Unintentional Product Reviewer

I hope you all are ready because some how I managed to make this post all about reviews and FUN finds when I wasn’t even trying too ~ oops! :)  I LOVE being able to share everything I find…the problem is I always want to try/share it all at one time 🙂

I LOVE that so many of you have shared your stories and questions for the Foam Roller.  I wasn’t sure if everyone was going to “get” why I paid $$ for this solid piece of hard foam and how it made my hip pain go away. 

I was going to attempt to take some pictures to show you all how it works, but, I think my fellow Open Sky ShopKeeper, Candace (a Personal Trainer) demonstrates how to use it perfectly.  Plus she looks AMAZING doing it too :D….Me, not so much ~ I am pretty much making scary faces and cursing my way through my 2 minutes 😉

She only touches on a few ways to use it, but, you pretty much follow this process for any part of your body you want to “massage”. 

I am a TOTAL believer in my FOAM ROLLER and spent 15 minutes this morning using it on all my muscles and doing some deep stretching ~ ahhhh!  Might just leave me feeling more relaxed than Yoga (crazy, huh).

I bought mine at Sports Challet because I wanted it ASAP and paid $25.  However, you can get one for less than $20 in My Open Sky Shop and get 15% off too!

EATS

I have really been resisting opening this jar of Dry Roasted Cashew Butter that My Secret Valentine Bloggie (Thanks, Paula!) sent me because I have too many jars of nut butter open.  But, today was a day that just called for it.

I went rummaging through the freezer this morning in search of something good I could use with my nut butter when I found two of the Homemade Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes that I froze a little while back. 

I reheated them for 30 seconds in the microwave to thaw and then toasted them.  Topped with this AMAZING cashew butter (I have to say I LOVE it more than the raw cashew butter).

While my pancakes were “cooking”, I chopped up an apple, poured cinnamon all over it and added 1 teaspoon of this RAW Organic Agave Nectar I got at Trader Joe’s.

I LOVE Agave Nectar because a little goes a long way and you rarely need more than a tsp.

I cooked it for 1 minute to make  “MOCK” Baked Cinnamon Apples for 1 point!

You know I ended up making a big ole cashew butter cinnamon apple PANCAKE-WICH for 7 points.  My hands were too messy to grab the camera so you have to use your imagination 🙂

I was missing protein in my breakfast so I had a perfectly hard boiled egg ~ 2 points of Protein.  I was still hungry after this so I had a couple of cashews for 1 point and it did the trick.

Since I was resting my hip for one more day, I ran to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s today for lunch to get out.  I LOVE that they are right next to each other in Napa.

Lunch was some leftover Baked Cheesy Bacon Mac & Cheese (6 pts).

Plus a Big Salad on the side with Annie’s Lite Balsamic Dressing (1 pt).

I LOVE Marinated Mushrooms and that they are 0 points!

Dessert was a new find for me ~ Trader Joe’s HONEY Plantain Chips.

2 points a serving is AWESOME! 

They are super crunchy, like banana chips, but the honey makes them taste CARAMELIZED! I had about 10 of these (I divided the bag into 3 servings and ate one) since I didn’t have my scale to weigh.

Here are couple of other COOL FINDS I picked up while I was out today.

A NEW to me ChocoLOVE Flavor ~ DARK CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT!

Don’t worry, I didn’t keep it ~ I gave it to my friend who I now have hooked on ChocoLOVE 😀

Then, for my co-worker who is doing Weight Watchers and LOVES popcorn, these SniKiddy Pizza Puffs. (I bought these at Whole Foods ~ Love that they are Gluten Free!)

I just find it CRAZY that 1/4 of this entire bag (it’s a chip sized bag) it only 2 points!

That’s a whole lotta puff.  I tried two and they really do taste like pizza ~ COOL!

Dinner tonight was super easy and everything to make The Husband feel better ~ Poor him ~ he keeps going around saying “I Hate OAK (his nick name for Poison Oak), I never want to get it again!” 

His friend who helped him put the fence up has it too so ya – it has to be Jungle Ladies back yard…..booo!  I think I am cracking him up with my “all natural” products I keep busting out Aveeno, Tea Tree Oil and Technu :D  Fingers crossed it all works soon!

As you all know, I LOVE my whipped butter!

You can get an entire Tablespoon for 2 points and the ingredient list is CLEAN/recognizable.  The only draw back is that it is higher in Saturated Fat, but, a little goes a long way.

Awhile back the folks at I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter gave me a ring to say that they are no longer including Transfats in their spread.  I used to LOVE this stuff and the spray bottle, but, when I realized it included Transfats, I stopped using it.

I like that they replaced their hydrogenated oils with soybean & canola oils ~ it really lowers the Saturated fat.  2 points per Tablespoon as well.

It’s always a toss up to me which to use butter or margarine.  I am not sure that it 100% matters because I think you can make a valid case either way.  What matters is that whichever you use, you use it in moderation.  I like the consistency margarine lends in baking so I know this will be an awesome choice when I want to use 1/2 butter and 1/2 margarine to bake.

What do you all think ~ butter or margarine??

I wanted to give the new ICBINB a try and used 3 Tbsp’s with a little parmesan, sea salt and black pepper to make “buttered” noodles.  It’s not bad….I can tell “it’s not butter” 😀 but I like the flavor still.  (1 c for 4 pts)

I grilled up a Tri Tip marinated in TJ’s Island Soyaki and measured out 3 oz for 3 pts.

While the pasta and noodles cooled, I whipped up a quick baby Bok Choy stir fry in my fancy All Clad Pan.  Topped with garlic salt and freshly ground pepper.

You all seriously need to try out All Clad Pans ~ this cooked up in 4 minutes (as long as it took me to slice the meat). (0 pts)

All together with some super crunchy watermelon & cantaloupe for dessert (1 pt).

MONDAY FUN!!!

Recently, I participated in the Monthly Morsels Question of the Month over at Recipelion.com.  The question was…

If you could live with only one utensil for the rest of your life, what would it be and why???

Click HERE to find out my answer and leave a comment below telling me what you all would pick….I want to know what you all eat with 😀

Night all!