Monday, August 20, 2012

Almond Breeze Winners!!

And the 3 winners as chosen by Rafflecopter are:

#12 Molly's Lunchbox
#22 Sarah Laureman Felder
#4Michelle Joseph Castaneda

Congrats to the winners!!!


Friday, August 10, 2012

Review & Giveaway: Blue Diamond Almond Breeze!

When Moms Meet gave me the opportunity to review Blue Diamond Almond Breeze products, I jumped on it. We are already huge fans of the Chocolate Almond Breeze and I was excited to try their new Almond Coconut milk blend.

If you have never heard of Almond Breeze, it's a non-dairy milk alternative from Blue Diamond. It is calcium enriched and free of dairy,lactose,gluten and soy. It comes in original,chocolate and vanilla flavors in both sweetened and unsweetened. They also have a new Almond Coconut milk blend that also come sweetened or unsweetened.

Around my house chocolate was already a favorite. So I decided to try the new Almond Coconut milk blend to see what we thought. On it's own my daughter said it was okay and I felt the same. We also used it some of our smoothie recipes and we really liked it for that. I also liked that by using the Almond Breeze it lowered the fat making them even more healthy and we could serve them to our dairy-free friends too!

The great people at Moms Meet and Almond Breeze also included 2 recipe booklets and I wanted to share the Breakfast Banana Power Boost with you. This would be great for mornings especially with everyone going back to school and mornings being rushed. It takes no time at all and your kids will love it and you will too!!

Breakfast Banana Power Boost
1 serving

1 cup Vanilla Almond Breeze Almondmilk
1 heaping tsp. protein powder
2tsp honey
1 ripe banana,peeled
2 ice cubes

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Per serving there are only 164 calories and 1.4grams of fat

If you are looking for an alternative to traditional dairy milk, I highly recommend Blue Diamond Almond Breeze it is very tasty and can be used just as your would use regular milk.

Moms Meet nad Almond Breeze have give me 3 coupons for a FREE carton of the Almond Breeze flavor of the winners choice! That mean 3 of you can win!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway



Disclaimer: I received this product for free from the sponsor of

the Moms MeetSM program, May Media Group LLC, who received it

directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms MeetSM blogger, I agreed

to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do

not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the

manufacturer of the product.

Picnic Lunch

Today was my daughter's last day of summer rec and they were to have a picnic at our local park with fishing, games and lots of fun. However mother nature had other ideas and it has been pouring rain since yesterday :( So sadly the picnic has been moved indoors. Since I knew my daughter was disappointed I decided to bring some of the outdoors into her lunch.

I used food writers to decorate her sandwich. For the butterfly I used a cupcake/cookie stencil that I bought awhile back on clearance. You got like 6 stencils for 25 cents, what a deal! It helps if you are artistically challenged like me,lol.
I used our GoGreen lunchbox as it seals each compartment separate so I didn't have to worry about the mandarin oranges leaking into the rest of her lunch. And another Odwalla Smoothie for Kids because she loves them!

If you are looking for other "fancy" sandwich ideas you can find my lunch and many others at Beneficial Bento's Fancy Sandwich Friday!! Lots of amazing lunches are sure to found there!

Have a fab Friday!!

~Jen

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Let's Go Swimming!!

Tomorrow my daughter starts swim lessons and since the swim school has a goldfish theme I thought it would make a super cute lunch for camp today.In fact as I took the tour of the school I had all kinds of lunch packing ideas floating through my head. I know I need help, right?

Anyway back to the lunch. I packed it in our Goodbyn Bynto. And if you haven't tried the Odwalla smoothie  boxes you should, they are really yummy!! My daughter loves them and they have no sugar added. There's enough sugar in the peanut butter cup ;) I also think the fish are perfect for summer picnics too! You could even add some goldfish crackers to make it more fishy.

                                                                  Have a great Thursday!!

                                                                              ~Jen

Monday, August 6, 2012

And the winner is...

The winner of the Allergy Friendly Food for Families cookbook is comment number #7 from Laura who wrote:

"I would love to win this - my daughter has a peanut allergy, and it is a recent diagnosis, so we are constantly looking for safe foods and meal ideas for her - this would be perfect for us!"

Laura watch your email :)

Thank you to everyone who entered! If you didn't win you can buy your own copy here. Stay tuned another giveaway will be posted this week!!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Cherry Lime Slush

It's been super hot here in Michigan and I've been making tons of frozen drinks and smoothies. I use my Vitamix more than any other appliance in my kitchen. My family loves smoothies and there is no better way to get  kids to eat healthy than whipping it up into a fun smoothie. I won't lie though, we do enjoy a cherry limeade from Sonic from time to time and that is what inspired this healthy version on these hot days. We all loved them!! Here is a picture of mine:

It's so simple to do. Just add frozen cherries, fresh cherries, organic limeade, water and ice and blend. The amounts you use will depend on how many you are making and whether you prefer more cherry flavor or more tart lime flavor. I would start out with a small amount of the limeade as it has a very strong flavor you can always go back and some more.  You can also throw any leftover mix into a popsicle mold for some future treats. And if you are having a party for the adults you could add some vodka too ;)

Hope where ever you live you are staying cool!!
~Jen