It's ALIVE - Trick or Treat: Mushroom-based Sodas?

While these are not overtly Halloween-themed, in my mind, they're Trick-or-Treat-adjacent. Stick with me and you'll see.

I don't drink booze, I rarely drink coffee, and I don't do artificial sweeteners or diet beverages. What I DO drink is a lot of water, seltzers, and soda. Soda is my coffee. (Soda is a god. Soda is the breeze in my hair on the weekend.) 

Soda is my go-to caffeine boost, but we all know soda is not good for you, and I do like to make healthier choices when I can, so when I spotted these "healthy" sodas at Lidl I thought this could be a great alternative. That is, if they actually taste good. 

So, healthy mushroom-based sodas, a trick? Or a treat? 

I Love A Good Gimmick

Karma Probiotic Drinks  - Aldi

I hate diet drinks, but I bought this anyway because I NEED to push this button. I bet tons of these products are ruined in-store by impulsive kids (and some adults.) Look, I totally get it, because I really wanted to push it too, but if I did that and did NOT buy it afterwards, I'd feel like a monster. (Which you should.) So into my cart it went! 

Strange Things Are Afoot At The Special K - Limited Edition Apple Cinnamon Special K

Special K Apple Cinnamon Crunch - Aldi

You guys already know I have a newfound appreciation for breakfast cereal. (See this post for details.)  

I keep the staples, like (Aldi-branded) Frosted Flakes, Special K, and Frosted Mini Wheats stocked at all times, but I figure my family might appreciate some variety, so I've been buying these limited edition releases to keep things interesting...but that hasn't really worked out. 

These seasonal cereals are the last ones picked for the breakfast-kickball team. My family just doesn't want to eat them. After one bowl the novelty has worn off and they rather go back to a tried and true favorite. (Except for those seasonal Lucky Charms, they were decimated in less than a week.) As I type this I have two boxes of seasonal pumpkin spiced cereals in our pantry, practically untouched, but since my boyfriend and his daughter like apples I thought this flavor might be a winner. Was I right? I guess we'll find out!

Fueling My End of Summer Denial with Watermelon Juices

Tsamma Watermelon Juice & Tsamma Watermelon Juice with Coconut Water - Aldi

Pumpkin spicers will have to pry summer out of my cold, dead, hands. (Says the girl who reviews 20+ pumpkin spice items each fall. #hypocrite)

Don't get me wrong, I am hype for all the Halloween goodies lining the shelves, but August is (almost) over and the only tan I have is on my left arm, courtesy of my long rides to and from work each day. This cannot be! I refuse to let summer disappear without having some fun and adventure. Or, at the very least, evening out my trucker tan.

Sadly, I don't think I'll find the time to even out my tan, but I did find some watermelon juices to prolong my summertime sadness.

4 Flavors of Fit & Active Fruit Bars - Aldi

4 Flavors of Fit & Active Fruit Bars - Aldi (Clearance .99 cents each)

I love food. I love cooking food, finding new foods, photographing food, eating food. Food makes me irrationally happy, and it's why I started a food blog, but every day I scroll through my Instagram feed and I see tons of people eating meal replacement bars, protein puddings, pro-gurts (protein yogurt), and other things that just look like soylent-protein-power-monstrosities. If it makes other people happy I'm all for it. I'm not knocking their lifestyle (especially since they seem far healthier and more active than I am) but eating that stuff would be torture for me. It takes all the fun and texture out of food!

Along with my lifelong love of food, I'm also a frugal shopper. I love a good deal, so when I saw that these Fit & Active bars were on sale at Aldi for only .99 cents a box, I thought this could be my version of a meal replacement bar. I typically don't eat breakfast, and I don't eat lunch until 1-2PM, so eating one of these for breakfast is probably a good idea, right? Then again, will a "healthy" fruit bar that only cost me .20 cents each taste good?

Strawberry Rhubarb Fruit & Veggie Bars - Aldi

Strawberry Rhubarb Fruit & Veggie Bars - Aldi

Thursday was Bastille Day, and I originally wrote up a macaron review to celebrate, but after the tragedy that occurred in France I thought it was in poor taste to post it. I didn't want to be like, "Oh hey, look at my blog 'cause it's Bastille Day" considering how many people lost their lives, so I canceled the scheduled posting and it'll go live another day. My updating schedule was thrown off due to the sudden schedule change, but today it's back on track with some organic fruit bars!

Aldi released these fruit and veggie bars last summer, and even though I bought them, they never made it to the blog. Thankfully they returned this year!

Sea Salt Kale Chips - Aldi

Sea Salt Kale Chips - Aldi

Two (somewhat) healthy Aldi reviews in a row?! Well, after Aldi's lack luster ranch flavored kale chips (more like kale croutons) I figured they deserved a chance to redeem themselves. Plus, my immune system failed me this week so I've got I the flu. Missing out on all that sunshine and nice weather while hiding under a pile of blankets and binge watching The X-Files has made me want to eat healthier in an effort to speed up my recovery. It's likely a dietary placebo to make me think I'll get better faster, but who know? Eating a little bit healthier couldn't hurt, right? Bring on the chips!

SimplyNature Ranch Kale Chips - Aldi

SimplyNature Ranch Kale Chips - Aldi

Drinking kale juice in the morning is gross. I gave it a shot, and it's not for me. (My boyfriend enjoyed it, but it makes me miserable.) 

I did it to be cool and healthy like all the fancy lifestyle food bloggers out there with their coordinated dishwear, fabric napkins, and aged wooden table food photos, but I just can't do it. That's not me. I'm a messy, junk food eating, blank-background photo food blogger. Kale chips are way more my speed.

Bolthouse Farms Orange + Carrot Juice - Aldi

Bolthouse Farms Orange + Carrot Juice - Aldi

I don't have the best eating habits. (Shocking, I know.) I eat frozen pizza 3-4 times a week and lately the only way I've been getting fruit into my diet is when I add it to waffle batter on the weekends. My typical routine is crazy and there's no signs of it letting up any time soon, so squeezing vitamins, fruits and veggies into my diet any way I can is probably a good idea. The only catch is, it's gotta taste good.

Asian Pear & Ginger Kombucha - Aldi

Asian Pear & Ginger Kombucha - Aldi

Has it really been a few weeks since I've reviewed an Aldi item? Time to fix that! 

A year ago Aldi sold these Kombucha Wonder Drinks and I reviewed the black cherry version. It was pretty good, not great, but much better than I was expecting a fermented tea to taste and I easily finished off the bottle. Since then, kombucha's popularity has grown and it's become pretty mainstream. You can now buy several flavors of kombucha at one-stop convenience stores like Walmart and Target! Since I didn't quite fall in love with my first bottle I decided to grab another to see if a different flavor could win me over. (And see if I can better understand the overall appeal of this fermented food and beverage trend.)  

Blueberry Quinoa BarkThins - Target

Blueberry Quinoa BarkThins - Target 

Is quinoa still healthy if it's coated in chocolate? No? Well this is dark chocolate, and there's blueberries in there too, so I'm going to call this health food anyway. Plus it was on the clearance rack, so I saved money on it to boot! Win-win!

Whenever I'm at Target I look at the clearance grocery section because...I'm cheap! (Hey, don't judge! I'm a daily food blogger with a full time job, a delicate injury-prone Pomeranian, and a smashed car to deal with. I gotta pinch those pennies!) That little clearance shelf is home to all kinds of unique goodies, I got those avocado oil chips, that amazing India-style meal kit, and a few pumpkin spiced items. Every single one of those products were great, and I got them for less than their original price. So just because it's on clearance, doesn't mean it's not worth checking out. Let's see if this is another successful clearance rack venture!

Raisin & Brown Sugar Chobani Oats - Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

Raisin & Brown Sugar Chobani Oats - Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

It didn't happen overnight, but I am slowly being converted to the Greek side. (Meaning Greek yogurt.) For the longest time Greek yogurt has been dominating the foodie world, and I still don't get it. Why is everyone so stuck on consuming massive amounts of protein? I'm not on a diet, and although I don't eat all much meat, I'm not protein deficit. So do I really need my yogurt to have protein in it?

Bolthouse Farms Stone Fruit Smoothie - Aldi

Bolthouse Farms Stone Fruit Smoothie - Aldi

Everything in my life has been non-stop for the last two weeks, I worked, drove to Baltimore, worked almost 30 hours that weekend selling my art, drove back from Baltimore, unpacked, went right back to day job...etc. So yesterday, I was finally able to come home from my day job and get some much needed rest. How did I celebrate? I cooked an entire package of bacon, and ate 75% of it all by myself.

Not my proudest moment (who am I kidding, I'm totally proud of it), but when I woke up this morning I needed to ingest something that wasn't bacon. I figured, what's better to de-bacon-ify myself with than a healthy fruit smoothie?

Mamma Chia, Chia Squeeze (Strawberry Banana) - Summer Fancy Food Show Samples

Mamma Chia, Chia Squeeze (Strawberry Banana) - Summer Fancy Food Show Samples

Must resist the urge to make an ABBA or Chia Pet reference...

I'm getting ready to head to Baltimore on Thursday, so things are really crazy right now. I'm barely sleeping, I'm making a ton of art, and I'm trying to hurry up and review any and all of the perishable products I picked up in NY before they expire.

When I was leaving the convention center there were a few trucks lined up outside handing out food products. I'm guessing they either couldn't get a booth at the event, or maybe they did have a booth and just wanted extra publicity, but either way, it was more free stuff and this time it was available to the general public as well as show attendees. Since Chia is super popular right now, I thought it'd be fun to give this a try.

2B Soda Reviews: Can Healthy Soda Taste good?

I'll be posting one new video every week on Youtube. I want to start using that account more, so please head over there and check it out! I think We're getting better at this video stuff.

Carrot Cake Love Crunch Granola - Aldi

Carrot Cake Love Crunch Granola - Aldi

Well this is a little embarrassing. See this delicious looking granola? It's been in my to-review-pantry for over a year. I think I bought this March of 2014, so yeah, it's been around for quite a while. I feel like this is normal for food bloggers. Right? To have foods get misplaced or forgotten about for a while, but still review them anyway? Yeah, I bet that's totally normal. (At least that's what I'm telling myself.) The product is still good, and it's not past it's expiration, so I'm going to open it up and give it a try.

Trader Joe's Peanut Butter & Jelly Yogurt - Trader Joe's: Marlton, NJ

Trader Joe's Peanut Butter & Jelly Yogurt - Trader Joe's: Marlton, NJ

Oh hey, it's that thing I saw on the internet!

Greek yogurts are still super popular, and I'm slowly but surely being converted to the Greek side with their yummy cinnamon bun, rhubarb, watermelon, and banana flavorings, so I just had to give this a try. I mean it's a yogurt flavored like a sandwich? As a food blogger I'd feel like a failure if I didn't check something like this out. Plus I pass Trader Joe's on my way home from work every single day. It's a sign. I had to have to yogurt.

Limited Edition Yoplait Chocolate Mint Yogurt- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ (Quickie Review)

Limited Edition Yoplait Chocolate Mint Yogurt- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

It's been a long week, and I thought something like this would be a yummy but healthy treat that might satisfy my mint chocolate chip ice cream craving. How wrong I was...

Raspberry & Chocolate Parfait Greek Yogurt - Aldi: Cherry Hill, NJ

Raspberry & Chocolate Parfait Greek Yogurt - Aldi: Cherry Hill, NJ

So the last item I reviewed was a bust. Never again will I ever buy grape flavored yogurt, it just isn't for me. To reward myself for making it through that review, I thought I'd treat myself  to another yogurt, but this time it's something that's a bit more my speed.

Chobani Concord Grape Limited Batch Greek Yogurt - Walmart: Berlin, NJ

Chobani Concord Grape Limited Batch Greek Yogurt - Walmart: Berlin, NJ

It's been a while since I reviewed a Chobani flavor, I think the last one I did was the deliciously refreshing Watermelon last August, and I saw that there are currently two new flavors in their Limited Batch line, Green Tea and Concord Grape. I'm sure those some like amazing flavors to some of you, but to me, they are foodie nightmare-fuel. I am not a fan of grape flavored anything due to my childhood experiences with grape flavored medicine, and green tea is a little too earthy for my tastes. (I prefer black tea.) Neither of these appealed to me personally, but my curiosity got the better of me. After all, I've never had a grape flavored yogurt before. Maybe it could be amazing! I decided to take a risk on this one and into my handcart it went.