The Daily Balance

So I’m a huge dairy girl. Seriously. I’m all about the whole “milk does the body good” mantra. Milk is my favorite beverage. ever. To this day, when I eat dinner at my parents house my mom always pours me a glass of milk (thank you mom). It wasn’t until recently that I realized this wasn’t a common practice. While friends of mine have upgraded their elementary cups of milk to wine or beer, I still proudly don my milk mustache. I love milk with anything. Is it weird to drink milk with Pizza? Sorry if that grosses you out (I’ve been told that people think it’s nasty), but I think it’s one of the best combos EVER. One time I made the mistake of drinking milk with a Skyline 3-way (I was forced by the Mister — he just needed me to ‘experience’ Skyline). DO NOT do this. I repeat, do not. Apparently Skyline and Milk do not mix. at. all.

Anyway, you get the point, I love milk.

Let’s not give Mr. Moo all the credit though. To be fair, I really love ALL dairy. Cottage cheese, cheese, ice cream, yogurt, you name it. If it’s milk-based, I love it. I could never ever give it up. ever. If I were to become lactose-intolerant, I really don’t know what I would do.

So naturally when Kristina at Oikos contacted me to try out all of the Oikos flavors I was on cloud 9. Seriously? Giving me FREE creamy yogurts that I would buy anyway? Mother, may I!

I couldn’t wait to receive my coupons.

When I received the adorable package Kristina put together I became a little too excited. Jumping up and down like a giddy kid on Christmas morning, the Mister had truly thought I had lost my gourd. That is, if I still had it after all this time.

I couldn’t wait to use my coupons! (got coups?! – bonus point to whoever gets that reference). As I handed over my coupons to the cashier I tried not to gloat and smirk but I wanted to SHOUT how excited and lucky I was to try out Oikos FOR FREE. I wanted everyone else to be insanely jealous want to try Oikos, too. For the record, I went to TWO supermarkets and each one only had the Honey and Blueberry flavors. I had already tried the vanilla and plain, so it wasn’t too much of a bummer, but I was still pretty upset because I had a special ‘taste-testing’ experiment in mind. I was planning on having everyone in my family review a different flavor of the yogurt. Instead, you are stuck with my opinions.

From the Oikos Web site:

Called “yiaourti” in Greece, Greek yogurt is creamier than regular yogurt. Authentic Greek yogurt like ours owes its extra creaminess to a centuries-old straining process that removes the whey (liquid) from the yogurt.

For hundreds of years, Greeks have prized strained yogurt for its richness and creaminess, and because it makes a wonderful cooking ingredient that’s less likely to curdle when heated. Before the time of mechanical refrigeration, Greeks also knew that yogurt stayed fresh longer with the liquid strained off. Today we know that straining makes Greek yogurt richer in protein than regular yogurt, and lower in lactose.

Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt has 0% fat, just 90 calories per 5.3 oz.-serving*, twice the protein of regular yogurt, and fewer carbohydrates. Because it’s organic, our yogurt is also better for the earth. And we think it’s better for you, too.

(You can check out the nutritionals by clicking on each flavor offering from the linked page.)

I’ll start by sharing a bit about the plain and vanilla, since I had already tried them in the past.

The first thing you’ll notice with this yogurt is it’s amazing consistency. SO CREAMY. It really tastes so decadent, you would never believe it was fat-free.

The plain would work really well as a base to a dip or with creamy soup, a sour cream replacement, and I’ve also used it in the past to create my low cal, fat free tuna salad (I’ll share this soon). As a stand-alone yogurt, I preferred the vanilla. The sweetness wasn’t too overpowering (like many yogurts are). I’ve mixed the vanilla with strawberries in the past as well, and loved how the strawberry flavor was heightened from the vanilla in the yogurt. This tasted more like a dessert than a healthy snack!

Blueberry:

Blueberry Oikos

I was really reluctant to try this flavor. Fruit at the bottom yogurts? PUKE! HATE THEM. I think they are revolting. The fruit always tastes artificial and like it’s been sitting around for far too long (which, DUH!, it normally is). What can i say, Oikos? You rocked this one. What I loved most about this flavor was that it tasted real. Let me explain…The blueberry flavor was present throughout, but it is not as sugary and obnoxious as most yogurts. It truly tasted like the Oikos fairies took delicious creamy yogurt and stirred in blueberries. I wasn’t crazy about the higher sugar count, but most of that comes from the actual blueberries themselves. I think this would make an excellent healthy dessert, perhaps paired with some angel food cake or a light cookie or wafer.

I would LOVE to see Oikos create a strawberry flavor.

Honey:

Honey Oikos

Let me preface this by saying I am not a huge fan of honey. I’m more of a maple syrup kinda gal. That being said, I would take Mr. Honey Bear straight to the face if I knew it would be paired up with this creamy goodness each time. This was delicious! Apparently I just hadn’t been eating honey with the right thing. Thank you Oikos for thinking up this flavorful pairing! I loved the creaminess the yogurt provided against the biting sweetness of the honey. I mixed some with my strawberries I packed for part of my snack (thought I would need them to balance out any of the unpleasant honey), but also ate some if right out of the yogurt cup. so. good. If you like the stand-alone tastes of honey, you will LOVE this flavor.

Close up on honey creamy goodness

The only Oikos con (because I have to have at least one!) is the price. Much more expensive than your average yogurt. But, with the stellar taste and natural ingredients, it is worth the splurge in my book!

For those of you who are looking for new ways to use Oikos, check out their fabulous recipe portion of the Web site. The Asparagus Salad with Creamy Greek Dressing and listed desserts look heavenly!

And How nice that I’m not the only one who benefits from the fabulous taste of Oikos! “Through Stonyfield Farm’s Profits for the Planet program, Oikos gives 10% of its profits to efforts that protect and restore the environment. Our donation recipients are educational and non-profit organizations with innovative environmental and organic programs that produce measurable results.” Makes me feel good knowing that each bite isn’t just benefiting my taste buds
All in all, I LOVE Oikos and am so excited that I am able to share some with one of YOU!

The wonderful Kristina at Oikos is going to send one of you a package similar to the one I received, complete with FOUR free coupons!

Oikos contest

How to enter:

• Leave a comment in this post letting me know which flavor sounds the most delicious!

How to score extra entries:

• Link back to the contest on your own blog (just let me know you did so in the comments)
• Link to the contest on your twitter account (let me know in the comments)
• If you don’t have a blog, just email the URL to one of your friends to let them know about the contest and The Daily Balance. Let me know you did so in the comments and I’ll make sure you get an extra entry! I will never penalize non-bloggers

Good luck!

Tags: contest, product review

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Try It. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.