Chobani Yogurt

I've been loving Greek yogurt for a long time.  But when I was introduced to Chobani, there was no turning back.  

First of all, not all yogurt is created equal.  Let's start with protein: if you look at the nutrition label on a yogurt container, some brands have 5g of protein per serving.  But Chobani  -- oh no...they really pack it in there: 13-18g in a 6oz serving to be exact.  Protein is critical to our bodies, but also helps us to feel satiated.  Then there's calcium and probiotics.  Again, all good things. 

One of my favorite things about this yogurt is its versatility: it can be sweet or savory - skinny egg salad,  tuna with pita chips or blue cheese dressing all include this gem.  I don't eat chicken, but I used to...and when I did, I marinated chicken overnight in plain Chobani with garlic and then cooked it.  It was so good.  Tender and juicy!  And don't even get me started on how I can use plain, 0% Chobani as a fat-free-low-calorie-but-just-as-delicious substitute for sour cream or creme fraiche...

So when Chobani sent me a 12-pack (!!) sample of their 6oz cups of yogurt, there was serious excitement.  Thank you, Chobani!  The company offers different size tubs of yogurt: 6oz, 16oz and 32oz.  

Here are our favorite flavors --

This apple cinnamon yogurt literally tastes like you're eating apple pie.  With ice cream.  (A la mode anything is my boo.)  I'm literally obsessed with this flavor.  Boo is big on this flavor, too.  The combination of smooth, tart creamy yogurt with sweet crunchy bits of apples is delicious.  As evidenced by my instagram feed, I have a problem...like I want to eat them all day.  And nothing else. Ever.

The pomegranate flavor is slightly, sweet but still has the characteristic Greek yogurt tart taste I am obsessed with.  Also there are pomegranate seeds at the bottom...texture!  I love pom seeds.  Do you? 

The raspberry yogurt feels like you're eating yogurt with raspberries in it...not typical for raspberry yogurt.  This is a very good thing.  And the seeds!  Thank you! Love seeds.

The blood orange flavor is really good and very different from most yogurt flavors.  Also, there's a little pulp.  I love pulp.  It just gets better and better.  I have to be honest, I didn't think I would like this flavor, but it was really good.  You might think citrus and yogurt don't go well together.  But here they do.  Chobani is no joke.  They know what's up.  

The black cherry 0% is bomb.com, if you like cherry (and even if you don't!!) this is a must-try:

Blueberry is one of my favorite fruits.  All time favorite fruits.  And Chobani blueberry tastes like little bursts of blueberries in every bite.  I ate mine like this, piled high with these jewels:

Chobani recently came out with some new products - flip and bite.  OMG.  Like. O.M.G.  I haven't tried these yet, but promise to report back as soon as I do.  Until then...I'm off to have another apple cinnamon.  I'm shameless like that.

Have you tried Greek yogurt?  What's your favorite yogurt flavor?

xx,

The Future Mrs. Wolf

Disclaimer: Chobani graciously sent me a complimentary boxes of yogurt, but I was not compensated for my time or for this blog post.  All opinions are my own. 

VitaMuffin Mixes

Do you remember when Vitalicious sent me their Vitapizzas to sample? Okay, maybe you don't...so you can follow that link to refresh your memory.  Well, they also sent me baking mixes. Thank you, Vitalicious!

This weekend Boo and I sampled the banana muffin and corn muffin varieties. 

For all the non-bakers out there, this product is for you! The corn muffins only need 2 ingredients plus the mix: egg whites and water. And the banana muffin only 3: egg whites, water and chocolate chips or walnuts. In retrospect, I probably should have added in an almost-too-ripe banana. That would have brought the ingredients a whopping 4!  

Better yet - these muffins are 100 calories or less each when prepared according to the directions.  If I had added a banana in, the caloric impact would be minimal since it's split over a dozen (12) muffins. Curious about the math? 1 small banana is around 80 calories. 80/12= 6.6. Less than 7 additional calories. 

Want more? You won't have a huge amount of dishes to do when you're finished with these muffins. I used one bowl. Who wants to do dishes after baking? 

The corn muffins are not overly sweet. Which I appreciated since I used mine to make croutons in a salad (similar to my challah croutons - the day after, I diced a muffin, sprayed with olive oil, seasoned salt+pepper and roasted on 425 about 10mins). Boo spread a bit of a honey on his. 

The banana muffins  had a mild banana flavor, which is why I might add a fresh banana next time. I added chocolate chips. One person in our home really loves chocolate. And I like to bake for this person. Can you guess who it is? 

I added one additional chocolate chip to each muffin. This probably added 8 calories to the total. Again, we're not talking about belt-busting numbers here.  Next time, Ill add walnuts and chocolate chips. 

I used a nonstick muffin tray, sprayed well with olive oil (cooking spray would work fine) which alleviated the need for paper liners:

Each muffin is packed with 15 vitamins and minerals plus fiber --

Nutrition information per serving of corn muffin:

100 calories, 24g carbohydrates, 0g fat, 3g protein, 10g fiber

Nutrition information per serving of banana chocolate chip muffin:

90 calories, 21g carbohydrates, 2.5g fat, 5g protein, 6g fiber

Just for fun, I took a picture of a Jiffy mix:

Looks a little different, huh?

Do you bake from mixes or from scratch? What's your favorite muffin?

xx,

The Future Mrs. Wolf

Disclaimer: Vitalicious graciously sent me complimentary boxes of baking mixes, but I was not compensated for my time or for this blog post.  All opinions are my own. 

Vitalicious Pizza

OK, I'm going to be totally honest here.  I haven't been eating too much pizza recently.  You know, that whole wedding thing coming up...

But, when Vitalicious (the company behind Vitatops) contacted me about their VitaPizzas, I was curious.  Who doesn't love pizza?  And who doesn't really love pizza for 190 calories (and 19g of fiber per serving!)?  I'm not talking about sharing half a slice of pizza with your boo.  I'm talking about a whole pizza.  To yourself.  Oh yes.  Come to Mama.

These pizzas are frozen and come in two flavors: cheese + tomato and meatless pepperoni supreme, and can be prepared in the microwave or the toaster oven.  Talk about convenience!  And you know my love for the freezer...

Show me someone who would not be excited by this bounty in her freezer:

  

Raw cheese pizza coming out of the freezer (my favorite place!):

The directions say to cook for 3-4.5 minutes, and  I used the microwave to cook the pizza for 3.5 minutes.  I couldn't believe how crispy it was!  Sometimes microwaved pizza is soggy.  There's no bite, no crispy crust, no pizza happiness!  But these are a totally different story.  The pizza was so good!  

After 3 and 1/2 minutes in the microwave:

I really shouldn't admit this on the interwebs, but I was barbaric and took a bite before cutting it:

I tried also tried the meatless pepperoni supreme:

In the category of "odd things I that make sense only in my mind": I really don't like raw green peppers; but I love them cooked on pizza.  I know, it's weird.  What can I say?  Even though these peppers were frozen, they added a fresh, tasty textural element to the pizza. And the meatless pepperoni (while it doesn't have the same taste or texture as real meat) offered a tasty, umami element.  

I think my favorite VitaPizza is the cheese + tomato flavor.  Next time I think I'll doctor it up with something along the lines of sauteed garlic spinach and caramelized onions.

What's your go-to frozen pizza?  What's your favorite pizza topping?

xx,

The Future Mrs. Wolf

Disclaimer: Vitalicious graciously sent me complimentary boxes of pizza, but I was not compensated for my time or for this blog post.  All opinions are my own.