Try it Tuesday....Hot Pockets Chicken Bruschetta Panini

Cooked white meat chicken, reduced fat mozzarella and tomatoes with sauce in a basil olive oil focaccia bread. Sound good? It surprisingly IS. I usually don't like Hot Pockets too much. I can take 'em or leave 'em, but this Bruschetta Chicken is yummo.

These panini's can be made in the microwave using the crisping sleeve, but it didn't work so well for me. I'm weird. I like my panini's to be crispy. Not hard, but it has to have just the right amount of crisp, so I baked it in the oven. I'm sure it's just as tasty heated in the micro, but like I said....I'm weird.

I'm not really sure how to describe the sauce in this panini. It's not a tomato based sauce. It's more of a white sauce I would say. It's delish. I only have 2 gripes about this panini and neither is all that big of a gripe. The first is that it could use WAY more tomatoes. There are only maybe 5-6 small pieces in the each panini triangle. Grr. I looove me some tomatoes, so this was a bit disappointing.

The 2nd gripe is that the nutritional values are only for ONE piece of the panini. Ouch. 220 calories, 7 grams of fat. I could easily eat 2 of these panini's, but spending 440 calories isn't in my best interest is it?

There are 2 other flavors in the panini line......Steak & Cheddar.....and Deli-Style Ham & Swiss. Both sound good to me. I'm starting to love swiss cheese more & more every day, so I might try that one next.

That's it for today, but be on the lookout for some recipes coming later on in the week :)

Quiznos FREEBIE!

Quiznos is giving away one million free subs!


Hurry on over! Get your coupon for a free Quiznos sub right here!

Mmmm toasty.

Try it Tuesday........Banana Nut Cheerios

Ooh la la. I'm a banana freak, so when I saw these new Cheerios, I had to get them. Sometimes I am disappointed when I try banana flavored things because, well, they are just plain disappointing! They don't taste anything like banana or they taste like fake banana. Not Cheerios! Yum!

The box says it has the great taste of REAL bananas. They do. Yep. Mmm. Look at the ingredients. It has banana puree. Not banana flavoring. Banana puree. Never mind that it says sugar, brown sugar syrup and corn syrup first. Eek. Ouch. But at least it has real banana puree! Ugh. We can't win 'em all people.

I can't say there is too much of the nut flavor. I really only taste banana, but that's ok with me. Ava likes them too, so I'll have to hide these ;).

At 100 calories for 3/4 cup, I can afford to eat them. Yum!

Check out the website, there is a coupon to save a little when you buy your first box. There is also some yummo looking recipes such as Chocolate-Banana Bread. Plus there are some banana fun facts --did you know that over 96% of American households purchase bananas at least once each month? Or that bananas don't actually grow on trees? They come from plants.

And there are some facts about fresh bananas-- Did you know that bananas have Vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 helps the body break down protein and carbohydrates. Cool beans. I mean bananas.

Now I need to ask for a little help. My nephew is coming back to Michigan with his AHL hockey team, the San Antonio Rampage. They will be playing our local AHL team, the Grand Rapids Griffins. Before or after the game, my family and I are feeding the entire team and coaches. I've been asked to prepare a dessert to feed them all. What the heck do I make? I refuse to buy anything because we were specifically asked to make a home-cooked meal. These poor boys have been on the road for over a month from what I understand. They will be dreaming of a hot cooked meal that isn't from Chili's or Applebees I would imagine.

I could use your ideas as to what to serve hungry men. I believe we are serving them roast beef for a main meal if that helps any. So any ideas out there??? Thanks in advance.

My Dirty Face Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Try it Tuesday........Kashi Turkey Fiesta Pocket Bread

I've always loved Kashi products. So when I spied the pocket bread line, I had to try one. Truthfully, I've been eating pretty poor lately and it's high time I got back on the healthy eating wagon. I'm missing so many new products by grabbing the nearest junk food instead of something the fuel my body in a healthy way.

This is what the Kashi site says about the Turkey Fiesta 7 whole grain sesame pocket bread:

Turkey Fiesta captures the Southwestern palette with turkey;
fire roasted corn, red pepper strips, and red onion strips. The addition of black
beans and a southwest sauce with a hint of jalapeno is perfect for those who
love a meal with a kick.

When Kashi says, "hint of jalapeno", they mean it. I usually don't like things spicy. I'm a mild kind of girl, so this was just right in the spice dept. Don't get me wrong, it's plenty flavorful. But the jalapeno doesn't overpower any of the other ingredients.

I thought the pocket bread could have used a little more turkey, but the flavors were so good, that I think it didn't matter. I bet I could eat one of these sans turkey regardless.

As for the actual sesame pocket bread- one word says it all....YUM! It's a thick bread and to me, thick means I'll feel full longer. I didn't microwave it like the instructions say. I like a bit of a crunch to my sandwiches, so I popped it in the oven. It's a fat little sandwich that I'm excited to say, I loved. I could do without the onions though. Not that there were too many of them. I just don't care for onions, so if they were left out, I would have the perfect pocket bread. The corn, and red peppers were very flavorful and ditto for the black beans.

With 15 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber, this 5 pt pocket bread was fabulous. I will buy these ($2.96 at Wal-mart)for my lunch frequently. Shared with a big salad, it makes a great meal. Yes, there is 660mg of sodium, but I've seen worse.

Other flavors in the Kashi Pocket Bread line are- Veggie Medley, and Chicken Rustico.

Wally World only had the veggie and turkey ones, so I opted for one with meat. I'd like to try them all though. Hey, if you check out the website, you'll see they have reviews for their products. So now you can get other opinions about their food before trying them yourself.

Now for the bad news....Kashi has recalled some of their TLC™ Chewy Granola Bars and all Kashi™ TLC™ Chewy Cookies

This is due to the peanut butter recall recently announced. No illnesses have been reported, so no panicking please. I've recently eaten the cookies and I'm fine :) But to be safe, you might want to check this link and then toss your cookies. *snicker*

~Leanne~

Post for the Bertram clan

This post is especially for my own family to see, but anyone else is welcome along for the ride. This is my niece Erin singing at a school talent show (last year I believe, but this is the first I've seen of it). My nephew Colin is accompanying her on his guitar. Colin has been sick lately and now they are worried he might have thyroid cancer. We are waiting to hear more. Please say a few prayers if you wouldn't mind! He's too young. Only about 23. He is a firefighter in Marquette, MI.

Anyway, here is Erin singing her little heart out! Oh, you will have to put it on full-screen to see it since it cuts off half of her body. :(

Talk about some GOOD MAIL!

This is a rare gesture from my husband, so I'm soaking it up and letting it sink in. I know he means the things that are printed in this card and probably feels them every day. But to tell me in this way isn't something he usually does. And it's not even Valentine's Day yet! We don't really celebrate V-day anyway, so that makes this card all the more special.

He is in Boston on business and somehow, before he left, he hid this card for me to find.

Of course, I had to make a scrap page out of it right away.

Mercury in corn syrup?? Should we worry?

I received this in my inbox today from Ittybits. I'm wondering if this is just hype or should I really worry?

I've thought about giving Ava corn syrup for constipation. Luckily, I don't believe I ever did it. I thought I had, but didn't. Is the media going overboard? Meaning- would it take a large amount of corn syrup with mercury to actually do harm? I know other things have mercury in them, but they are legal to consume and aren't supposed to cause any risk. What do you think? Am I not being cautious enough? Or should I boycott anything with corn syrup in it?

February 3, 2009

Alert: Mercury in Corn Syrup

Today we'll be short and sweet (but with no corn syrup sweetener, of course!) Last Wednesday, the Washington Post published an article about a very recent study stating that nearly 50% of commercial high-fructose corn syrup samples contained Mercury. Mercury is toxic in all forms, and as a parent, this is a big concern because corn syrup seems to be in just about everything (just look at the ingredients in your bread or apple sauce - you may be surprised.) It has been central to the controversial debate linking childhood vaccines to autism, but who knew it was in our food, too? If you have a Whole Foods nearby, you are in luck, because they have committed to selling foods without this ingredient. If you don't, you may find yourselves reading labels a bit more closely than you have in the past. Thanks to one of our subscribers for alerting us to this information. You know who you are!
Link to the Washington Post Article.

Try It Tuesday.......LesserEvil Krinkle Sticks

Well, you know how I love the LesserEvil popcorn. I stumbled upon the Krinkle Sticks at Target. I was disappointed to only see one flavor- Classic SeaSalt. But what the heck. They sounded yummy.

Here is what the LesserEvil website says about the Krinkle Sticks:


* 75% less fat than regular potato chips
* 110 calories per serving
* baked, not fried
* all natural
* gluten free
* cholesterol free

If I remember right, they are 2 WW points per serving. Not bad at all.

The Krinkle Sticks come in these flavors:

-Classic SeaSalt
-Sourcream and Onion
-Oldschool Bar-B-Que
-Zesty Pizza

Truthfully, I wish Target had carried a different flavor for me to try instead of the Classic SeaSalt. What salt? I didn't taste a thing. They were crunchy all right, but not salty at all. With no salt, it wasn't very palatable. Just dry tasting. I could taste potato and they weren't bad, but it needed something. Finally, the kids and I dipped them in catsup and it was better. I'm sure salsa would work too.

I think they would be great in a tastier flavor. Otherwise, this review ends here. Not much else to say. They are crunchy, potato-ey and good, but missing an all-important ingredient. Heads up LesserEvil- you can't sell a flavor named, "Classic SeaSalt" and then not deliver. There must be a grain of salt somewhere!

Next week I plan to review either a candy or more flavored water. Maybe I'll even share a recipe or 2. Weeee!

P.S...Sorry I've been MIA lately. Lots of happenings and new interests are getting in the way. I plan to play catch up later. My camera is still broken and I have no idea how to fix it. Any photos have to be taken with Jillian's camera. And that thing eats batteries like it's in an all-you-can-eat buffet. I'll do better at updating my blog though.