The Best Oatmeal

What do you love?

Proper Good is one of my favorite companies that sell no sugar added soups that are made out of just a few ingredients (every one of them pronounceable), and they're also known for their oatmeal. They have a new caramel pecan and date oatmeal that I would love to try! It's full of chia, flax and hemp seeds, which means it takes a lot of the steps out of my smoothie-making process, too. It's made with steel cut oats and is dairy and gluten-free. 

As someone who loves oatmeal, I'd love to hear about more companies' creative takes on the food--especially in terms of flavor and sugar-cutting! Brown sugar and apple cinnamon are always my favorites, but I haven't yet found a great low-sugar take on them that I love. Quaker does have a low-sugar variety pack but I'd love to find out more flavors and brands to try.

How about you? Which oatmeal brands and flavors are your favorites? Which ones am I missing out on? Share the absolute best oatmeal you've ever had in the chat. 

Klat Categories: 
Food & Beverage

Vegetarian Swaps

What are your favorites?

While it's been years since I was a full-fledged vegetarian, I will still choose a vegetable dish over a meat-based one whenever possible. I think forgoing the meat is great for a lot of reasons, from environmental and ethical ones to simply getting more veggies in your body. Most of us don't get enough of them as it is, so it's a good idea to increase the amount of veggies we eat even if we remain omnivorous.

These days there are so many veggie-based alternatives that it's so much fun to try to make them at home. My trouble is keeping them low-carb; I usually can, but many vegetarian dishes are high in carbs--especially if they utilize any kind plant-based meat replacement or crust. Take this Wellington, for example--what a creative idea! While I love it, I'd have to come up with some way to make it with a low-carb crust, or even no crust at all, which just isn't as tasty.

What vegetarian swaps have you found to be most successful? I'd love to especially hear of any low-carb versions you've been able to make in the chat!

Klat Categories: 
Food & Beverage

Cotton Candy Grapes Season

What other finds do you live this time of year?

Last week I received a notice that cotton candy grapes are back in season, which left my mouth absolutely watering. I cannot wait to get my hands on some of these! We bought some for an event that really doesn't seem very long ago, and I managed to pilfer a single grape before putting them on the table to share. I'd love to get some just for me--the rest of my family doesn't like them much--but they are SO big. I need to find a place that sells smaller packages.

Never heard of them? I first learned about cotton candy grapes fairly recently myself. They are a white grape with all the same nutritional properties you'll find in other white grapes. Grapery, the company that breeds them, is set to make all kinds of interesting grapes for humans of the modern world--even gummy bear-like grapes! This could be revolutionary for people with a sweet tooth. Grapes aren't that low in sugar, but they're certainly a lot lower than the candies they are starting to taste like!

What other seasonal treats do you look forward to this year? Share your favorite finds in the chat. 

Klat Categories: 
Food & Beverage
Desserts/Sweets

December Treats and Eats

What are you excited to try?

December has some of the yummiest treats available in our area. Whether it's the menu items returning at favorite restaurants or just the pomegranates now available at Aldi, it's a very exciting time to nosh! These are just a few of my family's favorite December eats and treats...

Hot chocolate flavored everything! We have a few local eateries that make hot chocolate shakes or coffee drinks, which we LOVE. Dairy Queen also has a hot cocoa Blizzard with peppermint that might be available in more areas.

Gingerbread flavors! My favorite little coffee shop has these, and this year so does Baskin Robbins! They have Gingerbread flavored ice cream, complete with gingersnap pieces, peppermint and confetti icing. That sounds pretty amazing. They also have a new Snowman cake.

Sugar cookie everything. This is my favorite flavor and I love to get an iced sugar cookie coffee at Starbucks this year and add some vanilla cold brew to it. YUM. 

I also love to just get some peppermint patties this month and have them handy for munching.

What are you most excited about sampling this season? Do you have any special family rituals, recipes or places to visit where you enjoy something together? Share it in the chat!

Klat Categories: 
Desserts/Sweets
Dining Out

Little Bites for Big Holiday Fun

What are you making?

Small bites are my favorite foods, hands down. I really wish there were a neighborhood near me where I could just go out for wine and tapas like I did when I lived in Spain, where I had some of the best food of my life. That's what makes it special though, right? We can still make plenty of tiny bites for our holiday feasts and snacking, though, like these tangy meatballs. I'd eat them whether it's a holiday or not!

This year I'm in LOVE with these tiny cheeseballs. Normally we make big ones and serve them with crackers but check out these festive bite-sized minis! They are so pretty, too. The site has a bunch of other goodies, too, like tiny baked mac and cheese bites and little sun-dried pesto bites in tiny pastry shells. If I wasn't in the holiday spirit minutes ago, I am after browsing through these recipes!

What tiny bites are you planning on serving at your holiday party? Share them in the chat!

Klat Categories: 
Food & Beverage

Cookie Butter Recipes

What are your best recipes using cookie butter?

Every year for my birthday, we go to Trader Joe's and get some gorgeous soup dumplings, along with a few other snacks. Then I get to read or play in my journal with said snacks and it's, well, glorious. It might sound silly, but TJ's is a bit of a trek for us. It's less than an hour away, but it's not near any of our usual stops, so lately it's even rarer for us to stop by. We really need one in town (much more than we need all of the fast food chains popping up around here!), but until then, it's one of my annual quests.

On said quest, I also typically get some cookie butter for us all to enjoy. I'm happy to spoon that stuff out and eat it, but there are just SO many great things to make with it, from mug cakes to shakes to this list of 30 awesome ideas. And I know that's just the tip of the iceberg. So while I have some in the house, I'd love to try something new, which is where you come in.

What are your favorite cookie butter recipes? What is something you like to make when you have some in the house that you think is really unique and yummy? Share your recipes in the chat!

Klat Categories: 
Food & Beverage
Desserts/Sweets
Home Cooking

The Best Pancakes of Them All

What's your not-so-secret recipe?

When it comes to pancakes, we all have our preferences. Many people love them big and fluffy. I'm in the thin and crispy camp. My mom had to make them for a house full of nine people growing up, so she'd make them that way on purpose to get the most out of the batter. I didn't know that. I only knew that I loved that crispy edge! It's like funnel cake.

As an adult, now I know that I also love good flavored pancakes and syrup. We never had those as kids--and let's face it, as kids we might not have liked them anyway--but as a parent I've experimented with blueberries and chocolate chips with my own kiddo, who loves both. We've also tried toppings like cinnamon streusel. My favorite pancakes have to be pumpkin-flavored pancakes, but I also love apple, funfetti (yes, from the box!) and cinnamon-swirl. There's not a pancake I've met that I haven't liked (as long as it isn't too thick!). 

What kinds of pancakes do you specialize in at home? What is your favorite pancake recipe or topping? Share your favorites in the chat.

Klat Categories: 
Food & Beverage
Vegetarian / Vegan
Home Cooking
Recipes
Desserts/Sweets

New Dumplings at Target

Just in time for fall!

The soup dumplings at Trader Joe's are one of my all-time favorite foods. Every year I get some to microwave for my birthday and taste their warm comfort, savoring their flavor as well as the feeling they bring. Oh, they are good. If you haven't tried them, please do! And if you don't have a TJ's around (it's a trek for me), you can actually try them at Target this year!

This is such exciting news. I cannot wait to try Target's version of my fave dumplings and see if they're like the ones that TJ's carries. If so, I may be in trouble because they'll be so close to home! I definitely want to keep them as a special treat, just so I won't get sick of them. Target has a few other new goodies as well, like these three-cheese meatballs and chicken dip!

What other fun food finds have you seen this fall? Any new flavors, soups or even fall advent calendars? Share them in the chat. 

Klat Categories: 
Food & Beverage

Happy Pumpkin Day!

What pumpkin foods do you love?

It's Pumpkin Day, a great day to carve pumpkins and enjoy your favorite pumpkin goodies! This year we were able to get some really big pumpkins to carve and we are still having trouble deciding just what we want to carve!

We also have plenty of pumpkin goodies to enjoy, from cookies and cereal to a pumpkin log we took to one of our Halloween celebrations this month. I've also got some sugar-free pumpkin syrup that we've been using to create all kinds of goodies, from pumpkin lattes to ice cream!

And don't forget: if you don't love pumpkin goodies, you can always get something pumpkin-shaped! Many companies, like Papa Murphy's, sell items like pizza in pumpkin shapes, and you can ask many bakeries to make some if they don't already. Plain sugar cookies look adorable as pumpkins!

What are your favorite pumpkin goodies to eat? Share them and any of your favorite recipes in the chat.

Klat Categories: 
Food & Beverage

Foodie Shows During Halloween Season

Which do you watch?

Every year it seems like more celebrities join the Food Network (as well as other networks) to join in the Halloween festivities. Among many other celebrities, Alyson Hannigan is joining in this year, which makes me want to tune in even more than I previously did--although I'd still watch some of these Halloween programs no matter what!

The best, in my opinion anyway, is always Halloween Wars. Seeing what the teams come up with each year around different scary themes is always SO much fun. I'm amazed by what the culinary artists can come up with, whether it's sugar glass or incredible shading with an airbrush.

It does seem as if they've tried to make it more dramatic than it needs to be lately--like the time they held onto a team that never won any challenges or did well because (I think!) there was so much drama between the teammates. I do hope to see more of the art and less of the bickering this year.

What is your favorite food-related Halloween program? Share your favorites in the chat.

Klat Categories: 
Food & Beverage

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