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Mrs. Prindable’s Gourmet Apples Review

Posted on April 19, 2010 5:36 pm by TheAngelForever

Back when TechyDad and I were distance dating, we used to meet up at an outlet where they had a place that specialized in candy coated caramel or chocolate covered gourmet apples. We used to split them and they were amazing. The place has long since gone out of business and nobody around here does anything like that. Thanks to MomImpact, I now know about Mrs. Prindable’s. When I was asked if I would like to try one of their apples I immediately said yes.

About Mrs. Prindable’s:

From their website:

Mrs. Prindable’s starts with a handpicked, extra-fancy apple, grown especially for us. Delivered fresh from the orchard and with the utmost care, it is gigantic in size, crispness, taste, and juiciness.

The apple is dipped-by hand-in creamy, smooth caramel cooked that very day. Using only the best all-natural ingredients-butter, sugar, cream, vanilla-the caramel is prepared in copper pots in small batches.

Why small batches? It enables us to better monitor the quality and consistency of the caramel, ensuring that each layer is up to the soft and creamy standards that make our caramel so famous.

Now coated in velvety caramel, the apple is hand-rolled in the finest nuts and toppings. Sometimes it is covered in premium pecans. Other times they are coated in large cashews. Now and then it’s chocolate cookie and cream pieces. From time to time it is rich toffee that becomes the final layer. Maybe, even, it’s dipped or drizzled with milk, white or dark chocolate.

Who determines the final toppings that our expert chocolatiers hand-apply to this apple? You do.

Each gourmet caramel apple ordered from Mrs. Prindable’s is made to order to ensure freshness and delivery without delay.

Mrs. Prindable’s apples come in two sizes and are certified kosher. They have have jumbo and petite apples available. The jumbo apples can weigh up to 1.5 pounds and serve 8-10 people. The petite apples are 8 ounces and serve 1-2 people. Both sizes are available in eight classic gourmet flavors that include:

Dark Chocolate Delight – apple dipped in creamy caramel, rolled in chunks of chocolate and doused in premium dark chocolate
Triple Chocolate – an apple surrounded by caramel along with milk, white and dark chocolate (this is what we received)
Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Almond – apple with peanut butter chips and bursts of dark and milk chocolate team up with whole almonds
Milk Chocolate Walnut Pecan – an apple hand-dipped in caramel, rolled in pecans and walnuts and smothered in milk chocolate
Milk Chocolate Toffee Walnut – an apple is hand-dipped in caramel, rolled in walnuts, smothered in milk chocolate and coated with Ol’ English Toffee
Dark Chocolate Cashew – an apple hand-dipped in caramel, rolled in cashews and smothered in dark chocolate
Dark Chocolate Splendor – an apple dunked in dark chocolate, covered with nonpareil-coated dark chocolate drops and topped with dark chocolate shavings
Milk Chocolate Pecan – an le hand-dipped in our caramel, rolled in premium whole pecans, and smothered in milk chocolate

Mrs. Prindable’s offers their apples, along with gift baskets and items for all occasions. Right now there are great ideas available for Mother’s Day.

What we thought:

The day after Passover we were sitting down to our traditional pizza dinner when we heard the doorbell. The boys were wondering what it was. I told them I had a feeling it was a delivery with a very special apple in it for us. NHL immediately asked what kind of special apple. I told him it was going to be a caramel and chocolate covered apple. I left the table and went to the door. From this point on, my 6 and 2 year old boys were telling me that they loved me. They learned quickly that it was a chocolate apple and they wanted me to share. Yes, even at their age they have mastered the fine art of kissing up. While the boys finished their dinner, TechyDad and I opened up the box to reveal what was inside. Take a look:

The pizza quickly took a back seat and the boys were chanting for some of the Mrs. Prindable’s apple that we received. TechyDad worked on slicing up the apple and getting them ready to serve.

Below are the two boys eating them. We also took video (will share that another day) because they gobbled it up so quickly.

I am not a big chocolate fan, but, oh my, this apple was delicious. The Granny Smith inside was sweet, juicy and fresh. The caramel was rich, creamy, and still gooey (that’s a technical term). I must admit, that was by far my favorite part. The combined chocolates tasted almost like the apple was coated in an extra special fudge and drizzled with white chocolate on top. I think this is what sold the boys. My three chocolate addicts loved them. Before you knew it, the four of us consumed what should serve 8-10 people. Shhhh. . . . remember, it was after Passover and we were celebrating the fact that we were done with matzoh for a year. Another huge perk to us, the apple was certified kosher. This allowed us to use our big knives and not rely on plastic to slice through it.

I know that we will definitely be getting more apples from Mrs. Prindable’s and it is something that I can send to our relatives that keep Kosher without a worry in the world.

Thank you Mrs. Prindable’s for making such a mouth watering delight!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign for MomImpact on behalf of Mrs. Prindable’s. My family received a Triple Chocolate Gourmet Apple to facilitate our candid review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are from my family.

Categories:
food glorious food jl jsl my boys nhl photos Product review TechyDad yummy

Home Farming with some help from Triscuit

Posted on April 15, 2010 10:05 am by TheAngelForever

Six years ago this April, we bought our house and moved in by July. The following year, TechyDad wanted to start planting flowers and possibly some vegetables. Over the years, he and our oldest son, NHL, have attempted growing many different items. Each year, our biggest nemesis has been the neighborhood "wild" bunny family. These furry pests have destroyed many items over the years.

After the first attempt at putting them into the ground did not work, the boys tried to put them into pots that were off the ground. This did better, but there were still problems. Last year, our plants were in large pots on our front patio. Finally, we had items that were successful. We had a bumper crop if jalapeno peppers, a lot of mint, several cucumbers and a handful of tomatoes.

With Earth Day coming next week, we will probably try to plant some items this coming weekend. Our 2010 home farm will likely be grown inside our covered porch. This will allow it to have plenty of light, but protect our plants from bunnies, birds and hail.

During the Spring and Summer, we always support our local Farmers Market and love the local and fresh produce. Still, there is just something extra delicious about items picked from our own garden. In addition to the savings, our children have also learned valuable science and life lessons from growing our own plants and vegetables.

Thanks to Mom Central, I recently found out about a Home Farming campaign that Triscuit is working on. I received one of the four million boxes of specially marked Triscuit boxes that contains seeds to help start our own Home Farm.

Here is more about the program:

In an attempt to help Americans celebrate the values of simple goodness found on farms and encourage the growing of fresh herbs and vegetables at home no matter where you live, Triscuit has launched the Home Farming Movement in collaboration with the non-profit organization Urban Framing. Together, Triscuit and Urban Farming plan to create 50 community-based home farms across the country in 2010 in order to connect communities through growing food together.

To help get this fantastic program off the ground, Triscuit is putting plantable herbs seed cards in four million boxes of Triscuit crackers to be grown on home farms in backyards and balconies. With Earth Day right around the corner, this spring proves ideal for incorporating home growing values into your family’s life. Head to the Triscuit Home Farming Movement Web site, www.triscuit.com/homefarming, for more information on how you can start your own home farm or get involved in the Movement.

So will you be joining in on the Home Farming movement this year? If you are what do you hope to plant this year in your garden?

I know that we will be planting the basil that was included on our Triscuit box along with tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and other items that we find. With any luck we will have more nutritious and delicious items to eat right after we pick them. Happy planting!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Trisciut and receive the product necessary to facilitate my candid review. In addition, I received a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Categories:
Blog Tour food glorious food house looking back nhl photos Product review summer TechyDad

National Geographic Little Kids (Review/Giveaway)

Posted on April 12, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Admit it, we all love getting things in the mail. Adults may not like the bills, but most other items are welcome, especially magazines to read for pleasure. Kids today are lucky, there are a lot more magazines specifically geared to children. NHL, now six, has had magazine subscriptions to several different publications. JSL, almost three, was still a little too young for most of them.

Recently, I was asked by Family Review Network to review National Geographic Little Kids magazine. I had heard about it, but had never actually seen it at stores. The concept intrigued me since it is made for children ages three to six. I figured this was a great opportunity to see how kids on both ends of the age spectrum liked the new magazine.

About National Geographic Little Kids:

Aimed at preschoolers ages 3 to 6 and their parents, National Geographic Little Kids is the magazine for young explorers, packed with teaching tools to help parents inspire a love of learning in their children. The Association of Educational Publishers chose National Geographic Little Kids for its highest award, the Golden Lamp, in 2008 and named the magazine Periodical of the Year in 2008 and 2009. National Geographic Little Kids also won a Parents’ Choice Gold Award for 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Filled with lively photographs and engaging stories to develop prereading and early reading skills, plus interactive picture games and puzzles to teach logic and counting, each 24-page issue contains fresh and imaginative instruction tools. There are captivating animal stories, answers to questions on kids’ favorite topics, features on different cultures to inspire a sense of understanding about the world, plus interactive experiments to introduce simple science. Each issue also includes a set of six wild animal cards.

National Geographic Little Kids is a perfectly sized magazine for little hands, at approximately 6 1/2” by 7”. National Geographic Little Kids is available by subscription for $15 a year (six issues; international subscription cost varies) and on newsstands for $3.99 a copy. Explore online at littlekids.nationalgeographic.com.

What we thought:

NHL immediately took the National Geographic Little Kids and went to the couch to read them. We received the current issue (seen above) and three past magazines to review.

He immediately dove into the January/February 2010 issue with Lion Cubs on the cover. NHL adores lions and wanted to get inside to see what he could learn. As I watched him reading, he had no trouble with the words. He could quickly read from cover to cover and tell me about the photos and items inside. He had fun trying to tell what the items were on the Naming "What in the World Are These?" activity page. When he got to the pages on the lions, he was mesmerized with the photos of the lion cubs. True to National Geographic, the photos are stunning and surrounded by just the right amount of print for this age group. Next, NHL did the Little Lions Maze and named all of the other animals in the picture.

As a parent and teacher, I really liked how National Geogrpahic Little Kids puts a little of everything into these magazines. There is a Geography section filled with maps, vocabulary and pronunciations of foreign words (like Phane in Botswana). If this is not included, a Culture section is given with similar items for children to learn some new words.

For my younger son, JSL, there was a matching game. When JSL heard what his big brother was doing, he jumped in and was able to do a nice introductory matching game with mittens. There were also rhyme time pages as well as sorting out which item in a photo is different than the others and how are they the same. Great early learning skills for an almost three year old.

An activity page with a craft item is also included. The items that are needed are clearly labeled and photos of children with finished projects as well. The boys are both eager to try some of the ones included in the National Geographic Kids.

As a Science geek, I loved the Science Experiment pages. Past issues had Drawing With the Sun, Spinning Eggs, Balloon Trick and my personal favorite Dancing Raisins. When NHL was looking at the January/February 2010 issue, the Dancing Raisins immediately caught my eye. I actually did this experiment in my classroom with older elementary students. It was presented in a developmentally appropriate way to teach 3-6 year olds the wonder of buoyancy. Kuddos to National Geographic for making science fun!

Over all, we really enjoyed National Geographic Little Kids. I do feel that the magazine in general is probably a little too young for my first grade son. He enjoyed the photos, but often wanted more than the text offered to him (good thing they have National Geographic Kids for his age). I do believe that we may ask someone in our family to get JSL a subscription to National Geographic Little Kids for his birthday (this May). Although parts will be over his head, the general feel of the magazine will offer a lot of great subjects to him for exploration. Of course, mommy will be just as excited to see it come in the mail.

If you are interested in subscribing to National Geographic Little Kids, they have given a special URL with information about it. Please click here for details.

Giveaway:

Thanks to National Geographic Kids, one lucky reader will win a copy of the current National Geogrpahic Little Kids magazine.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Answer the following questions: If you could pick an animal to feature on National Geogrpahic Little Kids, which animal would it be and why?
1 Bonus Entry – Head over to National Geographic Little Kids website and tell me an activity, recipe, or experiment that you would like to try and why.
1 Bonus Entry – Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TheAngelForever and National Geographic Little Kids Giveaway in the Tweet. Please leave a direct link to your Tweet in a separate comment for each daily entry. Example Tweet (feel free to use): Chance to win copy of the latest National Geographic Little Kids magazine from @TheAngelForever http://bit.ly/d0JpVk Stop by to enter
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of March/April. Be sure to leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done only twice per person.
1 Bonus Entry – Enter any of my other current giveaways (keep checking back – more being added all the time). Be sure to leave a comment here to let me know which one.
3 Bonus Entries – Add my blog button to your website and leave a link with the location. Be sure to give yourself 3 comments for credit.
5 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the giveaway. Be sure to leave 5 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today April 12th and ends at 10:59 EST on April 25, 2010. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclosure: This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program for National Geographic, who supplied the magazines for review and giveaway. No other compensations was given. The opinions expressed in the review are my own feelings about the product.

Categories:
Educational giveaway jsl nhl photos Product review

Barefoot Books for Earth Day and beyond

Posted on April 10, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Blogging has allowed me to "meet" so many wonderful people. Several years ago, I found Susan’s original blog and we became friends. The two of us would write comments on each others posts, we would e-mail each other and even chat on Twitter. Our oldest boys are both the same age, so we help each other virtually as we sent our boys off to kindergarten in September 2009. I also recall Susan mentioning more than once that she wanted to take a step into the business world. Recently, Susan made this dream a reality with her Barefoot Books Marketplace.

I first heard about Barefoot Books through Susan when she started to do her research. The books looked fabulous. As a teacher ,I am a book addict. I dare say I have a collection of picture books that I started when I was in college, even before I did my student teacher. My Children’s Literature course made me really appreciate the talents of various authors and the gifts that the illustrators add to their books.

Susan asked me if I would like to see and review a Barefoot Book gift set. I immediately said yes because it is always wonderful to help out a fellow mom. Just before Passover, we received a Barefoot Books box. The boys immediately wanted to see what was inside. Here is what we found:

We received the Barebook Books for Baby Gift set. Here is more about it:

A perfect ‘welcome home’ for a new baby

Welcome a new baby into the world with a hardcover edition of Baby’s First Book, featuring Clare Beaton’s exquisite hand-sewn collages. Paired with a cuddly White Bunny Rabbit puppet, this gift set makes the perfect present and is presented in an eco-friendly, reusable green shopper tote with a gift tag to personalize.

Inside the book:

My thoughts:

As someone that often needs to give baby gifts and other items to young children, I appreciate that Barefoot Books has gift sets like the one that we received. You could tell that a lot of thought went into the items that were included. The tag alone made it such a personal gift. The boys immediately claimed the rabbit puppet as theirs. Of course, we also read the book together. Each page was filled with the illustrations by Clare Beaton that allowed for a lot of discussion. The boys were able to repeat the nursery rhymes with me, tell me what the clothing was depicted, make up a story about the bears (seen above), or repeat the animal noises. There was a wealth of things that we could add to this book, especially with my two year old.

I must admit that I was partial to something with Baby’s First Book. I adored Clare Beaton’s illustrations. Not only did the author do them herself, they were actually hand-sewn. As a teacher, it looks like a felt board story was done with extra detail on each and every page. I could actually see framing some of the pages from this book in a nursery for a child. Yes, they really were that gorgeous. Beaton is a very talented artist.

When I looked over the catalog from Barefoot Books I realized something else. I had read several other Barefoot Books. Just a few weeks ago NHL took The Beeman by Laurie Krebs out of the library. We all loved the details about the world of bees and beekeeping, along with the amazing illustrations by Valeria Cis. There were other books that I also recognized.

Giveaway just in time for Earth Day:

How would you like a chance to win the Whole World Gift Set from Susan and Barefoot Books?

The set seen above is being given away on Susan’s Barefoot Books blog to celebrate Earth Month. Head on over to see more details about the gift set and to enter the giveaway.

Have you ever received or given Barefoot Books? If not please head on over to check them out at Susan’s Marketplace.

Disclosure: I received the Barefoot Books set complimentary of Susan to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed are 100% mine about the product. No other compensation was received. I have linked to Susan’s marketplace to assist a fellow mother in her new business.

Categories:
bloggy friends books Educational photos Product review Web business

The Great Debate – Roll Poll Results

Posted on April 8, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

When TechyDad and I got engaged, we had a few pieces of "business" to take care of. One item that I insisted on: he HAD to put the toilet seat back down when he was done using the bathroom. I had heard too many stories of women going to sit down in the middle of the night, while half asleep, and getting a rather unpleasant surprise. On the flip side, TechyDad had a demand of his own. He wanted the rolls of toilet paper to go over and not under. At the time, I preferred the roll going under, but was willing to give into his request. Now, almost 9 years later, we have both adjusted nicely to these bathroom rules of sort.

For months, I had been reading people on blog posting about Cottonelle’s campaign called The Great Debate or Roll Poll. People were asked whether they were part of Team Roll Over or Team Roll Under. The results of the Roll Poll are now in and it was not even close.

Thanks to these results, Cottonelle has reformulated their toilet paper to be even softer and stronger than it previously was. This will help those of us that roll over to keep our paper in check.

The paper seems really soft and durable to me. Very easy to grasp when rolling over for my oldest son. I have to admit though, I really like the cute puppy on the packaging and the fact that Cottonelle has Box Tops for Education. It is always great to help support our school, even when selecting what to use when . . . well -er wiping our rears!

So are you on the winning Team Roll Over or the less popular Team Roll Under?

BTW if you want to see some funny videos, check out the ones on the Cottonelle website. The boys and I laughed along with them.

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Cottonelle and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.