Product review: TomYam Rice Snacks, sweet Rice Snacks.

This is one of those Trader Joe's products I discovered while wandering the aisles in a PMS mood. (MUNCHIES! Sweet and spicy?! Yay!)

NAY!

I opened the bag this morning. They are individually packaged, with each little snack nestled in its own little pouch. They are then placed in a plastic tray and finally sealed in the bag.

Broke one out. Open the wrapper. Scent of lemon wafted up at me. Wafted? Too light a word. Blasted is more like it. No wonder these are hermetically sealed. I decided to try one.

Who put lemon scented dish detergent on this snack? All I can taste is overpowering lemon. Dried lemongrass isn't usually this pungent (nor is the fresh I've used). It takes a lot to get this whammo of lemon. Ten minutes later, writing this, I still taste mostly lemon. It would have been good had they not overdosed on the lemon. And it wasn't even a lemon party in my mouth, it was LEMON lemon lemon lemon, more lemon, with a hint of chili and a few cashews.

I may reverse-engineer this, and come up with something similar, but better-tasting, on my own.

The sweet Rice Snacks I only saw once, bought them, and then they went poof. I wasn't thrilled though. I was expecting something a little more interesting than what tasted like a plain, ordinary rice cake with a drizzle of caramel. These too are individually packaged within the package.

So far, not thrilled. Either with the packaging of the snacks, or the flavors. Because we all need more snacks that contribute plastic, plastic and more packaging to the environment. And its either flavorless or painful.

Excuse me...I have to go rinse my mouth out with my lavender dish soap. It would taste better than this stuff. I feel like I ate an artificial lemon.

Losing weight wheat-free...

I'm trying to lose weight. I love food. I love to eat. And it makes it more difficult to lose when gluten-free products are all high-fat, high-sugar, low-fiber. And they all feel like they need something on top to make them palatable. And combined with the fact that you can't get anything in a reasonable serving size... I would love to be able to get ONE cookie, or a slice of cake. Because I do have a sweet tooth, but having to bake mass quantities? Or buy a whole box for one cookie? (I do that, and the rest of the box goes stale or develops moths).

So I'm trying to go low-gluten, high fiber. I've cut out cheese for Lent, since cheese had become my to-go grab and eat snack. I'm trying to have fruit and yogurt for breakfast. I'm trying to eat more whole grains and beans for lunches, and sensible dinners. I'm trying to make foods that create leftovers. Mousaka was my latest. In honor of St Patty's Day, I should probably have picked up cabbage and made a stuffed one. Eating more like I did growing up, lots of rice, fruit, veggies with meat flavor... I'm going to try to experiment with salads this summer...

I really want to come up with some kind of bread that has fiber, but is not a sugary brick. So that's the next attempt!