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Simple Truth Organics

This has been one of my favorite bzz campaigns so far! Check out bzzagent if you want to get your own products to try and review.

There was lots of tasty free food with this campaign. All items are free from 101 artificial preservatives and ingredients so you can feel better about the delicious food you serve your loved ones. With a full line of products from meat and produce to dairy and canned goods, you’ll find Simple Truth and Simple Truth Organic exclusively at the Kroger Family of Grocery Stores. Plus, since they’re store brand, they’re cheaper than the name brand organics which makes purchasing organic a lot easier on my grocery budget!

Frozen fruit: I tried a bag of mixed berries. This was delicious! I made a smoothie for me and the kids (which I loved but because of the blackberry seeds the kids weren’t too fond of it). I also thawed the fruit and piled it on top of pancakes, then added some whipped cream. That was delicious! The fruit was just sweet enough to go great with my pancake!

The kids did not want fruit on their pancakes but after breakfast, the they ate whatever fruit was left in the bowl, so they definitely liked it as well.

Sparkling beverage: I just love that this has cane sugar in it – and a few other ingredients that I can recognize. I really like the taste of a drink with cane sugar and the Kroger Sparkling beverage is delicious! A friend of mine compared it to izzy beverages because it’s basically like carbonated fruit juice. Very tasty and something I’ll be buying again as a special treat for me!

Sweet Potato chips: These I wasn’t so fond of. They’re like baked chips so they’re thicker and chewier than my usual lays potato chips. They aren’t bad, they just didn’t satisfy my “I want something salty and crunchy” craving. If you’re looking for a healthy alternative to potato chips these are great though.

Almond milk: I was totally unprepared for the nutty flavor of almond milk since I’ve never tried any almond milk before. I tried the chocolate almond milk and the almond plus the strong cocoa flavor was pretty strong. I didn’t like it cold but it was delicious hot with some marshmallows or whipped cream. Just like a good, strong, hot cocoa!

I have a friend though, who loves almond milk. She prefers vanilla and she really liked the Simple Truth brand. It saves money and is just as good as a more expensive brand.

Health and Wellness bar: I stuck this in my husband’s jar of breakfast bars and forgot to keep an eye on when he ate it. So, I’m really not sure what he thought. He didn’t complain though so it must have been tasty. A breakfast bar with all natural ingredients really has to be tasty, I’m just disappointed I didn’t get to it before he did…

All in all, I really enjoyed this campaign. Pretty much everything was delicious and I love that they cost less than the bigger brands!

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Cafe Escapes

Yet another fun free product from bzzagent! Nescafe Cafe Escapes for your Keurig brewer. I got to try six different flavors, Chai Latte, Milk and Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa, Café Mocha, Café Vanilla, and Café Caramel. Café Vanilla was definitely my favorite and Café Caramel was great as well. These two are their newest flavors and whatever they did different to them was totally worth it. I thought the other four flavors were a little watered-down tasting. The flavor was good, just kind of weak. So Café Vanilla and Caramel are the two flavors that I would purchase again.

This was such a great bzz campaign for February and March because it’s still cold out and hot chocolate goes with practically everything I want to do. From catching up on my “Once Upon A Time” episodes to reading my book of short stories, or just hanging out with my Husband in the evenings. I definitely enjoyed trying all these hot chocolate flavors!

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Morning Star Farms Veggie Burgers

Thanks to bzzagent.com I got to try Morning Star Farms veggie burgers for free. I tried the Grillers Original variety but they have several different flavors. I really wanted to try the Black Bean burgers but since they’re Spicy Black Bean burgers and I’m not a big fan of spicy I didn’t want to ruin my first veggie burger experience with a too-spicy burger.

I was really surprised, the Grillers Original tastes just like a regular hamburger. It’s a little thinner and a bit less filling than the burgers I usually make but put it on on bun with some mayo, tomato, lettuce, and cheese and you can’t even tell that you’re eating a veggie burger.

I think the texture is a little softer than a regular burger and these veggie burgers would be perfect for when my next baby is almost ready to eat meat. These burgers would be easy to chew and still provide a great source of protein for a toddler.

I also tried one of the burgers my favorite way, just cooked and cut up with a little bit of ketchup on the side. On a sandwich I didn’t notice the texture difference but just cut up and eaten plain I did notice that the veggie burgers is a little softer than a regular burger. It wasn’t bad, just a little different than what I was expecting. I may try it with mushroom gravy over mashed potatoes next time, that would be pretty tasty, and the potatoes and gravy would compensate for the texture difference!

I haven’t tried their veggie bacon yet but this recipe for a BLT and avocado looks delicious!

I love BLTs and I’ve never thought of putting an avocado on before.

Morning Star Farms has all sorts of great veggie recipes on their website!

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Premama Prenatal Vitamin

PremamaPrenatalDrinkInBox

I received a free 30 day supply of Premama Prenatal Vitamins to try and review. I got signed up for this a little late and they wanted a review by today so I’m going to review my 3 days of using the vitamins so far and then post another review the end of the month when I’ve had more time to try this.

First of all, I have a really hard time with prenatal vitamins. I’m currently pregnant with my third child and up until now (I’m 19 weeks) I have avoided anything but the occasional children’s vitamin. I tried so many vitamins with my first two and every one of them made me sick. I have morning sickness the first trimester and if you add nausea from the vitamins as well (I actually feel better when I’m NOT taking them) I just couldn’t do it this time.

I have heard that a liquid vitamin is a lot easier on your stomach than a pill but I really hate the taste of vitamins – I don’t even like the chewable vitamin C’s I prefer to swallow them whole and then drink something right after to get rid of the taste.

All that said, I was really excited to get to try the Premama Prenatal Vitamins. They’re a powdered drink mix, which is pretty close to a liquid vitamin in my opinion and supposed to help with nausea. I’m currently in my second trimester and don’t have nausea anymore so I can’t really say if the vitamins help with this or not, I am planning to have a fourth though so I’ll give these vitamins a try then and see what happens.

On my first try, I didn’t mix the mix with quite enough juice (they recommend that you mix it with juice) and I didn’t stir it in very well so it was rather gritty. My second try I used more juice and stirred it longer and it worked much better. Just make sure you stir the mix well in a full 8oz of juice and you won’t have any problems.

I was very pleasantly surprised that this drink mix has no bad taste! I completely expected my juice to taste nasty and that I would have to somehow choke this vitamin down. Definitely not the case. I’m so pleased!

They use a special iron blend (you can read about it here) which is supposed to be easier on your stomach. My iron levels are always really high (still normal, but on the high side) so I was so happy to see that they are using iron that’s easier to absorb and less likely to build up and make me sick. After 3 days of taking this I still feel great and if the vitamin was going to make me sick it probably would have done so by now.

My opinion, I really like this vitamin so far. A pill is more convenient, but since this is easy to get down and doesn’t make me sick I can deal with having to mix it every morning. I’ll do another short review the end of this month after I’ve used the vitamin longer but I’m pretty confident that I’ll continue to like it.

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Covergirl BlastFlipstick

For my latest BzzCampaign I got to try 3 of the new Covergirl BlastFlipsticks. I love trying out new makeup!

These Flipsticks  are so cool! They have a coordinating creamy color on one side and a sparkly color on the second side. So I can go straight up dark or light or flat or sparkly or combine the colors however I want.

The colors last a long time – I can eat a meal and still have color from my lipstick left. The lipstick is soft and creamy feeling and doesn’t dry my lips out. For under $10 a stick this is a great deal for me!

My 4 yr old loves these and with it being winter and she needing moisturizer on her lips I let her use it whenever she wants, they definitely help keep her lips moisturized and she has no trouble applying them herself.

They have 13 different shades (really 26 if you count that each stick has two shades) I tried the following shades.

Vixen: I loved this one. Burgundy and pearl pink shades. The pink is just light enough that you can barely tell I’m wearing it and if I want to add some depth I just swipe on a tad of the burgundy over the pink. A great shade that I can wear with everything.

Mink: I really liked this one as well. Deep brown and gold shades. The dark brown is the base and the gold is the sparkly side. The brown is a little dark for me to wear alone but with the gold over top it’s perfect. A great neutral for when I don’t feel like pink.

Stunner: My least favorite of the three shades. Bright pink and gold shades. This one is just a tad orange for me. It’s really bright and stays on a long time so if I want something more dramatic this works but it’s not great for me everyday.

My opinion, the Covergirl BlastFlipsticks are a great lipstick, at a great price, and come in some great shade varieties. I’ll be buying these again when my free products run out.

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Private Selection Party Foods

I just loved this bzz campaign! You can go to bzzagent’s website to get into your own campaigns. I got to try all sorts of fun tasty foods from this campaign! My holiday party is coming up next week and I’m looking forward to serving some of Private Selection’s products to my guests.

1. Greek yogurt – this yogurt had the little fruit cup on the side. It’s mine and my 4yr old’s favorite yogurt style. My favorite flavor is honey. Though, I am picky about which brand of greek yogurt I’ll eat. I was a little worried trying this since I generally only like name brand greek yogurts. I was really surprised. The private selection yogurt was delicious! We tried the cranberry and the strawberry yogurt. (I had coupons for 3 yogurts). I’m definitely buying these again.

Though, I do wish they had a variety with honey, since this is my favorite flavor. If Private Selection had a honey greek yogurt I’d be buying it every time I was at Kroger. I also don’t know of a good way to serve this at a party but I’m more than happy to tell my guests how much I liked it 🙂

2. Deli Cheese – I tried the smoked gouda and it was really good. I think the cheese is a little pricey, however, they have unique flavors. I love serving cheese when I host a holiday party! I usually do a cheese tray with 4 to 5 different cheeses and crackers. Private selection has some unique cheeses that aren’t really that expensive if you want something more than just swiss, american, or cheddar. I’m adding at least one Private Selection cheese to my cheese tray this year because it’ll give me some fun variety!

3. Crackers – I got to try the Classic Water Crisps. I loved the idea picture on the front of the box and it’s the cracker I’m designating for the soft cheese on my cheese tray. I’m going with a sharp cheddar cheese ball because I like the strong cheese with the mild cracker.

4. Coffee – Not as good as the coffee from the Green Mountain Coffee campaign that I had last month, but it’s still pretty tasty. Though the package in my bzzkit was a regular coffee and I probably won’t serve it to my guests in the evening, I’ll go try one of the decaffeinated varieties so I don’t keep anyone up all night.

5. Olives – I just love their olives! I like olives anyways but Private Selection olives are my new favorite. I tried the mixed olive jar just to see what I thought of them and they have the perfect olive taste and texture! I’ll get one of the stuffed olives for my party so guests don’t have to spit out pits. These olives are going to taste great with hummus, crackers, and my cheese tray! (or just on their own)

I’ll post pictures of my party, all our food, and our fun food creations next week. (if I remember to take pictures during the party)

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Green Mountain Coffee

My latest bzz campaign was for Green Mountain Coffee. I love coffee and this was such a fun campaign for me!

They sent 4 different flavors to try, but Green Mountain Coffee has tons of different coffee flavors.

Green Mountain is a Fair Trade company so their coffee tends to be a bit more expensive than my usual folgers or maxwell house, however Green Mountain has more flavor to it. I honestly don’t buy products just because they’re Fair Trade but I have noticed that Fair Trade products tend to be a lot like organic products, they just taste better. And sometimes, the extra flavor is worth the higher price. The varieties are produced with care and it shows. Of all the 4 flavors I tried each of them was delicious!

Vermont Country Blend – This one is a blend of light and dark beans, not too strong, not too weak, perfect for any morning. I think it’s pretty much just a straight up regular coffee.

Columbian Fair Trade Select – This one was really good, nice and strong without being too strong. You know, how some strong coffees are kind of bitter, there was no bitter in this coffee. It was strong but still smooth. Good for a busy morning or a nice afternoon pick-me-up.

Wild Mountain Blueberry – This one smells so good when it’s brewing! It’s almost enough to wake me up without having to drink it…almost. It’s a nice medium/mild coffee with just a tad of blueberry flavor in it, just enough to taste but not enough to make me feel like I’m drinking blueberries instead of coffee. I honestly, will buy this one again just because I like the smell of it so well!

Sumatran Reserve – This one is my favorite of the four. A nice bold coffee, perfect for a morning when the kids get me up early. It’s nice and strong without being bitter, It’s now on my list of must have coffees.

And for more fun info on Green Mountain Fair Trade you can follow Grace Potter and Michael Franti’s Fair Trade source trips, and check out the live stream of their concerts via the Green Mountain Coffee®Facebook page!

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Glade Expressions Collection – Review

I got to try two products from Glade Expressions Collection for free from bzzagent.com. I love air freshener products so I was really excited to get to try these!

I tried the Pineapple and Mangosteen oil diffuser. It’s sitting right by my front door and it smells delicious every time I walk in my door. I was kind of skeptical because I didn’t expect an oil diffuser to distribute scent evenly – I’ve never tried an oil diffuser before. But, I was pleasantly surprised. It works great and the pineapple is a really nice sweet scent that isn’t too sweet. I’m definitely buying a refill for this when it runs out.

I also tried the Cotton and Italian Mandarin fragrance mist. It’s such a clean scent, I love it! And one spray provides enough scent for an entire room. My husband put three whole squirts in the kids room the other day and we had to stay out for a few minutes to let the scent die down! I wish they had this scent in the oil diffusers because then my house could smell like I’ve been cleaning all day when people walk in my front door.

All in all, I really like these products and I’m really hoping Glad comes out with some holiday scents in time for Christmas. I would love a pine oil diffuser! And I’m planning to buy a few as Christmas gifts this year. They’re attractive on my counter or shelf and smell great!

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Mac and Cheese

Tried out my Progresso Recipe Starters Cheese sauce for supper last night – Thanks BzzAgent for letting me try this!

I used the Bacon Mac and Cheese recipe off of the Recipe Starters can and I substituted two cans of tuna instead of the bacon bits (since I didn’t have any bacon bits on hand). It turned out delicious, my kids, husband, and I all loved it!

It’s tough to find a mac and cheese recipe that we all like and this one was a success! I’ll definitely be making this one again!

The hardest part for me in making mac and cheese is getting my cheese sauce thick enough without burning it and the Progresso Creamy Cheese Sauce made this so much easier!

Progresso has some other great looking mac and cheese recipes on their website, and this delicious looking queso which I think I’ll try next time we have company over to watch football.

All in all, this recipe was a success and I’m loving the Progresso Recipe Starters sauces! Now, should I try the tomato, garlic, or basil sauce next? They all sound so good!

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Progresso Recipe Starters Creamy Portabella Mushroom

Trying out Progresso Recipe Starters for my latest Bzz Campaign. I love food campaigns because I get to try out new food products for free! Who doesn’t like that?

Progresso has 5 new recipe starter sauces. Last night I tried out the Creamy Portabella Mushroom sauce and made one of my favorite meals, beef stroganoff.  I make a pretty good stroganoff from scratch. My usual recipe is more beef gravy tasting – since I start with the gravy- and progresso’s is more creamy but otherwise the flavors were pretty similar.

This Progresso sauce made a delicious stroganoff (my husband didn’t even notice that I made it different than usual), and it simplified the process just a little.

I’m not sure that I’ll make beef stroganoff this way all the time since this is a tad more expensive than my usual method but it’s great for a special occasion!

Progresso has some great recipe ideas on their website as well so I’m looking forward to trying out their other sauces and probably the mushroom sauce in a different recipe as well. Since I love mushrooms!

I bought the cheese sauce when I was at the store the other day so I’m going to try mac and cheese next. We all like our mac and cheese different ways and I have yet to find a mix or recipe that we all like. Maybe this will be the one 🙂