Whole Grain First Ingredient

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. You will see whole grain as the first ingredient on the ingredient list, indicating that whole grain is the first and most prevalent ingredient.

According to Dr. Travis Stork, emergency room physician and host of "The Doctors," identifying whole grain products can be challenging. Shoppers can look for cues on the front of the box, but they need to read the ingredient list to know if they are getting products with whole grain as the first ingredient. Ingredient lists detail ingredients in order of prevalence, and if the words "whole" or "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:

People really want to make healthy eating decisions, but there are a lot of messages vying for their attention in the supermarket. This can be especially true when it comes to determining 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.

Tune into "The Doctors" on January 13th when the experts will discuss the importance of whole grain. Plus, check out Dr. Travis Stork in this brief video on how to find whole grain.

To help make it easier to find whole grain products, 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.

In connection with healthier lifestyles, a diet rich in whole grain has been linked to healthier body weights, and it may help reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers.

Make a commitment to incorporate more whole grain into your family´s diets by starting their day with 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 visit www.WholeGrainNation.com.
In addition, you can visit http://www.myblogspark.com/uc/main/d537/ to download a printable coupon for $1.75 off the purchase of any (2) cereals with the white check today!

Frosted Toast Crunch Giveaway

 Tired of the same old breakfast routine? Now introducing the NEW Frosted Toast Crunch, with the delicious taste of frosted vanilla"which is artificially flavored". Just one bite of this new cereal and it will send you into breakfast bliss, with each crunch square baked with the delightful taste of frosted vanilla and dusted with a delicious dash of cinnamon.

When I first opened the box I had a heard of animals my kids rushed over to try the new frosted toast crunch. My boys loved it and said that's what they wanted for breakfast all week, my daughter said she didn't it hate but she didn't want to eat it either, my husband and I both were pleased with the taste of it. As for the adorable bowl and spoon we were sent I just loved how unique they are. I even had to find them on-line because I thought they would make a cute gift for my nieces and nephew. I love being able to review the cereal and all the other awesome stuff that came with it.

You have a chance to receive a Frosted Toast Crunch Prize Pack which will contain-
~~Spilt milk bowl
~~Lickety spoon
~~Frosted pitcher
~~Frosted Toast Crunch cereal

Alyssa's B-Day Party

Alyssa decided to have a slumber party with all of her old friends that she talks to but does not see often. I figured that would be a good idea because I know all of the girls and there parents and it was a lot cheaper then a regular party. We are really tight on money right now and all we really bought was cake, pizza and popcorn.

Joe stayed away from all the girls as much as he could and Ryan liked being right in the middle of them all as you can tell. Little Aiden was there for a little bit while he was dropping his sister off for the party.

Alyssa Cake! She loves Dino's!

Well the morning after her slumber party my baby Emma was peeing blood and acting all funny. Well as some of you know Emma may be a dog but she is like one of my kids so of course I panicked. My mom came over and watched all the girls till there parents picked them up and my FIL took me to the vet. Emma had a bladder infection which cost us a pretty little penny. So much for saving money! I guess it was a good thing Alyssa's party was so cheap.

I cant forget my wonderful husband who shares a B-Day with our daughter. Thank you for being so good to us. Happy Birthday and I love you with all my heart!

Our Christmas Tree's

Yes I know these last couple post are late but my life has been crazy these last couple of months. And well like I always say better late then never!

The night we got our FAT tree thanks to Alyssa. I wanted a tall skinny one but the guy at the lot agreed with Alyssa so we ended up with the full one as Alyssa would say.

Our tree all nice and decorated!

The tree branch that we ended up with on Christmas morning.

While I was a way for my fathers funeral my tree was not watered and was as dead as dead can be. It was ugly and brown, so I took it down early. It was such a mess to clean up. I clogged my vacuum up a few times and had to take it apart to fix it. As much as I love a real tree I think next year we will get a fake one. I think our little tree was cute if only it could hold all of my favorite ornaments.

Zoo Lights

We took our kids to Zoo lights this year with a friend and her kids. If your not familiar with zoo light it's at the zoo filled with light at night and it is so beautiful. This was our first time going and let me tell you that it was COLD. We did have fun though. We got our kids these glasses that when they look at lights it shows different shapes.

He's wearing the glasses I was talking about..

Alyssa and her best friend..

I just love gnomes!

My babies!!

I was sick the next day and it lasted a week. I say it was because of how cold it was but my youngest informed me you cant get sick just because its cold outside. His teacher told him so!

Mixer

My mixer which was a very cheap one that we got when we got married 13 years ago finally broke on Thanksgiving when I was using it for mashed potatoes. Being it was a $10 mixer that has been used 1000's of times I was happy it lasted that long. Well back to my point of this post is that my husband wanted to make pumpkin bars on Christmas eve and felt he really needed a mixer so he made his own.

I have to give him credit because it worked very well!

Crayola Technology Review & Giveaway

Sometimes the best gifts are more than presents. They´re ones that inspire hours of imagination. When you give Crayola, you can give your kids more than a present, you can give them wonder and adventure as they colorfully bring their original ideas and dreams to life.

Imagine your child morphing into a coloring book character and starring in a story with a Disney Princess or Spider-Man with Crayola Story Studio or turning an iPad into an interactive coloring book with the Crayola Color Studio HD app and Crayola iMarker digital drawing tool. When kids unwrap one of these high-tech Crayola gifts this holiday, they´ll have fun, new ways to express all that inspires them!

 For the child who craves action and adventure, Crayola Story Studio: Spider-Man lets kids upload a photo and transform themselves into a superhero that stars with Spider-Man in personalized comic book they create and color. A free access code inside the kit unlocks the Story Studio application at Crayola.com/story studio. Kids can choose a super power, story-line, and one of six villains to battle alongside Spider-Man in their own web-slinging adventure. When they finish their story, they can save it, share it or print and color it. The kit includes paper, glossy cover sheets for printing comic book-style covers, binding strips and 15 Twistables® colored pencils to create three complete books.

 For the child who loves fairy tales and wonderment, Story Studio: Disney Princesses lets kids star in a fairytale with a Disney Princess. Crayola Story StudioTM: Disney Princess lets kids create fairy tales starring them and a Disney Princess! Kids upload a photo to transform themselves into a character, then create a story with their character and a Disney Princess! Story Studio includes everything kids need to create personalized storybooks and unlimited coloring pages - just print, color and bind the pages. They can choose story lines from Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid, Tangled, Sleeping Beauty, and Princess and the Frog. With the free on-line access code that comes inside, Pip-Squeaks® markers and glitter glue, blank sheets and binding strips, kids create three complete story books!

 For the child who likes creative adventures, the Story Studio Adventure Maker: Cars 2 lets kids join the pages of a story with Lightning McQueen, Mator and the Cars 2 characters form Disney Pixar. The set includes 10 Pip-Squeak Skinnies markers, 3 Pip Squeak broad line markers, 2 Pip-Squeak glitter glue tubes, 30 story sheets, 6 glossy cover sheets and 3 comic binding strips to make three complete story books.

When my family and I received this in the mail we were all so excited to get to start playing with all the fun stuff we got. I know I had just as much fun with the story studio books as my kids did. It was easy to get it all set up and for my kids to use it with out help from us. This was so much fun to create and the color studio for the ipad was so neat and very entertaining for everyone who played with it. This is stuff that would recommend to anyone to get.

One of you has the chance to receive a Crayola prize pack which contains-
(1) Crayola Story Studio Comic Maker: Spider-Man
(1) Crayola Story Studio Fairy Tale Maker: Disney Princesses
(1) Crayola Story Studio Adventure Maker: Disney/Pixar Cars
(1) Crayola iMarker to use with the ColorStudio HD app for iPad
(1) Free download of the ColorStudio HD app

Now all you have to do is be a public follower via GFC- 1 entry Like Crayola´s or Griffin Technology´s Facebook pages- 1 entry
Please leave you email address so I can contact you if you are the winner of this prize pack. This giveaway will end on 01/06/12 then the winner will have 48hrs to contact me or I will have to pick another winner
"Disclosure:  The Crayola High Tech Holiday prize pack, product information and prize pack for giveaway have been provided by Crayola through MyBlogSpark."