This Mama Cooks! Reviews

Healthy Super Bowl snacking with Salba

With the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl coming up, it’s time to stock the kitchen with healthy snacks. If you’re horrified that your family loves unhealthy treats like  pretzels, tortilla and potato chips, consider serving Salba Smart snacks instead.

Salba is a whole grain high in vital nutrients and minerals that provides:

• 8 x more Omega 3 than Atlantic Salmon
• 2.8 x more antioxidants than pomegranates
• 6 x  more calcium than whole milk
• 3 x more iron than spinach
• 15 x more magnesium than broccoli.
• 3 x more fiber than oats

Salba Smart takes this grain and incorporates it into tortilla chips and salsa, potato chips, tortillas and pretzels making it a healthier (and organic) football party snacking option. They even sell bags of Salba Smart Whole Grain or Salba Premium Ground that you can add to your favorite dips, soups, stews, salads, and sandwiches.

Salba Smart products can be found at Whole Foods, Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocers, and other natural foods stores. You can also order online at efoodpantry.com and Salba Smart at Amazon.com (affiliate link); All products contain 0g of trans fats, and are gluten free (except tortillas and pretzels) and Certified Non GMO.

Neosporin Lip Health 3-Day Challenge review

I recently took the Neosporin Lip Health 3-Day Challenge to try out their Lip Health Overnight Renewal Therapy and the Lip Health Daily Hydration Therapy products.

Neosporin Lip Health Daily Hydration Therapy is clinically proven to restore visibly healthier lips in three days according to their website. It contains antioxidants and essential lipids, peptide and emollients to help strengthen lips, and glycerin to attract and retain lip moisture. It also has SPF 20 to protect against sunburn, which is a big plus for me since I live at high altitude. Also, it has no parabens or other preservatives, which I like. I wasn’t able to find it in the Cosmetics Database, but if it’s like Neosporin’s other lip products, it probably has a low to moderate rating.

So far so good, right? Well, unfortunately I didn’t like the Daily Hydration Therapy product. Too much white cream comes out of the applicator when you trying to use it. The cream doesn’t blend in well to your lips, either. Instead, you’re left with a white ring of gook around your lips if you apply while not looking in a mirror – not attractive! Even though I like that it isn’t artificially sweetened, it doesn’t have a pleasant taste. It also feels gritty on my lips and doesn’t feel like the product is being absorbed.

However, I loved Neosporin’s Lip Health Overnight Renewal Therapy. This is a product I’d use both day and night. It’s greasy and thick, which is what I prefer in any sort of night cream. Since you apply it with your finger out of the pot, the cream blends in and doesn’t leave a white ring around your lips. It doesn’t have an odd taste either. I could feel this product working and have started using it in the morning when I put on my makeup. Like the day version,it doesn’t contain parabens or other preservatives.

To take the Neosporin Lip Health 3-Day Challenge yourself, register to get a coupon good for $3 off any Neosporin Lip Health product. Since the products retail for about $4.99 each, that's a big savings.

More cool stuff from J&J

While you're treating yourself to some beauty items, you may want to pick up another terrific Johnson & Johnson product, BAND-AID Princess & The Frog adhesive bandages for the kids. They are in stores now for approximately $3.49.

With Mardi Gras coming up (the movie took place in New Orleans after all) these may be a fun and safer alternative to beads for your children. Or stick a few in your purse or in the kids’ backpacks so minor cuts and scrapes do not get in the way of a good time. Honestly, I won’t give you the ol’ fish eye if I see YOU sporting a few. Princess Tiana is one cool gal.

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Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Neosporin and received a sample of the Lip Health Overnight Renewal Therapy and the Lip Health Daily Hydration Therapy to facilitate my review along with a gift certificate for my time.

I also received samples of the Lip Health and BAND-AID products from Johnson & Johnson's PR agency.

How Exederm helped one itchy kid

My daughter Lucie has had eczema since she was small. When she was a baby, I remember her sitting outside on the front walkway and scratching the tops of her feet on the sidewalk until they bled.

I’ve tried everything from baby lotions to super hydrating sticky creams and hydrocortisone to prescription ointments. As a baby, Lucie hated baby massage, so greasing her up was a challenge. Now that she’s almost seven, she still doesn’t like putting cream on her body and face since if she’s scratched up, many creams burn. She doesn’t like the stickiness of thick creams like Eucerin either.

During our visit this month to Lucie’s new allergist, the doctor recommended using products with no fragrances or dyes (free and clear) and finding a lotion that was less sticky than Eucerin. Luckily, I had just received the complete children's line of products from Exederm: Baby Eczema Cream, Baby Eczema Lotion, Baby Eczema Oil, Baby Eczema Wash, Baby Eczema Shampoo and their Flare Control Cream to try out and review. Even though Lucie’s not a baby, I knew some of these product would be worth trying out for her since Exederm claims its products are made from the mildest ingredients and are specially formulated so they don’t trigger eczema.

Saving money at Safeway with new club pricing

Safeway has always had ways for you to save money from their club card to their weekly specials. Heck, in last weekend’s flier, there were coupons for their “free breakfast on us” special. All you had to do is spend $50 (not hard if you’re doing your regular shopping there) and use the coupons to get a free loaf of bread, a free dozen eggs, a free package of bacon and a free carton of orange juice. (All freebies were Safeway branded items.) That’s a pretty good deal.

If you’ve visited your local Safeway , you may have noticed the big yellow banners, the employees wearing yellow shirts and the thousands of yellow tags hanging off the shelves. (I’ve noticed this both at my local Safeway and at Vons while we were in San Diego.) It’s to draw attention to the new low prices on thousands of items at their stores for club card members.

The new yellow tags stand out on the shelves making it very easy to compare prices. (The yellow tags also have unit pricing.) And it’s not just a few pennies off from what the price used to be. Instead, according to my receipt, it’s anywhere from 22 cents for organic bananas to $1 for a 3 pound bag of Gala apples to 99 cents off the Celestial Seasonings tea I bought. My last shopping at Safeway totaled $27.73 for 11 items and I saved $4.69, almost 15%. With the coupons I used, I saved 28%.

You can learn more about the new club prices on the Safeway website. If you don’t get a local newspaper, you can still view their weekly specials online or get online coupons. If you have a cellphone, you can register for their Cellfire service, and you may want to check out the Safeway Fanbook Fan Page. Finally, check out my post, Hanging out at Safeway's Leftovers Lounge for other ways to use the Safeway website.

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Disclosure: Safeway sent me a grocery gift card to compensate me for my time and shopping experience.

Rosarita salsa comes to Denver, Colorado

Since the 1940’s, Rosarita has offered authentic Mexican-style refried beans and become the number one selling brand in the United States. I’ve been a big fan of their no fat refried pinto and black beans for years since both are high in fiber, low in Weight Watchers POINTS and delicious. Needless to say, Rosarita products are a staple at my house.

Rosarita has now added a salsa line of three authentic flavors Mild Salsa Mexicana, Medium Salsa Verde and Hot Salsa Taquera. The new salsas are only be available in four cities — LA, Dallas, Phoenix, and Denver — at select Walmart and grocery stores. (Use ConAgra’s product locator to find a store near you.) In my area, they’re available at Albertson’s, which is a shame because Albertson’s is starting to close most of their Colorado stores. I know Rosarita products are sold at Safeway, so I’m crossing my finger that the salsas will be available soon in their stores.

I’m not much of a hot salsa kind of gal, so I would normally choose their Mild Salsa Mexicana. But I do like a good salsa verde, so that’s what I chose when making some pork soft tacos for lunch today. (Pork and salsa verde are a great combination.)

I took some leftover Christmas pork loin roast, diced it up and heated it up in a pan with some salsa verde while I warmed up a few corn tortillas. After placing the pork in the tortillas, I added cherry tomatoes, cilantro, avocado slices and a bit more Rosarita Salsa Verde – yum! You could do something similar with leftover turkey, chicken, beef or even scrambled eggs or stir fried tofu.

The nice thing about Rosarita salsas are that they jazz up a plain meal and are very low in calories. If you’re doing Weight Watchers, salsa has ZERO POINTS. And they’re perfect with chips for your Super Bowl party, too! 

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Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Rosarita and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.