A review of Buitoni Shrimp and Lobster Ravioli

Can it possibly be since March that I updated my blog?  Where has the time gone!?  Well, I'll tell you, between Little League, summer vacation, and those darn time sucking Facebook games, as well as devouring multiple volumes of Agatha Christie, time just seems to fly!

A few weeks (months?) ago, I received a coupon in the mail thanks to Buitoni and Foodbuzz for a free Buitoni frozen entree.  Yeah for free!  I chose the Buitoni Reserva Shrimp and Lobster Ravioli with Garlic Butter Sauce.

The ravioli was super easy to prepare.  Basically, bring water to a boil while floating the bag of frozen sauce in it, then add your pasta.  Remove the bag, drain the pasta, and pour the hot sauce over the ravioli.  I enjoyed the flavor of the pasta but the texture of the shrimp in the ravioli was a slightly unpleasant contrast to the creamy lobster.  At first, I was a little intimidated by the $8.99 price point on the ravioli, thinking I would never pay that much (if it wasn't free), but after trying it and being blown away by the sheer ease of preparation, I figured getting 3-4 servings from it was well worth the $3.00 a person it would work out to be.

All in all, it was a good product.  Phenomenal ease of preparation, good taste and a good price point made up for the slightly gummy texture of the shrimp.  I would consider buying this again if I needed solid dinner prepared really quickly.

Back to Business

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go on a religious retreat for women at a camp in Northern Idaho.  It was so good to get away.  Saturday morning was gorgeous outside.  This is the view that greeted all of us as we made our way to breakfast!

They fed us really well.  This is a picture of my first breakfast at the retreat.  What a welcomed respite from cooking and cleaning.  After this, I stopped carrying my camera around and just spent the rest of the time relaxing, but you get the idea.  We were well cared for and recharged to return home on Sunday.

I've been running non-stop since getting home trying to get caught up with all of the chores that pile up after a weekend away but it was totally worth it.

Spring came with abandon this past week and it's been just gorgeous out.  This tree is at the corner of my neighbor's property.  Seeing it this year is bittersweet.   My neighbor's husband passed away this past winter.  He always brought someone out each spring to trim this tree up and get it in shape before it flowered.  He always loved to see it in bloom.

This pipsqueak tree is at the corner of our property.  It was planted before we moved in and I'm not quite sure what it is...a weeping whatever, but I just don't see the point of this tree.  It is not tall enough to provide any shade, it's just about 6 inches taller than me, it doesn't bear any fruit, and it grows so much that I spend half the summer trimming the branches off of the ground.  At the end of every winter, I take particular pleasure trimming back all of the branches on it.  Despite it not having a point, for two weeks every year it flowers as well.  The way I trimmed it this year it looks a little like a bridal veil to me and has been particularly pretty in the sunlight.

Yesterday was so gorgeous out that the boys and I had a picnic at a park.  Although I loved having someone else cook for me all weekend, it was good to get back to some healthier fare.  We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, plenty of fresh veggies with hummus to dip in, grapes and water.

I hope you all are having a wonderful day.  Little League season has started so you'll be seeing more crock pot fare out of me for a while.  In fact, I have a lentil stew going in the crock pot right now!  I'll share the recipe tomorrow.  See you then!

Tuesday in Food

Happy Tuesday to you all!  Doe Eyes (above son) does not have school this week so we headed on an adventure to Yakima today!  (Yes, it was an adventure for us thank you very much)

Breakfast was late this morning as there was no early morning carpool to do.  WoHoo!  I had a bowl of Bob's Red Mill Spice N' Nice hot cereal with three prunes, sliced banana, coffee and milk.

Since we were in Yakima, no adventure to the city is complete without a visit to the local shrine of over-consumption, Miners' Burgers.

Do you see the size of Doe Eyes' lunch!  (He's in a growth spurt right now and ate it all, plus tater tots, fries, and a chocolate shake....our grocery bill is in so much trouble in a few years)

Sweet face (other son) with his lunch.  He basically didn't touch his hot dog but had chocolate shake and fries for lunch.  C'est la vie.

My lunch.  I'm not even kidding about the size of this food.  It is all HUGE!  I had to get a fork and eat this burger in separate pieces as I couldn't get my mouth around a whole cross section.  I had about a third of this burger plus a chocolate shake and some tater tots and french fries.  Even consuming only a third of my meal, I was FULL!

This was our ultimate destination, the Yakima Valley Museum.  I know it doesn't look like much from the outside, but for us, it's big time!  The kids love it here.  For our region, it is such a cute museum and it is dedicated to the history of Yakima.

Even after a day of adventure, we were all still full from lunch at dinnertime.  We all decided to just have cereal.  The kids call a meal like this "Brinner".  They now want "brinner" all week long.  

Have a great day tomorrow!  See you then.

Saturday in Food plus a Buckwheat Pilaf recipe

Hi all!  I hope you all had glorious and restful Saturdays.  The kids were at Grandma's today so hubby and I were able to have a lazy morning catching up on missed T.V. shows.  Ah, bliss.

Breakfast:  For breakfast, I had a bowl of Julie Anne's Sweet Citrus granola.  More to come on this granola later, but it was good with just 2% milk on top.  Coffee and water rounded things out.

For lunch, I cut up one of the leftover venison steaks from a few nights ago and put it on a spinach salad dressed with Ranch dressing.  I also had quite a hunk of my whole wheat Irish soda bread and some butter.  Yummy!

Dinner was pork tenderloin, some buckwheat pilaf that I made in the pressure cooker, cut up watermelon and some sauteed mushrooms with a little bit of sauteed spinach added.

Aren't they pretty?

For dessert:  Two citrus granola chocolate chip cookies from Julie Anne's granola

I impressed myself with the buckwheat pilaf.  I have never been a buckwheat fan before, but I've always bought the toasted kind.  I read somewhere that the toasted buckwheat can be an acquired taste and if you're not into it, to try the raw.  I liked it a lot better!  And the pressure cooker made cooking it so easy. I'll share the recipe I made below.  Enjoy!

Buckwheat Pilaf by Joie de vivre

*This has a slight Asian bent to it to go with the pork tenderloin which was teriyaki flavored*

Ingredients:

1 c. raw buckwheat groats

1 Tbls. olive oil

1 Tbls. shoyu

1 Tbls. toasted sesame seeds

1 3/4 c. water

1/2 tsp. salt (to taste)

Directions:

1.  In your pressure cooker, combine all ingredients except salt and water and stir to coat the buckwheat throughly with the oil.  

2.  Add the water and stir.  Place the lid on the pressure cooker and lock into place.  Place over high heat.

3.  Once pressure is reached, lower the heat and cook for 5 minutes.

4.  Turn off the heat and let the pressure come down naturally (don't do the quick release method)  It should take about 7 minutes to release pressure.

5.  Take off the lid, fluff and adjust the seasoning with salt as desired.

Thursday in Food plus Tuna Burger Recipe

I am EXHAUSTED tonight and the evening is nowhere close to being finished.  I cleaned house today.  Why, oh why I decided to do everything in one day I don't know.  It does feel good to have the WHOLE house cleaned at the same time though!  I still have Mount St. Laundry to fold this evening, but had to show you my day in food.  :)

Breakfast:  I tried about 1/2 c. of a new product to me, Bob's Red Mill Spice N' Nice Hot Cereal.  I found it really homey and nourishing and a great way to start the day.  1 c. 2%milk, coffee, 1/8 c. Schwan's triple berry blend and a sliced banana.

Lunch:  I had leftover pizza for lunch and was SO proud of myself that I didn't quite eat all of these two pieces of pizza.  I supplemented the pizza with 1/2 c. plain yogurt, raw veggies, about 2 Tbls. hummus and some grapes.  Really, this is what I should have done two nights ago to keep my pizza consumption in check.

Dinner:  1 whole wheat bun with tuna burger, spinach salad with red peppers, carrots, cucumber dressed with Ranch, 1/2 c. cottage cheese with about 6 mandarin orange segments, 1/2 c. steamed green beans, and about 5-6 leftover sweet potato fries.

Hubby really liked the tuna burger and even the boys ate it!  I'll share the recipe below.  Enjoy!

Tuna burgers by Joie de vivre
Yields:  4 very hearty servings

Ingredients:

3 small cans of tuna, drained
2 eggs
2/3 c. bread crumbs
1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbls. butter.

Directions

1.  Place all of the ingredients (except the butter) in a bowl.  Squish all ingredients together using your hands.
2.  Adjust the wet and dry ingredients until patties can be formed
3.  Make 4 patties and fry in the butter until golden on one side, flip and fry until golden on the other.
4.  Serve atop whole wheat buns.

Wednesday in food

The sins of yesterday's overeating are forgotten!  Hooray for new days.  

Breakfast:  About 1/2 c. Bear Mush (it's just a cream of wheat made out of whole hard wheat), a banana, 2 pieces lite whole wheat toast spread with butter and Marmite, 1c. 2% milk and coffee.

Son wanted to be included in my blog today.  Here he is showing off the rolled up crusts from his peanut butter and honey sandwich that had been cut with a dinosaur sandwich cutter.  He also had peach yogurt with granola, grapes, zucchini and some hummus.

My Lunch:  A whole wheat pita stuffed with Gazpacho yogurt cheese, 1 piece of turkey and spinach, raw veggies dipped into about 2 Tbls. hummus, and grapes.

I made a MESS cooking dinner tonight (Hubby is still in the kitchen cleaning!).  I received some venison steaks from my neighbor.  She had never cooked this cut like steaks before, so we decided that in order to prevent them from drying out, I should pan fry them with oil.  Boy, did I splatter oil ALL OVER the kitchen (and floor!)

Dinner:  about 3 oz. venison steak, sweet potato fries, roasted carrots, 1/2 c. cottage cheese and a spinach salad dressed with Ranch dressing.

It felt so good to be in control again today!  See you all tomorrow!

Tuesday in Food

Hi all, just catching up.  Yesterday started out well in food, but by mid-afternoon, I developed a severe headache and kind of lost the will to care about dinner and overate like crazy.  The headache was also the reason I didn't get to posting last night.  But in the interest of being honest with myself, I must post.

Breakfast was a two egg-white omelette with two pieces of lite, whole wheat toast spread with butter and Marmite, a sliced banana, 1/8 c. Schwan's triple berry blend, 1/4 c. cottage cheese and coffee with milk.  Plus, lots and lots of water.  I was bursting with energy yesterday morning and went for a walk before breakfast, but that meant a later breakfast and I was famished by the time I ate.

For lunch, I made myself a peach/blueberry smoothie using 1 1/4 c. whey from making yogurt cheese, 1 1/2 c. frozen peaches, 1/2 c. frozen blueberries, and 1 c. cultured buttermilk.  I also rounded it out with two Ryvita pumpkin seed and oat crackers spread with my gazpacho yogurt cheese, some raw veggies with about 2 Tbls. hummus, about 10 walnut halves and a piece of turkey lunch meat.

I ended up getting full which I wonder perhaps if it was the start of my headache.  Not enough calories?  Not sure.  My son and I also had a play date at a local park where the wind was just screaming.  It could have also been the wind blowing through my ears.  Hmmm.  Anyway, I'm glad it's gone today.

When I felt the headache coming on and at first thought that perhaps I was hungry, I opted to have one of these Horizon Organic Vanilla milks.  Boy, are these things a little bit of heaven!  But alas, headache kept coming on stronger.

By 4:30 p.m., I called my hubby and said, "I have a headache and just feel like eating dinner and crawling into bed.  Do you mind if I order pizza and you can just heat it up when you get home?"  Like the winning man he is, he said he didn't mind.  I'd like to say that this was all of the pizza that I had, but it wasn't.  With the headache, I was beyond caring and went back two more times for refills!  I also rounded out the night with a piece of Pepperidge Farm Coconut Cake I had hiding in the freezer.

My lesson learned:  I can't always be perfect and today is a new day (even the wind has stopped blowing).  What's done is done and I can't beat myself up for it.   Have a great day everyone!


Some of my food of the day:

Monday in food

Hi all!  I hope you had wonderful and productive Mondays.  I had the typical busy day of a mom, carpool, grocery shopping, returning ski rentals, shopping at health food store, more carpooling, Costco shopping, play date, making dinner, WHEW!  I think I'm going to take a hot bath tonight and go to bed early!

I started this busy day with 3/4 c. Crispix mixed with 1/4 c. All Bran, 1 c. milk split between my cereal and my coffee, and a sliced banana.  I was slightly panicked after finishing my cereal still being hungry, but I told myself to calm down, finish my coffee and banana and by the time I finished them I was satisfied.  My brain is just so used to over-serving myself cereal, that when it wasn't full when I finished, I panicked.  Cool heads prevailed though.

Lunch was at McDonald's.  Before you panic thinking I had ruined my week, I had a Southwest Chicken Salad with no tortilla chips and no sauce on the chicken.  I dressed it with balsamic vinegarette dressing instead of the Southwest Dressing as well.  I also had half of a fruit and walnut salad, minus the sugary walnuts and 1 c. 2% milk.  Well done in my opinion.  I was proud of my choice.

Dinner was 1/2 c. whole wheat pasta with homemade spaghetti sauce made with tomato sauce, shredded zucchini, onions, garlic and a can of anchovies, sauteed asparagus dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, 1/2 c. cottage cheese with 1 slice of pineapple ring, and a salad made of spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, and red peppers dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Hawaiian sea salt.  I couldn't quite finish dinner eating everything but 1/3 of my salad and asparagus.

I hope you all had a wonderful day.  See you tomorrow!

Sunday in Food

Hi all! It's getting late and I have a big day of Mom-dom tomorrow so I'll just share a photo montage of today in food. See you tomorrow!

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Dessert!

Saturday in Food

Today was so good for the soul! The sun was out, I got some time to myself this morning while my mother in law watched my youngest, I got a super cute haircut and got to spend quality time with my youngest. My husband and oldest were off skiing so my youngest and I had a quiet but great day.

For breakfast I noshed on 1 c. shredded wheat, 1 c. 2%milk, a pear and coffee.
Lunch was basically a repeat of last night. I had a bowl of Two Color Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Sweet Potato Soup (I could only eat about half, I got full!), a toasted piece of challah spread with a little butter and Marmite, some raw veggies with half of a snacker pack of Costco hummus, and 1 c. kefir.
There is a large hill masquerading as a small mountain in our town that my youngest and I walked today. It's about a mile or so up to the top and walking up it is quite a popular past time in our town. We walked up for about 10 minutes until the little one got tired, then turned around. It's the experience right?

While we are in no means near Hollywood, I swear I saw this Vanessa Redgrave walking up the mountain while we were going down. Spitting image of her at least!

For dinner, my youngest and I headed to IHOP. He wanted pancakes and I wanted not to cook. I hadn't been to IHOP in a couple of months. I was so proud of them for their effort to promote healthier eating!!! They have a new section of their menu called IHOP for me. All of the things on the IHOP for me menu were under 600 calories and had more fruits and vegetables and whole grains. I chose the Spinach, Mushroom and Tomato Omelette with fruit which IHOP said weighed in at 350 calories. It was made out of egg beaters and was surprisingly big. It was chock full of spinach and mushrooms. I could have done with a side of turkey bacon, but whatever. :) I was just glad we were able to enjoy a nice meal out without it undoing my good food day.

My Friday in Food

Hi Everyone! I had a great Friday in Food. I must confess, I almost caved today and went to McDonald's because the afternoon was so busy, BUT I regained my joie de vivre and served myself a glorious lunch instead. Thanks to all of you for keeping me honest! For breakfast, I was not very hungry. I think the fish from last night was still with me! So I served myself two pieces lite whole wheat toast with butter and Marmite spread on them, about 8 walnut halves, coffee, and 1 1/2 c. smoothie made from 2 c. kefir and 1/2 c. triple berry blend from Schwan's.
Now, doesn't this lunch look WAY better than McDonald's? I had my Rock Island Stuffed Tilapia leftovers from our dinner at Red Lobster last night, a salad of romaine lettuce and grape tomatoes dressed with olive oil and vinegar, two cracked pepper Triscuits (I got full and didn't eat all 4), 1/2 c. cottage cheese for some dairy, and a glass of water.
For dinner: A bowl of Two Color Broccoli, Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup with a cheesy crouton, 1/2 c. cottage cheese with a pineapple ring, 4 sticks of celery spread thinly with cream cheese, and about 1/2 glass of wine that had gone past it's prime sitting on our counter. Everything ROCKED except the wine past it's prime.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday in Food

Hi all! I hope you had a great day. Besides having to take my comforter back to the laundromat again (yes, the cat did her business on it again!) I had a wonderful day. The sun was out and I was able to get out for a 15 minute walk this morning and a 45 minute walk this afternoon. Nothing like some time to yourself in the sunshine when you are a mom. Breakfast gave me the energy to get up and go. I had 1 c. smoothie made from 1 banana, 1/4 c. Schwan's triple berry blend and 1 c. nonfat milk. It was good, but I've come to the conclusion I'm not hot about banana in my smoothie. I'd much rather eat them by themselves. I also had a two-egg white omelette, two pieces of lite whole wheat toast spread with some butter and Marmite.
Now, for a confession. A few weeks ago, while I was spreading Marmite on my toast, my husband noticed that my jar of Marmite had expired Dec '08. Since I had been using it all this time (it lasts FOREVER!) I kept on using it but started out on a search for a new jar. The grocery store where I had originally bought it had stopped carrying it, so I searched Amazon. They were charging $5.95 for a jar, and $9.99 for shipping! The boys and I went on a quest around town today and were able to find a jar at the health food store. God bless vegetarians and their Vitamin B deficiencies! I should have started there first.
While at the health food store, I picked up some kefir. I've been making my own kefir, but it takes so long to make, 24 hours inoculation and then another 8 in the fridge. I decided to give this pre-packaged kefir a go. I sampled it with my lunch. While good, I am not totally convinced it is worth the $4.65 price tag as I can make it by the gallon for much less. But in a pinch, it is a good alternative.
Lunch: This was one of my kiddo's lunches, a peanut butter and honey sandwich, zucchini, carrots and celery with some peanut butter to dip in, 1/2 sliced banana. While they didn't eat all of their veggies, they ate some of them to which I was impressed.
My lunch was 1 c. kefir, 5 Suzie's thin cakes, 2 pieces turkey lunch meat, red peppers, celery, zucchini, carrots and cauliflower with hummus to dip in, and some grapes. Yum!
For dinner tonight, we went to Red Lobster. I forgot my camera, but this is a picture from their online menu. I had the Rock Island Stuffed Tilapia with a side of broccoli (no potato) and milk. I also started with a Caesar salad but only ate about a third as the dressing was WAY too rich. It felt like mayonnaise in my mouth. Hubby liked his Caesar though so that was good. I'm not sure I'll "hurry back" to Red Lobster as the meal for our family of four cost $61! But it was a pleasant meal and I didn't have to cook or do the dishes which was a plus.

Have a great evening everyone!

Some of my food for the day