Radically Retired

Tag: Foodie Friday

  • Family Tradition

    Family Tradition

    December 1st is traditionally when I start my Christmas cookie baking. It’s when my mom always started hers, so I guess the date is firmly ingrained in me from an early age.

    I bake the cookies that both of my grandmas and my mom made over the years, plus I always add a few of hubs’ faves from his memories of his mom.

    My feature photo is of sugar cookies – a must every Christmas.

    Each year, we exchange gifts with friends here in our park, and my gifts always include a selection of my home made cookies.

  • Getting my Popeye On!

    Getting my Popeye On!

    Carrying on with my prepared salads reviews:

    This one is by Marketside and is called Spinach Dijon.

    Ingredients: spinach, eggs, shredded Monterey Jack-Colby Cheese, chow mein noodles, almonds, sweetened dried cranberries, and sweet onion dressing.

    The dressing is just sweet enough to cover the earthy taste of the spinach.

    This salad is one of my faves in the line. If you like raw spinach, you’ll love this one!

  • Berry Nice

    Berry Nice

    This salad, by Marketside (a WalMart brand), and very likely sourced from Taylor Farms has a fresh, and only slightly sweet flavour, despite the sweetened ingredients.

    This one has: Spring mix (leaf lettuce and arugula), feta cheese, herb seasoned flatbread strips, sweetened, dried cranberries, candied walnuts, and raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

    Although arugula isn’t among my fave greens, the sweet bits in this salad nicely mask it.

  • Winter Staples – Everything Chopped

    Winter Staples – Everything Chopped

    Each winter, we eat far more salads than in the summer.

    Why? It’s because prepared salads are abundant here in south Texas.

    Taylor Farms makes a variety of single serving and double serving salads.

    The part we enjoy the most, is that we can enjoy a variety of salads without having to buy all of the ingredients separately and then risk them going to waste if not used in a timely manner.

    For the next few “foodie Friday” posts, I’ll feature and review different pre-made salads that we enjoy.

    My feature photo is of the single serving Everything Chopped Salad from Taylor Farms.

    Ingredients: Romaine lettuce, grilled white meat chicken, carrot, red cabbage, sharp white cheddar cheese, cheese and garlic seasoned crouton crumbles, everything bagel seasoning, and ranch dressing. *No synthetic colours or high fructose corn syrup*

    These salads, available at WalMart, come in a disposable plastic bowl, but I prefer to plate them.

    My review: I love that all of the ingredients are separated in the packaging, so nothing is soggy. This one had great flavour and crunch. Although they contain some cooked chicken, don’t expect more than a tablespoon or so of small cubes of meat in the single serving size. The cheese adds extra protein.

    At under $3 USD, it’s good bang for your buck.

  • Ahhh … Back to Mexico

    Ahhh … Back to Mexico

    This week, we’ve been going over to Mexico for dental appointments.

    It’s only a 20 minute drive from our home.

    My favourite part of this is that we can once more enjoy authentic Mexican food. We didn’t get across once last winter, so now we’re making up for lost time.

    I had some problems with my feature photo because of the shadows cast on the plate. I’ll be sure to avoid that next time.

    Each of us ordered our fave dish : enchiladas for hubs and chile relleno for me.

    We forgot that we could order one dish, split it, and easily have enough food for lunch.

    Practise makes better.

  • When in Texas (2) …

    When in Texas (2) …

    Because the price of avocados and the variability of their freshness at home in Canada is more than a bit prohibitive, I look forward to our winters in South Texas.

    We live close enough to Mexico that the avocados are reasonably priced, fresh, and don’t spoil in a day.

    And … I can make guacamole… my favourite dip.

    Easy Guac Recipe:

    2 ripe avocados

    2 TBSP Salsa

    1 Small Red Onion (or 1/2 medium), chopped fine

    Juice of 1 Lime

    1 TBSP sour cream

    Salt and Pepper, as desired

    If you like it a bit more spicy, seed, finely chop, and add one small jalapeño pepper.

    Mash avocados and salsa together in a medium bowl, then stir in all other ingredients until well blended. Store in tightly covered container in fridge for at least an hour (this will keep up to 1 day in fridge)

  • When in Texas …

    When in Texas …

    From our first taste in 2019, hubs and I became seriously attached to Blue Bell ice cream.

    Made in Texas, this brand is the next best thing to home made ice cream and we love that every year, new flavours are added to the line.

  • Bright and Blah Lunch

    Bright and Blah Lunch

    3/4 Cup canned white albacore tuna mixed with a bit of chopped onion and miracle whip dressing, on top of a bed of iceberg lettuce and surrounded by home grown cherry tomatoes gifted by a friend … simple, refreshing, and nutritious, albeit a bit boring.

  • A Good Trade Off

    A Good Trade Off

    A burger without the bun.

    Take on fork: a cherry tomato half, a bit of lettuce, a piece of air-fried burger. Dip it all into ketchup and then mustard and it’s a burger minus the carb-loaded bun (28-38 grams of carbs per bun).

    This makes room for a filling lite beer (3.2 grams of carbs per can)

    In my world, that’s a good trade-off.

  • Can You Guess?

    Can You Guess?

    To get back to my most comfortable weight, I intend to lose 10 lbs in the next two months.

    I’ve made up a new eating program, which consists of three methods combined: 16/8 intermittent fasting, low carb, and reduced calorie.

    Can you guess what bits from this plate ended up on hubs’ plate?