Protein Anyone?

So I'm on this protein kick. I have really kicked up my weightlifting and from my research, I need more protein to do well, pretty much everything. I already love greek yogurt but I wanted to try more shakes. I have made my own in the past but I wanted the convenience of store bought ones.
I found this salted caramel protein shake from at Walmart. Now I like their yogurt so I thought that this would be a sure bet. It was about $1.50. It has 12g of protein and 130 calories per serving which is one bottle.Salted caramel seems to be the new "thing" and I have enjoyed it in various forms for the most part. But then there have been some real misses. In this case, it's maybe a 6 out of 10. The shake has the taste of slightly sweet flavored milk. Nothing like salted caramel, which I really wasn't expecting. I probably wouldn't purchase it again.
And then, I tried Smoothie Base Mix. It was about $4.00 for a box of five packets at Walmart. It's a powder, which usually isn't that good so there wasn't any appeal. Until, I saw that they had Vanilla Bean. I looooooove anything Vanilla Bean. It really is my favorite, especially in ice cream. No fancy mixtures or name, just plain Vanilla Bean, so this was a no-brainer. Each serving has 10g of protein and just 100 calories.The directions said it could be mixed in either water or milk. I wanted the maximum taste so I added it to milk. I actually didn't measure anything, I just poured a glass of milk and then the powder. I also half way mixed it all together, but boy oh boy. This shake was absolutely delicious. I actually tasted like a milkshake. It could have easily been a meal replacement. This shake was so good I would drink it just because. I give it a 10 out of 10 and I will definitely be purchasing again. Has anyone tried either of these? If so, what did you think? Feel free to leave a comment below!

Skinny Cow Salted Caramel Pretzel Bars

Slowly but surely I'm becoming enamored with anything salted caramel. Lucky for me, that's a flavor that is growing in popularity. I'm not a huge fan of Skinny Cow. I find their products to be overpriced and usually stick with Edy's Slow Churned ice cream which I find absolutely delicious. I must admit when I passed by these Skinny Cow Salted Caramel Pretzel bars I was immediately intrigued. I've fallen off the wagon quite a bit in the past month, so the thought of being able to enjoy my sweet treats and not compromise my weight loss journey was extremely appealing to me. The fact that I was going to pay almost $4.00 for five ice cream bars was a bit disturbing to me but I decided to throw caution to the wind and take a walk on the wild side. When I tried the first bar I was a bit disappointed. The ice cream had no taste and the only redeeming thing was the combination of sweet, gooey caramel and salty pretzel. I certainly did not want to waste my money so I continued to eat them. By the third bar I decided I really liked them. For some reason the caramel and pretzel were really, really good. The cold, vanilla ice cream meshed perfectly with the crunchy salted, caramel pretzel. They were not big, but just enough to satisfy my urge for a sweet, junky snack. There were a couple of drawbacks - the price for instance. Next time I will definitely search for a coupon and/or a sale before I purchase these. Also, 160 calories per bar is a bit much for me to eat on a regular day. I would prefer something much more filling. I would give these ice cream bars a 7 out of 10.