Veggie Power!

Disclosure:  Smoothie King provided me with a $25 gift card to review their smoothie.  The opinions are mine.

I was really excited when I heard about Smoothie King's new Veggie Power line of Smoothies.  A yummy way to eat them without actually feeling like you're eating them.  It is also a great way to sneak vegetables into your kid's diet.  

Smoothie King has come up with 3 different flavors.

Apple Kale Kiwi -- Deliciously defending your immune system with tangy Vitamin C and free-radical fighting antioxidants.

Berry Carrot Dream -- Powerfully packed Vitamin A for strong eyes and skin, plus heart-healthy fiber for a lean digestive system.

Carrot Kale Crush -- A mighty serving of veggies, plus our Slim and Trim Vanilla Protein Blend for a strong body with fearless immunity. 

All 3 flavors have 280 calories in a small and 0 grams of fat!  One of these make a perfect lunch!  

Since Ken and the girls were all off today I decided it was a good day for smoothies.  I ordered the Apple Kale Kiwi.  It was delicious!  Sweet from the apple with a hint of tart from the kiwi.  If I hadn't been told that there was kale in it I honestly wouldn't have known.  Ken was actually surprised at how good it was.  Both Sunny and Mo agreed that it was delicious.  I think I will be headed back to Smoothie King soon to try the other 2 flavors.  

Dunkin Donuts Blogger Event

I was invited to attend Dunkin Donuts menu tasting.  I was really excited because I had been invited to previous Dunkin events and I couldn't make them.  I brought along my taste testers because I wanted to be able to know what everything tasted like and let y'all know what's good.  

Dunkin Donuts recently brought out the Spicy Smoked Sausage breakfast sandwich.  All 3 of the girls and Ken enjoyed it.  This was actually surprising because Kaylee isn't a huge fan of things that are spicy.

Yey coffee!  The one thing I could try!  And try I did.  They have 4 flavors for the holiday season.  There's Red Velvet, White Chocolate, Peppermint Mocha and Eggnog.  The eggnog is ONLY available in select markets, such as Jacksonville - Palm Coast.  Lucky me!  Ken really enjoyed the Eggnog latte.  I was a fan of all of them.  I honestly don't think I've found a Dunkin flavor I HAVEN'T liked!

Next up, the donuts.  There are 3 holiday donuts.  The Red Velvet Drizzle {that Sunny is showing you} is a red velvet cake donut drizzled with cream cheese frosting.  The red  one {I forgot the name, oops!} is a yeast ring donut frosted with a cherry glaze.  And lastly the Holiday Star {that Kaylee is holding up} is a yeast star shaped donut frosted with green icing and filled with a Bavarian Kreme.

They were loved by all of my taste testers.  Ken liked the fact that the "red one" had a nice light cherry flavor.  It wasn't too overpowering.

It kind of upset me that I couldn't try any of the donuts.  I love donuts.  But, in typical Fat Free Queen style I came home and started baking.  I really wanted to give y'all a filled yeast donut but, I tried 4 different recipes and used 99% of my flour and nothing would work.  I guess yeast donuts are not meant to be fat free.  So instead, I bring you an AH-MAZING chocolate buttermilk cake donut hole.  I used my cake pop pan to make them but, you can also use a donut maker, a donut pan or a mini muffin pan.   I'm giving you the whole recipe but honestly, I only made a half batch.  At 25 calories each I wish I had made a full batch!

Chocolate Buttermilk Donut Holes
Adapted from Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate Cake Recipe

Servings: 108
Calories: 25.6
Fat:  0.1 g

Carbs: 6 g
Sugar: 3.9 g
Protein: 0.6 g

Ingredients
1.75 cup flour
1 T cornstarch
2 cups sugar
.75 cup cocoa powder
2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 cup skim milk mixed with 2 tsp white vinegar
.5 cup fat free sour cream (you can also use Greek yogurt)
egg substitute to 2 eggs (or 2 egg whites
1 t vanilla extract
1 cup coffee

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray your pan
2. Whisk together flour, cornstarch, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and baking powder
3. In a separate bowl mix together milk, sour cream, egg substitute, vanilla and coffee
4. Mix wet ingredients into dry
5. Put 1 T into your cake pop pan and bake for 15 minutes until they are done.

Do you like coffee?  Do you enjoy seasonal flavors?  What's your favorite seasonal flavor?

Update 12/18/2013:  I found the notes I took at the event.  

• Did you know there is no non-dairy option at Dunkin Donuts?  
• The Red Velvet and Eggnog, Pumpkin Mocha and Red Velvet flavors will only be around until the end of December.  They will be bringing out a completely new flavor in January {I'm so excited!}
• The glazed donuts have less fat then the raised ones.  The cake soaks up less fat than the yeast.

High Tide's at Snack Jack's Restaurant Review

Friday was my parent's 35th anniversary.  Unfortunately Ken works all day every Friday so we decided to treat them to an early anniversary dinner.  

There's a little restaurant in Flagler Beach, High Tides at Snack Jack.  Ken and I have passed it a million times going to Daytona.  Every time we passed we would say to each other "I really want to try that place!"  But we never got a chance to go. 

We are so happy that we went there.  I think this will become our new go-to restaurant.  It's located right on the beach.  The walls of the restaurants are covered with funny posters.  My favorite was the one that said "Children Left Unattended Will Be Sold As Chum."  Most restaurants are a bit chilly but, High Tides uses ceiling fans and ocean breezes to naturally cool the restaurant.  You can choose whether you want to sit out on one of the 3 decks or inside.  What fun is sitting inside when you have a gorgeous view, beautiful day and a great breeze?  So, we sat outside and listened to the surf while we ate.  The menu is mostly seafood but, they have a couple not seafood items like beef burgers, a veggie burger and hot dogs.  

Everyone at the table was VERY pleased with what they ordered.  Here's a rundown of what everyone ordered: 

Sirr:  Clam chowder and shrimp scampi over linguine -- everyone claimed the chowder was excellent.  Chunks of potatoes, a lot of garlic (but not too much) and he said the linguine was good too.

Kaylee:  The Boogie Burger -- It was gone within a few minutes of it hitting the table.

Gramma:  Fried shrimp, onion rings and hush puppies --  I wish I had gotten a picture of the rings.  They were HUUUGE and gorgeous.  The shrimp were actually a really good size and Gramma said the hush puppies were excellent.

Sunny:  Kid's hot dog --  They use bun length, really thick hot dogs.  It was a great value.  

Mo:  Chicken wings in a honey barbecue sauce --  You get a dozen wings for $10 and 2 dozen for $18.  Most places only give you 6-10. 

Ken:  Raw oysters and steamed shrimp -- Ken always orders the oysters when he goes to a seafood restaurant.  If he doesn't like the oysters he doesn't review them well.  After eating the oysters at High Tides he decided that we needed to make this place a regular restaurant of ours.  

Me:  steamed shrimp, crab legs, and a side of steamed vegetables.   Everything was cooked perfectly and there was no fat related pain.  {I say fat related because I ate broccoli and cauliflower which causes pain due to gas}  I know that alot of times when you order crab legs at restaurants they have a tendency to be waterlogged.  Not these, they were just yummy, sweet crab meat. The shrimp was seasoned like Goldilocks, not too much not too little.  Ken and I liked the seasoning so much we bought a bottle to bring home.  
 

We spent about $20 a person.  But, Sirr and Ken both ordered a few beers.  The only thing that threw us off a bit was that it is a cash only restaurant.  But, they do have an ATM there.  

  
Whenever we go to a restaurant we let them know about my "medical condition" and the fact that I can't have any butter, oil or fat.  When we told our waitress about me she said that there was another waitress there who was dealing with gallbladder issues too!  She ended up coming out and we gave her some advice on dealing with the pain and what to eat.  It really felt good to make someone else's gallbladder journey a little easier and to know that other people are having as hard of a time dealing with it as I did.  Even after almost 2 years I still occasionally get depressed that I'm not "normal" and that I can't eat the same foods as everyone else.  But it also made me think that maybe I should start a support group for other gallbladder sufferers in the area.

So, if you are looking for a fun, funky little restaurant with AMAZING staff and great food, check out High Tides.  You will definitely make this a regular restaurant.   

Do you have a local favorite?  Why is it your favorite?  Tell me about it!


Website:  High Tides and Snack Jack

 

 

Belated Father's Day Dinner....A Restaurant Review

For Father's Day Ken had to work.  So, we celebrated it tonite.  Over the past 3 years of living here we have only really eaten at 2 restaurants in town, Golden Corral and the Chinese buffet.  After 3 years we have come to realize we are sick and tired of Chinese buffets and Golden Corral {ESPECIALLY Golden Corral}. Plus we want the girls to experience different types of food.  

Tonite we chose Salsa's Mexican Restaurant.  The server was great.  They messed up my order and even though I was just going to suffer and pick around the cheese and other stuff I couldn't eat he insisted on taking it back and getting me one that was made properly.  

I had the vegetable fajitas.  No tortillas, no cheese, and no oil.  
Ken had the mixed fajita.  He said it was "okay"
Kaylee got a fish dish that she really like.
Mo tried an enchilada.  She said the inside was really tasty but, she didn't like the enchilada sauce on top or the fact it was made with a corn tortilla.
Sunny got a burrito.  She was very happy with it.

All of the meals came with a side of rice and refried beans.  

After dinner we went to try a new-ish frozen yogurt place in European Village.  It's a self serve, pay by the ounce (47 cents an ounce, to be exact) place.  They had either 8 or 10 different flavors.  And atleast half, if not more, were fat free.  90% of them were atleast low fat though.  They have a variety of fruit and candy toppings and syrups.  There's something for everybody.  Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of it.

The 2 best parts about this evening?  1) I didn't get any stomach pains!!  So, even though the food wasn't the most amazing we've ever tried I consider it a place to keep on our list due to the fact I didn't feel like death.  2) We had a nice relaxing family night.

Here's our meal in pictures:

Salsa's has a few locations around the Daytona area.  Click Here to check out their site.
Yo'Belle has locations across the US.  Click Here to find your closest one.

What's your favorite ethnic cuisine?  What is your kids fave?

 

Is it April Already??!??

Happy April everybody!  I can't believe that 1/3 of the year is almost over.  Only 3 weeks until Sunny's birthday and 6.5 weeks until Kaylee's.Next time I turn around I'll be leaving for vacation {vacation plan post coming soon!}

It's finally starting to warm up and it finally feels like spring.  I love spring.  The produce, the animals, and the weather.  I especially love the switch to spring produce.  Watermelon season starts the first week of May according to my watermelon guy (yes I have a watermelon guy)

On Easter morning the girls, my dad (he's been in town since Thursday,) and I went to Panera.  Panera has been a tradition for Kaylee, Mantha and him since it opened about a year ago.  Sunny just recently got included in the tradition (along with the Bob Evan's and McDonald's PlayPlace traditions.)  I was lucky enough to be able to join in on this trip.  

Sometimes I feel like it's easier to exclude myself due to the fact that I have to spend hours researching the menu in order to find what I can eat.  But I know that the time I get to spend with my dad outweighs the annoyance.  

On the menu there were only 2 things that I could consider, the Power Breakfast Egg White Bowl with Roasted Turkey (as long as you ask for it without turkey or pesto) or the Fat Free SuperFruit Power Smoothie.    I decided to go with the smoothie and a cup of coffee.

The smoothie was really amazing.  (It probably would have tasted better if I hadn't burned 75% of the taste buds off my tongue with my coffee though).  It was sweet but not too sweet, the flavor was complex, it was just all around delicious.  I would definitely go back for it again. Add bonus: it kept me full a lot longer than I expected. I normally get hungry about 2 hours after I eat and I start to munch.  I didn't eat again for probably 4 or 5 hours. 

According to Brandeating.com the smoothie is a "superfruit power puree (which includes apple, blackberry and blueberry purees, cherry, concord grape, pomegranate, elderberry and acai juices from concentrate, and plum puree) and blends it with Oikos organic plain Greek non-fat yogurt and ads a boost of ginseng for good measure." 


The nutritionals on the smoothie are pretty good too.  Besides being fat-free, it has 200 calories,  100% of your daily B6 and B12, 150% of your daily vitamin C, 15 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber, and a bunch of antioxidants.  I would definitely recommend this.

What do you look forward to most about spring?  What is your favorite spring produce?

Below are some links about seasonal produce.  Take a look.  I also have a graphic on my healthy photo page.

Seasonal Produce Links
Food Network Spring Produce Guide

 

Photo Courtesy of: For the Love of Food 

CeresSecrets List of Early, Mid and Late Spring Produce

Super Grouper!!

Being stuck in a hotel leads you to do unexpected things.  I actually slept in until 6:30.  This is odd for me because I always wake up at 5:30.  Since we were stuck in a room together I set my alarm for 6 so it would give the kids an extra 30 minutes.  But, I turned it off and went back to bed!  After that I've been holing myself up in the bathroom so I can write and use my computer without bothering anyone until the kids wake up.  Breakfast was toast with butter and jelly and my leftover parfait from last nite.

Have I shown you a picture of the breakfast area?  If not here it is.  A waffle iron and waffle mix (that tasted kinda funny), toast, orange juice, milk and coffee.  

We took the kids to Fort de Soto park today.  I have 1 word to describe it.  Gorgeous!  I have fallen in love with the Gulf side of Florida.  The waters are crystal clear, really warm and the sand it actually white.  We spent about 3 hours at the beach.  The kids had a blast jumping in the waves and playing in the sand.

I know I've already talked about this in a previous post but, a day at the beach can burn major calories.  Here's a couple links to the calorie counts of various activities.

Experfectionist
Daily Spark

I'm hoping I did enough o balance out my eating.  For dinner we went to Frenchy's in Clearwater. 

I wanted to treat myself so I got the Super Grouper sandwich.  Grilled fish on an onion bun topped with tartar sauce.  When we get home I'm going to recreate this.  Make it a tad bit healthier and hopefully just as tasty.

After dinner we went and wandered around Pier 60 and watched all the various street performers and looked at all the crafts they had for sale.  I love my family.  They are truly what makes me jump for joy.  

The photo challenge today was EARTH.  When you watch the sunset you remember how fast the Earth actually is moving.

What makes you jump for joy?