The Early Bird Cries Over Spilled Milk

Hey, kids! Whew, it’s been a BIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZY few days. I haven’t done any cooking whatsoever; we’ve been eating leftovers/freezer/pantry stuff and some takeout here and there. We’re moving by the end of this month, so you can just imagine how hectic everything is right now. Plus, the holiday weekend just adds to the madness. Technically, I’m writing this in the middle of the “night”, we’re not even done sleeping yet but I wanted to get an update in before the 4th because I’m going to have a much bigger update that day.

In between work, packing, errands, cleaning, checking out our new place AND our future place, exercise aaaaand daily life maintenance, I had to come up with a strategy to do grocery shopping before the weekend because the city slickers that are on their way up to the mountains for the weekend make traffic unbearable for locals. So, we headed out to Hannaford around 4:45AM. It was great. Very, very few cars on the road and of course, hardly anyone in the store except a few employees.

I was having a great time even though we’re not supposed to be buying a lot of stuff being we’re moving. You know me, I’m not so good at being disciplined in the grocery store.

I came home with a bunch of WONDERFUL loot. Here are some of the highlights:

j: here is a picture of the Bolthouse Farm yogurt dressings (pictured here: blue cheese and ranch). I find them in the produce department (refrigerated section) of Shop Rite, Hannaford and Price Chopper.

I was running low on my beloved blue cheese dressing, so I picked up a bottle, plus a bottle of ranch. The calories for the blue cheese are: 70 calories for 2 TBSP and only 150mg sodium. The ranch is the same, only 200mg sodium per serving. My other favorite is their Honey Mustard which is only 45 calories for 2 TBSP and 80mg sodium. They taste AMAZING! I highly recommend them. The ingredient list is entirely wholesome, too. <3 them!

These veggies burgers look awesome!

I was impressed by the “low-ish” sodium compared to other frozen veggie burgers:

I got a bunch of Quorn products that I’m excited about as well. The meatless meatballs are 90 calories for 3 or 4 of them (that’s what the label suggests, I’ll have to see what the weight is like on my food scale). The Gruyère chick’n cutlets are 260 calories each and the chicken tenders are 80 calories per serving and 390mg sodium. I figure I can cut down on the sodium by using a half serving here and there for a half sandwich or added to pasta. I can’t wait to try the “meatballs”, they sound sooo good. Sketties, here I come!!!!!

These Van’s mini waffles look perfect for a snack!

This is their nutritional label:

Just 80 calories for a set of 4 mini waffles. Mmm… with a TBSP of peanut butter? *drool*

I picked up some xanthan gum. I’d like to try it as a thickening agent in sauces, dressings and maybe even smoothies.

“Despite its rather alien-sounding name, xanthan gum is as natural as any other fermented corn sugar polysaccharide you can name. Corn syrup, anyone?

Seriously, xanthan gum derives its name from the strain of bacteria used during the fermentation process, Xanthomonas campestris. Xanthomonas campestris is the same bacteria responsible for causing black rot to form on broccoli, cauliflower and other leafy vegetables. The bacteria form a slimy substance which acts as a natural stabilizer or thickener. The United States Department of Agriculture ran a number of experiments involving bacteria and various sugars to develop a new thickening agent similar to corn starch or guar gum. When Xanthomonas campestris was combined with corn sugar, the result was a colorless slime called xanthan gum.”

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-xanthan-gum.htm

Not pictured: Lots of fresh produce, including: arugula, plums, cherries!!, corn, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, broccoli; fresh breads, all the ingredients to make S’mores, yogurt, cereal, and other a few other things that elude me at the moment.

The spilled milk

When we got home and started unloading the groceries, we discovered that the half gallon of Stonyfield Farms skim milk leaked ALLLLLLLL over the trunk!!! We had a plastic mat that didn’t help prevent it from reaching the carpet. *sigh* We had to clean that and all the bags and foods that it got on. I don’t even know HOW it broke! My theory is that companies are making packaging flimsier and more likely to break. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that that can of Pepsi that exploded on me last week and a carton of milk was punctured THAT easily. I am pretty sure they are just making the containers weaker, yet charging more money.

So, we saved time beating the traffic that was starting to get heavier on the way home, then had to spend an extra half hour cleaning up a milk mess. I don’t trust that it’s completely out even though we steam cleaned it. I want to get it professionally detailed. Milk is like the worst thing to spill in a car! Ugh

A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our kitty, Gingerbread!!!!!!!!!!!! He’s 9 years old today (7/3) and our oldest kitty!

Gingerbread and Princess

Gingerbread and Tanner

Dustin and Gingerbread in our house in Georgia

Alrighty, I’m going back to sleep! I have a million things to do when we wake up (probably around 2:00AM). Such as: exercising and LOTS of cooking! See you at the end of the 4th!

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