New Products

Ran across some new products at Walmart. The bars look pretty tasty and I'll probably try them if I can grab a coupon.  I'm not too familiar with the Slimful brand, but I love the Special K bars. Now the Nutrisystem 5 day weight loss kit is a bit costly for me when I can plan everything myself. Some people won't mind paying for the convenience. 

New Products

Earlier this week I ran across some new products at my local Food Lion and I wanted to share -

I'm a big fan of Yo Crunch products. They have everything from 100 calorie yogurts to Greek yogurt, which is a new favorite of mine. Now they have a lowfat variety with trail mix toppings. Here is the nutrition information.

Quaker is now offering a variety of fruit and note bars. They have Peach Almond, Apple Nut Harvest and Cherry Pistachio.

Kellogg's NutriGrain Cereal Bars have Strawberry Greek Yogurt inside. Seems like an interesting combination.

Review: BODYPUMP™

Photo by: LocalFitness.com.au

I have been seriously slacking on my exercise for months. Various obligations and prior commitments have made it virtually impossible for me to work out on a regular basis. Now that things have gotten back to normal for the most part, I'm ready to get in tip top shape. Now why I chose BODYPUMP™ to start everything off, I don't know. I probably should have gone with power walking. My ultimate goal is to tone and build muscle, and a friend recommended I try this class. Started in 1991 by Phillip Mills of the Lester Mills International, it is a group class that focuses on free weights and toning. The choreography and music is standard in all classes and changes every three months.

The class is offered at my local YMCA so it is very convenient. Yesterday morning I arrived only about five minutes before class started and couldn't really figure out which weights to use so I chose one 2.5 pound and two 5 pound. There is also an aerobic step involved. I took my place in the back and got ready. After a short warm-up we went right into it. Each song works a specific muscle group and I literally worked every part of my body. Biceps, triceps, quads, glutes, abs, you name it, it was worked. We also did squats and push-ups and after an hour I sure did feel it, but that was nothing compared to how I felt this morning. It was so bad that as soon as I woke up, which was early since I could barely sleep, I went straight for a soak in an epsom salt filled bath. My legs or sore but I can barely move my arms. I hope and pray I didn't strain a muscle I haven't really used in months or didn't even know existed.

Overall I loved the class. I hate being sore but I love the feeling of actually getting a work-out. I have heard really good testimonials from others who have taken the classes and seeing real changes in their bodies. As soon as I recover from my soreness I'm going right back. I'm really excited about seeing results.

Free Slurpee at 7-11

I recently posted a review of the Lite Slurpee from 7-11 and I'm truly a fan. Well the good news is on July 11th 7-11 is offering a free small Slurpee from 11am - 7pm at participating locations. Yum!

Thank you Cheesecake Factory!!

The Cheesecake Factory is my favorite restaurant - the Alpha and Omega for me. Unfortunately the closest one is about two hours from me so I rarely get to indulge in my very favorite dish - the Cajun Jambalaya Pasta. I have looked for copycat recipes online but always find some complicated mangled mass of foreign ingredients. Well I was so excited to find that The Cheesecake Factory had released their recipes on their website. My beloved Cajun Jambalya Pasta was on there but staying true to this site, I have to mention that they also have items from their Skinnylicious™ menu.

The SkinnyLicious™ Grilled Chicken has 560 Calories and 3 grams of fat. The SkinnyLicious™ Pear & Endive Salad has 500 calories and 23 grams of fat.

I have to admit, whenever I go to The Cheesecake Factory I have to have the Jambalaya but I may try these recipes at home. What's your favorite dish at The Cheesecake Factory?

Review: I'm in Ice Cream Bliss

Oh-em-gee. I cannot believe after months of searching I finally found the Edy's Salted Caramel Pretzel ice cream that I have been stalking the freezers of Walmart for.

The Food Lion five minutes from my house had it on sale 2/$5.00. I could not get home fast enough to tear into it. Upon first look it doesn't appear that there is that much to write home about. Just a swirl here and there, but upon dipping into the ice cream and first taste? Magic!

There is nothing special about the vanilla ice cream but what really makes this flavor happen are the swirls of caramel and the pieces of pretzel. They are big enough to give you that salty, crunchy satisfaction. It's something about the combination of sweet and salty that makes me feel like I'm indulging in my guilty pleasure. I hate the fact this is a limited edition flavor, but while it's in stores it will definitely be a staple. With 1/2 the calories and 1/3 the fact I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

Nutrition Info

New Product: Sun Rype 100% Fruit Strips

I have never been a fan of fruit roll-ups or any fruit snacks of that nature, but I am often looking for ways to get my fruit servings in. SunRype is now offering a raspberry/wildberry combination as well as strawberry/strawberry-watermelon variety. These are at Walmart for $2.98 a box. 

Review: Sugar-Free Sprite Slurpee

I recently wrote about my love for all frozen treats. With summer here one of my favorite things to do is sit on my deck with a concoction of sugar, flavor and shaved ice. I was elated to find there was a new 7-11 two minutes from my home. That means Slurpees! Even better, they are now offering sugar-free Sprite Slurpees! They are advertised as having 50% fewer calories. I just had to have one so I made the trip - and boy oh boy - I am hooked! It was amazing! When a product is sugar-free there is usually an artificial flavor that it has - not so with this. It tastes naturally sweet and I definitely taste the Sprite. I grabbed a medium but the 8 fl oz has 20 calories. According to the website there are five Lite varieties but my local store does not carry them. I will definitely be picking this up again - very soon.

New Edy's Flavors

Ice cream is probably one of my biggest weaknesses. I am so grateful that there are a ton of lower-calorie, lower-fat alternatives. Edy's is one of my favorites so I was excited to see they are offering several new flavors. They are offering German Chocolate Cake Spectacular, Take the Cake, and Three Stripes You're Out. They also have Sunny Salted Caramel Pretzel but I have yet to find that anywhere.

Review: Icee, Icee

The kid in me loves Icees. When I lived in Maryland I would stop at 7-11 and buy the largest size Slurpee in cherry and practically inhale it before I left the parking lot. So imagine my excitement when I saw these zero calorie liquid water enhancers at Walmart. And they had cherry!  As soon as I retuned home I filled a glass with ice water and squealed with anticipation!  Well maybe not squealed but I'm sure you catch my drift. Sad to say I was disappointed. There are supposed to be 24 servings but I'm sure I won't get that many. Also, there was such an artificial, sweet taste to it. They use sucralose and acesulfame potassium and while I'm not a huge fan, I will indulge once in a while but it has to be worth it and this was not. I paid $2.98 - definitely not worth it. Next time I'll just go for the real thing.

Healthy food delivered to your door

Many people believe eating healthy is very expensive. Depending on your preferences, it certainly can be costly, but NatureBox is offering a less expensive alternative. For $19.95 you can have healthy snacks delivered to you. Each box contains 15 to 20 serving. Shipping is free and you can cancel at anytime. Seems like a great way to discover new snacks that will help you on your healthy journey.

New Product

Since I'm always on the go I love snacks I can just throw in my bag and head out the door. These are new at Walmart and I'm not really a fan of pudding but the Banana Pudding flavor looks tasty. At 90 calories for the chocolate and 100 calories for the banana pudding you really can't beat it.

Take IHOP home

From my understanding this IHOP syrup is not really new.  But this is the first time I have seen it. I'm a fan of The Dollar Tree's lite syrup. I have found it to be inexpensive (it is The Dollar Tree after all), and quite tasty.  Walmart carries it for $2.88 a bottle. They have five different kinds including lite and sugar free. Nothing about IHOP keeps me there at all hours of the night but it's nice as an occasional meal. That being said, they don't have a magical syrup I constantly crave, but maybe I'll give this home version a try. Here's the nutritional info.

Walmart's Sparkling Soda

I never noticed Walmart has a line of sparkling sodas. Peach Lemonade and Strawberry Lemonade has 5 calories per serving while Lemonade and Pink Lemonade have no calories. I paid $1.98 for 8 cans of the Pink Lemonade so that's not too bad. It tasted just okay. There was this weird, sweet taste to it, I would rather drink the Minute Maid Light line. Also, it's sweetened with Aspartame which I'm really trying to avoid. I'll finish the rest, but I doubt I'll be trying it again.

Marie Callender - who knew?

I love, love, love Marie Callender. Unfortunately it's not something I thought I could have aona regular basis due to the high calorie content. Well imagine my surprise when I run across this Three Meat and Four Cheese Lasagna which claims to have only 300 calories per serving in Walmart. I believe I paid $2.50 for the meal. It's the perfect size for splitting with someone or saving some for later. The great thing is a serving is one cup. Can you imagine a frozen meal where the calories are actually reasonable? Well it's here people! And it is so yummy! The directions say to nuke it for approximately six minutes but I think my microwave is headed for the appliance graveyard in the sky so I threw it in there for about six minutes and baked it for about 10. The top was baked nicely and boy oh boy was this good! Not too salty like a lot of meals can be and to be honest although it has italian sausage, pepperoni and beef, I only tasted the sausage. I'm not a fan of eating frozen meals on a regular basis but I think they're good to have in a pinch or if you have a hankering for some pasta and don't want the fat and calories if a dish from a restaurant. Have you tried it?

New Products

I'm a fan of the Special K Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pastry Crisps. At 100 calories for two bars, these are a great way to feel as if you are really indulging without going overboard. That's why I was so excited when I found out that they have two new flavors of their bars - Chocolatey Caramel and Cookies & Cream. I will definitely be trying these ASAP.

Lean Cuisine is offering their Honestly Good line. I have only seen these at Target, but have yet to try them. They have
Honey Citrus Chicken
Lemongrass Salmon
Roasted Red Pepper Chicken
Pineapple Black Pepper Beef
Plum Ginger Grain-Crusted Fish
Pomegranate Chicken
They average around 350 calories, 7 grams of fat and 23 grams of protein. A portion of the vegetables grown for the meals will be donated to local communities. I actually think that's pretty neat.

New at Dollar Tree

Sometimes I'm in the mood for a good salad. And when I say good I mean meat, cheese, croutons and tons of ranch dressing over a little bit of lettuce. Hey - at least I'm being honest. I found these tri-color tortilla strips the other day while perusing my local Dollar Tree. I have also spotted them at other locations so hopefully they'll be at one near you. I have yet to try them. If you have let me know how you like them. 

New Products

Cool Gear has a cool new Protein Shaker. It keeps your drinks nice and cold and retails for 6.99.

Fiber One offers chewy bars for kids in Chewy Strawberry PB&J and Chewy Chocolate. They each have 5g of fiber with the chocolate having 100 calories and 3g of fat and the strawberry having 110 calories and 3.5g of fat. Not bad at all!

New Dole Treats

I really dislike bananas and I dislike dark chocolate even more. So it goes without saying I was not at all excited to try Dole's new chocolate covered bananas, but I'm sure this will be a real treat to some. At 100 calories a serving they're better than a candy bar or fattening ice cream. I saw these at Walmart near the breakfast items.

Dollar Tree Has Jenni-O

I am on the fence about turkey products. I prefer pork bacon and beef hot dogs. I was surprised to see Jenni-O bacon and hot dogs at the Dollar Tree. If course you only get 5 hot dogs and about 10 slices of bacon so I don't know if its a good deal but I think it's neat to have that option.

Dollar Tree Finds!

I found some products while in The Dollar Tree. I think I'm going back to try the Cookies n Cream bars - they're only 140 calories each.

Blueberry and Strawberry Syrup at Dollar Tree

I'm a butter flavored syrup type of woman.

Not to knock those that like a little variety with their pancakes and waffles, but that's just not me. Perhaps that's why I wasn't impressed when I ran across this Strawberry and Blueberry Lite Syrup in the Dollar Tree. It's from Harvest Hill - the same company that makes my regular lite syrup. Not my cup of tea but you really can't beat a dollar for lower calorie syrup.

Chili's Offers New Lighter Fare

Okay so I'm guilty. Every time I go to Chilis' I don't even need to see a menu. I am a Chicken Crispers type of gal. With fries. With two honey mustards please and thank you. I know, they are fried in grease. I know, I know they are loaded with calories and fat. But the crispy outside paired with the juicy chicken inside...I digress but I hope you see what I'm getting at. That being said, I'll have to admit their new offering of dishes under their Lighter Choices menu seems really promising. Their Mango-Chile Chicken comes in at 580 calories and the Mango-Chile Tilapia is 620 calories. They are both served with rice and steamed broccoli. I would say I'll be rushing out to try this but truth be told the next time I go I'll probably go back to my Chicken Crispers. I rarely eat out so I really like to indulge when I do. Let me know if you have tried this and what you think.

Mango-Chile Chicken

Mango-Chile Tilapia