Fresh, minty begging

I am, and always have been, in big, juicy, heart-palpitating lurve with mint and chocolate.

Graeter's Mint Chip ice cream? The stuff of dreams and tiny, big-eyed puppies. Suh-woon.

Andes Mints have always just been kind of...there. Your waiter brings them to you with your check after dinner. Your grandma carries them in her purse at church. They've been around since 1950.

They just seemed...boring.

So I probably hadn't had one in at least 10-15 years. I had kind of forgotten that there WAS mint-chocolate candy out there. (Peppermint Patties don't count, at least in my book. Yecch. I don't feel as though I'm skiing through the Alps so much as taking some waxy, vaguely-chocolatey medicine.)

But then I happened to be in a gas station recently that was selling them 5 for 9 cents. The random pricing was so very random that it piqued my interest. So I grabbed a handful.

And they were so very tasty, albeit tiny, that I decided to write an equally tiny post about how much I loved them.

So I Googled them and therein discovered there's a whole world out there of love and celebration for their awesomeness. Andes mint brownies! Andes mint drinks! Andes mint S'MORES! These are my people!

Since, as some of you know, I am a terrible cook and my kitchen cries real tears of shame, I think I'm going to have to get creative. As in, begging someone who's more of a kitchen rock star to make me some Andes mint brownies.

65 Roses for Marcia? What do you say? Just promise me you won't put goat's milk in them. Well, at least the first batch. 36x37? You know, my birthday IS coming up... :)

Sometimes life is kind...

...and it lets the things that are tasty also be good for you.

Case in point, the avocado (good fats are awesome), red wine (relaxing and also good for the heart, thank you) and my latest obsession:

Bacon Alfredo Pizza


It's pizza. With spinach. And tomatoes and cheese and alfredo sauce. And BACON.

Oh, dear sweet bacon.

My tastebuds adore you, but my slightly-over-sized posterior, sadly, does not.

Except! When you're on this DELICIOUS pizza made by Lean Cuisine! (Who are, in my opinion, the heroes of the frozen-dinner world, as their stuff (mostly) tastes pretty darn good, has (mostly) no preservatives and is (mostly) reasonably priced. And Kroger is always having sales during which T and I pack our standing freezer so full it's ridiculous.)

And...bacon? No longer just a fat-filled, unrealized dream. Now a fully-realized, satisfying reality. In my tummy.

Yum.

Do you partake of the food that is frozen? What are your faves? Any I absolutely have to try? (Keeping in mind that I'm violently allergic to basil, which, sadly, most of the best frozen dinners seem to have.)

Tasty, science-y, with a dash of weird/adorable

My latest DVR go-to:


If you haven't heard of the show, it follows head chef Omar Cantu and his kitchen staff at his restaurant, MOTO, in Chicago. The hook: They use their kitchen like a laboratory, take experimental cooking (yay!) to a whole new level, and then serve the best results to their customers.

Since it airs on Planet Green, all the episodes/experiments have a green bent to them. For example, they invented edible (and, therefore, easily degradable) packaging material:

They created packaging peanuts that looked, functioned and actually protected a shipped glass vase just like their Styrofoam counterparts, but tasted like popcorn, strawberry and other flavors and were completely edible. (Note to the creators of the Touchdown/Butter Jesus: NOT a good idea for the next iteration.)

Since my kitchen doesn't include a centrifuge and a supply of liquid nitrogen, it's highly unlikely I'd be able to actually make most of what the team is doing, so the appeal of the show isn't personal instruction. Their experiments are just really...cool. :)

And socially relevant: In one show, they propose a solution to world hunger by creating dishes out of edible plants that normally are too bitter or nasty to actually eat (e.g., marigolds, and the weeds growing out of your sidewalk) but are made tasty by first eating Miracle Fruit, a fruit that fools your tastebuds into thinking bitter/sour things taste good.

What completely hooked me into the show: the staff, all of whom are adorable and totally excited about their experiments and how it might actually make a difference in the world. Omar (who was homeless as a kid, and knows from hunger) gets so little-kid-excited about things like shooting bratwursts with paintballs filled with hot sauce that I just want to put him in my pocket and carry him around.

Even if you don't really care about cooking (I generally don't) or if you don't give a crap about the environment (...), the show is just really...cool. I know, I already said that. But it is! They make fake sushi out of watermelon! And a chicken nugget using only things a chicken would actually eat! And EDIBLE PACKAGING PEANUTS!

Oh, just go watch it.

:)

Hummus + Spicy = Oh, dear Lord this is good

Our neighbors brought this spicy gem to an impromptu dinner party (inspired by all the snow) earlier this week.

If you like hummus (yup) and love spicy (check), this is simply fab.u.lous. I pretty much hijacked the container at dinner and then growled at anyone who tried to take it from me.

The hummus on its own is great -- I'd never had Sabra before, but it had a good, smooth texture (I'm a big texture person) and tasted, well, like good hummus. Not too garlicky, not too lemony, not too...tahini-y.

And then, in the middle, you have this fabulous spicy red pepper mix, with all the pepper juices running around the perimeter of the hummus and setting off the milder chick pea flavor with bursts of eye-watering spicy goodness...drooooooooolllll...

Suffice to say: I likes.

And: I hear tell that Kroger (even our back-woods, country Kroger) carries it. You'd better believe that, as soon my car emerges from the dreaded white stuff, I'm out the door to pick me up some.

Oh, and also: In looking for the picture at the top of this post, I discovered that apparently Sabra ALSO makes a little snack-sized version, complete with little pretzel crisps for dipping. How cute are they? LOVE.

My new obsession

Ocean Spray's new Diet Ocean Spray cran-grape juice.

Please allow me to sing its praises:

1. It tastes awesome. Heavy on the grape, light on the cranberry. Mmmmmm...
2. It only has five calories per serving (it's made with Splenda); you can drink an entire bottle like the ones above for only 20 calories.
3. It gets me through the 1:00-3:00 period at work when I JUST WANT SOME CHOCOLATE. (Did I mention the vending machine is a mere two-and-a-half steps from my cubicle?) Plus, I get to yell "Juice break!!" every day at 3:00 and freak out my co-workers.
4. It prevents urinary tract infections.
5. And, I think it would taste amazing frozen in little popsicles. A theory I intend to test out when it isn't actually freezing outside.

Highly recommended.