Check out Cupoladua Oven's post about me!!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Product Review- Melinda's Fab Life!

Looks like we're on a blogging roll this week. Melinda, from Melinda's Fab Life posted a review of our Cupola Cookies and Cupola Clouds today. Her favorites were our Smoked Gouda Cupola Clouds. You can check out Melinda's review here.We've been really happy about receiving interest from many foodie bloggers about our products. Since our products are available only at a limited number of retail locations (mostly on the East Coast), it's been great to be able to share our products with curious folks in other parts of the country too!

Posted by Stephanie from Cupoladua Oven at Thursday, April 30, 2009 0 comments Links to this post

Cupola Cookies and Clouds- melt in your mouth goodness! :)

Recipe for one unique, creative and fun baked goods company (from www.cupoladuaoven.com )

ingredients:

1 mother

1 daughter

2 parts passion for baking

2 "really healthy" appetites

lots of edible ideas and the determination to share them with others

it all started in a kitchen much like yours. for years, we have been making our goodies for neighbors, co-workers and friends. barbecues, potlucks and other get togethers were great opportunities to try a new recipe or improve an existing one. we found it was always better if we baked for others, otherwise we ended up eating all the fruits of our labor ourselves. that led us to the idea of healthy baked goods- unique sweet and savory items that everyone can enjoy because they’re yummy and you know they’re healthy.

I was so excited to try out the Cupola Cookies and Cupola Clouds that Stephanie sent me from Cupoladua Oven! These are all natural, oven baked goodies-and also gluten free! Another awesome fact about Cupoladua Oven is that they work with Share Our Strength, an organization committed to making sure that no kid in America goes hungry- how sweet is that! It's great knowing that when you purchase these products that you are helping feed hungry children :)

So, onto my favorite part- the tasting! I made myself a yummy cup of coffee and placed the chocolate cashew cookie, espresso walnut, chai pistachio cookies and the smoked gouda clouds on a plate. Then it was tasting time...first, I tried the chocolate cashew cookie, VERY yummy with coffee mmmm..I also loved the espresso walnut and the chai pistachio- it had a similiar taste to chai tea, I loved the flavor of it combined with the coffee. Lastly, I tried the smoked gouda- I have to say this one was my favorite- really really yummy! It had an awesome taste- cheesy, smokey- later I let the hubby try them and, well he ate the WHOLE bag!! He said they melt in your mouth, apparentally!! lol Another great thing about these goodies are that they are so adorable set out- I am thinking these would be PERFECT for tea parties, spa day- I am so telling my Mom in law about these- we do lots of tea parties (it's another southern thing! lol) Oh, and I forgot to mention how LOW in calories both the cookies and clouds are- the cookies are only 11 calories and the clouds are even lower at 4 calories each- they are also both a great source of protein. Cupola cookies and clouds definitely get a big thumbs up from me!

Vintage Finds!!

I checked the mail the other day and found a package from Divine Foods- maker of Boomi Bars & Organic PranaBar- Jianda sent me 1 bar of each. She sent me the cashew almond flavor for the PranaBar and the macadamia paradise for the Boomi Bar. I loved both bars, but I would have to say I would probably lean more towards the organic Prana bar because of it being 77% raw and it had a great flavor! The boomi bar was really good and nutty, I ate some of it for breakfast and gave Reggie the other 3/4 - he loved the boomi bar! I would most likely buy the PranaBar for me and buy the boomi bars for Reggie- they both make a very filling snack! The Prana Bars are also gluten free for those with intolerance to gluten; vegan, and soy free and also NO added sugars! They also have a low glycemic index which is great for those trying to lose some lbs.- like me. They come in apricot goji, apricot pumpkin, cinnamon apple, cashew almond, pear ginseng, and coconut acai. Their website is www.pranabars.com .The Boomi Bars have no preservatives, no sulfured fruit or GMO's and also is gluten free. They are kosher and vegetarian. Check out www.boomibar.com to see all of the different flavors!

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I have to say, I've been really tired lately- entertaining company is not easy, especially at day 3 now- fortunately, Carla is moving on to visit with my other sister, Liz, so that will give me a break soon. In exactly 4 hours HA!! I am meeting Liz at 5:30 today and then when I get back home, I plan on going food shopping. I was doing great eating mostly raw, until I ran out of groceries and after yesterdays trip shopping, I did NOT want to take Carla anywhere shopping again. Just to update you- she tried to buy everything in the store basically- she has a good income, but she doesn't know how to manage her money, so I had to talk with her and get her to put some unnecessary items back- I don't mind doing that to teach her, but at that point, I just wanted a break to do some shopping and we had to leave early because of it, but I did have a good time shopping regardless. Carla did actually help me find a vintage suitcase and a vintage dress- I found the 3 pair of vintage shoes (some old lady must have cleaned her closet out = one happy girl= ME! I was so excited!! I saw another vintage pair (actually Carla spotted them) that were made in Florence, they were Salvatore Ferragamos and I almost passed out (SERIOUSLY!) and found out that they wouldn't FIT! I almost started crying, we're talking $4.00 vintage Designer shoes here people! Anywho, I didn't buy them at first, then I decided to go back and get them so I could sell them on Ebay (make a few extra $$). We shopped for a couple of hours- which was good enough since I had found so many great things.

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I felt like I cleaned house ALL day long! I did laundry, weeded the flower beds/garden- Carla watered the flowers for me. I also cleaned the floors, stripped the beds, gave both dogs a bath outside (the best idea ever-no more dirty tubs!)

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I just met my sister Liz to drop Carla off with her-we are back home and I am going to relax, have a cup of coffee and go food shopping.

Day 3 of eating RAW!

Today is day 3 of eating 85% raw and I feel alot better already! This morning I weighed in and was happy to see that my weight is going down and not UP! I got some new goodies in yesterday that I am excited about reviewing but you'll have to wait and see! Anyhoo, I am hoping to get so much done today- I will update later :)

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Breakfast - 1 organic banana with 1 cup organic french vanilla yogurt, 1 cup organic coffee

Snack- Raw vegan bar, 1 glass vitamin drink

Lunch- Dr. Kracker pumpkin seed crackers (2) with organic provolone cheese 1.5 slices & 1.5 organic orange slices

Snack- 1 cup organic coffee

Dinner - 1 pumpkin seed Dr. Kracker with 1/2 slice organic provolone, 1 raw bar and organic cottage cheese with organic orange slices (1 orange total)

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So far today, I have done laundry, watered the garden/flowers, dishes, gave Carla a facial/mask and she took a long bath. We put on some good beats like Beyonce and exercised with our weights for about 25 minutes and worked up a good sweat (I actually did another 20 minutes of dancing and lifting weights)- we will try to do that again this aftenoon. I weighed Carla in and she says that she has lost weight - like 11 lbs! Apparentally, she hasn't weighed in a month or so, so she didn't realize that she had lost- so she is already on her way! Around 5'ish Reggie is going to take us shopping. I talked to my sister, Becky for a while and we had a good chat- I am going to be hanging out with her this weekend so I will have some FUN posts- so come back and check it out! Carla is taking a nap now, so I think I will try to catch some zzz's myself really quick!

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So, I did take a 30 minute nap, I would have slept longer, but apparentally Carla locked herself out by accident and was knocking on the back door and that woke me up. Later, I made her some chai tea w/whipped cream and cinnamon and organic popcorn for both of us and we watched Material Girls, an ultimate chick flick! She liked the chai tea so much that she had another, and reused the tea bag, which I've never done before, but it works! I did Carla's makeup and we got ready to go shopping- we had so much fun- I found so much vintage stuff! A dress, 3 pairs of shoes in awesome condition, a round carryall. Carla found some shirts, skirt and a dressy outfit and some shoes and a pretty picture for her house- I did have to work with her on managing her money and put some things back because she wanted to buy everything! Reggie picked us up and we went home and had dinner, watched the Biggest Loser (I did weights and exercised during).

Makeovers and a trip to the Laundrimat!

BEFORE...dun dun dun

AFTER!!

Look at how much HAPPIER she looks!

My Day

Today is day 2 for me trying to eat mostly raw. I was so exhausted this morning, Reggie woke me up at 6:30 because my sister was supposed to be coming by, but it's 8:50 and still no sign of her- darn I could have slept in! I have loads of things planned for today- Plant Garden seeds, weed flowerbeds/garden, Tan, go power walking and maybe watch a chick flick if I have time. Also, my sister is visiting this week, she usually stays with my Mom mostly but since my Mom is gone all of us girls and other family is helping to watch her- she has a chemical imbalance and needs someone to make sure she takes her meds and she also needs some motivating towards living a better, healthier life. She's had some issues with depression and not feeling good about herself. So we've all decided to step in and try to help her achieve her goals and get her excited about life- so I will be posting updates on how she is doing!

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Breakfast- French Vanilla Stonyfield yogurt with 2 organic bananas,1 cup organic coffee, 1 cup hot water with lemon and organic agave

Lunch- big organic green salad w/natural blue cheese, organic apricots (newmans own), organic tj walnuts w/organic balsamic vin.

Snack- 1 raw prana bar (chocolate and cinnamon)

Dinner - 1 raw prana bar- berri blast (more about these later!) & 1 raw prana bar- apple pie

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So, I didn't get half of the things done that I set out to do today- I did do some power walking, but mostly weights while my sister and I watched "My Fair Lady"- she's never seen it. Carla and I broke out the Tae Bo videos that my sister got for my birthday and we did about 10 minutes of it- I didn't want to overexert her, so we decided to take it slow. I did get loads of cleaning done though! I mopped the floors- my sister mopped a couple of rooms for me, I cleaned the front door/glass door, cleaned off the front porch and walkway and watered the flowers, dishes, and gave Roscoe another bath. My brother in law dropped Carla off, he came in and wanted to look at the remodeling we had done, so I gave him a glass of sweet tea (it's a southern thing ya'll) showed him around the house and we chatted some. He left and I gave my sister a makeover- more on that later. I sat down and went over her goals (decorate house, get a car, lose weight, go to Technical school, get a job, get married), daily routine, healthy eating plan and a monthly budget - it seemed to really help her and she wrote it all down in the journal so she can remember. We talked about her taking responsibility for her life and becoming independent and I told her if she worked hard at keeping her house clean/organized and work on her goals that Reggie and I would give her the Mazda for her to fix up like she wants. She was really excited and seems to want to start doing better- so we will keep praying for the best! She has been really great here and I am looking forward to her coming up and visiting more often!

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Reggie brought me home some things - french green beans and some philly cheese steak sandwiches from the office. For dinner I made brocolli & chicken stir-fry for Reggie & Carla- which they both really enjoyed. Around 9:00 we went to the laundrimat to wash a blanket and got home around 10:30- we were exhausted and ready to hit the bed!

Peeled snacks are my new friends!

I've been seeing these Peeled snacks every where! Apparentally, they are on Oprah's O List, Rachel Ray, Liv Tyler- they all eat them and now I see why, they are yummy AND healthy! Christina from Peeled Snacks sent me a yummy selection to try for myself! I Loved all of the peeled snacks but my favorites would have to be the Pine-4- Pineapple and Apricot-a-Lot. The hubby liked the Go- Mango- man go, which is very name appropriate lol. These are perfect for road trips or plane rides- I will definitely take these with me next time we go biking and want

something to snack on! Plus there is no added sugar or fat which I do not need, thank you very

much! If you go to http://www.peeledsnacks.com/ and fill out their survey they are GIVING out $10 gift cards to use towards your next order!! I totally just went and got mine!!

Update!

Guess what, my little darlings!! I am so excited because of the AMAZING progress on the hardiplank siding!! Reggie and Demetrius are getting a ridiculous amount of work done- it looks so good- later I will sneak out and get a picture for you to see!

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And another blessing, I talked to my sister, Shelly and some things she said and the way she said them really hurt my feelings and after I got off of the phone with her, I just started crying, I was so upset that I didn't even feel like eating or doing anything. I kept feeling something urge me to call her, but I really really didn't want to- I was so afraid that she would shoot down my feelings and say I was being overly dramatic. So after about an hour, I got up the courage to call her and tell her how I felt and how I was sad because we have been so distant for the past few years and how I missed how she used to do my hair and makeup like the perfect big sister (of course I cried halfway throught the conversation). She agreed that she felt left out sometimes with me and my other sister hanging out and I told her that I always wanted her to be a part of whatever we were doing-pj parties, shopping, spa days- but she had always turned me down and that I loved her just as much as my other sister, Becky. She said she would work on it and she wanted to start hanging out again- we had such a great talk and I felt such a weight lifted off of me! I imagine she felt better too, we just need to start letting out our feelings more and talk about things! Anyway, that was my second blessing for the day!!

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And I had a third blessing today! Lewis from LaraBar contacted me and offered to make me Fan of the Day so I'm super excited!! I LOVE Larabars! They are really a life saver when I am trying to eat all raw and I want something sweet!

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I'm also leaning towards going back to eating more raw- my weight is going up, up, up! Raw is the only thing that has allowed me to eat and still lose weight/maintain.

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Breakfast- 1 cup organic coffee, 2 organic bananas, 1 apple, organic tahini, organic madhava agave. 1 organic dried apple ring (Peeled Snacks)

Lunch- Big green organic salad with organic raisins, organic walnuts, amish blue cheese- no hormones or pesticides w/organic balsamic vin. dressing

Snack- 1 cup organic coffee

Dinner- same salad I had for lunch

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Well, I am going to do some more house cleaning- my sister, Carla is coming over tomorrow to visit through Wednesday so I want the house clean. I've already done laundry, washed the sheets, gave Lexi a bath and Roscoe 2 baths (he rolled in the dirt again) completed 1 product review in between, and dishes- I still have loads left to do and I also need to go power walking! Talk to you all soon!

P.S. I am using the lines to seperate my paragraphs- if anyone knows how to make everything not jumble together- please let me know! :-)

I love Ecos cleaning products! And an excuse to clean my house!

From the website:

OUR PLEDGE We pledge that our products are environmentally responsible, work well and provide value. We will never test on animals or use animal ingredients. We will conduct business in a socially responsible manner that safeguards the earth.

OUR COMPANY In 1993, John E. Vlahakis founded Earth Friendly Products with a simple mission: To provide high quality cleaning products that: Are absolutely safe for your family, your pets and the environment. Are made with replenishable ingredients. Compete in performance, price and convenience.

Liz from Earth Friendly Products was so sweet and sent me a huge package of their different cleaners- I was so excited to use them! Since I stay at my computer desk so much (eating, drinking, doing reviews), between my hubby and I, we can mess it up pretty quickly, so it was pretty streaky and spotty looking before I used the Window Kleener on it. I was really curious how well it would clean our glass desk- it looked like night and day when I was finished! You can actually see the reflection of the computer monitor in the picture above- wow! I really like this window kleener, I also used it on all of my mirrors and there were no streaks, which by the way drive me insane! The ingredients included purified water, vinegar, ethanol derived from corn, and coconut based surfactant. I will be using this again today, because we've already messed up the desk again haha.

So, I also had dishes to do, so I whipped out the Natural Almond Dishmate- the first thing I notice was the smell- it smelled so fresh! It didn't take as much liquid to suds like my regular dish detergent (Costco's Kirkland brand)- I really liked that!

I absolutely loved the Laundry detergent in Lavendar scent- it smelled so clean and fresh! I love knowing that it has no chemicals or anything to make my skin break out- yay! The ingredients included coconut kernel oil-based surfactant, soap bark, chamomile, horsetail plant, lavender, rosemary, soy fabric softener, organic essential oil of lavender, purified water. Some other scents they carry are Magnolia and Lilies and Lemongrass- those sound like they would smell great! Along with a Free and clear and delicates liquid detergents.

My Mom in law gave me a big bag of non-organic apples and oranges the other day. I'm really weird about specifically eating ONLY organic foods- I hate even thinking about putting pesticides in my body. So, I was really excited about trying the Fruit and Vegetable Wash- I wanted some apple diced in my salad so I used the wash on the apple and scrubbed it and then washed it off with warm water. I loved the smell of the spray- it had really clean smell to it. The only things in the ingredient list are water, surfactant (plant derived) and citric acid. I will definitely be using this- especially since my Mom in law loves bringing me back things from the Farmers Market or grocery store and it's typically non organic- this will definitely come in handy!

I used the Orange Plus Cleaner ALOT! I cleaned the kitchen sink, bathroom sinks, kitchen counters, stovetop with this- it has a wonderful orange scent- my whole house smelled like oranges when I finished! I gave Roscoe a bath after rolling in the dirt and the bath tub was really gross and dirty and the Orange Plus took the grime right off! Reggie noticed- quote "Wow, did you clean the tub? lol The ingredients included Water, Pressed orange il and biodegradable surfactants (plant derived). I LOVE this stuff!

I will definitely be using all of these cleaners, once I run out I will have to restock! Definitely check out www.ecos.com their product selection is unbelievable! I didn't realize that they also have air freshners, bath tissue, toilet cleaner, stain and odor remover, even silver polish and furniture polish- the list goes on and on! Thanks again Earth Friendly Products!!

Doctor Kracker MADNESS!!

From the Website: Inspired by the delicious traditional flatbreads of Germany, Dr. Kracker crackers are made with a blend of nature's best organic whole grains and seeds, then yeast-raised and artisan-baked to perfect crispness. Our Flatbreads and Snacker Krackers are 100% percent natural, and USDA certified organic. Because we make our crackers with organically grown cereal grains, whole, mineral-rich bran, and organic seeds, aside from being stupendously delicious, they're also an excellent source of fiber, protein, Omega-3 essential fatty acids, vitamins and iron.

Eaten alone or as a complement to your favorite cheeses, spreads, nut butters, and fresh vegetables and fruits, every Dr. Kracker cracker bursts with texture, character, and gusto! In five stupendous flavors: Klassic 3 Seed Pumpkin Cheddar Seeded Spelt Seedlander Sunflower Cheddar

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The nice folks over at Dr. Kracker sent me an ridiculous Selection of their crackers- what a lucky girl I am!! The first cracker that I had to try was the pumpkin cheddar- it just sounded like it would taste cheesy, so I made up some guacamole since I had zero hummus and dipped my cracker in- it was yummy and cheesy and crunchy and I loved the seeds in the cracker!

Fire Roasted Crisps- These did not last LONG!! Yummy, Yum Yum for my tummy! I threw these in my bag on the way to my Moms house because I could tell by the name that these krackers would taste just fine on their own and boy was I right! These are my favorite so far! Reggie loves all things hot and these did not dissapoint, I believe his exact words were, "These will make you slap your momma away from the table", a southern expression, which I do not use, but hey, I totally understood what he meant hehe. We also finished these off later with some Organic Tribe Hummus (Roasted Red pepper flavor)- wow, those two really compliment each other!

Maximus Hummus - After we finished off the last of the Fire roasted crisps, since we WERE having hummus, naturally these are the next ones that I chose to open. They had such a good flavor, they went really well with the hummus. I like to eat these on their own also. So far, I haven't met one Dr. Kracker that I didn't like. I'm definitely hooked now- plus they can be found at different places like Publix, Fresh Market, Whole Foods, Earth Fare and of course online at www.drkracker.com. These would be great for road trips, which we are well known for- I will definitely be bringing these on my next trip! Thanks again Dr. Kracker!!

Tea Parties and little girls

So, Uncle Bobby and Dad came and picked me up for the Tea party today- Uncle Bobby was yelling at me from outside to hurry up lol (yes I am one of those type girls). I was trying to get Reggie to zip me up but he was working on the hardiplank with Demetrius and couldn't get it zipped, so I figured that I could find some one to help me! Once we got there, Dad and Uncle Bobby tried to no avail, then finally Judy came over and between the 3 of them they got me zipped up- it was SO funny! I wish I could have taped it- me standing in the carport, them pulling and pushing on me- especially 2 grown men at at Tea Party HILARIOUS! Anyway, so once I was zipped up properly, I joined the girls for the party- it was such a pretty setup- My Mom in law, June (Uncle Bobby's ex), Elaine (friend), Rebecca and Melody were all there- we had our own table. They had plenty of healthy food for me to choose from- cucumber sammies, strawberries, fruit salads, pineapple- it was a better selection than the previous years. I had a great time- and I got a FREE chocolate cake-they had a silent auction (all proceeds went to the Missions for the poor people in the Phillipines) and someone gave away a cake that they had already paid for- I knew Reggie and Demetrius would enjoy it. Next year, they are having a black and white theme- you know I will BE there!! I am so getting me an Audrey Hat to wear for that!