Love/Hate

This is one of those times that I love having a blog! It gives me a place to vent. Today, I'm going to vent two LOVES and one HATE. [FYI-I have not been approached by any of these companies, nor am I getting a kick-back for talking about them :) I just have strong feelings about them (good and bad) and want to share]

First, I signed up for an on-line calendar last week, and I LOVE it. It's called Cozi.com. I love it because....
*It's web-based, so I can open it anywhere (home, school, phone, etc.)
*Color-coding (everyone in our family has a color)
*Aesthetics-It's colorful, but clean looking. See?*Grocery list-You can keep your list on line, print it out, or even dial a phone number to have it sent to you via text when you forget your list at home! (I haven't used this yet, but I might!)
*Family Journal feature (haven't used it yet, but how cool is that?)
*It is almost ready to be synced with Outlook (There a bugs with this; I would wait a few months to try this feature, but they're working on it, so some day, you'll be able to easily transfer work stuff to the home calendar.)

So, that's that.
Now for the HATE. If you see this,run like the devil! Do not buy H---- "Compleats," unless you're a huge fan of flavors not typically associated with food. I was hopeful when purchasing the Swedish Meatballs and the Chicken Breasts & Gravy. However, both varieties are just plain nasty. They not only look nothing like the photos on the packaging, but they both have a strange taste that I have a hard time articulating. I guess it's just safe to say that the "flavor" is like no food I have ever eaten. I called the company to express my distaste (What a perfect word!) for the products and was told, "Well, these products are quite popular. As a matter of fact, we are expanding operations in order to accommodate the demand." I have no idea who, other than rabid dogs and people with no taste buds, would be "demanding" the products I tasted. (I'm just sayin'.)

Mr.4444 said, "Well, what do you expect when you buy a "shelf stable" product. (He sells factory automation, so he's been in a few factories and knows food industry lingo.) I don't know what I was thinking. He warned me years ago about a certain canned "Beef" Stew, having visited the factory and swearing off of the product for the rest of his life as a result. If you like stew in a can (the name rhymes with "minty whore,") I suggest you stop reading right here.

Okay, don't say I didn't warn you. For the rest of you, Mr.4444 warned that the "beef" in that canned stew is not "meat as we know it." In the factory, he passed vats of beautiful-looking vegetables and gravy before coming to a huge vat of "meat protein," otherwise known as "anything left after the bones and steak are removed from the cow; "anything that's not hair or skin." he described it as a "big vat of pink." They grind it all up, add a chemical to make it "stringy and meat-like," dye it a meatish color, and then shove it through a screen to make "cubes of meat." (I sure wish I didn't know that, because I loved that stew. BTW, the "Swedish" meatballs? They looked/felt suspiciously like the "beef" in that stew.)

Okay, I'm going to wrap this up with another LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. If you like a nice, healthy, guilt-free but yummy snack, try these. I am now addicted to these vegetables (yes, vegetables!)I've seen them sold in slightly different packaging, and they were equally delicious. (Click pic for details.)

So there you go; you know what to eat, what not to eat, and where to record your grocery list. Happy Shopping!