Happy Wednesday!

Let me start this morning’s post on a Gleeful note – did you guys watch last night?? I thought the songs were pretty bomb, especially the original one! If you missed it, here it is:

It’s better with the video because you can see Finn (who is all kinds of gorgeous) but unfortunately I can’t find that! Anyways…. LOVE. <3

Anyways, on to the subject of the post: Try Something New Tuesday 48! Here’s what went down:

1. Recipe of the Week: Chicken and Broccoli Salad with Almonds and Green Goddess Dressing. Whew! Long title but an oh-so-fab salad that I managed to come up with this weekend.

I seem to have a problem with using up fresh herbs before they go bad, so if you’ve got a big bundle of parsley sitting in your fridge that needs to be used ASAP, I highly recommend making some of this dressing!

2. Sun Warrior! I realize that I’m very late to the party on this one. Sun Warrior is probably the most raved-about protein powder in the blogs that I read on a regular basis, and for good reason too.

What exactly is Sun Warrior Raw Vegan Protein? Here’s what the company’s website has to say:

• At 85% protein, Sunwarrior has the highest (non soy) raw (not heated over 90 degrees) whole grain sprouted vegan protein on the market.
• By using a third generation process, we have created the best tasting vegetable protein on the market that has a silky smooth texture that blends well and tastes great compared with other chalky and grainy vegetable proteins.
• We use old world process of combining the sprouted endosperm and the bran from raw sprouted whole grain brown rice. This unique process creates the first complete hypoallergenic protein which is made up of all 9 essential amino acids and other non-essential amino acids in a perfectly balanced amino acid profile.
• 98% correlation rate to Mother’s Milk and a  98.2% digestion efficiency making it one of the highest digestibility and efficiency ratings of any other protein sources (compared to whey and soy).
• Unlike the extraction processes of other proteins, our method of extraction uses neither chemicals nor acid hydrolysis. We only use organic enzymes during the process and our process is 100% Organic Compliant.
• Naturally rich in vitamins and minerals, Sunwarrior Protein contains high amounts of antioxidants tocopherols, and tocotrienols and other essential nutrients such as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, phosphorous, iron and potassium.
• Because Sunwarrior Protein is so digestible, it can be easily assimilated by infants, the elderly and adults The World Health Organization may be using Sunwarrior Protein in the future to feed malnourished individuals, because of the hypoallergenic profile, and superior absorption that Sunwarrior has shown to have.

You may be thinking, “Wait, point 3 says this is a complete protein, but didn’t Angela’s protein powders post say rice protein isn’t complete?” and yes, you’d be right. I’m wondering the same thing – everything I’ve read says rice protein is not complete, but it sounds as though Sun Warrior’s production methods are unique. I suppose that’s part of why it’s so great!

As with any new protein powder that I try, it’s got to go through the Green Monster test. That’s exactly how I started off my day yesterday.

The mix: (For details about these ingredients, check out this post).

• 3 nuggets of frozen spinach
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1 tsp each maca root powder, flax seed, cinnamon, and guar gum
• 1 packet of Sun Warrior vanilla protein powder
• water and almond milk
• 1 packet of stevia
• ice ice baby

I can’t believe I’m about to say this, especially since about 99% of the reviews I’ve read on other blogs have been super positive, but I can’t say I enjoyed this very much! The vanilla flavour wasn’t as prominent as the usual blends that I use, so I added an extra piece of frozen banana and a bit of vanilla bean paste to try to make it taste a little better. Having said that though, I still want to try the chocolate one for the sake of comparison, and I’ll give the product credit for it’s great nutritional profile. It’s got to be one of the cleanest protein powders going!

3. Herring. You may remember that on Try Something New Tuesday 45, I tried clams for the first time. They were the canned kind, and ever since Kath inspired me to get a little more adventurous in the canned seafood aisle, I’ve been wondering about herring and what exactly these little canned beasts called herring are all about. Since Kath was 100% correct when she said sardines were awesome (which I tried here), I figured I could trust her on this one too… even though, like sardines, they’re certainly not the most attractive creatures.

I opted for Brunswick’s kippered (lightly smoked) herring, firstly because there weren’t any other options brand-wise, and secondly because Brunswick’s seafood snacks and sardines contain no preservatives, artificial flavourings or colours, hydrogenated fats or other nasties like that. In case you’re also new to herring, they’re a species of little fish that feeds mainly on plankton. Small herring are canned as sardines, and Brunswick’s Seafood Snacks contain boneless herring fillets (so if canned fish bones freak you out, this is a good alternative). This type of fish is a great source of protein and omega-3 essential fatty acids. One can contains only 130 calories and provides 16g protein, 10% of the daily recommended amount of iron and 40% of your daily vitamin D requirements.

So how did I use it? In salad form. Does that shock you?

My office lunch:

• Romaine lettuce
• 1 can kippered herring, drained
• diced carrot, celery, red pepper and sliced spring onion
• sunflower seeds
• a dressing made of olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper, parsley and dill

Not surprisingly, this tasted a lot like the Lemon-Dill Sardine Salad I made a while ago. If you can only tolerate mild fish, I don’t think you’d like herring, but if you’re into slightly stronger tasting ones, I recommend trying a can of these!

4. Simply Natural Orange Szechuan Stir-Fry Sauce.

This was one of my finds at Eating Well Organically last week. Simply Natural Asian sauces (by Chelten House) are lactose free, cholesterol free, vegan friendly, and free of trans fats. The company also makes organic salsas, salad dressings, mustard, ketchup, and pasta sauces. For this particular sauce, the list of ingredients is pretty clean as far as sauces go:

water, brown sugar, soy sauce, concentrated orange juice, red wine vinegar, mirin wine, corn starch, orange peel, tomato paste, sesame seeds, sesame oil, roasted garlic, ginger, salt, serrano chilies, cayenne pepper, flavour, xanthan gum.

Another thing I liked about this szechuan sauce was that it’s very low in sodium (180mg per 2 tbsp) compared to other Asian sauces  like rice wine vinegar and soy sauce. To test it out, I made a stir fry with a whackload of veggies and some shrimpies.

The only thing I added to the skillet other than the stir-fry sauce was minced garlic and a bit of olive oil and low-sodium vegetable broth to help soften the vegetables. The orange flavour was definitely there, but not overpowering. I expected the sauce to be a little stronger tasting than it was. Next time I’d probably add some chilies or cayenne to make it a bit more spicy, but if spicy food just isn’t for you, this would be a good option.

Alright, that’s all for me today friends! Before you take off for the day, tell me…

• Did you try anything new yesterday?
• Thoughts on Glee? What was your favourite song last night?
• Do you consider yourself an adventurous eater? What’s the weirdest/most ‘adventurous’ thing you’ve ever eaten?