MaraNatha, I think I love you.

Hi guys!

So I have noticed that my blog has been doing that I-think-i’m-going-to-post-posts-on-different-days-then-they-were-posted-on thing again. How annoying! Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful What I Ate Wednesday (even though my post says that I posted it on Sunday…)! If you missed this week’s link party, check it out here and continue post WIAW stalking with me!

So, I kind of have a new obsession.

It’s not really new, but the way it is coming back into my life, you would think I have never seen such a food.

Lately, breakfast has meant putting almond butter on everything I can find.

Favorite things to smear in almond butter:

• Apples
• Apricots
• Dates
• Plums
• Green smoothies
• & Spoons

Do I have a problem? Perhaps.

It all happened when those awesome makers of MARANATHA ALMOND BUTTER sent me a free coupon good for any of their butters. I really wanted to try this product before I bought it. Afterall, it is the most expensive nut butter I have ever seen.

I’m not sure why their almond butter taste better than any other I have tried. It is just delicious! I cannot explain. it’s dry roasted almonds, seriously.

Thanks MaraNatha for this review and changing my views of almond butter!

For more MaraNatha products, visit here.

Can you guess what tomorrow’s Friday Feature will be? 😉

What is your favorite type of nut butter?

Swanson Health Products Review

I was very interested when Swanson contacted me asking for me to review their products for free. I have never heard of the company until I looked on their website. I was so surprised to see such a great selection (not just vitamins!) and at such an affordable price. Swanson offers their own line of products and other big name brands such as Clif Bar, Amazing Grass, Eden Foods, Nutiva, Bob’s Red Mill and NOW foods.

As silly as it sounds, I had to spend a few days on their site to finally pick what I want!

I decided on:

Hemp seed oil

I have used this in smoothies and on salads. Basically anywhere that I used to use flaxseed oil just to change things up!

 

Maca powder

I’ve seen this around in the blog world and thought I would give it a try considering how affordable it was.

& Lifetime Vitamins life’s basics plant protein powder

When I was searching on Swanson’s site for good, clean, plant protein powders, I found this beauty. I’ve seen this product in stores before but never at such a low price! From what I have experienced, clean protein powders usually cost around $30 a tub (or $2 a serving). Swanson sells the same stuff for almost have the price of a regular health food store! I was very impressed. The taste was fantastic too! Not chalky or gritty at all. Honestly, it makes every smoothie taste like a {healthy!} vanilla shake.

I will definitely start buying this powder from Swanson’s on a regular basis! 😉

I was overall pleased with Swanson Health Products. I do a lot of online shopping and I definitely feel more comfortable buying from a family owned company like Swanson where everyone is friendly and helpful!

Are you interested in getting some free Swanson Health Products goodies to review on your own blog? Then check out the Swanson Health Blog for all the details.

Do you shop online for special health foods? If so, where do you shop?

Larabar Review

A few months ago the lovely people from LARABAR sent me a lovely sample pack of their new bars to review:

Ok Larabar, you seriously won the cutest package ever award.

What’s inside! What’s inside!

Wait, didn’t they send me four bars?

Oh, that’s right, I ate the cinnamon roll bar on my long quarter-acre walk back from the mailbox. Wheew! That’s was rough.

Cinnamon Roll- Hey, like I said, I tore this baby UP! Nom, nom. I asked Larabar to please send me this flavor cause I can never find it anywhere! Thanks Larabar! I think this would be really good in the microwave for a few seconds, or maybe that defeats the purpose of it being “raw”?

Chocolate Chip Brownie– This is healthy? You gotta be joking. I was clearly eating a brownie.  Almost as good as my homemade version! 😉

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip– I think that title is basically like… “’nuff said.” Not too sweet, not too salty, loved it.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough– I am actually still hoarding this somewhere, you know how I get.

What LARABAR flavor sounds best to you? Check out all of the flavors here!

I would like to try the jocalat chocolate hazelnut! Yum!

Sun Warrior Review

as promised! ( a longg time ago)

The lovely creators of Sun Warrior sent me a few samples to try. I have seen this protein powder used by just about every blogger, I was so jealous! I HAD to try it! I love all of the information they sent me too! Yeah, I’m a nerd. 😀

Ingredients:

I don’t think the ingredients could be any cleaner, I love it! & Wow, that’s a lot of Amino Acids! I was pretty impressed.

Taste & Texture: A+, that’s all I have to say! I thought this powder was best used in oats!

Cost: This is one of the more expensive protein powders but honestly, I think it would be worth it. A good protein powder is hard to find!

So I think I may have found a new favorite protein powder! I have never even seen it in stores so I will probably be ordering from this website if you are interested.

What is your favorite brand of protein powder?

Spring Cleaning & a RAW Review

Goals for this week:

• Work on the core
• Eat “cleaner” foods
• Start my new Spring Cleaning program*

*I have noticed that heavy breads and meals that focus too much on processed carbs (which I shouldn’t be eating anyway) leave me feeling sluggish and weak. I want to try eliminating all foods that upset my body like wheat, sugar, caffeine, and processed anything(not like I haven’t said this before!) I guess I would consider this as somewhat as a detox, but not nearly as extreme. I’ve been talking about eating better for a while now but this time I have a plan.

So stay tuned for new healthy recipes!

!!!Review!!!

A few weeks ago I was sent a sample of ‘RAW protein powder’ from Garden of Life. I see this stuff everywhere but I was afraid to buy it because not only is it pretty expensive, I didn’t want to be stuck with a big tub of this protein powder if it didn’t even taste good.

The taste was pretty good compared to most protein powders. I really like the taste of raw protein powders. Very earthy without the chalky taste! Can’t beat that!

Not only did this stuff taste great, they sent me a $5 off coupon too! Thanks Garden of Life!

Last night, Scott and I went out for SUSHI!

I ordered my favorite roll…. SWEET POTATO!

Sides: fried fermented tofu and veggie tempura

Maybe I over-did the fried part? Whoops!

 Hi baby tomtom! How did that get in there?  Isn’t he cute? Hogging all the toys and what not.

How was your weekend?

Operation Overstock

Wow! Lots of my readers have entered the Nutty Giveaway! I cannot wait until tomorrow to see who the winner is!

As you know, one of my May Gals is to save money. To be honest, I’m not the average 19-year-old who spends all their money on designer clothes, getting my nails/hair done, purses, shoes, and the newest electronics. If you must know, I wear yoga pants just about everyday, have NEVER had my nails done, is lucky enough to have a mom that is best friends with a hair dresser, uses the same bag everyday that I bought on my Paris trip in 2009, has never spent over $60 on a pair of shoes and has used the same Ipod since 2006.

Now, if you haven’t noticed, I do spend most of my extra money on food. Not because a vegan diet is costly but because I sometimes choose to spoil myself with the latest health foods like Chia seeds, fancy nut butters, and the entire Bob’s Red Mill collection oh, and not to mention my obsession with Amy’s Kitchen frozen meals.

U n n e c e s s a r y !

My pantry is jammed packed with all of these things I never even use. My mom, very seriously, tells my dad that he needs to build another shelf in the laundry room for all of my food (I almost took a pictures of my overstocked kitchen but I’m actually too embarrassed!). This has gone too far.

Anyway, there is a point to all of this.

Operation Overstock means….I am making it my mission to NOT shop for anything but fresh produce until my pantry is CLEAN. Or at least close anyway. I have endless boxes of pasta, different types of flour, cereal, dried fruit, protein powder, beans, and of course…nut butter. For the next few weeks I will just make do with what I have for most of my meals.

Today I started with my pasta:

I added these veggies I bought from the market for $3:

🙂

& In honor of CINCO DE MAYO…

Fantastic World Foods Review Part 2

Part 2- Taco Filling

(Incase you missed it: Part 1)

!!!REVIEW!!!

My family decided to make taco’s for dindin and I kinda felt left out. Just kidding! I reached for my Fantastic World Foods TACO FILLING and joined the fiesta. The taco filling is made from TVP which I happen to be a huge fan of. With only 100 calories a serving who wouldn’t be excited? What I loved about the taco filling is that it didn’t taste like ground beef. Sometimes I feel like companies try too hard to make vegetarian products taste like the real deal and I don’t like that. Then it’s just weird. I like “fake meats” to taste like veggies and seasonings. Does that even make sense?

I remember how greasy and dry real ground beef tacos would taste, not pleasant at all. you can tell just by looking at these tacos that there is no dryness here!

 Would I buy these again? No doubt! 🙂

Have you tried FWF’s Taco Filling?

Fantastic World Foods Review Part 1

Part 1 – FALAFEL BOX MIX.

First of all, I’m falafel’s biggest fan, just sayin’. I could eat it everyday however, I’m not sure if my tummy would like me putting a gas-y food like falafel in it everyday!

Yesterday my brother says to me, “OH Whit, I forgot to tell you that when I was in Chicago I went to Subway and they had a falafel sub! It looked so gross, it reminded me of you!”

Thanks bro.

Yes, as weird as you may think falafel looks, why don’t you just try so we can share our love for falafel together?

Silly

Anyway, BACK TO MY REVIEW…

This wasn’t my first time trying Fantastic World Food’s Falafel box mix. I just honestly love this product so much and when I had to choose two products to review from FWF this was an easy choice. (Notice this is part 1, I’m obviously having a hard time choosing another product! So many choices!)

You can pick up the falafel box mix for about $3-$4 which makes approximately 8 patties. Usually falafel is about $1 a patty at a restaurant! The taste is not the same completely but it’s similar enough to keep my falafel obsession in control. If you’re slightly ghetto like me, you probably don’t have one of those fancy falafel tools that makes them into a perfect shape. But that’s okay too! You don’t need one. Ours still turned out pretty, right?

One difference in the appearance is the patty isn’t that green color on the inside. But again, I’m not that picky, IT’S FALAFEL! 😀

Overall, I WILL buy this product many more times, seriously, IT’S FALAFEL. Buy this box mix, add some water, fry it in some oil, save some money, have some fun.

Thank you Fantastic World Foods! 🙂

Have you ever had/heard of a falafel sub from Subway?

Basic Pancakes & Anythingbutchalkforbreakfastplease

Hi friends! Thank you all for your “get-well-soons” on my last post. I think it’s working, I’m feeling better! 🙂

I’m so ready for spring! I hate this food rut that I’m in! I’ve been eating so much crap, it’s terrible. My body is craving fresh foods. Hurry up and get in season! It is sad that I eat so much crap in the late winter. It’s my worst time of year for everything. I would like to think of my blog as a “health food blog” but lately I’ve felt like that is a lie! :X

So, although I have been trying to eat better, I’ve really been digging pancakes lately.

My basic pancake recipe:

Serves two

I use this pancake recipe on my “chill” days when I feel that it is okay to eat a not so nutritious meal for breakfast.

Remember breakfast = the day’s fuel!

  1 cup flour, sifted (I use half white, half whole wheat)
    1 tablespoon vegan sugar
    3 teaspoons baking powder
    1 teaspoon cinnamon 
    1 teaspoon salt
    1 cup nondairy milk 
    1 egg replacer, prepared
    2 tablespoons vegetable oil
    1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

You know what to do.

This mix can be used for just about any type of pancake: blueberry, strawberry, chocolate chip, you name it.

Just add in whatever you like!

But speaking of a nutritious breakfast…

!!!REVIEW!!!

Vega’s Shake & Go Tropical Smoothie

Literally, you mix it with water, shake & go.

I really like how simple this was! You just add it to 1/2 to 1 cup of water, that’s it! The taste was actually pretty impressive. Not too chalky at all! Finally! I didn’t feel like I was forced to chug down a nasty chalky vitamin drink, I could totally taste the pineapple.

Would I buy it? Maybe for a treat. I think these run about $2-3 at Whole Foods, I don’t think I would pay that much for this. But I guess once you think about it, $3 can’t really but you a very nutritious meal anywhere else.

Check out all of that iron, 30% in that little drink! Not to mention 11 grams of protein. I think I might start buying Vega products online once I start running this summer.

Have you tried any Vega products?

Peanut Head

Thank you for all of the lovely comments about my new kittens! No, I still do not have names for them. It is so hard naming two kitties because you want the names to sound cute together! I wanted to name the girl “Peanut” cause she has a peanut head. 🙂 But, we wanted to boy kitten to be Leo but Peanut and Leo sounds really odd together. And no, we are not going to name them peanut and butter! 😉 Other names we thought of: Chloe, Sam, Molly, Gilbert…

We are open to suggestions! 😀

This morning was Zumba-rific!

Like every Monday morning at 6:30AM! I wish my knee would start feeling better though. I’m still debating on getting certified to teach but not if my joints keep acting up like this.

After Zumba I didn’t go for coffee with the Zumba girls cause I had a stupid paper to finish. Seriously, who waits to finish a paper on the day that it is due! Oh wait- I do.

Today’s eats:

Fried polenta

 

More asparagus soup

 Prana bar! Coconut Acai.

>>>REVIEW:

Prana Bars & Boomi Bars

Prana Bars are all vegan, gluten and soy free snack bars that are all natural and mostly raw. Some flavors include:

• Coconut Acai
• Blueberry Coconut
• Mango Maca
• Cashew Almond
• Apricot Goji
• Pear Ginseng
• Apple Pie
• Apricot Pumpkin

I have not tried all of these flavors yet but from what I’ve tried… I LOVE THEM! So far my favorite is Coconut Acai.

 I like these bars because they don’t contain all of those scary ingredients some other snack bars have! Prana Bars are all natural with no added sugar. I like to eat one at work when I get hungry to keep my tummy full until lunch time. Thank you RAW ENZYME POWER!

Boomi Bars are very similar to the Prana Bar. The Boomi Bars are gooey and crunchy, just the way I like my bars. The first flavor I tried was diffidently an easy choice: Macadamia Paradise. I’m a huge macadamia fan, so I obvious loved this bar. Second place goes to: Maple Pecan! But I love every flavor I tried so far. Although I am not a fan of pistachio, I gave Pistachio Pineapple to my brother! He actually liked it! I was surprised because all he eats is chicken wings and pizza.

Overall, I was very impressed with these bars. 🙂

Random cuteness from the twins:

Drinking Vegetables

Happy Friday Bloginns!!!!

I’m not going to lie, sometimes when I think of drinking green juice it really turns me off. Drinking vegetables? How gross. Sometimes I forget how great green juice actually taste! Isn’t that weird? I mean, I’ve made some horrible batches before but I’ve learned from all of my juicing experience:

• Beets = GROSS
• Ginger = a little bit goes a longggg way!
• Carrots + greens = brown juice
• Lemon juice = never enough 😉
• Root vegetables = YUCK!

But we all make mistakes, right? 🙂

That is why I am proud to announce one of the best green juices yet:

• 1 green apple
• 1 pear
• 2 big handfuls of spinach
• 1/2 bunch of kale
• 1/2 cucumber (in my opinion, a whole cucumber is a bit much)
• 1/2 cup random leftover celery bits (including leaves)
• lemon juice to taste (I like A LOT)



Do you drink your veggies?

Like I said, this is probably the best I’ve ever made. I used to always add ginger but I think ginger gives it that nasty over-powering taste I don’t like. This juice is really sweet, just how I like it.

And green mustaches are SO much hotter than ones made from cow mucus, wouldn’t you say?

😛 I thought so anyway!

In other news, I finally tried my single packet of Vega Sport!

!!!Review!!!

The look: When I first mix this stuff with water, it was brown and yucky-looking.

The smell: Was wonderful. It smelt a lot like a fruity tea.

The taste: Oh boy, this was difficult to get down. It just taste weird, that’s all I can really say. The taste is strong but it wasn’t a bad taste, it just wasn’t good either.

The effect: I drank this 30 minutes before my pilates/yoga class and I did feel different. I felt hyper and jittery rather than more focused. I think this would good to take before a run, not before pilates. The class after my pi/yo is a legs class. By this time I almost felt sick. I’m not saying it was 100% the Vega, but something wasn’t right.

The verdict: I would like to try the Vega Sport again to give it another try. I would like to use it on a cardio day and see how that goes. However, the cost plays a huge role in whether or not I’ll try it again.

Have you tried Vega Sport? Thoughts…?

Well, that’s all for today, I’m off for another lovely day at work because this is how I LOVE spending my last days of winter break…NOT.

And by the way WordPress, I don’t appreciate you not cooperating on my post. The “The effect” paragraph is supposed to be ORANGE NOT BLACK. And there is not a gap between beets and ginger! Lame-o’s….

😦