Udi’s Gluten Free Cookies

When you hear the words “Gluten-Free” you probably crinkle up your nose and say a quick “ick!” I know that 2.5 years ago I would’ve done the same thing. But since Creativelydad’s sister has a gluten intolerance (Celiac Disease) and since she found out I’ve not only been trying to find more options of things to eat for her, but over the last couple months I’ve been having some symptoms that I want to keep an eye on. I have to admit I haven’t tried to actually bake/cook anything gluten-free yet, though they are sitting on my pantry shelf. I was asked to review Udi’s Gluten Free cookies and I was so excited. I’ve tried a few other gluten-free brands and haven’t been impressed but that was NOT the case with Udi’s. We were sent 3 containers of very yummy cookies: Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, and Snickerdoodle.

When I opened the box they came in my first instinct was to of course smell the containers. I was hopeful for the taste because they smelt like “normal” cookies. I did what any loving and great mother would do … let O test them out lol. I figure if he loved them I would too right? Well the verdict was heard loud and clear he LOVED them. He said looked right at me and with a little smirk said “Sorry mama but these are the best cookies EVER! Even better than yours!” I would be upset but well my cookies come from the refrigerated section of Walmart lol. So I bit the bullet and tried the Oatmeal Raisin cookies and I was in heaven. That container was then dubbed Mama’s cookies and do NOT touch unless you intend to face the consequences. Creativelydad didn’t sadly get to try these because well O ate the other two containers lol. He was nice enough to share with his aunt and she loved them too. She didn’t even realize they were gluten-free until I showed her the container. He said it was a tough choice on whether he liked the Chocolate Chip or Snickerdoodle cookies better so he called it a tie. He also said we needed to buy these again and I had to agree with him there.

After trying these I was browsing their facebook page and twitter and saw a lot of positive things from them. I know fellow blogger Karen of FabGrandma  has talked about using Udi’s brand quite a bit on her blog that I knew this was a brand I could trust, even if I was a little nervous about trying something new lol. I will definitely be replacing some of our other gluten filled items with Udi’s gluten-free foods. I think I’m going to start with the sandwich bread and see if Creativelydad notices a difference!  With that said, this is a great brand that I can’t wait to try more products of. Don’t forget to follow them on Twitter and Facebook to stay up-to-date with all their amazing products!

Is there you know anyone that needs to eat a gluten-free lifestyle?

*I was given a free free product and/or was paid for this review. Any opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.

Freschetta By The Slice Review

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

Here we already LOVE not only frozen pizza but the Freschetta brand and usually a staple as a backup plan when I can’t decide what to make for dinner. While the temps are climbing it’s not my favorite thing to turn on the oven. Thankfully with these new FRESCHETTA® By the Slice to help solve this problem. Also we’re gearing up for a busy summer with my son’s baseball schedule, my husband’s overtime schedule, and his softball schedule as well. This makes planning dinners hard and spending more time in a drive thru line than I care for.
So you can imagine how excited I was to receive a coupon to try Freschetta By The Slice for free. I also received a really neat 6 piece Freschetta storage set. The new Freschetta By The Slice comes in 6 different flavors; BBQ Chicken, Vegetable Medley, Chicken, Spinach & Mushroom, and the flavor I picked, Six Cheese Medley. I really liked the choices that they offered as you don’t see many ‘different’ flavors when it comes to pizza like this. Also I was very pleased with how they held up to being in the microwave. The pizza tasted just like it came out of the oven. I can see these being  a good thing to eat on the go because they have a nice tray that they cook in. I liked that they only take 4 minutes in the microwave.
Though I do have to say I’m kicking myself for not trying the Chicken, Spinach & Mushroom pizza. I LOVE

Freschetta is Proud to Support Pink Giveaway

I’m sure you’re aware that you’re well aware that October is National Breast Cancer awareness month. All of your favorite comanies and brands are showing their support and Freschetta is no different. Freschetta is helping in a program called Proud to Support Pink. I think that’s really awesome of them and this hits close to home for me because not only did my great-grandma pass from what started as Breast Cancer, but Creativelydad’s mother is a Breast Cancer survivor as well and I was really excited to be asked to talk about their contribution to the Proud to Support Pink program. In doing so I received a prize pack that contained a coupon to try any Freschetta pizza 12oz or larger for free, as well as, two (2) pairs of Freschetta Proud to Support Pink earbuds. One is for me to keep and the other to giveaway to a real life family member or friend as a reminder of proactive health. I decided to give the other pair to my awesome sister. She loved them and what Freschetta is doing. We still haven’t used the free coupon yet because well we can’t decide what we want to try yet.

Now if you haven’t heard about the Proud to Support Pink program, it runs from Sept 25th – Oct 31st and on specially marked packages you’ll find a a code that you will enter at their Proud to Support Pink website. The purpose of these codes are to help Freschetta reach their goal of a $50,000 donation to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Not only will each code you enter donate  $1 to the center, but you will also be entered to win 1 out of 50 Pink iPod Shuffles that they are giving away each week in October. As if that wasn’t enough, they will also be donating 50 pink iPod shuffles each week in October to 4 cancer centers around America so that breast cancer patients will be able to enjoy them while going through their treatments.

How amazing is that? Want even more savings, than visit the Freschetta website to print off a $1 coupon for your next purchase!

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

*I was given a free free product and/or was paid for this review. Any opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.

T.G.I. Friday’s Entrees For One

‘This post brought to you by T.G.I. FRiDAY’S. All opinions are 100% mine.
A couple weeks ago I posted about how we got to try the T.G.I. FRiDAY’S “Entrées for One”. You may recall how much we loved the Grilled Chicken Mac & Cheese entree. Well now I’m going to tell you what Creativelydad’s take on them were. When I purchased the Mac & Cheese entree I decided to pick up their new Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo as well. When I made the Mac and Cheese Creativelydad couldn’t get over how amazing it tasted … nor that it came out of the microwave. So when I mentioned making the Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo this week he decided to surprise me and much to my surprise Creativelydad made it for us for dinner. I was a little weary since he doesn’t normally cook “major” meals, but I have to say he did a great job and I think he was even shocked with how easy it was to make. Of course you’re probably thinking how hard can these be to make? Well honestly they aren’t but that’s what we love about them. They are quick and taste amazing. Creativelydad loves them because they don’t require a lot of work to prepare them. Just throw them in the pan and when they are done cooking they come out smelling and tasting amazing. Once we started eating we forgot it was a frozen meal and enjoyed each other’s conversations. Creativelydad decided this will be our new weekly thing. A easy and satisfying dinner that mom doesn’t have to cook and we get to hear all about O’s day … can’t get much better. Plus mom loves getting the night off every now and then lol.

If you read the other post you’ll remember me mentioning that I entered their Fun Freezer contest. Well now through Oct. 20th it’s time to get those votes in! Did you enter the contest? If you did leave your links I’d love to check them out! Also have you tried the entrees yet? If so which ones do you love? Which are you wanting to try?

T.G.I. Friday’s Solves Frozen Food Problems

This post brought to you by T.G.I. FRiDAY’S. All opinions are 100% mine.
I’m a sucker for frozen food that is packaged and sold from a big chain restaurant that I may love or just want to try because we don’t have one around here. Of course usually the frozen foods don’t hold up to a candle, but sometimes you get lucky and you’ll find that one gem that goes from the freezer to the microwave to the tasting extremely close to what you’d get at the restaurant. That’s where T.G.I. FRiDAY’S “Entrées for One” comes into play. I was lucky enough to get to try these new entrees and I was ready to give them the full trial.

I’m pretty picky when it comes to my frozen food. First I usually skip anything that has pre-cooked, frozen meat in it because it’s usually something gross. I will say that the grilled chicken in the meal I chose, Grilled Chicken Mac and Cheese entree for 1, was not something I was fond of, but it WAS a lot better quality than I normally find in my frozen meals. A few bites I had were really good chicken but then I’d get a couple bites that were mushy/fatty kind of feel/taste that wasn’t a pleasant taste to me. But the noodles and cheese were amazing! If I have a late night craving for mac and cheese this will definitely be my go to as it’s not only easy as pie to ‘make’, but it tastes just like homemade mac and cheese. The Grilled Chicken Mac and Cheese entree consists of White meat chicken with cavatappi pasta in an American cheese sauce topped with Cheddar, Romano, Parmesan, and Monterey Jack cheeses. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened up the box and saw not only the cheese sauce but nice sizes of all the shredded cheeses. After warming up, everything melted amazing and it was like heaven in my mouth.

Now amazing food is not the only thing T.G.I. Friday’s has to offer. I don’t know if you’ve visited their facebook page or not but they have this amazing Fun Freezer contest going! If you haven’t heard about it, this contest is about decorating the freezer has never been so fun. All you have to do is get creative and funky with how you decorate your fridge and after entering your fridge you have the chance to win one of the 10 prizes they are offering. The prizes break down like this, Third Place prize (5 winners) is a Date Night In Goes All Out. Here you’ll win a 12-month DVD subscription and a freezer load of oh-so-shareable T.G.I Friday’s Entrees for Two. How fun would that be? Next is Second place (3 winners) which is called House Party on the House. Here you could win everything you need to throw the best house party ever! This includes drinks, entertainment and of course a freezer stuffed with T.G.I Friday’s Snacks! Now that sounds like a good party. Finally the big prize. Grand prize (2 winners) is called Ultimae Home Theater Makeover. Here you could win a new TV and home theater system, plus a year’s worth of new T.G.I. Friday’s Entrees for One. This would be amazing and let me tell you we could so use a home entertainment center. Did you see my entry for this contest? O decided on a western romantic and how could I deny that one? I think he’s a fun and quirky little fridge. What do you think?

Are you entering? I’d love to see your fridges’ if you are! Have you tried these new entrees? What are your thoughts? Any favorite flavors?

‘Let’s Cook’ With Bertolli & Chef Fabio

I love cooking and 9 times out of 10 you’ll find my cable box tuned to some cooking so. My favorite show has to be Top Chef. It’s the best of both worlds; reality tv & cooking. Then add in Bertolli Olive Oil and it’s a match made in heaven. This is my favorite cooking oil and I use it probably more than I should. I was lucky to be included in a campaign with Bertolli Olive Oil that features probably my favorite chef on Top Chef …. Fabio Viviani. He’s just adorable to look and and well his heavy Italian accent definitely makes my knees a little weak.

But enough talking about celebrity crushes, lets get down to what this is all about …. FOOD and APPS. No not appetizers, phone apps. I don’t have a fancy app adding phone but it’s on my get a job & save for list. Being a grown up really stinks sometimes doesn’t it? But I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak at a video of what the app would look like if I had said phone. Lets just say this app looks pretty neat. It offers a lot of really delicious recipes and I just love the flavor that Bertolli Olive Oil gives the food. It’s not too thick but not too thin either. Just the right amount that leaves food tasting great. The mushroom fettuccini just sounds heavenly right about now. But don’t take my word for it download the app today and see what you think. In the mean time, take a look at the sneak peek video featuring the lovely Chef Fabio Viviani:


I wrote this review while participating in a Blog Friendly PR campaign on behalf of Bertolli Olive Oil and the ‘Let’s Cook’ iOS App by Chef Fabio Viviani. Samples were provided so I could provide my honest opinion.

Making Auntie Anne’s Pretzels at Home!

We don’t visit the mall very often but when we do, O does nothing less than be a perfect child because he knows he can get a very special treat if he does. What is that special treat you ask? Why Auntie Anne’s pretzels of course and how could I not get them for him? I mean then Mama gets a treat too right?! He says they are the most delicious treats he’s ever had. So imagine his excitement when I showed him the box that came in the mail. He was over the moon and couldn’t wait to get started using Auntie Anne’s At-Home Baking Kit. The box labels this as “Fun, easy, & delicious!” Let’s just say that isn’t a lie. I’ve got to admit that I’m not the best when it comes to dough usage. I can use dough out of a can … but making it myself is well where there trouble lies. I once tried to make my own pizza dough and lets all be thankful I wasn’t blogging at the time. It looked like some alien being and bless Jeff’s heart he ate every bite of it despite how horrible I felt about it lol. But with this Auntie Anne’s At-Home Baking Kit I had no troubles at all.

The box includes everything you need to make 10 Original or Cinnamon Sugar pretzels or 15 pretzel dogs. Now I was wanting to get creative with this as I’ve had a couple ideas I was working on in my head but once my loving son saw the label on the box, it was all over and we went with traditional pretzels and did a mix of original and cinnamon sugar pretzels. After you see his adorable face you’ll know what it was so hard to turn down his request for pretzels. He impatiently waited while I got the dough made and let it rise. I have to think this was the longest time of his life, when really it only took a little while. After the dough rises it’s time for the fun part …. rolling out the dough and making pretzels. This was his favorite part. He made better pretzels than I did.  After we rolled out the pretzels I dipped them in the Baking Soda so they get to come out looking golden brown and yummy! After that I sprinkled 1/2 of them  with the salt that comes with the kit. I have to admit that while they were baking the house smelt SO good. After they were done I brushed them with butter and sprinkled 1/2 with a little more salt and the other 1/2 with cinnamon sugar. I think we made a little more than 10 pretzels but then I can’t make something the same size to save my life and some came out fatter than the others lol.

These pretzels didn’t last too long though O wanted to save some for his daddy and that was a hard temptation to see lol. O nearly jumped out of the cart at Walmart when we went down the baking isle. Good thing the Auntie Anne’s At-Home Baking Kit was on the top shelf or it would’ve made it’s way into our cart lol. These came out tasting JUST like what we get at the mall and O’s only complaint was the “yummy cream sauce” was missing (meaning the icing that he normally gets with his cinnamon sugar pretzels at the mall). But honestly he must not have missed it all that much because he devoured 2 of them before I had to cut him off …. then he snuck one off the baking sheet when I was checking the mail … little snot. So I asked O what his final thoughts of the Auntie Anne’s At-home baking kit and well this was his response:

*I was given a free free product and/or was paid for this review. Any opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.

PomWonderful review

I’m one of those “I hate it but never tried it” people. There are a lot of things I think I don’t like but I just never tried them. Now I am eating my words because I found out I LOVE Pomegranates in just about any form. When I was offered to do this review I was so excited because of my new found love that I couldn’t pass it up. Then I found out that they have all these amazing recipes you can use your PomWonderful  juice with or even the whole pomegranates I was in heaven. I think I spent a few days looking at the recipes just waiting for my juice to get here lol. Once it got here it didn’t spend a lot of time in the fridge. The hubby surprised me and took a whole bottle just for himself. He was surprised at the taste of it as well (he’s not much of a fruit/veggie lover lol).

Now the first recipe that I tried was the Grilled Portobello with POM Mustard Vinaigrette and Garden Greens. I was super excited to try this recipe as I am a big fan of Portobello mushrooms. Although I found quickly that I’m not a big fan of Balsamic Vinegar and so this wasn’t a hit right away. I need to work on tweaking this one to find out if it works without the Balsamic Vinegar. But just look how beautiful that looks! I think that maybe I should have got a pomegranate just to use the arils. Also I tried a different cheese then it listed in the recipe because well I have problems following directions and the goat cheese scared me ha! I think I just need to try it instead of being scared and maybe it would’ve come out better lol! The other flavors tasted really good together just those two problems I had, plus it was a snap to make and didn’t take any time at all (mine wasn’t very pretty so I used the photo they have with the recipe to give you an example of what it looks like).

Next I tried something that everyone should love and it was the Warm Pom Fudge Sauce over ice cream. I used a banana split ice cream and Owen used Oreo ice cream for this recipe though I’m sure you can use what ever flavor suits your tastes. This was a BIG hit and again, quick to pull together (what mother doesn’t appreciate that). We again didn’t have any of the arils to garnish it but will have to try that next time. This will definitely make you not want normal fudge sauce anymore for your ice cream treats. I loved that it added a different flavor to your ice cream no matter what flavor you started with. Owen, who didn’t like the juice, was shocked that the juice was in it and he now asks for it every time he wants an ice cream treat (like every day). So the next time you’re looking for a fun alternative for your deserts or want to impress some family/friends then make sure you try this. Everyone will be wondering what your secret is. Also this one went fast so there was no time for a photo so this photo comes from the PomWonderful site.

So the next time you think you don’t like something why not just try it? We expect the kids to do that right (yes I’m guilty of this one lol) so why not take our own advice lol! If you’d like to keep up with PomWonderful then add them on Facebook or Twitter. Also if you’ve tried any of the recipes listed on the PomWonderful site I’d love to know what ones

*I was given a free free product and/or was paid for this review. Any opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.

Santa’s Secrets: Giant Fortune Cookie Giveaway

*Contest is Closed*

Now if you had to ask me what my favorite kind of food would be, I’d have to say Chinese food. I love it, though my favorite part is always the fortune cookie. My husband isn’t that big of a fan, he always says the cookies just taste so plain. Well that sure changed his mind when I received a Giant Fortune Cookie in the mail. I knew it was going to be a huge cookie but let me tell you that I was shocked at how big it actually was lol!

I was given the Gingerbread Fortune Cookie to review and let me tell you that I am not a huge gingerbread lover but this cookie was SO yummy! Now before I get in to that I have to tell you how adorable this thing is when you get it in the mail. First it shows up in this white box and when you open up the box there is this beautiful giant cookie sitting on top of this colored crinkle paper. The cookie was wrapped in French-style Cellophane and tied with a bow. The best part about this beautiful presentation is that if you’re giving them as gifts they do all the work for you! Now they looked so pretty I almost didn’t want to eat it…. almost lol.

I could describe for you how this cookie tasted but I have to share with you the great description on their website since it was way to fun:

This gourmet holiday idea breaks the mold. To create this special giant fortune cookie treat we took gingerbread men, broke them into pieces and created the first giant gingerbread fortune cookies, covered with chunks of gingerbread crumble and white chocolate.

How fun does this make them sound? As I said, I am not a huge gingerbread lover but I AM a white chocolate lover and let me tell you this combination is just amazing. I loved that there wasn’t an overwhelming taste of gingerbread in these fortune cookies but just the right amount of it for even the less loving of gingerbread flavor to enjoy. This cookie weights in at 1lb … yes that’s right, and is 7″ wide and 5″ tall.  Now maybe gingerbread just isn’t the right flavor for you, well they have other holiday flavors as well.

 This beautiful cookie to your left is called the Holiday Cheer Giant Fortune Cookie and how pretty does this look? This cookie is dipped in milk chocolate and covered in Christmas colored sprinkles. How pretty does this look? This would make a great gift for anyone that’s been nice on your holiday list this year! (Hey Santa isn’t the only one keeping a naughty and nice list is he?)

Or maybe Christmas isn’t your kinda holiday. they also offer Hanukkah Giant Fortune Cookies and these are … you guessed it, beautiful. I think the colors on this cookie just pop off of it for some reason. Maybe it’s the baby blue sprinkles that are placed on top of the dipped milk chocolate. Maybe it’s that going against the color of the cookie. I don’t know but I would love to get this any day of Hanukkah, shoot I’d love to get this just because lol! As always this gift comes wrapped in French-style cellophane and placed inside a pretty white box ready to be given out.

Now maybe you just don’t want to send a holiday themed cookie. I’m sure you’re stumped on what other ones would be great gifts. Well I can tell you they all would be but some of my favorites that I’ve been drooling over would have to be the Gourmet Hazelnut Giant Fortune Cookie dipped in milk chocolate and carefully rolled in fresh chopped hazelnuts. I am a huge hazelnut fan and I can just imagine how yummy this one is. Or maybe you are wanting to try something different. Then why not try the Romantic Assorted Chocolate Cherry-Bomb Fortune Cookies? These cookies come in a really beautiful tin and are cherry flavored fortune cookies that are dipped in an assortment of Milk-chocolate, dark-chocolate and white-chocolate and rolled in cute hand-crafted red heart sprinkles. How yummy does that sound? These would make the perfect gift for Valentine’s day or any day you want to show someone you really do love them!

I can also see the many great ways these cookies can be given as gifts. I mean besides the obvious, what if you need to make up to your wife/girlfriend or husband/boyfriend, they wouldn’t be able to NOT forgive you if they were given one of these (but please don’t quote me on that one lol), or heck even a just because or pick me up would be a prefect reason to have one of these tasty snacks! So remember the next time you need a unique and different gift try the Giant Fortune Cookies (or also known as Fancy Fortune Cookies)

Now the best part, one lucky Creatively Yours reader will get to win their own Giant Fortune Cookie of their choice! All you have to do is visit their site and tell me what your favorite flavor is.

Now for extra entries:

• Follow my blog
• comment on any of my other posts (please comment with what post it is)
  
• Follow me on TWITTER
• Follow Giant Fortune Cookie on TWITTER
• Follow Giant Fortune Cookie on Facebook
  
• Sign up for my RSS feed
  
• Sign up for my newsletter
• Email 2 people about this giveaway and include me in the CC (email on profile)
  
• Blog this giveaway
• I entered to win a Giant Fortune Cookie from @fortuneaday and @creativelyyours and you can too! http://bit.ly/5lRu49

This giveaway ends on 12/26/09 at 11:59 cst

*I was given a free free product and/or was paid for this review. Any opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.

Halloween Cookies on Esty

I know I couldn’t believe it myself, but I found the cutest Halloween cookies on Etsy. They are made by Linzy of sugarcookiecouture and I just had to share them with you. Believe me when I tell you they are ADORABLE and your mouth will be watering before you know it, I know mine was.

First how cute are the Skull & Crossbone cookies? I know skulls are not everyone’s thing, but when they are in cookie form it seems everything is cute right?! These would be perfect for those tween Halloween parties, or even to bring into the office for a Halloween treat. With these being individually wrapped, you could use these in little gift bags for birthdays or parties that are around the holiday, and who wouldn’t want to receive this as a gift? I would think I’d have an extra special friend if these made from scratch gourmet sugar cookies wound up at my door, party, or even gift. Also, if you have a specific pattern you need, customizing these to your needs would be no problem!

Now maybe skulls aren’t your thing, well if that’s the case then there is this adorable dozen of Halloween sugar cookies. They include a pumpkin, ghost, bat, black cat, candy corn, and an adorable witches hat. These again are homemade gourmet sugar cookies that come in a dozen and are individually wrapped, boxed up and ready for your next party, office treat, or even something to just snack on around  the house. These yummy cookies are sure to be a big hit with any cookie lover you have on your holiday gift list.

Now maybe Halloween isn’t your kind of holiday, and that’s perfectly fine. Linzy even has some adorable Autumn sugar cookies as well. These adorable cookies are perfect for class parties or even to set in a bowl on your counter. Though I don’t know how well these will delicious sugar cookies will last.  They come in variety of shapes and colors just like the leaves.

What I love most about these cookies would have to be how much detail Linzy puts into her cookies. You can really tell that she puts a lot of thought into each cookie she makes. Plus who doesn’t love homemade from scratch sugar cookies that you don’t have to make yourself?  So the next time you need a homemade treat, why not think of Linzy at sugarcookiecouture you’ll be glad you did!