Artisana Nut Butters

* This giveaway is closed *

Today seems like it has been taking forever. I am already ready for the three day weekend that is coming up and it's only Monday. Help!

If you remember from yesterday's post, I had mentioned that when I went home on Saturday that there were a bunch of packages waiting for me. There were so many that it felt like Christmas all over again!

One of the packages contained some goodies from Artisana Organic Foods. The package contained 2 jars of their nut butters and 8 different single serving squeeze packs. This was my first time trying anything like this and so far, so good! I'm not really sure what to use the coconut butter with but their site has some recipes that use the butters so I am going to have to do some searching. If you have any great recipe ideas, please share!

The best thing about the Artisana Nut Butters is that their factory contains no peanut, gluten, dairy or soy products at all which makes all of their products very safe for those with food allergies. In the package they also sent a little guide that tells you which Nut Butter tastes best with certain foods and which ones work great in recipes. I took their advice and tried the Almond Butter with a banana today for a post-workout snack.

It was pretty good. The butter had a gritty texture to it and tasted exactly like almonds. The Almond Butter was great to have right after a workout because it had 7 grams of protein! And get this, the only ingredient in it was Organic Raw Almonds! If you are an almond lover and a butter lover then this is perfect for you.

If you are loving my feedback so far, then you are in the right place! One lucky reader will receive 1-8oz jar of butter (any flavor) and the single serving squeeze packs as part of the New Years Resolutions Giveaway!

How to enter

Mandatory: Leave a comment telling me which Nut Butter you would choose if you won

Optional: Tweet about this giveaway "I want to win the @ArtisanaFoods giveaway from @trufflesntread http://trufflesntreadmills.blogspot.com/2013/01/artisana-nut-butters.html" and leave an additional comment saying that you did

A winner will be chosen on Wednesday!

Disclaimer: I received these products free of charge, however all opinions are my own.

                                                                                                                                                            

Workout

Today is the day that I am officially starting my half-marathon training. I have been running off and on recently (more off than on it seems like) but last night I made up a training plan and I am going to stick with it! I will make it look all pretty later this week and post it so you can all see what I'm up to.

In the book for today was strength and cross training. For my cross training I did the stair stepper for 15 minutes and then headed over to the kettle bells for some strength moves. Most people don't even touch the kettle bells because they have no idea what to do with them but they are super versatile and can be used for a number of workouts. I did squats, kettle bell swings, and rows. I completed 10 reps/3 sets of each workout and was feeling good. After I looked up some different exercises that can be done with kettle bells and found this great site for a full body kettle bell workout. I think I am going to have to incorporate these into my workouts more often.