Simple Randomness

Some Really Good Salsa!

I’m a big fan of chips and salsa, or really just about anything with salsa.  What do you expect, my favorite food is nachos after all!

But I also like trying different kinds of salsa.  In fact, there is this Mexican restaurant up in Salt Lake City that has a salsa bar with like 8-10 different types of salsa, all of them good!

Anyway, the other day at the grocery store we decided to buy some salsa, and I ended up getting a mango & peach salsa.  I was a little hesitant at first cause I don’t really like mangoes, and peach salsa sounded kinda weird.  In fact, I was swayed by my wife to get it because she loves both of those fruits and so I was hoping she would try some.

Well, what can I say, that is one good salsa!

I’ve also had raspberry salsa before, and that was really good, too.  There’s something about fruit in salsas that just makes them good!

So do you have a favorite kind of salsa?  Share below!

Tried a $1 Energy Drink Today…

As many of you probably know, at least if you’re read this blog at all, I’m a fan of the energy drinks Rockstar and Monster.  Now admittedly, I only drink 1-2 a week, but even then I feel like I need to cut back.  Anyway, this morning was a little different.

You see, usually i’ll buy these when they are like 2 for $3 or something like that because I don’t believe in spending the full $2 or $3 for one.  But this morning at my local grocery store none of my favorites were going for that price.

But there was one going on sale at 10 for $10.  I figured, “What the heck, I’ll try the $1 energy drink and see how it is!”  So I looked them over and picked up a Wired energy drink, some berry flavor.

All I can say is that I’m sticking with Monster and Rockstar!  This stuff really didn’t taste that good.  I think it has potential, but it tasted too much like a regular energy drink with just a hint of other flavor.  The reason that I like some of the Monster and Rockstar flavors so much is that they don’t taste like your regular energy drinks!

So I’m sticking with my Monster Khaos and my Rockstar NoCarb for now.  At least until I kick the habit entirely, which I honestly need to do….

The Best Jelly for a PBJ

Everyone loves a good Peanut Butter & Jelly (PBJ) sandwich! But what is the best jelly to use on your PBJ?

Talk about a random topic right? Well, for the last couple of years I’ve always been using something like strawberry. It was pretty good. But then we ran out of strawberry jam and my wife bought some grape jelly.

At first I thought, “Oh no! What have you done?! What about the strawberries?!” But I figured, “Oh well, I used to use grape as a kid, we’ll try it out again.”

Well, now I’m officially reconverted to grape jelly as the jelly of choice for my PBJ’s. Maybe my hint should have been that it’s a peanut butter and JELLY sandwich, not JAM. There’s something about the grape that it just seems to mix better with the peanut butter. Strawberry just wasn’t strong enough…and now I know!

So what is your favorite flavor of jam or jelly to put on a PBJ?

Eating the Same Thing Every Day

Do you ever find yourself just eating the same thing all the time?  I’m finding I’m in one of those ruts where I really don’t have much variety in my diet.  Here’s a sample:

• Eggs, Toast, and Cereal
• Oatmeal, Hard-boiled Eggs, Banana
• Hamburger Patty with either rice or bread plus salad
• Some type of sandwich
• Whatever my wife makes for dinner
• Egg Sandwich or Cereal

I need some variety!!!  Granted, right now I’m just tying to eat enough to add a little more meat to my skinny frame, but I could still use some variety.  Any ideas???

The Paris Buffet

As I’ve already mentioned several times, I was in Las Vegas last weekend.  Now, Vegas is known for a couple of things, but one thing that I think is really worth going down there for is the good food!  I’ve eaten at a couple of restaurants down there and they’ve all been fabulous.

So on Saturday me and the guys I went down there with decided to go and eat at the buffet located in the Paris Casino.  Wow was that some good food!  I had some crab legs, prime rib,  sushi, pastas, and all sorts of other stuff.

It’s funny, because on Thursday before I left my wife and I went with her grandparents to a local buffet called Chuck-a-Rama (I’ve wondered since I was a kid where they came up with that name…).  Talk about a night and day difference!

So when it comes to buffets, do yourself a favor and only eat at the ones in Vegas.  At least, that’s my advice!

New Rankings on Monster and Rockstar Energy Drinks

So for the last couple of weeks I’ve gone away from Rockstar energy drinks and have instead been drinking Monster.  So far the results aren’t too bad and I really like a few of their flavors!

So for fun today, here are the rankings so far for the best flavored Rockstar and Monster energy drinks:

1. Rockstar No Carb - Still the best flavor!  I love this stuff!
2. Monster Khaos - This stuff tastes really really good and is a very close #2.  In fact, who knows I might change my mind in a couple of weeks.
3. Rockstar Guava - Still a really good drink.  Great flavor, that’s why its in the top 3.
4. Monster M-80 - Just had this one for the first time this morning.  Needed a little boost after getting back from BlogWorld last night.  Really good flavor, I like it a lot!
5. Rockstar Mango/Orange/Passionfruit - This one used to be higher on the list, but then I tried the Guava and No Carb.  Still a really good choice for flavor though
6. Regular Rockstar/Monster - I really don’t know which of these I like better.  The regular flavors are ok, but I don’t like one more than the other really.
7. Monster MIXXD - Honestly, I didn’t really like this one.  But it wasn’t the worst that I’ve ever had…
8. Rockstar Pomegranate - This one was very flat and didn’t have a lot of flavor.
9. Rockstar Punched - This one was just nasty.  That’s all I have to say about it.

So there you have it, the new updated rankings for some energy drinks.

Now honestly, I need to ween myself off this stuff.  I’ve been using it more lately just because of my insane schedule but I need to find some alternatives.  I’m sure the caffeine isn’t doing me any good…

Monster Khaos - One Good Drink!

Ok, so if you’ve been on this blog for any period of time you know that when I’m dragging I sometimes will grab a RockStar energy drink to keep me going.  Well the other day I decided to try something different so I grabbed a Monster Khaos instead.

Wow!  That drink has some really good flavor to it!  You see, I don’t really care for any of the regular flavors of the energy drinks, I’d always rather go for the better flavored ones.  And Monster Khaos is one of the best that I’ve tasted!  I think it even rivals my all-time favorites which are the RockStar Guava and No-Carb flavors.

Anyway, that’s the random topic for the day.  Does anyone else have a favorite flavor that I should try?

Some Really Cool Seafood Recipes

I know I’ve said this before, but I love seafood.  I’ve probably also said before that one of the down sides of living so far inland is that we don’t have fresh seafood.  But that is not reason enough for me to want to move into the South East (sorry, I just couldn’t handle all the hurricanes!).

So I was checking out the website www.GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff.com and came across some really interesting recipes. Right now on their site they have 5 of their finalists for the contest, and they all look rather interesting and delicious.

But, if I was going to vote on one, I think I would go for the Texas Gulf Shrimp by Chef Mark Holley from Texas.  Now granted, it’s hard to say that this would be my favorite because I haven’t tasted any of them, but when looking at the picture and looking over the recipes, it caught my eye the most.  Maybe it’s because I love shrimp .

This would be a really cool cook off to go to.  I mean think about it, a bunch of really good chefs getting together to cook the best seafood you’ve ever had?  What could be better?!

So if you’re into seafood I recommend you check the site out and see which one would be your favorite.  The other great thing about it is that you can see the actual recipes and even try to cook them up yourself!  Who knows, maybe you could be a great seafood chef in the making!

Domestic seafood is the way to go.  I know that one thing my wife always liked to do as a kid was go to the pier and get some fresh seafood when she was visiting her grandparents in California.  I never really had those kinds of experiences, but would sure love it!

Another Cool Thing About Quinoa

So a while back I wrote about the food quinoa.  Since then I’ve had it a couple of times and its really quite good!

The cool thing about quinoa is that it goes with anything.  You can just eat it plain and its good, or even better you can mix it in with stuff and it tastes good as well!

For example, yesterday I mixed it in with some fettucini alfredo.  It was good!  Then, I was going to have a tuna sandwich after going to the gym, but I forgot to bring the bread.  So I just mixed quinoa in with the tuna and it was really good that way!

Gotta love these foods that go good with everything!

Super Food Quinoa!

Ok, so as you probably know I’m trying to eat healthy and actually gain some weight right now.  In some of the material I’ve been reading I had heard about this ancient grain called quinoa.  These sources said it was really good for you, etc.

So over the weekend my wife’s aunt gave her some to try.  We cooked it up and it’s actually pretty good stuff!  Not a very strong flavor, but its just as good warm as it is cold.

And the thing that amazed me is that it’s packed with protein!  Here’s a quick comparison for you on what you get out of a cup of quinoa vs. a cup of brown rice:

Brown Rice:

• Calories - 215
• Fat - 1.7g
• Carbs - 44.4g
• Protein - 5g

Quinoa:

• Calories - 636
• Fat - 9.9g
• Carbs - 117.1g
• Protein - 22.3g

This stuff is packed!  It’s a little bit pricey, but being that I’m trying to increase calories to gain some good weight, this looks like a great food to incorporate into my diet!