vegetarian

Door to Door Organics Review and Giveaway! (Three Winners)

October 30, 2014 by Sandra 16 Comments

Thanks to Door to Door Organics for partnering with me on this review and giveaway.

These days, I could definitely be classified as a homebody.

I like being at home and not leaving the house unless I have to or unless we have some fun family adventure planned, which doesn’t happen too often. I’ve really always been the type of person who enjoys just being at home, but now much more so because of everything that’s happened with David and the desire to protect him as his immune system continues to recover since his transplant.

So, ~~since it takes a crowbar to pry me away from home these days~~ in light of this, I was very excited when the opportunity came up for our family to try a food delivery service called Door to Door Organics.

It’s a service that allows you to have organic fruits and vegetables delivered right to your front door. For us, our “front door” is technically my in-laws’ front door because our house is just out of range of the delivery area.

With our last move, we traded closeness to shopping centers for a backyard and a single-family detached home to accommodate our family of seven. That means we had to move a little “further out” to find a home within our budget.

But anyway, my husband simply stops and picks up the box (or boxes) on his way home from work or while out running errands.

Click here and enter your zip code to find out if Door to Door Organics delivers to your area. If they don’t, see if they deliver to a friend or family member, and perhaps you can arrange to pick up your box of healthy goodness from their home.

More Than Just Fruits and Vegetables

Not only does Door to Door Organics deliver high-quality, organic fruits and vegetables, but they also offer lots of other grocery options that can be dropped off along with your produce. When I placed my very first order, I took my time and shopped around (online) for other items my family either uses regularly or would enjoy trying.

I was pleasantly surprised at the huge selection of other grocery items that we could choose from. There’s even a sale section!

Ruben and I both added several items to the online shopping cart, and among them were almond milk, which we use all the time, and organic salted caramel coffee syrup, which I thought I’d try. 😉

What My Kids Think

To tell you the truth, my three younger kids don’t understand why daddy brings home a box full of fruits and vegetables every week, but they do know that it’s full of good stuff. And they’re super excited to eat what’s inside! They love the apples, oranges, grapes, and bananas.

My two older kids have enjoyed more of the vegetables, and Breanna, my 12-year-old daughter, liked the pomegranates in our last two boxes.

Would you like to try Door to Door Organics? When you go through my referral link (or any of the Door to Door Organics links in this post), first time customers get $10 off their order.

What I Think

Overall, after using the service for three straight weeks, I can say that I love it! And I’ve been very impressed with the quality of the produce. Very impressed!

And Now… an Opportunity to Win a $50 Gift Certificate!

Now that you know about Door to Door Organics and how wonderful and convenient it is, how about the chance to win a $50 Gift Certificate?! 🙂

That’s right! THREE of my fabulous readers will win a $50 Gift Certificate to use on fresh fruits and vegetables delivered by Door to Door Organics!

How to Enter the Giveaway

Simply enter this giveaway using the Rafflecopter below. I’ve included options for extra entries, too!

This giveaway will run from now until November 7th, 2014 at 12:00am. The giveaway is open to U.S. Residents only, ages 18 years old and above. The winners will be randomly chosen. I will promptly send the winners an email notifying them that they’ve won, and the winners must respond within 48hrs. of the giveaway’s end. Otherwise, I will have to draw a new winner(s).

Enter Below
a Rafflecopter giveaway

P.S. Stay tuned for my next post where I’ll be sharing a delightful and sweet pumpkin pie recipe.

Connect with Door to Door Organics: You can get social with DTD Organics on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

My 3-Day Skinny Limits Raw Juice Cleanse

February 2, 2014 by Sandra 2 Comments

I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms Meets program,May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May MediaGroup LLC or the manufacturer of the product.

Juicing is something I’ve been doing for almost two years now.

But as with most other things in my life, everything changed in August 2013 when David was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. I couldn’t fit juicing in the way I once did. Life was far too unpredictable and hard to be able to juice with any real regularity. I didn’t want to give it up, but then again, I didn’t have time for it.

So I just let it go, and with that, I let go of any hope of being able to do a juice cleanse in the foreseeable future.

I definitely noticed a difference in my body when I stopped juicing. I still tried to eat healthy, but it’s hard to eat well when you’re constantly going to doctor’s appointments, the emergency room, and (my least favorite) the hospital for stays that lasted anywhere from one day to one month.

Because of all this, my weight increased, and I ended up gaining around 10 pounds in six months. 🙁

Not good.

Skinny Limits Raw Juice Cleanse
Fast forward to January 2014, and things finally changed when Moms Meet offered me the opportunity to try a 3-day Skinny Limits raw juice cleanse. We were living at the Ronald McDonald House at the time as David was still recovering from his transplant, and juicing on my own was still out of the question. So, as you can imagine, I jumped at the opportunity!

With a Skinny Limits, all the work is done for you. The juices are delivered fresh and raw right to your home. I was sent a three-day supply for a total of 18 bottles of juice.

For the juice cleanse, you drink a total of six bottles of juice per day. And these juices actually taste really good.

Be Sure to Read the Directions Before Starting the Cleanse
There is a method to the way you consume the raw juice. All of the bottles are numbered, and you’ll want to drink each bottle of juice in the right order for the cleanse to be most effective.

Over Ice?
I love drinking my juice over ice. You don’t have to, but if you want to get a little fancy with the white Crescent Moon juice, feel free. 🙂

It’s delicious.

How I Felt During the Cleanse
I’ll be completely honest and tell you that I didn’t feel great during the cleanse. I had headaches two days in a row, and I felt like I was moving in slow motion at the beginning of the cleanse. This is completely normal, because when you’re cleansing your body, you’re detoxing. And that can make you feel icky.

But guess what? After the first day, I no longer felt bloated, and I actually woke up with energy.

When the cleanse was over, I knew my body had done some serious detoxing, and I felt better, overall.

I’m going to try to do another juice cleanse in the near future. This time I’ll do it with my husband, because then we can cheer each other on. 🙂

After all, two is better than one, right?

Have you ever tried a raw juice cleanse?

Vegetarian Nachos, Everyday Dairy, and Summer Classics

June 10, 2013 by Sandra 11 Comments

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Neptune Retail. #EverydayDairy #cbias #SocialFabric

Tortilla chips are pretty much a staple in my home.

We eat them all the time, and with five kids, well, you can imagine how many times a day the kitchen floor needs to be vacuumed as a result. That doesn’t deter us, though. (I just have my 13 year-old son vacuum.) No, we love our tortilla chips, and while munching on them plain is good, creating recipes to eat them with is even better.

Vegetarian Nachos & Everyday Dairy

My latest recipe creation using tortilla chips, black beans, shredded cheddar cheese, veggies, and classic american cheese is vegetarian nachos. This recipe was inspired by a recent trip out of town. During a layover, I was looking for something somewhat healthy to eat in an airport as I waited to catch my flight home to Chicago. I decided to order vegetarian nachos from one of the vendors selling food.

Talk about delicious. Those nachos were sooooo good. I snapped a picture of them with my phone and decided I’d try to make my own version at home. And I did. I’m going to share my recipe with you, but honestly, these nachos are so versatile that you can make them any way your family likes them. You could even add toppings like guacamole, salsa, or pico de gallo.

Here’s my recipe (exact measurements are not necessary):

Vegetarian Nachos

Ingredients

tortilla chips
nacho cheese (see recipe below)
black beans, rinsed and warmed through
romaine lettuce, chopped
tomato, diced
onion, diced
avocado, diced
cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions

Lay a bed of tortilla chips down on a plate (warm the tortilla chips in the microwave for 15-30 seconds, if desired).
Pour the nacho cheese sauce over the tortilla chips.
Top nachos with black beans, romaine lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado, and cheddar cheese.

https://thesensiblemom.com/2013/06/recipe-for-vegetarian-nachos-and-everyday-dairy/

Here’s the Nacho Cheese Sauce Recipe:

Nacho Cheese

Ingredients

1/4 cup milk (I used almondmilk)
10 slices of american cheese singles
pinch of pepper

Instructions

In a saucepan, heat the milk over medium low heat just until it's warm.
Then add the slices of cheese, one at a time, stirring constantly.
Once the cheese slices have melted, remove the cheese sauce from the heat, and let it sit for two minutes to thicken.
Stir in a pinch of pepper.

https://thesensiblemom.com/2013/06/recipe-for-vegetarian-nachos-and-everyday-dairy/

Saving on Everyday Dairy

In order to create these fabulous nachos, I took advantage of a great promotion that my local Safeway affiliate store, Dominick’s, was having (actually, it’s still going on). They’ve included a variety of ‘everyday dairy’ items in a promotion where you receive a $5 coupon at the register when you spend $15 on participating dairy items. Dairy substitues like almondmilk are also included in the sale. I love that.

You can see my shopping trip (and even a couple of pictures of my family’s recent visit to Chicago) here in my Google+ story.

Summer Classics

After I got home from the store, I noticed that I had brought home foods that were either classic summer foods or ingredients that could be used to create delicious summery meals. Let’s just say my kids were pretty happy. 🙂

Here’s a little inspiration for meals or snacks that you might incorporate into your summer routine:

Grilled Cheese

Adult Grilled Cheese

Ice cream bars

Orange juice

What are some of your favorite summer foods? What foods are you most excited about this summer?

You can find even more great recipes and ideas on the Everyday Dairy website. You can also follow Dominick’s on Facebook and Twitter for their latest updates.