• A reusable bag (a YoBaby one while supplies last, a Stonyfield bag thereafter)
• YoBaby travel bowl with lid and utensils
• Eric Carl growth chart
• 5 free YoBaby meals coupons
• YoBaby organic cotton bib

Here’s how to enter:

1. Leave your name, email address, and blog URL (if you have one) in the comments below for ONE entry.
2. If you have a blog, feel free to post about this contest on it for ONE entry.
3. Join the This Mama Cooks! Facebook page for ONE entry.
4. Sign up for This Mama Cooks! Review’s RSS feed for ONE entry.
5. Sign up for my enewsletter for ONE entry.
6. Spread the word about this giveaway by submitting a link to this post on Twitter for ONE entry. You must leave your username for that site in your comment so I can check.
7. If you have done any of these activities you MUST come back here and leave a comment telling me what you did. I will be checking!
8. Maximum amount of entries at This Mama Cooks! Reviews is SIX – leaving a comment here (1), posting about it on your blog (1), signing up for my enewsletter (1), signing up for my RSS feed (1), using Twitter (1), and joining the This Mama Cooks! Facebook page (1).
9. You have until midnight MT on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 to enter.
10. THREE winners will be chosen at random.
11. You must be willing to send me your full name and mailing address so I pass it on to Stonyfield Farms, so they can mail out your prize pack.
12. I will also announce the winners on this blog. I will not share your mailing info with the public, just your name. If you have a blog, I will link back to it when I announce the winners.

The giveaway is valued at $38.45 and is only open to legal residents of the United States 18 years of age and older. No purchase required. Up to SIX entries per person. THREE prize packs will be given away. Void where prohibited by law. By submitting your name and email address, you agree to receive relevant promotional emails and contest follow up communications from This Mama Cooks! Reviews and This Mama Cooks! On a Diet in compliance with my privacy policy and giveaway rules.
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*I received no compensation to do this giveaway.

My kids are young enough that YoBaby yogurts were around when they were teeny. But YoBaby Meals are different. They offer a 3-in-1 combination of protein-packed yogurt plus fruit plus vegetable purée in one cup. There’s no more getting out two or three jars of stuff and mixing a bit up of each at meal time. Plus, these are easy to stash in an insulated cooler bag when you’re out and about or traveling. Perfect for the grandparents to serve when they’re babysitting, too.

The big kid taste test

YoBaby Meals come in three flavors: Pear & Green Bean, Peach & Squash, Apple & Sweet Potato. Since they come in 6-ounce cups, they’re just right for older and bigger babies and toddlers who need more food than what comes in a 4-ounce YoBaby container.

Dare I say that they’re not bad for older kids, too? I had my nine-year-old son, Nathan, try out the Pear & Green Bean flavor. I was convinced that he’d find that combination kind of weird. Instead, he ate the whole thing and told me, “That was really great, mom.” He liked the other two flavors as well. These would make a nice snack or lunch bag meal for bigger kids, too. However, since they’re higher in fat content than I’d like (5 grams per serving), I’ll stick with the YoKids yogurt or Squeezers (1 gram per serving) for Nathan and his sister. (Babies need foods higher in fat content since their brains are growing so rabidly, while older children don’t.)

Click here to download your YoBaby Meals coupon.

The “your baby will love it” guarantee

I love that not only are YoBaby Meals a way to give your child a trio of important food groups at every meal, but that they’re an all natural and certified organic Stonyfield Farm product. Even better, if your baby doesn’t love YoBaby Meals, Stonyfield says to give them a call at 1-800-PRO-COWS (776-2697) to let them know about your experience, and they’ll send you out a free coupon for another 6-oz. cup of Stonyfield Yogurt.

Rules:

• Coupon good for any one (1) 6-oz. Stonyfield organic yogurt, YoBaby Meals, or O’Soy Yogurt.
• Valid in U.S. only.
• Limit one (1) coupon/request per family, household, or address.<
• No group or organization requests.
• No cash refunds will be given.
• Offer expires 11/30/09.
• Allow 6 to 8 weeks for receipt of coupon.
• Void where prohibited.
• Stonyfield reserves the right to require proof of purchase, including, but not limited to, product packaging and original purchase receipt.

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Full disclosure: Stonyfield sent out sample coupon for us to try YoBaby Meals along with a coupon book for all their other products.

However, I’ve been a Stonyfield fan since my kids were babies eating YoBaby yogurts. And while I never met a Greek yogurt I didn’t like, I try to eat their Oikos Greek yogurt several times a week, and pay for it out of my own pocket thank you very much.

One of the videos on their channel features a demonstration of plank grilling Wild Alaskan Salmon and a fish called Arctic Charr. I’m glad to see that they’re featuring wild caught fish as it’s so much better for you than farm raised salmon, which are not sustainable. No surprise that Bonefish Grill is dedicated to the responsible management of our ocean fisheries.

Find the recipe for Wild Alaskan Salmon Cedar-Plank Style with Mango Rum Sauce & Arctic Charr Cedar-Plank Style with Chorizo here.

Win a $25 Bonefish Grill gift certificate

I hope watching the videos have given you an appetite. If so, how about entering my giveaway for TWO $25 gift certificates? These would make a nice present for friends, families or teachers. Or keep it for yourself and take your sweetie to dinner.

Congrats to my winners:

• Denise at Eat Play Love
• Tuesday Girl at A Girl and Her Life
  

Here’s how to enter:

1. Leave your name, email address, and blog URL (if you have one) in the comments below for ONE entry.
2. If you have a blog, feel free to post about this contest on it for ONE entry.
3. Join the This Mama Cooks! Facebook page for ONE entry.
4. Sign up for This Mama Cooks! Review’s RSS feed for ONE entry.
5. Sign up for my enewsletter for ONE entry.
6. Spread the word about this giveaway by submitting a link to this post on Twitter for ONE entry. You must leave your username for that site in your comment so I can check.
7. If you have done any of these activities you MUST come back here and leave a comment telling me what you did. I will be checking!
8. Maximum amount of entries at This Mama Cooks! Reviews is SIX – leaving a comment here (1), posting about it on your blog (1), signing up for my enewsletter (1), signing up for my RSS feed (1), using Twitter (1), and joining the This Mama Cooks! Facebook page (1).
9. You have until midnight MT on Monday, November 2, 2009 to enter.
10. TWO winners will be chosen at random.
11. You must be willing to send me your full name and mailing address so I can mail out your gift certificate.
12. I will announce the winners by November 4, 2009 on this blog. I will not share your mailing info with the public, just your name. If you have a blog, I will link back to it when I announce the winners.

The giveaway is valued at $25 and is only open to legal residents of the United States 18 years of age and older. No purchase required. Up to SIX entries per person. TWO $25 gift certificates will be given away. Void where prohibited by law. By submitting your name and email address, you agree to receive relevant promotional emails and contest follow up communications from This Mama Cooks! Reviews and This Mama Cooks! On a Diet in compliance with my privacy policy and giveaway rules.

___________________________

*I received no compensation to do this giveaway

Another advantage of sending my kids to a tech savvy school is that the teachers recommend websites for the kids to visit to play learning games or help them with assignments. So visiting sites like BrainFuel at BrainFuel4Kids.com has become part of our afternoon homework routine.

BrainFuel aims to help take your child’s learning to the next level. Research suggests key changes in diet, exercise, and sleep can enhance cognitive abilities, so BrainFuel features sections like Brain Food, Healthy Brain, and Brain Games aimed at engaging kids and parents. The site also runs a Brain Forum, where parents can discuss our kids eating habits or ask a question of the forums’ registered dieticians.

Brain games and cool facts

Try the challenging games for kids and adults from Lumosity.com designed to promote quicker thinking, better concentration, and improved memory. I tried out the Color Match game, which isn’t as easy as you think. Also, I’m embarrassed to admit as a writer how hard the World Bubble game was. Luckily, I’m really good at Lost in Migration, though I’m not sure what that says about me. (To find out how you compare to people your own age you have to go to Lumosity and sign up. Warning: the games are addictive!)

I love the nutritional and health info on the site, for example Can Proper Nutrition Improve School Performance? and Kick the Caffeine. Not only does it give you some fast info (what you’d tell the kids) but links to research articles.

Feedback

My biggest problem with the site is that the navigation is confusing and there’s no search box. The easiest way to find articles is to use the sitemap. I’d like them to feature more nutritious and fun recipes, too.

I also hope that California Innovations and Arctic Zone, the developers of the BrainFuel site, keep adding new content and games so users want to continue coming back. (Full disclosure: I love California Innovations and have been using their thermal bags for years. I’m glad to see them extend their brand by helping out families with health and nutrition advice.)

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Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central. For my time, I received a free one-month membership to Lumosity.com and an insulated lunch bag from California Innovations with special coupons from their partners Dole and Juicy Juice.

But what about pudding? My kids have always loved having a cup of chocolate pudding in their lunch bags or as a snack at home. And I liked having them on hand because they’re shelf stable and you don’t have to worry about refrigeration. But there’s a trade off to that convenience – partially hydrogenated oils, oodles of sugar and fat.

So when ZenSoy, the makers of ZenSoy Organic Soy Pudding and Soy On the Go, asked me to review their product, I was hoping to find a healthy alternative to traditional pudding packs.

ZenSoy Organic Soy Pudding and Soy On the Go are USDA certified organic and lactose free. (All ZenSoy products are vegan friendly, gluten free and lactose free, too.) Yummy ZenSoy Organic Soy Pudding comes in chocolate, vanilla, banana or chocolate-vanilla swirl and Soy On the Go comes in chocolate, vanilla or cappuccino flavors. Both are excellent sources of Omega-3 DHA, low-fat protein, and heart-healthy isoflavones from the soy protein.

Lunch bag pudding fail

I took my free sample coupons I received from ZenSoy’s PR person and got a 4-pack of chocolate pudding and another of chocolate/vanilla swirl pudding from the organic dairy case at King Soopers (Krogers). It was nice to get an “alternative” food product at my local grocery store instead of having to drive 45 minutes to Whole Foods for once. It’s good to see that ZenSoy has good store distribution.

The kids were excited about the pudding, liked the cute panda on the packaging, and couldn’t wait for me to send them off to school with some in their lunch bags. However, when they came home, a different story emerged. It seems that if the pudding isn’t kept refrigerator cool, it liquefies and begins to separate. (Both kids have an insulated lunch sack in which I place a freezer pack.) They brought home the offending pudding to show me. It did look gross, so I threw it away.

I had my son Nathan taste test a ZenSoy pudding straight from the refrigerator. He said it was too chocolaty (!) and gave me the remainder to try. I personally liked both types of the chocolate puddings. They had a dark chocolate taste and creamy mouth feel. Still it’s probably more of a grownup deep chocolate flavor than the sweet, milk chocolate the kids are used to.

ZenSoy’s products would be terrific for kids who are lactose intolerant and can enjoy them at home since they are not something you can pack in a school lunch, unfortunately. However, the ZenSoy puddings are as high in sugar content (15-20g from Certified Organic Granulated Cane Juice) as conventional puddings.