Artisana Raw Organic Nut Butters

A long way back I got a lovely package in the mail chock full of deliciously tasty Artisana raw & organic nut and coconut butters. Holy yum you might say, and all fo free! Just so I could share the good news with y'all :)

Since it's been a while, I will spare you all the deets. The kind people at Artisana sent me Walnut Butter, Tahini, Almond Butter, Macadamia Nut Butter, Coconut Butter, Coconut Oil, and some Cacao Bliss.

Here is the rundown folks: You can't really mess up nuts ground into butter. But you CAN make it better. The cacao bliss was by far my favorite nut butter, a smooth blend of chocolatey goodness. (I hear they won some award for this one too.) Plus I love that they are unheated (thus raw) because it just makes me feel better about eating it.

But the real find was the coconut butter...


Not just coconut oil. But coconut butter. The meat of the coconut plus the oil all ground together into one creamy, delicious, sweet concoction. Get thee to the web and order some of this!

I ate it straight out of the jar like I would PB. I also added it to sweet potatoes (baked and mashed), smoothies, oatmeal, toast, fish, you name it, I added it.

So here's the thing. If you would love some organic, raw nut butters and/or coconut products, I would definitely check out Artisana. Not only did everything taste delish, but the people there were so polite and happy to send me samples! So do yourself a favor and order some coconut butter and cacao bliss...you can thank me later for the fiesta in your mouth.

(Here is a list of online retailers!)

Generosity :)

Yesterday I posted my fund raising page for my Team in Training fund raising campaign for the Marine Corps Marathon. Since then, I have received $437 in donations! That is just crazy to me, I am so excited for how much I can potentially raise for this organization in the next five months!

So I was thinking about interesting things that I could do to raise money, and after browsing through TNT's tips and talking to some co-workers, here are some ideas:

• Partner with local restaurants to have a TNT night where a percentage of the profits goes towards my campaign (usually about 10%)
• Hold a "dessert-a-thon" where I invite a ton of people over for all you can eat desserts in exchange for a "cover charge" (I would like to do this in multiple locations, like once at my moms house with her friends and maybe once here)
• Seek company sponsorships, both locally and with companies I have connections with outside of Charleston
• Hook up with local sports teams to see how I could either get a portion of the night's profits, or work a booth to raise money

I'm sure there are tons more, but these are the first few that piqued my interest. Y'all let me know if you can think of any more!

Also I have been greatly surprised by those who have donated so far whom I only know through Twitter or the blog! How crazy is that?? Oh, the power of the internet! (And of course, a big THANK YOU to those of you who have donated! You know who you are :)

***
As far as training goes, I officially have 30 weeks until my next marathon. Wayyy more time than I had to train for my first, plus since I already have one under my belt I should be set. Our Team in Training kick-off meeting is next Tuesday, but unfortunately, I will be out of town for business so I will have to miss it! I'm kind of mad about that, but I think that our first group run should be next Sunday...so that's exciting!

I have a meeting tonight so I can't run, plus it's pretty bad weather here today, so I'm going to do some yoga at home. I have a TON of studying to do before I go out of town next week so I will have my nose in a book basically from now until Monday morning. Blah.

***
For some color, I thought I would post today about our three-year anniversary dinner at S.N.O.B. here in Charleston a few weeks back.

S.N.O.B. stands for "Slightly North of Broad" because the restaurant is right above the famed Broad Street in historic downtown Charleston. I had heard nothing but good things about this place, so I was pumped to try it out! Matt was too, and was in a pretty good mood once we got there :)

We had scoped out the menu online before we went, so we knew we wanted to try the cheese plate as an appetizer. Check this baby out!! Three different types of cheese (changed daily), plus strawberries, grapes, pineapple, walnuts, almonds, dried fruits and toasted bread. YUM!

When I asked Matt if I could take a picture of this, he said, "Yes. If you hurry." Gotta love a hungry man :) (Check out the top of the pic, he's ready, knife in hand!) The cheeses were fresh and creamy and oh so good. They also brought us out some white bread and cornbread squares. What more could a girl want?

This girl wanted fresh veggies, so I decided to order the Vegetable Plate when our server told me it had 12 different local veggies!

Oh man, this did NOT disappoint. Let me see if I can remember everything on this gigantic plate of food. Summer squash, okra, eggplant, zucchini, roasted tomato, green beans, asparagus, broccoli, scalloped potatoes, tofu, some sort of weirdo mushrooms, white corn, and even some southern grits with a sweet chutney. That's actually 13!

After eating the cheese plate, the bread they brought out, and tackling this, I had about 1/2 of it leftover to take home. (Matt's stuffed flounder came with sweet potato mash and mushrooms, which he promptly gave to me...needless to say I had a lot of food!)

So I transformed it into my lunch the next day.

All I added was some whole grains with a little leftover Kashi Pilaf and tomatoes. (I find that pilaf to be pretty bland on its own even after cooking in low sodium chicken broth, so I add a can of no salt added diced tomatoes, juice and all.)

What I loved most about this entree, was that it was cooked with minimal oils and sauces, and everything was cooked differently. Some were steamed, some baked, some grilled. It was delicious for sure! If you're ever in Charleston (you better call me up) I would definitely recommend S.N.O.B.

Ok guys, I've got to finish up a few things and then I am off to my Habitat for Humanity meeting! Don't forget...if you want some good karma, donate a lil bit to my Leukemia and Lymphoma fundraising campaign!

Barney Butter Review + Simple Life Update

Woo hoo! It's Friday!! Sorry I have been kind of lacking in posts this week, but I haven't been running so I haven't really been in the mood to post about my "not running." It's not that I'm still sore from the marathon (I think I would have been fine running on Tuesday) I've just been kind of lazy! The days that I could have run, I've been busy with meetings or going out to dinner for our 3 year anniversary. (Yeah, yeah I could run in the mornings. I know, I'm working on this, ok?)

Also, thank you guys for all of the well wishes for our three years, we had a great dinner downtown...more to come on that later :)

I actually have a ton of non-running things to post about, and I am especially excited about some product/food reviews coming up!

I'm going to start off my round of reviews with the Barney Butter samples that I got in the mail last week. I know that a lot of you (if you read food/running blogs) already know about Barney Butter and may already have your opinions, but until last week, I had not tried this popular all-natural, peanut-free almond butter that has swept the blog world.


Barney Butter was created by Jennifer Barney who started making this on her own, one jar at a time at her home in California. She wanted a nut butter that would be more nutritious for her kids than peanut butter, and was unsatisfied with the other almond butters on the market. Eventually she gained such notoriety in her home town that her friends were begging her to start selling the product. So in 2006 she launched her business and it's been all good since then!

What makes Barney Butter so unique? Jennifer says:

Taste, texture and locally produced as well as the convenience of no-stir. No oil to stir back in and no need to refrigerate makes it easy to spread and keep in your cupboard (or office desk). Barney Butter is made exclusively from roasted California almonds harvested from nearby orchards. It has an amazing fresh roasted flavor you don't get from other almond butters.

Barney Butter ingredients: Almonds, Evaporated Cane Juice, Palm Fruit Oil, Sea Salt.

What's great about Barney Butter:

Barney Butter is Peanut Free and made in an Almond Only Facility! Our new dedicated facility guarantees that Barney Butter is truly free of peanut particles and contaminants. Perfect for peanut free environments like schools and airplanes!

Barney Butter is part of a high protein diet and may actually lower cholesterol. (The American Heart Association recommends eating one ounce of almonds (that’s just one serving of Barney Butter) a day to reduce coronary heart disease.)

100% Natural
No Trans Fats
No Hydrogenated Oils
Less Saturated Fat than Peanut Butter
High in Magnesium and Vitamin E

Per serving you get:
More protein than an egg
As much calcium as 1/4 cup of milk
14% daily fiber
8% daily iron

My opinion:

Although I only sampled the creamy Barney Butter (I am more of a chunky nut butter fan) I wasn't head-over-heels for the taste of it. I personally don't like nut butters with oils and sugars added to them, so I was skeptical about this from the get go. It was a bit too creamy and artificial tasting for me and I don't think I would buy a jar of it for $7.99. I did like the roasted almond taste though, and may have an entirely different opinion if I had tried the chunky version.

I tried it first on 1/2 a bagel and then I had the other sample yesterday with a cut up apple.


Although it wasn't my fave, if you like Jif style peanut butters, then this would be perfect for you! I do think that this would be great for picky kids who love creamy Jif PB & J sandwiches, I don't think they would know the difference! Plus you would feel good knowing you were giving your kids an all-natural and wholesome product.

If you want to try it out for yourself, you can see if Barney Butter is available in your state here or you can order online through their website. I would love to hear what you guys think about it!

***
I have some other cool reviews coming up (including my Phillips in-ear headphones that I wore in my marathon) so stay tuned!

I am also still trying to figure out what races are next on my plate. I went to the Team in Training information meeting last night and got some great info about the program. I am still weighing my options so I will be back with more soon on that topic!

The Simple Life Challenge has been going well! I have been making all of my meals at home, only went out to dinner once (which couldn't be avoided, definitely not going to cook on our three year anniversary!), have been washing out PB jars and plastic storage & sandwich bags in order to be more green, and even walked to my meeting last night vs. driving!

We are planning on buying some locks for our bikes this weekend so we can start riding them to the store/farmer's market, etc. I'm also going to be starting my balcony herb garden this weekend and may have a few more green ideas up my sleeves to bump up my points...

Today is our first day to turn in our points, so I'll let you know how I came out this week later on. Hope everyone has a fabulous Friday and is fully rested if you raced last weekend!

This week's tempo run + soup review

Before I get into last night's run, I wanted to "review" the soup I had for lunch yesterday. A few weeks ago I was browsing the soup aisle and noticed that this brand was on sale. It usually takes me forever to pick out soups because I am analyzing the sodium content vs. the caloric content vs. if there are any natural ingredients at all.

Health Valley soups are not only Organic, but they also have a line that is "No Salt Added." This is completely healthier than "Lower Sodium" as there are hardly any mg of salt in the former. I have looked at many "healthy" soups that may be low in calories, but are loaded with salt. I try to avoid these, so it's been very hard for me to keep soups stocked in my cabinets. Previously I have tried Health Valley's Potato Leek No Salt Added soup and it was fantastic! So I picked up some Minestrone at Whole Foods the other day and tried it for lunch yesterday.

It was very good! Although I did add some salt to it, at least I can control how much salt there actually is in the soup! (At work we have some Morton's Light Salt, which is half the sodium of table salt! Who knew?) So I enjoyed this version, and will definitely continue buying this brand. It is the ONLY brand I have found that has No Salt Added....please comment if you know of any other brands that offer this.

I also did pack a spinach salad with feta, green olives and almonds that I enjoyed with my soup. I had some of that Wishbone Spritzer dressing in Caesar that I used. That stuff is great! I usually use that at work, while at home I always go with olive oil and either apple cider vinegar or balsamic, depending on the salad. Now onto the running!

I set out last night for my tempo run, not really wanting to run, and not really feeling all that great. But I am leaving to go out of town Thursday evening so I knew I couldn't skimp on my Tuesday and Wednesday runs.

It was scheduled to be 2 mi marathon goal pace (which I have determined for this marathon is going to be between 10:00 and 10:30, if I do better than that, well hell yeah!) then 2x2 miles Tempo and then 3 more miles MGP.

I was going to make two loops around the Peninsula, one loop is about 4.5, but only made it around once with some walking at the end...Here are the sad split times:

1	00:10:54	1.00 mi	10:54 min/mi	--	--	111 C
2	00:10:12	1.00 mi	10:12 min/mi	--	--	114 C
3	00:09:10	1.00 mi	09:10 min/mi	--	--	112 C
4	00:10:18	1.00 mi	10:18 min/mi	--	--	114 C
5	00:01:11	0.12 mi	09:46 min/mi	--	--	12 C

Total Time: 00:41:46

Distance: 4.12 mi

Elevation Gain/Loss: 580 ft / 645 ft

Calories: 463 C
Avg Pace: 10:08 min/mi

Max Pace: 04:10 min/mi

The entire run felt like I was running uphill, even though it was flat. My legs were tight and my right arch has been bothering me with my new shoes...I might have to go back to the 'ole Asics. But at least I managed something, see my "sprint" during mile 3?? That was the 'Tempo" portion of last evening's run, please hold your applause.

Tonight I will be running over the bridge for a total of an 80 minute run. Then out of town tomorrow afternoon!