FS: Chocolate Pudding

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Snack Pack Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients: Water, Nonfat Milk, Sugar, Modified Corn Starch, Vegetable Oil (Contains One or More of the Following: Palm Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Sunflower Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil), Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Less than 2% of: Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Artificial Flavors, Color Added.
Snack Pack Reduced Calorie Sugar-Free Chocolate Pudding Ingredients: Water, Maltitol, Modified Corn Starch, Nonfat Milk (Adds an Insignificant Amount of Sugar), Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Vegetable Oil (Contains One or More of the Following: Palm Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Sunflower Oil, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil), Erythritol, Less than 2% of: Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Milk Protein Isolate, Carrageenan, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Artificial Flavors, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium.
Snack Pack Fat Free Chocolate Pudding Ingredients: Water, Nonfat Milk, Sugar, Modified Corn Starch, Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Less than 2% of: Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Carrageenan, Artificial Flavors, Color Added.

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Let's talk about the ingredients for a minute. Typically, the fat-free products tend to have more ingredients to make them more like the original, but in this case its the opposite! The original pudding has more junk in it that I'd be concerned about. Partially Hydrogenated oils are bad for you altogether so thats a no right there. On the bright side, according to the MSDS sheet for Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, it has a "low level of toxicity" and presents "very little hazard if swallowed". At least its somewhat edible. It is a food emulsifier (makes things thicker) so I guess its not too bad but I don't trust anything that you refer to by its chemical make up. But I'll let this one slide. The oil is still getting to me though.

I expected the "reduced calorie" one to be bad because it was sugar free. Sucralose is common although I avoid it like the plague. I have heard/read horrible things about Acesulfame Potassium. I avoid that the most out of all artifical sweetenerss so there's a no for me right there! The rest of the ingredients are similar to the original.

The Fat Free (although fat isn't bad for you), seems to be the best! Its got the least amount of crazy ingredients. I've discussed Carrageenan before which is made from seaweed and is considered to be super safe by most people. I've never seen a question about it being bad for you so I will go with safe. Also, I looked up Modified Corn Starch and that also had nothing bad about it anywhere. Calcium Carbonate is simply a calcium supplement. Eating it excessively is bad but isn't everything? I think this is generally safe.

Let's look at the nutrition!

The serving size is according to the little snack pack cups. I don't know if they are the same size or not but who is going to eat .75 of one? Not me! LoL. So oviously, the original has the most calories and the fat free and sugar free are pretty close so unless you are diabetic, I don't see a reason to get the sguar free yet. Also notice that the fat free has the most protein! Wow! I know a lot of people complain about getting enough protein so there ya go. Get it from your pudding. Haha! Also, according to my reference, there are 9 grams of "sugar alcohol" in the sugar-free one. According to wikipedia, they are used in place of sugar along with artifical sweeteners. I don't know what kind of affect this would have on a diabetic. It seems they don't cause extreme sugar spikes. There is also a warning that people who have had gastric bypass should eat it becaue it causes "dumping" when basically the food isn't digested in the stomach. Hm. Anyway!



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I definitely think that the Snack Pack Fat-Free Chocolate Pudding is the clear winner here. For once, that fat free product is actually better than the regular! Woah! Ok, now I want me some pudding...



Local Eats: Gourmet Italian Cuisine

This week has been crazy.  Rob and I went to this restaurant a few days ago.  We love going here but its a little out of the way for us so we don't go often.  It just has nice atmosphere.  Think upscale bar.  We always sit in the lounge/bar area and not the main dining room.  We also had our rehearsal dinner for our wedding here.

They give you a delicious selection of bread with an herb butter on the side.  The sour dough was my favorite!


One of my favorite things is that they have a healthy menu with calories, fat, protein, and carb content!

I decided I wanted pasta so I got the Chicken and Asparagus which comes with penne.  Delicious!!!

It was one of the higher choices on the healthy heart menu but I was happy with it!  Its definitely something I love about the restaurant.  A lot of times, I'm afraid to eat at local places because I have no idea what I'm eating.  They are very straight forward here about it which makes it especially easy for me since I track my food.  Its also nice to know that they use healthy ingredients in these choices too!

Anyway, I definitely recommend this place.  I love the bar area like I said.  You can dine in just wearing jeans and a tee and feel totally comfortable.  I just wish it was closer to my house!  Oh, and the price?  Not bad at all.  Rob's (huge serving of) chicken parmesan was about $15 and my dish (since it is a smaller serving size) was only $10.99.  Can't beat that!  You get the classy feel of an upscale restaurant without having to pay an arm and a leg!

324 South Pitney Road
Galloway, NJ 08205-9628
(609) 748-2400

Local Eats: Rama Thai

This week, a friend and I headed to Rama Thai for some delicious food for my birthday!  I often go to this restaurant for lunch with coworkers since its close, quick, and rather cheap.  The atmosphere is nice but not stuffy inside.  The staff is extremely friendly and always warm and welcoming!

I ordered the Thai Tea this time to give it a go.  I felt like splurging a little.  According to Wikipedia, it is tea with spices, milk, and sugar.  According to me, its delicious!  Also, look at the cool way they wrap the straw wrappers around the straw.  I wonder how they do that, how long it takes, and if they have a full time person just sitting in the back wrapping straws!  LoL.

For dinner, Jess ordered the Pineapple fried rice with chicken and shrimp.  There is something I love about warm pineapple!  I definitely stole a bit or two.  Also, that is one huge mound of rice!  We both had leftovers for the next day :-)

I ordered the Red Curry for dinner which has bamboo shoots, peppers, green beans, carrots, and spinach in it.  I ordered mine with chicken and it also came with rice on the side.  I ordered it "medium" heat.  Oh how I love the red curry!  Its my usual.  I also like the green and haven't ordered the yellow here.




 I absolutely love going to Rama Thai.  They really do have a great atmosphere and the food is amazing.  It is always so fresh and healthy.  Also, its not expensive at all.  For lunch, it is $7.99 for the red curry with chicken.  For dinner (bigger portion) it is $12.99.  Can't beat that!  Definitely a must go in the area!

Rama Thai
3003 English Creek Ave # A5
Egg Harbor Twp, NJ 08234-4800
(609) 677-1004

Local Eats: Romanelli's On the Greene

In case you haven't noticed, we really like to eat out for breakfast.  LoL.  Today, we really didn't want to hit the usual locations, so we had to think of something new.  I mentioned that I saw a place by my doctor's office but wasn't sure it was any good.  We figured why not?

First off, it was VERY busy!  But they had plenty of tables when we got there.  When we left, there was an actual wait!  You usually don't see that at breakfast places!  Second, look at that huge cup of coffee!  They know the way to my heart already (but at $1.99 for coffee, they better give me a huge cup too.  Hm)



Rob and I both ordered things off the specials menu.  He got the frosted flake french toast and I got the apple cinnamon pancakes.  I thought the apples would be baked in but they came on top.  That is fine too.  Rob's had lots of fruit piled on top.

 Both were very delicious!  I was happy with mine and the pancakes soaked up the sauce they put the apples in (cinnamon and sugar type sauce).  The apples were fresh and not baked (i.e. still crunchy).  Everything was very good and I'm sure we'll go back!  Total, our bill was about $22.  Quite a bit more than most other places we go but we have to remember we both got the specials which may have been a bit more.  Then again, $2 for coffee was a little much.  Maybe this will be a treat and not every weekend?  Still good though!!

Romanelli's On the Greene
210 New Road # 13
Linwood, NJ 08221
(609) 926-5477

Local Eats: Sunryser Restaurant & Deli

Today, Rob and I decided to head over to the Bakery at Historic Smithville so we could eat and then walk around.  On the way there, we remembered about this little place we've driven by before but never stopped so we decided to check it out (and stay for breakfast as long as they took Visa!). 

I fell in love with the place the second we walked in!  It definitely has that "Country Store" feel as it says on the sign.  It was absolutely adorable and gave that old farmhouse warn feeling.  Even all the tables were the old fashioned metal kind with fancy designs.  We had a lovely view from our table too of the greenery outside through simple lace curtains!

The food wasn't too bad either!  Not amazing but I've had really bad breakfast food before and this wasn't bad at all.  I got the veggie omelet with rye toast.  The homefries were delicious though!  We will definitely be stopping here again.  It wasn't too expensive.  My omelet with homefries, toast, and coffee was $7.25.  Can't wait to go again!  Worth going out of the way too :)

Sunryser Restaurant
632 N Shore Road
Absecon, NJ 08201
609-641-2919

Local Eats: Jalapenos & Salads Co.

Today's stop was Jalapenos & Salads Co, a local burrito, taco, and salad place.  This opened only a few months ago and I love it!  We go often for lunch with coworkers.  Even today, we met my friend from work for lunch (even though Rob and I took off today).  Moving on! 

The inside is pretty darn cute.  The first time I went, I thought it must be a chain because it was so nice inside!  Well, its local, a second location of the original that is in Margate, NJ.







I really love their tacos here, usually hard shelled beef, but today I decided chicken soft tacos sounded good and I was right!  They were absolutely delicious!  I got spicy chicken with lettuce, tomato, and cilantro mix (has cilantro, red onions, and peppers diced up).  I was seriously in heaven.  Oh, and I love that they have salads too so I can drag the guys who want junk and I can still eat healthy!

I also got the side of beans which were pretty good and kind of light.  They weren't your usual heavy cooked beans.  I only picked at them.  Then, one of the workers came around with free samples of their strawberry, pineapple, coconut smoothie.  Yum!!  Bonus points for free samples :)

As you can tell, I highly reccomend this place!  Its our go to for a cheap, healthy meal.  Rob and I both got the 3 tacos deal.  He got a soft drink and I got the combo (with side and drink).  It was about $15 for the two of us!  It was more than enough food.  Definitely a must if you are in the area!

Jalapenos & Salads Co.
Shore Mall
6725 Black Horse Pike
Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234
609-646-3300

Food Review: Goat's Milk

I picked this up randomly at the store just because it was interesting.  And that's a good way to describe it too: interesting.  Its not bad but not like regular milk.  Its more like watery yogurt.  It has a taste that is somewhere between yogurt and goat's cheese.  I was only able to drink about half of this before it was just too much.  Since its so thick it is hard to drink.  I am glad I tried it though!  Don't know what I'd use it for but just having a glass isn't very appealing to me.  Some people might like it like that though!