This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Pop-Tarts.

I have to admit that when I first heard about the new Pop-Tarts® Ice Cream Shoppe^TM Vanilla Milkshake flavor of Pop-Tarts, I was intrigued. After all, we love the Pop-Tarts in our house. Our little guy wouldn’t eat anything except Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts for breakfast when he was three, and I personally have a soft spot for the Pop-Tarts-as-dessert option. So needless to say, the Vanilla Milkshake variety sounded promising.

And do you know what? They are TASTY. The combination of the pastry crust and the vanilla flavor makes for a Pop-Tart that reminds me, honestly, of a really flavorful pie crust. That’s not to say that the Vanilla Milkshake flavor wouldn’t be great for breakfast or for a snack (I have a seven year-old who will vouch for the snack-time deliciousness), but the first time I tried it I thought, “Ooooooh – this would be so good as the crust for a dessert.”

And that, my friends, is how Vanilla Milkshake Sundae Pie was born.

It’s so simple to make – and the kids in your life will clap their hands when you brighten up their 4th of July with this special dessert treat.

Okay. They may not really clap their hands. But they’ll love you forever. And that is even better.

Pop-Tarts Vanilla Milkshake Sundae Pie

4 Vanilla Milkshake Pop-Tarts
2 pints vanilla ice cream (any flavor would work, actually), softened
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
1 container chocolate syrup
1 container Reddi-Whip (optional)

Arrange Pop-Tarts in bottom of 8×8 casserole dish (you’ll have about a half of a Pop-Tart left – I like to sample the leftover half, purely in the interest of quality control, you understand). Spread ice cream on top and smooth out to make a level surface. Cover and return to freezer for 10 minutes. Remove from freezer, then cover with strawberries in whatever pattern you’d like. Drizzle with chocolate syrup. Cut and serve, then squirt a little Reddi-Whip on top. Makes 8-10 servings.

Oh, it is festive. Look!

Granted, I was in a little bit of a hurry when I made this one, but I think it was a hit with the family, don’t you?

If you’d like to enter to win a $100 gift card courtesy of BlogHer, just answer one simple question in the comments:

What’s your favorite dessert to serve on the 4th of July? Homemade ice cream? A fresh, juicy watermelon? A flag cake?

I can’t wait to hear all of your great ideas, and be sure to check out the BlogHer.com special offers page – you have 9 other chances to win!

You can find the official rules right here, and you can find all sorts of great dessert ideas on the official Pop-Tarts Sprinklings site. If you’re wondering just how creative you can get with Pop-Tarts, you need only look at the Sprinkly Ice Cream Bites.

Happy 4th, y’all!

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Tropicana.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Melanie and I took our kids to the beach for a few days. We were looking forward to spending a whole lot of time on the beach and in the Gulf, but once the oil spill started moving in in the direction of northwest Florida, we knew we’d better have a little bit of a back-up plan in terms of how we were going to spend our days.

Before we left home we checked the Juicy Rewards site to see if there were any nearby family fun centers/amusement parks where we could entertain the kids in light of bad weather or, you know, OIL. There was actually a really nice arcade/putt-putt/go-kart place just a few miles from our condo, so we redeemed points, printed out coupons, and figured we’d head that way at some point during our beach trip.

We had two great days on the beach, but by the third afternoon, the tar had started to roll in. So the next morning, we grabbed our coupons, sunscreened the kids, and headed out to play a little putt-putt. My expectations weren’t very high, but I figured if nothing else our excursion would be good for killing some time.

Much to my surprise, we had a BLAST. We used buy-one-get-one rewards for putt-putt and go-karts, and those rewards made a huge difference in our overall cost. The place where we went was super-nice, really kid-friendly, and a great diversion in the midst of more than a little sadness about what was happening in the Gulf. It was as hot as blue blazes on the putt-putt course, so the air-conditioned arcade (with Icees!) was a balm for our sun-scorched souls. We loved the go-karts for big kids and for little kids, and the bumper boats were the perfect way for the kids to cool off at the end of a long day.

Big fun indeed.

It was such a great way to spend the day with our kids, and Melanie and I were so grateful that we remembered to print off the Juicy Rewards coupons before we left home. The memories we made that day will stick with us for a very long time. Just thinking about it makes my heart smile.

What about you? What’s something fun you’ve done with your family this summer? Tell me about it in the comments, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a $50 gift card courtesy of BlogHer.

Be sure to visit the other participating bloggers’ reviews on the BlogHer.com special offers page (you have seven chances to win!).

If you haven’t signed up for Juicy Rewards yet, you can earn a free rewards point after you set up your account. Here’s how:

1. Go to http://www.tropicana.com/
2. Set-up your Tropicana Juicy Rewards account
3. Visit the “Enter Codes” page within the site and get started with:
BLOGG-HER11 *
*This one-time use code is valid for new accounts ONLY. Must be entered within 6 hours of creating your account.

You can find more information on the official site, and here’s a link to the official rules.

This giveaway is now closed.

This is a sponsored review from BlogHer and WE tv.

I like to think that I wasn’t a high-maintenance bride-to-be. Oh, I had my moments – like when I couldn’t decide on an everyday china pattern and when I didn’t feel like anything in my closet was pretty enough to wear to our rehearsal dinner.

You know, major life problems. Earth-shattering events.

But in all seriousness, I loved being engaged. I loved addressing wedding invitations, writing thank-you notes – the whole deal. I tried on three wedding gowns, decided on one, and pretty much skipped out of the bridal salon. I let my friend Bubba pick out my flowers. I let Mama and her friends plan all the food. I did my own hair. And while I probably could’ve been more thorough with some of the details, I was just as married when I walked out of the church as I would’ve been if I had stressed out for the five months preceding the wedding.

I just think that I was so ready to be married that the wedding wasn’t nearly as important to me. And I have never for one second regretted that more laid-back approach.

However.

Because I was a fairly low-key bride, I am fascinated – FASCINATED – by shows like “Bridezillas.” It’s a show I’ve watched before, and it cracks me up. It’s part of WE tv’s Ultimate Wedding Sunday (along with “My Fair Wedding,” a really sweet show about making people’s wedding-related dreams come true), and I recently got to watch a preview of an upcoming “Bridezillas” episode that features two brides-to-be named Martina and Natalie.

Now here’s the thing. Martina and Natalie are both beautiful girls. And they’re both engaged to guys who seem really kind and understanding. But what Martina and Natalie have in common is a tendency to get a little, um, wound up about wedding details, and oh, is it ever entertaining to watch. We see Martina obsess over painting an aisle runner (I seriously didn’t know that it was possible to personalize such a thing) and whether or not people are going to adhere to her “strict no-child policy” at the ceremony (and if you watch, be sure to check out Martina’s mom’s reactions to her daughter’s demands – made me laugh out loud). Natalie can’t bear the thought of giving up her maiden name and is so worried that one of her bridesmaids hasn’t picked out the right dress that she makes her try it on in the middle of a pedicure.

You know what you call that, my friends? TV GOLD.

Now that I’m a little older and (hopefully) a little wiser than I was when I walked down the aisle thirteen years ago, I wish with everything in me that I could crawl into the TV and tell Martina and Natalie that, at the end of the day, being married is way more important than having a perfect wedding. The wedding, by comparison, is easy-breezy. Marriage is work. But oh, IT IS WORTH IT. I hope Martina and Natalie will feel the same way after they’ve been married for awhile.

To celebrate the season premiere of The Ultimate Wedding Sunday on Sunday, June 6th at 9 eastern / 8 central, BlogHer and WE tv are giving away a $100 Visa gift card. If you’d like to try to win, all you have to do is answer one question:

What was your favorite part of your wedding day? And if you’re not married, then answer this: What’s the best wedding you’ve ever attended?

My favorite part? So easy.

All the people who shared the day with us. I can’t even tell you how touched I was when I walked in the sanctuary doors and saw the pews filled with people who just meant the world to us. It still makes me teary-eyed when I think about it.

Make sure you leave an accurate email address in your comment (that’s how I’ll contact the winner), and if you’d like to take advantage of four more chances to win, check out the BlogHer.com special offers page.

And as always, there are official rules for your joy and perusal.

Good luck, everybody.

Or to use a little wedding lingo: best wishes!

This giveaway is now closed.

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Tropicana.

When it comes to orange-flavored breakfast foods, I’m a decided fan.

Orange rolls with cream cheese icing? Sure.
Orange scones with cranberries? Yes, please.
Orange banana smoothie? Oh, I believe I will.

So when I saw a recipe for orange muffins on allrecipes.com, I knew that I had to try them. And I may or may not have baked them around 9:00 at night so that I could, um, sample them before I served them to my family for breakfast the next morning.

I am just that selfless, people.

Here’s the recipe:

Orange Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
2/3 cup orange juice (I used Tropicana, of course)
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup ground walnuts (optional)
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, white sugar and grated orange peel. Stir in orange juice, 1/2 cup melted butter, eggs and chopped nuts.

Pour into 12 muffin cups.

Blend 1 tablespoon melted margarine, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on top of each muffin. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve hot.

You’ll be happy to know that I took a picture of all the assembled ingredients. It was a momentous occasion, the making of the new muffin recipe, and I felt that it should be preserved for posterity.

I left out the orange zest because, well, I didn’t have an orange on hand. I also added about a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract – just because I love it.

Anyway, I mixed everything together, poured the batter in the muffin cups, and 25 minutes later, here’s what was waiting for me.

And when I cut open the muffins, here’s what that delicious brown sugar / butter / cinnamon mixture had done.

YES MA’AM.

Then, to enhance the orange flavor just a smidge, I mixed together 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of Tropicana orange juice and 1 tablespoon half and half. I heated the mixture over low heat until the powdered sugar was dissolved, then poured about a teaspoon on top of each muffin (I poked holes in the muffins with a fork beforehand).

Let me just tell you: that whole making-a-glaze thing was a very good decision indeed.

The muffins were very tasty – almost cupcake-like in their consistency – and they were so easy to make. I’ll definitely use this recipe again.

What about you? What’s your favorite breakfast food? Do you tend to err on the side of sweet or savory? Tell me about it in the comments, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a $50 gift card courtesy of BlogHer.

Be sure to visit the other participating bloggers’ reviews on the BlogHer.com special offers page (you have seven chances to win!).

If you haven’t signed up for Juicy Rewards yet, you can earn a free rewards point after you set up your account. Here’s how:

1. Go to http://www.tropicana.com/
2. Set-up your Tropicana Juicy Rewards account
3. Visit the “Enter Codes” page within the site and get started with:
BLOGG-HER11 *
*This one-time use code is valid for new accounts ONLY. Must be entered within 6 hours of creating your account.

You can find more information on the official site, and here’s a link to the official rules.

This giveaway is now closed.

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Tropicana.

When I started participating in Juicy Rewards, I knew that, if nothing else, I’d use the Adidas discount like crazy. I was right about that. In fact, just as soon as I add a few more points in my Juicy Rewards account, I’m ordering these shoes for the little man.

They’re going to come in handy considering that his current pair of Adidas have about half an inch of tread left on them. All of his outdoor adventures have been a little rough on his shoes. But oh, the memories. They’ve skinned many an elbow together.

Anyway, what I didn’t expect from Juicy Rewards is how my points would help me on Mother’s Day.

Yep. Mother’s Day. Perhaps I should explain.

The week before Mother’s Day it dawned on me that I needed to order gifts for my mother and mother-in-law. Since we’d already decided to give them flowers, I was planning to call a florist and place the order that way, but just as I was about to do that, a thought hit me out of nowhere: I wonder if there’s some kind of discount for flowers on the Juicy Rewards site?

As it turned out, there was a $15 discount for 1800flowers.com. I’d never ordered flowers through their site before, but since redeeming the discount was so convenient, I decided to give it a shot. Then I scrolled through all the options and found the bouquet that I thought looked the most like my mama.

Isn’t that just cheerful and happy and pretty and good? The fact that I saved $15 was an added bonus. And even better? Mama thought they were absolutely beautiful. They arrived just in time for a luncheon she was hosting last Saturday, and she was oh-so-tickled.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

I redeemed three more points to get another $15 discount on my mother-in-law’s gift. I was having the hardest time finding flowers that looked like her, and on a whim I clicked on the 1800baskets.com tab at the top of the webpage. The discount applied there, too, and look what I found for my sugar-loving mother-in-law:

Y’all don’t understand. Cookies and sweets are her love language. And the Cheryl & Co. cookies were a HUGE hit – definitely a gift item to remember for occasions to come.

What about you? What’s the best gift that you’ve received (or given) recently? Tell me about it in the comments, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a $50 gift card courtesy of BlogHer.

Be sure to visit the other participating bloggers’ reviews on the BlogHer.com special offers page (you have seven chances to win!).

If you haven’t signed up for Juicy Rewards yet, you can earn a free rewards point after you set up your account. Here’s how:

1. Go to http://www.tropicana.com/
2. Set-up your Tropicana Juicy Rewards account
3. Visit the “Enter Codes” page within the site and get started with:
BLOGG-HER11 *
*This one-time use code is valid for new accounts ONLY. Must be entered within 6 hours of creating your account.

You can find more information on the official site, and here’s a link to the official rules.

This giveaway is now closed.

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Tropicana.

I am a person who craves family time. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just need time with my people. And while I am just as happy as I can be if said family time involves staying in our pajamas all day and bowling on the Wii, it’s always a special treat when we can get together with our extended family or do something a little out of the ordinary.

So, because it’s springtime and we are finally able to hang outside again after a very long, very gray winter, I thought I’d make a little list of our top five favorite family activities. I’m not going to include pajama time on the list because that one’s pretty much a given from day to day (just sayin’), so just know that in between these somewhat more active pursuits, there’s a whole lot of book reading while wearing some sort of flannel in our house. It’s who we are. It’s what we do.

1. Soccer

Our little guy is playing his fourth season of soccer, and his games have turned into something we really enjoy as a family. It helps that the kids actually understand the game now. Because I’m telling you: those first couple of seasons, while adorable enough, were the sporting equivalent sitting in bleachers so that we could watch a toddler try to herd cats. It’s so much more fun now, and it’s a great way to spend a Saturday morning. Plus, our new folding chairs that we ordered through Tropicana Juicy Rewards have made the games even more enjoyable. For reals.

2. Get-togethers with the great big family

We love being with our extended family, and since we’re all sort of scattered around Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, it’s a treat for the younger cousins to be able to run and play and scream together. There’s nothing like sitting around a table with people who have known you since you were born – and I can’t wait to see how the littlest generation carries on the tradition.

3. Mississippi State games

We discovered this past fall that spending a day at a college football game is SOLID GOLD in terms of family time. We made some priceless memories and had an absolute blast. Basketall and baseball games are just as fun. But if it’s blazing hot at the baseball game, then I would suggest that you can have just as much fun watching the game on television, just as the good Lord intended.

4. An afternoon at the bookstore or library

This might sound a little boring to some people, but this is one of our favorites.There’s something about finding a cozy corner in a bookstore and snuggling up to look at some books. The combination of the quiet and the snuggling usually makes me a little drowsy, but oh my goodness it’s a relaxing way to spend an afternoon. Our little guy loves to read, so he’s always super-excited when his daddy and I suggest this family time option.

5. The beach

It’s our happy place. Plain and simple. If I could go anywhere in the world with my people – besides home, of course – the beach would be it. We all love being there, and every time we leave, we can’t wait to go back. Family time perfection, it is.

What about you? Tell me one of your favorite family time activities in the comments, and you’ll be entered to win a $50 Visa gift card (courtesy of BlogHer).

Can’t wait to hear about what your family loves to do together!

Be sure to visit the other participating bloggers’ reviews on the BlogHer.com special offers page (you have seven chances to win!).

If you haven’t signed up for Juicy Rewards yet, you can earn a free rewards point after you set up your account. Here’s how:

1. Go to http://www.tropicana.com/
2. Set-up your Tropicana Juicy Rewards account
3. Visit the “Enter Codes” page within the site and get started with:
BLOGG-HER11 *
*This one-time use code is valid for new accounts ONLY. Must be entered within 6 hours of creating your account.

You can find more information on the official site, and here’s a link to the official rules.

This giveaway is now closed.