Tag Archives: Amazing Grass

What’s in a Name…or Post Title

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Welcome to…
My yard. 
A.k.a, the Gillianasana photography-practice site.
No Flash
—–>
 w/ Flash.
Couldn’t decide.
All my mother. I bake, she gardens. Hobbies are important.
Especially when they become your career! Yesterday I zipped down to Providence, Rhode Island to check out the Johnson & Wales culinary school campus. It hopped to the forefront of my list when I read about their Culinary Nutrition program and decided it was definitely worth a visit. It was indeed, and I got a lot of really good information and now have way too much thinking to do. I’m going on a college tour road trip with my brother (a senior-to-be in high school) and madre this coming week, and on the way back we are stopping in Hyde Park, New York to check out the holy land  CIA – Culinary Institute of America. It’s the big one, where you go to be in the food industry. It scares me. 
That said, tomorrow we leave for Philadelphia and will be on the road until Friday night! I am bringing my mini laptop and will hope and pray to find hotels with wireless access or computers – but just in case I can’t, I promise I WILL return! With pics. LOTS of pics. I’m looking at this trip as a good time to practice my [food]photography skillllllz. 
Speaking of which…breakfast anyone?
Melon is one of those foods I could (and often do) eat every day and never get sick of it. Especially this kind:
Tuscan melon!
It is a lot like canteloupe, only smaller and I find a little sweeter and stronger in taste.I had this in, where else, Florence, and fell in love. Look for those indented lines in the rind. It’s amazing.
Blueberry Acai Dannon Light & Fit
Yes, another new flavor I was powerless to try. I actually really liked this – I could actually taste the acai and it blended wonderfully with the sweet blueberry! It’s kind of a hard flavor to pinpoint, but I find it a little tart and a little sweet at once, a bit like pomegranate. The only issue, other than the ingredient list, is the awful fake-sugar aftertaste. WAY too sweet. I wish it had just been sweetened with real fruit! Oh well, I ‘ll just have to do it myself.
Nothing like a waffle on a Saturday morning (er…afternoon…)
AB-squared: apple butter + almond butter. A perfect combo.
Did some shopping at Old Navy. Ugh, shopping. I can never find exactly what I want. BUT, I did get a pretty cute dress 50% off because one of the straps was broken! Sewing won’t even be necessary. LOVE that!
I came ravenous. Nothing a smoothie can’t fix – especially when it involves this:
Amazing Grass’s Amazing Meal Chocolate Infusion protein powder.
I used half the packet + 1 c. frozen mango + 1 c. almond milk + splash vanilla. I should have added a little extra cocoa powder, but didn’t.
Aglow with healthy goodness!
I didn’t love the Amazing Meal – it was a little too spirulina-y for me. But I didn’t hate it either, and liked it with the mango very much. Of course, I like pretty much anything with mango….Either way, as far as Amazing Grass goes, the Kidz Wildberry and Original Superfood powders are in the lead.
The liquid health theme continued with this:
I got it on sale at WFs last week. As usual with Kombucha, I have no idea what to make of this! What I love about it is the complexity of the flavor – it changes every second it’s on your tongue and definitely keeps me interested. This one went from berry-sweet to flowery and then very pine-y. I probably wouldn’t but it again, but it was a fun try. I wish the Honest brand would go on sale again!
Because my mother, brother and I hit the road tomorrow, we had to have Father’s Day a little early.
Dinner on the patio!
Including:
My grandmother’s salad: romaine, tomatoes, avocado, red onion in red wine vinegar+olive oil and S+P.
Grilled eggplant, marinated in balsamic + olive oil. Melt-in-your-mouth amazing. Probably one of my favorite things.
Roasted taters
Fresh pasta in a vegetarian sauce for me, lamb for the fam. [Don't worry, I had some tempeh for protein ealier!]
And my present to the man of the day:
Chianti, straight off the boat plane.
YUM!!
Tippy agreed.
For dessert, I whipped up some peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies (Dad’s fave)  using the Supercharge Me cookies recipe:
The first batch was gone before the second even left the oven. I think they liked them. 
Dessert also included this newbie:
Chobani Champions honeynana!
It’s not thick at all; it’s basically like regular yogurt, but I suppose that could very well be more appealing to kids which I assume are the target consumers here (although I know plenty of “grown-up kids” who would be attracted by the cartoony design). The flavor is great though! Unlike the chocolate, the cane sugar taste blends  in very well. It reminded me of a yogurt I ate all the time when I was little, but I can’t remember exactly which one – I think it was Yoplait Custard-Style Vanilla. SO good. Gotta love nostalgia foods :)
Time to go pack, pack, pack! 
~Namaste!~
P.S. Remember that surprise I mentioned? Check out the sidebar — I’m a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher!!! Dancing most definitely ensued when I got the email. I love Foodbuzz, and my absolute favorite blogs are all a part of its awesome community, so I’m super excited and proud to be too. Share the foodie love!

Edible Vengeance

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This being my blog and I all, I have every intention on being 100% honest on here. And honestly – today was not a good day. I know exactly why, but that didn’t change the fact that just getting out of bed was a challenge. Every negative thought possible was running through my head, about everything – my body, my abilities, my future – it was an endless stream of depressing negativity.
What I hate most about days like this is how LOUD the ED voice becomes. I should eat as little as possible, work out as long as possible, blah blah blah blah BS. There was a time where I could and would listen. But now, it just pisses. me. off. So, I fought back. How, you may ask?
Chocolate.
First in the form of yogurt:
I have had this for a while, but was saving for dessert…and then kept forgetting about. This morning was time.
It was good, quite good (although not amazing). At first it felt “wrong” eating something so chocolatey…but really, it’s not all too far away from what I would put in oats.
I mean look at the ingredients:
It was a tad sweet for me, but all in all yummy. And it helped – made me feel just a little stronger.
Oh, and the chocolate did not stop there. Oh no.
Chocolate-covered cherry oat bran.
[Note: Next time, cut cherries smaller!]
Amazing Grass GreenSuperfood Chocolate
With almond milk, banana, cherries, and a splash of ‘nilla. 
LOVED this. Very deep and chocolatey; I was impressed! I liked this as much as the Kidz Wildberry flavor – my only reservartion in buying a bigger container was that I don’t necessarily want a chocolate-flavored smoothie every time I make a smoothie…maybe I will like the Original? Anyone else tried these before?
I continued my day of “edible vengeance” – after quite the breakdown in the kitchen with my mom – with probably the best sandwich this side of the Atlantic:
This is an Italian Sub from a little Italian Deli near my house that I grew up going to. The family who owns it is from Southern Italy and import most of their products, and make their [absolutely mouth-watering] bread. Walking in there is like walking into a mini-Mercato Centrale. It’s wonderful. And they make the best Italian sub ever on their crunchy, golden, doughy baguette that rocks my carboholic socks.
Although, I will say this – there is nothing “Italian” about an Italian sub except for the individual ingredients. Yes, the bologna, salami, mortadella, mozzarella, and all that is Italian – but try to find this in Italy, and it’s simply not there. In fact, when we explained what an Italian sub is to my Food & Culture professor, she looked at us like we had 3 heads! It is such a cool example of how food changes and adapts to a different culture. One of the many reasons why I love it so :)
Anyway, the vengeance went right on into dinner:
Artichoke-onion-garlic pizza on whole grain crust from Whole Foods. Aka, heaven.
This was so yummy. Their whole grain crust is to die for – you can see the flax seeds hangin out in it! YUM. And really not all that expensive, either!
I suppose today has been a long time comin. I can tell because I’ve had a serious itch to bake, bake, BAKE! And I have. Tonight it was Jenna’s Whole Wheat Banana Bread that I made into muffins:
We had ripe bananas, I had the recipe pulled up…it was fate.
That little heart is from the end of my box of Kashi Heart to Heart cinnamon cereal (one of my favorites!). The two on the bottom have a drizzle of almond butter on top, and though you cant see it, the top 2 have a brown sugar sprinkle on top. I like getting creative with the presentation :)
And last night, I made Dreena’s SuperCharge Me! cookies:
With craisins and vegan chocolate chips.
May I just say – WHOA. These are incredible. I just love sweets that are good & good-for-you. The flax meal gives them a wonderful nutty flavor and texture! I will be making these again. Butterscotch will be involved.
And speaking of chocolate [when I am not speaking of chocolate?], the Amazing Grass trial continued yesterday with:
I loooved the Wild Berry, so I had high hopes for the Chocolate!
1/2 nana + 8 cherries + 1/2 c. almond milk + ~1 c. spinach + 1 packet Kidz Chocolate SuperFood.
Meh. I didn’t like this one much – too…grassy? I was really surprised when I liked the regular Chocolate so much! It was better after I added a hefty spoonful of cocoa powder, but still – I’ll stick to the Wild Berry.
More new things were sampled yesterday, including:
Sideways-spoon test:
It passed – a little too well, though! It was a bit too reminiscent of eating glue. And it had a weird texture, like a little gritty? I’ll keep on keepin on with Fage, the tried & true [love].
Took advantage of a 5 for 5 sale at WFs and got some new Odwalla bars – well, new to me.
I liked it, but it was not very pomegranate-y at all. It reminded me of a NutriGrain bar without the icky sugary filling. I might not buy it again, just because it wasn’t exactly a stand-out, but it was worth the try.
In other news, I think my body is insisting on becoming a vegetarian. My mom and I went to the gym and then when we got back, she made a lentil-chicken soup using leftover chicken from dinner this past weekend. It smelled good, and I do love all-things lentil…but I couldn’t stomach the idea of chicken. No idea why. But, if your body screams at you, it’s a good idea to listen – so I made this tasty mess:
This was 2 egg whites + the remains of the tofu package I used for the cake frosting. It was Nasoya Lite Silken Tofu, because it was the only silken tofu the store had. It mixed with the egg whites more or less easily, and I cooked it in the pan with some broccoli slaw, garlic salt, pepper, oregano and rosemary. I drizzled it with *the best* olive oil, and when it needed still a little something more, I added a splash of golden balsamic vinegar – perfect. With a slice of whole grain bread from Costco. It was really tasty! I will definitely be making this again!
I wish I could say that’s all that’s been happening over here, but…this ain’t the half of it. Emails, culinary school research, job search…oy vey. This is definitely a job for yoga.
~Namaste~

FUNday

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Lately, something has really been getting to me. My posts since I’ve returned have felt very spastic and kind of everywhere to me. Must be the English major coming out – I have to have a thesis!! I’ve just noticed that titling posts is difficult because there is no one thing that can sum up what I’ve said, and being my perfectionist self, this does not sit well. All this to say – I’m working on it ;)
Yesterday I was really tired, for no apparent reason. I had planned on hopping over to the gym (in my NEW CAR!!!), but could not summon up the energy. I tend to take these things as a sign, because when it comes to exercise, I know I will personally stop it altogether if it stops being fun. And part of its continuing funness is not forcing myself to go every single day. Took the dog for a walk and did a little ab work before bed–and kept it fun!
Speaking of fun…let’s talk food.
This was yummy, but I have to say, I have never been much for key lime-flavored yogurts. Something weird about it, it kind of has a weird-sweet taste to me? This was the best brand I’ve tried though. Ha, how sick are you of seeing pictures of Stonyfield cartons?!
B-fast also included a classic – cinnamon toast!
Well, cinnamon+ almond butter + pear preserves toast. There is just something about cinnamon on toasted bread, it’s like they were mutually created just for this to be made. My mom always made me cinnamon (and butter :) toast when I was sick, so it’s a major nostalgia food for me too. In fact, when I had to bring my ‘nostalgia food’ to my Food & Culture class this semester, I almost did this – but peanut butter-banana waffles won. It was a tough decision, let me tell you. 
Ok, I could have sworn up and down on all things gourmet that I talked about this, but apparently not, so…
In my Food & Culture class, we were all asked to discuss our persona “nostalgia food” – something that when we eat, the mere look/taste/smell takes us back to a certain moment or feeling that only this food can do to us. I chose peanut butter-banana waffles (with syrup, obvz), because whenever I had waffles for breakfast, my dad insisted on putting peanut butter on them (hell if I know why I protested – that was genius.).
Do you have a nostalgia food?

I also tried this guy:
It was…well, like a ginger snap! A bit heavy on the cloves, though. Like all Larabars, what you see is what you get – so if you’re not a ginger fan, stay away. But if you are, it’s quite tasty. I am kind of in between, and so far the peanut butter cookie Larabar is the winner (shocking, I know). What I like about these is that they are made of real food, and the high [healthy!] fat content keeps me full and happy for a pretty decent amount of time.
In other fun news – I got a present!

Ok, well, not exactly a surprise present, because I bought it for myself, but still – who doesn’t get excited when a package arrives with their name on it???
Amazing Grass is a company whose products are craaaazy popular in the food/healthy living blog world. Their products – bars, wheatgrass powders and smoothie powder add-ins, are all-natural, organic, and busting with nutrients. I ordered 2 of their the Sample Packs – the regular product combo and the Amazing Meal combo. 
I have tried a couple of their bars before and enjoyed them because of their lasting power and readable ingredient list, and one of my favorite bloggers swears by their magical powers, so it was about time I got around to checking them out!
The first one I tried was the Kidz Wild Berry packet – because it sounded fun!
3 servings of fruits and veggies?? How is that possible??
Straight from the site: “We’ve used a quick-drying, low temperature, nutrient-preserving method to make a fruit and vegetable powdered drink that mixes easily with water or milk to provide your child with a fast, delicious way to drink up the healthy benefits of a variety of fruits and vegetables.”

Pretty cool, right? 
[They do say that this is NOT meant to replace the fresh fruit/veggies in one's diet - just for a vitamin boost!]
1/2 frozen banana + 2 big strawbs + 1/2 c. almond milk + 1 packet Kidz Superfood Wild Berry
This was yummy. As in, once I go through all my samples, if I don’t find one I like more, I’m making a beeline for Whole Foods and buy the big container of this stuff. We’re all still kids at heart, anyway! It was pretty sweet, but it’s a smoothie so it wasn’t obnoxious, and I really liked the berry flavor it added (trust me, you’d never know it was also zucchini, brussel sprouts, green beans, and 10 million other veggies!). Next up: the chocolate. I’m excited.

I slept muuuch later than planned today, so time to catch up on my to-dos! I’ll be back – with car pictures!!

~Namaste~