Health Benefits of Florida Orange Juice

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Florida Orange Juice for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Are you a morning person?  Do you eat breakfast everyday?  I noticed when I stopped skipping breakfast, and made it my most important meal of the day, I became more of a "morning person". Florida Orange Juice in the morning can energize and prepare you for a busy day.  Don't get me wrong, I still want my 1 cup of coffee in the morning with breakfast, but I am going to start drinking more orange juice in the morning. I challenge those folks who claim they are not "morning people"  to start drinking orange juice at the start of every day, to  see if it improves your morning routine.

Now don't take my word for it, there are experts out there that have the facts behind why 100% Florida Orange Juice is the perfect start to every day.  Nationally recognized nutrition expert, Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, supports drinking Florida Orange Juice everyday and here is why:

One 8-ounce serving of 100% Florida Orange Juice is a good source of potassium, folate, and vitamin C.  Nutrients that studies show are under consumed in the United States.

100% Florida Orange Juice is more nutrient dense then other 100% juice drinks on the market. It contains no added sugar or artificial sweeteners, like many fruit juice cocktails, soft drinks, and sports drinks do.

One 8-ounce serving of 100% Florida  Orange Juice provides half of your daily recommendation for fruit, based on the USDA's recommendations for adults on a 2,000-calorie diet.

Nutrition Tips:

Kathleen M. Zelman MPH, RD has some healthy tips for us all. She suggests we all have a nutritious breakfast that includes fruit, protein, and good nutrient dense carbs.  She suggests for a quick smoothie blend your favorite fresh fruit, yogurt, and 100% Florida Orange Juice together.  She even suggests substituting 100% Florida Orange Juice for the water in your pancakes.  When traveling, or on the go, she suggests the individual servings of 100% Florida Orange Juice as a healthy snack.  She suggests for dinner, choose leaner cuts of beef, pork, or poultry to grill, and marinade in 100% Florida Orange Juice for great flavor with out any guilt.

To keep up with Florida Orange Juice, please "like" Florida Orange Juice on Facebook.  For all you Pin heads, like myself, you can follow Florida Orange Juice on Pinterest .

Tasty, Crafty, and Fashionable Fantastic Features

Grab code from here please.

It's time for me to share some of my favorite links from last weeks Anything Goes Friday to Monday linky party.  I must admit, I am so glad it's Thursday.  This means I have made it through almost an entire week with just me and my little boys.  That's right, my hubby is out of town for work, and mom's been flying solo.  Thank goodness I had your great links to keep me motivated and inspired.

Speaking of  husbands, on Father's day, bring dad a nice frosty cold one, and gift him some handmade photo coasters.  Thanks for sharing a great tutorial Meremade.

Read more »

My Families New Favorite Healthy Snack Bar From Quaker

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Quaker Oats for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am so excited to tell you all about my families favorite new snack, a Quaker Soft Baked Bar.  As a hypoglycemic, it's important for me to enjoy frequent small meals, high in fiber and protein.  Of course everyone can benefit from eating healthy snacks and wholesome food. These new bars from Quaker are  the perfect breakfast snack and can easily be eaten on the go.

Now how do they taste you ask?  Well they received not only a thumbs up from me, but my 3 picky boys, yes I am including my husband in that count..  My toddler, who is particularly picky, ate 1 1/2 bars in one sitting with simply a smile on his face, just look at his picture below.  I had to quickly grab my camera and take a pic before he gobbled the entire snack bar up.  Each bar is only 140 calories but packed full of nutrition.  With each satisfying bar you will get 5 grams of fiber, 20% of your daily value of B vitamins, and 6 grams of protein.  The protein is my favorite part since the vast majority of snack bars out there have little to no protein.  It's the combination of fiber and protein that really provide you with a filling snack, aiding in weight loss. As you may know, I have lost about 100 pounds, and kept it off for several years now.  I have done so by eating frequent small meals, high in fiber and protein.  These snack bars are going to make my meal and snack planning a lot easier.  They will certainly be a new staple in our pantry.

I was sent both the Banana Nut Bread and Cinnamon Pecan Bread flavored Soft Baked Bars to review. Picking a favorite is really hard, since they both are so good.  I have always loved Banana Bread, however I  am leaning towards the Cinnamon Pecan Bread variety since it has the icing on top, and is just a bit sweeter.  Don't take my word for it, go pick up a box of each. I promise you will be amazed by how good these wholesome bars taste.  Your kids will love them too.  To enjoy them hot, all you have to do is open one end of the package to vent, and microwave for 10 seconds.  Could breakfast on the go get any easier?

A Great Resource For Children's Recipes

Image Source

If you have kids like me, then you probably know that it's not always easy to get them to eat balanced.  You really need to not only get creative, but include them in the food preparation, when at all possible.  Have your kids ever went into the kitchen, prepared something for themselves, that lets be honest makes you gag at the thought of eating it, and then see them devour it, saying it was terrific.  It just goes to show kids like to "play with their food" and be apart of the cooking process.  I recently discovered a wonderful online site, Whisked Foodie, that shares great childrens recipes.  For example, they share a recipe for these kid friendly Rainbow Fruit Pops, pictured above.  Made with 100% pure fresh fruit, and no added sugar, these pops are sure to please both parents and kids. 

Read more »

How To Easily Run An Etsy Sale

I am currently running my first Etsy sale through the Etsy On Sale team. I want to thank Rae Gun Ramblings for sharing with me how to use Etsy On Sale.  I have always wanted to run an easy sale, but always ended up spending a ton of time editing each listing. With Etsy on Sale you can have a store wide sale, or even specific sections on sale, within minutes.  When you sign up, you get 5 credits, which will cover running your first sale.  Your sale items will also get promoted on the Etsy On Sale site.  They have an instructional video you can watch, if you need help setting up your first sale.  It was really easy to use, and only took me a minute or two, to set up my first sale.  If you would like to take advantage of my Summer Sale, scheduled to run through 6/18/12, please head to my shop  TLC Creations.  You can also check out my shop, to get an idea of what a store wide sale will look like for Etsy shoppers.  Here  is one of my listing pictured below.  You can see how it will automatically show the regular price with a slash through it.  The sale price will automatically be the price charged to buyers, no coupon codes to enter. 

To sign up, and run your first sale with the Etsy On Sale team head HERE,

 and use the REFERRAL CODE: 5WB1N9V72B

If you decide to try out Etsy On Sale, please let me now in a comment below.  Please join us each week for our Anything Goes linky, every Friday to Monday.  To see where I party, please check out my Linky Love page.

LA Cuisine

Image Source 

If you live in LA, will be traveling there soon, or want to learn more about the regional cuisine, you will want to discover the best restaurants in LA.  You can find a section on Whisked Foodie called LA Foodie.  It's completely dedicated to nosh in LA.  You will find LA restaurant reviews, ingredient spotlights, news, trends, and a West Coast Rant section.  For example are you looking for an incredible Italian meal, or a pizza pie worthy of a few extra miles on the tread meal, then check out Whisked Foodie's video tour and review of LA's Urbano Pizza Bar.

Read more »

What I Wore New Ross Fashion

Our small town recently opened  a Ross, our first discount store!  It has been so nice not having to drive an hour to Reno to find some fabulous deals.  I love the great prices and trendy items you can find at Ross.  I love my two most recent Ross purchases, pictured above, a long tank dress, only $6.99, and lace top, only $9.99.  You know I love bargain shopping, so what about you?  Do you Ross?

PS, I had fun on PicMonkey with their new collage feature!

PSS, I don't know why it looks like I am dancing in that bottom right picture, I promise I wasn't dancing in my front yard.  My neighbors probably already think I am crazy, I don't need to make matters worse.

PSSS, yes I am wearing pig tails, it's almost Summer, and I can do what I want LOL!