Reinventing its Bakery Case with Delicious, Wholesome Foods

Some of the new items that will be included in the new bakery case at Starbucks include:

• Blueberry Oat Bar – An oat crust filled with two types of organic blueberries and topped with buttery streusel makes for a wholesome treat
• Banana Walnut Bread – The new Banana Walnut Bread is nearly 30 percent real banana
• Marshmallow Dream Bar – Starbucks searched for recipes just like the homemade favorites you adore, and at only 210 calories the revamped Marshmallow Dream Bar is a sensible indulgence

Providing Healthier and Lighter Options

Starbucks will also offer additional nutritious options, like a Farmer’s Market Salad with all-natural dressing, and a new flavor of its popular line of Vivanno™ Smoothies.

• Strawberry Banana Vivanno™ Smoothie – Starbucks newest Vivanno™ Smoothie flavor is made from simple ingredients – pure strawberry puree, a whole banana, whey protein powder, 2% milk and ice – and under 300 calories
• Farmer’s Market Salad – A perfect blend of rich blue cheese, crunchy almonds, tart dried cranberries and sweet apples piled on a bed of romaine lettuce with all-natural balsamic vinaigrette for 220 calories (300 calories with dressing)

Continuing its Commitment to Health and Wellness

Creating a healthier Starbucks Experience has been a company priority for more than 20 years, with significant steps taken in the last two years, including:

• Saving customers 7 billion calories per year, equaling nearly 5 million pounds of fat by using 2% over whole milk as the standard in all beverages and setting nutrition “guardrails” for new products to be less than 500 calories
• Removing artificial trans fat in all food and beverages in North America
• Expanding the food and beverage portfolio to include a variety of options, including Fruit Cups, Yogurt Parfaits, Skinny Lattes, Vivanno™ Smoothies and Starbucks® Perfect Oatmeal

Have you heard about the treat receipt yet?! Make any purchase before 2pm and enjoy any Grande cold beverage for just $2 (plus tax) after 2pm the same day. Just remember to show them your receipt when you return.

This refreshing offer only lasts from June 30 to September 28 at participating stores.

Extra entries (make sure to make separate comments for each):
• Follow my blog. If you are already follower, let me know. – 1 entry
• Subscribe to my blog via email. Make sure to confirm the subscription before leaving your comment. – 1 entry
• Grab my button and put it on your blog. – 1 entry
• Follow Starbucks on Twitter. – 1 entry
• Follow me on Twitter AND tweet about this contest. “Starbucks is raising the bar on their food. Win a $20.00 gift card at www.barelydomesticmama.com” – 1 entry
• Become a fan of Starbucks on Facebook. – 1 entry
• Become a fan of Barely Domestic Mama on Facebook. – 1 entry
• Fave me on technorati – 1 entry
• Blog about this giveaway and include a link to my blog . – 3 entries (leave three separate comments saying entry 1, entry 2, and entry 3)

Sorry, but this giveaway is only open to US Residents only. Contest ends on Sun., July 26, 2009 at 11:59pm Eastern Time. Winner will be chosen using the Random.org number generator. Winner will be notified via email and announced on Mon., July 27, 2009. If the prize is not claimed in 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

Party, party, party! You know how I love a party! And what is a party without good friends and good food?! Let me check off my party list here….invitations – check, yummy delicious appetizers – check, Pomegranate Blueberry Margarita – check (wait…you can’t be here to have appetizers and a drink with me?!…well, we can pretend), and your fabulous host, me, – check!

I guess I should what Tastefully Simple is to those of you who haven’t heard of them. Tastefully Simple offers a wide variety of easy-to-prepare gourmet foods designed to help you spend less time in the kitchen and more time enjoying the rest of your life!

Tastefully Simple has appetizers to desserts and everything in between. Tastefully Simple offers a wide variety of products that will make you look like a master chef.

What makes Tastefully Simple so unique is that all of their products can be enjoyed right out of the package or prepared within minutes by adding only one or two ingredients.

Tastefully Simple isn’t ridiculously overpriced either. For example:
$5.49 for Bountiful Beer Bread Mix – add beer OR any carbonated beverage (for non-beer drinkers). You can also make Cranberry Orange Bread, Focaccia Bread, Corn Muffins, etc.
$8.99 for Fiesta Party Mix – Mix with mayonnaise and sour cream; serve with tortilla chips or as a topping for Mexican food. Add a little or a lot to spice up any dish. You can make Avocado Dip, Chicken Fajitas, Deviled Eggs, etc.
$9.99 for Strawberry Sundae Chiller Drink Mix – Just add ice and water. For a burst of extra flavor, add frozen strawberries or a splash of rum when blending. You can make Fruit Dip, Bahama Mama, Strawberry Bread (combine with Bountiful Beer Bread), etc.

Welcome to my first Tastefully Simple Catalog party! My awesome consultant that has worked ever so hard to get this altogether for me is Shurrece Kovalski! Thanks Shurrece!

Here are some of Shurrece’s loves and mistakes:

LOVE…
• Beer bread made with Blue Moon beer.
• Fiesta party dip mix is amazing but strong so if you don’t like it super spicy, just cut back on the amount of dry mix added.
• For the love of cookies are AMAZING! (Every time you buy a box of For the Love of Cookies Mix, Tastefully Simple will donate $1 to Share Our Strength – a national non-profit organization whose mission is to end childhood hunger in America.)
• Peach cobbler is wonderful especially right out of the oven with a little vanilla ice cream on top.
• Spinach and herb dip mix can be used for almost anything….from a dip to a dry rub or a marinade.

Mistakes…
• The biggest mistake I’ve made has been trying German beer with the beer bread mix….German beers have a much higher yeast content and makes the bread very thick and heavy.
• A friend of mine tried Guinness and it tuned into a big block of Guinness bread….so unless you’re a die hard Guinness fan, stay away from that one for beer bread.

As for my faves (those would have to be):
• Warm The Oven! Savory Cheese Dip
• Pomegranate Chipotle Sauce
• Twisty Grahams with any dessert cheese ball mix
• Giddyup Guacamole Mix
Those are just some of my faves…this list could go on and on.

Great thing about this TS Catalog party is you can make a purchase from catalog party between now and June 30th!

Some of you received an email invitation – most of you will not because I don’t have every blogger’s email address handy. For those of you who did not get invitation, but would like to purchase from my catalog party – here are your instructions:
1. Go to https://pomm.tastefullysimple.com/pomm/ClientPartyAssociation.aspx
2. Type in my first and last name – Joanne Duffy
3. Viola! I should be the only Joanne Duffy on the list having a catalog party. Click on the select button.
4. The next page will say your shopping cart is empty. You should see (right above item number and item name) a link that says continue shopping. That will allow you to be a part of my catalog party!
5. Any questions about the catalog party – feel free to ask me!

On to the fabulous giveaways! There will be three giveaways – please read below carefully.

For the Samples giveaway (no purchase necessary) – Just because it’s a party one winner will receive 1 Sample Mix of Bountiful Beer Bread, 1 Sample Mix of Farmer’s Medley, and 1 Sample Mix of Spinach & Herb Dip Mix. (This giveaway is also available to those who make a purchase.)

For the Special Release Items and Delectable giveaway (must make a purchase from my catalog party to enter these giveaways)

Berry Buckle Cake Mix, Mango Breeze Margarita Mix, and Mini Merlot Sauce.

Absolutely Almond Pound Cake, Creamy Caramel Sauce, and Truffle Fudge Brownie Mix

After you’ve purchased your TS items through my catalog party, please sign Mr. Linky with your name and a link to your blog, blogger profile (for those of you without a blog), or those of you who don’t have a profile of any sort through blogging – a link to your social networking page MySpace, Facebook, whatever – just a link needed so I can find you if you win.

How to enter Samples Giveaway (required):
• Go to Tastefully Simple, take a look around, and leave me a comment on this post letting me know which product new or old you would like to try. (If your email is not visible through your public profile, make sure to leave it in your comment.)

How to enter Special Release Items and Delectable Desserts Giveaway (required):
• Purchase Tastefully Simple product(s) through my Catalog party! Once you’ve made your purchase, come back and sign Mr. Linky.

Sorry, but these giveaways are open to US Residents only. Contest ends on Tues., June 30, 2009 at 11:59pm Eastern Time. Winners will be chosen using the Random.org number generator. Winners will be notified via email and announced on Wed., July, 1, 2009. If the prize is not claimed in 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

I’m celebrating quite a few things – the fact that our hot water heater was covered in the policy that my hubby took out with our mortgage company (or else we probably wouldn’t have hot water right now since we can’t afford a new full price hot water heater), I will back down in Florida in two weeks while the hubby is away for work in Germany (it stinks that hubby has to travel, but at least I get to stay with family while he is gone), and my Little Monkey turned 2 this month on the 10th!

One lucky winner will receive the Classy Chocolate Pound Cake Mix, Bountiful Beer Bread Mix, Orange Dream Chiller sample size mix (this one you can make a drink, a dip, or even a cheesecake!), Key Lime Cheese Ball mix sample size (serves 6), and Warm The Oven! Savory Cheese Dip sample size Mix. If you are feeling adventurous, you can search the recipes section to try and make the product a different way other than the suggestion on the packaging.

Also if you are looking for a Tastefully Simple consultant to buy from, host a party for, or speak to about becoming a consultant, in the Consultant Search look up Shurrece Kovalski ID#0091460. She is an Army wife (and good friend) that I met while my hubby was stationed here in Maryland. Her family has moved since but we still keep in touch.

How to enter (required):
• Go to Tastefully Simple, take a look around, and let me know what your favorite product is. (If your email is not visible through your public profile, make sure to leave it in your comment.)

Extra entries (make sure to make separate comments for each):
• Follow my blog. If you are already follower, let me know. – 1 entry
• Subscribe to my blog via email. Make sure to confirm the subscription before leaving your comment. – 1 entry
• Grab my button and put it on your blog. -1 entry
• Follow me on Twitter AND tweet about this contest. – 1 entry
• Become a fan on Facebook. – 1 entry
• Fave me on technorati (the link is in the left sidebar underneath where to find me) – 1 entry
• Sponsor me for March for Babies. Any amount – even if all you can afford to give is $5, I will definitely take it to help the babies. – 2 entries (leave separate comments)
• Blog about this contest and include a link to my blog and Tastefully Simple. – 3 entries (leave three separate comments saying entry 1, entry 2, and entry 3)

Sorry, but this giveaway is only open to US Residents only. Contest ends on Sun., Apr. 26, 2009 at 11:59pm Eastern Time. Winner will be chosen using the Random.org number generator. Winner will be notified via email and announced on Mon., Apr. 27, 2009. If the prize is not claimed in 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

Thanks to Fiber One’s new Chocolate Mocha Chewy Bar each delicious bar delivers 35% of the recommended daily fiber intake and also is a good source of calcium. I am a little over 7 months free from Pepsi and caffeinated coffees (by choice I was a Pepsiholic and coffee fanatic) so I was a little worried that the small amount of coffee goodness in these chewy bars would send me through a java jolt for days, but it didn’t. The coffee and chocolate flavoring were very well balanced – neither one overpowering the other. I was surprised at how that one bar for breakfast kept me full until lunchtime! I have other granola bars that I eat for breakfast, but I start looking for something else to fill me up shortly after eating them.