Spring Limited Edition Oreo Flavors

I noticed this setup in Target a few weeks ago, and I'm not quite sure what to make of these flavors, haha.  We all know that I'm a huge fan of limited edition items, but I'm having trouble getting behind any of these My Oreo Creation contest flavors.  From left to right we have Pina Colada, Cherry Cola, and Kettle Corn. It probably doesn't help that these three flavors happen to be things I don't really like much to begin with.  The only one I'd consider maybe trying is Kettle Corn?, possibly.  For the future flavors, I'd love to see Oreo go back to the bakery/sweets-themed because I feel like those usually fare the best in the Oreo format. 

That being said, if you do like any of these three flavors or are curious enough to try them, be sure to enter the My Oreo Creation contest to vote on your favorite here!

Starbucks - Pumpkin Spice Latte Sleeve

Everyone that knows me knows my love of pumpkin foods, especially Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte!  When I saw online that Starbucks was running a promotion on Twitter for a PSL coffee cup sleeve, I was all over it immediately!

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised to see this nice little box in the mail...

...with this awesomely cheesy and wonderful celebration of Pumpkin Spice Lattes inside! The knit sleeve is a bright orange color and says "TEAM PSL", and it's the perfect way to declare my love of the Pumpkin Spice Latte, haha.  Thank you to Starbucks for having such a great promotion! 

Ben & Jerry's - The Tonight Dough

What a fun package to come home to!  Soon after I heard about this new Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show-themed ice cream flavor, I was lucky enough to win a pint from Ben & Jerry's directly, via a Twitter contest.  

The Tonight Dough consists of caramel & chocolate ice creams with chocolate cookie swirls & gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough & gobs of peanut butter cookie dough.  I love that it makes multiple references to "gobs", we should really be using that word more often, haha.  

As you can see, there's a lot going on in this pint!  It's like cookie dough and peanut butter ice cream mixed with caramel - so so good!  The chocolate cookie swirls reminded me of my favorite flavor, Milk & Cookies, and are always welcome in my book.  This new flavor is awesome for just about anyone that likes ice cream! 

Lay's Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese Chips

If you've browsed the chip aisle at your local grocery store recently, you may have noticed some new Lay's flavors being stocked on the shelves.  The Chicken & Waffles chips are from last spring, but the Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese are new this year.  

The first smell upon opening the bag is cheese, cheese, cheese, haha.  The cheese compliments the chips well, and I'm sure people will like this especially if you're a fan of Cheetos and other cheese-y snacks.  I have to say I didn't get any of the bacon taste at all, until I shook the bag around a little bit and got some bacon flavor towards the bottom.  However, with the thin shape of Lay's chips, I wouldn't recommend shaking the bag too hard to distribute the flavors haha.  

The other flavors that are currently being sold as "flavor finalists" are: Cappuccino, Mango Salsa, and Wasabi Ginger.  If you're a fan of unusual potato chip flavors, be sure to try them out while they're available in stores, and vote for your favorite! 

Oster Versa Blender

A huge "Thank you!" to Averie Cooks for hosting such great giveaways - I recently won this Oster Versa blender from one of her giveaways and I couldn't wait to try it out.

I had been using a basic blender that I got from my parents before they moved to the West Coast, but it had been on its last legs for some time now, and this blender came at the perfect time.  I quickly decided to try making peanut butter, as my old blender wouldn't have really had the power to be able to do this.

For this peanut butter, I used a 1lb bag of reduced salt roasted peanuts from Trader Joe's, and just dumped the whole bag in.  In just a few minutes, fresh peanut butter was ready!  Since I didn't add any sugar or other sweeteners to the peanuts, this is a very natural peanut taste.  I liked that I can add or change it if I wanted to depending on what I'm using it for - say, a sandwich spread versus a Thai peanut sauce.  I look forward to making lots of foods in my new blender! 

Blog Prize - Keep It Sweet Desserts

A big "Thank you!" to the Dessert for Two blog, that recently hosted a great giveaway of Keep It Sweet Desserts!  

For my prize, I chose the Pumpkin Pie Blondies because they sounded seasonally appropriate and delicious! They came packaged in packs of 4 to a bag, with cute ribbon and tissue paper in the box (above). These were rich and delicious, with a deeper pumpkin pie than regular pumpkin cookies or blondies that I've had before.  If you're looking for a cute and delicious holiday sweet to send to someone on your list, I would recommend checking out the Keep It Sweet Desserts website!

Bravo TV - RHOC 100th Episode Shirt

If you follow me on Twitter, you'd quickly realize that I talk about Bravo a LOT - especially on nights that new episodes of their shows are on, haha.  It's always nice to get rewarded for my obsessive Bravo love (like with the Bravoholic account), so I was very happy when I found out I had won a "Real Housewives of Orange County" 100th episode special edition t-shirt, haha.  I initially thought it would be their "regular" OC shirt with the two oranges, but this one is a cute design with lots of sliced oranges spread out across the front of the shirt.  Thanks Bravo for the fun prize! 

The Drybar Scavenger Hunt

This past Sunday, I was one of the lucky winners of a Drybar blowout gift card and umbrella!  Their Twitter/Instagram account posted clues to a few different spots in downtown Bethesda throughout the day, and I was able to find the one inside Barnes & Noble. The umbrella is a fun, bright yellow and says "rain blows" on it, haha. I am excited to try out Drybar with my gift card soon!

thinkThin Giveaway - Winner!

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:11Powered by RANDOM.ORG


(For some reason it keeps going back to "100" in the Max field above, I did do this with the right number!)
The winner of my thinkThin Wellness box giveaway is #11, Jordan, whose favorite healthy snack is:
I love broccoli with hummus or edamame (fresh or dry-roasted) for a quick, healthy snack. I've tried ThinkThin bars before and absolutely love them. 
I got lots of great responses about everyone's favorite healthy snacks, like fresh fruit, nuts, vegetables, and yogurt. Thank you to everyone that entered! 

Lay's Cheesy Garlic Bread Chips

I tried these chips a few weeks ago, after a few attempts to find these special flavors at grocery stores to no avail.  As it turns out, this Cheesy Garlic Bread flavor wound up recently winning the Do Us a Flavor contest, so it only seems appropriate to post about it now, haha.  

The first whiff upon opening this bag leans heavily towards, you guessed it, garlic and butter. Which isn't a bad thing obviously, especially since that's what should be expected from the bag.  So if you're a fan of those flavors, you will definitely dig these potato chips.  I personally was pretty impressed with the true garlic butter smell and flavor from these chips, because it really did distinguish itself from just being chips with cheese powder on top. Is it weird that I thought these might be good crushed and coated on a piece of oven-baked chicken? Actually, since I'm eating garlic bread-flavored chips to begin with, probably not too weird.  

Bravo TV - Bravoholic

I am so so so so so soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to announce that Bravo TV has chosen ME to be this week's Bravoholic!!!!!

For those of you that aren't familiar with the Bravoholic account, here are the details of the Bravoholic Twitter contest on the Bravo TV website.

Finally, I feel like my constant viewing and Tweeting (@kay819, by the way!) about all of the Bravo shows is being rewarded and not criticized, haha!

If you're on Twitter, please be sure to follow me at @thebravoholic between now and next Monday (4/29) morning, it should be a lot of fun!!

Cooking Light - Cookbook Prize

This post goes to show that you really have to play to win!  A few months ago when I was flipping through Cooking Light magazine, I noticed a little quiz/contest by the table of contents and figured it wouldn't hurt to send an email to enter.

Well, as luck would have it, I was one of the winners of the contest, and received all four of these Cooking Light cookbooks!!!

- The New Way to Cook Light
- Cooking Light Complete Meals in Minutes
- Cooking Light Big Book of Salad
- Cooking Light Real Family Food


I have already started reading through all of these cookbooks and I am very excited to use them all! I've been a big fan of Cooking Light magazine and their recipes for a while now, and it's great to have so many new ideas for meals at home. Thank you Cooking Light for an awesome prize!!

Biscoff Spread Prize

What a wonderful package to come home to, especially on Valentine's day! A few weeks ago Biscoff's Facebook page had an awesome contest, and the prize was a case - yes a CASE - of Biscoff spread!

The first time I tried Biscoff cookies was on a Delta flight, but I've never actually had the cookie spread before.  I love the idea of making a spread out of cookies though, so I have no doubt that this will be awesome, haha.  I am currently on the hunt for recipes to use this Biscoff spread, so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know! 

Georgetown Cupcake - The Cupcake Diaries Book

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to TLC's Twitter account for having a DC Cupcakes contest - thanks to them, I received a copy of The Cupcake Diaries!!!!

This has a lot of stories about the sisters' childhood and rise to cupcake stardom, but more importantly...

RECIPES!  Helllllllllooooo, Red Velvet Cupcakes!  There are lots of recipes for cupcakes and other treats all throughout the book.  I can't wait to try out the recipes!

Toiletries - What Say You?

So, one of the perks of going crazy with coupons and entering just about every giveaway/sample offer I can find is getting lots of stuff.  Especially toiletries, because so many of them are offered as prizes from magazines and online giveaways.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love having all this stuff for cheap/free.  But the problem I'm having is that when I get something new, I want to try it right away.   Therefore, I wind up opening and using multiple products at the same time, haha.  Seriously, I currently have four toothpastes, three leave-in hair conditioners, a million shampoos and conditioners, and a handful of face lotions in circulation as I write this.

But when it comes time for me to figure out if a certain product is working (say, if I want to buy another one of a product), it's difficult for me to know which product is actually working.  This might not be an issue for say, toothpaste, but for specialty brand face products that normally cost $40+, it can be an issue.  What I'd like to do is to stick to one product at a time (instead of using something different every day) for a little while to check how things go.

So here is my question to you folks is:  How long do you try out a new product to decide if it's right for you?  One week? One month?  Or do you just hope for no bad reactions and don't care if it's be best product for you?  Please let me know in the comments!

T-fal ActiFry Machine

I was super excited and surprised when I found out I won a T-fal ActiFry from Feisty Foodie!  Here's her post about the launch party/demo to see what exactly this machine can do.

I'm on a French fry hiatus this year, which makes the timing of winning this pretty sad, haha.  However, the recipe booklet that is included with the machine has lots of veggie and meat recipes that I am looking forward to trying.  Thank you again to the Feisty Foodie for having a great giveaway!!

Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownie Mix

I won this box of Barefoot Contessa outrageous brownie mix some time ago, and never really got around to using it until recently.  I opened up the box and found not just a dry brownie mix, but chocolate chips as well.  That, along with the detailed instructions, made these a little more time-consuming than regular box brownie mix.  Not that it was hard to follow or anything, but in case anyone's looking for a quick and easy brownie mix (especially for kids' baking), this may not be for you. 

I didn't photograph the brownies when they were done because, well, a sheet of brownies in a pan isn't all that interesting looking, haha.  I liked the addition of both the melted and solid chocolate chips in the brownies, they added an intense chocolate flavor and some texture as well.  I cut up and froze the rest of them and they have held up nicely since then.  Overall, I'm a fan of Ina Garten but wouldn't be running to spend $12 on a brownie mix again anytime soon.  However, I do think it'd be a cute part of a gift for someone (nicer looking than a box of Pillsbury... just saying, haha). 

BCBGMaxAzria Prize!

I recently won a Most Wanted Bag prize from BCBGMaxAzria via a Twitter contest, woo!  Based on their description, I was expecting a promotional gift/tote bag with some beauty samples inside.  Well I got that, but the extra-special surprise was this sparkly fun purse!!!

This Volet striped metal-mesh evening bag is really cute, sparkly, and a modern design on a classic evening bag shape.  It's roomy enough for all of my essentials (which is not typical for me + evening bags, haha) but small enough to really feel like a clutch.  The only concern I have is that I'm going to be the one that gets the metal-mesh caught on something when I'm out and little pieces will fly everywhere... haha.  But I'm sure that I will be careful and enjoy using this bag this summer! Thank you again to BCBGMaxAzria for this bag and all of the other goodies!

Scharffen Berger Baking Chunks

I recently won a prize from Scharffen Berger's Twitter account, but wasn't sure exactly what to expect...

Turned out to 2 bags of their Semisweet baking chunks, yum!  The Twitter conversation was based on chocolate chip bagels, but I'm thinking of using these with a chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I want to use it on something that isn't too complicated because I really want the chocolate to stand out on its own.  Maybe a copycat Levain Bakery cookie recipe perhaps?  Thanks A for the recipe link!  Or who knows, I might just eat these chunks straight out of the bag, let's be honest :o)  Thank you Scharffen Berger for a great surprise gift!  

Too Faced Pixie Pin-Ups Set

I was super excited when I found out I won a Pixie Pin-Ups set from Too Faced via a Twitter contest, even though I had no idea what it was, haha!  I received it in the mail a while back and found out:

All the cute extra decorative touches aside, I think this is a great collection of products from Too Faced.  I love all of the eyeshadows, especially the Leading Lady and Exotica shades.  The box also comes with a tube of Shadow Insurance, Lash Injection Pinpoint Mascara, and Lava Gloss Eye Liner.  I don't really see myself traveling much with this box since it's pretty large for what it contains, but it's a pretty and fun kit to have around in my apartment.  Because of the pop-up elements and universally flattering shades, I also think it'd be a great, reasonably priced ($25.00) gift for anyone that's into beauty products.  Thank you Too Faced for a great prize!