Tuesday, September 15, 2009

A POM-filled Kind of Day

Wow! You guys are truly the best. I can not describe how blessed I felt by all of your heartening comments and congratulation wishes from my ½ Marathon Post. I know that I’ve said this before, but I can’t emphasize enough how moved I am by the level of genuine support and kindness from everyone I have gotten to know over the past year through the blog world. I am forever grateful for your friendships and value each and every one of you.

Okay, just had to get that off my chest….

Now back to business.

First up, a few product reviews to start the week…

I recently received a shipment of the new Pom Wonderful Iced Tea line. I’m not a huge iced tea drinker, but since I am in fact a fan of the Pom Wonderful juice, I couldn’t see any logical reason in why I wouldn’t enjoy the new teas.

I actually enlisted the help of my hubby for this review and let him take the first sip. He chose the Blackberry flavor to sample first.



Toly really liked the taste of this tea. He said it was definitely sweet and maybe even a little too sweet for our liking. He suggested diluting it a bit to take away from some of the sweetness, especially if your taste buds are similar to ours.



I agreed entirely with him. I really thought the tea was refreshing and had a great flavor. I could sense more of the POM and blackberry flavors than the tea which contrasted very nicely. I also agreed that a little dilution would make this more enjoyable, but like I said, if you enjoy a sweeter drink, than you may not find the need.

I am really enjoying the Pom Wonderful Products and looking forward to sampling the new Iced Coffee line in a few weeks. The health benefits of POM Wonderful are also quite impressive.

Here are just a few……(Taken from http://www.pomwonderful.com/)
All Natural, no added sugars, preservatives, colors or cheap filler juices.
Pom Wonderful promotes significant benefits in cardiovascular and prostate health.
Superior source of antioxidants, with more and better than red wine, grape juice, blueberry juice, cranberry juice, green tea, Vitamin C and Vitamin E.
The Wonderful variety is known for its unique combination of superior antioxidants and delicious taste.

Next up: Choabani Non-fat Greek Yogurt, Pomegranate

Last week, I sampled the Pineapple flavor and LOVED it more than anything. This week, Pomegranate was next on my list.

The nutrition stats were pretty identical….
60z has 140 calories, 0g of fat, 19g of sugar and 14g of fiber
Ingredients: Cultured Pasteurized non-fat milk, pomegranate, evaporated cane juice, pomegranate concentrate, pectin, locust bean gum, natural flavor, fruit and vegetable fruit, contains 5 live and active cultures.

My thoughts: Don’t get me wrong, I did like this, but something just seemed a little off with the flavor. I’m not really sure how I felt about the pomegranate seeds in my yogurt either. They were hard to chew and contrasted with the texture of the granola I put in. I prefer more of a thick and creamy consistency with my Greek yogurt and this seemed to be a little watery. I think the Pineapple may have been a bit denser due to the scant amount of fat. I’m also wondering if the slightly rancid taste may be my fault. When I received the shipment last week, I was quite excited and in my anxious attempt to tear open the box, I may have slit right through the top of a few yogurts with the knife I was using to open the box. Not wanting to waste a single yogurt, I took the chance of salvaging my mildly damaged containers by taping the slits shut. I planned to eat them within a few days and didn’t think it would do much harm, but now I am wondering. I have another Pomegranate flavor that is not damaged, so I will have to re-evaluate with a properly sealed container.




I don’t think it was spoiled, but like I said, just a little off. I’m sure it will be fine….I hope! ;)
Overall, I enjoyed this flavor but I do feel that I prefer Trader Joe’s Pomegranate Greek Yogurt more. I still have a few more flavors to get through and I think my next selection will be Blueberry. I’m interested to see how this one pairs up with my beloved Blueberry Okios. I’ll let you know!

Well it has certainly been a Pomegranate kind of day!

Dinner tonight had no signs of this fruit, however.

It did have some great new Trader Joe finds. I grilled a new flavor of Organic Chicken Sausages- Spicy Jalapeño. Every single flavor of TJ’s chicken sausages I have tried, I have been in love with and I just get so anxious to try another.
With the sausage, I made my all time favorite “hot-dog” relish; sautéed red onion and spinach.


And on the side, TJ’s Sweet Potato Frites. I heard great reviews on these and last time we stopped, I picked up a bag.


Along with some grilled corn-on the cob.



Every time we eat this dinner, it reminds me of a summer baseball kind of meal. Fitting that the Philles were on tonight I suppose.

After a few days off from running, I’m happy to say that I am back to my morning runs and feel great! I really thought I would be more sore after my ½ but surprisingly, my muscles recovered quite nicely. Some of you may be wondering if I will be cutting back on my weekly mileage now that I am not training and the answer is yes, but not significantly. I still love my morning runs but I hope to incorporate a little more cross training with my ET, Tae-Bo, Kick-Boxing, Yoga and Pilates. I will still include one long run on the weekends, but not quite as lengthy as I was doing. I think my body needs to rest awhile from the amount of long runs I had been doing. So, instead of clocking 30 miles + a week, I plan to cut back to around 20-25 miles. Training for my ½ was wonderful, but I have to admit, being able to run just out of enjoyment is quite refreshing.

Alright, well time to call it a night. Tomorrow is a big day! Someone very important in my life is celebrating a very important day.

I’ll give you a hint….

He is one sexy man and honoring another year of his wonderful life….

Nope, I know you are thinking its Sammy....


but it’s the other sexy man in my life! ;)


Enjoy your night!

16 comments:

  1. I just found your blog. It looks great and I love Trader Joe products. How were those sweet potato fries? I have heard tons of great things about them but have never tried them.

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  2. Hey Whitney!

    Thanks for stopping by. The Sweet Potato Fries were awesome! I baked them in a little spice rub of brown sugar, cin., and smoked paprika. Highly suggest purchasing these if you are a sweet potato lover like me!

    Hope you stay in touch. :)

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  3. Hmmm, diluting the POM tea sounds like a smart thing to do. I agree, I think it's too much and I wish it didn't have any fructose in it. Maybe that would solve the too sweet problem, ha. But they didn't ask me did they ; )

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  4. girl! You totally rock and deserve all the positive comments you got! I agree- the pineapple chobani= heaven. The pom chobani is ok but the seeds are strange! Don't you love doing product reviews with the husband? Makes it way more fun :) Hope this week treats you well. Thanks for your sweet comments on my dresses! You make me smile every day!

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  5. I love the Trader Joe's chicken sausages, too! I haven't tried all the flavors just yet but I love the garlic and the Italian style. So yummy in a pasta dish (I know you don't like pasta though), for some quick protein, in a sammie or any way, any time. Happy Birthday to Toly!

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  6. Mmm your dinner looks fantastic esp those sp fries!

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  7. Girl, I want to have dinner with you. hot dog and sweet potato fries? Man, you and I reaaaaally need to do some good feasting together! :D

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  8. Hmmm I can't wait to try these--mine got shipped today!!

    I have a mild obsession with pomegranate seeds so I wish there were MORE in the Chobanis :)

    Hi Toly!!

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  9. I had the POM teas and loved them! YUM! POM makes some great stuff. :D

    Happy Birthday Toly! Wooot!

    Dinner looks fabalicious!

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  10. My mom LOVES the POM tea! She drank all of mine, haha!!

    Your dinner literally is summer on a plate - I love it! Thanks for the heads up on the sweet potato fries. They sound great!

    Is it someone's birthday?!

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  11. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE HUBBY!!! That's awesome!!! YAY!

    Those sweet potato fries look delish.

    I agree, the POM was good, but I don't drink many sweetened veggies. I think it would be delicious as a spritzer though!!


    Thanks for the Chobani review!! Plain is my favorite flaovr!! :)

    HAPPY WEDNESDAY LAURENNNNNNNNN!

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  12. That dinner look faboosh! Love chicken sausage (actually all sausages are great)! And sweet tater fries. And corn.

    Perfection dear!

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  13. hahaha. i love the photo of sammy on your lap! what a stud. happy birthday to your boy! i am getting the chobs shipment next week and i cant wait to try the pineapple and the peach! once again, another blog post making me sad i dont have a TJs. sigh. oh well! hope you are having a greeeat wednesday lauren! xo

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  14. Ooh, those sweet potato fries look good! I'm glad you're feeling good and back to running already! It's such a great stress reliever. Have a great night :)

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  15. Huh, I thought I already commented on this post, but guess not! I think I need to go to bed! I kind of felt the same way about the pom chobani. I'm dying to try the pineapple, but I haven't seen it pop up here yet. xoxo

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  16. I love your Trader Joe's finds! I am always looking for new things to try there!

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