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Almost everyone in the world knows the taste of cow’s milk. Most likely 99% of households in the US today has cow’s milk in their fridge. But did you know that there are other non-dairy milk or beverages available that are even more nutritious and delicious? It’s true that cow milk naturally contains vitamins, protein, and important nutrients. But when you think about it, cow milk was formulated for their baby calves to drink, not necessarily for humans. That’s why so many people are intolerant of cow milk.

So what are the non-dairy beverages out there that are just as nutritious if not more so and even more delicious? Well, there are soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, rice milk, and hemp. All of these non-dairy beverages have their own beneficial values compared to regular cow milk. And each of them has their own unique flavor as well. I’ve tried all of these types of non-dairy beverage because personally I don’t enjoy the taste of cow milk by itself. I’d have to enjoy it with cereal, with cookies, with cake, and so forth. But I can easily gulp down a nice refreshing glass of soymilk and almond milk. They are a bit thicker in texture and taste so it takes some getting used to, but I’ve had soymilk since a very young age so I’m used to the taste and flavor.

Soymilk, Almond milk, and Coconut milk has natural nutrients and vitamins and in the case of soymilk and almondmilk, they also have natural antioxidant fighting powers. Antioxidants are important in maintaining good health and preventing future health problems. Plus, when you purchase soymilk, almond milk, and coconut milk, you’ll most likely find them fortified with vitamins that are comparable and sometimes more than regular cow milk. And they are a great choice for vegetarians, vegans, and lactose-intolerants. But you don’t have to be any of those to enjoy non-dairy beverages. Besides their added nutritional and health benefits, they are great in almost any recipe you can think of. I  can drink soymilk and almond milk by themselves and my son loves them too, but you can also use them in dessert recipes and in drink recipes. I have a really yummy beverage recipe which you’ll find towards the bottom of this page.

As a Bzz Agent, I had the opportunity to try Silk’s non-dairy beverages in their “Switch to Silk, Take the Silk for Milk 10-day Challenge” (http://switchtosilk.com/). I simply had to stop drinking regular cow milk and drink either their soymilk, almondmilk, or coconutmilk for at least 10 days to feel and taste the difference. Since I’m already a regular soymilk drinker, I wanted to try their almond milk and coconut milk during the Challenge. It was easy for me to drink almond milk because I love almonds and the taste of almonds and with Silk’s almond milk, you can definitely taste the true flavor of almonds in it. But I’m not a big coconut milk drinker. I like coconut juice by itself because I drank a lot of it too in the past, but as a “milk”, I wasn’t sure how it would taste. Coconut milk has a very distinct flavor and is quite strong so it definitely takes some getting used to. But Silk’s Coconut Milk was actually really good. Even my son enjoyed it immensely and I’ll probably be buying coconut milk more often. They even have some tasty recipes on their website which I’ll have to to try.

One of the great things about Silk as a company is that they do not use any genetically-modified soybeans, almonds, and coconut in their beverages. This is important due to the fact that genetically-modified products have proven to shown adverse health effects and currently the United States is battling whether to continue to label products as GMO or Non-GMO.  Silk also adds nutritional values in their beverages and because soybeans, almonds, and coconut already has their own unique nutritional benefits, switching to these non-dairy beverages is a great choice to make. Silk’s non-dairy beverages are also offered in organic versions and unsweetened versions. I find the unsweetened version can be easily incorporated into any recipe.

Currently on the http://switchtosilk.com/ website, you can read all about their challenge and have an opportunity to “switch” for yourselves. They even have an offer for a $2.00 off coupon if you sign up for their newsletter. I already subscribe to their newsletter and in each newsletter that I receive, I usually gain some useful information. And there’s almost always a recipe within the newsletter.

I hope you take a chance to try some of Silk’s non-dairy beverages and let me know how it turned out for you!

Here is a super yummy beverage that I make for my son sometimes. I usually make it with organic half and half, but I decided to try it with Silk’s almond milk and my son loved it!

The Sunrise:

Ingredients-

Orange juice (it could be either organic or not)

Silk Vanilla flavored PureAlmond almond milk

 A dash of club soda or sparkling water

Ice

Instructions-

Using an 8 oz. glass, add Silk’s PureAlmond to about 1/4 full of the glass. Add orange juice and fill a little half way of the glass (leave about 2 inches at the top for the club soda). Add a dash or so of club soda or sparkling water to the glass. Add ice, stir well, and enjoy!

This beverage is wonderful to drink by itself, but you can also enjoy it with a meal or a snack.

Disclaimer: The product(s)were sent to the author for review by the manufacturer/PR. All reviews on “Happymomblogger” remain unbiased and unpaid and are the sole decision of the author. The opinions of these product(s) were not influenced in any way, shape, or form. As always, please read the ingredients carefully when trying new products. 

Please read the labels and ingredients carefully and follow all manufacturer’s instructions (if any). The products selected for the giveaway were generously donated by the companies/PR to help readers learn more about their products. The winner’s choice in using/consuming these products are entirely up to the winner and will not hold the author and her family liable nor the companies/PR liable. These products are made with non-toxic ingredients but always be safe with what you use and consume.

http://www.topmommyblogs.com/blogs/in.php?id=storm

My son and I recently discovered a brand that makes all-natural freeze-dried fruit snacks and I have to say, they are absolutely yummy! I’ll be doing a full review and giveaway about Funky Monkey Snacks later, but I wanted to give you a chance to win some prizes from them right now!

Through the end of the month, follow them on Twitter and you’ll get a chance to win some Funky Monkey fruit snacks for the school of your choice.

This is great for anyone who has kids in school, know any kids in school, or is a kid in school.

See below for their hashtag at Twitter:

So Nickelodeon has done it again. They’ve produced another fun and funny Kids Choice Award with Jack Black as the host. April 2 was their 24th Annual Kids Choice Award on the Nickelodeon channel and since we weren’t going to be home to watch it, I recorded it for my son so he can watch it again and again if he wanted to. And I have to say, I really liked this year’s KCA much more than last year’s. The guest performers were suitable for everyone and the event didn’t drag on like other award shows.

Jack Black was his usual outrageous self dressed in an outlandish bodysuit with flames. I really liked the opening as Jack Black drove a monster truck the size of Europe and trampled over several limousines to get to the front entrance of the event. As he appropriately stated, “I have a monster truck, I have a monster truck!” and proceeded to crush the limousines that were in his path and arrive just in time for the show. It was just as hilarious to see a cop trying to stop him and instead joined Jack Black in the dance parade as well as other “onlookers” who turned out to be dancers. The entire opening scene lasted a few minutes with Jack Black singing and dancing to the Black Eyed Peas, “I Gotta Feeling” and doing crazy stunts and acrobatics and even a stunt double that blew his cover away. My son, who loves monster trucks and music, started dancing, hopping, and imitating Jack Black’s moves and I have to say he was pretty good. Only thing is, for the next few days after watching the show, he would insist on watching the “Monster Truck Guy” whenever we turned on the television. I think Jack Black may be his new “best friend”.

The award show’s performers were pretty decent too this year. One of my favorite, the “Black Eyed Peas” was the first performer and dressed in uniquely designed costumes and rapped, danced, and sang their way through a few numbers. Fergie’s sultry voice was always front and center at every live performance by them. Other performers included a very cute and precocious Willow Smith of the Smith-Pinkett clan doing her usual cuteness routine and Big Time Rush with Snoop Dogg. There were excitement around every corner and slime every chance possible.

Perhaps the most hilarious part of the show in my opinion, was the Armpit Fart contest. Each contestant served up own their versions of the “armpit fart” and whoever won would be inducted into the Arm Fart Hall of Fame. And who else won but super hottie Josh Duhamel dressed as Justin Bieber (per request by his wife, Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas) and notoriously got slimed after he was crowned. I think Josh will proudly exhibit his trophy on their fireplace mantel.

I wasn’t too surprised by some of the winners of the show. It’s pretty obvious if you watch any of the shows on Nickelodeon or watch TV at all to know who the winners will be. It’s usually anything that teenagers and tweenagers will like, for example, it’s not a surprise that “iCarly” won as Favorite TV Show and Favorite Movie Actor was Johnny Depp (I mean, he’s pretty much everywhere these days). However I was pretty disappointed that Toy Story 3 didn’t win as Favorite Animated Movie, and was it a total surprise that Justin Bieber won both awards for Favorite Male Singer and Favorite Song?

All in all, it was an entertaining show and it wasn’t too long nor too short in length. We only hope that next year’s Kids Choice Award will be just as unique and rewarding.

Earth Day was born on April 22, 1970 after an environmentally-conscious senator gave birth to the belief the importance of celebrating and honoring our precious planet. Earth Day isn’t limited to celebrating in the United States, it’s revered all over the world as a special day to honor, learn, and teach the world about our precious planet. People all over the world, but especially in the United States hold events at their schools, businesses, parks, homes, and anywhere that they feel the importance of sustaining and protecting the planet we live on.

But for me, I feel the importance of protecting and taking care of our planet shouldn’t be limited to just one day. It should be a practice that we all participate in every day. Take for instance the recent devastating disaster in Japan. I personally believe that our beloved planet is crying out for help and Mother Nature is giving us fair warning through storms, tsunamis, tornadoes, and any strange climate change you can think of. I’m not a scientist, but I can safely say that what we’ve been doing to our planet over the years is now reaping damaging levels in our atmosphere,  thus creating what everyone knows as “global warming”. But, I’m not here to tout the dangerous effects of toxic susbstances that eventually travels through our atmosphere and impairs our delicate eco system. You’ll probably hear and see all about that when Earth Day soon approaches.

So if you’re interested in learning a bit more about what you can do to help preserve Earth’s delicate balance and keep it healthy for our future generations, then Earth Day or Earth Month as I like to call it, would be a good start. There are countless ways of helping our planet and you can probably think up a few good ones right now. You can start by using less plastic – did you know that not all plastics are readily recyclable? Some will take billions of years to dissipate because there aren’t any means to recycle them as of yet. Plastic is a hard one to give up or use less of because it’s virtually everywhere around us. And although plastic does wonders for our everyday needs, we can choose to use and purchase plastics that are more recyclable and reusable. Plastics are now rated between 1-7 based on their recyclable level. Most municipals accept all plastics, but it’s best to check with your local recycling centers to find out what they accept or don’t accept.

Reusable bags are also an easy way to help save the planet. I know most companies nowadays are advertising their own reusable bags to purchase and use, but here’s one important thought: are  they using reusable and renewable resources in manufaturing the bags? Or are they simply wasting even more fuel and materials in producing reusable bags that end up causing more damage to the environment? However, the lesser evil here is that at least you’re not going home with 5 or 6 bags of grocery store plastic bags which most people just end up throwing away.

Another great way to help Earth is to drive less. Yikes! I know that’s a touchy subject considering Americans depend on their cars as if it’s an extra appendage. We need our cars for practically everything and if you have a teenager in the house, well, their car is their actual appendage. So how do we use less of our vehicles? We can try carpooling or riding the bike, or even just making a one stop shopping trip instead of going from store to store to buy all of our necessities. If you live in a bustling city, you can probably walk to do most of your chores.

There are just so many ways you can help preserve our planet and so many things you can do every day. Every little act of kindness to Earth helps – kind of like the every little act of kindness to a person agenda – soon it’ll spread and more and more people will want to try to preserve our planet. My son reminds me to take our reusable bags whenever we go out shopping – in fact, he’ll grab it from the closet and hand it to me.

The Environmental Protection Agency has some cute Earth Day activities for children on their website: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/kids/earthday.htm. You can find some interesting pages to color and maybe print some out to give to your kids teachers to pass around. Just remember to print responsibly 🙂

And on the Earth Day Network: http://www.earthday.org/ you can take a personal pledge to help Earth this year on Earth Day.

You can even organize an Earth Day event in your area and think up great activities to help Earth and to help educate others about the importance of sustaining our planet. If you look up Earth Day on the internet, you’ll probably find some local activities you can participate in which should be both fun and educational.

So whatever you decide to do this year to help save the planet, remember, every little act helps. And let everyone know that helping to preserve the planet is on your personal agenda list this year. Maybe they’ll follow your good intentions.

And my best advice to myself and others is simply, “Be conscious of what you purchase and what you eat”. Every purchase you make leaves an impact on Earth.