Category: review

As I continue to read my way through Real Moms Love to Eat by Beth Aldrich and become inspired through education, I’m also discovering new foods.

As part of the Real Moms Love to Eat food affairiate program I had receive a generous goody bag with lots of healthy snacks and food in it.  One that I tried was Dreamfield Pasta.

As I stated in previous posts, I’m just learning to really read labels.  I mean yea, I read labels before looking at calories, vitamins, grams of sugar but to be perfectly honest, I didn’t really know what all that meant in terms of my own daily intake as well as for my family.  I had no idea pastas had sugar in it.  I knew about the carbs, but sugar?

Dreamfields Pasta has fewer digestible carbs than regular pasta.  It also has almost the same amount of fiber as whole wheat pasta.  Only 1 g of sugar and 0 trans fats.  7 grams of protein are in this pasta as well as only 190 calories per serving

I made some up with an organic tomato sauce.  This was so good.  I didn’t think it tasted any different from regular pasta.  I didn’t tell the kids or my hubby about the pasta switcharoo.  My oldest son ate his helping and wanted more.  My husband ate all of his too.  I asked them after they were done what they had thought of the pasta.  The both said it was good.  Then asked “why” of course.  I told them that the pasta I made was a bit healthier than what I normally cooked.  My husband pondered that for a moment and said “Yea it wasn’t too bad”.  Hey, this mom will take it.

You can find all kinds of good info about reading labels, eating healthier, healthier recipes, and more in the upcoming book: Real Moms Love To Eat.  Pre-order yours now and be entered to win great prizes!

I discovered this great book with the help of SocialMoms.com.

Stanley Home Products offers a variety of products for your home and personal care.  From perfumes, to degreasers, moisturizers, to brooms, even car care supplies, they can be your one stop shop for household needs.

Stanley Home Products offers business opportunities for you to make extra money from home.  With Stanley Home Products you will earn 35% on every item you sell. You choose how you want to sell: one to one sales, hosting Stanley Home house parties, or sell over the internet. You can find out more about Stanley Home business opportunities here: http://www.shponline.com/english/opportunity.asp

Among the products is the Essentials All Purpose Cream with beeswax.  This is a thick rich moisturizing cream with a gentle floral scent.  Blended with rich emollients and moisturizers to protect and add moisture to skin.

 

I get very dry and itchy skin starting from about now until around April.  Without a good moisturizer my skin would drive me crazy.  This thick rich formula did a great drop of drenching my skin and making it so soft to touch.  I wanted to show you a picture of the actual cream.  I dipped my finger in to show you just how thick it is.  It reminds me something of the consistency of whipped cream icing.

You can find a local Stanley Products Representative and shop online or in person.  You can also find Stanley Home products on twitter and on facebook.

***I received a the above mentioned all purpose creme at no cost from Stanley Home Products in order to complete a review.  I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post.  Any opinions expressed are my own.***

Skinn Cosmetics Olive and Enzyme Rich Balm Cleanser is a night time complexion cleanser.  This cleanser dissolves dirt, make up, pollution, dead skins cells, and other ickiness that might be on your skin.  It even removes waterproof make up. The olive butter in the product makes your skin feel soft and smooth.

This cleanser is meant to be used at night.  Skinn’s formula contains Polyphenols and skin enzymes that are supposed to enhance collagen and fight free radicals while you sleep.  The orange oil in the cleansing balm soften skin and purify.  This formula can also be used as a deep cleaning mask.  Just leave on for 5-10 minutes and gently slough off with a warm wash cloth.

I tried this product.  Given the name I didn’t expect a lovely scent.  However, it smelled almost edible.  To me it smelled like an orange cookie or maybe a lemon bundt cake.  The cleanser had a consistency of lotion and kind of looked like vanilla pudding in a way.  It was such a treat to put on my face.  When I washed it off my skin felt so smooth.  I tried it both as a make up remover/cleanser as well as the deep cleaning mask directions.  Both made my skin feeling soft.  I did not notice any residual make up on my face after I used it.  Though after I used it I was a little hungry for lemon bundt cake for some reason.

The Skinn Cosmetics Olive and Enzyme Balm Cleanser is a bit pricey at $24 a bottle.  It’s a generous 4 oz bottle . A little seems to go a long way too.

Skinn Cosmetics found Dimitri James appears on ShopNBC and offers insight behind the Skinn Cosmetics products. For dates and times of Dimitri’s appearances you can go here: www.skinn.com/showdates/.


You can also read more about Skinn Cosmetics, how-tos and more on Dimitri’s blog “Behind the Brush“.  Skinn makes more than just the Olive and Enzyme Balm Cleanser.  They also offer make up and more.  Check out the Skinn Store for yourself. 


Want a chance to win your own decadent Olive and Enzyme Balm Cleanser?  Skinn is going to give one Luv Saving Money reader their own full size bottle! US only   Sponsored by Tomoson.com

***Update, I needed to change the ending date of the giveaway.  The sponsor wants all winners info by a certain date and I want to make sure I have time for the winner to reply and get the info to them by the deadline.***

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

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.

You may already know the benefits of microdermabrasion. Many spas and plastic surgeons offer this service. Microdermabrasion can promote healthy skin, is said to make your skin look and feel younger, and helps with acne, sun damage, and age spots. It can help promote collagen production and cell renewal which helps the skin fight aging.  The problem with microdermabrasion is the fact that it’s expensive and usually takes several trips to the spa or doctor’s office to complete. You can read more about the benefits of microdermabrasion by clicking on the link in this paragraph.

If microdermabrasion is something you’ve been wanting to try but you don’t want to drop the $100s of dollars or can’t find time for all the appointments, PMD may be your answer. PMD is an  at-home microdermabrasion device.  At a cost of $179 for the system it’s a fraction of the price of going to the spa or doctor’s office.

PMD and other microdermabrasion treatments use Aluminum Oxide Crystals to slough off the upper layer of skin.  This action removes dead skin cells and reduces appearance of brown spots, fine lines, and light scars.  A suction on the device also helps to remove dead skin cells.  The PMD has different size Aluminum Oxide disks that can be used on the face or on the rest of your body. Mine came with small and larger blue sensitive discs and small and large green medium discs.  They also have red coarse discs if needed.  I started with the blue sensitive discs.

I had the opportunity to try PMD for myself.  This is my before picture

I know, scary.  This is me makeupless and ready to give the device a go.  I have to admit that I was nervous to give this a try.  I have never tried microdermabrasion in my life.  I didn’t know what to expect.  I read through the directions and watched the video that came with it carefully.  I really didn’t want to screw the up.  The first time I tried it, it actually was uncomfortable.  I was sure I was doing something wrong.  Obviously, I was because this is what happened.

I don’t know if you can see but it really made my skin raw.  I didn’t stay too long in the area.  It tells you NOT to stay in one area and to kind of slide it in upward directions.  I could not figure out what i did wrong.  I watched the video again just to be sure.  You’re only supposed to do one treatment a week so I had to wait until the next week to try it again. Again the same result.  My skin felt raw for a couple days after. You’re supposed to follow up with a toner and a cell rejuvenation serums or anti-aging creams.  You should do so even with professional microdermabrasion services according to the site.  You should use the astringent and creams every day. The PMD treatment is only once a week however.

The 3rd week I was a bit frustrated but wasn’t going to give up. I really pushed the Aluminum Oxide disc into the PMD device.  Guess what, this time it didn’t mame me!  It turns out I just didn’t push the disc in far enough. It doesn’t pop into place you just really have to push the disc in firmly appartenly so it’s in the right place. It worked much better for me on week 3.

So here I am actually using the PMD device.  I swear I’m gonna figure out my digital video camera and start doing videos soon.  In the mean time here’s the pic.

So after a 4 week trial this was the end result.

Sorry for my shower being in the back ground. Still no make up.    But..you make the call.  Do I look younger?  Tricky question right?  It’s ok I can take it.

If you want to try PMD for yourself you can find the system on their website: http://personalmicroderm.com/try.html
and on Apothica.com

Check out PMD’s site for before and after pics, instruction video, more benefit info, and lots of other useflu information.

***I received a refurbished PMD system at no cost in order to complete a review as part of the Apothica.com blogger program.  I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post.  I do receive an Apothica gift card every 6 months as part of the program.  ***

Sante Nuts had a humble beginning.  Sara Tidar always loved to cook.  She had learned a secret roasting recipe from her grandmother who roasted nuts in her tiny kitchen as a treat.  Sara continued on the tradition of hand roating nuts for her family.  Not only did she give them a healthy snack but the kids loved them.  Then, 6 years ago, Sara became a single mom and realized that being a “stay at home mom” wasn’t going to work.  Her son said to her, “Mom, you should sell those nuts you make for us.”  And here I am today doing a review on Sante Nuts, the brand Sara created.  You can read more about Sara’s story by visiting SanteNuts.com and clicking on “About Sante”.

Every bite of Sante Nuts are crunchy and fresh.  Their spice recipe uses natural quality ingredients.  They use a short list of ingredients for each kind of nut and flavor.  Just to give you an example, I’m looking at the Candied Pecans pouch and the ingredients are: Pecans, Sugar, Salt, Organic Canola Oil.  That’s it.

They only use the highest quality nuts.  They roast the nuts in small batches by hand.  Last but not least they use a secret technique that minimizes the amount of oil the nuts absorb while being roasted.  Since the nuts soak up less oil that means less fat, more crunch, more nuts per ounce than other brands.

The first ones to go in our house were the Sante Candied Pecans.  You can see in the pic above that they barely made it into the picture.  The had just a hint of sweet.  These would be great for topping ice cream, adding to dessert recipes, or just snacking on all by themselves like we did.  I then tried the Sante roasted salted pecans on my salad. Yum.  Very crunchy and flavorful.  Not too salty.

I also tried the Garlic Almonds on my salad.  In my opinion thes are ones that need to be added to something.  A chicken recipe or salad for instance.  They really kicked up the flavor of my salad.  I even added them to my Bacon Ranch salad from McD’s.  By themselves they have a little bit and you can definitely taste the garlic.

Each variety that i received was flavorful and crunchy.  No bland taste. The kids loved them all but the garlic almonds.  I loved them in my salads.

Stock up on these quality nuts for the holidays for your recipes or just to have on hand as a quick healthy snack while your cleaning, shopping, or cooking.  I even have a coupon code for you so you can save yourself a some money.

Use coupon code: 2011-Blog-158 to get 25% off any order at SanteNuts.com

***I received the above pictured and mentioned products at no cost in order to complete a review.  I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post.  Any opinions expressed are my own.  ***