Overdue Update

A lot of things have been going on...I'm just a little pressed for time so this will be my brief attempt to catch up.

Electrolux and Kelly Ripa have teamed together to bring a sweepstakes and a cause together.  Kelly Confidential supports the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund each time you 'create' a banana split.  It takes less than a minute.  How easy is that?  I was inspired to make a real split for myself!  I love Blue Bell ice cream and put together Butter Crunch (like Butterfingers), Pistachio Almond (the green one) and Cookies n' Cream.  YUM!  That's not all - for helping out a good cause you get a chance to win awesome prizes so go check it out.

Up next is Minute Maid's new Natural Energy drink in Strawberry Kiwi.  I got this and Pomegranate Berry as a free hand-out at the Taste of Dallas food expo.  If you look on the right you can see this is a brand of Coca-Cola.  If you're into myCoke rewards then this counts.

It was incredibly hot at the expo and exhibits were inside and out of buildings.  I brought water and quickly finished it off.  By the time I got this drink I was getting dehydrated but refused to pay $3 for a bottle of water.  My verdict: this drink is absolutely delicious.  Here's some things to consider - this is a juice blend.  It says 27% juice blend, mostly pear juice from concentrate.  While pear is pictured on the drink it's barely peeking out and not even in the flavor name.  There's less than 1% of: Strawberry and Kiwi juices from concentrate.  I liked the flavor so I'm not too bothered by how much is made up of what fruit.  It contain 37-43 mg of natural caffeine (from coffee beans) so I suppose that might explain the energy part.  At 12 oz it has a similar calorie count to a soft drink and 24 g of sugar.  For me, this would be a good replacement for a soft drink to reduce carbonation, but I still have to watch it for the calories and I'm not entirely sure how it compares to a typical glass of juice.

My great friend, C, gave me a package of venison sausage since she's leaving town for work and didn't want it to go to waste.  I'm no stranger to venison since my uncle is a hunter, but don't cook it too much. I decided to slice it up, put it on the "Foreman" grill and seasoned with Lawry's Seasoning Salt.  Venison is a great alternative meat since it's low in fat.  I tried one after it had cooled and it was perfection!  I also love Lawry's seasoning salt.  Let me tell you how much I love it.  When I was living abroad I took some with me.  And I used it all the time.  And I tried to convert the locals to using it.  I still love it although it's salt and I really should watch my sodium intake (but it's now got less sodium so it's okay, right?).  I can't wait for lunch tomorrow!  My neighbor gave me some fresh tomatoes and I cooked up some long grain wild rice.  Sounds like a feast!  Thank you, C!