MomReviews

The email asked if I would like to try the new line of Chocolate from Starbucks. Sure, I replied, I love chocolate. And then THIS arrived in the mail!

I got tasting squares, truffles, chocolate covered coffee beans, and three large solid bars, all of which were eaten pretty quickly despite their strong flavor.

Each of those stacks of tasting squares had five squares, in Milk, Dark, Mocha Dark, Chai Milk, Passion Dark, and Citron Dark Chocolate. Now, when they say Mocha Dark, they don’t just mean coffee flavored. They mean that the square of chocolate has powdered espresso in it. Same with the Chai Milk, it contains bits of Chai leaves, the Passion Dark is bits of PassionFruit, and the Citron has citrus peel. It’s definitely unique tasting.

The truffles come in four flavors-Dark Chocolate Espresso, Milk Chocolate Cafe Mocha, Milk Chocolate Chai, and Dark Chocolate Vanilla Bean. The graininess of the crushed espresso beans and the chai leaves was too much for us, but the Dark Chocolate Vanilla Bean-SWOON. Even with the slight grittiness of the vanilla beans, this one was one that I would buy again.

The Dark Chocolate and Milk Chocolate solid bars were definitely the favorites of my kids as they contain no crushed coffee or tea. I kept the Mocha Dark Chocolate bar for myself and nibbled at it over a few days’ time. It was a decadent treat to have this much chocolate in the house, and I can definitely recommend you pick up a piece (or two!) the next time you are at Starbucks.

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Not only do busy bloggers need nutritious, filling snacks, but so do their kids, and Snacktrition has come up with a line of delicious roasted nuts that provide the nutrients you need in a delicious snack!
Snacktrition Nuts aren’t oil-roasted but rather are “Health Baked” in a proprietary process by which they sprinkle the nuts with calcium, fiber, or both, oven roast them, then sprinkle them with kosher sea salt.The results? DELICIOUS!!

Snacktrition nuts come in 9 ounce containers or handy 3 ounce packs; I received the five 9 ounce containers you see in the above photo for this review. I put them on the table and my husband and sons started circling like vultures. My husband claimed the Fiber Sea Salt Cashews, Ryan grabbed the Calcium Smoked Almonds, and I stashed the Calcium and Fiber Fruit and Nut mix for my trip to BlogHer (airplane snacks!).

I did, however, insist that everyone give me a taste of their chosen variety, so that I could give my opinion, which is, YUMMY. I took the Fruit and Nut mix in my carry-on bag, and when everyone else was paying $5.00 for a “snack box”, I was munching on almonds, cashews, dried cherries, and yogurt chips! Delicious, and filling.

The recommended daily amount of fiber is 20-30 grams, and a shocking 95% of Americans don’t get that much. A one ounce serving (23 nuts) of the Calcium Sea Salt almonds has 3 grams of fiber, along with 15% Daily Value of calcium per serving (Based on a 2,000 calorie diet), 135 mg of calcium, 6 mg of vitamin E, 80 mg of magnesium, and 5 grams of protein. Visit the Snacktrition website to get all the nutritional info and to order some Snacktrition nuts for yourself. You can buy the 3 ounce Bags ($2.99 each) or 9 ounce Tubs ($6.99 each and the Fruit and Nut tub is 8.5 ounces)-I recommend the tub if you want to ensure that you’ll get some for yourself!

While you’re on the website, scroll down the home page and enter to win a Total Gym or one of 50 $25 gift cards to Foot Locker. I’m naming Snacktrition Nuts a MomReviews Fabulous Find!

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I don’t know what it is about flat, sticky, rolled-up sheets of fruit puree, but my kids love Fruit Roll-Ups. Thanks to the website My Fruit Roll-Ups, now you and your kids can design your own for almost any occasion. The fun, interactive site has you choose a layout of either two or three images plus text if you want, arranged in a checkerboard pattern. You choose images from a big selection of clip art in categories like Animals, Sports, Hobbies, and Special Occasions. There are hundreds to choose from, and you can start over as many times as you want until you pick just the right image and text. You can print your designs, too, so you can let your kids play around on the site and then print out their special creations.

If you have a birthday party coming up and you are looking for unique goody bag items, you could make Fruit Roll-Ups that say Happy Birthday (Your Child’s Name)!, pick an image of something they like, and voila, an inexpensive treat for everyone! Just make sure to leave enough time for the shipping, which takes about 15 days. It’s $30 for a box of 30, which yes, is more expensive than the grocery store, but I think it’s worth it for a personalized treat that your child can help design!

Thanks to Parent Bloggers Network, I received a code to use for a free box of 30 personalized Fruit Roll-Ups! Nathan chose a baseball with flames shooting up from it because, he says, “it’s cool”. He also had me type “Nathan Rocks” for the text We played around with a few different designs and text options, as well as looking at different color options, but to me, it made sense to stick with the original red. Once we had it just the way we liked, we used a special code that PBN gave me to get the $30 box for free! Thanks PBN!

I’ve got one code to give away to a reader for a FREE BOX! This is valid in the U.S. only. Please visit the My Fruit Roll-Ups website (link is the bolded words) and then come back here to let me know which design you will choose if you win. Enter before Wednesday, June 18th when I will choose one valid comment at random and then email you the code to use to order your free Fruit Roll-Ups. Comments that do not include the design information will not be considered valid. Retail value of this prize: $30.00. Good luck everybody!

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My boys like to drink Capri Sun with their lunches, after school, pretty much any time of the day. I always keep a box of it in the fridge. Now original Capri Sun has 14 flavors with 25% less sugar and no artificial sweeteners. We received three flavors to try, Lemonade, Wild Cherry, and Strawberry Kiwi.
There are 14 flavors that have 25% less sugar:
-Fruit Punch
-Strawberry Kiwi
-Wild Cherry
-Tropical Punch
-Pacific Cooler
-Lemonade
-Mountain Cooler
-Grape
-Strawberry
-Red Berry
-Splash Cooler
-Orange
-Surfer Cooler
-Coastal Cool

You do need to be careful at the store to look for the words “25% Less Sugar” on the package, because other Capri Sun flavors are still made with high fructose corn syrup. There is approximately 28 grams of sugars in regular Capri Sun, and 18 grams in the Less Sugar variety, so if your kids are going to drink it, I definitely recommend the lower sugar flavors.

Plus, my son Nathan said he couldn’t taste the difference at all, and he’s pretty picky about stuff like that. So Capri Sun 25% Less Sugar gets the MomReviews Team’s approval!

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My mailbox has been filling up with Summer Camp brochures in the last few weeks, my boys could spend the summer doing science experiments, learning five new sports, studying cooking or photography or calligraphy. Whew! What ever happened to spending the summer riding your bike and playing Kick-The-Can with the neighborhood kids?

We all want the best for our kids and for them to be successful, but it’s also important to remember that they are just KIDS, and that childhood goes by oh-so-quickly. I know mine sure did! To help parents and kids embrace childhood, the Kellogg’s® Rice Krispies® brand team created the “Childhood Is Calling™: Celebrating Kids Just Being Kids” report. The report offers expert and real-mom insight on the importance of savoring childhood and advice for families to find simple moments of joy and connection. As part of Operation Spark, Childhood is Calling is an educational initiative devoted to providing parents with ways to create meaningful memories with their children.

The Childhood is Calling website has information on Playing for Keeps, “a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1999 that exists to help bridge the gap between what researchers have learned about play and what parents and professionals who impact kids’ lives on a day-to-day, hour-by-hour need to know to help nurture our precious children to their full potential.”

In addition to that, the Rice Krispies “Childhood is Calling” website is also just plain fun. It has links to a music video by Ralph of Ralph’s World, fun games, recipes for Rice Krispie Treats, and “The Tale”, which tells more about the history of Rice Krispies including a dropdown menu with all of the cereal box covers. Show your kids what the Rice Krispies box looked like the year you were born!

For participating in this blog tour, Mom Central and Kellogg’s will be sending me a box of Rice Krispies and two vintage cereal bowls, which I am very excited about because the five of us eat a TON of cereal. I’m also scoping out the Recipe Exchange section of the Childhood is Calling site-people make some really interesting recipes with Rice Krispies! Please check out the Childhood is Calling site when you have a few minutes, both you and your kids are sure to like it.

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