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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Mmm, I do love Cheez-Its. I was a big after-school cookie kid so I had a serving of Oreo’s or Chip’s Ahoy or Fudge Stripes once a day with a big glass of milk. Mmm, good 😉
P.S. Thanks for sharing that Travel List Challenge the other day. I blogged about my own today!
I LOVE Cheez-Its! We always had Ballreich’s potato chips (Ohio thing), Pop Tarts, diet Coke or Pepsi, and Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies (or some other kind of Debbie) 😉
Pizza Pops and Toaster Strudels! Oh and always Oreos and Frosted Flakes.
pizza pops!?!? what is this gloriousness that i clearly missed out on as a child?
You did! Maybe they are a Canadian thing?! They were so good, but not for you – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_Pops
yep, never had a pizza pop. i feel so deprived.
Amy’s Organic makes pizza pops for the toaster that are semi-healthy and super easy! http://www.amys.com/products/product-detail/details/000182
:O you haven’t LIVED if you haven’t tried pizza pops!
(okay you have, but still, they’re amazing.)
I’m from the philly-area and so Tasty Kake is huge around there (similar to little debbie-type snacks). We always had the chocolate peanut butter kandy kakes on hand. I also ate bagel bits ALL the time!
Mrs Type A, you KNOW that Tasty Kakes are a bazillion times better than Little Debbie. Don’t mislead the deprived!
um, without a doubt!!!!!! They had a tent on the main street of Raleigh right by my work a few months ago giving out samples and I was like YESSSSSS BEST DAY EVER!
I LOVE toaster strudels! My boyfriend grew up with pop tarts, and we have an ongoing fight as to which is better. I’m team toaster strudel!!
Chocolate Brownie Poptarts, HoHos, and the best…
Oatmeal Cream Pies!!
i think oatmeal cream pies were ruined for me at a young age. they were always one of the “snack time treats” that we had at my summer camp and i got SO sick of them. they actually sound pretty yummy at the moment though…
Yessss Full House!! #1 on the list of essential television shows of my childhood. 😀
We were suckers for Chips Ahoy in my house…the original and the super chewy kind. Pringles, too!
i love cheez-its too!! you’re right, they’re SO addicting. i never buy them for that very reason. pop tarts were a huge hit in our house growing up. the hostess fudge brownies was another one we had around the house quite often.
I am also addicted to Cheez-its, though lately, I’m all about goldfish. My two weaknesses are wine and goldfish! I try not to eat too much processed stuff anymore, but those are exceptions!
I think we grew up in the same house – bagel bites, gushers, and I also used extra icing on my toaster strudels (sometimes I would even get out a can of icing from the pantry!).
a can of icing? you were a resourceful little one, weren’t you!? 🙂
Oh man!! Toaster strudel and cheez-its! So good. Thats hilarious that Sadie won’t eat them! My mom actually wouldn’t let us buy “junk” food, but we somehow always had marshmallows and also wheat thins, so I gorged on those! Not together of course haha
Toaster Strudels – yum!!!
When I was really little, I remember usually having Twinkies or other Hostess snacks on hand like Ding Dongs, Devil Dogs or the ones with peanut butter filling. YUM. Do they even make those any more??
In high school we almost always Little Debbies snacks, the ones that were like oatmeal cookies with the cream filling. And Annisette Cookies. Yum.
Funny Bones are the ones filled with PB!!! We had those ALL THE TIME!
We always had star crunches! Oh and poptarts 🙂
Forgot about Soft Batch cookies! Those were also the bomb!
Love the Full House reference – I’m definitely a lifelong fan 🙂 That looks like a really nice library! The Book Thief is waiting for me at my local library, too – I think I’ll pick it up tomorrow. Mmm, I do love Cheez-Its – especially the white cheddar ones. I don’t like real cheese, though, haha. All of those “unhealthy” snacks definitely look familiar to me – I love gushers and toaster strudels! We had bagel bites around, too, and pizza rolls. And always lots of sugary cereal! Oh, and ice cream. It would be shocking not to find at least some ice cream in my parents’ freezer. They have better self-control than I do, though – I wouldn’t be able to keep all of those treats on hand without wolfing them down!
Little Debbie was always the best baker in my house growing up. Now I’ve come to the point (thankfully) that I find her to be a little too sweet…most of the time…
omg I LOVED Cheez its!!!! I could eat that whole box! And We’d also eat them with grapes. Clearly classy kids. And we had the same toaster struedel issue… frostings went missing and things got a little crazy. We also had oreos, fruit by the foot and pop tarts! Dangerous foods… I was a chubby child…
Have you ever had Cheez-Its Party Mix? So good!
party in my mouth.
Thaaat’s what she said.
I actually never liked Cheez Its as a kid but I loved Cheese Nips! I also remember my brother and I being absolutely crazy about the Jalapeno flavored 3D Doritos. We also went through a blue gatorade phase.
ewwwww. no, no, no on the cheese nips! they’re pitiful imposters. but you redeemed yourself with the 3d doritos. 🙂
Haha what’s funny though is that now I like Cheez Its and Cheese Nips… eh. Haha.
Toaster Strudels were my favorite breakfast as a kid! My dad and I would always make designs or write messages with our icing. And, this may sound a little strange, but we would always each take an icing packet and put it under our legs while sitting at the kitchen table waiting for the toaster strudels to toast. By the time they popped up, our icing was warm enough to easily make a design!
Oh my gosh we always had gushers too! Did you ever have Dunk-A-Roos?! So bad, but sooo good!
YES!
OMG….Have you seen this floating around Pinterest???
http://pinterest.com/pin/120612096240498185/
Dunk-A-Roos! Yes! Little excited as I’ve never heard of anything else mentioned here! Oh they were so good.
pre-packaged brownies and pastries. you know the kind that never expires? yikes! I did love them as a kid though 🙂
LOL!!!
oh, cheeze its and goldfish! love those cheesy crackers!
i also love all things hostess! cupcakes, hohos, ding dongs, coconut ball things….
oh man, i think i may need to go buy a hostess cupcake…
Bhahahha! OMG, my older brother used to so the same thing with the toaster strudel icing. I’d get SO mad when I went to go make the last one and there was no more icing left cause he would use 2 on one strudel. Grrr! I used to want to fight him when that happened…LOL
We always had the lunchbox bags of chips (dorritos, fritos, etc), pop-tarts, and tasty kakes!
Bagel bites were a favourite weekend treat at my dad’s house. My friend and I actually bought some about a year ago during a college study fest, and they tasted exactly how I remembered them. Mmm!
I was also huge into Gushers, Dunk-A-Roos, and those soda pop bottle fruit snacks.
Who remembers Sunkist Fun Fruits?!? They almost looked like jelly beans but they were chewy???
Or Crystal Pepsi and Orbitz?? YUMYUM and creepy!
We always had some sort of not-so-good-for-you treat around the house to either pack with lunch or have as an after school snack. My favorites were fruit by the foot and dunkaroos!
As far as Cheez-Its go, I don’t really like them myself but I’m sure my pups would happily accept them. Although they do also like kale and raw veggies as treat too!
Definitely eggo waffles, pizza rolls (as well as bagel bites!), lucky charms – and only eat the marshmallows. Glorious. Oh, and ice cream push ups! The one with the Flintstone on them, of course.
i ♥ cheez its!! have you ever had them with a glass of milk?? not like cereal! but eating them while drinking a glass of milk. i know it sounds crazy and kinda gross…i thought so too before i tried it. omg amazing! one of the greatest things i learned in college 😉
Never had cheez-its growing up. But we did have “jos louis” and “half moon’s”….toaster streudels….fun fruits…etc etc….
I’m kinda cheered at the realization that you too use a public library. My pockets hold no money….so the library is my resource (thank God)…but I always feel like I’m the “last one” among all the kindle readers or book purchasers.
I miss buying books, but the library is absolutely wonderful to have. There’s limited selection at mine, so I get lucky with interlibrary loans now and then.
you will enjoy that book. Kind of puts in a whole different world when you read it, and going back to “real life” is always a funny transition. I suppose its true then that books really can leave an impact on a person.
i used to go to the library all the time growing up and got out of the habit in college since i didn’t read as much for pleasure since my free-time reading was dedicated to studying for the most part. i’m glad to be back at the library again! sometimes waiting a long time for a book is a pain, but there’s always another book i can check out while i wait, which is a good thing! 🙂 can’t wait to read the book thief. so glad you liked it!
It was such a treat in my house to have Toaster Strudels instead of the boring PopTart (although I would kill for one now)! I would always take like 10 minutes making a design on the strudel, and then completely messing it up by rubbing the icing around when I finished my masterpiece. Completely pointless? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely!
I would eat those Toaster Strudels. I also ate S’more Pop Tarts EVERY morning with a big glass of milk. I also remember having Fruit Roll-Ups in my lunch as a kid! 😉
OMG I totally remember begging my parents for snacks like this! I was into Gushers, Fruit By The Foot, Toaster Strudels, Eggos, Goldfish, those gummy snacks that came in the shapes of dinosaurs and other characters (hey, they were ‘made with real fruit juice’! <– LOL!) Oh how the times have changed!!
I LOOOOVE Cheez-its!! I think I could seriously live off those! I can’t remember the last time I had any though, probably for the best. They do make portion controlled cheez-it pouches that I use to by in college, those at least offered some self control.
Now I totally want Cheez-its! Dangit, Julie 🙂
My mom was a TOTAL junk food nazi and would never keep any sweets on hand. Going to my grandparents’ house was always a big deal because they had a little stash of Pepsi in their fridge… and ooooh, you better believe I loved what I couldn’t have at home!
I loved junk food so much, in fact, that I would stockpile quarters and dollar bills and take them to my middle school cafeteria and would buy Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls and Zebra Cakes… and some days that would be all I’d eat for lunch. My mom would send me to school with a brown paper bag with a sandwich and an apple in it and I wouldn’t give it a second glance. I also remember stocking up on Swiss Cake Rolls and Zebra Cakes and cans of soda and hiding them underneath my bed in a shoebox, only to break it out and eat them while my mom was taking a shower or after I went to bed in the evenings! I was OBSESSED. It’s a miracle that I didn’t end up as big as a house by age 15 (thanks, good genes.)
And I’ve been meaning to get to the library here in Atlanta and get myself a card, your post reminded me! Maybe I’ll take care of that this afternoon! 🙂
Oh and someone above in the comments mentioned Star Crunches! Yes! Also, Grandma’s Cookies and SmartFood white cheddar popcorn… lived and died for those too!
cheez its are pretty amazing. i used to have a roommate who was obsessed with them she would always have them around!!
i recently bought smores pop tarts…it was kinda random but i used to love them growing up! now i remember why haha they’re awesome!
Cheese its didnt stand a chance in our house…
The Pizza Cheese Its lastes like 1/2 hour after mom returned from the store
But the oatmeal Cream Pies, the Keebler Cookies with the m&M’s, and chocolate covered mini doughnuts were staple in our house
My mom and I had to drive to a town about an hour away every week when I was a kid, and we would share a honey bun for the car ride. Even to this day, I love them and think of my mama when I see them!
OH MY GOSH: mini muffins for breakfast, gushers, dunkaroos, hot pockets, bagel bites….and my strange habit of eating leftover Chinese white rice with melted american cheese on top.
I always used to eat chocolate teddy grahams dipped in rainbow chip frosting. Oh, and those hand-held apple or cherry pies that you can get from the gas station for like $.65 . . . only 600 calories or something like that 🙂 Can’t forget Bugles, either!
We always had Hostess Cupcakes and Twinkies, Fudge Rounds, Swiss Cake Rolls and Drumsticks. I also remember potato chips out of a big cannister. (can’t remember what they’re called) No wonder I’m overweight!! lol
P.S.
I live in Florida and am originally from Illinois as well. (McHenry County) 🙂
Devil Dogs! And those giant soft Chocolate cookies with the crystalized sugar sprinkled on top….I forgot the name of them!
I loved toaster studels! If they had any nutritional value at all, I’d still love them to this day. Also, Kim, who posted above me – I’m also from McHenry County!
While I don’t remember much of my mom’s “cooking,” (it’s in quotations because one time, she made me meat loaf burritos..)we were big chocolate milk drinkers. Go figure. At Dad’s house we drank a lot of orange soda and cereal. Mmmm… sugary goodness.
Julie, I just love your writing style! You totally had me laughing out loud with the story about the frostingless toaster strudles… Sucka! Haha!!
We always had yodels, ring dings, and devil dogs on hand… my family has quite the sweet tooth!
I love Cheez-Its!!
Hey! Your date of incorporation is my birthday. BEST.DATE.EVAR
I loved Toaster Strudel, but that was more in the college years after 2am if you know what I mean.
Other than that, I remember wanting to plan a wedding with Swiss Cake Rolls. WHY are those so delicious?
Cheez-Its are my downfall. I can’t resist them. If I walk past the vending machine at work and I see them, I seriously have a hard time convincing myself to keep on walking. Also, the Toaster Strudels NEVER had enough icing. That little packet is not enough sugary goodness! I always wanted to just eat the icing but had to show some willpower. I love the yellow zingers too. And my brother and I may or may not have shared a bag of pizza rolls a couple of weeks ago.
Seems we always had different Little Debbie snack cakes when I was growing up…one of my favorites??
DING DONGS!
*sigh* love ’em. but don’t eat them so much now.
Zingers are pretty great, too.
FYI, you can still buy Dunkaroos at our local Dollar General store….just in case…ya know…
(Vanilla only, though, no chocolate icing kind)
We still always have Bagel Bites LOL, my bad for me snack food is crackers too! Love those over processed filled with junk crackers 🙂