Oregon Chai: The Perfect Drink for Me Time

Here in Ohio, the weather has started to turn ever-so-slightly crisp. The morning and evening air is cool and dry, while afternoons are still warm and sunny. But this shift has me excited, because I love nothing more than wrapping up in cozy sweaters, drinking warm drinks and enjoying all of the beauty of fall.

Although coffee is always my go-to for staying awake, my drink of preference is always tea, specifically chai tea. Chai is a sort of spiced black tea that often has milk added for a creamy texture. You can drink it hot or cold, depending on your preference or time of the year. Personally, a hot mug of chai tea is the ultimate comfort drink for me.

I recently received a "Time for Me Wellness Kit" from Oregon Chai that contained a canister of The Original Chai mix, a mug, USB-powered mug warmer, and an acrylic double-walled reusable iced tea cup with straw. (Oh yeah, and a mood ring! I haven't seen one of those since the 80's.) I've already used much of the chai mix, which isn't a surprise because I was already a fan of Oregon Chai and their many chai variations: vanilla, green-tea, caffeine-free, vegan, and sugar-free.

You can buy Oregon Chai in either a concentrated liquid form, or in a dry mix form, including their new 10 oz. mix canister. Either way, you can control how strong you want your chai to be, adding more or less than the recommended amount to create the perfect drink for you. All Oregon Chai drinks are also all-natural and the mixes are preservative-free.

Want Some For Yourself?

Oregon Chai has generously provided two gift packs for me to give away so you can enhance your "me time" as well. One reader will receive a 10 oz chai mix canister and mug, and another reader will receive a 10 oz chai mix canister and an acrylic double-walled reusable iced tea cup!

To enter, just leave a comment below telling me your favorite way to spend "me time" along with your e-mail address so I can contact you if you're a winner. You can enter until Monday, September 20, 2010 at 11:59pm eastern time. One entry per person. Open to US residents only. Two winners will be selected using random.org. Should either winner not respond within two days of being contacted, another winner will be selected.

Full disclosure: I received the kit mentioned above from Oregon Chai to help facilitate my review. No further compensation was provided. All opinions are 100% my own.

Wendy's Fresh New Salads

In this era of food awareness - where we're finally waking up and thinking about what we put in our mouths - it's awesome to see fast food and restaurants quickly responding to meet our needs with food that is fresh and real. For my own family, we've cut back on a lot of processed foods and as a result don't eat out as often.

But Wendy's recently revised their entire line of salads, and may have won me back at least once a week. I had the chance to listen in on a webinar with Chef Rick Tramonto as he went through the process of creating each of Wendy's four new salads, emphasizing fresh ingredients with the ability to completely customize your salad to your liking.

Their four new entree salads have something for everyone. There's the Apple Pecan Chicken Salad, with an all-natural pomegranate vinaigrette dressing for those who like a little fruit with your veggies. (Note: I am not a fruit-veggie mixer, so this one wasn't even tempting for me.)

If you're a fan of Cobb salads, you'll love the BLT Cobb salad with applewood smoked bacon, blue cheese crumbles and an avacado ranch dressing. Personally, I think Wendy's has the best bacon around, so if you like bacon, this salad is a winner for you.

For something with a little more spice, try the Baja salad, with freshly made pico de gallo and guacamole, topped with Wendy's famous chili and a red jalapeno dressing. This salad is delicious, and I can see myself eating this even in the winter thanks to the warm chili on top.

And for a little twist on an old classic, the Spicy Chicken Caesar salad is just like the caesar salad you remember, but with a lemon-garlic punch to the dressing and a spicy chicken breast cut up on top. I love this one, but be sure to have plenty to drink!

I appreciate the variety in these salads, all of which fall roughly in the 550-750 calorie range. They're large enough to be filling, or even enough to split with a friend if you want to enjoy some fries, too. The produce is crisp, the colors vibrant - no stale wimpy lettuce here!

If you're looking for a little adventure for your tastebuds the next time you crave a salad, try one of the four new salads from Wendy's and see if it doesn't change the way you think about lettuce.

Full disclosure: I received a gift card from Wendy's to facilitate my review, but received no further compensation. No favorable review was guaranteed nor promised. Wendy's is a Columbus-based franchise, and I love to support my local peeps. We miss you, Dave Thomas.

Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Ice Cream Treats

As temperatures rise and summer approaches, my family starts to crave frozen treats even more than usual, and clamor for ice cream in the freezer. Whether enjoying dessert on the back porch while watching the setting sun or grabbing a frozen treat out of the cooler at a picnic, it doesn't really feel like summer without ice cream in hand.

The one problem my family has with ice cream, though, is that so much of it is filled with artificial ingredients. Whether artificial flavors or colors or both, these man-made additives are toxic to my older daughter, who has autism. Her behavior takes a serious turn for the worse whenever she eats anything with artificial colors or flavors, forcing me to be extra picky about the ice cream treats I choose for my family.

So when Mom Central asked if I wanted to try out the new Breyers Smooth & Dreamy ice cream bars and sandwiches, my first question was: what's in them? The answer is all natural ingredients with no trace of artificial colors or flavors!

The Breyers Smooth & Dreamy ice cream bars and sandwiches come in six flavors, including Chocolate Caramel Brownie, Vanilla Caramel Chip, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chocolate Covered Strawberry, Vanilla Fudge Brownie, and Triple Chocolate Chip. We tried the Vanilla Fudge Brownie ice cream sandwiches, and my entire family loved them. Despite being low fat and low calorie, the ice cream was deliciously creamy and the rich chocolate fudge flavor of the cookie packed a full-flavor punch.

Compared to other low-cal ice cream sandwiches I've tried, this one had a better flavor and the cookie didn't crumble to pieces or stick to my fingers. I appreciate that this is a treat my entire family can enjoy thanks to no artificial colors and flavors. My only criticism is that I was hoping to avoid high fructose corn syrup as well, but it is present in the ingredients. If Breyers could change one thing for me, I'd ask them to remove the corn syrup.

That criticism aside, the Breyers Smooth & Dreamy ice cream treats are tasty. And with no artificial flavors or colors, 160 calories or less and 4-6g of fat per serving, and delicious mix-ins and swirls, these bars and sandwiches make for refreshing snacks and desserts.

Want to try them for yourself?

I've got 5 coupons for a free box of Breyers Smooth & Dreamy ice cream bars or sandwiches to give away to 5 lucky readers.

To enter to win, just leave a comment below telling me your favorite flavor of ice cream. I'll accept entries until Monday, August 2, 2010 at 11:59pm Eastern Time. Five winners will be chosen using a random number generator after that date. Winners have three days to respond to my e-mail or another winner will be selected.

Be sure to leave an e-mail address so I can contact you if you're selected. One entry per person, US residents only.

Good luck!

Full disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Breyers and received products necessary to facilitate my review. In addition, I received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Smart for Life and underWAY Provide Sweet Options for Weight Loss

Many of us constantly strive to reach our "ideal" weights, but navigating soccer carpools, business trips and bedtime stories often get in the way of our achieving results. Healthy eating on-the-go and exercising suffer when schedules become busier, and sorting through the plethora of products and services on the market proves an overwhelming, time-consuming effort in itself. I want to lose weight, but I want it to be easy, and I also want my food to be portable, going with me with little prep. That's why I agreed to review products from underWAY and Smart for Life, to see if it was possible to find diet foods that are actually filling, portable, and tasty without being full of artificial ingredients.

The underWAY supplement drink, infused with a special HeroFiber and heart-healthy vitamins, works naturally to suppress your appetite and quench your thirst. underWAY curbs your hunger two ways. Its special formulation not only takes longer for the stomach to absorb, it also slows the absorption of what's already there, making you feel fuller, longer. What's more, its unique ingredients stimulate your stomach, telling your brain you've consumed more calories that you really have which, with underWAY, is almost zero! It contains no preservatives, sodium or caffeine, with only 10 calories and 2 grams of carbs per 8 oz. serving. HeroFiber, a soluble dietary fiber, helps maintain normal levels of cholesterol, glucose and insulin that are already in the normal range.

Smart for Life all natural, 60% organic products offer great snacking on-the-go, containing necessary nutrients like Omega-3 fatty acids and HeroFiber, with zero trans fat and making you feel fuller, quicker. Adopting a new 7-meals-per-day schedule featuring 6 cookies or products plus a balanced dinner allows your body to maintain steady blood sugar and glucose levels, and to burn more fat for a longer portion of the day. For variety, Smart for Life also offers soups, shakes, bagels, cereals, cupcakes and more.

A recent study done at the Boca Raton Smart for Life Weight Management Center showed that out of 46 subjects that used a portion-controlled, protein-rich, low fat cookie with unique fiber technology, all subjects lost weight with the average being 13.1 pounds in 35 days. Five subjects lost over 20 pounds in 35 days and 20 subjects lost over 15 pounds in the first 35 days. The 46 participants lost a total of 601 pounds with one patient losing 38.7 pounds in 35 days.

My experience:
I was sent a variety of products to try out, including cookies, cupcakes, cereal, shakes, soup and two flavors of the underWAY supplement drink. All of these products are designed to work together, with the solid foods being interchangeable in the diet to provide some variety.

The goal is to eat one cookie roughly every two hours during the day with a large glass of water to help keep you full all day long, with a balanced regular meal at dinner. The cookies are loaded with fiber, and I was pleased to see that I could pronounce every ingredient written on the package. (And lots of those ingredients were organic!) I'll admit I was a little surprised at how small the cookies were when I opened the package - how was one tiny little cookie going to keep me happy for 2 hours?

Surprisingly, the cookies were very filling! One cookie was enough to get me through for two hours, and I liked that I could simply bring a cookie with me if I knew I'd be out and would probably get hungry. The underWAY supplement drinks also helped during those times when I needed a little something extra to help me feel full until it was time to eat again.

I loved the chocolate chip cookies, but the oatmeal raisin cookies were a little too dry for me. The carrot sunshine cupcakes were delicious, and the chocolate cupcakes were equally tasty. Both the grape and the acai-pomegranate underWAY drinks were good, too - there was a slight aftertaste, but it was barely noticeable when drinking it very cold.

If you have a serious weakness for sweets, this diet would likely work well for you. If you get burned out on sweets easily, I wouldn't recommend it, as nearly every meal is something sweet. I didn't get bored thanks to the variety of foods, but I did find myself a little tired of sweets after day three.

The only downside I found to the Smart for Life and underWAY plan is that it doesn't seem to be quite enough if you're working out along with dieting. On the days when I went running, one cookie wasn't enough to help me recover, and I found myself unbearably hungry during that time. But the plan is perfect to use for my non-running days. Using the Smart for Life system when I'm not exercising would be a great way to make sure I don't undo my progress from the days I exercise. And then I also wouldn't worry about sweets overload, too.

Did I lose weight during this one week trial? I'll be honest: no, I didn't. But I also wasn't able to follow the plan exactly on the days when I was working out. I am, however, still losing inches while the scale remains the same, so clearly something is going right. I've been on the biggest plateau of my life for months now, so anything that keeps the scale from going up is a winner in my book.

Would I recommend Smart for Life and underWAY? Yes, absolutely. The food is made from quality ingredients, it's tasty, and it does a good job at keeping you feeling full. Those who aren't fond of sweets or who exercise heavily may not be interested, but anyone else would likely enjoy the plan.

If you want to try it for yourself, here is a special 10% discount code for underWAY and Smart for Life products. Please use MCUS10OFFUW for underWAY products at http://www.underway.com/ and MCUS10OFFSFL at http://www.smartforlife.com/. These codes expire Aug. 30th.


I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of underWAY and Smart for Life and received samples of the products to review.

Fresh, Fast Food With Noodles & Company

As a child, pasta was always a staple in my family. At any given moment, I could count on finding a Tupperware container full of cooked spaghetti in the fridge as a go-to meal. At least once a week, my mom would make mac and cheese - one of my favorite meals.

So it's no surprise that I love a little fast-casual restaurant called Noodles & Company. What do they serve there, you ask? Why, it's simple: pasta dishes, salad, soup, and a few sandwiches. But in that simple menu is a wealth of delicious pasta dishes, including Mediterranean, Asian, and American pasta selections.

Each dish is made to order with fresh ingredients - way better than fried fast food! You can choose which meat to add to your pasta dish, or you can go vegetarian. To drink, they have fountain soft drinks, along with organic milk and fruit juices. And if you have picky kids like mine, Noodles & Company still has the old favorite, mac and cheese, although it's made with fresh cream and real cheeses - no cheese powder here!

One thing I love about Noodles & Company is their commitment to using fresh, in-season ingredients. In honor of asparagus season, which runs from April to June in the U.S., Noodles & Company has introduced its new Asparagus & Lemon Linguine dish. Made with crisp, seasonal asparagus, snap peas, lemon juice, basil, red onions, mushrooms, and feta served over regular or whole wheat linguine.

On our recent trip to Noodles & Company, I got the chance to try the new Asparagus & Lemon Linguine. I added shrimp to mine. (I love shrimp in pasta.) This is what I was presented with:

And this is what I thought of it:

Yum! I wanted to lick the bowl.

Noodles & Company also has created a site dedicated to this popular vegetable that includes tips on how to select asparagus, cook asparagus, a recipe for you to prepare at home and other fun ideas.

My girls did try a bite of my asparagus, but in general stuck to their old favorite of mac and cheese. Still, you can't argue with this happy face:

If you like pasta and haven't had the chance to try Noodles & Company yet, you really should find your nearest location and check it out. And if you want to try the Asparagus & Lemon Linguine, get in before the end of June!

Full disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Noodles & Company and received five Noodles & Company bowl cards to facilitate my review. Mom Central also sent me a thank-you gift certificate.

Giving Ground Beef Its Due Glory

When I was eleven, I declared myself to be a vegetarian. I don't remember why - it was likely the cool thing to do at the moment. My mother rolled her eyes at me but put on a brave face as she agreed to meatless spaghetti sauce and plenty of PB&J sandwiches and mac n' cheese.

My vegetarian period lasted three days. Turns out, McDonald's doesn't make a non-meat burger, and what's the point of eating just the fries? Since then, I've never been tempted to go meatless again.

My husband is even more of a meat lover than me. When we first met, I remember he described himself as a "carnivore" and declared that vegetables were "stuff that food ate." (Thankfully, he has since learned to embrace some vegetables to round out his diet.)

There are all kinds of exquisite cuts of beef out there, many touted as the best part of the cow, but today I'd like to pay homage to the lowly staple of ground beef. Ground beef is often seen as the cheap, red-headed step-child of the culinary world, reserved for such non-gourmet classics as casseroles, sloppy joes, and meatloaf. But ground beef has more uses beyond food your great-aunt Wanda would bring to the family cookout in her slow cooker. I'd argue ground beef is the most versatile cut of meat and deserves a lot more respect in the world of meat.

No matter what, my downfall will always be the cheeseburger. Give me a well-cooked patty of good beef, and I'll always show up for the party. Sure, there may be thousands of cheap burgers shoveled out in fast-food chains daily, but a burger is certainly not classless. Many of the fancier restaurants I've visited still have a burger on the menu, only it's better prepared and served on a higher quality bun with more exotic toppings. Dressed up well, a burger can be a work of art. (My fav? An American Kobe beef burger with portobello mushrooms. Yum...)

I've been bouncing around on the BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com website looking for more proof that ground beef can be stylish, and I found a recipe I had to share with you: Ground Beef Stuffed Peppers. Sounds wonderful, right?

First, I should state up-front that I prefer organic, grass-fed beef. Your tastes may differ, but for my family we find organic, grass-fed beef to have a richer flavor, and I like knowing it's free of all those pesky added hormones and antibiotics.

Here's the recipe for Beef Stuffed Peppers:

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
4 medium green, red or yellow bell peppers
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup uncooked regular white rice
3 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Sauce:
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) Italian-style stewed canned tomatoes, undrained
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Cut tops off bell peppers; remove seeds.
2. Combine ground beef, onion, rice, 3 tablespoons ketchup, salt, 1/2 teaspoon oregano and pepper in large bowl, mixing lightly but thoroughly. Spoon into peppers; stand peppers in 8 x 8-inch baking dish.
3. Combine sauce ingredients; pour over peppers. Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake in 350°F oven 1-1/2 hours, until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of pepper registers 160°F.

I'm making it again tonight, and will have photos of my dinner in tomorrow's post, along with another favorite recipe of mine. So be sure to check back to see if this domestic zero can make it look anything like the professional photo!

You can find hundreds more recipes at Beef It's What's For Dinner, along with cooking guides, videos, and tips on how to select and prepare various cuts of beef.

Giveaway!

Now it's your turn to share, and in return I've got a $100 Omaha Steaks gift card to give to one lucky reader!

How to enter: I may love ground beef, but that doesn't mean it's your favorite cut of the cow. Take a look at Beef It's What's For Dinner and browse their recipe section - you can search by cut of beef, cooking style or type of cuisine. Then come back here and leave me a comment with a link to a recipe you'd love to try from the site and a quick story about a favorite meal or memory involving beef. This entry is required.

For an additional entries:
1. Tweet about this contest with a link back to this post and include @mommystory in your tweet. You must leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet for your entry to count.
2. Follow @BeefForDinner on twitter. 
3. On Facebook, become a fan of Beef It's What's For Dinner.
4. Write a blog post about a favorite beef dish with a link to Beef It's What's For Dinner and this post.
**For all of these additional entries, be sure to leave a separate comment for each method of entry!

Entries will be accepted until Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 11:59PM EST. One winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) and contacted by e-mail. Winner must respond within three days or another winner will be chosen. Please be sure you leave a valid e-mail address in your comment entries.

Good luck and good eating!

Full disclosure: I wrote this review while working on a “I Heart Beef” campaign with TheMotherhood.com on behalf of The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. I was compensated for my time and given the gift card as a giveaway for one reader. All opinions are my own, however, including my true love for a good cheeseburger.

Hickory Farms Makes The Holidays A Little Tastier

The holidays are not kind to those of us watching our weight. So many parties, and an endless selection of food. I can't resist party foods, and one of the areas I always hover over is the meat and cheese tray. Sure, the sweets get their fair share of attention, too, but a girl needs her protein before all that sugar.

So when Mom Central asked if I would like to review a gift basket from Hickory Farms, I nearly drooled on my keyboard while hitting the reply button. When I was younger, it was common to have Hickory Farms sausage and cheese as an appetizer at our family holiday gatherings. It's been awhile since I had the chance to savor those treats, and I was curious if they tasted as good as my memory tells me they did so many years ago.

I received an impressive selection of sausage and cheese, all packaged in an awesome "Hickory Handyman Tool Bag" set. My husband took one look at the tool bag and started planning how he could use this bag. I was more interested in the food, of course. Included were three different summer sausage, three sausage snacks, four blocks of cheese, two boxes of crackers and a container of hot mustard.

We decided to start with the mini beef sausage snacks while watching TV one night. My memory had clearly not failed me in this matter - the bite-size sausage snacks were spicy, juicy, and full of flavor without being too salty.

We brought the summer sausage and cheese to a party, and everyone loved the spicy beef and creamy cheeses. (I nearly kept the Hickory Cheddar all for myself because it was so tasty.) I only got a bite of each myself - it was all gone before I could go back for seconds! I wish I could have had another bite or three of the ham summer sausage, a new favorite of mine when combined with a little dab of hot mustard.

This holiday season, Hickory Farms will donate $5 to Share Our Strength for each Party Planner Gift Box sold. Share Our Strength is a leading national non-profit organization working to end childhood hunger in America. Additionally, 40 of the gift items available on the Hickory Farms website have free military shipping, allowing our troops across the globe to share in holiday traditions.

Hickory Farms sausage and cheeses are not only great choices for your holiday party spread, but they make great gifts for friends, clients, and families. With gift baskets and boxes of all sizes and selections, you're sure to find the right gift for several people on your list.

Full disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Hickory Farms and received a Hickory Farms gift basket to facilitate my review. No further compensation was provided, and a positive review was neither promised nor guaranteed.

Cookie Dreams & Brownie Wishes

Contest is now closed. Thanks to those who entered! Winner will be announced soon!

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending a blogger event at Cheryl&Co. What? You've never heard of Cheryl&Co? OK, for those who don't know: they are the makers of perhaps the best cookies ever, EVER made. Cookies with real buttercream frosting that are perfectly soft and creamy, melting in your mouth with each bite. Cookies that you would willingly take from a baby, knowing that their limited experience is not enough to appreciate just how incredible these cookies are.

Each Christmas, my aunt brings a large box of individually wrapped Cheryl&Co. cookies to our family dinner. I quickly dive in and find all of the Citrus Frosted Cutouts, claiming them for myself while others pick out their favorites. When friends visit from out of town, we often stop at the Cheryl&Co. store in Tuttle Mall so I can introduce them to the world's tastiest cookies.

Knowing all of that, you can guess I'm biased towards Cheryl&Co. - but I was in love with them long before they invited me to this event. Of course I couldn't wait to get a tour of the facility and learn more about the business behind the cookie, and now the brownie. Yesterday happened to be National Brownie Day, and Cheryl&Co. wanted us to try their new frosted brownies while we were there.

The event started with a very nice lunch, heavy on the fruits and veggies. (Good choice - better to start with healthy foods to offset the sugar that was coming later.) After that we all donned hairnets and aprons for a tour of the production facility.

Jenna makes hairnets look good.

I was honestly surprised at how small the production area was - there were three cookie-dough mixers, and only a couple of machines that put the buttercream frosting on the cookies. While on the tour, I learned that each cookie is still hand-frosted, just like when they started. A machine deposits the right amount of frosting on each cookie, but staff hand-spread that frosting across the cookie.

Any cookie that doesn't meet the quality standards for size, shape, or frosting is set aside and later donated to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. On average, 172,000 cookies are made each day!

Hand-frosted goodness!

After our tour, we then were taken to the test-kitchen to try our hand at decorating while learning a little bit more about how long it takes to test out new products and bring them to production. I also discovered that I will never have a future as a cookie designer:

I may be smarter than a 5th grader, but they'd kick my butt in brownie frosting.

At the end of the day, we were given another bag of goodies to go with our own creations from the test-kitchen, and we were encouraged to give them feedback on our experience with their products.

What I love about Cheryl&Co: first, they're a local Columbus company, and I like to support local business. Second, they really do know how to make a delicious cookie and brownie. Third, all of their products are made with real ingredients: eggs, milk, sugar, butter, wheat flour, real vanilla, etc. You're not going to find corn syrup in these cookies. They also make sugar-free and kosher cookies.

What I don't like: Generally I like nearly everything about their business. My only complaint is that they still use artificial colors to dye their sprinkles and tint some of their buttercream frosting. We've found that my daughter, Cordy, can't eat artificial colors without having a reaction, both in behavior and skin. She's not alone in this - many kids on the autism spectrum have these reactions.

I brought up these concerns at the event, and was told that natural colors were tested several years ago with poor results. But they did admit that there have been advances in natural colors and it might be something to revisit. Should they choose to try again, my daughter will be first in line to try the new products - she'd love to eat a Cheryl cookie that wasn't a plain frosted cutout.

Finally, I appreciated getting to see so many bloggers I know and love at this event. I spent a lot of time reconnecting with my friends Jenna from Stop, Drop and Blog and Heather from Domestic Extraodinaire, both kind enough not to judge me on my poor brownie decorating skills. Special thanks to Vanessa (Chef Druck) and her husband for putting the event together with the staff from Cheryl&Co!

Now that you're hungry...
So, you didn't think I'd chat about cookies and brownies without giving you the chance to have some too, right? I'm going to share the love with you - one reader will win the Cheryl&Co. Ultimate Brownie Assortment! This is a boxed gift set of 18 individually wrapped brownies, including the new buttercream frosted peanut butter, classic vanilla and hot fudge brownies, along with favorites like toffee crunch, classic fudge, blondie and oatmeal scotchie. This gift set is a $50 value!

To enter:

1. Visit the Cheryl&Co. website, then leave a comment below telling me your favorite sweet treat from their site. One comment per person for this method of entry.

2. For an additional entry, follow me on Twitter (@mommystory) and Cheryl&Co. (@CherylandCo) and tweet "I want to win an Ultimate Brownie Box from @CherylandCo and @mommystory! http://tinyurl.com/ycgcbqk" then leave a link to your tweet in a separate comment on this post. One comment per person for this method of entry.

Entries will be accepted until Wednesday, December 16 at 11:59pm EST. Be sure to leave a valid e-mail address in your comment. One winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) on December 17 and contacted via e-mail. Winner has three days to respond or another winner will be selected. Brownies will be shipped from Cheryl&Co.

Discount
And if you're not the lucky winner - or just can't wait until next week - use the code BRN10 to save $10 off any purchase at Cheryl&Co. from now until 1/31/10.

Good luck!

Full disclosure: Cheryl&Co provided all of the goodies for this event, including lunch, brownies to decorate, an apron, a gift bag with cookies and chocolates, gift cards, and the ability to provide this giveaway to you. I provided my own transportation, and I was not required to blog about this event. But c'mon, how could I resist?

Taking Care of The Crust Problem

Each school day we pack lunch for Cordy, and it's always the same thing: PB&J, some kind of snack cracker, and organic fruit snacks. She never wants anything else. At the end of each day, she hands us her lunch bag, and we open the sandwich container to find the crusts of her PB&J still waiting for us. Half-eaten crusts gross me out. You'd think we could teach her to at least throw them away at school, right?

For years now I've known about Smucker's Uncrustables, yet I've never had the chance to try them. I have occasionally considered them, but I'd often forget when I walked through the frozen food cases, since frozen foods aren't where one would look for PB&J sandwiches. Then Mom Central contacted me, asking if I would like to try them, and oh hey, they now come in whole wheat, too! Knowing I could get a whole wheat option gave me even more reason to try them out.

I chose the peanut butter and grape jelly Uncrustables in the whole wheat version. Cordy seriously dislikes any change to her food, so I wanted to keep it as close to her usual sandwiches as possible. I'll admit to some skepticism about how they would taste, too. After all, thawing out a sandwich doesn't sound like it would turn out well.

The instructions said to leave it out for 30-60 minutes to thaw, and that it's good for up to 8 hours. I left one of the sandwiches out for a little over an hour, then called Cordy into the kitchen to try it.

At first, my five year old was puzzled. "What is it?" she asked. I explained it was just like her usual peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but without the crusts.

"It's a round sandwich!" she exclaimed with glee.

Despite her affection for the geometry of the sandwich, it still took a little prodding to get her to try a bite. Eventually she did, and quickly proclaimed "It's delicious!" I was thrilled to see there was no clean-up needed, thanks to no crusts. She ate every bite.

I should also add that I tried the sandwich switch on my toddler, too. However, she stopped after two bites and handed it back to me. (In all fairness, she's an extremely picky eater.) This gave me a chance to try a bite myself. I found the bread to be a little too soft in texture for me. The peanut butter and jelly tasted good - I was surprised it tasted so fresh.

Cordy, noticing I had only taken one bite, asked for the remainder of Mira's sandwich. Two minutes later she had devoured the second one. So the final tally in our house was:

No Thanks - 1
Take-it-or-Leave-it - 1
May I Have Another Please? - 1

Nutritionally, Uncrustables are better than the average kid food on the market. They're 210 calories each, which is actually slightly less calories than the sandwiches I make. The whole wheat version has 3 grams of fiber, too. I'm less thrilled they have 10 grams of sugar and are made with high fructose corn syrup, but I am pleased that there are no artificial colors, which is often a deal-breaker for me due to Cordy's sensitivities.

Overall, I'm glad we got to try Smucker's Uncrustables, and I now have another option for Cordy's school lunches. They would also be perfect to pack on car trips, as they aren't messy and leave no food scraps behind.

Disclosure: This review was written while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Smucker’s Uncrustables and I received a sample to facilitate my candid review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Give Dad A Sweet Treat & Give Back At The Same Time

When I was very little, I remember my mother and grandmother would take me out to Wendy's occasionally. Wendy's started in Columbus, Ohio, and my grandmother has always liked supporting local businesses. All I cared about, though, was my kid's meal and toy, and if I was really good, I'd get a Frosty as well. Yummmmm...I'd do nearly anything for a Frosty.

(Side note: tell me I wasn't the only one who liked to dip fries in my Frosty? Seriously, nothing better than a hot Wendy's fry with a scoop of Frosty on the end.)

Of course, now my kids have their choice of Frosty treats - chocolate, vanilla, swirled, milkshake Frosty, twisted toffee coffee Frosty - the list goes on and on. I get to be the old person and remind them that when I was a kid, there was only one kind of Frosty, and we all loved it. Regardless, a Frosty is still a special treat for my kids, and this weekend I know we'll be making a trip to Wendy's for that cold, chocolatey goodness.

For the past three years, Wendy's has made it a Father's Day Frosty Weekend tradition to donate 50 cents from the sale of each Frosty to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The money raised goes to the Wendy's Wonderful Kids program, which funds full-time adoption recruiters at local agencies across the U.S., who in turn pair up parents with foster care children needing homes. As you might know, the founder of Wendy's, Dave Thomas, was adopted as a child, and it was his mission to help other children find good families through adoption.

So, you and your family can enjoy a tasty (and affordable!) Frosty together, while knowing you're helping children across the country in finding a family of their own.

You can also involve the kids in this great cause by having them create a fun Father's Day eCard on FrostyCard.com. For every card they send, Wendy's will donate an additional 25 cents to the Dave Thomas Foundation. Kids can attach coupons for "taking out the trash" or "washing the car" onto the cards for Dad.

And who knows? Maybe your kids will actually honor those coupons they give Dad. Add in the deal of buying them another Frosty, and I bet they'll do any chore you ask.

Thanks to Mom Central for alerting me to this special event. I've gone to Wendy's for years and somehow didn't know about the Father's Day Frosty special.

Juice With The Added Ingredients You WANT

I have to admit, my kids are big juice drinkers. Cordy has disliked water from the beginning, begging only for juice or milk to drink. (Hey, could be worse, right?) I'd say both girls get about 3 glasses of juice each day.

Now wait - before you remind me that 3 glasses is way too much juice per day, let me add that each glass is about 1/4 juice and 3/4 water. Sometimes even more water. So really they're getting about one serving of juice per day. But don't tell them I water it down. They've never tasted full-strength juice.

Of course, I'm very picky with juice, and only want 100% juice for them - no added ingredients, no high fructose corn syrup. Because of that, we've been big fans of Juicy Juice for years. I've trusted the product more than other brands because I don't feel like I have to check each label closely to make sure that particular flavor is 100% juice and not 10% juice or less.

Recently I was given the chance to try two new Juicy Juice products. Juicy Juice Brain Development and Juicy Juice Immunity are fruit juice beverages containing added nutrients, and are designed to benefit children during different periods of their growth and development.

Juicy Juice Brain Development is the same apple or grape juice you love, but with DHA added. You've seen DHA in other products - it's been added to baby formula, baby food, children's yogurt, etc. Juicy Juice Immunity has added Vitamin C and Zinc to help build your child's natural defenses against illness. It also has prebiotic fiber to help with digestive health. It's available in apple or berry flavors.

These two new products taste no different from the other 100% juice products made by Juicy Juice. My girls love the grape and berry flavors, and knowing that my preschooler doesn't always have the best diet (picky eater), I feel better knowing she's getting a little extra fiber and vitamins from her favorite drink.

Try it free!
I've got two coupons to give away - one for a free Juicy Juice Brain Development, and one for a free Juicy Juice Immunity! To enter, leave a comment below with your child's favorite flavor of juice. Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you should you win.

Entries will be allowed until May 26, 2009 at 11:59pm EDT. Two winners will be chosen at random (random.org) - the first winner will have first pick at which product they want to try.

If you want to save more money on your juice, sign up at Juicy Juice to receive news, coupons and special offers.

Who Says Simple Ice Cream Has To Be Bland?

We've moved into an era where simplicity is coming back into style. We want our clothes made out of simple cotton or other natural fabrics. We want to see as few ingredients as possible in our shampoos and body products. And when it comes to food - we want ingredients we can pronounce.

Haagen-Dazs has listened to our desires, and created a new series of ice creams that appeal to our wishes for simplicity called Five. As you might guess from the name, these ice creams have only five ingredients each: milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and an all natural flavor. Surprisingly, you'd think this might be higher in fat or calories than your standard ice cream, but it's not - it's both lower in calories and fat per serving.

Mom Central sent me four pints of Haagen-Dazs Five to taste test: mint, brown sugar, ginger, and passion fruit. No worries about my credentials here, everyone. I can assure you that I'm an ice cream connoisseur, with a long resume of ice cream tasting from all brands. For references, see my bathroom scale.

Looking over the four flavors, I wasn't sure where to start. I've never cared for passion fruit, but I decided it was time to give it another try, since this was probably the only time I've ever had something flavored with real passion fruit. The flavor was intense, and the ice cream was wonderfully smooth and creamy. For only having five ingredients, I wasn't expecting the flavor wallop it gave me.

I still don't like passion fruit, however, so I swapped it for the pint of brown sugar and dug in. WOW. Again, such a simple yet strong flavor. I found the same to be true with ginger and mint as well. I really like that these are so simple - ingredients I can pronounce, real sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup, and no artificial flavors or colors.

The mint wasn't as strong as some of the other flavors, while the ginger was actually too strong for me. But my husband and I put our brains together, and came up with a great recipe: two scoops brown sugar ice cream, and one scoop ginger. Eat it together - the brown sugar mellows out the ginger, and together they taste exactly like a ginger snap cookie. Try it - you'll be amazed.

Overall I love the new Haagen-Dazs Five ice creams. There are seven total flavors: brown sugar, passion fruit, mint, ginger, coffee, vanilla bean, and milk chocolate. You can bet I'll be buying some of the milk chocolate soon for those days when I need a little splurge in my diet.

And you can win a pint for yourself! I've got four coupons for a free Haagen-Dazs ice cream to give to four lucky readers! To enter, leave a comment below sharing your favorite ice cream flavor, and be sure I have a way to contact you if you win.

One entry per household, US addresses only. I'll accept entries until 11:59pm EDT on Wednesday, April 22. Four winners will then be chosen at random using Random.org and contacted after that date.

Good luck!

Taste-Testing Maranatha Organic Peanut Butter

As a child I went to school nearly everyday with a PB&J sandwich. It was an easy lunch for my mom to pack, and I never got tired of peanut butter. I still love it, too - despite the high fat content, peanut butter is a great source of protein.

But Cordy has gone far beyond my love for peanut butter. She practically worships the stuff. At school they serve PB&J sandwiches with graham crackers instead of bread, and she has been known to eat two or more of them. When she gets home for lunch each day, she requests a PB&J 99% of the time. Yes, I worry about last month's peanut scare, and I also don't like many of the trans-fats and additives in peanut butter. But I can't deny her peanut butter - it's one of her few sources of protein!

Parent Bloggers recently asked if I wanted to try some organic peanut butter by Maranatha. I was interested - after all, if my child's diet is going to contain this much of a single food, maybe I should look into finding the most healthy version of this food, right?

Why haven't I bought organic before this? It's mostly due to my laziness. I know, dumb reason, but most organic peanut butters have that layer of oil on the top, requiring stirring. Yes, I refused to buy it because I had to take the extra step of stirring.

However, I was informed that Maranatha has a no-stir peanut butter. Well now you're talking! Once I got my coupon I ran to the grocery to pick up my jar. (I found it at two local groceries in the organic section - no need to visit Whole Foods.)

I opened the jar and peered inside. The peanut butter looked more dense than my popular brand, and more oily as well. (But it didn't require stirring!) Maranatha peanut butters are trans-fat free and made in small, preservative-free batches. They're also low in sugar and salt. I grabbed a spoon and tried a bite. Yum!

It's very creamy and smooth. And while this may sound dumb, it had a strong roasted peanut flavor, as opposed to the sugary taste that I usually find in most peanut butters. The peanut taste wasn't overpowered by sugar and salt. In other words, I think I was tasting real peanut butter for the first time!

But what about Cordy? Would she like it? She's very particular about her peanut butter. When I accidentally used Aaron's reduced fat peanut butter, she turned her nose up at it. When I tried another variety, she again refused to eat. You can imagine how nervous I was as I prepared her sandwich, thinking back to the old Folger's commercials:

We're here at this everyday home where we've secretly replaced their usual peanut butter with Maranatha organic peanut butter. Can they tell the difference? Let's find out.

Cordy ate every bite of her sandwich, declaring it delicious. I don't know if she thought it was the same as or better than her usual peanut butter, but at least she didn't dislike it. Victory!

Maranatha organic peanut butter does need to be refrigerated after opening due to having no preservatives in it. You can also find Maranatha in a crunchy no-stir variety, as well as almond, cashew and macadamia butters.

Want to try Maranatha for free? Leave a comment below telling me your current brand of peanut butter by Friday, April 3 at 11:59pm EDT. I'll choose one winner by random draw to receive a coupon for a free jar of Maranatha. (US residents only.)

Keep Your Sweets With Truvia

The holidays were brutal to my figure. There were so many goodies, and I couldn't exactly say no when Cordy asked to bake cookies. I've already committed myself to cutting calories and exercising, but the lure of sweets has always been my downfall.

I've tried sugar-substitutes in the past, with little luck. Most had an aftertaste or couldn't be used for baking. One of my favorite drinks when I cut out soda is iced tea, but I've never found a substitute for sugar with my tea.

I was recently send a box of Truvia to review, and at first I wasn't sure what to think of it. It's an all-natural sugar substitute with zero calories. Unlike genetically modified sugar substitutes, it's made from the leaves of a plant that already exists in nature: the stevia plant. It's safe to bake with, and is actually sweeter than sugar, requiring less wherever you'd use sugar.

Let me reiterate that last statement: you don't need as much. To try out Truvia, I brewed a pitcher of iced tea, choosing to use Truvia instead of sugar. The sample I was sent contained 40 packets, and I wasn't sure how many to add. I decided to keep adding until it came close to equally the amount of sugar I put into the 3 qt. pitcher. After about 15 packets, I realized I wouldn't have enough to equal the amount of sugar I put in, so I stopped at 30 packets, expecting the tea to be not quite as sweet as normal.

Instead, on first sip I gasped at how sweet it was! It was probably 1/3 less than the sugar I normally use, and it tasted over twice as sweet. The taste was just like sugar, with no aftertaste. As I've had glass after glass the past few days, I felt guilty each time, having to remind myself that I wasn't drinking a day's worth of calories in each glass.

I'm completely a Truvia convert now. It sweetens just like sugar, it tastes like sugar, it has no artifical taste, it's from an all-natural source, you can bake with it, and it has zero calories. I keep waiting to find out what the catch is, but I can't find one. It's even safe for diabetics to use. I recently bought another box and keep packets stashed in my purse.

My only complaint is that Truvia is only available in packets at the moment. I can only hope that they'll soon produce bulk bags or boxes of Truvia, like you find with sugar.

I'm thrilled that I was introduced to this product, because I can now watch my calories without feeling like I'm missing out on my sweets. If you're trying to cut back on your sugar or calories as well, Truvia would be perfect for you, too.

There's Chocolate, and then there's CHOCOLATE

Who doesn't love the gift of chocolate? I was given a few boxes of chocolate over the holidays, and have to admit that it's a gift that never goes out of fashion. OK, maybe if you're on a diet, but that's about it.

Now, while I've said before that there are no bad chocolates - and I stick with that statement - there are varying degrees of chocolate. A Hershey's chocolate bar is good. A Cadbury bar is even better. Ferrero Rocher is truly fine chocolate. And Ghiridelli and Choxie are somewhere close to divine.

I recently received a box of See's chocolates to try. Before this I've never sampled or even heard of See's chocolates. But seeing how I had to report to all of you what they're like, I took on that challenge to try out the chocolate sampler I was sent. See? I was doing it all for you. Ahem.

The poor box of chocolates never saw it coming. I don't think I've ever had chocolate disappear that fast. I tried to hide the box so that only I could enjoy them, but Aaron soon found them and reminded me that sharing our chocolates is probably part of our marriage vows. And then my mom visited and saw the little red box, reminding me that she did go through labor for me, and the least I could do was give her a little chocolate in return.

The kids didn't get any, though. I know, I'm a horrible mom, but they think Play-Doh tastes good, so I wasn't going to waste fine chocolate on their less sophisticated palates.

If you haven't figured out how well I liked it, I'll add that it has joined the ranks of close to divine. Both the milk chocolates and dark chocolates were full of flavor, and fillings that I never thought I'd like were good, too. The caramel and nut ones, though, were my absolute favorites.

In my area, See's is only available during the holidays at the mall. But you can order online, and See's has a great fundraising program available for charities, schools, youth groups, etc. So if you want to make sure to have See's within reach, you could always suggest a chocolate fundraiser at your next PTA meeting. What a delicious way to show support.

As for me, I know what I want for Valentine's Day: a box of pecan buds. Yum.

Another Reason To Buy More Chocolate

I've always joked that I accept payment in chocolate, and in this case, it was true. I was sent a box of Ferrero chocolates along with information about their Share Something Sweet promotion. Of course the chocolates are long gone (yum!), but their charity promotion really caught my eye.

Ferrero has partnered with Share Our Strength, a national organization working to end childhood hunger in the United States. Each day, 12 million children in the U.S. are at risk of not getting enough food to eat. Share Our Strength has raised more than $200 million dollars since 1984, using that money to provide grants for programs to bring meals to low-income children and advocate for federal nutrition programs.

So far, Ferrero has donated $150,000 to Share Our Strength this year, and they're giving others the opportunity to donate simply by sending an e-card. Visit Ferrero's website and send a free e-card to friends, and for each e-card sent, Ferrero will donate another dollar to Share Our Strength.

I already love Ferrero Rocher and Rondnoir chocolates, and now I appreciate the company even more for donating to such a worthy cause. If you have a moment, send a Ferrero e-card to a friend and help support Share Our Strength. It doesn't cost you a thing, although looking at all that chocolate may tempt you to buy a box the next time you go shopping.

Kroger Brings The Savings To You

In these tough economic times, I've been looking for savings everywhere I can. And lately I've been having great luck with our local Kroger for saving money on my groceries and more.

Every week I scan our local Kroger ad to look for the weekly deals and plan our meals accordingly. I love the Kroger Fuel Rewards program, which give you a minimum of $0.10 off of gas at any Kroger-owned gas station when you spend at least $100 at Kroger in a month. (I spend about four times that much, so the gas savings really add up!)

I've also taken advantage of the Kroger Pharmacy's $4 prescriptions twice in the past two months, since we're currently without insurance.

And I've recently started taking advantage of the Kroger.com website to help me save even more. While I'd like to be an avid coupon-cutter, the truth is I'm not so good at remembering to do it. And when I do remember, I often forget to bring the coupons I need with me to the grocery. Kroger.com provides downloadable coupons to print, and if you don't want to worry about carrying coupons, they also have partnerships with P&G's eSaver and Shortcuts, both of which let you pick the coupons you want and have them automatically added to your Kroger Plus card. When you go to the grocery, the coupon discounts are automatically added to any of the selected products you buy when you scan your card. For someone who is forgetful of little paper coupons, this is a HUGE service to me!

Win a $25 Kroger gift card!

Want to win a $25 Kroger gift card? Leave a comment on this post between now and Friday October 31 at 11:59 pm Eastern time. Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you if you win. One winner will be chosen at random (Via Random.org) after Friday.

Kroger gift cards can be used at any Kroger Co. store, including Fred Meyer, Ralph's, and Food 4 Less.

Also, be sure to enter for a different $25 Kroger card over on my other blog as well!

(This contest is part of the Bloggy Giveaways carnival.)

Cordy & Daddy's Egg-cellent Cooking Adventure

Did you know that Oct. 10 is World Egg Day? I didn't either, until Parent Bloggers asked me if I would like to help celebrate by making a recipe that features eggs and preferably has a world theme to it. The Egg Board is trying to get the message out about World Egg Day by featuring egg recipes from around the world.

This of course, was a challenge for me. First, I'm a lousy cook. Second, I'm the only one in my family who eats eggs. Cordy and Mira have both tried eggs and turned their noses up at them. I had to find something that used eggs but didn't look like eggs, and it had to be simple enough that Cordy could help and I wouldn't burn the house down.

So what did we make? French toast! OK, so it's not exactly international, but hey, we even printed out a French flag for inspiration. That counts for something, right?

The one problem with the traditional french toast recipe is that it contains cinnamon, which Cordy is allergic to. So we used Jenna's cinnamon-free french toast recipe for this experiment.

Here are the ingredients:

Wine in the background not an ingredient, yet as many parents know, always necessary...

2 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 2 tbsp brown sugar, slices of bread, and a generous sprinkling of nutmeg

Step 1: Put eggs and milk into a bowl and beat. Or stir, if you want it to take forever. Cordy preferred to stir, so we had to help her.

She loved stirring. (And see the French flag on the stove?)

Step 2: Add vanilla, brown sugar and nutmeg and stir. This can take less than a minute, or a full 5 minutes if you have a child who loves to stir.

Stir the vanilla in...

Add in brown sugar (Mira's only task in this process)...

Stir some more...

Add in nutmeg, and then - you guessed it - stir some more!

Step 3: Now comes the fun part. Heat up your griddle, or in our case, use a frying pan with the burner set at medium high heat and a spoonful of butter added. Dip the bread, covering both sides in the mixture quickly, and place in the frying pan or griddle until both sides are lightly brown.

If your child is in charge of dipping, keep a close eye on her to keep her from dipping it too early. One piece of french toast turned out a little squishy due to being drowned in the mixture when left in for over a minute.

Dipping is tough when you have sensory integration disorder, but she was very brave. She even got her fingers into the mixture a few times and didn't get upset.

Aaron does the cooking to ensure this remains a safe experiment

Here's our dipping process in action:



Step 4: Add powdered sugar and syrup.


Step 5: Eat! Yum!

And now the moment of truth: will she eat it?

Thumbs up!

We had a lot of fun making french toast, and Cordy got to try a new breakfast food that has a lot more protein than a waffle, thanks to the eggs and milk. And now that they've had eggs in this form, maybe we can move up to scrambled eggs soon.

If you like eggs, go find a new egg recipe to make for your family for World Egg Day on October 10. The Egg Board has several recipes available that look delicious. Who knows, you might just find a new meal for your picky child, too.

Starbucks' New Vivanno Smoothies

Have you been to Starbucks lately? I recently found out about their two new drinks and had to try them out. No longer limiting themselves to coffee and tea, they're now branching out into smoothies. I was kind of surprised they decided to try smoothies, but Ohio doesn't have nearly as many smoothie shops as other states, so I was intrigued.

The new Vivanno flavors are Banana Chocolate and Orange Mango Banana. Each is made with real fruit, 2% milk and ice with juice or chocolate flavor mixed in. A protein and fiber powder is added to give you additional nutrients, too.

I tried the Banana Chocolate at BlogHer, and it was delicious. I didn't want to miss out on trying the other flavor, though, so I stopped by Starbucks yesterday and gave the Orange Mango Banana a go. I loved that one even more. (As did Mira, who whined until I let her slurp up the last fifth of the cup.) I don't know the full nutritional data, but I will say I felt full after drinking the smoothie and it kept me going until dinner.

Neither has an caffeine (well, the chocolate one does, but it's a very small amount), so these aren't for caffeine addicts. But either of these could be great for an on-the-go snack with some nutritional benefit.

I'm giving away two coupons to try out the Vivanno drinks as part of the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival. To enter, just leave a comment on this post. I will allow entrants until Sunday, August 3, 2008 at 11:59pm eastern time. When you leave a comment, please make sure I have some way to contact you if you win.

One winner (so you can try out both drinks!) will be chosen at random and contacted next week. Contest is open only to US and Canadian residents. One entry per person, please. And good luck!

Be sure to check my personal blog for additional contests this week, too!

Send a Yummy Message With Fruit Roll-Ups

Edited to add: This contest is now closed. Congrats to the winner, janny226!

As a child of the 80's (well, born in the 70's, but went to elementary school in the early 80's), I remember Fruit Roll-Ups well. I always wanted one in my lunch bag each day. I loved how one side was rough, and the side against the plastic was so smooth. That smooth side was always the side you placed against your tongue - I'm sure it had more flavor.

Fruit Roll-Ups have come a long way since their launch in 1983. Back then there were, what, four flavors? Now they come in lots of flavors and shapes and cut outs and stamped designs and rainbows. It's amazing how much you can do with rolled out fruit paste.

Now you can add messenger to the list of Fruit Roll-Up accomplishments. The Parent Bloggers Network asked me if I wanted to try the new My Fruit Roll-Ups website and try making my own custom designs, and of course I said yes! It's probably been 10 years since I ate one, so I was only too happy to try this out.

The My Fruit Roll-Ups site has cute little animated characters walking you through how to customize your snack. They have a huge assortment of designs that can be applied to your Fruit Roll-up, in several different pattern combinations. There are animals, sports, hobbies, holiday icons, and general party images to choose from.

But if you want to really personalize it, you can also add text, in one of four fonts. There are so many ways to customize Fruit Roll-Ups with this option. Got a child's birthday coming up? Have them say Happy Birthday with your child's name printed on the fruit snack. Teaching your child to recognize her name? Print them on her fruit snack, along with her favorite animal. The possibilities are endless.

(And sure, you could use them for wedding favors, but I'd think you must really like them to do that. Or are planning an 80's pop culture themed wedding.)

The design process is extremely simple, with instant viewing of your Fruit Roll-Up as you click each image or enter text. It's easy enough that a computer savvy preschooler could do most of the designing herself. In our case, I did the clicking, but I let Cordy pick out the designs. She wanted a butterfly, a ladybug, and a dragonfly, so we used the three image option to create her perfect design.

Ordering is just as easy, with a checkout system that guides you through the process. Yes, these are more expensive than your regular box of Fruit Roll-Ups. But for a special occasion or a reward for your preschooler, they're still reasonably priced. Customized Fruit Roll-Ups are fun, easy to design, and have to be healthier than any of those personalized candies.

WIN THEM! Want to win your own box of personalized Fruit Roll-Ups? All you have to do is visit the My Fruit Roll-Ups website, then leave a comment here telling me which design(s) you would choose for your Fruit Roll-Ups. You have until Thursday (June 12) at midnight Eastern time. One winner will be picked at random on Friday to win a box of their personalized design. (One box equals 30 Fruit Roll-Ups.) Good luck!