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!

Influenster voxbox: covergirl

influenster voxbox: covergirl

I come from a long line of women who don't "do" makeup. My mom couldn't have taught me if she wanted to. My younger sister went through a phases of funky bright eyes and fishnets, but none of us could even tell you how to use mascara. Fairly recently, I've noticed how my age is catching up to me, along with some genetic dark circles (you'll get to see those later...). Earlier this month, I went to see the amazing Max with some girl friends who insisted on making me up before we went. I looked cute! I was excited. What bummed me out was getting the stuff off my face afterwards. I was excited to try covergirl when I got the email from influenster that I was selected to receive the voxbox. Inside the voxbox was two new products: Plumpify mascara and oh suagr! (I adore the name!) lip balm. I played around with them both, and found that they are both amazing. I think I may have found my brand after not searching very hard!

covergirl pumpify mascara by blastPRO

I'll be totally honest here: every other time I've worn mascara in my life, someone else has applied it to me. Including my wedding day, and the Max show referenced above. I was totally nervous for this. I youtubed a few videos to see exactly how it was done (while my husband tried not to laugh at me as he got ready for work) and decided to give it a go. Either I have a natural talent for not poking my eye out, or the new larger brush that comes with the plumpify mascara is really amazing (I vote the second one is more likely). I can't promise I did it perfectly (scroll down and see for yourself...) but I thought it looked decent. You could definitely tell they looked darker and fuller. The best part? When I got a bit on my eye lid, it wiped right off with a baby wipe! Easy removal is a must for me after one particular day I spent looking like a racoon. I liked that when I pulled the brush from the tube, it wasn't gunky with extra mascara. it went on smoothly with no clumping and did not make my eye lashes feel heavy or weird.

covergirl Oh Sugar! in sprinkle

Now, lip balm I can handle. I spent most of the 90's up to my ears with bonnie bell chapstick. This lip balm is made with grapeseed oil, avocado butter, and vitamins C & E. It goes on smoothly. It's subtle yet cute with a hint of sweetness. The shade I got is called sprinkle (I am loving everything about this product name!) and it's a light subtle pink that I adore. Other shade names featured on the information card: jelly, punch, and cupcake. What's not to love??

As always, keep scrolling for some fun photos I took during my sampling time! I've also included a link to the mascara ad, as it features Katy Perry and makes me happy.

close up of the brush

love that it can stand on it's own!

before and after

all done! ;)

showing off the goods!

Team sweet n low!

I recently got the chance to sample sweet n low. They sent me a neat package with a box of sweet n low for me, samples for my friends, and a neat pitcher (and cups with sweet n low pink logo napkins!). The plan was to have a ladies cocktail night, I ended up splitting it up into two nights, showcasing two drinks with sweet n low. The first night was alcohol-free. I invited my brother and his girlfriend (and let my boys steal a few sips). We did game night (we're big munkin zombie fans!) and shared some strawberry granita freezes. These were so good my brother and I each had two cups! My next plan is to make a wild berry smoothie based off of this recipe.

ingredients!

ready to blend!

yummy!

selfie with my creation!

gave out some samples to take home!

i told him to "hold it up and show me" ;)

L stealing a sip

C stealing a sip

Later on the week, we planned what started as a ladies cocktail night (and ended up with a few boys present!). The plan was to make skinny-mini mojitos. The actuality was ending up with skinny-mini chocolate mojitos! My friend is a gardener and has her own farm stand. So when I messaged her asking if she still had fresh mint available-she suggested I go with chocolate mint. It smelled amazing and had a unique taste. You have to add less (I'd say maybe a half cup) as fresh mint has a much stronger taste. We also added extra lime juice. It was an interesting drink! 

our ingredients

yum! our calorie cutting with our drinks earned us the pizza in the back ground! ;)

mojito selfie!

mom digs it!

sister showing off her drink!

my baby brother is still a year away from participating--so we sent him home with some pizza and a cool sample to add to his coffee! ;)

Welcome October! Vichy sample share

The end of September was a great month of sample shares! I have a few things to type up today and tomorrow, and some more sample shares should be gracing my mail box any day now! One of the many reasons I LOVE Crowdtap! Today, i am going to talk about Vichy skin idealizer serum. I am not a huge skin care guru like quite a few of my girl friends are, but it looked interesting so I thought I'd give it a try.

6 packs of 8 samples to try out the 8-day challenge

ready to try Vichy out!

It even looks pretty! Hard to tell, but it's a shiny pink color.

I put it on my face, and was pleasantly surprised at how it didn't feel gross. Like I said, I'm not a skin care guru by any means, and my limited experience with it left my skin feeling gross. Immediately after applying, I felt like I was de-stressifying. It felt nice to feel like I was pampering myself. I put it on every night, and the feel of my skin really did improve. It felt softer, and the occasionally acne I get did not make an appearance. As a mom of four boys 7 and under working a full time job (with fast food, no less!) it was really nice to add something to my routine that took literally less than five minutes and made me feel better about how I look. So what do I do when I love something? Share it, of course!!

gifting to my lovely mommy!

my sister is so excited!

she calmed down enough to snap this lovely selfie!

I mailed sample packs to my two skin care gurus who I am not lucky enough to live near

I am pleased to share that they loved it as much as I did! :)

Truvia Sweetener

Last week I received a sample of truvia sweetener. The goal was to use it instead of traditional sugar in Tea/Coffee. So my husband and I sat down to try it!!

I added two packets to my tea, while my husband added it to his coffee from Mcds. He tried his first. He said it was okay, but not sweet enough. I imagine most of that is because he usually has at least 8 sugars in his medium coffee! ;) I tried mine next, as I like to let me drinks cool a bit before I drink them. I enjoyed the taste. It was the right amount of sweetness I'd expect, and I felt good drinking it knowing that I had a natural product made from Stevia leaves! As a side note, my mom has bought this product before when she changed her diet to eliminate unnecessary chemicals. I drink my teas mostly at home, so until now I never did get the chance to try it, but she seemed to enjoy it with her morning coffee! Just recently I saw this on the shelves at our newly expanded walmart, so it is also becoming easier to find and buy! For more info, check out their facebook page!