sample share: mr. sketch scented markers

crowdkit!

 

 

 

 As a kid, I was always wicked jealous of any kid that came to school with Mr. Sketch markers. There was something really neat about sticking those marker practically up your nose and smelling them. Only the cool kids got to bring them in with their school supplies. Fast forward to now: I didn't even realize Mr. Sketch was still around. My ever-lasting 90s nostalgia made these a "I need to own these RIGHT NOW" product. I joined the crowdtap Mr. Sketch crowd the second I saw it and crossed my fingers for a sample share. I applied right away and was stoked to get in. When they came in, I was barely about to get a photo of the package before my four kids grabbed them and went right to coloring. The scents are shown on the packaging, which got passed around any time one of the boys opened up a new color. Many of them are just as I remembered--the one notable exception is cinnamon as the brown scent. I miss the chocolate scented marker! The only thing I could say that isn't overly positive is that the markers were a bit hard to remove the caps the first time they were used (it was less difficult after the initial cap removal) and that, as I thought when I was 10, licorice is still an awful scent. The colors are all bright and smell fun (except black, of course) and the kids had a blast coloring with them. Most of the colors even had a hint of scent after a week of the drawing sitting on the counter. True to the packaging, they are washable and came off my kids hands (and from under their noses...) super easily. Over all, super happy with this blast from my past! Check out the photos below to see how much fun my boys had sampling:

smells good!

clean hands!

Reynolds slow cooker liners

slow cooker liners

A few days ago, I blogged about Reynolds cookie baking sheets parchment paper. The same day, I received the slow cooker liners to try out (thanks again, crowdtap!). I've always been intrigued with the idea of using a crock pot to cook with, but have only actually done it a handful of times (crock pot lasagna and sweet & sour meat balls are my specialty!) So for some inspiration I headed over to the Reynolds slow cooker recipe page and fell in love with the Italian meatball soup recipe (I'll be attempting this one friday!). My kiddos, of course, all voted for the peppermint hot chocolate. Since winter is winding down here in New England, I decided to make that as a treat for the kids. It was super easy (less than an hour and a half from start to finish), tastes amazing, and was wicked easy to clean up, thanks to Reynolds slow cooker liners! I literally just had to remove the liner and toss. The liner held up well with no leaks, even after the whisking and scooping. I was able to get all the leftover drink out of the crock pot with out fear of breaking the bag. The heat of the crock pot seemed to have no effect on the quality of the bag as well. Overall, I'm very happy with these liners. I can't wait to use my crock pot more now that I don't need to worry about soaking and scrubbing to get it clean! As always, scroll down to see some photos of my liner in action!

step 1: line step 2: mix ingredients step 3: cook step 4: remove liner

kids enjoying their slow cooker peppermint hot chocolate!

crushed peppermint ready to be whisked in!

clean pot--easy as removing the liner!

Reynolds cookie baking sheets parchment paper

This month, I got to sample Reynolds cookie baking sheets for free from crowdtap (they've just re-imaged their site--check it out!). I've used Reynolds product my whole life, so I'm familiar with the brand. I've just recently discovered the joy of baking with parchment this past holiday season (I used to use aluminum foil) and have a roll of generic parchment in my drawer (hey, it was free! Thanks, mom!). I was excited to try the Reynolds brand parchment and I was not disappointed. The quality was much better than the generic roll I've got and my cookies slid off like a dream and clean up was super easy. One of my favorite things about this package is that the sheets are precut and fit my pans perfectly. No fumbling with those metal cutters and getting bummed out when you cut the wrong size! Another fun thing: I laid the parchment paper on top of my stove and put raw cookies on it and just slid the paper off the pan that I removed from the oven and slid the raw cookie paper on it. Very helpful if you only have one pan (or make cookies faster than they bake!). You can check out the Reynolds website for some great cookie recipes (caramel apple cookies are on my must-bake list). The only negative part of my sampling: those wonderful looking cookies on the box! My kiddos thought the package was a box of cookies and ripped it open trying to get some cookies. Silly kids. If you don't have snack-sneaking kiddos like mine, the packaging is great because the sheets are folded into a nice sized box for storage and have a tab thing on the side of the box to keep it shut. A non-sampling related plus for me: Reynolds brand is a box top brand. My kiddos all collect those box tops for their school, and it's one of the easier ways for us to help out. Scroll down below for some photos of the parchment paper in action.

a perfect fit!

two sheets of cookies ready to go--they slide on and off smoothly

perfect cookies!

Hosted party: weight watchers morning glow party

spending some time with my favorite people!

Weight Watchers is one of the best weight loss programs I've had experience with. Ive never been a paying member, but my mom has been most of my life. I remember her going to meeting when I was younger, and she fairly recently started going back again. She lost over 100 pounds by eating better and getting active. I got the chance to try out their new smart points app (not related to this hosted party event!) and it was really neat to see how points were calculated and helped me cut down on late night snacks and make better eating choices. When crowdtap announced a chance to host a weight water party, I jumped on it. With the new year, a bunch of my family and close friends have a healthier life style as a new years resolution--and what a fun way to kick it off!! The idea behind the party was a morning brunch--we turned it into a dinner party. For the party,c rowdtap supplied us with some fun goodies:

weight watcher party it!

Included was a neat spa kit for me (hostess gift! yes!), a pretty table decoration, a glowing backdrop, a selfie stick (!!!), glow sticks, beach balls (we stuck the glow sticks inside and had a blast!), journals, and most importantly: a recipe book! For the party (check out a sample of weight watcher recipes here), I made raspberry-peach smoothies (six points) and blue berry-peach cornmeal cupcakes (six points) as well as a low fat baked ziti entree for dinner (8 points) and some cheesy tots for the kids (I swear!). The cornmeal cupcakes were amazing! I made them mini-sized to make a cute 3 point snack (and they came cleanly out of the pan! woohoo!). The smoothie was good, I am in desperate need of a new blender (I found this out the hard way, of course!) so it was a bit thick, but tasted really good. I'll have to revisit once I replace my blender. overall, it was a fun night. We all got to talk and motivate each other, share some recipes, take some fun photos, and play with glowing balls! Check out our photos below!

mini cupcakes!

pre-party selfie :)

table set up!

smoothies :)

kids table--sort of!

love the back drop!

showing off our journals!

dance party!

Sample share: Fast acting Advil® Film-Coated

sample kit

My newest crowdtap adventure (more coming this month--I've had a great sampling month!) is fast acting Advil® Film-Coated. I've been an advil fan for quite a while (I do have a tad of a bias towards Ibuprofen products as I feel they work better than acetaminophen and other pain killers) and have tried the fast acting film coated a few times before. What was improved this time, was that I didn't get heart burn (I had had that issue the first few times I've tried it). The film is a bit sweet, which makes it go down more pleasantly. True to its name, it works fast. I took some in response to a headache and it went away quickly. I normally feel like all Ibuprofen products are equal (and have a cabinet full of walmart brand to prove it!) but I feel like this product goes above and beyond and is worth the extra price vs. generic. You can also often find coupons in the paper and online (bonus!).

sample selfie! ;)

Kyra and Derf excited to try their samples!

Sample share: splenda granulated

splenda kit

Next up this month: splenda no calorie sweetener, granulated from crowdtap! I am not a huge fan of sweeteners. I've tried, I really have. While I can appreciate some recipes (I made some amazing not-so-naughty egg nog one year that came out amazing!) I have found that mostly, unless you get lucky or prepare something just right, they leave a funky taste. This box said right on it "tastes like sugar" so I decided to test the theory. I had a taste right from the box! And while I wouldn't say the taste is exactly the same, it wasn't bad! No gross after taste (which I thoroughly expected after a straight up taste!), it actually tasted good, melted in my mouth, and the texture was fun (think of fluffy snow candy). One of the fun optional parts of the challenge was to make some recipes using granulated splenda. I opted to do two of the three, with some minor adjustments:

Baby Spinach 'n bacon salad

The first one I did was the baby spinach 'n bacon salad (recipe here). We skipped the croutons and red onion and added in some cheese. I was nervous about the dressing at first because it smelled very mustardy when I was preparing it. However, it ended up being a nice vinaigrette with just a touch of mustard. It was a pleasant dressing with a nice taste. I just had to bring some over to my mom and step dad, who raved about it when they tried it. It was my first time making my own dressing and was very pleased with both the recipe and how it turned out (scroll down for more images!)

peppermint-mocha delight

The second recipe I tackled was the peppermint-mocha delight (here). Since we are a keriug household and my husband had already got a coffee when I did this, I prepared it a bit different. I put the splenda/milk/extract/chocolate mixture in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time as if I was melting chocolate for my molds or dipping. When it was a nice smooth mixture, I put the cup under the keriug and brewed a cup. I skipped the whipped topping. It was smooth with just the right bit of sweetness. As a mocha fiend, I've always bought my mocha coffees since I feel the flavor add ins never are good enough. This recipe was pretty much perfect! I'm excited that I can now make my own mocha coffees at home. It was also quick and easy to do.

Overall, granulated splenda is by far my favorite sweetener. I can't wait to explore more recipes. Scroll on down for more photos! ;)

handy pour spout and a glimpse of the fun texture

ready to make salad!

making dressing

sampling!

"I love it!!!"

someone isnt too sure ;)

bowl o' salad

working on my chocolate mixture for my peppermint-mocha delight