Progresso Traditional Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

It's surprisingly cold out these days, so soup was on the menu today. I cracked into a can of Progresso from the cupboard - Chicken & Wild Rice today. In January, Progresso provided me with some free cans of soup but I don't remember if this was one of them.

The wild rice was too crunchy for my taste. I don't usually eat much wild rice, so maybe it's not the rice but it's me. I just prefer the long-grained rice that's in the other soups. I was also surprised by the slightly odd tomato chunks in the soup - they were kinda stringy (like sun-dried tomatoes that were re-constituted).

Anyway, the soup was better with the addition of lemon juice. Overall though, I'd go with a regular chicken & rice (not wild rice) soup and kick in that lemon juice. Though I'm tagging this as "not-recommended", it's not a strong not-recommendation - I just would prefer a different soup but wouldn't scream if I was served this one. ;)

Nutrition Facts (per cup, about two cups per can)
Calories 100
Total Fat 1.5g
Saturated Fat 0.5g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.5g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 15mg
Sodium 650mg
Total Carbohydrate 15g
Dietary Fiber 1g
Sugars 1g
Protein 6g

La Tortilla Smart & Delicious high fiber tortillas

I love burritos. So tasty. You can, in theory, do them on a healthier side - but the tortillas are the downfall here. Your typical flour tortilla is all kinds of fat and little to no fiber. Tasty, yes, but not too healthy. ;)

I found these at my local Costco in a huge pack (24!) for a great price, and these are the huge burrito-sized tortillas. I learned to cut them in half because otherwise you have too much tortilla for the fillings. Too much of the tortilla is a bad thing - they're a little dry, but honestly, as long as you're not eating a ton of the tortilla plain (or having it wrapped completely around your filling twice), you're good to go. Make sure to eat them at room temperature or they'll crack when you try to roll them.

The nutrition stats are incredible here. SO MUCH FIBER! Ahem.

Nutrition Facts
Calories 80
Total Fat 3g
Saturated Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 300mg
Total Carb. 18g
Fiber 12g
Sugars 1g
Protein 8g

More on the Godiva Chocolate Cupcakes

I posted last week when I received the Godiva Chocolate Cupcakes as a gift from my family for my birthday. Since they arrived frozen, I just put them directly into my freezer and then thawed them last night. Finally just tried one, and... absolutely totally not worth the $28 cost, and then you add the absurd shipping charges - over $50 for the 6 cupcakes, and they are *not* worth it.

Godiva's web site describes them as:

"These sublime little cakes conceal an irresistible surprise inside – a luscious center of Godiva chocolate ganache. Our rich, moist, chocolate cupcakes are offered by the half dozen, all iced in pink vanilla buttercream especially for Valentine’s Day, or three each in chocolate and vanilla buttercream for a romantic weekend’s worth of indulgent nibbling."

Uh, that surprise was so well-hidden that we didn't see any sign of it. Even cut a cupcake in half, and no ganache in there. Seriously, what the heck? Completely and ridiculously overpriced, and not at all sublime or indulgent - or moist even. Sad.

and I'm still irritated by their web site description:

"We take as much care in shipping your Godiva order as we do in making our delicious confections. This product requires the overnight delivery method to ensure freshness."

Yes, so very fresh that they are *frozen*. Shame on you, Godiva.

Godiva Chocolate Cupcakes

Today is my birthday. Anyone who knows me knows that I love cake. Despite this blog being mostly about weight loss, I am a huge fan of cake. ;)

My family lives 2000 miles away, so my stepmom so generously ordered cupcakes for me from Godiva!

She sent the "Limited Edition Chocolate Cupcakes" pictured here. From Godiva's web site:

"These sublime little cakes conceal an irresistible surprise inside – a luscious center of Godiva chocolate ganache. Our rich, moist, chocolate cupcakes are offered by the half dozen, all iced in pink vanilla buttercream especially for Valentine’s Day, or three each in chocolate and vanilla buttercream for a romantic weekend’s worth of indulgent nibbling."

For the six cupcakes, Godiva charges $28. Ouch, but c'mon, they're adorable. However, they also require overnight shipping ($23) - "This product requires the overnight delivery method to ensure freshness." So, over $50 for 6 cupcakes. But if they're tasty and fresh, perhaps worth it?

Well... they arrived today, and they're completely frozen. The card inside the box says "For best thawing results, place the Godiva Cupcakes in the refrigerator overnight." Are you kidding me? They spent over $50 on cupcakes, and they're frozen and I can't even enjoy one on my birthday today?!

*Nothing* on the Godiva web site indicates that they're shipping a frozen product. I called Godiva to express my disappointment, and the gentleman tells me "they're fresh-frozen", as though that's going to make a difference here. I am certain no one would spend $50 to send frozen cupcakes to a loved one.

The box was wrapped with a card that has the pretty picture on the front and the ingredients & nutritional info on the back (I'll post the nutritional info at the bottom here like my regular food posts). It also includes a lot number (34891), which I would give anything to be able to translate into an actual production date. Many companies start with the day of the year in their lot codes, and "348" would translate to December 14 - over two months ago.

Extremely disappointed by Godiva here. Disclose that you're shipping a frozen product baked who knows when and don't force the customer to pay a $15 overnight shipping surcharge for a product that won't even arrive fresh-baked.

Nutrition Facts (per cupcake)
Calories 430
Total Fat 23g (35% daily value)
Saturated Fat 11g (55% daily value)
Cholesterol 70mg (23% daily value)
Sodium 150mg (6% daily value)
Total Carbohydrates 52g (17% daily value)
Dietary Fiber 2g (8% daily value)
Sugars 43g
Protein 3g

Sweethearts disappointment

I love February 15 - the day after Valentine's day, when all the candy goes on sale. ;) Yesterday I was delighted to pick up a bag of NECCO's Sweetheart candies - the cute little conversation hearts. My favorites are the white (mint) and yellow (banana).

Well... I forgot that I had heard that they changed their formulas. From their web site:
"All new flavors for 2010 Sweethearts® include Strawberry, Green Apple, Lemon, Grape, Orange and Blue Raspberry. The new Sweethearts® have been re-formulated to be softer and more fun to eat."

No more white mint hearts.

No more yellow banana hearts.

My heart... it is breaking.

The new flavors, quite honestly, suck. I love lemon candies, and this lemon is awful - way too tart and... just tart. Blecgh. No lemon flavor at all. The grape was decent, and the strawberry was tolerable, but overall, it was a bag filled of disappointment.

Bring back the old flavors, please! :)

Safeway / Fiber One giveaway winner!

Congrats to

Doreen

for winning the Safeway/Fiber One giveaway! Your prize will be sent out shortly!

Fiber One Yogurt giveaway

Howdy folks!

I posted last year about the Fiber One 50 Calorie Yogurts and I wasn't really impressed with the strawberry flavor I tried. However, the folks over at MyBlogSpark sent me a coupon to go try it again, along with a Safeway gift card for $50, so I'm going to give it another shot. Through Tuesday, February 9th, you can take advantage of a special Safeway deal where you can purchase two 4-packs of Fiber One yogurt for only $4, so I just picked up the Peach flavor and will see how it goes.

The good news for you is that Safeway and Fiber One are going to give another $50 Safeway gift card to one of my lucky readers! (Safeway also owns Dominick’s, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Vons, and Genuardi’s, if one of those stores is local to you.) Just comment on this post before February 14 and let me know your favorite yogurt flavor. I'll pick a lucky winner on February 15. Safeway and Fiber One provided my gift card and the giveaway card through MyBlogSpark.

Soup giveaway winner!

Congrats to

Laume976

for winning the Progresso soup giveaway! Your prize will be sent out shortly!

Keep an eye out for another giveaway this afternoon! :)

Last day before soup giveaway!

Last chance to enter the Progresso soup giveaway! Just comment on this post or the original post, and you're entered.

Check out my previous reviews of their Light Beef Pot Roast Soup and Light Santa Fe Chicken Soup (although I just had the Santa Fed Chicken again and it was extremely salty - so I might need to amend that review sometime...)

Another giveaway is coming soon! :D

fitbit - not recommended

I remember hearing about the fitbit back in September 2008 - a tiny little device that monitors your activity - and your sleep, too! And it was only $99! I didn't pre-order it though - I thought it was too good to be true. But a couple of my friends jumped on the pre-order. ;) They started receiving their units in September 2009 (yes, a year later...) and the overall vibe was positive. So I went ahead and ordered. It arrived three months later.

It's a cute idea, but it completely failed for me.

Y'all might remember that I walk a lot. ;) I have used several pedometers, and I have full confidence in my current pedometer - I've counted thousands of steps with it and it's always spot-on. The fitbit was off, every single day, by 30-60%. That's completely and utterly unacceptable. It counted hundreds of steps while I was driving - and I'd even wake up with steps counted! Are you serious? I'm supposed to trust this device?

I was very curious about the sleep monitoring - you wear it on a wristband, and push a button before you go to bed (and push it again when you get up). For example, one night I went to bed at 11:30pm, and I was awake until at least 1am, but fitbit says:
You went to bed at: 11:24PM
Time to fall asleep: 15min
Times awakened: 18
You were in bed for: 10hrs 23min
Actual sleep time: 9hrs 35min

So I declare shenanigans on that! The rest of the nights were similarly off as well. It was ridiculous. :( I have big problems falling asleep, and I was immensely curious about my sleep patterns - but this device didn't help clear up anything for me since I know it was inaccurate about my falling asleep data.

I posted on their user forums, but never received any reply (even though a "staff" person was replying to other posts in the same thread after mine). So with a heavy heart, I returned it. They did pay for the return shipping, but it took a long time to get the refund (had to send them a nagging email and then it finally got refunded).

I think this is an interesting idea, but unfortunately the implementation is awful. It's a cute little device - and I'm glad it's getting people moving more - but the data is totally unreliable.

Soup giveaway!

Hallo folks. It's cold, and that means it's soup weather. I moved recently and was surprised at how many cans of soup I had in the cupboard - and then Progresso sent me a bunch of new soups to try. Progresso provided me with the free product, information, and gift pack through MyBlogSpark. I'll be posting reviews as I try the soups - but honestly, I'm not sure which were the ones they sent me because I just put all of my soups in the same cupboard! Aaaaaanyway...

The cool thing about this is that Progresso and MyBlogSpark gave me a package to give away to one of my readers! The gift pack contains a huge soup mug, a digital jump rope and two cans of Progresso Soup. Just comment on this post with your favorite flavor of soup and you'll be entered to win! A winner will be chosen via Random.org and announced here on February 7. The lucky winner will have three days to respond with mailing information before another winner will be chosen.

Yay soup!

still on hiatus

No end-of-the-year recap from me right now - I lost about 15 pounds over the year, so that's not bad. Not as much as I would've hoped, but at least it's a loss. ;)  I am still recovering from my surgery - and then we moved so I'm swamped in boxes and trying to get settled in.  Exercise has fallen to the side - and I haven't been for a walk in weeks.  Hopefully things will calm down in a week or two.

Hope 2010 is a happy and healthy year for us all!

Checking in

Still here - still losing it, in one way or another. ;)  Swamped with starting a new job and buying a new house, so that's why I've been slacking on posting.  I have so many things I want to post about, too!  I am so freakin' addicted to popchips these days (barbeque, or the plain with a wedge of Laughing Cow), and my beloved Alternative Bagels are also keeping me going.  Been eating a lot of plain old-fashioned Quaker oatmeal, with fresh cranberries mixed in - SO TASTY!  Playing a bit of Wii, including the Your Shape workout game with the camera and also just got the new Just Dance game but haven't cracked into it yet.

More to come in the new year!  Here's to a happy and healthy 2010 for us all! :)

Post-surgery

Surgery itself went okay, but the recovery is not so smooth - I can't walk without pain, so no more steps right now for me.  And I'm woozy and/or nauseated often, so I've spent most of the past week laying down, and eating anything that actually sounds good.  I'm super-disappointed that I've gained weight through this, but if everything heals up correctly, it'll be worth it.  Surgery wasn't optional, so you've got to do what you have to do here, I suppose.  I definitely won't hit that 4 million step goal, and I'm likely not going to hit my -100 pound goal this year either, but hopefully I can stay in good health and appreciate all the blessings that I do have in my life.

Walking Goal Met!

As of this afternoon, I have walked 3,652,100 steps this year - meeting my goal of 10,000 steps a day (3,650,000).  WOOHOO!!! :)

I'm having surgery on Tuesday, so I expect my steps will drop for a little while, but I'd love to hit 4 million by the end of the year.  We'll see how it goes!

Also due to the surgery, I didn't start a 6 week challenge on the EA Sports Active game since I know I'd have to miss a bunch.  I'd love to start one soon though! :)