Author: whitneymgordon

VERY Fun Easter Food

Easter is coming and you know what that means – Easter Candy + Hot Cross Buns!   The first weekend in April is the 2021 Easter Weekend.

The Easter Bunny has a huge range of sweet Fun Food treats to share on Easter – Thank You Delish for a sizeable list!  And my current fave Ganong’s Chocolate covered Cherry Eggs (BELOW – jujubes!) have been out since mid February.  PLUS now I want to find these Easter Marshmallow Stuffed Puffs…  

  • My Easter Stash…

Another Easter Fun Food is hot cross buns and having taste tested a few, my current fave is from Cobs Bread.  They come in 4 flavours and the apple cinnamon ones are unbelievably vegan and “heavenly” – they are gone soon after Easter to rise again every year…!  

Chicken Pot Pie, minus 3.14159…

Pie is Fun Food so I am not dissing pie!  And March 14th is National Pi Day while January 23rd is National PIE day – thank you Thrillist for this clarifying article.

AND I firmly believe chicken pot pie is amazing and buy or order it frequently.  Hello Savary Island Pie Company or 700+ yr old Sheepheid Inn in Edinburgh or Summerhill Market in TO.  But, I confess that the filling is my favourite part of a pie – chicken pot or otherwise.  

When one of my favourite food sources Thrillist features an Extremely Lazy, Insanely Delicious Chicken Pot Pie recipe, I have to try it!  And, since I am even lazier than Greer Glassman “recipeist extraordinaire”, I intend to make the recipe minus the pie part.   And maybe it will be eaten straight out of the pot with a spoon or perhaps over rice or mashed potatoes…

PS – I’m guessing Chicken a la King may be the correct name for this but Chicken Pot Pie Filling is much more Fun! 

Green milk & Lucky Charms

All cereal with “too much” sugar is Fun Food – there I’ve typed this.  Perhaps not great for everyday eating and not a “healthy” breakfast but who says cereal is only a morning food.

Similar to snacks, this Time of Corona has brought capacity and supply constraints to the Cereal World so says Bloomberg. This article has in-depth cereal spending details and even asks the question whether Sugar Cereals are Breakfast or Dessert – I say both. But, I really don’t understand the run on Grape-Nuts… And for the record original Cheerios has less sugar than G-N which was a surprise!

Now St. Patrick’s Day is always March 17th which is a Wednesday in 2021. I’ve been on the lookout for the special edition Lucky Charms to celebrate – thanks Thrillist for the heads up! So far no joy BUT Cap’n Crunch has been calling my name as I pace the cereal aisle – maybe he was an Irish Pirate! This hilarious Uncyclopedia article indicates otherwise…

PS – March 7th is National Cereal Day – happy accident for this post!

One Pot Cheese with Mac!

Melty Cheese is Fun Food – fondue, raclette, baked brie, grilled cheese sandwiches, even the trendy TikTok Baked Feta with or without pasta – all Fun Food.  

I love a wonderfully cheesy One Pot recipe which is so doable even I can make it.  I overgrated and added more cheese (an extra cup or so…) and my mom renamed it Cheese with Mac!

Technically it is One Pot Mac & Cheese from my favourite Insta Foodie @theshayspence (Traveling Food Editor @people) that was inspired by Friar’s Nook at Disney World!  Follow him – this man knows Fun Food.  

Cadillac Margaritas – who knew?!

Photo by DESIGNbyJA on Pexels.com

As an occasional cocktail drinker, fruity margaritas are high on the liquid Fun Food list!  Prickly Pear Margaritas at the Arizona Inn with guacamole & chips is a killer combo of tastes & location.

Thrillist shared a fun recipe for a Cadillac Margarita that has been around since at least the late 80’s…!!

 

And, did you know that tequila can be briefly aged to become a light golden colour called Reposado which is a subgroup of the premium tequilas – here is Thrillist’s handy Tequila 101.   Sign up for their daily email for equally informative ideas & info!!

I’ll be giving this new margarita a try and just maybe it will be my Post Covid-19 Summer Celebration drink with my Book Club.  That and also a Baja Gold since I will now own a bottle of Reposado and love pineapple! And both recipes call for shaken not stirred for the win!

2021 Year of the Ox and Purdys

Friday February 12th is the 2021 Lunar New Year & Purdys Chocolates can help you celebrate Year of the Ox! For over 100 years Purdys has been made in Vancouver and now their chocolate is made with sustainable cocoa.

Celebrate with my fave chocolate covered Fortune Cookies (!), gold chocolate coins = Lucky Money, Mandarin chocolates AND Oxen Medallions.  There are Lai See packages PLUS special tins and boxes – full size or miniatures.  And there are some bulk purchases only possible on line – as Purdys suggests “send wishes of luck and fortune” to yourself for 2021!

AND Valentine’s Day is just 2 days later on Sunday the 14th, perhaps order a “holiday collab”…

Oreos, an update

A fun version of this great Fun Food came out late in January – Lady Gaga Oreos ! This Insider article by Rachel Askinasi gives good background & context as she is both a Lady Gaga fan AND has previously ranked 26 mainstream Oreo flavours.

AND……., another major brand has just launched a puppy friendly product! Anheuser-Busch now has Dog Brew by Busch. Warm, room temp. or cool this brew is good with dinner OR on dinner! I firmly believe Oreos could add to their long history (over 100 years old – 1st cookie was 1912 ) and create a canine cookie – full size or minis!!

Oreos are now Gluten Free! What’s next, Pet Friendly!!

Oreos are a Fun Food and they are vegan so that makes them a prioritized Fun Food!   And now that a Gluten Free (GF) version is available (regular & Double Stuf), more people can make them their vegan cookie of choice.   

This VERY thorough taste test by Thrillist’s Kyler Alvord not only validates the taste of GF Oreos VS. Original Oreos but also shares VERY comprehensive taste testing methodology.  Mr. Alvord has raised the bar in taste testing!    

And if gluten can be successfully removed then perhaps their recipe can be tweaked to remove canine/feline unfriendly ingredients.   Hey Oreo why not explore an Oreo flavour for dogs (maybe cats too) – Golden Peanut Butter anyone!  If Ben & Jerry’s can do it…

Catnip – Feline Fun Food

This EurekAlert! Science News just shared that not only is Catnip a Fun Food for felines, it also protects them from mosquito bites.  The key pleasure component in catnip is nepetalactone which cats (house & jungle) adore but mosquitoes hate!  

This hard to spell ingredient is an intoxicating chemical for cats that ALSO repels mosquitoes that can carry some of the worst diseases (yellow fever, Zika, Dengue). AND it looks like it could work for both humans & cats.   Repellent properties not Endorphin Inducing properties…

Another example of a “Do Good” Fun Food!