Author: Angie

Granola can make a great healthy snack.  With lots of options out there, it’s hard to decide sometimes.  Is the granola mix your eating really “good for you”.  A lot of granola products out there aren’t as good as you might think.  Some have preservatives, lots of sugar, trans fats, and sodium included.  All those things that most health articles and books are telling us to avoid.

Nature’s American Company has been making granola for 40 years.  They’ve created Nature’s Hand granola for their health conscious consumers who want the taste of authentic granola. Nature’s Hand uses only premium all natural ingredients. Like what you ask?  Like soy oil for example, which has fiber, protein, and anti-oxidants.  Nature’s Hand is low in sugar and contains no artificial colors, flavors, trans fats, sodium, cholesterol, or preservatives.   They are lightly sweetened with carmelized brown sugar and honey.

The new premium packaging  is resealable and brightly colored.  There are 6 different flavors to choose from including:  French Vanilla Almond, Cranberry Delight, Wild Blueberry, Raisin Hazelnut, Cinnamon Apple, and Maple Pecan.  It was a hard choice for me, they all sounded good, but in the end I decided to try out the Cinnamon Apple and Maple Pecan.

Both of the flavors I choose were full of flavor and true to the description.  The Cinnamon Apple had actual bits of dried apple in them.  I could taste the light sweetness of the honey in both products.  The Maple Pecan had shopped pecans mixed into the granola.  I ate them dry as a snack as well as in a bowl with some milk for breakfast.  They were both wonderful mixed in with yogurt as well.  Even the kids liked it.

Nature’s Hand Granola would be an excellent addition to your recipes as well.  I think it would be lovely mixed into a peach cobbler or apple compote. You can also find gotta try granola recipes on their site like Ice Cream pie and Granola muffins.  Yum!

You can purchase Nature’s Hand granola on their website or at a number of retailers such as Whole Foods Market, Piggly Wiggly, Mariano’s Fresh Market and more.  To see the full list you can go here: http://www.natureshand.com/where-to-buy/

You can also find Nature’s Hand on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Natures-Hand-Granola/77424457594

and on twitter @naturalgranola

a Rafflecopter giveaway
<a href=”http://rafl.es/enable-js”>You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.

***I received 2 bags of Nature’s Hand granola, a glass bowl, and coupon for a free bag in exchange for reviewing the product. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post. Any opinions expressed are my own. Prize is sponsored by Nature’s American Company.***

I’ve tried out a number of bid sites.  From the auction site that everyone knows to one or two of the Penny Auction sites.  The penny auctions aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.  People say they’re winning ipads for $25.00 but they’re not telling you they put in $75.00 worth of bids, paid shipping on top of that, AND paid the $25 on top of that THEN paid shipping and processing fees.  I didn’t want to waste anymore money on those sites.

Then I was told about YouNeverLose.com.  My first thought was “Oh brother another penny auction site, no thanks.”  But I listened anyway and I’m glad I did.

Instead of buying bids upfront and walking away empty handed like the penny auctions sites, you buy a gift card from YouNeverLose.com and you get reward points for it.  The reward points in actuality are free. You then use the reward points to bid on other gift cards you want.  The gift cards you can buy upfront can be $25, $50, or $100.  Each dollar you spend on your gift card gets you 1 reward point.  You use your reward points to bid on gift cards like Walmart, Starbucks, Amazon, VISA, and lots more.  You could end up snagging a great gift card for a small fraction of the actual value.

So just so you’re on track let’s say you buy a $50 Old Navy gift card (which they have) as your initial reward card to start. You not only get the gift card mailed to you with free shipping but you also get 50 reward points to bid with.  So even if you don’t win a deal with your reward points you still have a $50 Old Navy gift card for your money.  So…You Never Lose.

I had the chance to try it out and review the site for you.  They gave me 20 reward points free so I could give my honest opinion.  Well the first auction I bid on was for a $25 Starbucks gift card.  I ended up winning the $25 Starbucks gift card at 12 cents!  Now just so I’m telling the whole story here, they do a charge $5 processing fee for each gift card you win.  So I still ended up getting a $25 Starbucks gift card for $5.12, no joke.  I was pretty impressed with that so I decided to bid on a $25 Amazon gift card to see if I could actually win more than once. I ended up winning the $25 Amazon gift card for 16 cents!  With the processing fee I paid $5.16 for a $25 Amazon gift card.  I took a screen shot of the winners’ screen.  I cropped out my personal info but here’s te winner screen, my username is angiewith3.

Just to clarify, the reward cards you buy to get your reward points have free shipping.  The gift cards you win on auction have a $5 processing fee.

Wanna know how many reward points I have left out of the 20 I started out with?  I still have 13 reward points left!  So I’m pretty impressed with this site so far.  The site says the gift ship in 2-4 days but I received both my gift cards I won through the auction via email the next day!  Not sure if you know (because I didn’t) if you have a Starbucks e-giftcard you can either print it out and take it to the store to use or transfer the balance onto a starbucks gift card you already have.

If you register on the site YouNeverLose.com is offering Luv Saving Money Readers a bonus 10 reward points when you purchase your first reward card. Use code: LAUNCH10 to get your bonus 10 reward points for bidding.  When you choose your reward card amount and which card you want there is a small box at the bottom that says “coupon code” be sure to add the LAUNCH10 code there to get your bonus points. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
<a href=”http://rafl.es/enable-js”>You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.

***I received free reward points to review the YouNeverLose.com and I will be receiving a $25 AMC Theaters gift card in exchange of an honest review. I did not receive any other compensation. Any opinions expressed are my own.***

You may be familiar with the little Dapper Snappers for toddlers that help cinch your little ones pants so they don’t fall off. They’re not a belt but rather a easy and comfortable tool to to keep your little ones pants from sagging and to make changes and potty time easy for you.

Now Dapper Snappers is offering Big Kids’ Belts.   These belts are made with children 5-9 yrs old in mind.  Reminiscent of the 60’s and 70’s, the girl’s belts offer bright colors and flower patterns as well as solids and include bottle opener buckles. The boys belts offer masculine magnetic buckles, robot patterns and solid colors.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Sponsored by Tomoson.com