Okay, I have spent a lot of time in the last few days reading thru the "mix" portion of the book: Make-A-Mix. (If you click on "book review" on the right, you'll see related posts.)
Here is the list of the recipes that have an ingredient that is "un-clean" - if I search the grocery I may be able to find an acceptable option, but at this point I am going to focus on the ones I don't need to hunt for a new ingredient for. So here are the ones I will be skipping for now and why:
Breadmaker Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Cornbread Mix - uses milk or buttermilk powder
Graham Cracker Crust Mix - uses box graham crackers
Hot Roll Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Whole Wheat Hot Roll Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Quick Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle Mix - uses dry buttermilk
Lemon Pudding Mix - uses powdered lemonade mix
Beef Gravy Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Chicken Gravy Mix - uses non fat dry milk
White Sauce Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Home-Style Dressing Mix - uses MSG "if desired" (can you even buy this??)
Hot Chocolate Mix - uses non-dairy creamer
Russian Refresher Mix - uses powdered lemonade mix (popular drink at one time??)
This leaves me with a whole lot to try! I am hoping no one puts a hold on the book before I can finish getting through it. :)
As I mentioned earlier, there is a "mix" section and a "recipe section" (made from the mixes.) Nice concept.
Before I can try the one I really want to try, the brownie mix...I gotta go buy more cocoa powder. These sure use a lot!! But I guess if you are making a "mix" you want extras to have on hand, right? The chocolate pudding mix is almost gone. And that makes 6 batches. So much for losing weight. :)
Happy eating, Kathy
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013
Final Product Review - Clean Candy #5
Here we are...the last of the 5 candy bars Unreal 5.
Product info can be found here: Unreal 5 which can be compared to a Milky Way.
Open it up, take a nice sniff...so far so good! Looks very similar. I am not a Milky Way fan, so let's start with that. Totally a Snickers girl, love me some peanuts. So this taste test will be a little unfair since I don't usually eat this type of candy.
First bite...good, not great. Again, I am predisposed to not like this type of candy bar, but am trying to look past that. Not sure if it's the relation of nougat to caramel, but there is too much nougat for me. It almost tastes like a vitamin company candy bar I used to eat when I was younger. A family friend sold the vitamin products so my mom would buy them for me. Can't for the life of me remember the name of the company, but getting that familiar taste in my mouth. I wonder if those were first beginnings of cleaner candy?
So anyway, would I eat it again? Yes. Would I chose it if there was another choice? No.
Here is my final ranking of Unreal candy choices:
5...Unreal 5 (this one)
4...Unreal 41 (plain m&ms) - cause of the aftertaste
3...Unreal 77 (peanut butter cups) - cause there needs to be a little bit more peanut butter inside
2...Unreal 54 (peanut m&ms) - only 2nd cause there needs to be more in the bag
1........Unreal 8 (snickers) cause I am a Snickers girl!!
I would not hesitate to buy any of them again! The thought of being able to eat candy without all the yucky stuff inside makes me so happy. Going to head over to CVS this weekend and buy 1 more of each for my kids to taste test...and see what THEY think! They will jump for joy when they find out they can have candy again :)
Happy snacking! Kathy
Product info can be found here: Unreal 5 which can be compared to a Milky Way.
Open it up, take a nice sniff...so far so good! Looks very similar. I am not a Milky Way fan, so let's start with that. Totally a Snickers girl, love me some peanuts. So this taste test will be a little unfair since I don't usually eat this type of candy.
First bite...good, not great. Again, I am predisposed to not like this type of candy bar, but am trying to look past that. Not sure if it's the relation of nougat to caramel, but there is too much nougat for me. It almost tastes like a vitamin company candy bar I used to eat when I was younger. A family friend sold the vitamin products so my mom would buy them for me. Can't for the life of me remember the name of the company, but getting that familiar taste in my mouth. I wonder if those were first beginnings of cleaner candy?
So anyway, would I eat it again? Yes. Would I chose it if there was another choice? No.
Here is my final ranking of Unreal candy choices:
5...Unreal 5 (this one)
4...Unreal 41 (plain m&ms) - cause of the aftertaste
3...Unreal 77 (peanut butter cups) - cause there needs to be a little bit more peanut butter inside
2...Unreal 54 (peanut m&ms) - only 2nd cause there needs to be more in the bag
1........Unreal 8 (snickers) cause I am a Snickers girl!!
I would not hesitate to buy any of them again! The thought of being able to eat candy without all the yucky stuff inside makes me so happy. Going to head over to CVS this weekend and buy 1 more of each for my kids to taste test...and see what THEY think! They will jump for joy when they find out they can have candy again :)
Happy snacking! Kathy
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Product Review - Clean Candy #4
My boys & I took advantage of a beautiful day and went for a walk to our nearby CVS. Guess what they had...Unreal candy!!! So excited because now I can taste the other two that Staples did not carry.
First of all, CVS was more expensive. Staples charges $.90 per candy bar, and CVs charges $1.19. They were on sale 2 for $2.00, so that made the choice to buy the two types I had not tried yet all the easier. But at $1 each they are still a bit more expensive. On the positive side, I probably spent the difference in gas. So I can reason it out that I can pay a bit more when taking a walk.
So which one to try today...
we're going with Unreal 54. Product information here: Unreal 54 aka peanut M&Ms.
If you remember, I liked the plain M&Ms but the coatings kindof left an aftertaste. Let's see how these do!
Colors are the same as the Unreal 41.
These are tasty, nice ratio of peanut to chocolate, coating has a crunch to it. I still get a bit of the natural flavoring aftertaste but no where near as strong, the taste of the peanut offsets it nicely.
Only problem...there needs to be more in the package. Cause I want more! Will definitely be buying these again. :)
Happy snacking! Kathy
First of all, CVS was more expensive. Staples charges $.90 per candy bar, and CVs charges $1.19. They were on sale 2 for $2.00, so that made the choice to buy the two types I had not tried yet all the easier. But at $1 each they are still a bit more expensive. On the positive side, I probably spent the difference in gas. So I can reason it out that I can pay a bit more when taking a walk.
So which one to try today...
we're going with Unreal 54. Product information here: Unreal 54 aka peanut M&Ms.
If you remember, I liked the plain M&Ms but the coatings kindof left an aftertaste. Let's see how these do!
Colors are the same as the Unreal 41.
These are tasty, nice ratio of peanut to chocolate, coating has a crunch to it. I still get a bit of the natural flavoring aftertaste but no where near as strong, the taste of the peanut offsets it nicely.
Only problem...there needs to be more in the package. Cause I want more! Will definitely be buying these again. :)
Happy snacking! Kathy
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Book Review
After making my chocolate pudding, well really while EATING my chocolate pudding, I decided since I had the window open from Amazon still open I'd read the reviews that were posted. 138 from a book first published in the late 1970s! 121 5 star, 11 4 star, 3 3 star, 1 2 star, and 2 1 star.
It's interesting to read what people said about the book. Some commented on "how could they only use white products (flour, sugar)" and others were all over how great it is. It's funny; cause when you think about how different we (some of us at least) eat now versus then. I was born in the 1960s, so I grew up in the age of prepared foods - the easier the better, right? Sigh.
I am curious to try some of the recipes commented on, like the hot chocolate mix, chocolate syrup mix, brownie mix and muffin mix. The snack cake mixes seem to be a hit too. I am half way through the 121 5 star reviews...LOL
Oh, the lemon pudding mix uses powdered lemonade mix, so won't be trying that one. I have made a lemon meringue pie from scratch a couple years back...lots of work but it tasted fabulous.
According to some of the 5 star reviews, the original 1978 edition has been updated to remove a lot of the shortening and replaced it with melted butter...mine is from 2006 so I must have the updated version.
Do you think anyone will notice if they don't get a pudding for dessert tonite? Two servings are not enough right now...Kathy
It's interesting to read what people said about the book. Some commented on "how could they only use white products (flour, sugar)" and others were all over how great it is. It's funny; cause when you think about how different we (some of us at least) eat now versus then. I was born in the 1960s, so I grew up in the age of prepared foods - the easier the better, right? Sigh.
I am curious to try some of the recipes commented on, like the hot chocolate mix, chocolate syrup mix, brownie mix and muffin mix. The snack cake mixes seem to be a hit too. I am half way through the 121 5 star reviews...LOL
Oh, the lemon pudding mix uses powdered lemonade mix, so won't be trying that one. I have made a lemon meringue pie from scratch a couple years back...lots of work but it tasted fabulous.
According to some of the 5 star reviews, the original 1978 edition has been updated to remove a lot of the shortening and replaced it with melted butter...mine is from 2006 so I must have the updated version.
Do you think anyone will notice if they don't get a pudding for dessert tonite? Two servings are not enough right now...Kathy
Book Review - Chocolate Pudding Mix
Checked this book out of the library this week: Make-A-Mix by Karine Eliason & Nevada Haward & Madeline Westover.
It is partially "mix" recipes and partially recipes to make with your mixes. Since I am still looking for acceptable replacements for some of my family's favorite foods, like tacos and pudding, this book seemed to give me some choices worth trying.
Over the next few weeks I am going to try to make some of the "mixes" and see what happens!
Since I am still missing desserts, I decided to start with their chocolate pudding "mix." The copyright notice in the front of the book say I am allowed to post their recipe; even though I am linking back to their book & I got it for free from the library, I will just post my opinions. Don't want to do anything I am not supposed to!!
So I measured out the dry ingredients of my cleanest unsweetened cocoa powder, granulated sugar, cornstarch and salt and mixed it all up:
And then proceeded to actually make the chocolate pudding. You add milk to a cup of the mix & cook in a pot, stirring just like you would a package mix. You are supposed to stir in butter & vanilla at the end; since I need to eat low fat, and I couldn't see why I would need butter anyway, I left it out. I let it sit on the stove while I took pictures, and that film that I love formed on top, just like the box mix. Take a look:
It's cooling as I type...but sure smells like chocolate pudding. One thing I can say is that it makes more than the 6 cups of mix. I have a 6c storage bowl that it would not fit in. But once I used 1c of the mix, it fits nicely. If you do the math on the dry ingredients, it's a bit over 6 cups. But once you whisk them together and add in the extra air, it will not fit. Go for a bigger bowl if not using any right away.
So extra mix is stored, the family's portions in bowls, covered & put in fridge for dessert tonite...and mine is just about cool enough to try. :)
Here goes: it's good!! The taste is slightly different...maybe not as sweet? Would the butter have made a difference? Hmmmmm...I use fat free dairy milk but it is still thick, creamy...it's good. Will definitely make again AND will be looking through the book to see what other pudding recipes these ladies have included.
Yummy!! Happy eating! Kathy
It is partially "mix" recipes and partially recipes to make with your mixes. Since I am still looking for acceptable replacements for some of my family's favorite foods, like tacos and pudding, this book seemed to give me some choices worth trying.
Over the next few weeks I am going to try to make some of the "mixes" and see what happens!
Since I am still missing desserts, I decided to start with their chocolate pudding "mix." The copyright notice in the front of the book say I am allowed to post their recipe; even though I am linking back to their book & I got it for free from the library, I will just post my opinions. Don't want to do anything I am not supposed to!!
So I measured out the dry ingredients of my cleanest unsweetened cocoa powder, granulated sugar, cornstarch and salt and mixed it all up:
And then proceeded to actually make the chocolate pudding. You add milk to a cup of the mix & cook in a pot, stirring just like you would a package mix. You are supposed to stir in butter & vanilla at the end; since I need to eat low fat, and I couldn't see why I would need butter anyway, I left it out. I let it sit on the stove while I took pictures, and that film that I love formed on top, just like the box mix. Take a look:
It's cooling as I type...but sure smells like chocolate pudding. One thing I can say is that it makes more than the 6 cups of mix. I have a 6c storage bowl that it would not fit in. But once I used 1c of the mix, it fits nicely. If you do the math on the dry ingredients, it's a bit over 6 cups. But once you whisk them together and add in the extra air, it will not fit. Go for a bigger bowl if not using any right away.
So extra mix is stored, the family's portions in bowls, covered & put in fridge for dessert tonite...and mine is just about cool enough to try. :)
Here goes: it's good!! The taste is slightly different...maybe not as sweet? Would the butter have made a difference? Hmmmmm...I use fat free dairy milk but it is still thick, creamy...it's good. Will definitely make again AND will be looking through the book to see what other pudding recipes these ladies have included.
Yummy!! Happy eating! Kathy
Monday, January 28, 2013
Product Review - Clean Candy #3
Here we go...I have been waiting all weekend for this!!
Unreal 8. Product info: Unreal 8 Comparable to a Snickers bar.
Here we go...opening the wrapper....smells chocolatey...almost like a Snickers.
First bite...BETTER than a Snickers. More peanuty...the proportion of peanuts to chocolate to nougat...I like this better. AND it's filling enough that I am not craving another when I am done, like I was with the peanut butter cups. Well, maybe the peanut butter cups were just that good...doesn't matter. :)
My next mission...to find the other ones my Staples did not carry.
The website says I can find them at Staples, CVS, Target & BJs...in my area.
If you go to the Unreal website, and click on "GET UNREAL" you can put in your zip code and find the closest stores to you. GET UNREAL
Happy snacking!! Kathy
Unreal 8. Product info: Unreal 8 Comparable to a Snickers bar.
Here we go...opening the wrapper....smells chocolatey...almost like a Snickers.
First bite...BETTER than a Snickers. More peanuty...the proportion of peanuts to chocolate to nougat...I like this better. AND it's filling enough that I am not craving another when I am done, like I was with the peanut butter cups. Well, maybe the peanut butter cups were just that good...doesn't matter. :)
My next mission...to find the other ones my Staples did not carry.
The website says I can find them at Staples, CVS, Target & BJs...in my area.
If you go to the Unreal website, and click on "GET UNREAL" you can put in your zip code and find the closest stores to you. GET UNREAL
Happy snacking!! Kathy
Friday, January 25, 2013
Product Review - Clean Candy #2
Ready for the second test? I am!!
Today I am trying the Unreal41...similar to an M&M.
Product info here: Unreal41
When I open the package, I can't help but feel the excitement of M&Ms...the colors are not as bright, but that's okay, cause they are made with natural colors, not artificial. The ingredients say they are colored with: beetroot juice, turmeric root extract, purple cabbage juice. There are 6 different colors in the bag. The yellow and the orange are light enough colors that I can see the chocolate through them.
My first bite, it tastes like something I have had before, but I can't tell you what it is. Reminds me of an Easter candy from long ago...but not sure which one. Going to bug me until I figure it out!!
Slight after taste to these...whether I mix the colors or not, but it is more pronounced when I mix the colors.
They are yummy, and I wouldn't say no if offered them. I do want to try the peanut version of them though.
Off to enjoy the rest...and one more to try tomorrow!!! I may have to wait until Monday, though. My kids will be around and want me to share. :)
Happy snacking!!! Kathy
Today I am trying the Unreal41...similar to an M&M.
Product info here: Unreal41
When I open the package, I can't help but feel the excitement of M&Ms...the colors are not as bright, but that's okay, cause they are made with natural colors, not artificial. The ingredients say they are colored with: beetroot juice, turmeric root extract, purple cabbage juice. There are 6 different colors in the bag. The yellow and the orange are light enough colors that I can see the chocolate through them.
My first bite, it tastes like something I have had before, but I can't tell you what it is. Reminds me of an Easter candy from long ago...but not sure which one. Going to bug me until I figure it out!!
Slight after taste to these...whether I mix the colors or not, but it is more pronounced when I mix the colors.
They are yummy, and I wouldn't say no if offered them. I do want to try the peanut version of them though.
Off to enjoy the rest...and one more to try tomorrow!!! I may have to wait until Monday, though. My kids will be around and want me to share. :)
Happy snacking!!! Kathy
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