I love you, too, Lofthouse Cookies! Be mine forever!

Disclosure: I was sent a free copy of this cookbook to review. Also, Roni is a cool chica I’m proud to call my friend.

Roni from Green Lite Bites (and a couple zillion other sites) published her first cookbook this year. It’s called Favorites from the First Three Years and contains—you’ll never guess!—her favorite recipes from the first three years of food bloggin’.

I’ve got to give Roni big props because her cookbook is beautiful. She put it together while raising a kid, incubating a new one, planning a blog conference and working for herself full-time, so honestly she’s making us all look bad. It’s got lots of large, full-color photos that make you want to eat the pages. Each recipe also has three tips or suggestions for variations on the recipe in case you don’t like one of the ingredients or just want to switch things up. She even calculated the calories, fat and fiber information for each recipe, which means she’s good at cooking and math. I also enjoyed the short introduction that explained what cooking and healthy eating has meant to her. The only thing that could have made this cookbook better is if it had come with the food it tells you how to make.

The cookbook is a paperback coming in at 80 pages, but she packs a lot of content into those pages. I prefer to have a smaller cookbook where you actually make the recipes instead of having a big, fat, heavy one that you use for 2 or 3 meals at most. You can buy the cookbook here for $19.95 and also view some companion videos. Tell ‘em PastaQueen sent you! (It won’t get you a discount or anything, but I sure will feel special!)

After looking at the food diary I’ve been keeping for the last two weeks, it’s hard to figure out when the last time was that I ate a vegetable. Fruits? Check! I have devoured pears, mangoes, and even little pineapple bits in my yogurt. Vegetables? Hmmm, well the Subway sandwich had some lettuce, tomato and red onion on it, so technically that counts. And the Palek Paneer I got at Whole Foods was full of spinach, but I was eating it more for the cheese.

I used to snack on baby carrots and hummus, but I can’t seem to find the baby carrots at the grocery store I visit most often, so either they’re hidden or the baby carrots grew up fast like kids do these days. I also used to snack on celery, mostly because of that delightful crunchy texture, which is almost worth getting celery veins stuck in my teeth. I just haven’t bought any lately. Otherwise, I’m not much of a veggie fan, mostly because of the work involved to make them taste good. I enjoy eating most fruits without any preparation, but to make vegetables palatable I have to sautee them, roast them, or sprinkle them with spices or seasonings. Honestly, that’s not that much extra work, but it’s enough to make me choose an apple instead.

So, mental note, more veggies! They have important vitamins and nutrients. They are typically not calorie dense and fill you up. One question though, does popcorn count as a vegetable?

Last week I had a mad craving for cookies. After fighting it for hours, I decided to just give in instead of obsessing about it. So I drove to the grocery store at ten o’clock at night, grabbed a box of Lofthouse cookies (with pink icing and sprinkles) and headed to the self-checkout lane. This is when it occurred to me that although the self-checkout lane has saved me hours of time I would have spent in longer, slower-moving lines, it’s also been bad for my waistline.

Before the self-checkout, a cashier had to scan all your items for you. I would always imagine the cashier was judging my purchases, silently snarking at my choices. It’s more likely that the cashier didn’t care how many bottles of soda I was purchasing, but was more fixated on the wall clock and how many more minutes were left in their shift. Still, the possibility that they were judging me always made me slightly uncomfortable.

The self-checkout machine does not care how many minutes there are left in its shift because it doesn’t have one. It does not have self-consciousness, let alone the ability to judge my purchases. The worst thing it does to me is refuse to scan the barcodes on my items even as I wave them twenty different ways over the damn scanner. (WHY WON’T YOU SCAN?! WHY?!) There is one cashier that oversees all four of the self-checkout machines, but I’m not sure if they can see my purchases, and even if they do I don’t have to look them in the eye or interact with them in any way.

If I had to set my lone box of cookies down on the conveyor belt and interact with a cashier to resolve a late-night cookie craving, I might have stayed in my apartment and just waited it out. However, I knew I could skate through the pseudo-anonymous self-checkout lane, so I got the cookies without facing an awkward social situation. Essentially, the self-checkout machine has eliminated the element of accountability that used to exist, and as you probably know, accountability is key to weight loss and weight maintenance.

I suppose this is a bad thing, but I would never give up the convenience of the self-checkout lane. Perhaps they could insert a subroutine that would flash the message, “Do you really want to buy that?” whenever I scanned something particularly calorie-dense. I guess that would be bad for sales though, so I don’t see it happening unless a rogue programmer from a competing grocery chain hacks the machines.

On the flip side, the fact that I’ve been recognized by two blog readers since I moved here has made me a little bit paranoid that I’ll be spotted when I make such high-calorie purchases. I lived in Indianapolis for ten years, five and a half of which I spent blogging regularly, and I was only recognized once. That person didn’t say hello, either. They just emailed me later, which was WAY MORE CREEPY than if they’d just introduced themselves. I’ve lived in Chapel Hill for less than six months and I’ve already been made twice. I don’t think that paranoia is any match for the anonymity of the self-checkout machine, though.

Two seconds: The amount of time I wish would elapse between eating my last bite of Thanksgiving dinner and starting on Thanksgiving dessert.

Two hours: The amount of time that actually elapses.

Complete hell: The amount of time in between these two events.

Over the years I’ve had varying opinions about whether food addiction exists and if I have it, but the single-minded focus I felt in anticipation of devouring some dirt cake and apple crisp on Thanksgiving presented a strong case for its existence.

Literally the moment I finished eating dinner, I wanted to eat dessert. I love sweets and I knew there was a delicious concoction of crushed Oreos, whipped cream and cream cheese sitting in the fridge. I found myself sitting at the table while other people were still finishing their meals thinking, “Oh my God! Eat faster! Don’t you want dessert?!” Then when we were all done, we helped with the washing up. (I supervised!) And people mingled. And went to the bathroom. And started chatting. And while it really is lovely to catch up with family and friends, OH MY GOD COULD WE PLEASE HAVE DESSERT?!

Of course, I couldn’t just scream that to everyone in the dining room, because it would be totally weird and embarrassing. Instead, I had to sit around pretending I wasn’t thinking about doing horrible things to my blood sugar levels. Secretly, though, I was wishing we could get the dessert plates out already. (I’d be happy to help!) And when I wasn’t thinking about crushed Oreos, I was thinking of how disordered this way of thinking is, and how “normal” people probably don’t feel this way about dessert, and wishing this craving would go away please for the good of both my health and my waistline. But it didn’t. Addiction never goes away. The lil’ fucker.

Eventually we did have dessert and it was very good. Yum. Yum to the yum, yum, yum. I enjoyed it very much, and somehow managed to eat until I was full but not stuffed. Small victories, y’all. Small, small, victories.

Ever since I started freelancing full-time, I’ve been tracking all my expenses. I like to make sure the money going out isn’t greater than the money going in, because that would be a very bad business plan indeed. (Unless you’re the federal government.) This is how I know that my food/grocery expenses have gone up since I moved from Indianapolis to Chapel Hill, though I don’t exactly know why. The first month I was here, I expected it to go up because I had to buy basic staples that I hadn’t bothered to move across the country, and I had to eat out on the road. But August’s bill was about $40-$70 higher than it averaged in Indy.

I’m not sure if the prices at Harris-Teeter are higher than they were at Kroger. I don’t know if I mooched more food off of my old roommate than I realized. I’m spending more time at coffee shops to get out of my apartment, which has bumped the sum a bit. In college I would always run out of money on my meal card before anybody else, so maybe I just eat more than other people. I dunno.

I don’t like this problem, but I don’t like the solution either, which is to analyze prices, sales, and coupons and plan how to buy things at the cheapest rate. Near Lord, that sounds like so much work. I just want to go to the grocery and get what I need. Waiting for bread to go on sale annoys me. It should be on sale all the time!! I also realize this is an incredibly spoiled attitude. I should be grateful food is abundant and easy to acquire at whatever cost, especially when people starve to death every day on this planet and in popular young adult novels.

I know there are web sites that help you figure out when is the best time to buy things, but again, this sounds like work even if it’s less work than without the lists. You have to strategize and figure out what to stock up on things and make meal plans that match what’s on sale. I guess I’ll just have to get over it and start putting more work into my grocery shopping, but BLEH, I’m still annoyed. I have to work at so many other things in my life—my weight, exercise, blogging, emails, web designing, doctors appointments—I wish I could just go buy food without a huge amount of pre-planning.

On the bright side, at least the cartoon dragon at Harris-Teeter is always here to give me free cookies. (I told you animated creatures were going to start following me to the grocery store!)

(I know it says they’re just for kids. I am a kid at heart. And I would run over anyone who tries to stop me with my grocery cart, which you have to admit is very childish.)

Disclosure: I received ICBINB coupons, a Flip cam, and a gift card to create this video and pay for groceries.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter contacted me recently to ask if I’d like to visit a local farmers market to gather items for a lunch party with friends afterwards—created with recipes using ICBINB, or course. I turn down a lot of PR offers, but this sounded like fun, and I had a tub of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter in my fridge already, so I do actually use their product. I also tend to be a recluse, so I thought this would be a good way to force myself outside and see what Chapel Hill has to offer.

There are several farmers markets near me. The Carrboro Farmers Market seemed to be the most popular one, but I heard parking was a mess. So I decided to go to the South Estes Market instead since it’s held in a mall parking lot with plenty of spaces. It was also on the way between my place and my brother and sister-in-law’s house, who I invited to come with me.

You can follow my adventures in the video above, which I probably spent far more time editing than was really required. (At least that Digital Video 101 class I took in college finally paid off.) I did have lots of fun at the market, even though I was a little anxious about having to film people and ask them questions. (See above, recluse.) Strangely enough, I really enjoyed it and I learned a lot of things I would never have discovered otherwise. I guess it’s good to move out of your comfort zone once in a while (says the girl who just moved away from half her friends and family).

As for the ICBINB, it tasted good on bread and corn on the cob. (And damn, that was some good bread by The Farm Fairy.) Their pitch is that it has less saturated fat than butter, no hydrogenated oils (those dreaded TRANS FATS!), and no cholesterol. I’d never used it in the spray pump bottles before, but it made it a lot easier to butter my corn than it was with a knife. I tried it on some popcorn later, and it added flavor without making the popcorn too soggy. So, I feel fine recommending their product, and hopefully you found the video to be entertaining enough. You can learn more at the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter web site, including a contest to win a grill basket and a recipe library. There’s also an ICBINB YouTube Channel.

In case you’re interested, here is a list of vendors I spoke to. BTW, if someone was kind enough to talk to me and/or let me record them, I bought something at their stall or threw money in their banjo case. I had to pitch my book at book fairs, so I know what it’s like sitting behind that table.

• Bread and honey from The Farm Fairy
• Corn from Roberson Creek Farm
• Veggies from Timberwood Organics (certified organics!)
• Peaches from Kalawi Farm (the peach people!)
• Music by…some banjo-playing dude.
• Stock music called “Rampaging Bulldozer” was downloaded from FreeSoundtrackMusic.com.

Warning: Tech-girl ramblings ahead
The software that comes with the FlipCam wasn’t advanced enough for the editing I wanted to do, so to edit this video I used a trial version of Videopad Video Editor. I’d give it a C+ (and no, that’s not a computer science joke). It was able to open the MP4 files that the FlipCam exported, and I was able to split the audio tracks away from the video. However, if I tried replacing a video clip or inserting one into the middle of the timeline, all my placed audio effects would because misaligned. Also, when I exported, several of the title frames went missing, so I had to encode it and then edit that and encode it again, which is why the video is a little lower quality than what I’d prefer. Anyone got recommendations for a better, free video editing application for Windows? I considered Microsoft Movie Maker first, but it wouldn’t open the MP4 files.

Seriously though, I must have spent an hour or two (grand total) approving all the first-time commenters that entered. I am grateful for all my readers and I thank you for visiting the site, but that didn’t stop me from crawling out of bed at 12:30am last night to turn off comments on the post after the entry deadline because I didn’t want to find 30 more emails in my inbox the next morning. Congratulations to Amy from Michigan who was the randomly drawn winner this morning! She has already accepted her prize. And thanks to Bertolli too!

In other news, look at the mutant, monster, strawberries I got at the grocery store yesterday. (Penny included for size comparison.)

I am almost frightened to eat them because I am 95% sure they must have been irradiated to reach such an awesome size.

Disclosure: I received a prize package from Bertolli for this giveaway.

I was a bit skeptical when Bertolli contacted me about their new webisode series, Into the Heart of Italy. I figured the videos would be stilted advertorials of no interest to me or my readers. Then I actually watched an episode and was surprised by how much I liked it. It’s, like, an actual show. (Warning: It also made me hungry. You probably shouldn’t watch on an empty stomach.)

Into the Heart of Italy is a series of 8-10 minute episodes that feature Rocco DiSpirito, Marisa Tomei, and Dan Cortese running around Italy making and eating delicious food—when they’re not being kidnapped by a Chicken Man. I always say, “If you go to Italy, beware of the Chicken Man!” I’ve always liked Marisa Tomei; I liked Rocco DiSpirito’s reality show The Restaurant that was on several years ago; And who doesn’t love Dan Cortese, former VJ and host of MTV Sports? You remember MTV Sports, right? What’s that? You’ve never heard of it? You were born in the 90′s? You think I’m old?! Let’s not speak of this again.

The most recent episode, “The Secret of the Mediterranean,” is embedded below and features the trio running around a Carnevale, catching shrimp and making a Garlic Shrimp, Penne and Cherry Tomato dinner. The show is reminiscent of The Amazing Race in that they receive clues that lead them to the next location.

So, as part of their promotion of the series, Bertolli has given me a prize package to give away on the blog. Valued at $115 and pictured above, it contains:

• Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker
• Bialetti Espresso Machine
• Two Crate & Barrel Espresso Cups and Saucers
• iTunes Gift Card with Suggested Contemporary Italian Playlist
• Two VIP coupons for a Bertolli Frozen Meal for two that will transport you to Italy in just 10 minutes (Note from PQ: I assume they don’t mean that literally. If Bertolli has discovered how to teleport people to Italy in 10 minutes, they should apply for a patent, stat.)

As the PR people put it, “you can enjoy your Bertolli Frozen Meals for dinner then finish the celebration in true Italian style with homemade gelato, Italian espresso and the sounds of contemporary Italian music.” They also sent me two recipes form Paula Jones (no not that Paula Jones) from Bell ‘Alimento:

• Crostoli: A traditional dessert served only during Carnevale
• Nutella Gelato

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment including your favorite Italian food. All entries for the giveaway must be located in the US. (Sorry, non-Americans!) The contest will be open until 11:59pm on Monday, May 10th, 2010. A winner will be chosen randomly.

Even if you don’t win this giveaway, you can enter the Bertolli Sweepstakes by watching every episode of the series and correctly answering a question about it. The winner of that contest will win a trip to Italy (though I assume will take longer than 10 minutes to get you there, unless you already live in Italy, in which case you can’t enter.)

Some words and phrases should never be in the same sentence together, like “popsicles” and “green bean.” (Oh, wait, technically that should be “jelly ice milk bar” and “green bean.”)

Whenever I see odd food like this from a different country, I wonder what items in my own grocery store make foreigners raise their eyebrows in disgust. Any guesses?