Marie Callender's Multi-serve Bakes - Review and Giveaway

I'm a working mom. My husband is a working dad. Between school, daycare, preschool, and our jobs, we're not home a lot during the day which makes getting meals on the table more than just a little challenging some days. We manage to have dinner as a family at least three times a week, but I'll be honest and admit that one of those times is out - usually at a fast food joint. 

So when I heard about the new Marie Callender's bakes, I was not just interested, I was downright intrigued. Good meals that I could microwave and that came with better nutritional stats than our fast food dinners? Sign me up. 

First I sent my husband to the grocery store and he came home with the wrong meals. (Who knew Marie Callender's had so many frozen meal options?) Then I went and surveyed the "bakes" options. The trick, which I did not know when I dispatched my better half, is to look in the family meals section of the freezer aisle, not the single entree section. 

I looked at the options offered by our grocery store - I really wanted to try the three meat and four cheese lasagna, but it was not meant to be. Instead I brought home the Vermont White Cheddar Mac&Cheese. It wouldn't do for a family dinner, but if it meant I could get dinner on the table for the girls in under 10 minutes, it was definitely worth a try. Plus, the box made the Mac&Cheese look both harmless and delicious. 

Tonight, at long last, I finally pulled the package from the freezer and popped it in the microwave. 5 minutes later I was drooling as the smell of melted cheese filled the kitchen. Another 4 minutes later and I was pulling dinner out of the microwave. I added some turkey slices and fruit to their plates and served up dinner. 

I wish I could tell you that both children fell over themselves as they gorged on mac&cheese. Sadly that wasn't the case. At first I thought it was because I've spoiled my kids with homemade mac&cheese (they won't even eat the stuff out of the box any more...), but after tasting it I understood. 

The benign dish pictured on the box had an unexpected kick to it. 

I sat down at the table and grabbed a bowl. The cheese was perfectly cheesy and the red pepper flakes gave the creamy noodles a tasty - somewhat more grown-up - twist. 

My own dinner was cooking so I regretfully put down my fork. The kids won't want this dinner again, but I'm putting it on the shopping list for those nights when my husband is out of town I'm so crazed I don't have time to cook a meal for myself. (He doesn't do so well with cheesy dishes...)

Side note: I'm an avid nutritional content checker and this dish compared admirably with other leading brands of frozen mac&cheese. It even bested them in the protein and vitamin department.

Marie Callender's Multi-serve Bakes Giveaway

Want to try for yourself? You're in luck! I have two sets of Marie Callender's coupons - one free dish and a few discounted dishes - to give away to two lucky readers. 

To enter leave me a comment sharing a quick dinner short-cut that works for you. 

Bonus entries: Tweet or Facebook this giveaway. Please be sure to come back and post the direct link to your tweet or Facebook post.

Giveaway will close at 10pm Tuesday, Dec 7th.

Please note, I was compensated by Marie Callender's and TheMotherhood for this post, but all opinions expressed are mine and mine alone. 

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Frap-it-your-way! However-You-Want-It Frappuccinos at Starbucks starting today

Did you know that at Starbucks there are 87,000 ways to create your Latte? If that wasn't enough, starting tomorrow, Tuesday, May 4th, you'll also be able to have 87,000 ways to create your Frappuccino. 

Now, personally, I'm a simple coffee girl. I like drip coffee, hot old cold, maybe with a splash of cream, and a dash of sugar, but even I had a blast designing my own Frappuccino. (For the record I went with White Chocolate, whole milk, decaf, with a Cinnamon Dolce topping. It was yum. And I don't want to know how many calories were in it. Thankyouverymuch.)

The long and short of it is that now you'll essentially be able to have whatever you want blended into a delightful cold frothy drink - from the 100 cal tall Skinny Frap to the please-don't-tell-me cal anything you want in a cup.

Worried you won't find what you like? Not a fan of coffee coffee? No worries. They have you covered. 
Strawberries & Creme,  Vanilla Bean, Chai, Green Tea, Double Chocolaty Chip, Mocha, Toffee Nut, Peppermint, Raspberry, Caramel, Hazelnut, Cinnamon Dolce. And I haven't even covered the toppings! I'll let you discover those for yourself.

But my favorite part in all this? Brand new, state of the art blenders that blend faster, smoother, and way, way quieter.

Good thing the weather is finally warming up. There are quite a few Frappuccinos for you to go try out.


Note: I was not paid to tell you any of this. I did receive a free Frappuccino and a coolio cup to take it home in. I'm just a big fan of the old Starbucks. Especially since they let me sit around all morning and work on my book there. Thus the excitement about the new quiet blenders. See? It all ties in somehow.

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Jolly Llama Sorbet Review

It's summer time. It's hot. And what's the thing you crave most when it's hot? Well, duh. Ice cream!

Or if you're me, sorbet. Yummy, fruity, light sorbet. Only sorbet hasn't always been the easiest thing to serve up to a crowd, to kids, or even on the go.

You know, until now!

Jolly Llama made my summer when they contacted me and asked me if I wanted to test their brand new sorbets. In instantly said "Yes, please!" and sent them my address. Little did I know they were going to send the package right away and that I was going to get a frantic call from M while I was in Chicago.

"There's a big box here and it's marked perishable. Should I open it?"

He opened it and found lots of sorbet. I instructed that he was to find a way, any way, to fit each and every ounce of it in our freezer. He did. I don't want to know what had to be sacrificed. It doesn't matter, it was all worth it.

I tore into my first Jolly Llama sorbet when I got home and I was delighted to discover that they more than lived up to my expectations. Tasty, healthy, fun to eat, and best of all, utterly practical.

The four flavors (Strawberry, blueberry, acai berry, and mango) are all-natural, made without corn syrup, no juices or concentrates, and as a bonus happen to be a good source of fiber!

Even better, the girls, my delightfully picky eaters, love them! As for me, I keep being torn between wanting to hand them out to each and every one of my friends so they can taste the goodness for themselves and wanting to hoard my stash for myself.

Jolly Llama Sorbet Pros:

- Each sorbet is a great source of fiber - 10% RDI or better depending on the flavor.
- Each sorbet is a fantastic source of Vitamins A&C. 50%!
- All the sorbets are low-fat or no-fat, gluten free, contain no allergens, and average about 85 calories per tube. (Each sorbet ranges from 22-25g of carbs.)
- The blueberry and acai berry are also loaded with antioxidants!
- Jolly Llama fruit is allowed to ripen on the vine and is pureed and frozen immediately. No fruit cooking here and you can really taste the difference!
- The tubes are easy to handle, even for little 2 year old hands. I can hand her one and send her outside and she doesn't need me to help her with her treat.
- Suggested retail price of each tube is $1.49

Jolly Llama Sorbet Cons:

- There's only one con, and you're going to be sad to hear it. Since Jolly Llama sorbets are brand new they're only available in select stores... on the West Coast. OK. In Northern California. I'm sorry. You'll just have to come visit me and I'll share mine with you. If you're nice.
East Coast expansion is planned and coming soon.

Jolly Llama treats are currently available in:
Whole Foods Northern California
Nugget Markets(Sacramento area)
New Leaf (Santa Cruz County)
Berkeley Bowls (Berkeley)
Oliver’s (Sonoma County)

In conclusion, run, don't walk to your local store and grab a Jolly Llama sorbet or ten. You'll be glad for the new healthy treat or desert option!

Disclaimer: I received a few boxes of Jolly Llama sorbets for review, but I was in other no way compensated for this giveaway. All opinions included in this post are mine and mine alone.

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Top Ten Things I Brought Back from BlogHer

So this is about a week delayed, but only because I've had my face deep inside a tissue box since I got off the plane and also I haven't so much unpacked as left my suitcase sitting in the middle of the floor in our room. Which I'm sure my husband totally loves.

Even after taking the high-road and refusing to fight anyone for a swag bag of anything I still managed to leave BlogHer with way more stuff than I brought and a clean conscience to boot, so yay. And so, without further ado...

The Top Ten Things I Brought Back from BlogHer.

10. Two bottles of Sobe Life Water. Yes two. Which I stashed in my backpack and had to guzzle as I walked up to the x-ray machine at the airport. Because there was no way no how I was giving them up to security. Three minutes later I had to make an urgent dash to the ladies room. Friends might have laughed at me. Mmm. SoBe.

9. The new Bounce Dryer Bar which makes me happy every time I open my dryer and smell my clean laundry. Nothing like the scent of Bounce to take me to my happy place.

8. A Spiderman book for our LeapFrog Tag System. My 4yo might have preferred a more princessy or pink book, but I love my super heroes and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Plus after months of intense use we're still huge fans of the Tag System and we're delighted to have a new book to explore.

7. A tube of Suave Sleek Anti-Frizz Cream. I have no idea how I have ever lived without this product in the past. Mid-afternoon frizz attack? One dolop and my hair looks better than it did in the morning. Might have to buy a case of it.

6. Diana Orgain's new book Bundle of Trouble. Totally fun mommy mystery. Great fun read. I love discovering new authors. Especially ones that I apparently met.

5. A Pearl of Wisdom brooch from the Pearl of Wisdom campaign to prevent cervical cancer. It's pretty, it's classy, and even better it's raising awareness for a disease no one should succumb to. Pretty good combo.

4. Three treasures from Playskool: A bee, a butterfly, and an old family favorite, Mr. Potato Head. The spud went to join his already extensive family in the girls' room. He was welcomed with open arms by all. The bugs have also been shown lots of love since they were first introduced to the children. I love Playskool. No, let me rephrase that. I pink puffy heart Playskool. They make great toys that really stand up both to the test of time and little kids.

3. A cuddly fuzzy sweet Build A Bear teddy who the girls have declared is mommy's teddy. When I was recovering from BlogHer last week I kept waking up to find him tucked into my arms. He was quite snuggly. I didn't mind in the least. Plus his t-shirt reads "Bloggers are Bearrific!" What's not to love about a bear with such great taste?

2. A couple All detergent chocolate lollipops and some All detergent samples. I haven't tried the detergent yet, but the girls inhaled the chocolate leaving me all of three seconds to tell my long-suffering husband some juicy details about the weekend. Sadly I had to leave the All Laundry Fairy behind though.

1. An awesome Lands End Backpack. It's light and compact. It has pockets for everything. It has a laptop compartment. It comes in a ton of colors and looks rugged but sleek. I'm not going back to school any time soon, but you can bet you'll see this baby on my shoulders at Starbucks soon.

There was so much more, but this was definitely the cream of the crop. And yes I will now go finish unpacking. But first...

Bottom One Thing I Brought Back from BlogHer

1. A cold. A nasty, ugly, icky cold that has kept me down for at least a week now and is morphing into a nasty, ugly, icky sinus infection. If you see the person that was handing these out don't thank her for me.

Lily on the Fly Review

It's 6pm, the kids are hungry. Your significant other has just called to say s/he was running late. You're fried and out of inspiration. So what are you going to cook? Chicken nuggets? Fish sticks? Hot dogs? It's not like you have the ingredients on hand for anything else, right?

Well, you would if you had Lily on the Fly to help you.

Lily on the Fly is a neat little kit that takes all the hassle and guesswork out of menu planning, grocery list making, and creating healthy fun meals that actually change from week to week.

Created by a mom who understood the challenge all too well, and awarded the 2008 iParenting Best Product award, Lily on the Fly is a simple system that will easily get you in the habit of planning healthful weekly menus.

The kit consists of a plastic recipe card holder that sticks to your fridge and a large number of handy recipe cards that feature tasty but simple recipes on one side and a list of ingredients (sorted by grocery store section!) on the other.

At the start of the week flip through the cards and select the ones that you want to make during the week. Slip them into the holder in the order you plan to use them, then grab your holder and head to the store. At the end of the day, take out the cards you've used and put them back in the deck. When the holder is empty start the whole thing again.

Want more recipes to play with? Lily on the Fly offers add on packs to spice up your rotation! Have family favorites you want to include? Lily on the Fly offers blank cards so you can adapt your own recipes to the system.

Lily on the Fly Pros:

- The recipes are tasty and simple to assemble, making this a low stress way to organize your families meals.
- The recipes are diverse and cover everything from breakfast to desert and include snacks. Even better they cover a large range of cooking methods from slow cooking to grilling.
- Three recipe packs and the make your own card pack mean that you can try new recipes every week while holding on to tried and true family favorites.

Lily on the Fly Cons:

- The original plastic holder was a bit bulky to fit into a purse, but Lily on the Fly has just come out with a little pocket version that would be ideal for people who are always on the go and want to keep their recipes on hand for those last minute trips to the store.
- The only thing the cards themselves are missing is a spot to write quick, post meal notes about what you might change or how much your family liked the meal.

If you're looking to start menu planning and getting your family's meals organized this is the tool for you! And if you ever make the Sour Cream Blue Berry Muffins don't forget to invite me over. OK?

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Yoplus Yoplait Winner

Sorry for the delay in posting this, I plead too many germs and too little sleep!

The THREE winners for the Yoplus Yoplait gift pack are:

Which translates to:
Celeste
MaddyRu
Amy

Congratulations girls! Your prize packs will be coming soon!

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Glow Mama Review

When I was pregnant I was always thirsty. Always. I guzzled water all day long and I constantly lamented my lack of drink options.

See, I couldn't drink too much caffeine, I was avoiding both diet and regular soda, and I just don't drink juice. I'd rather eat my fruit than drink it. In case you hadn't noticed, that doesn't leave a ton of options.

If I'd known about Glow Mama back then I would have been stoked! Light and fruity without being too sweet like juice and specially formulated for pregnant women or nursing moms - it would have been the perfect drink for me!

Glow Mama Pros:
- Glow Mama is light and fruity, more like flavored water than juice
- Very refreshing
- Fortified with fiber, vitamin C, vitamin B3, B6, B12, folic acid, calcium, and iron - all the great nutrients that moms and moms to be need.
- Relatively low calorie. It's not water, but at 70 calories per bottle, it's not a bad substitute.
- Perfect ingredient for fun "mocktails." (See below for a sample recipe!)
- Affordable, plus the site offers great sampler packages.

Glow Mama Cons:
- Small 12oz bottles. If I had drunk these when I was pregnant I would have gone through a case a day!
- Very light in taste, which appealed to me, but if you like bolder tasting drinks this might seem very watered down to you.

All in all, Glow Mama is a great drink option for mamas or mamas to be. Stock up for yourself or your next baby shower!

Mom-ito Mocktail!
(Click here for other great mocktail options.)

Ingredients:
10 Large Mint leaves
1 oz Lime juice
3 oz Chilled Glow Mama
1 oz Soda Water
6 ea Glow Mama Ice Cubes

Directions:
Muddle mint leaves, sugar and lime juice in the bottom of a hi-ball glass. Drop in the Glow Mama ice cubes. Pour in the Glow Mama and soda water and garnish with mint leaves.

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Yoplus Yoplait Giveaway

Yoplait has come out with a new flavor for their Yoplus+ digestive yogurt line - Blueberry Acai. In honor of this event, and so you can taste the yogurt for yourself I'm giving away not one, not two, but THREE awesome Yoplus+ gift packs.

I'm not doing an actual review of the product, because, ah, I wasn't a huge fan of the actual yogurt. But in Yoplus' defense, I'm a really tough sell when it comes to yogurt. It's the pitfall of growing up in a country where all yogurt is unbelievably creamy.

Luckily we all have different tastes, and I've heard of many people who love, love, love the Yoplus+ yogurts, so I want to give you a chance to try it for yourself. To make this even more fun, I'm not just giving away yogurt. I'm giving away an awesome cooler bag (as in bag that cools, not bag that is cool. Though it is.) that will accompany you to every picnic and pool party you attend this summer, a nice big BP Free water bottle, and a handy little notebook.

To enter:
1) Leave a comment letting me know about your absolute favorite Yoplait product.
2) Subscribe to this blog's feed. Leave a comment telling me you subscribed.
3) Subscribe to my other blog's feed. Leave a comment telling me you subscribed.
4) Tweet, email, blog about this giveaway.

Please remember to leave me a way to contact you. And please, please, please, leave a separate comment for each of your entries. I can't credit you for each of them if you don't.

Giveaway ends Wednesday, April 1 at 10pm PST. (No joke.) This giveaway is officially closed! Thank you for stopping by. Make sure to check out all my other great giveaways!

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Bake Me a Wish - Sale Announcement

You know that excitement you feel when you open the door and a guy in a uniform is holding a huge bouquet of flowers in his hands? Imagine if instead of colorful buds he was holding a cake box? Fun factor just went way up, right?
Bake Me A Wish! does just that. They deliver cakes right to your door for birthdays, celebrations, or just because. They'll even deliver cakes to our hardworking soldiers overseas. How cool is that?

There are a few Bake Me A Wish! coupon codes bouncing around online, the best of which is 15% off your order with code ENT2007. I don't know when this code expires, so you should definitely take advantage of it soon!

Right now on the site you can save 10% by ordering two or more Bake Me A Wish!cakes, and you have the benefit of knowing that 5% of your order goes towards Bake Me a Wish! Operation: Birthday Cake which sends cakes each month to soldiers overseas.

See? You can have your cake and eat it too! (Too corny? Sorry. Cake makes me silly.)

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Jelly Belly - Belly Flop Sale Announcement

You know what's better than candy? Lots and lots of candy? It's lots and lots of candy on sale.

Every year, for a very short period of time the infamous Jelly Belly company puts their irregular jelly beans - all the ones that have odd shapes and colors, but still taste just as great - on sale.

You can either get five 2 lb. bags of Belly Flops for the price of two bags, or, if you're sweet tooth is as insatiable as mine, you can get one 12-count Belly Flop case for $50 instead of $97.20!

So? What are you waiting for! Hurry over to the Jelly Belly Outlet Store! Get your Belly Flops Now! Did I mention you should hurry? The sale ends this Sunday, February 22nd and the Belly Flops ALWAYS sell out!

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Share Win the Ferrero Chocolates!

I know Valentines Day is supposed to be all about love and hearts and all the other lovey dovey stuff, but really, it's all about the chocolate, right? If you love someone you give them chocolate.

And, well, I love you. Each and every one of you. And so I'm going to give you chocolate. OK. Fine. I love each and every one of you, but I can only give real chocolates to two of you. The rest of you get virtual chocolates and my undying love.

And they're not just any chocolates, they're Ferrero chocolates. The wonderful people from The Ferrero Company are not just donating money each time you send a Valentines card, but they're donating love chocolate to my amazing readers.

All you have to do to be entered in this SAH-weet giveaway (pun totally intended) is

• Leave a comment saying you want some delicious chocolatey chocolates.
  
• Go to their site, send a nice card to someone, anyone, and come back and leave a comment letting me know it's done. Send love + get chocolate = everyone wins.
• Tweet, blog, email your friends to win more entries. For each way you promote this giveaway come back and leave a comment so I can give you credit!
• Sign up for this blog's feed or It's my life...'s feed to get another entry. Again, don't forget to come back and tell me!

Ready? Set? Go Share Something Sweet!

Psssst: Giveaway ends Wednesday, February 18, at 10pm PST, so get lovin'!

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Baskin-Robbins is making a healthy resolution!

The one thing that I routinely crave is a great big scoop of Baskin-Robbins ice cream slathered in their oh so delicious hot fudge sauce. For obvious reasons I can't indulge in this treat quite as often as I'd like. (As in every day...) But Baskin-Robbins has heard the pleas of all the health conscious, weight watching grown-ups out there! January 15th they are launching their new Bright Choices line of ice cream.

Bright Choices options, marked with a pink star, come in fat free, dairy free, no sugar added, and light flavors! See? Something for everyone!

To celebrate the new line on January 15th Baskin-Robbins is giving away a free scoop of Bright Choices ice cream to anyone who can show proof of a gym membership. So, you know, hop off the treadmill and go indulge a bit!

Country Bob's All Purpose Steak Sauce Giveaway Winner!

The big Country Bob's All Purpose Steak Sauce winner is....

Drum roll please!

L321!

Congratulations! I hope that you fall in love with the sauce... oh and that you eat it up fast because my husband might try to come steal it from you.

Country Bob's oh so good sauce - review & giveaway!

A while back I was asked to review Country Bob's All Purpose Steak sauce, and being a big steak lover I jumped at the chance. Then the sauce arrived and we went through a phase when we just didn't eat a ton of steak so I never got to try it and I might have maybe forgotten about it for a bit.

Then, one day, we had steak! And we had sauce! And I put them together, but not nearly for long enough, because as usual I didn't have time. And I wish I could say that the heavens sang and I was thrilled with the sauce, but the truth of the matter is that after marinating for five minutes in Country Bob's sauce the steaks weren't all that great. So I put the sauce aside and I decided to try it with hamburgers before writing the review.

Guess how long it took me to make hamburgers? That's right, weeks and weeks. And then, thank goodness, I did have hamburger meat, and I did mix it with Country Bob's sauce, and the heavens did sing, but I had trouble hearing them over M's Mmmming and groaning with delight.

Country Bob's All Purpose Steak Sauce Pros:
- This aromatic steak sauce is delicious mixed with hamburger meat. It makes juicy, tasty burgers that leave you licking your fingers clean.
- Very versatile sauce that can be used in a multitude of ways. Recipes are offered on the site.
- Country Bob's company is, ah, somewhat religious, which is a great thing if you're into that!
- You can get a personalized label and corporate gifts on the site!

Country Bob's All Purpose Steak Sauce Cons:
- If you marinate your steaks for all of five minutes and hope that slapping a ton of sauce on while they grill is going to help, you might be disappointed. The steak sauce didn't really do much for the steaks, though I have a hunch that overnight marinating might create a delightful dinner.
- Not available at my local grocery store, but I think that M would leave me if I didn't start ordering it regularly, so I'm going to get on that.

All in all Country Bob's All Purpose Steak Sauce was a great hit with us and I'm definitely turning it into a family staple. I highly recommend it, and if you're not convinced I I can just tape M's happy eating sounds next time I make some burgers, which, if this week is anything to go by, might be in a day or two.

Buy Country Bob's All Purpose Steak Sauce here. If you have a meat lover on your holiday shopping list, this is the perfect gift.

Country Bob's All Purpose Steak Sauce giveaway!
Not one but TWO of you fantastic readers are going to get to try Country Bob's for FREE! Yes! I'm know, you're excited, so hurry down to the comments section and tell me your favorite steak or hamburger memory to be entered for a chance to win. (Don't have one? Make one up!) Then, to get another chance to win, head over to Country Bob's site and check out the recipes. Come back and tell us which recipe is the one you're most excited to try. As always if you twitter, blog, or email friends about this giveaway come back and tell us to win even more entries. And as always, if you don't leave me a way to contact you I won't be able to tell you you won!
Givaway winners will be chosen on Tuesday, December 9 at 12PST.