Simple Changes to Eat More Naturally: Coffee-Mate Natural Bliss Creamer

 Coffee is my favorite thing to drink. I enjoy it morning, noon and night. I have brand preferences and types of coffee I enjoy at what time of the day. Its my indulgence and it keeps me happy! For many years I have been a label reader. I check ingredients to make sure certain items are not in my food, including HFCS and other artificial flavors or colors. It can be tough at times on a budget and with availability in the stores I shop at. If you take a little extra time to look for Natural and Organic products you will find them almost anywhere. I shop at Walmart a lot. I have found they carry many food products and even household brands that are natural.

For the last 5 years or so my husband and I have been drinking an organic Coffee Creamer for our morning cup of coffee. We both felt that something we drink all the time should be one of the products we make sure contains natural ingredients. We searched for a coffee creamer that contained only natural ingredients and found that they have no real flavor to add to the coffee. I love a sweet cup of coffee and with our regular creamer it made the coffee light but required too much sugar to make it sweet. Plus it did not have the flavors I wanted in my coffee. 

As soon as I heard about the Coffee-Mate Natural Bliss I knew I had to try it. It comes in 3 flavors, Vanilla, Sweet Cream and Caramel. The awesome thing about Natural Bliss is that in contains only 4 ingredients of Milk, Cream, Sugar and Natural Flavors. Nothing artificial, no HFCS, no man made chemicals to sweeten it, just pure simple sweetness. 

If you are looking for a first step or more ways to pick more natural and healthier foods in your diet starting with your morning cup of coffee is a perfect choice. When you start the day more natural it will help you think about other food choice you make. Maybe swap a regular cookie for a all natural brand or a regular potato chip for all natural popcorn brand. Small steps like that can make a difference in the way you think about food. I know we cant all make sure everything we eat is all natural but we can buy certain items like All Natural Coffee Creamer to make simple changes. With Walmart prices on Coffee-Mate Natural Bliss creamer we can afford it too! #NaturalBlissWM

You can find Coffee-Mate Natural Bliss near the other coffee creamers.

I found 2 of the 3 flavors. I will keep my eye out for the Caramel one.

Right now is a great time to try Coffee-Mate Natural Bliss since you can get a $1 off two Coupon to redeem at your local Walmart.

My son being silly in the Dairy section of Walmart. .

*This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.
All opinions expressed in this shop are my own and your experience may vary. #Cbias  #NaturalBlissWM

New Cookbooks I Want to Cook From

 I won a these 3 Cookbooks from Sasquatch books on Facebook. I was so excited to win since I want to try to make at least one new dish a week. I want to find some new go to recipes that I can add to my food rotation. We seem to be in a rut and I want new. They are great books, exactly what  I was looking for. One is about fish, which I love, the other is a Farm to Table cookbook, I love farming and support buying local grown produce and the last Rabbit Food looks like a good one too. I cannot wait until our kitchen is done being remodeled and I can get to cooking!

I told myself that I would cook the first page I turned to in one of the books. I grabbed the Rabbit Food one since my son has been talking about Bunnies all day from a book we read. The first thing I turned to was Potato Leek Soup. It sounds delicious. I have not made a soup from scratch and I look forward to it. I will post an update on how it goes when I make the dish.

What new cookbook you have gotten recently?

Clever Creations "Chopped" Theme First Street Ice Cream Party Smart & Final

My family loves to watch Cooking shows, especially the ones that have competition in them. My husband worked as a chef when we first met and I am always trying to prove I make better food than him. We enjoy watching the show Chopped the most. Its a cooking competition where the chefs are given specific items that must be included in their dish and they can use the on site kitchen for other ingredients. They have to make a certain food such as appetizer, main course or dessert using the selected ingredients. I thought it would be a great idea for a Ice Cream Party theme. We like to make wild dishes with flavors that might not go together just to be experimental with food and we love Ice Cream, sounds like a perfect combination.

We shopped at Smart&Final for our supplies for our Clever Creations "Chopped" Party. We purchased First Street brand items since they are always a great deal.

For our required ingredients for our Ice Cream creations we have Bacon, Cayenne powder, Applesauce and Oranges. The creations made by each team must include all four ingredients in their dish for it to be complete. We were able to use other items we had in the kitchen to make our creations. I also had the First Street Products I purchased at Smart&Final along with a few other First Street brand items I already had in my cupboards.

We used a coin to flip heads or tails for who would cook first and get the pick of Vanilla or Chocolate Ice Cream for their dish. The men went first and selected Vanilla and planned out their creation. They decided on a Vanilla Tropical theme.

Their plan was to make a Vanilla Shake served in a Orange peel bowl topped with Cayenne Bacon.

Cayenne powdered Bacon for the topping

The shake included 3 scoops Vanilla Bean First Street Ice Cream, 1/2 cup Applesauce, 1 banana, 3 Oranges (saving the peel as a cup to be served in. Place in the freezer while making other items) 3 pinches of First Street Shredded Coconut, cinnamon and the juice from 2 additional oranges.

Blend the mixture on high for several minutes until there are no chunks

One of the Orange Peel cups did not have a flat enough bottom. Maybe next time we will cut just a bit off the bottoms to make it level.

Team #1 Finished First Street Ice Cream Creation Vanilla Tropical

The second team, the women, we used First Street Chocolate Ice Cream. We were creating a more rich dish with lots of chocolate and Cayenne powder. The original plan was to make bacon cups but the muffin tins had been used in the backyard for mud pies then tossed out so I had to quickly rethink my plan. We decided to make little bacon pedestals for the ice cream to sit on.

For the Chocolate Bacon Ice Cream Creation we decided to make a sauce to go over our chocolate ice cream served on a bacon pedestal. The sauce included 1/2 cup Applesauce, 1/4 cup First Street Chocolate Syrup, the juice from two Oranges, and 1 tablespoon of Cayenne powder. ( We added chocolate and cayenne dashes as it cooked for flavor adjustments.)

I placed the just cooked bacon in little cups to make the circle shapes. Do this fast or it will break.

Needed more chocolate as I tasted it. The aroma was great, like a chocolate orange candy mixed with Mexican Hot Coco.

The finished sweet and spicy Chocolate sauce

Next we plated our dish to be tasted against the other team's First Street Ice Cream Creation. I so wanted my team of the women to win so I could have bragging rights!

Chocolate Bacon with Sweet and Spicy Sauce topped with First Street Slivered Almonds

The two finished Smart&Final First Street Ice Cream Clever Creations "Chopped" Party dishes. Each dish had to include Bacon, Cayenne powder, Apple Sauce, Oranges and one flavor of First Street Ice Cream. The taste test started and we were impressed by the competition. Each team went a different direction with the flavors making it a tough call on the winner. Most of the kids did not like the spicy sauce on the Chocolate Bacon Dish but did love the Tropical Vanilla Shake Mixture. The adults agreed the Chocolate Bacon one was rich, spicy and a great use of the ingredients. But the sweetness of the Tropical Vanilla shake on the Cayenne Bacon was awesome!

The women were officially "chopped" from this competition. The winner ended up being the men's for the overall dish but we all agreed the women did have the best use of the flavors for the Chocolate Sweet and Spicy sauce.

A face covered in Ice Cream is always a sign of a great Ice Cream Party #IceCreamTreat

You can read my Google+ Story about my shopping trip to Smart & Final for First Street Ice Cream and other supplies for our "Chopped" Clever Creations Ice Cream Party.

*This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.
All opinions expressed in this shop are my own and your experience may vary. #Cbias #IceCreamTreat

DaySpring Greeting Cards and Home Decor Shopping

Greeting cards are one of those items that do not cost a lot but can make a big difference. Buying cards for a birthday, a thank you or congratulations is something my Mom has always done. I loved shopping with her to buy cards. Now as an adult and Mom I continue to buy cards as a way to keep in touch with loved ones and to send a Thank You. I have many treasured cards that I have received over the years from loved ones. I even have a little card with Scripture on it that my Kindergartner teacher gave to me when I was 4. I have treasured that little card almost all my life. As a small child the Scripture spoke to me and I have made sure through all the moves and changes in my life that my little card stays safe with me.

I like to purchase greeting cards and stationary that has Scripture on it to share a little bit of God's word with someone I cherish and to maybe be the one that gives the little card that someone else might treasure. My husbands side of the family I always make sure to buy a gift or greeting card with Christian Scripture on it. I know for them it makes it much more special to have the Christian theme on it. It makes me feel good to send it too.

We usually grab a card at other stores while we shop for groceries and household products. I have more than likely purchased every Christian Thank You card at Walmart and needed new cards to send. We shop at Family Christian Stores mainly closer to holidays for cards and gifts. I will definitely be shopping there for DaySpring cards at least once a month. I did not realize the variety of cards available from DaySpring. There are cards by DaySpring that are only $0.99, Max Lucado cards, Peanuts cards, cards that a portion of the sale go to children's charities, and so many more. I liked the encouragement and thank you cards available. We have family that we send Thank You cards to at least once a month and it was wonderful to be able to find so many. I dislike sending the same card twice so I am always on the look out for new Thank You cards.

I have known that DaySpring makes great greeting cards, note cards and small gifts but I did not know the variety of other products. I even found Recordable Books that I was unaware DaySpring made. We have many Hallmark ones and these ones were a comparable price but had a Christian theme. My mother in law is having a birthday next month and the books would make a great gift. They also make mugs, tote bags, reusable cups, indoor and outdoor decor and even some cute Eco-Friendly themed items.

I went shopping for DaySpring thank you greeting cards and found many more great items. I found a DaySpring coffee mug ( I love coffee all day long!), some Peanuts thank you note cards ( I adore Peanuts items), note cards that I can send to cheer up someones day and a key chain that was on sale.

I looked online at DaySpring.com before I went shopping to look for Home Decor ideas. We are  redecorating a few rooms in my house and I found some really nice stuff online. I looked for many of the items I liked in the store but could not locate them. I am glad to know I can buy them online. I like the DaySpring site, lots of great items for a good price. The sale section was my favorite, of course since I am a frugal Mom.

This Thank You card from the Colors of Compassion DaySpring line I purchased to send to a family member in Oklahoma. I love the colors and that part of the money for the card helps children's charities.

 The info on the back is great for the card recipient to read. Its nice to know that a greeting card your are receiving also helped others in need.

 This card from the Little Inspirations line will be for my Mother in Law. Its only $0.99! They had many really cute cards for that price. The price makes it easy to be able to send a card without having to wait for a special occasion. I would like to see even more Mom to Mom cards available, I think they are sweet.

This is the message that is inside the bird little note cards I purchased for $0.99. I will be sending one of these to my Grandmother in law in Illinois. She could use some cheering up.

 These Peanuts cards are beyond cute! I am going to send one to my Mom. She is the one who shared Peanuts with me when I was a kid. Its family tradition to watch the Peanuts cartoons for a holiday

This is the key chain I have had on my keys for years. I treasure this very much since it is beautiful Scripture and a gift from my Grandmother in Law.

 Since the key chain broke I now keep it in my wallet to bring it with my where ever I go.  I looked for a DaySpring key chain and some Jewelry but could not find any. I asked some of the employees but they were not sure either. They were nice enough to help me look and find other items.

My new key chain for my keys. It was a great buy being half off.

I really like my new DaySpring Mug. I am going to fill out my cards, mail them and come back home to have a cup of coffee to enjoy the rest of this beautiful Spring Day.


You can read my Google+ Story about my shopping trip to find DaySpring products at Family Christian Stores. I found so many great cards, notepads, stationary, home decor and movies during my shopping trip.

*This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.
All opinions expressed in this shop are my own and your experience may vary. #Cbias #SocialFabric