Shrinking Sisters Reviews

Publix Italian Days is back -- want to win a gift card?

Break out the pasta strainers, Southern babies, it's time for Publix Italian Days. I'm a big fan of making sausage and peppers with Publix Greenwise hot Italian chicken sausage. I saute a bunch of red and green bell peppers, red onion and garlic in a little olive oil. Then slice the sausage into rounds, toss it into the pan with the vegetables and saute until done.

It can go over anything from pasta to rice to a baked potato to slice 'n' bake polenta (really good).

During Italian Days,which starts today and runs through Feb. 29, you can find special prices and coupons on brands including Progresso, Green Giant and Muir Glen.

You can also enter the Taste the Tradition Italian Days Sweepstakes for a chance to be one of 500 shoppers who will win a $100 Publix gift card, sponsored by General Mills.

To enter to win the Taste the Tradition Italian Days Sweepstakes and download  coupons and recipes, look in-store or follow the instructions below:

1. Click - Stay up to date with the latest General Mills promotions happening at Publix, by visiting ClickCallMail.com. Once you´re registered and logged in, you can participate in any of the current promotions.
2. Call - If you´d prefer to enter the sweepstakes and participate in other promotions via telephone, feel free to call the General Mills hotline, at 800-627-6059, and be sure to say that you want to enter the 2012 Italian Days Sweepstakes. Please be sure to provide your complete contact information (Full name/address/ZIP code/phone number).
3. Mail - If you prefer to participate via mail-in entry, print and mail your complete contact information (Full Name/address/ZIP code/phone number) to 2012 Italian Days Sweepstakes, P.O. Box 44257, Atlanta, GA 30336.

And, to sweeten the deal, I'm giving away a $25 Publix gift card!

To enter

Leave a comment below, telling me your favorite healthy Italian dish. (Mine is a pumpkin risotto I found in the cookbook Weight Watchers: Simply the Best Italian.) Contest deadline is noon ET on Wednesday, Feb. 29. We'll choose one winner at random by pointing blindfolded at the computer screen after being spun around 50 times on the office chair.

Extra entries

• Subscribe to Shrinking Sisters.
• Follow me on Twitter.
• Become a fan of Shrinking Sisters on Facebook.

Disclosure: The Publix Club gift card, information and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 notebook: Week 5 and wrap-up

Thank you to Ubisoft for providing me with a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 and sponsoring this fitness diary series. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.

The game lines up your warrior pose for correct form. Photo: Ubisoft

While others around me and in the twitterverse are bemoaning their tight jeans and weight gains, I'm pretty cool with the fact that I didn't gain any holiday weight. I would have liked to report some miraculous December weight loss but that didn't happen. 

But!

I'm definitely fitter than when I began the Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 challenge five weeks ago. And I have a whole new appreciation for "exergames."

Let me count the ways:

1. This one works because it really tracks your movements well -- it realizes that you don't have eyes in the back of your head or on your backside. Seriously, that's a huge plus. I've spent many times cursing the robotic avatars on other games because I couldn't see what was going on or the game couldn't see me.
2. The variety in Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 is fantastic. You can simply take a yoga class, play fitness games with the kids or go all out and schedule a full workout with warmups, cardio, strength training and a cooldown.
3. Dancers have a wide variety to choose from -- African, Bollywood, hip-hop and Latin can satisfy your global whims.
4. Your junior athletes can even train for football or soccer with the sports prep programs.

Really, the only downside is that you should think about putting wheels on your coffeetable to make the living room more Kinect friendly.

My recipe for success with Your Shape? Add it into your fitness repertoire -- variety is the key to sticking to any exercise plan. Since the weather is getting colder up North, Your Shape is perfect to workout at home without heading outdoors. But down here in Florida, the weather is finally cooler, so I'll be relying on Your Shape for the sweltering, stormy summer months.

But my favorite combo workout is to start with a little Run the World, add in some Body Focus workouts (upper body and abs one day, lower body the next), and end with a yoga practice or Zen Zone for a calming cooldown.

Want to win your own copy?

It's the end of my five-week series, and I'm going to choose a random comment from the five weeks of posts. That person will win a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012, so comment away! Deadline for commenting is Friday, Jan. 6 at 9 p.m. ET.

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 notebook: Week 4

Thank you to Ubisoft for providing me with a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 and sponsoring this fitness diary series. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.

("Is it heavy?" I asked him. "Mom, it's virtual!")

Unlike many fitness games for Xbox, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 can really involve the family with fitness activities that don't feel like exercise at all.

So this week I roped the kid into demonstrating a couple. (It's much easier to take pictures when someone else is doing the working out.)

First up was Stack 'Em Up, which was a favorite of ours in the first version of the game. The 2012 version ups the fitness by making the balance board larger and able to hold more bricks, but you have to balance on one leg, which is great for core strengthening and improving balance.

Wall Breaker is another kid fave -- you punch big bricks that shatter into pieces. You punch left and right across your body to smash 'em. Later on, you can kick them and knee them, too. He mastered Wall Breaker, as you can see by his glowing gold visage at left.

Both activities are great upper-body workouts and help work on core strength and balance. And the kids will never know it was exercise.

Mom and Dad will also find it cathartic to punch away the stress of holiday traffic and last-minute shopping (just sayin'...)

Exergames like this will be increasingly important to get young gamers off the couch and help stem the tide of childhood obesity.

Success!

Want to win your own copy?

At the end of my five-week series, I'll choose a random comment from the five weeks of posts, and that person will win a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012, so comment away!

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 notebook: Week 3

Thank you to Ubisoft for providing me with a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 and sponsoring this fitness diary series. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.

(Pay no attention to the footless apparition holding the camera.)

"Short Attention Span Theater" is not just the name of an old Comedy Central show -- it is my life, which is why I have dozens and dozens of workout DVDs, gadgets, gizmos and various shoes for various workouts.

I get bored easily, so I constantly need to mix things up -- anything to keep the fitness momentum going. Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 makes sure I don't get stuck in a workout rut. There are more than 90 hours of activities.

So this week I laced up the virtual gloves and took a cardio boxing class. My virtual workout partner was a burly bearded dude (I should have dressed better).

Turns out, I am a champion boxer. The voiceover instructor, who I refer to as "Nice Lady," had all sorts of words of encouragement as I did punch-squat combos, threw jabs and hooks and bobbed and weaved. She also gives you technique tips and makes sure you're not doing things like locking your elbows.

When you do the moves really well, a sparkly golden halo envelops you, and I was a golden girl.

The workout was a great upper body-intensive complement to my 40-minute run this afternoon.

Want to win your own copy?

At the end of my five-week series, I'll choose a random comment from the five weeks of posts, and that person will win a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012, so comment away!

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 notebook: Week 2

Thank you to Ubisoft for providing me with a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 and sponsoring this fitness diary series. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.

(Remember last week when I said the motion tracking is better with this version? Here's a photo of me taking a photo of the TV screen -- it's kinda hard to shoot a photo while exercising. If you're at all familiar with Xbox Kinect fitness games, this is pretty darn impressive.)

This is the week I officially fell in love with Your Shape. Also the week my 13-year-old explained how to pause the game while I checked on dinner (I was roasting a chicken while doing mountain climbers -- multitasking!)

Since I'm really digging running (at least this week), I have my cardio accounted for, so I focused on toning with Your Shape.

I love the encouragement from the disembodied voice on the game. She also calls out tips to improve your technique, and thus, your score. Case in point: mountain climbers. Every time that exercise comes up on a DVD, I ALWAYS say "Mountain climbers? I can't do mountain climbers!" But unlike a DVD, your Kinect is "watching" you, so you can't blow 'em off. So I did them and apparently I did a good job because The Voice kept saying "good job!"

After the toning workout, I had a little fun with some Bollywood dancing and cooled down with the yoga-tai chi combo, which I absolutely aced.

I'm not sure about the calorie counting on the game, though. It said I only burned 60 calories during my workout, but my BodyMedia FIT registered 181 calories.

Some tips from this week's workouts:

• The toning workouts use weights, so make sure they're nearby before you begin. I had to pause the game and run into the bedroom for the dumbbells.
• The game is the most accurate if it can really scan your body, so try not to wear anything too baggy. I switched from a long-sleeved shirt to a T-shirt halfway through Thursday's workout and the Kinect was better able to track my upper-body movements, but I had on some baggy Adidas cropped pants and my lower half looked a little blobby on the screen (aside from the usual blobbiness).
• You'll also score higher on proper technique if you don't crane your neck to look at the TV while you're down on the floor.
• But how do you follow the exercises that way? There are sound cues to get the right pacing. My score rose impressively when I kept my nose to the virtual grindstone.

Want to win your own copy?

At the end of my five-week series, I'll choose a random comment from the five weeks of posts and that person will win a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012, so comment away!

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 notebook: Week 1

Thank you to Ubisoft for providing me with a copy of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012 and sponsoring this fitness diary series. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.

Usually, the Xbox is the domain of the teenager, but Mama's got an appointment with it now -- I'll be letting you know about my fitness journey every week with Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012.

I get sent a lot of workout DVDs and "exergames" and the first version of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved was definitely my favorite of the bunch. It was the easiest to follow, it had the best variety of workouts and we liked the Gym Games for recreational fun.

So I was psyched to get to try out the latest version of the Ubisoft program. New this year is improved motion tracking (it really is better); Bollywood, hip-hop and Latin dance aerobics (cha cha!); and just more of everything.

As soon as it arrived, the kid and I popped it in the Xbox. He liked the Wall Breakers -- apparently punching things is a great way to get out your after-school hostilities.

(That's the Wall Breakers above. Blam!)

I liked the jump rope and the Hu-la-las because there were no real jump ropes to trip over or hoops to fall off my hips. Finally, I can do those!

I'll be tracking my progress at the online YourShapeCenter and I'll also be letting you know how I'm doing on the scale, because being accountable to someone other than myself is extra motivating.

We review: Marzetti Simply Dressed

I am a label reader. If I'm checking out a new product at the grocery store, you'd better believe I'm scouring the ingredients for funky stuff. I'll flip over many a box and bottle

Too much sodium? Back on the shelf. High fructose corn syrup? No thanks. Loads of preservatives and artficial flavors and colors? See ya later.

I am also a salad dressing aficionado. You should see my fridge door -- it's packed with bottles (you can see it at left). I'm always on the prowl for a creative accompaniment to a big ol' pile of greens.

Truth be told, I'm a salad dressing snob -- I've ordered it by mail, brought my own bottle to my parents' house for Sunday dinner and even stashed a a bottle of the good stuff in the office refrigerator.

So when Clever Girls Collective offered me the chance to try out Marzetti Simply Dressed salad dressing I knew we'd be a perfect fit. I've spied it at the grocery store in the produce department. If it needs to be refrigerated that's a sign that it's not laden with sodium and preservatives. What first drew me to the dressings was the cute stubby bottle shape and label design -- I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff.

I checked out the Pomegranate because, frankly, it was the lowest in calories (this is a weight-loss blog after all). Two tablespoons is only 60 calories and 4.5 grams of fat with zero sat fat. Plus, it's gluten free, nicely low in sodium (150 mg) and contains 150 mg of omega-3 ALA per serving. (All the Simply Dressed varieties are gluten free except for the Ginger Sesame, which gets its wheat from the soy sauce in it.) There's no high fructose corn syrup, no preservatives, no MSG and no artificial flavors or colors.

What does it have? A nicely tart-sweet flavor and ruby red color, which was great on my salad of supergreens, tomatoes and leftover chicken breast. I also think the Pomegranate flavor would be great on a fruit-laden salad, like my favorite baby spinach and sliced strawberry combo.

Lil' food tip: If you're using a flavorful, high-quality product, you don't need to drown your salad in it.

If Pomegranate doesn't interest you, there are lots of flavors to choose from:

• Balsamic
• Blue Cheese
• Caesar
• Champagne
• Coleslaw
• Ginger Sesame
• Greek Feta
• Pomegranate
• Ranch
• Strawberry Poppyseed
• Thousand Island

You'll have to check with your local grocery store to see which ones it stocks. I'm hoping my store will also start stocking Marzetti's brand new Simply Dressed & Light line, too, because so-called "diet" salad dressings can be simply awful and these look to be great with clean ingredients and skinny nutritional stats. The Light flavors include:

• Blue Cheese
• Caesar
• Celery Seed Slaw
• Ranch
• Raspberry Acai

I knew I had made a good choice when both the cashier and the bagger saw the bottle and said that they liked the line of dressings. Usually, grocery store employees look at my weekly haul of Greek yogurt, flaxseeds and brussels sprouts and make funny faces. Not so the Simply Dressed.

I was one of the bloggers selected by T. Marzetti Company and Clever Girls Collective to host a Marzetti Simply Dressed review. They provided me with product to test myself and compensation for my time. However, my opinions are entirely my own.

Great Deals on Great Meals: A Publix giftcard giveaway

Can you believe summer's almost over? (It's a little hard to believe for those of us who live in the Sunbelt since there won't be a chill in the air until, oh, December.)

Anyway!

Publix is getting families ready for school and all that entails (like those family dinners where you ask the kids what happened at school and try to drag out details from the teenagers) with its Great Deals on Great Meals promo, with deals on food and ideas for home-cooked meal.

From Aug. 18-23, look for the Publix Great Deals on Great Meals event at stores and online to take advantage of savings on popular brands.

Visit GreatDealsOnGreatMeals.com to find recipes for family favorites like Blueberry-Oat Pancakes, Hearty Chicken Tortilla Soup, and Orange Picante Chicken (and yes, those recipes have reasonable nutrition stats, I checked).

You can also download $12 in coupons for breakfast, lunch and dinner products. The coupons are valid through Sept. 4, 2011.

But suppose you need a little more incentive to check out the Publix deals -- how about a $25 Publix giftcard?

All you need to do is let me know, in a comment below, your family's favorite healthy meal. I'll randomly choose a comment and e-mail the winner of the Publix giftcard.

Extra entries (not required but extra fun!):

• Tweet this message: Win a Publix giftcard from #myblogspark and @its_gail of Shrinking Sisters http://goo.gl/NS265 (1 entry)
• Like Shrinking Sisters on Facebook (1 entry)
• Give @its_gail some +K on Klout (1 entry per +K)

Get those comments in by Aug. 31 at 5 p.m. ET.

Disclosure: The Publix gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

NutriSystem Week11: Laura ranks the top desserts

Ice cream, candy, chocolate. I'm a sucker for them all. One of my favorite aspects of NutriSystem has been the ability to feel like I'm indulging in a little sinful goodness every single day of the week. I give this diet high marks for food quality. The prospect of a diet dessert was less than appealing to me, but I was proven wrong. 

1. Ice Cream Sandwich. Frozen (pictured). Hands down, a most un-diet-y and delicious ice cream sandwich. I crave these during the month once I run out.

2. Chocolate Rainbow Delights. A handful of M&M-type candies. Toss them into yogurt (would be an add-in).

3. Chocolate Cake. (The Cakes, part 1). Chocoholics have nothing to fear on NutriSystem. This is very important information for those of us who crave chocolate! Even the serving of chocolate cake is a little bigger than you'd expect.

4. Almond Biscotti. Great with coffee or tea.

5. The Bars (Chocolate Caramel Dessert Bar, Milk Chocolatey Delight Bar, Coconut Almond Bar, Creamy Fudge Bar, Chocolate Fudge Bar, Strawberry Shortcake Bar.) Whoa! I thought these bars would be a bust since I'm not much of a "bar" person any other time of day. But these dessert bars are really, really good. Extremely rich, extremely satisfying. 

6. Fudge Brownie. An excellent substitute for the box brownie mix fans. And no baking!

7. Buffalo Wing Pretzel Bits. Occasionally, rarely, once in a while ... I choose something not sweet. Whenthis happens I like the snack to have a little bite. These bits are tasty and spicy.  

8. Butter Flavored Popcorn. Movie time. The popcorn hasa slightly air-popped quality but the butter flavor makes up for it. 

9. The Cakes, part 2: (Golden Pound Cake, Carrot Cake). Good, moist, large servings that fulfill any craving for the full fat versions.  

10. Butterscotch Pudding. Love me my butterscotch!

11. Orange Creme Bar. Frozen. Very nice and surprising dessert flavor. I wouldn't normally go for a creamsicle, but these are light and sweet, nice on hot nights.

12. The Sundaes. (Caramel Swirl and Fudge Swirl). Frozen. Good stuff. Small but sufficient servings. Great for an ice cream fix.

13. Zesty Herb Snack Mix. More bold and spicy flavoring, akin to Chex Mix, though I could have stood a little more zest.

Didn't try: BBQSoy Chips, Blueberry Lemon Dessert Bar, Chocolate Chip Cookie, Chocolate Chocolate Chip Pudding, Chocolate Crunch Bar, Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar, Chocolatey Nougat Bar with Peanuts and Caramel, Double Chocolate Almond Cookie, Honey Mustard Pretzel Bits, Mint Chocolate Crunch Bar, Nacho Crisps, NutriChocolates, Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, Peanut Butter Cookie, Peppermint Cookie Patty, Pretzels, Thin Mint Crisp Bar, Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies, White Chocolate Chunk Cookie

DISCLOSURE: Nutrisystem has provided its food program to us free of charge in exchange for our weekly updates. We are not required to write a positive review. The opinions we have expressed in this post are our own. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Want to lose weight and get healthy on Nutrisystem? Join today by calling 1-888-853-4689 or by visiting http://www.nutrisystem.com/nsblog.

NutriSystem Week 10: Laura ranks the NS dinners

There are so many NutriSystem dinner entrees that I love. It was insanely difficult to whittle the list to a top 12, and even some of the Top 12 are grouped, making this in reality a "Top 24 List." With 24 entrees to love each month, there's no wonder why I haven't tired of the food choices yet. At the bottom, I've included the names of entrees I either never ordered, didn't try yet, or avoided ordering due to mushrooms being too prominent an ingredient (mushrooms are really the only ingredient I tend to avoid).

1. Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Shells. Frozen (pictured). All of NutriSystem's pasta dishes are superbly seasoned and well portioned, even for diet entrees. The stuffed shells win my vote for best overall NutriSystem entree. A very rich-tasting yet healthy dish that goes great with a salad.

2. Turkey Pepperoni Pizza. Frozen. A junk food dinner that couldn't be tastier. My favorite "cheat" dinner (the one where I feel like I'm being bad even though I'm not).

3. BBQ Sauce with Pork Wrap. Fill the wrap with veggies and enjoy (the first time I actually tried to eat it without the veggies ... to hilariously messy results). Excellent sauce that rivals my local favorite BBQ joint.

4. Italian Herb Flatbread Pizza and Thick Crust Pizza. Shelf-stable pizzas that are delicious and ready in one minute. Save the browning tray from one of the frozen pizzas to help add a litte crunch factor to the crust.

5. Ravioli Formaggio. Frozen. More Italian pasta with great sauce and yummy cheese.

6. BBQ Sauce over Beef, Beans and Rice. A nice change from the pasta dishes and pizzas that I favor. Delicious sauce and a little added carb luxury with rice.

7. Asian-Style Beef. Frozen. Very nicely flavored Asian dish. This entree is a great example of NutriSystem's delicious shelf-stable choices. 

8. Pasta Primavera with Tofu. Lightly sauced and healthy-tasting entree, sort of a gourmet diet dish. More shelf-stable delectability.

9. Vegetarian Chili and Chili With Beans. Small but flavor-packed portions of great-tasting chili.

10. Rotini with Meatballs and Tomato Sauce, Cheese and Spinach Ravioli with Meat Sauce, Cheese Ravioli with Basil Tomato Sauce. More awesome pasta selections.

11. Cajun Style Chicken & Sausage with Rice. Love this dish for its spice and its rice.

12. Beef and Noodles in Teriyaki Sauce, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken with Noodles. More great examples of NutriSystem's success with Asian-inspired dishes. All good.

Still delicious, but let's keep it at a Top 12: Chicken Pasta Parmesan, Shrimp Alfredo, Chicken Alfredo, Vegetable Lasagna with Basil Tomato Sauce, Swedish Meatballs with Pasta in Sauce, Chicken with Dumplings.

So-so entrees (didn't hate 'em, didn't love 'em): Buffalo Chicken Wrap, Southwest-Style Chicken Wrap, Chicken Enchilada, Chicken Tortilla Soup, Flame-Broiled Beef Patty, Homestyle Beef with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy.

What I didn't like (only two in the whole bunch so far): Glazed Chicken Tenders, Salisbury Steak with Macaroni and Cheese.

Never tried due to preference or didn't order due to mushrooms being too prominent in ingredients: Grilled Chicken Breast, Hearty Beef Stew, Lasagna with Meat Sauce, Macaroni & Cheese (and Mac & Cheese with Beef), Meatloaf and Tomato Sauce with Mashed Potatoes, Mushroom Risotto, Orange Chicken Breast with Vegetables and Rice, Oriental Steak with Green Peppers and Noodles, Pasta Fagioli Soup, Roast Turkey Medallions, Sloppy Joe, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Stroganoff Sauce with Beef and Noodles, Wedged Potatoes with Sliced Beef Steak.

 

DISCLOSURE: Nutrisystem has provided its food program to us free of charge in exchange for our weekly updates. We are not required to write a positive review. The opinions we have expressed in this post are our own. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Want to lose weight and get healthy on Nutrisystem? Join today by calling 1-888-853-4689 or by visiting http://www.nutrisystem.com/nsblog.