Village Ice Cream Parlor- a fun stop in Downtown Lebanon, Ohio

January 6, 2012 by 25 Comments
If you are craving something sweet, but don’t want to eat in some chain restaurant, I know the perfect place for you! Not only can you get a full menu of delicious and well made meals at a family friendly price (served to you by a friendly staff, as well!) but you can find a delicious and wide array of treats, ranging from the old fashioned favorites to new and interesting finds the kids will love.
You’ll step back in time when you enter the Village Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant, a historic parlor located in the heart of downtown Lebanon. Known for old-fashioned ice cream sodas and famous faces who have visited, it’s a must when visiting this historic town. What is their claim to fame? “Enjoy the continuing tradition of historic Lebanon Ohio’s great soda fountains…The Village Ice Cream Parlor offers classic concoctions and homestyle cooking.” And I have to agree- this was a fun place to be. I felt like I stepped into another era- the restaurant was set up like an old-fashioned soda shoppe- because it is!

In operation as it’s current ice cream parlor and restaurant since [Read more…]
Filed Under: family, food, travel

Monkey Brains- good food for healthy kids

January 4, 2012 by 6 Comments

Monkey Brains, not just a disturbing scene from Indiana Jones, but also a new line of oatmeal and granola bars! Monkey Brains include prebiotic fiber, which help give your digestive system a jump start to good health.

In our house there are quite a few of us with digestive issues, including but not limited to lactose intolerance, to trouble starting, and even stopping once started. (gross and TMI! ew!!!)
Prebiotic fibers feed the healthy probiotics in your digestive system. The probiotics help keep you functioning regularly and the way one would expect.

Enough of the healthy stuff- the taste of the oatmeal is very good. The best part is the smell while cooking. It fills the house with strawberry, blueberry or maple. The kids favorite varies from day to day but all I have to do is put one bowl in the microwave and both want one as soon as that aroma emanating from the microwave. Also it helps there is a big smiling monkey on the [Read more…]

Filed Under: food, kids, natural

Taggarts Ice Cream Parlor & Restaurant In Canton, Ohio

December 23, 2011 by 11 Comments

My Son and Meema had a great time in this old fashioned Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant. The food was good, the waitress was sweet, and did I mention the ice cream? This may be one of those times when a picture is worth more then anything I can say to you.

Established in 1926, Taggarts is a Canton landmark. Wrought-iron “ice cream parlor” chairs and high-backedbooths, combined with the old wood and tile floors, take you back to the charm of the twenties.

The furnishings and decor take you back to another time- and so will the sundaes. Yes, there is food there- but the real star (I think) is the assortment of ice creams and floats you [Read more…]

Filed Under: family, food, travel

Shopping for Popsicles with #Cbias at Stop and Shop

December 22, 2011 by 7 Comments

We recently had a fun time shopping for Popsicles at Shop and Stop. My son LOVES those ice pops, so this was a blast for him. AND Stop and Shop had a fun little car-shaped shopping cart, so that was such a bonus!

We eat all sorts of frozen things here- Ice Cream, Popsicles, yogurts, sorbet, you name it, we eat it. Me and my son especially- I get migraines and anything frozen takes the edge off. For him- they are also an instant “owie” stopper, lol. We usually shop at A&P or Shop Rite, but Stop and Shop had a nice selection. They had lots of Popsicles brand- and Little likes them all. I usually only get them on sale, like these cute Ice [Read more…]

Filed Under: food

EatSmart Kitchen Scale Reivew and C0NTEST!

December 16, 2011 by 271 Comments

The holidays are coming along faster and faster. Holidays bring around family and very good food. I can’t wait for dessert myself. There are always so many wonderful treats it is very difficult to stick to diets and such. MY opinion is, one day will not hurt that badly, just do not go too nuts and just right back on the diet train right after the holidays.

To help with this consider measuring out portions and not overdoing it. The EatSmart kitchen scale is prefect for this. With proper portions just about anything is OK. Am I saying use a quarter stick of butter on a bagel is a perfectly healthy meal? No, I am not. Half a teaspoon of butter on a half of a whole grain bagel along with some fruit and low fat milk would make a decent breakfast. But all portions should be measured out to keep from over doing it. Take a look at this scale over at EatSmart. It is small easy to use, exact and runs on AAA batteries. These batteries are included with the scale as well, a nice touch. Another great usage of this scale, is postage calculation. That extra ounce can cost a pretty penny when sending out box after box to relatives around the country. Maybe not what they had in mind- but the hubs keeps stealing it to do this….Men.

EatSmart has also been doing a donation drive this year titled Charity of the Month. For every click through and purchase on Amazon through their site a certain percentage of the purchase is donated to a different charity each month. December’s charity is the Make A Wish Foundation. I think this is a great idea and gets consumers donating without really changing much.

One of you can win this scale! Here is how to enter-

Mandatory entry
You must be a public follower on Google Friend Connect or G+1
Leave me your email so I can contact you if you win.
2 entries if you are doing both 🙂

Extra Entries
Leave a separate comment for each entry

– Like EatSmart on FaceBook -Facebook is in no way sponsoring this contest- Never required, always appreciated! 🙂

– Follow @EatSmartScales on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway
#Win EatSmart Kitchen Scale Giveaway! http://tinyurl.com/89bzfwb @EatSmartScales @HaveSippy


-“Like” me on Facebook. Facebook is in no way sponsoring [Read more…]
Filed Under: fitness, food, giveaway, health, review

Day-Lee Foods Launches Facebook-only coupon for 1.00 off any Crazy Cuizine product

December 13, 2011 by 2 Comments
Day-Lee Foods, a leader in authentic Asian cuisine for the past 30 years, just launched a Facebook-only coupon for $1 off any Crazy Cuizine product.
Simply Like them on www.facebook.com/dayleefoods to retrieve the coupon.
In addition, those interested can unlock a free product coupon by getting five friends to Like Day-Lee on Facebook.
Day-Lee Foods’ Crazy Cuizine lineup of authentic and easy-to-prepare gourmet Asian dishes are fully cooked (ready to heat and [Read more…]
Filed Under: food

Nasoya Tofu review- and you can get some free here as well!

December 11, 2011 by 151 Comments

There are those out there who are not adventurous eaters.
Perhaps a meat and potatoes family. Well, its time to start thinking outside the box and try some alternatives. How about some Asian food, and I don’t mean the greasy Chinese food down the street. I mean home cooked Asian food that has ingredients in it that you trust and know are good for you.

A good place to start is Tofu. Take a look at Nasoya Tofu U. Here they teach simple recipes and techniques for using tofu in both everyday dishes as well as dishes with an Asian flair. A good example of an everyday use of Tofu is the stuffed manicotti where instead of ricotta cheese you can use soft tofu. I can honestly say next time we go food shopping we will be trying this. Tofu is a misunderstood ingredient. Tofu is a food made of soy beans, which when cooked absorbs the flavor of whatever else it is cooked with. If making garlic stir fry it will accent and accentuate the garlic instead of adding a flavor to the bunch.

In general, there are two types of tofu- firm and soft. And guess what? Firm is of a thicker texture then soft, and is mostly used as a meat substitute, the soft can be used as a thickener, or as we saw before, a ricotta cheese substitute. 🙂

These very broad terms are pretty much what kind of tofu you can find in your average supermarket, but if you are looking for a tofu to act as more of a meat substitute take a look at Fim Tofu Plus. This is sprouted tofu which has more protein and also fortified with vitamins B2, B6, B12, D and Calcium. This is the one I picked up today- my son is sprouting like a weed and all the vitamins I can put into him, I am going to! LOL

We used some of our Nosoya Tofu Plus tofu and made Tofu Pad Thai. This is a Thai dish with peanuts and noodles, which is a little bit spicy and quite delicious. The tofu is a great substitute for chicken in this dish.
Get creative and have fun!

Want to win some free Tofu Coupons? Here is how to enter!

Mandatory entry
You must be a public follower on Google Friend Connect or G+1
Leave me your email so I can contact you if you win.
2 entries if you are doing both 🙂

Extra Entries
Leave a separate comment for each entry

– Like Nasoya on FaceBook -Facebook is in no way sponsoring this contest- Never required, always appreciated! 🙂

– Follow Nasoya on [Read more…]

Filed Under: cooking, food, giveaway, review

Swiss Colony- Review and G!VEAWAY

December 6, 2011 by 3 Comments

The Holidays are here, and so are a whole lot of delicious treats in cute shapes. The question becomes- what is worth those hard to remove calories? Well, Swiss Colony makes that choice either easier or harder- depending on how you look at it.

Swiss Colony makes all kinds of wonderful goodies ranging from cheeses and meats to desserts. We had the pleasure of trying the Snowman truffles. These cute little guys aren’t decorations, but are desserts, and they have a shell of white fudge surrounding two delicate milk chocolate truffles. The snowmen are each hand decorated with slight differences when you look for them, but are all artfully well made as you can see. [Read more…]

Filed Under: food, giveaway, holidays, review