Jazz up dinner with Souper Spices!

By now most of you know that I love to cook.  I am just not the very good at it.  True, I never burn anything but I am always stuck in the same dinner rut.  I have been trying a lot of new recipes lately but it has my husband complains that I am not making his favorites enough.   We were recently given the chance to try Souper Spices mixes so I figured I could use one of their products to give life to an old recipe.

   Souper Spices is a company founded by Barbara Tranello after being fed up with other spices. She found that it was much easier(and cheaper) to make her own spice blends.  This way she did not have to measure out a ton of spices or worry about being out of any.   It worked for her so she decided to share her product with the world!  Souper Spices has a huge selection of dried mixes, herbs and spices blends, gourmet teas and cookbooks!  There is also all kinds of special slow cooker mixes to make cooking in a slow cooker even easier!  FYI, they also have a special website filled with slow cooker recipes.  This site has all kinds of recipes and even shows you how to incorporate your Souper Spices mixes.

Alternavites!

alternaVites for kids is the only full spectrum children’s multivitamin & mineral designed to be
sprinkled on the tongue (think pixie stick!). Using a proprietary blend of ingredients, alternaVites for
kids contains essential vitamins & minerals specially formulated for children ages 4 & up.

Enjoy Life Foods-Gluten and Allergen free!

So by now most of you know that Trista can't eat gluten.  That may not sound like a huge deal, but after spending the afternoon at a food festival I can tell you firsthand that she has a really limited amount of food she can safely eat.  No bread, no crackers, no cookies, no fun!  I have also noticed how many kids these days have food allergies.  My niece actually did a little dance when the kid that was allergic to peanuts moved away.  (On a side note, why are kids allergic to so many things these days?  Growing up there might have been one kid allergic to milk in my class but that was it.  I need to research that.)  Know someone that can't have certain foods due to gluten or allergies?  You need to introduce them to Enjoy Life Foods!

Enjoy Life products also contain no: 

•  Artificial ingredients
•  Trans fats
•  Genetically Modified (GMO) ingredients

We were lucky enough to try their new Double Chocolate Crunch Granola and Mega Chunk Chocolate for Baking.  So freaking good!  I have been eating the granola straight out of the bag(I know, classy right?).  I thought that maybe the chocolate would have an odd taste because it's dairy free.  Not so!  It tastes completely normal, with no odd aftertaste.   Now I know that the Mega Chunk Chocolate is meant for baking, but it was the perfect choice for potty training rewards!  I have been giving my daughter a few pieces every time she uses the potty.  She loves it!  What's the best part of all our Enjoy Life products?  Trista can eat them too!  

Want to learn more?  Check out their website, Facebook and Twitter pages.

We each received free products in order to conduct our review.  All our opinions are our own and not influenced by any sort of compensation.

Are tasty nutrition bars real?~The GoodOnYa Bar~Review and Giveaway

What exactly is a GoodOnYa bar?

"The GoodOnYa Bar is a bar gone rogue. Not afraid to use real food with healthy fats. This is not just an energy bar, but an organic nutrition bar that offers you real value for your money. Organic, dehydrated and full of flavor. This is what you should you be eating."

Trying to find a healthy snack is getting harder these days.  Just because something is labeled "natural" no longer means that it is necessarily anymore.  I was really impressed when I read the packaging on the GoodOnYa bars that I received to try.  What makes them special?  

• No GMO. 
• No soy. 
• No dairy.  
• Gluten free. 
• Packed with protein.
• Organic 
• Real ingredients! 

I received a Breakfast bar, Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate bar and Peanut Butter Honey bar.   

Our daughter really seemed to love this one.  The chocolate has a bit of an aftertaste but if you are a chocolate lover that should be no problem!  It has 10 grams on protein and is also grain free!

The Peanut Butter Honey bar was really tasty!  It is the same bar as the Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate bar without the chocolate.  This tastes like something I would be able to make at home if I knew anything about making nutritional bars.

This bar contains organic raisins and brazil nuts.  It is also high in iron and fiber with 8 grams of protein.  What a great way to start off your day!

These bars are not low fat which you would think is a bad thing.  However, I read all about fat vs. sugar on their website and it really made me think!  Everyone should really take the time to read it and it might just change the way you eat!

As a special offer to all our readers, the nice GoodOnYa bar people are offering a coupon code!  Enter "healthy" on their website for free shipping!

Want a chance to try some GoodOnYa bars?  You can win the same three bar sampler that I received!  Enter below!

Dunkin' Donuts Gift Card

Welcome to Kara's Deals and Steals Dunkin' Donuts Gift Card 24 Hour Flash Giveaway! I've teamed up with a bunch of other awesome bloggers to give away an $8 Dunkin' Donuts Gift Card!!

 Enter this giveaway in the Rafflecopter below.  

*This is a U.S. ONLY giveaway! The winner will be notified by e-mail within 48 hours after the giveaway ends!  

Perfect Calm ~Review & Giveaway~

There are moments in life when we feel run down and stressed out, often at the same time!

New Chapter Perfect Calm

New Chapter Perfect Calm is the ideal organic whole-food multivitamin herbal and nutrient formula for those seeking to address daily stress, enhance calm and overall well-being. It is the first and only multivitamin to feature the long revered anti-stress herb Supercritical Holy Basil, which has been shown in scientific studies to modulate cortisol and ease a worried mind. Chamomile and Lemon Balm offer additional soothing effects by promoting healthy levels of calming neurotransmitters. Perfect Calm provides a combination of 25 whole-food vitamins and minerals formulated to promote optimal health while targeting the nutrients your body needs most during times of stress, like whole-food complex Vitamins B and C. This multivitamin contains cultured, organic herbal blends to provide immune and digestive support — two important functions that can be affected by high levels of stress.

So the big question is ... What is Stress?  To us, it encompasses MANY things - laundry, sickness, doctors visits, paperwork, deadlines, travel to work, gas money... so many stressful things.   Merriam-Webster states Stress is:

• A force exerted when one body or body part presses on, pulls on, pushes against, or tends to compress or twist another body or body part; especially
• The intensity of this mutual force commonly expressed in pounds per square inch  
• The deformation caused in a body by such a force 
• A physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation  
• A state resulting from a stress
  

Teacher's Perspective:  At first I was skeptic.  I honestly was thinking how in the world would a supplement calm me down and "take" my stress away.  With mountains of paperwork, especially at this time of year, searching for certain things, dealing with assessments, and all the other wonderful things life throws at a moments notice I needed something.  To add on top of that mountain my levels were all jumbled in my body not knowing what to do.  I took my supplement and low and behold it seemed to work!  I know it could have been in my head and I just thought they helped me, but I really do feel they did.  I am not going to say it was better than drinking some of my favorite wine and laying out working on a suntan, but it did seem to mellow me out a little.  Did the extra vitamins prevent me from getting sick? No ... I am not sure anything can do that!   PS. I loved that they were GLUTEN FREE!  

SAHM Perspective:  As T stated, I was a little skeptical of what New Chapter Perfect Calm would do or not do.  I was having a horrible week when it seemed everything was caving down on top of me and going cold. OK, the going cold part was my furnace picking the exact moment to quit working.  This was stress with a capital S, especially when there is a 2 year old running around!  I tried the supplements and I did think they worked or at least were starting to.  It stated to 3 tablets daily, but there were only 15 in our sample so it lasted 5 days.  

Want your own?  Enter below! 

G-Free

Thanks to my friend Britt I am addicted to Rafflecopter giveaways.  I am trying so hard to win some Gluten Free stuff -do you realize how expensive it is?!  Recently I was told all this good news about intestines. stomach, low weight, and other joyous info from the GI Docs at Ruby.  I WANT TO WIN IT ALL - especially because I have my UC check to pay for loans, bills, and food. Go figure! 

This is a pretty cool thing to check out if you want to know more about my inner cavities lol

http://www.glutenfreeliving.com/how-get-started.php

PS: I want a Gluten-Free Living Magazine subscription really bad :) :)
*If you see this and want to give me one, I would be ecstatic!*

Eating healthy?

So I need to be Gluten Free so I can start feeling better.  Have you ever looked at the ingrdients in food when you grocery shop?  I tried in the Wbg Walmart and all that I really bought included Capri Suns, salad, GF Bisquick, Van. Silk Soy Milk and that was it.  EVERYTHING I love to eat has seems to be a  "no food" and it is horrible!  I admit I do mostly gfree, which means I will suffer bad belly addominal area aches when I no not abide by it.  :(   Boo!

I did win a GFree Kutz package from a lady's blog - beyond excited.  I tried the Cin. things and they were delish!  But the only problem is I do not really think it is all that healthy ... it seems to be mostly what I would qualify as junk food.  It must be why I am gaining weight!  Darn you delicious G-Free junk snacks! (: