REVIEW: Atkins Advantage Peanut Butter Granola Bar

Recently, my mum and step dad have been on a low-carb diet. I'm not a follower of the trend, but I like to watch others do take it on. Basically, in a low-carb diet, you can eat anything and everything you want, as long as it's low in carbohydrates. I know that might SOUND easy- you can eat all you want of cheese curds, string cheese, steak, chicken, pork, bacon, fish, eggs, nuts, cream, beef jerky, yogurt, milk, most vegetables, most dressings, some types of mayonnaise even, as long as they're low in sugars -and everything seems fine and dandy, but then you gotta think of everything you CAN'T eat. Pizza, bread, pasta, chips, muffins, granola bars- NO SUGAR. NO SWEETS. WHATSOEVER. Nothing even CLOSE to sweets. NOT. EVEN. CEREAL.

That would just right-out kill me! I love my precious Cinnamon Toast Crunch WAY too much to give it up. See, this diet would never work for me. And now my step dad is all bummed out, because HE can't eat any of the foods HE wants at the moment. I thought I'd never see the day where that man would get tired of cheese.

But in the darkness that is the Atkins Diet, there is a ray of light with Atkins' frozen meals and bars. And only for the low, low price of $8.29 on the Atkins site (sarcasm intended), you too can have an 8.5 ox. box of five 1.7 oz. low-carb, Peanut Butter Granola Bars. Highway robbery, I know. But at Woodman's, these only cost about $6.99, which is clearly a better deal.

Sweet and SavoRi Recipes: Easy Guacamole and Homemade Taco Seasoning!

It's Taco Night over at my house, and what's better than homemade tacos? NOTHING, that's what!!! Well, I mean, besides teriyaki chicken, ice cream, cereal, cake, sushi, spaghetti, pizza- Oh yeah, definitely pizza.
 I love pizza.
 But we're getting off topic here.
 So... yeah, there are a lot of foods I have a deeper love for than tacos, but the tacos we make at home are some of the best I've ever tasted! So, let me rephrase: There are no tacos better than the tacos made by Ri. Why? I don't buy taco seasoning- I make it from scratch! And the unbelievably good guacamole I serve on the side adds to the whole "Ri's Family Taco Experience." So here I am to give you guys a taste, with two super-easy recipes you can make straight from home!

REVIEW: Wildwood's Pasta Slim Spinach Fettucini

Many dieters avoid pasta dishes. Noodles in general, really. A serving of most pastas, (yes, even whole wheat ones), is about 200 calories. And sadly, a serving is only 2 ounces uncooked. Measure it for yourself, friends- You'll find that it is a much smaller amount than you're used to eating.
But in this day and age, more and more companies are releasing their own kinds if Tofu Shirataki Noodles. "What are those?" you may ask. Well, according to Wikipedia, "Shirataki are very low carbohydrate, low calorie, thin, translucent, gelatinous traditional Japanese noodles made from devil's tongue yam (elephant yam or the konjac yam). Largely composed of water and glucomannan, a water-soluble dietary fiber, they have little flavor of their own.There are two types of shirataki noodles sold in the United States. Traditional shirataki noodles have zero net carbohydrates, no food energy, and no gluten, and they are useful for those on low-carbohydrate diets. Tofu-based shirataki-style noodles are becoming increasingly popular in U.S. supermarkets and health food stores.

So, in a nutshell, Shirataki Noodles are a great mix-in to your regular pasta when you want really big portion sizes. Or, if you're trying to go really low-calorie/low-carb, or are gluten-intolerant, you can replace your standard wheat noodles with them altogether.
My Mama bought these while she was the grocery store, so I have no idea how much a single bag costs, but from my previous Shirataki purchases, I'd say one package of PastaSlim is close to $2.00.