25 May 2015

Blue Diamond Oven Roasted Sea Salt and Dark Chocolate Almond Review with Granola Recipe


Did you know that: A handful of almonds (about 23 nuts or one ounce) contains high amounts of protein, fiber, monounsaturated fat, vitamin E, calcium and other important minerals, and phytochemicals that may help protect against many common diseases? Almonds are an excellent source of vitamin E, magnesium, and manganese; they are a good source fiber, copper, phosphorous and riboflavin. When compared ounce for ounce, almonds are the nut highest in protein (6g), fiber, calcium (75mg), vitamin E, riboflavin and niacin (1mg). All that good stuff in there, it is sure to be good for you! 

Incorporating almonds into your daily diet helps you in your nutritional needs, is a satisfying snack and also aids in weight management. I have been dieting for about 9 months now and I am always looking for a snack that will be good for me and not raise my blood sugar levels. I love both the Sea Salt and Dark Chocolate flavors of Blue Diamond Almonds. I not only love to snack on them but to bake with them also. I have included a recipe for Granola with Blue Diamond Almonds. You can use any flavor of Blue Diamond Almonds you would like but I love the Dark Chocolate. I do love chocolate. I think the addition of these in the granola just gives the it the little bit of added flavor and variety. I hope you enjoy this simple and delicious recipe!

I was provided with one container of Sea Salt Almonds and one container of Dark Chocolate Almonds for my review.

“This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds.” 

Granola with Blue Diamond Almonds
Ingredients:
  • 1 cup almonds, divided, I used Blue Diamond Oven Roasted Dark        Chocolate Almonds
  • 3 cups old fashioned oats
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a food processor or blender, pulse half of the almonds until they are very finely chopped. Pour them into a large bowl. Then chop the other half of the almonds coarsely, and pour them into the same bowl.
  3. Pour the oats, salt, and brown sugar into the bowl with the almonds and stir to combine.
  4. In a small microwaveable bowl, combine honey and coconut oil, and heat for 40 seconds. Stir to dissolve the coconut oil, and add the vanilla and almond extract.
  5. Pour the honey mixture over the oats, and stir so that they are evenly coated.
  6. Pour the oats evenly onto a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet (helpful if it has sides).
  7. Bake the oats for 5 minutes, and then stir them around. Return to the oven for 5 more minutes.
  8. Pour the granola and onto a piece of wax paper to cool. Spread it out into a thin layer.
  9. After it cools completely, break the granola into clusters and store in an airtight container.

Nutrition Facts

Generic - Dark Chocolate, Almonds and Granola



  1.   
Calories140Sodium0 mg
Total Fat7 gPotassium0 mg
Saturated2 gTotal Carbs19 g
Polyunsaturated0 gDietary Fiber2 g
Monounsaturated0 gSugars7 g
Trans0 gProtein3 g
Cholesterol0 mg
Vitamin A0%Calcium0%
Vitamin C2%Iron4%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Gown Girl by Kat Cazanav Book Tour!



Title: Gown Girl
Author: Kat Cazanav 
Series: (Lost in Lace Book 1)
Release Date:  May 18, 2015
Genre: New Adult Romance
ASIN: B00XVI8IHU

Buy the Book  Amazon | SmashwordsBarnes and Noble




When Maddy Gill loses everything in a fire, her life is turned upside down. As she tries to regain her life, she encounters a million dollar wedding gown, a zipper that just won't budge and brooding young artist, Atticus Wolfe. This recipe for disaster spirals into a night to remember forcing Maddy and Atticus to fear the desire they can't control will destroy the only love they've ever known. Less
Life has a few harsh surprises for Maddy Gill. When a fire sweeps through her Seattle apartment and destroys the little she has left, she finds herself living out of her car. But not the kind of gal to feel sorry for herself, she scrambles to get back on her feet. As a reporter for a local newspaper, she seizes the opportunity to interview the elusive wedding couture designer, Sophia Nicoletta. When she unintentionally tries on Sophia’s most expensive creation, the zipper just won’t budge. Trapped in the clutches of a million dollar gown and with the risk of losing her job, she has no where to turn until sexy charismatic sculptor Atticus Wolfe arrives to pay the delinquent tab on his ex-fiancées wedding gown. Now Maddy realizes she’s a hostage in the same dress. With no immediate solution to the problem, she’s forced to go home with the brooding young artist.

As one of the hottest new sculptors on the art scene, Atticus Wolfe can have any woman he wants, just not Maddy Gill. Certainly not like this. No way, no how. With nothing in common other than a faulty zipper, his futile attempts to undress her and set her free only fuel a heated attraction. When a hot kiss and unforgettable night forces him to re-examine his feelings for her, Atticus finds himself wondering if losing the gown means losing the girl he’s been waiting for all his life.

Book Links Gown Girl










About the Author

Kat Cazanav graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles with a degree in film. She went on to work in television before moving to Seattle where she now lives with her husband and two crazy dogs.

Connect with the Author

Social Media Facebook | Twitter |  Goodreads | Website
             


The Morrigan by Kennan Reid Spotlight with Giveaway!


Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance
Release date: March 16, 2015

 Synopsis:

Morrie Brandon is the best horse trainer in Oklahoma, able to tame the wildest of beasts. She's also the Celtic goddess of War and Sex, The Morrigan, abandoning her supernatural life for a simpler, more human one. When Morrie is hired by a secretive Scottish family to capture a killer horse ravaging their Highlands manor, the past she has spent thousands of years running from calls her back. Will Morrie learn from her past mistakes and embrace the bold goddess she truly is, or is it too late?


Buy Link:



Author Bio:

Kennan Reid traveled from the vast, open spaces of Texas to the vast, open ocean of California where she enjoys sitting outside in the sun, tossing a frisbee to her dog, Barnabas, and on occasion, writing a few words hoping one day they behave and become a book. When she's not pretending to be a romance author, she is writing young adult novels about elves, witches and reincarnation. The Morrigan is her first adult romance novel and after falling in love with the fiesty goddess and her crazy sisters, will not be her last.

Author Links:


Excerpt:

“Did no one tell ye it’s rude tae give a man the best night of his life and then run away?” a voice rumbled low and soft and managed to be as seductive as it was menacing.
“Kade,” Morrie sighed, hoping he couldn’t hear the desire and relief laced in the sound.  
She shouldn’t be this excited over knowing he had raced home after her, but inside she nearly bounced like a giddy school girl.  
And what did he say?  The best night of his life…Morrie would have to admit, she felt the same.
She spun around on the stool to face him, leaning back when she found him standing too near.  
He closed the small space, towering over her as he dipped his head to be eye level with her, forcing her back against the bar. 
“Ye will no’ leave like that again,” he growled.  
Morrie frowned at his order and opened her mouth to respond, but the words caught in the back of her throat.  
Emotion flickered in his eyes, eyes that had grown black with what could have been either desire or fury, she wasn’t sure.  But also something else… 
Morrie tilted her head to the side. “Did I scare you?”
Kade huffed with quick offense and straightened up, leaning back from her.  But his expression changed to one of wonder. 
“Like ye would no’ believe,” he admitted on an exhaled breath as though surprised by his own revelation.
“I told you I was here for business.”  And that business was quickly becoming an obsession of hers.  
A challenge that would determine just how far down the mortal hole she had fallen and whether she could find her true nature as a goddess once again.  
This job tested her mettle because it should have been done by now.  She knew she could find the horse if she used her powers, but she needed to know she could find him on her own.  
Though why she needed that, she couldn’t say.
Kade turned his angry eyes on her. “Do ye really expect tae succeed in this daft quest?”
Morrie blinked, surprised by the…well, vehemence of his question and the turn of his questioning.  
Of everyone in the home, he had seemed the least concerned about her reasons for being there.
“If I didn’t think I could catch him, I wouldn’t stay.”  And she had thought he wanted her to stay, but his question had elicited an unwanted response—one of insecurity. “If you think I’m wasting my time, then I should just leave.”  
For emphasis, she moved to slip off the stool, to really get away from him before he could see just how his doubts had touched her, but he stopped her by placing his hand on her hip.
“Wait, that’s no’ what I want.”  Morrie paused but crossed her arms over her chest, pressing her lips together and waiting for him to continue.  Kade sighed. “O’ course I think ye can catch him.  If anyone can, it’s you.  I doona doubt ye.” He blinked, like a discovery had been made. “Maybe ye’re supposed tae. In fact, I’ll help ye do so.”
Morrie gave Kade a sidelong glance.  He was up to something, she just wasn’t sure what.
“You’ll come with me to the loch?”  
There it was again! 
A passing cloud of fear across his face, but this time it was different.  It seemed spurned on by a different place.  
But it came and went so quickly, Morrie soon questioned seeing it at all.
“I’ll follow ye anywhere,” he answered her and there was a deep truth behind his statement. “Just doona leave again like ye did this morn.”
Morrie studied him like a suspicious package wrapped in a thin veil of desperate relief.  He seemed changed from the night before—this emotion even different than the cloud that settled over him after the encounter with his mother.  
Kade either wore many masks or his true nature was too complex to determine.  
Like the horse, Kade was a challenge.
And Morrie was a sucker for challenges.
And his dark eyes turned her into a puddle and it seemed there was nothing she could do about it.  Her shoulders slumped before she muttered, “Stop making me melt.”
Kade frowned. “What was that?”
“Nothing,” Morrie stood up, placing her body much too close to Kade’s, but she couldn’t appear weak.  She pulled out some money and slapped it down on the bar to well cover her tab.
“Alright, you can help.  But what happened last night cannot happen again.  I am your brother’s employee, I am your employee.  And for us to entangle ourselves…” Kade’s responding grin caused Morrie to roll her eyes and regret her word choice, but she continued on, hands on her hips, “would only result in an unnecessary distraction.”  
She hoped to glower that smirk right off his beautiful lips.
At the fire in her eyes, Kade threw up is hands in surrender. 
“Aye, lass, as ye wish.  If ye insist on lying tae yerself and pretending, then I will no’ impose my will on ye.”  
Morrie’s face burned with outrage, but that only resulted in Kade laughing at her, gazing down with desire in his smoldering eyes and adoration in his smile. 
“Stop that!” she complained, pushing past him.   
“Stop what?” he asked with feigned innocence.
She whirled around and nearly smacked her face into his chest.  
Sighing, she stepped back and looked up at him. 
“Stop trying to provoke me.  Nothing will happen between us.”
“If ye say so.  As I said, I will no’ impose myself on ye, but if ye canna keep yer hands tae yerself, lass, I will no’ stop where they may roam.  And we both know they’re curious, lil’ things.”  
Volumes were spoken in his heated gaze.  Morrie flushed anew.
Her body grew rigid, her hands balled into fists at her sides.
“My hands do not—there will be no—gah!” Morrie sputtered and turned her back to him, stomping out of the restaurant and towards what was going to surely be a violent battle of wills.  
For the first time in her existence, Morrie didn’t know if she would be the victor.

Giveaway

Happy Father's Day Giveaway!

fathers day giveaway image  

I am pleased to be part of the Happy Father's Day Giveaway Event!!

Happy Father's Day

to all the wonderful Father's out there!

Thanks To The Special Co Hosts!
Co Hosted By:

Thank you so much to all the promoting bloggers!!!

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THE GIVEAWAY

This giveaway is in no way endorsed, affiliated, or associated with Facebook, Twitter or any other Social Media Networking Site. You are not eligible if you have won a prize from any of the sponsors in the last 12 month.This Giveaway is valid in the Continental United States Only and Entrants must be 18+ years of age to enter. This giveaway event will end at 11:59 PM (EST) 6/21/15. The winners will have 48 hours to email their information back to las93063 at gmail dot com or a new winner will be drawn, you may want to put this email address as safe as it could go to spam. The sponsors are each responsible for shipping of the above prizes. No blog associated with this contests are responsible for prize fulfillment. If you would like to be a sponsor in a giveaway like this please email Laura Smith at las930 (at)gmail (dot) com.

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