New Things (1.13.2009)

This post is going to be a mish-mosh of new products I have been trying over the past few weeks.

New Bowls

My sister gave me new bowls (and plates) for Christmas and I have really been enjoying them. I love the bright turquoise color of the bowls and how deep they are.

This bowl includes 1/2 c oatmeal, 1/2 c skim milk, sliced banana, almonds, cinnamon, agave nectar, and a spoonful of almond butter. I think the new bowls make the oatmeal look better and I apologize for all my ugly bowl pictures in the past. Never again. I promise. Unless all these are dirty and I need to use an old one.

Another "new bowl" shot with a big serving of regular puffins, skim milk, and a sliced banana. The deepness of these bowls lets me eat more cereal and still be able to say I just had one bowl. :)

Vanilla Yogurt

I broke down and paid TOO much money for yogurt. Blog land made me do it. Taken from their website - Skyr - (pronounced skeer) is a remarkable dairy product unique to Iceland. A smooth, rich flavour and creamy thick texture gives all-natural skyr a distinct place of its own on the dairy shelf!

It was absolutely worth every penny and is my favorite yogurt I have ever tried...in my life. I could only find it sold at the Whole Foods near me, where I shop for special items.

It comes with a cute little spoon on top and was incredibly creamy and tasty. The Vanilla flavor I tried had little specks of vanilla - like in Breyers ice cream. I plan on buying more as soon as I get back to Whole Foods.

The other yogurt I tried recently was Dannon Light & Fit - Vanilla.

I bought this brand because my regular grocery store doesn't carry greek yogurt and this brand was on sale. I took one bite and hated it. yuck. It was sickly sweet and too runny. The only good thing I can say about this yogurt is that it is cheap.

The thing I have learned with these new yogurts is - you get what you pay for.

Soup

I picked up Trader Joes Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper soup awhile ago, but just tried it today for the first time.

I could summarize my thoughts pretty quickly by saying - I licked the tupperware lid. I wanted to get every last drop of the 1 cup serving I brought. It was SO freakin good. And low in sodium which is normally the drawback with soups I have tried.

I added three turkey meatballs to the soup for some extra protein and was thinking I should have added some veggies. I will next time because I can confidently say that this soup will become a staple in my work lunches.

The other soup I tried recently is Progresso's Light, Reduced-Sodium, Roasted Chicken & Vegetable soup.

I tend to pick out the meat in canned soups because it always looks mysterious. The chicken in this soup was no different - scary looking, so I picked it all out.

Overall, the taste was a little bland - it needed more herbs. Less fat, but higher sodium content than TJ's soup above - so I probably wont be buying this again.

Drinks

Until recently, I have only used soy milk in smoothies. For some reason it just scared me to drink by the glass or use in my cereal or oatmeal. Then, I tried Chocolate Silk Soy Milk.I drink a glass when I need something sweet and chocolatey. It is great as a dessert or snack. I wont claim to know much else about it - except I like it and I am not scared of soy milk anymore.

The other night while roaming the aisles of my grocery store after a workout - I felt thirsty and wanted something other than water. To be honest, I wanted Diet Dr. Pepper. But instead, I thought I would try something new and slightly better for me.

Safeway Organics Blood Orange Italian Soda fit the bill. It was in a fancy bottle and I felt cool buying it because these things make me happy. Nutrition Facts can be found here. It is all-natural and has no high fructose corn syrup.

I thought it was delicious and would be great mixed with vodka or to have while hosting a party. Especially if the party was in the summer months and they were thrown in a cooler. It quenched my thirst and I cant wait to try the other flavors which include Pomegranate, Lemon, and Orange-Blueberry.

Bars

Actually, one bar in particular. Shakti - Mango Maca flavor from Pranabar. These are sold exclusively at Whole Foods and I had a hard time finding any detailed product information online. My boy Oscar was VERY interested to get a whiff of this bar. :)

"Shakti", from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," means sacred force or empowerment. I really like that. It makes me want to go back and buy more of these bars. If you are interested, read more at Wikipedia.

The texture was very similar to a larabar. Organic, raw, vegan, and gluten-free are some of the things this bar boasts. Not to mention "Mmm, Mmm, Good".

Hope you enjoyed taking a look at the new stuff I have been trying lately. All of the blogs I read have opened my eyes to so many new products, recipes, ideas - and I love it.