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August 12, 2014

CLOSED/WINNERS ANNOUNCED! NuNaturals NuStevia Review and Giveaway Featuring New Flavors!

UPDATE! I know folks that I've posted this giveaway thru August 31, 2014, but due to a family situation, I need to cut it short. A winner will be chosen just after midnight tonight, 8/26/14 Thank you for entering AND understanding!

Hi again readers, I've got the second surprise I mentioned a few days ago ready for you. This last surprise is AMAZING!!!

For the past few years, I have had the honor of reviewing NuNaturals NuStevia products for a great company called NuNaturals (NuNaturals.com ).

Every year they come up with incredible NuStevia products. This year they really hooked me BIG TIME. How you ask? COCOA SYRUP!!! You heard me :) Imagine the guiltless satisfaction of adding this to your next sweet treat - mind blowing....

I didn't know where to start or what to try first, THAT'S how excited I was with their new products. Cocoa Syrup, Cocoa Mint Syrup, and Simple Syrup just to name a few.

The first thing I can't stress enough of though is, you must find your sweet happy spot - the ratio of sugar or artificial sweeteners is not equal to stevia, but NuNaturals NuStevia is the only stevia brand I find easy to work with. Here is a small measuring guideline that I've found helpful. You may want things more or less sweet then I do, but at least you'll have a general idea:
     1 tablespoon of sugar = 6 to 9 drops of liquid NuStevia extract
     1 teaspoon of sugar = 2 to 4 drops of liquid NuStevia extract
     1 packet of NuStevia = 1 packet of Splenda = 1 packet of Equal = 1 packet of Sweet'N Low = 2 teaspoons of sugar
     1 packet of Sweetener = 4 to 5 drops of liquid NuStevia extract
     1/4 cup NuStevia liquid = 1 cup sugar

Ok, so let's start with one of your giveaway items:

NEW NuStevia Cocoa Syrup: This is one of those 'greatest wonders of the world'....just kidding. My first thought was over ice cream, but there's none in the house. My second thought was chocolate milk. Now that I can make. 2 c. milk (we only use whole milk now since I found out my favorite skim milk is basically milk watered to the point of them adding 'garbage' to make it look and taste like milk - so what's the point). Anyway.... 2 c. milk and started with 1/4 tsp NuStevia Cocoa Syrup. I ended up using 1 tsp cocoa syrup and for me, it was just the right sweetness and delicious!

To be honest, even before I made the chocolate milk, I put a dab on the palm of my hand...good, hmmm, needed another taste....it IS sweet, but seriously, if you just need a little oomph of something sweet and don't want to eat a candy bar, slice of cake or dig into a dish of ice cream, this is your answer! A little drop will hit that chocolate fix in a heartbeat. I licked that drop off the palm of my hand like it was melting chocolate and IT WAS GOOOOOD!

Now the next item for your giveaway had me a little stumped, Cherry Vanilla Stevia Liquid (mmmm, the scent emulating from this bottle.....) - I immediately thought about a bowl of Cherry Garcia, but that wasn't an option....     I wasn't sure how this flavor would work in anything other then soda or ice cream - the only two areas that I'm used to, so I surfed the net and found a recipe called: Easy Apple Bread with Cherry Vanilla NuStevia . I chose trying this recipe because we all have these ingredients in our home (basically): 

Makes 2 large loaves
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cider vinegar
  • 8 oz cinnamon applesauce
  • 2 medium, over ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 peeled, cored and small chopped apple
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 10 to 15 drops Cherry Vanilla NuStevia
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/4 to 1/3 cup cacao nibs (raw cacao is high in antioxidant flavanoids, sulfur and magnesium. The essential fatty acids found in chocolate may help the body to raise good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol.)
Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray 2 large loaf pans with non stick spray. Blend the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Set aside. In a blender, mix the applesauce, banana, sugar, NuStevia, and oil.. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the flour mix and blend until just combines.  Stir in the apples and cacao nibs just to combine. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 1 hour 5 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow to cool before removing from pans. Just as the author of this recipe posted on her page HERE
I found this to be a very moist, flavorful bread. The drops she lists are 10 to 15, I chose 15 for a stronger flavor and personally I did not have cacoa nibs, so I used dark chocolate chips which I did have and it was everything I wanted the taste to be, (kind of like the texture and sweetness as you would find in a zucchini bread)

Next, while cruising NuNaturals for recipes, my eyes immediately set upon Homemade Vegan Nutella Sauce using the 50 pkt box of NuStevia White Stevia Powder packets (now I don't care if it's vegan or not, Nutella is a sit on the couch, watching a good movie, spoon in jar sweet treat I choose way too many times!)

Heather is the creator of this recipe and you can find more NuNaturals recipes HERE or more from Heather HERE
· 2 cups hazelnuts ( I used raw, but roasted would probably work better )
· 2 TBSP dark cocoa powder
· 2 packets of NuNaturals NuStevia™ White Stevia Powder
· ½ tsp. vanilla
· pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
Process the hazelnuts in your food processor, continually scraping down the sides until you start to achieve a nut butter consistency. Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth and creamy. Enjoy as a spread or blend with 1 cup of your favorite non-dairy milk for more of a Nutella sauce. (Thanks to Heather for this AWESOME creation! I find the flavor was SPOT-ON with regular/roasted nuts).

NuStevia Simple Syrup: Are you familiar with Simple Syrup? You add it to alcoholic as well as non-alcoholic beverages. The only alcoholic drinks we make at home that includes sugar are mojitos and those are made with brown sugar, so I couldn't attempt it - yet. So, what's another use? Lemonade!! It's still summer time, it's still warm enough for a good, old fashioned glass of ice cold lemonade. The best recipe for homemade lemonade is easy to remember: 1c. sugar, 1 c. water, 1 c. lemon juice (squeezed, not bottled!), 3-4 c. cold water to dilute. The sweetness equivalant for NuStevia Simple Syrup to sugar is 1/4 c to 1 c. sugar. So, I made the perfect pitcher of lemonade using 1/4 c NuStevia Simple Syrup and sure enough, we have a pitcher half gone already of The Perfect Lemonade.

If you haven't tried stevia before, I prefer to use NuNaturals brand as I am confident of their products, awesome flavor and decent prices. If you have tried stevia products before, as I have, I truly feel you'll enjoy the flavor of the assortments of flavors and ease of use just as enjoyable as I have.
NuNaturals Giveaway

FOUR winners will each receive ( 1 ) one bottle of the Cherry Vanilla Stevia Liquid, a 50 pkt box of NuStevia White Stevia Powder packets, PLUS a bottle of NEW NuStevia COCOA SYRUP and a bottle of the new SIMPLE SYRUP.  Each of the 4 winners will receive the complete product selection of all 4 items with the retail value of $ 52.00 , PLUS A FREE BONUS PRODUCT!


In order to be eligible you must follow NuNaturals on Facebook or Twitter. Then, below this entry box are further options
You can earn bonus entries by doing any of the following and enter which you choose to do in the comment area below:
Subscribe to Be The Heart Of Your Home Newsletter
Follow me on Pinterest
Follow me on Twitter

I'll announce the winner September 1, 2014 and the winner will have 48 hours to respond or a replacement will be picked.

(Disclaimer: NuNaturals provided me with free samples of these products to review and I was under no obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free products)

I just listed my #giveaway at Blog Giveaway Directory.  You can list yours too for free!  http://bloggiveawaydirectory.com
Infinite Sweeps
Contestbee.com

7 comments:

  1. I follow on pinterest -- sacctx.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I follow you on Pinterest - yonawrites

    ReplyDelete
  3. I follow you on Twitter - pricelessteam

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am an email subscriber.
    Thanks for the giveaway opportunity.

    Nancy
    allibrary (at) aol (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  5. In addition, I also follow you via Pinterest.

    Nancy
    allibrary (at) aol (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  6. subscribed to your newsletter

    ReplyDelete
  7. followed you in twitter @daisyburgos5

    ReplyDelete

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