Jamba Juice New Tropical Harvest Smoothie and Jamba Kids Berry Beet It! Smoothie Review #momsmeet

* This is not a paid post. 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 Meet blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the manufacturer of the product. #sponsored

At Jamba ready to try some new flavors. Its the summer but my son would only leave the house if I let him wear these pants. Anything to get him out the front door right!

I have loved Jamba Juice drinks for the last 15 years! They are a great way to cool off in the CA summers and to get your fruits and veggies in a tasty way. When they come out with new flavors I love to try them. My son of course wants to be like his Mama and he always gets a kids Jamba when we go. I was a picky eater as a kid and my son has developed the same habit. I eat all sorts of fruits and veggies now and he sees that but he still says no way or thats gross. As a kid who said the same things I know how he feels and know I need to sneak in the veggies. A perfect and fun way to sneak in veggies is by serving juice.

Anyone who loves Jamba has a favorite flavor, mine is Aloha Pineapple. This trip to Jamba Juice we planned to try two new flavors. One for me and one for my son.

I tried the New Tropical Harvest Smoothie and loved it! It contains the orange veggies I dont seem to get enough of, sweet potatoes, carrots and butternut squash. It tasted great with the mango and peach in it to balance the veggies.  My son gulped his down and got a little bit of brain freeze lol. Poor kid was saying how yummy it was then grabbed his head. He caught on that he needed to drink it slower but I saw that as a sign he really did like it. I love that there is beets and kale in it, no way could I get him to eat that at dinner time.

We will be back for these flavors again soon. I tried my son's drink and it was great, he liked mine too. I like to be able to order him kid size and kid tailored drinks for him when we go out.

Info on the new flavors:

The new Tropical Harvest™ Smoothie is made with a fusion of mangos, peaches, and passion mango juice blended with juices from butternut squash, sweet potato, and carrot. With only 230 calories, this beverage is
free of dairy and gluten—plus, it’s an excellent source of Vitamins A and C.


The Jamba Kids™ Berry Beet It!™ Smoothie is made with a delicious blend of strawberries, mangos, bananas, and mixed berry juice with carrots, beets, broccoli, spinach, kale, and lettuce. With only 190 calories, this beverage is free of dairy and gluten—plus, it’s an excellent source of Vitamins A, C, B6 and fiber.

We saw some cute kids cups in our Jamba store and a sign about becoming a Jamba Insider. I love to get deals and coupons so I will sign up and see what deals we can get.

There are new items I had not noticed in this store too, we often go to the mall Jamba and they do not have all the items this store location has. The Make it a Meal pack is a great idea for a grab and go summer lunch.

You can learn more about Jamba Juice on Facebook and the Moms Meet Blogger Program online.

Simple Dessert: Pears & Greek Frozen Yogurt

As a mom that works outside the home I do not have time on some days to bake or make an amazing dessert. On those days I keep it simple by purchasing tasty and somewhat healthy items. No cooking, easy clean up and to my son ice cream with a sweet topping. I found Greek frozen yogurt and jarred pears at the dollar store. This dessert was sooooo good and only $2! Great buy and my son loved it.

Do you have any simple and inexpensive healthy desserts?

Pizza Love! Little Caesars Review and Gift Card Giveaway

Who does not love Pizza right!??! And what would a Pizza Lover want for Valentine's Day? Well Pizza of course! When we are in a hurry or we decide on pizza last minute we like to grab a $5 pizza from Little Caesars. They are affordable, no cooking and tasty! My husband and I love to have pizza on holidays like Valentines now that we have our son. We have a family Valentine's Day celebration with movies, pizza and sweet treats. Its a super fun tradition. We have been having such beautiful weather in California right now we might grab our $5 HOT-N-READY Little Caesars Pizzas and take them to the park for a Pizza picnic. 

 Little Caesars $5 HOT-N-READY pepperoni pizza and their large HOT-N-READY 3 Meat Treat with pepperoni, sausage and bacon for just $8. 

This commercial made me laugh! This is what it would be like if I brought Little Caesars large, $5 HOT-N-READY pepperoni pizza or the HOT-N-READY 3 Meat Treat with pepperoni, sausage and bacon for just $8 to my work. 

GIVEAWAY

For the Love of Pizza and to celebrate Valentine's Day we are hosting a giveaway for 2 $10 Little Caesars Pizza Gift Cards. One for you and one to give to your Valentine. (total value $20)

Enter to win in the Rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 *Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts Feb 12 2013 and ends on Feb 21 2013 at 12:01 am EST. Winner will be emailed and has 72 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize. I was sent a gift card to review pizza for this post.

Ella's Kitchen: Sweet Treats for Little Valentines Review and Giveaway

My favorite little Valentine is my son! He's a sweetheart and a cutie pie! Sometimes he can be a picky eater and I want to make sure he is getting enough fruits and veggies. He will eat anything in smoothie form. He loves to drink pouches no matter what sort of veggie is in it he will eat it up. I love to give him these on days when he has not eaten what I think is enough and times he wants a snack and we are on the go.

For Valentine's Day we thought it would be perfect to get him sweet treat that are good for him too! Ella's Kitchen has been a brand of pouches we buy often. They have easy on and off lids, a wide variety of flavors and my son will eat them. Ella's Kitchen products are organic, no preservatives or artificial ingredients ever!!!

His favorite is the Sweet Potatoes, Pumpkin, Apples and Blueberries He asked for more please and said it was delicious!  

He really liked the Cheesy Potatoes. I can see this being great for  on the go. He says hes hungry when he sees fast food restaurants, I can hand him this instead! 

 They have also made fruit bars and cookies. We will have to look for those in the store for when my son starts up soccer later in the year.

Plus I LOVE that this company was created by a Dad who wanted his daughter to have healthy on the go food choices. My husband is a stay at home Dad now and I have found he comes up with ideas for parenting our son that I had not considered. Yeah Dads! :)

I can see these being super cute as a Valentine treat instead of candy for the little Valentine on you list. A red paper heart with a little message on it as a gift tag.

GIVEAWAY
To help celebrate Valentine's Day we are hosting a Ella's Kitchen Giveaway for you to win a Food Pouch Prize Pack. (your exact selection may vary from the one I received)

Enter in the Rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway




*Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts Feb 1 2013 and ends on Feb 10, 2013 at 12:01 am EST. Winner will be emailed and has 72 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize. I was sent a product to review for this post.

Recipe: Spinach Pesto Pasta with Tomatoes

I LOVE spinach and I have been trying to find ways to get my son to eat more of it. He looks at me odd when I try to get him to eat a salad with spinach in it so I decided I would add it to pasta that he loves.

I made a basic Pesto Recipe with a little Spinach added.

Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 cups, packed, coarsely chopped basil leaves
• 1/2 cup cooked Spinach
• 1/4 tablespoon pine nuts
• 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 to 1/3 cup olive oil

Boil Pasta in large pot. Saute in olive oil spinach and garlic. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add more olive oil and season with salt as necessary.

Add sliced cherub or cherry tomatoes to dish after mixing the pesto mix into cooked pasta. You can add more Parmesan cheese to the top of the dish for more cheese flavor. Serve on a bed of fresh spinach.

Note: I used way too much pasta for my dish, I would have liked way more pesto spinach mix per bite :)

My son LOVED this dish! 

Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake Pizza Night with the Mini Murph and $30 Giveaway

I don't know about you but after all of the holidays and cooking I have been doing, a pizza and a movie night sounds like a good idea. Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake is our "go to" place when it comes to good pizza. I love that you walk in, pick your pizzas and they are made right in front of you, wrapped up, instructions attached and you are on your way. So easy and so convenient.

The only struggle with having a pizza night at our house is that the kids want it plain, pepperoni or just plain cheese. That seems to be how it is with most kids. Not us adults, we want the works! The more toppings the better if you ask me.

So when I heard about the Mini Murph Make 'N' Bake Pizza I was thrilled! The Mini Murph is a pizza making kit for kids that includes Mini Dough, Pizza Sauce, Whole-Milk Mozzarella and your choice of peperoni or cheese toppings. Each comes in it's own little pizza box (so fun) and the boys thought this was great. They loved building their own "special" pizza that they could enjoy and no having to share with your brother here! This is a great idea for a birthday party, sleepover or like our family fun night. And with the Superbowl just around the corner this would be a hit for sure!

Here is the Mini Murph, so cute!

The boys all ready to make their own pizza's.

So busy...

Just a little taste test...

Cheese me!!

Our 2 year old really got into it :)

Pizza for the adults was also consumed...Yum Pepperoni and our favorite, The Cowboy Pizza.

 

Our boys reaping the benefits of their hard work!

While the boys were busy making their Mini Murph's I put our pizza's in the oven to cook. Did you see The Cowboy, looks good right? Well it is!! Just take a look at the menu, I know you will find your favorites. 


Enter to win a $30 Gift Card to Papa Murphy's Pizza in the Rafflecopter form below. 

  a Rafflecopter giveaway



*Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts Jan 10,2013 and ends on Jan 25, 2013 at 12:01 am EST. Winner will be emailed and has 72 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize. I was sent a product to review for this post.

Classico National Pasta Day Oct. 17th & Giveaway

As a Mom I love making pasts dishes for my family. Its simple to make a with so many varieties of sauce and noodles the varieties are endless. When I learned that October 17th is National Pasta Day I thought how fun would it be to celebrate with a delicious Pasta dinner using Classico pasta sauce.

 My son was just as excited as I was to use some great new cooking tools we received to celebrate National Pasta Day. I like to have my son "help" by watching me cook and stirring non heated items. He loves to be my little helper.

 I was really looking forward to tasting the New Classico Creamy Spinach & Parmesan. I LOVE spinach and mixing it with Parmesan in a pasta sauce, brilliant! I loved this flavor. I have been buying the Basil flavored sauces and the creamy alfredo and now I will be adding this one to my list of ones to buy. I need to try more of them. With all the varieties of Classico sauces I can add different meats and noodles to make many great dishes. As the winter approaches I look forward to a big bowl of warm and delicious pasta for dinner.

Pasta with Classico sauce, freash french bread, a glass of wine and family makes for a perfect way to celebrate National Pasta Day!

I was not sure if my son would like this variety of sauce but he LOVED it! He gobbled it up like crazy and told me it was good. I have found the variety he likes! I am happy that it happens to be the one that has spinach in it. I know he will be asking for leftovers for lunch of this!

A little bit of Parmesan grated on top and its perfect!! You never need a reason to eat a great pasta dish but National Pasta Day is a great reason to try a new flavor like the Classico Creamy Spinach and Parmesan variety.

What will you do to celebrate Classico National Pasta Day? We are hosting a giveaway of free product coupons of Classico coupons to encourage you to try new flavors of Classico.

Enter to Win in the Rafflecopter giveaway below:


a Rafflecopter giveaway  


*In the spirit of full-disclosure, I’ve partnered with Classico and received product, coupons, premium items and reader giveaway coupons as part of my participation. However, no payment was given or expected for posting about the program, and as always, all opinions given here are fully my own.

Frozen Bananas with Chocolate & Sunflower Seeds

I love bananas that have spots on them. They are so very sweet. Just like this they are a treat and so good for you. I have been wanting chocolate but not wanting it to be too much of a goodie. So I thought I will dip something good for me in chocolate. If I add sunflower seeds its even better for me right?! lol

First cut the banana in half and stick a kabob skewer into the middle. I cut the pokey side off my kabobs to leave a flat end on both sides. Place them in the freezer minimum 1 hour in a freezer safe dish.

After the bananas were frozen I was ready to add the chocolate to them. I melted my chocolate chips in a bowl that I set in a sauce pan of hot water. Stir the chocolate chips until melted. Have your other items ready since the chocolate chips will get stiff if you let them cool.

I did not want to dip the whole banana in chocolate since I am trying to still define this as fruit :)

I gave them a nice topping of chocolate then rolled them in the sunflower seeds.

Place your dipped bananas back into the freezer for 2 hours. I made these before I cooked dinner and they were ready for dessert.

I let my frozen bananas sit for 5 minutes then enjoyed. If you have not eaten a frozen banana it is sooo good. Almost like a frozen yogurt flavor. Do not let them sit out too long or they will get mushy.

Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Mixed Fruit Drink

 Last month I shared some Blue Diamond Almonds Breeze Almond Coconut drinks and other recipes with a few Moms I know through the Green Moms Meet Ambassador Program. I really liked the idea of a Almond milk mixed with coconut milk, and it tasted as great as I thought it would. I looked a some of the drink recipes I got in my kit and decided to make a Mixed Fruit drink with the fruits I had in my freezer. I have learned the trick to a great smoothie to be like a Jamba style where its firm and not runny is to use frozen fruit.

My son always the little helper, picked the fresh mint from our garden to be our garnish. He sniffed it over and over telling me its nice. So cute! 

We made our recipe with Blue Diamond Almond and Coconut Milk Sweetened, 1 frozen banana, frozen sliced strawberries, frozen mixed berry that included cranberries, frozen pineapple and  1 tube of go-gurt. I like to use whatever I have on hand to make drinks and popsicles for my son. He always loves them no matter what kind of fruit is in them.

To make my drink extra special I layered it with whipped topping. Using the frozen fruit in the blender allowed for me to layer the drink since it was firm and not runny.  Next time I am thinking I will make two drink flavors and layer them for a fun color contrast. Who wouldn't want to drink a delicious, pretty and good for you drink like this one!

 When I make smoothies I normally dont measure just kind of toss in what I have so I normally have extras. I place them in my Popcicle maker for dessert later in the week or a lunch time treat for my son.

*I was sent a Green Moms Meet Blue Diamond Almond Breeze kit. I was not compensated for this post.

Family Summer Fun with Dinner and a Movie Night

I love spending time with my family. My grandsons are always up for some fun time with me, so I try to plan things they will enjoy doing.

I thought that Dinner and a A Movie Night would be perfect for an evening of Summer Fun. I went to Walmart to shop for things that the boys would enjoy eating. Their favorites of course, are pizza and ice cream, so that made my shopping trip super easy.

We all love eating Nestle drumsticks in my family, so they were an easy choice for dessert. The hardest part was picking out what kind to buy!

My items from Walmart for my #GrabSummerFun Party

Tombstone Pizza is a family favorite so I got a few of them for dinner. I also grabbed some chips and dip, fun paper plates, and 4th of July pinwheels for the boys. I love Dinner and A Movie Night, and it's so easy too.

I have been enjoying finding fun projects on Pinterest. Summer projects help keep my 5 year-old grandson active while school is out. I found this super easy painting project that I knew the boys would love doing.

The American flag, just in time for the 4th of July! His Mom, my daughter, just loved this, and I was very happy that we had decided to do this project.

My littlest grandson was still working on his and needed help. He looks clean here but by the time he was finished, he was covered in paint and we had to change his shirt. I really love Pinterest for all it's inspiration and great ideas. We found the hand print flag craft idea on Pinterest from SheKnows.com.

I had wanted to have dinner and our painting project out on the deck this evening but it was raining hard.
We didn't let that stop us from having fun, and my grandsons loved their Tombstone pizza!

Yes, we love our Nestle Ice Cream! After our pizza, it was time for dessert and the movie. The boys love these mini drumsticks because they are the perfect size for little fingers to hold them.

Our movie choice was "Alvin and The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked". I loved Alvin and The Chipmunks when I was a kid, and it's nice to see they are still here. Cute movie too.

As we were watching our movie, we just had to have one more Nestle drumstick!

Our Dinner and A Movie Night was a lot of fun for us, and a great way to spend a rainy, summer evening.
I look forward to doing this again soon. #GrabSummerFun

 You can read my Google+ Story about my shopping trip to Walmart to shop for Nestle and Tombstone items for my Grab Summer Fun Family Night.

 *I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Nestle #CBias #SocialFabric  #GrabSummerFun All opinions are my own.