A few weeks ago I reviewed Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil and have been cooking with it and using it on my skin ever since! Tropical Traditions recently offered to send me another product to try out and giveaway! I chose the Organic Coconut Peanut Butter.

About (source):

Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Peanut Butter is made from organic peanuts and organic coconut. Two ingredients: nothing else! No fillers, no binders, no sweeteners, and no preservatives. The peanuts are 100% organic Valencia peanuts grown organically by family farmers in New Mexico and Texas. Grown in the dry climate of the southwestern United States, these peanuts are certified organic and free from aflatoxins. The dried coconut is certified organic coconut meat from the Philippines from coconuts that are grown with no fertilizers or pesticides. This premium dried coconut contains no additives or preservatives, and is not sweetened. Unlike most dried coconut on the market, our dried coconut products are nottreated with sulfites to keep them white. Together, these premium organic roasted peanuts and the premium organic dried coconut are ground together to make a delicious and nutritious spread!

I love that this peanut butter only contains 2 ingredients (organic peanut and organic coconut). It only contains 32 calories per teaspoon!

I’ve used this peanut butter in my oatmeal and to make banana sandwiches.

I am not usually a huge fan of coconut but I really enjoyed this. It has a very creamy texture and a slightly sweet taste. If I knew how to bake, I would use it to make peanut buttter coconut cookies or brownies! The website also has recipes for Coconut Peanut Butter Meltaways, Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Coconut Soup, Inside Out Coconut Peanut Butter Cups, and more!

Coconut Peanut Butter Meltaways

(Prepared by Sarah Shilhavy, Photos by Jeremiah Shilhavy)

 Giveaway!

Want to win your own jar of Tropical Traditions Coconut Peanut Butter? Here’s how:

1) Leave me a comment telling me how you would use the peanut butter.

2) Subscribe to the Tropical Traditions Email Sales Newsletter

3) Tweet this giveaway. “Win @troptraditions Coconut Peanut Butter from @MissyMaintains! Enter here: http://bit.ly/9GyAdS”

I will choose a winner this Friday, August 27th. Good Luck!

*This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents only.
* Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.
*Note for Canadian bloggers: Tropical Traditions is not responsible for customs or duties that Canada may charge if you decide to participate in this Tropical Traditions sponsored blog giveaway.

Related posts:

1. Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil Giveaway!
2. Coconut Peanut Butter Winner and Outback Dinner!
3. O.N.E Active Coconut Water Giveaway: 3 Winners!

Hello! I have a few exciting things to talk about today.

1) Core Fusion!

Exhale Spa is currently on sale at Rue La La! That means Core Fusion classes are much cheaper than usual! You guys all know that I’ve been waiting for this for months since I can’t afford a normal membership. I am very excited to start going again! I was in some major Core Fusion withdrawal!  The sale goes on for 2 more days if you are interested! I plan on going a ton in August since I am starting a new challenge in July…

2) New intenSati Summer Warrior Challenge!

You may remember my January intenSati Challenge!I was required to take 3 intenSati classes per week. I also got a free month pass to Equinox gym! I loved the class and was sad when it was over! As soon as I heard about the July challenge, I applied and got accepted a few days later! This one is going to be a little more intense than the last one! I have to go to 4 intenSati classes per week and 2 of them have to be morning classes! The morning classes are at 6:30 am which means I will have to wake up at 5:00 in the morning! Luckily Mari also got accepted so she will be responsible for making sure I get my butt out of bed! Thank you Mari, lol. I get a month pass to Equinox again so I put my NYSC membership on hold for now. I can’t wait for all of the amazing classes at Equinox. I have to admit that I am extra excited for their fancy showers again! My first class is this Friday morning!

3) New Contest from Dove!

Dove gofresh just got better with a boost of NutriumMoisture™.  To celebrate, Dove has launched its “Better Than Ever Contest.”  The contest asks you to share what in your life is better than ever and submit a “before” photo and a “now” photo in one of the categories below, and then explain why your life is better than ever!

Categories:

Play: Have you gone from bunking up in hostels to staying in quality hotels? Have your vacations gone from spring break to lifetime adventures with family and friends? Tell us how you’ve enhanced your passions.

Love: Did you exchange a burn-out boyfriend for a loving man? College parties for dinner parties? Show us how your relationships have evolved.

Live: You used to microwave mac n’ cheese but now you cook meals made from scratch. You used to share an apartment but now you’re decorating your own pad. Show us how your living has gone from surviving to stylin’.

Style: Have you upgraded your hairstyle? Traded trucker hats for ballet flats? Show us how you’ve come into your own when it comes to style.
 
One Grand Prize winner will receive a spa and adventure getawayfor two to Sedona, Arizona, plus $1,000 to use towards making your or someone else’s life better (Think: charitable contributions, gifts, or anything that makes the world a better place!). Runner-Up prizes such as a Nintendo Wii™, Sony® BRAVIA® Theatre System, gift cards to Home Depot, Crate & Barrel and Sephora will also be given to four winners, one from each of the categories Love, Live, Play, and Style.

I thought you guys might be interested in this one! I would love a spa and adventure getaway!!! Good luck to those who enter!

4) Yesterday’s Eats!

I am still doing great with last week’s goals by making breakfast, lunch, and dinner at home. I even went to bed at 10:30 Sunday and Monday night! I am still tired every morning but feel a little better! Yesterday for breakfast I made PB & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams and a banana on a Nature’s Pride whole wheat bun.

Heaven! The buns are so big and fluffy! This breakfast kept me full for 4 hours which was nice too!

For lunch I made a wrap using my roasted veggies from Sunday night! I added Sabra Caramelized Onion hummus.

I packed some kale chips on the side using my cool EasyLunchBox! Great lunch!

I went to the gym after work and did 45 minutes on the elliptical. I also did 3 sets of biceps, shoulders, and back using a body bar. Oh, and I did a plank and some push ups. I always get proud of myself when I do this stuff on my own and not in a class!

I had a few roasted veggies left to use for dinner so I knew I was going to make a big salad. I found some salmon cakes in my freezer to top my salad with.

I made 5 salmon bites and added avocado, veggies, and hummus.

Delicious! I was not completely satisfied so I had a huge bowl of grapes for dessert! I added some chocolate brownie crumbles and whipped cream on top. That did the trick!

Well I am off. Gotta go buy my Core Fusion classes! Wahoo!

1) Are you taking on any new challenges in July?
2) What is your favorite “healthy” dessert?

Related posts:

1. Core Fusion Challenge: The Results
2. The Stay on CORE-Se Challenge
3. Core Fusion and Food Challenge Update

Morning! It is time for a little food recap since I haven’t done one yet this week! I have a few reviews to do as well. Let’s start with my breakfasts for the week!

Breakfast!

A few days ago I received a cool water bottle and bag of Pomegranate Power from Navitas Naturals.

About the Pomegranate Power:

I also added some Oikos and FitNutz Peanut Butter. This was a great combination. The pomegranate added a nice tangy, fruity flavor to the oats. I am using my water bottle at the moment too!

Yesterday I had some extra time to get to work after Core Fusion Yoga so I decided to stop at this new deli and get an egg sandwich.

I got egg whites, spinach, and feta on whole wheat bread. Really good! They were pretty generous with their eggs! I will be stopping there more often.

Today I decided to try adding cottage cheese to my oats (hi Julie!) Julie and I tweeted about how I must try it with lots and lots of cinnamon and Stevia for my first time!

I tried cottage cheese once last year and wasn’t crazy about it but now I am giving it another shot. It always looks so delicious on the blogs! I actually really enjoyed it in my oats today! It made them nice and fluffy. I will be trying it more ways this week!

Lunch!

Dori told me that she’s been bringing hummus and frozen veggie wraps lately so I decided to try one out for myself! I actually haven’t bought frozen veggies since I got my steamer but they really are much easier to make. They don’t taste as good but are handy for when I don’t have 10 minutes to sit there and steam a bunch of veggies.

I added Sabra hummus, sprouts, and an asparagus, squash, mushroom, cauliflower mix to an Ezekiel wrap.

I also had some Mary’s Gone Twigs on the side. I loved the wrap! I actually brought the same lunch every single day this week Nice change to my turkey sandwiches.

Dinner!

Dinner on Monday did not occur till 10:00 at night since I was at Core Fusion Cardio all late! I wanted something fast and found this in my cabinet!

All I had to do was stick the packet in the microwave for 2 minutes. I also made some edamame and salad.

I had about half the packet of rice and a lot of edamame (more than above). The rice was just okay. It was kind of mushy. There was a second option of cooking it with water which I think I would do next time to make it more moist. The edamame was great of course! I just boiled it and added a little salt.

Last night I got home from work and my heat was broken. It was 66 degrees in my apartment so I knew what I was having for dinner!

The nutritional stats are a lot better than some other soups I’ve tried in the past.

Nutritional Facts
Serving Size: 1 cup
Servings Per Container: 2
Serving Weight: 245 g
Calories: 100 Calories from Fat:20
% Daily Value
Total Fat: 2.5g		4%
	Saturated Fat: 0g	0%
	Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg		0%
Sodium: 290mg		12%
Carbohydrates: 20g		7%
	Fiber: 2g	6%
	Sugars: 4g
Protein: 2g		%
Organic: 100%
Vitamin A: 50% • Vitamin C: 10%
Calcium: 4% • Iron: 6%

I had the whole can so it was 200 calories and 580 mg of sodium. Most soups are over 1000 mg of sodium for the whole can so I was happy with this. I added some frozen vegetables to make it more interesting.

It was delicious! It was very smooth and creamy and did not taste salty at all. I munched on some Dr. Kracker Apple Crisps as well. Definitely my favorite flavor.

That’s it for food! I have a fun giveaway starting tomorrow so stay tuned! Be sure to check out Mari’s popchips giveaway! I will leave you with a few questions:

1) What is your favorite way to prepare veggies (steamed, roasted, frozen in the microwave??)

2) What is your favorite way to eat cottage cheese?

Related posts:

1. Soup Craze!
2. Ow!
3. Kale Salads and Yogurt Combos!

Hope everyone is having a nice Saturday! I just got back from a little bloggy meetup! More on that later

Last night I had a lazy dinner because I was so exhausted from waking up at 5:30! I picked up some Subway and watched the Olympics for the whole night.

I got a 6 inch whole wheat with turkey, ham, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, sweet peppers, and mustard. I have chocolate Food Should Taste Good chips on the side. Oh..can’t forget that Bud Light Lime! Nice relaxing Friday night!

This morning I woke up at 9:00 for Core Fusion. I was starving when I woke up so I had a little pre-workout snack.

I had a spelt cake with peanut butter and jelly. I love the spelt cakes! They are like rice cakes but with only 3 ingredients and just 20 calories for one!

This little snack (plus a coffee) did the trick!

I met Dori at the Central Park location for class. Dori had her stuff in a locker and I was about to put mine in there too since there were no other lockers open. It was a madhouse today! This woman came up to her and asked for the locker. Clearly we were using it. She looked pissed and walked away. Saturdays always seem to be psycho day at Exhale. Dori and I made sure to reserve a spot on the bar since some lady stole Dori’s spot last week!

The class was really good! The teacher was so nice and played great music. I felt like I could actually handle abs today which never happens.

After class, I headed into Chelsea to meet Marina and Maggie at a vegetarian restaurant called Blossom! I met them both before but they never met each other so we decided to have brunch together. Blossom was very cute inside and was surprisingly not busy at all. There were so many delicious looking options on the menu. All 3 of us ended up going with the same thing since we saw someone else eating it.

We got the Tofu Scramble: Fresh tofu sautéed with onion, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, and soy sausage. Served with toast and salad.

This was delicious! It tasted just like eggs! I really want to learn how to make tofu like this. I loved the soy sausage chunks too! Yum. Maggie and Marina headed off to Whole Foods but I decided to go home since I knew I’d be tempted to buy everything in the store!

I got home and had a little snack since I was still kind of hungry from such an intense workout this morning. I had Brown Cow Vanilla yogurt with grapes.

It did the trick! I am off to go shower because I am probably going to an opera tonight! My friend from work is actually the star in a show called Bluebeard’s Castle and I’ve been dying to hear her sing. Should be fun.

What are you doing tonight?

Have a good one!

Related posts:

1. Blossom Vegan Dinner and Swanson Winner!
2. Nutrition School and Blossom Dinner!
3. Macaroni Grill Winner, Blogger Core Fusion Class, Gobo Dinner!

Hey everyone! Ready for the weekend? I definitely am! The week went by kind of fast but I am ready for a few days to sleep in! I am going to show you some food highlights from the past two days and then move on to some more gym classes I tried!

Breakfast Wednesday and Thursday was a bowl of Natures Path Hemp Plus oats with a banana, skim milk, peanut butter, and Navitas Naturals goji berries!

Very fun bowl of oats!

Check out what was placed on my desk yesterday!

I had a few bites and it was the best thing ever so I had a few more…hmm probably most of it!!  Oops! I made sure to get in a good workout afterwards to balance it out!

I went to Cardio Kickboxing first since inTensati did not start till 7:30. I hate to say this again but I really did not like the class! It was not nearly as good of a workout as the kickboxing class I usually take at NYSC. We did tons of weird punches and barely moved around the room. Maybe I am just favoring my other class since I am slightly in love with the teacher. A class is always better when there is someone nice to look at! Lol. No seriously, in my usual class we are jumping up and down the whole time, doing squats, mountain climbers, everything! During this class we pretty much just stood in one spot while doing kicks and punches. Boring! I only burned 180 calories compared to the 350 or 400 I burn in my usual kickboxing class. Oh well…inTensati made up for it! It was an amazing workout as usual!

I went home and tried to keep dinner light too. I felt gross from that cake. It was worth but I really should learn how to have a few bites and feel satisfied. I guess I did not learn too much from Bethenny!  Dinner was a Morningstar Farms veggie burger with steamed broccoli, mushrooms, brussels sprouts and squash. My roommate made Korean sweet potatoes so I had a half of one. They are even better than regular sweet potatoes!

I made 2 servings of everything and brought the same thing for lunch today!

I needed somewhere to sit and eat lunch so I bought mushroom barley soup just so I could sit in the deli! It was very good!

Today after work I went to another inTensati class! I am slightly addicted. I loveee the teacher I had today. She is all about the extra cardio and calorie burn! She is always so energetic and an amazing dancer; not to mention she just had a baby! It amazes me! She also played one of my all time favorite songs, “Sandstorm” by Louie Devito. I plan to take off tomorrow but hopefully go back on Saturday! My wrist is getting nice and full of black bracelets!

I got home and made a similar dinner to the night before! I had soy crisps instead of the sweet potato though!

Fun dessert!

Baked apples with cinnamon, chocolate chips, whipped cream, and some sprinkles for decoration! MMM MMM.

Hopefully by now I have internet at work again but I typed this post at home just incase!

1. Do you blog from home or at work (if you have a blog)?

2. Do you prefer to eat a bigger healthy dessert or a few bites of a not so healthy dessert?

1. I usually upload my pictures at home using Livewriter. I type up the rest at work unless I am busy or my internet is broken!

2. I prefer a bigger healthy dessert like my baked apples above . You cannot put a piece of red velvet cake in front of me and expect me to eat 2 bites! Sharing it with someone would also be a good option for me!

Have a great weekend!

Don’t forget to enter to win some Dentyne Gum! I think I just chewed 20 pieces in a row as I typed this. Eek!

Related posts:

1. Bollywood Boogie Winner and Exciting Monday Announcement!
2. Ow!
3. Weekend of Working Out!