5/1/15

Spring Shake-Up with Red Gold Tomatoes‏ #RedGoldRecipes

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review.
Join Red Gold for the "Spring Shake-Up" promotion! From April 22 through May 20 on Pinterest, you can add your own Spring Inspiration for a chance to win an amazing picnic prize pack from Red Gold valued at $350! This prize will make any average picnic a grand event!
I received a wonderful gift pack of assorted Red Gold Tomatoes to try my hand at a recipe, so I decided to create a Mason Jar Salad. It's really easy to do:

1. Put salad dressing in the bottom of a 1 pint wide-mouth Mason jar. I drained a can of the the Red Gold Petite Diced Tomatoes with Garlic and Olive Oil to use for my salad dressing.
2. Add hard vegetables to the jar - carrots, cucumbers, peppers, beets, etc. I sliced up a fresh cucumber for this layer.
3. Add beans, grains, or pasta like chickpeas, black beans, or cooked rice. I added a few black beans.
4. Add cheese and protein (but only if you're eating it that day) - I added cooked turkey and some shredded cheese.
5. Next add softer fruits and veggies like avocado or strawberries. I tossed in a handful of blueberries.
6. Then add nuts, seeds, and lighter grains. I added some sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.
7. Salad greens - top off your Mason jar with lettuce, spinach, and cabbage. When you're ready to eat, you can either shake up the jar gently or just pour into a bowl and your salad will toss itself!
Go enter the Spring Shake-Up with Red Gold! Check out their Pinterest board for recipe ideas and pin yours for the chance to win one of the prizes!

4/30/15

Giveaway! YoLife Yogurt Maker - Kitchen Makeover Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the
Kitchen Makeover Giveaway Hop

From May 1-14, visit each of the blogs listed below 
and enter to win fabulous prizes for your kitchen. 
Each blogger is hosting a giveaway worth at least $25. 

I'm giving away a
Tribest YoLife Yogurt Maker!
($49.95 value)
Check out my review HERE.
Enter to win below!

One winner will receive the YoLife Yogurt Maker, provided by Tribest. Giveaway is open to US residents ages 18 and older. Giveaway ends at midnight on 5/14/2015. Good luck!

Enter my other giveaways HERE.
Follow me on Facebook HERE.

Bertolli Olive Oil Spray - Review

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review.
Eating healthier is an essential part of living better. Bertolli Olive Oil Spray is 100% natural and much better for you than other cooking oils. The sprays allow you to get a nice, even application so you end up using less oil than you would if you were pouring, so you are consuming fewer calories. There are three Bertolli Olive Oil Sprays - 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil Spray, 100% Classico Pure Olive Oil Spray, and 100% Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil Spray.
The 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil Spray adds an even layer of flavor to pastas and salads. You can spray Bertolli Olive Oil Spray directly onto food for a quick and healthy marinade. I tried it on my salad and it adds just enough taste without being heavy.
The 100% Bertolli Classico Olive Oil Spray is perfect for grilled vegetables. You can spray it onto any pan or even directly onto the grates of your grill. My favorite vegetable is broccoli, so I tried this spray on my skillet with some broccoli for a dreamy side dish with lots of flavor.
100% Bertolli Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil Spray is perfect for baking or stir-frying. Its delicate taste and high smoke point makes it an excellent choice for desserts. I whipped up some banana cupcakes and they fell right out of the pan when they cooled. I am thrilled with Bertolli Olive Oil Sprays and encourage you to give all three of them a try in your kitchen. Check out their website for more information and fabulous recipe ideas!

4/29/15

How to Baby-Proof Your House

Disclosure: I received compensation for this third-party post.
You need to make time to baby-proof your house, to minimize the risk of injury. No matter how hard you try, you can’t keep your eye on your little one 24/7 - so don’t take any risks. Here’s a quick guide to baby-proofing your house:

Start Before Your Baby Starts Crawling

Ideally, you should baby-proof your house before your baby’s born. After all, you won’t be inundated with free time once they arrive on the scene, and you’ll need to keep as much as your free time as you can, for sleep and recovery.

In any case, ensure you baby-proof your home before your baby begins to crawl. This will usually occur at around 8 months, but it isn’t unusual for babies to start even sooner.

Focus on the Most Dangerous Items First

Even the most vigilant parents can forget to baby-proof something, especially if they’ve left it until relatively late in the game. That’s why you should always baby-proof the most dangerous items at the earliest opportunity.

The most serious incidents usually occur in the kitchen - although the living room will, on average, be the location of the most incidents. Over 30,000 children are taken to A&E each year with suspected poisoning, usually after they’ve ingested a product found in the kitchen. Start here first, then identify other areas of your home that stand out as dangerous. It can help to get down onto the baby’s level (i.e. on your hands and knees) whilst doing so.

Baby-Proofing Your Living Room

Your living room will usually be the place where you spend the most time, and it’s also likely to contain some common hazards. The basics of baby-proofing your living room are fairly simple. Essentially, you need to ensure furniture, fixtures and fittings are both soft and steady. Make sure all sharp edges are covered, all your furniture is stable, and, if you can, replace anything hard with something softer, to prevent nasty bangs and bumps.

Make sure your television and other electrical items, as well as the outlets themselves, are all taken care of, and anchor everything heavy to the wall, which will stop it from falling over. If you have wooden or tiled flooring, buy a mat or rug to provide a safe, comfy play area, but remember to place a non-slip guard beneath it.
Baby-Proofing the Kitchen

As already stated, the kitchen is where the most serious injuries tend to happen. It’s no wonder when you think about it; kitchens are full of sharp implements, poisonous substances, and plenty of hot surfaces.

Making sure your kitchen is baby-safe should always be a top priority. Start by locking away all your cleaning products, or even switching to natural alternatives that won’t cause any harm. Secure the doors to lower level cabinets, and baby-proof any knobs and switches your baby could reach. Once that’s done, remember to remain vigilant when cooking. Don’t leave anything sharp unattended, or within reach of little hands, and be extremely cautious when you use boiling water.

Never Leave Your Baby Unattended in the Bathroom

Bathrooms contain a number of dangerous items, from nail scissors to shampoo. However, the greatest danger is drowning, so you should never leave your child unattended in the bathroom. Not once. Not ever. Not even for a second.

Babies can drown in just a few centimetres of water, and this can occur extremely quickly and without any noise to alert you. Ensure your baby is properly supervised and supported at all times.

Baby-proofing doesn’t just save your child from bumps and scrapes; it could protect them from serious injuries. Put it right at the top of your to-do list.

4/28/15

Weekly Giveaway Linky - Wednesday Wealth (April 29 - May 5)


When you add your giveaway link below,
I personally visit your giveaway post and
tweet it out to my 22,000+ followers.
Thanks for stopping by today!

Tasti-Lee Tomatoes - Premium, Vine-Ripened, Non-GMO

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review.
Tomatoes are one of my favorite foods. They are delicious, nutritious, and very versatile. I just tried Tasti-Lee Tomatoes and they are absolutely the best tomatoes I've ever eaten in my entire life! They have the perfect balance of tangy and sweet. Tasti-Lee Tomatoes are a new, naturally-developed, non-GMO, vine-ripened tomato variety.
Even after being shipped to me (and we all know how packages can be tossed around), every one of 40 tomatoes was in perfect condition, perfectly ripe, and perfectly firm. The company states that their tomatoes will remain firm all the way to the grocery store and onto your kitchen counter, and I believe it. The horticulture professor who spent over four decades selecting the perfect tomato seed named it for its flavor (Tasti) and for his mother's name (Lee).
I love Tasti-Lee Tomatoes so much that I have saved some of the seeds so I can plant them in my own backyard garden. I have tried these tomatoes several ways. I baked them with mozzarella cheese and olive oil. I have sliced them for sandwiches. I have cut them into wedges for salads. I chopped up some for salsa. I even pureed some to make tomato sauce for pasta. They are wonderful no matter how you eat them!
Tasti-Lee Tomatoes are also better for your health than other varieties, with up to 50% more lycopene, which is a powerful antioxidant. Lycopene is also linked to asthma relief, cancer prevention, heart health, and many other benefits. What a scrumptious way to take care of yourself!
Tasti-Lee Tomatoes can be found at HEB, Kroger, Giant, Publix, Schnuck's, Whole Foods, and many other grocery stores. You can use their locator on the Tasti-Lee website to find them at a store near you. Don't miss their recipe section on delicious ways to enjoy these tomatoes. I highly recommend these tomatoes!

4/27/15

Giveaway! Thanks to My Mom - Chicken Soup for the Soul

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review.
Being a mom is the toughest job I've ever had, but it was worth every moment. Many times moms feel like it's a thankless job - endless hours of picking up toys, wiping noses and bottoms, breaking up fights, and kissing ouchies. In this new Chicken Soup for the Soul book - Thanks to My Mom - you'll find a delightful collection of stories that celebrate moms. There are over 100 stories from children of all ages about moms being great role models, rising to the challenge in tough times, loving and accepting with love, cheering on their families, sharing their wisdom, and teaching through everything they do. As a mom of three now-grown kids, I really enjoyed reading this book and it brought back many wonderful memories of raising my own. This is a wonderful book idea for Mother's Day! Grab a copy for yourself and your mom at www.chickensoup.com and enter below to win one of three copies.

Win Thanks to My Mom!
Three winners will be randomly selected. To enter, fill in the giveaway form below. Open to US residents ages 18 and older. Giveaway ends on 5/10/2014. Good luck!

Enter my other giveaways here.
Follow me on Facebook here.

Venta Airwasher LW45 - Review

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review.
Living in central Texas means my family battles allergies. It's often very dry here, so dirt and dust often finds its way into my house. I also have a very big dog who sheds constantly. Reviewing the Venta Airwasher has been one of the best things I've done for my health.
The Venta Airwasher is a compact, powerful humidifier and airwasher in one. I received the LW45 model, which has been engineered to capture more allergens and particulate matter than any other model, for areas up to 800 square feet. It cleans the air and adds the right level of moisture to it.
It has two basic pieces, a bottom piece and a top piece. The bottom part is where water is placed and the top part contains a fan. The Venta Airwasher works without the use of filter pads. Dry indoor air is literally washed as it is drawn into the appliance and passed through the disk stacks rotating in water.
Impurities in the air, stale tobacco smoke, household dust, pollen and allergens are trapped in the water, and only clean, humidified air evaporates. The Venta Airwasher uses natural evaporation which is the best method of humidification, with no ions, no ozone, and no white dust. Best of all, it will not over-humidify.
This model has three settings, marked by buttons on the top, that control the fan speed. We use the highest speed during the day and the lowest speed during the night. We placed the Venta Airwasher in the master bedroom since we spend 1/3 of our life in there.
Click to see how the Venta Airwasher works. We've been using it continuously for about two weeks now. The morning following our very first use of the Venta Airwasher, we both remarked at how much less the other snored during the night. I personally slept more soundly, whereas I usually wake up several times throughout the night.
After two weeks of use, the air in my house is definitely improved. It is certainly cleaner and my skin even feels more moisturized. I am absolutely thrilled with the performance of the Venta Airwasher and it's so easy to use - we just add a bit more water each night before going to bed. Every few weeks, we'll completely change out the water. We are breathing better with the Venta Airwasher!
Visit the website to learn more and to join the Venta family. Check out their YouTube channel and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.