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LOLLIEpalooza!

Today is a really exciting day here in our city, in my life, and in my BFF’s life.  My best friend Luanne, a.k.a. “Lulee” is opening her own Lollie-selling kiosk at one of our local malls, the Mall at Fairfield Commons.   I first told you about her business, Lulee’s Lollies, a few months ago, and it has been doing great!

In no small part because, people, it’s cake mixed with icing dipped in chocolate ON A STICK!!!!

And also in no small part because Luanne is a hard-working, intelligent, savvy businesswoman and entrepreneur.

Here are some of her beautiful creations:

And Emily and I have already told you about the amazing lollies she did for Sophie’s birthday and for Kate and Sam’s birthday, but in case you need a refresher, click here and here.

The lollies are adorable, true, but the best thing about them is the TASTE. They are SOOOO scrumptious. Some of Lulee’s flavors include: Red Velvet, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Carrot Cake, Strawberry, Key Lime, Butter Pecan, Lemon, and my personal favorite…”Man Candy” – which is chocolate cake and BACON. BACON! I kid you not! Sounds crazy but it is the best thing I have ever tasted in my life.

Everyone needs to have a “Man Candy” lollie before they die.  Even if you are not a man. (But what a great father’s day gift!! I bought them for Sophie’s male preschool teacher for an end-of-sch00l gift. I am pretty sure I am the favorite parent now!)

Oh, and speaking of gifts…Lulee’s Lollies has the CUTEST graduation money-holder Lollies!  A little guy or gal with a graduates cap on that has a place to hold cash – ’cause you know that’s all graduates want anyways!

SOOO…I am blabbering, BUT the bottom line is…Lulee’s Lollies is going to the MALL!  And if you are in the Dayton area, you can get Lulee’s Lollies at the mall starting at 10 a.m. TODAY!  A bunch of my friends and I are going to break in the kiosk! 🙂  But the real excitement is Lulee’s official grand opening this weekend, starting Friday June 3 at 10 am and continuing until Sunday the 5th at 6 pm.  During that time, Lollies are Buy Two Get One Free!!! So go GETCHA SOME!

I cannot tell you how proud I am of Luanne.  Ten short months ago she sat me down and told me what she was going to do with Lulee’s Lollies.  I was like, “You’re going to do what?  You don’t even bake!”  But she got an idea, and worked her butt off to make it work, to make her product unique and excellent and to provide customer service that is second to none.  If you are at all able, please come out to the Mall at Fairfield Commons and get yourself some Lollies this weekend!  You won’t regret it.  The Lulee’s Lollies kiosk is on the lower level between Express & Abercrombie, very near the information desk.

See you at the mall, everybody!

For more info, check out Lulee’s Lollies website (where you can order online) or Facebook page!

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Misty Menthol-scented memories…

As you may recall, I’ve been working with Vicks VapoRub as part of their Vicks Blogger Brigade for a few months now.  Vicks VapoRub is a brand I’m proud to represent because I L-O-V-E it, and have since I was a kid.  My mom was a firm believer in the power of Vicks to soothe our coughs when my brothers and I were kids, and so was my grandmother before her.  According to my mom, my grandma used to saturate a flannel cloth in VapoRub and pin it to her pajamas when she was sick as a child.  So the scent of Vicks is comforting to my mom, a reminder of TLC she received as a child, and it is for me as well.  I hope it will be for  my kids also.  I think it will be, because last week when Sophie was fighting off the dreaded warm-weather cold and had begun to cough a little, she asked me more than once to “rub some of that on my chest” as she pointed to the VapoRub container!

If you haven’t already seen it, Vicks VapoRub has a Facebook page which is a great source for information and discussion about VapoRub and also for tips on keeping healthy!  One of my favorite conversations there inspired this post.  The question asked on the Vicks page was, “Many of you have been using VapoRub for years. Can you remember the first time it ever helped to soothe your cough?”  Well, I can’t remember the first time, but I can’t remember a time when my family didn’t use it!  Some of of my favorite answers from Facebook fans are:

“Forever!! I’m an asthmatic and would get very sick in the winter……Mom would bust out the Vicks, slather it on…and wrap me up in a nice warm T shirt, followed by a jammie top. Then I used it on MY daughter, and she uses it on her son. So, 40 years. I will never be without it.”

“I don’t remember the first time I ever used it. But I do know it was always in my moms medicine cabinet. And now it’s always in mine now that I have a child.”

“first time I was too little to remember. My mom and g’ma would put it on my chest and back and safety pin a bandana around my neck as to keep it from rubbing off on my pajamas. Just the smell of it going on was comforting.”

This is what I’ve been saying…Vicks VapoRub is THE STUFF when you have a cough & cold!  It’s my go-to remedy and I so enjoyed reading the comments of those who feel the same.

So..can you remember the first time Vicks VapoRub soothed YOU?

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I am being compensated for my work as part of the Vicks Blogger Brigade.  This post and my opinions on the product are solely my own.

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Scrumptious Spring Salads

This month my duties for the ReadySetEat.com Shared Tastes Panel had me making some super-yummy SALADS.  Like, salads that are an actual MEAL.   I know, right? Crazy!  They turned out to be awesome!  The first one I made in honor of Cinco de Mayo, the Simple Taco Salad.

We don’t eat a lot of taco salad in our house, and here’s why: most taco seasonings have MSG in them, and my husband is violently allergic to MSG (I almost killed him once by using bouillon cubes. Oops.)  So, instead of taco seasoning, I will usually just use chili powder and garlic, or more often, not bother with a taco salad at all.  I was a little skeptical of this one because the recipe called simply for chili beans, chili powder, and Ro*tel to season the taco salad…but my expectation were WAY surpassed because it was excellent! The flavor was so good, and not bland at all.  Those items provided perfect seasoning for the ground beef, lettuce, cheese and tortilla chips that made up the salad.  Bobby loved it and *bonus* none of the ingredients made him sick! 🙂  It was awesome and SO easy to make!

The next salad I made was the Orange-Spinach Salad with Chicken.  Here is an actual picture of the one I cranked out:

Again, this was soooo delicious.  I was not sure that this would be enough of a meal to keep Bobby and I from being hungry later but it totally was.  And I loooooved the taste!   It was super-easy to make as well.  No trouble at all, and very easy to clean up. SCORE!

Now, I realized after I posted last month about ReadySetEat.com, that I hadn’t yet told you about one of my very favorite features the site has to offer: complete nutritional information for each recipe!!   Check out this screen shot of the nutritional information for the Simple Taco Salad Recipe:

See what I mean when I say complete nutrition information?  This makes it so easy to fit these recipes into your dietary plan – whether you are counting fat, calories, carbs, points, or just wanna know what you’re eating!  I LOVE this feature!

I’ve already mentioned some of my other favorite features in previous posts – the recipe box, the sale alert feature – but I think the nutritional info feature takes the cake!

I loved these salad recipes and I love all the features of ReadySetEat.com.  What’s your favorite recipe or feature from the site?

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I am being compensated for my duties on the ReadySetEat.com Shared Tastes Panel.  My opinions about the site and the recipes are all my own and are not edited by anyone but myself.

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