A Great Cup of Coffee and Supporting Fair Trade Too!!

I love Green Mountain Coffee. The flavors are vibrant and the taste is always smooth. So when BzzAgent invited me to a campaign that offered Three Continent Green Mountain coffee, I jumped at the chance!

On top of that, I was excited that the coffee was made thru Fair Trade and supporting a way of life for people in underpriviledged areas who work hard and deserve a chance to be paid well for the efforts they make. The day came when my BzzKit arrived;

I eagerly popped a k-cup into my Keurig to sample this coffee. As I waited my 60 seconds, I pulled out the literature that told the story of Kelly Clarkson and how she has made a trip to Peru to understand Fair Trade. Green Mountain works closely with the farmers in that area to produce the highest quality coffee and put money back into the community. My cup of coffee was done. I smelled the rich brew and took a sip and was instantly in love. To be fair, I have always loved Green Mountain Coffee, but this Three Continent blend was especially yummy. It has a very distinct and bold flavor but it isn't a dark roast and it isn't bitter. It just has body and flavor and it makes you feel warm and alive all over. It was a such a smooth and robust flavor. I really liked it. The only thing that made me sad is this is a limited edition, but the fact that I want to support fair trade is a long term commitment. And Green Mountain's concern and care to support this practice and the fact that they produce quality coffee are the reasons I will keep buying their products. I highly recommend this coffee and I know you will see that it is not only a great cup of coffee, but a great way to contribute a bit and help in a community dedicated to making a better life for the families that are a part of it. I received this coffee from Green Mountain and BzzAgent to try for free but my love of Green Mountain is my own!

Buitoni Pasta is a special treat!

Recently I joined a campaign on BzzAgent to try Buitoni pasta. As you can see by the title of this review, I decided to try the Shrimp Scampi Ravioli. The name itself is impressive, so I had high hopes for this pasta. I am also a huge fan of shrimp scampi, so I was excited to try this pasta. The price was 4.99 for just enough pasta for two people. All in all, that is a great price considering the value of the product. When my husband and I tasted it we were very impressed.

The pasta cooked to a perfect al dente in just 5 minutes and none of the ravioli burst open or leaked into the water. The texture was firm and had that fresh pasta taste. The filling had a light lemon taste with fresh seafood and Italian cheeses. It was delectable and I enjoyed every bite. I prepared the pasta with a light pasta sauce that I made myself from canned tomatoes and a garlic and basil. I think it was the perfect compliment to this dish since it allowed the subtle tasting seafood to shine thru. I would definitely buy this again as a special meal - it beats going out to a restaurant and paying far more for the same product. This product was fresh and homemade tasting and was a very elegant dinner for the two of us.

My delicious BUITONI® Riserva Shrimp Scampi Ravioli! I received the product from BzzAgent to try for free but the excitement is all my own!

Comforts for Baby - wonderful product line of baby items with a Touch of Nature

A few weeks ago, I was given the opportunity thru BzzAgent to sample an amazing group of products exclusive to Kroger stores - The Comforts for Baby line. Although there is a plethora of products, I sampled the diapers, wipes, body wash and lotion and bibs for my little Blakey. I was pretty excited about this campaign to start with - baby products are something I go thru in spades and to get a chance to try some new products and have some fun new things made my day. I made the trip to my local Kroger store - King Soopers in this area, and picked up a box of diapers and the other things for my little guy. I had so much fun picking out bibs and the body care.

I must say I was very impressed with the quality and then I came to find out that these products had more in mind than just my baby's happiness. They were also produced using earth friendly methods and health conscious standards. The diapers are chlorine free and manufactured using plant based resources. The wipes are alcohol free and hypo allergenic. The body care products are mild and use only the gentlest ingredients. On top of all that, the other products that Comforts offers are BPA free and produced according to high safety standards.

So I felt confident using these on my baby and I enjoyed all of these products immensely. I loved the way the diapers NEVER leaked - nope, not even once Mommas! You can trust them implicitly! And the wipes were soft, cushioney and never caused a bit of irritation. I loved the sweet scent my little guy had after using the body care - made him extra snuggly and sweet and when you look at the picture of him in that bib, well, your heart just melts. I highly recommend these products and I thank BzzAgent and Kroger and Comforts for the opportunity to try these products free of charge and have a month of amazingness that I intend to continue by buying these products in the future.

Fage yogurt is amazing!

When I was asked by Bzzagent to try these yogurts and give my honest opinion about it, I was really excited. I am a yogurt connoisseur. I LOVE yogurt and especially Greek yogurt. I however had not tried the split cups by Fage (pronounced Fah-yay if you wanted to know). The idea intrigued me as often the fruit on the bottom yogurts are not quite right and I even had a friend say that sometimes they put too much fruit on the bottom of a yogurt or by the time you are done with the yogurt you realize there was alot of fruit that just didn't get mixed in correctly. So off to the store I went to try this yogurt. I chose the honey option for my first foray into Fage and was pleasantly surprised with how this worked. I could pore the entire amount on top, or I could dip my yogurt into the honey. It was easy to see how much of the yogurt and honey/fruit I had left and I wasn't left wishing I had more of one or the other. There was an amazing amount of honey in the split cup which made me very happy! And the taste of the yogurt was delicious. It has a creamy taste without being artificial in any way. Another brand of Greek yogurt almost has an artificial sweetness to it and this didn't. It is creamy and tastes like it is fresh homemade yogurt. I think this yogurt is great for providing the ability to mix the yogurt to personal preference and also being a delicious yogurt. An interesting fact to note is that Fage is the top rated Greek yogurt in Greece itself! If that doesn't tell you this stuff is good, I don't know what will! I am very impressed and will be making a regular habit of Fage in my house. BzzAgent gave me the yogurt to try for free, but the excitement is my own.

Honestly Good from Lean Cuisine

I recently accepted a campaign from BzzAgent to try Lean Cuisine's newest offerings - Honestly Good organic meals! I don't know about you, but so often it is hard to eat on the go and yet still grab healthy for you choices. It is so hard to even find a fast meal that isn't loaded with fat and calories. So many of us grab a quick meal from our grocer's freezer or hit the umpteenth drive thru for another calorie laden quick meal.

But now there is a new choice - these offerings from Lean Cuisine aren't just super tasty, they are low in calories and are actually organic too! So it is a perfect choice. I was so pleasantly surprised with these meals. I have tried the Pomegranate Chicken, Pineapple Black Pepper Beef and the Lemon Grass Salmon and have been very impressed with each one. The sauce is on the side which is a unique change from so many other frozen entrees - you can dip, dot or smother your meal according to how you like it and not have to worry about there being too much sauce on the entree unless that is your desire! The meat is fresh and cooked to perfection - I found they had a nice succulent taste and were high quality. There are adequate vegetables and grains to create a balanced meal that you can feel good about for an incredibly low calorie count.

These are a wonderful new addition to my daily menu and I feel like I am making a balanced and healthy choice. Thank you Kroger and BzzAgent for giving me the chance to sample these for free. The opinions are entirely my own - I highly recommend these healthy and fabulous tasting meals.

Kroger Fried Chicken

I am a fried chicken fan! I love the hot juicy chicken coupled with tasty and perfectly seasoned crispy fried skin. But it is hard to find that perfect combination. I have tried many fast food restaurants and even some sit down restaurants and have never had as delicious a fried chicken as I did at Kroger last week. I was given a coupon for a free 8 piece selection from my local Kroger (King Soopers) and I used it the first night I needed a fast, no fuss dinner. I hate to say I have never even thought of buying chicken at my local Kroger deli.

I buy lunch meat and cheese there atleast once a week, but this showed me a different section of the counter and I was pleasantly surprised. The chicken was piping hot and made my car smell amazing on the ride home. It was tempting to grab a wing or leg and start munching away. But I knew my husband and my guests would be disappointed. I served the chicken with Kroger BBQ kettle chips and diet coke and my guests were very impressed. My mother in law was the most excited thinking I had stopped at a fast food place to pick up the chicken. When I told her it was only $7.99 for the box, she was even more impressed. Of course I told her I had received it for free from BzzAgent so that we could all try it. Everyone found the chicken to be perfectly most and the skin was crispy with an excellent flavor. I have finally found my perfect fried chicken and it exists only about 2 miles from my home! I will be making regular stops at my Kroger for this fast easy meal from now on.

NEW Yogurt Smoothie Bars from Kroger

The New Yogurt Smoothie bars from Kroger are a hit with my family! I love cool treats so I was really excited to receive this campaign from BzzAgent. After I got my coupon, I hurried over to my local store which is only about 2 miles away to pick up a treat. It has been a really hot summer here in CO and I was excited to get something to cool everyone off. I chose the Triple Berry and served them after our spaghetti dinner that night.

My husband really didn't want to try one but after taking a bite, he was really excited and said they had a great flavor. He never likes things that are too sweet and so he was really impressed with these. They have just the right amount of sweet to berry ratio. I thought these tasted very blueberry like which was a huge plus - I anticipated a more strawberry flavor but was pleasantly surprised with the cool refreshing flavor these had.

The fact that they are only 50 calories a bar is fantastic! I love that you can eat two of these and still be in great shape calorie wise. I almost wish they had just made them twice the size and the calories would still be totally acceptable for a snack. My baby even had some bites and was really pleased. It is a great and healthy teething snack! I was really impressed by these - great price which means it's easy on the wallet and a completely acceptable amount of calories which makes it easy to stay on track with my eating and dieting.

I received these bars free of charge from BzzAgent and Kroger but the opinions are my own.

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I bought some pork tenderloin yesterday and proceeded to make pulled pork sandwiches. I used a family recipe of BBQ sauce, root beer and Italian salad dressing. I first placed the pork in the crock pot and added a little water, salad dressing and root beer and let it simmer for half the day. It was already smelling pretty good - I then shredded the pork and added the BBQ sauce. I let that simmer and cook for another few hours and we had the most amazing pulled pork sandwiches ever! Such a rich flavor and tender meat. I was really impressed and am so thankful to BzzAgent and PorkBeInspired for letting me in on a new way to be inspired in my kitchen!!!

Pork - Be Inspired!!

Honestly, my husband and I have gotten away from using pork. He likes beef and I prefer to cook with chicken just because I know it is healthier for us. He really doesn't care for chicken but tolerates it since I always tell him that he needs to eat healthier. Then I got this campaign thru BzzAgent to try pork at my local Kroger and give it a shot in a recipe. So I downloaded the pork taco recipe on line at Bzzagent and went shopping and that night we had those tacos. We were very impressed! My husband couldn't believe how flavorful and good the meat was. We both felt so great that it was a white meat and healthier than beef and yet it retained all the flavor and texture of beef. I marinated and sautéed the pork in the unique marinade of soy sauce and garlic. I made homemade tortillas and then served it over lettuce and tomatoes and topped it with sour cream and cheese. These were fantastic and my husband wants me to start incorporating a pork recipe into our weekly meals. I am all too happy to oblige! This impressed me and made my opinion of pork go way up as a great way to cook with flavor and texture and enjoy a different kind of meal. Thanks to BzzAgent for renewing my love of this versatile meat!

Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Miracle Dry Oil - Long Name but Banishes Dryness in 3 great ways!

So I am going to tell you about the brand new Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Miracle Dry Oil. A few weeks back, BzzAgent sent me a bottle to sample and try and see what I thought of it. This is the first of its kind, multipurpose oil that can be used on hair, face or any other dry skin on your body. I was a little skeptical of this product but was excited to be able to sample it. I tried it first on my hair and found that it could be a little greasy - this is mostly a fault of the sprayer - it isn't a fine mist and it tends to really come out fast and drenches the spot you spray it on. So I decided to spray a couple of sprays into my hands and then work it thru my damp hair - SUCCESS! That was the answer.

My hair dried into a shiny beautiful sleek style and had very few flyaways. My hair is pretty straight but I always seem to get little frizzies all over from dryness. This oil really helped with that and really is the first product to do so. I have tried hairspraying those annoying little hairs, or using more product such as gel, but nothing has touched them. This product seemed to improve the health and vitality of my hair and really made it softer and shinier and banished those little flyaways I am always so annoyed with.



I next proceeded to try it on my legs which are always dry and patchy in the winter dry months. Again it was wonderful. This has a light fresh scent that made me feel clean and hydrated. My legs had that model like shine that you see in magazines. All I need now is the tan to match it! I was very pleased and the oil absorbed reasonably quickly and left behind soft, smooth skin. I did try a little on my face at night and I was happy to wake up in the morning with my skin looking dewey and refreshed. I never used it during the day because I was afraid of my makeup sliding off. But over all I am very impressed with this product. It is a great price - $5.99 for a bottle. At that price is is that easy to carry one with me and keep another in my beauty bag.

NEW Kroger CarbMaster and Greek Yogurt

A few weeks back, BzzAgent sent me some amazing coupons to try CarbMaster yogurt, CarbMaster milk, and Kroger Greek and New Greek Lite yogurt. I was really excited about this campaign, because yogurt is a huge part of my life and something I really enjoy. When I got to the store, it was easy to locate the yogurt and milk. I was immediately struck by the amount of great flavors! There were so many which made it really exciting. I had a hard time picking which flavors I wanted. I took a quick peek at the calorie content since that is always some I check and was pleasantly surprised to see only 40 calories in the Carbmaster yogurts and only 60 in a glass of milk! If these checked out, they would be a great snack that I wouldn't have to feel guilty enjoying. When I got home, I was anxious to try my new treasure! I chose the Cinnamon roll and was really impressed - so much flavor and such a great taste from Kroger. It was definitely craveable. Over the next few days, I tried the milk and the Greek varieties and was also very pleased. I love milk but have given up having it as much since it is so high in calories - but this can bring it back into my life and make it a great way to get my calcium. I was very pleased with the products offered in this new Kroger line up! Lots of flavor, low in calories, fantastic price point and great flavors to choose from. I didn't know I could expect so much from a store brand, but these are every bit as good if not better than its name brand counterparts. I am a convert both for price and taste. Thank you BzzAgent and Kroger!

Indulgent Delight

I received the Cafe Escapes variety pack to try for free from BzzAgent in the past few weeks. I received six varieties including Chai Latte, Milk and Dark Chocolate Hot cocoa, Cafe Mocha and Cafe Vanilla and Caramel. I was so excited to receive these because I have seen them at my local Target and actually wanted to try them but just hadn't yet. On first impression, they look great in my Keurig carousel stand. I love the classy look of these K-cups. But that isn't the important part, right? I have tried each of the 6 flavors and I am duly impressed! I saw that they were only 60-70 calories each and wasn't sure if I would like them or not. But for how low they are in calories, they taste rich and indulgent and they are now my guilty pleasure everyday. My favorite is the Dark Hot Chocolate - it is hot chocolate for adults. So delicious and rich and like a piece of dark chocolate in a cup. But I honestly enjoy all the flavors - they are wonderful and taste so much like a hand crafted beverage from a fine coffee house. I hope you will give these a try. The price point is really great when you figure so many fancy drinks are going for close to $5 any where at a cafe.

Microsoft Windows8 Party

Remember Crowdtap? Well, guess what?? I was selected to try and sample for free, the Windows 8 phone by HTC. It was the most exciting moment of my life when I opened my email and realized I was one of the ones selected for this amazing event. I immediately set to planning my party and spreading the word and inviting anyone that could come.
Then it was time to party shop!



I had been informed to select the colors that corresponded with the new phone itself - Cyan Blue, Red, pink and green. So I headed to the party section and picked up some plates, cups and tablecloth that would work with this and feature those colors to my party guests. I also purchases pizza and snacks and desserts and drinks to serve and give us all a great time.



I chose to play a Bingo game to keep the action fun and stimulating and give everyone an idea of all that the phone could offer them. Verizon had asked me to do a Pinterest Challenge to give my party goers a great idea of all the fun things this phone can do. However, my youngest partier was 28 and I knew Pinterest would not be intuitive and would end up being frustrating to my guests. I feel like a fun and engaging party is one that is remembered and I wanted people to talk about this party and remember it as a GREAT time and not one in which they were frustrated. So I myself did the Pinterest challenge just to show my guests what they could do. I think everyone appreciated that I had stepped outside of the box and half the room was asking me what Pinterest even was. So I think I made the right decision on this one.



As the party started, I asked everyone to help themselves to the food and drinks and to start passing the phone around. It was a great time and everyone was excited about the choice of snacks and I heard alot of exclamations about how great the phone looked and how it worked. I let everyone ask me questions and I walked around showing them different tiles and what it could all do. Here are some pics from the beginning of the party...



Then as it seemed like everyone was finishing up their snacks, I decided to do a small talk on the capabilities of the phone. I told them these would be part of their bingo words and later I would hold a quiz to see who remembered what and hand out candy bars to the winners along with prizes from my Verizon bags! Here are some pics of the Bingo games...

I had so much laughter and fun going on in the room and it made my day. I knew people were having a good time experiencing the phone and all it had to offer. Kids Corner got lots of acclaim since it is something we all care about - everyone in the room had kids and knew how hard it was to keep them off the other apps on the phone that you DON'T want them messing with. One of my party goers was so excited about the phone that she planned to go to Verizon the next day and check out getting one! She has been frustrated with her current service and phone and she LOVED my phone. So I think the party was a huge success and everyone had a great time.



Thank you to Verizon, HTC and Crowdtap for this fabulous experience!!