I have not met the person who planned the layout of the local Kroger, but I know he or she is an evil, evil person. Planted right in the middle of the aisle between the frozen meats and the dairy section at the back of the store stands this:

The Manager’s Special Bakery Markdown cart! It combines two of my most favorite things: deals and baked goods! Sadly, there is no easy way to avoid the bakery markdown cart. It sits at the end of the organic foods aisle, so I see it whenever I go to buy healthy Greek yogurt. It lies in wait next to the dairy freezer, so if I want to buy milk or cottage cheese or eggs, I have to walk within sight of it. And the Manager’s Special Bakery Markdown cart does not haunt the aisles alone! As you can see, the big, fat candy table lies just behind it, piled high with Kit Kats and Crunch bars, oh my!

I have not yet purchased anything off of the Manager’s Special [...]

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PastaQueen reviews the Fiber One Apple Cinnamon Muffin Mix and gets caught licking the beaters.

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I’m starting to get bored of my regular meals, so that means it’s time to start experimenting in the kitchen again. When choosing new recipes I look for two things:

1) Nothing too complicated or complex. If it involves separating egg whites or getting out the sifter it’s a no go. Do I even own a sifter?

2) No weird ingredients. I’m not adverse to buying one or two new spices or veggies for a recipe, but if it turns into a grocery store scavenger hunt that requires me to find eye of newt, it’s out. No toil or trouble.

Lately, I’ve been surfing this thread at a South Beach diet site which has links to tons of recipes. Today I tried:

Apple Strudel Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Topping:

1/4 cup Splenda

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon or to taste

1/8 cup melted margarine

Muffin:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup Splenda

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup apple juice*

1/3 cup Canola oil

1 egg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup apples – peeled, cored and diced

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray bottom and [...]

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I’ve switched into a recipe mode again, so I’ll be trying out some South Beach Diet compatible recipes and reviewing them on the blog. First up:

Peanut Butter Cookies

South Beach Diet – Phase 1

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup Splenda

1 egg

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix ingredients together. Drop teaspoon sized balls onto greased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes.

These cookies were pretty good, but you definitely need some milk nearby to get the dry taste out of your mouth. I found it pretty amazing that you can actually make cookies without flour. They’d probably taste better with the flour, but these weren’t bad at all. Bonus points for being quick to make.

The only problem I had was that I couldn’t eat just one. I wanted to eat 4, which included more nuts than I should be having in a day. I have this problem with all cookies and small serving food though. Whenever I make whole wheat bread, I end up chomping on 3 slices or half the loaf.

Final Assessment: I won’t throw [...]

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