General Mills Cereal Giveaway

Ringing in the new year often means new eating habits.  General Mills knows whole grain is important to you, and the Dietary Guidelines recommend choosing products with a whole grain listed as the first ingredient.  Now every cereal with the white check has more whole grain than any other single ingredient with the same great taste.  Our family was pleasantly surprised that the cereals have the same great taste as before.

According to Dr. Travis Stork, emergency room physician and host of "The Doctors,” identifying whole grain products can be challenging. Shoppers can look for nutritional cues on the front of the box, but they need to read the ingredient list to know if they are getting enough whole grain. Ingredient lists detail ingredients in order of prevalence, and if the words “whole grain” are followed by a grain like wheat or oats, it means the food contains more whole grain than any other single ingredient. Here’s how to determine if your cereals have whole grain as a first ingredient:

With all the health messages facing grocery store shoppers, it can be confusing to translate what appears on food labels into nutritional needs, and hard to determine which foods have a meaningful amount of whole grain. Dr. Stork has some additional recommendations to help you include whole grain easily into your diet. They include:

• Start Early! The Dietary Guidelines recommend people get at least 48 grams of whole grain in their daily diets. Get a jump-start on the day’s nutrition by incorporating whole grain into your morning routine. For instance, when choosing cereal make sure whole grain is listed as the first ingredient. One easy choice is cereal with the white check, which have more whole grain than any other single ingredient.
• Make Simple Swaps. Choose whole grain versions of the foods you love. Great options include whole wheat pasta and whole wheat bread or even whole grain crackers. Also, try different types of whole grain. Use brown rice instead of white rice as a side dish at dinner or popcorn, which is a whole grain, for a snack.
• Don’t Judge a Food by Its Cover. The front of food packages provide good nutritional cues, but don’t forget to read the ingredients and check the nutrition label and side labels for additional health information. Cereals with the white check even include the amount of whole grain per serving on packaging.

To help with choosing products with whole grain, General Mills developed “Fast Lane for Whole Grain,” an online educational game. Consumers can navigate virtual grocery store aisles and identify products that have whole grain as the first ingredient, with the option to enter a sweepstakes to win one of each of the 50 cereals with the white check.

Make a commitment to add more whole grain to your diet by simply pouring a bowl of cereal with the white check including Cheerios^®, Lucky Charms^®, Cinnamon Toast Crunch^®, Honey Nut Cheerios^® and Total^®.

For more information on the importance of whole grain and a chance to enter the “Fast Lane for Whole Grain” sweepstakes, visitwww.WholeGrainNation.com.

Would you like to win 5 boxes of white check General Mills cereal?  Leave a comment stating which white check General Mills cereal kick starts your morning.  Contest ends at midnight Wednesday, March 7.  One winner will be chosen randomly and contacted by email.


Disclosure:  The prize pack, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Fruit Snacks GIVEAWAY!! - 4 Winners!!

Miss Kaydi LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Fruit Snacks.  They are, by far, one of her favorite snacks - which I love because they are so easy to pack for her when we're away from home.  And let me tell you - she spends a lot of time away from home - waiting for Kylee to be done at dance, waiting for me to finish up after school, waiting for Kaden at whatever sports practice...  As long as I have a package of fruit snacks and books for her, she's a happy girl.  So I was thrilled when we were sent some of the new Ocean Spray Fruit Snacks to try.  At first I was a little worried, because Kaydi can be picky about her fruit snacks.  I still have a huge box that I bought of Halloween ones that she doesn't care for but that wasn't the case this time.  She now has a new favorite - she LOVES the Ocean Spray fruit snacks and I love that they...

* are made with real fruit juice and natural colors and flavors,

* have only 80 calories, are gluten free, contain 

100% of the Daily Value of Vitamin C,

* have two varieties - Assorted Fruits and Berries & Cherries

* and include Double Box Tops year round!

* You can also get $1.10 off 2 boxes with an Ocean Spray Fruit Snacks coupon.  (while supplies last)

To enter this giveaway, please go here and leave a comment sharing which fruit flavor you would like to see Ocean Spray come out with next.

Giveaway ends January 31, 2012.  4 winners will be chosen using random.org and will be contacted via email.

Disclosure:  Ocean Spray Fruit Flavored Snacks, information, and giveaway have been provided by Ocean Spray through MyBlogSpark.  All opinions are mine (and Kaydi's).

My Many Colored Days

by Kaden Zoske

On my red days I feel fast like a bear in Minnesota.
On my yellow days I feel happy like a dog with a bone
on a warm sunny day.
On my gray days I feel slow like a turtle in a dirty pond.
On my brown days I feel sad like a fish who just got caught.
On my orange days I feel mad like a monkey with no bananas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

From Our Family To Yours!!

Please stop back after Christmas to read about our highlights of 2011 and our wishes for 2012!

Christmas Chat

If you could indulge in only one type of cookie or candy this holiday season, what would you choose?

Chad - frosted sugar cookies
Dena - Ritz crackers with peanut butter dipped in white chocolate
Kylee - Lindor Truffles
Kaden - Oreo ice cream dessert
Kaydi - chocolate chip cookies (or anything with frosting)


If you were to file a complaint with the Better Christmas Bureau, what would your complaint be?

Chad - no crowds
Dena - store clerks must be friendly and helpful
Kylee - no homework for the month of December and no school for at least two weeks
Kaden - no clothes for gifts

Burger King Giveaway

 Please go here to enter a giveaway for a $25 gift card to Burger King and read about the new BK Crown Program.

Big G Cereals & DC Comics Giveaway!!

We love cereal - for breakfast, snacks, and recipes - so I was thrilled when I was contacted about this giveaway.  Kaden was excited about the comic books and Green Lantern action figure.  He has read all of the comic books and added the Green Lantern figure to his Super Hero collection.  Our family couldn't go wrong with the participating cereals, my favorite being Honey Nut Cheerios, Chad & Kaden's Cocoa Puffs, Kylee's Rees's Puffs, and Kaydi loves Trix & Lucky Charms.  They all agreed it's hard to choose a favorite though.

Big G cereals and DC Comics have joined forces to create a powerful breakfast for you and your favorite little sidekicks.  Available now, specially marked Big G cereal boxes will feature collectable DC Super Hero comic books starring members from the Justice League, from Batman to Wonder Woman to Green Lantern!

Each box will be packed with action, adventure, and delicious cereal, not to mention a cut-out DC Super Hero mask your child can use to help the Justice League fight crime at breakfast time!

*Collect all four comics - there's one in each specially-marked
Big G cereal box.

*Participating Big G cereal include:  Cinnamon Toast Crunch (17 oz.), Lucky Charms (16 oz.), Honey Nut Cheerios (17 oz.), Trix (14.8 oz.), Golden Grahams (16 oz.), Reese's Puffs (18 oz.) and
Cocoa Puffs (16.5  oz.).

Let Big G cereals and DC Entertainment feed your family's bodies and minds while also giving them a super start to their day!  Visit www.BigGCerealHeroes.com for more information on Big G cereals and DC Comics.

One lucky reader will win this great gift package...

*1 box of participating Big G cereal

*1 set of the collectable DC Super Hero comic books

*1 Green Lantern action figure

To enter go here and leave a comment.

Winner will be drawn by random number generator on December 2nd.

Disclosure:  Product, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills and DC ENTERTAINMENT through My BlogSpark.