For those of you that know me you know that I love to cook. I have a family of six and eating out can get very costly. So instead of wasting money eating out, most of our meals are cooked at home by me. Since I enjoy cooking I also enjoy cooking with new kitchen appliances. Making the same meals all the time gets boring so I like to get creative in the kitchen when I can.

This month I received one of the T-Fal OptiGrills to review. I have to say I was really EXCITED to take this grill out of the box!

When it comes to cooking meat I often use an double-sided indoor grill  because I like being able to cook the meat on both sides at the same time. My old indoor grill is not nearly as smart as my new indoor grill.

The T-fal OptiGrill has this new precision grilling technology that cooks your food to your preference based on the program that is selected and by measuring the thickness of the item. On the grill you will find the following foods preset for your grill to cook perfectly:

Burger	Poultry	Sandwiches
Sausage	Pork/Red Meat	Fish

The grill is designed with a unique cooking level indicator and lets you know the cooking progress. The grill will make a beeping sound at Rare, Medium and Well Done so that you know when your food is cooked the way that you want it.  You can also cook frozen food by selecting the defrost setting when cooking your food.

The first thing I cooked on my new T-Fal OptiGrill was chicken breasts. I like how I can select the poultry option and be able to walk away and not watch my chicken the entire time it is cooking.

The next thing I had to try was Italian sausage. I like making pasta sauce with ground beef but sometimes like to switch it up with Italian sausage instead.

I simply added a couple Italian sausages on the grill, selected the sausage option and let the grill do its magic. I enjoyed hearing the grill beep through the grilling process. Each time I would hear it beep I would run over to see the color changing on the cooking level indicator. Here is what the Italian sausages look once the indicator turned red meaning it was done!

If you are wanting to cook something that isn’t on the food option menu like vegetables you can simply use the Manual function. With this function you will have to watch your food but it is a great grill to cook other food items on. My next dish on my T-Fal OptiGrill is going to be bell peppers and mushrooms. I am going to attempt to make some veggie quesadillas!

To find out more about this awesome grill visit: https://optigrill.t-falusa.com.

T-Fal OptiGrill Giveaway

One of my LUCKY readers is going to WIN one of the T-Fal OptiGrills too! For your chance to win one of these awesome grills use the Rafflecopter below to submit your entries:

This post was created in partnership with Nature’s Bakery. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Every since I was a child I have enjoyed fig bars. It was was the one sweet treat that I could bring in my lunch that not everyone would want. Now they have rules about sharing foods at school with all the different school allergies but in my days, you could trade food if you wanted. I knew I wanted my fig bars but not everyone else knew just how good they tasted.

My liking for fig bars has rubbed off on my children. My secret wasn’t a secret anymore, my kids found out early that figs are good.

Now that my kids are back to school I have been getting into the groove of making lunches. On some days my kids want to eat the school cafeteria food but on some days they want a lunch from home. I was a little excited when Nature’s Bakery sent me some of their Fig Bars to try. When I received the box and it was full of a variety of flavors to try I was a little excited to see which one I wanted to try first.

Here is a list of the Nature’s Bakery Fig Bar flavors I received:

• Apple Cinnamon
• Blueberry
• Fig
• Peach Apricot
• Lemon
• Mango
• Strawberry

It was a hard choice but my first flavor I decided to try was the Apple Cinnamon.

These fig bars are most and full of flavor. They are a soft whole wheat cake bar with a sweet flavored fig filling. What makes them even better is that they are cholesterol free, dairy free and are a great source of fiber, calcium, vitamin K and more!

Do you like fig bars too? Be sure to join the Fig Fanatic Advocates Program to learn more about Nature’s Bakery and winning free product and prizes!

Nature’s Bakery Fig Bar Giveaway

One of my lucky winners is going to receive a 6 pack of the Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars. To enter for your chance to win, please use the Rafflecopter below:

This is a partnered post with LEGO Bags. Product or compensation has been received for this review and all thoughts are my own.

This year my son who is also my youngest child started the first grade. No more kindergarten for this young man, it is now time to hang out with the big boys! Since he is moving up in the world I wanted to make sure that he was going to have a cool backpack that he could be proud to wear.

This year my son is rocking his new LEGO City Police Break Out Heritage Basic Backpack and boy is he proud. With the new LEGO movie that came out recently the LEGO brand is even more popular with the kids and I knew he would approve. Not only does he love that is is a LEGO City backpack, he loves that is blue which is his favorite color.

Here are some of the Lego City Police Break Out Backpack features:

• Roomy main zipper compartment with interior slip pocket designed to keep items closer to the back panel for better weight distribution
• Easy access side mesh pocket holds a water bottle or other gear
• 360 Degree reflective webbing provides better visibility
• Ergonomically padded shoulder straps plus sternum strap keep the bag from slipping off shoulders
• Adjustable front sternum strap to help balance load
• Soft poly tricot on shoulder straps & padded haul handle

Since my son is now hanging with the big boys he now eats lunch in the cafeteria. He also has the LEGO City Police Chief Vertical Lunch Bag to match his backpack!

Since my son doesn’t have much in his backpack yet he puts this lunch bag inside the backpack. What is neat about this combo is that the backpack has a front D ring that is designed to hold the lunch bag. On the backside of the lunch bag you will find a velcro webbing loop that attaches around the D ring.

I love that this lunch bag is blue, matches his backpack, is easy to clean and is the PERFECT size for the bento box containers that I sometimes use to make his lunch in.

Here are some of the Lego City Police Chief Lunch Bag features:

• Foam insulated main compartment with easy to clean lining
• Exterior slip pocket has reflect for added visibility
• Oversized zipper pull makes it easy to open and close the bag
• Webbing carry handle
• Webbing loop designed to attach to the coordinating School Backpack

For those looking for some cute LEGO backpacks, lunch bags and accessories visit: www.LegoBags.com or on the Lego Bags Facebook page.

LEGO City Police Break Out Backpack & Police Chief Lunch Bag Giveaway

One of my lucky winners is going to receive one of these COOL LEGO Backpacks & Lunch Bags too! To enter my giveaway for your chance to win please use the Rafflecopter below:

Good Luck!