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Category: Food

Thank you to CrabAppleLane Rob and Patsy for sending a King Cake to Austin today!

It came all wrapped up with Mardi Gras beads, coins and a cup.



It was melt-in-your mouth good! The filling was raspberry and cream cheese. Yum!!



Some knew about the baby baked inside the cake; some didn't. Hank didn't know about the baby ... until he bit into it. heh!



I told him the tradition: whoever gets the baby has to buy the next King Cake. He didn't seem too thrilled. hahaha He's a good sport.



Thanks again, Rob and Patsy!!

Today, I used my free milk and cereal coupon at Central Market. These are things I buy every week, so it worked out great. I bought Central Market Organics Toasty O's. They have an ingredient that's not on my diet (sugar), but I'm hoping it's not enough sugar to screw me up. I'll go back to eating Barbara's Breakfast O's when those are gone. I also bought:

• Starfruit (never tried it before)
• Kiwis
• Raspberries
• Cantaloupe
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Cauliflower
• Southwest Marinated Pork Loin
• Hamburger Patties mixed with Hatch Peppers
• Salmon
• Grilled Veggies (eggplant, squash, zucchini, onion, asparagus)

It’s all good!!

See more progress on: Use the August/September Central Market Coupons I Got in the Mail.

I took the day off work today for no particular reason. I headed over to Central Market thinking it would be less crowded than it is on weekends. It was less crowded, but the whole time it still seemed like someone was in my way or I was in someone else’s way. I got through it, though, and used the ”$10 off bulk coffee or any other bulk item of my choice” coupon. Some of the items I bought:

• Moka Java Decaf Coffee
• Kavli Thick Crispbread
• Walla Walla Onions
• Dried Fruits (pineapple, raspberry, apricot)
• Red Raspberries
• Tomatoes on the Vine
• Rotary Cheese Grater
• Chicken Breasts, Pork Cutlets and Bacon

See more progress on: Use the Central Market coupons I got in the mail

Oh boy… Central Market is sure proud of their T-Bones. I shouldn’t have bought T-Bones as they were incredibly expensive, but they are my favorite steak and everything happened so fast.

Me: I’d like two T-Bones.
Him: [grab, weigh, wrap] Here you go.
Me: [looking at the price] GASP!

That’s okay… I got $10 off, and I need to live a little sometimes.

I also bought cantaloupe slices, a cored pineapple, a yellow bell pepper, some lettuce, and a lindeman’s framboise lambic beer.

See more progress on: Use the Central Market coupons I got in the mail

At this moment, I'm enjoying a glass of fresh juice made from 2 big oranges, a bunch of strawberries, and a handful of raspberries. The picture is an actual "before and after" picture.

See more progress on: Drink fresh juice

My grocery store (no.. it's not really *mine*) has 4 self-checkout stands. They're relatively new, and I haven't used them because I usually have a basket full of stuff. I wanted to wait until I had a small purchase, so there would be less risk I'd have a problem.

Tonight, I went to buy fruit and something to serve it in tomorrow at work. I already had some fruit, so I didn't have to get much. I bought strawberries, blueberries and two big sectioned storage containers. The first thing I scanned (blueberries) didn't work. The computer complained that it was an unknown item and told me to set them aside. I put them down next to the computer screen. The computer complained that there were items there, and told me to move them. D'oh! The other two things scanned okay.

I had to wait for the lady working the stands to come over and help me with the blueberries. She asked me how much they were, but I didn't know. So she charged me $1.99. They probably cost more than that, so it worked out well.

Then I scanned my debit card, collected my receipt and headed home. It was kinda cool. I wouldn't want to do a whole basket full of food, though.

Pete, whose cat, Joey, graces my Halloween blog skin, had "What's in Your Fridge Day?" yesterday. Better late than never, here is my fridge:



I spy Brita filtered water, sugar free juice, heavy cream, a styrofoam container of ranch dressing, pineapple, a container of brownie dough, chicken broth, lots of seltzer water, Braunschweiger liver sausage, cheese, a deep fried turkey breast, eggs, butter, bacon, cantaloupe, two containers of chicken wings, Diet Rite sodas, Worchestershire sauce, sugar free bbq sauce, a plastic cup of some kind of home mixed dressing, mustard, salsa, caramel topping, pickles, mayo, salad dressing and, surprise... Kahlua! Thank goodness my fridge is clean. So now you take a picture of your fridge and post it on your blog. Don't forget to comment or trackback at Petes and here. And check out all the other people's fridges at Petes.

I can't wait for "What's in Your Freezer Day?"!!

I just got back from the grocery. I bought the following produce:


There's an acorn squash, which I'll bake one night this week with some butter and artificial sweetener. There's a pumello, which I'd never seen before. I'll talk more about that in a minute. There's a giant onion, which I'll cut and saute in butter to eat with chicken later in the week. There are 5 small limes which I'll use in sodas (sugar free cherry, raspberry or watermelon syrup and seltzer water). And a yellow pepper which I'll slice into slivers and saute with the onion. The lady got confused and charged me for a green bell pepper which is half the price. Here's what the pumello looks like on the inside:


It makes me think of lungs. The pumello wasn't ringing up, so she arbitrarily charged me the same price as the acorn squash (99 cents a pound). I don't know how much it was supposed to cost, but I'm sure it was more than that. It tastes like a sweetened grapefruit. I had cut it up into bite sized pieces to eat it because trying to peel it with with my fingers was smushing the tasty part. I like trying new (to me) fruit, but I don't think I've ever tried a new fruit and declared it better than any of the fruits I usually eat.

This weekend, I did something I do sometimes. I intentionally paid for and ate something I don't like very much. I don't know why I do it, but every once in a while, I order something at a restaurant or buy something to cook that I know full well I don't like. Am I alone in this?

This weekend, it was chicken wings. A Wing Stop opened not too far from home, and they put a flyer on my door. The thing that got me interested was the lemon pepper flavored ones. They have several flavors: Atomic, Cajun, Original Hot, Mild, Lemon Pepper, Garlic Parmesan, Hawaiian Barbeque and Teriyaki.

I figured chicken wings would be great for some low carb meals. The smallest order where I could get 3 flavors was 35 wings. I wanted to try Lemon Pepper, Hawaiian Barbeque and Mild. The order lasted me 3 meals and a snack, so it was worth it.

But I still have a beef with chicken wings. Why do they have to be so dang hot??? I mean *heat* hot, not *spicy* hot. When I got them home, they were still too hot to handle. I don't mind fork food that's hot, but finger food shouldn't be hot!!

My other problem with chicken wings is that the first bite is always a not-quite-a-mouthful of fatty skin. Patooey! But all the flavoring is on the skin! I'd like them better if they would cook them long enough to make the skin crispy. But then, they'd probably be even hotter!

The leftover meals were better because I only heated them in the microwave long enough to take the chill from the fridge out of them. I'll probably get chicken wings again. But I won't eat them fresh out of the oven. The mild ones were tasty; the lemon pepper ones were tasty; and the hawaiian barbeque ones were bleh. Next time I'll go for mild, lemon pepper and teriyaki. Or maybe garlic parmesan.

Harry and David is one of the most decadent stores in which I've ever been. Except for maybe chocolate stores and ice cream stores. I went there today and got some pickled sweet peppers and had to really resist getting anything else. I could buy out the whole store and gain back all the weight I've lost in a week. A lady was handing out free chocolate truffle samples. Shame on her. heh!

They had raspberry pretzel mustard for sale. Sounds kinda gross, but sometimes the gross sounding stuff is the best. I *so* wanted some, but that's really asking for trouble.

Hope all of you are having a great Memorial Day weekend.

This morning, I got up a little earlier than usual. Mostly because Lily was licking my face, but really, if I hadn't wanted to get up, I would have told her to settle down a little while longer.

I had a bowl of fruit after I took her for a walk... pineapple, watermelon, canteloupe, honeydew melon, blueberries, grapes and papaya. Then I took a shower. Now I'm having a good low carb breakfast... four slices of bacon, a sliced tomato with mayo, and some chunk swiss cheese. Yum!

I realized this week that pre-shredded cheese is coated with a starchy powder. Dang... I always use pre-shredded cheese... it's probably been messing up my diet. So I bought chunks of cheese (swiss and colby jack) and a shredder. I haven't used the shredder yet. Maybe this weekend I'll make some stuffed bell peppers. The recipe I have has cheese in the stuffing and melted on top.

Last night, I ordered some sugar free Torani syrups for my coffee... caramel, chocolate and raspberry. I'm not to sure I'll like the chocolate, but I wanted to try it. Chocolate's just not meant to be syrupy!

I take orange wedges to work with me about 3 days a week for a snack. Today, I took a blood orange. Ever seen one?

Most of my coworkers thought it was really gross. It was yummy, though! One of my coworkers saw it on my desk and thought I'd left an orange there all weekend and it had rotted.

It stained my thumb purple for a while, too.

Yay! Blood Oranges!

I went on a quest for non-cola Diet Rite flavors today and found that the Albertsons on I-35 and Stassney has Red Raspberry and White Grape. Red Raspberry is excellent! I'm still wanting to try the other flavors: Tangerine, Kiwi Strawberry and Black Cherry.

I also bought a cheesecake sampler for chocolate lovers. I shouldn't have, but I need a purpose in life right now. Sampling chocolate cheesecake flavors sounds like a good purpose.

I forgot to eat blackeyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck, but I ate some today. Today is the first day back at work for the new year, so I'm hoping that means I'll have good luck at work this year. I need it!

Do any of you blog readers eat blackeyed peas on New Year's Day? I didn't like them when I was younger. In college, I had some that I liked for the first time. They were in the form of a dip. Blackeyed Pea Dip! We ate it with chips, and it was yummy. Today I just had them prepared in a traditional way with some green beans and beef brisket on the side.

otto asked me about the chicken sitter I used to make beer can chicken. My brother gave me mine, but you can buy one at The Barbecue Store. You can even buy a set of three.

Putting tequila, beer and lime in the little pot was good. Today I cooked the other chicken I bought yesterday, but this time I used apple cider, half a chopped up lime, the juice from the other half of the lime, and a tablespoon of McCormick Key West style spice blend (Lemon, Basil and Thyme). I also coated the outside of the chicken with salt, pepper and the Key West spice blend. This is my favorite recipe yet. I think the beer and tequila made the chicken have a slight bitter taste. It was still good, but I like the cider recipe better.

I'm going to go right over to otto's recipe swap site and post it right now!

Earlier this week, I made beer can chicken. My brother gave me a little ceramic contraption that holds liquid that a chicken can sit right on while it cooks in the oven. Some call it a chicken sitter. The liquid gets hot and steams up into the chicken and makes it real moist and tasty. Here's a picture of the chicken sitter:

I put beer, chopped lemon and onion, and garlic/red pepper seasoning in the pot.

Here's what it looks like when you put the chicken on it:
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