Foodie Snacks Recommends: Trader Joe's Maple Leaf Cookies (and the confession of new Trader Joe's junkie)

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In case you haven't noticed (by reading my other blogs) lately, I've been on a snack binge of epic proportions. This foodie snack attack comes from the fact that I recently went to Trader Joe's for the first time and loaded up on nothing but junk funk. Not kidding, the healthiest thing that I bought was probably the 2.99 bottle of Trader Joe's wine also known as Two Buck Chuck. I guess because all it takes is two bucks to be able to chuck it down, just a guess. However, one of the best treats I bought was these awesomely good Maple Leaf Cookies.

Talk about addiction in the form of a cookie! Yes, this might be nothing but processed junk food but hey at least they aren't Oreos with HFCS. Don't get me wrong, I love the Oreos but I could do without the HFCS because it's a unnecessary ingredient that is very harmful to peoples health. No, like I was saying, these Trader Joe's Maple Leaf  cookies as they are called, may be processed but at least they are trying to make it less bad for people (if you the read the front of the box). 

Anyway, that was my little health rant for the day, but getting back to these cookies. They were incredibly satisfying to my sweet tooth. They had a certain lightness to them that made them very crisp to the taste and the cream maple filling only complimented the texture of the cookie to every degree. I loved the sweetness of the maple cream too because it had a very distinct maple taste. I will certainly buy them again post haste and if your near a Trader Joe's I recommend you stop in and pick some up if you have sweet tooth to satisfy. They will more than do the job. 

Chili Tacos: A Meal Idea To Be Proud Of!

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Tonight's dinner was brought to me courtesy of Tuesday's night delicious chili dinner. Even though, it was Tuesday's leftovers, it hit all the right tastes buds for tonight. How did this happen? I thought leftovers were supposed to be bland and tasteless? This can be true at times but when you're trying to stretch your grocery budget those cold leftovers can suddenly become appealing. In other words, those leftovers become as good as what you make them to be. And I made it to be something extraordinary by simply frying some corn tortillas and throwing the already awesome chili in there with some savory cheddar cheese.

Oh yeah, in case your wondering about that chili recipe, you're going to want to get your hands on it because it is truly award winning in the taste department. I'm giving you a friendly Texas hookup so head on over to my other blog and get that warm and satisfying chili recipe! Make a huge batch as the recipe calls for, eat it up and enjoy the chili then come back to your fridge the next day.. heat that chili up on the stove, fry yourself some of those corn tortillas and there ya go! Just an idea to two step your way into two great nights of chili!

Foodie Snacks Recommends: The Healthier Chorizo Alternative For Your Eggs

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Do you really love the taste of chorizo but don't like how unhealthy it is for you? Fear not, I have the same dilemma. For those that don't know what chorizo is, it is basically fatty pork sold in sausage links, at least the popular Mexican version is. I can't tell you how greasy it is, as I used to eat it as a kid, and if you don't drain the grease. it's so greasy it that will drip from your food. That's why it tastes so good after all.

One of the most well known ways to eat chorizo is to combine it in your eggs which is the only way I've really eaten it. I love putting it in my eggs because it's super tasty but even though I'm a foodie I still like to find healthier ways of eating the things I enjoy. Chorizo is one that I haven't conquered by doing just that, until now that is. In doing so, it feels like I've discovered the holy grail...that's because tonight for the first time, I ate an alternative to chorizo in my eggs where it tasted exactly the same as eating the unhealthy pork version. I'm really excited and I want to share it with you because I didn't think it was possible to do this. You'd never believe what we substituted the meat for. Ground turkey of all things!

How did we do it? Just by simply making a our famous ground turkey meat mix that we use for our weekly turkey taco meals. You can find that right on our Off The Menu blog in the post entitled Turkey Tacos: Healthy But Satisfying Then it's as easy as combining with your eggs.

On a final note, I highly recommend your turkey meat be exactly how the recipe calls for it because I don't think this would work as well if you just throw a taco seasoning on the ground turkey. We've perfected this ground turkey meat recipe over the years through trial and error and it will knock your socks off. Try it and you'll see.

Foodie Snacks Recommends: Café Bistro All Natural Butter Cookies

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Sometimes as a foodie life can be hard, I'll eat something really good and then I think I have to share it with the world. Case in point, these to die for butter cookies. I've always been a butter cookie kind of guy (weird I know) but it's true and so when I happened upon these Cafe Bistro Butter Cookies, I just had to try them. This is especially true because I'm a big fan of all natural food these days.

In all my butter cookie days, I have not had a butter, I mean better tasting butter cookie! The package says it all, "Rich Crisp Butter Cookies". That's exactly how they taste. They need a put a warning on the package though that says once you start eating these, you're going to have to use sheer will power of super human strength to stop. That's just how delicious and additive they are. I mean, I almost ate the whole package to be quite honest with you.

If eating the whole package wasn't enough, I had to go and dip them in my now world famous homemade chocolate syrup (not really world famous, not now anyway). By the way, here is a recipe for that Chocolate Syrup on my chocolate blog. Other than dipping them in chocolate, I'm seriously thinking about making some coffee later on and finishing the package off that I had to tear myself away from by dipping them in the coffee. I can just see that being a heavenly combo as well.

In closing, I don't do a lot of recommendations on this foodie adventure of a blog but it would almost be a crime not to recommend these and tell you where you might find em'. Where might that be? Apparently these awesome cookies happen to be a product of Germany, says so on the package. Maybe that's why I was able to find them at Aldi (German grocery that has become popular in Texas). If you don't have one of those in your neck of the woods, then you might try your nearest local German store. If all else fails, they might be sold on the net somewhere. Good luck finding them because once you do you'll know that you have a new addiction for your sweet tooth.

Foodies Snack's Famous Home Made Biscuits: Inspired By "Crazy Heart"

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I was watching a movie very deserving of the Oscar it got, some of you might know it, it's called Crazy Heart. In the movie Jeff Bridges character "Bad Blake" bakes some of his famous biscuits for somebody (to be vague since I'm not one to spoil movies). It so inspired me, that I have now thrown out my Bisquick habit in favor of making biscuits from scratch like Bad Blake. After several attempts because it's not as easy as you would think, I'm pretty sure I've finally succeeded with this recipe and I want to share it with you... in case your a struggling biscuit baker.

Ingredients: 


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour


3/4 tablespoons baking powder


1/2 teaspoon baking soda


1/4 teaspoon salt


4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter


1/2 cup plus 1/8 cup cold milk


2 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter


Dash (or two) of salt




Steps:


Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.


In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.


Cut the butter into small cubes and add it to the flour.


Using your clean fingers, gently mix in the butter.  This can also be done using a food processor.


Add the cold milk, and gently mix just enough so that everything is combined.


Fold the dough over itself a couple of times, then form the dough into a ball.


On a floured surface, roll out the dough so that it is one inch thick.


Using a pizza cutter (or a sharp knife) cut the dough into 1 1/2" squares.


Melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in the microwave.


Add a couple of dashes of salt, and mix throughly.


Generously brush the tops of the unbaked biscuits with butter.


Place the biscuits in the  preheated oven, and bake for 10 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.


Try these for yourself and get back to me and tell me if they are Oscar worthy.

By the way, I can't let you go without showing off my down home biscuit shaping skills. Yes, in honor of my home state....

How To Make The Best Pasta Salad

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I admit I don't eat enough pasta salad but then I come back to my senses and realize how shameful I've been. Shameful because I realize how much I've been missing out on. That is especially true if the pasta salad is super good and delicious.

Take for example this pasta salad my wife whipped up tonight.  Ok, this is why I feel the need to post this immediately because in my opinion pasta salad doesn't get much better than this and I need to share the recipe with you.

Ingredients: 

• 1 bag of Wacky Mac Veggie Spiral Pasta (in my opinion this brand of garden style pasta is the best!) 
• 1/4 cup of Italian dressing (I prefer Full Circle Organic Tuscan Italian Dressing found at Market Street stores)
• 1/4 cup of Mild Cheddar Cheese sliced into small cubes
• Pepperoni (as much as your heart desires)
• 1/8 cup of Parmesan Cheese 
• Suggested add ins: purple onion sliced and black olives sliced

It's very important to remember, that after you mix your ingredients together for the pasta salad, to chill it in the refrigerator for a little bit. Pasta salad is a dish best served cold. 

A funny story and lesson learned, I was working out and my wife asked if I wanted veggies in my pasta salad. I quickly said no because I was so into my workout and didn't bother to ask what kind. She ended up preparing some purple onions to put in hers. Needless to say, at dinner I was reaching over and picking them out of her pasta salad.

Lesson learned because you don't want to do without those because it would be like having a salad at Olive Garden where they didn't add any. It just wouldn't be as good because it enhances the taste 10 fold. She should of been more clear though and asked if I wanted purple onions because I would of said yes on the spot. Any how, that's why they aren't in the picture but it's highly recommended just like this recipe. Oh yeah, one more thing, we didn't have any black olives and I wasn't going to the store for one thing but I've had pasta salad with them in it and it's just as highly recommended! 

Mini Foodie Snacks: Oh So Crispy Wontons

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Don't you just love those little wontons you get on your salad at Pei Wei or any Chinese restaurant for that matter? I just can't get enough of them to be honest with you. While making eggrolls the other day (please see my post entitled: Project Food Challenge: Eggrolls ), I had a simple but great idea. I took some of the eggroll wrappers and cut them into little strips and fried them. They might be simple but damn, they sure do make an unhealthy and delicious snack. So much for my New Years resolution to eat healthier. Gotta love it.