Review: Kraft Whipped Peanut Butter

I get really paranoid about peanut butter. To be honest, the kids haven't had that much of it, ever, which is a damn shame. But with kids who have been going to daycare since they were a year old, and then school more recently, I haven't wanted to take the risk that they'd have residue on their hands or messy faces and then happen to play with a friend with a severe allergy. I mean, I don't even want to think about it.

That's part of the reason that I agreed to review Kraft Whipped Peanut Butter - because, really, they could do with more peanut butter in their lives (and, of course, a good hosing down after wards).

Basically it's just regular old peanut butter, except with some air whipped in. Which might not sound that interesting to you. The best thing about this product is how easy it is to spread. Or it can be used as a dip. Imagine trying to dip some fruit or vegetable pieces into regular peanut butter. Thunk. Air! It's good!

We've used it, since school started, as an after school snack. I don't know about you, but my kids are absolutely starving when we all get home. So I'm hauling them and their stuff, and my stuff, in the door sometimes after 6pm, and I've got to get dinner on the table stat. At least this can give me a few minutes. Tonight we had cocoa cookie heart sandwiches. I have to say, they were pretty yummy.

Easy to spread. Looking forward to trying it on this fall's apples. Great occasional after-school snack. Thumbs up.

New Moon Kitchen cookies - winner

Thanks for entering.
And the winner is...


Samantha!

Enjoy the cookies.

Review and giveaway: New Moon Kitchen cookies (US/CAN only) (ENDED)

To perfectly coincide with the trauma of having to pack my kids' lunchbox everyday, Clutch PR sent me some New Moon Kitchen cookies to try out.

Actually, technically, I had already tried their cookies as a packet of them was included in the lovely gift bags we received at the Canadian Embassy Party at the BlogHer conference in August. I remembered they were yummy. I wanted to try some more.

And of course, I wanted to send some in Oliver's lunch - I knew they'd be great.

New Moon Kitchen cookies are:

• nut-free
• made with organic spelt flour
• dairy- and egg-free
• vegan
• preservative-free
• and, as they point out, lovingly made

They make the perfect lunchbox treat - because I can send them without having any pre-packaged guilt. I didn't make them myself? So what? A small bakery did. And they are pretty healthy while still being a treat. And of course having that nut-free label on them means I can throw them in his backpack without thinking about it.

We were sent a box of Chocolate Chip cookies, which the kids completely devoured in what seemed like minutes. I kept the other box of Momints ones for myself, having a guilt-free nibble here and there. We were also sent some individual packets. I sent a packet of two Oatmeal Goldies to school with Oliver, who proclaimed them to be completely delicious.

The cookies are not too sweet - just sweet enough, really; they also seem quite filling. Importantly, I can recognize every single ingredient on the labels. That's excellent.

I took a packet of Chocolate Espresso Mokas to work with me, for a perfect afternoon pick-me-up snack. And I'm about to open the last packet of Ginger Snappers as my mid-morning-can't-quite-make-it-to-lunch-after-a-7am-breakfast nibble. Yep, took a bite now: yummy, with the sharpness of the fresh ginger.

You can use their website to figure out where you can buy them in North America. I just discovered I can get them at a Highland Farms fairly close to my house, so I'll be checking them out there.

But! You can also win some. You'll receive two boxes of cookies, and two snack packs.

Giveaway rules:

1. This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada.
2. To enter, leave a comment on this post before 8pm EST on Friday, September 17th.
3. Visit New Moon Kitchen's website, and indicate in your comment which type of cookie sounds yummiest to you.
4. There are no additional entry options. One entry per person.
5. Please make sure your comment includes your email address so I can contact you if you are the winner.
6. Winners will be asked to provide their postal address for the purposes of shipping the cookies only.
7. Good luck!

UnderWAY supplement drinks

Congrats to the 5 entrants - I will be in touch regarding your postal address.

UnderWAY supplement drinks: review & giveaway (Canada only) ENDED

I'm always looking for something to bridge that lunch and dinner stretch, especially at work. Around 3 or 4 I seem to be looking for something to eat, and if I don't have some decent snack at hand at my desk, I come home and grab the first thing I see in the cupboard. Which might just be some Cadbury's from England. Occasionally it's something healthier. But sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.

Anyway, because of this, I was interested when Mom Central asked if I'd like to review some new beverages that claim to curb hunger. underWAY drinks have no sugar, no preservatives, no sodium, no artificial flavours and have added fibre. They are only 10 calories a bottle, and come in Acai-Pomegranate and Grape flavours.

Sometimes I will have another cup of coffee or tea in the afternoon to try to tame my own hunger, or just some water. I don't normally drink juice or other beverages similar to this (e.g. Vitamin Water).

I've tried both flavours now, and I think I prefer the Grape. Both of them are fairly pleasant. I'm still trying to determine if I can tell if they impact my level of hunger or fullness or not. I think that I eat different amounts of food on different days, and without a more scientific experiment, it's going to be hard to attribute my fullness to a beverage.

However, adding extra fibre and vitamins to my body can't hurt it, right?

Would you like to try them out? Would you like to see if they can affect how full you feel?

Here's how 10 of you can try out the drinks:

1. Leave a comment on this post between now and August 3, 2010 at 7pm EST. Perhaps you'd like to say why you'd like to try them?
2. Please leave one comment per person only. There are no extra entries for any other activities (e.g. tweeting about it).
3. Please make sure your comment includes your email address.
4. Contest is open to Canadians only. Readers may enter the contests on multiple blogs participating in this underWAY blog tour, but are only eligible to win once.
5. I will use random.org to select 10 winners if there are more than 10 comments.
6. I will contact you and ask you for a postal address if you have won. I will provide your name and postal address to Mom Central Canada for it to be used to send you your prize.
7. Up to 10 individuals will receive a box, sent on behalf of Mom Central Canada, that will include eight bottles of underWAY (four Acai-Pomegranate and four Grape) along with a Smart for Life food assortment including cookies, cupcakes, soup, cereal, shake, bagel, and crunch.

Good luck!

Disclosure: I am participating in the underWAY blog tour by Mom Central Canada on behalf of Better Health Beverage, LLC. I received a gift card as a thank you for my participation. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Winner - Maple Leaf Foods giveaway

Wow, I'm bad at running contests. Almost 2 hours late, I'm drawing the winner.
Congrats, Melissa! I'll be in touch to arrange post/delivery of your bag of goodies.

Thanks.

Review and Giveaway (CAN only): Maple Leaf Foods products

At the Maple Leaf Food's blogger's roundtable event last Thursday, we were treated to dinner cooked in a professional kitchen by some proficient chefs. They made some starters from their new Natural Selections line of deli meats. They took the Dempster's Oven Fresh baguettes and topped them with cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. They grilled some lovely vegetables, and made some nice potatoes. They roasted some delicious chicken - dijon mustard & herb chicken breast, and seasoned flattened chicken. It was really very good.



We were provided with a cooler bag to bring home with samples of these products. Over the weekend, my family tried them all.

I'm quite happy with the Natural Selections meat - it tastes good, the package re-seals possibly the BEST of any re-sealable package I've ever come across, and the ingredients (which are all recognizable) are stamped across the front. It's like someone did their market research and asked me what I wanted in a sliced deli meat.

I also like the Dempster's baguettes. When we lived in England, Mark always had packages of part-baked baguettes around. It means anytime you have a hankering for fresh bread, it's 8 minutes of cooking away. (which, is dangerous actually...carbs!!) The kids just adore fresh bread and butter. Who can blame them.

I wouldn't normally buy pre-seasoned chicken - I pretty much always buy plain chicken and season it myself. The dijon mustard & herb chicken breast cooked up quite nicely - quite moist, but I found the seasoning a bit salty for me.

My family, particularly Mark, adored the flattened chicken. Can we just say spatchcocked, though? Because that's an awesome word. We made it on the barbeque, probably over-cooked it a bit, but it was really very flavourful, and the meat was very good quality.

Would you like to try some of these? Thanks to Maple Leaf Foods, I'm giving away a cooler bag of the following products:

• 2 white Dempster's Oven Fresh Baguettes (vacuum sealed)
• 2 multigrain Dempster's Oven Fresh Baguettes (vacuum sealed)
• a butcher's apron
• a meat thermometer
• a Maple Leaf Foods pen
  
• a coupon for a FREE box of Prime Frozen Meat Products ($11.99 value)
• a coupon for a FREE package of Natural Selections deli meat (~$5 value)
• a coupon for $5 off your next purchase of any Prime Naturally product

I'm going to be covering shipping myself, so I'd really prefer if the winner was in Southern Ontario, but if not, we can work something out!

Here's what you need to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post (just say hi, if you want)
2. Make sure your comment includes your email address
3. Only enter once, please
4. Do it by Tuesday, June 8th at 7pm EST, please

Good luck.