Happy Hump Day! Since it is Wednesday, it is time to link up with Jenn for What I Ate Wednesday!

Peas and Crayons

Today, I was on a cooking roll…

For breakfast, Keenan and I had No Oat Oatmeal with chopped spinach added, sliced strawberries and a dollop of almond butter on top. I accidentally cooked it a little too long, so the consistency wasn’t as smooth as I like, but it still tasted good! Keenan liked it because he finished his in a matter of minutes! It was funny, he kept saying, “Mommy put salad in it!”

For lunch, I made Keenan some pasta using Fiber Gourmet elbow noodles with pasta sauce and leftover chicken from our dinner last night. He also had some Italian Carrots and a few slices of a pluot that he and I shared.

For my lunch, I made an open-faced turkey sandwich with tomato, half of an avocado and some pasta sauce. It was tasty!

In addition, I made another batch of Italian Carrots for Keenan this morning, as well as preparing tonight’s dinner.

For dinner, we had Turkey Meat Loaf in the Crock Pot, with roasted butternut squash and an apple walnut salad. Since I had some leftover salsa, I made the meat loaf Mexican inspired, using cumin, oregano, a little chili powder, fresh garlic and salsa (omitting the feta cheese, basil Italian seasoning and sun dried tomatoes).  We added a little chili garlic sauce on top for some added zip. It was delish!

For our salads, I used romaine lettuce, a fresh gala apple (diced), crumbled apple chips, roasted walnuts and feta cheese. For the dressing, I mixed a little champagne and balsamic vinegars with olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Overall, dinner was tasty and everyone enjoyed it! Also, as an added bonus to tonight’s dinner, everything was done as soon as we got home from CrossFit. I just love crock-pot/make ahead meals!

At CrossFit tonight, we had a great gymnastics WOD of pullups, handstand pushups (HSPU) and wall walks: 10 HSPU, 25 pullups, 5 wall walks, 25 pullups, 7 wall walks, 25 pullups, 9 wall walks and 10 HSPU. Though my shoulders will probably feel it tomorrow, it was a good WOD. I finished in 16 minutes and 8 seconds, not too bad.

Before I talk about Fiber Gourmet, I have to say my son is officially into bugs! As we were playing outside this morning, he found a couple of beetles and was fascinated by them! He just picked them up, held them in his hand and walked around with them. He kept saying, “Holding the beetles!” So, needless to say (no matter if I like it or not), I guess this is the beginning to the lovely world of collecting bugs….

Now onto Fiber Gourmet!

A couple of weeks ago, I received a package from the very generous folks at Fiber Gourmet. They sent a box of their half-calorie everything crackers and a box of their light elbow noodles. I was so excited to try their products, because I had heard so many good things about them. They are a food technology company based in Miami Beach, Florida. Their focus is on making low-calorie, high-fiber foods that not only taste good, but are good for you. They make pasta, crackers and cake taste like the “regular versions,” but with ten times the amount of fiber and much lower in calories! They use their own unique technology to add large amounts of insoluble fiber, called “resistant starch” (which is calorie free) to increase the fiber content, while lowering the calories by 40%. The “resistant starch” tastes like starch, but works like fiber in our bodies.

With that said, the nutrition labels for their products are so different than regular pasta, even whole wheat. For their pasta, a 2 oz. cooked portion contains 130 calories, 18 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein! In contrast, whole wheat pasta contains on average, 200 calories and only 4-5 grams of fiber with barely any protein. Their crackers contain 70 calories in each 30 gram pouch with 12 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein. Also, the ingredient lists for all of their products are pretty minimal: Durum semolina flour, modified wheat starch, and wheat gluten for their pasta. For their crackers, the ingredients are: Modified Wheat Starch (resistant starch), flour, vital wheat gluten, palm and/or canola oil, wheat germ, sugar, salt, honey, molasses, baking powder, guar gum and any spices.

When my husband and I tried the crackers for our “at home date night” a couple of weeks ago with some Gouda cheese as our appetizer, we were both impressed. He was definitely not looking forward to trying the “healthy crackers,” as he called them, but was pleasantly surprised! The crackers were light and crispy and definitely did not taste like a “healthy” cracker. They sure did not taste like you were consuming 12 grams of fiber! My husband liked them so much, that he practically finished the entire box of crackers that night!

When we made the elbow noodles, we were once again impressed. The noodles looked and cooked like regular pasta (not requiring a longer amount of time like whole wheat pasta), and the best part of all, they tasted great! My husband and Keenan loved them! We will definitely eat these noodles again. Since I’m half Italian, I grew-up on fresh pasta, so I have to say, I’m thrilled to see pasta that tastes pretty darn close to the real thing, but contains far less calories and is loaded with fiber! All, in all, I highly recommend Fiber Gourmet and I can’t wait to try more of their products! You can find some of their products in specialty grocery stores, or you can buy directly from them online, or through amazon.

Since Fiber Gourmet was so generous, they offered to send one lucky reader a box of their choice: a sampler pack of pasta or a case of crackers!

To enter the giveaway, please follow the steps below:

1. Leave a comment on this post stating which product you would like to try: a sampler pack of pasta or a case of crackers.

(Optional) Earn an extra entry by:

1. Like Fit ‘N’ Well Mommy’s Facebook page

2. Follow Fit ‘N’ Well Mommy on Twitter: @FitNWellMommy

3. Post on YOUR Facebook page or Tweet, “I want to win a sampler pack of pasta or a case of crackers from Fiber Gourmet and Fit ‘N’ Well Mommy!”

4. Follow Fit ‘N’ Well Mommy by email

*Make sure to leave a second comment on this post with your Facebook post, Tweet, like or following, in order for your extra entry/entries to be counted!

The giveaway ends Tuesday, November 13th at 8 p.m. PST!! Good luck!

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