Review: Mamma Chia Organic Chia Granola Clusters and Organic Chia Vitality Bars!

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Let me introduce you to my new favorite snack foods. 

Mamma Chia Organic Vitality Bars and Organic Chia Granola Clusters are so deliciously fantastic.

They're both packed with heart healthy chia seeds, healthy fats, and plant-based protein. They're also all organic, gluten-free, and made with 100% whole grains in the case of the granola (the bars aren't grain-based).

Want omega-3 fatty acids (a whopping 1000mg of them) in a sweet, chocolatey, delicious and portable snack? Mamma Chia Vitality Bars have you covered!

They come in four great flavors, each as delicious as the next. 

While my favorite (by a narrow margin) were the Blueberry & Dark Chocolate Vitality bars, every single flavor was amazing. 

Cherry & Dark Chocolate was a close second favorite. The sweet tart cherries worked amazingly well with the chocolate and nuts!

I loved that the bars were healthy, a great snacking size, made with all natural ingredients in relatively unprocessed forms (I could still tell what the nuts and seeds and dried fruits making up the bars were), and that they were coated in chocolate, making them taste much more like indulgent chocolate bars than a healthy snack!

And yet they are a healthy snack with the omega-3 fatty acids you need to keep your brain and heart in tip-top shape. Hooray!

I could rave about the bars all day, but I also want to get to the granola.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Mamma Chia granola won a place among my favorite cereals of all time from the first bite.

It's sweet, it's crunchy, it's hearty, and there are big chunks of granola for from-the-bag snacking as well as smaller pieces for a more cereal-like experience.

How do I love soy-free, dairy-free, gluten-free 100% whole grain Mamma Chia Vitality Granola? Let me list the ways.

With milk, with yogurt, from the bag, on a smoothie, on an acai bowl, from the bag, on ice cream, with peanut butter and banana, in trail mix, and straight from the bag.

I may have mentioned that last way a few times, but it's because the granola is just that good. It tastes great with everything, but it really doesn't need anything to make it delicious!

Oh, and did I mention it's non-GMO, too? Trust me, you'll want to try this granola - any of the delicious flavors will do. You can thank me later!

What is your favorite way to eat granola?

What kind of snack bars do you like most often?

What snacks do you keep in your handbag/backpack/coat pocket? Is that last one just me?

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Celebrating National Non-GMO Month with GMO-Free Cookies!

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I love science. In fact, I majored in biology at Harvard. That said, I don't particularly have the desire to eat science experiments.

So GMO foods? Not really my thing.

A lot of people feel the same way, so October is national month to consciously avoid GMOs! It's really not as hard as you might imagine - it doesn't mean you have to go all organic or you can only eat hemp seed shakes and fruit salad (as yummy as those both are).

It's also not difficult to get kids on board! There are lots of delicious non-GMO snack foods, if you look for them. I really like Mary's Gone Crackers Love Cookies!

They come in four flavors, of which I've tried (and loved) the chocolate chip and the double chocolate cookies.

I know, right. I've tried the two chocolate ones - big surprise.

For those who don't like chocolate (how is that a thing?) there are the n'oatmeal raisin and the gingersnap cookies! Why N'oatmeal? These cookies, all four flavors, are gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, nut-free, and GMO-free.

They're healthy, lunchbox-friendly, allergy-friendly, and delicious!

The cookies are made with superfoods, like chia seeds, quinoa flakes, a whole grain gluten free flour blend, and coconut palm sugar.

They're crunchy cookies that are the perfect amount of sweet and both of the chocolate cookie flavors (even the chocolate chip) are very, very chocolatey.

I love it! They're also buttery-tasting, even though they're vegan, and crisp, even though they're gluten-free.

Mary's Gone Crackers did a great job with these! I give them a thumbs up and would definitely include them in C's lunchbox as a healthy non-GMO treat that she can take with to her nut-free cafeteria without worry. Yum and yay!

How are you celebrating National Non-GMO Month?

Do you pay attention to GMOs in your foods?

Are you concerned about GMOs?

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How to Add Superfoods to Your Day (The Yummy Way!)

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Swimsuit season may be over, but being healthy and feeling good are never out of season! As we head into the holiday season, many of us are looking for ways to stay healthy despite the diminishing availability of fresh fruits and veggies.

Okaaaaaaaay, so maybe September isn't really heading into the holiday season - but I know that I, for one, have already started with the Christmas movies!

Anyway, remember this preview that I teased you with at the beginning of last week?

The wait is over, it's recipe time! 

But first: what is it? 

A chocolate maca chia cake, that's what! 

Oh yeah, that's a whole lot of superfood in one tasty snack.

First, you start with some chia seeds.

I used Nutiva White Chia Seed (2 Tbsp.) mixed with rice milk (1/2 c.) to make a chia gel - just combine the two and let the mixture sit for five to ten minutes! Room temperature is fine.

Next, I mixed in 2 Tbsp. of Foods Alive Cacao and 1 Tbsp. of Foods Alive Maca Powder, as well as a dash of cinnamon, two tablespoons of honey, a teaspoon of baking powder, a dash of salt, and a tablespoon of almond butter. 

I put the mixture in the microwave and microwaved on medium-high for four to five minutes. It really depends on the strength of your microwave, so keep an eye on it!

If you are lucky enough to have access to some fresh fruits, despite the end of summer, top with fresh fruits! Some mulled hemp seed (I used Foods Alive mulled hemp seed) make a delicious superfood topping, too!

But sometimes you just don't feel like making something.

Easy as this recipe is, sometimes you want immediate satsifaction.

Nutiva's O'Coconut taste just like candy, but are perfectly portion-controlled and full of super foods!

What are your favorite superfoods?

What's your favorite fall activity?

When do you start getting into the holiday spirit?

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Healthy Cooking for the Single Girl

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It applies to those of us in long distance relationships every bit as much as those who are single - cooking for one, especially healthy cooking for one, can be quite a feat.

When you contemplate all the dirty dishes, the grocery shopping, the chopping, the preparation time, and the fact that you're probably only saving pennies on the meal, if that, it can be really tempting to just throw in the towel and call it a Seamless night every night.

But guess what happens then?

The Seamless delivery guy starts inquiring into your personal life. You get personal fortune cookie notes saying things like, "tomorrow, you will order the California Roll - am running out of avocado for the Avocado Roll" and "Don't tip with crinkly bills because the vending machine won't take them." And when you're finally not living like a single girl anymore, you'll realize you've lost all your mad Martha Stewart skills and regressed to soggy ramen and burnt toast.

A good goal is to aim to cook at least three or four meals at home per week. How much you end up doing, whether it's a little below that or way above that, depends on your lifestyle, budget, and what works for you.

But three or four meals a week, even if they aren't all elaborate seven-course stunners (let's be honest - elaborate three course stunners is already a huge stretch) are enough to keep you in the habit.

There are a few tricks that make cooking for one easier.

Buy ingredients you just need a tiny bit for from the salad bar. Dying to try a cool new recipe with a million ingredients, each of which is only about a tablespoonful when scaled back to a single portion? Instead of buying the ingredients in the grocery store, and ending up either having to make that recipe a million times to use everything up, or having to toss it all out because it goes bad before you finish it, shop the salad bar!

You can easily get a little bit of diced tomato or diced onion for your stew there in exactly the amount that you need.

Try dishes that have easy spinoffs. I went to boarding school and college after, so I've had plenty of time to pick up the sly tricks of the cafeteria workers - remember how there was meatloaf for dinner on Tuesday and Shepard's pie on Wednesday that tasted suspiciously like the meatloaf with an extra layer of mashed potatoes?

That sly trickery can serve you well. If you're making pasta with tomato sauce one night, make a little extra and you have the pizza sauce for your next dinner's personal pan pizza! It's a huge time saver, as long as you can do a little planning.

Look for longer shelf-life alternatives to the ingredients you need. Swapping out super perishable ingredients for less perishable alternatives, like frozen vegetables for fresh in a stew (flash-frozen veggies maintain most of the nutrient content) can save you a lot of money and headache. Some swaps can even make your food healthier!



My favorite less-perishable, healthy swap is using chia seeds instead of eggs!

Just like eggs, chia seeds are a powerful binding ingredient for cakes, loaves, baked oatmeal, etc. - but you can keep a bag of chia seeds in the pantry for way longer than you can keep eggs in the fridge. The powerful little seeds also pack a lot of fiber and omega 3 fatty acids, making them a great addition to your diet!

Not burnt (I swear) just that chocolatey - I got a special type of baking cocoa and used 100% baking chocolate squares

I like to use them in microwave cakes (hey, hey, hey healthy chocolate) and favor Nutiva black chia seeds (and white chia seeds, for vanilla microwave cakes or thick smoothies!) for consistently high quality and great bags that keep the powerful seeds fresh even longer.



What are your favorite single portion recipes? Links are welcome!

Do you have any single portion cooking tips?

How often do you eat out per week? And are you happy with it or working on changing your patterns?

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Smart Snackin' - The Chia Co. Chia Pods Review

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Chia seeds absolutely exploded in the healthy living blogosphere a few years ago and have since seeped out into the real world, with chia seed snack bars now lining standard supermarket shelves and chia seeds appearing on (healthy focus) cafes and restaurants in everything from the standard chia pudding to cookies and even salads and breads.

While the takeover was certainly sudden, it's not much of a surprise. Flaxseeds have been popular since at least the '70s, especially among healthy eaters, vegetarians, and those follow heart-healthy diets, and chia seeds offer many of the same benefits, along with a host of their own.

Image from SFB

They're definitely good for more than growing chia pets with!

Chia seeds:

   - May naturally treat type 2 diabetes by slowing down digestion and thus preventing blood sugar spikes.

   - Pack a mean fiber punch! About 1/3 of an adult's recommended daily intake in one serving.

   - Support brain health with their 5g of omega 3 fatty acids per serving.

   - Provide 18% of the recommended daily calcium intake to prevent osteoporosis.

   - Great source of manganese, an essential mineral that supports bone health and helps with utilization of biotin, thiamin, etc.

   - Also a great source of phosphorous, which is important for cell tissue growth and repair.

   - Loaded with protein, which is important for your muscles and keeping you satisfied!

   - Stabilize blood sugar, which may help improve fat distribution by decreasing belly fat accumulation (which, in excess, isn't good for your heart).

   - Sleep soundly, because chia also packs in the tryptophan!

   - Improve heart health by lowering bad cholesterol while raising good cholesterol
Source: Huffington Post

Image from WFNF

After seeing them on the shelves, I recently got the chance to try The Chia Co's Chia Pod snack!

Though the company is Australia-based, their Chia Pods are readily available in four flavors in US grocery stores (check your local Whole Foods if your usual supermarket doesn't sell them yet).

The four flavors are: vanilla, mango, blueberry, and banana.

Spoiler alert: they were all delicious! I started with the blueberry chia pod.



The consistency is hard to explain - it's less thick than a traditional pudding and pearly. I think chia pudding is a bit of an acquired taste in general, but these are nice and sweet, so it's easy to acquire!

I love the convenient packaging! They're perfect for a brown bag lunch or a snack for the train. The spoon is under the plastic cap and it's an adorable spoon. The lid also makes it resealable if you get called away from your snack - which makes it great for busy work days!

The mango and vanilla were both great, too - the fruity flavors were quite fruity and all of the snacks were sweet, filling, and nutritious. They're great for summer, because they're healthy and don't make you feel weighed down.



I was surprised to find that the banana was my favorite, though - it really reminded me of banana bread! I ate it with walnuts and a crumbled banana nut muffin and it was fantastic!

They also have coffee bean, dark cocoa (sounds awesome), strawberry, and lemon & date, but I'm not sure if those are in the US. Hopefully soon, if not!

Why? Because the ones that are already here are yummy. And good for you!

Have you tried Chia Pods?

Which flavor sounds best to you? 

What did you do over July 4 weekend?

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How to Be the Hostess with the Mostest!

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Want to be remembered as an awesome host all year long? Throw a great holiday party, whether your budget is big or small, the event is formal or casual, and the guest list is long or short, by remembering these simple tips!

Don't forget introductions.

You know how awkward it is when your friend groups don't overlap and the party becomes obnoxiously cliquish?

What a wasted opportunity to make new friends. As the hostess, it's your job to be the Mandela of the party and bring everyone together!

Keep social dynamics in mind.

No one expects you to play matchmaker,  or to keep track of who's dating whom, but please don't throw a party with all couples - and that one single friend.



AWKWARD. Just don't!

Prepare a few ice breaker games. 

Even if everyone at the party more or less knows everyone else, getting parties started can be a little slow

Keep all of your guests in mind.

Try to arrange an assortment of foods, so that there's something for everyone. It would be unreasonable for you to expect to be able to prepare everyone's favorite food without going stirfry crazy, nor is it your responsibility to cater to all the ridiculous diets of your high maintenance friends. Still, if you know of some actual allergies or intolerances, like you have a friend with celiac's disease or a peanut allergy, try to bear that in mind while picking out the refreshments.

In addition to cookies and cake, chips and crackers are popular party snacks. If you have a bunch of health-nut friends or some with intolerances like gluten-intolerance (celiac's disease), impress with Dr. In the Kitchen's Flackers !

They're delicious, chock-full of healthy fats, and are made of flaxseeds, chia seeds, spices, and healthy oils, so they're gluten-free (and low-carb for your perma-dieting friends).



Healthy fats are great for the brain, too, so they're handy if you're playing trivia games.

KIDDING. It doesn't work that fast. But it can't hurt, right?



The crackers are sturdy and hold together well. They're also flavorful enough to enjoy without dip, in case you run of the queso, salsa, and guacamole early, but robust enough to pile the dips on. Impress your gourmet friends with an unusual healthy treat!



I'm sure a lot of people will appreciate something healthier, especially if they're going to a ton of parties, because it's a snack that you can feel good about and that makes you feel good. That's always great, especially when it tastes as good as these!

Dr. In the Kitchen also makes Seedsters, which are similar (but more granola-ish) and perfect as a granola-like option if you're having some guests stay overnight and need an easy, but unusual, breakfast.



They're also fun to eat just like that and absolutely delicious, as well!



The clumps are good sized and hold together well to either eat out of the bag or on yogurt/with milk as a cereal mix-in.



And a super healthy addition to any breakfast.



As far as beverages go, I know everyone likes to get a little merry at this time of year - but don't forget some nonalcoholic drinks for your dry friends and for those who need to drive. Or just for anyone who wants to alternate with something other than water!

You want to make sure to encourage safe, responsible partying, because no one wants this guest at their party.

Or to be that guest.

Sparkling cider and hot chocolate are some popular festive options, as are non-alcoholic cider and egg nog.

Don't try too hard with the playlist.

This is not the time to show off your sophisticated taste in music (read: all indie stuff that  no one's ever heard and no one with functional eardrums actually likes). Save the hard-rock, alternative Euro-punk stuff for long hours thesising alone in your room.

Do everyone a favor and stick to more popular, mainstream stuff (it made it into the top 40s for a reason, guys). It's easier and more fun to dance to songs that you know and like. And you want everyone dancing, don't you?

• 

I had a roommate once who said the measure of a good party is whether there are blue jeans marks on the wall. That might be taking it a bit far, but you do want everyone to dance and have fun. Crank up the music and enjoy making memories with your nearest, dearest, and most entertaining friends and friendly acquaintances!

Are you hosting any parties this season?

How many parties, on average, do you attend each holiday season?

What's your go-to holiday party outfit?

Read More...

Review: November Bestowed Box with A Discount!

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I always enjoy Bestowed Box and they never fail to put together a great box full of a variety of healthy snacks, so I was excited to try their November box!

This box definitely didn't disappoint!

Don't you just love that excited feeling when you open up a package and you're not completely sure what you'll find inside.

That feeling only gets better when you open up the package to find all of this! Um, hello there chocolate. 

I'm always impressed by how much variety they manage to pack into that orange box (roughly the size of a 'medium' flat rate shipping box, for those of you who are familiar with USPS shipping). There's salty, there's sweet, there are beverages, complete health-nut foods (oh hey, chia seeds).

This time, they even had a frozen treat in there!



Well, soon-to-be frozen treat. Since the box ships at room temperature, the Life Ice clearly wasn't frozen yet. But it comes in a tray of 24 ice cubettes (1 tray is a serving) that freeze just as they are. There's no prep work, you just put the whole tray in the freezer. Perfect for a lazy cook busy student like me.

Minor rant - why is pre-Thanksgiving always a period for professors to give that last pre-finals hard-core push of papers, exams, etc.? Sleep, I miss you!



It's not like I've had time to exercise since...um, summer? But for those who do, Skratch is a nutrient-packed sports drink mix that's natural, unlike many on the market, and mixes easily into water for a post-exercise pick-me-up.

I wonder if it works as well for a post-all-nighter, pre-class pick-me-up? Oh Harvard, I love you. But sleep? Can we maybe discuss adding that back to my life, please?



CHOCOLATE COCONUT WATER. I've never had coconut water before (as far as I can recall) but this is absolutely delicious out of the fridge. I had no idea what to expect (chocolate water? That doesn't sound too great) but trust me, it's a treat. I had it fresh out of the fridge on the way to class one morning this week and it was so deliciously dark chocolate, but still refreshing!

I definitely agree with the recommendation on the bottle to enjoy it cold.



Quest bars are just great at any temperature. They're seriously my favorite bar, Quest Nutrition can simply do no wrong - have you tried the peanut butter cups? OMG LOVE.

Do you think Santa knows how to make Quest peanut butter cups, white chocolate raspberry bars, and chocolate peanut butter bars?

Anyway, back to the rest of the box.

These crackers are really tasty! I'm definitely more of a sweet than a salty snack person, but these gluten-free multi-seed crackers were definitely very seedy (=yummy) and they were perfectly thin and crisp and crunchy. They're pretty salty, but not more than other crackers, and the size/shape is perfect for scooping up dips. Though they're honestly tasty all by themselves!

Have you heard of Nektar Honey? Or Eat Green Tea? The former is honey in crystallized form (the health benefits and, more importantly, flavor without the sticky mess for your tea!) and the latter is green tea where you can eat the actual leaves for added health benefits and to increase the amount of antioxidants absorbed. Pretty cool! I love green tea.

The Perfect Fuel Chocolate doesn't need much explanation and I've already reviewed it here. But chocolate. Seriously, what's not to love?

Now that you're appropriately excited/really wanting some Bestowed Box action in your lives, I have great news.

To make your holidays all the merrier, you can get your first box for only $10 with the discount code HELLOTEN105. Hurry to use the code, because it expires on November 30!

I'll give you a minute.

You're welcome.

That's pretty great deal, considering all the treats that you get to try - and especially when you consider the great healthy new snacks they introduce you to. I review quite a lot of snacks, so I probably know of more snacks that most people do. But even I have managed to be surprised by at least a few snacks in every box that I've tried. And all the tried-and-true snacks are also always delicious!

Have you tried Bestowed Box?

What are some gifts on your list for loved ones this year?

What are you asking for?

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