RIO MOVIE & $50.00 FANDANGO GIFT GARD GIVEAWAY
I am thrilled to let you know that Chiquita is partnering with 20th Century Fox and the movie Rio, the next big 3-D animated event from the creators of Ice Age™ , to bring you and your little ones Chiquita’s “Make Your Way To Rio” Sweepstakes. It’s an online journey filled with fun interactive games, coloring pages, videos, easy Chiquita recipes and sweepstakes prizes that you and your family will enjoy together. There is even a chance to win a trip for you and your family to visit Rio de Janerio. All you need to do is visit www.chiquita.com/rio to play and enter.
Last Friday my husband and I took our two boys and a friend to see RIO at the local drive-in here in Vermont. It’s generally a nice time of year to go to the drive-in because there are no bugs and the movie starts at a decent hour. Unfortunately, the boys wanted to bundle up in the back of the van with the hatch open on this balmy night of 30 degrees. The movie was great, the boys LOVED it BUT the parents were freezing! 
Chiquita would like to give one purelysweetmom reader a $50.00 FANDANGO gift card that can be used to purchase movie tickets. Unfortunately, Fandango gift cards can not be used in Vermont (sorry Vermont followers!).
TO ENTER:
PLEASE NOTE: The Fandango gift card cannot be used in Vermont. You can use it in most other states. Please only enter if you live outside of Vermont or if you could use it in another state)
1. You must follow me using Google Friend Connect or via e-mail (if you already have done this then you are all set)
2. Leave a comment telling me which movie you would like to see (if you win you are under no obligation to see the movie you leave a comment about)
3. Be sure to leave your e-mail address with your comment so I can contact you if you win.
CONTEST ENDS Friday, April 29th at midnight. Winner will be chosen by random.org.
Disclaimer: Companies will periodically offer me FREE products to review and I only accept offers that fit within the theme of my blog. I am under no obligation to write a favorable review or any review at all. I will only share with you the products that I would chose to purchase on my own and I will include my honest opinion.
Healthy Living Learning Center- Review
Did you know that Healthy Living offers cooking classes (and other wellness classes) to both novice and experienced cooks?
Healthy Living’s Learning Center aims to provide the benefits of natural foods and wellness to as many people as possible in the community through a variety of culinary and health education classes. Learning Center director, Nina Lesser-Goldsmith, was trained at the French Culinary Institute in NYC and has worked both as a restaurant chef and a personal chef. Nina brings a desire and passion to help educate and teach us all that cooking great food can be fun and easy.
Healthy Living graciously allowed me the opportunity to take a free class at their new Learning Center. I attended the class, Making Pasta from Scratch and You’ll Never go Back. The class started at 5:30 and lasted until around 8. The class was located in a beautiful bright and sunny classroom at Healthy Living. It was so inviting and cheerful on a cold spring day in March. Everyone (or every pair) had their own work station complete with aprons, cooking utensils, and pre-measured ingredients. Nina demonstrated how to make pasta dough going through each step in detail and including all the chemistry behind why we were doing things specific ways. We then went back to our own stations and worked alone or with a partner to make our own pasta dough. Even though I sent my pasta machine handle flying onto the floor a few times and made 40 inch long fettuccine I was pretty psyched with my accomplishments! By the end of the class I had made pasta dough, ravioli filling, raviolis, fettuccine and brown butter sauce. We were given the recipes so we could duplicate this at home in our own kitchens. I felt inspired and thought this would be a fun hands-on activity to do with the kids. I also loved learning how to make brown butter sauce since it can be used on more than just pasta. Oh and did I mention there is an assistant who comes around all the time picking up your mess and there are NO dishes to wash, pretty awesome, right?!
It was easy to see the “light” in Nina’s eyes when she was discussing how much she enjoyed sharing her passion and knowledge of cooking with others. She created a relaxed and fun atmosphere and we all left feeling like we learned something that we could go back home and try in our own kitchens. I look forward to attending more classes at Healthy Living. Please check out the LEARNING CENTER so you can see the upcoming class schedule. Nina also offers birthday cooking parties (love this since it’s something a little different) and private cooking classes.
And guess what? I did go back and I paid to take a class with my 6 year old son Caden. Healthy Living’s Learning center offers children’s cooking classes at least once a week. Caden took KIDS IN THE KITCHEN: PIZZA! An adult needs to accompany each child but your child does all the work and participates in each step of the cooking process. In a small group Caden helped make pizza sauce from scratch. He then rolled out his own individual pizza dough, added sauce, vegetable toppings and cheese. While the pizzas cooked the kids nibbled on delicious garlic knots and juice. At the end of class Caden sampled some of his pizza and then brought the rest home to eat for dinner. This was such a nice thing for the two of us to do together and a great way to spend an afternoon. He can’t wait to go back for another class!
“My Little Cupcake” Review and Giveaway
Contest has ended and winner has been notified
The cupcake craze is booming all over the nation. Essex, Vermont is now part of the craze with it’s own trendy cupcake bakery, My Little Cupcake. I was thrilled to get the chance to visit the new local bakery and meet the owners. Michelle Trudell, who has been making cupcakes out of her home since 2009, partnered with Stephanie Lacayo and opened My Little Cupcake in January of 2011.
As you know I love to support local businesses that use all natural ingredients. I had tried their yummy miniature cupcakes at Healthy Living so I was pretty sure they were on to something good. When I talked with co-owner, Michelle, she let me know that they try to use local ingredients when possible. Michelle graciously gave me a 6 pack sample of the cupcakes to bring home and try.
Here is Eliza loving the “birthday cake” cupcake.
And what can I say?? They are delicious! I love that they are bite size so you don’t feel guilty about eating more than one, or two, or…. more. They look absolutely gorgeous and look like little mini centerpieces. In my opinion, the secret is in the frosting from the way it tastes to the variety of adorable designs available.
As a mom, I can see the convenience of buying these cute cupcakes for birthday parties, baby showers, or any occasion at all where you want homemade cupcake taste with some fancy trendy frosting on top. You can trust the cupcake ingredients to be all natural and even include some local ingredients as well.
Michelle was very gracious to spend some time talking to me and showing me around My Little Cupcake. Since January the business has grown to 8 employees. Salted Caramel and Maple Bacon are among the best sellers. I do have to admit that Salted Caramel (a chocolate cupcake with a caramel swirl butter-cream, caramel drizzle and sprinkled with Mediterranean sea salt) is my favorite!
Sounds perfectly yummy, right? Want to try some for FREE? See how you can win a sample 4 pack below! To be eligible to win you need to be a local VT resident or someone who visits regularly!
Even if you don’t win…check out My Little Cupcake in Essex and let me know what you think! I hear they have some special cupcakes that will be available for St. Patrick’s Day!
1. Visit My Little Cupcake and come back and leave a comment on this post saying which cupcake flavor you would like to try. This is the only REQUIRED thing you must do for an entry.
For EXTRA ENTRIES you may do any of the following.
1. LIKE my FACEBOOK PAGE. You can also do this on the right side of my blog. If you have already done this tell me so in an additional comment.
2. Subscribe to my blog via e-mail.
3. Follow me with Google Friend Connect.
Please leave each entry in a SEPARATE comment, and make sure to leave a comment for all the ones you do! For example, if you like my Facebook page but don’t leave me a comment here saying you did, it won’t count (it’s too hard to round up all the entries from several locations).
This giveaway will end on Thursday, March 17 at 11PM.
Winner wil be chosen by random.org
Disclaimer: Companies will periodically offer me FREE products to review and I only accept offers that fit within the theme of my blog. I am under no obligation to write a favorable review or any review at all. I will only share with you the products that I would chose to purchase on my own and I will include my honest opinion.
CHOICE Organic Tea Review and Giveaway!
Contest has ended and winners have been notified.
A few months ago I went to Healthy Living to do my weekly shopping. The tea I usually buy was not on sale so I tried a new brand. I purchased CHOICE Organic Peppermint Herbal Tea and I loved it! I am a big fan of peppermint teas and I thought the flavor of this tea was excellent.
Just recently I was given the opportunity to review Choice Organic tea’s newest 5 teas- Oothu Garden Green, Wild Forest Black, Decaffeinated English Breakfast, Rooibos Superfruit and Yerba Mate Mint. These 5 new teas support the Jane Goodall Institute and their continued leadership and commitment to social and environmental sustainability. Sales from each purchase benefit the Jane Goodall Institute, a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats.
Choice Organic tea company is committed to a firm belief in the importance of using organic ingredients in their teas. They are considered pioneers in the development of organic tea agriculture worldwide. They offer more FAIR TRADE Organic Tea varieties than any other tea company.
And their teas are awesome! By doing this review I have realized that I certainly have my tea preferences. I really like mint flavored teas and plain flavored teas. Of the five that I reviewed my favorites were the English Breakfast Tea and the Yerba Mate Mint tea. I think the Oothu Garden Green tea is great, I just prefer green teas mixed with another flavor. I am not a huge fan of green tea by itself. In the summer I like iced green tea mixed with lemonade. The Roobios Superfruit had a delicious fruity smell and flavor, I am just not a fan of fruity flavored teas but maybe you are.
Want to try to these teas for yourself?
Choice Organic Tea Company is generously giving away 2 TEA PRIZE PACKS to my readers located in the United States. Winners of previous giveaways may enter.
To enter:
1. Visit CHOICE ORGANIC TEA and come back and leave a comment on this post saying which tea you would like to try. This is the only REQUIRED thing you must do for an entry.
For EXTRA ENTRIES you may do any of the following.
1. LIKE my FACEBOOK PAGE. You can also do this on the right side of my blog. If you have already done this tell me so in an additional comment.
2. Subscribe to my blog via e-mail.
3. Follow me with Google Friend Connect.
4. Follow me on Twitter and tweet ” I am going to try and win Choice Organic Tea when I win it at @purelysweetmom” and link to this post.
Please leave each entry in a SEPARATE comment, and make sure to leave a comment for all the ones you do! For example, if you like my Facebook page but don’t leave me a comment here saying you did, it won’t count (it’s too hard to round up all the entries from several locations).
This giveaway will end on Tuesday, March 8 at 5PM. Good luck!
Winner wil be chosen by random.org
Disclaimer: Companies will periodically offer me FREE products to review and I only accept offers that fit within the theme of my blog. I am under no obligation to write a favorable review or any review at all. I will only share with you the products that I would chose to purchase on my own and I will include my honest opinion.
I Made my Own Yogurt!
