Healthier Lifestyle Choices

Ideal No Calorie Sweetner

Earlier this spring I was all about dusting off my treadmill and getting ready for Summer and bikini season. Perhaps my days of wearing a bikini may be over, but my swimwear of choice has become the tankini.

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know I really enjoy going to the beach, and recently spent 5 days camping with my grandkids. We have another camping trip coming up, as well as a weekend trip planned to Ogunquit, Maine.

We took plenty of pictures while at the seashore, and that was reason enough for me to become determined to try to become healthier, and perhaps lose 5 more pounds before the Maine trip!

I recently had the opportunity through Mom Fuse to review Ideal No Calorie Sweetner.

It’s been several years since I’ve used sugar in my coffee or tea, and when I’m dining out in restaurants normally grab for those pink, blue or yellow sweetner packets.

In independent university taste tests, Ideal was preferred over sugar for sweetness, flavor, and overall liking! Ideal No Calorie Sweetner is more than 99% natural, and is

made with xylitol, which is known for its health benefits
Measures cup-for-cup like sugar when baking
FDA approved!

Some of those health benefits include:

preventing tooth decay,
reducing ear infections,
reducing the buildup of plaque on teeth (all of which are important to moms!).

Ideal is also suitable for diabetics, pregnant women, and kids and a delicious way for anyone to cut sugar and calories from their diet.

I really enjoyed the more natural taste of Ideal and use it in my morning breakfast cereal and coffee. Now I keep my own box in my desk at the office.

The corporate lunch room has a coffee station, but doesn’t stock any Ideal No Calorie Sweetner yet. I’m going to suggest to the Coffee Fund Chairperson that they try it, and start stocking it.

For More Information Visit: Ideal No Calorie Sweetner

Moomette’s Magnificents is hosting a Giveaway Contest! For a chance to win, there will be one (3) winners of one (1) set each of 50-count box of Ideal packets, a 10.6 ounce baking bag of Ideal and coupons.

Please include a way of contacting you. Should you be the contest winner, this information may be shared with the contest sponsor in order to send your prize.

Main Rule: (remember if this rule is not followed then no others will count)
a) Sign up for my free Newsletter Updates to my blog through my e-mail Feedblitz link (on the top of my right column or let me know if you already are, in a separate comment) AND

b) Visit Ideal No Calorie Sweetner and leave a comment about another fact not mentioned in this post, and why you’d like to try the product.

Now for extra entries (each task will get you 1 extra entry):

~One Extra Entry: Add my banner button to your sidebar or add me to your blogroll, and come back here and leave the link (I will be checking)

~ One Extra Entry: Become a Fan of Moomettesgram on Facebook and let me know your name in a separate comment.

~ One Extra Entry: Follow Me on Google Friend Connect (right sidebar) and leave your name in a separate comment.

~ One Extra Entry: Follow Me on Networked Blogs (right sidebar) and leave your name in a separate comment.

~One Extra Entry: Comment on any non-giveaway article and leave your name a separate comment letting me know which post you commented on

~ One Extra Entry: Follow Me on Twitter and let me know your Twitter name in a separate comment.

~One Extra Entry: Tweet about this contest (Retweet button at bottom of post), and come back to this post and leave the URL link to the Tweet so I can check. You may Retweet once per day until the end of the contest, but please leave a separate comment for each Retweet, along with the permalink

~One Extra Entry: Blog about the contest on your blog linking to my blog and the site

~One Extra Entry: Favorite Moomette’s Magnificents in Technorati and leave your name (I will be checking) in a separate comment (the link is on my right sidebar).

Make sure you comment separately for each task after the required entry task so you will get credit for each one ~ and leave your e-mail where you can be contacted.

This contest will run until July 29, 2009 at approximately 11:00 pm.

Winners are chosen by Random.Org, if you want all your chances counted, make sure you leave individual comments, not all of them in one!

*Winner has 48 hours to contact me or another name will be chosen.

*Include your email if it’s not enabled.
*Open to USA and Canada Only
*Rules for each entry must be followed to be valid.

july

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Tags: cooking, entertaining, food, giveaway, Old El Paso Chiles, party, recipes, Super Bowl

Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale

May 13, 2009 by Moomette's Magnificents (Admin)
Filed under Blogvertorial, Events & Happenings, Veranda Chit Chat, charity, children, e-commerce, family, food, kids, parenting, sahm

2 Comments

Today, more than 12 million children in the United States do not know when their next meal will come. Unfortunately, this number continues to rise as these difficult economic times are leaving more and more people jobless, without homes, and unable to provide food for their families.

As Moms, What can we do?

1. Sign-up to host a bake sale: http://www.GreatAmericanBakeSale.org/vgabs

2. Buy the virtual Great American Bake Sale eBook:
http://StolenMomentsCooking.com/virtual-gabs

3. Post a ChipIn widget or banner on your blog:
http://www.GreatAmericanBakeSale.org/bloggers

Make a difference in a child’s life by signing up and purchasing a virtual cookbook today! 100% of the proceeds from this eBook will benefit Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale, which is a national effort that encourages Americans to host bake sales in their communities to help end childhood hunger. Funds raised support summer and after-school feeding programs in your community that thousands of kids depend on.

Once you have purchased your virtual Great American Bake Sale cookbook, double your impact and use the recipes to host your own Great American Bake Sale! Hosting a Bake Sale is a fun and easy way to make a big impact! To register your Bake Sale or for more information, please visit: Great American Bake Sale

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Tags: cooking, entertaining, food, giveaway, Old El Paso Chiles, party, recipes, Super Bowl

Moomettesgram’s Favorite Recipes ~ Blog Grand Launch

April 19, 2009 by Moomettesgram
Filed under baby boomer, cooking, food, health, leisure

Recipes and Kitchen Tips: Grand Launch of Moomettesgram’s Favorite Recipes

April 18, 2009 by Moomette's Magnificents (Admin)
Filed under Veranda Chit Chat, blog resources, career opportunities, cooking, e-commerce, food, recipes, work at home

3 Comments

Join me in the launch of my new Recipe blog:

Living in New England is an astounding experience. We enjoy all four seasons, and each one brings a different experience at the table.Moomettesgram’s Recipes

You should read the whole article.

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Tags: cooking, entertaining, food, giveaway, Old El Paso Chiles, party, recipes, Super Bowl

Easy Way to Work From Home ~ Start a Recipe Blog With Your Own Recipes

February 15, 2009 by Moomette's Magnificents (Admin)
Filed under Veranda Chit Chat, baby boomer, blog resources, business, career opportunities, cooking, e-commerce, family, food, frugal, internet marketing, sahm, wahm, wahm tips, work at home

6 Comments

There’s an old saying that “hindsight is wonderful.” The Culinary Institute of America, now located in Hyde Park, New York, at one time was located in New Haven, CT which is not too far from me. My husband’s first cousin graduated from the Institute when it was in New Haven, and he would stay with the family during break.

Over the years I’ve come to realize that I really enjoy cooking, and perhaps I should have looked into attending the Culinary Institute and it’s hospitality programs while it was in Connecticut. Now I just share my enthusiasm for cooking through my Blog.

Having a Blog, is a great way to share information with others in a public forum, by posting comments on a (often free) website.

Blogs are easy to build; even a novice can set one up in just an hour or less. With free applications like Google’s “Blogger” (blogger.com) or the easy to use Wordpress (Wordress.com), a simple blog can be put together that will highlight your thoughts and images. By setting it up with a clean format and using the latest templates, this increases the blog’s appeal and it can be updated as often as you wish.

One fun and profitable way to blog is by starting a recipe blog (and there’s plenty of information on the topic in this Just Add Sweat guide). A recipe blog is where you can post your favorite family recipes, restaurant secrets or other popular “dishes” about the world of cooking. It’s perfect for people who have tried recipes and thought they could do better. Or those who have sampled restaurant cooking and found a favorite they’d like to share. If cooking is your passion, blogging about it is a wonderful way to get more information out there about this interest. It’s also a great way to tell others about new products available in the world of cooking.

A recipe blog can also offer the opportunity for an entrepreneur to build a home based business. How? By offering for sale cooking products, popular recipes, cookbooks and other tools that the budding chefs of the world would like. In this way, a blogger can build a nice residual income to support their cooking habit.

Popular blogs that earn a substantial amount of website traffic can earn even more revenue. Through the power of using web traffic tracking tools, a blogger can earn ad revenue or earn commissions by recommending product from other companies. Successful bloggers can even sell their blogs to others and earn an income from developing popular topics into highly trafficked websites.

With a little bit of time and a lot of creativity, a recipe blogger can create an income working from home.

As a Baby Boomer, I’ve collected and tweeked quite a few family recipes over the years. Check out my Recipe Tab HERE for all the recipes I share!

Recommended Additional Resource:

To learn exactly how to set up your blog and how to create a recipe blog that people love, talk about and come back to, grab Just Add Sweat Guide to Start a Recipe Blog. You’ll also learn how to get traffic to your blog and make money doing something you enjoy.

On Squidoo: Old Fashioned New England Yankee Recipes and Cooking

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Tags: cooking, entertaining, food, giveaway, Old El Paso Chiles, party, recipes, Super Bowl

Ultimate Party Meatballs ~ Heinz and Ocean Spray Tips and Recipes ~ A Review

December 9, 2008 by Moomette's Magnificents (Admin)
Filed under Reviews & Buzz, Veranda Chit Chat, cooking, e-commerce, family, food

5 Comments

The Holiday Season, believe it or not, is already in full swing. Many of us will be hosting open-house parties to celebrate the festive season all the way through New Year’s, and are already adding save-the-dates to our planners. I always welcome this time of year, as it provides the perfect opportunity to reconnect with family and a reason to get together with friends, catching up on stories from the past year while indulging in great meals and favorite recipes.

To me, cooking with friends and family represents a true part of what the holidays mean, and it always ends up being a large part of how we spend our time – laughing and joking as we dice and sauté our way towards a meal. As a Baby Boomer, I’ve certainly done my share of cooking over the years. I still love to try new recipes as well as cook up our favorite “go to” dishes. The Holiday cooking season also makes it enjoyable and a festive time to pass on cooking skills to my daughters. Whenever I offer to bring “a little something” to a party, it’s usually an appetizer or a dessert ~ my specialties.

In recognition of this important season, Heinz and Ocean Spray have teamed up to make a great, easy recipe. Their Ultimate Party Meatball recipe comes together with two steps and only three ingredients, perfect for a quick party appetizer or to throw together when unexpected guests show up on your doorstep.

Heinz and Ocean Spray have also created the Ultimate Party Meatballs website http://www.ultimatepartymeatballs.com filled with additional recipes, entertaining tips, and a sweepstakes with a grand prize of $3,000 to throw the ultimate party.

Whether you’re a seasoned cook, or just starting out in the kitchen, visit Ultimate Party Meatballs at http://www.ultimatepartymeatballs.com/ today for some great ideas and prizes!

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Tags: cooking, entertaining, food, giveaway, Old El Paso Chiles, party, recipes, Super Bowl

Virtual Food Drive ~ Girls Night Out on Twitter Gives Back

November 14, 2008 by Moomette's Magnificents (Admin)
Filed under blog resources, charity, children, cooking, family, kids, parenting, recipes, sahm, twitter, wahm, wahm tips, work at home

3 Comments

Photobucket

For the last two Tuesday nights at 9:00 pm. Eastern Time, I’ve been participating in Girl’s Night Out on Twitter over at Mommy Gossip. You can do a Twitter Search using #GNO to see all the posts.

It’s so much fun and I’ve met some terrific new Twitter friends and connected with current friends.

The topic this past Tuesday night was Holiday Dishes and Drinks. There’s some wonderful new recipes posted that I’m going to be trying. I had several requests for my Bacon Cheese Roll Up Appetizer and Chocolate Mini Marshmallow Velvet Fudge recipe (my Mom’s, and my favorite when I was a kid) that Mommy Gossip was kind enough to feature this week after the event.

GNO is also sponsoring a Virtual Food Drive ~ GNO Gives Back.

Please join me in supporting this worthwhile cause so all American families in need can indeed, have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Visit Mommy Gossip~Cares at http://mommygossip-cares.blogspot.com/ for more information.

Follow me on Twitter on Tuesday November 18 for discussions on Charities we love and how we We Can give back.

Need To Create A Fulltime Income From Your Online Business But Can’t Seem To Figure It Out?
Work At Home Mom Blueprint Has The Answers You’re Looking For.

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Tags: cooking, entertaining, food, giveaway, Old El Paso Chiles, party, recipes, Super Bowl

1st Birthday Blog Bash at Lipstick to Crayons – Come Join the Party!

May 26, 2008 by Moomette's Magnificents (Admin)
Filed under blog resources, children, parenting, recipes, sahm, wahm, work at home

6 Comments

Lipstick to Crayons is having a First Birthday Celebration Blog Bash!

Come join the party, meet some new Bloggers, WAHMs, Grams, SAHMs & a chance to Win Some Prizes!!

What’s a party without food? Since it’s almost berry-picking season, here’s the perfect dish to bring for those who have a sweet tooth!

Name: Berry Crumble
Serving Size: 6
Categories: Cobbler/fruit

Ingredients:

3 cups raspberries or blueberries (or 1 package
12 or 16 oz frozen)
2 tbl lemon juice
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup quick cooking oats
1/3 cup margarine or butter, softened
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
whip cream or ice cream

Preparation:

Spread berries in square 8×8 pan. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix remaining ingredients except cream. Sprinkle over berries. Microwave uncovered on high 7 to 10 min. Let stand 10 min. Serve warm with cream. Or bake 375 30 minutes.