Healthy Surprise

Hello everyone, how's  midweek  coming along your way.  I have been busy doing stuff with my kids that I am  way behind of the products  that I received for review.  But one by one, I will get this done hopefully before the end of this week, although I doubt I would finish all of them but I will try my best.

Anyway, one of the  packages I received  last week was a  box full of healthy snacks from Healthy Surprise.  It's a starter box of goodies  that cost $33 a month  if you are a member.  It contains 16-20 servings for  1 to 2 people.  The box includes Organic Veggie Gos  Roasted Seaweed Snack,  Fruit snack munchies, macaroons,  chia bars, tart, pumpkin seeds, and rawma bar.

We brought this box of healthy snacks during our road trip and it really fills some spots while we were on the road.  Hubby and I love the Veggie Chips  from the Daily Crave.  I would certainly buy this chips from the store.  

I thought that I would like the Rawma Bar, a  high enzyme energy bar with sesame and mango but I wasn't really fond of it.  It's full of healthy organic ingredients stuff  such as dates, sesame seeds,  mangos, bananas, pumpkin seeds, sunflower and  flax seeds. 

I love the pumpkin seeds  with sea salt, the veggie chips, the seaweed snack with chipotle which I ate with the fresh cucumbers that we have, and the mango acai which is also my daughter's favorite.   I haven't tried the macaroon and the chia bar.

I would say that Healthy Surprise  is a fun and  easy way to eat healthy especially to those who love to munch on snack.  These healthy box surprises would make a great gift so if you want to give somebody something healthy, consider  sending them  a box of Healthy Surprise.

Disclosure:  The author of this blog  was NOT financially compensated but rather  supplied with the above mentioned products for evaluation  purposes.

Dinner Celebration after the Piano Recital at Chico Fiesta

This post is long overdue but oh well, life is busier than ever.  Anyway, the photos were taken on June 2 at Chico Fiesta, a Mexican Restaurant at our area.  We invited our family neighbors who attended  Ms. Burrito's piano recital for a dinner.

Thanks to the Howells' and Fancher family for being there always for us and the kids.  We are blessed to have such great neighbors, they are like family to us.

I like the food at Mexican restaurant but boy, I don't have the guts to finish a dish.  They are  humongous!  We always end up bringing a box home whenever we eat there.

I love this photo I took of my  husband and daughter.

Painting the Fence

It is raining so hard in here.  It's been raining two nights in a row now that our nearby area  is on flood watch.  We are glad that hubby was able to pressured wash our fence as we are planning to paint it as long as the weather permits us.  We regret that we did not paint it when we painted the outside part.  It looks really old now from the beating of the weather.

I am thinking that next month will be a good month to do our  project.  Meanwhile, I have been browsing at the earthlymatterspainting.com/ for some ideas  since it is a company  that provides  both commercial and residential painting services.  Hubby said that we  would buy the same  kind of stain and paint  that we used for the outside part so it would be uniform.  This would be  another fun project for  the whole family.  The kids are always willing to help us whenever we do project such as this.  I remember when we painted outside, they were still little back then, they had so much fun helping us.  It slowed us down quite a bit but it was fun working with them.

This post is brought to you by our friends from Earthly Matters.

Foods at The Mess Deck Inside USS Lexington

After our exciting tour  in different parts of USS Lexington, we decided to grab some bites at their  cafeteria.  We ate at The Mess Deck to help out their business instead of going to the nearby restaurant.

Few snaps while waiting for our orders.

We had  club sandwiches....

...  breaded fried shrimp.

..and taco salad.

I did not  care much about their food but nevertheless, it was a fun and enjoyable journey for all of us.

Venison: Why It Deserves a Place on Your Dinner Table

As children, many of us were enchanted by the Walt Disney classic Bambi, and this is an enchantment that’s been passed along the generations, since many of us now watch the film with our own children or grandchildren. Of course we try to spare children from the harsh realities of life, and so we need to wait for them to grow up before they learn that Bambi and his family are in fact, delicious. In the US and Europe, when you see venison on a restaurant menu, it’s likely to be deer meat, although venison is actually the classification given to any kind of game animal that’s been hunted, and while venison can also include wild boar and hare, these are usually labelled as such. Venison has become increasingly popular in recent years, as its health and taste benefits become more widely known. But what’s really so great about this meat?

Venison Around The World

Given its definition as a game animal, what actually constitutes venison can vary depending on where in the world it’s eaten. While deer is the most common, in South Africa, venison is usually antelope meat, and in Australia, you’ll find kangaroo meat readily available.

Is It Actually Hunted?

When passing through France and Germany via train, you’ll notice a number of raised wooden shelters, known as “hides” where the hunter actually hides and waits for a passing deer. Most of these animals are hunted as trophies, since wild animals live outside the regulations that are mandatory for most commercially available food products. Venison sold in stores and restaurants is actually farmed meat, raised according to government food production standards.

What Are The Benefits?

Venison is rich in protein and low in fat, which is the primary reason for its renewed popularity. Venison also contains huge amounts of iron and vitamin B when compared with other kinds of meat.

How Should It Be Prepared?

While a thick juicy venison steak can certainly be enjoyed, the low fat content often makes the meat fairly tough, so it’s usually slow cooked in a stew until it’s delicious and tender. Venison can also be slow roasted, although the low fat content means that the meat has a tendency to dry out during cooking, so it will need to be basted with the pan juices or stock a few times during the cooking process. Many venison recipes call for the meat to be doused in bacon fat, and while this can be delicious, it’s unsurprisingly not the healthiest option.

How Should I Choose Venison?

The taste of venison can vary depending on the animals’ diet, but most butchers will be able to give you details about where they source the meat, and they type of life it had while on the farm. Younger venison has a deep red color, more vibrant than beef, and younger venison usually has a far richer taste.

While many of us can be hesitant to cook venison, since we’re unfamiliar with how to best prepare it, it’s undoubtedly nutritious and delicious, so it might be time to put aside childhood memories of Bambi and give it a try!

This is a guest contribution by culinary blogger Julia Nichols. In her writing, Julia focuses on healthy dishes for the whole family. Visit the Pheasant Recipes  link for more ideas.