Jessica and I went to the Cooke Basket for lunch this week.  They serve a cookie with your meal.    They are well known for their Lemon iced, sugar cookies.  The recipe is coveted.  Jo and I have been hoping to acquire the recipe.  Anyway.   Jessica and I stopped in at Key Lime Bakery and they had what looked just like Lemon Iced, sugar cookies.   So I got the idea that to buy one from each place and we would sample them both and see if they tasted the same.

I  expected the cookies would taste very similar.   

  The cookie from the Cookie Basket was more lemony and soft and did not crumble.
The Key Lime Cottage cookie had a hint of lemon and was crumbly ; the cookie tasted like light crumbly pie crust. 
Jessica liked the KLC cookie while I favored the CB cookie.  They were both good.

I have been craving ice cream.  I considered walking to the Dollar Store for a package of Drum Sticks but they are sprinked with peanuts. I am having a little trouble eating peanuts because of a fussy colon.  I also really did not want a package of ice cream in the house because I would be in it everyday.  So I walked to the gas station beside the Dollar Store.  There they had an assortment of ice cream bars. I chose a vanilla and almond Haagen Dazs ice cream bar. I have heard Haagen Dazs is premimim ice cream and it was expensive! Don reminded me that I did buy it at a gas station. It was unlike any ice cream I have ever had.

I am a fan of plain vanilla Yarnells ice cream made right here in Searcy. Yanells is just plain and simple; its texture is.... not whip topping smooth, not silky. It is substantial, sweet, and vanilla. Just simple and wonderful by itself or with home made desserts.

The Haagen Dazs Vanilla and Almonds bar is wonderful. The almonds were perfect since I am trying to avoid peanut products. It is also exceptionally light and delicate like snow flakes falling on your tongue. It has a creamy soft texture on the palette even though the ice cream was frozen hard.  Pleasant vanilla with no extras, just that perfect hint of flavor. The bar was large and was 380 calories. Ouch. But rather than just eat half,  I ate the whole thing.  No toast with breakfast and i will have to be careful with calorie intake the rest of the day.  It satisfied my want for ice cream, but i am thinking about when I might could try another one.

Ever since i read an article about spices in a magazine I have been particularly interested in Ginger.  I came across a gingerbread oatmeal cookie that appeases my taste buds for taste and my conscious for supposed health benefits.   Erin Bakers has a verity of cookies that are wonderful.  Be warned they are high calorie and high carb.   I only eat half of a cooke at one sitting. I try to spread out the carbs and the taste experience over a two day period or skip toast for breakfast. 

Natural Turkey Jerky from Pecan Wells Jerky Co.  Is just the best high protein snack.  It is great for traveling and camping.  Ben and Hobs both believe strongly that we should share the Turkey Jerky with them.  And of course we do give them a few little pieces. 

The perfect balanced protein bar that taste great too.  I have to eat every three hours so finding an easy to carry around with me snacks is a past time hobby.  Snack bars are a great idea for a quick easy to carry meal or snack.  There are plenty to select from But finding one that taste good and is not to calorie loaded or too high carb , and does Not have alternative sugars has been a bit more difficult.  It is important to have a balance of carb and protein.  And the balance either way of a carb to protein or protein to carb ratio should be close to each other.   I prefer and have a higher need for more protein than carbs. 

I have found a great whey protein energy bar  DETOUR.  It  packs 15g of protein, 16g carbs, 2g fiber, 180 calories.  I like a snack of about 150 to 200 calories.  I am not as active right now so I only eat half a bar but normally I eat a whole bar.   

Beware that some of the Detour products have sugar Alcohols; some people such as myself do not

tolerate  sugar alcohols.    They do have bars without the sugar alcohols; read and check lables carefully.   

Quick list:  Erin Baker's breakfast cookies; Pecan Wells Jerky co. Turkey Jerky Natural; Detour protein bars

Popcorn is one of my love foods.  I love choclate, pancakes, popcorn...

Today I was in the mood for popcorn and there was not a box of microwave popcorn in the house.  So walk over to the Dollar Store and bought  a box of Orville Redenboacher's Gourmet Poping Corn Light Butter.  The popcorn is perfection all by itself, but i wanted a little spice.  In the past I have occation sprinked paperka or parmisan cheese on the popcorn.  I wanted to try something different and i had just bought some new and interesting spices. i thought i would try them on the popcorn. 

I recently read an article about spices in the November 2006 issue of Redbook Magazine abut the benifits of five spices that fight disease.  One that was mentioned in the article was Turmeric.  Curcumin found in turmeric  which is found in many curry powder spices  may have health benifits for  the brain and the digestive sysstem.  

I bought three interesting looking and aromatic containers of  McCormic spices:  ground turmeric, curry powder, and a blend called Grasm Masala. 

I sampled each container on its own with some popcorn.  The turmeric was lonely and needed something with it was my first reaction; its taste was so new and different; i want to experment with it  some more.  The Garam Masala was also a foreing flavor to me; it  had a black pepper tone without being hot; It was the least favorite of the three but i think with the right medium to meritate with i think it would have some deligtful resulsts.  The curry was a perfectly balacned spice; it was arromatic, warm sometimes, flavorful and allowed the popcorn to have its on say.  I liked the curry with the Garam Masala.  I also mixed all three of the spices together and liked the results.  

I highly recomment these three interesting spices offered by McCormic to spice  your foods.