Vega Shake & Go Smoothie

I was given a free sample of Vega's new line of Shake & Go Smoothie. Or should I say, "smoothie"? I'm just not able to call something a smoothie if it's not a frozen treat where ice or frozen fruit is involved. Shake, yes, smoothie, nah. Out of the 4 flavors (Bodacious Berry, Tropical Tango, Choc-o-lot, Vanilla Almondilla), I chose Tropical Tango. The 300gr pouches of the product retails at $23.95 and are available online.

Forewarning: I have never had a protein/supplement powder that I have actually liked and used continually.

It took me awhile to finally try the product. I love the idea that I can just shake it up with some water and go, especially when I haven't felt like cooking in the a.m. as of late, but these types of products don't get me excited. I don't have a lot of luck with them tasting great and something needs to taste great (or my life has to depend on it) for me to continue using something. I tried this product twice and I couldn't get over the texture. The flavor wasn't bad, it was totally doable, but there was a bit of grittiness to the smoothie. Perhaps I didn't shake it enough? What I did learn was that it gets really gross looking if you let it sit around for awhile, this is because it consists of xanthan gum.

I did give the Tropical Tango to a friend who was really interested in trying it. She had this to say:

It is great in yogurt with a banana, but it is not great w/ soy/rice/almond milk b/c it is too sweet. I haven't tried it w/ water but the sour quality of plain yogurt seems to cut down on some of the 'starburst-sweet' quality. I like it, the bag style is convenient, and I keep it in my lunch sack and when my blood sugar starts to drop at work I mix a little into a container of yogurt and it stabilizes the blood sugar much better than using just yogurt alone, actually almost as well as a high protein animal source like cheese. I would recommend it for anyone with blood sugar issues who needs pick me ups through out the day and doesn't want to use protein bars (I think this would be healthier and cheaper). anyway, thanks for the sample, it is great to have at work!

I think it's a great idea to put it in some yogurt, much better than plain water. Have you tried it? What do you think?

Thanks to the Vega people for the sample! I appreciate you guys making healthy vegan products!

Vega brings all the boys to the yard...

Well, holy crap! I haven't posted in September yet. Where does time go? Summer's just about over and I'm really ready for fall. I think. I'm sure when fall actually does start it's thing I'll be yearning for the sunny, warm days of summer. And, sure, I'll be hatin' laugh come winter. But then again, I always go home for Christmas (and hope this year isn't an exception), which is in Florida. 

So I was asked by the Vega people if I wanted to try out there smoothie nutrition powders. At first I hesitated. I'm not big on those powders and I don't make smoothies that much. I always have frozen banana and other fruit in my freezer, but for some reason the idea of making a smoothie in my easy-to-use-easy-to-clean Magic Bullet just never seems like fun. There's a mental block there and I haven't found a way to get around that.

In any case, I decided I would like to try them out. For future reference, at least. Who knows, maybe I would fall in love with it and actually get into making smoothies. My friend Corinn has been making smoothies a lot and has been using a rice protein powder, so I thought she'd be interested in trying the powder with me. 

I was sent packets of Vega's Whole Food Smoothie Infusion and a booklet with recipes with various ways of using it. I made a green smoothie with mine, but I only used a half packet because I already was using greens in my smoothie. It wasn't awesome, still had that slightly chalky flavor that protein powders have, *but* it's definitely the best one I've ever had. It wasn't as Smarties-tasting as the VegLife's Supreme Meal is. The girl from 'Awesome.Vegan.Rad.' (<----love this blog) used the brownie recipe they gave and made her own adjustments to it and said they were great. It seems like an excellent way to help you pretend that brownies are good for you. It's like when I put pom juice in my cocktails....

Corinn told me that she liked the powder as well, by the way. 

Greeeeeeen Smoothie

I mixed it with orange juice, frozen banana, a little agave, teeny  bite of vanilla extract, spinach and kale.