thinkThin Bars - Review and Giveaway

I was recently approached with an offer to sample several varieties of thinkThin bars, which may be ironic considering the not-so-health-minded nature of my blog, haha.  However, I had seen some of these bars before at Whole Foods and thought it would be a worthwhile product for me to try out.

Just under a week ago, my package arrived, containing three boxes with the following bars:

thinkThin Chunky Peanut Butter Protein Bar:
- This high protein bar packs the nutty flavors of chunky roasted peanut butter blended with cocoa and covered in luscious milk chocolate. With zero grams sugar and no gluten, it's a guilt-free treat you can feel good about.

thinkThin Crunch Blueberry Mixed Nuts Bar:
- With 60% less sugar and 2x the amount of protein than leading fruit and nut bars, this delicious nutty delight is not only a good source of fiber packed with peanuts, almonds and cashews, but also has a generous helping of blueberries - nature's jewels and nutrition-rich superfruits.

thinkThin Crunch Coconut Chocolate Mixed Nuts Bar:
- Weirdly, this one had no description on the website, haha. It is similar to the Blueberry Mixed Nuts bar, but with coconut flakes on top and a chocolate coating on the bottom half. 

The chunky peanut butter bar, I could definitely see myself buying on my own - helllllloooo, peanut butter and chocolate, no complaints here. But then I just had to laugh at the irony of receiving BOTH a blueberry and coconut-based bar, considering my general disdain of those specific flavors. It's almost as if the company really wanted to challenge someone to review something they wouldn't normally eat, haha.

Anyhoo, I tried all of the flavors out, and here are my quick notes on them:

Chunky Peanut Butter Protein bar: Woo! This is a filling and tasty bar, especially if you're a fan of peanut butter like I am.  I had this for breakfast for a few days, and it was a convenient and quick way to eat at work.  I initially thought it would actually be more chunky (as in, chunks of peanuts inside), but it's still more on the chewy side than smooth in terms of consistency.  For being a relatively small bar it definitely kept me full until lunch.

Blueberry Mixed Nuts bar: I actually liked the appearance of this bar at first glance- it looked like there were lots of whole nuts and other stuff packed into the small snack-size bar. Like I said before, I don't like blueberries but fortunately (for me), this bar wasn't packed with tons of whole berries, more like dabs of blueberry pieces throughout.  It started to taste like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich after a few bites, due to the abundant nuts and the pockets of blueberries.

Coconut Chocolate Mixed Nuts bar: This bar is the same snack-size as the Blueberry Mixed Nuts, but with a liberal sprinkling of coconut on top.  I liked the layer of chocolate on the bottom of the bar, because hello, chocolate. Not my favorite, but anyone that is a fan of coconut/chocolate will enjoy this one.

Overall, I was happy to try out something new, and I think these bars are a great option for a quick breakfast, snack, travel companion, or a little something to tide you over when you're feeling Hangry.  I'm planning on bringing a few of the peanut butter bars on my trip to Japan (TOMORROW!) in case I get hungry on the plane rides.

Now, here's the fun part!  In addition to my samples I was offered a chance to give one of my readers a chance to try these out too, in a Wellness Box:

Wellness Box includes:  one 10 bar box of thinkThin® high protein bars (with 0g sugar), one 10 bar box of thinkThin® Crunch (with 10g protein and 70% less sugar than leading fruit and nut bars), three boxes of thinkThin® Bites.

Here's how to enter:

• Follow my blog ("Join this site" widget on the bottom left section of this page), if you aren't already following.
• Leave a comment on this post with your favorite healthy snack. Apple slices? Yogurt? Rolled up turkey slices?  Let me know!
• Giveaway will run from 10:00AM May 21st - 5:00PM June 3rd (Eastern Standard Time).
• Winner will be chosen at random and notified via e-mail (so please make sure there is a valid e-mail address attached to, or included in the body of your entry). The winner's name will be announced on my blog after winner verification.
• One entry per person, please.

I look forward to seeing the entries while I am in Japan! 

Cooking Light - Cookbook Prize

This post goes to show that you really have to play to win!  A few months ago when I was flipping through Cooking Light magazine, I noticed a little quiz/contest by the table of contents and figured it wouldn't hurt to send an email to enter.

Well, as luck would have it, I was one of the winners of the contest, and received all four of these Cooking Light cookbooks!!!

- The New Way to Cook Light
- Cooking Light Complete Meals in Minutes
- Cooking Light Big Book of Salad
- Cooking Light Real Family Food


I have already started reading through all of these cookbooks and I am very excited to use them all! I've been a big fan of Cooking Light magazine and their recipes for a while now, and it's great to have so many new ideas for meals at home. Thank you Cooking Light for an awesome prize!!

Biscoff Spread Prize

What a wonderful package to come home to, especially on Valentine's day! A few weeks ago Biscoff's Facebook page had an awesome contest, and the prize was a case - yes a CASE - of Biscoff spread!

The first time I tried Biscoff cookies was on a Delta flight, but I've never actually had the cookie spread before.  I love the idea of making a spread out of cookies though, so I have no doubt that this will be awesome, haha.  I am currently on the hunt for recipes to use this Biscoff spread, so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know! 

Grace's Sweet Life Cookbook - Winner

Thank you to everyone that entered my cookbook giveaway last week!

Random.org chose #6 as my winner:

suburban prep September 10, 2012 9:27 PM

I just had it tonight as it is my birthday--tiramisu

Congratulations suburban prep, and happy belated birthday to you!

Grace's Sweet Life Cookbook - Vanilla Cream & Cookbook Giveaway

A while back I received an offer to check out Grace's Sweet Life's cookbook; being a big fan of sweets and desserts, of course I said yes!
First things first - there are tons of photos in this cookbook, which I really like.  My knowledge of Italian desserts doesn't go much outside of tiramisu, cannoli, and some pastries, so seeing the photos of the desserts was great.

Another thing I appreciated about this cookbook is that it has lots of recipes for dessert components - for example, how to make a ganache, or custard, or a choux pastry - which you can build from to create very elegant-looking desserts.  Each recipe is thorough and easy to understand. 

The first recipe I tried out was for a Vanilla Cream.  In my version I added chopped strawberries, but any fruit or other topping would also go great with this creamy dessert.  The use of fresh vanilla beans really made this cream so rich and wonderfully vanilla-y without any of that artificial "vanilla" flavor that some desserts can have.  This would make a wonderful make-ahead dessert for a dinner party, especially since a little goes a long way to feel like you've had a decadent dessert.

And now, time for a giveaway!  The PR firm has generously offered another copy for me to give away to one reader, woo! 

Here are the rules:

• Enter to win a copy of the Grace's Sweet Life cookbook by commenting on this post with your favorite dessert to order in an Italian/Italian-American restaurant.
• Giveaway will run from 10:00AM September 10th - 5:00PM September 14th (Eastern Standard Time).
• Winner will be chosen via random.org and notified via e-mail (so please make sure there is a valid e-mail address somewhere in your entry). The winner will be announced on my blog the following week (pending winner verification).
• One entry per person, please.
• This giveaway is open to residents of the US with a valid shipping address (no PO boxes please).  The PR firm will mail the cookbook directly to you. 

Good luck everyone, and I'm looking forward to hearing about your favorite Italian desserts! 

The Candy Store at Target Prize

A big "Thank you!" to the Target Style Twitter account for having a fun giveaway of The Shops at Target collection items! 

I received a jar of gummy fried eggs and jawbreakers from the candy store at Target - super cute!  I'm still trying to figure out how to use the fried eggs in a cupcake - maybe some sort of maple cupcake with an egg on top, like a breakfast cupcake?

These items (as well as the other Shops at Target collections) may be on sale by this point in local stores, so check it out if you're in Target!

Dunkin Donuts Giveaway Winners!

It's time to announce the two winners of my Blog Birthday/Dunkin' Donuts giveaway!

It was really fun to read everyone's favorite menu items from Dunkin' Donuts, it definitely made me hungry reading them all!

And the winners are....

Prize 1:

amyorvin June 26, 2012 6:13 PM

Thank you for the giveaway. I love the Chocolate Frosted Cocoa Donuts!!

Prize 2:

Rachel June 29, 2012 11:13 AM

Happy anniversary! I have to say, their new Oreo donut looks amazing. I'm a sucker for a good old glazed old fashioned, though--

Congratulations to you both, I hope you enjoy your prizes!!

Thank you to everyone for entering, it made my 3rd blog birthday lots of fun! 

3rd Blog Birthday - Dunkin' Donuts Giveaway!

As I previously mentioned, here's my Thank You giveaway to celebrate 3 years of having this blog last Friday!!

I thought this little infographic would show just part of what I love about Dunkin' Donuts - their quirky sense of humor in advertising:




 via Dunkin' Donuts' Facebook page

I enjoy feeling superior and trendy, don't you?  Haha!

Another thing I love about Dunkin' Donuts? Their iced coffee.  And the Tropicana orange Coolatta.  And the Boston Creme doughnut, always a classic.  Mmmmmm.

So, to share my love of Dunkin' Donuts and to say Thank You for reading my blog, here's a chance for you to win one of two prizes!

Prize 1: $25 Dunkin' Donuts gift card, Dunkin' Donuts travel mug, and a Dunkin' Donuts iced drink tumbler.  


Prize 2: $5 Dunkin' Donuts gift card, Dunkin' Donuts iced drink tumbler, and a Free medium latte coupon.

DC friends - the iced drink tumbler is great- it doesn't get all wet on the outside from condensation, and if you bring it to a Dunkin' Donuts to fill up, you can get iced coffee or iced tea in it for only $0.99!

I may throw in some other little goodies as well :o)

Here are the rules:

• Enter to win one of two prize packages by commenting on this post with your favorite menu item from Dunkin' Donuts.  If you have never been to one, my condolences, but check out their website and tell me what you feel like eating/drinking currently, haha.
• Giveaway will run from 10:00AM June 26th - 5:00PM June 29th (Eastern Standard Time).
• Winners will be chosen via random.org and notified via e-mail (so please make sure there is a valid e-mail address attached to your entry). The winners' names will be announced on my blog the following week (pending winner verification).
• One entry per person, please.
• This giveaway is open to residents of the US with a valid shipping address (no PO boxes please). 

Good luck everyone, and thanks for reading!


Side Note: This giveaway was 100% my idea and due to my true and undying love of Dunkin' Donuts.  The DC Dunkin' Donuts Twitter account is generously providing two $5 gift cards and branded items; the remaining $20 towards the Prize 1 gift card was purchased with my own ca$h money.

My 3rd Blog Birthday!!!

I can't believe it'll already be 3 years today since my first blog post!  I think it's safe to say that I haven't run out of things to blabber on about on this blog, haha.

A special thank you to everyone that's stopped by to check out a post, commented, or participated in something that resulted in a post on here.  This blog has allowed me to meet so many great bloggers and it's been a really fantastic experience so far!

To celebrate, I wanted to get a little Thank You giveaway going, which is still in the works at the moment.  Keep an eye out for a post next week, with a giveaway of one of my favorite things!

Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day!

Happy Free Cone Day everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get thee to a Ben & Jerry's today between 12-8pm for FREE ice cream!!

I always try to get a new or scoop shop-only flavor during free cone day to try it out - What is your favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry's? 

Georgetown Cupcake - Peanut Butter Banana Cupcake

 

As many times as I am able to go to Georgetown Cupcake, there are a few elusive "secret" flavors that I never seem to be able to snag.  This Peanut Butter Banana cupcake is - or should I say, was - one such flavor.  

Finally, finally, FINALLY, I was able to get to the Bethesda location early in the day and pick up this cupcake.  The most dominant smell is definitely the peanut butter frosting.  This frosting was AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.  Provided that you're a fan of peanut butter, this could be one of the best peanut butter frostings ever.  It was so light and fluffy, super peanut butter-y, deeeeeeelicious.  Which isn't to say the banana cake wasn't good too, but, man......... that frosting!! 

My only criticism... throw some bacon on top, call it an Elvis cupcake! Haha. 

Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween everyone!

Halloween bag courtesy of my local Dunkin Donuts :o)

Foodbuzz - Tostitos Artisan Recipes Chips

 

A while back I received two bags of Tostitos Artisan recipes tortilla chips, courtesy of Foodbuzz.  Both of the flavors - Roasted Garlic and Black Bean, and Fire-Roasted Chipotle - sounded like flavors that I would buy myself, so I was looking forward to trying these out.  

I really liked both of these tortilla chip flavors, both on their own and with other foods.  The Roasted Garlic and Black Bean, for example, was really tasty crushed on top of salad and soup.  I liked that these chips had strong enough flavors that you didn't have to have a dip to eat these with.  I would recommend these for anyone that's a fan of these flavors, especially for summer parties and BBQs. 

BCBGMaxAzria Prize!

I recently won a Most Wanted Bag prize from BCBGMaxAzria via a Twitter contest, woo!  Based on their description, I was expecting a promotional gift/tote bag with some beauty samples inside.  Well I got that, but the extra-special surprise was this sparkly fun purse!!!

This Volet striped metal-mesh evening bag is really cute, sparkly, and a modern design on a classic evening bag shape.  It's roomy enough for all of my essentials (which is not typical for me + evening bags, haha) but small enough to really feel like a clutch.  The only concern I have is that I'm going to be the one that gets the metal-mesh caught on something when I'm out and little pieces will fly everywhere... haha.  But I'm sure that I will be careful and enjoy using this bag this summer! Thank you again to BCBGMaxAzria for this bag and all of the other goodies!

Foodbuzz: Nature's Pride Hearty Wheat with Flax Bread

I recently received a loaf of Nature's Pride Hearty Wheat with Flax bread, courtesy of Nature's Pride and Foodbuzz.  Clearly I wouldn't be able to eat this whole loaf by myself in a reasonable amount of time, so I wrapped and froze the loaf in 2-slice packs for me to eat through.  

Here are some of the notable stats about this bread:

- 100% whole wheat bread made with pure olive oil

- Good source of Omega 3-ALA

- 22 grams of whole grains

- 100 calories per slice 

I've use this bread for savory sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches, and toasted with Nutella spread on top.  For all of its nutritional factoids, this bread doesn't taste too healthy, if you know what I mean.  Clearly, you wouldn't mistake it for regular white bread, but it wasn't off-putting or grain-tasting, which I liked.  The way I figure it, if you're going to be eating bread anyway, might as well make it somewhat healthier for you, right? 

Thank you to Foodbuzz and Nature's Pride for sending me this bread to try out- I'm happy to have it in my kitchen and I'll keep an eye out for it the next time I buy sandwich bread! 

Free Coffee at Starbucks

In honor of Earth Day, Starbucks is giving away free coffee or tea (hot or iced) to anyone that brings in a reuseable mug today, woo!  It's a nice way for people waste a little less and get something good out of it. 

Just as a side note, you receive 10 cents off your order whenever you bring in your own mug every other day of the year :o)

Happy Earth Day everyone!

Starbucks Petites

Starbucks had a promotion a while back for the launch of their Petite snacks, offering each customer a free Petite of their choice with a drink purchase.  Of course I jumped on the chance to try out these little treats! 

My first Petite was the red velvet whoopie pie (above).  As you can see, they aren't kidding about the "Petite"-ness, as the whoopie pie isn't much bigger than the Starbucks logo on the bag, haha.  For a little afternoon snack though, it was the perfect size and level of cuteness.  One thing I could do without is the red frosting drizzle on top, as this got stuck to my fingers and it looked like I had stigmata, ha.

On my second trip, I knew I had to try one of the cake pops.  Thanks largely to Bakerella and her amazing cake pops, seems like more and more of these are popping up in stores everywhere!

I have to say I was pretty impressed with the packaging for the cake pops.  They were placed into a cube, pop-side down, with a sleeve that fit over that cube with a space on the top for the stick portion to fit into.  No worries about smushed cake pops here- v. clever!

I tried out the Tiramisu cake pop, which consists of: Vanilla cake and Starbucks coffee with vanilla icing, dipped in mocha flavored chocolaty coating, with a chocolate coffee bean.

Loved the idea of this.  The chocolate coffee bean on top is super cute and the cake pop smelled like sweet coffee, mmm.  Taste-wise, it was good, but really really really sweet.  Like "I can feel a cavity forming" sweet.  For about 2 bites worth, it sure packed a sugarbomb punch.  But, for 70 calories, this will definitely squash your afternoon sugar cravings, and you could definitely do a lot worse.  

Overall I like the idea of these Petites- a little something sweet to go with your latte, always a good thing!  

Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's

It's that time of year again- free cone day at Ben & Jerry's!  I hope you all are able to get out to your nearby Ben & Jerry's and pick up a free scoop :o)

My personal recommendations would be Milk & Cookies (omgggahhhhsooooooooooogood) or the new Late Night Snack (mmmmm potato chips!).  Or, just try out a new flavor you've been wondering about- might as well, it's FREE!

Sprinkles Cupcakes - Free Cinnamon Sugar Cupcake

For two weeks before the Sprinkles in Georgetown opened, the Sprinklesmobile was roaming around the city each day, giving away a limited number of cupcakes.  I was expecting to not be able to get any given that the locations were on weekdays in DC, but as it turned out, one of their scheduled stops was in Friendship Heights on a Saturday, woo!

I spent some time shopping in the area, stopping for a drink at Tynan Coffee & Tea, and possibly checking the Twitter feed, oh, every, 4 minutes or so, haha. 

Finally, FINALLY, the Sprinklesmobile location was posted.  I ran out of Bloomingdale's (after I paid, thankyouverymuch) and hauled my butt down Wisconsin Avenue to the truck.  The poor girl hadn't even really set up anything yet and there I was, staring up at her like an overeager puppy.  To keep myself occupied while she set up, I started talking to some of the people that had started to gather around to check out the truck, inviting them to get in line (BEHIND me, ha) for a free cupcake.

As you can see, the truck display is laid out pretty nicely.  The only issue that I'm assuming the girl had was having to repeat the flavors to virtually every customer, since there was only the one open box in the front to show what cupcakes were available, and no signage about the flavors. 

After a little bit of internal debating on what flavor to get, I ordered a free Cinnamon Sugar cupcake (plus a fork and a cute mini button they were giving out as well) and headed home to try it out.

I picked the Cinnamon Sugar one mainly because I had seen it mentioned on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" by Candace Nelson, the owner of Sprinkles.  She was talking about a doughnut muffin that she loved, saying it was the inspiration for her Cinnamon Sugar cupcake. Also, I have tried their Red Velvet cupcake in the past on a trip to LA a while back, so I wanted to try something different.  The cupcake is a "lightly spiced buttermilk cake dusted with cinnamon sugar", which is interesting because it's a frosting-less cupcake.  I really enjoyed this cupcake a lot- it's a bit messy due to the cinnamon sugar, but definitely worth the mess!  I didn't even miss the frosting because the cake was very moist and went well with the crunch of the cinnamon sugar topping.  I would definitely get this cupcake again!  Thank you Sprinkles for having a great giveaway promotion before your store opened! 

Georgetown Cupcake - Free Vanilla Hazelnut Cupcake

 

One great thing about the free daily cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcake (besides a free cupcake, haha) is a chance to try out cupcakes that are not normally offered on the regular menu.  One example would be this Vanilla Hazelnut cupcake, which to my knowledge has never been on the Georgetown Cupcake menu before.

I'm a big fan of their Chocolate Hazelnut cupcake, so this cupcake was definitely right up my alley!  It's a vanilla cake with a thin chocolate ganache layer, topped with chopped candied hazelnuts.  I love the chopped candied hazelnuts- they add a ton of texture and flavor to the cupcake.  I wasn't expecting there to be chocolate on this cupcake at all, but of course it was a welcome surprise.  I really liked this cupcake and wish they would put it on their regular menu- maybe one day!