Drink your plants - giveaway

You know me and green monster smoothies. IN LOVE. It's my morning routine. So when Traditional Medicinals wrote me asking if I'd like to try their line of teas that support the immune system I was totally on board to try. Plus it's winter, germs are everywhere so anything that might help support my immune system is a must.

Here's what they sent me:

• Echinacea Plus – With this long history of aiding in wellness, this pleasant tasting, mighty blend helps support a healthy immune system.*
• Gypsy Cold Care – Elder, yarrow and peppermint – the foundation of this tea – are a classic European blend of herbs used for centuries. Sip slowly and let your weary body be comforted by its warming properties.
• Throat Coat – Combined with licorice and marshmallow root, it provides the comfort we all need sometimes to be at our best.

The Echinacea Plus was my favorite of the three. It tasted delicious, mildly minty with a twist of citrus! Gypsy Cold Care was a close second with a tummy warming peppermint kick. I'm not going to lie... Throat Coat was not a winner in my book and was given away to a friend who enjoys licorice. I personally can't stand licorice... so that one had to go... but if you LIKE licorice... you'll love this one.

You might notice the double packaging in the pictures above. They recently rebranded and the graphic designer in me is super happy to see the new look. Well done whoever redesigned these!

Want to win your own giftpack?? Just comment below with your favorite flavor of tea! US entries only (sorry my international peeps).

Samples were sent to me, all opinions are mine. 

*This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. 


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Teavivre Oolong Teas

So so very happy! It's Christmas time and I got an amazing gift in the mail! Oolong teas from Teavivre!!

Check out what they sent me:

Taiwan Osmanthus Oolong Tea
Taiwan High Mountain Oolong Tea
Superfine Taiwan Moderately-Roasted Dong Ding Oolong Tea
Superfine Taiwan Qing Xiang Dong Ding Oolong Tea
Superfine Taiwan Ali Shan Oolong Tea

Even better news they are having a buy one get one 50% off sale right now! So go go go!

As you probably already realize I LOVE tea. Love it. I drink a good 6-8 cups of it a day. Can't help myself, and when it's snowy and chilly out, my number of cups go up. A long time user of tea bags I thougth I knew what good tea was. Enter in loose leaf tea. A friend bought me an infuser for christmas one year and I've been hooked rock solid ever since.  If you've never tried loose leaf... and you are a lover of tea... do yourself a favor and give it a try. I swear after infusing the same tea leaves for my 4th cup of tea, the taste and flavor was better and stronger than the first cup of a tea bag infused cup of tea.

That whole sentence was kinda confusing... sorry. I'm excited about TEA!!! So far my favorite is the high mountain oolong. It really is hard to pick from what they sent me, each has a subtle but powerful different in flavor. In all truth if you went with any of these oolongs you will be happy. Not exagerating, I'm in love. So if anyone needs last minute gift ideas for me... get me some more tea!!! :)

Merry Christmas everyone!! Check back next week for an amazing reindeer taxidermy crochet project!! Yup you read that right :)

Product was provided to me by Teavivre, I am not being compensated for this post, all thoughts and opinions are my own.


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Iced tea mocktails - giveaway

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED. Congrats Madeline!

As a blogger sometimes I get things in the mail from companies to try out. Most of the time John brings in the package and leaves it by my seat in the kitchen. However when boxes from Lipton come he feels the need to drink up some of the products before I can even take photos of them.

Notice the diet citrus green tea in the back row on the left, notice that it's empty. YUP. Blame that one on the husband. I guess it's good marketing material though, "It's so good your husband will drink it before you even get to see it"

Sounds good to me, right?

Lipton has been busy coming up with tasty new flavors like coconut passionfruit. WHAT coconut?? Bring it ONNNN! And they have also been busy making up cool refreshing mocktail and cocktail recipes. Like the tea-drenched ginger refresher... with or without rum... who's going to say no to a splash of rum???  (recipe at end of post)

Giveaway time. Want to win the care packaged pictured at the top of the page? Yup the one with lots of tasty drinks and drink mixes? Head over to Lipton and check out all of their tea related recipes. Then come back here and tell me which one you'd love to try! (one entry per person, US only- sorry international peeps!) Winner will be selected by random.org and emailed (so please use a real email so I can contact you)

To keep up with all things Lipton you can find them on Facebook and Twitter.


Tea-Drenched Ginger Refresher
recipe by Lipton Mixologist Scott Fitzgerald

1 to go stick of lipton tea and honey half and half berry lemonade decaf
2oz fresh lime juice
1 oz agave syrup
1 dash bitters (I left out since I didn't have any)
2 Tbs ginger puree**
(I added in some fresh raspberries too!)

Combined mix with 8oz chilled water, gently stir. In a shaker add ice tea and remaining ingredients, shake and pour into a tall glass. Stir in a little dark rum if you want to add some flare!

**Ginger puree: 6 pieces of peeled ginger + 1 tsp of cane sugar, blend until even consistency.


Products and giveaway were provided by Lipton, all thoughts and opinions are mine.



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Instant Uplift and a giveaway

Giveaway closed. The winner is...TJ!! I've sent you an email!

Spring has sprung! Well according to the calendar it has, but as I look out my window all I see is snow. *sigh* It's ok though, I got an instant uplift when I opened this package in the mail from Lipton!

It's as easy as open, steep, sip, enjoy! Not only did they send me a ton of their black tea, they sent me this instantly uplifting infinity scarf. The thing is gigantic, seriously I think I could make it into a dress come spring. The pop of yellow just cheers you up, well it at least cheers me up. Seriously how can you not smile wearing this thing? And it came in a sweet vintage lipton box tin (see above)! Double bonus.

You might be wondering, what's so uplifting about black tea? Research shows that black tea’s hydrating benefits and natural caffeine provide a gentle ‘uplift’ to help you stay energized throughout the day - increasing feelings of work productivity, decreasing feelings of tiredness, and improving attention/concentration. I can use all the uplift I can get this time of year so I'm game, how about you?

To enter the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment telling me about what you find to lift your spirits this time of year? (you win what is pictured in the first image, same as me!)

Winner will be picked by random.org and notified via email- so enter an email you actually use when you comment ok? :)


Products were provided to me for free, I was not compensated for this post. All opinions are mine.




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Thirst Quencher

I'm more of an eat my calories than drink my calories kind of girl, so when a really tasty low calorie drink comes out I'm super excited. I mean drinking straight up water gets boring kinda quick doesnt' it?

Now I personally wouldn't call the half and half low calorie, it's 110 and 28g of sugar per bottle. Sure compared to a soda it's low (less than half the sugars)... but I haven't drank full on soda since I was in middle school. Which was like 6 years ago.... or something...

I'm the one of the right... could my pants be hiked up any higher to my waist? Sweet bangs too ehh? ANYWAY... The half and half was delicious but more of a treat for me personally. As for the Honey ginseng green tea. YUM! And an all the time kinda drink if you ask me! 0 calories a serving if I remember right. Yeah... the bottles are gone and recycled already. You can thank John who gave me a sip and then polished the rest off without me seeing. Now I just need to go out and find some to hide and not share with him, cause that taste was GOOD!  :)
 
Products supplied by Lipton, thoughts and opinions are all mine. 




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Aloic

We always had an aloe plant in the house growing up. Burn yourself taking a tray of cookies out of the oven? No problem *snap* put some of this on it. We never however tried eating or drinking it... maybe we should have?


The wonderful people at Aloic asked if they could send me a bottle of their aloe drink to try. Aloe... to drink? Hmmm I fully admit this isn't something I would have on a whim grabbed off the shelf, but I was willing to give it a try. Organic, 60 calories a serving, only 11 grams of sugar (surprising since it's rather sweet tasting), and no artificial colors or preservatives. There are a ton of health benefits listed on their website here. Drinking it alone was tasty, although if you are adverse to pulp in your drinks you might want to skip this one. After drinking a bottle on its own I decided to get creative and use it in my morning green monster smoothies. It ads a lot more sweetness than the milk I normally use so I had to cut down on the banana so it wasn't overpoweringly sweet. Definitely a healthy tasty way to start your day!

Aloe green monster
1 cup Aloic aloe very drink
1 cup kale torn into small pieces (stem removed)
1/2 banana
1/2 cup ice

In a high power blender blend Aloic and kale until smooth, add in banana and ice and blend until incorporated, serve imediatly


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Seriously I drink 6 cups a day

I'm not exaggerating when I say I drink 6-8 cups of green tea a day. It's basically all I drink while I'm at work and I have an electric teapot and an infuser on hand for brewing loose leaf tea. I've been wanting to tell you about a variety of new teas I've gotten to try recently, but with temperatures in the 90's for most of July, I figured hot tea was the last thing you'd want to hear about.

(There is something about a fancy tea cup that makes tea taste better)

Lucky for you it's been cooling off at night! (well at least here it has been) It was a brisk 55 the other morning and I nearly ran back inside to throw a warm jacket on. No worries though, it's still hitting 70's and 80's here during the day, perfect if you ask me. But back to the tea! The wonderful people at Teavivre sent me a fabulous sample pack of loose leaf teas to try.

Organic Superfine Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea

Premium grade Dragon Well Green Tea (Long Jing)

Organic Hangzhou Tian Mu Qing Ding Green Tea

Bi Luo Chun Green Tea (Pi Lo Chun)

Huang Shan Mao Feng Green Tea

I truthfully loved them all. None were over the top bold, but they each had their own unique subtleties. I must say it was super fun receiving a package covered in Chinese custom forms, it just made it so much more special! (the tea ships directly from China where the leaves are grown)

What is your favorite kind of tea? Mine is obviously green (hence why they sent me all greens to sample) they have every type you can imagine though, even flowing ones! Have you ever had a flower tea? They are beautiful!

Also the samples were given to me for free, the opinions are all mine and I was not paid for this post.

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Want to win a Lipton Gift Basket?

I do I do! Ok I didn't win one, but I GOT one from the wonderful people at Lipton because this girl here is one of their new tea tastemakers!! And the best part is YOU, one of my wonderful readers, get to win one! The basket includes: an electric tea kettle, 3 boxes of lipton tea, a travel tea tumbler, and a very cool bamboo tea box. Details on how to enter below.

I seriously drink at least 6 cups of tea a day at work, it's my lifewater. Just ask my boss, he always manages to page over to my desk when I'm in the kitchen heating up water. Best part, I don't need to use the microwave anymore because the gift basket comes with an electric tea kettle! I'm normally not a huge fruit flavor tea kinda girl, I'm a straight up green tea, nothing added gal, but I must say I'm really digging the green tea with goji and raspberry the best. It's a subtle taste, and has a really nice aroma. The mangosteen peach is perfect for you fruity tea lovers (it was a bit too peachy for me personally).

How to enter: Tell me how you like your tea: Sweet? With lemon? Straight up? (entries limited to US only, sorry my international peeps). You have until March 13th noon EST to enter.

This post was created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador in the Lipton Tea Tastemaker Program. Visit www.facebook.com/lipton to join the conversation.”

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Hot Cocoa for Adults

First off happy holidays! Sorry to go MIA, but lets face it, you were all probably too busy to be reading blogs anyway. I've got a question for you, are you a holiday card person? I'm totally not, don't get me wrong I love getting photo cards in the mail, or a nice handwritten letter, but sending them.. nahhh. You see once you start you can never stop! So I plan on never starting... this however leads to people asking why we don't send them a card in return, or people demanding we "take a picture in front of the fireplace" and send it to them... so my friends, you complained enough so here you go... first up John with our pet cat.

And then the two of us...

Believe me, this shoot involved copious amounts of giggles :) maybe we should start sending cards.... nahhhh!

Now what better way to spend a nice winters eve? A toasty fire, a book, some knitting, and a nice cup of hot chocolate... How about some straight up good for you antioxidant filled 100% cocoa instead? Brewed 100% cocoa beans?? Sounds horrible and bitter right? Well the first words out of John's mouth when he took a sip of this stuff were "wow, that's smooth". I totally agree with him, I was actually expecting a much harsher, in your face taste based on how strong the grounds smelled (it was a delicious smell, but strong none the less). In the end it was a pleasant surprise and I've really been enjoying the stuff.... you probably want to know what "the stuff" is huh? It's called Choffy, and I'd never heard of it until a person at the company contacted me and asked if I wanted to try some on the house. Of course I said I'd be happy to try it :)

All you need to make it is preferably a french press (you can use a drip coffee pot too). Add the grounds in with some hot water, sit for 5 minutes, plunge and serve. I added a little half and half to mine and it was perfect, others might want to add a little sweet but I found it excellent without it! I'll admit it's a little pricey for an everyday treat ($15 for 12oz), but I'd totally get this for special occasions or as a gift for someone :)

I don't think I could ask for a more perfect evening, I'm officially an old woman at the ripe old age of 30... what about all of you? What's your perfect evening? Something relaxing and staying in like me? Or out on the town? Would it involve some 100% cocoa? :) Now that I think about it, maybe I'll add a swig of amaretto into my next cup of Choffy... now THAT sounds like a good night in!

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Chocolate Almond Shake

Well I couldn't just stop at cookies with the almond butter! We had to add it into a protein shake for a little something fun :)

Why is a protein shake in a shot glass you may be wondering... because things are always cuter in smaller packages :)

John is a protein powder connoisseur. Some people may know wines... John knows protein powder! Hmmm I'd say it's a 2010 with a very floral bouquet...

umm yeah anyway... some protein powder has a really chalky taste to it.. bleh! But adding a dab of almond butter solves that problem quick!


John's chocolate almond shake

2 scoops chocolate protein powder
2 cups fat free lactaid
1 Tbs MaraNatha almond butter

toss it all in a blender, hit go... drink it up!

POM tea

Remember how I used some POM Wonderful juice to make some wicked tasty granola, and some muffins? Well the people at POM wonderful had a new treat for me to try, POM tea. This time I think I'm going to stick to just drinking the stuff :) no adding this into baked goods for me!


They sent me two flavors, pomegranate blackberry tea, and a light pomegranate wildberry white tea. (there are a ton of other flavor options too) The light tea only has 35 calories a serving... now that's what I'm talking about. I'm a "eat my calories" kind of girl. You can have your high calorie drinks all you want... me I just want to eat, I want my drinks to be low or no calorie (hence why I guzzle green tea from morning to night) YUM!

The light tea was refreshing and had a slight berry taste to it, nothing artificial or overpowering. Actually I wish it had a little more fruit flavor to it, it's a bit on the bland side. It has 9 sugars per serving, so it's not over the top, but I'd think it would have tasted sweeter with that number. I really like the idea though since straight up POM juice can be a bit overpowering to some, so this would be a great option for those kind of people. Get in those antioxidants in a mellower way!

I just tried the full on sugar version. It has 80 calories and 18 sugars per serving. (2 servings per 16 oz bottle) it has a lot more flavor than the light for sure! It's really good flavor and sweetness wise. I'm pretty glad I tried the low cal one first, because I think if I went the other way I really wouldn't have liked the low cal version. I say stick with the original for this one, and I totally recommend the pomegranate blackberry tea, YUM!

Do you drink a lot of your calories? Or are you an eat your calories person like me? :D

Go chow to help the MDA

I was contacted yesterday about a wonderful event happening tonight. Carrabba's is having a little mixer and proceeds are going to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Come on people... chow... that helps benefit a good organization, I'm IN! I've actually never been to a Carrabba's but an event like this seems like a good excuse to try them out!

Here are the details:

Carrabba’s Italian Grill “Mix it up for MDA” Event

What: “Mix it Up for MDA” Event, a fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association

When: (TONIGHT!) Thursday, July 30th from 5 p.m. to close

Cost: $15 a person

Admission includes a sampling of four food items from the new Mr. C’s Bar Menu and, for guests 21 years and older, one of three signature cocktails (Blackberry Lemonade, the Italian Lemon Drop or Blackberry Fields Martini) or another drink on the Mr. C’s list. In addition to monies raised from event admission, Carrabba’s also will donate $1 to MDA for each of the three signature drinks sold from July 30 – August 6.


Where: To find Carrabba’s locations near you, visit http://carrabbas.com/locator.aspx


They also gave me access to the recipes for the feature drinks! Pretty sweet huh :D So tell me... which one should I make first? I'm thinking the Italian Lemon Drop has my name written all over it.


So go have a drink to support the MDA!

Click on the below image to see the other drink recipes!


If you go let me know which drink you tried and how you liked it :)

Boot Rear

It's summer, that means its root beer float season.

Enjoy :D


You're probably wondering about the pun in the title... In middle school my friends and I used to read this book series that was far more mature then our little minds knew at the time (man the innuendos that went over my head!) anyway in the books they had this stuff called Boot Rear... tasted like, you guessed it, root beer. The twist was you'd get the sensation of a kick to the rear every time you took a sip... And now you all know I'm a gigantic dork... I just felt like sharing... anyone else ever read the Xanth series?

*crickets*

yeah that's what I figured :D

BBC... yeah you know me!

Oh wait that's OPP yeah you know me!

BBC... that's the british channel... ehh same thing right! whooops!
And Sean and John I'm not talking about your version of the BBC!

Anyway my friend Travis sent me this recipe the other day and I told him I'd give him a little shout out and put 'er up first thing this week! Travis was one of my "kids". By kids I mean the 40 freshman (who were only a year younger than me shhh don't tell them) who I had to watch over as an RA (residence adviser) Ohhhh the stories... any other RA's out there? We had a good time, and there are way too many stories I could tell, and since my Mom is reading this "hi mom!" lets just move right along to the recipe :D


BBC Smoothie
by Travis
I'm calling it the BBC because of the main three ingredients, blueberries, blackberries, and cranberries, in about equal portions. I added Santa Cruz organic limeade and blended, and it turned out delicious.


Thanks for the smoothie Travis!! And due to popular demand the whole wheat soft pretzels will be posting tomorrow!!

Potent Apple Pie Punch

Red and white wine, apple cider, various sodas, and some potent apple pie punch. The favorite of the 24 24 24 Cold Comfort night was definitely the punch. It's super easy, apple juice or cider, spiced rum and cinnamon schnapps. I must say I'm really not a big drinker by any means so when I went to the liquor store I was a bit at a loss as to where to find cinnamon schnapps, first of all I never even knew it existed. So off I went searching... after finding the red and white wines I wanted along with some Captain Morgans I still couldn't find the cinnamon schnapps.

I finally gave in and asked an employee who looked at me weird and said "you mean Goldschläger?"

really that's what that stuff is??? Seriously I had no clue, all I knew is that people get really messed up on the stuff, and that there is gold floating in it... that's where my amazing knowlege on the subject ends haha. So anyway back to the recipe!

yup that's it in the HUGE punch bowl Zoe let me borrow, thanks Zoe!

Apple Pie Punch (and man this stuff has a kick to it!)
Recipe courtesy Sandra Lee, host of Food Network's Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee

Ingredients:
2 cups apple juice or cider
4 ounces spiced rum
2 ounces cinnamon Schnapps (aka Goldschläger)
1 red apple, sliced

Directions:
1. Combine apple juice, rum, and Schnapps in a punch bowl or pitcher.
2. Serve punch over ice and garnish with red apple slices.

I made 4 times this recipe for the night.

Chow!

Coffee coolata shake

You already know I'm a gym rat.. when you are a gym rat you learn about things like protein powder... I know what you are thinking.. yuck right? Nope! Especially if you sneak it into a yummy delicious ice cream shake! John and I made these the other day after a run as a snack. So tasty!! We served them up in wine glasses too for a laugh.

while taking a sip "Hmmm this was a good year"
while swirling and sniffing "yes a very nice bouquet with chocolaty undertones"

yes we are nuts... it's true :)

Coffee / chocolate protein shake
1 cup ice coffee (see recipe here)
1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
1/2 cup packed low fat coffee ice cream (i use low fat wegmans cappuccino chip mmmm)
1/2 cup skim milk

Toss in a blender and blend away...

The 100% whey chocolate protein powder has 120 calories in a scoop and 23g protein and it tastes like chocolate milk when you mix it up.. yum! I buy it at BJ's for cheep but here is a link

mmmmmmm