So you must all be tired of this, but YES it IS another giveaway.

3 WINNERS!!!

3 Chances to win!!

You gotta scroll through this post to get to it though. muhahaahaha…

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Very Vanilla Chocolate Mayhem Steel-Bran Oats

vanilla oats with chocolate yogurt

Darn right this stuff ROCKS. It’s a mix of oatbran and steel-cut oats (So Yummy I’m still drooling. heheh  See recipe below!)

First there’s a close-up of the toppings I put after reheating the basic oat base. Including:

No offense to Turtle Mountain, but PLEASE DO NOT ADD this chocolate yogurt to your oats!!! It was WAY too tart for what I was expecting (Hello!! it’s supposed to be chocolate!!!), and just didn’t go with the theme of the sweet, creamy oatmeal I made.

vanilla oats ingredients

Raw Ingredients that went into the Stovetop Steel-Bran Oats:

  • 3/4 cups Steel-cut Oats
  • 1/4 cup Irish Oatbran (and then some)
  • 1/2 pack Soy Protein Powder (360 WF brand)
  • 1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla, 2 tsp cinnamon

Simply cook over a stove on low (after bringing mixture to a boil) for about 30 minutes at night. Cool. Pack for work in the AM!

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Asparagus Makes your Pee Smell Funny

Just thought I’d put it out there. I definitely OD’s on asparagus for the past two days (Think: 2 lbs bag from coscto. Nothing left!)

complete chicken asparagus lunch

The lunch consisted of: An Orange, a pack of pretzel goldfish (yum yum!!!), and my home-microwaved meal!

close up of chicken asparagus rice lunch

All I did was microwave-steam my asparagus and 5oz chicken breast, then topped it with ViVi’s spicy chipotle BBQ sauce.

OMG TO DIE FOR sauce!!!! I wish I put more!!

The Wild Rice was from Lundberg “Heat & Eat Organic Brown Rice Bowls” line. It made my life SO EASY and it was SO nutty and chewy at the same time. Delicious!!!

Pure apple bar

Somehow lunch wasn’t quite enough and I ate this Pure Apple Cinnamon Bar!

Verdict? 7/10. I still love the blueberry more (thought i’m a die hard cinnamon fan)! The strange apple rubbery texture just didn’t complement the sweet and moist date-bar base. Plus I was expecting more crunch from the nuts and didn’t get as much as I did from all the other flavors.

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Before my swim, I opened up a bag of Sotos Sea Salt Chips. Mistake again.

This is by far my LEAST favorite Medora Snacks Product. First of all, it was definitely under-seasoned, and maybe because of that, the chips had this really bitter aftertaste. Maybe if you eat it with salsa, you can hide the lack of tastiness.

sotos sea salt chips

Verdict: 3/10. Sorry for the negativity guys, but go for the cheddar pogos if you want a yummy WOWZER.

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IT’S FINALLY WARM ENOUGH TO SWIM!!!

Even though  I lap-swim indoors, I still like it to be warm outside when I jump into a chilly pool.

Swimming is SUCH an underrated exercise. I swam in high school but never got serious. Here are 3 unconventional reasons why you should swim too!

1. The hot tub & hot shower after!

2.  NO sweaty (smelly) man beside you on a machine that grunts so loud you can’t hear your own music!

3. It’s You + Your breathing + and Rhythm. Soothing and therapeutic!!

No cranky people around you. No negative thoughts in your head. Just feeling the strength of your body.

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Arnold’s Skinny Freckled Buns

arnolds bread

Rena from Arnold’s has kindly sent me some new sandwich breads to try before they launch a promotion! Here’s some information about Arnold Best in Class Sandwich Challenge for readers with KIDS:

Until May 4th, kids living in the designated contest area (noted in the rules below) can enter the Arnold Best in Class Sandwich Challenge, a contest to make a creative and well-balanced sandwich recipe using Arnold 100% Natural Soft Breads. Four winners from separate age groups will receive a $5,000 donation to their school and a $1,500 savings bond. Recipes should be submitted at www.ArnoldSandwichChallenge.com.”

bbq tofu wich

I decided to build a BBQ Tofu Sandwich with my “freckled thins” as I like to call ’em. Sandwich thins don’t sound as tasty!

Inside my sandwich is 1/3 block of tofu topped with BBQ sauce & baked, 1 cups of microwaved spinach, and 2 fat slices of tomato.

Because I over toasted the freckle thins, they were SO CRUNCHY it was like a cracker. Do you toast your sandwich thins?

On the side, I had garlic spinach, and 2x Dr. Kracker sunflower cheddar cracker, which is SO TASTY, I highly recommend it. (I went back for a seconds!!)

japanese peas and bean snack

Last but not least, some post-dinner Japanese mixed nuts!!

These are SO delicious I used to eat them all the time in Hong Kong. If you’ve ever had Wasabi peas, the other nuts in there are JUST LIKE THAT. There are soy nuts and peanuts, coated in some kind of cracker…mm mmm Good!

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OK, now TIME FOR THE GIVEAWAY!!!

Big S Farms Gourmet Sauces & Salsa

1 Grand Prize Winner (6 bottles)

& 2 Runner-Ups (3 bottles each!)

Big s farms salsa

Big s farm sauces

For the Grand Prize – Please Post a simple recipe for how you would use ANY Big S Farms sauces (include the name of the sauce). The most CREATIVE & delicious-sounding recipe wins!!! If you have a blog, you must link back OR add luckytastebuds to your blogroll in order to be eligible!

For the 2x Runner Ups – Simply suggest WHAT you would eat with the salsa or sauces! If you have a blog, please  link back or add luckytastebuds to your blogroll to be eligible! Winners will be chosen randomly

GOOD LUCK!!!!

Contest ends Thursday April 30th at 12pm Central Time!