Four New Foodtrainers' Favorites and Giveaway

Years ago, I remember meeting Kara Goldin in the expo hall at a convention. She had one of the off-to –the-side booths reserved for small companies. I sampled my first Hint water; it was watermelon (or was it pear?). I loved that Hint had no sugar juice, dyes or artificial sweetener. At that time, we couldn’t get Hint in the New York area. Times have changed; this year Fortune magazine named Kara one it’s most promising women entrepreneurs. And there’s a new Hint in town, Hint Fizz.  Depending on how you look at it, Hint Fizz is either an extremely flavorful seltzer or a truly natural soda. I’m a fan of drinking from glass so the Hint Fizz bottles make me happy. Plus, they sort of remind me of the Foodtrainers website (in a good way).

If we’re talking drinks, it makes sense to talk bars (get it? so bad I know). I mentioned some of my favorite bars a while ago and I’m still in love with Zing Bars, Real Bars, Kookie Karma and now Savory Bars.  Recently, I tried Picky Bars. 

Picky Bars are gluten free, dairy free and less than 200 calories. They also have enjoyable mini chocolate chips in them. I’m partial to Lauren’s Mega Nut flavor but the Lauren mentioned on the label looks like this:

She’s Lauren Fleshman, one of the founders, who just finished the NYC Marathon in 16th place. There’s a great article about her marathon journey from the New York Times and I’ll point out that she eats oatmeal as a prerace meal. For those of you who read the Runners World post, they printed my letter in the January issue with a reply perpetuating fiber phobia for runners. Maybe they should talk to the other Lauren.

For you pro-pumpkin people (you know who you are), Pacific Natural Foods has an organic pumpkin puree. No more canned pumpkin. For the uninitiated, you can use pumpkin in oatmeal, Greek yogurt, smoothies or of course pumpkin pie. Aside from its high fiber and low calorie content, pumpkin is also a decent source of iron.

I know this last “find” didn’t photograph too well. I snapped a quick shot before my friends got their spoons in this. 

What is it? It’s the Borscht with Toasted Hazelnuts and Horseradish Flan from The Modern. I went to see the de Kooning exhibit but seriously couldn’t stop thinking of this soup. If you’re in NYC stop by The Modern’s Bar Room (better than dining room in my opinion) and try this. If you’re not in the area, they tweeted me the link to the recipe.  Would it be rude to tweet back and ask for the recipe in a format other than grams of everything?
Have you tried any of these? Did you enjoy them? Are their other flavored waters or bars you like? Do you pumpkin? How so? And finally, when was the last time you had borscht?
*The Hint people have offered to send a lucky reader some Hint, be sure to comment and if you’re a Hint fan, name your favorite flavor.