Torani Flavored Coffee Giveaway Extended Due to Blogger Issues!

Hi Friends!

Apparently blogger is being, well, itself this week and not letting a lot of you comment for my GIVEAWAY.

I'm going to extend this a few more days and please send me an email if you can't get a comment to work on this site and I will manually enter you.

Thanks again, and I'll random.org three winners on Wednesday afternoon!

Sorry for the problems!

CLOSED! Flavored Coffee at Home and a Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY EXTENDED UNTIL WED, NOV 16 DUE TO BLOGGER NOT ACCEPTING COMMENTS THIS PAST WEEK.  PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL IF YOU CANNOT

GET A COMMENT TO POST.

Ahh...the holiday season has now arrived!  Now that the snow is tucking us in and we are settling in for the long dark winter, I've been starting to crave the usually holiday drinks-peppermint mochas, gingerbread lattes, pumpkin spiced coffee...you name it, I love it!  My husband isn't a coffee drinker, but does enjoy flavored hot chocolates, especially salted caramel flavoring.

Have you heard of Torani Flavored Syrups?  Allow me to paste a quick excerpt from their site...

"Since 1925, family-owned Torani has been crafting great tasting flavored syrups that coffeehouses use to make their flavored drinks taste so delicious. With over 120 flavors in regular and sugar free varieties, Torani flavored syrups are perfect for flavored lattes, mochas, coffees, cocoas, Italian sodas, teas, lemonades, cocktails and smoothies. Coffeehouse professionals choose Torani flavors because they are expertly crafted and made with the highest quality ingredients, like natural flavors and pure cane sugar. The sugar free flavors have no calories and are sweetened with Splenda. Now, Torani Flavored Syrups are widely available at retail so you can easily create authentic coffeehouse quality drinks at home."

Before last week I had only ever tried one flavor of Torani syrup and that was their Tangerine flavor that we use to make homemade Italian Sodas (club soda, half and half, ice, and a splash of flavoring).

SheSpeaks was awesome to send me a sample pack of two full size bottles of Torani Syrups to try out and review, as well as FREE Product Coupons to giveaway, which I'll get to in a minute!  I tried Torani Peppermint Syrup and Torani Salted Caramel Syrup and honestly, I can hardly express in words how yummy they both are!  The peppermint is a wonderful addition to my morning cup of coffee (decaf because I'm expecting but still crave the taste of coffee in the morning).  I loved the salted caramel flavoring in hot chocolate, as did my husband and daughter.  Both flavors were smooth, perfect, and a great addition to our hot drinks.  I'm already thinking to how I can make flavored frostings or cakes with these!

SheSpeaks and Torani are offering all of my readers an extra 10% off online code by clicking on the badge on the right side of my blog.

In addition they have sent me some coupons to giveaway to my little group of readers!  Three winners will each receive a coupon for a FREE bottle of Torani Flavored Syrup that you can redeem at your local grocery store!  How fun is that?

To Enter:

All you need to do is visit the Torani website and leave a comment below on which flavor you'd like to try...remember there are 122 flavors. 

Please remember to leave a valid contact email so I can reach you if you win.  This is open to everyone in the US, so tell friends and family!  Giveaway starts now and ends on Sunday, November 13 at noon AST.  Winners will have 24 hours to contact me or I'll random.org a new winner.

Frito Lay Giveaway Winner!

Yay for the first commentor!  HopiQ has won a sampling pack of Frito Lay's new chips!  Congratulations and thanks to everyone who commented and visited the blog!

Frito Lay Taste from Home Recipe and Giveaway

Talk about missing home!  We just got back from a trip down to Iowa (my home!) and when we got back to Alaska, I had a great opportunity from Frito Lay to share with you a recipe that reminds me of home.  If any of you are from the midwest you'll know that casseroles and hot dishes are what it's all about in that region!  Not to mention corn on the cob...but that's a whole different story.

Frito Lay has introduced a line of regional flavored potato chips that have my mouth watering-
 

• These chips were inspired by popular American regional cuisine and include:
• Northeastern U.S. – Lay’s Honey Mustard
• Midwestern U.S. – Lay’s Creamy Garden Ranch
• Northwestern U.S. – Lay’s Balsamic Sweet Onion
• Southwestern U.S. – Lay’s Chipotle Ranch
• Southeastern U.S. – Lay’s Cajun Herb & Spice

·         All of the Lay's Regional Flavored potato chips are made with all natural ingredients and cooked in healthier oils, like corn and sunflower oils, which contain 80% or more of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat - the "good fats." They also contain 0 grams of trans fats per serving!

• There’s also less sodium in them than you might think – a 1-oz serving of our Lay’s Regional Flavored potato chips contains less salt than a plain bagel!

Personally, I'd love to try the Cajun Herb & Spice and the Chipotle Ranch flavors.  Cajun and chipotle aren't flavors I'm very familiar with and are from regions I've never visited (Deep South and Southwest US).  The Creamy Garden Ranch chips sound great since I'm a "creamy" type of gal.  I'll eat pretty much any creamy casserole or dip you set in front of me.  My friend back home shared a basic recipe for creamy chicken with me and after tweaking and retweaking to make it a little more garlicky and a little more zingy, here is the result!

Creamy Chicken Casserole

3-4 Boneless Chicken Breasts cut into portion-size pieces
1 Jar of Dried Beef Slices
1 Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 Cup Milk
Garlic Salt
1/2 Cup of Sour Cream

Line the bottom of a crockpot with dried beef slices.  Next lay the uncooked chicken breast pieces on top of the meat and sprinkle with garlic salt.  Mix the soup and milk together and pour over chicken.  Cook in crockpot on low for 5-6 hours until chicken is very tender and cooked through.  Mix in sour cream just before serving.
Serve with white rice and be sure to spoon the sauce over the chicken.

So now that you have dinner figured out how about a snack for later on?!

Frito Lay has generously provided a sampling box of their new chip flavors to share with one of my readers!  How fun is that?! 

TO ENTER:
Visit Frito Lay's website to view the different flavors for yourself and leave me a comment stating which flavor you'd like to try and why.  Don't forget to also leave your email if it isn't available in your profile so that I have a way to get your chips to you!

Comments will be available to be made until midnight on Tuesday, August 23, 2011.


This post serves as an entry to the Tastes from Home contest hosted by Frito Lay.  I will be compensated with a surprise gift from Frito Lay for this post and thank them for this opportunity and giveaway!

My Very First GIVEAWAY! (can you tell I'm excited?!)

Thank you to my few readers of my little blog!  I know it isn't much, but I do like to share the deals that I think are the best around and show you what you can get for free or close to it.

I've been waiting and waiting for a company to contact me to do a giveaway on my blog to no avail.  So I decided I'd stop applying for them and instead ASK for one!

Alouette Cheese was the first responder to my inquiry, so they are my first giveaway.  I wrote and told them how much my family loves their cheese and how happy I am that it is sold in Alaska stores.  I sent them a link to The Best Things in Life are Free and in return they have sent me and one of my readers FREE coupons for their products!

The winner will receive...
(1) FREE Chavrie Goat Cheese up to $5.50
(1) FREE Alouette Cheese up to $8.00
(1) Save $1 on any Alouette Cheese Product

To be entered into the random drawing (I'll use Random.org) just leave an entry in the comments!  One entry per person, thanks.  Don't forget to leave your e-mail in the comment if it isn't visible in your profile.

Giveaway will close Friday, March 18, 2011 at 6PM.