Try-It Tuesday (a day late): Turkey Hill cold churned ice cream

I have a secret love affair with ice cream. It is one of my favorite foods because there is a flavor to fit any mood or craving. If I want something simple, I stick to the basic flavors like vanilla or strawberry. If I want chocolate, I can with basic chocolate, vanilla with chocolate swirl, or I can go all out with chocolate with chocolate swirls and chunks of even more chocolate. For those “special” cravings, when I want something salty, yet sweet, soft, but crunchy, I can get ice cream that has pretzels mixed in. Unfortunately, there is a downside to this love affair and up until recently, there was no way around it: ice cream loves my hips, and my bum, and my legs. I have tried several of the low-fat ice creams that have appeared in my grocer's freezer, but they tasted, well, gross. They were also only available in a handful of very basic flavors. Then, ice cream manufacturers began slow/cold/double churning it as it was made, resulting in a lower calorie, lower fat ice cream that tasted as good as the real thing. I recently tried Turkey Hill's take on this process, they call it cold churning, and was very pleasantly surprised.

My daughter and I picked up two packages (1.5 qt size) of Turkey Hill ice cream on a recent shopping trip. She chose Strawberry Cheesecake and I chose Peanut Butter Mania. Strawberry Cheesecake is a light cheesecake flavored ice cream with swirls of yummy strawberry and small chunks of cheesecake. The proportions are perfect with each serving having just the right amount of swirl and cheesecake bites. The only thing missing was the graham cracker crust. Peanut Butter Mania is a light vanilla ice cream with swirls of peanut butter goodness (Turkey Hill calls it crunchy peanut butter cookie, but I am not sure that is an accurate description) and plenty of peanut brittle scattered throughout. This is not the tooth-cracking peanut brittle either. It is crunchy, yummy peanut brittle, that is not likely to cause a filling to come out or a tooth to break. Both flavors are so good, you would not believe they have at least ½ the fat of their “regular” counterparts and 25% fewer calories. One ½ cup serving of Strawberry Cheesecake has 120 calories and 3.5 g of fat. The same size serving of Peanut Butter Mania has 130 calories and 5 g of fat.

I am absolutely thrilled to have found a way to carry on this relationship without having to sacrifice my health. Of course, as with all things, I still must consume it in moderation, but if I overindulge once in a while, I won't feel as bad. I am also happy to say that these light ice creams are available in a variety of flavors, including Snyder's Chocolate Pretzel, to satisfy all my ice cream cravings.

Free Oscar Mayer Beef Franks

Be sure to request your coupon for FREE Oscar Mayer beef franks. Visit the Oscar Mayer website to fill out a short form. This is available today only from 9AM until 11:59PM EDT. Coupons take 4-6 weeks to arrive.

Test your EnergyStar knowledge and enter to win $10000 in EnergyStar appliances

I just came across a neat quiz on Stonyfield Yogurt's website. It tests your knowledge of the Energy Star program and is rather informational as well. Did you know the average house emits twice the greenhouse gases as the average car? Anyway, after the quiz, you can enter to win a $10000 gift card to Sears to purchase EnergyStar Kenmore appliances. I am sure most of us need at least one new appliance! Be sure to enter and let me know if you win!

Be sure to get your free chocolate today

In case you have not heard, the Mars Company is giving away free chocolate every Friday until September 25. It is part of their Real Chocolate Relief Act. The way it works is: every Friday from May 8th until September 25th, they will award a coupon good for 1 free single-sized Mars brand chocolate bar (Twix, M&Ms, Dove, Snickers, Milky Way, or 3 Musketeers) to the first 250,000 people who register on their website. These are not internet printable coupons. They will mail them to you, so allow about 6 weeks for delivery. You must complete your registration within 5 minutes of being asked for it. There is a limit of one coupon per e-mail address each Friday and a limit of 4 coupons per household throughout the entire promotion. I was able to get in last week, but the site was very slow and I had to refresh my page several times. Since you are limited to 4 coupons per household and this will be going on for several more months, if the site is being fussy and you have other things to do, do them, there is always next week.

UPDATE: This week went much smoother AND they have upped the number of coupons for this week to 500,000!

All Bran Promise Pack

I just signed up to receive a free All Bran Promise Pack from Kellogg's. It will include: $4 in coupons, a sample of Strawberry Medley Cereal, a Strawberry Drizzle Fiber Bar, and a Red Raspberry Fiber Drink Mix. It sounds yummy and I can't wait for it to arrive. Do you want one? Visit the All Bran website and register for your own.

Yanni Voices

My CVS trip tonight

I was so excited after shopping at CVS tonight and walking away with some great deals. Here is what I bought:




3 boxes Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats on sale 3/$10 plus $5 in ECB (Extra Care Bucks)
I used a Buy one, get one free coupon and 2 $1/1 coupons I received from VocalPoint
Final cost (after ECBs) overage of $0.33

2 packages of Glucerna snack shakes $5.99 each, plus a free box of Glucerna cereal per package of shakes
I used 2 $1.25 off any Glucerna product and 2 $5 off Glucerna cereal coupons (Thanks Money Saving Mom)
Final cost overage of $0.52

25.75 oz CVS Bright Beginnings powdered formula on clearance for $4.25 (75% off)

Ototek Ear Wax remover on clearance for $1.50 (75% off)

4 packages LifeFitness Rapid Energy Spearmint Chewing Gum on clearance for $0.62 each (75% off)

32 oz CVS 91% brand rubbing alcohol regular price $2.99

I really hate buying anything full price and without a coupon, but we needed the rubbing alcohol and I was trying to reach $30 so that I could use the $5/$30 coupon CVS e-mailed me this morning.

The bottom line of tonight's shopping trip after all the sales, clearance items, and coupons was $10.37. I used a $10 ECB I earned a few weeks ago when buying diapers and paid a total of $0.37 out of pocket and got back another $5 in ECB. Not bad for a spur of the moment trip. I may try to get back up there tomorrow for some more items, but if not I am happy with this trip.

My absence

As you have probably noticed, I have not been blogging for a while. It is a long story, but it boils down to several moves and the lack of opportunity to blog, along with a few periods of illness. We spent several months living with other families in two different houses, but I am happy to announce that we bought our OWN house on April 21st and we are back to just "us" (me, hubby and kids). Now, we just need to unpack and get settled and I will feel life is back to "normal".

Due to unpacking, my blogging will still liely be sporadic, but I have a goal to blog at least 3-4 times a week on my daily blogs and once a week on my "sporadic" blogs. Also, I have thought a lot over the past several months as to what I really want to blog about and how often, so there is likely to be many changes over the next several weeks and months. I have ideas for new blogs and ideas for my existing blogs.

I apologize for my absence and lack of regularity over the past several months. I am so grateful to all of you and I promise that in the future any extended absences will be announced and I will try to get guest writers for when I am gone.