TheSnackHound

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of VitaDigest. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am in sort of a funk today. There are a few reasons for my malaise. I am beating myself up about a few things that I haven’t said to people. The right opportunities just seem to slip through my fingers. It may be better to not wait for the perfect moment and just blurt it out, by I am so worried about rocking the boat.  Then, of course there are untimely events in the female cycle that make one a little cranky. Not THAT time of the month, but different times of the month. Slush on the ground doesn’t help, either. The weather doesn’t factor in, I suppose, but it certainly adds insult to injury.

I have been reading up and basically, to cure all of my troubles, I should be eating mood enhancing foods, such as sweet potatoes and shrimp because I will be so loaded up with B vitamins and fish oil that I couldn’t possibly be in a bad mood.  Well, I could always pop some supplements as an insurance policy just to make sure I was getting it all. Of course, nowadays there are not just multivitamins, but Vitamin B inside of Gummi Bears for the kid in me. Don’t forget the “destress complex.”

If I were not able to get enough during the day, I could get it in my sleep. I found some shampoo over at VitaDigest (They are offering some great deals such as free shipping on orders of $100 or more).  Okay, it is not solid Vitamin B shampoo, but it contains several Vitamin B factors, such as panthenol and niacin, which are very beneficial. I don’t really know how it works in shampoo. Do the vitamins help scrub off all of those toxins, or do they just sound fancy, influencing us to buy it? Afterall, they are on the outside of the body instead of in. Vitamin E has benefits when applied topically. I need to do a bit more research when it comes to others.

If I were an amphibian, can you imagine how perfect his would be? I could eat chocolate all day long, but as long as my hand was immersed in liquid Vitamins, or it was sitting lathered on my scalp, it would absorb right through my skin. That might sound a little gross, but scientifically, that would be life as a frog or salamander, wouldn’t it be? There certainly would be some complications to it, such as being much more sensitive to temperature, and having to stay moist, which I am sure moisturizing creams are for, but on the whole, there would be no excuse not to eat…absorb…your vitamins.

A relative of mine, who shall remain nameless, and I were having a debate about the presence of rugs in the kitchen. There are inspired or misguided souls who insist on wall to wall carpeting in the kitchen, and there are the advocates of area rugs and scatter rugs.

What is a scatter rug?

Well…they scatter. Sorry you asked, right? An area rug is something that stays put, while scatter rugs may be braided affairs that sort of bunch up. The dog arranges it into a ball and you trip on it. In fact, my first dachshund had the predilection for collecting them from around the kitchen and hall and making a comfortable mound of them. I can support their use in the kitchen, as they can be washed, but why are they used? Are they to cushion the feet while standing for hours scrubbing dishes? They don’t seem to have enough cushion for that, so perhaps it is merely a decorating statement?

I can justify an area rug underneath a table and chairs. That is different because it defines the space. I am still trying to get my head around the whole wall to wall carpet idea.  When they get stained, you can take the risk of washing cheap rugs in try out an experimental formula, but once carpet is stained and wrecked, you can’t do much about it. I know! You can get an area rug and some scatter rugs to cover the burn mark from when you dropped the Fry Daddy. Everyone will wonder why you have two rugs on top of another rug, but you don’t have to tell anybody. You can say you are trying to “define the space.” I’d back you up. I won’t tell.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Birdfeeders.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

A short time back, I noted how this item would make a good dish for candy or condiments in your home. Believe it or not, it is actually a bird feeder, but why should those little tweeters get all the whimsical elegance or the stately Heritage Collection of Bird Feeders? I wonder why birds would be attracted to something with a rooster on it. Unless the feeder is trying to tell us that its FOR roosters, but they don’t fly or frequent the backyard hideaways of suburban America. Of course, the exception is when they were at Donna’s* house in the 1970s and early 80s. She decided that even though farm animals weren’t allowed in the city, she was going to be known as the lady who had the rooster. There were no chickens. Maybe that is why he was so loud.

Crackles are another bird one doesn’t normally feed. They can be boisterous and pushy. My theory is they have to be to get any service. Everyone wants to feed the cute little fuzzy thing, but no one big with a off key voice.  That is why I decided that starting now, I am going to feed grackles. Whenever i bake something and there are leftover seeds, they are first in line.

Just about every bird feeder is geared to keep out squirrels and grackles, and only allows the little fuzz tufted things in.  What kind of feeder would a grackle like?  I think this Western themed model would be to their liking.  Grackles are mainly found in the Eastern United States and Canada, but their attitude is more rootin’ tootin’ than Ivy league blazer wearing. I think they would agree.  I think it should be placed near a bedroom window so their cackles and shrieks can be enjoyed at the crack of dawn. Now, wouldn’t that be the perfect gift for someone special?

If they didn’t like it, I can imagine it can be used to create one of those sand in a bottle things if the bottom was plugged up, or it could be a personal bulk food dispenser. The kids could play “Whole Foods” and not just “grocery store.” Now, that is setting up for an adult hood of health.

How are your backyard feathered friends faring this winter? Remember, if you start feeding them, do so every year. It is no fun to stick around only for the winter, only to have the buffet close.

(*= Name changed to protect the innocent. Her real name also starts with a D, and ends in an E. It contains five letters.)

Betty Crocker has undergone transformationsover the years.  The latest makeover she had was in 1996.  There was a whole scientific study done before changing her look.  In fact, a large group of American were taken, and their features were incorporated, so that Betty doesn’t look like a particular woman, but many women.   There are whole sites devoted to the racial makeup of the new Betty, some downright scholarly.

One report goes on to say: “The perception of what is typically American is also shifting. The old Betty Crocker symbolized the blending or mixing of bakery ingredients. The new Betty Crocker symbolizes the blending or mixing of races. The racial average of a population is its racial destiny, the racial future. The new Betty Crocker is a symbol of our intended future. The racial destiny of the American population is to be “Betty Crockerized,” its ingredients blended together toward the racial average, and cooked in the racial meltdown of the “melting pot.” 

The next time someone asks me about my friends who adopted two international children, I am just going to say that they have a “Crockerized” family.   I am sure that will go over well.   As far as my friends go, it is the first, and only marriage for both of them, otherwise if it wasn’t and they both came with kids from a previous marriage, I think “blended family” would just be rude.  I’ll call them a “KitchenAid” or “Cuisinart” family and people would think I am totally off my rocker or insensitively assuming my friends are such culinary aficianados that they would think the reference was cute.

More so than mulling over such serious topics, I thought it would be much more fun to ask:

Which Betty are you?

I am not so much asking what you physically look like, but which Betty Crocker embodies your attitude?

Are you the new Betty who is neat but casual, shown prominently on my site?    Are you the 1972 Betty with the Ann Landers hair, ready to dole out sassy kitchen advice?**

I think I am more like 1965 Betty.   I think I always wanted to have flipped hair, except I came of age during the era of the spiral perms and peacock’s butt hair.    My hair would have probably wanted to be more of a “That Girl” flip, though, which came later.   I would carry my proper little purse, but wear miniskirts.  Betty and me would be like Barbie and Midge. Midge was always slightly more mod than Barbie.  Or I would be Little Sister Skipper.

I would, as 1965 Betty, like to make things that required serving pieces that you only used for that particular dish and were useless otherwise.  For example, clam shell plates for clams casino, that you wouldn’t use any other time.

I know my choice is a little superficial…let’s see what you come up with.

Which Betty would you be?    

Choose from the Bettys  (Betties? Betty’s?) above.

Below: 1986 Betty vs 1930s Betty

(**= My Mom was 1972 Betty Crocker.  She taped Ann Landers and Dear Abby Columns to my bedroom door)

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of HealthyTuna.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

Lately, I have been pondering about how healthy tuna and other fish is for my diet. By diet, I don’t mean that I am on a diet. Oh yeah. The See Food Diet. I see food. I eat it. It is not really that bad. I really have only fluxuated five pounds since high school. You can hate me for that, but then again, I didn’t tell you how much I weighed in high school, did?

There is much flap about mercury in seafood, but in fact, the tuna that is labeled “light” is actually not tuna at all. Occasionally it is yellowfin rather than albacore. At any rate, actual tuna is safer than long lived large fish such as shark and sword fish. It has been found, that if there is risk, the benefits outweigh the possibility. Removing Omega 3 fatty acids provided by oily fish puts a damper on skin and brain health. I know from my own experience that when a lot of fish was removed from my diet due to circumstance rather than conscious choice, skin issues resurfaced. Sure, there are Omega 3 acids in flax oil, but I did not receive nearly the same results.

When I was a kid, I hated tuna. The main reason was because my mom slathered it with mayonnaise.

Here is a recipe for tuna salad without the icky white stuff.

3 celery stalks
2 cans of tuna
Ground black paper to taste
1 tablespoon sweet pickle juice
1 1/2 cups pickles, bread and butter style.
5 eggs.

Hard boil and peel the eggs.
Chop eggs and pickles in the food processor.
In a medium bowl, combine mush made in the food processor with tuna and celery, gently folding everything in.
Add pepper to taste.
Stir in pickle juice.

Now, don’t get carried away with the food processor.  This isn’t the Bass-O-Matic.  You just want to chop everything up just a little bit.  We aren’t going for Tuna Puree.  If you want, you can get out some crumpets or put it on crackers.  I really haven’t seen too many crumpets on this side of the pond, but I am just saying that its possible as its much more hoity-toity looking than plain old mayo, tuna and pepper.

I broke Twitter. Not singlehandedly, of course, but maybe I was the key person who just merely thought of issuing a tweet and that caused the whole thing to take a dive bomb. Some website give you a generic 404 message, but NO! Twitter gives you Fudgie the Whale

Okay, it is not really Fudgie the Whale.  That is just what popped into my head.  In fact, I don’t think I know any other name for a traditional whale.  Of course, there are plenty of Killer Whales with names, but I didn’t know any Blue Whales to have a name.  No one would have one as a pet on a show, except of course Aqua Man.  However, I think Aqua Man would have been the 200 ton whale’s “little pet” instead.

Fudgie the whale was and is a Carvel Ice Cream Cake that was brought back in the new millenia.  Why did they think a whale and chocolate ice cream cake went together?  Who knows.  What we do know is that the voice of Fudgie the Whale in commercials was originally that of Tom Carvel himself, letting kids know that they can find Fudgie or Cookie Puss at their local Carvel!  of course, now you can sometimes buy Fudgie at select grocery stores, as I have not seen a Carvel store often aside from on the East Coast.

The very unsettling idea is the prospect of being able to order your very own Fudgie Mascot Costume.  I don’t know if it is officially endorsed by Carvel, or not, but I saw one on a mascot site.  There is a BIG rule of thumb when it comes to costumes.  Aside from the plastic costumes with masks that were around in the 70s through mid to early 80s, until people decided kids couldn’t breathe in those masks, if you have to put the characters name on the front of it to let people know what you are, it is not a good costume!

I would have put more of a tail in the back or had the back part of the whale back there.  Instead of having it like he is standing up on its fin like Jabberjaw.  I would have the costume look like the cake, just with the feet sticking out the front.   Or put the whale sideways and then the persons face is the eye on the side.  There would be no way people wouldn’t know what you were then.   To me, the costume looks like a ginger bread man.

Anyways, I digress…

Oddly enough, all the cakes are Kosher, and if you go to the Brooklyn Carvel, you can even get one that is Cholov of Israel, meaning it is the very highest Kosher certification that you can get.  I did not know there were different levels, but what I am more surprised at is the fact that the cakes are kosher, because I always pictured Kosher foods as somehow healthier.   Oh well.

Maybe I will get a Fudgie the whale cake for someone who is way past kid age as a joke.  However, ice cream to me is no joke.

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