My new favorite thing

One of the perks of my weirdie post-operative diet is that sometimes I discover new things that I love.

Things like (drumroll, please)...

That's right. Chocolate almond milk.

Back in the days when my belly was anti-dairy, I saw the carton of Silk dark chocolate almond milk in the refrigerated dairy case in the WalMart and I thought "How bad can it be?"

Answer: Not bad. Not bad AT ALL.

I mean... I think I may love this stuff as much as I love BYU Creamery's chocolate milk. (Which is saying something. Because I'd marry BYU Creamery's chocolate milk. In the temple. Which is to say that I would commit to drinking this stuff for time and all eternity. And that's a lot of love.)

A few weeks into my recent addiction to chocolate almond milk, I saw the carton of Blue Diamond chocolate almond milk in the store and I thought I'd give that a shot. (I mean, I used to looooooove the Blue Diamond brand of roasted/smoked almonds that I would sneak out of my mom's underwear drawer when I was a kid. Blue Diamond KNOWS almonds. I know this. So, I figured it would be delish.)

Luckily, I still had a little Silk brand milk in ye olde refrigerator, so when I came home I was able to do a not-so blind taste test. (When a girl lives alone and she is the only one who can pour said milk into glasses, it's hard to be truly blind. But still, I made an effort to be exact and non-partial. ... Ya'll know how much I love science and try to be as accurate as possible in taste-test matters.)

And the survey says: While the Blue Diamond brand is not disgusting, the Silk brand kicks its trash.

So, fellow fans of chocolate milk, I've gotta say that *I fully endorse the Silk Dark Chocolate Almond Milk.

I am never without it these days. (Seriously. I have a half gallon in my fridge at home. I also have a half gallon in the fridge at the bank, labeled, so everyone knows it's mine.) And the carton says that this stuff has twice the calcium of regular milk. So, it's basically health food -- that tastes like chocolate. Win/win!

* That said, it is my understanding that the quality of the product in the half gallon container far exceeds the quality of the product in the single-serving containers. As in so many areas of life, the slogan "Go big or go home!" applies here.

A Comparison/Contrast of Fiber Bars

Here's a little comparison/contrast essay on the difference in fiber bars. I'm going to make this really simple. In fact, I'm just gonna go right ahead and turn it into a photo essay.

These are delicous.



These are not.



Yup, that about sums that up.

An aside: How could Fiber One bars not kick Kelloggs' trash? Hello, chocolate chips are the second item listed in the ingredients. That's right, the second thing listed. There are more chocolate chips than there are oats in those puppies. No wonder I love them!

That is all.

And the survey says...

A few days ago, Mom and I had a Science Experiment Dinner.

Grilled PB & J (raspberry jam - it's a must)

versus

Grilled PB & Nutella

I put the question to my FB friends, and received a few comments/votes.

Per my public, there was a 50% response that Nutella was the way to go, a 30% response that PB & J would be their preferred grilled sandwich, and the remaining 20% commentary was made up of ... well, commentary ... as well as suggestions for other grilled PB concoctions. (PBJ & F = peanut butter, (raspberry, of course) jam and marshmallow fluff and PB & C = peanut butter and cheese.)

*As it would turn out, both the suggestions came from the Weagles. So you know that now I'm curious and will have to try both. Why? Because if there's one thing I've learned about Weagles, it's that you should trust them in all things food related. They know good food. The End.

For Judy and me, we're gonna have to go with the grilled PB & J all the way. Seriously, people, they're SO good! If you've never tried it, you must. One tip I will give you, load the sandwich. Like, twice as much jam and peanut butter as you would usually use. You want it nice and gloppy.

Delish!

And the survey says....

Post is the winner, hands down.

There are few things I enjoy more than a blind-folded taste test. (I'm thinking of the time we cousins gathered around the bar and drank pink v. Countrytime lemonade out of little paper cups at Julie's - or the time Matt and Brandon and I did the nacho Doritos v. the four cheese Doritos to see if there was really a difference.) Seriously, I do love me a good scientific experiment, so when I saw that WalMart had come out with a store brand of my favorite cereal of all time, I had to try it. But I couldn't just try it on its own (where is the joy in that?), I had to get two bowls and pour a little bit of both cereals into their own bowls so I could do a comparison/contrast study.

And like I said... Post is the winner, hands down.

This Great Value brand, while it may be a great value (it was almost a dollar less than the name brand, with 6 oz more cereal, to boot), it is not for me. The flakes? Not lightly and deliciously toasted - they're more along the lines of sugar covered foam. (They reminded me of Special K. I am not a fan of Special K.) The honey bunches? Not the same. The almonds? Just about nonexistent.

So... I'll go broke eating the Post brand. So what? I won't care, at least I'll go broke with happy taste buds.