The Good Life

Oh here is a blog post I love writing. Maybe you’ve heard about Coca-Cola Life and maybe that’s what you need me for!

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a BzzAgent, which means I get to try new things and talk about them, Bzz! When I was offered the opportunity to try Coca-Cola Life I signed up right away. I got a carefully bubble wrapped 8oz glass bottle in the mail and popped it in the fridge. I just chopped the ends off a couple organic carrots for an afternoon snack and figured now was the time to try the naturally sweetened Coke. Oh my!

Coca-Cola Life is sweetened with cane sugar and stevia leaf. It’s only 60 calories and here’s the kicker for me; it doesn’t taste like a diet soda, it tastes like a Coke! Coca-Cola has always been my cola of choice and while I liked the Diet Coke with Splenda, it was still a diet soda. Coca-Cola Life tastes like the cola I’ve loved since I was a kid!

You can find Coca-Cola Life at most of l the major retailers that sell soda and if the place you buy soda doesn’t have Coca-Cola Life, ASK FOR IT! It’ll be with the other sodas or you’ll find it with the natural food area because it’s just as natural as my organic carrots.

If you try Coca-Cola Life, stop back and leave a comment to let me know what you think.

Coffee and Clouds

I find that cloudy days make me crave coffee. Okay, if I tell David that he’ll ask, “and that’s different from any other day how?” But rainy or cloudy days make me truly crave coffee not just want a cup. That makes today a great day to tell you about the Nani-perfect opportunity I received last month as a BzzAgent!

Yes, I’m promoting a product I got to try for free, but it was a free sample of a new flavor of a product I liked anyway! I got free K-Cup samples of Green Mountain Coffee Fair Trade Three Continent Blend. To be honest I was a little leery at first because one of the coffees blended into Thee Continent is Sumatra and I’m not a Sumatra fan, but as part of a blend it took away the acidic edge I wasn’t fond of and it was good. But what I really learned at the Choose Fair Trade website is why some of my favorite Green Mountain coffees are favorites!

I’ve been drinking Fair Trade Colombian for a while because it was just the best Colombian I’d tried and I love Colombian as my every-day coffee. The Pumpkin Spice from Green Mountain, also my favorite of the Pumpkin Spices, is also a Fair Trade coffee!

Fair Trade means that coffee farmers are guaranteed a minimum price for their beans which gives them money they can invest in their crops and communities via hiring and spending. A statistic that bothers me is that only 38% of consumers even know what Fair Trade is! And I admit that prior to the opportunity to try and learn I was part of that 38%. I knew there was something about the Fair Trade Colombian that made it better. After viewing the website and reading about the people singer Kelly Clarkson visited while she learned about Fair Trade I was even proud to discover that the Pumpkin Spice I love and The Vermont Country Blend I’ve tried are both Fair Trade.

Nantucket Blend, a flavor enjoyed by Seamhead Gypsy and shared with me last Christmas is Fair Trade. The Wild Blueberry Rina likes and ended up sharing the box I gave her with her dad? Yep, that’s Fair Trade too. Green Mountain Coffee offers one of the largest selections of Fair Trade coffees.

I encourage you to check out the Choose Fair Trade website and check out all the facts about Fair Trade and the great selections of Fair Trade coffees. If what you contribute to the communities in coffee-growing regions isn’t enough to make you feel even warmer inside than just a hot cup of coffee, how about this? That investing in their crops and quality of life in the area just makes a better-tasting coffee. If you won’t do it for them, then do it for yourself!

Let’s make the world a better place one great cup of coffee at a time!

FREE ICE CREAM???

No sweeter words have I ever heard. I’ve mentioned before that I became a BzzAgent and I enjoy the opportunity to try products and spread the word. It appeals to my love of marketing. My current Bzz Campaign is the best; it started with fee ice cream!

I tried Kroger Yogurt Smoothie Bars, the Strawberry-Banana ones. OH MY! These are SO good! Think about things you’ve had that are banana flavored or strawberry flavored. Not really a fruit flavor, huh? You won’t experience the fake fruit flavor here! Kroger’s Yogurt Smoothie Bars are real fruit and creamy yogurt and oh so good!

But better still, Kroger Yogurt Smoothie bars are good for you too! They are one of Kroger’s ultimate guilt-free snacks. They are very low-cal, almost no points. I’ve been enjoying them as a sweet frozen snack in the afternoon when it’s been really hot.

In addition to the tasty Strawberry-Banana Yogurt Smoothie Bars you can also try the Yogurt Smoothie Bars in Triple Berry. But the guilt-free indulgence doesn’t stop there! There are also Low Fat Fudge Pops or Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches and No Sugar Added Fruit Bars. I’m already pondering what I’ll try next after my box of a dozen Strawberry-Banana Yogurt Smoothie Bars quickly empties.

When I got my BzzKit in addition to my “try it” coupon, I got a few generous coupons to share. I’m going to give away two of them at The Chronicles of Nani. In order to use the coupon, you need to have a Shopper’s Card from one of the Kroger Family of Stores; Kroger, King Soopers, Fry’s, Dillon’s or Smith’s. To get the coupon, which is good for any of the Kroger guilt-free treats, just leave a comment and let me know which frozen treat you’d use the coupon for. That will enter you in the random selection for one of the coupons. Then if you win, you can email your send-to address. Yeah, I’m just nosey about what flavors you’d choose.

I think my next box will probably be chocolate sandwiches…or maybe the fudge bars? The Triple Berry Yogurt Smoothie Bars sound good too, especially after the big smile the Strawberry-Banana ones gave me. Oh, maybe I just need you to help me choose!

Funny Friday

Cluster made with Be Awesome by Aprilisa Designs

Friday Fragments

** Remember the shout out I gave to the mini muffins Wednesday? I have a correction to make. I’m not correcting the review of the muffins, it a grammar thing, specifically, a spelling thing. The brand is Entenmann’s. When I say it, when most people say it that I’ve heard, that second “n” is sorta swallowed. Kinda like the second “a” in caramel when a Midwesterner says it. Big difference there is that I know there are three a letters in caramel. I didn’t know there were four n letters in Entenmann’s until David pointed it out. Rather than go back and fix every mention of the company in Wednesday’s blog, I chose the lazy way out and I’m posting the correction.


** While we’re talking about the Entenmann’s Little Bites, David was reading the box yesterday at breakfast. He pointed out the words next to the animal on the scooter with the mini muffins on its head.

Um…

After reading that it was a serving suggestion, my sweet husband’s inner little boy woke up. He kept asking if he could open one of the pouches to see if they could be served on a cat’s head. He did try to balance a peach on Kaline’s hip “to practice.” Poor peach.

He switched his attention to trying to figure out if the critter on the scooter is a dog or a cow.

What do you think? Dog or cow?

** This was dinner Wednesday:

It was the fruit of my first Bzz Campaign. I got to try Johnsonville Fully Cooked Dinner Sausage for free. Cool or what? I wanted to try the Kielbasa, but David has a more conservative palate, so we went with regular smoked sausage for a first time. It was an easy campaign to join for me because Mom used to make some great meals with already cooked Kielbasa when we were kids.

Of course, my parents were on a tight budget when we were little, so meals often contained affordable price tags and Mom’s creativity. Johnsonville is not just a brand name I trust, but full retail for the sausage is well within competitive pricing for a family budget too. These sausages come in two individually wrapped pieces, great for a couple who only uses one sausage for a meal.

I did this one the quick and simple way; I cut the sausage into coin-shaped slices and pan-fried them with a teaspoon of olive oil. Then I served them over prepared garlic shells with some broccoli. A very quick meal after one of David’s later shifts and also a quick meal trick after soccer practice or gardening after work.

I’ll stop shilling now with one last bit: Follow this link for a printable $1.00 off coupon to try one of the 5 great flavors of Johnsonville Fully Cooked Dinner Sausage. YUM!


** Be sure to check out the bulletin board up top for new entries in Kaline's blog and my MS blog.  The MS blog has a new entry from this morning.  I'd love to hear your feedback if you have some!

This week’s statements:
1. One of my best and worst traits is that I ______
2. If I could escape for a day, I’d _____
3. The best part of ___ is _____
4. When I was young I thought _______.

My Answers:

1. One of my best and worst traits is that I am very analytical. Sometimes it means I pick up important details. Other times it means I can’t make up my mind.

2. If I could escape for a day, I’d go to an out of town baseball game in a park AND state I haven’t been to yet.

3. The best part of chocolate is that it’s chocolate.

4. When I was young I thought all guys should have long hair. Now I don’t find long hair attractive at all.