Archive for Food and Treats

Homeschooling and Astronauts

For awhile my kids were really into space and astronauts. This was when they were much younger, but even today my husband and children love to watch the stars and one night this winter they even stayed out in the freezing air waiting for a comet that never appeared. Think we got the wrong time or missed it completely. :-(

Since they were so interested space I decided to put together a unit study for them. Even today my kids have fond memories of doing that unit study! (It was my older daughter’s idea to do this post!) We went to the library and checked out tons of books on space and then we all sat around and read them throughout the course of a few weeks.  We watched a couple movies on space, did complimenting projects and assignments. The children really enjoyed that unit study.

Of course, we couldn’t do a unit study without the food! And since astronauts eat foods for survival, I purchased a couple freeze dried meals for my kids to try. They liked them a lot and thought that it was the funniest thing that you could put ice cream in a bag and eat it without a spoon! ;-)

I still have the pink folder with my children’s book reports in it that they did on several of our favorite books on space. In the past couple years the folder has started to fall apart, but we still have the packaging to the astronaut food and the memories are still in my four older children’s minds and hearts of the time that we did a study on space.

Considering the fact that it’s been almost six or seven years since we did that unit study I should really do it again for the sake of my four younger kids. And I’ll have to BuyEmergencyFoods to show my younger kids what astronauts eat so they can experience the fun too!


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Warm Up with Pot Pies

I have to admit that I do appreciate having a couple of quick and easy meals on hand for those times when I just do not feel like cooking. One way to do that is to have frozen meals in the freezer, which might include frozen pizza dough or frozen pizzas themselves or something to really warm up with like pot pies. For our family that usually means some homemade frozen gravy and pie dough, cut up cooked meat and some frozen veggies that we can throw together to make a meal. This is a great way to use up leftover turkey, chicken or beef.

Marie Callender Turkey Pot Pie

We recently tried a couple of Marie Callender’s pot pies. We tried the chicken and turkey flavors. They are filled with with white meat, vegetables, creamy sauce and a flaky crust made. They do taste a lot like our homemade pot pie we make from scratch. We did not find much difference in the taste between the chicken and turkey. We enjoyed the taste and appreciated the convenience they offered. These pies do take nearly an hour to bake in a regular oven, although they may be microwaved. Sorry no personal photos…still haven’t found our camera….might be an unexpected Christmas present to myself! However, the photos from Marie Callender are pretty accurate and make my tummy gurgle this morning since I have not had my breakfast yet!

Marie Callender’s Pot Pie varieties include:

Chicken Pot Pie
Turkey Pot Pie
Beef Pot Pie
Creamy Mushroom Chicken Pot Pie
Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie
Honey Roasted Chicken Pot Pie
Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie

With cooler weather moving in, all of you busy moms should consider adding Marie Callender’s Pot Pies to your freezer. They are easy to pop into the oven after a fun time playing in the snow or skating at the ice rink. A yummy way to warm up!

Marie Callender Chicken Pot Pie

Marie Callender’s Pot Pies are available for a suggested retail price of $2.10-$2.99 for the 10 oz. size or in the $4 range for the 16 oz. size.

Marie Callender’s meals are available in grocery stores nationwide. Product lines include Complete Meals, One-Dish Entrées, Fresh Flavor Steamers, Fresh Mixers, Multi-serve Bakes, Pot Pies, small Fruit Pies and Dessert Pies & Cobblers. For more information, visit http://www.mariecallendersmeals.com

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review and is being compensated by Marie Callender and TheMotherhood. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review and compensation, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.


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Sweet Leaf Tea Review

I was contacted by a company called Sweet Leaf Tea (www.sweetleaftea.com) that offers tasty organic, all-natural iced tea beverages. They sent me some of their products to review and we love this tea because it’s all natural. We try to stay away from sugary juices, sodas, and beverages. It’s very rare that we drink any of them, so I am always looking for natural alternatives.

This tea is really good! My kids love it and I was honestly surprised that they drank it because usually they aren’t crazy about iced tea. Personally, I really liked the lemon tea. It was really good and refreshing. I wasn’t crazy about the peach, but then again I don’t like peach anyways! :)

With twelve different flavors you are sure to find one that you love! We love that this tastes so yummy and yet it’s 100% all natural and organic.

Original
Diet Original
Half and Half
Citrus
Diet Citrus
Lemonade
Lemon-Lime
Lemon Tea
Peach
Diet Peach
Raspberry
Honey-Mint

Fun tip- Sweet Leaf Tea is currently hosting a cool promotion/website called Granny’s Almanac www.sweetleafalmanac.com, which offers visitors to the website a variety of sweet coupons and deals daily.

For more information or to purchase this tea please visit- www.sweetleaftea.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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Pine Bros. Softish Throat Drops Review

This history of this product is fascinating.  It started in 1870 and sold to The Life Savers Company in 1930.  It was resold a number of times and due to cost cuts the product recipe had been altered.  Then the creator of Airborne, Victoria Knight-McDowell acquired Pine Bros. Softish Throat Drops and brought the product back to natural products.

Pine Bros. Softish Throat Drops are available this fall!  Currently, Natural Honey and Wild Cherry are out.  Lemon-Citrus & Licorice are coming soon!

Check online for availability at a local store or you can order them online!

My Review:

I received 2 ” pucks”, Natural Honey & Wild Cherry.  First of all,  I love the fact this is a natural product.  It’s not as squishy as a Gummy Bear but not hard like a hard cough drop.  It’s in between with a desirable texture.  I enjoyed both, if I had to pick one.  I like the Wild Cherry a little better than Natural Honey.

They were good. However, I didn’t have a soar throat when I tried them. They have a smooth feeling down your throat so, I would assume they would work.

Overall, a great product!

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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Non-Oven Meals

Ok, unless I get grocery shopping on Thursday, my non-oven recipe supply is drying out fast after two weeks without an oven. Tammy’s comment made me wonder how on earth I would go a year without an oven when I rely on it to toast bread, bagels, English muffins etc. since we do not have a toaster. We haven’t since ours broke. We can fit more in the oven anyways as we had no room for a commercial size toaster at the townhouse or budget for it either. And no my oven is not as clean as the photo to above left!

We usually do not buy packaged baked goods, we bake them ourselves or got them at the food co-op we participated in, which we no longer have. So we have been satisfying our sweet tooth with hot cocoa. I mix my own hot cocoa mix by using dry cocoa from Aldi and organic cane sugar so we do not have to eat any extra additives, preservatives or chemicals.

We have had beans and rice many times over this past week. I have made baked beans, lentils and pinto beans in the crock pot as I only have one pot to cook with on the stove besides my cast iron pans. Long story short: in our townhouse we had limited cupboard space so I learned to cook with just one pot, plus any casserole dishes that would fit in the oven. Now we have more storage space and I have two crock pots, with plans of buying more pots in the future!

I have not used the crock pot much for cooking meats like chicken, beef or the like, but that’s idea for the chicken in my freezer and something I can use to prepare a few new meals.

I avoid using the microwave for cooking, but will use it to heat up water, tea and a few other things. Yes, I am paranoid and trying to avoid any extra radiation exposure and changes a microwave can make to our food.

We do not buy a lot of boxed cereals, but depend on hot breakfasts like oatmeal (I soak regular organic rolled oats overnight and cook it in the morning). We make muffins, banana and apple breads etc., which all require the oven. We can still have eggs and toast, thankfully!

We even usually bake our family French toast in the oven. At least we haven’t forgotten how to fry it in a pan! Ha!

Thinking pancakes are fast and easy for tomorrow night’s supper since I have to be out and tonight’s dinner planned: Kale Potato Soup. No homemade bread though, will have to ask my husband to stop and get some on his way home from work.

So all that to say that I would love some fresh non-oven meal ideas that are healthy! Gotta run and get the soup on…..


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Costco Fruit Box vs. FruitShare

I was looking into a Costco membership and was browsing their site and came across this gift item of 10 pieces of organic fruit for $39.99. It is from Oregon, so that is a good thing.

Compare that to FruitShare’s 24 pieces of fruit delivered to your door for $39!All from the USA too.

No comparison! You get more for a dollar less by shopping at FruitShare! Remember to shop local (as much as you can) and shop USA to support our economy!


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Lose Your Bad Habits or Lose a Limb!

If you were at a cross road in your health and knew you could lose a limb due to poor circulation probably acerbated by your diabetes, would you lose your bad eating habits? I know I would no matter how much of a struggle it would be! We have a family member who recently faced this very thing. Due to stints and skilled doctors though this person kept their leg, but doesn’t appear to be ready to drastically change their eating habits. This person has had several operations in the last couple of years and undoubtedly more to come if old habits do not die fast and hard.

I find it ironic that people do not want to change. This may sound awful but I understand how people can ignore the obvious problem – their eating habits. I would much rather eat healthy than give myself a shot of insulin. I would much rather have both my legs and eat spinach than ignore fruits and veggies only to chance losing my leg. Losing a limb is life changing. More life changing than simply eating more fruits and veggies. It is a known fact that Type 2 diabetes can be reversed/controlled through diet, exercise, and with the help of alternatives. I have heard of people even stopping their insulin shots! Yet people still choose their medicines, operations and ongoing symptoms over simply changing their eating habits. I don’t get it.

It would be a dreadful thing to lose a limb. Any limb. It is a scary thought. Our family tries hard to eat healthy but I admit we struggle at times too. It concerns me for our future health. I would love to eat healthier to be honest, but like most families our budget will only allow for so much. That is the very reason we desire to grow our own food and raise our own meat birds, laying hens etc. Besides the fact that farming also provides a natural means of exercising. Just working on the farm is exercise. No need to schedule a special time for yet another activity away from home because it naturally occurs….now that is my kind of exercise!

Today’s Health and Garden Tuesday post is to simply challenge all of us (myself included!) that the choices we make today determine what our future will be like. So eat lots of fruits and veggies and cut back on those sweets (my downfall)!


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***Closed*** FruitShare Review & Giveaway!

And the winner is………comment #3…..Congrats Domestic Diva!!!

Thanks to all who entered!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last week I wrote a post (read it at this link) about a company providing fresh, organic, in season fruit saying that I was going to try them out. I placed an order over the weekend. Apparently they process orders on Monday with the expectant delivery date being Wednesday or Thursday depending. We received ours today, which is ok. I will update you if our next order is any different in the way it is processed and/or delivered.

We received our box of organic apples, pears and cranberries via FedEx from FruitShare and I have to say I am impressed by the quality and taste. Very flavorful and juicy! The children were very excited and probably would have ate the whole box had I not held them back.

Our box contained a variety of 16 apples, 6 pears (2-3 varieties) and two containers of cranberries….Thanksgiving here we come! We could easily eat the whole box in a day or two with our crew, so I am grateful for the co-op we go to on Thursdays which provides us with some fresh organic produce as well. FruitShare is a treat. They truly choose quality fruit!

In celebration of Thanksgiving coming up, for healthy living and eating we are giving away a box from FruitShare! $39 Value! This would be a great gift idea for any family on your gift list this year. And yes, they do offer gift certificates. Since we are offering this personally, we are going to choose a winner, have the winner tell us their box choice, we will place the order and have it delivered to the winner’s home. The delivery of the FruitShare box will depend upon when we receive the winner’s info.

Giveaway:

One lucky reader will win a organic fruit share from FruitShare.com

Mandatory Entry: What fruit share do you want to try from FruitShare.com
?

Extra Entries;(Please be sure and leave a comment and link for extra entries):

1 Entry: Tweet about this giveaway. Include a separate comment for each and your tweet url with your comment:

Enter to win a organic fruit share! @faithandfamilyrewv #giveaway http://bit.ly/sul4tL #organic #eatinghealthy


1 Entry: Follow Faith and Family Reviews on Twitter

1 Entry: Like/Friend Faith and Family Reviews on Facebook.

10 Entries: Blog about this giveaway and link back this post. Be sure to leave me a link.

1 Entry:For every comment you leave anywhere else on this blog, but please leave a link with your comment!

2 Entries: Follow Faith and Family Reviews on Google Friend Connect (on the our right side bar).

Details:

This giveaway will run from November 11th, to November 20th, 2011 at midnight CST. The winner will be chosen through Random.org. I will send one winner their prize. Winner will be contacted via email on or before November 20th, 2011 and will be asked for their contact and other pertinent info. Winners will have 48 hours to send me their e-mail at [ffr] [giveaways] [at] [gmail] [dot] [com] (without spaces and parenthesis). Please note: This giveaway is offered to USA only.

Thanks and have fun!


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FruitShare – Health and Garden Tuesday

Finding organic, fresh, local and in season fruit can be hard. We had numerous people at the farmers market ask us if we offered organic fruit, which sadly we did not. Then I discovered FruitShare. A company based out of Colorado that offers all of the above, except it isn’t “truly” local, but at least it the fruit is from the USA! Plus they ship it right to your door! I am hoping to try them in the next couple of weeks and will let you know how we like it. In the meantime if you want to check out their site and what they have to offer, visit www.FruitShare.com


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****CLOSED****Freschetta Pizza Giveaway

And the winner is………comment #26…..Congrats Karin!!!

Thanks to all who entered and to Freschetta for sponsoring this AWESOME giveaway!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4-Cheese
Freschetta Pizza is a wonderful taste sensation! They have several pizza options for the consumer to choose from, including:

  • Brick oven
  • Naturally Rising
  • California Style
  • Pizzamore
  • By the slice
  • Simply inspired
  • Pizza crust

All of the options are tailored to what the consumer is looking for in a pizza! This is frozen pizza … but the taste is phenomenal! Freschetta only uses all real cheeses, sauces made out of tomatoes picked at the peak of their ripeness, premium meats, and recipes that make any meal fresh-tasting and fun. We love Freschetta Pizza!

Giveaway:

One lucky reader will win a coupon to try a Freschetta pizza!

Mandatory Entry: What pizza do you want to try from Freschetta?

Extra Entries;(Please be sure and leave a comment and link for extra entries):

1 Entry: Tweet about this giveaway. Include a separate comment for each and your tweet url with your comment:

Enter to win a Freschetta Pizza!! @faithandfamilyrewv http://bit.ly/omeVhK #giveaway


1 Entry: Follow Faith and Family Reviews on Twitter

1 Entry: Like/Friend Faith and Family Reviews on Facebook.

10 Entries: Blog about this giveaway and link back this post. Be sure to leave me a link.

1 Entry:For every comment you leave anywhere else on this blog, but please leave a link with your comment!

2 Entries: Follow Faith and Family Reviews on Google Friend Connect (on the our right side bar).

Details:

This giveaway will run from October 23rd, to November 13th, 2011 at midnight CST. The winner will be chosen through Random.org. MyBlogSpark will send one winner their prize. Winner will be contacted via email on or before November 13th, 2011 and will be asked for their contact and other pertinent info. Winners will have 48 hours to send me their e-mail at [ffr] [giveaways] [at] [gmail] [dot] [com] (without spaces and parenthesis). Please note: This giveaway is offered to USA only.

Thanks and have fun!


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