PROGRESSO™ RECIPE STARTERS™

I'm also currently participating in another Bzz Campaign, this time it's  Progresso™ Recipe Starters™.  If you're crunched for time these delicious sauces allow you to still be able to create amazing meals, that taste as if you slaved in the kitchen for hours.

I haven't received my Bzz Kit yet, but I had already picked some of these up at Frys before I was accepted to the Bzz Campaign. Progresso™ Recipe Starters™ were part of the Mega Sale, and I had coupons. I picked up  Creamy Parmesan Basil, Creamy Portabella Mushroom, Creamy Three Cheese and Fire Roasted Tomato. They also have a Creamy Roasted Garlic. They're located in the Soup isle.

I used the Creamy Portabella Mushroom. The label has a recipe inside for Beef Stroganoff.  I had purchased some Stir Fry Beef on markdown. I picked up 2 pounds.  I didn't have any Worcestershire, so I used 2 packets of Swanson Beef Flavor Boost. It probably took me all of 15 minutes to put together. I served over medium egg noodles and sweet corn on the side.

I like to mix my corn with Beef Stroganoff. It was superb. The grandsons hadn't seen anything like "Beef Stroganoff" before so they were a bit hesitant at first. I told them to take a bite, and if they didn't like it I would make them something else. They both took a bite and they LOVED IT! Both boys cleaned their plates and asked for more. It also tastes good as a left over. I add the left over Stroganoff with the sweet corn and serve again over medium egg noodles. The reviews from my daughters and grandsons were the same.

My next adventure will be with the Fire Roasted Tomato. I'm torn between the recipe on the can for Chicken Parmesan, Baked Ziti or Double Mozzarella Margherita Pizza.

Check out Progresso™ Recipe Starters™ recipes.  You'll find recipes for Mac N Cheese to Chicken Alfredo. I know that Progresso™ Recipe Starters™ will definately be a player in our weekly meal line up. :) Thank you Progresso™ for making my life easier. :)

COVERGIRL & Olay Tone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation and COVERGIRL & Olay Pressed Powder

 

I recently joined a BzzCampaign for  COVERGIRL & Olay Tone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation and COVERGIRL & Olay Pressed Powder. As a BzzAgent I get to try products, share them with my friends, family, acquaintances and anyone else who will listen.  When I received my Bzz Kit, I was surprised to find a full size (1oz) bottle of  Covergirl & OlayTone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation and COVERGIRL & Olay Pressed Powder. I also received 10 $2 off coupons to share.
 
I found the packaging bottle is appealing. The contents of the makeup,  foundation and Olay Hydrating Serum, are swirled as you can see in the image above. Both the pressed powder and  bottle fit easily into the small makeup bag I keep in my purse.  

COVERGIRL & Olay Tone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation has the following shades:  Ivory, Classic Ivory, Creamy Natural, Buff Beige, Nude Beige, Natural Beige, Medium Beige, Warm Beige, Creamy Beige, Soft Honey, Golden Tan, Classic Tan, Tawny and Soft Sable. 

COVERGIRL & Olay Pressed Powder has the following shade choices: Fair, Fair/Light, Light, Light/Medium, Medium, and Medium Deep.

I am fair skinned and I don't tan well, I red. Today is the first time I applied the Rehab 2 in 1 foundation. Shade I used was  Buff Beige and I found that really helped to tone down the redness, smooth most fine lines made my skin feel moisturized and that I didn't need to put any sort of concealer on before hand. So I feel it does have great coverage. I noticed I had some of the foundation on my hands, it didn't come off when I ran my hands under water, I had to use some hand soap. This is a plus in my book. The pressed powder I used, Fair/Light.  It did glide on and even out the overall skin tone as promised.

The only concern I had was how they made the pores on my face look, but over all it provided great coverage and gave me a finished and polished look.  I'm going to continue to use  COVERGIRL &  Olay Tone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation and COVERGIRL & Olay Pressed Powder for the next 3 weeks to see if there is any difference in my skin tone due to continued use. Keep your eyes out for a follow up :)

I found the following while browsing the Covergirl's website. Tone Rehab Guarantee. They're so confident you’ll love the COVERGIRL & OLAY Tone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation, that if you don’t, they will give you your money back, GUARANTEED! There are specific requirements. Offer expires 12/31/12.  Give it a try, what do you have to lose?

Let me know what you think about COVERGIRL &  Olay Tone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation and COVERGIRL & Olay Pressed Powder, whether you like it, or don't like it, and why. I look forward to hearing from you. 

Great Grilling with Lawry's Marinades

I recently participated in a Bzz Campaign for Lawry's Marinades and Season salt. I can honestly say, I don't grill Pork Chops, Steaks, Chicken or Veggies anymore without using Lawry's Marinades.  My newest favorite is Santa Fe Chili with Lime. I've used it on Pork and Chicken.

I have grandson's ages 2, 4 and 6. I was worried it may be too spicy, so I made 2 that I seasoned with  Lawry's Season Salt. The boys loved the chops marinaded with Santa Fe Chili w/ Lime and didn't want anything to do with the other chops!! The oldest said "Nana, those were the best pork chops ever, can I have some more?" Thank goodness I had one more for him. :)

This brings me to another subject. Don't over cook your pork. Pork today is very lean and shouldn’t be overcooked. To check doneness, use a digital cooking thermometer. The National Pork Board follows the guidance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which recommends that roasts, tenderloins, and chops should be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F. and followed by a 3 minute rest time. This will give you a flavorful, tender and juicy pork roast, tenderloin and/or chop. :)  ( I found this information on the cooking chart download available at Pork Be Inspired)

Happy Grilling!

NOTE: As a bzzagent I received a sample. The above is an honest opinion regarding my own personal experience with Lawry's Marinade.

SoBe® Flavors with Benefits™

I'm really excited about the recent invite I received as a BzzAgent* for the SoBe® Flavors with Benefits™  BzzCampaign .  I've been a SoBe Lifewater/Elixir fan for years! I'm really anxious to try the new SoBe Lifewater® with Coconut Water flavors. I've seen them, but I've not tried them yet.

Even though I've not yet received my BzzKit, my local Frys Food store (Kroger) has SoBe Lifewater®, Fruit flavored Elixirs and Teas on sale this week;  Buy 10, get 5 free - that comes out to $0.65 each :). It's a great sale and with the warmer weather, a good time to stock up.  

SoBe Lifewaters are nutrient enhanced hydration beverages that are delicious, low in calories and naturally sweetened with sugar.  The following are my favorite SoBe Lifewater® flavors,

Strawberry Kiwi (with lemon balm and hibiscus)
Orange Tangerine (with acerola extract, rose hips and is high in vitamin C)
Agave Lemonade ( with Taurine and Yerba Mate) 

The Fruit Flavored Elixirs I like are:

Cranberry Grapefruit (L-carnitin and red clover)
Green Tea (Gaurana, Ginseng and rose hips)
Citrus Energy (Gaurana, Ginseng and Taurine)

I'm looking forward to trying the new Pacific Coconut, Pomegranate Nectarine and Mango Maderin, flavors made with Coconut water this weekend. I'll also be sharing SoBe Lifewater®, teas and fruit flavored elixirs during the Cinco De Mayo festivities this weekend!  


* BzzAgent, it's THE leading word-of-mouth marketing company. BzzAgents invite users to participate in campaigns for popular products and services, for free. Most campaigns also include samples and/or coupons to share when you're "bzzing" about the product.   The brands are eager to hear feedback, good or bad, from the BzzAgent as well as those they've Bzzed/shared the product with. 

QUAKER® OATMEAL SQUARES

I'm currently participating in a Bzzcampaign for Quaker Oatmeal Squares. As a BzzAgent I receive samples to share with friends and family. It will be a few weeks before I receive my BzzKit.

Good news though, if you're on Facebook, you can get a FREE sample box of Quaker® Oatmeal Squares Brown Sugar and discover the delicious taste for yourself. Free Sample Quaker Oatmeal Squares Brown Sugar

Fun Facts: Quaker Oatmeal Squares were introduced in 1988. Currently the following varieties are available: Honey Nut,  Brown Sugar, Cinnamon and Golden Maple.  One serving (1 cup) of Oatmeal Squares contains 1 gram of soluble fiber from oats. Three grams of soluble fiber from oatmeal in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease. You can enjoy delicious tasting cereal and eat heart healthy at the same time. :)

Quaker Oatmeal Squares are great to make your favorite sweet and savory snack mixes, you can crush and add as a crunchy topping for ice cream, yogurt (my favorite is greek yogurt with fruit) or you can enjoy them as a snack all by themselves. I put them in little snack size zip lock baggies for a snack when we're out running errands, the grandkids love them!

Let me know what you think about  Quaker Oatmeal Squares. If you have any recipes you'd like to share, I'd love to hear about them.

HEALTH-FULL® BREADS

I wasn't chosen for this Bzz Campaign, but I love Oroweat Healthfull Breads!! It's soft, delicious, flavorful and a great variety of choices. With only 80 calories per slice I don't feel guilty having one of my favorite sandwiches. I love the 10 Grain for toast with breakfast (eggs and bacon or breakfast sandwich). I love Nuttygrain when I make PB and J sandwiches or toast for a Tuna Sandwich. I even have the grandkids eating the Health-Full breads. They love the nuttygrain toasted with crunchy peanut butter, sliced bananas and an icey cold glass of milk. 

CARMD Giveaway!!

CarMD is giving away iPad2 plus CarMD Kits! Make sure you tell or invite your friends to enter this sweepstakes.

Go to their Facebook page. Select the iPad Giveaway link in the left menu. Click Like and fill out the form.

You can enter once per day. You can't win if you don't enter. :) The more friends you refer, the more chance for you to win.

I love my CarMD. Made my daughter take it with her when she went to buy her Jeep yesterday. Told her she couldn't even think of buying the car until she ran CarMD on it. I wanted her to make sure she was purchasing a good car, not purchasing a ton of costly future repairs.

Smarterer - Show What You Know

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I've joined another BzzCampaign. This time it's for Smarterer. If you like answering Trivia, showing what you know to others, you'll love Smarterer

Smarterer scores your digital, social, and technical skills. How do they do this?  First you pick a test and start answering questions. Each question is timed. Longer questions have longer times. Each question has a specific point value. Answer correctly, score points. Answer incorrectly, you lose points!  The system has an adaptive feature that identifies your personal "skill level" and then give you questions that are appropriately difficult, which makes it challenging. :)

Smarterer's scoring system uses same algorithms used to score chess masters. You receive a numeric score that represents your skill level. You also receive a badge(s) for your skill and you have the ability to brag about it via Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

You can improve your score any time by answering more questions, creating a test, or by adding your own question to an existing test. When you add a question your score will go up based on how well the question performs with the other questions. If there isn't a test for something you like, you can create a test. 

I found Smarterer to be not only entertaining, but educational. When you provide a wrong answer, it will show you the correct answer so I also "learn something new", which is a daily goal for me. :)
I currently have a contest going with friends to see who scores higher and I'm anxious to see how they do as well as my Mom, Smarterer could be a great brain exerciser for her.  I'm sure her scores will blow me out of the water.

If you enjoy seeing what you know and bragging about it, check out Smarterer. Share and challenge your friends.

I'll be taking the following tests and I'll be sure to follow up to "Show What I Know" and what I don't.  Some of the tests I'll be taking are:

• Blogger test
• Facebook test
• Flickr test
• Twitter test
• WordPress test
• Tumblr Test

I recently took the "Google" test. Much to my suprise I didn't know as much about Google as I thought I did. :)

Comforts for Baby. Great quality products at reasonable prices!

As a Mom, who is now a Grandma,  I am always looking for great deals for any child/baby care item you can think of for my grandsons who range from 22 months to 5 years.  I was excited to be offered a chance to participate in the Comforts for Baby Bzz Campaign. As a BzzAgent I received a coupon for a free Comforts For Baby's diapers, 20% off coupon good for Diapers, trainers or Formula, a box of wipes and a 2 Spill-Proof Cups pack. Comforts for Baby is a Kroger (Ralphs, Smiths, Frys Food) store brand.

The first thing we tried was the Spill-Proof Cups. 2 words;  Simply AMAZING! Not only are they truly "spill proof",  they're leak proof!  My 22 month old grand son is at a stage where he likes to see liquids drip, pour them from one container to another as well as throw things. outside and inside. The cup size was perfect for his hands. He spent the first 20 minutes holding the cup upside down, tapping it, shaking it trying to get a drop to come out. Disappointed that he could not get it to drip, he threw the cup across the room, where it hit the wall and then the floor. Other so call "spill proof cups" we've used in the past leaked at this point, flow regulators separated from the cap or the top/cup cracked; NOT the Comforts for Baby Spill Proof cups! Not a drop and even the flow regulator remained in place.

The Comforts for Baby baby wipe container is same size as the "brand" wipes. I found the texture of the Comforts for Baby wipes to be thicker and stronger than the brand my daughter usually buys. I also like that they're fragrance free and that they also moisturize as well as clean.

We picked up the Baby For Comforts diapers with our coupon, size 4 Value pack. . There are 82 diapers and are currently priced at my local Frys for $13.49. That comes out to $0.16 per diaper, which is somewhere around 43 % less than the cost for the name brand my daughter usually purchases. The diapers are thinner than the brand my daughter normally uses. They're white and have cute little bees in front where the fastening tabs go. I have to admit that I've been skeptical about purchasing any store brand Diapers. The quality of the store brands for these items when my children were babies/toddlers just never measured up to my standards. The prices were good, but the quality just wasn't there, so needless to say, I was leery.

I was totally amazed!! Comforts for Baby Diapers are not only 43% cheaper than the popular name brands, they work just as well, if not out perform them. We usually have one type diaper for daytime and use a "Night time" diaper at night. Not only did the Comforts for Baby diaper work as well as the "day time" diaper, it also worked just as well as the "night time" diaper we'd been using.

Comforts for Baby not only has diapers, wipes and spill proof cups, they also have formulas that have all the nutrients your baby needs for a healthy first year, delicious and nutritious meals for toddlers. A full line of health and hygiene items including mild soaps, shampoos and lotions as well as gentle powders and ointments. They also have other items such as bottles, cutlery, spoons, pacifiers, bibs and teethers. They also have just come out with "Touch of Nature diapers" that use natural and renewable materials that are good for both baby and the environment.

I went shopping this morning with my 22 month old grandson  to grab some milk and I purposely went to the baby isle so that I could educate myself more on the price differences between Baby Comfort items and similar name brand items. (I love sharing the information with others.)  The average savings I noticed was anywhere from 37% - 50% off the cost of the similar name brand item. Comforts for Baby really does provide great quality products at reasonable prices!

Check Engine light on? Plug in CarMD!!

CarMD is a hand held device designed to work on all 1996 and newer vehicles ( cars, light trucks, minivans and SUVs – foreign and domestic) driven in the U.S., with on-board diagnostic second generation (OBD2) technology. CarMD also works with the newer hybrid vehicles.

Looking to buy a used car. Take this gem with you, to prevent purchasing a car that requires costly repairs. If you get a green light, you're good to go. If you get a yellow or red light there is an issue. Connect the device to your lap top / home computer and you'll be able learn exactly what the problem is (in terms and words you can understand), how to fix it, and the approximate cost of parts and labor in YOUR own area.

If the system doesn't have the information you need, their technicians will research and provide answers within 72 hours. It will also notify you of any important safety recalls and/or service bulletins for your car, which often lead to low- or no-cost repairs before something goes wrong.

The day before I received the CarMD in the mail, the Check Engine light came on in my car. I attached the device and found out exactly what had occurred, the specific part involved as well as how much it would cost to repair, broken down into part and labor cost. Needless to say, the mechanic was amazed how educated I was about the problem.

I can't tell you how empowered this tool has made me feel! No more guessing. No more worrying about being overcharged or whether or not I'll be paying for unnecessary repairs in the future. Being able to know what is wrong and how much it costs in my area makes me an educated consumer, in an area I really have no knowledge of, and it doesn't get any better than that!

Head over to CarMD/Bzz for a $30.00 discount. While you're there check out exactly what systems CarMD tests.