, if you’ve read anything lately that you’d recommend, please share!

4.  Favorite bookmarked recipe of the week:  These Buffalo Chicken & Blue Cheese Waffle Sliders from blog No Spoon Necessary.   Umm, what’s not to like about these…you have your traditional chicken and waffles kicked up with buffalo flavor and blue cheese?!!!! Thinking I may be able to adapt these to make some for the kids with regular chicken…….

         

5.  Netflix:  I recently saw a list on Netflix Life of what shows and movies were going to be leaving Netflix in June.  I highly recommend checking lists like these out, because I didn’t even realize some of the shows that were even on Netflix!  Well, we started watching Cirque Su Soleil Worlds Away and my kids are mesmerized!  We only got through half of it before we had to put them to bed, but this weekend we will definitely be finishing it up.  The Weekend Chef and I actually saw a Cirque Du Soleil show pre-kids and it was amazing!  I also saw that The Baby Sitters Club was leaving in June.  I watched the first two episodes with my nine year-old daughter.  As soon as it started she commented, “This is so old!”  Yes, it actually is…the show was originally aired in 1990.  I grew up reading and loving The Baby Sitters Club book series.  I’m not sure that I ever saw the show when it was on television.  However, all of the clothes and hairstyles from the show sure did bring back flashbacks of my youth!  I do have to note that compared to television shows today that are aired at girls between 9-13, this show is so much more “clean.” The girls in the show are actually really nice to one another and overall, it’s very positive.  And even though she thought the show was “old” and “the sound is cloudy!” my daughter got hooked.  I think she’ll be watching the rest of the first season……probably without me!  So, check out that list to see what shows and movies that you might want to watch ASAP before they leave Netflix in June!

Have a great weekend!

Linking up with Andrea @ Momfessionals, Amanda from Meet @ The Barre, Tif @ Bright on a Budget and Jennie from The Diary of a Real Housewife!

Edible Arrangements: A Gift For Any Occasion

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Last week I had laparoscopic surgery.  The day after my surgery I received a flower delivery from a friend and the edible arrangement, pictured above, from my nieces.  This box contained four chocolate covered strawberries, bananas and green apple slices.  The strawberries and apple slices are dipped in semisweet chocolate and the bananas are dipped in a semisweet/white chocolate combo.  Chocolate-covered fruit is best eaten in a day or two, as the strawberries can get a bit juicy/mushy.  There are four of us in the family so we each got to try one piece of fruit (even though when I called my sister to thank her, she told me to hurry up and eat them before the kids got home!) and finished the box in two days.  The fruit was fresh and sweet.  This box was a perfect, “Get Well Soon” gift that didn’t cost a fortune.   Many people who are ill or have had surgery like myself, are either on special diets or often just don’t have their normal appetites.  While those giant edible fruit arrangements look beautiful and are tasty, they may not get eaten if sent as a “Get Well” present.  Those large arrangements need to eventually be taken apart.  Cut fruit must be stored in the refrigerator and does not have a very long shelf-life.  So, maybe save those larger arrangements for family gatherings (a graduation or large birthday celebration?) where they will get eaten!

Even though my sister lives in Maryland, she was able to place the order and have a local franchise deliver it to my house.  Edible Arrangements creates fruit arrangements that can range anywhere from $29, like the box I received, to  arrangements that cost almost $700!  They have special kids themed arrangements including Disney, SpongeBob and Hello Kitty and can create arrangements for any special occasion or holiday.  Edible Arrangements is a franchise operation, with over 1,200 stores in 12 different countries around the world.  For additional information or to place an order check out the Edible Arrangements site.

*I was not compensated for the following review.  I received the Edible Arrangement box from a family member as a gift.  I enjoyed the product and wanted to share a review with you. 

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Foodie Finds #1

We are always on the look-out for and love trying new food products.  Whether it’s a new flavor of an old favorite or a brand new food product, we are always game for trying and thought we’d share some of our recent eats and reviews!

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Sahale Snacks:  Sing Buri Cashews – I found these at Home Goods and was so intrigued I had to buy them!  These came in a 5 ounce bag and cost $2.99.  From the Sahale Snacks website you can purchase a 6 pack of these cashews for $29.65.   The Sahale website describes these snacks as “Lemongrass, soy-glazed cashews, pineapple, peanuts, and sesame seeds, lightly dusted with mild Chinese chili, in an aromatic blend, reminiscent of a great Thai dish.”  With a description like that how could I pass these up?  The cashews were lightly glazed and came in small clusters of cashews, dried pineapple and peanuts.  They had a hint of spice that wasn’t too strong, as both kids ate these.  Each bite packed a mouthful of flavor.  While I’m not a huge fan of lemongrass, the flavor was evident, but not overwhelming.  Our family practically devoured this bag after first opening.  We recommend this snack if you are a cashew lover who enjoys big flavors!  This is one of the more interesting flavors of snacks that we’ve seen and tried.  These cashews are certified gluten-free, kosher and non GMO verified.  For more information, check out the Sahale Snacks site here.

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Annie’s Naturals:  Goddess dressing – The Weekend Chef picked this salad dressing up at our local Shoprite.  The description from the Annie’s Naturals websites notes “In the 1920’s, the Palace Hotel in San Francisco honored actor George Arliss, who was opening in a play called “The Green Goddess,” with a salad dressing. But Annie’s Goddess dressing – a creamy tahini and lemon dressing with chives and parsley – is the real showstopper.”  This was not a favorite of mine or the kids, but the Weekend Chef likes it.  It is thick and the tahini flavor is strong, which would probably make for a good dip, as well as a salad dressing.  He likes the short and sweet list of all natural ingredients.  He also thinks it has an Asian flavor to it, which I disagree with.  There are no artificial flavors, no synthetic colors or preservatives and Annie’s Naturals only sources ingredients stated to be GMO free.   For more information, check out the Annie’s Naturals site here.

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Haagen-Dazs Artisan Collection:  Tres Leches Brigadeiro – You will see a LOT of ice cream reviews here.  We LOVE the stuff and are always on the look out for new brands and flavors!  While Haagen-Dazs is definitely not a new ice cream brand, their artisan collection is fairly new.   The Weekend Chef picked out the Tres Leches Brigadeiro flavor.  We both found this flavor to be extremely sweet with only a hint of tres leches flavor and didn’t care for it as much as we had hoped.  While we applaud Haagen-Dazs’ attempt at collaboration with Paula Barbosa for this artisan collection flavor, for us, this one sounded much better on the package.  For additional information, check out the official Haagen-Dazs site.

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Snyder’s of Hanover:  Parmesan and Garlic Bowties –  These new Bowties from Snyder’s of Hanover come in three flavors – Parmesan and Garlic, which we tried, Original and Everything.  These are flat, crispy pretzels, which are perfect for dipping into hummus or your favorite dip.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have dip or hummus and ate these as is.  The parmesan and garlic flavor was evident but not overpowering.  While the rest of us enjoyed them, our daughter wasn’t a fan.  I think it was the flavoring and if I end up buying these again, I’ll probably buy the original flavor to have with hummus or dip.  These are comparable to Snack Factory’s Pretzel Crisps, though these bowties are thicker and crunchier.  While these retail for $3.49 at our Shoprite, I bought them on sale for $2.50.  Check out the Snyder’s official site for more information.

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Chobani Greek Yogurt:  Limited Batch Blended Concord Grape –  You will also be seeing a lot of yogurt reviews here as well.  While I’m not a big yogurt eater, the Weekend Chef and the kids love the stuff!  They are always trying out new yogurts and flavors.  Blended Concord Grape is a limited batch flavor.  Overall, the Weekend Chef enjoys most Chobani yogurts.  However, he was not a fan of this flavor.  He compared the taste of this grape yogurt to sweet Passover wine.  He understands why there has been no marketed grape yogurt to this point.  While the yogurt itself was smooth and creamy, the Grape flavor was a fail.  For more information on this yogurt, check out the official Chobani site.

*Please note, all products mentioned above were purchased by NY Foodie Family.

Stay tuned for next week’s review of other foodie finds!

 

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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (Book Review)

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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:  A  Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

I knew author, Barbara Kingsolver, as a fiction writer, having previously read her book The Poisonwood Bible.  I had first started listening to the audiobook version of this book, narrated by Kingsolver and her family several years ago.  I had not finished listening to it before it was due back at the library and hadn’t attempted to finish it until now.  For those who have read Plenty (see our review here) this book will seem familiar.  Kingsolver and her family move from Arizona to a farmhouse in the southern Appalachians, with the goal of eating locally for a year.  Kingsolver and her family use the land to grow vegetables and raise chickens and turkeys.  If they can’t grow or raise it themselves they choose to buy it from someone local who does. This book differs from Plenty, in that it is a family undertaking.  Lily, is just eight, when the family underwent their year of living locally.  The family also allowed for some luxury “cheat” items, including coffee, hot chocolate and dried fruit. Although Kingsolver’s teenaged-daughter, Camille, was away at college for the majority of the year, the book includes occasional excerpts in which she shares her thoughts on the experience.  She also provides recipes and seasonally appropriate meal plans.  Kingsolver’s husband, Steven, also provides additional commentary and information on current food issues.   The book is not all serious and preachy.  I found Kingsolver’s chapter on turkey mating to be humorous and interesting.

Some critics of this book feel that Kingsolver gets a bit preachy and they are not wrong.  For many of us, it is unrealistic for us to grow our own food, make our own bread, can fruits and vegetables, raise chickens, etc.  But I agree with Kingsolver that tomatoes in January, transported to the grocery store from across the country (or world) do not taste as good as the fresh tomatoes grown in our garden in the summer.  Just because we can get any type of produce throughout the year, doesn’t mean we should.  However, while making homemade cheese sounds fun it is realistically not something that I see myself doing.  My husband is not home to make fresh bread daily (and that’s not something that I am undertaking!).  Reading this book will make you think about the food you’re eating in a new way.  It brings up the importance of eating locally and seasonally and the effects that industrial agriculture has on small farms.   I am almost positive everyone who reads this book will learn something new.

*I borrowed this book from the library.

 

Friday Favorites #16

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday everyone!  If you’ve noticed, except for the daily food news, it’s been a little quiet here on the blog these past couple of days.  This week has been quite a stressful one for my family.  My father had open heart surgery on Tuesday to replace a valve and on Wednesday, I had laparoscopic surgery.  Both my surgery and my father’s surgery went well, though he will have several long weeks of recovery.  So, all ended well!  However, I am spending the next couple of days basically lying on the couch recuperating.  Kudos to my mother and the Weekend Chef who have stepped in and have been making everything run as smoothly as possible.

This week, I am sharing five videos that I’ve found via Facebook and YouTube that I thought were worth sharing!

1.
Castaways, “a documentary series chronicling the successful rehabilitation program of inmates training unwanted dogs for re-introduction or adoption, while highlighting the plight that both prisoners and dogs face and how an unlikely union brings out a change in character of both man and beast- Each trying to save and serve one another.”   So touching!

2. Not sure how I feel about this trailer for Jem and the Holograms.  I grew up watching the cartoon and now they’re bringing it to the big screen?!!

3. I LOVE Anna Kendrick and Ellen.  On a recent episode they played a game of “Oh Caption, My Caption.”

4.  Did I mention I love Anna Kendrick?!!  She’s been on  a lot of talk shows promoting Pitch Perfect 2, but she’s also a great sport, as seen in this clip of her playing Egg Russian Roulette with Jimmy Fallon.


5. I know this isn’t brand new, but the new Madonna song “Ghosttown” isn’t overplayed yet that I am still enjoying it!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Just a lot of rest and recuperation on the schedule for me.

Linking up with Tif @ Bright on a Budget,  Amanda from Meet @ The Barre,  Andrea from Momfessionals and Jennie from The Diary of a Real Housewife.

5

My Mom Loves Me More Than Sushi

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My Mom Loves Me More Than Sushi by Filomena Gomes
Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

This picture book is a great way to  introduce children (and adults!) to different foods from around the world.  The little girl who narrates the story tells the reader that her mom loves her more than ____ (a different food around the world).  Each food named (sushi, biscotti, samosas, etc.) has an illustration of what the food looks like and a little, white flag with the name of the country it comes from.  For the most part, the foods are described well enough for the reader to get an idea of what the food is.  A map in the beginning and end of the book illustrates where each of the foods mentioned in the book comes from.  I see this book as being a great starting off point in cooking and trying new foods.  “Remember the biscotti from Italy that the girl and her mom ate?  Why don’t we try some?!”  There were foods mentioned in the book that I was unfamiliar with like canja and megadarra.  This book is illustrated, but could me more interesting and educational if actual photographs of the food were shown as well as flags of the different countries.

*We borrowed this book from the library.