The Protein Bakery–Review and Giveaway!

I was recently lucky enough to receive a shipment from one of the most delicious baked goods companies ever.

Based out of New York, The Protein Bakery specializes in cookies, brownies, and blondies that are:

• high in dietary fiber
• low in gluten
• delivers up to 5 times more protein than the average baked treat
• trans-fat free
• preservative free

Just like my blog, The Protein Bakery believes in balance. Giving up dessert would just be crazy, so why not indulge in something that is packed with nutritional benefits? With these treats, you can’t feel too guilty!

I received quite the shipment. Let’s check out what was included, along with my thoughts on each.

Chocolate Chocolate White Chocolate Chip So good. The sweetness of the white chocolate chips perfectly balances out the rich chocolate cookie.

Oatmeal Cranberry Cookie  This one was good, but not my favorite. It doesn’t have as much flavor as the other treats.

Coconut Walnut Dark Chocolate Chip Blondie Absolutely delicious. There is so much flavor in this blonde!

Walnut Brownie

Rich and dense, this is a brownie you’ll never be able to resist.

Black & White Blondie

This was my favorite of the bunch. With both milk chocolate and white chocolate chips, you get the best of both worlds.

Colossal Peanut Butter Cookie

Calling all peanut butter fans, this giant cookie is for you. It has a deep, nutty flavor but isn’t too sweet.

Colossal Trail Mix Cookie

This cookie has it all: oats, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, coconut, and fresh cinnamon. W

Peanut Butter White Chocolate Chip Mini Cookies

Besides being the most precious cookies, these satisfy both your salty and sweet cravings. It was the first time I’d had a peanut butter cookie with white chocolate chips. Loved it.

And now for the best news: One of YOU will win a Protein Bakery assortment of 2 brownies/blondies, 2 colossal cookies and 4 cookie 2-packs -- a $45.00 value with shipping!

There are 4 ways to enter:

• Go to The Protein Bakery site and  leave a comment on this page telling me which product you would most like to try!
• Become a fan of The Protein Bakery’s facebook page
• Follow them on twitter
• Follow me on twitter
• Become a fan of the HMH facebook fan page

Leave a separate comment for each entry. Deadline is Monday, June 11 at noon.

New Bars from Gnu Foods, Workout Motivation

In June of 2010, I reviewed Gnu Foods Flavor & Fiber Bars. They recently offered to send me a package of their three new flavors. I was overjoyed when I found out what they were: Blueberry Cobbler, Carrot Cake, and Blondie. Those are three of my favorite dessert flavors! I was checking my mailbox daily.

Before I tell you about the new flavors, let’s talk about Gnu Foods Flavor & Fiber Bars. The bars contain 6 whole grains – grains that have not milled or processed, which strips them of the grain kernel that contains nutrients, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.  Each bar contains 12 grams of fiber and is 140 calories or less. All of the bars (aside of the Blondie flavor) are vegan. In addition to the new flavors above, the bars come in the following flavors: Banana Walnut, Chocolate Brownie, Cinnamon Raisin, Espresso Chip, Lemon Ginger, Orange Cranberry, and Peanut Butter. My two favorites are the Banana Walnut and Cinnamon Raisin. Each bar tastes exactly like what they’re named after, so rest assured, you’ll get what you want.

The first bar I tried was the Blueberry Cobbler.

As soon as I opened the wrapper, I could smell the blueberry juice. The bar also contains plums and raisins which give it a great texture and overall flavor.

The next day I tried the Carrot Cake. Yep, it sure did taste like Carrot Cake. The cinnamon and nutmeg flavors were strong, but not overwhelming.

Finally, I tried the Blondie. This one had the least amount of flavor, but was still really good. I have no complaints about a nutrition bar that tastes like a dessert!

Overall, I loved these bars just as I expected. The blueberry was my favorite and I’m excited for them to hit the shelves. In the past, I’ve enjoyed them on their own, or crumbled into oatmeal or Greek yogurt.

Gnu bars can be purchased online or in a store near you. For my Charleston friends, you can pick yours up at Whole Foods. They’re on one of the higher shelves that I can barely reach. :)

For more information, check out their

• website
• facebook page
• twitter

Have you tried these bars before? What did you think?

On a completely different note, the weather here in Charleston is incredible. I’m talking sunny and in the low 80s. Absolutely perfect. This is a slap in the face gentle reminder that Summer is right around the corner. In fact, on Sunday, I went to the pool with my friends Brandy and Lynn. The three of us got sunburns. That’s right, I said" “pool” and “sunburns” in MARCH.

With that said, enjoy some workout motivation as you prepare for bikini season!!

See you tomorrow!

How I Spent My <3 Day

I woke up this morning after having a dream that I was eating an quail egg. In the dream, I was holding the egg, broke it in half, and ate it. What.the.crap.does.that.mean. Either I like to attack nature or I’m very fertile? I don’t even know how to begin analyzing that nonsense.

For breakfast, I had some vanilla coffee in my French press with a serving of Fiber One Honey Clusters with light vanilla soy milk.

 ++

= very filling breakfast.

Not long after that, I received a Valentine’s Day package from Callie! She sent me a Cheryl & Co. box of assorted cookies, brownies, and chocolate! I immediately dug into a mini blondie bite.  Second breakfast in the form of a blondie? YES!Later on, Lucy and I ran some errands, which included picking up some new books from the library. My book choices are random, but always include several cookbooks.

• My Horizontal Life – surprisingly I haven’t read any of Chelsea’s books.
• Don’t Be That Girl – this one looks like a humorous gem.
• The Ultimate Soup Cookbook by Reader’s Digest
• Christina Cooks – I may have gotten this just for the title.
• Kosher by Design Lightens Up – more fuel for my Jewish food fascination.
• Cooking – self-explanatory.

We stopped at Chick-fil-A for lunch. That was my Valentine’s Day present to myself. I got a Southwest chargrilled chicken salad (my fave!) and a PINK diet lemonade. SO exciting. Lucy and I were debating going to the gym when I got message from Ashley: “are you trying to go to the gym tonight? or hide and eat ice cream. i am DEF going to go. the single men will be out. maybe they are hiding bc they don't want to admit they are dateless.. i am willing to find out!” I, too, was willing to find out.

I decided that it was more than appropriate to wear my “boys <3 me” shirt to the gym on V Day. It was both ironic and awesome.

The gym locker room = our photo booth.

In case you are wondering what is going on with my hair, I scrunched it instead of drying it. Apparently creepers notice things like this. Some man to whom I’ve never spoken before approached me. First he told me not to to lift such heavy weights because I was making him look bad. Ok #1, I was pulling like 25 or 30 pounds on the free motion chest press. #2, he is a trainer. I’m pretty sure he can out-press me. Then, he said “Did you get a hair cut? It’s usually longer.” Nope, dude, it’s just a ratty mess. And thanks for admitting you’ve been staring at my tresses.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Why I Have Issues, Round 1

Trust me when I say that there will be a round 2. And maybe a 3 and 4. I am a strange chick.

1. I get an obscene amount of magazines each month. In just one day, I received four.What’s worse, when I stopped at Publix for just flour, I picked up another because I couldn’t resist the cover.

2. I get wayyyyyyy too excited about new food finds. I nearly peed my pants (dress?) when I saw the four new Fage Greek yogurt flavors. If you look really closely, you can see my tongue sticking through my teeth. I am that excited.

new flavors: strawberry goji, cherry pomegranate, blueberry acai, mango guanabana00

3. Every single time I bake, I have some sort of a fail. A burn. A cut. A slice. I dropped this. I splattered that. I broke a utensil. It’s always a surprise. On Friday, I baked these swirled blondies for Amanda’s birthday. In an attempt to easily cut the bars, I thought flipping them out of the pan seemed like a good idea. Okay, NO. I dropped a chunk of them on the floor.

4. I spend too much time at Chick-fil-A. Not that there can be such a thing…but…I went there twice today. It wasn’t my first time doing a double-drop-in either. They know me by name, they slap me five…do they worship me? I got this facebook comment from Caroline today:

OF COURSE it was me!

5. I cannot do anything without making a mess. While looking for my passport, I destroyed my bedside table drawers. Hurricane Xtina at her best.

6. I actually cannot dress myself. I don’t know how to match articles of clothing to make an outfit. I seek out fashion advice from my awesome blogger friend, Holly. She was so kind and made me a collage of ideas on how to wear my peach sequin skirt. I love her for this!

7. My nicknames include Hot Mess and Messtina, No explanation necessary.

8. I find joy in hula hooping.

Do you hate me now?