Jamie Oliver & Disney Family Revolution Giveaway

Back in March and April , the show 'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution' took the country by storm and I was thrilled to see the reaction. Whether you liked and agreed with everything he had to say, it was an eye-opener (and hopefully game changer) for Americans and food.

Luckily, Disney Family.com has recognized the importance of eating and living healthy, and wanted to provide tips and advice on slashing sugar, cooking light, healthy recipes and more. That’s why they partnered with Jamie Oliver on brand new site content focused on living better and living well. The site features recipes and tips from Jamie that address how families can rediscover ways to cook simple, delicious and affordable meals. In addition, if you missed any of the episodes of Food Revolution, you can watch them on the site.


This gift pack is provided by Disney Family.com

To celebrate the partnership, I am giving away a gift pack that includes Jamie Oliver’s book 'Jamie’s Food Revolution', Family.com branded over mitts and apron, a cutting board and bowl set. I am looking forward to another household having Jamie's book and hopefully incorporating some of the ideas and recipes into their family meal time.

To enter:
Please leave a comment on this post telling me 'how you encourage your family to make healthy decisions when it comes to food, or let me know a recent, positive lifestyle change you’ve made'.

For 5 bonus entries each (only valid after answering question above):
*‘Like' the Savor the Thyme Facebook Fan Page and leave me comment on the fan page AND on this post telling me you 'liked' the fan page.

*Subscribe to my Newsletter via Facebook and leave a comment that you subscribed.

*Tweet the following (you can tweet everyday for 5 pts. each day!) : 'We are celebrating Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution with a giveaway via @savorthethyme http://alturl.com/a3jg ' (Be sure to leave the tweet ID in a comment on this post.)

This contest ends June 4th at midnight EST

Family, Friends & The Hand Drying Song

So many children, so many reasons to use the Kleenex Hand Towels. Here is an example of a video you can submit for 25 bonus entries for the $50 Gift Card Giveaway:

Kleenex Hand Towels, The Hand Drying Song & a $50 Gift Card

Contest is closed

Recently we celebrated my daughter’s 6th birthday with a party at our house and naturally it was a rainy day. That meant that there were 12 children and all of the parents in our house so this was the perfect opportunity to use a box of Kleenex Hand Towels.

What are Kleenex Hand Towels? They are a fresh clean towel that pop-ups from a nicely designed box that you display in your bathroom or even on the kitchen counter top. What I appreciate is that the sheets are free of inks, dyes and fragrances. When I was young, my mom always put out a nice pile of napkins on the bathroom sink when guests were coming. These napkins always had some nice little colorful design on them but these are a better option. They are also sturdy so I have taught my children that after washing, they can wipe the sink as there always seems to be water on the edges or on the counter.

Normally, we have a hand towel hung in the bathroom and with four of us in the house, it usually lasts a two days or so before I switch it out. If I really think about it, most kids (never mind the adults) do not even bother washing the recommended length of time with soap so we really are sharing germs aren’t we? Yuck! And that is why I am Kleenex Song Ambassador as part of a campaign with The Motherhood and Kleenex. While researching about hand towel useage, I was startled by the CDC facts about hand cleaning, drying and germs.



*Did you know that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends drying Hands with a single-use towel to help prevent the spread of germs? That’s right, they state that drying of hands with a reusable cloth towels is not recommended and should be avoided.

*The CDC also wants us to know that despite our perception, hand drying is just as important as proper hand washing and that even if a hand towel is not visibly dirty it doesn't mean that it is in fact clean. There are even more hand drying facts here.

Not only were these perfect during the birthday party but I think they are perfect when we have guests over, we have an open house or when there are sick people in the house!

Oh, I bet you are dying to know about the Hand Drying Song mentioned in the post title right? Oh, I just love it and so do the kids (trust me, I will post a video and show you)! Kleenex wants you to enjoy this song as part of teaching your children proper hygiene (washing and drying) and have it be fun. Take a listen and sing along:

My hands are gonna be clean

When I wash and I dry with mommy and sing

This song that's exactly two clean hands long

Warm water and soap and bubbles that shine

A Kleenex Hand Towel that's mine all mine

And a song that's exactly two clean hands long

No yucky old towel's gonna ruin my day

I dry my hands the Kleenex towel way

So if you're a fan of clean hands too

Roll up your sleeves and I'll sing with you.

To encourage even more excitement for the Kleenex Hand Towels and the Hand-Drying Song, we are having a contest for a $50 ServiceMaster Gift Card (good for use at Merry Maids. Trugreen and more).

TO ENTER (Please be sure that I have some way of emailing you!): US residents only
*Leave a comment telling me what else you do at home to help prevent the spread of germs.*

Additional Entries: Choose one or all
For 25 bonus entries:
*Make a video of your family either singing the song while washing your hands or listening to the song while you wash your hands. The video needs to be posted on one of the following: The Motherhood Hand Drying Circle OR SavortheThyme YouTube Channel and I need a comment with a link to the video on this post.

For 10 bonus entries each:
*Join The Motherhood's Hand Drying Song Circle and leave a comment on this post AND The Motherhood Circle.

*Post photo/s of your family using the towels on The Motherhood Hand Drying Circle containing a link to this contest/post AND leave a comment here letting me know you posted the photos.

For 5 bonus entries each:
*‘Like' the Savor the Thyme Facebook Fan Page and leave me comment on the fan page AND on this post.

*Subscribe to my Newsletter via Facebook and leave a comment that you subscribed.

*Tweet the following (once everyday for 5 pt each day!) : 'We are singing the Kleenex Hand Drying Song & Entered to win a $50 Gift Card via @savorthethyme http://bit.ly/dazvLf #KleenexSong' then leave the tweet ID in a comment on this post.

This contest ends May 15th

**Disclosure: This is a compensated promotion with TheMotherhood.com and Kleenex**

Celebrating Earth Day Series - Hanes EcoSmart & Arbor Day Foundation

What an exciting week this is because we will be enjoying some great Earth Day celebrations next week, family coming to visit, my daughter's birthday and lots of parties. To celebrate Earth Day, I am going to bring you some great posts for a week, starting off with this one about Hanes.

Our family loves Hanes: From my husbands drawers stocked with their undershirts, to their Tees that I use for layering, to the tagless undies that are my daughters favorites, we are always well-stocked. So, I was thrilled to learn about some steps that Hanes is making to make their products more eco-friendly and contribute to Earth Day by teaming up with the Arbor Day Foundation.

A. How is Hanes working towards being more Eco-friendly? First of all, they have launched Hanes Green (I have sure you have seen some of the news commercials) to share what they are working towards:

*At the end of 2009, approximately 30% of the energy we used came from clean, renewable sources

*Since 2007, our energy efficiency programs have reduced the amount of energy we use to make our products by 11 percent.

*In 2010, we were named an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star Partner of the Year

*They currently have 3 LEED certifications and have applied for four more.

*Their CO2 emissions feel 41% for some divisions and thy have reduced they water use per product by 18%.

*Most exciting to me is their current release of the EcoSmart textiles that are made of recycled plastic and other end textile end products that are normally throw away.

B. Partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation From April 1 - May 15, 2010, when you purchase three Hanes products, you will receive a free Earth Day t-shirt with proof of purchase through mail-in redemption. For every t-shirt redeemed, Hanes will make a $1 donation to the Arbor Day Foundation. For every $1 of Hanes donations, the Arbor Day Foundation will plant a tree, up to 20,000 on Hanes' behalf.


Wait, you want to try to win an Earth T-shirt?
To enter: Leave a comment telling me 'What Earth friendly or 'green' practices do you use at home, work or on the road?'

Additional Entries (Null if entry above not completed): These are optional however, you must leave a comment for each one separately.

1. Join the Savor the Thyme Facebook Fan Page and leave a comment with your FB name

2. Follow @savorthethyme on Twitter.

3. Post this on Twitter (can do every day if you wish but need separate comment for each entry) 'Celebrating Earth Day with @savorthethyme & @hanescomfort Giveaway! http://bit.ly/aMwg9s

4. Subscribe to the Savor the Thyme RSS feed (on the right sidebar).

Eating your Words: The Judge (initials AZ)

As if the challenge itself and the prize is not enough, we have asked Chef Andrew Zimmern to decide the winner for the Eating your Words challenge!! Yes, the fabulous Mr. Zimmern of Bizaare Foods on The Travel Channel. You have watched this show right? If not, you are missing out on a show that Slashfood named as one of the Top 10 Food Shows, so start watching!



The plan is that Noodle and I are going to present Chef Zimmern with the finalists and he will choose the winner. Both the round-up and winner will be posted within 1 week of the March 31st deadline.

We all know he appreciates creative, unique and fun food so get into the kitchen and let the food do the talking! If you need inspiration, take a peek at last year's entries:

Eating Your Words Roundup, Part I
Eating Your Words Roundup, Part II

A few teasers from last year:

Fake Free Food TangledNoodle

The Decorated Cookie

If you would like to tweet along, please follow @Savorthethyme , @TangledNoodle and @AndrewZimmern on twitter and the hashtag #eatingyourwords

I Heart Beef & Omaha Steaks $100 Giveaway

Contest Closed: Congratulations to Carol Anderson Ezovski

There are not many of us in the US that have not grown up with beef or special memories of family meals that did not involve beef. Here is the one that I thought of immediately: Mom's Beef Stew.

I remember that my sister, mom and I lived in this small apartment and my mom worked two jobs. Because of her work schedule and getting home after 5:00 each day, she made dinner late at night to reheat for the next days dinner. I vividly recall the scents of the beef stew simmering. It kept me up late some nights. I loved this meal and felt proud of how easily I ate the veggies in it.

Oh yes, I bet you want to know about the giveaway right? I am talking a $100 online gift card giveaway to Omaha Steaks.

How to enter: You must do both for a valid entry (can do in one or sep. comments) and be sure that a valid email address is available.

1. Share your "Favorite memories of making everyday occasions special with beef” or 'Why you heart beef.'

2. Please link to something that you found helpful on the “Beef It’s What’s For Dinner” website. A tip, recipe etc.

Additional Entries (Null if entry above not completed): These are optional however, you MUST leave a comment for each one separately.

1. Join the Savor the Thyme Facebook Fan Page and leave a comment with your FB name

2. Follow @savorthethyme on Twitter.

3. Post this on Twitter (can do every day if you wish but need separate comment for each entry) "Entered to win $100 Omaha Steaks Gift Certificate from @savorthethyme @Beeffordinner. Plz RT http://bit.ly/dxhhLz #iheartbeef

4. Follow @BeefForDinner on Twitter

5. Subscribe to the Savor the Thyme RSS feed (on the right sidebar).

6. Become a fan of Beef It's What's For Dinner on Facebook and leave a comment with your FB name

Contest ends 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, February 28, 2010.

Later this week, I will be sharing both the special Valentine's meal that I made my hubby with help from 'Beef Its What for Dinner' Website and the first grass fed ground burgers that we made this week.

To improve your chances of winning (but can only win 1 of the contests), here are the links to this contest on my colleagues blogs: Chef Druck , Robins Online World , ModernMami, Mommy's Must Haves, A Southern FairyTale, Mama Law , The Busy Dad Blog

I am participating in this giveaway while working on a “I Heart Beef” campaign with TheMotherhood.com on behalf of The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

General Mills Back To School Savings & $10 Grocery Card

You all may not know this but Cascadian Farms & the Muir Glen product lines are General Mills products and some of my favorites organic lines. I would guess that we buy 2 boxes of the cascadian farm cereals per week and love their bars. In fact, their white chocolate chip bars are referred to as 'Mommy bars' in this house. The kids love the chocolate chip and peanut butter bars. It is my way of giving them a snack and satisfying their sweet cravings in one product. I will be posting a video later and will show how well I scored on their cereals this week.

At any rate, General Mills and Stop & Shop have teamed up with My Blog Spark to promote the General Mills Back-to-School Saving Event that runs from Sept 4-10th. This event includes sale pricing on the participating General Mills brands and additional savings for you or your school, depending on which Stop & Shop location you shop at:

If your Stop & Shop store sells gas:
*Buy four (4) participating General Mills items and you’ll automatically earn 100 points on your Stop & Shop card
*For every 100 points earned, you'll save 10¢ per gallon of gas (Please note: Total discount cannot exceed price per gallon)
*Just swipe your Stop & Shop Card at the pump to redeem your Gas Rewards

If your Stop & Shop store doesn’t sell gas:
For those Stop & Shop locations without gas stations, don’t worry – you’re not left out of the savings – if you buy five (5) participating General Mills products, you will receive 20 Bonus Box Tops for your school.

My Blog Spark and Stop & Shop gave me a $10 S&S card and you can win one as well!!

To enter for a chance to win, you are required to do four things (make sure you leave a separate comment for each of your entries).

Note: Entries that do not follow all of these requirements will not be considered. U.S. Only. Contest ends Thursday, September 10th.

1. Become a fan of the Savor the Thyme Facebook page. I know it needs work but join in!
2. Follow Savor the Thyme blog (see right sidebar).
3. Follow @savorthethyme on Twitter.
4. Post these messages on Facebook and/or on Twitter and leave comments here, linking to your messages:
GIVEAWAY! Enter for a chance to win a $10 grocery card @savorthethyme http://alturl.com/ibej PLS RT