A good summer pasta salad is a staple of summertime barbecues.

I recently had the chance to try two of Suddenly Salad’s Pasta Salad varieties by Betty Crocker. And just in time, too. Last week was a picnic filled week for our family. The last day of school finally arrived and there were celebrations galore (maybe too many). I took the opportunity to whip up my boxes of Suddenly Salad and see what the consensus was.

Suddenly Salad comes in six flavors:

• Suddenly Salad Classic
• Suddenly Salad Ranch & Bacon
• Suddenly Salad Caesar
• Suddenly Salad Creamy Parmesan
• Suddenly Salad Creamy Italian
• Suddenly Salad Chipotle Ranch

I opted for the Classic and Chipotle Ranch.

On the day of the picnic I set out to prepare the cold pasta salad recipes early in the day, so they would have ample time to refrigerate and cool down before the evening. The box says that you can serve immediately, but who likes lukewarm pasta salad? And refrigerating allows the flavors time to “sink in”, resulting in a better tasting pasta salad.

I figured making the Suddenly Salad wouldn’t take very long - after all the word “suddenly”, in my mind, implies instantaneous. I figured all the ingredients to make these pasta salad recipes would be in the box. So, I was somewhat surprised when upon reading the directions I discovered that I would need to add oil and water to the Classic variety, and mayonnaise and milk to the Chipotle Ranch variety. Luckily, I had everything I needed on hand.

Preparing the pasta salad was a straightforward process. Each box contained a packet of noodles and dehydrated vegetables combined together and a seasoning packet. You add the pasta and vegetables to boiling water and cook for the time specified. I stuck to the package directions and the pasta cooked to a perfect consistency. While the pasta is cooking, you combine the seasoning packet with the ingredients specified (like the oil and water, or mayonnaise and milk).

When the pasta is finished cooking, you drain it, rinse it with cold water, and mix it with the prepared seasoning mix.

Easy. Refrigerate if you like and serve.

Everyone at the picnic enjoyed the pasta salad. The kids seemed to prefer the Classic variety - which was a mix of tri-colored pasta spirals and Italian type seasonings. I thought it was a little too sour, kind of lemony, and a bit salty.

And the adults overall preferred the Chipotle Ranch, which had a little kick to it but not too spicy.

Suddenly Pasta Salad Giveaway

If you would like to try your own box of Suddenly Salad for free, leave a comment on this post. I have five coupons to give away, each winner will receive one coupon that is good for one free box of Suddenly Pasta Salad. I will choose five winners at random. Please leave your comment by midnight on Sunday June 29, 2008.

This contest is subject to my contest rules which you can read here.

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My kids love to snack. They are always hungry. And being the good mom that I am I buy lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains - stuff that is good for them. Always with the best intentions. I walk through the grocery store with visions of baking healthy muffins and oatmeal cookies, tossing up delicious salads and blending frosty smoothies - all chock full of nutrition and “good” calories. Ha!

I arrive home from the store with bags (reusable, of course) full of healthy snacks - or actually raw materials that have the potential to become healthy snacks - no, really, let’s just call it bags full of work to do. It’s true, the healthiest foods take time to prepare. Pre-packaged snacks are often not as nutritionally sound as foods that take some time to get from fridge to table.

And more often than not, my good intentions go awry when one (or two, or three) week(s) later, I pull out some unrecognizable fruit or vegetable out of my produce drawer.

So now I am on a mission to provide healthy snacks for kids and reduce food spoilage as well. I have come up with a simple one, two method that does take time, but not as much as my original ambitions.

The first step is to set my sights low. No more grand plans of spinach souffle’s and the like. When I hit the produce department at the grocery store I buy fruits and vegetables that require minimal preparation. I shop when I know that I will have an hour or so at home afterwards available to “process” my groceries.

When I get home, I wash and cut and peel the produce I just bought. Carrot and celery sticks go into one container, washed grapes in another, strawberries that have been cleaned and hulled in another. And a bowl of apples, oranges, and bananas on the counter. If I buy a brick of cheese, I slice the whole thing and wrap it up. You get the idea.

One important rule on this road to healthy snacks. Never wash just one. If I buy a bag of apples, I wash all of them. A box of strawberries - the whole package gets prep-ed. This way something healthy is always at the ready when someone’s tummy gets rumbly.

Now I know, sometimes (once in a blue moon) I just might fall a smidgen behind and not have something prepared at that critical moment when my child is “dying” of hunger. In that case I try choose pre-packaged healthy snacks for kids like Cheerios Snack Mix or Fizzix Yogurt - just on those rare occasions mind you.

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Don’t believe me? Check out the Baskin and Robbins website for all the details!

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Yesterday I read an appalling oped article in USA Today about the difficulty of making healthy food choices when eating out in restaurants. Most restaurants do not list the nutritional information of their menu items. So how do you know if you are making a good choice?

You don’t. But, hey, eating out is a bit of a splurge - right? Go out, enjoy, don’t worry too much about the calories, tomorrow you can make up for it by exercising or eating salad.

If you have the same philosophy, you will be just as shocked as I was when I read about the extreme fat content of some items on children’s menus. No wonder childhood obesity is becoming epidemic.

In particular, USA Today singled out Romano’s Macaroni Grill. On the children’s menu at Romano’s Macaroni Grill, there is an entree called Kids Double Macaroni and Cheese. Again, according to the USA Today article the nutritional information for this choice includes:

1200 calories, 3450 milligrams of sodium and as much saturated fat as you would find in 40 strips of bacon.

40 Strips of bacon!!? To me, that is just plain irresponsible on the part of the restaurant. How can a business take my money and feed my children artery blocking food that contributes to childhood obesity, without even informing me of the nutritional information? This food needs a warning sticker not a nutrition label!

If you think that this is isolated to Romano’s Macaroni Grill - sadly, it is not. What should be an enjoyable family night out, now leaves parents stressed and uncertain. And political pressure from the National Restaurant Association (NRA) is blocking legislation that would require restaurants to report nutritional information on their menus.

We have heard, ad nauseum, that American adults and their children are getting heavier. Childhood obesity is on the rise. As a parent, our first line of defense is our own pantries. Shop for and offer healthy foods to the kids. But seldom do we worry about that one dinner out each week, each month, etc. Now it is time to take note.

If you plan to eat at a major chain, check their website before you go to see if the nutritional information is listed. If not, use your best judgment - teach your children about making good food choices and continue to foster a love of healthy foods in the home.

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Nowadays, dairy allergy is very common in children. Unfortunately, the pre-packaged Kellogg’s Rice Krispie Treats bars contain dairy (according to the Kellogg’s website). Does that mean that milk allergic children cannot eat Rice Krispie Treats?

Well, the answer is yes and no. Children with dairy allergy cannot safely eat the pre-package Rice Krispie Treats bars. But with a little effort, mom or dad can make their own dairy free Rice Kripie Treats.

According to the Kellogg’s website, original Rice Krispies Cereal does not contain milk. I previously wrote about how to make homemade Rice Krispie Treats. This simple recipe has only three ingredients - Original Rice Krispies Cereal, marshmallows, and butter. To convert this recipe to dairy free Rice Krispie Treats you need to substitute a dairy free margarine in place of the butter. Make sure to read the ingredients on the margarine to confirm that it does not contain dairy!  Also, confirm (by reading the ingredients) that the marshmallows you are using, and the Rice Krispies (it never hurts to double check the ingredients), all contain safe ingredients.

Once you have made sure that all of the ingredients are dairy free then follow the recipe. Dairy free Rice Krispie Treats that are homemade are a favorite in our house!

If you are feeling a bit creative you can take the homemade Rice Krispie Treats Recipe one step further and make Festive homemade Rice Krispie Treats Holiday Wreaths. This recipe can be easily modified to create Rice Krispie Treats shapes for any occasion. I personally have made this versatile recipe into Valentine’s hearts, Halloween pumpkins, birthday cupcakes, and shamrocks. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

And the bonus is that even non-allergic children line up for this childhood favorite.

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My hairdresser makes a great cup of coffee. So good, in fact, that I look forward to my hair appointments - not for the new do but for the new brew. (ok, I know - stick to the story!)

So, how was a decidedly non coffee business able to turn out the perfect cup of joe? The single word answer - Keurig.

What is Keurig?
Put simply, the Keurig Coffee Maker is a single serve coffee system. In actuality it is so much more. More aptly described as a beverage center, the Keurig brews coffee, tea, and hot chocolate instantly.

Keurig says it best in their company data:

Keurig was founded in 1992 by coffee lovers who believed that coffee should always be
served fresh, whether at home or at the office, just as in a gourmet coffee house. They
noticed that people were constantly leaving the office in search of a fresh cup of coffee and asked themselves: “Why do we brew coffee a pot at a time when we drink it a cup at a time?”

Based on this need Keurig created the patented K-cup. This is an individual serving of coffee packaged in an airtight container. This little K-cup container is coffee (or tea) and filter all in one convenient package. Whenever you desire a fresh cup of coffee, just pop a K-cup in the Keurig coffee maker and press brew. The coffee maker punctures the K-cup and presses water from the attached reservoir through it to make a fresh cup of coffee in less than a minute.

Businesses have long been aware of the convenience and ease that Keurig offers, and people began to request a Keurig coffee maker model for home use. In 2002 Keurig entered the home market. Today there are 3 models available for busy households. But despite the availability of this wonderful technology, many homes continue to use their traditional coffee makers with their antiquated 12 cup pots.

Keurig recently gave me the opportunity to review their B70 coffee maker and I have fallen head over heels for this amazing machine. After seeing the Keurig coffee maker in action, I know that every busy home would benefit from this system. Here are my thoughts:

How the Keurig Coffee Maker Works

Without rehashing what I’ve already said, out of the box the Keurig is easy to set up. First, fill up the removable attached reservoir with water. Then you need to prime the machine before your first use (basically just run a brew cycle without a k-cup - the instructions are clear and easy). The Keurig does not heat up the whole tank of water but rather one cup a time. The machine can remain on all the time - so a hot cup of water is always available for coffee or tea. Or you can program the B70 to turn on in the morning and turn off at some point during the day when you are finished with your daily java jolts. Manually turn the machine on and off is also an option but it may take a minute for to be ready to brew - not a big deal.

Coffee Variety

Now comes the fun part! Keurig has partnered with some of the leading names in the coffee and tea industry to offer a large variety of k-cups. The list includes coffees from Green Mountain, Diedrich, Gloria Jean’s, Timothy’s, Van Houtte, Celestial Seasonings, Bigelow, Tully’s, Twinings, Newman’s Own, Coffee People, and Caribou Coffee. The range of offerings goes from the most basic breakfast blends and columbians, to the exotic kona’s and sumatra mahdheling. For a flavor twist you can choose a caramel vanilla nut, butter toffee, chocolate almond, and dozens more. Organic options are also available. Tea choices are just as varied with a diverse selection of everything from English Breakfast Tea, to green tea, to chai, to many herbal varieties in both regular and decaf. The possibilities are endless!

Finding your favorite combination is an enjoyable process of trial and error. The B70 Keurig coffee maker allows you to choose from 4 different cup sizes. You can pick the smallest cup size which makes a 5.25 oz. serving for a strong cup of coffee all the way through the largest cup size which brews an 11.25 oz. serving. The k-cups also come in different roasts. The extra bold k-cup contains 30% more coffee than the regular k-cups - and will make a strong brew even on the largest cup setting. I prefer the medium roast coffees using the middle cup sizes. It is all a matter of taste.

The beauty is that once you find a combination that you love, you will be able to make a consistent cup of that coffee time after time. The Keurig coffee maker takes all the guesswork out of making the perfect blend. Questions like - should I use a heaping scoop of coffee or a flat scoop? and how many cups of water should I use? will no longer exist.

Another plus to the Keurig coffee maker is it’s ability to accommodate everyone’s tastes. In our house I drink regular coffee and my husband likes decaf. But making a separate pot of coffee for each of us was not really an option. Now we can each have our coffee and drink it, too. (yeah, yeah, stick to the story!) And if one person is feeling mocha java-ish and the other a little french vanilla - no problem!

I was also pleasantly surprised with the tea k-cups. I love a cup of afternoon tea, but given my hectic afternoons making tea was an ordeal. While the kettle was set to boil I would get involved in some project or another and shut it off, finally when I turned it back on and got my hot water, I would set the tea to steep and get involved in something else. I would come back to my, now ice cold and extra strong tea, fix it up and stick it in the microwave. If I didn’t get distracted I could have my tea. Otherwise it would sit in the microwave. Sound familiar?

The Keurig makes tea as quickly as it handles coffee - and I truly appreciate this. It is a big time saver!

Other Uses for the Keurig Coffee Maker

But the benefits of the Keurig coffee maker don’t end there. The Keurig can pump out plain hot water as well. With the Keurig coffee maker in your kitchen, you no longer have to wait until the kettle boils. Hot water is available at the push of a button. Very convenient for making instant oatmeal, Ramen noodles, and instant soup.

Keurig is the leader in the single serve coffee industry and a must for any busy home.

The Keurig Coffee Maker and accessories are available at Amazon.com and at Keurig.com.

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Yesterday, knowing that I would have no time in the evening to make dinner, I pulled out my trusty slow cooker (the best kept secret to good parenting!) and one of my favorite cookbooks that is full of excellent vegetarian slow cooker recipes - Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, and got to work.

For some reason, I was feeling a little wild and crazy and decided to try something new. My family is pretty vegetable-ly adventurous and there was a little recipe for white bean and cabbage soup that was beckoning. Hmmm…you see where this is headed.

No one here is a big fan of white beans or cabbage. Separately, I might be able to disguise them enough to trick the troops into a favorable review. But together..? However, I did have both white beans and cabbage on hand this particular day.

Well as the D-hour approached I was almost convinced that my vegetarian soup recipes experiment would be a success - it did smell good. And surprisingly everyone tried it without any coercion. But it really did fall short of yum, even I had to admit that. Tactfully, I was being told that this vegetarian soup recipe wasn’t going to cut it - “It’s really good but I’m not hungry…can I have dessert?” or a more direct “I don’t really like this soup.”

But in the background what did I hear? Clink, clink, clink. The musical sound of spoon against bowl. My son, the “ketchup is a vegetable, isn’t it?” son, the one who won’t try anything if it is any shade of green (candy aisle items, excluded), was ravenously consuming bowl after bowl - “This soup is delicious, mom!” - “This is the best soup ever!”. We all stared at him in amazement. Stranger things have happened, I suppose.

I wonder which of the low fat soup recipes I will have to try for dinner tonight?

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And the catch is actually a good one. In return for those free pancakes, IHOP is collecting optional donations to the Children’s Miracle Network to support local children’s hospitals and other charities.

For more details and participating restaurants visit the IHOP website.

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There is nothing better than plain yogurt for kids. The flavored yogurts are full of sugar, and what parent needs to feed that to their children? I only wish that this product was out when my kids were toddlers.

What makes yo-baby yogurt stand out from the crowd is that it is made with whole milk, which is excellent for baby’s developing brain and body.

As always ask your pediatrician before introducing new foods to baby.

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