The old is new again

Remember the frozen yogurt craze of the late 80's, early 90's when Penguin frozen yogurt and many others all opened around the same time? Even Seinfeld did an episode about a frozen yogurt place where the yogurt was so good and low fat but they found out it wasn't.

Well I don't know if self-serve frozen yogurt places are popping up where you live like there are here in Orange County. First it was the trend of the actually tastes like yogurt frozen yogurt places like Pinkberry that were opening. Now it's the self serve trend with a million and a half toppings.

Oh don't get me wrong, I am lovin' this! We just got a Cherry on Top store here in Huntington Beach and they have really good yogurt and many flavors to choose from. I love the peanut butter and the chocolate. The flavors change from time to time but there are seriously like 10 or 12 flavors. You serve yourself then go to the toppings bar which has many fresh fruits, candies, cereals, sprinkles, etc. Just tons of choices. But you have to watch it because you are charged by weight. They always have coupons so it makes it easy to go every now and then.

In the last 2 weeks I have noticed 3 other self serve frozen yogurt places close to opening in surrounding areas. I wonder how long this trend will last and how well so many competing businesses will do?

Sweet goodness I've been busy!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, time just passes by way to fast. I've been very busy and with that, too tired to blog. Not to mention that by the time it's 10 or 11 pm and I've been at work all day on a computer and then at home either on the PC or laptop working on my own business, the last thing I want to do is type some more! :) But today I have found a moment so let me catch you up.

Dave is still working part-time hours at AAA so things are still pretty tight. We are making the best of it and eat a whole lot less pizza. Although we have discovered Haus of Pizza in Costa Mesa which makes a really good pie and is not hard on the wallet.

We also went to San Francisco for the day...yes the day for a food trade show. The Fancy Food Show to be exact. We woke up at 4 am, dropped J at nana's house by 5:30, drove to LAX and we were on a plane by 7am. We didn't get to see SF, we literally got to the convention center and then at 5 went back to the airport to get on an 8pm flight back to LAX.

Anyway we did get some great things from the show that will be up on the Hey, That's Gourmet! website. Such as handmade gourmet caramels from Montana. We are selling 4 oz bags with adorable satin ribbon on them. These caramels are so freakin good! One pack we have we chose to put Chipolte (the heat and sweet are so amazing), Celtic Sea Salt, Soft Butter Caramel and Pomegranate. The other pack has Maple, Chewy, Chocolate Celtic Sea Salt and Espresso. I'm telling you, these are the most delicious caramels I have ever had. They are all natural with no artificial anything and no preservatives.

We also added some chocolate covered caramel pops that have cute packaging and yes, they taste really great too. They are from a company called Route 29. We are now carrying some novelty items from them such as a tin just for Valentines Day with Milk and Dark Chocolate X's and O's, you know like hugs and kisses. So sweet and yummy! Also some chocolate covered marshmallows for Easter.

New Browniepops too! We added Toffee and Walnut. YUM-O. Browniepops were featured on Rachael Ray 2 weeks ago and we found out at the show the Hey, That's Gourmet! is the only retailer to sell all flavors. How cool is that! The pops have awesome packaging now as they come in their own little boxes.

So we've been working hard to get them up on Amazon.com as well as our site. There are a lot of photos to take and edit as well as the work it takes to actually put in the descriptions and such. We did receive our 1st amazon order last week. WHOO HOO! It was for 5 of the canisters of the Green Tea Dark Chocolate which is still our best seller. We hope to see many more come in soon.

So on to another subject. Did you know that February is national Pancake month? I just learned this. FiberOne has a new pancake mix that is so good! Just a random thought.

Well have a great and SUPER weekend! We don't watch football in our home so it's not such a big deal to us but I know it is to others. So have a great one and stay safe and sane.

Peace, Love and Ice Cream

Jonathan just ate a Weight Watcher Cookies & Cream Ice Cream Pop and is at Peace! :)

Meatballs and Cottage Cheese

I swear, sometimes it's like Dave and I have to be food artists or food make-up artists to get Jonathan to eat something other then hamburgers or chicken strips. I know that we aren't the only ones out there that have to be meal magicians.

For instance, last week...or maybe the week before, anyway one of these weeks I had some of that once in a while chance to place myself in a grocery store completely family free and while roaming in a daze enjoying the silence there was a mom arguing with her daughter of probably around 7. She sighed and said...you have to eat something, anything besides meatballs and cottage cheese. I giggled as I walked by grabbing a box of toaster strudels. Yes, the frozen soft version of a pop tart that my son eats for breakfast almost every day.

When I was a kid my step mom would put a plate in front of me of whatever we were eating for dinner and if I whined and cried that I didn't like it then I didn't get dessert and I pretty much starved and went to bed. Remembering how miserable this made me I made a decision I would never do that to my child. Now, I change my mind. As a mom and an adult I have the right to do that. Right? Well ok, I'm not going to starve him and make such threats but I don't make separate meals anymore.

How is this working for me? Pretty good actually. What I decided to do is make dinner more interactive. By this I mean either let Jonathan help make some part of the meal or ask him how he may want something prepared or maybe he would like a particular condiment on the side. Be positive, not negative. Why raise everyone's blood pressure with threats? Really all they do is ruin your great day, give you a headache, waste precious time together (especially if your a full time working mom) and most of all give your kid a bad memory to store in that head that remembers everything. Sure, this doesn't work all the time. Afterall, Jonathan has good days and bad days just like anyone else. But it's always worth the effort. I mean really, a year ago J wouldn't go anywhere near most of the foods he eats now and by the time we finally sit down and eat, we enjoy our time together.

So next time you you are thinking of making steak or salmon and your kid says all they want is meatballs and cottage cheese, find a way to add to the meal a little bit of my favorite seasonings...Love, Patients and Ketchup!

iCarly Spagehetti Tacos

On the Nickelodeon hit show iCarly they always eat their favorite dinner, spaghetti tacos. Jonathan has been asking if I could make them for him. Tonight was the night. Here's what we did.

Ingredients:

1 box of crunchy taco shells

1 box of spaghetti (we used linguine)

1 jar of marinara

Tabasco optional

Cook the pasta. Heat up the shells according to the directions on the box. Heat the sauce. Mix the pasta with the sauce and fill the shells. I put some Tabasco on mine.

Don't knock it til' you try it. They are actually pretty good and Jonathan loved it. Any meal that is good and fun works for me.

Want portion control for the New Year...Check this out!

I get emails from Delight.com which is one of my favorite window shopping sites. I would love to buy so much from there but my money gets allocated elsewhere for other silly things such as food, rent, bills...you know, the boring stuff. lol!

So I received my daily email from them about a cake pan that has happy birthday molded into it. I thought it was cool so I went and looked at it at the website and then while I was there I found cool silicone mats that help control portions. I know that not everyone needs it and I suppose if you did and you still wanted to cheat you could pile the food in the little squares. But then that's no fun.

Anyway, this product has two factors I like a lot.

1) They are a great idea and better than measuring a portion to your palm.
2) They have a cute factor to them and I love cute!

I love Delight.com. They are definitely a site for functional cute stuff. They even sell plant pots that are The cutest Self Watering Plant Pot Ever ( I didn't make that up) and paint tube door stops!

(this is not an ad I am getting paid to write. I simply love this site!)

Eye-YI-YI

So Jonathan and Dave are on their way to school and work thanks to my mother-in-law and I sit here at home waiting for my ride to work. I couldn't drive this morning or yesterday because my contact scratched my eye. OUCH! I am so sensitive to light right now that I am sitting in front of my computer with my glasses on and my sunglasses on over them so the light from the monitor doesn't bother me. I have to be like this all day at work too. I look silly but at least I can keep my eyes open this way.

This happened to me before. A while back actually. If I just did what normal people do and take my contacts out at night and not sleep in them I would never have this problem. But I don't because I really don't like being blind in the morning when I wake-up.

I should be able to drive by this evening when I get off of work but until then I will work in pain.

Countdown to 40!

SIX MONTHS AND COUNTING!

So why is 40 so much different then 30 or 20? I don't know the answer to this but it just is. I love my birthday so this is not going to be a time of being sad and depressed. It's going to be a celebration. It's going to be a time of reflection. It's going to be a time where I take a trip to the mall to look for a better cream to reduce those new little wrinkles showing up. :P

The first picture of the year

Last night was the first time Jonathan really understood New Years Eve. He understood that after midnight it was going to be 2009 and we were putting 2008 behind us. It's funny looking through a child's eyes sometimes. Things we just know, they are just starting to really understand.

We watched the Disney channel all night because they were running a New Years Eve theme for the kids. If I made a bet on whether or not Jonathan would actually make it to midnight I would have lost. He not only stayed up until the clock turned but he was up for an additional half hour to watch a new episode of one of his favorite shows, Wizards of Waverly Place. He was tired, yes, but he was also on a mission.

So before he fell asleep I let him know that I absolutely did not want to be woken up early. I wanted to sleep until at least 9:00 am. Well that didn't happen. I woke up at 7, Jonathan was up at 8 and yes, Dave is still asleep and will probably be asleep until 10. I don't know how he can do it or why I just can't anymore?

Oh well, on to a day filled with putting away ornaments from the tree, throwing away the tree, cleaning the living room and doing laundry. What an exciting life I lead. :)