BzzAgent Giz on DanActive

Have you heard or are familiar with the term "probiotics". When I ask people what they think probiotics are the usual answer is "I'm not entirely sure but I know it's good for you". Ok, so at least part of the message gets through.

Research shows that we need to have “friendly” bacteria in our bodies to remain healthy. One such type of beneficial bacteria is probiotic bacteria. Probiotic bacteria inhibits the growth of disease-causing bacteria, particularly those responsible for gastrointestinal infections and bowel disease. These live bacteria also help in strengthening the immune system. Nearly 70% of your natural defnses are located in your intestines

Although not an end all and be all we're all well advised to at least research the benefits of probiotics and if they will work for us. That's why, when contacted by BzzAgent to do a report on Danone DanActive Drink, it fed right into my interest in learning more about probiotics and how they work with a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. I did receive a coupon to try the product with several more to give away for others to try.



According to the literature from Danone, DanActive contains 10 billion L. case/Defensis friendly bacteria in each bottle, a culture created and used exclusively by Danone which helps maintain your natural defenses. I'm not entirely sure what that means and/or how to measure that in terms of effectiveness.

Danone Group is an international company and you'll see their products on your grocery store shelves in most countries using the same name. The product comes in 4, 8 and 12 pack 99 ml containers.

I did two things - firstly I drank one bottle straight up. It reminded me of liquid yogurt with a bit of a tang to the taste. What I liked about the bottle is that it's small enough to fit into my purse and if I'm out having an active day it's an easy tag along. Then I decided to use it with my morning smoothie. My fruit combination was banana, strawberry, blueberry (same flavour as the DanActive drink) and papaya.

Then blend it with the immersion blender

and voila - a delightful breakfast smoothie

The 4 pack sells in the stores in a range from $2.88 - $3.99 and comes in a variety of flavours. Have you tried it?

Stuffed Salsa Pork Tenderloin

For frequent followers of Equal Opportunity Kitchen, you may remember me talking about being a BzzAgent. BzzAgents are voluntary word of mouth marketers who test a product, write a review and share the news. If it's not ringing a bell, make sure to check them out here . As agents you are introduced to several "campaigns" and have the opportunity to chose as they come available. A recent campaign from Canadian Pork Producers interested me. I've never been particularly shy about sharing that I've always had a fear of pork. I just really had no idea how to cook it since it's never been a meat source familiar in my diet. This campaign has made a huge difference to both my ability to cook pork and also my interest in wanting to try different cuts.



The label indicates that the store bought cut of meat is Canadian raised. Perfect! It's important to support our local farmers.

Off I went certain that finding Canadian raised pork would be no problem to find in any of Toronto’s major supermarket chains. I must say I was shocked and rather dismayed when I went into a Loblaws Superstore and found not a single indicator of any of the meat products being Canadian. It must be some mistake I thought so I went to the meat counter and asked the clerk where the Canadian raised beef and pork was. She looked at me with bleary eyes and continued to tell me that Loblaws was a Canadian grocery chain. Pretty sly I thought so I went back at her and said where are labels on the Canadian pork? Her response : “We don’t carry that kind of pork, just what’s in the cooler”. Still not satisfied I asked, “so does that mean that your meat products are NOT Canadian? Her response – “just what’s on the shelf ma’am”. By this time I was getting annoyed – firstly for being called ma’am – what the heck does that mean? More importantly, a chain the size of Loblaws that has flags throughout the store touting “1000 Canadian Flavours” is rather misleading when it seems that their products aren’t Canadian. So I said “thank you ma’am (I had to do it) and left the store. It’s all about Canadian pork so I felt I really had to be true to the program.

My message to Canadian Pork producers – lean more heavily on Loblaws. For those of us who care about supporting our local economy, Loblaws can only lose by not supporting local farmers. Being the big mouth that I am, I’ve made a point of sharing this information with several of my friends who were also rather surprised. We’re all rethinking where we actually do our grocery shopping.

Look for the sticker!!!
Tell everyone to look for the Canadian pork sticker when at the store. If they don't see a sticker, they can ask the meat manager where the pork is from. After all, that will help your friends find the Canadian pork they're looking for!

Salsa Stuffed Pork Tenderloin



Ingredients

1 Pork Tenderloin 12-16 oz
1 Heaping Tablespoon garlic (minced)
1 Heaping Tablespoon dried (or fresh) parsley
1/3 - 1/2 cup medium salsa
Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Remove silverskin from tenderloin

2. Cut pork lengthwise to open it like a book (not all the way through)
3. Mix together garlic, parsley, salsa and pepper.


Fill tenderloin (moderately)

4. Fold over the tenderloin and hold together with toothpicks. Tip: Put the toothpicks in on the long side and not up and down otherwise you'll have some challenges on the grill.
5. Place on medium high grill and turn just until there's a slight bit of pink on the inside.


6. Transfer to a plate and tent with tin foil for approximately 5 minutes.
7. Remove toothpicks and slice at an angle.


All pork cuts (with the exception of ribs) qualify as "lean" or "extra lean" and fit well into a healthy eating plan. Check out the information and recipes available at Pork Fits .

Bzz Agent Giz Reporting for Duty

Not long ago as I surfed through blogs I came upon one that spoke to sampling a product and creating a Bzz; a review of a product. I was intrigued and followed the path to http://www.bzzagent.com to learn more about this community.

Essentially, BzzAgent is a word-of-mouth media network powered by a half-million people pairing consumers with products and supply digital tools that make widespread opinion-sharing easy.

* We were founded in 2001
* We've run 500+ programs for major brands including Unilever, Kraft and Procter & Gamble
* Our participants have spread word of mouth to 110+ million family and friends
* We've received 1.7 million reports submitted detailing first-hand brand-related conversations.

Products are offered to Bzz Agents in the form of campaigns and you can pick and chose which campaigns you might be interested in participating in. You sign up for a particular campaign, arrange to try the product and then write up a Bzz or report about it by sharing your honest opinion of the product.



When I saw the campaign come out for Nordica Single Serving Cottage Cheese I knew it would be a campaign I would want to participate in. First of all I love cottage cheese. Secondly I already buy Nordica products and thirdly I had never tried the single serve fruit bottom cups. The biggest draw was that it had a health check from the Heart & Stroke foundation so what could be bad (unless you're lactose intolerant of course)

Touted as a healthy snack with substance, Nordica Cottage Cheese comes in six flavours with each containing 10% of your recommended daily calcium, with prebiotics and probiotics to help keep your immune and digestive systems happy. When I signed up I received an envelope with a coupon for a free sample of 4 plus 5 store coupons to save $1.25 on any Nordica single serve cottage cheese (4x113g) to share with others. The catch is that the coupons are good only in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. If you're in any of these provinces in Canada and are interested, please just leave me your email address and I'll make these available (one per comment and if there aren't 5 comments from these provinces I'll just apportion them accordingly)

So, here's my opinion - generally a very tasty product. Kids would love them as a snack at home, after hockey or soccer or even at a sleep over. I found them pretty sweet tasting but there's really only 8g sugar per serving. My one deterrent is the amount of sodium coming in at 13% or 300 mg per serving. I don't think this would stop me from recommending them for lunches and snacks - they really are pretty tasty.