Product Review: Breyer Golden Oreo Ice Cream

I admit I've bought golden Oreos, broken them up and mixed them with ice cream.  I like my ice cream very chunky--more chunks than ice cream actually.

I was wandering the grocery in search of something to soothe my sore throat and my heart jumped when I saw this product.  How could I go wrong?

I didn't read the package very well.  For some reason I had it in my head that it was vanilla ice cream with cookies.  It's not--it's golden Oreo flavored ice cream with cookies mixed in. 

Over the years of excessive ice cream consumption, I've determined I rarely like ice cream that isn't one of 3 flavors--chocolate, coffee or vanilla (ALL beans!).  I like my variety in the form of chunks or sauces.

Somehow Breyer's has managed to make this ice cream itself taste freakishly similar to the cookies.  Now if that's your thang, this ice cream is definitely for you.  I still prefer Breyer's vanilla with lots of cookies.

Recipe: Roasted Vegetable Pie with White Wine Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

Total of 4 ½ cups of autumn vegetables (leeks, sweet potatoes, corn, celery and mushrooms), diced finely so they are approximately a uniform size
Refrigerated pie pastry – enough for double crust
½ cup white wine
1 tablespoon margarine
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon flour
Salt and pepper, to taste
Parmesan cheese and parsley to garnish

Directions:

Roast vegetables 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Follow pastry package instructions for setting at room temperature. Line bottom of a 9-inch pie plate with one pastry.

Sauté roasted vegetables with margarine, thyme, salt, pepper and flour, just until the flour is cooked but not brown. Add white wine and stir until the sauce has thickened and is coating the vegetables. Cool on wire rack until slightly warm.

Spoon the filling into the center of the pie plate. Sprinkle with Parmesan and parsley. Cover with pastry in an open design such as lattice or a series of cutouts. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, covering edges of pastry if needed to prevent over-browning.

Serve warm.

Related post with photos of this pie: 2 Pies for Thanksgiving

A lazy beany lunch

As I mentioned recently, I'm into Morningstar products right now. Today I put almost zero effort into my lunch and it was satisfying in a junk food sorta way. I baked some Morningstar Buffalo wings and had them on a salad of mixed greens and tomatoes with a spicy ranch dressing. mmmm

The sweet appeal of the Nation of Islam's bean pie – Eatocracy - CNN.com Blogs

The sweet appeal of the Nation of Islam's bean pie – Eatocracy - CNN.com Blogs

Just when I think there is no new beany thing I haven't heard off...here we have sweet bean pie, a custardy cousin to sweet potato pie. According to the article linked above, Nation of Islam members' beliefs did not permit them to eat beans, except for navy beans. They came up with this sweet recipe.

I've seen some sweet red bean pastry recipes in my Chinese cookbook, so I guess it's not totally unheard of to eat sweet beans. Interesting...I'll put this on my list of things to try!

Happy Meatless Monday!

Molee, molee, molee!

I was on a mission to have chocolate in every single dish for Valentine's Day, just to see if it could be done. And by that, I mean done well.

Stop wrinkling your nose.
.
.
.

No, really, stop! It's good!

Menu
Chocolate martinis
Spring greens, avocado, fried plantain with balsamic chocolate vinaigrette
Mole tacos (for me--eggplant; for my Valentine--turkey)
Chocolate Kahlua fondue with fresh strawberries and pineapple

By the time we were done with this chocolate extravaganza, we were vowing never to eat chocolate again as long as we lived. lol

I made the mole using a jarred mole paste. The jar's instructions said to blend it with broth--I used vegetable broth. I've never had mole before and hope to make it from scratch one day. I thought I'd try the jarred version first to get an idea of what it's supposed to taste like. Unfortunately, I now have enough mole paste to last me a long time.

I really wanted to try jackfruit in the mole. I've read it lends itself to dishes calling for shredded items in sauces (i.e., a vegetarian version of pulled pork). I couldn't find it in Wegmans, though. I've never even laid eyes on a jackfruit. I suppose that will be my next food quest.

Instead, I tried eggplant for mine. One word: INEDIBLE. Those flavors do not go well together at all. The eggplant tasted sour and the sauce was just odd. My Valentine loved his turkey taco with the same sauce, so my guess is the blend of eggplant and mole was the problem.

As I said, I've never had a mole so I was taking a risk paring it with something unusual without knowing what flavors might go with it. Or maybe it was the fact that I had the "molee molee molee!" scene from Austin Powers stuck in my head. ;)

I composted the mole eggplant and filled my tacos with plantain and the cheese (a nice local soft "farmer's cheese" since our grocery was sold out of queso fresco--equally good too). That was really, really good, especially since there were some remnants of the chocolate salad dressing on the plantain. I know, it sounds so odd, but it was scrumptious.

Other than that, mission accomplished--everything else was really tasty. Is there anything chocolate can't do? (Well yes, apparently there is--go with eggplant.)

I'll post pics as soon as I find the stinking cord to my camera.

P.S. Have a nice day and treat yourself, no matter if you're solo or with a friend. Enjoy. <3

Food: Cheap eats: How to save money but not sacrifice health | BaldwinCity.com

Here are some useful tips on healthful, inexpensive eating: Food: Cheap eats: How to save money but not sacrifice health | BaldwinCity.com

Photographs in Lunch Tray Compartments and Vegetable Consumption Among Children in Elementary School Cafeterias - — JAMA

Photographs in Lunch Tray Compartments and Vegetable Consumption Among Children in Elementary School Cafeterias - — JAMA

D'oh! Why didn't I think of this? A group of researchers placed photos of vegetables on cafeteria trays in schools and vegetable consumption increased.

We attempted to increase vegetable consumption by placing photographs of vegetables in school lunch tray compartments. We expected these photographs to indicate to the children that others typically select and place vegetables in those compartments and that they should do so too.

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