The Best of Intentions

At the start of this year, I had all the intentions of keeping up with my readings and taking notes from each chapter. Two months in? Forget about the notes, I've barely cracked open a couple of my textbooks! It's wierd because I feel like I'm constantly doing work, yet I'm not getting to actually reading my texts. Of course, blogging has always been at the back of my mind but never quite achieved (just like those notes in Politics I promised myself I'd take...a month ago.) And now we're almost DONE the semester!!!

So let me ask you, where does the time go?

100-Calorie Chips Ahoy Candy Bites

Christie Thinsations

Calories: 100 per 23g pack

Fat: 4g (2g saturated)

Carbs: 17g

Protein: 1g

Ingredients: Semisweet Chocolate Coating (Sugar, Chocolate (Natural and Processed With Alkali, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin, Vanilla, Salt, Vanillin), Chocolate Chip Cookie[ enriched flour(wheat flour, Niacin, Reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid , Semisweet Chocolate Chips (Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Dextrose, Soy Lecithin -An Emulsifier Sugar, Whole Wheat flour, Palm and/or Soybean Oil, Glycerine, Molasses, Corn Flour, Leavening (Baking Soda and/or Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate), Calcium Sulphate, Salt, Natural and Artificial Flavour, Soy Lecithin], Sugar, Artificial Color (Includes Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Red 40, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Blue 1), Gum Arabic, Confectioner’s Glaze (Carnauba Wax, Beeswax, Shellac), Cornstarch, Corn Syrup

Part 2 in the Candy bites series. Again, not exactly health food. (Maybe you caught that in the name “Candy” Bite?) But they are a good treat for your chocolate or sweet tooth cravings. Remember my review on the Chips Ahoy crisps? These are way better. For one, they don’t dissolve into thin air on the tongue. These Bites are even more like the original Chips Ahoy cookie. Little spheres of cookie dough, complete with cute nano-sized chocolate chips, are enrobed in decent chocolate then coated with an appealing tan and brown spotted candy shell. These have a strong cocoa scent and smell like Chips Ahoy cookies.

I like the fact that the semi-sweet chocolate, while not exactly Callebaut grade, still tastes and it melts on the tongue like real chocolate. The cookie inside is sweet and crunchy with the occasional hit of chocolate chip. It’s a surprisingly chocolate-loaded snack. You really get chocolate in each bite. The cookie part provides a buffer so that it isn’t a complete chocolate overload. That makes it all the more satisfying for my sweet tooth. I was quite impressed that they managed to get the portions they did in the 100-calorie limit; I certainly didn’t feel cheated after one bag. Even though there are a lot of funky ingredients in here, there doesn’t seem to be any hydrogenated stuff. I don’t eat these everyday but I think Christie’s hit a good one with these. It’s hard to choose between the Oreo version and these because it all depends on my mood: Am I craving more chocolate flavour (Chips) or just a super sweet bite (Oreo)?

Pros: 100 calories, real chocolate, no trans fats, good portion
Cons: High sugar, low fibre, artificial ingredients

Score: 8.5/10 (Excellent Occasional Snack)

English is NOT For Slackers

Forget what stereotypes you've heard about English Majors, forget the rididules the engineers like to throw at us. English classes are most certainly, defintely, NOT slack. For all the lame, deprecating jokers out there, I'd like to see you argue a brilliant, multi-dimensional thesis at the drop of a hat. I'd like to see you write eloquent, thought-provoking essays in a single sitting or afternoon. I'd REALLY like to see you come up with a coherent manuscript worthy of publication. And get paid for it.

Engineers and business people can go out after graduation safe in their knowledge of the availibility of a generic job. Meanwhile, anyone studying humanities actually has to slog through the world, fighting tooth and nail for a decent place and wage in the working populace. So dispel all your preconceived falsehoods. Students in English class really don't sit on their butts and twiddle their thumbs, throwing out random poetry lines for the sake of things. We work hard for those lines.

That said, my rant is over. I'm just a bit peeked from writing my first English paper and am thoroughly fed up with Lit. Chaucer in Middle English is no walk in the park, I almost prefer reading Shakespeare to him. Let's just say, I'm not a classic literature gal. I like me my modern stuff thank you very much. But I can pull off some brilliant bullshit when the devil's breathing down my neck (aka deadlines). So there's my excuse for not posting any snack bytes lately.

Granola Crunchers—Peanut Butter
From Quaker

Calories: 90 per 23g pack

Fat: 3.5g (2.5g saturated)

Carbs: 14g

Protein: 2g

Ingredients: Whole Grain Rolled Oats, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Whole Grain White Corn, Whole Grain Oat Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Polydextrose, Partially Defatted Peanut Flour, Soybean Oil, Whole Grain Brown Rice Flour, Reduced Mineral Whey, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Molasses, Honey, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Natural Flavors, BHT

I’ve already written about the cinnamon flavour, so it was only fair I tell you about the others. Quaker first came out with Cinnamon and Chocolate flavours, and then they developed Peanut Butter. I’ll get to chocolate, eventually, but today’s post is all about the PB. (Actually, I forgot to buy the chocolate kind when they were on sale!)

These start out the same way as the other crunchers with a base of puffed corn circle, coated then rolled in quick oats. The only difference is that the frosting-like coating is peanut flavoured instead of cinnamon. I found the coat on these crunchers thicker than the cinnamon kind but that could just be variation between batches. They were just as sweet as the Cinnamon version and had a nice nutty smell. The frosting reminded me of extra sweet PB, it was creamier than the ones on cinnamon cruncher’s. It was apparent in each bite that this was all about peanuts. Once again, I loved the extra texture and toasted taste that the oats lend.

I usually get the cinnamon kind. But these are good when I want to change or crave a peanut hit without the fat of Peanut Butter. If only there wasn’t so much junk in the frosting…I’d eat these more often. Why is it that the yummy stuff is so often full of hydrogenated crap?

Pros: Delivers on sugary PB flavour, 90-calories, crunchy/creamy/nutty goodness
Cons: Hydrogenated oil, artificial ingredients

Score: 8/10 (Good Occasional Snack)

Tell Me It's Not True! Tell Me Gourmet is Still In Print!!!

I read an article today on MSN or AP News or somewhere online...I forget, but that's not important. What is, is Gourmet Magazine really being cancelled??? Forever??? As in DISCONTINUED and GONE from subscription?
Please tell me it ain't so. This is the publication that started my love of food and got me interested in cooking. I've been reading it since my first year of highschool. And now it's become another casualty of our dying print and publishing culture. Oh, look at where our printed word has gone. Please, does anyone have info on this sad sad developement?
I implore you guys, SAVE GOURMET!!! Bon Apetite is NOT a good substitute, no matter what Conde Nast claims.

Cha Cha Cha...CheeCha!

CheeCha Potato Krackles—Triple Cheese Nacho

Calories: 90 per 20g

Fat: 2.9g (0.9g saturated)

Carbs: 16g

Protein: 1g

Ingredients: Potato flour, wheat flour, corn starch, potato starch, canola oil, salt, modified milk ingredients, rice flour, lactose, romano/cheddar/parmesan cheese, maltodextrin, tomato powder, lactic acid, natural and artificial flavour, disodium inosinate and guanylate, onion powder, soybean oil, disodium phosphate, garlic powder, tartrazine, mono and diglycerides, spice, sunset yellow FCF.

When I first tried these months ago in Victoria I had no idea these were from the same company as the CheeCha Puffs I reviewed earlier. Then again, I have issues with reading closely. Hence the reason I often buy the wrong snacks! This time though, I did not make a mistake. These were delicious!

The Krackles provided cheesy puffed goodness in every mouthful. They had a strong smell even though they weren’t thickly coated in the bright orange powder. It was a nice change from the neon orange sticks I’m used to seeing. Once I forced my nose out of the bag long enough to sample some—let me tell you, open a bag of these and their contents will perfume the room—I was hooked. I love, love, LOVE these. You wouldn’t think, looking at the comparably sparse dusting of cheese powder, that the flavour would be very strong. You would be wrong. These snacks not only reek of cheese, they also taste of it. This snack had dimensions. There was a depth of flavour from the mix of three cheeses. There was sharpness from the cheddar, with a hint of creamy, saltiness from Romano and Parmesan. I appreciated that they used real cheeses in the seasonings, you can taste the difference. These puffs were like potato chips only not overwhelmingly salty. Each puffed circle was evenly seasoned and had a crisp snap when bitten. I’d say these were like Cheetos puffs except that wouldn’t do them justice. CheeCha Krackles are loads better than Cheetos could ever hope to be. For one thing, they didn’t taste like fake stuff or look radioactive. No frying also means no greasy fingers. I had to limit myself to one serving at a time or I’d finish the whole bag in one sitting. Luckily each serving is a huge handful and a half. My trick is to pour the puffs into a dish and pack the rest away so that I won’t be tempted to just keep eating. Because, trust me, it’s impossible to just eat one.

I’m not much of a Salt and Vinegar girl but I am a cheese powder addict so I’m very happy to have found these at Safeway. Since moving to Kingston, I am happy to say Shopper's Drug Marts stock this flavour regularily.

A note: while these snacks don’t have MSG or trans fats, they aren’t exactly all natural. They do have a few artificial ingredients and colour but the majority was recognizable to me and the rest were in miniscule amounts near the end. At least they don’t scare me as much as most potato chips out there…

Pros: Excellent cheese powder, not greasy, big serving size, crispy

Cons: Found at Safeway and Shoppers only so far

Score: 9.5/10 (Must Try Now)

Smoking is NOT the same as Smokies

Note to my anonymous commentator: Thank you for your concern. I'm not sure I made it clear, this blog isn't about health food necessarily. It's about what I find tasty or disgusting. Yes, I try to keep things unhydrogenated, natural yadda yadda but I don't always succeed. I've read an entire book on food additives in highschool so I do know carmine and where it comes from. I happened to like that particular brand of yogurt, and it's often on sale. But in case you didn't read too closely, I did say I wouldn't buy that flavour again cause it tasted wierd. Don't think less of me for it. And please don't hate me; I'm a college student. I've got to eat somehow.

Okay I've mostly accepted my situation in Kingston, I'm here to learn first and foremost after all. But one thing that's been niggling at my mind is the amazing amount of smokers on the streets. Maybe I've been too sheltered all my life--I highly doubt it, my grandpa's a lifelong smoker and I come from BC people...the land of potheads so I'm told--however, the sheer number of cigarettes I see dangling off fingers is astounding. Don't you people know those little cyclinders will kill you? The thing is, it's not adults doing most of the smoking, I'm seeing so many young kids sucking at it as if their life depended on it. I have to walk by a 7/8th grade school every morning and, every morning, I see (and smell) groups of these tweens on the sidewalks lighting up. There's something wrong when no one bats an eye if underage brats to smoke out in the open. At least back home, we did it behind school buildings or in bushes :)

I can't stand cigarettes or any derivative of it, weed/pot/coke, drugs in general disgust me. If I were to say one bad thing about Kingston, it would be that I have to smell the pungent smoke everywhere I go. Something I never had to do in Victoria mind you.

Is this just a phenomenon to me? Does anyone else notice this?

On a completely different trajectory, being a student living alone has opened my eyes up to the sinkhole of time that is dinner. I never appreciated the time it took for me to make something to eat, until I no longer had that time to spare. Now, I come home and I've got a million notes/chapters to read and assimilate and absolutely no energy to do either. So I find myself searching for the fastest, easiest, way to grab a decently balanced meal. And sadly, that usually means anything prepackaged.

Tailgate Turkey Smokies

From Lilydale

Calories: 130 per 100g

Fat: 6 (2g saturated)

Carbs: 1g

Protein: 19g

Ingredients: Turkey, water, modified milk ingredients, salt, sodium phosphate, garlic powder, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrate, spice, dextrose, onion powder, smoke.

Pre-Fast Food Nation I loved hotdogs, I really did. Post-Fast Food Nation…well…let’s just say I haven’t been able to stare a sausage straight in the face without feeling nauseous. It makes me sad how scary a simple hotdog can be and that I can’t trust what goes into my food. I haven’t been able to eat a wiener from the meat aisle in over two years. I had almost forgotten what a hotdog tasted like when I stumbled on these turkey dogs. Ok, it was the flashing “NEW” sign that attracted me to them. Then I read the ingredients and saw the answer to the end of my sausage abstinence. Only a couple of strange ingredients (I assume their used to cure the sausage) and no MSG or fillers to speak of. It’s a commercial, processed food miracle!

I’ve never had a turkey dog before and didn’t know what to expect. These didn’t disappoint. Each 8-inch smokie made a good, filling meal and was packed with protein. They were on the salty side when tried plain and bunless like I originally did. The sweetness from ketchup and relish balances everything out though. I loved the snap to these dogs; the skin was identical to ball park pork versions. They were meaty, juicy and satisfying and had a very nice smoked flavour. There wasn’t definitely fat in them but they weren’t dripping with it. I like to grill the sausages to emphasize their charred taste but you could also heat in the microwave; the skin will still retain its bite. Quick, easy, and tasty, I was a happy customer after my first mouthful.

My hotdog hankering was fulfilled without sacrificing flavour or nutrition. There’s no longer a need to fear the dog. Only problem now...I CAN'T FIND THESE IN KINGSTON!!!!!!!!!

I tried to get artsy here

Pros: No MSG/Trans Fats/Artificial Colour or Flavour, High Protein, Quick and Easy to prep, juicy and well seasoned meat, nice snap

Cons: High sodium (790mg)

Score: 9/10 (Worth Eating Again)

BloggerAid, Famine, and the Great Potato Snack

So I've decided to join BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine. It's a wonderful community of foodies, bloggers and all sorts who are doing their part to fight a global battle. If you're wondering what the hell I can possibly contribute, you're not alone. I have not a clue. But if anyone has suggestions, by all means enlighten me.

Right now, school is still so new to me. Esspecially with the huge class sizes and lecture halls. I'd like to mention that I come from aprivate school of 500 where classes of 20+ was considered too big. Then there's the getting around campus and the city. Lucky me, I do love the university buildings; all that old architecture is amazing. I've pretty much memorized the five buildings I need to for class. The city on the other hand... let's just say I'm still determined to get familiar with it and leave it at that. Slowly but surely, I'll adapt to this new home of mine. I'm not a quitter and I don't see myself backing out of here anytime soon. I just hope I adapt before the snow comes on :)

I'd like to thank Giz and Val for being my first REAL, non commercial commenters. Fellow Canadians unite! Or is that Kingstonians? I'm deliriously happy about your comments. Your support is much appreciated.

Now if I could brainwash some others to contribute, we could have a proper little chat!

On to the snacks. Can't forget the snacks! I bought these in Victoria, before I left. So far I haven't seen this flavour in Kingston stores.

CheeCha Potato Puffs—Salt & Vinegar

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22897642@N05/3935756012/

Calories: 90 per 20g

Fat: 3g (0g saturated)

Carbs: 15g

Protein: 1g

Ingredients: Potato flour, potato starch, sunflower oil, sea salt, salt, white vinegar powder, dextrose and citric acid.

Another great discovery from my foray into the chip aisle of which I’ve recently taken to haunting. It used to be that I avoided the chip aisle like the plague, partially because I don’t eat deep fried potato flakes or bland tortillas, and partially because I didn’t think there was be any offerings other than those listed above. Oh how wrong I was.

One day I was looking for good salsa and I figured I’d find some with the chips. But I got distracted by the sheer variety of flavours and types of chips available and spent way too much time reading the packages. Then I came upon these. ‘Potato puffs?’ I thought to myself, ‘That’s new.’ Hey, they weren’t soaked in oil! I bought these Salt and Vinegar puffs, hoping to find something that rivalled the crunch factor of potato chips. I wasn’t expecting to finish them in two days flat. Infatuation started the minute I opened the bag, sharp malt vinegar mixed with earthy potato scent hit my nose exactly as a bag of Lays would’ve. These were very lightweight, round circles resembling bicycle wheels. While light, these weren’t like Cheetos and didn’t make me feel like I was eating air. The puffs were as crunchy as any chip could be and had an excellent potato taste. They mimicked chips in their crispiness and snap. Personally, I felt they tasted more like French fries, which was even better! These were very vinegary and every puff was well seasoned. You get the crunch, the taste, and two large handfuls without the fat or calories, I tell you, these are the new potato chip. If only these came in more flavours, I could get real serious about these…

Oh, and I did eventually remember to get the salsa. After I got home.

Pros: BIG serving size, not greasy, natural ingredients, excellent vinegar flavour/smell, just like potato chips, gluten free

Cons: Needs fibre

Score: 9/10 (Worth Tracking Down)

Back In the Snacking Groove

Hey people! I've finally got my life organized enough to throw out another review. Enjoy!

The Simply Bar—Lemon Coconut

Calories: 140 per 37g

Fat: 2g (0.5g saturated)

Carbs: 14g

Protein: 17g

Ingredients: Soy Crisp (Non GMO Soy Protein, Tapioca Starch, Salt), Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Coconut, Natural Flavour, Canola Oil.

These were among the last things I bought before I left home for University. I bought it thinking I could eat it as part of lunch, since I’d be in the air from 12 to 6pm. Actually, I went to the store intending to buy Cliff Bars/Elevate me! Bars but these caught my eye cause they were so new. Yup, you should be familiar by now of my fixation with the new and shiny. I ended up buying both flavours because they were having a promotional sale. I’ve only eaten this one so far though.

I liked these on sight for the simplistic ingredients, high protein content, and relatively low calories. My only gripe is that there’s not really much vitamins/minerals. I ate these not in the air, but in the car on the drive to Kingston later that night. We didn’t have time to stop for a proper meal so I just snacked my way to the hotel. Bars are easier to eat in the car and since these were quite sticky, they didn’t leave crumbs behind when I broke pieces off. The Simply Bar is similar to a long, thin rice crispies square. The soy crisps are rounder and smaller of course, and there was none of the super sweet marshmallow coating. What they did have were big strips of coconut and a light lemony taste, enhanced by a wonderful coconut-citrus smell. The crunch of soy went well with the occasional rich nutty coconut flakes. It was sweet but not overwhelming and best of all, didn’t leave my fingers glued together afterwards. Very important considering there’s no sink in a car. One bar was a very satisfying snack, the protein in it providing long-term energy for the long ride. I’d eat these again if they weren’t usually so expensive. (2.80 CAD each!)

Pros: High protein, vegan, lower fat, milk/gluten free, soft bar/crunchy crisps, coconut strips, good balance of lemon/coconut
Cons: Expensive, not everywhere

Score: 8.5/10 (Should Try, Would Eat Again)