Making Food... Ninja Style

Once upon a time, one of my favourite things to do was to go to Costco and peruse their samples.  Fred and I even had a name for it... Redneck Dim Sum. 

Before you decide we're totally lame, let me preface that for you. We used to be broke.  Like totally and completely broke.  Our grocery budget was $20 a week.  One of the ways I would keep the budget down is we would take advantage of coupons, 2 for 1 meals, eating at the Costco food court, and when we had no money left... Redneck Dim Sum.  Yes, we would eat Costco samples as a meal.

Ah, the good old days!

And you could always tell it was going to be a good day if the "Blender People" were there.  The wonderful people that would churn out sample after glorious sample of yummy goodness.  If you parked yourself by their table you could get an entire meal... soup!  Smoothie!  Ice cream!  I vowed that one day I would own one of these machines.

So when I was offered the chance to try out a Ninja Blender (with Auto-IQ one-touch intelligence!), I was a little excited. And try it, we did!

The Machine
I won't lie to you, I was a little overwhelmed when I pulled it out of the box.  The base has lots of buttons.  The one you press depends on what you're trying to do.  Plus, as well as the blender pitcher, you also get 3 smaller cups of different sizes; 18, 24, and 32 oz.  So I had to sit and look at the manual to figure out what cup to use, and what button to press.  Sounds easy, but try doing that when you have three kids yelling, 'Smoooooooooooothie!" in your ear at the same time.

The base feels very sturdy and has little cups on the bottom to suction it to your counter. The buttons are big and respond well when you press them. The Ninja is pretty loud when in use, but I think that's true of any of these types of blenders.

The Equipment
The blender pitcher is quite large and is capable of holding many servings of your creation.  The total crushing blades did a great job of pulverizing all the ice and frozen fruit I used in my smoothies... no annoying lumps!

I also really liked the smaller cups for making smaller portions.  My favourite things about those are that they double as a cup (it comes with 3 lids), and can be put in the dishwasher for easy cleanup.

Let's Blend!
Honestly, I haven't used the Ninja to make anything other than smoothies yet.  I will at some point, but let's face it, smoothies are pretty easy to make and my kids love them.  Our first creation was Elise's recipe:

We used the 18 oz. cup and used fresh and frozen strawberries, half a banana, 1/2 c of OJ, and about 2 tbsp. of the protein powder.  We weighed all the ingredients to figure out the carb factor (don't know what that is?  Click here to learn all about carb factors).

Calculating... and we have a carb factor of .10. I have notebook upon notebook with these scribbles.  

And the finished product.  Super yummy and smooth!  Elise really enjoyed it and has asked for it repeatedly.

The boys wanted a some more fruit in their smoothie, so I broke out the 32 oz. cup and threw in some frozen pineapple, fresh and frozen strawberries, half a banana, a peach, OJ and protein powder.

This one was definitely my favourite, the sweetness of the peach really came out.  If you read the instruction manual, it tells you exactly how to layer the ingredients so it blends well. 

For these smoothies, I used the "Ultra Blend" button, which pulsed the blender on and off automatically for 60 seconds at irregular intervals.  I'm guessing this method helps to blend it completely, because we never had any lumps in our drinks.

One thing I love about smoothies (and using blenders in general) is that you can sneak healthy ingredients in and the kids are none the wiser.  Spinach, kale, avocado are all things I've used in the past.  The Ninja came with a book of 25 recipes including several smoothies, chocolate mousse, and even a margarita recipe!

It also came with another book called Eat to Lose, Eat to Win. It also had some recipes as well as healthy eating tips, but I found the author's overall tone to be a little holier-than-thou and rather off -putting. The advice was good, but I didn't care for how she made it sound like she never made poor food choices, just everyone around her did (if she did, I might not have made it that far into the book... I just didn't care for her writing style).

So Joanne, is it worth spending up to $200 for a blender? That depends how much you will use it.  I have one of the older models of another big-name blender and I use it almost everyday.  I've made smoothies, soup, peanut and almond butter, butter, waffle batter, ice cream as well as varying types of flour.  For me, it's a useful addition to my kitchen and I can't imagine not having one. For me, it's well worth the money, and the Ninja blender will always have a spot on my counter.

My sweet boy and his smoothie.  My other two will rarely pose for pictures anymore

***Though I was provided the Nutri Ninja Blender for free, that doesn't mean my opinion can be bought. This review is comprised of 100% honest thoughts and feelings that are completely my own.

There is a lot to love about Leaf & Love

You know what I love about this little DOC of ours?  How innovative we can be.  There are so many cool products out there that only exist because someone with diabetes (or a loved one with diabetes) saw a void, and decided it was up to them to fill it.

Take, for example, Leaf & Love Inc.  It was formed by two childhood friends who became moms-on-a-mission.  Co-founder Sara Williams-Curran's daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 3.  Sara was frustrated by trips to the grocery store, where she would try to find beverage options for her daughter that were not either filled with artificial sweeteners or sugar

So she and Amy DiBianca (no affiliation with type 1, but wanted something healthy and delicious for her 4-year old son) took to the kitchen to develop a yummy, zero-sugar alternative to all the other high-sugar, empty calorie choices.

Why is Leaf & Love Organic Lemonade better?  Because it is made with all natural ingredients, including 100% USDA organic lemon juice.  They use organic stevia, which is a natural sweetener derived from the leaves of the stevia plant.  Stevia has no calories, a zero glycemic index (meaning no carbs), no artificial ingredients, and NO effect on blood sugar!

In the words of Elise, "you mean I can drink it even if I'm high?  AWESOME!"

Happy girl with her Leaf & Love Lemonade

It is also non-GMO, vegan, gluten-free, and provides 15% of the daily recommended vitamin C.

But most importantly, how does it taste?

Elise loves it. Loves. It. And is so excited that she has a juice box that is all her own.  We love sharing in this house, but these babies belong to Elise.

See that? only 2g of carbs.  Squeeeeeee!

Curious, I took a sip for myself and thought it was quite tasty.  There was a bit of aftertaste that I'm pretty sure is from the stevia, but my taste buds are ultra-sensitive.  Redheads are cool like that.

This past weekend, we took the kids to a birthday party at a bowling ally.  There was pizza, pop, lemonade and cookie cake; a carb-infested nightmare.  When the server announced that there was lemonade, Elise turned her big doe-eyes up to me and asked, "pleeeeeeeease Mom?" Ugh.

Luckily, I'm a planner, and had brought with me a bunch of Leaf & Love Lemonade juice boxes.  She was even more excited about drinking that than the "real" lemonade.  Winning!  

Good thing too, she consumed 4 pieces of pizza and well over 150g of carbs.  I threw up in my mouth a little when I bolused her.

So, now that I've espoused the incredible goodness of this lemonade, I bet you're asking where you can find it... good question! Currently Leaf & Love Organic Lemonade is being sold by the case  (32 boxes) on Amazon for $28.96 and will be available at retail locations soon.  Better yet, you can purchase the lemonade through Amazon Smiles and donate a little somethin'-somethin' to the JDRF while you're at it.  Double winning!

For more information, you can also visit www.leafandlove.com, or for those FB-type people; www.facebook.com/leafandlove.

Thank you so much Sara and Amy for making lemonade out of a big, fat lemon of a disease!

***Leaf & Love sent us a juice box to sample, but did not tell me what to think or write.  All opinions are my own.  Elise may have helped too.***

My KIND of bar

I don't know about you, but I am ALWAYS on the lookout for great-tasting, healthy snacks that my kids will actually eat.  The problem is, those two adjectives rarely go together when it comes to kid-friendly food.  I'm also not a fan of food dyes and HFCS, so that rules out a majority of snacks right there.

And let's not forget about the D-factor either.

So when the good people at KIND Healthy Snacks contacted me about trying some of their product, I couldn't help but be a bit skeptical.  It's been my experience that most of these types of bars taste like sawdust held together by some type of sweet goo, masquerading as honey.  But they sounded pretty good, so I thought I'd give them a try.

The verdict? So far I have been blown away by how GOOD these are.  Even their names are mouth-watering. 

Madagascar Vanilla Almond?  Yes, please!

Dark Chocolate Nuts and Sea Salt?  Yum!

Those are just a few of the tasty snack bars they offer.  Each bar falls into one of three categories; Fruit and Nut, Nuts and Spices, and Plus.  The Plus variety has the added boost of nutrients like protein, fiber, antioxidants or omega-3 fatty acids.

The day they arrived, we waited until afternoon snack to try them out.  I chose the Dark Chocolate Nuts and Sea Salt, and Elise wanted Almonds & Coconut. Both of them looked amazing and they didn't disappoint.  Elise's was a perfect blend of almonds and sweet coconut (yes, I stole a bite), and mine paired the yummy goodness of dark chocolate with just the right amount of salt to satisfy my sweet and salty craving.

Even better is how each bar has listed buzz words right on the packaging that are important to a lot of people that are concerned with what we are putting into our body.  For example:

• Non GMO
• Gluten Free
• No Sugar Alcohols
• Low Glycemic
• Dairy Free
• No Trans Fats
• Low Sodium

We were also given some granola to try, and so far I am loving the Maple Walnut Clusters.  It is the perfect breakfast with a bit of milk with a few cut-up strawberries thrown on top.  It's also great sprinkled over yogurt.

Note that the bag is open... I kinda couldn't wait to try it out!

So far the entire family has loved everything they've tried.  Now Mattias, who picked the Fruit & Nuts in Yogurt, ate about half before he lost interest.  But I chalk that up to the fact that he's two, and has rather eclectic tastes for a toddler.  He loves spring rolls and will steal them from your plate, but will sometimes refuse to eat fries.

Yes, my son wears pink, hand-me-down bibs... I'm totally cool with it

Now, you may be wondering how the bars affected Elise's BG.  The first bar she tried, Almonds & Coconut, she was at 180.  She ended up in the 300s, but that's not a fair test because I had *just* changed her pod and we are still doing battle with post pod-change highs.

The next day, she selected a Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Pecan.  She was 70 pre-bar, and 103 a few hours later.  And she thought the bar was, "awesome-chawsome!"  I took that as a good thing.

Most bars have between 14-26g of carbs, 3-5g of fiber and 3-7g of protein.

She's a bit of a clown

So, here's my final thoughts on these bars from KIND Healthy Snacks...

All natural ingredients?  Good!

A healthy snack that won't spike Elise's BG?  Good!

Dark Chocolate Nuts and Sea Salt?  Goooooood!

If you go to their website at www.kindsnacks.com, you can find a list of where to buy them, and approximately how much they retail for. 

Check out their website.  KIND isn't just their name; it's their philosophy.  They even have a section devoted to encouraging people to go out and "do the kind thing" by partnering with KIND to help out in their community. I love doing business with companies that give back, and I can't wait to stock up my pantry with more KIND Bars.

And you can stock up too!  The kind people at KIND (see what I did there?), sent me a box of extras that I am hiding from my family, to give to one lucky reader!  To enter, just go to their website by clicking here, and scope out all the yummy goodness that they offer.  Then come back and leave a comment telling me which you think you would like the most.  I will pick the winner by a random drawing on Monday, March 4.  Good luck!

***As with all reviews, the opinions are solely mine.  While I did receive free product to review, I was not asked to write about it, and did so of my own volition.  No, I cannot be bought, even with food.***

Telcare BGM review

Recently I was given the chance to demo the brand spankin' new Telcare blood sugar monitor; the first cellular-enabled monitor on the market.

Can I just say that I've kinda fallen in love with this meter? Seriously, I might run off to Vegas and marry it, so smitten am I. The company sent me the monitor starter kit, plus an extra 50 test strips, so I was able to give it a pretty good test drive.

Intro
Using the Telcare BGM, you are able to check your blood sugar, then it automatically uploads your info using (free) cellular service to their website. The website has all the usual data; 7/30/60/90 day trends, graphs, average BG, high and low BG, etc. The meter comes set up for you, and the company provides you with the log in info.

Looks
First off, although it sort of resembles my husband's iPhone, it doesn't have touch-screen capability, which would be cool. Instead there are three buttons on the side that you use. It's a bit thicker than an iPhone, not overly heavy, and fits quite nicely into Elise's diabetes bag.

The screen is bright, with an easy to read display. And it has pretty colours... oooooh!

It knows my name!

Because the meter is a lot bigger than Elise is used to, she had a bit of trouble using it to check her BG at first, but soon got the hang of it.

Getting Started
It has a rechargeable battery (love. this.), and I had to charge the meter for 12 hours when I first got it, and also had to wait 30 minutes after charging it to use it. Then it's onto the control solution...

The manual instructs that you use the control solution the first time you use the meter, and any time you open a new bottle of strips. Here's where it's a lot different than other meters. You have TWO control solution bottles; L1 and L2. The manual says to test L1 first, and then do L2. Why? When I asked customer service the reply was, "to be twice as sure the strips are good" (not a direct quote, but the gist of the response).

You also have to make sure you're in "control solution mode", and the correct one at that (the meter has L1, L2, and testing modes). The process is a little cumbersome, and for someone who hasn't gazed upon a control solution bottle in a very long time; annoying. Plus, using two strips for control solution made me cry a little bit.

Testing
The meter is very easy to use, and even though I read the manual, I think you could easily navigate the meter without it. It takes a teeny blood sample, .8 microlitres, which I understand is larger than the .3 of the Freestyle strips, but smaller than what the One Touch requires (which is what we use). The meter can read between 20-600 mg/dl, and hold up to 300 tests.

Comparing blood samples

There is a 6 second count down and up pops your BG reading, all shiny. Here's how this meter compared to our One Touch:

please ignore my poor photography skills and the fact the the time is wrong on the One Touch meter

You then have the option of tagging the reading (before breakfast, after activity etc), and then here's where the magic happens; your reading is then transmitted via cellular service to a secure on-line website. And yes, there IS an app for that too!

One thing about the tagging, you only have 30 seconds to pick one, or else is just goes undesignated. When you have a hungry four year old and a cranky 1 year old howling at you, it can be hard to pick a tag in that short of a time.

The meter also has handy little alarms that you can set up to remind you to test your blood sugar. It isn't really relevant to me, being the mother of a CWD, but I could see how it could benefit an adult.

Website
When my meter shipped, I received an email with a log-in and password. Once on the site, you can view your data, customize your high/low settings, create printable reports, and allow a third-party (like your endo) read-only access to your data. Admittedly, I don't have a lot of experience with on-line tracking software, but I found the mytelcare.com site easy to use and navigate.

I don't have a smart phone, so I've only looked over Fred's shoulder at the app, but he loves it. When he was at work he'd call me and say, "so, I see she was 112 before lunch!" Big brother is waaaaatching you!

Final Thoughts
I'm guessing this meter was designed with adults in mind, but I could see where this would be an awesome tool for parents of teens and pre-teens. For the kids, it looks cool. And for the parents, it would help us to keep tabs on our kiddos without having to always ask them for their numbers. Plus it's a great way for you to be able to view their numbers while at school (or a sleep over, at camp... etc.)

The meter retails for $150 ($100 with a contract) and the strips cost $56 for 50 ($35 with contract). The contract is basically something you sign for a year saying that the company will auto-ship you at least 4 bottles of test strips every quarter.

Right now, Telcare isn't in network with almost any insurance companies (as they are a fairly new start-up), but they are looking to change that as quickly as possible.

I think this is a wonderful meter and a handy tool to have in your diabetes care arsenal. We get a lot of the same information it supplies from our Omnipod PDM, but I preferred to view it it on the Telcare website.

But, unless it becomes more affordable, we will not be using this meter once our strips run out. As soon as they are in-network with our insurance, you can bet I'll be looking into it again.

If you want to read more about this meter, Kerri has an excellent review (with more pictures than I have) here. And you can read the Wall Street Journal's review here.

To sum it all up, here are my list of pros and cons:

Pros
-small blood sample
-printable reports
-caregiver access
- free app
-rechargeable battery* (3 year lifespan)

*The charge on the battery lasted from Friday morning to Sunday night. Having said that, we probably wasted a lot of battery just by playing around with it.

Cons
-pricey

-not in-network with pretty much any insurance companies
-not enough time to pick tag
-can't change BG tag (unless you added it manually via the app. You cannot change a tag you selected on the meter itself)
-only able to add new BG (taken with another meter) using the app

Disclaimer:
Although Telcare provided me with the meter and testing supplies at no charge, they did not ask me to review, blog, or say nice things about their product. All opinions are mine. And you can't have them.