SF Bay Gourmet Coffee review and giveaway
Please share in comments: If you win, will you keep this coffee yourself, or gift it?
With another birthday nearing, I decided it was time to make my health and wellness a
priority by moving more, improving my sleep, and like many of you have
discussed on social media, I need to reverse some of the pandemic weight gain
so that I can fully enjoy summer. I read an article about taking a look at what
you do from the very moment you wake up and see if you can make positive changes.
For me that meant overhauling my morning coffee, so when Viva Naturals offered
to send me their MCT Oil for review, I took it as a sign to give coffee with
organic MCT oil a try.
MCT Oil in Coffee:
Copycat Panera Vanilla Cold Brew Iced Coffee Recipe
We welcomed September in with a heat wave here in middle Tennessee, so instead of thinking all things “fall” this weekend, I was sipping on a crazy good Cold Brew iced coffee to cool off a bit. If you aren’t quite ready to say goodbye to summer either, this copycat Panera Vanilla cold brew coffee recipe is for you! Making it is so simple with just 6 ingredients! You may have everything you need on hand already. My thanks to today’s sponsor, Torani for providing the sweet vanilla goodness this recipe needs.
Cold Brew Goodness:
As a blogger and digital content creator, I have the opportunity to try lots of new products that might not normally show up on my shopping radar. June has been bountiful in this department, so I thought it would be fun to start a new (to me) blog series Friday Five! Each month I’ll share five new products I think would be helpful to you as well. This month’s Friday Five is fun foods for summer. I hope you enjoy this new series and these product recommendations.
Friday Faves Food and Drink Edition
Happy Friday, dear readers. If you are among the many who sent their kids back to school in the heat of August, I’m thinking of you and hoping your school year is off to a smooth start. Our school days are behind us now as empty nesters, but today’s topic brought back so many fond memories of making food and drink content with my girls. I hope you enjoy my latest Friday Faves.
Friday Faves Food and Drink Edition:
Coffee House Breve Crème: Review
Happy Valentine’s Day to all who celebrate it! This year, it’s just my husband and I celebrating now that we’re empty nesters. Our youngest daughter moved out just before Thanksgiving. I’m still adjusting to this new normal, which has had some ups and downs. One of the downs is I’ve been in a bit of a creative rut. When I read a friend's blog post this morning with this fun writing prompt, I knew it was just the thing to spark my creativity. I’m joining Mix and Match Mama and her monthly writing prompts where we share little peaks into our lives.
Serve up smiles at your next coffee gathering with Language of Flowers Mugs
Happy September, friends. I love this time of year for many reasons, such as the late summer days with their crisp, cool mornings and warm, sunny afternoons. Another thing I really love about September is that parents, especially Moms, get a little break in their busy routines with kids back in school, making it the perfect time to host a coffee gathering! These whimsical Language of Flowers mugs are sure to bring smiles to your guests.
Serve up Smiles with your Coffee!
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Courtesy: Torani.com |
Since 1925, 3rd generation 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.
- 2 tbsp (1 oz.) Torani Vanilla Bean
Syrup
- 1 cup (8oz) milk
- 2 shots espresso*
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup (8oz) milk
2 shots espresso*, chilled
ice
INSTRUCTIONS: Combine chilled espresso*, milk and Torani in a tall glass filled with ice and stir well. *Can substitute 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee.
This post is sponsored by Ensure®, but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.
10 No Tech Holiday Gift Ideas Sure To Please
In an effort to not rush headlong into everything Christmas, I waited until I knew most people had started holiday shopping, or at the very least, asking for their loved ones' gift lists. This year has found me enjoying offline hobbies and events, which led me to compile 10 no tech holiday gift ideas sure to please most adults on your list. This is a switch from my previous holiday gift idea lists because I’m not covering kids' gifts. As an almost empty nester, it’s going to be a few years before I need to shop for little ones again.
No Tech Gifts Sure To Please!
About Torani
Torani flavored syrups are part of San Francisco’s heritage. With handwritten recipes from their Italian hometown, Rinaldo and Ezilda Torre introduced Torani syrups to San Francisco in 1925. In the back of their grocery store, they pressed fruits, nuts and spices, blended extracts with cane sugar and water in redwood vats and then fine-tuned the flavor. A true labor of love that has paid off for Torani, now the # 1 brand of flavored syrups in America, offering over 100 flavors.
The Review
I tried the sugar free Vanilla in my coffee first, adding 1 oz. to my coffee as instructed on the bottle. The aroma was inviting and I couldn’t wait to try my morning cup, but yikes, was it ever sweet! Perhaps an ounce is for a venti. I’m slowly learning to use the vanilla syrup properly, it is delicious, and my daughters love it full strength in their café au lait.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you to The Fast Metabolism Diet for sponsoring this blog post. I was selected for this sponsorship by SheSpeaks.com All opinions expressed here are my own.
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Courtesy: FastMetabolismDiet.com |
- Phase 1 ( Monday-Tuesday)- Lots of carbs and fruits
- Phase 2 ( Wednesday-Thursday)- Lots of proteins and veggies
- Phase 3 ( Friday-Sunday)- All of the above, plus healthy fats and oils
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Courtesy:FastMetabolismDiet.com |
- Be prepared to read before you start this diet! Haylie spells out the science behind the diet and mentally prepares you for your 28 day journey. You'll need that information for what she asks of you, so please don't skip ahead.
- Once you are ready to start, double check your grocery list and shop for a full weeks worth of groceries. This book has lots of healthy recipes and a master food list for each week, which I found very helpful.
- Be prepared to drink lots and lots of water! I thought I was good on my water consumption, but no. This diet has you drinking half your weight in ounces per day. Talk about flushing ~ literally and figuratively! So don't start this diet if you are not going to be able to take frequent bathroom breaks.
- Speaking of drinking, you aren't supposed to drink alcohol or coffee for 28 days. I was fine with no alcohol, but no coffee? No way! I get up way too early to not have my morning coffee. I did concede to the plan and stopped using my normal fat free creamer and cut way back on my sugar.
- Be prepared to keep this book with you for the 28 days. Since you are changing eating patterns and exercise patterns every 2 days, I got a little frustrated with trying to plan family meals and events around this diet, so having the book with me helped me get back on track if I slipped up and ate a piece of fruit on the wrong day. The great thing about this plan is if you do mess up, just start over!
All My Favorite Things Fall Edition
Happy November! As I sit here typing up this post, the weather outside is anything but frightful. In fact, it’s going to be 75 and sunny all weekend long! It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is coming up quickly when all I want to do is go outside and soak up the sun. All that to say, I’m not fully in the holiday spirit yet, so this post should be called part one of my favorite things fall edition since it doesn't showcase any Thanksgiving goodies. I many need to do a special holiday edition of my favorite things! Read on to see what I’m loving right now and hopefully; you see a product or two you’ll love as well.
Fall Favorites!
Eight Simple Productivity Tips while working at home
Can you believe we are in the middle of August already? I took last week off from writing so I could focus on getting my daughter all set for her senior year of high school and to work on my other business, Avon. I’ve been a work at home Mom for many, many years, but I know many of you are working from home for the first time during back to school season. A position many never thought would happen. It can be a tricky transition from office to home office. First of all, you are no longer surrounded by coworkers, instead you’ve got family and pets, who can grab your attention quickly. Your mindset might be completely different at home than at work, so have grace with yourself during the transition! Despite its challenges, working from home can be a great opportunity to be productive and possibly even take your quality of work up a notch, with these eight simple productivity tips while working from home.