Author: Mary | Posted: 09-07-2011
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Oh a new Kindle 3 would help me banish all the book clutter in the house. We cannot seem to part with any of our reading materials very easily, as is plain to see.
I would love to be a shining example of how the before and after could be with a new Kindle3. My friends would be amazed if there were not books everywhere. They would surely wonder what we are doing to keep up our reading hobby.
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Author: Mary | Posted: 02-10-2010
My boys get very excited when they see either the mail carrier, the UPS guy or the FedEx guy come down our road…and since there are only three houses down our road the odds are pretty good that the truck will be stopping here! This time it was indeed for us and we received another fun package from MyBlogSpark!
Inside was a box of the new Chocolate Cheerios®! 
The boys were pretty excited because
A) they love Cheerios®
B) they love chocolate
C) they knew they could eat some right away
D) they knew something else fun was sure to happen
So yes I let them hurry up and grab their favorite cereal bowls and dig right in. (I had to join them of course) The Cheerios® were a big hit! All of us thought that the chocolate flavor in these was better than some other chocolate cereals we have tried. Although I love chocolate, I have never found a chocolate flavored cereal that I like. These Cheerios® seem to fill the bill. Also I was happy to see that they only have 9g of sugar. (remember my recent post on Children’s cereals? )
A little more about the cereal from General Mills:
Chocolate Cheerios is low in fat, heart healthy*, has 100 calories per serving, contains at least 8 grams of whole grain per serving (at least 48 grams recommended daily), and is a good source of calcium and vitamin D. Made with real cocoa, Chocolate Cheerios can help your family start the day off right with a delicious and nutritious breakfast that is sure to make you smile!
*Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease. Chocolate Cheerios cereal is low in fat, saturated fat free and naturally cholesterol free.
Along with this box of new Chocolate Cheerios we were given some recipes that use the new Cheerios®. They are all fun things you can make for Valentine’s Day!
They all sound good, but we chose to try the Chocolate Cheerios® Marshmallow Hearts first. Oh how I wish I had thought of buying those Strawberry flavored Marshmallows that Bubba has been begging me for!
image courtesy of Cheerios®
Next we will definitely try the Strawberry-Chocolate Cheerios® Parfait!
image courtesy of Cheerios®
If you want to see even more recipes using Chocolate Cheerios® click here for the Chocolate Cheerios® site, and also you can find a coupon to save on your purchase!
Now all this cereal talk and making goodies was great fun for the boys, but MyBlogSpark also included some fun Chocolate themed goodies for Mom, too. Check this out, there are some Chocolate themed bath products and a decorative chocolate brown bowl to store them in! So Mom needs to head off to relax with some Chocolate bath salts and body wash.
Do you love Chocolate, too?
Does a fun new cereal make you smile?
Need some relaxation?
You can win a Chocolate Cheerios Gift Pack courtesy of MyBlogSpark and General Mills.
Just post a comment below telling us about what you and your families do to start your day off with a SMILE!
Deadline to enter is midnight EST on Monday, February 15, 2010.
Winner will be selected by a random drawing on Tuesday February 16, 2010
**Truth in Blogging Disclaimer: We received a FREE box of Chocolate Cheerios® and the Gift Pack pictured above courtesy of MyBlogSpark and Cheerios®. As always we will provide you with our honest opinions of any product we review, no matter how we obtained the product. See our About tab above to read more about Truth in Blogging.
To leave a reply when on the main page, and the “Leave a reply” box below is hidden, just click the green post # count button at the top left of the post.
Author: Mary | Posted: 01-31-2010
What’s a busy mom to do? Some days getting the kids ready and out the door to school can be a whirlwind of activity. I am so not a morning person, therefore getting up at the crack of dawn on a school day to cook a full course meal is not happening! My boys love the quick, and the easy, so cereal very often fills the bill. If you saw my pantry you may be shocked to see no less than 25 boxes of cereal in it at any given time!
Now many of us probably struggle with that fine line between healthy breakfast and convenience. Some studies have shown that kids do benefit from eating breakfast, performing better in school, so we know they need to eat something! Cereals can be a quick way to get them to eat something before heading out the door. Add some fruit on top or on the side and that is even better! Here is a Cereal & Health guide provided by General Mills.
General Mills has recently committed to lower the amount of sugar in cereal advertised to children under 12 to single digit grams per serving. In addition they are increasing key nutrients like Vitamin D and calcium, along with providing whole grains.
Some other cereal benefits:
- Ready-to-eat cereals, including presweetened cereals, account for only 5% of sugar in children´s diets.
- These cereals are often the #1 source of whole grains in a child’s diet.
- More frequent cereal eaters tend to have a healthier body weight and lower BMI measurements.
Recently I went on a quest to find some of the new lower sugar cereals to have my boys and I do a taste test. We were provided some free coupons* from General Mills and MyBlogSpark in order to try some products. In my area we did not find too many with the single digit grams of sugar, so I think either my store is still selling out of current inventory or the products have not rolled out everywhere yet.
One product we did try that has only 8g of sugar per serving was Berry Berry Kix, part of the Big G family of cereals. Now my boys have never eaten Kix cereals before, so they could not compare before and after taste, but I do recall having Kix myself long, long ago. For me the taste was less sweet than I expected, but was satisfying. Actually I preferred it to the taste of some of the other children’ s cereals I have tried. Of course I am not the target audience, but I suppose if Mom thinks it is not too sweet then it may pass muster and make it to the shopping list. Bubba was the first to try it, and he really enjoyed it, no mention of it not being sweet enough! Score! AJ is not a fan of corn cereal, so he did not really have strong opinion, it was just okay, no mention of not being sweet enough, but he probably will not eat it again. He likes some of the other cereals better.
The other cereals we tried were still in the double digit grams of sugar range…Lucky Charms Swirled (11g), Cinnamon Toast Crunch( 10g) and the new Wheaties Fuel(14g). All of them were big hits for Bubba, he especially likes Lucky Charms and the new Wheaties Fuel. AJ’s top pick was Cinnamon Toast crunch…although he loved the cool new packaging on the Wheaties Fuel boxes. I thought the Wheaties Fuel tasted great, with a nice solid cinnamon flavor that was not overshadowed at all by a sugary taste. Cinnamon Toast Crunch was less satisfying for me, both in taste and texture. I would choose the new Wheaties Fuel if I were looking for a cinnamon flavor. Younger children are probably not the target audience for this cereal, though.
I did noticed on the shelves that Honey Nut Cheerios had 9g sugar, so even though they are not as heavily marketed to children, they may be another alternative. We will be looking to see if the lower sugar versions of some more General Mills children’s cereals arrive soon in our stores.
If you want to try some of the General Mills cereals here you will find a coupon for $1 off one of four children’s cereals: Trix, Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms or Cinnamon Toast crunch.
So is cereal a hit in your house? What kinds do you like?
Do you struggle with the sugar issue? Have you noticed any of the new General Mills cereals in store near you?
*Disclaimer: General Mills via MyBlogSpark provided us with coupons good for free products in order to test some of their Children’s Cereals, and asked if we would pass along our thoughts on the products.
Author: Mary | Posted: 01-17-2010
Football season is getting pretty exciting with the playoffs in full swing and the Superbowl right around the corner!
If you are gearing up for some celebrations bringing together friends to watch the game, I have a few tasty appetizer ideas for you.
In our house having a casual appetizer spread for dinner on football Sundays is a popular option! Thanks to Old El Paso and MyBlogSpark we had a chance to make some new recipes featuring Old El Paso chiles*.
Check out our super cool football table decor*…makes it pretty festive, now doesn’t it?
We love chips and dip so my guys chose this great Green Chile Dip to go with their tortilla chips. Super easy to make, with just the right amount of spice for everyone to enjoy. Old El Paso Green chiles add a lot of flavor with out adding too much spice.
I tried to hurry up a grab a plate before everyone else, but that darn photographer caught me…
Next up we made some Chile, Cheese and Bacon Quesadillas. We used our George Forman grill to cook up the bacon, and then heated up the quesadillas on there as well. I really liked the combination of the bacon with the chiles. Now take these and dip into that Green Chile dip…oh my is that good!
There are a few other recipes from the Betty Crocker site that feature Old El Paso chiles that I want to try next. Most have a prep time of less than 30 minutes each. A few that look interesting are:
Black Bean Dip
Green Chile Cornbread
Taco Nachos
Skillet Nacho Chili
Slow Cooker Salsa Chili
Seven Layer Bean Dip
Right now is the perfect time to taste test some new recipes before you gear up for the big game.
The chiles come in 4.5 and 7 oz. cans, are fat free and are less than 10 calories per serving.
A tasty way to spice up your dishes.
Old El Paso is generously offering up another “Tackle the Taste” gift pack for one of my readers!
This includes two free cans of Old El Paso green chiles, a ceramic football shaped serving platter, two sets of football themed plates, cocktail napkins, and football themed table runner!
You will get one entry into this giveaway if you leave a comment and let me know what you like to serve for appetizers on game days.
To get a second entry just link back to this post from your own blog and leave me a comment with the link to your post!
Deadline to enter is Wednesday January 20th, 12 midnight Eastern Time.
*Old El Paso and MyBlogSpark provided me with the chiles to make these recipes, along with a “Tackle the Taste” football themed pack for our table decor.
Author: Mary | Posted: 12-30-2009
If you have not done so yet you need to hurry on over to BJs.com to get your coupon for the free 60 Day trial membership! The last day is 12/31/09!! If you cannot do that in time, then be sure to get a One Day Free Pass to check it out some other time.
I have been given an opportunity by BJ’s Wholesale club and General Mills through MyBlogSpark to get a free membership and spread the word !
After the trial you can continue with a new-member off that is $45 (can vary by club) and it includes a $10 coupon plus extra 2 months of membership. In addition you can receive:
- A Member Savings booklet with instant rebates and coupons worth more than $1000.
- More “sign up & save” coupons worth $117 in savings.
- Additional card for another member of your household.
- A no risk 100% money back guarantee on your fee if you are not satisfied.
Now that the holidays are winding down I am going to make some trips to BJ’s to see what they have in store for me. Some new General Mills items are hitting the shelves, so be sure to look for these items:
- Nature Valley Nut Clusters – 100% Natural, bite-sized clusters with granola, nuts and a touch of honey – and a resealable package which makes it great for sharing
- Progresso High-Fiber Soups – This 6-pack of soup is a great way to get your fiber with the great taste you know and love from Progresso
- Green Giant Complete Skillet Meal – A convenient and great tasting solution for a quick and delicious dinner for the family
- Pillsbury “Big Deluxe” Chocolate Chip Tub – Perfect for entertaining or as an everyday treat
I will be blogging again about my trips to BJ’s, so look for an upcoming post where you can tell me about your trip and be entered to win a BJ’s Gift Card!
Author: Mary | Posted: 12-30-2009
Now that Christmas has come and all the presents have been unwrapped, it’s time to review that list of presents to see what was worth it, what did not pan out as expected, and what was a surprise favorite. Maybe that will help any of you thinking of buying some of these goodies in the future!
So here’s the roll call of gifts (links provided for your convenience, and not my gain!):
AJ:
Smokin’ hot favorite…bonus being it has an antenna and brings in 7 channels to the room without any cable hookups! Well actually for him 6 channels because he won’t be watching the Worship channel anytime soon. WORTH IT
This one was really a family gift, but AJ is rockin’ out on the bass and hoggin’ the mic! Guess the apple does not fall far from the tree. G-Man is a natural on lead guitar, and Mr B&W can bang those drums. WORTH IT
Well his is actually blue striped…but you get the idea. I think he loves it because it is like one “the Chief” wears. SURPRISE FAVORITE
Card full of money from Grandma:
Definitely a bigger hit than a box of random stuff from the dollar store or a sweater 3 sizes too small. When you are far away it is hard to get a pulse on the wants & needs of the grandchildren. So in this case, having money to help get that new catcher’s mitt is WORTH IT.
Bubba:
Number one item on his list was something from John Deere…I think this was a big surprise, and as you can see he had fun with it! Who cares that the ground is covered with snow and ice? We thought he could fill the back up and sand the road for us.
Santa really got a deal on Craigs list. WORTH IT!
Legos were another list item, but it is not Lego CITY, so minor disappointment. What were you thinking, Santa? The box has yet to be opened, so we will see about this one. This may have to fall under NOT AS EXPECTED.
Ummm not his gift, but he has played it far more than the intended recipient (although she loves it too).
So for him this is definitely a SURPRISE FAVORITE.
Also he got a Trapper Hat, and has been wearing it out and about as well. His is fleece with faux Sherpa inside. Another SURPRISE FAVORITE.
Mr. B & W:
When he saw the plain box simply sporting the word ROKU he had no idea what it was, and the picture of popcorn on top made him think he just got some yummy Japanese popcorn…big surprise when he saw what it really was. Being able to watch Movies and TV shows downloaded from Amazon Video on Demand or streaming Netflix makes this a great gift. Getting a free $30 in Amazon Video on Demand credits makes it even better! (I am sensing a future review post on this one ) Definitely WORTH IT for me and for him, a SURPRISE FAVORITE!
There are plenty of other gifts that sort of fell into the middle of the road category…but AJ is away for a few days, so not everything of his has been thoroughly inspected. I am sure we will soon have another list of Faves & Duds after the tree is gone and the dust settles.
What were the favorites, duds or surprise hits for your family this year?
Other than clothes that did not fit, do you do returns for gifts?
