WIAW #24: An Unhealthy Week

Hi loves! It's another week of everybody's favorite, WIAW! 

This week was a bit of an unhealthy week for me. And also a lack of exercise week. 

I went home this weekend, where I had some baking I needed to do. I had food I needed to use before it spoiled, extra cookies, I wasn't sure what to do with, Daring Baker's recipes to make, and more. So, of course, there were a lot of sweets around. 

With leftover cookies, I made a gingersnap crust for my Blueberry Key Lime Pie (recipe posted eventually!). For DB, I made Dutch Crunch Brown Rice Bread. I also made apple caramel cake (a box mix from Duncan Hines), and some other things I can't really remember. 

Then, I went to see The Hunger Games with my parents. Fabulous movie. Right next door there is pizza and frozen yogurt, so....that's what we had for dinner and dessert! A mixed mushroom pizza with roasted garlic cloves and red peppers & greek salad with roasted red pepper dressing from Dewey's Pizza, and a mix of flavors from Orange Leaf fro-yo! It was de-lish. 

As you'll see from the picture, I had Stonyfield's key lime yogurt. I had high expectations, and this yogurt missed the mark completely. I only ate half because the lime flavor was not as strong as it should have been. Still looking for that perfect key lime yogurt! Any suggestions? 

Also pictured: Love Grown granola with kiwi and blueberries, GNU Blueberry Cobbler Bar, Cookiehead's sprouted grain mini brownies (my new favorite brownie - review coming soon!) & cranberry orange mini muffins. 

I'm also kicking myself in the butt this week about my workout routine. I didn't run on Friday because I went home for the weekend around 10:30AM, which is when I usually run. I didn't get a chance to run over the weekend, either. Then Monday rolls around, and I'm up until 4AM the night before working on a class presentation, so I take a nap instead of running. 

All in all, a rough week for me. Not to mention the homework load I have approaching me. Just staying on top of it all is a bit daunting. Hopefully, I'll be back on track tomorrow - although behind in my schedule. Yet again. Oh well. My first 5k is not scheduled until April 28, so I should be okay. I do notice that whenever I miss a week of exercising, I'm a lot more self-conscious about my weight. Even though I haven't been losing weight from running, and in fact may have gained a couple pounds from eating more than normal, I feel fine as long as I workout. But since I've been doing literally nothing - I feel more self-conscious, which really stinks! Ah, well. I just need to get comfortable with my weight again. The funny thing is, a few years ago when I weighed my heaviest, my self-esteem was much higher and I cared a lot less about how I looked. Weird how that works out, isn't it? 

Okay, guys - I want to encourage to everyone to please sign up to participate in my new program - The Recipe Project! I am really excited about it and am trying to get together some participants for this month! Please click here to learn more about it! I would really appreciate it!

Finally, I once again apologize for my lack of blogging recently. I'm going to try to get back to blogging more frequently - make sure to keep checkin' back, because I have a lot of giveaways coming up soon from some great companies!

One more week of school, and then it's Easter break! I'm so excited for Easter! YAY!!!

Much love, 

Product Review: Whole Soy & Co. Yogurts & a GIVEAWAY!

What's your favorite sweet treat? 

I've always loved key lime. Key lime anything. Key lime cheesecake, key lime cookies, key lime cupcakes, key lime gum (yes, it exists!). The list goes on and on.

When I heard that Whole Soy & Co. released 2 new flavors of yogurt, I was excited, but when I heard one of those flavors was key lime... I was PUMPED. How good would it be? I had very high expectations.

When Whole Soy & Co. agreed to send me some flavors to try for a review, I couldn't be happier. I would get to try the new key lime flavor! Whole Soy & Co. also sent me three other flavors to try: blueberry, vanilla, and their new unsweetened plain.

First up, blueberry. 

This was pretty good. You could taste the blueberry flavor, but it did have a slight soy aftertaste. It was creamy, smooth, and had real blueberry pieces throughout the yogurt! Plus, it had a pretty light purple color. Overall, a pretty good choice for your morning yogurt. 

Next up, vanilla. 

This flavor was delicious. No soy after taste that I could recognize and a very strong vanilla flavor. I poured half the container over some freshly sliced strawberries and had a delicious afternoon snack. I think this would be very tasty on top of other fresh fruit or used in baking. Again, the yogurt was creamy and smooth. 

Third was the new unsweetened plain.

I was a little skeptical of how this would be before I tried it, but I was really surprised by just how much I enjoyed this. It was very tangy, and even though it was unsweetened and "plain," the yogurt did not lack flavor. It tasted similar to a runny sour cream with a subtle soy aftertaste. This would be great in baking (Did you see the recipe I posted for Carrot Raisin Sandwich Bread? I used this in the recipe!)

EDIT// I recently tried Whole Soy & Co's original Plain... and you know what? The Unsweetened Plain is much better! If you are debating between the two, I recommend getting the Unsweetened Plain! 

Finally... key lime. 

This was by FAR my favorite flavor. It met all of my expectations and even surpassed them. It tasted just like a key lime pie and had no soy aftertaste that I noticed. It was sweet, creamy, limey, and delicious. I don't enjoy when the key lime is subtle, and this yogurt DEFINITELY brought the punch with its strong lime flavor. Great job, Whole Soy & Co. You won me over with your key lime yogurt! I'm a fan! 

The Daisy Rating

4.5/5 Daisies

Now that you've heard me rave about their products, Whole Soy & Co. was kind enough to send me a bunch of coupons for free yogurt to offer to all of my lovely readers! So, you know what that means... it's time for a GIVEAWAY!!!

I will be giving away coupons for FREE Whole Soy & Co. yogurts to THREE LUCKY READERS! Each reader will receive: 

-2 coupons for a FREE 6oz. container of yogurt in any flavor

-1 coupon for a FREE 24oz. container of yogurt in any flavor 

-2 coupons for SAVE 25 CENTS on any 6oz. container of yogurt in any flavor

-1 coupon for SAVE $1.00 on any 24oz. container of yogurt in any flavor

That's a lot of free and discounted yogurt, right?! I thought so! Here's how to enter! 

1. (mandatory) Head on over to Whole Soy & Co.'s website and tell me what flavor of yogurt you would most want to try if you won! 

Extra entries can be earned by doing the following things and leaving a separate comment for each entry: 

2. Follow Whole Soy and Passing Daisies on Twitter

3. Like Whole Soy and Passing Daisies on Facebook 

4. Add Passing Daisies to your Google Reader or follow me on Blogger

5. Tweet the following: "@cityxlights13 I entered to win FREE @WholeSoy #organic and #vegan yogurts on Passing Daisies...you should enter too! http://bit.ly/nQkq1N"

Contest ends on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15,at MIDNIGHT (EST) and I will announce the winners on WEDNESDAY,  NOVEMBER 16. Get entering and convince all your friends to enter as well! 

Also, Whole Soy recently participated in the second annual Non-GMO Month (for October 2011) and posted some tips on why non-GMO is important and encourages you to learn all about the issue. Check out the post here. 

If your local retailer does not carry a certain flavor you wish to purchase, you can visit this link to find out how to request flavors at your retailer! Awesome! Go request the new key lime flavor! 

Wait are you waiting for? Get entering! 

Much love, 

Key Lime Cupcakes

I find it to be very delicious. However, I realize the lime curd has a lot of cornstarch... (and honestly, it was still a little on the runny side for me.. I'd add a bit more) but it tastes good! I've never used agar agar, but you have and you think it would work better for this, try it and let me know how it goes please!

Cupcake batter
1/2 c. Earth Balance butter
3/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. flour
3 Ener-G Egg Replacers (equiv. of 3 eggs - in powder form)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 c. milk substitute
Zest and juice of 1 large lime
1/4 t. sea salt

Directions:
Beat Earthy B and sugar until creamy. Then add all dry ingredients, lime juice/zest and milk - combine until smooth. Scoop into cupcake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 23-25 minutes. Let cool. (This should make 12 cupcakes) After cool, fill the center of each cupcake with lime curd by using a knife to cut a hole in the middle that does NOT go through to the bottom. After it's filled, put the cut out piece back on top. Ice with lime icing. Enjoy!

Lime Curd
1/4 c. cornstarch, plus extra to make thicker (use your judgement)
1/3 c. lime juice
1 T. lime zest
3/4 c. sugar
4 T. Earthy B
3 T. milk substitute

Directions:
In a small pan, combine sugar, lime juice and zest, milk substitute and Earthy B. Cook until sugar is dissolved, then add cornstarch and cook until thickened. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Lime Icing:
1/2 c. Earthy B
3 c. powdered sugar
1 t. lime zest
1 T. lime juice

Directions:
In a bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugar, lime juice, and lime zest and stir until combined.