Fresh Orange Cranberry Sauce

While I haven't been updating the blog for some time I still have been cooking plenty so I will work to update this blog with about a year+ of reviews and recipes :)  My favorite thing to make on Thanksgiving is fresh cranberry sauce.

This recipe calls for:
-1/2 cup of water
-1/2 cup of sugar
-1 bag of fresh cranberries
-1 can of sliced mandarin oranges
-1 orange juiced and some grated orange peel

Add water and sugar to a sauce pan and cook on medium high heat.  Stir to combine and once sugar is dissolved add all other ingredients except the sliced oranges.  As the cranberries cook they will make an audible popping noise.  When the cranberries stop popping (this should take about 15 minutes) add oranges and cook for an additional five minutes.  Stir to combine as they are cooking.  Take off of heat and let sauce thicken for several minutes before eating.  Add additional sugar to taste as needed.

 

Cranberries cooking...

Cranberries after taken off heat and sauce thickens.

Quest Protein Chips

I had read on several blogs about Quest Protein Chips so I was pretty excited when I saw them in my local health store. I chose two flavors- the Sea Salt and Sour Cream and Onion flavors. Some information about these chips: they are gluten free, baked, have no soy, are vegetarian, have 5g of carbs, 120 calories in a bag, 15% of your DV of calcium and 21g of protein!! Another thing to know is the serving size is 32g (1 and 1/8 oz) and it cost me $2.50 per bag of chips! So a little on the pricy side! This is a review of the Sour Cream and Onion flavored chip.

Smell: like any other sour cream and onion chip out there, not to overpowering

Look: 

Definitely looks baked, not quiteas appetizing looking as you may think from the picture on the front of the bag.

Taste: I have to admit that I didn't see they were baked until I got the bag home. I am not really a fan of baked chips. That being said these had a really strong sour cream and onion flavor. This was good because it covered up the baked flavor that I am not a fan of. I think I would not like the sea salt flavor, that might be a little too plain for me.

Texture: so this one is a little weird for me , there were a lot of textures going on in this little chip. It was crunchy due to being baked, airy (there were actually pockets of air in the chip) and also had a slightly chalky reside on the chip. I am a fan of crisp and airy, not so much chalky. These chips also made my mouth a bit dry. You could put a chip in your mouth and it would just crumble also (I think this was due to the airiness). 

Grade: the chalky texture really threw me off and I am not a huge fan of baked chips so I am a little biased here. These would be better with a drink. I would give them a C.