Tap Influence

Peppermint Almond Steamer with a Chocolate Twist

2 · Nov 5, 2014 ·

+ This Peppermint Almond Steamer post brought to you by Silk® Almond Milk +

I LOVE it when the weather turns chilly… I can’t say that I’m totally in love with deep winter, but I sure love the turning of the seasons. I especially love the warm drink season for sure!

There is really nothing better then curly up with your sweetie by the fire sharing a mug of some kind of warm treat. A few weeks ago I shared a new warm treat that I discovered and fell head-over-heels in love with…

An Almond Pumpkin Steamer made with Silk® Light Vanilla Almond Milk!

Oh my stars… If you haven’t tried this yet, you NEED to. Run and grab some pumpkin syrup before it’s gone for the season.

Now that we are transitioning from pumpkin season and moving into the peppermint season, I thought I would try a peppermint version of my Silk® Almond Steamer. It’s quite simply… Divine!

I love using Silk® products for my warm drinks. First off, they warm up especially well and you can feel good about indulging in a special treat when you are harnessing the power of plant protein. At 60 calories per serving, Silk® Light Vanilla Almond Milk is happiness in a glass. You heard right—that’s 1/3 fewer calories than our regular almond milk and still 50% more calcium than dairy milk. With a hint of vanilla and plenty of nutty goodness, our almond milk just got even easier to love especially when you pair it with the flavors of the season.

For those of you with dairy issues… Here is a special treat that you CAN have! I’m sure it becomes quite frustrating when everyone is snuggling with cups of hot chocolate. Here is a dairy-free option just for you!

For those of you who would like to up the ante a bit… You can add a little twist of chocolate to your steamer! This will make it so that it’s not dairy-free anymore, but if you like a smidge of chocolate in your steamer, this is the way to go.

I created some chocolate stirring spoons to serve with your steamers…

+ wood bead trivet by the little red cabin +

Won’t these be super cute to serve at a steamer bar?!

I added some holiday embellishments that I found at Target in the gift wrapping section on top of the wood spoons along with some Washi tape. Those are the extra special touches that take your simple treat and elevate it to something EXTRA special!

Chocolate Spoon Directions

Just make up a few of these chocolate spoons by melting some chocolate chips and dipping your spoon in the melted chocolate. On a baking sheet lined with wax paper, place your chocolate dipped spoons and then place the tray in your freezer for 10 minutes, so the chocolate will harden. Then place the spoons in a bowl for your guests.

Then all they have to do is swirl their spoons in their warm Peppermint Steamer to give it a touch of chocolate!

Peppermint Almond Steamer Recipe

2 cups Silk® Light Vanilla Almond Milk

1/4 teaspoon Watkins Peppermint Extract

Warm the almond milk slowly in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Remove from the heat as soon as you see steam, after about 3-4 minutes. Make sure you don’t over heat. Add the peppermint extract and serve immediately.

Garnish with crushed candy canes and serve with chocolate spoons.

For more ideas on how to use the family of Silk® products this Holiday season, visit the Silk® Facebook page and sign-up for the Silk® Club for all kinds of ideas and special offers!

This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

How Target Store Pickup Changed My Life

8 · Oct 21, 2014 ·

Ok, you may think “changed my life” may be a stitch over stated, but Target Store Pickup truly has!

It’s kind of funny, I get approached to write post like this all the time. Some fit into my normal life and I accept the gig, others aren’t something that I would use or participate in naturally, so I turn down the offer. Regardless, when I am challenged to write a post of this nature, I have to go out and in a way, contrive the experience so that I can photograph and document the experience to share with you all.

NOT THIS TIME!!

I naturally fell into this post and it is such a cool story!!

A few weeks ago, an article caught my eye over at the Today Show website, What to Buy For your Home at Target. I am honestly Targets number one fan, so naturally I clicked on over to the article. This photo of some of the most beautiful lamps just jumped off the screen…

Aren’t they just divine?

I knew I needed them! I didn’t even read the article, I needed those lamps!

I jumped on over to Target.com and there it was…

The price was great, but criminy… it was out of stock online. SERIOUS!?! What am I going to do? I had been to my Target just the day before, and they didn’t have any of these beauties. What they heck am I going to do? I needed them! Then I noticed the find in a store button. I was a little deflated knowing that it wasn’t available online, so I almost didn’t bother. I clicked on the button and sure enough. The Target that is just a few more miles away from me and 2 in stock.

Now… Here’s where the story get’s exciting.

I had 2 choices… I could drop everything and run over to Target that second with my crazy hair and in my lovely PJ’s OR I could try out this Target Store Pick-Up option. It was kind of a lazy Saturday morning, but we had a packed day ahead. If I were to drop everything and run over there it would have really messed up my busy schedule for that day. BUT I NEEDED THOSE LAMPS! I remembered the post that I was scheduled to write about Target in-store pick-up. I knew that was something that was available to Target customers, I just hadn’t ever used it before. I decided to give it a go.

I added the lamps to my shopping cart and added a lovely matching gold pillow to the mix and selected the store where I wanted to purchase it from.

I selected the free store pick-up option and completed my purchase.

Check this out… I completed my purchase at 8:22 am

then at 8:55 I received a text from Target…

How COOL is that!!

Now, with this service, I had four days to pick-up my purchase. I didn’t have to stop my busy day and run to Target. I knew that I could run over there when I had some free time, or when I happened to be in that part of town and not worry about this purchase messing up my schedule.

I LOVE THIS!! SERIOUSLY LOVE THIS!

I knew that I had secured those amazing lamps, no one was going to run off with them, and I could get them on my own time.

Monday morning I had some errands in that part of town, so Gage and I headed to that Target location and picked up my loot!

There they were… tucked away safe and sound for the rest of the weekend, just waiting for me to pick them up and bring them home. The cool thing is that they don’t charge for this service, nor do they charge your credit card until you pick it up. If you change your mind, they restock it after four days. No worries!

Now check one of them out…

She gets to live on this aaamazing desk that my friend and business partner created. It’s an old piano that no longer worked that she transformed into a desk and then painted with BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder!

Doesn’t she look happy!!

Now do you understand why Target Store Pick-Up has changed my life? I will never view shopping at Target the same way ever again. Think about Christmas shopping… Yea! Kind of mind blowing right?

Give it a go… I have a feeling you are going to fall in love as well!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Target. The opinions and text are all mine.

Almond Pumpkin Spice Steamer Recipe

6 · Oct 7, 2014 ·

Today, I stumbled upon something AAAAAMAZING!!

A little back story. I’m not a coffee drinker, however I love a good warm drink like hot chocolate, Choffy or a simple hazelnut steamer. I love the fall and I have always felt a bit envious of all you PSL lovers out there. For those of you who don’t speak Starbucks, that’s the iconic Pumpkin Spice Latte that appears at Starbucks this time of year. It has always been so intriguing. I started to think about how I could create my own PSL experience and I came up with this… The Almond Pumpkin Spice Steamer!

Yes, you will thank me after you try this sinfully simple treat!

Two ingredients, three minutes, some optional garnish and you are enjoying the flavors of the season. I use Light Silk Almond Milk. Why you ask? Well, first off it’s…

• 60 calories per serving – 60 calories for 1 whole cup!

• 50% more calcium than dairy milk

• Excellent source of vitamin E

• Absolutely no cholesterol or saturated fat

• Free of dairy, soy, lactose, gluten, casein, egg and MSG

• Verified by the Non-GMO Project’s product verification program

• No artificial colors, flavors or funny business

On top of all of that, it tastes great! I thought it would be the perfect base for my steamer experiment.

The next ingredient can be a little tricky. Getting ahold of some pumpkin spice syrup to add to your steamer. Here are your options…

Sweet talk your Starbucks barista into giving you a cup with just a few hits of the liquid gold (yea, I’m not above that at all!) I have been known to pay for a Tall PSL minus the L.
I have found a lovely Sugar-Free Pumpkin Spice Coffee Syrup by Archer Farms at Target. I’m sure that’s a seasonal item, so go and grab some quick. It’s in the coffee isle at your local target.
You can order some Torani Pumpkin Spice online. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! If you are a pumpkin lover, you can find some pumpkin spice syrup.

Now, all you need to do is pour your Silk Almond Milk into a small sauce pan over medium high heat. Gently warm your Almond Milk until it starts to steam. This will take 3-4 minutes. As soon as you see steam remove from the heat.

Pour into your mug and add a splash or two of your Pumpkin syrup. Start with a little bit and add until you have your perfect pumpkin flavor. Top with whipped cream and some pumpkin pie spice and voilá, you have fall in a cup! If you want to keep this dairy-free skip the whipped cream topping and it’s the perfect dairy-free autumn treat.

For more Silk ideas, visit their Facebook page. For all kinds of Silk fun, sign-up to receive Silk news and special deals right in your in-box! Seriously, check it out! This month they are giving away a CAMERA. Go join the Silk fun!!

What’s your favorite fall treat? Are you part of the pumpkin craze or are you holding out for egg nog?

This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

Lunching Awesome with Applegate HALF TIME™ Lunch Kits

0 · Oct 3, 2014 ·

You know, let’s face it. Life is busy. I don’t know why it needs to be this way… it just is. There are times when I feel I’m running around trying to keep things together, when in reality, I’m barely treading water. Now that we are back in school, it’s even worse. You wake up in the morning and hit the floor running. Getting the kiddos ready in the morning whether for school, daycare or just for the day is NOT for the faint of heart. I know in our house we are making sure that homework is finished, backpacks are packed and don’t even get me started on lunches. I know that lunch should be a no brainer, but quite frankly… it’s not. It’s not easy to come up with fresh, fun new ideas everyday that are healthy and still satisfying for the kiddos. I’ve never been a huge fan over overly processed foods so, that excludes most of the prepackaged, quick and easy lunch options. That is until three of our favorite organic heroes joined forces to create the Applegate HALF TIME™ Lunch Kit!

This is the next best option when you need something quick, so you can run out the door in a flash. The nice thing is that the food options with this pack are all-natural and organic. They have three options…

HALF TIME™ Ham & Cheese, HALF TIME™ Bologna & Cheese along with HALF TIME™ Turkey & Cheese. Applegate, the go to source for natural and Organic meats, asked two of their favorite organic friends, Stoneyfield™ Yogurt and Annies® Snacks over for a fun playdate to create a quick, on the go lunch option packed full of products that you know and trust.

Did you know that Applegate is one of the few all-natural, organic meat companies out there. They source their product very carefully, hand picking from some of the top organic meat family farms out there. Each one of their farms has committed to a safe and healthy way to take care of their livestock. Here are the Applegate meat standards…

Pretty cool if you ask me. Both of the other companies involved with this play date are equally committed to all-natural, organic sources for their products as well. We’ve been a huge fan of Stoneyfield Farms™ Yogurt sticks and when Gage opened his Time Out™ lunch kit, that was the first thing he picked…

Here’s the rest of his lunch…

He’s a bit of a picky eater and it’s not always easy to find a healthy on-the-go option. He will actually eat everything in this kit so it’s a sure-fire win in both of our books!

Looking for some more lunch time options? Follow Applegate on Facebook and Instagram for lunch ideas and great coupons! Let’s commit to lunching awesome and healthier this school year with Applegate! Click here for a great coupon to use to stock up on Applegate HALF TIME™ kits for your kiddos!

Want to win an Applegate HALF TIME™ Prize pack? Enter the giveaway below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Applegate via Burst Media. The opinions and text are all mine.

Tap Influence

An Almond Pumpkin Steamer made with Silk® Light Vanilla Almond Milk!

Chocolate Spoon Directions

Peppermint Almond Steamer Recipe

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