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Private Selection Flip & Serve Cakes

This campaign from bzzagent gave me one free cake. I ended up liking my free one well enough that I tried all 3 cakes. They were all pretty good. Not quite homemade but a great last minute dessert if I need one.

The three varieties are German Chocolate Fudge, Double Chocolate Molten and Amber Honey Apple Spice. None of them had toppings that quite dripped over the sides like they do in the picture, but they all still tasted good. The Apple Spice has a really nice spice taste, perfect for a fall dessert.

My favorite was the German Chocolate Fudge – of course, I love just about anything with coconut. The chocolate cake was rich and chocolaty and the coconut topping was just the right amount of sweet and gooey. I just wish there were two layers to this cake instead of just one!

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Green Giant Vegy Chips

Thanks to Bzz Agent I got to try Green Giant’s new Vegy Chips for free.

Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips with Zesty Cheddarare crispy tortilla chips made with real vegetables like carrot, broccoli, and tomato, plus 17g of whole grain.

These were just ok. I felt like they could use a little more cheese. They had the same crunch as tortilla chips so the texture was good I would just have liked to tasted a little more cheese and a little less vegetable. Over all, not a bad chip but not my favorite.

Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips with Sea Salt are made with real sweet potatoes and 14g of whole grain, with 40% less fat than regular potato chips.

My whole family loved these. They have the same taste and texture as sun chips (which happen to be my husband’s favorit chip) so they were a definite win for us. And with 14g of whole grain, I’ll be purchasing these more often since we could all use a little more whole grain in our diet. Over all, my whole family (and any friends who tried them) loved this chip (even my sister who hates sweet potatoes.)!

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Bzzagent Men’s Products

I just received a notice from bzzagent.com (my favorite product review site) that they’re about to launch some product reviews for some Gillette men’s products. I get notices like this whenever they’re about to send out some Men’s products – you generally get a full size product to try and review – and I’m guessing there’s just not a lot of men that do product reviews.

All that to say, I really like this review site. You get free products to use and review, they ship the products quickly, and I always have fun.

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Daily Break

Trying out a new site for smiley360.com called Daily Break. It’s like a trivia site and you can supposedly earn prizes for answering trivia. It seems to me like it would take forever to earn a prize but I put the app on my phone and it is a lot of fun to play when I’m waiting to pick up the kids or something like that.

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Kroger Spring Dinners

I think this has been the most fun BzzCampaign so far! Thanks bzzagent.com!

I received a free pork loin, free cake mix & icing, free Mac & Cheese, and free crescent rolls. We invited some friends over for dinner, added a salad, and some mashed potatoes, and had a wonderful feast!

For the pork loin I just used a honey glaze so it was lightly sweetened. It turned out moist and delicious!

I forgot to get a picture before we cut into it, but you get the idea. Very tasty!

I sliced the leftovers really thin and we put some bbq on it for bbq sandwiches the next day. We all wished there was more!

For the chocolate cake. I added some marshmallow creme to the chocolate icing and had a chocolate marshmallow cake.

VERY yummy! I like to dress up my boxed cake mixes and this one turned out delicious! Definitely making this one again!

My kid’s favorite item was the crescent rolls.

I have to buy more of these every time I’m at the store. Everyone loves them so much and at $1 a can they fit great in my grocery budget.

The only item we didn’t really like was the mac & cheese, it was a little thin so we’ll probably stick to our usual boxed kraft mix.

Overall, we loved trying out some Kroger brand foods and sharing it and some great fellowship with friends! I really hope bzzagent does more campaigns like these because I’m always looking for an excuse to have friends over and show off my cooking skills (this time with a little help from Kroger)!

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Garnier Fructis Hydra Recharge Review

Thanks to Bzzagent I got to try a full set of Garnier Fructis Hydra Recharge products. Shampoo, Conditioner, and Moisture Plenish Treatment for free.

I have loved these hair care products! They’re all about putting moisture back in my hair and leaving my hair shiny and weightless.  The Hydra Recharge range contains superfruits goji berry, passion fruit and kiwi to actively replenish without heaviness. My hair is soft and shiny without being weighed down or oily. They definitely live up to their advertising!

The Hydra Recharge Shampoo has these cool “moisture beads” in it that make it really fun to wash my hair. It’s like a massage for my hair every time I use it! And on top of that, I love the mild smell of all the products, light and refreshing.

Next I use the conditioner and then right after that the Moisture Plenish Treatment, which is supposed to be in for 1 minute. So, I rub the Moisture Plenish Treatment in then finish the rest of my shower and then rinse it out.

I love the way my hair feels right afterwards and the softness lasts well into the next day so if I don’t get to wash my hair every single day it’s not a big deal. And with little kids, that’s a wonderful thing!

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Children’s Mucinex

I received a free Children’s Mucinex from Smiley 360 about a month ago and got to try it out when my child was sick last week. She had a pretty bad cold and I ended up trying the Children’s Mucinex as well as Benadryl for her cold.

Benadryl dried out her sinuses so I ended up having to use a moisturizing nasal spray as well to prevent nose-bleeds but otherwise benadryl relieved all her cold symptoms.

Mucinex seemed to clear up her cough but her nose dripped constantly (which drove her crazy – I think we went through a box of kleenexes in a couple of hours). So, I’m not sure that Children’s mucinex was really our best option for a cold. I am glad it relived some of the congestion but there are other cold products out there that seem to work better for me.

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Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Miracle Dry Oil

Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Miracle Dry Oil…a really long name for a very simple product.  NEW Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Miracle Dry Oil is a breakthrough multiuse formula that delivers rapid-action nourishment to treat your hair, body and even dry areas on your face with no oily residue.

  • Combines three weightless oils – olive, avocado and shea – to transform dry hair and skin
  • Made for everyday use on your hair, body and face
  • Instantly absorbs in a touch with no oily residue
  • Can be used on damp or dry hair
  • Available for suggested price of $5.99

I received a free Miracle Dry Oil product from bzzagent.com. After using it for a few weeks, at $5.99 this isn’t a bad deal, but I wouldn’t say it’s great.

Pros:

  1. I really love the smell of this product. It’s a little fruity and a little powdery at the same time.
  2. It honestly absorbs really fast, I almost don’t have to rub it in (which is nice since I’m 7 months pregnant and it’s getting hard to reach my feet…).
  3. My kids love being sprayed down with their “lotion” after a bath, so this makes it a lot easier to keep their skin from drying out.
  4. Yes, it does moisturize my skin really well.
  5. Doesn’t break out my face or leave it oily when I use it (I do spray it in my hand and then rub it on my face, I wouldn’t recommend spraying directly on your face).

Cons:

  1. When I used it on my hair (right after a shower) it weighed my hair down and after a few hours my hair looked really oily (almost like I hadn’t washed it for a week). It did the same thing to my kid’s hair as well so I don’t really like this product for hair.
  2. The spray bottle tends to spray oil all over – I have to either stand on a towel to use it or wipe the floor off when I’m done so I don’t slip (my kids love being sprayed with the oil though so I’m not sure if I would prefer a pump cap over a spray cap or not)

My opinion, I love it on my body and my face! It absorbs fast and moisturizes well. My kids love it because it makes putting lotion on fun. But I won’t be using it on my hair again anytime soon – maybe on a heavier or coarser hair it would work but it just didn’t do it for mine.

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Simple Truth Organics

This has been one of my favorite bzz campaigns so far! Check out bzzagent if you want to get your own products to try and review.

There was lots of tasty free food with this campaign. All items are free from 101 artificial preservatives and ingredients so you can feel better about the delicious food you serve your loved ones. With a full line of products from meat and produce to dairy and canned goods, you’ll find Simple Truth and Simple Truth Organic exclusively at the Kroger Family of Grocery Stores. Plus, since they’re store brand, they’re cheaper than the name brand organics which makes purchasing organic a lot easier on my grocery budget!

Frozen fruit: I tried a bag of mixed berries. This was delicious! I made a smoothie for me and the kids (which I loved but because of the blackberry seeds the kids weren’t too fond of it). I also thawed the fruit and piled it on top of pancakes, then added some whipped cream. That was delicious! The fruit was just sweet enough to go great with my pancake!

The kids did not want fruit on their pancakes but after breakfast, the they ate whatever fruit was left in the bowl, so they definitely liked it as well.

Sparkling beverage: I just love that this has cane sugar in it – and a few other ingredients that I can recognize. I really like the taste of a drink with cane sugar and the Kroger Sparkling beverage is delicious! A friend of mine compared it to izzy beverages because it’s basically like carbonated fruit juice. Very tasty and something I’ll be buying again as a special treat for me!

Sweet Potato chips: These I wasn’t so fond of. They’re like baked chips so they’re thicker and chewier than my usual lays potato chips. They aren’t bad, they just didn’t satisfy my “I want something salty and crunchy” craving. If you’re looking for a healthy alternative to potato chips these are great though.

Almond milk: I was totally unprepared for the nutty flavor of almond milk since I’ve never tried any almond milk before. I tried the chocolate almond milk and the almond plus the strong cocoa flavor was pretty strong. I didn’t like it cold but it was delicious hot with some marshmallows or whipped cream. Just like a good, strong, hot cocoa!

I have a friend though, who loves almond milk. She prefers vanilla and she really liked the Simple Truth brand. It saves money and is just as good as a more expensive brand.

Health and Wellness bar: I stuck this in my husband’s jar of breakfast bars and forgot to keep an eye on when he ate it. So, I’m really not sure what he thought. He didn’t complain though so it must have been tasty. A breakfast bar with all natural ingredients really has to be tasty, I’m just disappointed I didn’t get to it before he did…

All in all, I really enjoyed this campaign. Pretty much everything was delicious and I love that they cost less than the bigger brands!

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Cafe Escapes

Yet another fun free product from bzzagent! Nescafe Cafe Escapes for your Keurig brewer. I got to try six different flavors, Chai Latte, Milk and Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa, Café Mocha, Café Vanilla, and Café Caramel. Café Vanilla was definitely my favorite and Café Caramel was great as well. These two are their newest flavors and whatever they did different to them was totally worth it. I thought the other four flavors were a little watered-down tasting. The flavor was good, just kind of weak. So Café Vanilla and Caramel are the two flavors that I would purchase again.

This was such a great bzz campaign for February and March because it’s still cold out and hot chocolate goes with practically everything I want to do. From catching up on my “Once Upon A Time” episodes to reading my book of short stories, or just hanging out with my Husband in the evenings. I definitely enjoyed trying all these hot chocolate flavors!