Oikos Greek Frozen Yogurt Giveaway!

Oh yes, you read that right.

Despite the weather cooling down, I’m still eating frozen yogurt. I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t enjoy it just as much in the Winter as I do in the Summer. I think it’s even better in the Winter because it doesn’t melt in 5 seconds. Agree?

Oikos Greek Frozen Yogurt is a great option for a healthier dessert. Each 1/2 cup serving is around 100 calories and packs 6 grams of protein -- 50% more than traditional frozen yogurt. Even better, it’s made without the use of toxic, persistent pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics and synthetic growth hormones. What’s not to love?

I was recently given coupons to purchase 5 pints of the frozen yogurt. I couldn’t decide which flavor to try first, so I asked my instagram friends.

I took Lindsay’s and Allison’s advice to try a little bit of each at once! I happily agreed and plopped a spoonful of each in a bowl.

My thoughts? The blueberry and super fruits are incredible! I shoved a spoonful in Boding’s mouth this morning and he said “Oh, are you kidding me? That’s unbelievable.” I’m not a fan of chocolate frozen yogurt, so he judged that one. He said it was great! The vanilla was pretty standard and would be great with toppings. The only one I didn’t care for was the honey. It was just funky.

The Oikos Greek Frozen Yogurt is available in six different flavors:

The Giveaway

One of you will win:

• 5 coupons for for free pints of Oikos Greek frozen yogurt
• a $25 Whole Foods gift card for toppings

To enter: Tell me your favorite frozen yogurt + toppings combo. For an additional entry, feel free to tweet about this giveaway (@christinaorso) or post a link on your blog. Leave a separate comment for each entry.

Giveaway ends Sunday, October 28th at noon. Good luck!

Sweet Potatoes with Collard Greens and Tomatoes

A good friend makes you laugh. A good friend is someone you can trust. A good friend has a shoulder for you to always lean on.

And a great friend brings you unexpected bowls of frozen yogurt just because there’s a new flavor at your favorite spot.

Hey, Danielle – that’s you! Yesterday evening, I got a text from Danielle telling me that Tutti Frutti had pumpkin frozen yogurt and asking if I wanted some. Obviously my response was prefaced with an “Omg” and finished off with a “Yessssss.” Seriously, how would you have responded?

Her delivery came on the perfect day; I was making an all veggie meal that should only be balanced out with something sweet, right? Just say yes. I was determined to use a bunch of items from my 5th CSA box.

In this week’s box:

• watermelon
• red potatoes
• apples
• collard greens
• squash
• green peppers
• onions
• tomatoes
• green beans

As much as I talk about eating candy, cookies, and dessert, I really do have great self control. I eat it often, but never eat a lot at a time. I took a huge bite of the pumpkin froyo, declared it  amazing, and put the rest in the freezer for after dinner. I swear this motivated me to a)cook a healthy dinner and b)grocery shop at the speed of light for the other items I needed.

Sweet Potatoes with Collard Greens and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 4 medium-sized sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2" pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 bunch collard greens (about 6-8) leaves
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Wash the collard greens and pat try.  Cut down the center of each leaf to remove the rib.  Chop leaves into 1/4" strips and set aside.
2. In a large nonstick skillet, warm the oil over medium heat. Add the potatoes and season well with salt and pepper.  Cook until they are browned and almost cooked through, about 5 minutes.  Place the cooked potatoes in a bowl and set aside. 
3. Add a little more oil to the pan and add the onion and garlic.  Cook for a few minutes until tender. 
4. Add the chard and sauté until it starts to wilt, about 2 minutes.  Add the potatoes and tomatoes into the skillet with the greens. Add the garam masala and stir. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed.  Continue to cook for a few minutes, stirring often, to let the flavors meld. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Hello, colors! You’re going to love this dish, I promise. And boys, if you need meat in your meal, serve this as a side next to your steak or something. It’ll make anyone happy. And when you’ve finished gobbling it all up, you can comfortably reach for that cup of frozen yogurt.

Did someone just shout “Balance!”?

Amen.

The Weekend.

Since Thursday, Amanda and I were housesitting at her parents’ house. We cooked a ton of good food (lots of recipes coming!), ate a bunch of desserts, went out with friends, and enjoyed the glorious 80-degree weather.

Friday - Dinner at Next Door in Mt. Pleasant, then drinks downtown at The Macintosh and Hall’s.

Saturday - Healthy cookie baking…which ended up being our dinner. Twice.

More upper King bar hopping with friends.

Tree hugging. Kaye and I doing our usual tree pose in which she’s always in disco ball attire and I’m embracing the pastels. NYC fashion vs. CHS fashion. It’s quite different!

Sunday - Breakfast sandwiches: English  muffins, fried egg, pepper jack cheese, avocado, sriracha. Our mouths were on fire!

Tutti Frutti froyo! Cookies & Cream, White Chocolate, and Peanut Butter with M&Ms, Heath bar, and cookie dough bits.

Sunshine and sunset on the water.

Coming up this week:

• a Spicy White Bean & Chicken Chili recipe
• a  healthy chocolate chip cookie recipe (using chickpeas!)
• review of Next Door
• Clif MOJO bar giveaway!  

What I’m Loving Wednesday

1. I really love this message my auntie Kelly sent me yesterday along with a video. “Of course, I thought of you when I saw the title but then when i heard the lyrics I knew I must send this to you!”  Those of you who know me well know that I love penguins.

Lyrics

2. I also really love mermaids. Unusual, I know. On Sunday I caught a documentary Nat Geo about mermaids. Oh, how I wish they were real. Coincidentally, my friend Scott posted a link on my wall about a woman in Canada who designs mermaid swimsuits. Too bad they cost almost $250! See the link here.

Ariel was always my favorite Disney princess. Who was yours?

3. I want this game! I saw it at Target last week and I should have bought it.

4. Speaking of trivia, who remembers this from your childhood? While Justin was cleaning his boat, I found this gem in his parents’ garage. Score.

5. Don’t you want to make this and eat it right now? Who cares if you’re reading this at 9 a.m. You know you want it.

6. Last month, I won a giveaway on Nichole’s blog for Adonia Greek frozen yogurt. It’s pure bliss. This flavor is unbelievably creamy! Bonus: It’s fat free and there are 9 grams of protein per serving!

Ciao!

Scenes From The Weekend

A surprise birthday present from Nancy.

A(nother) new bikini top from, you guessed it, Target.

A takeout Greek salad from Olympik. Thanks for the rec, Megan! The salad was huge and very fresh. I’ll be going back.

Farm fresh eggs make for a healthy and delicious breakfast.

Reading poolside with Amanda. I’m only 100 pages in, but I really like it so far!

And then the obligatory cup of froyo from Tutti Frutti to “cool us down.” Soy peanut butter + strawberry = PB&J!

Housewarming party for Dane with my favorite coworkers. (excuse the crappy photo.)

…where I discovered a wine that must have been made for me. B. Flirty.

…and an X (for xtina) in his room! (No, Dane is not falling over – we were just in the middle of doing the prom pose.)

New lotion from Victoria’s Secret. Notes: White nectarine and peony.

Tell me about your weekend!

Weekends Are For Living.

I seriously had one of the best weekends I’ve had in a long time.

I ate a lot of desserts. I didn’t work out. I spent so much time with friends.

I was a happy girl.

Friday: At work, I declared it “sit on an exercise ball and eat froyo” day. Why not?

Do you sit on an exercise ball at work? I almost flew off the thing several times whenever Skrillex came on Pandora. Things got a little too bouncy.

That evening, I went to Happy Hour at the Harbour Club with my dear friend Holly and then rounded out the evening with a beet salad from Il Cortile de Re.

Saturday: I woke up wanting avocado dip. So while eating my cereal, I made some. At 10 a.m. -- I was excited!

The weather was beautiful, so Rachel and I went to the pool for a couple of hours and then Chick-fil-A for lunch. I splurged (just kidding) on a kid’s meal with grilled nuggets and fruit.

Yes, that is a side of pickles, and yes, we brought the avocado dip with us to use on the nuggets. And YES, I had an IceDream.

After lunch, we went to Target where I bought a cute new bikini…among other things.

Then Kaye came into town! I love when she visits because we act like our true selves around each other: loud, silly, and filter-free. We have so much fun, it’s ridiculous.

So much fun that at 2:30 in the morning when our legs were too tired from dancing, we  just leaned on trees. Hey, it’s just being environmentally friendly, right?

PS: I love her little dominatrix Barbie outfit. But by the end of the evening, I was calling her funeral Barbie. So much black for Charleston!

Boding took good care of us though – as both our photographer and DD. He even sent us to bed with a giant glass of water.

On Sunday, the three of us went to brunch at Crave. I asked Chef Landen for “something healthy, like eggs and veggies .” I received a giant spinach omelet, lots of grilled veggies, potatoes, fruit, and a side salad.

Needless to say, I have leftovers to hold me over for the next couple of meals.

What was the highlight of YOUR weekend?

Who is your friend that you can be 100% yourself around? How do you act?

Memorial Day Weekend Continued…

After too much fun on Friday and Saturday, Boding and I agreed that we wanted to start the week off on the right note. A healthy note. I tweeted the head chef at Crave, Landen Ganstrom, asking him if he could whip up something healthy for us. Although he wasn’t working, he dialed up his sous chef and told him we were coming in.

Like always, we started off brunch at Crave with their delicious cornbread muffins. These things are incredible. I rarely, if ever, butter my bread, but this is where I make an exception. They’re melt-in-your-mouth tender, sweet muffins.

Back on the healthy track, the sous chef served us an entrée that did not disappoint. We each had Coriander dusted salmon with a peach reduction served atop pulled zucchini, squash, and red pepper “fettuccini” in a light tomato sauce.

After brunch, we went shopping. Boding bought some of his favorite wine, Jam Jar…

…and I picked up a pair of (cheap!) wedges from Payless. I can’t remember the last time I went in that store, but I’m glad I did. Twenty bucks (yup!) later, I walked out with these.

All the shopping worked up an appetite, so we went to Tutti Frutti for some sorbet. I had pineapple and orange creamsicle topped with mango, blueberries, and cookie dough. I kid you not, this is the best froyo/sorbet in Charleston. Their soy yogurt is  even better than the regular froyo.

Side note: The girls at work and I decided not to give up sweets until Monday. It just didn’t seem right to start over MDW. :)

We then spent an hour or so at Barnes & Noble, doing “research.”

On Monday, the weather wasn’t so lovely in my area. I woke up, visited Brandy at Starbucks for a skinny caramel latte, and then hit the gym. Continuing on with my typical Monday, I ended up at Chick-fil-A for lunch.  Shocker.

I had a kid’s meal with grilled chicken nuggets and one of those cute applesauce packets.

I’m a sucker for cute packaging, especially when it contains fruit!

Monday afternoon, Amanda and I met some friends at Vickery’s to enjoy the sun, after it decided to come out from the clouds. When the boys told our server they wanted one more beer, Amanda and I couldn’t decide if we wanted another. Our server suggested we “share one more beer.” Initially we thought “how bizarre” but went with it. Two girls one straw.

What was the highlight of your Memorial Day Weekend?