Holiday Cards

Check out our holiday cards this year! Shutterfly has a wide variety of templates that you can choose from, and then you can personalize your cards with your own message on the back (or inside). We just placed our order, but I can't wait to see how they turned out!

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Gourmet Skillet Meals and a Giveaway

This is a sponsored review from BlogHer and Stouffer's.

I was recently asked to review two varieties of the new Stouffer's Sautes for Two products - Grilled Chicken & Asiago Tortellini and Steak Gorgonzola. Both were good but I am not a huge gorgonzola cheese fan, so I much preferred the Grilled Chicken & Asiago Tortellini over the Steak Gorgonzola.
The meal came together in less than 15 minutes, which is awesome because when I come home from a long day of work, the last thing I want to do is cook! I have to feed the my baby girl, bathe her, and then put her to bed. By the time that's said and done, it's already 8:30pm and I am wiped out! Having this meal on hand was great because my husband and I were able to enjoy a special meal together without leaving the house. We'd love to do date nights more often, but with a toddler, that's often hard to do! (I'm sure the other parents out there can relate to what I'm saying!)

I'll talk about the Grilled Chicken & Asiago Tortellini because that one was my favorite. The cheese filled pasta was delicious. The creamy alfredo sauce that accompanied it was rich and creamy but not too heavy. There was quite a bit of spinach in the dish (yum!) and just the right amount of chicken, too. There weren't a lot of mushrooms in it, but that was fine with me because I don't like mushrooms. The package came with 14 pieces of tortellini, so each serving included 7. At first I thought that the serving size looked a bit small, but after eating dinner I felt like the portion size was just right. I think in general a lot of us have eyes that are bigger than our stomaches and we tend to over eat, so having a package that only includes two servings is perfect for portion control! Eaten alone, the portion size is arguably on the smaller side, but paired with a nice salad and some dessert, it ends up being a good size.
Because they use premium ingredients like asiago cheese, prime rib steak, and roasted red peppers, the Stouffer's Sautes for Two don't feel like your typical frozen dinner. Since I don't cook every night during the work week, having something like this on hand was a great way for my husband and I to enjoy what felt like a gourmet home cooked meal without all the hassle of having to prep it. There are several other varieties, and I'm looking forward to trying the Cajun-Style Shrimp Alfredo, Ginger Soy Shrimp, and Honey Citrus Chicken.

Want to try the new Stouffer's Sautes for Two? I'm giving away a $100 Visa gift card courtesy of BlogHer. If you win, you'll be well on your way to trying a few of these delicious gourmet skillet meals! To enter, simply answer the question: "What do you do to make ordinary nights extraordinary for you and your significant other?" (If you don't have a significant other, perhaps you could tell me what you do with a special family member.)

This giveaway will run from March 17th - April 11th and ends at midnight CST on the 11th.

Giveaway Rules:

- No duplicate comments. Please note that comment moderation is in place and it may take several hours before your comment appears below.

- You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

Visit the Official site and find the official rules here.

Visit the Exclusive Offers section for other opportunities to win a $100 Visa gift card.

Get Real. Get La Crème.

This is a sponsored review from BlogHer and La Crème.

One of my favorite yogurt products is La Crème. Have you tried it? So rich and creamy, you won't want to go back to eating "regular" yogurt. Seriously. This post isn't about yogurt, though. It's about coffee creamer. When the folks at La Crème asked me if I wanted to try their new coffee creamer, I jumped right on board. I figured if their yogurt was so good, their creamer had to be, too. Deemed unapologetically rich and creamy, La Crème is made with 100% real dairy and currently comes in four all-natural flavors: French Vanilla, Original, Hazelnut and Cinnamon Vanilla. Naturally flavored La Crème Real Dairy Creamers are a welcomed alternative to artificially flavored non-dairy creamers.

They are lactose free, rBST Free, with no trans fats, no partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (did you know that Coffee-mate® is hydrogenated coconut oil and not really dairy?!), and no high-fructose corn syrup. I really had no idea that most coffee creamers aren't really dairy. I always knew that the non-refrigerated ones weren't dairy (since they can sit out at room temperature), but I just assumed that the other coffee creamers out there were dairy because they had to be refrigerated. So, I went and pulled our (store brand) coffee creamer out of the refrigerator and checked the label and sure enough - it's just partially hydrogenated soybean oil and cottonseed oil (trans fats)!

Both my husband and I tried the La Crème cinnamon vanilla flavor creamer and agreed that it is rich and creamy, exactly how coffee creamer should be. When I found out that cool whip is really hydrogenated vegetable oil and not dairy, I stopped eating it. Now that I know that all of these other non-dairy coffee creamers are just partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, we're going to switch to La Crème. It just seems like the natural choice. There are many other disturbing facts about non-dairy creamers that make me want to make the switch. To learn more, visit the La Crème site.

Now for the fun part! I'm giving away a $100 Visa gift card to one lucky reader. Just leave me a comment below answering the following question: "What is your favorite dairy product?"

Giveaway Rules:

* No duplicate comments. Comment moderation is in place so please allow some time for your comment to appear below.

* You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older, through midnight CST on March 31st. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. Several other bloggers are giving away $100 gift cards, too. Visit the official BlogHer round up page and check out the exclusive offers section to view the list and enter to win. Good luck!

*** This giveaway is now closed and no more entries will be accepted ***

Baby Bassinet Gift Basket Giveaway

If you're a parent, you know that little things can make your day when you have a newborn baby... like sneaking in a one hour nap while baby sleeps... or taking a nice hot shower... or sometimes something as simple as being able to go to the bathroom seems like a feat! So, I'm sure you can see how a lovely gift basket filled with goodies would be a welcome surprise for any new parent.

I've partnered with the folks at Oh! Nuts for this Baby Bassinet Gift Basket Giveaway. Each basket is filled with a Guylian Belgian Chocolate Seashell box, a tube of roasted salted pistachios, It's a Boy/Girl lollipops, a pair of chocolate booties and an organza bag of saltwater taffy. It's perfect for the midnight (or 3am) munchies when baby wakes up in the middle of the night!

To enter, simply leave me a comment below telling me what your child's favorite baby book or toy is (if you don't have a child you can simply tell me what your favorite childhood book/toy was). We're gearing up for my baby girl's first birthday so I'd love to get some ideas :)

For an additional entry, you can blog about this giveaway (please use this link) and then come back here and comment a second time. This must be on your main blog and cannot be done on a blog created just for giveaway entries ;)

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents, though Canadians will have to pay standard shipping charges as posted on the website. Giveaway will be open until midnight CDT on October 27th and the winner will be announced here before the end of the month. Please make sure I have a way to contact you if you win! Also note that comment moderation is in place and it may take some time for your comment to appear below.

Good luck!

*** Giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered! ***

Mini Moment Giveaway

Last month, DOVEBAR® Ice Cream Miniatures launched the “My Mini Moments” contest, asking people to submit their ideal mini moment. They’ve selected 10 finalists vying for a chance to win the ultimate mini moment – a mini-getaway to Napa Valley, spa services for a year, or a mini home makeover, and now they’re looking for votes to see who wins! Now through July 13 (that's tomorrow!), you have the chance to read all 10 entries and vote for who you think is most deserving of a much-needed moment of escape.

Here's the fun part! Head on over to vote on your favorite, and then come back here and tell me in the comments section who you voted for or what your own mini moment would be. The first 10 people to do this will receive a coupon for free DOVEBAR® Ice Cream Miniatures so they can have their own mini moment at home. Plus, one additional winner will be chosen using a random number generator from among the remaining entries. Please remember to leave me your email address if it is not on your profile. Winners will be announced on Thursday July 15th along with my weekly Tuesdays with Dorie post (which will be late due to my traveling this week).

So tell me... who did you vote for? Or what's your ideal mini moment?

*Please note that this giveaway is now closed. Winners have been announced and have until midnight CST on July 20th to contact me with their mailing address.

Carrabba's Giveaway

*** This giveaway is now CLOSED. Please check back here (on my main blog) after May 31st to see if you are the winner ***

This is a sponsored review from BlogHer and Carrabba's.

Recently I was given a Carrabba's gift card to go try out their "Less is Amore" menu, featuring smaller portion options. I was delighted, because I'm the kind of person who likes to have both dinner and dessert when I go out to eat... but often the portions are so large that I over-eat and then I am too full to have any dessert!

So, what my husband and I often end up doing is we order one large plate and then share it so we can then enjoy some dessert. The bad thing about this is that we have to agree on the same entree. Sometimes it's not a problem at all, but sometimes we have trouble coming to an agreement. Carrabba's "Less is Amore" option is perfect for us because we can both get smaller portions and get what we're in the mood for, without having to compromise.

For those who have never been to Carrabba's, they offer Authentic Italian food made with only the freshest ingredients. We ordered the Grilled Salmon and Chicken Marsala. Each entree comes with soup or salad and a side dish. I ordered the sauteed spinach and my husband ordered the garlic mashed potatoes. Everything was delicious and well prepared. I particularly enjoyed the spinach, but if you ask my husband, I also had a large portion of his mashed potatoes too! The best part? We both got to order what we were in the mood for, and we still had room for dessert at the end!

Want to try these smaller portion sizes yourself? Here's the good news - I'm giving away a $100 Carrabba's gift card to one lucky winner. With portions starting at just $12, you could get a lot of food with that! To enter, just visit Carrabba's and leave me a comment answering the question, "What great things come in small packages?" If you're not sure if there is a Carrabba's near you, use the official Carrabba's store locator to find out.

Here are two additional ways you can get an entry:

- If you have a blog, blog about this giveaway with a link to my post. Come back and leave another comment here with the link to your blog post.

- Tweet about this giveaway! Come back and leave another comment here with the link to your tweet.

You have until May 26th to enter to win and the winner will be chosen using a random number generator. There are also 9 other bloggers who are participating in this giveaway, so be sure to visit the BlogHer.com special offers page for additional chances to win!

*Please be aware that comment moderation has been enabled and it may take some time for your comment/entry to appear below.

Official Rules

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