Things I Bought That I Love- The Food Edition

Welcome to the 2nd Things I Bought That I Love post! See the first one here.

Today, I present to you: Food I Bought That I Love.

(Prepare yourself for the worst pictures ever taken in the history of the camera).

MOTT’S 100% JUICE POPSICLES

Remember when you were a kid, and you’d throw yourself on the Crocodile Mile for the 47th time, run into the house cutting your feet on the sharp grass, and grab one of these in-between slip-n-slide runs?

Who didn’t love Pop-Ice? If you say you didn’t, I say you were probably one of those kids who played Nintendo every split second of every summer day, and now you have terrible vision. Or you were the weird kid with every food allergy possible. Or you’re a liar. Every kid in America loved to suck the last few drops of lime juice through the plastic tube. Now that I’m an adult,I can’t really afford to put 64g of sugar in my body all at once not to mention the artificial coloring/flavors and the chemicals they use to make these. But, I still love a good popsicle.

I told you the pictures were awful! Gah!

Mott’s makes 100% juice, no artificial flavor/coloring, 100% deliciousness in my mouth. They have 4 flavors, (my favorite is apple), and we eat about 3 of these every night (Devin- 2 1/4, me- 3/4, or a whole one if I can eat it fast enough before Devin gets to mine). The only problem with these is we have only found them at Costco. However, if you aren’t a member at Costco, for a small service and delivery fee, we’ll get you some, too.

KALE

Don’t gag quite yet.

I have a really fabulous sister-in-law for about a million reasons, but one of them is that she taught me how to make kale and make it g-o-o-d. I was never into the stuff, mostly because I never thought to buy some and try it, but Amy has me hooked.

Kale can be found in the produce section near the bunched spinach (not the bagged kind), bok choy, collard greens, etc. It comes in a huge bunch and is super cheap. You could probably find this at a farmer’s market, too. Kale is a great source of fiber, protein, gives you TONS and I mean TONS of Vitamin A and lots of Vitamin C (to fight off any H1N1). It is also by far the dirtiest produce I have ever purchased in my life, so make sure you wash it really, really well.

I washed the Kale (about 3 times) and let what I wanted to eat dry on a paper towel. Side note: We keep our greens fresher longer by washing them and putting them in these bags. We also have one of these. They really work. Kudos to Mrs. Thomas and Nikki for one of many stellar bridal shower gifts.

Put the kale on the little baking sheet for your toaster oven (I say this like I assume you have one, but another thing I never did until I married Devin was use a toaster oven. I never owned one. Stop judging me, and if you don’t have one, I think the regular oven on broil will work fine). Cover it with a little bit of olive oil and salt. Stick it in on 400 degrees for as long as you like (the longer, the crispier)

There you have it. One thing to note- it looks like a ton of kale when you are prepping it, but it shrinks and you may end up wanting more, so go ahead and pile it on when you’re putting it on the baking sheet. Amy eats hers with an egg on top, or with some delicious soup. After I ate this first helping and had Devin try it (he loved it, as he loves anything that is edible), he begged me to make more with an egg on top. It was superb.

EDAMAME

I have loved edamame for a very long time. Here I go again on the health info, but edamame is an excellent source of protein with very little extras, meaning, sometimes when you find something that is a great protein source (or anything else), you often get a lot of sugar added, or a lot of saturated fat, or a bazillion carbs etc. Not with edamame.

This is seriously in my top 5 favorite snacks ever.

So, once again, Costco comes through. For the record, we never really shop there- maybe once every 2 months when we need more popsicles and edamame, and once every 6 months when we need more toilet paper…because that is how long it lasts us. That place is unreal, though- I walk around wondering for what occasion someone may need to buy 8 gallons of mayonnaise all at once. Sick me out dot com. Anyway, Costco carries these:

It is a huge box, but inside are twelve of these little containers:

They are already portioned out for me, and all I have to do is cut a slit in the top and microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes. It is so much easier than buying a $4.00 bag of edamame from the grocery store and feeling like I need to cook it all at once. Also, I started taking these to work (wrap them in foil to keep them cold, and when I get to work, I stick them in a freezer until I am ready for them) and they make a great mid-day wake me up snack. The great thing about edamame is it really fills you up without the consequences, and it provides an energy boost.

I don't know if any other store sells these, so again, we will purchase them for you for a small fee.

CRAVE Cupcakes

Before you think I really am obsessed with completely healthy foods, well, I am to an extent, and maybe I wouldn’t say obsessed. However, I am really blessed to be married to someone who has the same eating habits/preferences as I do. It makes life easier.

But, I like a good treat every now and then, especially after a tough spin class like this particular day. Cue Crave Cupcakes.

Crave is a Houston cupcake shop that has perfected the cupcake art.

I sent a couple dozen of these to Devin’s office for his birthday last year, and THAT is how you win some hearts, people.

Cassie and I took Avery to Crave last weekend. It’s really fun for kids because they can watch them making the cupcakes from the outside window, and it’s like an old-time slash modern (figure that out) bakery on the inside. Stainless steel mixers (like mine thanks to OV06), bakers hats and aprons, cupcake displays…so nostalgic.

I loaded up on some for Devin (on the top is carrot cake and strawberry, on bottom is lemon and chocolate on vanilla).

Look at those little muffin-tops-o-heaven.

I’ll have you know I only had half of the carrot cake cupcake

…best decision of my life.

Naturally, they made Avery happy.

She had the chocolate on vanilla

And then she felt guilty for eating it…

Yeah, right.

Crave has certain cupcakes that they make on certain days, so scope out their website for the daily menu.

They also have great coffee, so you know I’m sold.

Go check them out. You won’t be sorry unless you eat too many and end up looking like this kid (Thanks Zach)