Chocolate Coconut Love + Luna Bar Giveaway!

Guess what arrived?!?!?!

A giant package from DrugStore.com…………

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I currently have 15 strike that 14… ok 13 CHOCOLATE DIPPED COCONUT LUNA BARS in my possession 😀 😀 😀

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As soon as the package arrived, I tore into the box.

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Immediately, I tried to smell the chocolate coconut goodness through the wrapper.

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I don’t smell anything…

SMELL HARDER!

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This game didn’t go on long before I ripped open the package and took the first glorious bite of the new luna bar flavor.

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HOLY CANNOLI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

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Almond Joy lovers hold on to your seats.  This was so DELICIOUS and so worth the wait not to mention risking my life in a Cleveland ice storm.

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See all the flaky coconut goodness?

Lucky for you all, I’m ready to share my goodies!  So, I’m going to give one reader TWO Coconut Luna Bars plus a Blueberry Bliss Luna Bar (one of my all-time favorite flavors)!

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Here’s how you can enter:

1.)  Leave a comment including a link to the BEST healthy or healthified recipe you’ve ever tried.

2.)  Tweet about the giveaway (my twitter ID is @Fervent_Foodie) — make sure to leave a comment here letting me know you tweeted.   Here’s a shortlink for you:  http://wp.me/pW6Qg-1f0 

3.)  Like the Fervent Foodie page on Facebook and leave a comment here saying you did so.

I’ll let this run through Midnight eastern time on Tuesday Feb 15, and then I’ll use a random number generator to find out who I get to share some Luna Bar love with.  I hope you are as excited as I am… I know.. I’m obsessed.  It’s ok. 

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Hallelujah it’s Friday!

With September here already (where the heck did August go, by the way?), I’ve already got my head in “fall mode”.  My favorite time of the year is BY FAR the last quarter – October, November, and December.  I love the weather, the excessive parties and family activities, and I also love how things just seem to slow down from the fast pace of summer.  Speaking of fast-paced summers, it saddens me that I haven’t been doing much cooking lately.  The good news is I’ll have plenty of time to cook… in two more weeks!

Breakfast #1

Ever since last weekend’s awesome breakfast fit for vacation, I’ve been craving the spinach and tomato breakfast burrito.  (Let’s be honest, I’ve been craving the potatoes and pancakes too) …  So last night instead of doing my usual batch-scrambled eggs, I made a double serving of the spinach and tomato scrambled eggs.

First up, I chopped up:

  • 2 tbsp red onion (I used white onion last time, but didn’t have any on hand)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup chiffonade spinach
  • 1/2 a roma tomato, diced

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I sprayed a skillet down with some cooking spray, and once it was hot I tossed in the garlic and onions. 

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While these guys were cooking I whisked together the following in a bowl:

  • 2 whole eggs
  • 6 egg whites
  • Splash of water

 Once the onions were soft, I poured the egg mixture on top and seasoned everything up with S&P and red pepper flakes.  I let the eggs start to cook up, and when they were about 1/2 way done I added the tomato and spinach:

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Look how delicious:

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While the eggs were getting their groove on, I also roasted up some broccoli that was seasoned with black pepper and garlic salt:

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Is it just me, or does that broccoli look really happy to be here?

2 happy campers:

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One of which I brought to work with me today to introduce to my friend Heinz:

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Stats on B#1:  205 calories, 15g carbs, 5g fat, 23g protein, 2g fiber

B#2 = OO 😀

OVERNIGHT OATSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!  What a great way to end the workweek!

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Doesn’t that just bring a smile to your face???  😀

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YUM.

Stats on B#2:  233 calories, 44g carbs, 5g fat, 6g protein, 7g fiber

Lunch

What better way to end the Bruegger’s Bagels giveaway, then to have Bruegger’s for lunch, of course!

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Today I went with the Spinach & Lentil soup, and a half sandwich with turkey and lots and lots of veggies.  I can’t believe this is the HALF sandwich.  It was HUGE!

The Bruegger’s Giveaway ends tonight at midnight (eastern time), so get your posts in!

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Cold and crunchy Monday

It’s Monday!  Woot. 

😉 actually today has been a pretty decent Monday thus far.  The office is super quiet since many of my coworkers opted to use our floating holiday today.  I decided to bank mine and take my birthday off (next week) instead.

Hope you all have a fabulous fun/food/framily filled weekend!

The PB2 Giveaway ended last night!!!  Read further for the lucky winner 😀

Breakfast #1

It’s been so hot these past few days, that I was craving something super cold for breakfast this morning.  I decided a fruit smoothie would be the ticket to cooling things off.  I threw the following into the blender:

  • 1/2 cup Almond Breeze unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Vanilla Greek Yogurt
  • 1 cup fresh frozen strawberries
  • 1/4 cup blueberries
  • 1 packet Truvia (Stevia) all natural sweetener

Once I blended everything up, I opened the fridge to put the almond milk away and saw a lonely half-empty bag of spinach sitting on the shelf begging to be eaten. 

I’ve read lots of posts on the “green monster” smoothies, especially on Julie’s blog, but I’ve never tried one myself… Until today that is!

I grabbed a handful of spinach and threw it into the blender and gave it a good pulse. 

Yes, that is spinach you are seeing

The result:

One huge smoothie with “monster” flecks:

This was surprisingly tasty!  You can’t specifically taste the spinach itself, but it gives the smoothy a hearty fullness.  It also cuts on some of the sweetness of the fruit, so I was glad I used a whole packet of truvia.  I think I’ve officially jumped on the green monster bandwagon 😀

If you’re intrigued — check out the Green Monster Movement.

Stats on the Green Monster:  197 calories, 37g carbs, 2g fat, 12g protein, 6g fiber

Breakfast #2

O…. O…..   mmmmmm…. haven’t had overnight oats in a few days, so I went with the go-to OO Combo: 

  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 1/2 cup Almond Breeze unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • sprinkling of cinnamon
  • fresh strawberries

All stirred up:

Overnight oats… oh how I’ve missed you :-*

Stats on the oats:  208 calories, 38g carbs, 5g fat, 6g protein, 6g fiber

Lunch

Keeping on with today’s cold theme, I thought I’d add a little crunch to my lunch with a nice salad.  Last night, I threw together a monster salad that consisted of:

  • 1/2 bag fresh express romaine
  • 1 roma tomato
  • 1/2 cucumber
  • 1/4 cup white onion
  • 1 serving baby carrots
  • 1 link of Jennie O’s hot turkey sausage

Topped it all off with 2 tbsp of fat free ranch dressing:

Stats on the Monster Salad:  295 calories, 28g carbs, 10g fat, 22g protein, 7g fiber

And the winner of the PB2 Giveaway ……………

Drumroll please……

Based on the random number generator, the lucky winner is:

Monique at She’s Going the Distance!!!

  

Thank you guys for taking the time to post on my blog!  I really love seeing what you guys have to say, and as cheesy as it may sound (who doesn’t love a little cheese?) it really brightens my day 😀

Monique – please send your mailing address to:  ferventfoodie@gmail.com

Everyone else – you can purchase PB2 online at www.netrition.com.  Since it’s flat rate shipping, I’d recommend getting some Mama Lupe’s low-carb tortillas, Joseph’s low-carb pita, and some carba nada pasta 🙂

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Carb tooth strikes again

Happy July!!!!

Can’t believe it’s already here… There is so much going on over the next few months (my birthday, vaca, parties, get-togethers, HLS!!!), I’m sure they are going to fly by!  Psst… don’t forget to comment on the PB2 giveaway by Sunday!

The first day of every month my firm brings in a “Birthday Breakfast” to celebrate all the employees whose birthdays fall in that month.  The spread always consists of fruits and a variety of carblicious goodies to tempt me:

I really wanted to toast up one of those bagels and smear it in cream cheese and hot sauce (if you haven’t tried it and you like hot food, TRY IT NOW).  Something about baked goods and breads make my mouth water….  I wish I could get past it, but my body is head over heals in love with these unhealthy treats!!!  Darn you, carb tooth!

Since my birthday falls in this particular month, I allowed myself a tiny sliver of a blueberry muffin.  Ridiculous.  I just picked up some Bob’s Red Mill low-carb baking mix, so maybe I’ll try and make some healthified baked goods this weekend 🙂

 

Breakfast #1

For breakfast today, I had the leftover Canadian Bacon Eggins I made earlier in the week.

Just as tasty the second time around 🙂

Stats:   147 calories, 6g carbs, 1g fat, 26g protein, 0g fiber

 

Breakfast #2

For breakfast #2, I had 1.5 cups Trader Joe’s Vanilla greek yogurt with 1/4 cup blueberries.

I love all the fresh fruits and berries this time of year!  Cannot get enough.

 Stats:   171 calories, 28g carbs, 0g fat, 14g protein, 1g fiber

 

Lunch

My sandwich yesterday was so frickin delicious, I decided to make a similar one today.  I took a 3.5 ounce chicken breast, 1 cup spinach, 1 tbsp Trader Joe’s Spicy Hummus, tomato, and onion and smashed it into a Joseph’s Low Carb Pita.

Also had some sliced up red pepper on the side.  I looovvveeeeee hummuss…. mmmmm…..

Stats on stuffed pita & red pepper:   240 calories, 25g carbs, 7g fat, 28g protein, 9g fiber

Snack

I tried the Trader Joe’s Mocha yogurt, but was NOT a fan. 

It had a weird tartness about it… and overall was just different than I was expecting.  First thing I’ve purchased from TJ’s that I didn’t enjoy!

QUESTION OF THE DAY:  What are your favorite healthified cookout recipes?

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PB2 Giveaway!!!

In an effort to get all you silent readers out there to post comments on my blog (so I don’t feel like I’m blogging to myself 😉 ) I decided to do a PB2 giveaway!

PB2 is a powdered peanut butter product.  Basically, all the bad-for-you-ness is sucked out of the peanuts.  All you have to do is mix with water, and you have a healthy PB on you hands!

So here’s the deal:  post a comment on this PB2 Giveaway blog post by midnight Sunday July 4th.  I’ll use a random number generator to select the lucky recipient!

So get to commenting!  I’m interested to hear what you all have to say 😀

Pssst… to comment on this post, click the blue “comment” link below.

Good luck!

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