MomReviews

Mmmm, strawberries! MomCentral is spreading the word about this delicious, nutritious berry, plus asking us to share our favorite way to eat strawberries. Did you know that a serving of strawberries, which is just 8 of them, has more vitamin C than an orange? Here’s some more great information from the California Strawberry Commission:

* Are America’s favorite fruit
* Are available year-round
* Are enjoyed by the vast majority (94 percent) of Americans
* Have more vitamin C per serving than an orange
* Are naturally low in sugar - only eight grams per serving
* Rank second among the top ten fruits in antioxidant capacity (TAC)
* May help reduce the risk of heart disease, fight some types of cancer and lower blood pressure

*My very favorite way to eat fresh strawberries is to simply wash them and pat them dry with a paper towel, slice off the stem, then cut them into slices-place the slices in a bowl, and top them with a hefty dollop of Vanilla Yogurt. Once you have that, it’s hard to ever eat the “fruit on the bottom” type of yogurt!

*Some mornings, nothing beats a crunchy piece of toast spread lightly with butter and topped with thick strawberry jam, either

*For a deliciously light summer dessert, try my version of Strawberry Angel Food Cake:

Buy one prepared Angel Food Cake, cut it into eight slices, and place each slice in the bottom of a wide bowl. Thaw a large box of presweetened strawberry slices, or buy the unsweetened kind and use your own favorite sweetener to taste. Ladle some strawberries onto each piece of Angel Food Cake, then plop on a big spoonful of whipped cream. It’s like Heaven in a Bowl!

You can find more great strawberry recipes at the California Strawberry site. Get your kids interested in eating strawberries by visiting the Strawberryville website, where they can learn strawberry facts and play fun games!

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What combines servings of vegetables, microwave convenience, a just-right portion size, and a terrific taste that kids love? It’s Ragú’s® new Fresh and Simple All Natural sauce pouches! I received two pouches from MomCentral to sample, and for me, it’s a perfect way to serve pasta for lunch! The pouches come in three flavors-Traditional Tomato Basil, Garden Vegetable, and Tomato, Onion & Garlic. Like traditional Ragú® sauces, the Fresh and Simple sauces have no sugar, no artificial additives and no preservatives.

All you do is clip the corner of the pouch, pop it in the microwave for NINETY SECONDS, and pour the sauce over cooked pasta and voila, spaghetti for lunch! Since it’s just Kaitlyn and I having lunch at home during the week, it’s great to have a smaller amount, too. I’ve thrown away WAY too many opened jars of spaghetti sauce that got a little fuzzy around the edges.

Ragú® is committed to providing busy moms and dads with the tips, tools, and ideas they need to fuel their kids’ appetites and imaginations, so they created a website called Feed Our Kids Well. There you will find links to the Ragú® panel of experts including dieticians, nutritionists, fitness experts, and MomCentral’s own Stacy DeBroff (!), a link to the order form for a FREE 34 page Feed Our Kids Well recipe book, and a link to Ragu.com which has HUNDREDS of recipes and great meal ideas. I’ve used it myself!

Finally, the website has a video created to illustrate just why it is so important to Ragú® to provide wholesome, delicious products like the Fresh and Simple sauce pouches. They know how important our children are to us, how much love and joy they bring to our lives. They know we want to nourish both our children’s imaginations and their appetites. They know that our children are a Daily Gift.

Ragú® is a company that I am proud to support and recommend here on MomReviews. Thank you to MomCentral for providing the Fresh and Simple pouches, and thank you for making them, Ragú®.

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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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When MomCentral asked for volunteers to review the new version of Norton 360 by Symantec, I signed up because I was interested in seeing if it really did make my computer run faster and protect it from phishing sites. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Norton 360 has other features that are making my online life easier.

I have read some reviews that said the user had problems with installation but I did not. I followed the setup instructions and had everything installed on my IBM ThinkPad laptop in no time. I was prompted to set up the Identity Safe feature, which creates a secure identity “card” for you. I created a username and password, and now every time I start up my browser, I am prompted to login. Here’s the best part, the part of Norton 360 that is making my life SO much easier.

The first time I log in to a website, Norton asks me if I want to save the login info. If I click yes, then in the Norton Toolbar at the top of my screen, the site is added to the drop-down Log-in menu. This helps me in two ways: one, I am notorious at forgetting login information. Some websites require passwords to have six or more characters, some require eight or more. I can never remember which is which. Now, I just go to the drop-down menu and find the URL I want-momcentral.com, for example-and I am taken directly to that site’s login screen with my username and password already filled in.

Norton 360 also has automatic scheduled backups, although it only comes with 2 Gb of storage space, which is barely enough for me to backup anything. I believe I can purchase additional space if needed. It does also seem like my laptop is running faster.

I’m really happy that I got Norton 360 2.0 from Symantec and MomCentral. It was easy for me to install and it’s making my use of my computer better. What else can I say besides try it for yourself?!

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After 56 years of gracing the boxes of one of America’s favorite breakfast cereals, Tony the Tiger is still going strong! The newest way to feel grrrreat at breakfast is with Frosted Flakes Gold. With 10 grams of whole grain and three grams of fiber in each serving, it provides another option to give our kids the right start to their day. In addition, the cereal is baked with honey to give it that sweet taste that kids love. The flavor reminded me of another Kellogg’s cereal that I used to eat a LOT of in college, Honey Smacks.

Now, this is very cool. To encourage kids to be more active, eat right and work hard to achieve their goals, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes® created the Earn Your Stripes™ program. As part of this program, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Gold™, in partnership with the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), Little League® International and Girls on the Run International, created the Five Golden Rules of Sportsmanship to give coaches and parents the tools they need to help kids succeed on and off the field. The Five Golden Rules advocate being a winner no matter what the scoreboard says, treating coaches, officials and opponents with respect, being a good teammate and finding good in the game.

I took a look at Earn Your Stripes™, which is on the Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes website, it is REALLY comprehensive. The Sports section has interactive training videos and tips for baseball, basketball, and soccer, and I mean interactive! On the baseball page, for example (warning, there is sound), there are interactive training modules (games), training videos that teach skills and show drills, and team game ideas to practice skills in batting, throwing, and fielding. Your sports lover is SURE to enjoy spending time on the Earn Your Stripes website!

I’d like to thank MomCentral and the Kellogg company for sending my family the box of Frosted Flakes Gold for this review. I barely got a bowlful for myself because my kids liked it so much!

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