In this informal vlog, Mike Andes and Bree discuss a recent weekend trip to Idaho and Oregon, highlighting a standout BBQ experience at Pecan Lodge. They coordinate a workshop and turnaround schedule for an upcoming Oregon visit. The bulk of the vlog centers on Bree preparing a low‑calorie, keto‑friendly Catalina Crunch cereal bar using keto marshmallows, sharing step‑by‑step instructions, a parchment‑paper shaping hack, and cooking tips. Throughout the cooking segment, Bree recommends two products: Max Mallows low‑calorie marshmallows and Zevia stevia‑sweetened sparkling water, offering personal opinions on taste and usage. She also shares a household hack for removing sweat odor from athletic shirts using vinegar and Dawn dish soap. The conversation shifts to a recent batch of brown‑butter chocolate chip cookies made for the media team, detailing the browning process, the use of a KitchenAid mixer, and finishing touches like flaky salt. An update on their headquarters building notes that concrete has been poured and utilities are in place, awaiting the start of construction. Finally, they review keto cookie options from Half Baked and A Faked Cookie Company, comparing size, sweetness, and flavor varieties. The vlog maintains a conversational, enthusiastic tone throughout, interspersed with logistical planning and personal lifestyle advice.
Chapters
Eyo!
Hello! How's it going? You guys are in Idaho? Uh, no, we got back Sunday. We were just there over the weekend. We actually checked out Pecan Lodge. Uh, that was one of the ones that you mentioned, and it was amazing. Mike got this like huge beef rib thing. It was like almost a tomahawk steak, but barbecue and like super tender. It was so good. Okay, gotcha. Mike Andes is going down to Oregon for some like workshop thing that some of the homework team are doing. And he wanted to leave from there to do the turnaround. So like we'll do a turnaround on a Wednesday and a Friday instead. But I can talk to him about it, see if we want to like push off earlier, if that would work. Okay, let me write those down real quick and I'll look at it and see what it looks like on a schedule. Okay. All right.
Thanks, Bree.
No problem. Catch you guys later. Have a good one. Bye. Hey, how you doing?
Good, how you doing?
Hi, Linda. Good morning, how's it going guys? I'm feeling a little chatty today, so I figured may as well just kind of chat while I make one of Mike's favorite desserts, which is like a low-calorie-ish, keto-friendly-ish, slightly high protein like Rice Krispies. It's more like a cereal bar because I'm not using Rice Krispies, I'm using Catalina Crunch for it. And then These marshmallows are keto, paleo, diabetic-friendly, zero net carbs, whatever, whatever. And they actually have really clean ingredients. I got these off Amazon and they actually taste really good. There's 15 calories for 2 marshmallows and I'll probably end up using half the bag, the whole bag. The whole bag is 90 calories, which is not bad whatsoever. So that's like the only, wow, really? That's like the only— ugh, one second. The marshmallows themselves are like the only low-calorie component of it 'cause the Catalina Crunch, I mean, I guess kind of is. I think it's like 110 calories for half a cup. But I am using a little bit of butter. Anyways, it's lower calorie compared to your normal Rice Krispie treat slash cereal bar, okay? Okay. So let's go ahead and make it. It's so easy. It's like 3 to 4 ingredients. I'm gonna get my little glass pan to put it in. I'm also double filming, trying to get a reel out of it. A little hack I saw, it's like to better shape parchment paper in whatever shape you need it to be, just like crumple it up and it's a lot more like malleable. Is that the right word? Probably not. Now that the stiffness is kind of broken up, you can place it in whatever container you need it for and it stays a lot better. Okay, good enough is good enough. Can you see my feet? Hopefully not. Turn your pan on and we're— pan? Yes, turn your pan on. Turn your stove on. I'm gonna put like a tablespoon and a half of butter in. I think the recipe calls for just a little bit more because I followed the recipe once and then ever since then I just had it up here. Let's bring this forward a little. Anyways, ever since I followed that recipe one time, I I haven't really had to look at it again. I just kind of eyeball everything, which I should probably measure for the sake of this video. Totally fine. That was probably like 3 ounces of marshmallows. No, it wasn't. That's about 3 ounces of marshmallows. Here's where I'm gonna add more cinnamon, which I'm out basically, so I'm just gonna throw in whatever's left. Now when your marshmallows are pretty melty, now is whenever you want to go in with your Catalina Crunch, and you want to turn the oven off and stir. Due to my multitasking, I lowkey almost did not put that in gracefully whatsoever. You just want to pat it flat in your container. Here's what it looks like. We're gonna put this in the fridge for like, I think an hour tops for it to set completely. This is like Mike's favorite dessert. He will wipe this entire thing out in one sitting, probably. Because I low-key started to burn the butter, gotta let this pan soak to get that off. When Mike does his podcast with Jonathan Patoschnik or Lee, they have this segment at the end called their non-financial advice, like mostly personal advice or something that just does not have to do with business. Here's my non-financial advice: try these Max Mallows, 90 calories for the whole bag. Do I recommend eating the whole bag? No, maybe don't do that because you might be stinking up the place if you do that. I don't know, I haven't done it. Anyways, about 2 marshmallows, 15 calories, and like it has grass-fed hydrolyzed— what does hydrolyzed mean? I don't know, I don't even think I want to know. Can't be that bad, right? Grass-fed hydrolyzed collagen peptides, MCT oil, which is like good for your brain apparently. Definitely like the cleanest marshmallows I've been able to find. I used to get this one other kind before these, and there was that really long complicated word, oligosaccharides. I don't think that's good for you. I don't really know what it is, I just don't think it's good for you. What is that in the cereal? Are these eggshells? You see that? Those are totally eggshells, right? How would eggshells have gotten in here? Anyways, my other piece of non-financial advice is to try Zevias. Mike Andes, like, low-key addicted. They're sweetened with stevia. Stevia, I think, and it's just like carbonated flavored water. I cannot do LaCroix or anything that's not sweetened. Those are absolutely disgusting to me. Our favorite flavor is the cream soda one. We go through that like nobody's business. Maybe this is TMI, but who cares? We're all friends here, right? So as an active girly, you know, I, I sweat quite a bit, okay? You know, eventually that'll catch up to your clothes. Specifically your shirts. I soaked some of my athletic shirts in vinegar water and Dawn, and not gonna lie, it like knocked out the smell that I thought was gonna be there forever. I was like, man, I probably have to throw these shirts away, but before I do that, let me try it. And it worked because it like neutralized— you know what, I'm not even gonna try to explain it because I don't understand it and I'll just sound pretty dumb. I just soaked it in a sink full of water and I put a generous amount of vinegar in there with a little bit of Dawn soap. Now I'm gonna wash it in the washing machine and it should take care of it. There's a little life hack for you for any of your clothes that you feel like is like stained with a certain smell. It's not, it's fixable. I don't know about you guys, but I generally don't mind household chores like laundry, dishes. It just is what it is. Like, you need to get done, so it's whatever, right? Except when it comes to cleaning the bathtubs. I don't know what it is. Well, I do. It's just tedious. I hate cleaning bathtubs. If I could get rid of one household chore and never have to do it for the rest of my life, it would be cleaning bathtubs. I was gonna do this cool shot of me starting the washer. One, I forgot to hit record. Two, you can fully see my toes in the reflection, and that's not the aesthetic I'm going for. Recently I made brown butter chocolate chip cookies for the media team, and they said they turned out really good. I don't know, 'cause like I can't try them due to my meal plan, whatever. Anyways, I'm remaking them again, but every time I brown butter, it like— the smell fills the whole house, and I wish I could put that in a candle. I'm sure there's a candle somewhere that's scented brown buttered— browned butter, and I need that candle because it is the best smell. It was also such a fun recipe to make because it's like a basic recipe on the surface, like chocolate chip cookies, except like just the one tiny detail of browning the butter seemingly like adds so much more flavor. So to cool it off quickly, because brown butter is so hot fresh off the stove, I just like put a big bowl of ice in the freezer and then I put the bowl of the butter inside this bowl because the bottom will absolutely melt the plastic in the freezer. Now it's time to cream this with the sugars. I just halved the recipe this time since it'll just be for 2 people, not the whole media team, because it made quite a bit last time. Oh man, did I leave it in the freezer for too long, but the recipe did say you want it solid to keep the cookies from spreading apart too much. The top is the butter, and then the brown stuff is the brown bits that have all the flavor. Yes! So I'm looking forward to getting to my goal so I— like, my meal plan won't be as rigid. I'm just trying to enjoy every step, every step of the journey, but I'm not gonna hide the fact that I am excited to just hit my goal so I can enjoy these things in moderation, or whatever they say. Mike Mike got me this KitchenAid like earlier this year, I think it was, or last year. Seriously the best gift ever, because I had this like super cheap handheld mixer I just got from HomeGoods, I think, like really discounted, and that thing does not have a slow speed. It's like all or nothing, and it— every time I try to mix butter, it would like fly everywhere. Not good. But this thing, she's perfect. So you just want to mix until everything is completely incorporated and the butter and the sugars are cream together. Adding in our flour and baking soda. Look at how pretty these are. I love baking for people. That's the laundry. And then for the final— look at how big this salt crystal is, you guys. I saved it for Mike like weeks ago, and now neither one of us have eaten it, so it's just been chilling in here. The final touch, while they're still warm, I like to add just a little bit of flaky salt on the top. Don't want to do too much, and like in my fingers I still break up the flakes. Cakes because they're not small enough. Honestly, they look so good. I'm gonna let them chill on here for just a little bit before putting them onto the cooling rack. I so wish you guys could smell through the screen right now, but I'm gonna let these finish cooling and then get them delivered. Who are you pushing?
I get my arm workout in though, all the triceps.
One part of our evening routine is going on a little digestion walk after dinner. And now we found this park the other week. Mike's pushing— I don't know who exactly. In May to like September is whenever you really want to be in the PNW, and we are enjoying the fruits of that right now. It is such a beautiful day.
Oh, oh no, they didn't. Boo! They just moved things around. I'm guessing then tomorrow they'll start on it.
Prep for the headquarters building, like all the prep is basically done, right? We're just waiting on the actual structure to go up. Oh, I can show them if you want me to. So we thought the structure would be going up today, but concrete is poured and like the water pipes and lines are done and everything. Just a matter of starting to build. That's when I'll be able to see it because right now all I see is concrete and materials. I can't envision the building yet. Coming together though, slowly but surely. What you got there?
We went to this place in Chicago that was fast, fantastic. It was called Half Baked. And honestly, their cookies blew us away. So what did we do?
They're keto cookies.
Yeah, keto cookies. So we went online and we're like, hey, we should definitely order some. When we went there, they were this big. And that thick. No. You don't think that? They were huge. Like they were, they were big. Well, these are what, a third of the size?
Definitely half at least.
You know, we feel a little jilted. Also, if you ever go, don't eat the crème brûlée one first. It's so much sweeter than the chocolate chip and the—
It's so much better is what he's trying to say.
No, it's just so much sweeter. Well, it is probably better, but I would say it's the best one, but these ones are significantly less sweet. Than this one.
We've got the normal chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, crème brûlée. That one is the best. A Faked Cookie Company is a chain, so if there's—
you should—
y'all should look it up, check it out if there's one near you. They're keto and gluten-free, and then they have the normal cookies, but they have the keto and gluten-free ones, which I was pleasantly surprised. They were like the best keto treats we've ever had.
