Heidi ho, Ranger Joes! (I have a feeling many of you out there are fellow Full House fans. Yes? If not, you can still be a Ranger Joe today. Haaaave mercy.)
This morning was filled with monotonous paperwork for the PBF business which was a total blast!
I still have to complete my annual report for the state of Florida before the beginning of May, but I don’t think that should be too much trouble.
Yoga
Around noon, I headed out to a hot power yoga class at a local studio to sweat and stretch.
Sweat and stretch, I did!
I was quite thankful for my towel as I was pulling out of the parking lot.
Sweat be gone!
I would love to catch a glimpse of the towel of someone who wears a full face of makeup to a hot yoga class. I’m pretty sure my white towel would look like I just ran over it with a truck if I wore bronzer or concealer to hot yoga.
Library + Cheez-Its
Before I pulled out of the parking lot, I checked my email on my phone and saw that I had a notification from the Marion County Public Library.
The PBF April Book Club selection, The Book Thief, was ready for me to pick up!
Can’t wait to dig into that bad boy tonight!
For those of you who may be new around here who have asked, anyone may participate in the PBF Book Club! This month we’re reading The Book Thief and I’ll be posting my review of the book on the blog on April 26 along with discussion questions for everyone to answer in the comments section. If you have a blog and post a review of the book prior to April 26, you may also email me a link to your post at pbfingers@gmail.com and I’ll include your link in the book review post!
The local library just happens to be close to Publix and I ran into the grocery store before heading home to pick up some oatmeal and bananas since we were totally out.
And then this happened…
Oh my gosh, I just love Cheez-Its. They were on sale and I wasted no time breaking into them on the car ride home. The box fit surprisingly well in my cup holders!
I’m not lying when I say Cheez-Its may be one of my all-time favorite foods. I think my love for the cheesy crackers can be traced back to high school. My friend Carrie would always have a box of Cheez-Its in her family’s pantry and I remember eating Cheez-Its to my heart’s content whenever my girlfriends and I would hang out at her house or sleepover.
I rarely buy them now because I can eat a bazillion in one sitting and they basically offer no nutritional value, but gosh they are good. Crazy processed, but delicious.
As if I needed further proof that Cheez-Its probably aren’t that good for you, check out this picture.
I tried to give Sadie a Cheez-It when I got home and she sniffed it and completely ignored it.
Now you have to understand something: Sadie is a dog that has never turned down a piece of real cheese in her life. Sadie will eat broccoli like its her job, but apparently won’t touch a Cheez-It. Perhaps I should add this little incident to one of the life lessons I’ve learned from Sadie.
Broccoli > Cheez-Its
All of this Cheez-It talk got me thinking about the not-so-good-for-you foods my family always had on hand when I was growing up. We had healthy snacks, sure, but I remember always being able to find the following in our pantry, fridge or freezer:
- Bagel Bites
- Toaster Strudels
- Gushers
- HoHos
I used to get in trouble for using two frosting packets from the Toaster Strudel box on only one strudel, thereby screwing someone else over and leaving their strudel frostingless. Sucka!
Lunch
Once I arrived home, I put a little more effort into lunch because I wanted my lunch leftovers to also be tonight’s dinner!
I made a big batch of my butternut squash wheat berry mock risotto. I added chopped eggplant to the original recipe and really liked the addition!
I think I may add some chopped chicken sausage to the dish for dinner to change up the flavor a little bit. It’s a good one!
Question of the Afternoon
- What not-so-good-for-you foods do you remember always having available to you as a child?
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Oh, I can demolish a box of White Cheddar Cheez-Its. I saw them on sale at Publix too.. Definitely turned my cart around and walked away from them. I’m originally from outside of Philly, and there was always a box of some kind of Tasty Cakes in the pantry. Peanut butter patties were my favorite.. I wish I still had my 10 year old metabolism!
Julie if you love cheez its, you need to try this: peanut butter between 2 crackers and dip in baker’s chocolate…let cool and try to not eat a million! they taste like a butter finger!!!!! I posted them on my blog 🙂 http://www.ruthiehart.com/2011/12/wanna-be-butterfingers.html
Cheez-its may not be natural or healthy, but if you want to make your own version that’s at least unprocessed, you have to try this recipe: http://www.elephanteats.com/2012/01/17/a-little-snacky-snack-cheesy-crackers/
I swear they taste EXACTLY like cheeze-its. And I used whole wheat bread crumbs so like that must cancel out all the butter and cheese, right? 🙂
oreos and milk after school. omg. my brother and i would just sit there and eat them like crazy dipping them until they were almost mush and scoop the rest out of the cup with a spoon. mmmmm miss those days 🙂
Toaster Strudels > Pop tarts. I also was a fan of Gushers…and bagel bites were my after-school snack! Hellz yeah 90’s kidzzz
Hahaha Julie, this cracks me up! I used to always get in trouble for using more than one frosting!!!
we always had oreos, bagel bites, teddy grahams, and powdered donut holes…and when I go home, I run straight to pantry for a fix!
My husband still gets crap from his mom about using 2 frostings per strudel. He also got in trouble for breaking into frosing tubs which his mother would later find in the pantry (empty). Apparently he’s got a frosting thing. 🙂
Oh my gosh, cheez-it love! Though I love the original kind, the white cheddar was always my favorite. My dad could get small packs from the vending machine in his office and used to bring them home for me, good times. I also had a little thing for pop tarts. My mother always tried to promote healthy snacks (unfortunately), but this usually meant whole-wheat/organic cheese crackers.
Oh my gosh all I used to eat was junk. I remember my mom getting up to use the bathroom during dinner so my brother and I grabbed all of our veggies and threw them outside in the backyard so she would think we ate them!
Haha. Love the Toaster Strudel packet trickery! I was always a sucker for Pop-Tarts. They were always breakfast post Cross Country morning practice! Haven’t had one in years because I could probably eat an entire box in one sitting. But oh so good! I remember really loving the vanilla frosting/vanilla filling/chocolate crust flavor. Mmmmmm. 🙂
Sighhh. gushers, fruit-by-the-foot and capri-sun were my middle school noms 🙂 Seriously, still thinking about fruit-by-the-foot
I just said the Howdy Ho thing to someone at work today! Of course they didn’t get it and I had to explain. Wow, great minds today! 😉
I looved Dunka Roos! Ohmygoodness they were amazing!
I destroyed some cheezits the other day
that is too funny, i always had, apple cinnamon toaster strudels with TWO frosting packets!
I always remember having Fruit Loops or Lucky Charms
My parents always kept little Debbies in the house, nutter butters. Star crunch and oatmeal cream pies. Remember those! I don’t think I’ve had one since.
StarCrunch. And when I was in high school, and we had marching band competitions on Saturdays, I would eat a box of S’mores PopTarts and drink a 6 pack of Coke in a day. I mean, where else was my energy going to come from? Real food? I think not.
Oh gosh – my parents were so strict that we never had any fun foods in the house. I was always so envious of my friends with stocked pantries full of sweets. The only “treat” I remember my parents allowing were NutriGrain bars. Pathetic – I know. I blame my mom on the ridiculous out of control sweet tooth I have now because I was so deprived as a child. 😉
Frozen taquitos! Maybe that’s a Texas thing, but we always had frozen taquitos in bulk in our freezer. We would warm those things up by the handful when we got home from school. Also, Dunkaroos. Mmm, icing!
Oh my gosh! Our house was full of “horrible” foods that tasted oh-so-good! We had Oreos, Cheetos and Doritos (still looooove all of them), our version of Ho-Ho’s by Drake’s, Fruit by the Foot, and a ton of other snacky foods. I honestly cannot figure out how my brother and I were such skinny kids with all of the stuff we ate.
We had gushers and toater strudels too but my go to “no no” snack were push pops! Not the sucker but the ice cream! They were the best
Thanks for the shout out, Ju! Rest assured, I can almost guarantee there is a box in the pantry right now 🙂
I am not allowed near a box of Cheez-Its because I will completely demolish it. (And in case anyone was wondering: Cheez-Its > Cheese Nips.) 😉
They were one of the *very few* unhealthier snacks we had in the house when I was younger, so that probably explains it. Right?
I’m listening to Sadie!!!
Mmmmm I love all of those! I also had fruit roll-ups and oreas dipped in peanut butter like on Parent Trap. Don’t knock it till you try it it’s amazing.
He He I live in Marion County too! Arkansas that is! e
Dunkaroos and Tasty Kakes butterscotch krimpets. Man I miss eating those 🙂
hahaha I used to do that too! One frosting packet was never enough! ha I just downloaded The Book Thief on my kindle last night, can’t wait to dig into that one!!!
I did a post on this a few months ago. I seriously do not understand the girls who wear a full face of makeup to a heated yoga class. I always always wash my face first.
I LOVE GUSHERS! I never buy them because, not kidding, I will eat the whole box in one sitting. No self control.
Oh, lord. Gushers, Dunkaroos, Fruit by the Foot. Those were STAPLES back in the day.
ohmy i was obsessed with gushers back in the day! How I rated my school day was based upon whether or not my mom put gushers in my lunch. Looking back that’s pretty ridiculous…
Totally with you on the second icing pack. Except the second packet never made it onto my pastry….it went directly into my mouth.
So healthy from such a young age!!
My dad worked for Nestle, so you name it, we had it….king size.
So my friends and I do a big annual dinner that involves more adult beverages than food every year. My friend and I always drive in together for it and stock pile cheez its for the carride home so I was already aware of how well they fit into cup holders. Though I probably shouldn’t be admitting that publicly.
We never really had junk food, except for ice cream because my dad is addicted…if anything, my mom would buy the sugary cereals – coco puffs, apple jacks, captain crunch PB, ect…
Cheez-its are one of my favorite childhood snacks! My dog is like Sadie, he would NEVER not eat almost anything! That’s funny tho, I guess it wasn’t up to her standards!
I can’t believe no one has mentioned CHEX MIX yet! I ate so much of that when I was little and still absolutely love it (meaning its a no buy because I’ll eat the whole bag…). I also love love loved Berry Berry Kix, French Toast Crunch, Dunkaroos, Kraft Mac n Cheese (had to be the shapes!), Ritz Bitz, Goldfish, Lunchables, and those mystery flavored Squeeze-it’s!
Oh how my diet has changed… Haha 🙂
Oh man, I used to LOVE Toaster Strudel. Especially the kind that had cream cheese inside too. So good.
We would always have Pizza Pops on hand. I think I survived off those and mac and cheese when I was a teenager. And of course a non stop supply of sugary cereals, Sugar Crisp, Fruit Loops, Capn Crunch, etc.
I too LOVE Cheez-its! Although my family had a good supply of healthy food, since will had a garden that was an acre large, we had lots of “junk” food as well. I remember lots of pop-up tarts, toaster strudels, little Debbie cakes, cheese puffs, and fruit snacks. I never hot fruit gushers cause they were more expensive than regular fruit snacks. I def font want all those goods in my house now or when I have kids, but I wont eliminate them completely. I had a friend who had 0 “junk food at her house (I would be so hungry at her house!) and when she came to my house, she would eat so much junk(she just got it, without asking) she would get a belly ache! I think kids need to leave to resist it and not be denied it either. 🙂 My kids will eat ” junk” but just not everyday.
Chocolate graham crackers always were in our pantry growing up…and still are in my parents’ pantry today! I look forward to them whenever I return home.
I’m like that with Wheat Thins. I always have to pre-portion a box. Otherwise, I will eat half the box in one night!
You should make these!!
http://cookingalamel.blogspot.com/2012/04/homemade-cheez-its.html
YUM!
We definitely always had Gushers, Fruit by the Foot, Toaster Streudel, Pop Tarts, & Tasty Kakes!
So I met John Stamos when I was 8 or 9. He was in a band that ended up a county fair that my dad was a marketing director for. I got to go backstage, get a picture with him and I, gave him roses from my grandpas’ garden and ended up running on stage in the middle of the show to grab a drumstick that somehow fell on the ground.
I also loved Little Debbie’s Nutty Bars. So full of peanut butter deliciousness.
I love Cheez-its!!
And yeah, my parents had Gushers, Bagel Bites, Pop Tarts, all the good stuff. 😛
I started The Book Thief right before the book of the month was announced, and let me tell you, everyone is in for a real treat. It has been so far one of my favorite books of the year! So many good things to say about it.
Cheez-its are my kryptonite!
I never thought cheez its could get any better… And then I met COLBY cheez its!! The most amazing little things ever!!!!