New Thrive Bars: A GoMacro Healthy Snacks Giveaway!

The holiday season is hard to survive, let alone thrive, with your long list of to dos.  Between shopping and family parties, it can be hard to eat healthy and take time for yourself.  A grab ‘n’ go snack could be just the thing to make your holidays sing…or at least make them a little more pleasant!

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GoMacro brand, Thrive Bars, are ancient superfood bars with unique twists of flavor and chewy granola bar texture we know and love (without the hydrogenated oils and processed goop).  GoMacro company started on a farm in quintessential midwestern Wisconsin.  This independently run business started and is still run by a mother-daughter team set out to promote health, nourishment and healing foods.

GoMacro’s Thrive Bars continue the vision with organic ingredients like puffed quinoa and hemp hearts to keep you running.  Plant-based protein, essential fatty acids and prebiotic fiber keep your tummy happy while you focus on your loved ones instead of a grumbling belly.  Wipe that grinchy frown off your face with tasty treats like:

  • Ginger Lemon – Bright citrus and tangy ginger make this bar one of our top purse packed choices.
  • Blueberry Lavender – Fancy some tea?  Pair it with these floral bars with a touch of berry for ultra-yums.

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  • Almond Apricot – Sunny stone fruit flavor with bits of roasted almond picks up a dreary afternoon.
  • Caramel Coconut – Sweet tooth be gone with this island coconut flavor drizzled in caramel.
  • Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip – The traditional granola bar flavor but packed with 8 grams of protein in a snack sized bite.

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  • Chocolate, Nuts and Sea Salt – Simplicity = satisfaction with the savory and sweet combo of sea salt and cocoa.

Yes, they are delicioso but they are allergy and environmentally friendly too!  Thrive Bars are USDA-Certified Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified, Kosher, Gluten-Free certified, 100% Vegan, and soy-free (whew, how’d they do all that in one bar?)

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Shopping sadness can now be remedied by snack gladness.  One lucky reader will WIN a box of mixed Thrive Bars.  All you gotta do is show some holiday spirit for GoMarco Thrive Bars on social media by entering our giveaway here: a Rafflecopter Giveaway!

What if you don’t win?  You can still believe in miracles!  Thrive is offered now at Whole Foods Market or Use the codeThrive30 to get 30% off an online purchase!

Wanna learn more about other GoMacro products?  Check out our previous review here.

*We were offered 1 box of GoMacro Thrive Bars in exchange for an honest review…and we can’t wait to eat more!*

Nutrition Gets Fancy With Curate Snacks

Us gals are always on the look out for new healthy and interesting grab n’ go snacks.  Call it the too busy syndrome or too curious syndrome.  Balancing full time jobs with our passion for blogging sometimes leaves us with … Continue reading

Low Sugar Protein Bars: Luna Improved

A busy life calls for easy snacks.  We love having the option of something we can just throw in our gym bag and go.  What we don’t want is eating a nutrition bar that is basically a candy bar disguised as a health food.  We’ve been Luna Bar fans for years but were excited to find out they reduced their Lemonzest and Chocolate Peppermint Stick.  Both have 25% less sugar than before.  We received samples to taste test the evolution.

 

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Snack Bar Stats

LemonZest

Sugar: Reduced from 12 g to 9 g

Protein: 9 g

Fiber: 3 g

Chocolate Peppermint Stick

Sugar: Reduced from 12 g to 8 g

Protein: 8 g

Fiber: 4 g

What do we think?

Suga, we don’t miss you:

The low sugar bars actually taste better than before and there are no artificial sweeteners.

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Crumbly Cookie Style:

We also noticed a change in texture. Both tasted less dense and the oats were crumbly which was pleasing.

The ingredients are mostly organic and non-GMO.  Cliff Bar, the parent company, works with organic farmers and focuses on sustainability in their practice.  With under 200 calories and a boost of vitamin and minerals, these Luna bars can be included in a healthy diet.

Luna Bar is also releasing 3 new choco-riffic bars with only 5 grams of sugar and dark chocolate.  Dark chocolate is a major yesss because of its antioxidants.

Luna Bar flavor creations, Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Chunk, Dark Chocolate Mocha Almond, and Dark Chocolate Hazelnut  are now available, each with 5 grams of sugar!

Which flavor tickles your fitness fancy? Do you have a go to flavor of Luna Bar that you already love?  Tell us in the comments!

National Pistachio Day!

It’s so eassssy being green, if you’re a pistachio that is.  Pistachios are wearing little birthday hats as it’s their big day! National Pistachio Day is Friday February 26th and pistachios are ready to be snacked upon.   Other nuts … Continue reading

Halos Mandarins Giveaway

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Why HALOOOOOO there!  We love giving away love to our readers but even better is a giveaway with pocket sized healthy treats, just in time for Valentine’s Day.  So have you ever tried Wonderful Halos mandarins?  At 50 calories each, these little orange fruits pack a punch of vitamin C without the seeds. We were given a bag to try but we’ve been buying these bebes in bulk since winter citrus became the rage again (or in season as the laymen say).  You can just throw them in your lunch bag, peel them without ruining your manicure, and with minimal desk mess.

But let’s veer off the beaten grove path.  You can also cook some sunny recipes with Halos to brighten up your day.

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One gloomy Sunday, we went bananas for mandarins with our brunch.

Baked Orange French Toast from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom

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We kept close to the recipe but shaved off the zest of a Halos mandarin and subbed cinnamon for nutmeg.  Make sure you butter the pan or use PAM spray as our forgetfully blissful selves missed this step and our french toast had separation anxiety from the baking pan.  Taste overrides appearance, however, and this orangey french toast didn’t disappoint.  We tossed some mandarin pieces on top with a drizzle of pure maple syrup for pure deliciousness.

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Blueberry Orange Oatmeal Muffins from Damn Delicious

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This tasty and healthy recipe from home cook and blogger, Chungah An, features greek yogurt, fresh blueberries and orange zest.  These little muffins were simple to make, moist, fluffy and fruity!

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Looking for more Wonderful mandarin Halos ideas?  Wonderful Halos has a cool creative blog with more than just recipes.  Just in time for Valentine’s day, you can find sweet crafts and snacks to delight kids and adults alike.

Orange you glad we shared these recipes (hehehehe)?  Now for the giveaway details so you can make your own holiday halo-ful:

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Your Wonderful Halos Gift Basket giveaway includes a juicy bunch of Wonderful Halos mandarins,a Wonderful Halos branded lunch box, backpack, water bottle, chapstick (mandarin flavored), sunglasses and stress ball shaped like a mandarin.

Enter here: a Rafflecopter giveaway and happy halo-ing!

Meatless Monday Recipe Roundup: Sweet Potatoes!

Sometimes veggie cooking can get a bit boring so we hunt the interwebs for new ideas. With winter on our cold minds, our thoughts have been on fireplaces, s’mores, root veggies and anything toasty and easy….after all, cooking can be … Continue reading

Sweet Scarletts Grapefruit Giveaway

Saying “so long” to sweet summer strawberry season can be saddening but as berries make their way out, sunny peak seasoned citrus can fill your fruit fancies.  Maybe grapefruit, however, isn’t normally your top citrus treat. Grapefruit can bring memories … Continue reading

Hakka Bakka Kati Rolls Giveaway

It’s not often that you learn the origins of a specialty food when you’re checking out a new restaurant but Kati Rolls, although newer to Chicago, have a true history.  Conceptualized originally in Kolkata, India, the kati (meaning stick) roll … Continue reading

Bake 425º Pizza Review

For once the suburbs beat Chicago to something yummy.  New local business, Bake 425°, promises Farm-to-Crust Bake at Home pizza and operates in Highland Park, Hinsdale, Evanston, Glencoe, Winnetka and Lake Forest.  Bake 425° took over the hole left by HomeMade Pizza Kitchen but with a modified format.  Owner, Bill Borneman, decided to keep the ease of the pre-made ready to cook pizza but shift to locally sourced, small batch and organic ingredients.  Specialty diets are honored with gluten free crust and vegetarian pizza options.  For traditionalists, classic cheese, Margherita and “pick your own topping” choices begin the menu.  Adventurous pizza monsters (like us) will be pleased, however, by the unique menu items like Poblano and Chicken Sausage pizza or the Earth Lover pizza with truffle oil, Yukon Potatoes, Portabello mushrooms and Béchamel.

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Bake 425° gave us one pizza, one salad and a cookie to sample and review.  We chose the Go Green vegetarian pizza, Sunshine salad and chocolate chip cookie.

What we liked:

Pizza: The Go Green pizza comes with pistachio pesto sauce, brussel sprouts, quartered cherry tomatoes, garlic oil and mozzarella.  Pesto sauce on pizza is a total thumbs up and the brussel sprouts were (thankfully) roasted and crisp.  Crust is whole grain so some consumers may not be used to the dough’s heartier taste compared to white flour.

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Salad: The Sunshine salad was filled with spicy arugula greens, roasted butternut squash, pine nuts and shaved mozzarella.  Lemon oil dressing complimented the mix with a tart and bright flavor.  The salad did need a little bit of salt and pepper to balance the sour lemon.

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Ease of Cooking: Bake 425° gives you everything you need to cook your ‘za, except an oven of course.  Instructions are clear and you are provided with parchment paper for cooking, eliminating the need for any pans or clean up!

Serving Sizes: We fed three people, which averaged about $10 dollars a person…not bad for a quality take home meal.

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What we would change:

The Chocolate Chip Cookie: Nothing really against the taste of the cookie but after eating a pizza, maybe the gelato that Bake 425° offers would balance out the meal better than ending with more dough.  We were so stuffed from the pizza, we barely touched the chocolatey dude.

Why would you try it?

When you are having one of those “I wanna stay in my blankey and bake on my couch” kind of nights, Bake 425° can simplify your night without compromising your taste buds.

Get Green with new OrganicGirl foods!

We’ve known about our namesake almost twinsie, Organicgirl greens, for over a year now.  Their organic pre-rinsed greens mixes have taken center stage in our fridge for months. Their spinach has starred in our green smoothies, their arugula pizzazzed our pizzas.  And yet, we were surprised to find out they had ventured into 2 new product markets, green juices and salad dressings.  Could they get any greener!?

As big Organicgirl fans, we got to sample both the dressings and juices at the recent Fit Foodie Run and (BONUS) were treated by Organicgirl to our very own bottles for further taste inspection.

We’ve been wondering, we have all these BPA free recycled clam shells of Organicgirl spring mix, what do we dress it with!?  Lemon Agave, White Cheddar, Fresh Tomato Italian or Kale Parmesan.

Can we put a squeeze of each on single leaves?  Each dressing has it’s only unique flavor profile that fits particularly well with the various greens that Organicgirl offers.

The Zesty Tomato Italian mingles with pepper greens, feta, artichokes, olives and roasted garlic.  For a fast and easy lunch, take a Toufyan multigrain pocket filled with greens, organic yellow cherry tomatoes, Morningstar Farms grilled chicken and dressing.

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The Kale Parmesan, reminiscent of pesto, meshes with super greens, quiona, baked butternut squash, red and green bell peppers, and pumpkin seeds.

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Continue fall trends with White Cheddar dressing drizzled over a spinach, green apple, dried cranberry salad with walnuts or hold on to summer with Lemon Agave dressing, watermelon, pinches of cayenne, jalapeno and that baby spring mix we mentioned. Another quick lunch creation to add with raw organic greens include cucumbers, veg grilled chicken and shaved Parmesan.

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Also, check out this super cool blog, Nutrition Happens, for even more recipe ideas.  Let’s get drizzical, drizzlical (Olivia Newton John reference!) with these new drizzly dressins’.

Next, the super secret just released Organicgirl “Get Real” Juices

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Fair Warning: If you are the type who loves your juice super fruity fruit loop flavored, these may seem a little..umm..veggie heavy (aka healthy tasting).  However, fear not.  Organicgirl tells you these organic cold pressed vegan juices are “More Greens, Less Fruit” so you can’t act like you didn’t know.  They are way lower in calories (think 45-60 for a full bottle) and way way lower in sugar so you won’t feel like you are crashing after drinking them.  Additional goodness: They have 2-3 servings of veggies in each bottle so it’s an easy way to down a head o’ lettuce or two to start your day or supplement your lunch. 4 veg-rrific options await you: The light and lemony “Brighten Up”, The minty cucumber “Be Cool”, The King of All Greens and ruler of the iron throne (hehehehe) Kale Rules and….

Our vote for best Organicgirl juice: “Fuel Your Ride” with 84% Greens and Veg, pumped up with kale, carrot, spinach, cucumber, beet and parsley.  We suspect the beet and carrot create a magical spell to make the kale less bitter.  Don’t be green with envy (HA!) other juices.

You can find Organicgirl products at Mariano’s (unless it’s Sunday when everyone snags all the baby spinach and makes us sad.  Don’t go on Sundays, people) as well as other food retailers in your salad-hood.