nutritious junk

Ready for some major self promotion, accord to the Quorn site, "Quorn™ is the brand name of a premium line of all-natural, meat-free frozen foods. The Quorn brand has been sold in the UK since 1985, and since that time has become the #1 retail brand of meat-free foods in the world! " Alright, chill it only another form of meat subsitute, is there a need to get this excited about it? Well i was reluctant to try these actually cause a) although I love animals, i am NOT a vegetarian and competeing with chicken is hard and b) this was PRICEY $$$ five bucks for a box of four (i can buy Boca burgers for about four bucks, and usually less when i have a coupon or when it goes on sale). But i gave it a shot and although is definetly was NOT chicken, it tasted pretty damn good. Its funny, a lot of foods are infamous for tasting like chicken, but this product made to taste like chicken actually doesn't. But its still good and they are so versatile. You can marinade em, grill em, bake em, put em in cassaroles, make "chicken" permesan, toss em on a pita with tomato sauce and some low fat cheese for a guiltless pizza. Visit their site for more creative recipies http://www.quorn.us//cmpage.aspx?pageid=412

What comes to mind when you think of mall food? Giant cinnabons? Grease soaked pizza? Deep fried "meat" on a stick? yea, basically not figure friendly. But almost EVERY mall i know has a Panda Express. And, sorry Panda, but their dishes can have LOADS of fat and calories (yea, that yummy orange chicken, a 6oz order of it is 500 cals!). Solution? The 80 calorie Spring Roll! Get one for a nice veggie filled snack or if your more hungry for meal, get two, some steamed veggies (no sauce) and an order of their chicken with mushrooms (130 calories per 5.5 oz order) for some protien! Skip the chow mein and fried rice and i wouldn't even order their steam rice which racks up 330 cals per order (and taste pretty bland to me). Besides, those spring rolls are sooo pretty (well at least on their website).

Tab....so nostalgic of those years where I wasn't old enough to know what a calorie was, and my way older sister would sister would try too squeez into Jordache jeans and sip on this pink can called Tab. Indeed Tab is an old diet drink that decided to come back to life in the form of the o so trendy energy drink. I was lucky enough to score a free can when Tab was handing out free cans in a shopping area near my house. What do i have to say about Tab energy? Thank god i didn't spend money on this! It tasted, well not awful, but not tasty, weird is more like it. I don't usually like sugar free red bull, but i'd have to say its way better than Tab energy. Its 10 cals per can which of course won't hurt your waist line, but if its really energy your after, a shot of espresso will do the trick and taste way better than Tab energy. Tab is an 80's drink that should remain there along with the hidouos shoulder pads and curling irons!

Candy bars diet food? Not exactly, but we all get cravings for candy every once in a while. But if you turn those bars over and take a glance at their labels, you'll find most of them are SUPER high in calories, sugar, fat (and saturated fat most importantly, basically all bad stuff. But deprivation sucks and those seemingly "healthy" protien bars, although a healthier option than Snickers, can sometimes have even more calories! Here's my solution: Violet Crumble! This Austrialian candy bar made by Nestle and as they desribe a"Honeycomb bar covered in milk chocolate". British peeps might be mor familiar with its rival, "Crunchie". Yes, it has sugar and some fat, but only a mere 150 cals per oz. I live in the States and am so lucky my local liquor store carries it (but mine weighs 1.23oz making it 170 cals). So when you do need a whiff of REAL sugar instead of the fake stuff you may have been downing in hopes of staying fit, give Violet Crumble a shot! O, and I know i am totally stealing Kraft's slogan for their crumbled cheese commercial, but Violet Crumble tastes "Crumbelievable!"

Peanut Butter isn't the worst thing in the world nutrtionally, its filled with healthy essential fatty acidsm protein, and tastes awesome. But, its sooooooo calorically dense, as in two teaspoons have about 200 cals! I mean thats like four and half bowls of fiber one cereal! But who can resisted the peanutty goodness of creamy old fashioned peanut butter. Well some people decided to do something about the guilt we all have when indulging in peanut butter and created Better'n Peanut Butter. According to their site the product is an, "all natural, delicious peanut butter spread with 85% less fat and 40% less calories than regular peanut butter". Calorically, this product gets my thumbs up for being only 100 calories per two table spoon serving. However, i am not all too pleased the the nutrition they boast as it DOES have a fair amount of carbs (13 grams) and less protein then regular peanut butter. Taste? this ranks pretty high. Its slightly sweeter than regular peanut butter but still really yummy. So is it better? Eh, pretty close, but i think real peanut butter ain't that bad, so i'll just use it sparingly.

Ahh..Boca Burgers...What did I do before these gifts from heaven existed??? Oh yea, I was twenty pounds heavier. Well, I dont need to convince you that Boca Burgers are great (hint hint...THEY ARE!), but Boca decided to give a shot a making chili. So Boca launched a meatless chili which they describe as "perfect combination of beans, chili flavor and meatless ground burger made from soy". It not hard to find healthier versions of chili out there in cans, but this one actaully chills (pun not intended) in the frezzer section. Like the burgers, the chili tastes fabulous and its wonderful that the whole container is filled with a whopping 20 grams of protien and 12 grams of fiber! All that for measly 150 calories! However, i wouldn't eat this as a meal by itself. I'd add another cup of beans if i were to have it as a meal or maybe top a fat free hot dog with the chili and slap it between a Wonder Light hot dog bun. Its pricier than canned chilli of course but I think its worth the cost because of the insanely better taste than the canned stuff. I hope Boca keeps churning out wonderful and healthy products for us all to savor!

This summer Pepsi maybe felt pressure from all the new diet sodas (like the black cherry vanilla kiss diet coke and the diet dr. pepper berries and cream) and cam out with diet pepsi strawberries and cream (and vanilla black cherry although i haven't tried that one yet...). At first, I kind of liked it. It didnt taste like strawberries, but there is definetly a smooth, cream type flavor. Honestly, it sort of tasted like gummie bears. It was ok, but i admit, i was sort of sick of the flavor of it after I was half way through the bottle. Its defiently better than regular diet pepsi but I cant drink much of this stuff without getting tired of the flavor. However, other bloggers have somewhat different opinions like on i ate a pie (http://www.iateapie.net/reviews/archives/2006/08/diet_pepsi_jazz.php) and BevNet (http://www.bevnet.com/reviews/Pepsi_Jazz/). So if you're feeling up to it and have a buck twenty five to shell out at your local 7 eleven, go ahead and try it, but i cant promise a delicious soda out of it

ok, Walden's is infamous for giving a lot promises on most of their products. "Calorie Free", "Carbohydrate Free", "Fat Free", "Sugar Free"....its endless really, and one begins to wonder what is actually left of the product, and most importantly, is this even yummy?
So naturally, when i purchased it, i was very skeptical. Would i taste a horrible, sugar substitute over tone of this product that calls it self caramel? But, to my VERY pleasant suprise, it tasted not just good but DAMN STUPID GOOD. Better than the real thing I tell ya. There was NO fake sugar after taste what-so-ever, and the texture matched the smooth and creaminess one would expect from caramel. all this delicious taste for literally no guilt! I wouldn't eat this on its own (i wouldn't recommend eating ANY actual food item calling itself calorie free on its own, i mean the chemicals that make it that way would seem like an overload if that happened). Its really great with dipped fruit like apples, stawberries, peaches, pears, etc.. and even on whole wheat rice cakes or toast. I've also had it mixed with some generally bland cereals like puffed wheat and all bran. I cant express my love for this product enough! Not many stores have it, I've seen it in a handful of specialty diet stores around L.A., but they are available on line are ( http://www.waldenfarms.com/cfdips.htm) completely worth getting.
online, they cost $3.99 Per/Container but dont forget the $8.95 Shipping/Handlingfor each 1 to 10 Bottle order. So if you are going to purchase it online, i suggest getting a lot of em so you wont have to re-order and pay the shipping fee every time. Happy dipping!