review

Crayola Makes Summer Time Breezy

May 16, 2013 by Denisesawyer Leave a Comment

As a child there was nothing that thrilled me more than a box of new art supplies: stickers, crayons, markers, colored pencils…I loved them all! And, still as an adult new stationary makes giddy. So, I want to bring those memories of my childhood to my own children. So, ever since Judah could hold a chubby toddler crayon I’ve been doing projects with him and buying new art supplies. And now that Eliana is getting a little bigger she’s been dying to get in on the action.

So, when we received a big box of Crayola Color Wonder products and Sidewalk Chalk I knew fun was in our future! First, the kids spent the afternoon coloring on the porch with the Color Wonder Kits and tools. The kits in our package were perfect for my kiddos – Hello Kitty and Hot Wheels! Judah preferred the brush tip markers while Eliana went straight for the gel paints. It was a great little afternoon project and held their attention for much longer than most things they play with!

I also took the coloring books and color wonder mini markers with us when we went for a drive on Mother’s Day. We met my mom’s family about an hour away so this was the perfect “car-occupier.” I love that all of the color wonder products are mess free! So, while my kiddos were all dressed up for their lunch date their outfits were still in ship shape after all their artsy fun in the car.

We saved the chalk for a sunny day and yesterday proved the perfect day for it. We took the Sidewalk Chalk Paint set out as well as a box of Crayola Sidewalk Chalk. Even I had a little fun in the drive way. I LOVE side walk chalk. I especially like Crayola’s side walk chalk because it is so much more vibrant. The colors are bright and really pop.

Judah and Eliana made a big ol’ mess with the paint set and Judah was really thrilled with the novelty of using paint on the drive way. The set came with apaint roller and a paint brush. Judah hogged the paint roller the whole time but Eliana didn’t mind a bit. She was just happy to be allowed to paint with a paint brush. This was the perfect place for her to practice her painting skills since there weren’t any walls in this space to worry about!

All of these new products are available at Walmart. And, they are all very affordable. Side walk chalk is $1.97 for 12 or $2.97 for 24 pieces. The Color Wonder kits -with coloring pages AND markers- are on rollback this month for $6.97 {down from $7.97}. The Color Wonder books {like our Hot Wheels and Hello Kitty ones} are just $4.97 as well as the tools like the brush tip markers and gel paints. That makes these the perfect “anytime” gift to put a smile on the face of a kid who deserves it. Let ‘em know you appreciate their manners, hard work, or effort by bringing home an inexpensive treat. Crayola is always a good choice … you’ll be giving your kids the keys to their creative side.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I’m a participant in the Walmart Moms Program. Walmart has provided me with a product sample and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. Participation in this program is voluntary and the opinions stated above are entirely my own.

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Filed Under: Product Reviews & Giveaways Tagged With: color wonder, crayola, review, side walk chalk, Walmart

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Review: Tyrrell’s Chips

April 3, 2013 by Denisesawyer 1 Comment

I had the priveledge of trying some new hand cooked chips from the UK {now available in the US}. These chips are from Tyrrell’s Farm where they use all of the potato (they keep the jackets on!) and cook them in small batches to keep them crispy and crunchy.

Tyrrells Chips are all natural, gluten-free and come in seven delicious and eccentric flavors, with something for everyone’s taste: Lightly Sea Salted, Sea Salt & Cider Vinegar, Mature Cheddar & Chives, Sea Salt and Black Cracked Pepper, Sweet Chili & Red Pepper, Worcestershire & Sundried Tomato and Beetroot, Parsnip and Carrots with a Pinch of Sea Salt.

I LOVED the lightly sea salted variety. And there is only 3 ingredients: potatoes, sunflower oil, and sea salt. That qualifies as REAL food! However, it is still not HEALTH food so you’ll need to watch how much of them you consume…and if you are like me {a chip fiend} you’ll need to come up with some creative ways to keep yourself from eating them all at once. They are that good.

While I do limit the amount of chips we bring into the house {I did say I was a chip fiend, right?} I do like to keep a few bags of chips, GMO free tortilla chips, and sprouted pretzels around for packing in lunch boxes. I mean, how can one enjoy a sandwich without some chips? {Carrots don’t cut it.}

If you are interested in purchasing Tyrrell’s chips I’ve been – around to figure out how to get my hands on some more and found that BettyMills has the best price. You can buy them by the case and they have some little deal where you can earn free snacks when you purchase items from their store.

And, be sure to go become part of the chip connoisseur club at Tyrrell’s website – you could win a box of chips!

Filed Under: Product Reviews & Giveaways, Uncategorized Tagged With: lightly salted chips, review, Tyrell's chips

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Rachael Ray Cookware Review

March 12, 2013 by Denisesawyer 2 Comments

Are you a Food Network fan? I’ve said more than once that it is where I learned a lot about cooking as a new bride. If it weren’t for Food Network Television, their website, and my dear ol’ mom being available every evening at the dinner hour {when I would call and ask a string of questions}, I wouldn’t be the cook I am today! I still love to watch Food Network and often leave it on even when I’m doing something else. Judah even enjoys some of the shows now, like Chopped and Cupcake Wars.

Since we are HUGE Food Network fans, I was very excited to get an advanced look at the Racheal Ray Collection kitchenware line which will be available at Walmart starting March 24th. The collection includes cookware, stoneware, and tools and gadgets. Walmart will carry 40 pieces in store from the collection and an addition 175 items will be available on Walmart.com.

I received a Skillet Twin Pack, a Garbage Bowl, Lazy Spoon, and Top This Lids.

My favorite piece by far has to be the Garbage Bowl. I have used it for anything but garbage! It is so beautiful and colorful and the orange speckled melamine matches my kitchen so well! It also comes in other colors too, lie purple, green, blue, and red. I love that it has a rubberized foot that keeps the bowl from moving around on the counter.

Since I have a compost bucket with a lid that I use for my veggie scraps, I have been using this bowl to hold all my fresh fruit on the counter. My kids go through so much fresh fruit and veggies and this big bowl is perfect for holding 4 or 5 avocados, a bunch of bananas, and my fresh tomatoes.

The ramekins are on the top of my WANT list. I can’t wait to get my hands on some to make individual pot pies, desserts, and duchess potatoes.

The Top This! lids and lazy spoons are also very functional. If you are like most home cooks you have a bunch of bowls that don’t have lids. Instead of using plastic wrap or foil for covering things you can use this suction lids {that create an airtight seal} on top of your bowls …. a much more “green” solution.

Filed Under: Product Reviews & Giveaways Tagged With: cookware, racheal ray, review, Walmart

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Review: Vaseline Spray and Go

March 12, 2013 by Denisesawyer Leave a Comment

Do you hate when you have to wait to let the lotion dry before you can put your clothes back on? I am the world’s worst! I know I should apply lotion but I never take the time. I take WAY better care of my kids skin than I do mine!

So, when Walmart asked me to review Vaseline Spray & Go – a new (breakthrough) continuous spray lotion that moisturizes (and absorbs) in seconds, I just had to try it. I thought, it can’t hurt and I might find something that even I can stick with!

New Vaseline Spray & Go Moisturizer is easy to apply. If you’ve ever used spray sun tan lotion, this is just like that. You just spray it on and then give it a little rub and it dries very quickly, leaving skin feeling instantly soft – not sticky or greasy. They’ve even come up with a system to make it as fast as possible called “up, switch, down, rub.” In other words, you spray one side, switch hands, spray the other side down, and then give it a quick rub in, and viola, you are done and can put your clothes on quickly.

I thought it worked well – it IS super fast! It was very light feeling and the smell was light (I tried the one with oat extract). My skin felt great after I used it. However, I’d prefer to use lotions without fragrance. I’m not sure if the other varieties contain fragrance, but if they would come out with a fragrance free variety I’d be more likely to be a repeat purchaser. {Fingers crossed}.

As always, I recommend checking into products yourself via the Skin Deep website to find out if products are safe. Some of the research is inconclusive so instead of telling you to use or not use a product, you should look into them and make a judgement call yourself.

There are 3 variants: Vaseline Spray & Go Moisturizer Total Moisture – with pure oat extract, for healthy soft skin, Vaseline® Spray & Go Moisturizer Aloe Fresh – with pure aloe, for healthy fresh skin, Vaseline Spray & Go Moisturizer Cocoa Radiant – with pure cocoa butter, for healthy glowing skin.

Vaseline Spray and Go Moisturizer will be available at Walmart for $5.97

Filed Under: Product Reviews & Giveaways Tagged With: lotion, review, Vaseline, Vaseline Spray and Go

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Pampers Diapers – A Review

March 6, 2013 by Denisesawyer 2 Comments

I had the opportunity to try Pampers Cruisers with my little one. I will first tell you that I have ALWAYS used Huggies on her. I tried a few brands (including Pampers) when I had Judah 4 years ago. I found that Huggies worked best for him. So, I assumed they would work the best with Eliana. I haven’t been unhappy, necessarily with Huggies on Eliana, but when I tried Pampers Cruisers this month on her I was immediately sold.

I LOVE the fit that she gets. That must be thanks to the 3-way fit {Pampers says the 3 way fit is their best fit ever, giving babies the freedom to play their way}. The 20% longer absobent patch can’t hurt either… I’d say it is working like a champ. We haven’t had ANY leaks.

But, there is one more thing I love about the Pampers diapers…THE GRAPHICS! Okay, I know when I am shopping for disposable diapers I look at

Their ability to work without leaking and bunching.
Their cost (momma’s gotta save money!)

So, the way they look doesn’t usually play into my thought process when choosing a disposable diaper. BUT, you should know, these are seriously cute. I love the polka dots! And, Eliana is Elmo’s biggest fan. So, consider these super cute Sesame Street designs a bonus!

Filed Under: Product Reviews & Giveaways Tagged With: cruisers, diapers, pampers, review

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Valentine’s Day Baking Projects

February 8, 2013 by Denisesawyer 1 Comment

My kiddos and I have had such a good time baking, decorating, and packaging up some Valentine’s goodies for our friends and for ourselves. Just yesterday my little had a great time decorating these heart cookies from this cookie kit I purchased at Walmart. This kit has everything you need: 4 packages of icing, candies, sprinkles, and 12 shortbread cookies. This is the perfect size for a fun decorating party at home or for a Sunday school class or pick up 2 for a school activity at your kiddos Valentine’s Day Party.

I made it super fun for the kids while making it super easy on me – I took our little kid’s table out on the porch so that clean up would be a breeze. {Especially where toddlers and sprinkles are involved!}. We deocrated a few of them and saved a couple packs of icing and about half of the cookies for another day {yay! two fun activites for the low price of one!}.

We also baked up some cookie brownie cups with a Nestle Toll House Cookie-Brownie Delight. We added some festive little heart sprinkles to the top and enjoyed a couple as a snack today! Then, I boxed up the rest to share with our extended family.

They were so tasty {super chocolatey in my opinion} it was hard not to eat them all – especially while they were warm. Swoon.

Last, but definitely not least we baked up some classic chocolate chip cookies – I always use the recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House morsels package, it is perfection. The only difference this time is that we used the super cute, Valentine’s morsels! They included some red and pink morsels in addition to the brown chocolate ones.

When the cookies were finished we packaged them up in the cute tin I had on my shelf from last year. It is perfect for gifting to unsuspecting friends.

It’s fun to give gifts to your friends during this holiday – and not just your sweetheart Everyone loves to feel loved. And, since chocolate chip cookies are so easy – and universally loved- why not bake up an extra batch for someone who could use a little extra special love lately.

All of these products are very affordable and available at Walmart -so baking up some smiles and hugs should be a pretty easy thing to do this season.

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Filed Under: Holidays, Product Reviews & Giveaways, Wholesome Family Tagged With: brownies, cookies, review

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Review & Give Away: Almondina

February 2, 2013 by Denisesawyer 18 Comments

I recently had the opportunity to try {and share} Almondina biscuits. They are a delightfully crunchy {and suprisingly healthful} cookie that is a great accompaniment to coffee or tea. I took these little babies to Bible study and every raved about them.

I’ve never had anything quite like them, so they are a bit hard to describe. The original Almondina biscuit {my personal favorite} has a wonderful vanilla and almond flavor – chockful of almonds and raisins. They are VERY thin, light, and crunchy – but not hard. There is no need to dip them – as you would a biscotti, they are different than that – and much thinner.

I like to have them at night when I’m blogging, with a cup of hot tea. They are so delicious. I’ve hidden them from my children (who also love them) to have one or two of them each night – a special treat that is ALL. MINE.

For my friends who’ve been asking where you can purchase these wonderful cookies, I searched the Almondina website and found that you can purchase directly through them, they are available at Ingles, Walmart, and Publix (although I haven’t seen them at my local stores), and they are available on Amazon in a 6 pack.

These cookies fall in line with those of us who are trying to be a bit more health concsious but still like to have a little treat – they do not contain cholestrol, added fat, salt, or preservatives and they DO include lots of healthy ingredients. They now come in 8 more flavors besides the Original: Cinnaroma, Choconut, Anniversary {with annise}, Almonduo {with pistachios}, chocolate cherry, pumpkin spice,gingerspice, and sesame.

One lucky Wholesome Mommy reader will get to try a Sampler Box just like I did!

To enter you can do ONE, TWO, or ALL of these (each is worth one entry – please comment a separate time for each entry to be counted):

Like Almondina AND Wholesome Mommy on facebook
Tell me which flavor of Almondia Biscuit your mouth is watering for!
Follow @Almondina and @WholesomeMommy on Twitter and tweet this give away “Give Away at @WholesomeMommy for a sampler box of DELICIOUS @Almondia biscuits here: http://bit.ly/12hc5ng!”
Follow me on Pinterest to get lots of great ideas. Not on Pinterest yet? Email me and I will send you an invite!

This give away ends February 7th at 11:59 EST. The winner will be chosen via random.org and will be notified by email and announced on this blog.

Filed Under: Product Reviews & Giveaways Tagged With: almond biscuits, almondina, cookies, review

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Peter Rabbit Organics Fruit and Veggie Pouches

January 27, 2013 by Denisesawyer Leave a Comment

Judah and Eliana LOVE fruit. I always have some kind {usually a few types} of fresh fruit and veggies in my fridge at any given time. Their favorites are oranges, grapes, any kind of berry, cantaloupe, and sweet potatoes. They’ll eat other varieties too, but these are the types I can count on them eating EVERY time.

They are also CONSTANTLY hungry – especially Eliana. I feel like I live in the kitchen most days. I try to be mindful of the snacks I give them between meals – knowing that they might not eat as much when it comes time for dinner. So, I try to give them snacks from all the food groups as snacks versus crackers or junk food.

We recently received a few pouches of Peter Rabbit Organics squeezable fruit and veggies. These are fantastic for in between meal snacks – especially if you are on the go since no silverware are required! Judah also likes to take them to school in his lunchbox. We had actually purchased these prior to the samples arriving – my kids love them and request them when we are at the store. {Truth be told, Eliana doesn’t always make it out of the store before eating hers- of course I still pay for empty or half empty packages! }. I had only purchased the fruit flavors though – like grape apple and peach apple – never the veggie blends. I thought they would taste funky like baby food. But, included in the samples was a carrot, squash, and apple blend. It was full of carrot, butternut squash, and apple sauce. I let Eliana sample it and she gobbled it down. She acted like it was delicious…so I was curious. I took a little squeeze of it and tasted it – it WAS good! I would actually eat this!

Okay, but besides being super portable, here’s why this snack is totally mom approved:

Peter Rabbit Organics is ORGANIC! {YAY!}
The pouches have no added sugar, salt – and have NOTHING artificial!
They use lemon juice to keep things fresh – no yucky artificial preservatives
The pouches are BPA free.

If you have a child 6 months or older I recommend this product. They come in lots of flavors. You should pick a few up and let your kids decide… they’ll thank you!

Filed Under: Product Reviews & Giveaways Tagged With: apple sauce, kids, peter rabbit organics, review, snacks, squeezable pouches

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Fleischmann’s Simply Homemade No Knead Bread Mixes – Yes Please!

January 21, 2013 by Denisesawyer Leave a Comment

bread 2

Fleischmann’s – a name you probably recognize from their bread yeast {its been around 140 years!} has a new product on the shelves of your local grocery store – Simply Homemade No Knead Bread Mixes.

These bread mixes allow home bakers {that’s you and me!} to prepare freshly-baked yeast bread in just three easy steps; stir, rise, and bake and in less than an hour!

I love to bake and make homemade bread – and my favorite {very quick} french baguette takes only an hour and a half. But this mix is even faster (and easier). Perfect to keep on the shelves for when you are short on time but crave fresh baked bread! It’s also easy enough that even the novice baker {or kiddo!} can make it. Great for young bakers to try all by themselves or to get involved in the kitchen too!

bread

This mix only requires water and 15 minutes of prep-time. Perfect for busy parents who still want to serve their families something fresh and homemade!

Something else kind of cool about these mixes is that they give you mix in suggestions (or other ideas for uses/bread variations) on every box. They are available in country white, stoneground wheat, multigrain, and italian herb varieties and retail for $2.99

My family tried (and liked) the multigrain version. It had a very nice flavor and texture.

Disclosure: I was provided with product for review. My participation is voluntary. As always, my opinion is my own.

Filed Under: Product Reviews & Giveaways Tagged With: bread mix, fleischmann, review

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Cascadian Farms Organic Granola Bars

January 15, 2013 by Denisesawyer Leave a Comment

Cascadian

Have you seen the new line of organic Crunchy granola bars from Cascadian Farms? I had the opportunity to try them before they hit store shelves and I am happy to report they will be a regular on my pantry shelves.

What’s so great about them? They have 9 or fewer wholesome ingredients in each bar. AND, more importantly, you could find those ingredients in your own pantry! For example, I had the opportunity to try the Oats & Honey variety. The ingredients list says: rolled oats*, sugar*, sunflower oil*, honey*, sea salt, molasses*, vanilla extract*. *Organic

I could literally make these granola bars in my own kitchen {granted they would not turn out nearly as delicious as these!}.

The granola bars are packaged two to a sleeve and tasted much the same as other crunchy oats and honey bars packaged similarly {*wink*}. The only difference is, more wholesome ingredients – and you can taste the difference. They taste so fresh and dare I say, clean?

These granola bars are great for breakfast on the go, but they also make a good addition to lunch boxes, picnics, bike rides, snacks on the go, or after school snacks.

In addition to the Oats & Honey variety I got to try, there are two other flavors: Peanut Butter and Oats & Cocoa. These new granola bars are now available on your local grocery store shelves!