appplecheeks...eat.review.repeat.

Hello folks,

I've just returned from a whirlwhind cruise of the Western Caribbean so this post is late, I do apologize.

Thank you to all who entered the Vitalicious giveaway.

Anyways, the winner of the 12 pack deep chocolate VitaTops is...

COMMENT # 9!
April 18, 2010 4:39 PM


eatingRD said...

I didn't know it would take 13 minutes to walk off a vita-top! haha not too shabby. I enjoy these little treats :)

There is something nostalgic about cookies that brings me back to my childhood, especially digestive cookies that I used to eat as a kid. I don’t normally eat cookies these days but awhile back, Molline from Sweetpea Baby Food provided me with some samples of Sweetpea Baby Food’s organic cookies. Sweetpea Baby Food is a growing Toronto based company that began by producing baby food and has now expanded to include organic cookies in their product line.



I know what you may be thinking. Baby cookies? But hey, if the cookie is good enough for an enfant it must be good enough and wholesome for anyone right?

I was curious to find out.



That is definitely the case with Sweetpea Baby Food’s organic cookies. They were wholesome AND yummy and if I were a parent I may end up gobbling them all up before any of my kids got them!









They paired really nicely with coffee and tea and while they are perfect for snacking, I even had them for breakfast on a couple of occasions when I was pressed for time. Although these cookies are marketed towards enfants, I genuinely believe that they could survive the shelves among other non-baby snack foods. It’s a lot safer to have a bag of these around the house/office than oreo cookies or fudge-e-o’s!



I definitely put these cookies in the comfort category. They gave me that same warm feeling that I get from eating digestive cookies that brings me back to my childhood.

 Thank you Sweetpea Baby Food!

Every morning on my way to work, I pass the local coffee and donut shop and my sleepy self is instantly hit with the alluring aroma of freshly brewed coffee and warm blueberry muffins. I’m not going to lie… it smells simply heavenly. But don’t let anyone fool you, store bought muffins from a coffee shop are nowhere near healthy. Unless you make them yourself, they are pretty heavy in added sugar and fat.  Not a good way to start the morning.


Anyways...

I am very pleased and excited to announce my very first product giveaway! The lovely people at Vitalicious have offered to provide one lucky winner with a 12 pack of Deep Chocolate VitaTops. Now, this is a muffin that would make a good breakfast. VitaTops are full of fiber, low in fat, and contain no artificial preservatives or ingredients whatsoever. I plan on recreating Janetha’s Greek Yogurt and VitaTop combo as blogged about here, here and here . Sounds positively delish. :)

In order to enter the giveaway:





I will pick a winner at random on April 21st, 2010. Open to US residents only.


And for all you mid-westerners (that is anyone residing in the following states: IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, OH, WI ) Deep Chocolate Vita Tops are now on sale for the next 4 weeks at Costco for a limited time only! Time to stock up.

But back to the review.


Awhile back, I contacted Jenny (The Granola Girl) at Jentree Whole Foods to sample their gourmet granola. Jenny was ever so generous to send me some wonderful samples and I dove in right away.


I love granola. I really do. There’s nothing more satisfying than the combo of some fruit, nut, and whole grain oats especially when it’s slightly sweet and salty at the same time. Yum.  And Jenny's granola does not skimp out on the dried fruit, folks.  There were huge pieces of apricot and dried apple amongst the oats.


There’s something really special about Jenny’s granola. Unlike most boxed granolas that you can find at the grocery store or bulk food store, Jenny’s granola was very moist and chewy which I liked. I find that a lot of times, granola is way to dry and crumbly or almost stale. Jenny’s was the exact opposite. In fact, eating it made me realize how much I really do like eating granola. I couldn’t keep my hand out of the bag and it got quite dangerous at one point. Anyways, I think I’ve been eating store bought granola for far too long. I actually thought that granola was supposed to be overly hard and crunchy!

Jenny’s granola comes in five flavors: Cranberry, Raisin, and Honey, Maple Pecan and Date, Apple, Blueberry and Vanilla, Apricot Almond and Agave, and their feature flavour-Double Almond and Cherry. My top two were definitely the Maple Pecan and Date and the Apricot Almond and Agave (mostly because I love anything almond flavoured.) What I really enjoyed about Jenny’s granola is that the flavour in each one really came through.  I'm so used to granola tasting like cinnamon all the time that this was a welcomed change. 

You could definitely tell that each batch was baked slow and made from pure, high quality ingredients. It tasted very different than store bought granola and the gourmet touch is definitely present. You can feel good about eating it too because Jentree Granola is preservative free and made with 100% Canadian rolled oats.



Jenny has some recipes up on her site on how to incorporate granola into your cooking. But I’ve mostly been eating it straight out of the bag as a snack. I’ve also been sprinkling it on my yogurt and pancakes for breakfast. You can order the granola online and I can vouch for the fact that you will not be disappointed. Like I said, this granola is made with a lot of love and you can taste it in each bite. I will definitely be spreading the word on her yummy granola!

I've been meaning to sit down and write this post for awhile, but life (mostly work) got in the way.  Don't you hate when that happens? Yeah, I know. 

Anyways, here it is.  My review on the 2010 CRFA (Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association) Show held last weekend at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto from March 7-9 2010.  Now for those of you who’ve never heard of the CRFA trade show, it’s basically the big kahuna of trade shows when it comes to anything in the food service/restaurant industry.  Tickets for the event were $30 the day of or $20 for pre-ordering online.  

Anything imaginable about running a restaurant from the food to the supplies, equipment, advertising etc… could be found at this show.  There were vendors among vendors on everything surrounding this industry.  Aside from the food vendors, there were exhibitors for uniforms, sanitation, security, publishing, drive thru equipment, china, furniture, and the list goes on... To emphasize the breadth and depth of the show, there were five booths on footwear alone (because we all know how important it is to keep our feet comfortable if we're standing/cooking/serving all day.  I was a waitress...trust me, your feet take a beating!)  

And since I have a food blog and because I grew up in the restaurant industry I thought I would attend to check it out.  (A big thank you goes out to Prasanthi for arranging a pass to attend the show!)

I always find trade shows to be a little overwhelming especially when considering the sheer size of the venue and all the people milling around.  This show was no exception.  It was huge! There were 1200 exhibitor booths this year and 12,000 industry professionals.  If you plan on attending next year, be sure to schedule at least 3 hours if you want to take it all in.  It’s definitely an experience to say the least. 

When it comes to food, we first feast with our eyes.  I’m now going through all my pictures taken at the show and the flood of flavors is all coming back to me.  The biggest perk of attending the show is the bevy of samples to be had.  (And by bevy I really mean a buffet… )  I’ll just let some of the pictures do the talking:
 



To close, I’m going to highlight some of my favorites from the show.  You may be surprised to hear that among the sticky toffee pudding, baklava, cheesecake, truffles, etc… my favorite treat was more on the healthy side.   

Second runner up was cous cous and spinach (no picture).  I kid you not.  Among all the carbs and sugar it most have stood out like a sore thumb.  But it was so fresh and flavorful that I could have eaten a giant bowl of the stuff.  
Third runner up was mousse.  They had little samples on spoons that you could just pick up and stick in your mouth.   Thick, creamy perfection.  

Now, I’m all about healthy eating but when it comes to attending a food show honestly, I think it’s best to leave those little carb free, fat free, sugar free thoughts aside for a couple hours and enjoy your time there. 

I don't know why it took so long for Greek yogurt to hit the North American market. Not only do I find the taste superior to regular yogurt, nutrtionally, this stuff is pretty awesome (that is if you purchase the 0% fat kind.) I purchased a 500 g tub of fat free Greek yogurt at my local Sobey's keeping my fingers and toes crossed that it would live up to the beloved Chobani as discussed in this post here. Chobani, Oikos, and Fage are three Greek yogurt brands that are ubiquitous in the U.S. but are not widely available in Canada. But thankfully and not all too soon, Liberte Yogurt has finally come out with yogurt of the Greek variety. You should have seen my eyes light up when I spotted this at the grocery store.






Yep. It did. Thick, creamy and without that tang of regular fat free plain yogurt.


But let's talk more about why this stuff rocks. Protein, protein, protein. Each 175 g serving (about 3/4 cup) has 20 g of protein whereas Yoplait's Source Plain yogurt only has 8 g of protein, making this stuff the perfect post-workout snack. Add some chopped fruit, granola or a crumbled protein muffin into it. Or do like I do and add all three.

I'm a total yogurt-head. I don't think there's such thing as bad yogurt (unless it's full of sugar and fat) but I might make the permanent switch to Greek yogurt. I'm finding my usual low-fat yogurts a tad too liquidy and runny these days.
The only thing better than eating Greek yogurt.... would be eating Greek yogurt in GREECE. Santorini perhaps?

is that there is no secret. And that's the plain, simple, honest truth.  All it takes is hard work, dedication, and sheer motivation from someplace you may not know exists right now.  That's not what most people want to hear (at times, it's not what I want to hear either) but the truth isn't always pleasant.

This week, I want to shake things up in my workout and challenge my body to move in ways it isn't used to.  I'm going to try integrating some Tabata training into my plan.  If you aren't familiar with Tabata, I found a great post on it here.  There's a Globe and Mail article that you can read here about a Toronto mom who used Tabata to lose the baby weight.  And no, I won't be restricting myself to only one interval.  Wish me luck!


Anyways, here is my workout quote of the week to inspire you all to get moving:

"Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second." - William James.

The point is, dig deep people.

dig deep.

When I created this blog, the intention was to combine work out and fitness related content with healthy food/snack reviews.  Somewhere along the line..... it turned into a food review site.  That changes tommorow as I am going to incorporate more fitness related content.  Hopefully, this will keep me more accountable in terms of what I'm doing in the gym.

Stay tuned. 

 

They say that cooking is an art and baking is a science. I rocked science in high school and university but I consistently mess up every baking attempt without fail if the directions call for more than slicing and baking. Most of my "creations" either end up wrapped in an ugly foil mess in the trash or in the freezer after taking one or two bites (only to end up in the trash 2 weeks later to join other fallen creations of my past. Part of my failure in baking is due to the fact that I like to experiment by throwing in a little extra of this, a dash of that, and a sprinkle of what have you in anticipation that what lovely concoction is born from my oven is exponentially greater than the lovely photo from the food blog that inspired the baking extravaganze in the first place. Anyways, I was inpired by Allie to try out her Chickpea blondie recipe. The only substitutions I made were 4 tbsps of splenda brown sugar instead of the agave nectar, a tbsp of orange zest in addition to 2 tsps of cardamom and 1 tsp of pure almond extract. 
I know what you're thinking. Chickpea + blondie? But you actually do not taste the chickpea at all and the flavor of the almond + orange + cardamom was pretty darn phenomenal. 


The chickpea melds in nicely with the banana to produce a lovely... cake bar. I wouldn't exactly call it a blondie since blondies are usually chewier but these were really soft and light and would pair well with coffee or tea and it is definitely healthy enough for breakfast in the morning. I think I may call this my first baking victory.  I can't wait to experiment with this recipe using other flavour profiles. 

I'm going to put these chips in the enjoyable category. They weren't mind numbingly addictive to the point where your hand is subconsciously reaching into the bag but they had a real spicy kick with a slight cornmeal-y crunch like most tortilla chips do. A healthy sized serving of about 18 chips clocked in at 120 or so calories and the size of each chip was pretty much the same as a regular dorito. So if you can stop at one serving than I suppose they really are guitless. You can consider this snackaholic guilty of finishing the entire bag. The chili lime flavour definitely passed the test.  I'd like to true the spicy black bean flavour or the spinach and artichoke parmesan next time I'm in the mood for chips.

But click here to enter Jessica's Chobani giveaway!  As a self-proclaimed yogurt junkie, I hope I win.

I love peanut butter.  Actually, let me take that back.  I love the flavor of peanut butter.  It's just that nut butters these days are so laden in calories that it's hard for me to buy a jar in fear that I will eat the entire jar with a spoon.  You think I'm kidding but I'm not.

I was immediately intrigued when PB2 started making the healthy food blog circuit.  PB2 is basically defatted peanut flour where 85% of the fat has been removed.  It's also void of any preservatives.  So far so good.  And it just gets better because it tastes amazing.  You just take the flour and mix it with a bit of water and what you'll get is a thick creamy goo...reminiscent of the real thing minus the fat and calories.  Nutrionally, two tbsp = 53.2 calories (16.8 from fat), 1.7 g of sugar and 6 g of protein.  Pretty good protein content here. 

Uncle Ben failed me on this one.  I'm Asian so I know my rice.  Wanted to pick up something healthier than white rice and this fit the bill but it was so... unpalatable!  Uncle Ben's Express Bistro items are meant to be nuked in the microwave (in the pouch) to make things quick and easy which works for me because I might be the only Asian who does not own a rice cooker. 
Anyways, I followed the directions and out came something gummy, flavourless and hard to chew.  It was almost borderline stale.  I thought I could make it better by maybe adding some coconut milk or chicken broth for added flavour but in the end it just end up in the trash. boo.  Uncle Ben, you owe me

I'm not really a dip person but the other day I saw this at the grocery store and thought why not?  So President's Choice (wait, shouldn't it be Prime Minister's Choice?) has developed a line of lower fat, lower sugar, lower in calories and higher in fiber products called PC Blue Menu and in general, I am a fan.  So far, I've been pretty impressed with the number of PC Blue Menu items that I've tried (more review on these to come.)  It's not always an easy task to boost the nutrition while maintaining taste.  So how did this dip stack up?
While it's not as visually appealing as some other dips (think tan coloured sludge) it was pretty tasty.  It basically tasted exactly the way the name sounds.  Pureed white beans with a sharp hint of peppery roasted garlic.  I originally bought this as dip for my brocolli and cauliflower but I find that it actually tastes best when eaten on it's own.  Mmm. bean puree.  Never thought I'd say that.  Anyways, it feels good knowing that this stuff is pretty nutritionally sound.  0 g of saturated/trans fat and 45 calories per 2 tbsp, it would be pretty hard to find a healther dip since most dips contain a much higher fat content.  Next time I eat this, I'll be dipping to my health.

As an aside, President's Choice most popular product is their "Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie."  I think every Canadian knows which cookie I'm speaking off since they haven't changed the packaging on it since I was a kid.  Would the people at PC dare make a Blue Menu version of it?  Somehow I doubt it!

Munch. Yeah, pretty much munched through the whole box.  These were really good.  Like my affection towards anything "graham" I also enjoy anything oat-flavoured and the first ingredient in these are whole oats. Yay!  Kellogg's came through on these.  Each bite was crunchy and actually hearty with a nice oaty texture.  The flavors are really strong, not wimpy unlike some other cookies/crackers.  Anyways, I tried the Honey Oat flavour first and enjoyed them so much that I got the Brown Sugar Cinnamon as soon as I was through with the first box.  They were actually slightly addictive.
  They're both good but I'd pick the Honey Oat flavour over the Cinnamon mainly because I'm so used to dousing everything I eat with cinnamon these days and the honey flavour is a nice change.  What I really like about these is that due to the fiber (or should I say fibre) they actually quell a carb craving unlike most 100 calorie packs out there... (these actually have 130 but who's counting?) 

There's something really comforting to me about anything "graham." 

Probably because they remind me of those digestives cookies I had as a kid.  Anyways,  Annie's (organic) graham bunnies were a total win.  Small. bunny shaped. uncomplicated.  comforting and plain yummy.  They have a slight sweetness (not overly sweet) with graham-yness coming through at the end of each bite.  They're yummy plain but I also tossed them into my yogurt for some added crunch factor.  They were a tad on the pricey side for a snack item but nutritionally I would say that it's worth the little bit extra.  80 g of whole grain per serving, no cholesterol, and no saturated fat. win. win. win.  I kinda felt like a kid eating these but sometimes kid snacks are just better!  Not gonna lie.  Couldn't keep my hand out of the box.  I'm kinda glad I'm out.  If I buy another box, I'll have to prepackaged these into individual bags so they last me a little while longer.

and I'm devoting it to a grocery store find that I really do enjoy.  immensely.  In fact, I find myself buying it again and again. 
If you ask me, cheese should be a food group on it's own.  But we can't be reaching for that double cream brie on a daily basis now? can we?... So what did I try?



It's Laughing Cow's light cheese in original swiss.  Holy yum is all I have to say.  The pieces are prepackaged into tiny wedges of real smooth, dairy creaminess.  When I say creamy, I really do mean it.
It's light but it definitely retains some full fat flavor which keeps me pretty satisfied even though the wedges are small unlike other low-fat cream cheeses which end up tasting tangy. 
Lately, I've been using the cheese on my waffles, in my salads, on top of my burgers, and mixed up with some chopped dill and cilantro and a bit of milk to make a sauce for my veggies.  It tastes awesome plain too. Grab wedge and stick in mouth.  Simple and good.
I've seen other bloggies spreading the cheese on their fruit too.  Possibilities = endless.  Now if only I could find the light Herb & Garlic and light French Onion in my grocery store.  Oh well.  The original is keeping me pretty happy for now!