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Did you know that 1 million tons of paper plates and cups end up in the landfill?  That info from from the EPA.  Kashi and Recyclebank are teaming up to help reduce that number.  Earn 10 points when you take the Grab Your Mug and Go Challenge below. If you don’t have a Recyclebank.com account, no worries.  It only takes a minute to sign up and it’s totally free.  Plus, use your Recyclebank points for free rewards like coupons, gift cards, and more.

Years ago there was a little coffeehouse in my town.  I used to love to go there.  The main reason I loved to go was that they offered lots of flavors of Italian sodas and ice cream sodas.  I’d go there as a treat to myself and try a different flavor each time.  One of my faves was the kiwi flavored Italian soda and ice cream soda.  I tried lots though: raspberry, blueberry, green apple, peach, well I tried a lot.  Anywho, you know what they all had in common?  Torani Flavored Syrups.

At the hospital where I work they have a small coffee shop.  They have some of the best milkshakes.  You can get a peaches and cream milkshake, raspberries and cream, toasted marshmallow, pumpkin pie flavor and lots of other flavors.  Do you know what they all have in common?  Yep, you got it, Torani Flavored Syrups.

I had the opportunity to try two more Torani Flavored Syrups: Gingerbread (just in time for the holidays) and Salted Caramel.  I tried each flavor in my coffee at home.  It doesn’t take much of either one to really get the flavor into your drink.  I’d say I used 2 tsp worth in my coffee each time.  I didn’t add any sugar, I didn’t have to.

You could taste the spice of the gingerbread.  The smell of it was enough to think someone had gingersnaps in the oven.  The syrup is smooth and mixes easily into any drink or recipe.

Next was the Salted Caramel.  I really didn’t know what that would tasted like in my coffee.  The flavor was delicious.  I could taste the caramel with only a hint of saltiness.  I put a little dab on my finger to taste it by itself.  The flavor reminded me something of a Payday candy bar.

Torani Syrups can be used to add flavor to ice cream and mixed into recipes.  I have a recipe for raspberry chocolate truffels.  The recipe calls for raspberry liquer but I don’t normally have a raspberry cordial just sitting around nor do I like to use it if I know the kids will be eating them..  I substitute the liquer with Torani Raspberry syrup.

Use Torani Syrups in your mixed drinks too!  Think about adding one of the 122 available flavors to some of your holiday baking and cooking this year.

There are so many flavors of Torani Flavored Syrups.  There are even sugar free flavors. There are way too many flavors to list here, over 120 to be exact.  If you want to check them all out visit: www.Torani.com

From classic flavors like French Vanilla, Cinnamon, and Strawberry to more unique flavors like Bacon, Blood   Orange, and Toasted Marshmallow you’re sure to find one you love.  If you need a sugar free flavor there is no lack of those either.  Just to name a couple there are Sugar Free: Almond, Peanut Butter, and White Chocolate.  Yum.  I encourage you to check out the full list though, you won’t believe all the flavors they offer.

Click the banner below to see what others are saying about Torani Flavored Syrup and save 10% on your purchase:

Join us on  Nov. 17 for the Torani and @shespeaksup twitter party using hashtag #HolidayFlavors at 9 PM EST.

Torani Flavored Syrups are available at Walmart, Cost Plus World Market, Amazon.com, Torani.com and Shop.Torani.com <--widest asst. of flavors, and most major grocery chains.

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Do you know what household items can be composted?  Learn about it here in this Learn and Earn opportunity from Recyclebank and Q-tip.  Increase your green knowledge and earn 25 Recyclebank points. If you don’t have a Recyclebank account, it free and you earn rewards for actions like this.

I’m reading Real Moms Love to Eat by Beth Aldrich.  I discovered the book through SocialMoms.com.  To some things up in one sentence the book teaches you  how to eat in an entertaining way, without torturing yourself.  Luv Saving Money will be part of the book tour.  I’ll have a complete book review coming up this month.

I’m not finished with the book yet.  What I have read has been very helpful to me.  I’m not the best at reading labels.  She talks about good and bad fats, alternatives to adding flavor to your dishes, and more.  I received a very generous goody bag as part of the book tour with some of the foods Beth talks about in Real Moms Love to Eat.  One item in the bag that really caught my attention was the “All Natural Peanut Butter and Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams” which is peanut butter blended with dark chocolate.  It has no trans fats, no cholesterol, gluten free, certified vegan, and does NOT contain high fructose corn syrup.

So, while it looks really good, and smells good, I had to wonder what it tasted like.  I decided to go for a healthy snack.  I put the recommended servings size on a small tea plate and cut up a banana.  Wow this stuff is amazing.  Very good on bananas.  I think it would be great with a number of fresh fruits like strawberries, peaches, apples, and would be great on some whole grain toast.   I’m sure it could be added in a number of recipes too.  You can find Peanut Butter and Co.’s Dark Chocolate dreams on their website: http://www.ilovepeanutbutter.com

You can also find Peanut Butter and Co. on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/PeanutButterCo
and on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/PeanutButterCo.

Another think I like is the fact that when I read the ingredients section of the Dark Chocolate Dreams, I understand what every ingredient is. There’s no freaky chemical, sciencey words, just good stuff.  The cherry-on-top is that they only use 100% USA grown peanuts.

If you want to learn more about healthier eating and what Beth might suggest using this type of product with to eat healthier, you should pre-order Real Moms Love to Eat.  Anyone who pre-orders the book will be eligible for prizes in their sweepstakes.

Maybe you’re looking for a cute personalized wedding favor, maybe you want some nice favors for the baby shower you’re planning, perhaps you want to have some handout items made up to promote your business, whatever it is, PartyBeans.com can help.

Partybeans.com offers personalized gifts and party favors.  One of the nice things is that there’s no minimum to order.  If you only want one you can just get one.  If you want 100 you can get 100.  They have unique items like cute little 10 oz wooden barrels filled with Jelly Belly jelly beans, breath strip packs, 6 oz glass candy jars, and many more.  All can be personalized with a company logo, message, or announcement.

I decided to get the key chain mint tins and put my blog logo on them.  I was able to get 8 of them for $25 (including the shipping).

I love to have these kinds of things to hand out.  You get into a conversation with someone about your company. They have a genuine interest, you hand them a little token like this.  This would be a great thing to have for taking part in fairs to hand out.  Any of the items would be nice, personalized to welcome a new baby to give out to guests or as a Personalized Wedding Favors.   The mints in these are quality too.  They’re smaller and have a strong mint flavor. You only need one at a time.  To be quite honest, I didn’t even realize until after I placed my order that I could have added a background to behind my logo too which may have made them even nicer.  I’m still happy with the way they turned out though.

Shipping was very fast.  The only complaint I had was that when I ordered them I kept getting an error message with my logo.  It didn’t say what the problem was, if it was too big, not big enough, the quality wasn’t good enough etc.  I finally just put it through.  Then I got an email to say that my order was on hold until I made changes to my picture but  I still didn’t know what the issue was.  I just adjusted the size and put it through again and it worked.

I like that the items are well made and you don’t have to order so many.  This really opens up the possibilities of what you can use them for.

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.