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V8 V-Fusion Refreshers

Posted by html404 on October 2, 2013
in All Natural Products, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health and Nutrition, Reviews, Uncategorized

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product and a gift card in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

We recently tried V8 V-Fusion Refreshers and were pleasantly surprised by their yummy flavors.

What are V8 V-Fusion® Refreshers?

New V8 V-Fusion Refreshers are a light and crisp juice drink with a 20-25% blend of fruit and vegetable juices that come in four delicious – and unique – family pleasing flavors. Made with both fruit and vegetable juices, V8 V-Fusion Refreshers are naturally sweetened, contain no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives and are an excellent source of Vitamin C.

V8 V-Fusion Refreshers are available in four tasty flavors, Black Cherry Berry, Cranberry Grape, Tangerine Passionfruit and Peach Strawberry, providing premium juice refreshments that will make the whole family happy.

We received Tangerine Passionfruit and Black Cherry Berry in 46 oz bottles. The ingredients of these two V8 VFusion Freshers are as follows:

Tangerine Passionfruit: Water, reconstituted vegetable juice blend, (water, concentrated juices of sweet potatoes, carrots), reconstituted fruit juice blend, (water, concentrated juice of apple, tangerine and passion fruit), sugar, contains less than 2% of citric acid (for flavor), natural flavoring, passion fruit concentrate, vitamin C (absorbic acid).

Black Cherry Berry: Water, reconstituted vegetable juice, (water, concentrated juices of purple carrots, sweet potatoes, carrots), reconstituted fruit juice (water, concentrated juice of apples, cherries, strawberries, red raspberries, black berries), sugar, contains less than 2% of citric acid (for flavor), malic acid, natural flavoring (contains pomegranate juice), vitamin C (absorbic acid), natural flavor.

All these ingredients do not look so bad to the naked eye, but the natural flavoring is obscure so I’d like to know what exactly it is, pretty please, V8?

V8 V-Fusion Refreshers Review

I turned to my dear husband for V8 VFusion Refreshers review photos, because as you know he adds a definite umpf to my blog posts. Remember, he’s the one who turns his nose up at most veggies, so getting him to drink something with the word vegetable in it was progress in and off itself. The children are easy!

Hamming up his taste testing….

Tentatively bringing the cup to his mouth….

Taking a drink…..

Mmmmm…..surprisingly good!

Ahhhh…..the Black Cherry Berry is refreshingly good!

Therefore, we have a winner! Both the V8 V-Fusion Refreshers Black Cherry Berry and Tangerine Passionfruit were a big hit among the children as well. They even asked if we could buy more. We found the V8 V-Fusion Refreshers were tasty, tasting more like fruit juice than vegetable juice. Personally, I preferred the Black Cherry Berry over the Tangerine Passionfruit because the Tangerine Passionfruit flavor tasted something like peach to me and I’m not a huge peach fan. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop me from going back for more later in the evening!

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Why is Organic Dairy So Important? #FightPesticides

Posted by html404 on September 17, 2013
in All Natural Products, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Nutrition, Home, Organic, Safety, Uncategorized

This post is part of my application to become a Stoneyfield ambassador and I will receive Stoneyfield coupons for my participation. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Why is Organic Dairy So Important?

I know our family knows why organic dairy is so important but thought I’d share with you our reasons for wanting to eat and drink organic dairy to the point of owning our own cow. As you know, organic anything can be expensive, especially when buying for ten people. A huge reason for our buying a cow is so we could provide fresh milk for our family (and animals because we do share!). You also know from our Mariano’s shop, organic milk is around $7.99 per gallon at Whole Foods and Mariano’s. However, our reason for feeding her organic feed and hay is to be free of harmful pesticides (and GMOs – Genetically Modified Organisms) often used on crops. Now that we have our own pasture and hay, we know without a doubt our milk is organic, free of harmful GMOs. We have been supplementing Miss Moo with certified organic feed because when we brought her home she was underweight and want to fatten her up so she’s a good weight for her age and stage of lactation. We also know exactly what Miss Moo is fed, how she how the milk is handled and how she is cared for. We like knowing where our food comes from, and for our large family that means we are raising our own at this stage of our lives.

Don’t just take my word for it. Research it for yourself.

Resources:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/06/07/milk-101-whole-raw-organic-low-fat-etc/

http://www.utne.com/Environment/organic-milk-USDA-amendment.aspx#axzz2f5HSUr2e

http://www.realmilk.com/

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Delicious and Nutritious Microwave Meals

Posted by html404 on August 29, 2013
in Appliances, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Home, Uncategorized

This is a featured guest post

Delicious and Nutritious Microwave Meals

Microwaves are capable of more than we give them credit for. So often they’re relegated to an out of the way counter where they’re used only to defrost frozen meats or cook frozen dinners. For busy families with hungry mouths to feed microwaves provide hearty, healthy dinners for everyone around your table.

For the beginner microwave chef there are a few introductory recipes that are super easy and sure to please the whole family. One of the easiest things to cook in the microwave is a baked potato. A conventional oven can take 20 minutes to cook a potato while a microwave cuts cooking time in half. Prick the potato all over, cook on high for five minutes, flip and cook for another five for steamy delicious potatoes ready to be dressed with the toppings of your choice.

Another easy crowd pleaser is microwave chilli. Combine all your favourite chilli ingredients into a microwave safe casserole dish and cook on high for five minutes. Remove the dish and stir it up well to break up all the meat then put it back in the microwave for another 20 minutes stirring every 10. You’ll be absolutely shocked at how delicious this dish tastes and it can quickly become a weekly staple.

Lasagne is a family favourite in many households but can sometimes be ruled out as a dinner option because of its labour intensive prep and cook times. Microwave lasagne is a quick alternative to conventional baking and tastes just as delicious. There’s no need to cook the noodles ahead of time, so once you’ve prepared your marinara and cheese ingredients the layering can begin. Arrange your layers in a microwave safe dish, cover and cook on medium heat for 20 minutes turning halfway through. Remove the lasagne from the microwave at this point and let it stand covered for about five minutes. Put it back in the microwave and cook on high for 15 minutes turning it again at the 10 minute mark.

It’s always important to know how your appliances work as individual units can vary. Understanding temperatures and cooking times specific to your microwave will help your culinary skills develop. For more delicious microwave recipes there are several websites worth perusing, even Oprah has a page dedicated to the fine art of the microwave meal http://www.oprah.com/food/Microwave-Cooking-Recipes.

Delicious and nutritious, microwave meals allow families to spend less time in the kitchen and more time at the dinner table, as it should be.

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Coppertone Water Moms Recipes

Posted by Brande on August 24, 2013
in Camping, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Parenting, Products for Dad, Products for Mom, Recipes, Safety, Seasonal Stuff, Shopping, Uncategorized

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.

With the end of summer drawing near (sniff…. sniff), I wanted to share Coppertone Water Moms recipes for upcoming parties! Enjoy and don’t forget your sunscreen!

Coppertone Water Moms Recipes

Summertime Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients:

1 liter of lemonade

1 cup of Strawberries, sliced OR 1 cup of Raspberries

½ cup of sugar

2 cups of water

Ice

Directions:

Combine sliced strawberries/raspberries and sugar in a bowl. Using a fork, mash the berries into the sugar, leaving some large chunks. Chill for 1 hour. In a large pitcher, combine the berry mixture, the lemonade and the water and stir. Add ice then serve!

Sea Salt Sweet Potato Chips

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes

2 tbsp. Extra-virgin olive oil

½ tsp. of sea salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Slice sweet potatoes into 1/8 inch thick slices, then coat slices with olive oil by tossing together in a bowl. Place slices on baking sheets in a single layer so there is no overlap and then sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, slipping once, until lightly browned and crisp.

Beach Sand Pudding Cups

Ingredients:

2 cups of Milk

1 (3.5 ounce) package instant pudding mix

1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 (12 ounce) package of vanilla wafer cookies, crushed

Variety of candy topping to decorate

Directions:

Combine milk and pudding mix in a large bowl. Beat with a whisk until well blended, then let stand for 5 minutes. Add in whipped topping and half of crushed cookies and fold in. Place 1 tbsp. crushed cookies into each cup, and then fill each up ¾ of the way full with pudding mixture. Top with remaining crushed cookies. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Decorate with fun topping such as gummy worms, gummy snacks, gummy fish, paper umbrellas, or get creative and come up with your own!

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My First Trip to Mariano’s in Chicago

Posted by html404 on August 20, 2013
in All Natural Products, Deals, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Health and Nutrition, Money & Finances, Parenting, Reviews, SALES, Saving Money, Shopping, Things to Do in Chicago, Uncategorized

It takes a lot to feed our family of ten. A huge reason we started farming was to grow our own food because buying all organic food for a large family is soooo expensive! There is no way we could do it by shopping at Whole Foods. We try to buy as much organic as we can, but it’s not always possible due to our budget. Enter Mariano’s. We had seen bags with Mariano’s on them but until we shopped there we did not know anything about this store or that they offered organic produce.

My husband and I went out ALONE to Mariano’s in Jefferson Park, Chicago. It was a rare treat to be alone but it was also a treat to go into the city for a change. We looked forward to purchasing organic milk, natural products and organic produce. First we went to Whole Foods in Sauganash, Chicago, then we went to Mariano’s in Jefferson Park. The stores are literally only a couple miles apart. We bought the exact same items at each store. The goal was to see how much money we could save by shopping at Mariano’s for organic produce and all natural products.

Mariano’s in Jefferson Park

Mariano’s in Jefferson Park is a large spacious store. There was lots of room to maneuver aisles, even though there were lots of people in the store. It was pretty easy to find everything. The only thing we couldn’t find right away was Kombucha but we found it just before we checked out because I almost forgot to buy it!

Shopping at Mariano’s was a good experience for us in that we discovered a new store we can shop for organic produce and all natural products our family loves and enjoys and SAVE money, which makes my hubby very happy!

Here’s a list of items we bought:

Organic Valley Milk
1-1.5 lbs Organic Tomatoes
2 lbs Organic Carrots
2 lbs Organic Blueberries
2 pkg.Applegate Organic Bacon
1 bottle of Kombucha (fermented tea that is carbonated)

Below is our receipts from both stores to show you how much we saved by shopping for organic produce at Mariano’s. We saved a whopping $12.24! We were impressed.

This past weekend was customer appreciation at Mariano’s. In celebration of this they featured over 3,000 roses on display at all stores – just $1 each. Over 100 varieties – a rainbow of color and called it their Rose Extravaganza! It was truly a gorgeous display of roses. Robert and I loved looking at the roses and we even took time to stop and smell them.

Customer appreciation at Mariano’s includes a FREE rewards card with the potential to earn rewards!

We are looking forward to shopping at Mariano’s again in the future.

Please mark your calendars because you are invited to Mariano’s Twitter Party which will be on Thursday, August 29, from 12-1pm CT/1-2 pm ET RSVP link: http://cbi.as/5bh5f #cbias #MyMarianos. Consider “liking” them on Facebook as well.

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Wallaby Organic Kefir

Posted by html404 on August 20, 2013
in All Natural Products, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Nutrition, Home, Organic, Reviews, Uncategorized

What is Kefir

Kefir is an ancient beverage that is packed full of wonderfully good stuff! This is what the National Kefir Association says (I didn’t even know there was such an association for kefir!). I thought this information was interesting and I learned a few things:

The name Kefir comes from the Turkish word “keif” – meaning “good feeling” – for the sense of well-being experienced after drinking it.

Kefir is often compared to yogurt, because they have similar tastes and both contain live and active probiotic cultures, which support immunity and ease digestion. One difference between the two is that Kefir is a drink, so it can be enjoyed on the go. But the biggest difference is that Kefir contains three times the amount of probiotic cultures typically found in yogurt – Kefir usually has around 10 – which means a bigger benefit for your digestive and immune systems. Kefir is also an excellent source of protein, calcium and fiber. Plus, it’s gluten-free, 99% lactose-free and comes in many different flavors, as well as lowfat, nonfat and low-carb versions, so even the pickiest eaters can enjoy the health benefits of Kefir.

Wallaby Organic Kefir

When there is food in the house to review I have to take photos right away. I did this with this review, but what I forgot to do was take photos of the actual kefir and of someone drinking it! If I don’t do it right away, it gets eaten or gobbled up before I even get a chance. This is what happened with the Wallaby Organic Kefir….until….my older daughter found the second bottle of strawberry! So she got to be my model!

We all love yogurt and amazingly all the children love kefir too, especially Wallaby Organic Kefir. We got the strawberry and vanilla flavored, but it comes in two additional flavors of blueberry and plain. We downed it. It was thick, tasty and over all very good. There are definite advantages to training your children’s palate to healthy food. Once their taste buds get accustomed to it they will usually eat anything good set before them. There are exceptions to this of course, as we all have our own unique likes and dislikes.

When Wallaby Organic Kefir says it is creamy, they are not lying, it truly is creamy. It also contains 12 different strains of Live and Active Kefir cultures and boasts the health benefits listed above from the National Kefir Association. The organic milk comes from local farms in California.

I really do not have anything negative to say about this kefir. It was a little hard to find so don’t go by the store locator unless it specifically states the stores carry kefir. I went to Jewel, which carries Wallaby Organic Yogurt, but it did not carry the kefir. My husband went to Whole Foods for it.

Two thumbs up from us!

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Recipes Using Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar #HeinzVinegar

Posted by html404 on August 12, 2013
in Cleaning, Food and Treats, Home, Recipes, Uncategorized

“I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Heinz Vinegar. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and as a thank you for participating.”

We like using vinegar for many things around our home, not just for cooking but also for cleaning. Did you know if you sprinkle baking soda and then pour vinegar over it and scrub it whitens and cleans like a chemical cleaner but without all the harmful fumes or potential side affects? We use apple cider vinegar for our horse and cows intestinal needs (the nice way of writing about it since I will be talking food in a few minutes!)

Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar

We recently tried a couple of different varieties of Heinz® Vinegar: Heinz® Apple Cider Vinegar and Heinz® Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar. Pretty similar products except the unfiltered apple cider vinegar is cloudy and thicker. Both have similar tastes and results in the recipes we used them in, in my opinion. I had never tried either of these products before, just Heinz® Distilled White Vinegar. They also have a few other varieties as well.

Heinz® describes their apple cider vinegar products in this way:

Bottled at the peak of freshness, Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar begins with fine quality apples and crystal clear water to deliver a mellow flavor ideal for brightening up salads, flavoring a main dish, pickling or topping off a cool beverage. For vinegar in its most natural and wholesome form, , check out Heinz Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar. It retains the “mother” of the vinegar – a compound created naturally during vinegar’s fermentation process, and is best used in cooking to bring out refreshing flavors, as well as other unique uses.

Badly Burned Pot Cleaned Up Using Vinegar

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

adapted from Ruby Hatfield’s recipe in one of the Cooking for Miracles cookbooks I purchased as a teenager to support the children’s hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Serves 4-6

Meatballs

1 lb ground beef
1 egg (beaten)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
1 small onion (small or fine)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1-2 tablespoon ground sage

Mix all ingredients together and form into balls. Brown, pour off any excess fat.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 cup water
1/3 cup cane sugar
3 tablespoons Heinz® Apple Cider Vinegar or Heinz® Distilled White Vinegar, whatever you have on hand.
1 can pineapple chunks with juice included
1 tablespoon soya sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Amino
3 tablespoons ketchup

Add together. Simmer for 30 minutes. Thicken with 2 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed in 1/4 cup cold water. I often double this for more sauce. Well, now we probably triple or quadruple!

We serve it with rice and veggies or a salad.

Berry Vinaigrette

from Heinz Website

A light and refreshing dressing. Also a wonderful accompaniment to grilled salmon or chicken. Can be made a day in advance. We added sunflower seeds to our salad.

Ingredients

2/3 cup Heinz® Apple Cider Vinegar** (we used Heinz® Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar)
1/4 cup sugar**
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups cut berries (raspberries, strawberries or blackberries)

Directions

Whisk all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Cover and store in refrigerator. Serve at room temperature. Can be made a day in advance. **If preferred: Replace with Heinz® Distilled White Vinegar Use 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 1/4 cup Makes about 2 cups Prep Time: 5 minutes.

You can gather more recipes here, as well as visit the Heinz Vinegar Pinterest board.

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Peanut Butter Popcorn Recipe – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on August 7, 2013
in Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Recipes, Uncategorized, Wordless Wednesday

Peanut Butter Popcorn Recipe

Peanut butter popcorn has become a favorite treat for our family. It is so very yummy! And pretty easy to make.

3 quarts of popped popcorn
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of honey
1 cup of peanut butter

Heat honey, sugar and peanut butter until bubbly. Remove and add popcorn. Spread on wax paper. Let cool. Enjoy!

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Brutus the Hog – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on July 31, 2013
in Animals, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Wordless Wednesday

This is Brutus the Hog. He is a heritage breed Tamworth pig. We met him on one of our trips to a local farm to purchase turkeys. His owners said he climbs into his water trough every day to do this (see photo below) and makes a ton more work – because the trough has to be washed out every day rather than weekly or however often the farmer deemed best. We thought it was hilarious that Brutus did this.

Then what does our cow do a week later? Yes, Miss Moo climbed in her 25 gallon water trough and cracked it! Argh! Those stock tanks are not cheap. Thankfully, we had purchased ours used, but still they are hard to come by in good shape even when purchasing them used. So she now has to use her hay bucket for water.

My husband is interested in raising some heritage hogs. They are really fun to observe. Not sure at what point we’ll get to raising hogs but thinking of all the bacon we’d get from a hog makes our mouth water!

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Happy Family #hfbrightside

Posted by html404 on July 26, 2013
in All Natural Products, Baby Products, Contests, Eco Friendly Products, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Health, Health and Nutrition, Humor, Kids Stuff, Organic, Parenting

Readers familiar with our blog and family know that we value healthy eating and living. We try to promote products our family is personally interested in and enjoys. We review a lot of green, eco-friendly and organic products because we want to use products that are safe for the whole family. As beginning organic farmers, we desire to eat organic foods, including snacks, because we want to provide only the best food possible for our children. Their future health depends on it.

Happy Family

Happy Family offers organic meals and snacks for infants and toddlers (older children will love them too – ours did!). They are also great for traveling.

Happy Family products are a wholesome start for babies and are organic meals and snacks that your toddler will love, ours did!

Specific Happy Family products include: Happy Baby, Happy Tot, Happy Bellies, Happy Puffs, Happy Yogis, Happy Squeeze and more. Our children loved everything we tried and have asked for more! If you want to learn more about their full line of products or specific nutritional information, visit www.HappyFamilyBrands.com

Happy Family – Bright Side Campaign

As parents of eight children, we know how hard it can be at times to get a child to eat what is put before them. We do not require them to eat a plateful of something they do not like but they have to at least try a little bit of it. We learned that the hard way with our oldest child when she was little and now our youngest children thank us (or maybe not) for our foresight. (wry smile). We actually made her eat a bowlful of broccoli for fussing about it. Amazingly, she loves it to this day. However, we no longer require a full portion of anything be eaten if a child does not like it! That’s our “Bright Side” story because it did end well for all of us and we can laugh about it now. Though at the time it was an ordeal.

Happy Family’s Bright Side Campaign is a campaign that shares:

Stories in a a humorous light on food and feeding challenges that parents have through sharing funny stories told by top bloggers that are then acted out by improv troupe the Upright Citizen’s Brigade.

Happy Family wants YOU to share your personal “Bright Side” or funny feeding stories about food and the challenges that come with raising your children. Part of this campaign includes a sweepstakes. Happy Family will pick a funny feeding story to award $20K towards a child’s college education (the rules and regulations are on their Facebook page). To share your story or to view the contest rules visit: https://www.facebook.com/HAPPYFAM/app_512040132171168

For an example of a funny feeding story, watch the video below of Fellow blogger’s, Jim Lin from Busy Dad Blog, special feeding tactics – be prepared to laugh!

And don’t forget to share your own funny feeding story on Happy Family’s Facebook page for a chance to win $20K towards your child’s education! https://www.facebook.com/HAPPYFAM/app_512040132171168 . If you share your story or link on Twitter, be sure to use the hashtag #hfbrightside.

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« Older Entries Recent Entries »

Archive for Food and Treats

V8 V-Fusion Refreshers

Share and Enjoy

Why is Organic Dairy So Important? #FightPesticides

Share and Enjoy

Delicious and Nutritious Microwave Meals

Share and Enjoy

Coppertone Water Moms Recipes

Coppertone Water Moms Recipes

Share and Enjoy

My First Trip to Mariano’s in Chicago

Share and Enjoy

Wallaby Organic Kefir

What is Kefir

Wallaby Organic Kefir

Share and Enjoy

Recipes Using Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar #HeinzVinegar

Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar

Badly Burned Pot Cleaned Up Using Vinegar

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Berry Vinaigrette

Share and Enjoy

Peanut Butter Popcorn Recipe – Wordless Wednesday

Peanut Butter Popcorn Recipe

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Brutus the Hog – Wordless Wednesday

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Happy Family #hfbrightside

Happy Family

Happy Family – Bright Side Campaign

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