iHerb order 06/07/2014

Another iHerb order arrived for me this week. Just a little one this time.

Purchases in this order:

Dang Coconut Chips - a must have every order.

Now Acai Powder - I ran out of my last Acai, and the one I bought last time was sold out, so I decided to try a new brand.

Slender Sticks - A zero calorie flavor to add to water, new product for me

Miracle Rice - I've heard a lot about this, so decided to try this zero calorie rice. Let's just say, the small globdules of rice in the thick watery package doesn't excactly appeal to me. Will be interesting to see what it's like...!

That's it or this order, I'll be back to review the slender sticks and miracle rice.

Remember to use my code LDJ484 to get a discount at iherb.

Review: Artisana Coconut Butter

In my most recent iherb order (which is quite a while ago...I am in need for another!) I decided to try coconut butter. I never really liked coconut oil, so thought I might like this better. I love coconut.

To be honest, it's not a whole lot different to coconut oil. It does have more of a coconut taste, but the texture is only slightly softer.

It is often used as an oil replacement when cooking, and supposedly this butter version is better for spread. It can also be added to smoothies, energy bars and more.

My favourite way is to spread it onto crackers or toast and sprinkle cinnamon over top.

This raw, organic food is made only from whole coconut flesh. 

A serving size is 2 Tbsp (32g):

Nutrition: 186 calories, 18g fat (16g saturated), 7g carbs, 5g fibre, 1.9g sugar, 2g protein, 10mg sodium.

Obviously high in fat, it is low sugar and has a good amount of fibre.

Taste: A mild coconut taste. You can taste it a lot more than coconut oil, so I prefer it.

Texture: I wouldn't really describe it as "butter" it's more of a softer version of the oil. You can always warm it up to make it smoother. It melts in your mouth, which is nice.

Value: Pretty expensive, but it is raw and organic. I bought it for $11.05 USD on iherb for 454g (16 oz)

Overall: 6/10

It's just okay. For those looking for an alternative to butter and oil, it will be great for those who love coconut and want that subtle taste added to their food. It's good to have in the cupboard, and I prefer this over coconut oil. But I don't think I will be using it too often.

Want to try it out for yourself? You can get your own here, and use my code LDJ484 to get 5-10% off your first iHerb order.

Review: Sambazon Organic Freeze-Dried Acai Powder

In one of my recent iHerb orders, I finally decided to try out Acai powder. It's a pretty popular superfood, but I wasn't really what sure what to do with it. It's a purple berry that grows in the Amazon forest and is used in smoothies, yoghurt, and other drinks.

The brand I got is Sambazon, it was $18.49 for 90g, which serves 30. 

Acai (pronounced A-sigh-ee) provides powerful antioxidants and helps boost your immune system.

So far I have added it to my smoothies and greek yoghurt.

It's purple in colour, and to be kept in the fridge after opening. It comes with a little scoop, which is so cute, and handy.



Nutrition: 20 calories, 1.5g fat (Omega 6 and 9), 1g carbs, and plenty of vitamins and minerals.

Taste: It's not a sweet powder, so you would want to add some sweetener too if you have a

sweet tooth. It just tastes like what it is - dried berry. It's a little bit dull, so I think it really depends what you mix it with.

Texture: It does have a bit of a powdery texture, but mixes in well with yoghurts and drinks.

Value: While quite pricey for a reasonably small tub, I think it will last me quite a while. A little goes quite a long way.

Overall: 6.5/10

I don't know if I would purchase this again, as the taste isn't really my thing, but if it really does boost your immune system

If you want to purchase Acai berry you can purchase from here, and get a 5-10% discount off your first iHerb order by using my discount code LDJ484.

Review: Dang - Toasted Coconut Chips

These chips are so good. I can't find anything like it for sale here, so every time I make an iHerb order I get these.

You can eat them as is, or add them to your oats, cereal, yoghurt, salad etc.

Nutrition: 115 calories, 7g fat (7g saturated), 12g carbs (3g fibre, 8g sugar), 1g protein, 115mg

Ingredients: Coconut, Sugar, Salt

Taste: Since these are coconut chips, they obviously have a very strong coconut flavour, so anyone who doesn't like coconut will not like these. They are quite sweet, so you can taste the sugar in them, but it's not overly sweet.

Texture: They are the same texture as chips, although in this lot I did find there were a couple that were a bit hard.

Value: These cost $4.59 USD on iHerb plus whatever you pay for shipping. So to me, that is quite pricey for only 90g/3.17oz but definitely worth it. There is another brand of coconut chips on iHerb that is cheaper, but I much prefer these.

Overall: 9/10

The only complaint I have about these is the price/value of the product. But any coconut lovers must try these.

You can buy them here, remember to use my code LDJ484 for a discount on your first order.

Review: Cookies and Cream Quest Bar & Recipe

I tried my first quest bars about a year ago on my trip across the states, and I wasn't a huge fan. I felt like the bars and their taste was a bit over-hyped. Lets just say, I don't crave them. 

But then I bought a box of cookie dough quest bars, and learnt a new way to eat them....bake them into cookies!

So, this meant that Cookie Dough, White Chocolate and Raspberry, and now Cookies and Cream are actually pretty good. Read below for the recipe.

Now for the review.

Quest bars are a protein bar that are gluten free, high in fibre, and come in a variety of different flavours.

Taste: They have a strange taste, and it does have a slight artificial taste. You can taste the cookies and cream for sure. 

Texture: It has little bits of crushed up cookie in it, as well as some cookie chunks, and chunks of the "cream". Quest bars themselves can be a little hard depending where they are kept. Some people put them in the microwave for a few seconds so they soften up. 

Nutrition: 180 calories, 7g fat (3g saturated), 22g carbs (17g fibre, 1g sugar), 21g protein, 310mg sodium

A good amount of calories for a bar, reasonable fat, high carb - however if you are a net carb counter the carbs are quite low because of the fibre, low sugar, high protein, and moderate sodium. A good snack bar for on the go, after a workout.

Ingredients: The main ingredient is whey protein isolate. Other notable ingredients are; water, almonds, cocoa butter, erythritol, and small amounts of other ingredients.

Overall: 7/10

In comparison to other quest bars I have tried this is probably a little down the list. Nothing beats cookie dough flavour...However if you love quest bars and cookies and cream flavour I think this would be a good option for you.

If you want to try these, you can buy them from iHerb here. Remember to use my code LDJ484 for a discount on your first order!


Recipes: Cookies and Cream Protein Cookies 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius (350 farenheit).
2. Cut quest bar into 5-6 pieces and spread out onto a plate. Make sure they have a bit of room between them, as they melt a little bit.

3. Microwave for 10-20 seconds depending on the strength of your microwave. You just want them to be soft.

4. Pick up a piece and mould into a cookie shape.

5. Place them on a baking tray (still with space inbetween them....they puff up a bit).

6. Bake for 5-8 minutes...you pretty much have to watch them the whole time. They will go from uncooked to burnt fairly quickly.

7. Ta-da! Protein Cookies and Cream Cookies.

iHerb Order Arrived! 22/04/14

I ordered my latest iherb order on Good Friday and it arrived on Tuesday morning! All the way to New Zealand. 

• Roasted coconut chips
• Coconut Butter
• White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter
• Stacey's Pita Cinnamon Sugar Chips
• Acai Powder
• Cacao Powder

I probably shouldn't admit that the pita chips are gone already....

I have tried all but the cacao powder. So I will have a few blog posts over the next week reviewing some of my purchases.

Looking forward to another long weekend starting tomorrow for ANZAC day.

iHerb - Online Shopping, Worldwide Shipping

It's no secret that my favourite online shop is iHerb. They sell a huge range of health foods, beauty products, supplements and more.

I finally placed another order today for the first time in a while! It's like Christmas when the box arrives :)

My most common purchases are: roasted coconut chips, cinnamon sugar pita chips, white chocolate wonderful peanut butter (a must for pb lovers), and quest bars.

In today's order I have a few new things to try out, so I'm looking forward to getting them - I'll be blogging about them here!

At the moment it seems they are having a 5% discount on all orders over $60 which is good. You can also get an extra 5% or 10% discount off your first order by clicking here.

Shipping is pretty good too, people have mixed reviews with the delivery times but I never pay much more than $8 per order and usually get it within a week (I have had a couple of orders which took 2 weeks, but it doesn't seem like that is very common).

Word of warning...you will find most of your wage going on this website after your first order!