Category Archives: Food

What’s On the Menu? What’s Off the Menu?

I am participating in a sponsored campaign for Beano. I received Beano products and compensation in exchange for my participation. The opinions stated here are my own.

We talked a few weeks ago about what was off the menu for me. Namely, dairy, raw veggies and spicy foods. Now, while probiotics have helped immensely, and I’ve actually been able to enjoy salad for lunch lately sometimes like a normal desk warrior, dairy AND raw veggies remains hit or miss.

Beano challenged me to try their Beano+ Dairy Defense product, to see if it’d help me feel better. Game on.

Dig Inn Buckwheat + Meatballs=yum

We get catered lunch several days a week from Dig Inn, and their delicious, healthy fibrous food can sometimes just be a little much for my delicate flower stomach. I decided to try it on this day when we had meatballs (YUM), bulgur and kale. The natural enzymes in the tablets target both complex carbohydrates (the ones that are good for you, but whose fiber content can sometimes be too much) and dairy.

Although we don’t talk about it (uh, unless we’re runners, and all bets are off), a recent survey by Beano found that more than 70 million Americans suffer from some kind of digestive issue and 75 percent of female respondents in this same survey said they’d had problems with vegetables, beans, whole grains and dairy from time to time.

WELL, GUYS, THE BEANO WORKED.

So I decided to challenge it further with some dairy.

RED MANGO IT IS!

I scream, you scream, we all scream...for Red Mango and Beano?

Though fro-yo is lower in lactose, it still gives me trouble sometimes, and I prefer for it to be a private treat rather than a treat with friends in case it upsets my stomach, unfortunately.

BUT IT WORKED! I felt a-okay afterwards. Is this for the best? That I can eat all the fro-yo I want with a side of Beano? Unclear, but it’s nice to know that it’s an option available to me. In all seriousness, I typically try to avoid the foods that don’t make me feel my best, but it’s nice to have the possibility of having some of these foods when I really want them.

IT’S GIVEAWAY TIME!

I know I’m not the only one with digestive issues, so I gots some Beano for ya!

Enter via the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blue Apron Taught Me a Little Bit About Cooking

My cooking skills are pretty limited. I’m sure I could be a decent cook if I tried, but by the time I get home from work, cooking for one person, cooking some elaborate meal is not a priority. Eating immediately is.

Most of my meals are so, so simple: some sort of protein, some sort of healthy-ish starch and some sort of veggie. Whatever. It works.

I’d heard of Blue Apron, and it sounded super-fancy, expensive and way beyond my basic cooking skills. It’s a delivery service where all the ingredients are delivered straight to you for three meals that serve two people for $60. One of my coworkers is friends with one of the Blue Apron people, and she had some free meals to give out, so I thought it was totally worth a try.

I got a box before the holidays, and made the Mexican meal because it was the easiest, and my favorite, and froze the rest.

Another box came the other day, and once again, I went for the Mexican. If you are what you eat, I am a taco. This dish was a Mexican tortilla soup. I was sick; it was Mexican. Perfect.

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Each meal comes with these handy-dandy recipe cards. (I threw out the recipe cards with my first box, and if you do that, you can still access the recipes on their website.)

 

Also, their social media person is ON POINT.

It’s really hard to not just eat the cheese, you know?

 

Blue Apron Recipe Card

They give you really easy-to-follow directions, illustrated at each major step.

I like that the service teaches you new techniques and ideas, as well as gives you plating and styling ideas. 99% of the time I’m cooking for myself, but these are still good things to know.

Blue Apron Tortilla Soup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m happy with how the finished product turned out. I’ll never be a food blogger, but I made something tasty, and it really wasn’t that hard. Also, there is avocado in it. It is hard to go wrong with avocado. They said it was two portions, but I’ve already had two servings, and there is plenty left for a third…even after snacking on some of it on tortilla chips. And I don’t have a dainty appetite, so it’s impressive how filling it is.

I actually won’t be continuing with the service just because it’s pretty rare for me to have time in a week to make three pretty involved meals like this, but it’s a really cool idea. What I’m not crazy about is that you sign up and are automatically renewed every week, rather than opting into it when you want it. I get it from a business perspective, but I’m not ready to commit to it yet. #commitmentissues

They ship to all of the East and West Coasts, and some of the states in the middle, but not all of them. (Sorry, guys.)

Would you try a service like this? How comfortable are you in the kitchen? (How did you learn to cook?)