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One Tribe, One Vibe…

Posted on February 21, 2013 by kissmybroccoli

One LOVE!

But I’m not making a Bob Marley reference…though you can’t deny that song IS pretty awesome! 🙂

No, I’m talking about these little beauties…

Sambazon Hearts

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by the people of Sambazon to sample and review a few of their smoothies. After taking a look at the flavors and seeing the amazing ingredients (all organic, non-GMO, fair trade, and even VEGAN!), I couldn’t handle my excitement!

The company sent me some VIP vouchers to try not one, but THREE smoothies! The hardest part was deciding which ones to get…I really wanted to try the kale ginger
(uh, YUM!), but sadly they weren’t in stock. 🙁

In the end, I went with the breakfast blend in strawberry banana, and two of their protein smoothies, vanilla and chocolate almond coconut!!

I’ll admit I was a little nervous trying these since most juices/blended drinks tend to be too sweet for my tastes. They definitely were on the sweeter side, but not so much that I couldn’t enjoy them.

The strawberry banana was the first one I tried and loved it from the first sip…the PERFECT blend of strawberry and banana!

And at around 210 calories for the whole bottle, I was surprised that it kept me full for TWO hours (pre-made shakes usually only hold me over for an hour tops!).

Next up was the chocolate almond coconut and oh my gosh you guys, the coconut flavor in this is UNREAL!

It was like drinking the creamiest of chocolate milks out of an actual COCONUT!

Last, and actually what I thought was the least, was the acai berry vanilla. It had a nice mild vanilla flavor that went well with the berry but I thought it was a little gritty-tasting.

That is until I had a minor stroke…of GENIUS! 😉

Are you ready for this?

It tasted…

just like…

CAPTAIN CRUNCH!!!

I kid…you not! 😀

Sambazon Bowl with Spoon

Along with my VIP vouchers, the company also sent me this GORGEOUS handcrafted bowl…

And a cute little spoon too…which makes a fabulous impromptu mic while dancing around the kitchen 😉

But the bowl has an even BETTER use…

Hmmm, what could that be?

Oh yes…yes I did! 😉

So now for the SUPER exciting news…

Sambazon is giving you ALL the chance to win FIVE VIP VOUCHERS so you can see for yourself just how Samb-AZING they are…and they’re also throwing in a handcrafted ginger chew bowl AND a wooden mic! 😉

Happy entering!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway is open to US residents only and will close Thursday, February 28 at midnight EST.

Disclaimer: While I was given product free of charge, all the above opinions are of my own. I was not compensated in any way for my review.

Posted in Giveaway, Product Review | Tagged cereal, ginger chews, on the go, protein, Sambazon, smoothie | 62 Comments

WIAW: Healthy & Indulgent

Posted on February 20, 2013 by kissmybroccoli

Hey guys!

Wow…I couldn’t help but have the BIGGEST smile on my face as I read through all your sweet comments on Monday’s post…especially since I know that the man-friend will be reading them too (yep, he reads the blog :D) and by the time I see him again this weekend, I’m sure his ego will be as big as a house! Lol

Along with all my AMAZING Valentine’s Day goodies, I have to say, even though our Memphis plans fell through, he did a pretty darn good job keeping me entertained this weekend…especially when he asked me if I wanted to go to Big Lots…for the SOUL purpose of checking out the healthy treats like the new Budpop gummies! 😉

But besides buying WAY too many snacks to add to my already BURSTING pantry, we also found ourselves faced with some DELICIOUS eats…

As always, a BIG thanks goes out to our crafty, veggie-loving hostess, Jenn for giving me a reason to bombard you with more foodporn! 😉

Before heading off to my massage appointment, we fixed a quick but oh so satisfying breakfast…

Mmmm, oats!

He kept it simple with a bit of honey drizzled on top, but I went BIG with a perfectly fried egg, blueberry jam, and a ~~dash~~ ton of cinnamon!

After he picked me up from my appointment, we had planned to go out for lunch, but traffic was terrible so instead we hit up the grocery store, picked up a few things and made a nice lunch at home!

Salad & Hummus

JUMBO-sized salads topped with yummy hummus!

And while the man-friend opted for a turkey sandwich, I was really feeling the need for something warm in my tummy.

Butternut Squash Soup

Soup’s up!

Unfortunately, this soup sucked BIG time! I know it can be hard to find low-sodium soups that actually have FLAVOR to them, but I know it can be done…sadly, Amy doesn’t have the skills.

The rest of the day was full of movie-watching, nap-taking, and otherwise being lazy bums. Oh but we did manage make this tasty little snack…

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Ain’t no guac like a CHUNKY guac!

We finally decided to get up and get moving later that night and since I didn’t get the warm tummy goodness I had hoped for during lunch, I suggested we go out for Thai…nothing like some good (mildly <- I’m a wimp) spicy curry!

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We started out with some spring rolls served with an incredible sweet peanut sauce to start, and then came our entrees…

I actually ordered the dish on the left…chicken, carrots, onions, and snap peas in a brown ginger sauce, but after a couple of bites, I really wasn’t feeling it (the chicken was a bit tough and I was very disappointed with the ginger flavor) so the man-friend did one of the sweetest things…he SWAPPED plates with me!

Granted, he had already polished off HALF the bowl of this sweet coconutty bowl of deliciousness, but I GLADLY ~~dove face first into~~ finished the rest! 😉

But after dinner is where it got REAL…

Oh yeah baby! Fro-yo Heaven…complete with cookie dough, Oreo crumblies, and cereal “sprinkles”…aka Fruitty Pebbles…aka one of the best kiddie cereals in the WORLD!

And hidden under my mountain of cereal? Only some of the best fro-yo ever…
red velvet cake batter!!! YUMMMM!

Later that night, before heading off to bed with our fro-yo-full bellies, I introduced the man-friend to…

Overnight oats!

In the morning, he again went purist on me with a drizzle of honey (seriously, we need to work on this…must turn man-friend into nut butter addict! ;)) while I topped mine with thawed frozen strawberries and melty coconut peanut butter!

My bowl was SUPER filling…so much so that, hours later, the man-friend was forced to eat lunch alone…but I don’t think he minded not having to share his leftover Papa John’s with me! 😉

But dinner was a different story…

Whole Foods hot bar and ANOTHER new-to-me kombucha flavor!

I had a piece of fried chicken (my first in YEARS…omg, SO good), sesame green beans, braised cabbage, broccoli casserole, sautéed greens and tomatoes, red cabbage salad, and some antipasta!

A few hours (and MORE shopping…haha!) later, this happened…

Ummm, I mean…THIS HAPPENED…

BAM!!

Fro-yo two days in a row?! Hey, you only live once! WHY have I’ve never thought to add hot fudge and peanut butter to my fro-yo before?? Omg, I’ve been missing out! And um…that may or may not be a couple of demonic cookies (aka Thin Mints) on this side! 😉

I have to say, looking back at everything, I think we did great at balancing out our eats…plenty of veggies, whole some grains, and TONS of calcium! 😉

What’s the best thing you ate this weekend?

When you get fro-yo, what’s one topping you can NEVER go without?
FRUITTY PEBBLES!!!

Posted in What I Ate Wednesday | Tagged avocado, cereal, chocolate, cookies, eggs, fro-yo, hummus, jam, oats, peanut butter, salad, soup, Thai | 56 Comments

My Marvelous Valentine

Posted on February 18, 2013 by kissmybroccoli

Hey guys!

Wow, so it seems I’m not the only pie fan out there! I’m so glad you all liked the look of yesterday’s Apple Pie Protein Pancakes! They are definitely one of my new favorites! Let me know if you give them a try, I’d love to hear what you think! 🙂

So, how was your Valentine’s Day weekend?

Like I mentioned on Friday, the man-friend and I were gonna head to Memphis for the weekend, but our plans changed at the last minute. No need to worry though, because the past few days were nothing short of MARVELOUS!

Be sure to head on over to Healthy Diva Eats and check out all the other MARVELOUS linkups! And seriously, don’t you just LOVE this new logo?

So it all started on Thursday night. I met up with the man-friend in Nashville and we enjoyed a nice Valentine’s Day dinner at a new-to-me restaurant called Mere Bulles. It was a quaint little place…a Charleston plantation house made into a restaurant during the Civil War days…with charming decor and we both thoroughly enjoyed our meals.

Sorry guys…no pictures, but for an appetizer, we ordered the Black Forrest ham wrapped asparagus with goat cheese fondue and for our entrees, we both went with steak. I ordered a Filet Mignon topped with horseradish cream served with garlicky mashed potatoes, parmesan creamed corn, and roasted asparagus while he went with the New York Strip with roasted parmesan potatoes and haricot verts.

After dinner, we took advantage of one of the “perks” of being
a frequent red boxer…

We scooted back to the house with our free rental, changed into PJ’s and spent the rest of the night on the couch…oh and FYI, the movie was fantastic…absolutely captivating!

And even though I would have been PERFECTLY fine had that been the full extent of our overly commercialized holiday evening, the man-friend had a bit more up his sleeve.

He walked into the next room, explaining how he was going to get me flowers, but wasn’t sure if I was a flower kind of gal or not, so instead, he told me he decided to go with the next best thing…

A DOZEN crisp and perfectly preserved…

KOMBUCHAS!!!

With plenty of my new-favorite flavor and a few others I’ve really been wanting to try!

I was seriously speechless you guys…like seriously…NO words!

But wait, there’s more…

He got me a basket! Isn’t it cute?

Oh but wait, there’s some stuff inside you’re probably curious to see…

Oh ma…holy cra…what tha…AHHHHHHH!

AHHHHHHHH!

*cracks open jar…dips finger in…licks finger…faints*

But wait…there’s MORE?!?

He tried to keep it a secret, but the poor thing sucks at lying…that night he told me that I had plans for in the morning…

Ahhhhhhh! <- that’s a sigh, not a scream! 😉

A full hour deep tissue WHOLE body massage at the local spa! Annnnnd?

While I waited for my masseuse, I sipped on my very FIRST mimosa and nibbled on some of the most amazing aged cheddar!

The rest of the weekend was spent doing a little of this…

Big Lots and Marshall’s adventures (why yes, I DID find some new ginger chew flavors!…cue the intervention NOW!) and since the weather was cold and gloomy (hmm, maybe we should have picked up a couple of those onesies! ;)), more movie watching! First time seeing Pulp Fiction…yeah, that was a weird one, but I’m not surprised since it’s a Tarantino film…and Midnight in Paris was really cute…
well, that is when I wasn’t staring at Owen Wilson’s honker! Lol

And a whole lotta THIS…