Food Archives - Page 16 of 18

Snacks My Kids Can Freely Eat: FreeYumm Review + Giveaway

June 19, 2018 52 Comments

Disclosure: I received free products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

One of the most exciting discoveries for me at Expo West was the number of companies dedicated to nut-free foods. Both of my kids are allergic to tree nuts and peanuts, so we are always on the lookout for snacks that they can safely eat.

One of the brands I found is FreeYumm, a company that has a bakery dedicated to producing bars and cookies without the following allergens:

Milk (all dairy)
Eggs
Peanuts
Tree Nuts
Wheat/Gluten
Soy
Fish
Shellfish
Sulphites
Sesame

I have taught my kids to always check food labels. It seems like so many companies produce products that do not contain nuts listed as an ingredient, yet they add the disclaimer “may contain nuts” which is so frustrating.

It is nice to be able to have peace of mind about these snacks.

FreeYumm offers several types of goodies:

Honey Apple Oat Bars
Blueberry Oat Bars
Raspberry Chia Bars
Chocolate Chip Oat Bars
Double Chocolate Cookies
Ginger Cookies
Banana Maple Cookies

We tried a few of the varieties. They are “kid-size” and have just the right amount of sweetness. My kids liked the Honey Apple Oat Bars the best.

These bars and cookies do not contain any fillers, refined sugars, or preservatives–yes!

I also like that the bars and cookies are individually wrapped. FreeYumm bars would be a fun and allergy-friendly treat to include in a kids’ birthday party favor bag.

Even if your own kids do not have allergies, they are a good healthy snack to have on hand for school lunches, after sports practices/games, etc.

FreeYumm products are available at certain retail outlets (I hope they are able to expand soon!) and can be ordered on Amazon in the United States. Use promo code: YUMMGF20 for 20% off at checkout.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

If you are in Canada, you can go to Well.ca and use promo code: FreeYumm20 for 20% off your first FreeYumm order.

FreeYumm is generously offering my readers a chance to win 3 boxes of their allergen-friendly bars (varieties may vary).

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Crafts, Food

Baby Shower Pretzel Rods

June 14, 2018 No Comments

It has been a while since I have been to a baby shower. However, I was happy to attend one last month for n’s teacher that he had in first grade (one of his favorites!) When I asked if there was anything I could bring, the suggestion was decorated pretzel rods. n was eager to help!

First, I bought the supplies. The pretzels were from Target. I checked all of the bags to find the one with the least broken rods! I bought the candy melts and sprinkles at Michaels. I ended up needing about 1.75 bags of candy melts to cover one bag of pretzel rods.

I followed the directions on the candy melts bag and microwaved them in a tall coffee mug. The most difficult part was probably figuring out how to do 50% power on my microwave! (This is an important step, as another teacher told me that her white candy melts did not melt properly when she tried to use full power).

Next, we dipped the pretzel rods into the melted candy melts and let the excess drip back into the mug. Using a tall mug made it easier to cover most of the pretzel rod.

We then put the rods on a cookie sheet covered with foil and put the sprinkles on before the candy melts hardened.

Yep, it’s a girl!

Don’t they look nice on the dessert buffet table?

Food, Giveaways, Sponsored

A Paleo, Keto, Whole30 Approved Snack: Nick’s Sticks Review + Giveaway

May 31, 2018 59 Comments

Disclosure: I received samples in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

For those of you who are Gluten Free or follow Paleo, Keto, or Whole30, I have found another snack for you: Nick’s Sticks! These snack sticks come in four varieties: Free-Range Turkey, Free-Range Turkey Spicy, Grass-fed Beef, and Grass-Fed Beef Spicy. Their tag-line is “All of the Goodness, None of the Garbage”. This means their products do not contain any MSG, nitrates, sugar, soy, antibiotics, hormones, or red dye.

D likes to go to the gym before work and is usually snacking throughout the day at his desk. These are the perfect snack for him to pack for his long days. He liked the Grass-Fed Beef Snack Sticks the best.

They would also be good for school lunches, road trips, hikes, and camping.

How about a giving someone a bouquet of Nick’s Sticks? Think Father’s Day, care package for a college student, or really anyone who appreciates healthy snacks!

Nick’s Sticks has generously allowed me to host a giveaway for a 12 pack!

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Food, Giveaways, Sponsored

Rise of Healthy Junk Food: Rise Buddy Review + Giveaway

May 17, 2018 70 Comments

In my seemingly never-ending quest to find healthier-for-you snacks, I discovered Rise Buddy baked brown rice chips at Expo West.

I appreciate how these chips are oven-baked, and not fried.

They have a very light and crispy texture. Each serving has 170 calories, 3-4 grams of fat, and 1-2 grams of fiber.

These baked rice snacks come in four different flavors:

Sea Salt
Pizza
BBQ
Sour Cream & Onion

My kids’ favorite flavor is the Sour Cream & Onion. I like all of them!

Enjoy 15% Off Rise Buddy on Amazon orders with code 232AKAFC through May 31, 2018!

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We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Rise Buddy has generously agreed to send a 12 ct. variety pack to FIVE of my readers so you can try these snacks out for yourself!

Enter the giveaway below:

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Food, Running, Sponsored

Fuel For Fire When You’re On The Go

May 14, 2018 No Comments

I received this product for free from Moms Meet (momsmeet.com) to use and post my honest
opinions. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links.

Yesterday we celebrated Mother’s Day and all that moms do for their families. As a mom, it is easy to be so caught up in caring for your family that you forget to care for yourself. Fuel For Fire is a Fruit + Protein Smoothie that is portable and can give you a natural boost of energy anytime or anywhere. Each serving has 10+ grams of protein, along with gluten-free complex carbs, real fruits, essential vitamins, minerals, and soluble fiber.

The available flavors are: Strawberry Banana; Sweet Potato Apple; Tropical; Banana Cocoa and Coffee. My kids liked the Strawberry Banana and I liked the Banana Cocoa the best.

I liked the convenient packaging–very easy to throw in a bag or lunch box. Although no refrigeration is needed, they taste best cold. Fuel For Fire Fruit + Protein Smoothies are available to purchase at fuelforfire.com, Amazon, and select retail stores. To find Fuel For Fire in your area, visit fuelforfire.com/apps/store-locator for the full list of locations.

Get 40% off and free shipping on any purchase on fuelforfire.com with the discount code SAVE40. Offer expires July 31, 2018.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Food, Sponsored

Mother’s Day Treat: Once Again Hazelnut-Chocolate-Strawberry Crepes #MomsMeet

May 8, 2018 1 Comment

I received this product for free from Moms Meet (momsmeet.com) to use and post my honest opinions. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links.

Mother’s Day is around the corner, and it is always fun to celebrate with a sweet treat. The Once Again Nut Butter line includes an Amoré Hazelnut Spread that makes it easy to fancy up any dessert.

For my experiment, I put some of the Once Again Amore Hazelnut Spread in a squeeze bottle and drizzled it on top of some homemade crepes and strawberries. (I used this easy recipe for the crepes, and they turned out great!) The hazelnut spread poured easily from the jar to the bottle, and from the bottle to the crepes at room temperature. So easy!

Looks pretty fancy, right? The hazelnut also adds an extra flavor dimension that plain chocolate lacks. I could see drizzling this spread on ice cream, a piece of pound cake, cream puffs…so many possibilities! More recipe ideas can be found here.

There may be a few other hazelnut chocolate spreads on the market, but the Once Again label is Certified Organic and is made without artificial flavors, colors or hydrogenated oils. It is also Non-GMO Project Verified, Gluten Free Certified, and Fair Trade Certified.

Once Again Nut Butter Amoré Hazelnut Spread is available to purchase
at natural food stores nationwide. To find Once Again Nut Butter Amoré
Hazelnut Spread in your area, visit: onceagainnutbutter.com/retail-store-locator

Once Again Nut Butter is hosting a sweepstakes. You can enter here for a chance to win a free case of product and a toy raccoon. Hurry, the sweepstakes is only open through May 9 and the winners will be announced during the Once Again Nut Butter Facebook Live on May 10.

Book Review, Food

ExpoWest: Lemon Beverage Edition + Book Recommendation

April 24, 2018 No Comments

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

I am still going through all of the products I tried at ExpoWest. I thought it would be fun to review them by category. These are the lemon-flavored beverages that I tried.

Hubert’s Lemonade, Honest Sport (Lemon); Steaz Half and Half (Green Tea & Lemonade); Smart Kids Organic Lemonade

We brought the Hubert’s Lemonade to Citrus Ranch Park, which sits at the base of a lemon grove. This is the mango flavor, which adds a little twist to regular lemonade. It contains sugar and stevia. The packaging puts a smile on your face, and I have liked all of the flavors I have tried. The bottles would be cute for a party.

Love the citrus-themed playground equipment!

The Honest Sport drink was a new discovery for me. D likes drinks with electrolytes, and the kids will drink them occasionally too. However, most of them have artificial colors. This one is organic, and it still tastes good!

The Steaz Half and Half Green Tea and Lemonade was another new discovery. I like the concept of half tea and half lemonade (love Arnold Palmers!) I also like green tea, so this is a good flavor combination for me. There is 20 g of sugar (pure cane sugar), which is pretty high, but less than soda, at least.

My kids liked the Smart Kids Lemonade. I do not let them drink juice everyday, so it is still considered a “treat”. They may not appreciate that it is organic, but I do! I also like that there is not added sugar. The sweetness comes from apple juice!

Also, while we are on the topic of lemonade, I just wanted to recommend the book The Lemonade War. I read this book to the kids at the beginning of the year, and we all enjoyed it. I liked how it wove together sibling rivalry, friendships, and business concepts into a fun story. I just saw on Amazon that it is part of a series, so we will have to check out the other books as well!

Food, Giveaways, Sponsored

Alpha Burritos Review + Giveaway #AlphaBurritos #AlphaFoods #momsmeet

April 20, 2018 90 Comments

I received this product for free from Moms Meet (momsmeet.com) to use and post my honest opinions. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links.

It seems like more and more people I know are either vegan or vegetarian. I have also noticed that the grocery options for vegans and vegetarians have been rapidly expanding in response to this trend. While the members of my family are all omnivores, we do have meatless meals about once a week. I first heard about Alpha Burritos, 100% plant-based frozen burritos, at ExpoWest. I recently tried these burritos with my family and I was curious to see if they could tell that they were meatless.

The Alpha Burritos come in four varieties: Mexicali, Philly Sandwich, Chicken Fajita and Pizza. I was only able to find the Philly Sandwich and Pizza burritos at my local store. (I saw that there were a couple of empty display boxes for the other flavors, so I guess they must be gaining in popularity?)

The kids wanted to try the Philly Sandwich burrito. I did not show them the package or tell them that it was plant-based.

They both gave it a thumbs up, and neither of them suspected it was meatless. k was impressed by the fluffiness of the tortilla. I guess she has had her share of mediocre frozen burritos. I thought n might not be a fan of the onions and green peppers, but he ate the whole thing!

D tried the Pizza burrito, and he immediately noticed that something was “different”. I tried both types, and it did seem that the Pizza burrito was more obviously vegan, mostly because the vegetables were more prominent. I am curious to see how the Mexicali and Chick’n Fajita flavors compare.

All of the varieties of Alpha Burritos are 300-320 calories, and contain 9-10 grams of fat, and 11 g of protein. They are free of GMO’s, cholesterol, hormones, corn syrup, artificial preservatives, and all animal products. Although I would consider them to be somewhat pricey for my family’s budget to just enjoy as a snack, they are reasonable if you consider them as part of a meal. I could see them being a good option to take to work or to have on hand for busy weeknights. Plus, you cannot beat the convenience when you want something quick and healthy. To find out if the Alpha Burritos are available near you, go to their store locator. I am pleased to announce that I have a giveaway for a $25 Walmart gift card so you can try these Alpha Burritos for yourself!

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Food

Thoughts On My First Imperfect Produce Box #ImperfectProduce

April 9, 2018 No Comments

April is Earth Day month and sustainability seems to be a hot topic. I must admit, I am guilty of wasting food, especially produce. A lot of times, I just forget it is in my refrigerator and it goes bad. On a national level, 6 billion pounds of produce go to waste in the United States, but a lot of this waste occurs before it is even bought by consumers.

I recently decided to try out a produce delivery service called Imperfect Produce. This company addresses the problem of food waste by using the produce that would otherwise go unsold. This produce is not rotten or past its prime!

According to the Imperfect Produce website, produce can be considered imperfect because of:

Size: too small, too big, or too varied.
Asymmetry; too misshapen
Scarring: marks on skin/peel
Lack of consumer market: too unknown
Discoloration: too different in color from average
Surplus: too many

Imperfect Produce delivers a box of produce to your doorstep on a weekly basis, or every other week. The box can also be customized to meet your needs. You can order a box of various sizes: small, medium, large, and extra large; organic or non-organic, all vegetables, all fruit, or mixed. I chose a small organic box of fruits and vegetables for my first box. In my area, deliveries are made on Friday night. It was on my porch when I checked on Saturday morning. The Monday before the delivery I received an e-mail with details about what was expected in my box for that week. You have until Wednesday to make any changes you want. While I like the element of surprise in trying produce I do not usually buy, I also appreciate not having to pay for something if I already know that our family will not eat it. You can also put your subscription on hold or cancel at any time as long as you let them know before the customization window is closed.

This was the contents of my first box: spinach, lacinato kale, onions, braeburn apples, red potatoes, grapefruit and navel oranges (I took out the scheduled cilantro).

I was inspired to make a kale salad and roasted parmesan and garlic potatoes to accompany some chicken. I was really surprised when my kids gobbled it up! For some reason, I do not buy potatoes that often since we usually eat rice or bread as our starch. I also usually do not buy lacinato kale, so it was fun to experiment. The only disappointment was that the apples were a little softer than I would have liked. I think next time I will try to substitute more vegetables for the fruit.

Another reason why I liked this box is that it gives me the push I need to buy organic. I have good intentions of buying more organic produce at the grocery store, but then I see how much cheaper “regular” (or should I say “pesticide”) produce is, and then I cave. Knowing exactly how much I spent on this organic produce, I also feel like I have more impetus to use it up instead of letting it languish in the fridge.

Unlike meal delivery services, there is not a lot of extra packaging waste. All of the produce is simply placed in a cardboard box. If you post a picture of your produce with the included googly eyes on social media, they donate five pounds of food to a local food bank. The expression on this red potato is pretty funny, don’t you think?

Imperfect Produce has an awesome referral program. If you sign up with this link, you can get $10 credit to Imperfect Produce. It is worth a try!

Food, Sponsored

Healthier Snacking Options #NewHopeBloggerBox

April 7, 2018 No Comments

I received samples of these products as a New Hope Blogger. All opinions are my own.

I am definitely a snacker. I personally do not understand how people can go through the day just eating three meals and nothing in between! I am always on the lookout for new snacks, and lately I have been more focused on trying to find snacks with healthier ingredients.

I wanted to share reviews of three snacks that I was introduced to through the New Hope Blogger Box.

Saffron Road Honey Roasted Crunchy Chickpeas

You cannot really get any simpler than this ingredient list: roasted chickpeas, sugar, honey and sea salt. Chickpea snacks seemed to be popular at Expo West, which I will try to share about in another post. One serving has 4g of protein, which makes them a satisfying snack. The appearance is very similar to honey roasted peanuts, and they even have a subtle nutty flavor. They are slightly sticky due to the honey, but not overly so. According to the Saffron Road website, they also have salted caramel and chocolate covered chickpea snacks–yum! There are also savory flavors such as Korean BBQ if you prefer non-sweet snacks.

Prana Organic Chia Balance (Dark chocolate bark with carmelized coconut & probiotic chia)

This bark will definitely satisfy any chocolate craving that you have. It contains probiotic chia, (did not know that there even was such a thing!) which provides 4g of dietary fiber per serving. Each serving also has 4 grams of protein, which I am always looking to add to my diet. The coconut strips, pumpkin and sunflower seeds add textural interest. Their flavor profiles are so interesting. For example, Matcha Magic also sounds good-chocolate bark with roasted sesame, crispy rice and matcha!

I’m Different Pineapple Cacao Nibs Crunchy Coconut Clusters

This snack was the most surprising to me, maybe because I did really know what to expect. The clusters are reminiscent of a light granola, but the fresh pineapple flavor really comes through. I did not really taste the cacao, but I liked the fruitier taste. On the back of the bag, it says “You will find small clusters at the bottom of the bag. We like to use these as toppings on ice cream, oatmeal, and yogurt. Get creative!” I think those ideas would be really tasty. Each serving has 6 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber. Their fun “I’m different” message really comes across in their marketing.

I like that all of these snacks have no artificial flavors or colors and are made of “real food”. Although these products still have sugar and fat, etc., they do offer a healthier alternative to mainstream, traditional “junk food”. I will definitely be on the lookout for these brands when I go grocery shopping so I can try out some of their other products.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

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