Sunday, October 24, 2010

E & M: Nature’s Pride Review & Oatmeal Apple Butter Toffee Chip Cookies

E: Hope you guys are enjoying your weekend. Mine has been wonderful so far! I had a date night with Josh, taught body step, went to brunch with Lindsay at Charleston’s Cafe:

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and had a great time at the party we attended Saturday night.

Nature’s Pride & Food Buzz recently sent Mandi and I two of their new breads to review, Oven Classics Oatmeal and 100% Whole Wheat (disclaimer: we received the bread for FREE, but the opinions are our own). I sampled the Oatmeal:

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(source: Nature’s Pride Website)

and Mandi took on the 100% Whole Wheat:

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(source: Nature’s Pride Website)

Friday night, I used the bread to make “fancy” grilled cheese for Josh and I. I toasted the bread up under the broiler and topped his with hummus, artichokes, spinach and sharp provolone cheese:

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My open faced sandwich consisted of tomatoes, avocado & sharp provolone (the cheese melted and made the sandwich look a little weird, but I promise it was awesome): bread 008

We also had fruit and V8 butternut squash soup on the side.

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A delicious and easy Friday night meal. Now, maybe I’ve been eating too many Arnold’s thins, but this bread was awesome. Thick and flavorful. It tasted super fresh and even Josh commented on how awesome it was (he asked for a second sandwich when he was done with the first).

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M: Seriously, the minute I opened the bag, the first thing I noticed was the smell of sweet nutty bread! The second you pick up a slice, you can see this bread is super soft and smooth. So, let's say it's a Friday night and you have nothing planned for dinner and it's already quickly approaching dinner time. You don't want something too heavy or greasy. What do you do? You take some of this incredible, all natural bread and make some good ol' BLT's!

I usually always have some bacon, tomatoes, and lettuce laying around. So, I quickly cooked up slices of bacon, thickly sliced some yellow and red tomato, and tore off some LARGE leaves of butter lettuce. I thought I wanted to throw in a little something extra, so instead of the normal mayo, I whipped up Ina Garten's basil mayo - it was the perfect compliment to the tomatoes and the nutty bread!

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The final product - and let me say, these slices are slightly larger than the normal slice of bread, so it held our sandwiches verrrrry nicely!

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All in all, we loved this bread. It was smooth and soft, was perfect toasted, slightly nutty, and had such a great taste that I can definitely imagine anyone with kids would easily be able to get them to eat whole wheat very easily with Nature's Pride Whole Wheat =) The added bonus to their whole wheat loaf is that it has 25% less sodium than regular whole wheat bread, 19 grams of whole grains, and 5 grams of protein per SLICE! I will definitely be making Bryan's sandwiches for work this week with the rest of this yummy loaf!

E: A BIG thank you to Nature’s Pride & Food Buzz for letting us give this bread a go! I will definitely be purchasing in the future.

As a side note, I made up three cookie recipes for the party on Saturday night: My own Peanut Butter Flour Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Jessica’s (Not) Red Velvet Cookies, and a fun new Oatmeal Apple Butter Toffee Chip cookie. I have made notes below on how to veganize the cookies. They are really delicious and perfect for fall.

Oatmeal Apple Butter Toffee Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

Wet:

  • 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons butter (or earth balance), softened
  • 1/4 cup applesauce
  • 1/4 cup apple butter

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  • 1 egg (or 1 tablespoon flax mixed with 3 tablespoons water)
  • 1 teaspoons vanilla

Dry:

  • 2 cups uncooked oats
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Chips:

  • 1 cup toffee or cinnamon chips (or vegan chips of your choice or nuts)

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Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Use a mixer to blend together wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, hand mix together dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet and use mixer to combine. Hand mix in chips.

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Spoon rounded tablespoons full of dough onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Makes ~ 2 dozen big puffy cookies.

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And the final plate:

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M & I are off to the Tosh Tour! Back tomorrow with a full report.

Don't forget to enter our Fresh Express and Itzy’s Kitchen baked goods giveaway! Just leave a comment in this previous post!

24 comments:

Unknown said...

i love a hearty oatmeal bread--- the textures are what makes it for me!

Krista said...

Both of your sandwiches make the bread sound/look divine! And the cookies....YUM! The platter of treats looks awesome, Erica!

The Purple Carrot said...

I agree ... you both made delicious sounding sandwiches! :)

hbobier said...

I'm a big fan of oatmeal bread..glad to hear you liked it, too!

And that last picture of the cookie spread looks absolutely amazing. Those are some mean baking skills you've got there...

tam said...

The cookies the cookies! They sound to good to be true! x x

Anonymous said...

The bread looks great, I might see if they'll ship some over to the UK for me. And those cookies, OMG yum on a plate. Thanks for the recipe :) xxx

Unknown said...

Mmm, cookies. good enough to eat ;)

Kjirsten- Balanced Healthy Life said...

I've never had that bread before, but have been hearing about it a lot lately. And, those cookies look fantastic!

Tiffany @ The Chi-Athlete said...

OH MY LORD! Lol NOM NOM NOM!

Aggie said...

Oh wow those sammies and cookies look awesome!! Hope you girls are having a great weekend!

Julie said...

oh i LOVE the new cookie recipe! thanks girl :)

mmm i've had a grilled cheese sammie on the brains for so long! grilled cheese and soup are like the ultimate winter meal especially when you don't feel like cooking! nature's pride is so yummy and i love how thick and fresh it tastes! thanks for the reviews girls!

Maria said...

Great sandwiches and I HAVE to try those cookies:)

Pound said...

interesting cookies, will give them a whirl. are they better than regular oatmeal or oatmeal choc chip?

Corey @ the runner's cookie said...

The sandwiches look delicious! Something about chilly fall weather makes warm grilled sandwiches so appealing :)

Katie said...

I love fancy grilled cheese! I think I have some of those loaves coming, too, and I can't wait to try them out!

Glad you had a nice weekend :-)

Kerstin said...

I've missed so much - very cool you have a new blogging buddy! The cookies all look so yummy and I'm glad you both enjoyed the bread!

Heather said...

I love bread. It's seriously my downfall!!
And those oatmeal cookies look divine! Clever combination. :)

Lindsay @ http://pancakesnpajamas.blogspot.com/ said...

The sandwiches look killer! I'm always up for a good BLT. Brunch was fabulous..but when is it not?? Can't wait for Greek Wednesday.

CaSaundraLeigh said...

Sometimes nothing hits the spot like a big hunk of bread--glad you enjoyed the loafs you got! And all of the cookies?! Heavenly!

Samantha Angela @ Bikini Birthday said...

Those cookies sound awesome! So many yummy ingredients!

Holly said...

Oh my gosh - so much yumminess in this post! I LOVE melted provolone....it makes any sandwich better, right? :-) And that is my fave V8 soup, too. I need to pick some up since I've been craving nothing but soups lately.

I LOVE toffee so those cookies are right up my alley!

Sarah said...

I prefer your grilled cheese to Josh's, that combo sounds soo good!! I haven't gotten to try any Nature's Pride except the hamburger and hot dog buns; I don't see them all the time in the store but will keep my eye out. Unfortunately Ray turns up his nose at anything but white bread :( and I don't eat much bread so I don't buy these kind of loaves often and keep them in the freezer.

Those cookies sound AMAZING!!! What a delicious combination. I love apple butter, store bought and homemade. I used to love apple butter on my pancakes when I was little.

Lea @ Healthy Coconut said...

I bought Nature's Pride loaf recently and really loved it.

I used it to make Chocolate Bread Pudding, yummy! I got the loaf with the nuts, great texture.

I love that you two are tag team, more blogging fun and recipes in one.

Natalie said...

love love LOVE the sound of those cookies!! Great recipe!