I finally won a giveaway!!!

Let's all take a moment and marvel at the fact that I FINALLY WON A GIVEAWAY!!  I can't even remember the last time I entered a giveaway contest and won something.  Maybe never.  I really can't remember ever receiving anything.

But that all changed when I won this giveaway!

I was really excited to win this giveaway since these are items that I actively use or that I know I will have a bunch of fun trying out.

We currently use the NuStevia Powder sweetener in small amounts in our morning oatmeal.

The Vanilla Stevia liquid is something that I can't wait to try in coffee, oatmeal, maybe the occasional iced coffee treat (not now that we're approaching winter though - that will have to wait till summer), and things like that.

The More Fiber Baking Blend was an extra bonus the company threw in, not part of the giveaway, and was not something I'm familiar with.  Apparently it will give me more fiber and I can use it in baking as a sweetener.  Great!  I've been looking for some other sweetener options in William's morning breakfast bakes other than just straight up banana.  Don't get me wrong, I don't think he really minds if every. single. bake. is flavored with banana. and. nothing. else.  But I like to experiment with healthier sweeteners anyways, knowing that even though I personally don't consume a lot of baked goods, I'm sure that one day I will end up incorporating a bit more baking back into our diet for our children.  So this is great that I get a chance to experiment with it!

So what is stevia?  Stevia is an natural herbal sweetener that is much sweeter than sugar, much lower in carbohydrates and has negligable effect on blood glucose levels, making it a great sweetener for diabetics and other carb-controlled diets.  I love that I can add 1/4-1/2 tsp of it to my morning bowl of oats and get way more sweet bang for my buck than I could with the same amount of processed white sugar, plus I'm not putting those extra calories in my body.

So, am I excited about my first giveaway win??  Totally.  :-D

Quiet times and a SWEET giveaway I found!

Not quiet times over here at the house, but quiet times on the blog right now.  I'm trying to manage taking care of my toddler, get a solid exercise routine going 5-6 days a week (something I've never been able to do), hold down the fort with my husband working so much, and take on extra students.  The extra students being a super big blessing right now, while our income is lower, but also taking more of my "free/blogging" time away - as to be expected.

So, less blogging.

But there is another great giveaway going on, happening over at Raw Juice Girl's blog, Healing with Raw Juices. The giveaway will have 4 winners, so I'm really really hoping and crossing my fingers I might be one of them this time.  Never yet won a giveaway.  This would be a great one to win.

Oh.  What is being given away?  Good question.  NuNaturals Stevia products!  Specifically a 50ct box of powdered stevia packets, and a 2oz bottle of Vanilla flavored liquid stevia.  What is stevia?  Only an awesome little natural, sugar-less, herbal sweetener that makes a great addition to just about anything you need sweetened - oatmeal, coffee, baked goods, lemonade, smoothies, etc.

So if you are in the mood to try some herbal sweetener in your life in place of sugar, head on over to Raw Juice Girl and enter the giveaway!  Deadline is Thursday September 22, so you have some time, but don't delay too much!

Nutrimill Giveaway at Heavenly Homemakers!

There is a fantastic giveaway going on right now at Heavenly Homemakers blog.

Have you ever wanted to grind your own flour?  Rather, grind your own grain into fresh, healthy flour?

Well here is your chance to get a grain mill for free!  Hop on over to Heavenly Homemakers and enter!  There are several ways to earn extra entries, so get busy!

I'm so interested in grinding my own more unusual flours - like millet, quinoa, chickpea, and the like.  But grinding some good old wheat berries, buckwheat, and oat groats as well - SURE!  Sign me up!

The winner will be drawn and announced on Monday September 12, so you have 3 days to get busy and earn your entries!

Raw Ebooks Giveaway at Kristen's Raw Blog!!

I found another awesome giveaway and its happening over at Kristen's Raw Blog!  She is an amazing raw chef and always has lots of good information to share about living a raw/high raw, super healthy diet!  I love reading her blog, especially posts like this where she teaches you how to make raw nut milk, and this where she teaches you how to make raw nut butters, and this where she uses the raw nut butter to make a FREAKIN' AMAZING dressing that I'm so addicted to right now....still....after weeks and weeks....

But I digress.  She has a series of Ebooks out loaded with raw recipes and high raw transition recipes.  And the giveaway is for a FREE set of ALL 12 of her books - for 3 winners!!  Oh if I thought crossing my fingers would do me any good in winning this giveaway I totally would.  ;-)  It's super simple to enter, so if you are interested in some tasty, raw, super good for you recipes, head on over to her blog and enter!  That's what I'm doing! :)

Oh yea, April 13th (tomorrow!) is the last day to enter, so don't delay!

Azure Sweeteners Giveaway at Azure Standard!

I just ran across this giveaway over at Azure Standard.  Truthfully I have never heard of them before and don't know much about them, but I'm interested to find out more about them and their giveaway looks pretty sweet.  (ha. ha. ha. pun intended)  I'm interested in the giveaway because it contains raw agave, 2 flavored agave syrups, organic molasses, and raw cane sugar (plus more!).  While we do not consume any great amount of sweets and sugars over here, there are times when a bit of agave or raw sugar is helpful.  A little in a cup of tea, a Tbsp or two in a batch of fruit sweetened cookies - you get the idea.

So I thought I'd pass this giveaway on to you guys as well to see if you were interested.  Head on over to the Azure Almanac and leave your comment to enter to win a nice sized set of sweeteners.  If you mention my name, blog or FB page I can get an extra entry! :-)


So what healthy sweeteners do you all prefer?