What I Ate at Blend

May 22, 2013 By Laura

Everyone in a while you meet total strangers who aren’t.

I swear that made sense in my head…

I hope I’m not the only one that feel like they “know” bloggers. So many of the fabulous ladies I met at Blend this past weekend are bloggers I’ve been reading for so long that I felt like they were my “real” friends already!

First, I have to say a huge THANK YOU to Janetha, Lindsay (with credits for the following pic), and Katie for putting together another life-changing weekend!

Heather, Me, and Lindaay

Second, I owe a big thanks to Growing Naturals for sponsoring me at the retreat. These guys are truly a great example of a small business offering good, clean products.

I was so thrilled to share their pea and rice protein powders and their protein drink mixes with my friends. More on their products here.

I know Bonnie was extra-excited to try this after the 9 mile run they did in the chilly Park CIty rain!

My friend Heather already used hers and shared a pic on Instagram:

It was also the start of my first post-workout recovery meal.

The vanilla rice protein was fabulous in my green smoothie (extra spinach!) topped with Muesli Fusion:

Stay tuned – this fall they are coming out with a new addition to their protein/supplement line – yummy greens to throw into shakes!!!

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Rather than a “traditional” WIAW post, today is all about What I Ate at Blend! We were totally spoiled all weekend, and I’m still enjoying all the tasty schwag-bag selections at home. 🙂

Check out my eats with my Blends below, and then click here to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons to get to see what delicious foods everyone else is enjoying!

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Friday:

We arrived at the hotel excited and famished from travel. Famished. The schwag gods were smiling though… check out all the goodies we had to munch on: protein from Vega, Zevia, SoyJoys, a Lara Bar, muesli and granola from Bob’s Red Mill, Attune Foods chocolates, Healthy Bites (so in love)…. and more!

After a photo ops, we gabbed, snacked… and headed to event #1: a pre-happy hour with Justin’s Nut Butter! I was careful to sample everything, but stopped for a pic with one of the lovely organizers – Katie!

My top butters were: Maple Peanut and Chocolate Hazelnut. They were even better on Attune Foods graham crackers. All I needed was some apple juice.

The kind folks at Silk must have wanted to make absolutely sure the Blends were happy, so they set up a Happy Hour where we could unwind from travel ~~and begin the photo-taking frenzy~~. Heather was patient enough to take a gorgeous pic of her ginger-Silk drink.

There was also an amazing buffet of black bean cakes, veggie summer rolls, and cute veggie sticks in jars (how did they know bloggers like Mason jars?!). Let’s pretend like I didn’t attack this… the temptation was too tasty and I couldn’t wait until dinner! Plus, we all know it’s bad to drink on an empty tummy. 😉

Dinner itself was off the chain. It was a buffet… but a good buffet. Normally I’m anti due to the rogue dirty hands and food sitting out too long. That didn’t happen here. My Blends were nice and clean, and the hotel staff couldn’t have done a better job and keeping the food refreshed.

There were salad options, quinoa patties, roasted veggies, chicken breasts, and lemon-y fish filets. There was literally something for everyone! And it was all good!

No dinner is complete without dessert! there was Chobani panna cotta, apple pie, and berry tarts.

A few of us decided to split all 3… which I graciously finished off. Starving kinds in Africa, you know.

Thanks to Lindsay for this artful photo.

Saturday:

One would think that after all that I’d still be full… well, GPP Fitness fixed that with a little workout that left me waddling. More on that tomorrow but let me just say 200 burpees (I did refuse to yell “Yay burpees!” after each rep as instructed) is a certain cure for lack of appetite.

The highlight of breakfast for me was getting to try a new granola – Muesli Fusion. They have an “Athlete’s Fuel” mix that rocks my socks off. NO added sugar or sodium, and 7g of protein per serving. It’s like they designed it for me. I poured my unsweetened Silk all over that! There was a ton of fresh fruit (holy pineapple deliciousness), and a fabulously strong brew from Green Mountain coffee.

Then we had another workout! Zoomba. I’ll spare you the pics of this white girl shaking her thang… until tomorrow. 😉 Following that we did what any normal blogger does – we went to Whole Foods. I totally failed at life and didn’t take a pic.

I DID take a pic of the snack break that followed – Onnit provided us with some amazing chocolate-banana hemp protein smoothies and rice cakes with cashew-walnut butter (totally crave-worthy). What’s better than these blogger staples? Getting them handed to you by Miss United States! Whitney is one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met. How cute is she?!

And then there was dinner. Calee, Michelle, Heather, Heather, Heather (that’s not a typo – there were 3 beautiful Heathers) found an amazing restaurant on Main St. in Park City called Riverhorse. The food was incredible.

We started with a great Pinot Noir, chosen by fellow-wine lover Michelle (who I will gush about meeting later) and a beet salad served with micro greens, brie cheese, and a potato crisp with tarragon vinaigrette. Calee and I split the Trio of Wild Game for our entrée. It came with buffalo, venison chop, and elk over broccolini and asparagus with a port wine and huckleberry reduction.

I was nice and full… but when I saw the dessert menus I had to place one more order. Peanut Butter Bread Pudding with caramelized bananas and a chocolate drizzle. Can you blame me? 🙂

Every dish was near perfection. Lucky because our server was terrible. I swear I have the worst luck. She basically ignored us all night, added 20% gratuity (for a party of 6 who was clearly spending money… WTF?!), and when Heather asked about the charge (there was NO warning note on the menu) she snatched the bill out of Heather’s hand and stalked off. We tipped the man refilling our waters in cash on the side and spoke to the manager on the way out.

Like I said, the food was great. That combined with the fantastic company made for a great evening and we laughed about our crazy experience all the way back to the hotel (the cab driver was thoroughly entertained).

Sunday:

Holy breakfast heaven. This was the best breakfast out of any Blend Retreat. They had an omelette station!!! Protein at breakfast?! Color me happy. Thank you for this sponsored deliciousness, Chobani!

I got an egg white omelette with mushrooms, garlic, onions, and spinach. And a Chobani yogurt pancake. And fruit. I wanted ALL the foods! 😉

Be sure to check the #blend2013 hashtag on Twitter and Instagram for more action from the weekend!

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I snacked my way back to ATL with schwag bag goodies, and (obv) hit the Whole Foods hot bar immediatly after getting home. 😉

Soooo… are you all going to come to Blend next year with me?

Have you ever tried any of these fun products? What are you loving right now?

Nuttzo Over Nut Butter + Giveaway

November 8, 2012 By Laura

Lame jokes are my favorite.

Q: What did the fish say when he hit a wall?

A: Damn.

I’ll spare you more jokes and get right to the point. Remember my post competition treat of choice?

NuttZo was a big treat for me because I hadn’t been “allowed” nut butter on my training plan for a while, and because at ~$15 it’s a pricey jar of creamy, nutty deliciousness (worth every penny, btw).

That’s not a problem for one of you… The lovely people at Nuttzo have offered to give away a jar of the good stuff! this is a jar of the Original flavor (my favorite). It contains peanuts, cashews, almonds, Brazilian nuts, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, hazelnuts, sea salt. All organic. No added sugar or oil.

Other reason NuttZo rocks:

Legumes + nuts and seeds = a complete protein (all your amino acids)
Provides 50% of your DV of ALA Omega 3 per serving (650 mg)
A 16-ounce jar of NuttZo Original provides 14 servings – less than $1 per serving of organic nut-nutrition

Receive up to 4 entries by:

Follow me on Twitter or Subscribe to the Sprint 2 the Table RSS feed or email
Tweet: You could say something like: I’ve entered to win a jar of nut butter in the @NuttZoCEO giveaway at @sprint2thetable http://wp.me/p16jDn-1hN #giveaway
Be Social: Facebook Like NuttZo, Pinterest Follow Me and/or Pin Something of Mine, Instagram Follow Me
Comment: What is your favorite way to eat nut butter?

Please leave a separate comment for each entry!

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Tuesday, November 13th. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, November 14th.

Just in case you need some ideas for using nut butter, here are my top 5:

(Note: many of these call for peanut butter or peanut flour, but you can sub in NuttZ or your favorite nut butter.)

1. Nut Butter & Aggs

All-time favorite breakfast invention.

2. Nut Butter-Baked Oatmeal

Perfect on a cold morning. Like now.

3. Chili Nutty Tofu

Lauren can vouch for me – baked tofu is fantastic fluffy goodness.

4. Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

These are only 100 cals and have just 2g of sugar. And you’d never know it.

5. Sweet Potato Nut Butter Ice Cream

To my fellow addicts: this is also amazing with pumpkin.

***

I get my new nutrition plan today… I’m at once relieved (this has been a junk food bender) and sad.

What’s the most #strangebutgood way you eat nut butter?

What is your favorite lame joke?

Low-Fat Peanut Almond Butter

August 23, 2012 By Laura

I’m terrible at making nut butter.

Does that get me kicked out of the blog world? The only one I’ve ever successfully made was a Spiced Almond Butter.

Until today. I found a workaround.

One my training diet, I can’t have a ton of fats. However, I do get to have a handful of almonds or seeds each day. I’m forever searching for a way to maximize the nutty deliciousness. What can I say – I’m a volume eater.

With this low-fat peanut almond butter, I can have a heaping 2 tablespoons of the good stuff. I’ve been taking full advantage – smearing it on toast, stirring it into Greek yogurt, dipping apple slices in it… name your favorite way to eat peanut butter and this is a worthy sub!

For a protein-filled breakfast, I slathered it on a piece of P28 high protein bread and topped it with fresh peaches.

The true test was when I craved it on a cheat day. On a day when anything goes, I still slathered a piece of toasted bread with this butter and happily snacked away. Of course, that “bread” was a slice of chocolate pound cake. 😉

Recipe at the bottom, after a quick, unrelated review…

You may have seen Energy Bits reviews floating around the blogs lately. At 64% protein, I REALLY wanted these to live up to the hype.

Spirulina has been gaining popularity lately. These bits are made from 100% organic spirulina algae. It’s super high in protein, low in calories, and will supposedly “boost your athletic performance, supercharge your run or crank up your endurance while working or working out.“

Sounds almost too good to be true, right?

Well…. it was for me. I didn’t notice the slightest difference.

Ideally you are supposed to chew them. I tried one and nearly gagged, so I opted to swallow the rest. I waited a good 45 mins to let it hit my system before working out, but no dice. Maybe they’d work if you took them more consistently?

I received these at no charge through the Fitfluential Ambassador program. This is my honest opinion. I wanted to like them… but I can’t see spending $115 on this product. Thank you to the Energy Bits crew for allowing me to sample the product!

Low-Fat Peanut Almond Butter

1/4 cup almond flour
3 T peanut flour
1/4 cup almond milk
6 drops vanilla liquid stevia
1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Mix nut flours and almond milk until combined. You may adjust liquids to desired consistency. If too thin, place the mix in the fridge to thicken. Add sweetener and cinnamon, if desired.

Makes ~8T.

Approximate Nutritionals (per tablespoon): 32 calories, 2.2g fat, 5.6g sodium, 1.6g carbohydrates, 0.8g fiber, 0.3g sugar, 2.3g protein

***

Today my dad would have turned 57. It’s hard to believe he’s been gone 4 years… but he is forever my inspiration. Happy Birthday, Daddy.

“Death ends a life, not a relationship.” – Mitch Albom

Are you a successful nut butter maker? (Sarah, you can’t answer, #nuttybutter )

What is your favorite nut butter pairing?

Cinnamon Cacao Nut Butter

November 22, 2011 By Laura

“Everything But the Kitchen Sink” Butter might be a more appropriate name.

Often on cloudy days I get wild hairs in the kitchen. Today was no exception – for some reason I decided to clean out my nut collection. Maybe it’s all the balls I’ve been making lately.

This spread was cinnamon-flavored before it the nut butter idea was born. Someone once told me you can make your own cinnamon powder by grinding up cinnamon sticks. Fresh cinnamon sounds like a cool idea, right?

Maybe I should have done some research ~~or purchased a VitaMix~~. My blender wasn’t up to the task. I shifted gears and eventually used a coffee grinder (which does work, btw), but not before cracking the lid of my blender and adding some groovy permanent cinnamon marks to the bottom.

Anyhow, the cinnamon does taste good.

With a cinnamon-dusted ~~counter top~~ blender in mind, the nut butter idea was born. Toss in some nuts, blend, and add more cinnamon. Taste. Eye coffee grinder. Stream of consciousness wanders to cacao nibs (they’re like coffee beans, no?).

Result? A winter-y nut butter with cocoa crunches and cinnamon swirls that makes you want to stir it into apple cider.

Perhaps dipping apples into it is a smarter choice… I’ve had enough kitchen excitement for one day. 🙂

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Cinnamon Cacao Nut Butter

4-5 Brazil nuts
1/2 C hazelnuts
1/4 C peanuts (salted)
1/8 C walnuts
2 tsp cinnamon
1 T cacao nibs

Place the nuts in a blender and blend until beginning to become creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary. Add cinnamon and continue to blend until smooth, pausing once or twice to adjust taste as you may want to add salt depending on your preference.

Lastly, add the cacao nibs and pulse just enough to incorporate. The goal is to have some crunchy bites remaining.

Notes: If your nuts aren’t blending into a cream, add a bit of olive, canola, or coconut oil. You may also use chocolate chips in place of cacao nibs, or omit completely.

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Every time I make nut butter I wonder why I ever use store bought. Check out this spiced almond butter for a more savory flavor.

Do you make your own nut butter?

What is your favorite spread?