This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Crystal Light Pure Fitness.
I started running - really running - last January. I had never trained properly for a race. My idea of running was go out and run 3 miles and wonder why I hated running as I tried not to pass out in the grass.
Training properly made a huge difference. It also made me love running, though sometimes I forget I feel that way when I’m dripping in sweat and forcing myself to get through that last mile. Working with a training team also made me face some hard facts: a large part of my problem was my lack of hydration. Even in the winter, I wasn’t drinking enough during or after my runs and I would get headaches and feel exhausted.
As spring and summer came around, we had a history-making heat wave for Richmond. Based on my schedule, there were days I could only run in the late afternoons - when the heat index climbed into the triple digits and the humidity levels were ridiculous. Water become more important and hydration necessary.
I’ve never liked drinking sports drinks - they were always too high in calories and too thick in taste. I was excited to try Crystal Light’s new Pure Fitness product - 15 calories per serving, and flavored. The first time I tried it, I was cross-training - walking for 10 minutes, running for 10, and so on. I replaced my usual water in my water belt with Crystal Light. It was such a treat to be able to have some flavor with the added bonus of electrolytes while simultaneously not adding calories I’m trying to burn.
I’ve now become addicted to Pure Fitness. When I garden, I carry a bottle of water flavored with Pure Fitness. I use it when I walk the dog, at the gym, and keep a pitcher in my refrigerator so I can rehydrate after playing outside with the kids. Summer in Virginia is ultra hot because of the high humidity levels, and I’ve found that by carrying the Pure Fitness around with me, I have less headaches and more energy. I especially love the fact that there are no artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners or preservatives. Every little bit of support helps me reach my goal of being healthy - and doing what I love.
I get to do what I love best: give things away! I will be giving away a $100 Visa gift card after all of my Pure Fitness blogs have been published. I will combine all entries/comments and choose a winner from among them. All you have to do to be entered into the pool is to tweet about this post (place link in the comments, please!) or post a comment about your favorite way to stay hydrated.
You can check out the reviews and giveaways from BlogHer at BlogHer.com CLPF exclusive offers page. There are always great giveaways and ideas there. Make sure you check out the other participating bloggers’ reviews as you will have three other chances to win the $100 gift card - or the $1,000 sweepstakes on the round-up page!
This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Crystal Light Pure Fitness.
For the next four weeks, I’m going to be posting about how I’m using Crystal Light’s new Pure Fitness to help keep me hydrated and healthy. There will be a new post every week, and you can check out what I’m doing with Pure Fitness on this page by clicking each week’s link.
Pure Fitness is naturally sweetened, and easily added to your water so you can take it with you on the go. It has no artificial sweeteners, flavors or preservatives. It contains electrolytes to keep you hydrated but at only 15 calories a serving, it’s also easy to work into your healthy eating plans.
Don’t forget to check back each week to participate in the polls. Those who comment or tweet about it will receive an entry to win a Visa $100 Gift Card!
This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Electrolux.
The matriarchs of my family have been making their version of Red Velvet Cake for at least the past 50 years. My grandmother made it - passing the recipe (and addiction to the flavor) to my mother, who then made the mistake of making it for my birthday and therefore committing herself to a lifetime of cake-baking for me. Now my kids have tasted the heaven that is our family’s Red Velvet cake, and they want it too. Not just for birthdays anymore, it’s been requested for breakfast, snack time, or in place of green beans. (I’ve never given in on that front, just FYI)
I don’t know where the recipe came from originally - I’ve heard rumors that it came from the Waldorf Astoria? I checked online and the recipe is different, so our family may have bastardized it throughout the years with what I can say are delicious results.
I have intense, mouth-watering memories of standing in my mother’s kitchen while she complained her hand was going to fall off (the frosting needs to be beaten for 15 minutes). The final product was always delicious, if not beautiful (we could never get the layers to line up just so, and the frosting is delicious but not easy to shape like a fondant).
The Red Velvet cake has been used for birthdays, funerals, housewarmings, comfort foods for girlfriends suffering breakups or divorces, celebrations of new babies, and face-stuffing on cold winter nights. It has a taste that reminds me of many past birthdays, family gatherings and familiarity. The bowl of frosting remnants is worth every single lick-to-pound-gained proportion.
When BlogHer approached me about sharing a family recipe or cake memory, I was excited. I was even more excited when I found out about Kelly’s Cakery. Kelly Ripa is a self-proclaimed baking enthusiast. She has teamed up with Electrolux on a virtual campaign to help Americans make a difference in Ovarian cancer research. Kelly has created a way to raise money for a cause close to her heart: the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF).
Ovarian cancer research is also a cause close to my heart. A close friend’s mother was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer a few years back. Thankfully it was caught early - quite randomly, during another surgery - and she is a healthy vibrant person today, able to enjoy her new grandson. I remember my reaction when my friend told me about it. It was an embarrassing one: I burst into tears in the middle of a busy restaurant. For me, a diagnosis of Ovarian cancer was a death sentence. All of those I’d known before her mother with that diagnosis were casualties of the diagnosis. Thankfully her mother beat the odds and early detection, accidentally or not, saved her life. It truly is a silent killer and any money that I can help raise or send in the direction of the OCRF is literally just the icing on the cake.
If you’re ready to start virtually baking (best of all, no beating the icing for 15 minutes!), visit Kelly’s Cakery at http://www.Kelly-Confidential.com to decorate and send a special virtual cake to a friend, family member or loved one. To sweeten the deal, Electrolux is donating $100 to OCRF for every new range sold this month. For every virtual cake baked, Electrolux will also donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. If the donation is not enough to tempt you, you will also be entered to win a Induction Range from Electrolux. I had no idea what an “induction” range was - I used to feel special just knowing what a convection oven was. A little bit of research and here I am, educated about induction ranges. Induction is perfect for melting chocolate and cooking delicate foods and sauces. It’s also more responsive than gas and eco-friendly too. You might be lucky and win one!
Ready to send a virtual cake to your friends and loved ones? Start your ovens here: Kelly’s Cakery website
Want to see what else is cookin’ on the review and giveaways page at BlogHer.com? Interested in reading other blogger’s cake memories? Check out the other sponsored cake stories. BlogHer.com special offers page” title=“All you have to do is click . . .”>All you have to do is click . . .
A final note: if you are interested in baking my family’s Red Velvet recipe, here’s the recipe. My opinion is that the frosting is the best part of the recipe and quite possibly the best frosting ever, so if you’re planning to shortcut and use premade frosting, know that I will be silently shaking a virtual finger at you and frowning.
Red Velvet Cake with Vanilla Frosting
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 tbsp cocoa
2 1/2 cups sifted flour (I use Swan’s Down cake flour)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups baking soda
2 (1 oz each) red food coloring bottles
1 cup buttermilk
Cream shortening, sugar and eggs until fluffy. Make a paste of coloring and cocoa and blend with creamed mixture. Sift flour with salt. Add to mixture alternately with buttermilk. Blend in vanilla. Mix vinegar and soda in a cup; add to batter but don’t beat too briskly. Turn into two 9” greased and floured cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. When finished baking, turn cakes out onto cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
Vanilla Frosting:
5 tbsp flour
1 cup milk (at least 2%)
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Blend flour with milk and cook over low heat until smooth and thick. Set aside to cool. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy (15 minutes) with mixer. Add cooled mixture a little bit at a time. Continue beating until it is the consistency of whipped cream.
I was recently contacted by Healthy Curb. They wanted to send me some samples of their product to try, and will keep sending them to me as long as I’m trying them and writing about them.
As any readers of the blog know, I talk about food, weight, and eating disorders ad nauseum (pun intended). Healthy Curb says it gives “appetite reduction without stimulants, herbs or drugs of any kinds”. Apparently it is made of sunshine and unicorns, but if it reduces my appetite without making me feel like I’m tripping on acid or hopped up on caffeine, I’m all about it. It has not been evaluated by the FDA, however.
From the material sent to me:
Healthy Curb is a food based supplement that actually builds your cell walls, providing you with more energy while curbing your appetite for bad food. By combining two proprietary technologies, NT Factor® and Healthy Curb we’ve created a product that curbs your appetite naturally without stimulants, chemicals or herbs! It helps to give you back the desire to exercise and eat healthier by breaking those addictions to high sugar, high carbohydrate foods.
By the way, I’m a carbo-whore. I love carbs. They are my downfall, but also provides endless hours (and endless pounds) of joy.
Because Healthy Curb is a new way to lose weight, typical users will first experience looser clothing, reduced appetite and increased energy. That’s because Healthy Curb works by rebuilding key body cells, unlike any other product on the market. Healthy cells are the key to revitalizing the metabolism and controling hunger hormones that affect the way you eat. Healthy Curb has also created a way for your carbohydrate calories to be cut in half, with an FDA reviewed product (soy bean appetite suppressants blended with herbal energy stimulants) for weight loss. No other product on the market has addressed weight loss by combining cellular rebuilding, metabolic function change and caloric reduction. This is the first product of its kind!
I’ll be doing the Healthy Curb challenge for 30 days; you can follow along with me here on the review blog and I’ll be providing an exclusive discount code for any of you who want to try it along with me.
And I’m a big fan of anything that helps me on my weight loss journey, as it’s a hard one, full of bumps and whipped cream and the occasional dives into a pan of brownies.
I'm a 30-something mother of girls born 23 months apart. Originally hailing from the frosty throes of Northern Michigan, I now live in the humidity pit of the universe - Virginia.
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