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Archive for May, 2010

The 40 Calorie Latte

May 3

Posted by Shari B. in Recipes | 4 Comments

Is it really Monday?  Why yes, yes it is.  In that case how about a little coffee jump-start?

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know I love love love Starbucks.  I love sitting in a Starbucks to catch up with friends, I love eating one of their Petite Vanilla Scones because it’s just the right size for a decadent treat, and I love decaf soy no-foam lattes.

You’ve seen a few of these types of photos on the ol’ blog:

What I don’t love that their soy milk is sweetened vanilla, because it adds a fair of amount of added sugar.  (I also don’t love that they charge an extra 60 cents for SOY milk in lieu of regular, but that’s a whole other soap box right there.)

A few months back I had a friend over for some yoga, followed by some chat time.  Normally this friend and I would have met up at Starbucks.  So I decided to make us some homemade lattes (sans cool espresso machine or frother, neither of which I own.)

Enter my 40 calorie homemade latte:

Step 1:

Select fun (and tall) mug.

Step 2:

Mix up a packet of Starbucks VIA Ready Brew (aka instant) coffee in your fun mug.  I use one packet to about 7 oz water.

Step 3:

Heat up 3/4 to 1 cup of unsweetened original Almond Breeze Almond Milk (40 calories per cup).  Microwave for about 90 seconds.  Check it at a minute to make sure it’s not overheated since microwaves vary.  If you are someone who avoids the microwave (for which I commend you), feel free to use the stovetop.  Whisk it well to give it a ‘frothy’ feel.  :)

Step 4:

Add heated almond milk to your VIA and stir.  For sweetness, I like to add 1/2 a packet of Stevia and a few drops of natural vanilla extract.

Step 5:

Enjoy!  And if you have extra wiggle room in your “calorie budget” for the day, add in a piece of pie*.  ;)

*Pecan Pie Larabar not included in the 40 calories.   :D

Do you have any favorite foods/snacks that you make yourself in order to “lighten them up” from the original? Do tell!  Drop me a comment!

Have a MAGNIFICENT day everyone!  Make it great!

– Shari B. =)

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Pummel-OH!

May 2

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit, Vegetarian | 9 Comments

Hi friends!

Hope your weekend is treating you right!  Before I get on to the topic of this post, I’d like to give a shout out to reader Carrie D. who rocked her half-marathon this morning!  Way to go, girl!  :)

I tried a new fruit this week, a pummelo, which according to Wikipedia can be spelled a variety of ways (pomelo, pumelo, pommelo).  Any way you spell it, it means Citrus grandis as it is the largest citrus fruit.  I saw one in the produce section while grocery shopping last week and had to take one home to try.

Citrus grandis is right – this thing was literally the size of my head:

(no comments about the size of my pinhead, now.  I already know it’s small!) ;)

Mr. Pummelo has the same issue with baseball caps fitting that I do:

But I digress…
I cut right into this big boy for breakfast and realized two things.

First was “OOPS!  Should’ve cut it the OTHER direction, the way I would for a grapefruit” like so:

And the second thought was, “Hey I’ve been bamboozled, because this is just a grapefruit with MUCH THICKER SKIN!  Did I pay by the POUND for all this extra padding?”  :D

Actually it was quite good – a little sweeter than a ruby red grapefruit and very refreshing after a good workout.  Plus it has 193% of your day’s worth of Vitamin C.

And I just read that the Chinese believe eating pummelos will bring you good luck and prosperity so I’m heading back to the store now to stock up on more pummelos (and a lottery ticket!)   Who can’t use a little extra luck?  ;)

Have you tried any “new to you” produce lately?  What did you think? I’d love to get some new ideas that we can share!

Happy Sunday blog buds!

– Shari B. =)

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Product Review: Pop Culture Probiotic Oatmeal & Bars

May 1

Posted by Shari B. in Product Review | 4 Comments

Good morning blog buds!

Ahhhh, it’s the weekend.  We just completed a 40-minute morning workout, ate breakfast and are now headed to the off-leash dog park to let our crazy beasts get their exercise on too!  It’s a balmy 36 degrees out (where’s the HEAT??) and it’s supposed to rain later so we’re hoping to beat the sprinkles!

You may recall a while back that in response to a post I’d done on my favorite dairy-free probiotics, Pop Culture sent me some of their probiotic products to try.

The box contained:

  • Strawberries and Crème Oatmeal
  • Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal
  • Yogurt Fruit & Nut Bars
  • Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

(For those of you who avoid dairy, you will want to note that the only one of the products listed above that does NOT contain some milk (or milk derivative) was the Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal.)

MSP tried the Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal, which he said he liked.  He thought it wasn’t very sweet (he’s also used to full-on Quaker Maple & Brown Sugar instant packets which have more than twice the sugar and more than twice the sodium.)

I tried the Strawberries and Crème oatmeal (made with water). And I thought it was nicely sweetened.  After a few bites, I chose to add some almond milk to it to thin it out a bit and the almond milk further enhanced the flavor.

The oatmeal flavors are each 140 calories and 5 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber.  Strawberry has only 3g of sugar, while Maple has 6.

The serving size was just right for me and filled me up nicely for about 3 hours.

As for the bars, Pop Culture was kind enough to send a box so we each had a couple of opportunities to sample both flavors.   MSP’s favorite was Chocolate Chip (he doesn’t really like anything with dried fruit bits in it. )  I thought both flavors were great.  Yogurt Fruit flavor is 90 calories, 4 grams protein, 4 grams fiber, 7 grams sugar.  Chocolate chip has 110 calories, 6 grams protein, less than 1 g fiber and 4 grams sugar.

Pop Culture’s products contain a specific probiotic called GanadenBC³º®, which contains an outer shell to keep the probiotic intact in the dry product.  I’ll leave the scientific info at their website, so feel free to click HERE to find out more.

My personal opinion is that all of the products tasted great. And I appreciate that they don’t use artificial sweeteners.

However, the only one that would fit into MY chosen style of nutrition (yes, I bent my eating rules to try these products out) is the Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal because it doesn’t contain the cow’s dairy or soy protein isolates.  And a big part of why I look for alternative probiotic sources (that aren’t yogurt) is because I prefer to not consume cow’s dairy.

My husband doesn’t avoid diary or soy isolates (and wouldn’t seek out regular yogurt unless it was hidden in something) so these products would be great options for him to boost his probiotic intake.  I also think the oatmeal products would be good items for kids to replace the high sugar, high sodium (not to mention high chemical) breakfast options that they often gravitate toward.

Thank you to the generous folks over at Pop Culture for allowing me the opportunity to sample their products!

– Shari B. =)

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