Celebrate Auntie Anne's 25th Birthday & Heart Health Month with the New Honey Whole Grain Pretzel

Auntie Anne’s, which serves up America’s favorite soft pretzels, is celebrating their 25th birthday this month and to coordinate with Heart Health Month, they have unveiled a new variety of pretzel, Honey Whole Grain. These delicious pretzels are 300 calories or less (260 without butter) and are made with real whole grain dough containing one full serving of whole grains (67 grams). This gives these pretzels more fiber, protein, and iron than many of their others. Plus, like all Auntie Anne’s pretzels, these are hand rolled and baked fresh throughout the day so you never get old, light-warmed pretzels.

Auntie Anne’s was kind enough to send us a birthday party kit which contained the game Twister to fit the theme, party supplies like pins and twisty straws, and 25 free pretzel coupons.

For our party, I invited several families to come but sadly only one family actually made it when the party day came. I was disappointed we didn’t have a better turn out, but we still had fun and it just meant we had more pretzels to munch on. We had a lot of fun sampling the new Honey Whole Grain pretzels as well as old favorites sour cream & onion and cinnamon & sugar. The new Honey Whole Grain pretzels are absolutely delicious and you can tell they are whole grains because of how filling they are. They are plain with just a hint of sweet (honey) and they go well with sauces or plain. All of us really liked them and were pleasantly surprised by how much.

We loved the party supplies that came in our kit.  The kids had fun playing Twister together and we even listened to some “twisting” music like Twist and Shout by The Isley Brothers and, naturally, The Twist by Chubby Checker. All in all, the party was fun, the pretzels were yummy, and we are thankful to Auntie Anne’s for letting us have this bash.

On March 9th, all Auntie Anne’s locations nationwide will be having a sampling day to let customers try out the new Honey Whole Grain pretzels. Mark your calendars! 

Also, until March 31, fans can get twisting in the “Twist and Win” online sweepstakes. Visit www.pretzelperfect.com for a chance to win $25,000, an all-new Apple iPad Mini, Coca-Cola beverages for a year, or a $25 Visa gift card. You can also follow Auntie Anne’s on Twitter and on Facebook.


Thank you to Auntie Anne's for providing complimentary product samples and a party kit to facilitate this post and for providing additional product for our contest prize.

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Review: Uncle Ben's Whole Grain White Rice

Aside from fruit, my children seem to have a built-in radar to warn them against any foods that are healthy. Over the past year or so General Mills began to make all their cereals whole grain with less sugar and my children did not notice the difference. Uncle Ben's succeeded in the same way with their better-for-you Whole Grain White Rice.

White rice is one of the few things that my children do not complain about eating during meals. One of the easiest meals that always pleases our 6yr old son is Chicken Piccata and white rice. It is great if you are short on time, but still want to serve something hot and wholesome.

The easy meal below just consists of Michael Angelo's Chicken Piccata (from BJ's Wholesale Club) and Uncle Ben's Whole Grain White Rice. Just prepare each separately per the package instructions and plate it like this or you can cut the chicken into smaller pieces and mix it into the rice for younger children.

When we made the switch from our regular white rice to the whole grain white rice from Uncle Ben's, my son did not notice the difference. He ate every bite as usual.

Uncle Ben's new Whole Grain White Rice comes in both plain long grain and flavored varieties, such as Chicken, Broccoli Cheddar, Sweet Tomato, and Taco Style. For recipes using these and other Uncle Ben's products, visit Uncle Ben's Recipes & More.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Uncle Ben’s and received samples to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Easy Recipe: Chocolate Dipped Melba Toast

You know I am always looking for easy recipes to try and share with my readers. One of the things I find most challenging is to think of something new to bring to a party or a family gathering. Nobody wants to bring the same thing every time. Well, I highly recommend the following easy recipe for your next party.

I always like Old London Melba Snacks with something else . . . onion dip or topped with bruschetta. I never thought to pair this savory snack with chocolate though, but Chef Kyle Shadix, R. D. did! You can find his recipe for Chocolate Pistachio Crunch on ToastForEverydayHealth.com . I inadvertently had to alter the recipe because I could not find pistachios that were already toasted and chopped. I'm too lazy to prepare the pistachios myself, so I substituted them with almond flakes.

Recipe: Chocolate Dipped Melba Toast

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups or (2) 12oz bags of semi-sweet dark chocolate chips

1 box Old London Sea Salt Melba Snacks

1 cup crumbled almond flakes (can substitute with pistachios, as in original recipe)

Step1. In a double-boiler (or a bowl set on top of a saucepan half filled with boiling water), slowly melt the chocolate chips, stirring with a wooden spoon until completely melted and smooth.

Step 2. Remove the top of the boiler (or the bowl) from the boiling water.

Step 3. Dip one Melba Snack into the chocolate, covering at least half of the toast. Allow excess chocolate to drip off. Then lay the snack on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. (Tip: For broken pieces of snacks, dipping the broken end into the chocolate makes it difficult to tell that these snacks were ever broken in the first place.)

Step 4. Sprinkle the crumbled almond slices on the dipped portion of the Melba Snack immediately.

Step 5. Repeat Step 3 and Step 4 with the remaining snacks.

Step 6. Chill the dipped Melba Snacks in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

To store leftover snacks, put them in an airtight plastic container in layers separated by wax paper.

I have to say that my husband was floored by how well these turned out. He said they tasted like something you would buy at a gourmet bakery. I had to agree, but I am a huge fan of most salty/sweet flavor combinations. The best thing is how easy these snacks were to make. I wonder how they would turn out if I mixed colored sprinkles in with the almonds to make them better suited for particular holidays?

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I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Old London Melba Toast 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.

General Mills Commits to Further Reducing Sugar in Children's Cereals

Towards the end of 2009, General Mills announced their commitment to even further reduce the amount of sugar in the children's cereals they produce. It is said that many General Mills cereals have already been reduced in sugar, but I must say that my children have not even noticed the difference in taste. I doubt they will during this next round either.

Sugar intake has always been a concern of mine. My children are not obese by any means, but I am concerned about their attention spans and being too hyper. While I do not deprive them of their favorite presweetened cereals, I have made it a habit of mixing them with unsweetened Cheerios or Kix. Each bowl would be about 50/50. When they were even younger, I use to serve the cereal in a 1:3 sweetened to unsweetened ratio.

It is said that children who eat breakfast perform better in school overall. I believe this to be true. I have never skipped breakfast in my whole life and neither have any of my children. I know that when I'm hungry, I get tired, grouchy, and have trouble focusing. Who wants to feel like that all the way until lunchtime, whether you are an adult or a child?

Thank you to MyBlogSpark for providing the information for this article on behalf of General Mills and also for sending me vouchers for breakfast cereal as a thank you for participating in this campaign.