Nestlé Crunch Girl Scout Candy Bars Review

August 17, 2015 By Marijean

I am a proud supporter of the Girl Scouts, especially their delicious cookies. I am always buying boxes of cookies each year because my family and I really enjoy them. I seem to never buy enough, and when I run out I am counting down the days until the next cookie sale. Now when I have that craving for a particular cookie I can have it in candy bar form! These delicious candy bars are called Nestle Crunch Girl Scout Cookie Candy Bars.

These limited edition cookie candy bars come in three flavors:
Thin Mint: Dark chocolate cookie wafers and mint chocolate creme topped with airy crisps and a rich, dark chocolatey coating.
Caramel& Coconut: Cookie wafers layered with coconut caramel creme and chewy caramel, topped with toasted coconut and drizzled with caramel strips.
Peanut Butter Creme: Cookie wafers layered with smooth peanut butter creme, topped with airy crispies and a creamy, chocolatey coating.

Now through September, Nestle Crunch Girl Scout Candy Bars are available nationwide, wherever candy bars are sold but when they’re gone, they’re gone! Each variety is sold as a single bar ($0.99 MSRP) or fun-size bars in a new take-home bag ($3.49 MSRP).
The flavor I tried is the Thin Mint cookie flavor.
The chocolate surrounding the bar is very smooth, and the taste when I bit into the bar is a delicious combination of chocolate and mint. This bar is very close indeed to a Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie. I wouldn’t exactly describe it as a candy bar after eating it, more so like a wafer bar I would say. Both of my children tried the bars and really enjoyed the flavor as well.

Each package of candy bars contains two mini bars, so you can have one now, and save the rest for later. You can even share with a friend. That I do like so you don’t feel like you have to eat the whole bar at once. In conclusion, I was very satisfied with these candy bars. I can’t wait to try the other flavors. The Thin Mint ones will stay in my pantry for the days I have a craving for the Girl Scout Cookies.

Are you local to Mommy Has to Work? I have some Nestle Crunch Girl Scout Candy Bars to giveaway! To enter just leave a comment here with your favorite Girl Scout Cookie!

Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

Have Fun This Summer with #SweetSwaps

June 16, 2015 By Anne

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for the SPLENDA® Brand. I received product samples to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation. All opinions and reviews are my own.

11535877_390236831171957_6930059056706250145_n

Nature trails

Summer is here and that means more outdoor activities, delicious foods and more time in the pool. While most of us are trying to fit into our bathing suits again, I want to get my family eating smarter. Okay, yes I want to get back into my bikini too!

School’s been out for a week now and the kids are just laying around and being lazy. I want to get them and myself up and moving more this summer. I also want us to make smarter food choices by looking for simple recipes that can be part of a balanced lifestyle.That’s why I said yes to working with SPLENDA for this post. We, my husband and the kids mostly, eat a lot of snacks. Why not make try to make them better? Check out the SweetSwap.com website for some delicious dishes that include swapping out full sugar for the SPLENDA® Sweetener Products such as SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated, SPLENDA® Sugar Blend, and SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend. There you can mind lots of tips, tricks and delicious recipes.

Getting out with friends.

I decided to have a fun mother and kid nature walk last week. I had a group of us meet at a local playground. Off from the playground is one fo the many entrances to our community’s nature trails. It is so wonderful that we have these nature trails right here where we live, we just need to go visit them more often. We ended up walking a little over 30 minutes. Then we went to the park’s picnic areas and had a slice of Dulce de Leche Cheesecake made with SPLENDA. I found the recipe on SweetSwaps.com. I also provided some muffins and iced coffee for everyone. Surprisingly all the kids loved the cheesecake. It did not have as much “dulce de leche” to it but it was not bad. I think it needed a topping of some sort. Maybe some frozen fruit would have been nice. But we did have a great tome getting outdoors and I heard from quite a few friends that were not
able to come that they are eager to come to the next outing. Hmm, what to make next?

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

Here is the recipe:

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Recipe

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:

3 (8 ounce) packages reduced-fat cream cheese
1 cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated (Did you know that swapping just one cup of sugar with one cup of SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated can save more than 600 calories?)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/3 cup reduced fat milk
½ cup dulce de leche

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400º F.
Mix crust ingredients together, and press into a 9-inch springform pan. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
Reset oven temperature to 325º F.
Beat cream cheese, SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated, and flour together until well mixed and smooth. Add vanilla and mix until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix until smooth. Add milk and mix until well blended.
Measure ½ cup of the cheesecake batter and pour into a small bowl. Add dulce de leche and stir until well combined.
Pour plain batter over crust. Top with dulce de leche by placing rounded spoonfuls over the cheesecake batter and gently swirl into plain batter with the tip of knife or spatula.
Bake 45-55 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove from oven and gently run metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cheesecake (this helps prevent cracking). Let cool 20-25 minutes before covering and placing in the refrigerator. Refrigerate 4- 6 hours or overnight before serving.

Servings Per Recipe: 16

Serving Size: 1 slice (1/16 of cheesecake)

Enjoying our desserts after our walk!

Visit SPLENDA on their social sites too!

SPLENDA Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/splenda

SPLENDA Twitter: @Splenda

SPLENDA Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/SPLENDA/

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

Cabana Grill Now Serving Breakfast – $25 GC Giveaway

June 11, 2015 By Anne

Cabana Grill in Mandarin is now serving breakfast! I love breakfast. It’s my favorite meal of the day. I could eat breakfast anytime. Combine Mexican flavors and breakfast and I’m in heaven.

Last week Cabana Grill invited me out to try their new breakfast items. We had their executive chef, Andrew Dismore there to demonstrate a few of the new dishes in person. He showed us the Huevos Rancheros Breakfast Plate as well as the Queso Fundido Breakfast Burrito. After the demonstration, several items were brought out to us to try. Of course I had to at least try them all! I only took a few bites of each item otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to eat for days! Everything was so good!

Here are the items I tried:

Migas Breakfast Taco ($1.99)- Scrambled eggs and pico de gallo with rich queso blanco and signature Salsa Fuego. Finished with a cheddar-jack cheese blend, gaucamole and crispy corn tortilla chips.

Queso Fundido Breakfast Burrito ($3.99) – Scrambled eggs with chorizo, queso blanco, grilled poblano chiles and onions, and topped with avoverde salsa and pico de gallo.

Dos Puercos Breakfast Burrito ($4.29) – Scrambled eggs with bacon and jalapeno sausage, topped with avo-verde salsa, pico de gallo and a cheddar-jack cheese blend.

Veggie Breakfast Burrito ($3.99) – Roasted salsa roja, gaucolmole, sour cream, a cheddar-jack cheese blend, black beans and freesh cilantro.

Steakhouse Burritto ($4.29) – Scrambled eggs with fajita steak, ancho-spiced potatoes, queso blanco and salsa fuego.

My top two favorites? The Steakhouse Burrito and the Dos Puercos Breakfast Burrito. I like to have some meat in my meals and both of these were quite tasty. Really everything was good. Nothing was too spicy. However they do has a salsa bar so you can more spice if that’s your thing.

Egg whites can be substituted upon request in all breakfast dishes.

There is a children’s menu as well! See all the menu items at www.facebook.com/thecabanagrill

There is only one Cabana Grill in the area. It’s located at 10422 San Jose Blvd. near the Courtyard Shopping Center and is now open from 6 am to 11 pm daily.

11351294_844593798921952_56658634917892724_n

Executive chef, Andrew Dismore and myself

Want to try their breakfast for yourself? Good news! I have $25 worth of gift cards for one reader!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Anne

Red, White and Blue Breakfast Parfait

May 23, 2015 By Anne

With Memorial Day Weekend just a few days away, Premier Protein wants to help you stay on top of that beach body diet with their new Red, White and Blue Breakfast Parfait. To prevent you from overindulging on greasy burgers, hotdogs and ice cream at that backyard barbeque, curb your hunger with this healthy patriotic treat, made with the Premier Protein vanilla shake.

Premier Protein’s shakes are packed with 30g of protein for only 160 calories and 1g of sugar, providing your body with the energy it needs to celebrate the long weekend. This two-part recipe, will keep you satisfied without the added sugar, calories and fat.

Premier Protein’s Red, White & Blue Breakfast Parfait

Part 1: Strawberry Vanilla Protein Pudding

Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
2 Cups of Premier Protein Vanilla Shake
Handful of Strawberries

Directions: Mix instant pudding mix with Premier Protein Vanilla Shake. Once set, blend pudding mixture with strawberries.

Part 2: Red, White & Blue Breakfast Parfait

Fresh blueberries
Strawberry Vanilla Protein Pudding
Greek Yogurt, Fat-Free
Granola
Bananas, Strawberries and Raspberries for garnish

Directions: Layer the Strawberry Vanilla Protein Pudding, blueberries, granola and yogurt in a tall clear glass. Garnish the top with fruits.

Anne

All About That Chocolate!

February 5, 2015 By Anne

I am working with Foodie.com on this post.

Valentine’s Day will be here soon and chocolate is a very popular present. I think most everyone likes it. I know I do! I wanted to find some fun, delicious and maybe a little healthy chocolate recipes for you. Okay there’s one or two that are not healthy at all but I couldn’t resist. I mean bacon brownies?! Sounds delicious!

What is your favorite chocolate treat?