I have a nice round-up of some new foodie finds to share with you all! Some I have had for a while and have just been holding out on you until I could make this a big round-up. Now some of these products are spot on amazing, while others, well they fell flat. You win some, you lose some, right? And I am usually not a person to waste things. Believe me, just ask anyone who has ever lived with me. The food I cook and buy at the store, I eat. I hate opening something new until every last drop of the old is finished. Same thing with make-up and beauty products. I will use my chapstick and eyeliner until there is absolutely none left. NONE! Don’t even get me started on toothpaste. First of all you need to squeeze from the bottoms and smosh it all to the top as it get empty. Sometimes I will have just brushed my teeth the night before and know there is still a good 2-3 days worth of toothpaste left in the tube, only to come down the next morning and find that someone has thrown it away! Or they will just open something without finishing the old! Seriously? What are you all doing? That is a waste my friends, that is a waste….I will relate all this later on in the post, now moving one!

Let me start off with a product I’ve had for a while. I had seen these fruit butters get rave reviews by various bloggers and knew I had to get my hands on some. Enter, Kauffman’s Fruit Farm & Market! When I saw that they were a semi-local small company as well, based in PA, I fell in love even more. I absolutely love fruit butter! So much better than jelly and jam. It is creamy and delicious! Of course I normally buy from a really local company out in Ringos, NJ. Their Apple Spice Butter is to die for! But I was up for a change. So Kauffman’s sent me some no-sugar added Pear Butter and Pumpkin Butter. Yea, no sugar-added? You know I was game for that! It is all pure real fruit, some spices, and a bit of lemon juice or apple cider. Everything is perfect! I love using them to top pancakes, hot cereals, and of course nut butter sandwiches!

Another “spread” that I basically die over. MaraNatha’s Creamy Maple Almond Butter! This stuff is pure gold in a jar. Picture the best thing you ever tastes x100000. That is how good this stuff is! Add some cinnamon to it and pair it with an apple. Basically they best thing in the whole world…as of now. You need to get this stuff!

When I was on the search for my beloved Brown Rice Tortillas the other week since my damn grocery stopped carrying them, I fell upon these gems. I have been looking everywhere for these Rudi’s tortillas! Specifically the spinach ones! Low and behold, a Stop&Shop far away from my house had them (and my Brown Rice Tortillas!). I grabbed them right away and tried them right when I got home. Can you say, the best gluten-free tortilla ever! I think it surpasses the brown rice one.

These things are phenomenal, have the best texture, don’t break and taste like love and spinach. All I did was microwave it for about 30 seconds, slathered on some hummus and loaded it with veggies! Perfect side dish to the dinner I had. They really wrap perfectly.

Next up, I just have to give another shout-out to Hope Hummus. I have finally tried more than just one flavor. So far I have gotten the Balsamic Roasted Red Pepper, Spicy Avocado, and Thai Coconut Curry. They are all equally amazing and are now my go-to hummus brand! I am seriously loving the Thai Coconut Curry flavor. It is spicy, but subtly sweet from the coconut. Totally a creative hummus flavor! And I will always love the texture these hummus(es?) have. They aren’t totally smooth, but have a bit of chickpea pieces still in there. It is so good! And I just saw that they have a sweet potato hummus!? That has my name all over it! Now I just need to find it!

Okay, maybe I had a lot more wins than loses in this go-round, so here is one more win and then I will get to the big fail. Seasonal Larabars! My grocery has nothing, but they do randomly stock seasonal items totally out of season. I won’t complain though. I was able to get my hand on these Pumpkin Pie bars! This is the only original Larabar I like. I usually opt for the Lemon Pound Cake ALT Bar. But these pumpkin guys are crazy good! Yay, out of season, but still in stock products! (i.e. these were not in stock when they were “in-season”.)

Alright, are you ready for the sad lose? Well through my ambassadorship with Fitapproach as a Sweatpink Ambassador, again I has offered the opportunity to try a new Vega Product. So I loved their bars that I was sent, but this time was another story. I was sent the Vega Sport Protein as part of the #fuelyourbetter campaign. Well I was excited to try a new protein powder, the stats looked pretty good and I always like to compare vegan proteins to my beloved Plant Fusion.

The flavor I got was vanilla and it is a complete multi-source, alkaline-forming, plant-based protein powder blend, featuring 5,500mg of BCAAs and 5,000mg of glutamine per serving. Plus, you know, 25g of protein in 1 scoop? Sounds pretty good right?

Well I usually use protein powder every night in my almond milk. If I just did a workout, I will use a whole scoop and just mix it in to the milk. I always use my Plant Fusion and since just mixing with a straw doesn’t actually dissolve it all, I am able to “eat” some of the protein off the top. Don’t knock it till you try it! Well I tried to do the same thing with the Vega protein and lets just say it was the worst thing I have ever tasted! O man. Talk about gritty and sandy! The vanilla didn’t even taste like vanilla. It was no fun to eat this stuff! Plant Fusion is so perfect and creamy and delicious. Vega is a no go…at all. I was pretty disappointed about this. Now I have a whole huge box and nothing to do with it. And I just remember I have a Vega Starter Kit of their original protein mixes still in the back of my cabinet. Maybe I should try those? All I know is this stuff is no good. Sorry Vega, I think I will just stick to your snack bars 😉

And one last fail I have to share is my first Bulu Box. I got my May box a few weeks ago and was excited to open it up and see exactly what types of things Bulu Box had to offer. Well I was kind of let down. As a new Ambassador they send me a sweet card. But fail #1, they spelled my name wrong 😉 In the May box I received a Kind Bar (with I’m allergic to), Hummus and Lentil Crackers (which are not vegan), some weird collagen chocolate (no ingredients so I won’t even try, a workout accelerator (I’m not into that stuff), Smarty Pants gummy vitamins,  and teeth whitening powder that you mix into coffee and tea…interesting. So this month was kind of a fail since I didn’t use any of the stuff, but I want to hold out for the next two boxes and see if things get better. (You can click my ambassador like and get 50% any subscription if you want to give the box a try yourself!)

So there you have it, some wins, well mostly wins, and two fails. You’ve got to try the products that were wins though! If my crazy enthusiastic rambles didn’t turn you off that is! Speaking of rambles, I think I will link these foodie thoughts to Amanda’s Thinking Out Loud this week!

So tell me:

+ Any new foodie wins or fails lately?

+ Are you a finisher or a waster?

+ Does you grocery store totally suck like mine? How I wish I had a TJs or Whole Foods. I just have this damn Shoprite…which is more like Shopwrong!

Remember to sign up for the Gluten-Free Challenge starting next week! Just leave me a comment on this post or shoot me an email at strengthandsusnhine (at) gmail (dot) com!

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