Happy Thursday everyone! For me, this Thursday isn’t quite the same as all the others because today is my half birthday. That’s right, exactly six months from now I’ll be celebrating my golden birthday, also known as the once-in-a-lifetime birthday where you turn the age of your birth date. I stay golden by turning 22 on September 22. Apologizes to those born on the first days of the month and have already lived their golden birthday incapable of eating solid food. No matter, this post will celebrate all things half!
Half n’ Half
Starting with flavor combinations, there’s no better half-and-half drink than the iconic AriZona brand Arnold Palmer, consisting of half iced tea and half lemonade. On the sandwich front, Smucker’s changed the PB&J game by innovatively combining both spreads harmoniously in one jar with their Goober line. This duel-purpose sandwich filling brings creamy peanut butter together with chocolate spread, strawberry jam or grape jelly. If you enjoy chocolate cheesecake, Philadelphia recently released the Indulgence line, which consists of a half cream cheese, half chocolate dip meant for pretzel sticks, fresh strawberries or even cinnamon graham crackers. One of the best half-and-half tastes is salty-sweet, and you can easily find it in homemade sea salt caramels from Gville Sweets. What’s your favorite half-and-half combo?
Cut calories in half
For those of us watching our weight, there are some simple tricks to cut calories by half or more. When heating a pan, try using cooking spray instead of butter or oil. When it’s grilling time, go for 99 percent lean ground turkey instead of red meat. If a caffeine craving hits, work toward ditching the cream in coffee and slowly switching to non-fat milk instead. If you’re used to drinking a lot of soda, try replacing the sugar-packed beverage with carbonated flavored water, like the Fizz line from Hint, Inc. Ice cream addicts should switch to frozen yogurt, which is easy enough to do in Gainesville at one of the many locations such as Mochi or Red Mango. When out at happy hour, order a drink on the rocks instead of frozen. As always, the easiest way to cut calories in half is to split the meal with a friend!
Spend half the cash on restaurant fare
Gainesville has an incredible food scene, but sometimes we just can’t afford to upgrade from mac and cheese in the dorm to Mark's Prime Steakhouse. Luckily, there are some great services in our area that often offer half-off restaurant fare so you can explore delicious food for a fraction of the price. You should immediately sign up for Groupon, LivingSocial and FlyCoupon to start receiving daily deals in your e-mail. Past restaurants with deals have included Tempo Bistro to Go, Liquid Ginger, Harvest Thyme Cafe, Cafe C and O!O Garden Grille.
Although you may not care that today is my half birthday, finding innovative half-and-half flavor combinations, learning tricks to cut calories in half and saving half your money while eating full portions at restaurants are still reasons to celebrate. I, however, will be spending this day on a date with half a birthday cake. Stay golden, readers!
Posts in Chomp and Chew appear on Thursdays. For more from Becca, check out her personal blog at www.becca-bakes.com.
