Promax Nutrition Review

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If you're on the hunt for a new protein bar, look no further!

 I often find protein bars grainy and leaving a bad taste in my mouth, but Promax Nutrition changed my view of them altogether. I would have one for breakfast (and enjoy it!) and it would keep me full and satisfied until lunchtime. Exactly what I want!

The flavor is awesome and true to the label's description. With mouthwatering flavors like Nutty Butter Crisp, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, Double Fudge Brownie, Cookies 'n Cream and Lemon Bar there's really something for everyone! And with each bar containing about 20g of protein and 18 vitamins and minerals, you really can't go wrong.

Check them out here and see for yourself! http://www.promaxnutrition.com/

Note: Promax Nutrition sent me samples of their protein bars to sample. All views and opinions are my own.

FINN CRISP Review

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FINN CRISP recently sent me some samples of their 100% rye wholegrain crackers. I eat crackers often, so I was excited to give them a try! They are only 22 calories per slice and contain no additives, so they sounded like a winner in my book!

Since the crackers are natural and made with just four ingredients, they are a tad dry and plain on their own. But as soon as you put something on top they are the perfect base for a snack! I personally loved them with cheese or flavored cream cheese. But my ultimate favorite was spreading chocolate hazelnut spread and sliced bananas on top. It gave the crackers the rich flavor they needed.

Check out their website and see all the different flavored crackers you can try for yourself!

Source: SK Original

Amazing Grass Review

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I recently received some samples from Amazing Grass, the nation’s leading line of certified organic, plant-based nutritional supplements, and I just had to share it with you. All Amazing Grass products are plant-based, non-GMO, and made with real, whole-food ingredients, which I love!!

They just released a new Tangerine Immunity flavor which is great for this spring cold season. I just take a packet, blend it up with some juice and ice, and I have a tasty, healthy drink in seconds! I'm just getting over a cold, and these packets were lifesavers when I wasn't in the mood for any solid food.

They offer two varieties of supplements: 

·  Green SuperFood cornerstone line is packed with alkalizing greens, antioxidant-rich fruits as well as probiotics and digestive enzymes. They are designed to naturally detoxify and boost the immune system.

·  Amazing Meal is a blend of organic plant protein, fruits and vegetables and is enhanced with 5 billion probiotics, creating 100 percent whole-food nutrition in each scoop.

Don't these sound amazing? So many benefits and the flavors are so yummy. You should definitely head on over to their site to check them out for yourself!!

Source: SK Original

COCOZIA Organic Coconut Water Review

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I recently sampled COCOZIA Organic Coconut Water, and I was a little hesitant at first solely because I'm very picky when it comes to my coconut water. I like it to have just a faint taste of coconut, but it has to be flavored naturally. That means no concentrate or sweeteners. COCOZIA fits all this criteria plus it's organic, kosher and contains no GMOs! I love the flavor and the price is very reasonable as well. They also have an assortment of flavors available, so I highly recommend you check out their website! Coconut water is a healthy water alternative that keeps you hydrated and feeling your best. Give this one a try!

Note: Epicurex LLC sent me free samples of COCOZIA to taste and review. All comments and opinions are my own.

Source: SK Original

Healthy Solutions Spice Blends Review & Giveaway!!

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Healthy Solutions Spice Blends is a maker of 16 distinct spice blends that are recipe ready and made to cook with fish, beef, pork and poultry. They offer flavorful meals that can be prepared in minutes! I recently made the Shrimp Scampi using the spice blend packet and the dish was on the table in under 20 minutes! The flavors were amazing as well...no one would even know this came from a spice pack!

They have a ton of spice blend options to try, too! Some flavors they offer are: Herb Crusted Tilapia, Shrimp Scampi, Cajun Seafood, Lemon Pepper, Sesame Ginger Tuna, Grilled Swordfish, Bold Beef Rub, Authentic Chili/Tacos, Hearty Beef Stew, Perfect Steak and Savory Meatloaf. Each packet also all have handy recipes right on the back for your convenience! Check out their website for additional details.

The spice blends are all natural and are mixed together using only the highest quality spices and made with no fillers or preservatives. This is exactly what I look for when feeding my little family. Amazing flavor is just an added bonus!

One lucky reader will be able to win some Healthy Solutions Spice Blends samples for themselves! Just enter using the widget below! Winner will be announced August 29th. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Giveaway is open until Thursday, August 28thth at 11:55pm EST. Winner will be announced August 29th. Contest open to US residents only. Winner will be drawn at random and contacted by email. Winner will have 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen. Good luck!!

Note: Healthy Solutions Spice Blends graciously provided me with personal samples and the samples for this giveaway. All comments and opinions are my own.

{Tiny Tot Tuesdays} The Great Baby Food Experiment and Why I Don't Give My Baby Jarred Baby Food

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It's the great debate. Homemade baby food vs. jarred baby food.

I need to preface this post a little bit first. I'm in no way judging you if you give your baby store-bought jarred food. I know not everyone has the time or energy to make their own baby food, and that's okay. But I still want to share my reasoning behind my avoidance of jarred baby food.

There are five factors that made me come to this conclusion, and I'll explain them below. In my "experiment," I compared homemade green beans to a jar of green beans from my local grocery store. 

1) Color

Now I'm no scientist, but if these canned foods claim that the only ingredients are the fruit/vegetable and water in them, why is the color so off? 

I opened the jar of green beans and they seriously looked gray. I was aghast. Especially when I put the jar up against my homemade green beans, they were so off-putting. 

Nothing at all looked natural about the color. Green beans are bright green, so why is the stuff in the jar gray-ish? I didn't even want to touch the jarred food, why should I make my poor little baby eat it?

2) Taste

Chris came home from work one day and was blindsided. I asked him to close his eyes and trust me. Luckily I have a very brave husband.

First I gave him a spoonful of the jarred green beans. His immediate reaction was hysterical. To give you a mental image, it was very similar to the face Bradley made when he first tried bananas:

Then he said it tasted like *ahem* dog poop. Awesome. When I asked him to guess what it was, he didn't even have an answer for me. That's how off they were.

I then gave him the homemade green beans, and he immediately knew what they were. One of my best friends and her boyfriend came over the next day, and I had them do the same thing (do I have very trusting people in my life or what?). They had the same exact response to the jarred and homemade green beans.

Not that Bradley knows the difference, but why should he eat something so gross that tastes nothing like the real thing? Especially if his own parents won't even eat it? There's no good reason.

With homemade food, I also like that I can mix combinations on my own. I don't have to rely on what the manufacturer thinks will work together. If I want to give Bradley apples, carrots, oatmeal and pears, I have the freedom to do it! There are no restrictions.

Plus, I (obviously) cook dinner very often, so I think by eating homemade baby food early on, it will get Bradley used to eating the same foods as Chris and me down the road.

3) How on earth do they stay good on the shelf for so long?

Again, I'm no scientist, but this makes absolutely no sense to me. The ingredients only state the fruit/vegetable and water. So why is my homemade version only good in the fridge for 3-5 days, but these jarred foods can sit on a shelf, at room temperature, for 2 years? How does that make sense? Something else has to be in there preserving them, right? Yet I don't see anything listed in the ingredients. 

(Yes, I know that if it contains less that a certain percentage of an ingredient, the FDA does not require companies to list it on their ingredients list, but still...I want to know everything that's going into Bradley's body.)

I personally just don't find that very natural. If I make something, I let it sit in the fridge for 3-5 days, depending on what it is, then I toss it. Same with Bradley's homemade food. But the label on the jarred green beans, which I bought right before testing them out, says they're good until January 2016. 2016!! That's more than a year and a half away! Unbelievable.

4) Time

I know I'm a stay-at-home mom and everyone thinks I have all the time in the world, but that's another argument for another day. Fact is, most of these homemade baby foods take 15 minutes to make, and a majority of that time is just sitting around waiting for the food to cook. So why NOT make it myself? I found no reasonable explanation. 

5) Cost

When I broke it down, I realized it's actually cheaper to make baby food myself. I typically make Bradley organic food, which, yes, is more expensive. But you don't need to buy organic. For the sake of this argument I'm going to use non-organic ingredients since the jarred baby food I purchased isn't organic. 

Let me break it down for you.

• A 16 oz. bag of green beans costs $2.99. This makes 16 1-oz. servings. This equals approximately $0.18 per 1-oz. serving.
• A 4-oz. jar of store-bought baby food from the store is on average $1.29. This equals approximately $0.32 per 1-oz. serving.

So that's a savings of $0.14 per ounce! (I feel like Sandra Lee from Money Making Meals right now.) It might not sound like much, but considering how much you feed your baby, it's going to add up! As of now, Bradley eats 8-10 oz. of food a day, so that's a savings of over a dollar per day. That amount is only going to go up!

Plus most baby food jars are typically around the same price, but they shouldn't be. A lot of fruits and vegetables are even less than the green beans were. Bananas, which are something like 20 cents EACH, will save you even MORE money. Cha-ching!

Okay, I'm done with my rant now.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is why I prefer to not give Bradley jarred baby food. I like to know exactly what's in the food I'm giving him. It might take a little more time and effort, but overall I think it's totally worth it! Now if I'm on-the-go or somehow manage to run out of food, I'm not against giving him something pre-packaged once in a while. That's fine. But overall, I'm sticking to homemade food all the way! 

Click here for the link to get to all my homemade baby food recipes!

Let me know your thoughts/opinions in the comments section below!

Source: SK Original

Zyliss 4-in-1 Wine Tool Review

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I recently had the opportunity to try out the new Zyliss 4-in-1 Wine Tool and I'm so excited to share my experience with you all! Whether you're an avid wine drinker (like myself) or find yourself cooking with wine often, this tool is a great addition to your barware collection. 

Includes two wine stoppers

Everything you need is all in this one tool! You can cut the foil, use the corkscrew to remove the cork, pump out all the extra air and then use one of the two handy wine stoppers for storing your leftovers (that is, if you have any). 

Foil cutter on the bottom of the stand

This Zyliss tool is so easy to use and I highly recommend it. I usually NEVER cut the foil (I just plow right through it) but doing that makes the edges sharp, so this tool was a lifesaver for me. And the foil cutter is located right on the bottom of the stand...so convenient!

Vacuum pump

Everything I needed was all in one place, so I didn't have to go searching for a wine stopper or anything else. Plus the vacuum pump is super cool. It sucks out all the air from the wine to minimize the effects of oxidation (basically, it helps the wine stay good for a longer amount of time). 

Corkscrew

I highly recommend this 4-in-1 wine tool. It's convenient and really easy to use. Plus it would look great with any bar set! Go on over to their site and check it out yourself!

Disclaimer: Zyliss provided me with a free 4-in-1 Wine Tool to review. All comments and opinons are my own.

Crepes with Chocolate Hazelnut Spread and Bananas

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I made some crepes the other day, and I immediately knew what I wanted to fill them with: chocolate hazelnut spread and bananas. I mean, obviously. If you haven't tried that combination yet, you truly are missing out. 

Usually I reach for my jar of Nutella, but I recently received some free samples of Nocciolata, Italy's organic chocolate/hazelnut spread, that I've been itching to try out. Nocciolata is crafted using carefully selected ingredients such as dark chocolate from the Antillean Islands, Italian hazelnuts, brown sugar, skim milk and Bourbon vanilla extract. Plus it's very reasonably priced! So I decided to go ahead and use this spread in my crepes. 

This deliciously smooth spread is gluten-free, kosher and has no palm oil, hydrogenated fat, artificial flavors or artificial colors. It was delicious in these crepes and definitely compares to Nutella! This spread is delightful in these crepes, but would also be great on a sandwich, on crackers or French bread, with fruit such as bananas or strawberries, or simply on a spoon! Next time you're looking for chocolate hazelnut spread, give Nocciolata a try!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 crepes
• 1 cup chocolate hazelnut spread, such as Nocciolata, divided
• 2 bananas, sliced thin
• Powdered sugar or whipped cream, for topping (optional)

To assemble, spoon 1/4 cup of the chocolate hazelnut spread over each crepe. Place 1/4 of the sliced bananas on one half of the crepe.

Fold the crepe in half and then in quarters. Top with powdered sugar and/or whipped cream.

Source: SK Original

Saucy Fish Co. Review

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Some samples of the products (you can see the accompanying sauce packets)

The Saucy Fish Co. recently sent me some samples of their products, and I'm so excited to share my review on here for you all! Perfect for the Lenten season, their fish come in a variety of flavors, such as Salmon with Chili, Lime and Ginger Sauce (below), Tilapia with Mango Dressing, Salmon with Sweet Chili Dressing and Tilapia with a Red Thai Sauce. Plus they're SO simple to prepare! Some come with bags to cook the fish in, others are pre-cooked so you can eat them as-is. They also come with accompanying sauce packets, so you can choose how much or how little sauce you want on your fish. One thing that I especially love is that they're GMO-free. Always a plus in my book.

Salmon with Chili, Lime and Ginger Sauce

Chris and I personally loved their Salmon with a Sweet Soy and Chili Dressing (below), but all the flavors were incredibly tasty. I love how they have a wide variety of flavors to satisfy multiple palates, plus they're easy enough for non-cooks to make. As long as you have a working oven or a refrigerator, you're in business! I highly recommend checking them out! They're super, super yummy and a satisfying, quick meal option. 

Salmon with a Sweet Soy and Chili Dressing

Disclaimer: The Saucy Fish Co. provided me with free samples to review on my blog. All comments and opinions are my own.