MARDI GRAS Subscription Box: Rise Protein Bar Review

Today I got my Love with Food Subscription Box!! I’ve never received one before, but I got this one for FREE (see below to get your free box too!!) so I was super excited to try it out. First off, it was SO fun to get a little package in the mail with new goodies inside. Out of everything I got I decided to try the Rise Protein Bar (Almond Honey) after my yoga class and it was SOO good!!!

It tasted exactly like almond butter and honey in a patty form. As I looked at the ingredients, that’s exactly what it was! The 3 simple ingredients were almonds, honey, and whey protein. YUM!!

I would completely recommend this product to others and I’m so excited to try their other flavors! I’ll keep you updated as I try the other samples in the box!

Later I made some cranberry orange greek yogurt scones…I didn’t take any pictures yet but keep your eyes open for a new post to come!

Click here or on the picture below to get your free subscription box!!

Do you get a subscription box? Which one?!

Product Review: Trader Joe’s Shrimp or Vegetable Thai Gyoza & True Thai Tom Yam Soup

So yesterday we took a trip to Trader Joe’s. Obviously this ended with us buying a plethora of new TJ products to try. Then I figured, why not share our opinions? Anyways, after our trip to the store we decided to try out 3 of the products we purchased: the Shrimp Gyoza, Vegetable Gyoza, and Tom Yam Soup. 

1) Trader Joe’s Thai Shrimp Gyoza 

We cooked half of a bag of these along with half a bag of vegetable gyoza, and topped it with dumpling sauce. They were a lot larger than I had expected and a lot more delicious! The shrimp gave these gyoza a bit more texture, and you can actually see the bits of shrimp. Would we buy this again? Yes! 

2) Trader Joe’s Thai Vegetable Gyoza (Vegetarian/Vegan) 

These looked (and tasted) a lot like the shrimp gyoza. They were large, filling, and delicious! Everyone agreed the vegetable gyoza were just as good as the shrimp gyoza. The only difference is that you don’t get the little chunks of shrimp, but overall the taste is pretty similar. I like that we put half and half into the mixture, and we will definitely be purchasing more of TJ’s gyoza in the future for a quick and easy meal!

3) Trader Joe’s Tom Yam Soup (Vegetarian/Vegan)  & 

This one is a hit or miss. For me, I found it too acidic. It tasted like someone had added some lemon/lime juice to the top before I took a bite. With that being said, others loved this. Apparently, Tom Yam is supposed to be a little acidic and served atop rice (something we did not do). Maybe I would have liked it more had I served it on rice. I should also note that this is a single serve soup. We all only had a couple of spoonfuls, but now we know who would eat it and who wouldn’t haha! I personally would not buy this again, but I’m sure others in the family will. 

Hope these were helpful! I will be posting more product reviews as we try out the rest of the groceries. But in the meantime:

Does anyone have a TJ product they recommend?

Justin’s, Artisana, Sunbutter Single Serve Review

I recently got nominated for The  Sunshine Award by Fixing My Fear of Flavor! Thank you so much for the recognition and kind words!

The Rules

1. Include the Sunshine Award icon in your post and/or on your blog
2. Link to the blogger who nominated you
3. Answer 10 questions about yourself
4. Nominate 10 other bloggers to receive the award
5. Link to your nominees and let them know you nominated them
6. Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer

The Questions

1. 1 sugar or 2? 2! (duh)
2. Savory or sweet? Sweet! 
3. What is your favorite book? I don’t have one, but I will tell you the last book I read was Drop Dead Healthy by AJ Jacobs. 
4.Why do you blog? To help myself and others struggling to be creative with their meal plans.
5.Beach or mountains? BOTH! I love a hike in the woods and a day on the beach!
6.If you could bring sunshine to anyone today, who would it be? I would bring sunshine to a person who sees the most people in their day. Hopefully the sunshine would radiate even further. 
7. What silly superpower would you have? Walking on water because wouldn’t that make me a god?
8. If you could morph into an animal what would it be? Cheetah
9.If you could hop on a plane to ANYWHERE right now, where would you go? Australia
10. Is this the silliest thing you have ever done? I’ve had my fair share of silly things so probably not. When I first got my push to start car, I left my car running and unlocked for an hour outside of Starbucks…

To keep the spirit going I nominate the following great blogs for their creative recipes and informative posts: eatmunchlove, rawfooddiaries, thecolorfulkitchen, thetexitarian, sugar&cinnamon, and cakesnbakes! These blogs are awesome- definitely check them out if you have a chance!

To participate, just follow the rules posted above! Here are my questions for others bloggers:

1. Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner?
2. If you could travel to three countries for free, where would you go?
3. What’s your favorite ethnic cuisine?
4. Salty or Sweet?
5. Favorite Food?
6. If you could change one thing in your life what would it be?
7. What’s one thing you wish to do in your life?
8. What’s your biggest fear?
9. What are your hobbies?
10. If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be?

Nut Butter Review

Honey Almond Butter: (8/10) A little too sweet for me. Tastes exactly like almond butter and honey, nothing extraordinary.

Maple Almond Butter: (8/10) Again, a little too sweet. Tastes like maple syrup and almond butter. No wow factor.

Chocolate Hazelnut Butter: (9/10) I was expecting something like Nutella, but this is so much better! You can actually taste the hazelnuts. I wish it was a bit creamier, but I’m not sure if this texture can be achieved without added preservatives and chemicals.

Acai Berry: (8/10) A little too salty for my liking, but overall a nice taste.

Berry Antioxidant: (10/10) Yum! I think this one and the blue algae were my favorite. I would definitely buy them both again. So delicious!

Blue Algae: (9/10) Sweet and you could almost taste a hint of the algae. I really liked this one.

Cashew Butter: (7/10) Has too plain of a flavor for me (as raw cashews do). I wouldn’t eat it on toast, but would incorporate it into recipes.

Sunbutter: (9/10) Yum! This tastes exactly like sunflower seeds and has a great consistency. Personally the taste is a bit too overpowering for me, and it’s a pain to try to recombine the oils in such a small package.