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My mama always told me that variety is the spice of life! Well, maybe it wasn’t my mama that said it, but it’s something I live by! I LOVE drinking my Shakeology every morning, but I also like to try new and different things!

Recently, I came across these flavorings from Bakto. I had already been using other various extracts to make new flavor combination, but when I saw the variety of flavors from Bakto, I decided to give them a try! So here is my review of the Batko extracts.

I decided to purchase the set Bakto Flavors Protein Shake Power Collection -Natural Flavors for a couple of reasons: 

1. Amazon Prime with free 2 day shipping
2. White cake batter, yellow cake batter, and butter pecan were at the top of my “must try” list.

The box came with six different flavors: banana, butter pecan, chocolate, raspberry, white cake batter, and yellow cake batter. They come in 1 oz bottles, which is the perfect size for the variety, and were packed very well in the box.

Some uses:

1. Shakes

 

This is my favorite recipe of all. I used vegan chocolate Shakeology, 1 cup frozen cotton candy grapes, 8 oz unsweetened almond milk, and 1 teaspoon of yellow cake batter extract. It was super sweet and I thought I was drinking brownie batter with two exceptions: 1) It was a lot HEALTHIER than brownie batter and 2) I didn’t have to wait for the oven to preheat to enjoy it. (It’s the simple things in life).

The butter pecan was another delightful concoction. I used Shakeology, 8 oz unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 teaspoon butter pecan extract, and 1/8 cup unsweetened coconut flakes.

With the banana extract, I used chocolate Shakeology, 8 oz unsweetened almond milk, and 1 teaspoon of banana extract. The banana was just okay for me compared to the others, so in the future I may use it in a recipe for baking instead.

You can also see some of my other recipes here and here.

2. Coffee

For the chocolate extract, I haven’t used it in a shake yet (my shakes are already chocolate!), so instead I put it in my coffee with some unsweetened almond milk (instead of creamer) and a little stevia. It was super delicious, as was the raspberry extract. (Again, I used 1 teaspoon of extract).

My thoughts:

I love these extracts and will definitely be buying them again! I’m not as big of a fan of the banana and raspberry flavors, but the cake extracts were sooooo delicious. Also, I enjoyed chocolate in my coffee, and will soon try the chocolate extract in a different flavor of Shakeology. I love that the flavors are natural, although a few of their other flavors (such as caramel) do contain sugar (I guess to make caramel “natural” you have to use sugar to make it happen. However, the amount would be so trivial that I doubt it’d make a dent into your macros).

For more information on the product, click the box below and it will take you directly to the Amazon page (in another tab!)

 

Meal planning…it can be such an overwhelming task! With so many options, you just feel the need to try it all. But it takes so much time to pick, shop, and prepare! I’ve discovered the easiest way to meal plan that is going to save you TIME and MONEY, and keep you healthy in the process!

How it saves time:

1. You’re picking fewer options, so it’s requiring less time to think through and finding new items to fill in gaps on your menu.
2. There is less prep time, as you can make bigger batches to reheat and re-use throughout the week.

How it saves money:

1. You are buying fewer ingredients!
2. Since you are preparing for fewer options, you can limit yourself to what is on sale. (See this post on how to meal prep using sales flyers).
3. You can buy in bulk, potentially saving even more money.

The method of madness:

It’s called “Pick two”. So for each meal or snack during the week, instead of seven different options, pick two instead.

Here are some examples:

Breakfast:

Pick two options: Mini veggie egg muffins and 21 Day Fix French Toast.

Plan out the egg muffins on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday have French Toast.

Snacks:

Pick two different fruits and two different veggies to snack on throughout the week and rotate them out.

Dinner:

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken and Crockpot Bulgogi (Korean BBQ Beef  and alternate days. OR instead of picking two dinners, pick four and make enough for leftovers for lunch the next day!

 

 

Food. There’s so much good food out there. Some of it’s so delicious that you feel guilty for even looking at it! Food is meant to be enjoyed without guilt! Do you have a recipe that you LOVE, but want to make some cleaner, healthier swaps? Here are some suggestions to help get started:

1. Sweeteners

Ditch the following:

Sugar, Brown sugar, corn syrup, aspartame, chocolate chips, and sucralose

Instead, use the following:

Honey, Pure maple syrup, agave nectar, applesauce, pure vanilla extract, bananas, cocoa nibs, and stevia

2. Fats

Ditch the following:

Canola oil, mayonnaise, butter, margarine

Instead, use the following:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Natural peanut butter, avocado, greek yogurt, chia seeds, flax meal

3. Dairy

Ditch the following:

Sour cream, non-greek yogurt, pre-sweetened yogurts, cream

Instead, use the following:

Plain Greek yogurt, evaporated milk, unsweetened almond milk, unsweetened soy milk, cashew milk

4. Flours

Ditch the following:

All purpose flour, corn starch

Instead, use the following:

Whole wheat flour, black beans, coconut flour

Looking for specific swap outs or quantities? Join the discussion on facebook! Click here to join our free health and fitness group, where we share recipes and tips for healthy living.

 

You get to work, and realize you left your well-packed lunch at home. You start to panic as you rack your brain for what to have at lunch. Do you go out? Do you starve, then later raid the vending machine? Here are some options to consider if you happen to be near a grocery store that require little to no prep (and a much better alternative to fast food!)

Proteins:

Hard boiled eggs. Ready to eat. Many convenience stores have also started carrying these two-packs.

 

These options below were found in the deli section, and can also be a reasonable option. However, compare sodium content between your options. With the sodium levels, you’ll definitely want to make this an occasional lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fruits and Veggies:

Fruits and Veggies are GREAT and easy to graband go. Plus, many of them can be bought individually, so you don’t have to worry about leftovers. (Just don’t eat any dipping sauces that may come with the pre-packaged produce!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starches:

It was hard to choose something with this category because really you have two options:

1) Choose a single item from the bakery that is loaded with extra calories and fluff.

2) Buy an entire package of wraps, loaf of bread, etc. and bring the leftovers home.

What about pre-packaged meals (sandwiches, salads, etc)?

Seeing a pre-made salad or a sandwich at the front of the deli is very tempting to grab, but I would exercise caution. Take an extra moment to read the labels and decide if it would be a good choice. Is there dressing already mixed in? Can you get a healthier dressing option on the side? Is there cheese? What other “extras” are in the item?

After last night’s post of my Crockpot Buffalo Chicken recipe, I immediately started getting feedback regarding sodium. This morning I took a little field trip to the local grocery store and decided to do a little label research.

I made a couple of discoveries:

1) Serving size varied from type to type. While the taste is not drastically different between hot sauce and wing sauce, the serving size changed the number.

2) When equaling out the serving size (for this experiment, I calculated the serving size to be one tablespoon, or 15 ml). This evened out the playing field for the sodium content.

Here are the five brands that I decided to compare:

1. Frank’s RedHot Original

In this case, the serving size was 1 teaspoon according to the label. If you look at the sodium (190 grams), it doesn’t seem *too* bad, but if you bump it up to a tablespoon, you’re looking at 570 mg of sodium!

2. Srirachi HOT Chili Sauce

Same case re: serving size as Frank’s RedHot Original sauce. However, check out the sodium – only 240 mg for a tablespoon. That is less than half to the Frank’s brand.

3. Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce

At 460 mg per serving, Frank’s Buffalo sauce has less that it’s Original recipe. While my intent was not to compare other ingredients, you can notice that some additives (canola oil, preservatives, etc) have been added to this recipe.

4. Price Chopper Wing Sauce (local grocery store)

So this one came really close to the Srirachi sauce in regards to sodium content at 260 mg per serving. It also happened to be the cheapest of all of the brands. However, if you take a good look at the ingredient list, you’ll notice a LOT of additives (margarine, HFCS, preservatives, etc).

and finally:

5) McIlhenny Co. Tabasco Pepper Sauce

 

This is clearly the winner of them all. Not only is it limited to 3 ingredients, but it sports a mere 105 mg of sodium per tablespoon serving. Now, I just have to figure out how to convert that for my buffalo recipes!