POM Wonderful

Juice_POMI always wondered what a Pomegranate was.  Ace picks them up in the grocery store and says “Apple!”  That’s about all I know about pomegranates until recently.

Did you know that 100% pomegranate juice by POM Wonderful has extremely high levels of anti-oxidants?

Well, first I should explain what an anti-oxidant is…but since I am not a scientist, I will quote the POM Wonderful website:

Every day, your body is exposed to free radicals, unstable molecules that can damage the cells in your body in a process often referred to as oxidative stress. Where do they come from? Everywhere. Not only does your body produce them as part of normal metabolism, there are also many external sources such as air pollution, alcohol, pesticides, sunlight, tobacco smoke, drugs and fried foods. Even our stressful lifestyles are related to excess oxidative stress. That’s where antioxidants come in. Antioxidants are scavengers that neutralize free radicals. Although your body produces its own antioxidants, they are often insufficient to protect against the total oxidative stress we all experience. In fact, scientists have already linked free radicals to many different types of diseases. Consuming a diet rich in natural antioxidants, like those that come from fruits and vegetables, may help protect against free radical damage.

When I first tasted POM Wonderful my mouth exploded with a burst of sweet and tart.  At first I was not sure if I liked it or not.  It was different.  Different than anything I have ever tasted.  The flavor was extreme!  It was not watered down.  It was for sure 100% pomegranate juice!

After I drank the first bottle, I found myself craving the second bottle.  And then the third…and finally the fourth! (They only sent me 4 bottles to review) :D

I drank 4 oz per day (1/2 bottle) every morning for 8 days. And I do have to admit that I felt better.  I’m not sure if it was the POM juice making me feel better or just the fact that I knew I was putting something good into my body.  Either way…I liked it, and it’s effects on my life!

If you would like to try some POM Wonderful you can most likely find it in your local grocery store, or you can visit the POM Wonderful Website to find a distributor near you.

The POM Wondeful Webiste also has many recipes to use the POM Wonderul juice to make all kinds of tasty treats.   I want to try the POM Velvet Cupcakes with POM Cream Cheese Frosting…!!

Disclaimer: POM Wonderful supplied me with 4 bottles of their juice to review.

Vans French Toast Sticks

Vans French Toast SticksI recently had the opportunity to review both the Homestyle and Cinnamon (Gluten Free) french toast sticks from Van’s!

Ace and I usually have breakfast on Saturday morning and let Momma sleep in.  I usally whip up some pancakes, or eggs, or even french toast, but not this past Saturday…

This past Saturday I got out the toaster and in just a few minutes we were eating Van’s French Toast Sticks.  In fact we ate an entire box on Saturday morning, and then the second whole box on Sunday morning.

The only downfall with the french toast sticks was their packaging.  The box is rather large and somewhat deceiving.  In reality the box could be about half of it’s size and still fit all six toaster size french toast stick slices.

Van's French Toast Sticks - Nutritional InfoIn fact, I think the over sized packaging may have been responsible for some of the slices being broken apart before I even opened the box.  Each slice is about the size of a slice of bread and breaks into thirds…creating three french toast sticks.   I tried putting the broken pieces into the toaster, but it would not work.  I ended up having to throw out two of the twelve slices that were sent to me.  If I had paid for this product I would not have been happy about throwing away 1/6  of what I had bought…

However, what I liked the most about these French Toast sticks was their texture.  Usually things that are frozen end up being soggy once warmed up.  The french toast sticks were not even the least bit soggy.  I cooked them on a low heat setting…and ran them through the toaster twice.  The outcome was a perfectly crisp shell covering a soft and fluffy inside.

In conclusion, I think if Van’s looks into their packaging and can guarantee that I will be able to put every single french toast stick into the toaster, then I would buy this product.  I liked them…and I didn;t hear any complaints from Ace either!  :D

Full disclosure: I received the Van’s French Toast Sticks as a sample.

EDIT: I should mention that after writing this review I received some feedback from the person who supplied the Van’s French Toast Sticks to me.  She said that the reason the French Toast Sticks broke apart is because they were shipped to me in a cooler with dry ice.  This environment was much colder that the normal storage temperature for the french toast sticks which caused them to get brittle.  She assured me that the ones you buy in the store do not have this problem.  :D