Parmalat Canada Introduces La Creme Cow, the Spreadable Cheese - Review and Giveaway

Hubby and I love cheese, any kind of cheese, and quite often when the kids go to bed you can find us eating cheese and crackers as a late night snack.  Parmalat Canada just introduced a spreadable snack cheese to Canada called Le Creme Cow.  The cheese comes in Original, Light and Parmesan and Peppercorn and I got to try them all.  Hubby and I had our cheese and cracker evening with all three varieties and my favourite is definitely the Parmesan and Peppercorn.  I love that they're individually wrapped which provides portion control.  The cheese is really soft and easy to spread on a cracker.  It even tastes great on a bagel or just eaten on its own. My toddler even enjoyed it too!

All of the varieties have a nice mild flavour and a smooth and creamy texture.  With two young children I'm really busy all the time and this makes a quick, convenient healthy snack for both my toddler and I.  It would also be great for entertaining spread on crackers and topped with something such as berries or tomato slices. The Light variety is only 30 calories per wedge so it won't ruin your diet if you're counting calories.

La Creme Cow can be found  in the dairy section of your local Loblaws or Metro grocery stores (including No Frills and Real Canadian Superstore) nationwide and in the following formats:

• Original (12 pack average retail $5.49)
• Light (6 pack average retail $2.99)
• Parmesan and Peppercorn (6 pack average retail $2.99)

One of my readers will win a $100 La Creme Cow prize pack including this yummy cheese!  Contest is open to Canadians only and ends on Jan 30th at midnight.

For the main entry just leave a comment about which flavour you'd like to try.  Make sure you leave an email address for me to contact you unless it's in your profile.

For additional entries (leave a comment for each one you do)

1.  Follow me on GFC
2.  Follow me on facebook
3.  Follow me on twitter
4.  Follow me on networked blogs
5.  Like La Creme Cow on facebook
6.  Follow me on Pinterest

Shopping at Walmart Canada For Equal On Sale for #CBias

Before I set out to shop at any store I always have a shopping list.  My mission was to find Equal which is on rollback at Walmart for $7.97 as part of a shoppertunity for #CBias.  I use sweetener everyday in my coffee and was thinking about making some cookies and using the Equal as a substitute for the sugar.  I was going to Walmart anyway to pick up a few other things because they're really close to my house and they never give me problems when using coupons which I love to do.  I shop there usually every week or two.  

Before making my shopping list I always take one last look at my meal plan for the week to make sure there isn't anything else I need to pick up.  Yes, my meal plan is usually just written on the back of the back page of my shopping list pad!  

After checking my meal plan I usually have to take a peak at a recipe or two to make sure I do have everything.  Having two young children and getting little sleep means I have to make lists and check them two or three times or something is likely to be over looked.  

Once the list is made I go through my coupons and take out any that match up with anything on my list.  I'll usually take one more look at the sales flyer too and make sure there's no other great deals I might be able to use coupons with.  

After I had my list and coupons I headed off to Walmart.  Initially I checked the sugar/sweetener isle for Equal.  I found other sweeteners but no Equal.  Then I remembered in the past seeing sweeteners in the pharmacy department.  I had a prescription to pick up anyway so I headed over there and found the Equal canisters fairly quickly and easily.   It's on rollback for $7.97 down from $9.97 to celebrate #EqualCanada being available for purchase at Walmart but there was no rollback sign to be seen.  It was just marked $7.97 on the shelf.  

For more information on Equal check out the Equal website or checkout Equal Canada on twitter or Equal Canada on facebook. 

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias  All opinions are my own.

Update on Taylor....

There's an 8 month waiting list for the Infant Development Program in BC so we were able to spend an hour with them the other day which was great and in her opinion (they're not doctors, just specialists in infant development) she thinks Taylor will catch up and be just fine as she gets older as she's pretty much doing everything she should be at this age.  That being said she also can't make any guarantees so we chose to put Taylor on the waiting list anyway as it's easier to take her off than wait if she does need help when it comes to gross motor skills just as crawling and walking as that seems to be where she would have problems.  Being on the list gives us access to their bi-weekly playgroup now which is great as I can get ideas on what I can do with her to help build strength.  She can sit for quite a while now before falling over and she's jumping in the jolly jumper now though her little head bobbles all over the place when she does so we're doing lots of tummy time to help with neck and arm strength.  

We've done all the tests that the paediatrician wanted us to do so now we're waiting for her office to call and book us a follow up appointment for the results.  Our family doctor had some of the results of her blood/urine tests and she said that something was elevated but even she didn't really know what that meant.  So in the meantime we'll wait and go to the playgroup and meet other moms and babies!

Menu Plan Monday!

Another Monday another menu plan!  I know I keep using the same picture but I'm lazy and have no time to care to change it.  You're all pretty much lucky I'm even writing this on time!  So here it is this week again in no particular order:

1.  Creamy Potato Soup - sooo yummy and definitely not healthy!  I'll have to lighten this one up.
2.  Angel Chicken
3.  Chicken and Broccoli with Noodles
4.  Cabbage Roll Stirfry
5.  BBQ Mini Meatloaves with probably rice

Sorry, I scoured the internet and couldn't find all the recipes this week and I don't have the ones I used saved on the computer anywhere.

New Years Resolutions

Well I've thought about it long and hard and I want to try and make some resolutions that I can keep.  They're pretty general as opposed to having specific goals as I can't really schedule myself into anything.  I never know when my daughter's appointments are going to be and she won't tolerate being left with anyone but hubby and I don't have the heart to force her.  So with that being said here they are:

1.  Be more organized - the cupboards, toys...everything
2.  Routine - my 2 year old is on a great daily routine but I'd like to add more interaction with other children on a regular basis for him.  It's been hard up to this point since dear daughter hasn't been on any kind of schedule but I'm noticing lately she's falling into one so I can work around that.  We've also had a sick household pretty much since Dec 1st (son still sick again) so we've been housebound a lot.
3.  Lost the damn baby weight! - This is a MUST as I refuse to buy a new wardrobe.  After 2 kids I now know I'm one of those unlucky few that doesn't lose any weight breastfeeding.  Well now that's all finished for just over a month now (had to get through December!) I need to get back on track with eating better and some working out at home.

That's pretty much it for now.  There's more I'd like to work on but just don't have the time lately.  I play with my kids pretty much all day.

What are your resolutions??

Menu Plan Monday!

Late again I know but kids are sick again!  I have been checking out blogs that have posted their 2011 favourite recipes.  Blogs are great for food ideas as many are run my moms with kids so they usually have limited time in the kitchen and the recipes are kiddie friendly.

1.  Easy mac n cheese - all done in one pot, good, quick and very easy to make
2. Zucchini pizza casserole - good, easy and the toddler loved it
3. Turkey dinner - we haven't had ours yet
4. Asian Quinoa Chicken stir fry- we have quinoa to use
5. Leftovers, appetizers, any other junk - we have to get all the Christmas junk out of the house so we can eat better again

My goals for this year are to make our favourite meals healthier by bumping up the veggie content.  My daughter won't eat off a spoon so I have lots of baby purees to use up now so I figure I can add them to any sauce.