Summer Fresh Salads: review and giveaway (Canada only) -CLOSED

I was lucky enough to come home one day last month and find a giant cooler box on my door step, full to the brim with Summer Fresh Salads dips and Meals to Go. I can't even quite remember how many different kinds of hummus there were inside - I just know it was a LOT. My husband in particular was very excited by the dinner and snack possibilities that the box presented. They were really very generous.I have bought their products during my grocery shopping before, but I can't say that I paid much attention to the brand or the nutrition label. I have now, though.

My favourite thing about the Summer Fresh Salads products is that every single ingredient on the labels were something that you fully expect to be in the dip or lunch meals. No preservatives. Nothing unpronounceable. Exactly what you'd expect to find in hummus or artichoke & asiago if you made it yourself. For me, as a busy working mother, that's the best kind of convenience food - I can trust this brand and know there is nothing weird or funny added to their food.

Also, they were yummy and we all liked them. My youngest decided he liked to dip blueberries in the artichoke & asiago dip. Whatever floats your boat, kid.

I brought a couple of the Meals to Go products to work and I'll honestly say they weren't my favourite. I was probably the wrong person to test these out as I'm not the greatest fan of cold grain salads for my lunch. As much as I liked the addition of trail mix to the boxes, this is actually a problem as up until recently I worked in a nut-free office. I did like the flatbread crackers and hummus, however!Summer Fresh Salads are a Canadian company. Their president, Susan Niczowski, was recently profiled in MOMpreneur magazine. You can find them on facebook or twitter. Their website is a comprehensive listing of their products and recipes and contests.

Would you like to try some Summer Fresh Salads products? The company has offered one of my readers a $10 coupon towards their products.

Here's how to enter:

1. Leave me a comment. What Summer Fresh Salads product would you like to use the $10 coupon to try?
   
2. Leave the comment before 9pm EST on Wednesday March 2 2011
3. Be Canadian
4. Have a valid email address I can use to contact you (leave it in a field/in the comment)

And...one entry per person, please! I'll use random.org to pick a winner soon after contest close. Good luck. Thanks to Summer Fresh Salads for the giveaway.

Disclosure: I was provided with samples of Summer Fresh Salads products to review for this post and was not compensated in any other way. My views are my own.

Ddrops review & $25 gift card giveaway (Canada only) - CLOSED

I was recently sent some Kids Ddrops to review -- Vitamin D in liquid form, aimed at kids. Ddrops are a Canadian-owned vitamin company, and I was already familiar with their product, although we hadn't tried it before.

There's a lot of evidence that tells us we should all be supplementing with Vitamin D, particularly in the winter time. I try to take some myself when I remember.

I'm not exactly diligent about giving the kids vitamins (they sit in a cupboard and they take one when someone remembers) but sometimes we give them a soft chewable multi-vitamin that contains sugar. They think of it as candy. I'm totally fine with this - treats are ok around here. But if you aren't, one major appeal of Kids Ddrops is that all they contain is Vitamin D and a vegetable oil as a transport method for the D. The good thing about the oil is that you can see it if you add it to water, to make sure you actually got the drop in.

I guess that was my only concern with this product - sometimes I wasn't sure if I had actually got the drop in or not - milk was challenging. Although I wasn't that worried as I figured they could handle a double dose in the winter time. We all need it, right?

The kids enjoyed their Ddrops and liked to try to guess whether or not they would be able to taste it - they never did, in the end.

If you'd like more information, the Ddrops website is very comprehensive, covering their products and general Vitamin D information. You can also find them on facebook and twitter.

They've also been very generous to my readers - would you like to try some Ddrops? Ddrops is offering one of you a $25 gift certificate from either Shoppers Drug Mart, Jean Coutu or well.ca.

Here's how to enter:

1. Leave me a comment. Ideas to discuss: do you give your kids Vitamin D? How do they like to take their vitamins, if you do? Have you tried Ddrops, for your kids or yourself?
   
2. Leave the comment before 9pm EST on Wednesday March 2 2011
3. Be Canadian
4. Have a valid email address I can use to contact you (leave it in a field/in the comment)

And...one entry per person, please! I'll use random.org to pick a winner soon after contest close. Good luck. Thanks to Ddrops for the giveaway.

Disclosure: I was provided with a sample of Kids Ddrops to review for this post and was not compensated in any other way. My views are my own.

Review: Planet Echo on Aboriginal People's Television Network (Canada)

I was recently asked to check out a kids' show on the Aboriginal cable channel APTN called Planet Echo. I completely (slightly shamefully) admit that I think this is the first time I've ever turned on that channel - it's one that I'm very glad to see is offered on my cable box, but I'm not sure what's on there for me.

I'm happy to report that Planet Echo is a great reason to watch APTN (and I'm sure there are many more) if you are looking for a different & new kids' show with an emphasis on Canada, history and the environment -- particularly if your little ones are aged 7-12. This is a little bit older than my kids, but when we turned it on yesterday afternoon, their interest was piqued.

The show is all about the adventures of two brothers, Chuck (the athletic, academic, science guy) and Andy (the urban, outdoorsy culture hound). Along with the fun characters and some silly stuff, there's a strong environmental science theme. The episode we watched was about trying to find the 'greenest' way to travel across the country.

In addition, given the French-Canadian/Aboriginal background of the brothers, there's lot of great Canadian history and culture thrown in. I very much appreciate these themes when I think about the educational potential of children's television (they do actually learn things from TV sometimes, you know).

The brothers reminded me of the Kratt Brothers, who we've watched on TVO before. Planet Echo seems like something we'll check out again, particularly when the kids are a bit older.

Planet Echo's website also features videos and games for the same sort of age range. I didn't check them out with the kids as we didn't have a lot of time to spend on the computer this weekend, but the website seems user friendly to me. It's also kind of neat that the show ties into the website - they display code words on the screen that I believe you can enter into your profile on the website for more 'points'.

Check your local listings and see what your kids can learn from Planet Echo, fellow Canadians.

Disclosure: to thank me for taking the time to review Planet Echo, I will be receiving a gift card. My opinions are completely my own.