Madlen's Delight - A Delightfully Unique Snack

I discovered Madlen’s Delight while browsing the Farmer’s Market at the             hospital where Thomas had his surgery a few weeks ago.

Their booth was attractive – very colorful and bright. The two women working it were friendly and open to me as I walked up to the booth. They had samples available of all their products (except for the Almond because they had sold out!). I asked to taste each one and they gladly obliged.

OMG. They were DELICIOUS!

As I tasted their product I was told by the mother-daughter team that their treats are made with organic brown rice syrup, organic coconut oil, and organic coconut sugar. They also mentioned something that was really the selling point for me:  low glycemic index.

Both my parents are diabetic and so this would be a great snack for them.

As I mentioned, the company consists of a mother and daughter who are currently making the product in their home kitchen. They have 4 different flavors:

Cashew Crunch

Sesame Crunch

Almond Crunch

Pepitas Crunch

My friend and I sat down to try the different flavors, I was curious to see each of our opinions on the products.

Cashew Crunch –

Kathy: The Cashew Crunch starts with a slightly sweet flavor of the coconut sugar glaze and then the cashew flavor comes through. At first I thought I would want more of the sweet flavor because the cashew flavor is strong, but after trying it again later on it felt like the perfect combination.

Dante:  This is her favorite nut so she knew this would be her favorite immediately. Unlike me, Dante tasted a lot of sweetness and less of the cashew flavor. She definitely gave this one a thumbs up!

I then shared the Cashew Crunch with another friend who told me beforehand that she did not like cashews. After trying all the flavors she said that the Cashew Crunch was her favorite!

Sesame Crunch –

Kathy: I’m not too familiar with eating sesame (other than on burger buns) so I was interested to try something new. It definitely has a unique taste. It is nice and light and I feel like it has a toasted flavor.

Dante:  She felt like the flavor was robust. She could taste the sweetness and the sesame pretty evenly. She said it was airy and light.

Almond Crunch –

Kathy: I’m not a huge almond lover but this was very tasty and has a good crunch. The coconut sugar made it sweet, however it doesn’t have a strong almond taste. This can either be good or bad, depending on your likes. I found it good, especially compared to how much the cashew crunch still tasted like cashews to me.

Dante: She found it slightly hard and crunchy, and least in comparison to the others. Unlike me, she tasted more of the almond and less sweetness. She felt like it had a bitter after taste.

Pepita Crunch –

Kathy: This is the flavor that I liked the best. It’s not a seed that I’ve had before but I am not definitely a fan of it. I like its uniqueness and the sweetness.

Dante: She found the Pepita Crunch smooth with a flaky type of feel and that it comes apart easily – but not in a bad way.

My friend and I rated the four kinds in the order we would chose them – we would buy any of them again, because they are ALL delicious.

You can purchase any of these flavors at: http://www.madlensdelight.com.

I also wanted to wish my husband a VERY happy birthday today! He is the big 3-0! He caught up to me in age - at least for the next 6 months! 

Earth Balance Reivew

It's okay that I chose something organic and delicious to cook! It's also okay that it was free! 

I received a coupon for a free Earth Balance product, however all opinions are mine alone. 

At Wal*Mart they had 4 different options in the butter section. I went back and forth over them. They had the Original, Soy, and Organic and then the Coconut spread.

I love coconut flavors. My mother-in-law always made a delicious onion mushroom combination using coconut oil and I loved it. Maybe I could replicate the taste with this one! I grabbed it off the shelf immediately.

I’ve been counting calories for weight loss lately and so what I usually eat as a side to my main dish is cut up onions and mushrooms – both are very low in calories. I usually sautee them with a little bit of olive oil, which is 120 calories per tablespoon. This spread is only 100! Score! (The original is only 80!). I used 1 – 1 ½  tablespoons to cook enough onions and mushrooms for 2 servings (at least).

I melted half the spread and then added the onions and finally the mushrooms. After cooking it for a couple of minutes I went ahead and added the other half of the spread on top and let it simmer for another 15 minutes or so (while I finished cooking the rest of my meal and my husbands’).

The verdict was that it was DELICIOUS! The onions and mushrooms had the perfect amount of coconut flavor. It added the extra oomph that the side dish needed to make me not grow tired of it. I will definitely use it again for my next batch.

I will try to cut the amount I use and see if it still tastes good so that I can cut down on the calories I eat. If there were any way for them to cut the calories by 10 or 20 it would make me happier, but I will definitely buy it again!

Year in Review

I have had an incredible year and I am sad to see it go.

If you follow my blog at all you probably know what I’m talking about. It was a year full of joy, family, happiness, traveling, love and sadness as well.

The best way to do this for me is to go on a month by month basis.

J A N U A R Y

A lot of the beginning of 2014 was spent getting ready for my wedding. At this point we were still unsure about where we would get married, but we finally settled on a church not too far away and having the reception at my in-law’s house.  In January my invitations arrived and I started the fairly complicated process of getting them put together, addressed, and stamped.

F E B R U A R Y

M A R C H

On the 19^th the Red Cross came to work and I donated blood, something I enjoy doing.

My nieces came to visit this month (one of 4 during the year!)

This started out like any other month, but it was the beginning of the end for my sister. She went into the hospital on the 28^th for emergency intestinal surgery. The bridal shower my in-laws gave me was that weekend and my mom was able to attend.  It was a very nice party and I’m so grateful that my husbands’ cousin and aunt went through so much work just for me.

My mom celebrated her birthday in the hospital with my sister.  (picture of mom in hospital/cake) My sister was released the next day.

A P R I L

What a month! April is my wedding month. It was a world wind! It started off with my sister coming home from the hospital on the 1^st – her birthday. Only to be rushed back less than a week later because of incredible pain. She was admitted and after a rough couple of days she was finally transferred to another hospital where she would stay for the next 45 days in the ICU.

Thomas and I also closed escrow on our condo on 4/11/14, 2 weeks before getting married.

At work I was given a bridal shower as well. It was nice to feel so loved by my co-workers!

Between trips to the hospitals my mom continued to help me finish planning my wedding. There were a lot of details that had to be completed. It all came together nicely. My parents-in-law hosted a nice rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding and the wedding itself was more than I can describe. It definitely can be described as the best day of my life. Of course, it continues to be a bittersweet day. My sister wasn’t able to make it.

M A Y

Although we got married in April, we pushed our honeymoon back a couple of weeks, partly because my cousin was actually on vacation and I wanted to make sure that I got to see her (she’s one of my closest cousins).  We headed out in late May for a 2 week trip to Argentina. It was an AMAZING trip. We got to see incredible places and I got to see my family – which I hadn’t seen in over  6 years.

J U N E

I started the month by getting a perm! I love it! 

Time for the WORLD CUP! In June we started our dedicated watching of all things futbol! Even though Argentina eventually lost in the finals, it was a great cup and we had a ton of fun watching the games.

I also took the kids to a couple of Movies Under the Stars – events sponsored by our City Councilman. The kids get free things and we get to enjoy a movie outside.

We also were able to spend Father's Day with my dad and my entire immediate family - a rare occurrence to have us all together (of course, without my sister who had recently passed).

J U L Y

All through the summer I worked on getting my house put together. (It still isn’t). I did put up decorations on one wall – pictures from our honeymoon.

A U G U S T

This month I decided I wanted some homemade Gnocchi. I had made it previously and it’s not too hard to do and they end up being delicious. I made so many, though, that I gave half to my brother.

Thomas and I both ended up buying new cars in August. I got a Chevy Equinox and Thomas got a Prius.

S E P T E M B E R

We had a late summer in Los Angeles. The heat continued long into the fall. We spent a lot of time at the pool to cool off.

My sister in law invited me to a “green” convention. We worked it and which gave us free entrances. It was a nice, small, convention – but we got a lot of freebies and I found some Christmas presents for my sister-in-laws.

Thomas spent most of the month away from home, but we did get a chance to go to the LA County Fair!

O C T O B E R

This is SUCH a busy month. It started out with my and my dad’s birthday. On the 3^rd I threw my dad a surprise birthday party. My sister and her family came from Northern California and I got a bunch of my dad’s co-workers to come celebrate with us. My in-law’s also came. My dad was surprised and it turned out into a nice afternoon.

Thomas and I went to a pumpkin patch on the 11^th. It was a nice patch that had been around for 10 years, unfortunately the landlords kicked them out and this was the last year. We had fun picking out pumpkins and also going through some haunted houses.

On the 14^th my mom and I took the kids to Disneyland for the Mickey Mouse Halloween Party. Basically we got to go on all the rides we wanted to and the we also got to do some trick or treating in the park. We all (okay, my mom didn’t) dressed up.

A few days later Thomas and I headed out to a camping trip with his family to El Capitan State Beach. This is the 2^nd time I went camping with this family and I absolutely love it. I love the campfire and the togetherness. 

I also saw the kids in the Halloween Parade at school and then took them trick-or-treating that night. It was a great night!

N O V E M B E R

During our camping trip, Thomas and I were talking to one of his cousins and they invited us to go to Disneyland with them. His cousin is working for Disney so they were able to get us in for free. It was a great time there and I very much enjoyed seeing all the Christmas decorations. (Yes, I went to Disneyland twice this year!).

Thanksgiving was another great holiday. We enjoyed a great time with Thomas’ family.

Over the weekend after Thanksgiving Thomas and I went to buy our first Christmas tree together. I never had real trees growing up and I was so excited to finally get one!  (It did end up dying pretty quickly, but I so enjoyed having it!).

D E C E M B E R

We started the month our by getting a puppy! I had to convince Thomas, who is not an animal person. Our puppy, Lance, is adorable and I’m very happy with him.  I wanted an adult dog, though, because I didn’t want to go through training him. And training is definitely becoming the most difficult part of being a fur mom. The pee is EVERYWHERE. Luckily he hasn’t learned to pee with his leg up so the furniture is safe (although he did pee on the couch once when we had just got him).

I went to the local holiday parade with the kids and my mom.

Thomas and I enjoyed decorating our house for Christmas this month and then culminating the month with spending Christmas Eve at his parent’s house. My parents and brother with his family came to my in –law’s and we all celebrated together with a long White Elephant game.

We don’t usually do anything for New Years, but this year one of Thomas’ family members invited us over for some board games as we ring in the new year!