Effortless Meals from Walmart

Summer is all about quick and easy dinners, relaxing by the pool and having movie nights with friends (even when you have a broken foot)!

Walmart and Coca-Cola have made it easy for you to pick up an easy meal when you are in a hurry or just don't feel like hassling a big meal. They have a variety of easy meals take-n-bake pizzas; premade sandwiches; and market side rotisserie chicken.

It's Friday night; school is out for all these college girls what better way to bring in the summer then with a fun get together.

We threw the pizza and bread sticks in the oven and 12 minutes later, dinner was complete. That is a fast, quick and easy dinner.

I would say the pizza was a HIT! But my favorite part was the garlic cheese bread, this bread was so delicious and something I normally would have never bought, but I am so glad I saw the big EFFORTLESS MEAL sign by the pizzas and bread.

Dinner wouldn't be complete with out a little dessert so along with the Effortless meal we picked up some ice cream and made homemade chocolate chip cookies, and created individual pazookies for everyone. Once we figured out it was one of the girls half-birthday, no better reason then to add in a candle, sing Happy (HALF) Birthday and celebrate. Yes, we celebrate HALF birthdays. Why not?!?!?!

Coppertone Clearly Sheer Sunscreen

I love trying new products and this one is WONDERFUL! Got my bzzzzzzzz going on and am just loving all these cool things to try-out. Our family goes through about 10 bottles of sunscreen on a one-weeks family vacation. So, we know a thing of two about a GOOD sunscreen.

I am a bzz agent and received sample products and coupons for this product, COPPERTONE^® CLEARLYSheer^™

The Counter - Custom Built Burgers

I was given an awesome opportunity to experience The Counter. #thenewgoods When it comes to eating a delicious burger that is my forte'. I love love a good Cheeseburger, I was raised on fast-food burgers and have come to appreciate a good burger.

 You can read all about The Counter and check out their web site here to see if there is one near you!

The new menu also boasts five (5) new Expert Builds with unique flavor combinations showcasing the numerous protein options available (beef, turkey, bison, tuna and chicken):

• Red Eye: hormone and antibiotic free beef topped with melted tillamook cheddar, applewood smoked bacon, ripened red tomato, a sunny side up egg on an English muffin with a side of sweet sriracha
• Un-Brie-lievable: 100% natural ground turkey on a bed of organic mixed greens topped with soft-ripened brie, ripened red tomato, dried cranberries on a multigrain bun with a side of apricot sauce
• Bison with Bite: organic bison topped with tillamook cheddar, spicy pickles, sliced red onion on a brioche style bun with a side of house mustard and spicy worcestershire
• Southeast Asian Ahi: ahi tuna topped with pickled carrot and daikon slaw, ripened red tomato on a brioche style bun with a side of nori-soy sauce and sweet sriracha
• Anaheim Jack: 100% natural chicken breast topped with jalapeno jack, Anaheim peppers, red onions on a ciabatta bun with a side of roasted garlic aioli 

All three burgers unique in their own way!

a little BRIE on my hamburger YES, PLEASE! YUMMY!

They have some AMAZING burger choices and endless possibilities of creating your own, which of course was the way I decided to go (I am a picking eater, so this place is perfect), it's so easy with the clip boards they hand you to order your burger just EXACTLY the way you like it.

It was my husband's birthday so what better way to celebrate then going out to eat, The Counter was a perfect choice.

My husband, my son and myself all enjoyed the excellent food options and our burgers were all made exactly how we liked them. We had the pleasure of actually having a very friendly and helpful waiter at the Irvine location, good and friendly waiters are hard to come by these days, so this made our dinner more enjoyable. Our favorite thing were the Parmesan Fries, one order was enough for our whole table and yep, they were all eaten, every last bite.

And it wouldn't be complete without a Birthday Cake Shake for the birthday boy, brought by our waiter compliments of The Counter, how sweet is that ?!?!?! You can check out The Counter on Twitter @CounterBurger , Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheCounter or #thenewgoods .

The Counter provided me with a complimentary gift card to try out the

restaurant but the review and opinions in this post are entirely mine.

G'ma Spaghetti {Pasta for the Dorm Room}

We are celebrating my twins birthday by making their favorite pasta for a dorm room full of college girls (and boys). This was so much fun, I flew out to see my daughters in September for their 19th birthday (yes, I've been holding onto this post for a while now) and I even got to watch them perform at the Cardinals Baseball Game and while I was there they had a list of favorite foods they were missing from home, one of them was G'ma's Simple Spaghetti.

And since I was asked to create a pasta recipe for the National Pasta Association (NPA) working on a campaign called Pasta Fits, I knew this was the perfect opportunity and the perfect recipe. It's light, it's simple and it's delicious. We love pasta at our house, it's pretty much a staple every week and with all the healthy and light ways you can fit it into your diet very easily. It's also great on your budget, and as a Dave Ramsey fan, pasta totally works.


I was sent a VERY COOL pasta pack that included Dreamfields® Spaghetti, Mueller’s® Whole Grain Spaghetti, Heartland® Gluten Free Wheat Free Penne, Ronzoni Healthy Harvest® Spaghetti, Ronzoni Garden Delight® Rotini, and an Ultragrain Pasta® Spaghetti Spoon, and you can find some super cool recipes you can try from the National Pasta Association (NPA).

G'ma's Simple Spaghetti Sauce

from my MOM (G'ma)

4 cans of Tomato Sauce

1 can Tomato Paste
1/4 can of water

1-2 lbs of Hamburger Meat

1-2 tbsp Italian Seasoning

1-2 tsp Garlic Powder (or Onion Salt, Onion Powder and/or Garlic Salt)

Cook hamburger meat on stove-top with a little bit of the seasoning until done. Add in the 4 cans of tomato sauce and 1 can of tomato paste with add'l amounts of seasoning (she just throws some in, never measures and it is never the same) simmer/cook until steamin' hot! Cook up your spaghetti noodles and serve. We always serve with Poor Man's Garlic Bread.

National Pasta Association is providing the products for this post

at no cost to me for review, the opinions in this post are entirely mine.

Fresh Dish {Broiled Cut with Couscous and Zucchini}

Need a quick and easy meal, with very minimal work on your part, no thinking just throw it all together and you've got it DONE. Dinner has never been so EASY! I was contacted by Fresh Dish, to try out their quick and easy meals and I can tell you that it was just that QUICK and EASY!

My box arrived in the mail in an insulated container with big blocks of frozen ice and was packaged very nicely, it included EVERYTHING. And when I say everything, they even included the olive oil, salt and pepper (how cool is that?!?!). I was home when the package arrived and immediately put it in the refrigerator, but it was very very cold when I got it, so no concerns there.

Fresh Dish is a gourmet meal kit service that delivers

ready-to-cook meals to families that just don't have time to deal with shopping and prep time it takes to get a home cooked dinner on the table during the week. - taken from Fresh Dish

The meat was Flat Iron Steak (my favorite), and the Zucchini (another favorite of mine), was already diced and ready to throw in the pan. The food was fresh, the directions were easy to follow and dinner came together in a snap. For those of you who hate to grocery shop, are too busy plan out meals this is easily a great solution.

For all my California, Nevada and Arizona readers, I've got a CODE for you to buy one family sized meal kit and get ONE FREE!

Just use this code MCCXFRESH when you order at

www.freshdish.com

MCCXFRESH

Cantina Steak Burrito {Taco Bell}

With Taco Bell's new Cantina menu, even on a diet you can still find a healthy fresh fast-food solution. I've been eating Taco Bell for as long as I can remember, it's now one of my son's favorite places to eat. I am usually a creature of habit and have the same thing each time I visit. There are about 4 or 5 menu items that are on my list and I just rotate through them. So, trying out the NEW Cantina Steak Burrito was a treat for me.

It was a Sunday afternoon, my son and I decided to stay in our pj's and have a relaxing day at home (yes, it was Super Bowl Sunday too, but with the hubby working, we never even turned it on). My son enjoyed his video games and (me) mommy was in her scrapbook room watching chick-flicks all day long. It really was a PERFECT Sunday afternoon.

When we got a little hungry I decided to head through the Taco Bell drive thru (yep, in my pj's). The NICE thing about drive-thru's no one cares what you are wearing. I ordered my son's usual items and I purchased the Cantina Steak Burrito for myself. I decided to just stick with the one item this time and I am glad I did, the burrito is HUGE. It's a great size and can even be split with a friend or family member. I know if my husband had been home, this would have surely filled him up with one burrito.

The Cantina Burrito is filled with thick cut steak, rice, black beans and guacamole. It also has pico de gallo, and a roasted corn & pepper salsa and to top it off it has creamy cilantro dressing, all of these things are VERY DELICIOUS! The two flavors that stood out to me were the fresh guacamole and the creamy cilantro dressing, these two elements were my favorite part of this new burrito. When I saw that there was a Cantina Bowl too, it's now next on my list to try. I encourage all of you to stop by local Taco Bell and try out the new Cantina menu, I don't think you will be disappointed.

"As part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker Program,

I received a stipend for this post, but the opinions are mine"

This post is sponsored by Taco Bell. See how great our steak is when you try the new Cantina Steak Burrito. Because when it comes to a great steak burrito, it's all about the steak.

French Onion Burger or Salisbury Steak Style {CAMPBELL'S KITCHEN}

I love when I come across a recipe, make it and my mouth just waters right from the first bite. Well, that is exactly what happened when I made this for dinner. I really thought, this is just gonna be another burger recipe. I wanted to stick with my New Year's diet plan so I decided to eliminate the bun and serve this new French Onion Burger over a bed of mashed potatoes. I took my first bite and it brought me back to my childhood with memories of a Salisbury Steak TV dinner, something that I absolutely love. And now I can make it from fresh ingredients and it taste SO GOOD!

I am so excited that I picked up this soup from Campbell's Kitchen, it's not something I would have ever tried if it was not for Campbell's and Foodbuzz, so THANK YOU! I promise you all this recipe will not disappoint you, the photos do not do it justice (photographing a hamburger patty isn't easy, I did the best I could). And if you have picky little kids (like me), I served my son's burger with cheese on a bun, so this recipe is good for making a delicious grown-up meal and a kid meal all in one shot.

Check out this recipe and many more at Campbell's Kitchen.

French Onion Burger {Salisbury Steak}
recipe from Campbell's Kitchen

1 lb ground beef
1 can (10 1/2 ounces) Campbell's Condensed French Onion Soup

Optional: Cheese Slices and Buns or serve over Mashed Potatoes or Egg Noodles

Shape the beef into four burger patties. Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the burgers and cook until well browned on both sides. Remove the burgers from the skillet. Pour off any fat.                                                    

Stir the soup in the skillet and heat to a boil. Return the burgers to the skillet. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the burgers are cooked through.

Traditional Burger Style: Top the burgers with the cheese and cook until the cheese is melted. Serve the burgers on the buns with the soup mixture for dipping

Salisbury Steak Style: Leave the burger in pan to cook for add'l 5 minutes flipping once. Make your choice of mashed potatoes or egg noodles and serve the burger patty on top with as much or as little gravy as you'd like.

"As part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker Program,

I received free coupons and a stipend."

Presented by Campbell’s Kitchen

Hot Vanilla Caramel {with Sweet'N Low}

We live in California, where we can go swimming on Christmas Day, so it's a rare day when we can serve a hot drink and enjoy it. I love a hot drink, but ONLY on a cold cold day. So, today was one of those days, although the sun did come out, it was still cold enough to create a little chill outside and we were able to enjoy this HOT new drink we created.

Hot Vanilla Caramel
created by Tina Hudgens

(makes one serving)
1 cup milk
1 pkg Sweet'N Low
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp caramel syrup

In a microwave save glass cup heat up 1 cup of milk and the 1 pkg of Sweet'N Low for approximately one minute. In the meantime mix in a separate bowl the whipping cream, cinnamon and caramel syrup until combined. Add the whip cream mixture to the milk mixture and shake in a shaker (or mix up in a blender). Pour into a mug and return to microwave for 1 more minute. Add a dollop of whip cream and a sprinkle of caramel syrup before serving.

"As part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker Program,

I received Sweet'N Low packages and a stipend."

Vegetarian Creamy Tomato Soup {Panera Bread}

The mention of Panera Bread always makes one of my twins SING! She just loves loves to eat at this restaurant, she actually loved it so much, this is where she had her first job in High School. She's moved onto college and now lives in Missouri for school (instead of California), where Panera Bread is not called Panera, it is the St. Louis Bread Company. That's just a little fun fact, I thought you'd all want to hear. Either way, she still LOVES the place.

When I first heard about this Daily Food Buzz opportunity, I was thrilled and I knew this would be a perfect first lunch for her first day back in California and it was. Her twin, had to work (bummer for her), so mom and daughter (twin A) went out for a day of shopping and enjoyed a quick, fast and delicious lunch at Panera Bread before we hit the very crowded Christmas-time shopping mall.

My daughters favorite soup is the Vegetarian Creamy Tomato Soup, it's made with vine-ripened pear tomatoes pureed with fresh cream for a velvety smooth flavor accentuated by hints of red pepper & oregano, topped with our Asiago croutons (described so beautifully by Panera Bread web site). This is one of their soups that are served every day. Check out the great Panera Bread Soup Web Site, they really have taken a lot of time and effort and truly perfected their soup menu.

I know if it's a super cold day and you are in need of some delicious soup, Panera Bread is defiantly the place to go.

"As part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker Program,

I received a Panera Bread Gift Card and a stipend."