Happy Baby Review & Giveaway CLOSED

May 26,2010 / By Maria / 215 Comments

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HappyBaby products are all organic and 100% natural with no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, no genetic modification, and no preservatives. All of their packaging is BPA free and phthalate-free, recyclable and earth-friendly! HappyBaby works with Project Peanut Butter, and every package purchased contributes to the effort.I’ve talked about Happy Baby Food’s puffs and yogurt melts before, but they have a lot more than that! HappyBaby sent me coupons for the HappyPuffs, HappyMelts, HappyBellies cereal, HappyBites, HappyBaby Frozen and HappyTot pouches.

The puffs, cereal and yogurt melts are available to me locally at Target, my grocery store, ToysRUs and my local organic market. To find the other items, I made my first trip to Whole Foods (2 1/2 hours round trip), but I still couldn’t find the pouches!

The other day, we all taste tested the HappyBites chicken bites, salmon stix and mac + cheese.

I do wish the bags were recloseable.

The chicken bites and fish bites said to bake at 400 for 8 minutes; the mac + cheese take 15 minutes.

I popped all 3 in the oven and planned to take the chicken and fish out, and leave the mac + cheese in for another 7 minutes, but when I took them out, they were still frozen almost completely solid! After a total of nearly 20 minutes, they were heated through.

The HappyBites have “hidden” vegetables like chick peas, cauliflower, butternut squash and potato (varies based on the product.)

The mac + cheese was like baked shells and cheese in patty form.

My son absolutely inhaled the chicken bites; I couldn’t break them into bite size pieces fast enough. They had a crispy exterior and a creamy interior the consistency of stiff mashed potatoes.

The salmon stix were my husband’s favorite. I thought they smelled like crab cakes as they were baking, and he commented that with a firmer interior, they would taste like it too. He thought they were a little bland, but this is coming from “Mr. Hot Sauce.” I thought they were mild tasting enough that kids would like them, but had enough flavor to exercise their little palates. I reminded him that he wasn’t their target audience!

My 5-year old daughter was being a brat acting like a 5-year old and claimed not to like any of it. She was just angling to get dinner over with so she could go camping.

Prices seem to vary a bit depending on where you go. Where we live, the yogurt melts are $3.29-$3.69, puffs $2.79-$3.29, cereal around $3.79. The HappyBaby frozen were $4.69 and the HappyBites were $4.99-$5.99.

I haven’t been able to find the pouches. Whole Foods is supposed to have the best selection of HappyBaby, but they only had other brands of pouch baby food. I could have sworn I saw them at ToysRUs, but they were another brand as well.

I’ll continue to choose HappyBaby food for their “no junk” promise, tasty organic products, BPA free packaging and social responsibility. I’m hoping that more stores will carry their products so it will be easier to find!

Want to try some? HappyFamily is sending an awesome package to one lucky blog reader. (Value is well over $40, depends on your store’s prices of course!) It includes:

2 free trial coupons for each of their products: HAPPYBABY, HAPPYBELLES, HAPPYBABYPUFFS, HAPPYMELTS, HAPPYBITES

1 FAQ on Probiotics & DHA
1 Nutrition Guide, co-authored by Dr. Sears
1 HAPPYFAMILY Recipes

Here’s how to enter: (entries 2-8 are optional and you may do as few or as many as you like.)

1. Visit HappyBabyFood and have a look around. Leave me a comment with what product looks tastiest to you.
2. Follow my blog publicly. Comment saying you do to get your entry.
3. Fan me on Facebook. Comment saying you’re a fan to get your entry.
4. Fan HappyFamily on Facebook. Comment saying you’re a fan to get your entry. I would appreciate it if you left a comment on their wall telling them you’re visiting from my blog, but it’s not required.
5. Follow me on Twitter. Comment saying you follow to get your entry.
6. Follow HappyBabyFood on Twitter. Comment saying you follow to get your entry.
7. Tweet about this giveaway. Be sure to include @chgdiapers and @happybabyfood in your tweet. One tweet per day. Comment with a link to your tweet to get your entry. You may use this tweet if you like: @chgdiapers has a @happybabyfood #giveaway until 6/9 http://bit.ly/bDVxth #organic #babyfood
8. Blog about this giveaway and be sure to link back here. Leave a comment with a link to your blog post to get your entry.

Open to residents of the U.S. only, I’ll accept entries until Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 9:00 P.M., EST.

I’ll select a winner using random.org’s true random number generator and contact the winner by email. Please leave your email address in a comment if it isn’t in your profile. If I can’t contact you I will choose another winner.

Thank you to HappyFamily for providing the free product coupons for the review and giveaway. The freebies in no way affected my review.

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Natural and Organic Food Review

HFCS Free Vermont Bread

May 17,2010 / By Maria / 3 Comments

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I’m OK with high fructose corn syrup in moderation, but when it’s in every flipping thing on the store shelves, moderation is hard to achieve! I’ve been trying to find other options for anything containing HFCS which we buy with any regularity. I think ketchup and bread are the last ones we have to replace.

Arnold bread is the only one I’m aware of that’s HFCS free and available at my usual grocery store. I’ve bought the country white before and it’s OK. I like multi grain bread for sandwiches, but for PB&J, fluffernutters etc, there’s nothing like fluffy white bread. I know, I’m ashamed. I think it must be from growing up on 100% whole wheat bread (stored in the refrigerator for extra hardness, LOL.) Sorry Mom, hope you don’t read this, hee hee.

This Vermont soft white bread was on sale at my local organic market for just a few cents more than my usual brand, so I picked it up.

It’s wider (more rectangular) than “regular” bread, and slightly higher in calories than what I usually buy.

It seems to have the same texture as the Arnold Country White. It’s dense and has more of a homemade texture.

With a regular price of almost $5 per loaf, I don’t think I’ll be buying it again. The Arnold bread is $4 at my store.

I really enjoy baking bread, so if all HFCS-free bread is going to have homemade texture, I’ll just go back to perfecting a sandwich bread recipe. That one was OK with a little less sweetener, but it was gag inducingly salty. I wonder if it was supposed to be 2 teaspoons rather than two tablespoons.

If anyone finds a great, HFCS free white bread, let me know!

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EcoMom Review, Giveaway and discount/coupon code CLOSED

May 10,2010 / By Maria / 156 Comments

I was given the opportunity to try some yummy, organic snacks from EcoMom. They’re also sponsoring a giveaway and offering a 15% discount on my readers first purchase. Enter code SBBL287 at checkout to get 15% off your first order. (valid through 5/31/10)

Formerly Sprout baby, they’re now Eco-Friendly Baby Products – Eco Mom.

Eco-Mom sent me Revolution Foods Jammy Sammies in blueberry flavor and Plum Tots fiddlesticks in apple carrot flavor.

Someone wise recently told me that a company’s true customer service is measured by how they handle problems. EcoMom and I got off to a rocky start when I was sent the wrong blogger’s package and caught them in the middle of their website redesign. Jody at EcoMom responded to me immediately and was very apologetic for the mix-up. I received my replacement package in the mail just a few days later. (EcoMom sent me the blueberry flavor, the others pictured are flavors I purchased myself.)

The Jammy Sammies come in lots of different flavors. We had actually just discovered them a few weeks earlier at our local organic market.

My daughter loves them and I think they’re pretty tasty too, I ate an Apple Sammy as I was typing this!

I had never had anything from Plum Organics, the Fiddlesticks were the first.

They look like little breadsticks, but they are softer. I tried one and they weren’t bad.

They make great Cheerio picker-uppers.

My son really enjoyed it. 🙂

My son is 11 months old, but I don’t think he’s quite ready for these yet. He likes to shovel things in his mouth, and he was breaking pieces off that were a bit big for him to handle. My daughter ended up eating the whole rest of the box the same day!

EcoMom sells tons of other organic baby food and snacks, but they sell a whole lot more too. They have a few cloth diapers, they have bath & body products, toys and books, even green cleaning products.

One thing that makes EcoMom unique is their EcoPass. A one-year membership costs $99 and gets you 15% off everything they sell and free shipping on every order. That includes expensive and oversized items like the Boon Flair Pedestal High Chair and organic crib sets.

The 15% off would pay for the membership if you spent $660 over the course of your 1-year membership. That’s $55 per month, which is not hard to spend!

It’s definitely a good idea to check their prices on any items you may be interested in. Their price on the Sammies is higher than my local store, but I’m blessed to have a store with such low prices. However, my store only has three flavors while EcoMom has a lot more.

I didn’t price compare anything else, since I’m not really in the market for anything right now. As a savvy shopper though, I’d always recommend doing that, since $100 less a 15% discount one place is the same $85 elsewhere. Just make sure you are including shipping charges and sales tax when you do so!

EcoMom is offering a 15% discount to my readers. It’s good through May 31st, 2010 and is good only on your first order. Just enter code SBBL287 at checkout.

You can also sign up for EcoMom’s Newsletter if you want to know about new products and events.

EcoMom is also giving one lucky winner $20 worth of Plum and / or Revolution Foods!

Here’s how to enter (you may so as many or as few as you like, each counts as one entry):

1. Visit Eco-Mom, browse and tell me what you’d buy (if money were no object!)

2. Follow my blog publicly, comment saying you follow to get your entry.

3. “Like” me on Facebook. Comment here saying so to get your entry.

4. “Like” EcoMom on Facebook. You know the drill, comment here to get your entry.

5. Follow me on Twitter. Comment saying you follow to get your entry.

6. Follow EcoMom on Twitter. Comment saying you follow to get your entry.

7. Tweet about this giveaway. Please link to the post and be sure to @ecomomceo and @chgdiapers. One tweet per day please! You may use this tweet if you like “@chgdiapers has a #giveaway for #organic food from @ecomomceo until 5/17 http://bit.ly/cyot7U“

8. Blog about this review/giveaway, this blog or EcoMom. Be sure to link to EcoMom and me (use the new address, https://change-diapers.com/) Comment with a link to your blog post to get your entry!

Open to residents of the U.S. only.

I’ll accept entries until Monday, May 17th, 2010 at 9 P.M. EST. I’ll select a winner using random.org’s random number generator, then email the winner. Be sure to leave your email address in your comment if it isn’t in your profile!

Thank you to EcoMom for providing the Jammy Sammies and Fiddlesticks to me at no charge to review, and for sponsoring the giveaway. All opinions are my own and weren’t affected by the freebies!

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YoBaby Yogurt Review & Giveaway CLOSED

May 4,2010 / By Maria / 62 Comments

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YoBaby organic yogurt isn’t new to us, we’ve been buying it since my 5 year old was a baby. We never actually stopped buying it. My daughter still loves it, both for the taste and the cute babies on the package!

YoBaby also has codes on the lids for the Stonyfield Farms Reward Program. The points add up quickly (the 6-packs or 32 ounce containers are 4 points I believe) and redemptions start at 25 points. The rewards are pretty good too I think! I got 2 free HappyBabyFood product coupons for 25 points! If you register, you can also print coupons, I think they reset monthly.

The plain variety is new to me. It seems to be the same as the Stonyfield Farms organic plain, whole milk yogurt we usually buy, but in different packaging. I was able to find it at Whole Foods when I made the trip to get some of the Happy Baby Food items for my review, that I couldn’t find locally.

There’s no added sugar, and it’s so good with some fresh fruit mixed in, maybe a drizzle of agave nectar if the fruit is tart. I believe it has the same active cultures as the Stonyfield Farms, which recommended most often for use as a homemade yogurt starter because of the active cultures. It’s of course a bit more expensive per ounce than the big tub, but that’s to be expected. It’s nice to be able to grab a 4 ounce container to take with us somewhere. I just wish I could find them locally!

The YoBaby 6-packs also come in banana/vanilla, peach/pear and blueberry/apple varieties.

It does have added sugar, though there’s no HFCS or dyes. The package states that the count includes natural milk sugar, I’d just like to know how many of the 12 grams are added. Other yogurt marketed to kids has 13-18 grams of sugar in 4 ounces. YoBaby is the only one (that I know of) made with whole milk, and I don’t know enough about milk to know whether that increases the natural sugar content when compared to low fat milk.

My favorite flavor is the apple, so I had to taste one (purely in the name of research of course!) since I haven’t had one in quite some time.

This is cream top yogurt. This is what it looked like after being squeezed and manhandled (babyhandled?) by my son, prior to opening it.

Stir to mix and enjoy. Mmm…heavenly. At 110 calories in 4 ounces, it’s a bit higher in calories (and fat, but…duh) than light/low or no fat yogurt. However, I don’t really enjoy the artificially sweetened, artificially flavored, thin stuff. A 4 oz YoBaby is more filling and satisfying to me than a 6 oz. container of the “other stuff.”

Oh wait, this stuff was called YoBABY, right? Oops. It makes me want to make jokes like, “Yo’ Baby’s diaper is so fluffy…” OK never mind!

Other products include Fruit and Cereal, drinkable yogurt, YoBaby Meals, YoKids Yogurt and YoKids Squeezers.

~~Anyway, one lucky blog reader will win two coupons for free YoBaby yogurt 4-packs, along with an Eric Carle growth chart!~~

Please be sure to leave your email address in one of your comments (you can use the format name at domain dot com to hide from spam bots.) If it’s in your profile, no need to leave it in your comment. If you’re the winner but I can’t contact you, I’ll choose someone else.

~~Here’s how to enter:~~

~~1. Leave me a comment. Do you like yogurt? What’s your favorite kind?~~
~~2. Follow my blog, current followers count. Comment saying you’re a follower to get your entry.~~
3. ~~“Like” me on Facebook, current “likers” count. Comment saying you’re a “liker” to get your entry.~~
4. ~~Follow me on Twitter, current followers count. Comment saying you’re a follwer to get your entry.~~
5. Tweet about this giveaway (make sure you use @chgdiapers) and link to your tweet in a comment to get your entry. Please tweet no more than once per day. I don’t want your followers to associate me with annoying spammy tweets, LOL. You can use this tweet if you like “@chgdiapers has #organic YoBaby yogurt up for grabs until 5/11 http://tinyurl.com/22q53rf #giveaway”
~~6. Write a blog post about my blog. It doesn’t have to be specifically about this giveaway, but please be sure to link back to my blog. Comment with a link to your post to get your entry.~~
7. ~~Fan Stonyfield on Facebook~~ ~~(“like,” whatever you want to call it!) Comment saying you’re a fan/liker (whatever!) to get your entry.~~
8. ~~Like YoBaby on Facebook.~~ ~~Same deal, comment here to get your entry.~~
9. ~~Follow Stonyfield on Twitter.~~ ~~Comment saying you follow to get your entry.~~

~~As always, you can do any of the above. You don’t have to do one in order to do the other. 🙂~~

I’ll accept entries until Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at 9 P.M. I’ll choose a winner with random.org’s random number generator and contact the winner by email. Coupons will be mailed to the winner by the company.

HappyBabyFood/YoBaby provided free product coupons to me and will provide the coupons to the giveaway winner. The freebies in no way affected my review.

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Natural and Organic Food Recipes Review

Homemade Marshmallows (don’t laugh!)

May 3,2010 / By Maria / No Comment

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OK, you can laugh. Only if you’re laughing with me though! You may be wondering why on earth I would do this. Well, ever since we tried the ricemellow creme, I’ve been wondering if I could make marshmallows with brown rice syrup. We really enjoy roasting marshmallows on a campfire when the weather is warm, and making s’mores. However, I’m not crazy about the #1 ingredient being corn syrup. Our organic market has some “gourmet” vegan vanilla marshmallows, but they still contain corn syrup (and they cost a small fortune).

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