Kozy Shack Rice Pudding

Rice pudding is a dish that is enjoyed by people all over the world, but it does not seem to be as popular in the United States as it is in other areas of the world. It is made with rice, milk/water, and a variety of other mix ins depending on the meal at which it is consumed (if it is for dessert then sugar/sweetener is added).

Rice Pudding can be traced back to grain pottages ( translated to something like "soup/stew") made in the Middle East. These grain pottages consisted of whatever types of foods were available including lentils, beans, grains, vegetables, and sometimes meat.

Rice pudding has traditionally been associated with good nutrition, easy digestion, and is often recommended for people with stomach illnesses. In fact, it was originally listed in medical books rather than cookbooks.

I decided to try Kozy Shack No Sugar Added Rice Pudding. It was sitting right next to the Tapioca Pudding... which I have bad childhood memories of.. my dad used to eat it and I thought it looked disgusting... and i think my dad told me (as a joke) that it had fish eggs in it! I now know that Tapioca is actually extracted from the root of a cassava plant.. not from fish eggs.

So I was a bit scared to try anything close to the Tapioca pudding but ... whats the worst that could happen right? I opened the container and dug my spoon in.. it was sooo good! It was rich and creamy.. sweet but not too sweet. YUMMMM

Each cup has 3 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein, and 10% of your calcium. Yeah! This is one of my new favorite foods! The only problem is that it is slightly expensive.

Yoplait Delights: Lemon Torte and Chocolate Raspberry

In 1965 two French dairy coops "Yola" and "Coplait" merged to become "Yoplait." The Yoplait logo is a flower six petals with each petal representing one of the six co-op founders. Yoplait supports a lot of organizations including the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer and Box Tops for Education (last year schools earned over 49,000,000 dollars from Box Tops.

Just recently they came out with Yoplait Delights, which are 100 calorie cups of delicious yogurt. I bought the Lemon Torte and Chocolate Raspberry flavors (Also comes in Creme Caramel and Triple Berry Creme). The Lemon Torte has a bottom layer of lemon yogurt, and a creamy top layer of vanilla yogurt. The flavor is actually really good.. very lemony and zesty. The Chocolate Raspberry has a bottom layer of chocolate yogurt, and a creamy top layer of raspberry yogurt. This flavor is very rich and authentic tasting... In fact, neither really tastes like yogurt.. they are very creamy and satisfying :-)

My only complaint.... the cups aren't big enough..I WANT MORE!

V8 Fusion + Tea: Pomegrante Green Tea

V8 juice has been popular for some time now and is known to be "good for you." V8 also has a line of V8 Fusion drinks which  give you a whole serving or vegetables and a whole serving of fruit in one glass. It is 100% juice. Now they have V8 Fusion + Tea Beverages (Raspberry Green Tea, Pineapple Mango Green Tea, and Pomegranate Green Tea).

Fusion +Tea is : 50% juice, 1 combined serving of fruits/vegetables, 50 calories for 8oz glass

It has some interesting ingredients.. see below!

Ingredients: Water, Reconstituted Vegetable Juice Blend (Water and Concentrated Juices of Sweet Potatoes, Purple Carrots, Yellow Tomatoes, Carrots), Reconstituted Fruit Juice (Water and Concentrated Juice of Apples, White Grapes, Pomegranates, Acai, Limes), Contains Less than 2% of: Natural Flavoring, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Green Tea Extract, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Citric Acid, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol Acetate), Sucralose.

The juice, while a bit watery (first ingredient is water), is actually very flavorful!  It has a nice crisp flavor and is refreshing. You cannot really taste the tea flavor at all.. so it is not bitter like some tea can be!

Would buy it again.. especially when it is warm outside!

Newman's Own Sockarooni Sauce

Newman's Own makes salsa, dressings, pizza, drinks, marinades, wine etc... Before today i had only ever tried their salsa.. which is probably my favorite salsa ever. It is so good that I could eat it on its own (and have)!

Newman's Own Foundation donates all profits to charity, and has donated over $300 million dollars since 1982.
Another great thing about Newman's Own is that all the ingredients are "all natural" .. they also have a line of organic foods.

So I decided that I was really tired of traditional spaghetti sauce.. so I picked up Sockarooni, because the description sounded intriguing. The jar says Peppers, Spices, and the Whole Shebang! I wanted to find out what the shebang was....

I was so pleasantly surprised when I opened the jar. There were actual chunks of peppers, onions, and mushrooms! The flavor was spot on too.. not too spicy, but so flavorful. Definitely worth trying!