Plant Fusion *Giveaway CLOSED*

I have been given, what appears to be a rare opportunity, to try samples of Plant Fusion's Plant Protein powders. I was not approached by the company...I e-mailed them and asked if I could have a free sample before I spent the money on a 1 lb. container. As I became a more avid couponer (I need desperately to get back into couponing. I haven't been doing it since my daughter was born and our pocketbook feels it...BADLY!) I learned that it never hurts to write a company and ask for coupons for their product. Especially for those items that never seem to have a coupon. Sometimes it worked...I received some coupons for Children's Motrin when I wrote them....at the same time I had written to Tylenol asking for coupons for their Children's Tylenol products and they responded back with a firm NO! My point in this is to say that when I was seeing posts in the discussion group for the Lose a Marathon Challenge through Run With Jess about different protein powders and how many were using Plant Fusion I wanted to try it...without making a commitment to a large container before knowing if I liked it. So I thought, if I can write a company for coupons, why not write Plant Fusion and ask for some free samples to try.

I heard back from a representative at Plant Fusion the very next day and though he informed me that they really are not set up to give out samples he would be happy to send me some. I should also mention that I did not mention my blog in my e-mail. I simply explained my journey briefly and asked if they would be gracious enough to send me a free sample or two. The only way that he knew about my blog was because I have the web address below my signature. He wrote that Plant Fusion would, in exchange for the free samples, appreciate it if I would mention my thoughts about their product on my blog.

That sounded awesome to me...my first product review post! I wrote him back telling him that I would be happy to write a product review as long as he realized that I would be completely honest about it, whether I liked it or not. I then asked if they would be willing to sponsor a giveaway through my blog for their product. So not only do I get to try their product and write my first product review...but I also get to have my first GIVEAWAY!!!

A little information on Plant Fusion taken from their website which you can see here (or the other numerous places I linked you to it)...

"PlantFusion is a nutritionally-complete plant protein supplement that happens to be highly digestible AND free of common food irritants. The combination of four exceptional plant proteins scores a perfect 1.0 on the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS). PDCAAS is the gold standard for rating the quality of protein for human nutrition."

 Their protein powders are dairy, soy, animal, and gluten free as well as hypoallergenic. Great news for all of those out there who need to be on special diets.

As you can see by the photo above I received a free sample of all four of their flavors...chocolate, vanilla, chocolate raspberry, and unflavored! I tried the chocolate powder first and prepared it as instructed, with 10-12 oz. of water. I used my blender to make sure that I got it mixed really well and it tasted pretty good. Obviously since I was using water it wasn't very creamy or really all that thick but it had nice subtle chocolate taste. When I say subtle, for me, I would've liked it to be a little more chocolaty tasting but it was good. I had no problem finishing the whole glass and I'm sure there are people out there who would rather have a more subtle taste than to have it taste like a milk shake.

Next I tried the chocolate raspberry flavor. *Now the website shows "Berry" as a flavor. I contacted Scott from Plant Fusion (he's the representative I've been corresponding with) and he told me that they have discontinued the "Berry" flavor and the chocolate raspberry is what they replaced it with. I chose to mix it with fat free milk this time instead of water, along with about 6 ice cubes. I realize that some people cannot use milk and that a major selling point for Plant Fusion is that it is completely hypoallergenic...dairy free included...however, I do NOT have a milk allergy and usually prefer protein shakes mixed with milk because it makes them taste a litter richer and creamier. I enjoyed the chocolate raspberry flavor...its definitely more decadent than the plain chocolate powder...and may even seem a little too sweet if you aren't looking for a dessert tasting shake at the time. This flavor would be best for those with a MAJOR sweet tooth or for those who do their workouts in the evening, after dinner, so it would be like a dessert.

I tried the vanilla bean flavor next. I am not a big vanilla (by itself) fan...in hindsight though I wish I had mixed just the vanilla powder in and tasted it before adding anything else so I could give an honest opinion of how the vanilla itself tasted. Instead, I made a shake recipe that I had been salivating over from the first time I read the name..."Snicker's Shake" (from Katie at Runs for Cookies)!!! I used sugar free pudding mixes (except the Oreo one...couldn't find sugar free for that) and I couldn't find the Torani sugar-free caramel syrup so I used Smuckers Sugar Free Caramel Sauce. I was completely skeptical that it would taste just like a Snickers bar...but it REALLY DOES!!! It was SOOO good!!! Its definitely best for after the evening workout as a dessert type shake.

Ok, I had no idea what to do with the unflavored protein powder so I e-mailed Scott at Plant Fusion (for the 10th time or so) and asked for some ideas. He said that people like to put it in baked goods, no bake protein bars, as well as into their own shake flavors. I chose to put it in a pancake mix. I should NOT have done this...I am horrible with modifying batter or baking recipes. They looked good and the flavor was fine...you could smell the protein powder, but there was no taste to it. The problem was the consistency of the pancakes...they were pretty much custard thick dough in the middle even after cooking. I know exactly what I did wrong...actually a couple of things that I did wrong. First, I cut the pancake batter recipe in half so that I would only be making enough for me to eat. Secondly, I first mixed the batter without adding the Plant Fusion protein powder and then made my baby girl Isabel a pancake. So I then added the packet of unflavored protein powder to the remaining pancake batter. There was a lot more powder in that little packet than I thought and I ended up having to add more milk to the batter to get the right batter consistency again. So, I completely failed on making some protein packed pancakes. I did eat them...only half of the stack though...they were so thick and filling. I'm sure you all will do better if you get the unflavored kind.

I'm horrible at taking food pictures. lol

I am definitely planning on buying a larger container of the Plant Fusion protein powder. I'm pretty sure I am going to get the vanilla bean flavor because I can just add cocoa powder to the blender if I want any kind of chocolate shake.

I have to thank Scott from Plant Fusion for allowing me to write up this product review and for being gracious enough to not only send me all the great samples but to agree to give away a one pound container of Plant Fusion's protein powder to one of my followers!

The giveaway will run until Friday evening (11:59pm EST).

To enter you need to do the following:

1) Be a follower of my blog. *By clicking "Join this site" under the "Followers" heading in the left side bar.*
2) "Like" the Plant Fusion facebook page.
3) Then leave a comment on this post telling me what flavors you'd like to see Plant Fusion make next. Along with which of Plant Fusion's four flavors you would like to receive.

I will be using an online random number selector to chose the winner. : )

I will announce the winner by Sunday night. The winner should e-mail me their mailing address so that I can get it to Scott at Plant Fusion ASAP! : )

Good luck everyone!