From the Kaia Foods website:
 
Kaia foods was founded with the belief that our health is best supported by eating an abundance of minimally processed whole foods. We sprout, mix and dehydrate our organic foods at low temperatures so that they remain ‘raw.’ No baking, frying, bleaching, or weird processing steps!
 
 I was psyched when I received this package!  The products fit perfectly with what I believe food should be about.

 
 Organic Buckwheat Granola
 I was sent their 3 flavors to try out – Cocoa Bliss, Dates & Spices and Raisin Cinnamon.
 
Made with sprouted buckwheat, sprouted walnuts, sprouted sunflower seeds, sprouted pumpkin seeds, coconut, ground flax seeds, and agave nectar, plus dried fruits and seasonings.
 

 Cocoa Bliss Granola
 

 
 I had never tried a raw granola before, so I honestly was not sure what to expect here.  I figured that I couldn’t go wrong with the Cocoa Bliss being the chocolate lover that I am, so I started here.
 
 The granola is made of buckwheat*, agave nectar*, raisins*, dried coconut*, cacao powder*, ground flax seed*, sunflower seeds*, pumpkin seeds*, walnuts*, natural vanilla extract, spices, and mineral salt. (*organic) 
 
 It contains big chunks in the bags, which I really enjoy in my granola.
 

 
 Did I like it?  I loved it!  The buckwheat gives the granola a super crunch and the raisins add a little chew to it.  The chocolate flavor comes through nicely, but is not overpowering by any means.  This was my favorite out of all 3 granolas!
 

Dates & Spices Granola
 
 Ingredients: buckwheat*, dates*, agave nectar*, ground flax seed*, dried coconut*, sunflower seeds*, pumpkin seeds*, walnuts*, natural vanilla extract, spices, and mineral salt. (*organic) 
 

I really liked this flavor as well.  I liked that there was definitely a hint of spice, but it was not all that you would taste.  Once again, I love the crunch of the buckwheat.
 
 
Raisin Cinnamon Granola 
Ingredients: buckwheat*, raisins*, agave nectar*, ground flax seed*, dried coconut*, sunflower seeds*, pumpkin seeds*, walnuts*, natural vanilla extract, natural orange extract, spices, and mineral salt. (*organic)

This was my second favorite!  I loved the hint of cinnamon that came through, and all of the raisins.  YUM!

If you like buckwheat, I highly recommend this granola.  It is different than your typical granola and in my opinion is better because it gives your body more essential nutrients while you eat!

Organic Sprouted Sunflower Seeds

All we do to our sunflower seeds is sprout, season and dehydrate them at low temperatures instead of roasting them. The nutrients and great taste stay intact and aren’t processed away.

I was sent 4 flavors of their sunflower seeds: Garlic & Salt, Sweet Curry, Teriyaki and Cocoa Mole.

Garlic & Salt

Ingredients: sprouted sunflower seeds*, onion powder*, garlic powder*, and sea salt. (*organic)

This flavor was great.  Salty with a hint of garlic.  Not too overpowering.

Sweet Curry

Ingredients: sprouted sunflower seeds*, raw agave nectar*, curry powder*, wheat-free tamari*, cumin powder*, garlic powder*, cayenne pepper*, and sea salt. (*organic)

Yum!  These had a mild sweet taste that I loved.

Teriyaki

Ingredients: sprouted sunflower seeds*, wheat-free tamari*, raw agave nectar*, ginger powder*, garlic powder*, and cayenne pepper*. (*organic)

I am a big fan of terriyaki sauce, so I did like these.  The flavor is that of a typical terriyaki – not too sweet, but not spicy either.  In my opinion, the curry was better!

Cocoa Mole

Ingredients: sprouted sunflower seeds*, raw agave nectar*, raw cacao powder*, vanilla extract*, cayenne pepper*, and sea salt. (*organic)

I definitely liked these!  They taste like a sweet dessert (but, not too sweet!).  Watch out for the kick at the end.

Overall, the sunflower seeds are delicious!  The actual sunflower seeds do not taste any different than what you would normally buy, but they are sprouted which makes them healthier for you.  I typically buy raw seeds and stay away from the roated and salted seeds for health reasons, so I would purchase these in a second.

Organic Fruit Leathers

To make our fruit leathers we puree whole organic fruits and dehydrate them at low temperatures, without adding sugars or concentrates. Yum!

I was sent 3 flavors of fruit leathers to try: Vanilla Pear, Spiced Apple and Goji Orange.

 When I opened these, I was not sure what to expect.  They seemed drier and flakier than the typical fruit leather that I was used to, but I was willing to give it a shot!

Goji Orange

 Ingredients: orange*, banana*, goji berries*. (*organic)

Mmmm…very orangy!  I liked it.   

Spiced Apple

Ingredients: apple*, banana*, spice blend*. (*organic)

I could taste the banana more than the apple in this one…

 Vanilla Pear

Ingredients: pear*, banana*, vanilla extract*. (*organic) 
 

I was a big fan of all of the fruit leathers, so I am having trouble picking a favorite!  If I had to though, I think this is it!  I love the pear that comes through.

The texture of the fruit leather is a bit different than your run of the mill fruit leather, but as you are eating these just think of the nutrients being absorbed by your body from the real fruit that was used to create them!

Overall, I really enjoyed all of Kaia Foods products.  They use minimal ingredients and a very minimally processed which allows the products to keep most of their nutritional value intact.  I would buy each of the products again without hesitation because I feel really good about eating them!

Another bonus from the website:

As part of our mission to improve quality of life through proper nutrition we invest 1% of sales in fighting hunger. We currently donate to The Hunger Project and to the United Nations World Food Program.

Breakfast part 1 was eaten right after the gym -a protein smoothie!

• 1 cup frozen berry mix
• 1 cup almond milk
• 2 tbsp hemp protein powder
• 1 tbsp honey

Breakfast part 2 was after I got ready for work – an ezekial cinnamon raisin english muffin with almond haze and blueberry jam.

I love the Futter’s Almond Haze with its chunks of hazelnuts and almonds.  And, the Blueberry (North America) Crofter’s Superfruit Jam is by far the best flavor!

I spread 1/2 with the nut butter and 1/2 with the jam.  Delicious!

The morning flew by, so lunch time came very quickly.  Last night I prepared my lunch for the day so I wouldn’t be rushing – salad, pineapple and yogurt.  All stacked up and ready to go.

My salad contained green leaf lettuce, wheatberries, cheddar cheese and golden beets.

I also packed some snacks for today, since spinning days always seem to make me more hungry!

2 graham crackers, honey peanut butter and an apple!

Dinner will be a little later tonight for our dinner party, so this snack will hopefully hold me over.

In other news, it looks like nuts are finally making a comeback!  For years, so many women have been nervous to eat nuts because of the high fat content.  It is true that you should only eat them in small portions due to the high fat, but it is all good fats which are healthy and essential for your body.  Studies have shown that people who eat more nuts normally eat less overall because they keep them full and satisfied for longer.  Check out this article: Once a diet no-no, nuts are in again.  I have already eaten nut butter twice today!

See you after dinner!

The idea behind the company is great!  The founder was hiking and wanted a more delicious snack that was still packed with the nutrition he needed for the climb.

From the website:

It all started with a climb up Mount Rainier in Washington State in August 2003. We had some beautiful views but nothing delicious to eat. The trail mix and stale nuts we brought on our trip helped to replenish lost energy, but did nothing to satisfy our desire for something great tasting, nutritious and as adventurous as our travels. That experience inspired us to create Sahale Snacks.

Our first line of snacks, the nut blends, are unique combinations of premium nuts, dried fruits, and exotic spices, each reflecting a beautiful location, culture and/or culinary tradition somewhere in the world. They are all natural, delicious, conveniently packaged, and full of nutrition. Recently we added a line of lightly glazed nuts with great fruits like raspberry, strawberry, and pomegranate.

We use whole ingredients in their natural form — such as cashews, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, macadamia nuts, and peanuts — and combine them with naturally dried and preservative-free (unsulphured) fruits, then add fabulous ingredients like organic orange blossom honey, lemongrass, balsamic vinegar, Moroccan harissa, or pure ground Madagascar vanilla beans.

Take us on your next adventure.

For now, you can purchase the nuts online, or at Starbucks.  They are part of Starbucks new snack line!  I saw them the last time I was there.  You can also search here for other locations.

I have been trying these nut blends on salads, on stirfries and just as plain snacks.  They are delicious anyway you eat them.  I found that all of the blends are sweet, but not too sweet.  Just the perfect amount.

Almond PB & J – Almond PB&J with Peanuts + Berries

Review: A great snack that really tastes like jelly covered almonds!  The addition of peanuts to the mix was the PB, so when I got a bite with an almond and a peanut, it was like a PB&J sandwich.

Nutrition Facts: My small bag of almonds was only 1 ounce, so therefore contained 1 serving.  A great snack to throw in your bag when you are on-the-go!

Honey Almond - Almonds with Cranberries, Honey + Sea Salt

Review: Ok, these are my favorite!  They were just a simple, glazed almond with a touch of salt flavor.  The cranberries floated separately in the bag, but made a great mix when eaten together.  The glaze was not overpowering.  It just provided a touch of sweetness. I ate these right out of the bag as well!

Nutrition Facts: The bag I received was one serving.

Pomegranate Cashews - Cashews with Pomegranate + Vanilla

Review:  To me, these had a similar flavor to the Honey Almonds, but with a slight hint of vanilla (and obviously the fact that they are Cashews and not Almonds!:)).  I normally prefer almonds to cashews, but these were great!  They were sprinkled with lots of pomegrante that gave the nuts a bit more flavor and deliciousness.  I would absolutely buy these again!  Once again, they had the perfect about of sweetness and none of the flavors in the blend were overpowering, which is true in so many flavored nuts out there.

Nutrition Facts: I received a larger bag of these, so I am looking forward to enjoying them on salads and as snacks.

Ksar Nut Blend - Pistachios with Sesame Seeds, Pepitas, Fig + Moroccan Harissa

Review: Loved these!  Pistachios are paired perfectly with sesame seeds and a peppery spice.  I loved that these had just a hint of sweetness, but also had a kick at the end.  So far I have enjoyed these on salads, but haven’t eaten them alone – I think they would be a little too spicy for me.  I enjoy sweeter nuts as a snack.  They would be great on top of a spicy stirfry.  A great blend and a must try because it is so different!

Nutrition Facts:

Valdosta Nut Blend - Pecans with Sweet Cranberries, Black Pepper + Orange Zest

Review:  These are some delicious pecans!  And, are a great addition to a sweeter salad, which is just how I used them.  Once again, they just have a hint of sweetness.  I didn’t really taste the pepper at all, which was probably because I ate them in a salad.  The cranberries were a nice addition as well.

Nutrition Facts:

Each and everyone of these glazed nuts and nut blends were delicious!  I would happliy purchase any of them, and can’t wait to find their other nut blends that are out there.  I definitely recommend giving them a try for snacks and on salads!

Sahale Snacks uses healthier and natural ingredients in their blends, which makes me feel better about eating these nuts over other blends out there that use oils and artificial sweeteners.  I loved that you could see the whole cranberries and chunks of pomegranates and figs in the blends.  You know that you are getting the real fruit, and not just a concentrate!

Thank you Sahale Snacks!!

I started my friday with some oats.  Due to the special occasion (it being friday and all), I added some fun toppings.

I used Steel Cut Oats today, since I am out of my favorite rolled oats.  I loved the steel cut oats.  They have a different texture, more like oatbran and I like it.

Steel cut oats are minimally processed.  They do not have to go through steaming or rolling, like rolled oats due.  For this reason, they also take longer to cook, but it’s worth the wait.  A normal pot of steel cut oats can take about 20-30 minutes to cook, but I bought these quick & easy steel cut oats to make on weekdays before work.  They only cook for 5-7 minutes and come out great.

One serving is 1/4 cup, which contains 150 calories.

I added a super ripe banana and 1/2 tbsp of chia seeds to my oats while they were cooking.  I like whipping in the banana to create banana oats without any chunks.

On top of my oatmeal I put 3 special ingredients:

• handful of unsweetened banana chips
• 1 tbsp Nuttzo
• 2 tsp Cacao Bliss

The Nuttzo is so crunchy!

With some Birthday Tea, for fun.

Check out the sprinkles!

Lunch

I’ve been working like crazy today, so I didn’t break out my lunch until almost 3!  So late for me!!

Luckily, I brought a homemade salad with arugula, peppers, Valdosta pecans and goldenberries.

My second course was Honey Chobani with homemade granola!

Good thing I took pictures this morning, because lunch was gone in no time!

Dinner

Brant made me a pre-Valentine’s day dinner tonight.  It was delicious!

Lemon Gnocchi with Spinach and Peas

from Epicurious.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen baby peas (not thawed)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (he used 1% milk)
• 1/4 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 3 cups packed baby spinach
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 pound dried gnocchi
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan

Directions:

• Simmer peas with cream, red-pepper flakes, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a 12-inch heavy skillet, covered, until tender, about 5 minutes.

• Add spinach and cook over medium-low heat, uncovered, stirring, until wilted. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and juice.

• Meanwhile, cook gnocchi in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (3 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta-cooking water, then drain gnocchi.

• Add gnocchi to sauce with cheese and some of reserved cooking water and stir to coat. Thin with additional cooking water if necessary.

Served with some delicious wine given to us by my parents for Christmas 2008!  Oopss!

Dinner was delicious.  I forget how good gnocchi is.  I loved that this wasn’t super creamy (because he didn’t use the cream) and I could taste the lemon zest.

And, Brant brought me a rose and chocolate!  Yahoo!  What a great guy.

More of my new favorite chocolate to try!

Happy Friday!!

Back up to my workout!

I trekked to the gym this morning to do some speedwork on the treadmill, and lift some weights.  After running 7 miles with 8 x 800′s in 60 minutes, I moved on to weights.

Upper Body Weights

• Overhead press (3 sets of 12, 10lb weights)
• 21′s (3 sets, 10lb weights)
• Chest press (3 sets of 12, 12.5lb weights)
• Tricep row (3 sets of 12, 12.5lb weights)
• Upright row (3 sets of 12, 10lb weights)
• Front raises (3 sets of 10, 7.5lb weights)
• Side raises (3 sets of 10, 7.5lb weights)
• Fly’s (3 sets of 12, 10lb weights)
• Tricep extension (3 sets of 12, 10lb weight)
• Lateral pulldown (3 sets of 12, 50lbs)
• Seated row (3 sets of 12, 40lbs)

Great workout!  My legs were burning after my run, and my arms were burning after the weights!

Once home, I was starving, so I immediately dug into breakfast!

Museli with homemade granola and a scoop of Cinn-ful Pecan Mix Nut Butter

This is the best kind of Museli I have tried.  I love Bob’s Red Mill!  I haven’t tried all of his stuff, but the museli and oatmeal are delicious.  Remember my NuVal shopping experience, when I found out that Museli was more nutritious than Oats?  Well, I still love my oats, but I like the switch it up once in awhile too.

I mixed this museli with a litte almond milk, and popped it in the microwave for 30 seconds, so that my pecan butter would melt.  I then topped it with some homemade granola and Cinn-ful Pecan Butter.  It was delicious, as usual.  The addition of pecan butter made it more sin-ful.

The Cinn-ful Pecan Mix Nut Butter is from Futter’s.  They have a great company who make lots of different types of nut butters instead of peanut butter.  All of their products are made with little to no extra ingredients added, and are so good!  I have tried a few other flavors, but this Cinn-ful Pecan is to die for, seriously!

(sorry for the blurry photos today )

They recommend that you keep pecan butter in the fridge, but I like it ooey and gooey, so it sits in my cabinet!

I feel a cold coming on (it seems like everyone around me is sick!), so along with breakfast I had some Cold season tea from Yogi.

The tea contains a lot of natural herbs to fight a cold!  I love natural medicine practices.  I’m not one to take cold medicine, so I try to fuel up on natural stuff.

Mmmm…it has an overall orangy flavor, and I love tasting some herbs too.

Warmed me right up.

My blurry tea fortune says: You must live for something higher, bigger and better than you.

On to Lunch!

I am still working on some leftovers, but wanted something different today. I decided on a salad with arugula, peppers and hemp seeds!  Hemp is so good for you (read about it in a previous post here).  I normally use the protein powder in my smoothies, but bought some seeds during my last health food store shopping.

They don’t taste like much, but do have a nutty flavor, so they make a perfect addition to sprinkle on salads or in stirfrys for an added boost!

I added some homemade pomegranate dressing to my salad – pomegranate juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Along with my salad, I had a pineapple chobani with some additional pineapple mixed in!

And, for my sweet ending, another new chocolate bar!  (only a few pieces though)

Chocolove Almonds & Sea Salt in Dark Chocolate

Word cannot describe this bar!  It was so good.  Rich dark chocolate paired with sea salt and chunks of almonds.  I mean, check out the almonds!

Loved this one!

Of course, it came with a love poem:

How great would these chocolate bars be for Valentine’s day?!  Chocolate and a love poem! (hint, hint)

I started my morning with a fruit & protein shake.  I used a Blended Bliss You Shake sent to me by You Bar as the base and added some other goodies as well.

I have talked about You Bar before on my blog.  You can create your own bars, shakes, cookies, cereal or trail mix on their site!  I will post my full review after I finish my samples!

This shake contained: Whey Protein, Organic Cane Juice, Organic Strawberries, Organic Bananas, Organic Vanilla Powder.

So, basically it was a strawberry-banana protein powder!  To my shake, I added the following:

• 1 frozen banana
• handful frozen strawberries
• ~ 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• ~1/2 cup almond milk
• Blended Bliss protein powder

Then, I blended it up to create a smooth and creamy Strawberry-Banana Shake!

Mmmm…it was good!  And, definitely tasted like a strawberry-banana ice cream shake.  I liked the addition of my bananas, strawberries and yogurt to make the shake a little more satisfying and filling, but the powder would probably taste just as good blended with the milk of your choice.

Normally, I prefer to make my own smoothies and shakes, instead of using a mix, but if I was in a pinch or travelling this would be great to have on hand!

Lunch was leftovers again!

I had leftover Israeli Couscous with a small salad.  To the salad I added some peppers, feta and pistachios from Sahale Snacks.

The yummy looking pistachios on top of my salad are actually the Ksar Nut Blend from Sahale Snacks.  The Ksar Nut Blend is Pistachios with Sesame Seeds, Pepitas, Fig + Moroccan Harissa.

From the website:

An exotic, piquant combination of Pistachios and Pepitas, sweetened by figs and honey, and finished with a peppery kick of Moroccan Harissa.

They were a great addition to the salad.  I love a little bit of crunch.  A little sweet, but definitely a spicy and peppery kick at the end!

A few hours later, I was hungry for a snack!  I decided on an Oikos Chocolate Greek Yogurt and a Trail Mix from You Bar!

I absolutely love this greek yogurt!

Chocolate on the bottom!!

The Best Trail Mix contains Almonds, Cashews, Walnuts, Blueberries, Cranberries, Sunflower Seeds and Sun Drops Chocolate Candies.

It was great, just like trail mix.  I love that you can pick your own ingredients because I always want to combine the different trail mixes that are out there!  I also liked that there is no added sugar to the nuts in the mix.  So many trail mixes add oils and sugars to their nuts, but these are just plain.  Normally, I love to buy nuts and dried fruit to put my own mix together, but this is perfect for a healthy snack on the go!

This bag contains 234 calories, 16 grams of fat, 20 grams of carbs and 5 grams of protein, so I only added about half to my yogurt.  With the chocolate yogurt and sun drops candies, I felt like I was having dessert without the guilt!

A sweet and satisfying snack, which was perfect to hold me over until dinner!

It is really important to fuel up with protein after a tough workout, so once home I made some juice, had some blueberry tea (to warm up!) and snacked on a Super Charge Me cookie to hold me over until dinner.

In my juice mix went:

• 1 huge carrot
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 small green apples
• 1/2 lemon

This fruit was all destined to be tossed with the trash tomorrow, so I needed to use it up!

We have tons of leftovers from the weekend, so dinner was a smorgasbord!

I had one slice of pepper and cheese pizza, one slice of BBQ chicken pizza and salad for greens!!!

I added some nuts to my salad for crunch.  Sahale Snacks sent me this Valdosta Nut Blend, along with some other nuts for me to try (full review to come later after I have tried everything).

The nut blend contains Pecans with Sweet Cranberries, Black Pepper and Orange Zest .  They were a delicious, sweet and crunchy mix!  I added a sprinkle of feta to my greens as well.  For dressing, I mixed up a little pomegranate juice with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Dressing ingredients:

Instead of mixing it all up, I just drizzle some of everything onto my salad.

I also enjoyed a Pomegranate Mocktail with my dinner, as well!  Seltzer with a splash of POM pomegranate juice and a squeeze of lemon.   I felt like a cocktail, but needed a detox after the weekend!

POM Wonderful sent me some samples of their 100% pomegranate juice that I have been enjoying for a few weeks now.  I love to use a splash of the pomegranate juice in my seltzer water and to mix it with a little olive oil for a delicious salad dressing, which is just what I did tonight.  The pomegranate juice is great!  It is both sweet and tart at the same time, and tastes just like the juice that you would squeeze directly from a pomegranate!  And, it is super healthy for you!

Check out the facts from their website:

All of POM Wonderful Juices:

• contain no added sugars, preservatives or colors
• are a good source of potassium
• are gluten-free
• are flash pasteurized to retain both flavor and nutrients
• are certified kosher

It’s also 100% authentic, 100% delicious and 100% pure, meaning there’s no added sugar, colorants or cheap filler juices.

You can find this in almost any grocery store, so definitely give it a try!  The juice is great in cocktails as well!

For dessert, which I seem to have to eat lately, I tried a new chocolate bar!

Chocolove’s Crystalized Ginger in Dark Chocolate (65% Cocoa Content)

All of Chocolove’s bars have a fun poem inside!  This one came with a poem about Romeo & Juliet:

The chocolate bar is delicious dark chocolate with hunks of ginger – yum!

I love this chocolate company!

I added the following:

• 5 ice cubes
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/2 cup frozen cherries
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 2 tbsp hemp protein powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp cacao powder
• 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• squirt of agave

This basically tasted like a Chocolate Covered Cherry Smoothie!  I couldn’t taste the hemp powder or the blueberries, but they were in there to give me an extra boost of protein and antioxidants!  It was delicious.

I love smoothies, but I find that for breakfast they only hold me over for a few hours.  I think that my body craves food more in the morning…I am never as hungry at night.  Plus, I workout in the mornings which definitely makes me hungrier.  I guess that is a good thing since it gets my metabolism going!

Check out this article about Superfoods for women from Health.com!  Their top ten list contains the following:

• Wild Alaskan Salmon
• Wild Blueberries
• Oats
• Broccoli
• Walnuts
• Avocados
• Red Beans
• Greek Yogurt
• Olive Oil
• Dark Chocolate!!!

Other winners were almonds, beef, green tea, kefir, lentils, low-fat milk, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, raisins, soybeans, spinach, sweet potatoes, tart cherries and tomatoes.

It is amazing to me how many of those superfoods I get into my diet!  Yay me.   And, I’m sure that plenty of other women eat a lot of those foods as well.  I make a great dish with quinoa, pumpkin seeds, spinach, tomatoes and golden raisins!  I guess i’ll have to make that again soon, since it is packed with superfoods!

Before leaving for work this morning I toasted up 2 slices of Millet toast and brought some raw almond butter just in case.  And what do you know?  I was hungry around 10:30!  I ate about 1.5 slices with my almond butter and that kept my hunger off until almost 2, where I ate some leftover Spicy Thai Salad from last night – still delicious!

Avocados do not keep well after they have been opened up, but I stored my leftover dressing in a jar with a slice of lemon which definitely kept it from browning too much.  The top layer did brown, but I just scooped it off!  Mmmm…I love avocados.

Back up for a second to talk about Trader Joes Raw Almond Butter.  It is amazing!  For some reason, it tastes better to me than anything else I have tried – and trust me, I have tried many nut butters!  I get the chunky version and there are huge chunks of almonds in it!!!

Mid-afternoon I snacked on an Attune Chocolate Bar.  The nice people at Attune sent me some of their chocolate bars to try.  I am going to review the bars in more depth later after I try the other 2 I have because the idea behind the bar intrigues me.

From the Attune website:

“Attune® is the powerhouse probiotic bar that tastes absolutely amazing. And it helps you feel amazing. That means a digestive system that works like it should. And an immune system that puts up a good defense. Get Alive Inside™ with just one Attune bar every day.”

I tried the Chocolate Crisp bar, which tasted good.  Kind of like a Nestle Crunch bar.

I did not absolutely love it, but it was a nice treat with only 90 calories.  Apparently the bars contain more probiotics than yogurt, which ultimately will keep your digestive system in track.  More to come once I try the other bars!

Tonight was an easy 5 mile run!  Between my run and dinner, I sipped on a coconut water to replenish and hold me over for dinner.

For dinner, I whipped up a fancy cashew “pizza cheese” to eat with our lettuce wraps.  I am loving the ChoosingRaw.com recipes that Gena has, so this week is a variety from their, including the pizza cheese.

Cashew Ricotta with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Basil (aka Italian Pizza Cheese!)

from ChoosingRaw.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cashews, soaked for two hours or more
• Juice of one lemon
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp white miso (optional) – I did not use this
• 4 sundried tomatoes, chopped – I used golden sundried tomatoes
• ¼ cup basil

Directions:

1. Throw nuts in a food processor and process till ground well.
2. Add salt, lemon juice, miso if using.
3. Scrape sides of bowl and run processor again, this time drizzling some water in. Keep doing this until the cheese reaches the consistency you like (similar to ricotta).
4. Add tomatoes and basil and pulse until they are well combined into the cheese.
5. Serve as you like!

I followed Gena’s directions exactly, and my “cheese” came out looking just like hers does!  Fluffy and creamy with a consistency similar to ricotta.

Nut spreads, cheese and pate’s are really big in the raw food world because it gives some flavor to your dish.  Some people do not love the texture, but personally I love them!  I do not love meat, so sauces and spreads (such as hummus, guacamole, and nut cheeses) kind of act like my meat, if you know what I mean?!

I spread my Cashew pizza cheese in cabbage tacos and topped them with shredded carrots and slices of tomatoes.  They were delicious!

I love the raw idea, but I am still craving some cooked foods!  But, like everyone says, start out slow with any kind of diet change.  If you try to change everything at once, you will just end up failing!  Small steps towards a healthy lifestyle are definitely the way to go.  It took me a few years to really get into the healthy, all-natural way of eating.  But, now that I am here, I would never even dream of going back!  The candy and cookies and chips that I ate all the time in college are not even appealing to me anymore.  I am healthier and happier than I have ever been before!

My first creation of the day was a breakfast cookie that I had been dying to try.  They are all the rage with food bloggers out there, so I decided to try it out.  I kind of did a combination of the cookies I have seen on my favorite blogs, so here is goes.

The cookie is actually a perfect breakfast with ample fat, protein and carbs in the mix.  You mix all of the ingredients together, put the mixture onto a plate to form a cookie shape, and pop it in the microwave.

Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oatmeal (I used rolled oats)
• 1 tablespoon nut butter of choice (I used banana raisin!)
• 1 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Mix (or protein powder)
• 1/8 cup Almond Milk (regular milk would work as well)
• 1/2 mashed banana
• small handful raisins

Directions:

1. Mix oatmeal, protein powder and nut butter of choice together in a small bowl until it creates a clumpy mix.
2. Stir in almond butter and mashed banana until well combined.
3. Add in mix-ins of choice! I chose raisins here to work with the banana raisin PB that I chose, but other great mix-ins would work as well.
4. Put mixture onto small plate and form into cookie shape.
5. Pop in microwave for 4 minutes, or until it springs back like a fresh baked cookie!
6. Top with whatever you want: more nut butter, banana, jam, etc.
7. Enjoy!

This process didn’t take any longer than a regular bowl of oats!  It was a nice change to my normal breakfast.  I felt like I was eating something completely sinful, but it wasn’t!

Cookie formed before cooking

And, after being cooked!

And, with my toppings of choice – scoop of banana PB, 1/2 banana and sprinkle of raisins!

Next up, I whipped up another batch of nut butter.

While eating my chocolate almond butter this week, I found it to become drier as the week went on.  I was not sure if this was just due to it being more natural or not, but today I figured out that it was due to the fact that I had used my small food processor!  The large one is much more powerful, and turned my hazelnuts and pecans into a smooth and creamy nut butter!

Nut butter is so easy to make!  Just throw all of your ingredients into the food processor and blend.  Keep blending until they become smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes.

Today, I used hazelnuts and pecans.  I roasted them for 2 minutes, and then let them cool before blending because I had read that they blend easier this way.  They definitely did, but by toasting them you do lose some of the nutrients.

Chocolate Cinnamon Pecan Hazelnut Butter

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup hazelnuts
• 1 tablespoon cacao powder
• 1 tablespoon cacao nibs
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

• Toast hazelnuts and pecans for 2 minutes, let cool.

• Add nuts to food processor and blend until all chopped.

• Add cacao powder, nibs, honey and cinnamon and blend.

• Blend until creates a smooth and creamy nut butter.

This came out much better than my almond butter!  It tastes great, with just a hint of spice from the cinnamon!

I have my yogurt maker going right now…it should take about 9-10 hours!  I’ll be back with a post for that once it is done and I can try some.

Stew Leonards whole grain toast smeared with homemade chocolate almond butter!!  I whipped up this almond butter last night, since I was craving something healthy, sweet and chocolatey.

(oopps – guess I couldn’t wait to take a bite before I snapped this photo! )

Almonds do have a high fat content, but they are very good for you!  They are a great source of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated oils, protein, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc and vitamin E.  They are great for your body, and for your heart!  A small handful of almonds is a great snack because they will fill you up, and are easy to bring on the go.

I bought some raw almonds at Trader Joe’s last week, so I decided to try to make my own almond butter!  It is a very easy process, and if you buy your almonds somewhere like Trader Joe’s (where they are cheap!) then you’ll save yourself some money as well.  Buying almond butter at a store can be upwards of $10 a jar!  I purchased a 1 pound bag of raw almonds for $5.49, and only used 1 cup for this recipe!  I still have over 1/2 of the bag left.

Homemade Chocolate Almond Butter

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Raw Almonds
• 5-6 ounces Dark Chocolate
• Splash of Agave Nectar

Directions:

• Take 1 cup of raw almonds and throw them into a food processor (or blender).

• Process on high, until the almonds form an almond meal (a flour-like consitency).

• Add 5 blocks of chocolate bar (or about 5-6 ounces of chocolate).  I added 3 blocks, then went back for 2 more to make this butter more chocolatey!

• After the chocolate is blended into the almonds, add a few squirts of agave nectar for sweetness.  I used Almond flavored, since I had it in my cabinet, but anything will do.

(this flavor of almond agave nectar is delicious!  It has a slight almond flavor, definitely not too overpowering.  I’ll give it a try in tea sometime!)

• Continue to blend until the mixture creates a butter-like consistency.  It will be a big drier than store bought nut butter, but still spreadable and even more delicious!

Well, it is delicious straight out of the jar!  And, it was even more tasty on my whole grain toast!

Next up for breakfast was a new smoothie flavor that I have been dying to try!

Chocolate Cherry Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Frozen Cherries
• 1/2 Banana (next time i’d use the whole!)
• 1 tablespoon ground Flaxseeds
• 1 scoop or packet Amazing Grass Kidz Chocolate SuperFood
• 1/2 cup Almond Milk
• Squirt of Agave, if desired
• Handful ice cubes
• Water if needed

Directions:

• Add all ingredients above to a blender and blend until smooth!  I needed to add about 1/2 cup water to make the consitency drinkable.

Trader Joes Frozen Cherries – they have great prices on their frozen fruit, so I always have a freezer full of it!

Yummy banana thrown in there!

Ground flaxseed

The Amazing Grass products are definitely an aquired taste for me.  I cannot get over the wheatgrass flavor, but I do love the chocolate products (of course!).  I used the Kidz Chocolate Superfood here because I find the taste to be more chocolatey than their other products.  It is great in smoothies, and a great way to get some veggies into your breakfast!

I am a big fan of almond milk in my cereal, smoothies, and tea!

Almond agave

Add a handful of ice, and blend!

That was my kind of breakfast.