Mother’s Day 2013 saw me served with a delicious homemade breakfast in bed. (I was also served with a yummy meatloaf dinner the night before and a strawberry dessert Yahoo featured!)
The whipped cream is homemade from our own cream – yummylicious!
And I bought these for the purpose of having a Mother’s Day flowers photo….we ended up giving them to Grandma on her special day too….
How was your Mother’s Day? Were you given the royal treatment too?
Faith and Family Reviews received the following product 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.
Our family loves yogurt. We’ve even made it ourselves and plan to do it again once our garden is planted. So when a Wallaby Yogurt review opportunity presented itself I agreed to do it. We had tried Wallaby Yogurt before but had not tried their new Greek Yogurt.
Wallaby Organic Greek Yogurt is smooth, silky, creamy and yummy. If you don’t know the difference between regular yogurt and Greek yogurt it’s the thickness and texture, in my opinion. It stays on the spoon better for kids (and adults too!) Sometimes, but not always Greek yogurt has less sugar in it. It depends on the brand and of course the fruit flavor.
My hubby brought home blueberry because it’s one of my personal favorites. The yogurt and blueberries were in separate sections like so:
Then I mixed them together like this:
The only thing I didn’t like was the curve of the container made it hard to get all the blueberries out of the bottom. I actually used the end of my spoon to get as much as I could out and added to my yogurt. The more blueberries the better in my book. Spoken like a true Bluenoser (person from Nova Scotia 
) I think one of those new inventions shown on the show Shark Tank called Spatty (and the larger one Spatty Daddy) would have come in handy to get all the blueberries out.
Otherwise the yogurt was delicious and definitely one we’d buy again.
“This sponsored post was made possible by The Motherhood and Avocados from Mexico. I have been compensated for my time and work on this campaign, however all opinions are 100% my own.”
Last Friday night four Chicago area bloggers gathered together to experience Cinco de Swap with Avocados from Mexico. We each made an avocado dish (or two) to pass and share. There was one blogger who had never tried avocados before. The majority of us were trying new recipes from avocado macaroni and cheese, avocado ice cream, guacamole and avocado fries. For some fabulous photos of the dishes served visit Frosted Fingers!
Did you know that avocados from Mexico are available all year round? I didn’t know this. I also didn’t know this when I chose a recipe for BLT sandwiches:
Fresh avocado in sandwiches, on toast or substituted as a spread in place of many other popular foods may help reduce your intake of calories, fat, saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol.
I also did not know that one ounce (3 slices) of an avocado has 50 calories and contributes nearly 20 vitamins and minerals, making it a good choice to help meet nutrient needs! I find that amazing.
However, I did know that avocados are full of good fats our bodies need. One of the reasons I would feed it to my little ones as babies – my older girls to this day love avocados. It makes for a very easy to prepare meal. Just wash it, cut it open, de-pit it and start spooning baby bites into baby’s (or your) mouth! Easy peasy! Our younger crew didn’t even notice the avocados on the avocado BLT turkey sandwiches.
Not very many in my family liked the avocado fries. I thought they tasted good, but liked Michelle’s (of Honestly and Truly) idea of serving them with a yummy dip.
Avocado Recipes
Here’s the link to the recipe that inspired our Avocado Fries. However, we did not fry them, we baked them and we used olive oil instead of canola oil. We also used regular bread crumbs seasoned with our own spices.
Our Avocado BLT Turkey Sandwich was inspired by this Turkey Avocado Bacon Sandwich recipe.
You can visit www.theamazingavocado.com for more recipes and nutritional
information.
Cinco de Swap with Avocados from Mexico and $100 Gift Card Giveaway
You all have a chance to win a $100 gift card! Just enter below.
This is our second oldest daughter milking. She’s our chief milker at the moment until we train the next one in line to milk. I have helped with milking but I think my nervousness unsettled Eclipse because she seemed jittery and moved a lot. Then again maybe I’m being paranoid and she was just antsy in her new home since I haven’t milked since the first week. Eclipse does seem to do better for our daughter, whom the cow loves I might add! Over the weekend, Eclipse watched the children go from one end of the property, down the tree line to the other end and mooed in their direction after our daughter went over with her younger siblings. Then when our daughter came back across the field, Eclipse followed her again by walking the fence line to greet her – if that isn’t affection, I don’t know what is!
Since Eclipse has been on pasture her cream (and milk) has been slowly increasing. Today the girls got 6 cups of cream from two gallons of milk and made two pounds of butter! The photos below are not all of the same day. The milk bottles are actually some of our very first. The butter photos are from today. All they do is put the cream in a pint or quart sized jar and shake it until it forms butter. The girls like to shake it until it forms a ball, which eliminates the need to shape the butter by hand! Pretty smart, eh?
Click on the image to make it larger and brighter.
It’s a fun milking and making butter! My husband is very happy not to have to stop for milk after work!
Happy not-so-Wordless Wednesday!
Not so Wordless this week…ha!
Our family drinks and goes through a lot of milk in a week so we’ve been looking at the possibility of getting a herdshare cow (the kids will own a portion of her milk “shares” and we’ll sell “cow or milk shares”, which is where other people desiring raw milk will buy shares of her, that is if IL doesn’t change their raw milk laws). We have been researching dairy cows or rather our daughter has been, and even went to visit a Guernsey dairy farm in Wisconsin, nearly two hours away, in November. The economical benefits to owning our own cow would allow us to supply our family with milk for 8-10 months out of the year, plus all the other dairy products we enjoy – butter, yogurt, ice cream and cheese, as well as providing others with fresh milk too.
Then a couple of weeks ago while my mom was here we came across a Craigslist ad for a Guernsey for sale locally. It was a person we bought some of our bookcases from just after we moved into this house. The reasons we like this cow is she’s local so less travel time, less stress on the cow. The owner is raising the cow the way we want to, which is a huge factor to us wanting her. The cow was also affectionate to our daughter the first time she went in her pen, which resonated with us…so….we bought her!
Pictured at her old home.
Eclipse is a 5.5 year old Guernsey. She has given birth to three calves, the third one was born last year. Even though it’s been a year since her last birth she is still giving a couple of gallons of milk per day. We are really impressed, but we are newbies so it doesn’t take much to impress us She is being fed pasture, hay and fodder (sprouted grain). We *think* the fodder is what is helping her give milk for so long between calves. Either that or she’s just a faithful milker! Here’s to hoping she likes us as well as she did her former owner.
The children are hoping her first calf with us is a heifer (female) so they can buy back the herdshares and make Eclipse our family cow. If she has a bull calf, then he’ll be processed for beef and shared among all the shareholders. We hope to get Eclipse bred this spring or summer, Lord willing. First we have to figure out when she cycles, which can be hard to determine when there’s only one cow. Or so we’ve been told.
While I grew up surrounded by cows, I have very little experience taking care of them, especially a dairy cow. Growing up I watched them being milked and took their yummy milk from the cooler of our neighbors milk parlor, but not once did I take care of one or milk one. I took care of my pastor’s beef cow when he and his family went away a couple of times, that’s my extent of caring for a cow. Other than that my experience is limited to visits to neighbors farms in my hometown in Nova Scotia, having the cows lick my rubber boots and runny a muck through their pastures as a child.
We are excited but a little apprehensive, as cows require a set routine and it’s a whole new animal to acclimate to our farm. So do you have any experience with cows?
Stay tuned to more adventures of milking a cow, making butter and even fencing….from our fledgling little farm….
Disclaimer: I am part of the Mom It Forward blogger network. Mom It Forward and Honey Bunches of Oats partnered in support of this campaign. Honey Bunches of Oats compensated me for participation in this campaign. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Our family is pretty big on oats and yogurt so when the opportunity arose to review a box of Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch, we jumped on it. While we love cereal, it is a treat when we have it because there are not too many boxes big enough to feed our family. We tend to eat bread, bagels, eggs, homemade pancakes and waffles for breakfast since those foods go further. Cold cereal is sooooo easy though…much less fuss and mess! Definitely a life saver on busy days. We appreciate that aspect of cold cereal.
Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch is made with oats, whole grains and Greek yogurt, plus some other ingredients you can check out at the link above. Greek yogurt is thicker, smoother and seems to have more substance to it than regular yogurt. It also tends to have less sugar and is more tart than sweet, which is a lot better for us health wise.
Once we added milk to our cereal we could not really taste the yogurt very much and that may be why my daughter said it needed more yogurt. If you like granola…granola anything, you’ll like, and even love, Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch.
Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch has:
Four nutritious grains: rice, wheat, oats and corn
33g of whole grain per serving†
5g of protein per serving
4g of fiber per serving
80% of the recommended daily value of iron per serving
We all enjoyed eating Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch! It tasted yummy! Our only complaint is there wasn’t enough of it.
You can follow Honey Bunches of Oats via Twitter (@HBOats) or Facebook.
I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms MeetSM program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms MeetSM blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinions on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the manufacturer of the product.
When I think of making baby food I think of a long day of lots of work, lots of mess, and no fun. When my son was ready to eat baby food I bought a hand food processor, determined to make my own food. It lasted for about two days. The food was always too thick and chunky and I never knew if he was getting enough nutrients. It was just easier to buy the baby food, even though I wasn’t crazy about all of the ingredients in some of the foods. Now that he is a toddler, he is picky and will only eat certain foods. If only there was a way to get him to eat more nutritious foods in an easy way…there is! Introducing the Freshfoods Cook-n-Blend Baby Food Maker, the answer to all of my problems.
This baby food maker is for the whole family. It has two different texture settings, smooth or chunky, making it perfect for your growing baby and toddler. It also has a smoothie blade attachment so you can make healthy smoothies for the whole family. I was a little hesitant at first to try it, since my previous experience with making baby food was unsuccessful. Once I pulled the Cook-n-Blend Baby Food Maker out of the box, I thought it looked more like a juicer than a baby food maker. The size was perfect, it was a little smaller than a 2-slice toaster. The bowl can hold up to 3.75 cups, or 4 meals. Putting it together was easy, it came assembled! I skimmed through the recipe booklet that came with it. It came with great meal ideas written by world-famous child nutrition expert, Annabel Karmel. I chose to do the Banana and Blueberry puree, but replaced the blueberries with strawberries. For some odd reason, my son is not a fan of strawberries so I was anxious to see if he would like this.
To begin with, I filled the reservoir with water to level 2. There are three different water levels depending upon what you are making.
Next I filled the steam basket with three strawberries cut up and a whole ripened banana. They also include a half steam basket that can be placed inside the large basket so you can seperate foods and flavors. I love this option since you can easily cook two different items at once. After I added the food, I placed the lid on top and replaced the canister back into the baby food maker. I plugged it in and pressed the green on/off button to start cooking.
After a a couple of minutes steam started to build up in the steam basket. The bananas and strawberries began to cook.
After about 14 minutes, I heard a beep and the green light turned off. I carefully opened the lid, hot steam came out, and I saw very mushy fruit.
Next I dumped the fruit into the glass bowl that had lots of yummy smelling juice in it.
You can then choose which texture you want, smooth or chunky. I chose chunky so I replaced the lid and turned the knob to chunky. After about 5 seconds I realized it was fully blended. I removed the lid and saw a wonderful puree. It smelled so fresh and looked so smooth, I couldn’t wait for my son to taste it.
I poured the puree into a 4oz cup and told my son I made special applesauce just for him. Now remember, he does not like strawberries. He took a spoonful and said, “Mmmmm, mommy this is good applesauce!” He gobbled the entire cup and I was thrilled! That right there, sold me on this food maker. If I could make my picky three year old eat something he did not like, I could make many other healthy foods in there and he would have no idea what he’s eating.
Clean up was a breeze! Most of the pieces are dishwasher safe, which is exactly where they went. I wiped the machine clean and placed it back on my counter. I will definitely be using this all of the time! Some of the features that I really like are that it is a 4 in 1 baby food maker. It cooks, blends, reheats, and defrosts. Since it steams all of the food, it retains most of the vitamins and minerals, making it extremely nutritious and healthy. With one quick pour you can then blend the food into either a chunky puree for toddlers or a smooth puree for babies. The Cook-n-Blend Baby Food Maker is extremely versatile. The instruction manual has a cooking guide which tells you what level water to add for different foods and approximately how long it takes to cook each food. My only minor complaint on this product is I wish the instruction manual was a little more detailed. The first time I tried using the baby food maker I was kind of nervous about doing it right. I thought it was going to be more complicated than it actually was. After you make the food once, though, you see how easy it is and probably won’t even need to look at the manual again.
Overall, I was highly impressed with the Freshfoods Cook-n-Blend Baby Food Maker. I am anxious to use it not only on my baby who’s on the way, but also on my toddler to sneak in some veggies without him knowing. Freshfoods also offers other great products to help with making your own baby food including Stackable Cube containers to store the baby food and Freezer trays so you can easily freeze your baby food so it is ready when you need it. Their products are of high quality and are reasonabley priced. Go to this link for a $20 coupon off a Freshfoods Cook-n-Blend Baby Food Maker and $1 coupon off a Freshfoods accessory:
www.nuk-usa.com/promos/nuk-fresh-foods/blogger
To see all of their products go to their website:
Be sure to like them on Facebook:
To meet other moms working hard to keep their families healthy and living green check out:
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.
Pouch food for babies and toddlers is the new preferred feeding method for many families, mine included. Feeding by pouch is not only convenient, but it promotes self-feeding, which is a great lesson for babies! One of the downfalls of most pouches, though, is the feeding part is made of hard plastic with many ridges. This can be very cumbersome for babies. Not anymore with the PouchPop.
The PouchPop topper is the convenient, soothing, and safe solution for pouch feeding. Made out of soothing hospital grade silicone, it easily twists onto any baby food pouch. I tried it out on some GO GO applesauce, and it twisted on easily and was just as easy to take off. I had my toddler try the pouch without the PouchPop and then with the PouchPop. Once I twisted the Pouchpop on, he did not want me to remove it. He said it was easier to drink from and that the applesauce came out faster. He also said it felt “cool” in his mouth. I liked how smooth the PouchPop was. It covers all of the ridges and “ouch points” on pouches, so I never have to worry about him hurting the inside of his mouth. This is definitely a safer option for babies. Best of all, it is dishwasher safe!
I love that PouchPop toppers are sold in a package of four and are reusable. I can keep a couple at home and a couple in my diaper bag for whenever I need them. They are also pediatrician recommended. These would be a great gift and are available at Amazon.com. For a 25% discount enter Topper13 (case sensitive) during checkout.
For more information visit their website:
Be sure to “Like” PouchPop on Facebook and follow PouchPop on Twitter.
The PROBAR Company’s goal is to change how the world thinks when it comes to real, whole food. PROBAR products are proof that a food maker can wholeheartedly commit to quality, sustainability—and sheer deliciousness. Part of the Simply Real® promise is sourcing the finest all-natural, 100% vegan organic ingredients from growers who believe in these things as well. As you check out their products, they all have one thing in common: they start with only the best raw ingredients.
There are 4 PROBAR products to choose from:
PROBAR Meal ~ This PROBAR weighs in at a solid three ounces of fruits, nuts and seeds with enough nutrition to make a fresh, tasty, satisfying meal replacement. It’s rich in raw ingredients and the right nutrient-dense calories for lasting energy and nourishment.
PROBAR Core ~ Looking for a protein bar that resembles nature rather than a science experiment? Good…because they have packed 20 grams of plant protein and plenty of real, recognizable ingredients into this bar. And it does more than build your strength – it boasts chia seeds for hydration and recovery too.
PROBAR Bolt ~ These organic chews step up your game right when you need it. They’re packed to power you from morning workouts to race days. Plus, they’re loaded with electrolytes, B vitamins, antioxidants and complex carbs for fast fuel-ups that last through the home stretch.
PROBAR Fuel ~ Go ahead, dig in and fuel up with this gluten-free bar’s superfruits, cashews and oats. It’s soft, chewy, and it’s a full serving of fruit – a scrumptious snack for action packed days. We balanced this blend with chia seeds to regulate hydration and raw oats for easy-to-digest energy.
PROBAR Halo ~ Satisfying your sweet tooth with zero grams of guilt. Introducing PROBAR Halo™, the delicious between meals treat that’s designed to do your body good. With natural whole food ingredients and heavenly taste, these bars have such big flavors they take on a personality all their own.
Our PROBAR Review:
We received the following products from PROBAR: PROBAR Meal (Superberry and Greens), PROBAR Core (Peanut Butter Chocolate), PROBAR Bolt (Raspberry).
These are VERY good bars. I enjoyed the flavor and quality of each type of bar.
PROBAR Meal (Superberry and greens)
This bar goes beyond what I thought it could do…it REALLY fills you up! When they say a meal replacement they mean meal replacement! I was surprised when I opened the package and saw how green the bar was…I was glad because I know I do not eat enough “greens” and this bar is packed full of vital nutrients! As for taste… I enjoyed the flavor of the bar… for some it might be an acquired taste if you have never had a meal replacement bar. But, if you have had meal replacement bars before this one stands out in quality and flavor. The texture and balance of the ingredients was very nice on the tongue! This product is NON-GMO product verified.
Check out the ingredients and nutritional information here: PROBAR Meal Replacement Superberry and Greens
PROBAR Core (Peanut Butter and Chocolate)
These are EXCELLENT! I am a chocolate lover… so I was pleased to see a protein bar in my favorite flavor! I have tried other protein bars before and these surpass the other brands in quality and taste. They are very flavorful and pack a punch of 20 grams of protein. I was not disappointed. This product is Gluten-Free!
Check out the ingredients and nutritional information here: PROBAR Core (Peanut Butter & Chocolate)
This was a very nice alternative for fast fuel ups for workouts! I enjoyed this flavor immensely! These are not a bar but a “chew” reminiscent of a “gummy bear”. These are wonderful performance aides. Since I am not an avid runner or workout aficionado … I gave some samples to my brother who is a power lifter and he attested that they are a great way to boost a workout!
Check out the ingredients and nutritional information here: PROBAR Bolt (Raspberry)
OVERALL… I was delightfully surprised at the taste and texture of the products along with the nutritional values contained in the product. I do also have to add that the products are 100% Vegan ORGANIC … how wonderful!
To learn more about the PROBAR company and their products, please visit their website www.theprobar.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.
Gourmet chocolate covered strawberries and melt in your mouth cheesecake is the key to my heart, and oh boy did Shari’s Berries deliver! I have ordered many gifts from the Internet; flowers, photo gifts, music, etc., but never strawberries nor cheesecake. This gift was intended for myself, but as soon as my husband saw what arrived, I was forced into sharing.
To begin with, the ordering process was very easy. Although they have a multitude of products, it is easy to search for exactly what you are looking for. You can search by occasion, strawberries, chocolate lovers, bake shop, gift baskets, or specials. You can even type in what you are looking for in the search engine and all of your options will come up. Once you decide what you would like to purchase, you are given the choice of what product you want. For example, I chose the Cheesecake Trio and Full Half Dozen Fancy Strawberries, but in the ordering screen I had the opportunity to upgrade to a full dozen fancy strawberries. The next step is to choose the delivery day. When you click on the calendar it shows you when standard delivery would be, and when standard delivery plus an extra fee would be. Once you place the product in your shopping cart, you have the option to include an extra gift such as a card or a cookie. The site then walks you through the checkout process, which is very secure and user friendly. You can order as a guest or create an account. I created an account and am very happy I did. I cannot tell you how many discount codes I have received for future orders. In addition I received a confirmation e-mail with my order number, an e-mail when my order was being shipped with a UPS tracking number, and an e-mail when my order was delivered. This is important to me for future orders. I like to know when my gift arrives at the intended location so I know when I should receive my thank you phone call!
When the package arrived it was very nicely packaged with an ice pack that kept the yummies nice and cold. The strawberries were carefully packaged in a tray with each strawberry in their own indent so each one was perfect on arrival. As soon as I opened them I wanted to take a bite! I restrained myself, though, and put them in the fridge. They suggest eating them at room temperature, but I like my strawberries cold so I kept them cool. I received a total of six dipped strawberries. Two were milk chocolate dipped in nuts, two were milk chocolate dipped in chocolate chips, and two were white chocolate dipped with milk chocolate swirls. Both my husband and I loved all three kinds, our favorite was definitely the milk chocolate dipped in chocolate chips. They were simply mouth-watering! It is suggested that the strawberries be eaten within 48 hours and we did not have a problem doing that; they were so delicious!
The cheesecake also arrived in a seperate box. When I first opened them, I was surprised by how small they looked. I thought they could be eaten in about three bites. The cheesecakes looked absolutely deluctant, though. Even though I thought they looked small, I decided to be nice and split them with my husband. Each cheesecake had a plastic wrapping around them to keep them in contact, which was very easy to remove. Once I unwrapped one and split it in half, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as small as I had thought. Half of one was a perfect amount for me. The three different cheesecakes included a New York Cheesecake, a white chocolate cheesecake with a chocolate candy on top, and a chocolate rocky road cheesecake, which was by far our favorite! The cheesecake was the perfect consistency, not too heavy and not too light. We thoroughly enjoyed them! The cheesecakes need to be eaten within five days or they can be frozen.
Overall, Shari’s Berries was truly a great experience. I loved the comfort of shopping online and choosing exactly what I wanted. The ordering process was very easy and I loved the confirmation e-mails and coupon codes for future orders. The packaging was great, everything arrived looking perfect. Best of all, both the strawberries and cheesecakes tasted out of this world. Shari’s Berries is a great company to order through that offers quality gifts for every occasion.
To place an order go to:
www.berries.com/mothers-day-berries-sbn
For coupon codes to use on your order go to:
http://www.berries.com/coupon-codes.aspx
Faith and Family Reviews received the following product 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.
