I just got this email! KIWI Magazine is all about natural and organic ways of living. LOVE IT! They just came out with this cookbook for families with food allergies. It will get released on April 10 but, you can pre-order it through Amazon.com.
Archive for Food and Treats
Pre-Order KIWI’s New Cookbook!
Annie’s Homegrown Organic Pizza & Giveaway
Have I mentioned before that we love pizza? Well, we do. Usually we make our own homemade pizza, but we will order out on occasion. We rarely will buy frozen pizza unless we get it on sale and have coupons or something, just because we know we can make what our family inhales…er…eats cheaper at home. We have been trying to buy as much organic as possible.
Annie’s Homegrown Organic Pizza
Annie’s Homegrown Organic Pizza comes in four different kinds: Uncured Pepperoni, Four Cheese, Supreme, and Spinach & Mushroom. These pizzas have a rising crust and wholesome organic ingredients, such as 100% real cheese, made with milk from cows not treated with the growth hormones, meats with no nitrates, except for naturally occurring nitrates in sea salt or celery juice powder.
It is a fairly quick meal to make taking 25 minutes or less. The longer it is baked the crispier it will be, so bake according to how you like your pizza!
My Review
Before baking. Our pizza was thawed and I did not take that into consideration when baking, thus we got crispy pizza as you can see from the photo below.
I think we have only ever tried Annie’s bunny crackers and fruit snacks before we tried this pizza. I was excited to hear they had an organic frozen pizza and I have to say that is probably one of the better frozen pizzas I have eaten. My husband brought home Pepperoni. It was very good. It wasn’t as greasy as pizzeria pizzas nor was it the same size as a family sized pizza that we normally get at a pizzeria. This pizza only fed half our family. I chose to have it for a meal two weeks ago while my husband and older children were away at a conference. That was a little disappointing, but I also realize that most families are not our size. However, it only served us two little slivers each. Definitely needed a salad or another side dish for growing little tummies. Good thing I had the younger crew to feed it to! 
Nevertheless I would highly recommend the pizza itself and if I didn’t want to cook and wanted to serve a healthy organic meal while hosting guests, I would definitely buy Annie’s Homegrown Organic Pizza. My husband would just have to take a cooler with him to work in the warmer months because the closest Whole Foods is an hour away. Thankfully only minutes away from my husband’s work place.
Annie’s Organic Rising Crust Pizza is available in the freezer aisle at Whole Foods Market (Suggested Retail Price $9.99 for one 11.5-inch pizza). Learn more at annies.com/pizza. And don’t forget to enter our giveaway below!
Enter Our Annie’s Homegrown Organic Pizza Giveaway!
Three winners will be chose and each will win one coupon for one FREE Annie’s Homegrown Organic Pizza. I will mail them out in 2-3 weeks depending upon how busy I am. Open to USA only.
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Hungry for Change: From the Creators of Food Matters
I love sharing about new resources that educate people about our current Big Ag food system and anything that helps people realize we do not need big corporations controlling our food. Hungry for Change is a new movie from the creator of Food Matters (another must see!). This is a direct quote from FRESH’s email as I am about to watch the movie with one of my sons and whoever else is propelled towards the sound of a movie playing…..so here it is:
Today marks the worldwide premiere of Hungry for Change, and you can watch it online for FREE until March 31st. Check it out today!
http://www.hungryforchange.tv/fresh
In this movie, you’ll hear the truth behind “diet,” “sugar-free,” and “fat-free” products, and learn what to avoid in your supermarket. You’ll be inspired by transformational stories from people who have recovered from being sick and overweight. You’ll find the solutions to vibrant health for yourself and your family. So, watch the movie and share the knowledge with a friend–it may save a life!
To a more energetic you,
Ana and Crystal
The FRESH TeamP.S. Want to support good food and our work at FRESH? Consider adding to our tip jar.
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Kids & Lemonade Stands – Wordless Wednesday
It has been unseasonably warm here in Chicago and we are loving it so much that my children asked if they could have a lemonade stand! A quick call to the city and we were cleared that there was no city ordinances against kids having lemonade stands. Good thing I had ingredients etc. that they wanted/needed!
Our children made the cookies – oatmeal chocolate chip – and the lemonade (with organic lemon juice and organic cane sugar). They had a lot of fun and made a little bit of money. They are hoping to raise enough for a dog and with their combined efforts up to this point are about half way there if we choose to get a dog from the local dog shelter.
Even though we live in the country our city has about 20,000 and we are considered rural. However, at certain times of the day, especially early morning and late afternoon we get a fair amount of traffic. We had some generous people stop and leave tips. One lady left a $16 tip because she wanted to help the children get their dog! If the weather holds out, the children want to do this right through the weekend and who are we to squelch their entrepreneurity?
Oh and they found that their five year old sister in a pink dress holding their lemonade and cookie sign was a very effective marketing tool! My husband said, “No one can resist a cute little girl in a pink dress.” So we are shouting out our thanks to our neighbors and those who drive by our house every day for supporting our kids!
One last thing….you know you live in the country when you meet a neighbor for the first time and she gives you a hug! (Really happened! She said she was a huggy person…) Let’s just say we really get a kick out of the friendliness of the people here at our new house/town.
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Preventing Mold on Berries
I had a friend of mine sent me an email about preventing mold on berries. Not sure if it works, fresh berries don’t stay in our house very long. They are usually gone before any molding sets in. Here’s the tip:
Prepare a mixture of one part white or apple cider vinegar and ten parts water. Put the berries in the mixture swirl them around. Drain, rinse (if desired) and pop in the fridge. The vinegar kills any mold spores and other bacteria that might be on the fruit.
I can see how the vinegar would kill the mold, it works great as household cleaner.
Has anyone done this and does it work?
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Organized Days & Seed Update – This Week’s Monday Motivation
There is always something to do around our home, whether it’s housework, work or whatever. For this week’s motivation I want us to work on organizing our days better to get more done across the board, especially once we have the garden and chickens. It’ll be easier once summer comes, I think, but for now we need more organized days as not everything is getting done that needs to be done lately. It doesn’t help that all the children have been sick the past week, but still when we get behind on things it is time to pull up our boot straps and get back at it. I may blog less this week as we catch up, just depends.
Seeds and Veggie Plants
On Friday afternoon I was able to get onions, kale, parsley, leeks, spinach, cabbage and Swiss chard planted. You should see the children’s seeds! They are no longer seeds, but little plants! It’s amazing how they sprouted and grew in the last week!
And here are the seeds I planted on Friday, March 16. Again, as you can see I used what I had to save money, instead of buying seed flats I used the big foil roasters and lasagna pans. Hey it works as I got 40-45 seeds planted in each! I did buy 4″ pots to replant everything into and we’ll reuse the egg cartons and pans to plant more seeds for succession planting.
Fun! 
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Free Bloomin’ Onion at Outback!
Tuesday, March 20th is the first day of Spring! Hooray! Go and celebrate with a FREE Bloomin’ Onion from Outback Steakhouse!
Here’s what you need to do! Tell your server that you’re there to “Bloom Into Spring”. That’s it!
There are other coupons on their site also!
Happy Spring!
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Are You Green Contest
Are you green? Do you love ice cream? I do! This is a fun little contest by one of my favorite authors Suzanne Woods Fisher. Have fun!
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Review ~ Surf Sweets
Surf Sweets is an exciting new company that sells Organic and Natural “sweets”.
Surf Sweets organically-sweetened gummy candies and jelly beans are drenched in fresh fruit flavor. Free of artificial color and sweeteners, these fun treats are great for kids and adults. Enjoy them anytime you’re looking to add a smile to your day!
- Made with Organic Fruit Juice and Sweeteners
- Natural Color and Flavors
- 100% RDA of Vitamin C
- Free of Corn Syrup and GMO’s
- Made in a Nut Free Facility
- Gluten Free
- Dairy free and Casein Free
- Made in the USA
The candy the company offers includes:
- Gummy Worms
- Gummy Swirls
- Gummy Bears
- Fruity Bears
- Jelly Beans
- Sour Worms
- Sour Berry Bears
- Snack Packs
Our Review:
We were fortunate enough to get four different products to try: Jelly Beans, Gummy Bears, Sour Berry Bears, and Fruity Bears. Let me tell you I had the best intentions of sharing these with my children…I really did…but they were so good I ate one packet then stashed the rest for myself. It all started when I was watching a movie late one night by myself when I couldn’t sleep. I wanted something to snack on and thought I would try one of the Surf Sweet products. I tried the Sour Bears…they were so yummy I ate the entire package. I have to admit when I first received the package I was skeptical of the flavor I was going to discover, that is why I initially decided to test the product out on my children…but much to my surprise they were delightfully sweet and delicious…not at all like I expected they were BETTER!!!
So needless to say after I ate the Sour Bears I stashed the rest of the candy for my self and indulged for a few days on my hidden sweets! All of the products I got to experience were so good!!! I remember being a child and getting gourmet candy from the Marshal Fields candy counter… these tasted just like the candy from my childhood memories! It was a wonderful taste sensation!
For further information about the product please visit http://www.surfsweets.com
Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.
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The Swiss Colony – Lady Bug Truffles Review and Giveaway!
How cute are these little guys! And VERY tasty too!
Swiss creme covers these wonderful little bugs of goodness. With their centers made of light and airy chocolate truffle. These Lady Bugs are delightfully decorated and almost hard to eat (key word ALMOST).
The Swiss Colony website offers may choices in addition to these adorable Lady Bugs! Easter’s Coming!!! 
My Review:
Funny story first. I have a 3 year old little girl, who was very upset that I was eating “bugs”. She learned very quickly, that these “bugs” were very good.
These Swiss Colony Lady Bug Truffles are wonderful! I really enjoy chocolate and these made me close my eyes and enjoy the smoothness and flavor. I recommend The Swiss Colony! With Easter coming, now is a great time to order Lady Bugs! Not only are they very good, but they are a conversation piece! Add them to your Easter Table as decoration then eat them! Decoration and Dessert! Below is a picture of my box! Maybe the Easter Bunny will bring me some more!
Disclosure: I received this item free of charge from The
Swiss Colony. No monetary compensation
was received or offered, nor was I under any obligation to write about this
product. All opinions expressed are my
honest thoughts. I am not offering any
sales or taking orders for this item. I
will not receive any compensation in connection with any sales of this item.
Giveaway – You Could Win One Too! **Only open to the US.
