Cilantro Lime Rice {A Minute Rice Recipe}

Last night's dinner was quesadillas and cilantro lime rice.  Here in Texas we sure do eat a lot of Mexican food!  I love cilantro on everything. 

Here is the recipe I used to make my cilantro lime rice:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Minute® Rice long grain white rice
1/2 lime, juice of
2 cups water
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro (or you can buy those tubes of prepared cilantro already mixed in the vegetable isle)
3 tsp vegetable oil

(I add green onions, but you don't have to...I just love green onions & they add a sharpness)

DIRECTIONS

Add rice, water, 1 tsp oil + salt. boil on high until for about 4-5 minutes. Then, in a medium bowl, combine chopped cilantro, lime juice, rice, 2 tsp oil, & toss until mixed.

This rice is so easy and QUICK to make.  I love taking it to potlucks too because you can make a whole lot of it and it has a ton of flavor.  You can serve with quesadillas like I did, burritos, or enchiladas.  It's a great side dish for any Mexican meal.

You know I'm always looking for quick and easy meals.  Terence and I both work over 40 hours a week and we have a growing boy on our hands. Minute® Rice makes it super easy for me to prepare a wholesome and filling meal for my family.  The best part is it doesn't take up my entire evening and I can do the things I really enjoy!

Minute® Rice is so quick and easy to prepare and is great pantry staple. When meal time seems like a hassle, Minute® Rice is a go-to ingredient your whole family will love and allows you to have more quality time doing what your want with your loved ones.

Leftover rotisserie chicken or veggies from a meal earlier in the week? Minute® Rice can easily be paired with some of your leftover ingredients to make a quick, easy and wholesome meal your whole family will love in just a matter of minutes.

Visit Minute Rice to create a great main meal or side dish for your next family get-together or potluck.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Minute® Rice

Tip:  I also love homemade salsa & I mix it with sour cream for a sauce....it's great to poor over the rice too :-)

I Have a Giant Suprise!

We recently got to try the new Green Giant Veggie Snack Chips.  We tried the Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips & the Mulitgrain Sweet Potato chips.  They tasted so good who knew there was a surprise hiding in each chip.....VEGGIES!

Everyone loves a good surprise right?  Well, did you know I have a secret talent?  It's actually something my whole family does.  My Dad used to do it with his brothers and they taught their kids and so on.....

So what is it?  Well, it's silly, but we take great pride in our squeaking abilities.  My Dad and his brothers can squeak entire songs by just blowing out their lips and making tunes.  I can squeak too, but I'm not as good at carrying a tune as they are.  It's more difficult than you might think.

Put your lips together and try blowing out.....did you make a noise?  Do you think you can carry a tune or even squeak a song?  It takes talent and by golly my Dad has it and I'm proud to say I carry on that "secret" family talent too!  It's taken years to perfect but I'm getting there.

Who knew these delicious looking chips are containing a GIANT surprise?

The Green Giant™ Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips – Zesty Cheddar Flavor are made with real vegetables, 17 grams of whole grain per serving (48g are recommended daily), and are naturally flavored.

 

The Green Giant™ Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips – Sea Salt Flavor are made with real sweet potatoes and made with 14 grams of whole grain. Plus, they contains 40 percent less fat than regular potato chips!

 

Green Giant Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips (6g per 28g serving) have 40 percent less fat than regular potato chips (10g per 28g serving).

 Roasted Veggie Tortilla

 Mulitgrain Sweet Potato chips

I'm a working Mom and Wife.  Often times it's hard to feed my family, let alone feed them healthy things.  I always have snacks in the car with me.  DFW traffic+snacks=my sanity!  Often times those snacks are very unhealthy and I end up feeling guilty for giving Connor something to eat that isn't good. 

It's so nice that Green Giant has these healthy options.  I loooooooved the sweet potato chips!  Connor really liked the cheesy roasted veggie tortilla.  I mean what 3 year old doesn't love anything with cheese?  It's a much better option than the cheese puffs he prefers, and honestly he couldn't put the bag down.  HE LOVED THEM.

Any way I can get nutrition or a vegetable in this child is wonderful!

 Obviously enjoying those chips ey?

 

Check out the Green Giant Facebook page and upload a video or picture of your secret talent!

You can also print off a coupon for 85 cents off Veggie Snack Chips HERE

Check out the surprise talents the Green Giant has unearthed.

Thank you to The Green Giant™ for being a sponsor. Show the Giant your surprise talent at www.facebook.com/greengiant

Spring Shopping for My Lil Stud

Spring has sprung! Well, at least for some of us who haven't been hit by the crazy blizzard....in Texas it's been quite warm lately. So I'm starting to stock up on spring clothing for Connor. One thing I've been looking for in particular is an Easter outfit. Every year it's such a fun time; we all get dressed up and go to church and then spend time with family. Of course I always want my kiddo to look like a stud!

I found the perfect Easter outfit on Cookies Kids website. #CookiesKids has become known as the #1 School Uniform Headquarters in the US & the World's Largest Kids Department store. Cookies Kids has a variety of sizes including big boys, husky boys, plus sizes, juniors, and young men's. They also offer a large selection of baby gifts and urban fashion from the biggest name brands including: Akademiks, Apple Bottoms, Coogi, Ed Hardy, Nautica, Levi's, LRG, Hello Kitty, The North Face, Rocawear & more. CookiesKids is your resource for all your school uniform as well as kids clothing needs. This year they are celebrating their 40th year in business! Woohoo! Cookie’s Kids have 7 stores in the NYC area in Bronx, Brooklyn and Jamaica as well as online at CookiesKids.com

So while on my shopping spree at Cookies Kids I noticed they offered a lot of adorable suits in Connor's size. It's hard to find a suit for a small child. Especially at a decent price.

Finding the items I wanted was easy. I just clicked on "Boys Dept" and then you can select the right size for your child. From there you can choose the category for the items you are looking for. Easy right?

So many cute suits to choose from!

I ended up choosing this suit. It's so adorable. The first thing he said when I put it on his was "I look like Daddy, I'm going to work!" Ha ha!

The suit is a little big, so we may have to have Grana hem it. That's okay because maybe we can wear it next year too! It's so cute I hope he can wear it for a long time. When it comes time to get another we'll definitely go back to Cookies Kids. Their prices are amazing!

Love my lil stud muffin!

Check out my Google + story about shopping at Cookies Kids.

Follow Cookies Kids on Facebook & Twitter

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been funded as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and CookiesKids.com #CBias #SocialFabric” All opinions are my own.

California Wine Club {A Christmas Giveaway!}

I received my second shipment of wine from the California Wine Club right before Thanksgiving.  We actually took it over to my in-laws house to have with our Thanksgiving dinner.  I think everyone enjoyed it.  Like I said before I am a white wine gal.  I really liked the Chenin Blanc.  It was light and refreshing, and a little sweet.  All things I look for in my wine!

Look at all the medals these wines have won?  California Wine Club doesn't just send you wine....they send you quality wine.  If you are looking for a Christmas gift and have a wine lover in the family this would be perfect.  I promise you they will think you are the most thoughtful person ever!  Don't wait because the ground shipping deadline is December 12th.  Any orders placed after December 12 will incur expedited air shipping charges.

To enter the California Wine Club

Giveaway click the link HERE.

 

At the end of November California Wine Club will draw 52 winners....and then at the end of December they will draw another 52 winners!!!!  Woohoo!!!

Prizes include:
1) One of four, Three Month Wine Club memberships
(A $150 value you can give as a gift, or keep for yourself)
2) One of 50 handy Two Bottle Wine Totes ($25
value)
3) One of 50 Red Tulip Music wine country CD's
($15 value)

 

AND.....

 

ONE READER WILL WIN A GIFT CERTIFICATE TO CALIFORNIA WINE CLUB FOR $50.00!!!  Please leave a comment below telling me what your favorite kind of wine is.

If you love wine or know someone who does a subscription to California Wine Club would make a great gift this Christmas or any time of the year.

With four wine of the month clubs to choose from, we have wine selections and wine gifts to suit all tastes and all budgets. To learn more click any of the following links:

• Premier Club - Our most popular club!
• Signature Series - For collectors and connoisseurs!
• International Selections - From small "mom & pop" wineries around the world.
• Aged Cabernet Series - Napa's most prestigious Cabernets aged 8 - 12 years.

I hope you all will check out California Wine Club!

California Wine Club can be found on:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

This review was made possible by Mom Spark Media. Thoughts are my own. I received a 2 month Membership to the California Wine Club for the purpose of this review.

It's a Dunkin' Donuts Holiday!

It's no secret to all of you that I LOVE my coffee!  I am a self proclaimed addict.  I also Looooove Christmas too!  So what better way to ring in the holidays than with the smell, taste, and feel of the things I love the most.  Coffee + Christmas = Perfection!

 

I have always loved Dunkin' Donuts, in fact we have one just around the corner.  But I know everyone has those days where they just want to stay in their jammie's and watch Christmas movies on the sofa.  Days like that are when I want my Dunkin' Donuts coffee at home. 

 

The holiday season is my favorite time to get coffee because there are so many yummy flavors.  As a working Mom, I don't always have a lot of time in the morning to stop for coffee.  Dunkin' Donuts offers exactly what I want this time of year and it's at my local grocery store.

I recently tried the new Gingerbread Cookie Coffee from Dunkin' Donuts.  Gingerbread is one of my favorite holiday flavors!  It was rich and smooth, with a hint of gingerbread.  It made me feel all Christmas-y inside.  Even if you don't have a coffee drinker in your house they'll be drawn to Dunkin' Donuts Gingerbread Cookie Coffee while brewing....because it makes your whole house smell warm and cozy.

Dunkin’ Donuts® packaged coffee is available at your local grocery store.  Nothing evokes the joy of the holidays like sharing memories with family and close friends over a cup of delicious coffee.  We love to drink coffee while watching Christmas movies after dinner.

There are so many flavors to choose from: Original Blend, Dunkin’ Decaf® and special seasonal varieties including Mocha Mint, Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread Cookie. But act fast as these seasonal varieties are only available for a limited time.

The new seasonal varieties even have a cute gift tag on them so it’s easy to use them as stocking stuffers or hostess gifts.

I can't wait to try the other festive flavors Dunkin' Donuts has to offer!

 

Cheers & Merry Christmas!!!

 

Thank you to Dunkin’ Donuts® packaged coffee at grocery for being a sponsor. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.

California Wine Club

 

A few weeks ago we received a shipment of wine to try from The California Wine Club.  I have to tell you I am very picky about my wine.  I favor white wine, Terence favors red wine.  Luckily we received one of each!  Terence really enjoyed the red wine and I could tell by the empty bottle it must have been good!  I tried the white wine.  It was also very good, not too dry and not too sweet.  The flavor was great and I'm happy to say we enjoyed our first taste of The California Wine Club!

A little bit about California Wine Club:

Since 1990 The California Wine Club has introduced wine enthusiasts to a monthly wine adventure! With four great wine of the month clubs to choose from, we offer a selection of award-winning wine to suit all tastes and all budgets. 
 
Every wine we feature is handcrafted by artisan wineries and guaranteed to delight. Whether you decide to try our most popular wine club, or a wine club specific to collectors, you will receive our guarantee of quality, as well as many other valuable membership benefits.

We are now celebrating 20 years of business and the wine adventures keep getting better! Pam and I knew that there were hundreds of small, family-owned wineries dedicated to producing exceptional wine ... and it was this wine that we wanted to share with our monthly wine club members. Each month we travel California's wine country searching out the wineries, meeting the families and tasting the wines that never make it to local stores or wine shops.

Click here to read about recently featured wineries and the families behind their award-winning wines!

This is why it was so easy to guarantee that our wine of the month club members and gift recipients will never receive any bulk, closeout or private label wines...ever.

Each and every wine we select comes from a real working winery and is backed by our 100% guarantee.
 Enjoying my glass of Sauvignon Blanc.  It was very fresh and crisp!

If you love wine or know someone who does a subscription to California Wine Club would make a great gift this Christmas. 

With four wine of the month clubs to choose from, we have wine selections and wine gifts to suit all tastes and all budgets. To learn more click any of the following links:

• Premier Club - Our most popular club!
• Signature Series - For collectors and connoisseurs!
• International Selections - From small "mom & pop" wineries around the world.
• Aged Cabernet Series - Napa's most prestigious Cabernets aged 8 - 12 years.

I hope you all will check out California Wine Club! 

California Wine Club can be found on:

 

FACEBOOK

 

TWITTER

 

 

CHEERS!

 

This review was made possible by Mom Spark Media. Thoughts are my own. I received a 2 month Membership to the California Wine Club for the purpose of this review.

Shopping at Walgreens Anytime & Anywhere

I just signed up for the new loyalty card from Walgreens using their new application for you phone!

 

ALSO- If you sign up before tomorrow you'll be entered to win 1 million loyalty points!  So hurry up and sign up for the sweepstakes now!

 

I'm really busy.  I work full time and also do the best I can to manage our household.  Being a part of Walgreens Rewards program saves me time and I still get the things I want.  I rely on my phone for lots of things these days, now I can save time and money by shopping at Walgreens anytime and anywhere!

It was so easy. Let me show you how to do it:

 

 

I went to my phone App store and searched for "Walgreens".

 

From there I found the Walgreens App and installed it on my phone:

Once installed I was able to browse through all the different categories on the Walgreens App. 

You can shop for anything you need, including photos, prescription refills, finding weekly deals.  You can also clip coupons or find the closest Walgreens to you!

I am going to go shopping through my new Walgreens App!

 

Hit the green shopping bag:

Here you have all the different categories you can shop in using your Walgreens savings is easy and fast!

You can also shop in a certain price range:

Today I was searching for some fall nail polish colors. 

I went to the BEAUTY tab and from there I found nail polish.

I added it to my shopping cart:

Filled out all my information:

Shipping Address:

Billing information options:

 

And "Olia"!  I got a few fall nail colors I had been wanting in less than 10 minutes!

 

It was so easy shopping at Walgreens from my phone and I am looking forward to racking up all those Balance Rewards points too! 

Check out my Google + shopping experience HERE

TWITTER: @Walgreens

FACEBOOK: Walgreens Facebook

BALANCE REWARDS: Sign up for Balance Rewards

 

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop

has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective

Bias™ and Walgreens #CBias #SocialFabric #BalanceRewards. All opinions are my own

Ubokia {Find What You Want}

Check out my Marketplace!
I recently discovered a fabulous new website called Ubokia. What is Ubokia you ask?

Ubokia was launched in November of 2011, and has been growing steadily ever since. With a membership base of over 200,000 since their launch, Ubokia is the largest and quickest growing “want-centric” ecommerce platform out there.

With Ubokia, you simply have to ask, and you shall receive. It is Ubokia’s goal to connect people with people, not a person with money to an item. Ubokia built their site into an embeddable marketplace that you get to place directly within your site.

The Ubokia Marketplace is a great tool for bloggers and blog readers to use, connecting with like-minded individuals and doing so without ever having to leave your website! Ubokia is a safe place to buy online. I think this idea is genius.

 I know a lot of you already to “blog sales” as a way to sell things you have and don’t need anymore. Well, Ubokia would make that process so much easier and your audience wider. As bloggers we trust each other and depend on each other for information.

Buying through a blog marketplace means you are connecting with other like-minded people - making it easier to find what you want and in general your interactions are more pleasant than something like Craigslist.

Ubokia is easier for buyers because all they have to do is post a want and let sellers come to them. No more searching!

Ubokia is easier for sellers because they don't have to wait to potential buyers to view their products. They can immediately connect with buyers.

To visit my Ubokia Marketplace go to the tab on the top of this page!

How the Ubokia Plugin Works:
Once you are all set up, Ubokia will simply email you two lines of HTML code for you to copy and paste onto a new page. The marketplace fits in almost every theme out there, while still being able to display your ad space! If you ever have any issues with the install, you will be able to directly contact a Ubokia Team Member who will be able to help you custom fit the marketplace into your site.We have worked to make the app as easy as possible to install, and continue to create an even better user experience.

Disclosure: I was compensated for this review.

Go check it out and happy hunting!!!

Revlon Expression Exeriment Kit

 

I recently had the opportunity to try out the new Revlon Expression Experiment kit.  I love to play with makeup. I feel naked if I leave the house without it.  Experimenting with different colors and types of products is how you find out what works for you.  I was excited to try this kit, I really like the Revlon brand because it represents empowering and engaging women to try new things!

 

In the Revlon Expression Experiment kit there was an explosion of color! I received facial primer, ColorStay eye shadow palettes, Color Stay long wear nail polish, SuperLustrous lipstick, ColorBurst Lip Butter, & ColorBurst gloss.

 

1.  ColorBurst Gloss
2.  ColorBurst Lip Butter
3.  Bold red SuperLustrous lipstick


Love this bold red color for fall!

The Lip Butter was super moisturizing and went on smooth as...well....butter.

This gloss was the perfect balance of moisture and color.

This lightweight primer smoothes skin while evening out skin tone with color correcting pigments that neutralize redness and uneven color. Wear alone to tone skin or under foundation, it helps your makeup last longer.

 

Bright bold blue polish :-)

Eyeshadow pallettes with so many colors to play with:

I loved this eye primer and brightener.  It smooths, perfects and brightens eye area by reducing the appearance of fine lines and crease on lids.

What types of makeup do you like to use and why? 

 

Are there any makeup trends for fall you are wanting to try?

Be sure to join the movement of self expression with the Revlon Expression Experiment Facebook application!