With the Easter Holiday upon us, many of us are preparing for family get-togethers and a lot of fun. I love getting the family together for the holidays and sharing a delicious meal! And thanks to Libby's Fruits & Vegetables, it's going to be easier than ever this year!

 

With their new Digital Recipe Box, an application only available on Facebook, Libby's Fruits & Vegetables wants to make meal planning easier. I liked the sound of that, and couldn't wait to check it out. The Digital Recipe Box houses more than 100 recipes using Libby's products and allows users to share recipes with their Facebook friends, as well as "like" their favorite recipes and print them out for future reference. The app makes it easy to plan meals by dish, ingredient or type of gathering! How convenient is that?! Love it!

In browsing through the app, I found many recipe ideas for family get togethers, including the Classic Scalloped Corn! I also took a look at the Libby's new Pinterest boards and found a lot of fun ideas for family activities, tips to help maintain your home, and nutrition advice. They are even holding a post-Easter contest where pinners will add images of their Easter meals to win a prize!

With it's recent launch, Libby's wanted to celebrate and sent us a package including several of their canned products, including a beautiful Montana Serve Bowl from Pottery Barn. The bowl is just perfect for serving up fabulous dishes this Easter (or any time of year)! And as for the Libby's products...my family loves them! We're big fans of the

Libby's Organic products especially, and have been eating them for quite some time. My kids especially love the fruit!

Win It: Libby's has also offered one very lucky reader a prize package with Libby's products and this Montana Serve Bowl from Pottery Barn (valued at $55)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
**The products for this review and giveaway were provided by Libby's, however all opinions are my own*

This past winter our family has dealt with a lot of sickness, specifically our three kids. After several bouts with the stomach flu, ear infections and colds...I have been doing everything I can to boost their immune systems and keep them healthy (including my husband and I too)! One of the best ways I've found I can do this is by giving them a well-balanced, nutritious diet...including lots of fruits and veggies. 

Since we started eating healthier, I have been in search for a good juicer. I knew this would be a great way for us to make sure we are getting the fruit and vegetable servings we need, all while enjoying delicious juices, etc! That's when I happened to come across the BELLA NutriPro Cold Press Juicer and couldn't have been happier to learn we were going to have the opportunity to review it.

Features/Benefits:

• Retains nutrients for optimal health
• Continuous, jam-resistant juicing
• Easy to clean, dishwasher safe
• Quiet operation, no spinning blades
• Utilizes a two-stage cold press juicing technology
• More juice from certain fruit/vegetables than other juicers

When the NutriPro Juicer arrived, I couldn't wait to test it out.

Out of the box I found that it included everything I needed:

• New BELLA NutriPro Cold Press Juicer with quiet induction motor 
• Stainless steel juice strainer 
• Single juicing screw auger 
• Feeding tube 
• 1 pulp container with handle 
• 1 juice container with handle 
• 1 pusher 
• 1 cleaning brush 
• 5 year warranty 
• Instruction Manual 
• Recipe Booklet

I was immediately drawn to the modern appearance of the BELLA NutriPro Cold Press Juicer! It's beautiful! I love the stainless steel as it fits in well with the other items in our kitchen. The sleek vertical design also allows it to easily fit on the countertop, saving much needed space in my small kitchen. 

I also appreciated that it included everything I needed, including a user-friendly instruction manual which made using our new NutriPro Juicer a piece of cake.

After washing the removable pieces, I put it back together and was ready to get started. That day we had fresh apples, strawberries and raspberries in our fridge. All five of us love these fruits, and my hubby thought the mix would make a great juice! He was right!! 

We plugged in the unit, removed the food pusher and placed 1-2 inch chunks of fruit into the hopper. I then used the food pusher to direct the food through the hopper and pressed the on/off button to begin juicing!

I read in the instruction manual that it's best to alternate between leafy, harder and softer produce...so that's what we did and have continued to do each time we use the juicer. 

There was more juice squeezed from the fruits we put in than I expected there to be. I was very impressed! The NutriPro Juicer thoroughly squeezes each fruit and vegetable, producing more juice (and nutrients) than any other juicer I've used. It utilizes a two-stage cold press juicing technology that operates via a chewing method to produce high-quality juice from each fruit and vegetable.

It was really easy to use. I didn't have to jam the produce into the juicer, I simply dropped them in, used the food pusher to guide and then let the juicer do the rest.

It was also amazing to me just how quiet the juicer is. With no blades, it really is a pretty quiet unit to operate.And, with the no-blade, cold press technology, oxidation is minimized, no heat is used, and more nutrients and enzymes are preserved! YAY for healthier juice the whole family enjoys!

I knew my family would enjoy the fruit juices, but we have enjoyed the juices mixed with vegetables too! It's been a great way to get my kids to like and eat the vegetables they typically wouldn't eat otherwise. And, best of all I know we're using a juicer that's giving us more juice, more nutrients and great tasting juices every time!

The included recipe booklet has been much appreciated as well. I have tried many different juices and have learned that it's possible to make delicious sorbets and even almond milk! I for one can't wait to try the Banana Split Sorbet. YUM!

One of the juices we tried is a Spinach Juice recipe found in the recipe booklet. It called for 2 apples, spinach, and 1/2 a lemon. I wasn't sure how the combination would taste, but it ended up being very good. 

 

What I love about using this juicer, is that I can try many different juices and combinations to come up with juices my family and I will love! The sky is the limit!

As you can probably tell, we have been thrilled with the BELLA NutriPro Cold Press Juicer and the delicious juices we've made with it. It's incredibly easy to use, and surprisingly easy to clean as well! I say surprisingly, because with several removable pieces, I couldn't help but wonder just how easy cleanup would be. Thankfully, it took no time at all. In just minutes I am able to have it all cleaned up and ready for the next use. As a busy mom, I appreciate this a lot...especially the fact that the pieces are dishwasher safe!

If you're looking for a high quality juicer that is designed to give you the most juice, the most nutrients, and great taste, I would highly recommend checking out the NutriPro Juicer! There are so many benefits of juicing, including getting a more balanced diet for both adults AND children! It's definitely a mommy-must-have in my opinion.

Buy It: You can purchase the NutriPro Cold Press Juicer at www.nutriprojuicer.com for a trial offer of $14.99 (see website for details) or a one time payment of $249.95.

You can also connect with NutriPro on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest.

**I was provided a NutriPro Cold Press Juicer to help facilitate my review. All opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way.

As a mom, it's nice to not have to worry about the little things in life, like baby wipes.  I'd prefer to spend my time enjoying the more important things.  That's why the new larger, thicker and softer Free & Clear Baby Wipes from Seventh Generation take my worries away. 

Seventh Generation baby wipes are free of alcohol, dyes, synthetic fragrances, parabens and phthalates.  They also follow the precautionary principle, meaning they won’t use an ingredient in their products until they are sure it is safe for consumers.  Whew!  I love when companies treat my child with the same care and concern that I do.  

These new wipes use 70% less plastic than their old wipes through the use of plant materials, yet they're thick and soft for use on sensitive skin.   

Here's the real test: how can you truly know if a baby wipe is soft and comfortable until you use it on your own face and uh-hem, bottom?  So, I tried using one to wipe my nose and I tried another one in the bathroom.  And yes, they are soft.  

One thing I didn't especially love about these wipes was that, in my opinion, they are overly wet and soapy.  This may be a good thing when I'm cleaning up a messy diaper, but it isn't so great for just a wet diaper or for using on the face.  They also are a tad too thick for my liking.  Too thick is still better than too thin when it comes to wipes, but I hope that in the future some adjustments are made.  

Overall, they get the job done without any harmful chemicals.  I like that.  

Key Benefits:

• Free of fragrances & dyes
• Free of parabens and phthalates
• Hypoallergenic 
• Unscented
• Significant environmental savings

You can purchase the shelf pack of Seventh Generation Free & Clear Baby Wipes for an affordable $2.99.  

Buy It:  You can purchase the Seventh Generation Free & Clear Baby Wipes at Target, Whole  Foods and Diapers.com.

**I received product to help faciliate my review, however all opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way.

As a mom of three little ones, I do what I can to keep my kids safe.  I try to take precautions to keep them from harm, but despite my best efforts I'm always learning that there's more I can do. For instance, Safe Kids Worldwide recently released a new research report that found kids are getting into medicine at an alarming rate! Every minute of every day, a poison control center receives call about potential medicine poisoning for a child age five and under. And 67,000 times each year, or every eight minutes, a young child goes to the emergency room for medicine poisoning. This is a 30
percent increase over the past ten years. Wow!

Due to these startling statistics, I was happy to read that Safe Kids Worldwide is raising awareness of medication safety to prevent these situations from happening! Thankfully we have never dealt with medical poisoning in our family. I'm pretty cautious about keeping medications up, hidden and out of reach from my kids. I also know kids watch their parents and imitate their behaviors, so I try to take medications away from them. I am however, learning that there's much more I can do to help keep them from harms way. For instance, have you ever thought about where you keep the vitamins, or even the pills in your purse. I never really had before, but thanks to Safe Kids Worldwide, it has now been brought to my attention that I need to keep EVERY single medication out of reach. That means putting it up right after I use it and not keeping it in my purse anymore.

Here are some other very helpful tips from Safe Kids Worldwide that I wanted to be sure and pass along:

• Put medicine and vitamins up and away and out of sight. (In 67 percent of emergency room visits for medicine poisoning, the medicine was left within reach of the child, such as in apurse, on a counter, or under a sofa cushion.)
• Even if you are tempted to keep it handy, put medicine out of reach after every use.
• Look around your home for products you might not think about as medicine, like rubbing alcohol, eye drops or gummy vitamins, and store them out of the reach of children.
• When you have guests in your home, offer to put purses, bags and coats where kids can’tget to them. (In 43 percent of emergency room visits for medicine poisoning, the child got into medicine belonging to a relative, such as an aunt, uncle or grandparent.)
• Be alert to medicine in places your child visits. Take a look around to make sure there isn’t medicine within reach of your child.
• Program the nationwide poison control center number (1-800-222-1222) into your phones.
• Visit SafeKids.org for more tips on safe storage, safe dosing and safe disposal of medicine.

I am so thankful that Safe Kids Worldwide is helping to raise awareness. I have learned a lot, and I hope you find these tips helpful as well! The following is a Safe Storage, Safe Dosing, SafeKids YouTube video you can check out.

You can also connect with Safe Kids World wide on Twitter and Facebook.
 

**I wrote this review while participating in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Safe Kids Worldwide and I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation