One month is out, and another one is in. Here's a recap of what was happening on Iateapie.net - what stood out and what didn't.
The Votes are In What Do You Think About Faux Meat I eat it occasionally - 47% Pass me the vegetables please and leave the meat (real or fake) alone - 35% Couldn't do without it - 18%
(Photo Credit: Robert S Donovan)
There were 17 food product reviews in February (oh the horror - I need to step up my game in bringing these reviews to you). But I did find some 5 star deliciousness & nutritiousness!
These are a MUST on your grocery list:sponsor
Actually, in February, almost all the food products reviewed got good ratings - except one - Breyers Light Cinnamon Bun Yogurt. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are so many better flavors - like Breyers Vanilla Bean Light Yogurt and Breyers Light Boost Immunity Black Cherry Jubilee Yogurt.
On IntheGym.net: It was a slow month for workout music playlists - but be sure to check out the Best of the Best in Workout Music: The 2010 Dance Edition (Part 1) and Part 2, as well as a pop running workout playlist, Danger Zone Workout Playlist">Danger Zone.
My February Workouts: Again a slow month. One week of being sick and doing nothing more than sleeping, plus the winter blues meant running was sidelined to a total of 66 miles. Swimming though is on the increase - doing 1800 yards, 3x a week. I'm a beginner, so I'm working on not taking so many breathing breaks - my first triathlon is on May 29, 2011 - the Cooperstown Triathlon - I'm so nervous, and it's still 3 months away!!! I fear drowning because of everyone splashing around me and also since I haven't started bike training yet - I'm doubly scared of what will happen on the bike.
But back to the present ... or rather what happened in February. I participated in one race, where I had my personal best at the 5 mile distance (here's my Pete Sanfilippo 5 Mile Road Race Recap).
What's coming in March: New polls here on i{ate}A{pie} plus weekly menu plan ideas & something I like to call - Food Fight! I'm running 3 races back to back starting March 13th - a 10 miler, a half-marathon along the beach (Savin Rock Half) & a fun 5-miler called Mudders & Grunters - really looking forward to that. Thank goodness I got some EAS Myoplex protein products to review because March is (hopefully) going to involve some good workouts and I'll need some extra fuel.
How was your February with food & workouts? Are you ready to kick March's bootay?!
Each of these things warrants their own post but I’m so far behind I have to consolidate!
First up…
Let me start by saying I’m NOT a big bar person. I used to stock granola bars as a quick snack on the run but since I started working from home I’ve eased off them. Most have tons of extra ingredients I’m not that into anyway. Remember the conversation this quick review of Fiber One bars started? HYSTERICAL!
Anyway, when Pure contacted me and asked if I was interested, I hesitantly said yes. An organic, vegan, raw bar full of Omega-3s, could there any more buzz words in there? Honestly, most health food labels cause involuntary eye rolls anymore. I’m tired of seeing products littered with these descriptors only to be disappointed by the ingredient list and nutritional information. But I was willing to get them a shot anyway.
When the pure bars arrived I immediately turned one over to see the ingredient list and it made me chuckle, in a good way.
Organic Dates, organic apples, organic agave nectar, organic walnuts, organic cashews, organic almonds, organic rice protein concentrate, organic cinnamon. That’s all!
That list is from their Apple Cinnamon bar, my favorite. Let’s take the word organic out just to see how simple the list really is.
Dates, apples, agave nectar, walnuts, cashews, almonds, rice protein concentrate, cinnamon.
In my opinion, for a convenience food, that’s not too shabby! But what about the taste?
Honesty, DIVINE! Sweet, moist, FULL of flavor. I really wasn’t sure if I was going to like them but I have to admit they are tasty and FILLING! Or should I say satisfying? A really great option to keep in your bag those days you aren’t sure you’ll be able to grab lunch.
Nutritionally they are a bit higher in calories then your average dieter may be into but a bargain for the fullness factor if you ask me. Not too mention I’d rather eat REAL food at slightly higher points then "light" fake foods and lower. This wasn’t always how I felt, but over time I learned to value real food more and more. At 190 calories, 8g of fat, 28g of carbs, 3g of fiber and 5g of protein they weigh in at 4 WWP and 5 new WWPP
The bars come in 6 flavors, Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Brownie, Cranberry Orange, Wild Blueberry, Cherry Cashew, and Trail Mix. All are tasty but that’s the order I like them in as well. Seriously, Apple Cinnamon ROCKS!
Click here to learn more on the Pure Web Site
Yet another product I was VERY hesitant to try. I actually turned down the opportunity until the the company convinced me otherwise. This was in their original pitch…
I thought you might be interested to learn about a new chocolate drink that brews like coffee. It’s called Crio Brü – www.criobru.com. Crio Brü is incredibly delicious and made from 100% pure cocoa
All I saw was "brews like coffee" and I was completely uninterested. See, I HATE coffee. I just do. Never liked it even though it smells divine. When I taste it, blech!
So I wrote back,
Thanks Jon, but I’m not interested. I don’t "do" coffee. But it sounds interesting!
To which he responded.
That is what makes this different, however, is that it isn’t coffee…it’s made from 100% cocoa.
Hmmm a ‘coffee like’ drink made with cocoa beans INSTEAD of coffee beans? Ok, I’m game.
When I opened the bag I was overcome by the GLORIOUS smell. Oh my word.. chocolate lovers will understand. I seriously wanted to bath in it.
The grinds looked like coffee but not as fine and uniform…
I brewed a cup not knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised! It was like a non-creamy, less sweet hot chocolate. That may sounds odd or bad but it was actually pleasant. A warm cup of cocoa, complex with flavor and deliciously satisfying. I added a spash of vanilla almond milk to cool it down and simply fell in love. For the first time ever I think I understand the lure of coffee.
According to the Crio Brü site a cup has about has 20 calories and 3g of carbs. They also make a lot of health claims I tend to take with a grain of salt. All I know is I like the way it tastes. And as a non-coffee drinker, I think it’s fun to have an alternative to tea when I’m in the mood for a hot beverage.
Click here to learn more on the Crio Brü web site.
Finally! The giveaway. Are you still with me? I feel like this is the longest post ever!
Here’s the deal…. The Cherry Marketing Institute is hosting a fabulous Recipe contest using, what else but CHERRIES! I outlined all the details here on FitBloggin’ BUT I forgot one teeny, tiny thing… they are giving away an awesome Cherry Red Gift pack to not only the winners of the contest but for one of my readers as well! Look at it up there, it’s a beautiful set! Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win the Cherry Red Cookware giveaway pictured above.
Click here to learn all about the Cherry Recipe Contest and how you can enter your cherry recipe!
Full Disclosure: Pure and Crio Brü both sent me products to review free of charge. However, they did not pay me for the review. My opinion about their products are my own. The Cherry Marketing Institute is a paying sponsor of the FitBloggin’ conference and they sent me the gift pack pictured above in exchange for publicizing the Cherry Recipe contest.
Update: Winner announced! It was Brooke! – A big thanks too all those that entered!
Winner selected using the Pick Giveaway winner plugin. Click here to learn more.
The street date for my upcoming book Chocolate & Vicodin is February 22, 2011—exactly two months away! That’s the date that bookstores are officially allowed to start selling the book. (They can get in trouble if they put it out earlier.) But it appears that the publicity portion of the book release has already started to kick into gear. This week Publisher’s Weekly posted a positive review of CHOCOLATE & VICODIN, calling it “lively” and “entertaining.” And LibraryJournal.com recently reviewed the memoir for the BookSmack newsletter, saying I’d be “fun to meet.” (Totally true by the way.)
I don’t want the blog to become all “Chocolate & Vicodin” all the time (though that sounds like a hell of a party!). So if you want to keep up with the latest news about the book or anything I’m up to, go to news.jennettefulda.com and/or subscribe to my RSS feed there. Those announcements are also blasted onto my Facebook fan page and I’ll try to remember to Twitter about them too. You can also sign up for my email newsletter at the bottom of JennetteFulda.com which will summarize any important or upcoming news and events. Whew! Publicity is hard work. So many media streams to swim in while trying not to drown.
Also, if you see the book mentioned in the media, feel free to tell me about it. I only learned about the two press items above because people contacted me about them. I don’t automatically get notices whenever something is printed about the book. I’m looking forward to all the activity around the book release and I hope you guys enjoy reading what I spent so much time writing!
I may not blog again before the holidays, so if not, have a Happy Whatever!
PastaQueen.com is a fascist regime ruled with a benevolent fist by PastaQueen and the macaroni military. Lively discussion is encouraged, but any comment may be deleted or edited according to the whims of your monarch. Please read the official rules of commenting etiquette for more details. Spammers are publicly beheaded and their blood is mixed into our spaghetti sauce. Comments are occasionally disabled some time after an entry has been posted to keep the blog on a spam-free diet.
I have 3 products that I’d like to share today. These were all sent to me free of charge to try for the purpose of review. I was not compensated in any other way to write these reviews. I should also add I normally only choose to share products I like and use, I rarely do a "bad" review unless I feel so strongly negative about the product it throws me into some sort of freakish a rant. I had the opposite experience with all three of these items. I LOVE sharing new things!
You may be familiar with the Wasa brand. I’ve seen their products in stores forever and used to by the Crisp’N Light all the time, especially when I was counting points. So when they asked to try their new line of "Thin & Crispy Flatbreads" I was all over it. They sent me a box of each flavor, original, sesame, and rosemary.
I liked them all but by far my favorite is the rosemary. They are as promised, thin and crispy! Totally awesome with a smear of laughing cow and a thin slice of ham or some turkey pepperoni.
The ingredient list is right up my alley too, whole wheat flour, wheat flour, palm oil, salt, barley malt extract, yeast and rosemary extract. Nutritionally, 2 large crackers are 70 calories with 1.5g of fat and 1 g of fiber. That’s 1 WWP! Click here to learn more about the Flatbreads.
Herbal water sent me their sampler case of Herbal infused water last year and I was inpressed by the concept but not blown away by the product. The flavor combinations were a little strong in the water and I found some to be medicine-y. HOWEVER, they recently sent me their Sparkling line and I’m in LOVE!
The Sparkling water comes in 3 flavors Lemongrass Mint Vanilla, Cinnamon Orange Peel and my favorite, Sparkling Ginger Lemon Peel. They contain water. Yup, just herb-infused water. No sugar or sweeteners or anything like that.
My only complaint about the product is the price. They run $24 for a pack a 3. That’s $8 a bottle. Pretty hefty. But tasty and fun if you can swing it. The bottles are so pretty I felt like I was pouring a glass of wine. They almost ask to use your best china. It’s funny. Click here to check out the Herbal Water web site.
My last review is not a food item but a fun toddler plate. I thought this could make a great gift for the kids in your life. Amy of superhealthykids.com asked if I’d be willing to take a look at a plate she designed to teach toddler’s good nutrition habits.
It’s GENIUS! Simple but genius. Basically it’s separated into 3 sections, a large veggie/fruit one, a small protein one and a small grains one. Although my Little Guy is a bit big for it. He demanded to use it for a few days and we had fun talking about why it was designed the way it was. He’s excited to use it for teaching the baby how to eat healthy. (He really is going to make a great big brother!) Click here to order yours today.
Stay tuned as I have two more reviews to share with you over the next couple weeks. Both are favorites of mine, ice cream and pizza!
