It’s time for a new blog mile stone: the first giveaway!  I’ve never hosted a giveaway here on the blog before.  Mostly when I get product pitches, they are for products I wouldn’t use myself, so I decline them.  When I was first contacted by the Ciao Bella team, though, I was thrilled.  I may have done a happy dance at my desk.  I’ve been buying Ciao Bella gelato for myself for years.  The blackberry cabernet and the key lime graham are two of my personal favorite flavors. Their gelato and sorbet is flavorful and intense while still having a recognizable ingredient list, which I love.

Ciao Bella has just launched a line of Greek frozen yogurt, and they sent me the new line to try.  (Disclaimer: I was sent the Adonia line to sample, but all opinions are my own, and I was not compensated in any other way)  This may have been the best package I’ve ever received at work, though some people found the dry ice at my desk a little disconcerting.

They also sent me two boxes of their frozen yogurt bars in peach and blueberry, which were so delicious they may have missed the camera and barely made it home.  The frozen yogurt was creamy and just the right amount of sweet, and definitely made an acceptable ice cream substitute.  However, I was most impressed by the nutritional stats.  The ingredient list is completely recognizable, and each 1/2 cup serving has 130 calories and 9 grams of protein.  I normally use hemp or rice protein powder in my smoothies, and a serving of Adonia has very similar nutritional stats to those protein powders but tastes much better and blends up to a very creamy smoothie.

I’ve made this banana espresso smoothie several days in a row.  It’s perfect for after a workout, and reminds me a lot of the Starbucks Banana Chocolate Vivanno smoothie (a personal favorite that saw me through many long marathon training runs).  I even tossed in a couple handfuls of spinach tonight and called it dinner.

Banana Espresso Smoothie

• 1 frozen banana, broken into chunks
• 1 cup almond milk (or milk of your choice)
• 1/2 cup Adonia espresso frozen yogurt
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• mini chocolate chips for garnish

Blend all ingredients together until smooth and enjoy!

Ciao Bella is going to send the full line of Adonia products to a Boston2Berkeley reader.  That’s seven pints of frozen yogurt and 2 boxes of frozen yogurt bars.  (The smoothie recipe is good, but clearly this is the best part!) 

To enter the giveaway simply leave a comment below, letting me know what flavor of Adonia you’d most like to try.  You can also earn an extra entry by tweeting about the giveaway; just mention @Boston2Berkeley and comment below that you tweeted so I can give you an extra entry.  The giveaway will be open until midnight PST on May 31st, and I’ll announce the winner on Friday, June 1st.  (you do need to be a US resident to be eligible to win)

As for me, I’ll be replenishing my stock of espresso Adonia very soon.  So far I’ve enjoyed all the flavors that I’ve tried, but the banana espresso smoothie is just too good to go without for long.