Brookside Dark Chocolate Crunchy Clusters Sampling from Crowdtap!

Thanks to Crowdtap, I was able to try a snack by Brookside for free to try and review! I was pretty excited to have the opportunity to try this. I really like trying new foods, and I had never heard of this brand before. They sent me Brookside Dark Chocolate Crunchy Clusters in Berry Medley Flavors. The package describes them as, 'Clusters of crispy multigrains and soft fruit flavored centers, all covered in smooth dark chocolate.'

When I opened the package I was a little unsure what to think when I saw that I was sent Dark Chocolate. Dark Chocolate is not something I normally buy for myself or even really like. I tried these small crunchy clusters, that are in funny lumpy shapes of varying sizes, and was pleasantly surprised. They are rather tasty! The lightly bitter taste of dark chocolate is quickly evened out by the sweetness of the berries inside. They are the perfect balance of flavor. The crunchy-ness inside gives it a fun texture and makes it a rather enjoyable snack.

These Brookside Crunchy Clusters remind me of the brand Pringles chips... You know? "Once you pop, you can't stop." It's true. When you start eating these you have to put the bag far out of reach when you decide you're done, or you will keep opening and eating them. The bag is resealable, which is nice. I had never heard of this brand prior to this sampling, but since I have received these, I have seen them at just about every store with grocery that I have been to. I recommend trying these for a decadant treat. They would be great to pair with a strawberry yogurt, put on top of an ice cream dish or just to eat alone like I have been doing!

If you'd like to check out more Brookside Chocolate products, CHECK THEM OUT HERE!

Holiday Treat! Sweet N Low Nog Blog

Sweet N Low sent me a goodie pack just in time for the holidays to try for free and review! The sweetness included: Sweet N Low packets, an Eggnog Recipe card, a Sweet N Low packet carrying case and a cute tote bag.

I was happy to make the Sweet N Low "Not So Naughty Egg-Nog", but as some of you may know, I cannot eat eggs! So, I was unable to taste the egg nog myself. Luckily, my husband plays guinea pig from time to time for me.

The recipe was super simple. All you need are:

*4 pasteurized eggs
*12 packets Sweet N Low zero calorie sweetener
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*5 cups cold skim milk (I did substitue the cows milk for Silk Original Almond milk this time!)
*Pinch of ground nutmeg

For easy mixing the recipe suggests making this in a blender. I just used a whisk. I think the blender would have been a lot easier, but I am a rebel!

First you place the eggs into your blender or container.

Next, add in the Sweet N Low packets and the vanilla extract.

Cover and blend on medium or high speed for ten seconds or until foamy. Or whisk if you're also a rebel! Add milk. Cover; blend five seconds.Pour into 1 1/2 quart pitcher. I just saved some dishes and did it all in a big punch bowl. It felt festive.

The last step is to pour and add a pinch of nutmeg to each individual serving, but I just sprinkled it on the top of the whole batch in the punch bowl to make it look fancy.

My husband Casey tried it, and I think he wasn't really aware that there are actually raw eggs in Egg-nog, but he is aware now. He said it tasted pretty good but he would have preferred the actual milk. (He is not used to Almond milk like I am!) He also said that it is not thick like the Egg-Nog he buys in the store. But, it tasted good and he did like it. Again, I could not try it, but I did smell it! It smelled just like any other Egg-Nog that I've ever smelled before.

Inside the little carrying case for individual Sweet N Low packets they included some Sweet N Low recipes for boozy drinks. "A-List Lemon Twist", "Pret a Pink-Tini" and "Little Pink Dress". For these recipes and more, please visit Sweet N Low on Facebook HERE!

Campbell's Soups, Sauces and More!

Hello! I hope everybody is enjoying the holiday season! We've had some ups and downs here! We had a lot of holiday plans and ended up getting sick right smack dab in the middle of it all! That's what makes life interesting I guess, curve balls. During the past month and a half, I was lucky enough to get to try out a box of different products from Campbell's brand! Thanks to Crowdtap and Campbell's for letting me try and review all of this great food!

They sent me so much great stuff! A reusable grocery sack, a wooden spoon and cutting board and a shaker for the non edible items. The food they sent consisted of their new Campbell's Skillet Sauces in Creamy Parmasan Chicken, Prego Light Homestyle Alfredo sauce, Campbell's Chunky Beer and Cheese soup, Campbell's Slow Kettle Style Roasted Chicken Soup, Swanson Traditional Cream Starter, Campbell's Soups for Easy Cooking Creamy Portobello Mushroom, Speghettio's Micros, and a can of Campbell's Creamy Pablano and Queso soup.

I tried most of these, but have not had an opportunity to try all. One of the first ones I tried was the Creamy Parmesan Skillet Sauce! It came with a quick and easy recipe, and sounded tasty. Chicken is always my go to dinner idea for something quick and that will please everybody I'm cooking for!

It was super easy to make, and it has a thicker richer taste than the Prego Alfredo sauce. Though, both sauces have similar flavors. If you like one, you will probably enjoy the other! I topped some penne pasta with the Parmesan Skillet sauce and had a side of green bean cassarole with it. The dinner was great and filling!

I did not personally get to try the Campbell's Chunky Beer and Cheese soup, my husband Casey wanted to try it so badly he took it to work. He told me that it reminded him a bit of Campbell's Chunky Chicken Corn chowder - which just so happens to be my favorite that I've tried! Casey said that the soup was delicious and he would buy it again. Casey did say that he did not think there was enough food in one can for a full meal if you were very hungry, and recommended eating something like some toast or a roll with it. I did eat a can of Chunky's Chicken Corn Chowder and photograph my bowl so you could see how creamy and thick Chunky's soup really is.

One of the things we received we didn't care for as much as we thought we would. The small container of Speghettio's Micros. These come in a little box, and inside of that is plastic tub with a plastic seal you pull off. This is a microwaveable item, so it would be great for packing in lunches. The reason we did not care for these as much as we found that the flavor was off compared to the traditional Speghettios that come in the can. It was hard to get over the flavor difference and I'm not quite sure what it was besides the different packaging. My husband still shared the whole container with my son and they liked it okay.

One of my favorite items was the Prego Light Homestyle Alfredo sauce. I have also purchased the regular Alfredo sauce, and they both taste equally great. I don't notice the difference in light or regular very much. I would buy either and be happy. I made a very quick dinner out of this! I just boiled some pasta, you can use any type that you'd like or just have laying around. I used shells this time. I used some canned chicken this time around, you can also bake some fresh chicken in the oven and cut it up. It just depends on how much time you have to cook. Then I also added in some frozen broccoli. Again, you can steam some fresh broccoli and put that in instead based on time. Lastly, I topped it with some fresh black pepper out of the grinder. I love making this and I always make extra! This dish reheats really well for a next day meal and feeds a lot of people.

I was really pleasantly surprised to try the Campbell's Slow Kettle Style Roasted Chicken soup. This is supposed to be a more premium soup, like something you'd get while dining out. This Slow Kettle Style soup has a great flavor, it tastes fresher than traditional canned soup and the color of the broth and look of the ingredients look very appetizing. I really enjoyed this soup and could see buying this more often. It would make a great lunch or just a really relaxing and tasty bowl of soup for when you're under the weather. I believe the container is microwave safe, but I decided since I was at home I would follow the stove top directions.

Campbell's has so many really great recipes for their products online, check it out for yourself! Campbell's Home Kitchen Recipes, tips and more!

Campbell's has always been and will always be a favorite in our household!

Nescafe with Coffee Mate Creamer Instant Coffee Try and Review

This past month I've had the pleasure to try for free and review Nescafe with Coffee Mate Creamer instant coffee, thanks to Smiley360! I absolutely love doing reviews for food and drinks, so I was extra excited to receive this coffee! It was even packaged cute, in multi colored tissue paper. (Which I have reused in a birthday gift already! Yay recycling!)

They sent one container, and three coupons for more. We went to Winco and they did not carry this product. I couldn't find the information on where to buy it online so I decided to email Nestle. We went to Walmart, and they did have each flavor so I bought it there. A few days later, Nestle did email me back and gave me a link to a store where you can buy their products. The store is called Give My Brands! They do not have a product locater due to the way that their distribution works.

The three flavors are Sweet and Creamy Original, Hazelnut and Vanilla.

This instant coffee is super easy to prepare! I just filled up the kettle and put it on the stove until it was boiling, you put two tea spoons full of the powdered coffee and creamer into your cup, pour in the boiling water and you're ready to drink your coffee! This is so great for busy mornings when you don't have much time to get ready and go out the door.

My husband Casey has never been big on instant coffee, but he has been drinking this every single morning! It's even easier to make then using our Kuerig and much easier and less wasteful or time consuming as using our Mr. Coffee 12 cup machine.

Now, I don't normally drink anything that has caffeine in it, since I am highly sensitive. I did drink a little bit of each flavor of coffee for this review however. I thought I'd prefer the Vanilla flavored Nescafe, but honestly I am partial the Original sweet and creamy flavor! It is exactly as described, sweet and creamy! All flavors are good though, and I could see rotating between the three of them on different days depending on mood. The only thing that they could do to improve this product is to start making it in decaf!

I made a quick You Tube video on just how easy it really is to make! Don't mind my son in the back ground enjoying his video! :)

Since I already had one container of the Sweet and Creamy Original flavored coffee, and I had 3 coupons for more Nescafe with Coffee Mate instant coffee and there are only 3 total flavors; I decided to send a free coupon home with my friend Anne. I waited until Anne went to the store and had a chance to try her coffee before asking for her opinion. This is what Anne had to say! (Thanks for your time and your opinion, Anne!)

So go out and get yourself some Nescafe with Coffee Mate Creamer instant coffee and try it for yourself!!! Click HERE! for a 75 cent off coupon!

I am an Influenster. Do you want to learn how to be one too?

So you want to learn more about this product review stuff, huh? Well, I'd like to tell you about Influenster! I'm still learning about it myself, but I am starting to get the hang of it and have recieved some of their "VoxBoxes" to try and review.

A few months back I "discovered" this new great site called Influenster and starting actively using it. (When in actuality I joined in 2012, but I don't remember doing it!) Influenster is a website of consumers, most of which are very active with social media. Influenster allows you to recieve full size products to test and review, take part in Twitter chats to learn more about products with experts and even celebrities, and you can even recieve great discounts from various places/companies/brands! Here is an example of the screen you will be welcomed with if you have not already clicked the above link.

When your'e on the main screen for Influenster, in the upper right hand corner you will see 3 stacked green lines. When you click that you will get a salmon colored menu. It will say reviews, The Hub, why join and about us. The "why join" and "about us" sections are very helpful and will answer many of your questions.

If you're a new user, you will need to sign up. It is really very easy to do! You can sign up with e-mail or Facebook. After you've signed up, you can also sign in both ways.

Once you've signed in, there's a few things you need to do. First go to your dashboard (you can see the button in your upper right hand corner of the screen, looks like a little black circle with a person in it) and link your social media accounts to Influenster. This is so you can share your "influence" (opinions) with your other friends and followers. After linking all accounts, you will see an impact score. This just shows how far your reach goes. Influenster doesn't share without your permissions, you manually do all of the sharing. So do not worry about that! Here is what your dashboard may look like (mine is all linked up). You will also see on the left that there are other catagories!

Make sure that you completely fill out your settings and your "about me" section. The about me is very very important! That is one of the ways they decide if you will be a good match to recieve a VoxBox! The VoxBox is the name for the box they send you with your items to review! They also have virtual VoxBoxes, which means it is a challenge that is online. You get points for doing both and you still can win prizes from Virtual Vox Boxes! Here is an example of my public profile. It shows your about me, your score, your reptuation (which I am still figuring out how to get points there, so mine is still at a zero), and you can earn badges for completing tasks/missions with brands. Another thing you need to do to make sure you are considered for a VoxBox is fill out your "snaps". Snaps are short questionairres that you take so that Influenster can get to know you. You will find your Snaps on the left hand side of your dashboard.

Now you are ready to look around! The Hub is cool because it features blogs and articles written by the top members of the commuinty, there's all kinds of interesting things to read there.

There is also a review page! This is great for discovering new products and getting and giving opinions on them.

One of the physical VoxBoxes I recently was sent to review was a Braun No-Touch Fore Head thermometer! This was a great item and you can read my review and see my photos in one of my past blogs HERE! I've also had a few virtual VoxBoxes. One was for Degree deoderant, and it was as easy as doing a few instore challenges. I did not even have to purchase the product.

Thank you all for reading about Influenster, please feel free to ask me any questions and I would be happy to help you out!