Truvia Brunch Party: MISSION COMPLETE!

(photo courtesy this site)

So my Truvia Brunch Party went pretty well, although I didn't get to take as many photos as I would have liked to, because I was busy attending to everyone. But we still had a blast! I decided to hold the brunch at my parents house, so I could make them coffee and muffins and be able to visit them on my only day off from work. :-)

For our brunch, I made Cranberry Orange Muffins with Truvia Baking Blend - using this recipe actually: Cranberry Orange Muffins. I also made a pot of the Folger's Gourmet Selections Vanilla Biscotti Coffee, a bag of which was included in the party kit. Both were a huge hit! My parents and I really liked the coffee (my boyfriend doesn't like any coffee); my mom liked the vanilla flavor, and also liked that there were no added sweeteners in the roast. And every loved the muffins; we all went back for seconds... well, in my dad's case, it was thirds, haha. Which was great, because he didn't think he would like the muffins because they had Truvia in them (he prefers sugar). So I think the fact that I won him over in the end says something about how good Truvia Baking Blend is! Or maybe I'm just a good baker, haha. :-P

I had a lot of great supplies to put together a great brunch, thanks to Crowdtap and Truvia and the awesome party kit they sent to me. They sent me so much stuff, I was able to gift some Truvia to my parents, as well as bring a box of Truvia to work for my coworkers to try!

Here Are Some Pre-Brunch/Brunch Day Photos:

The party kit arrives!

Me, testing out my sweet stuff from Truvia and Crowdtap!

The baking has begun.

Making use of my new apron.

My Dad being a goofball and showing of the Truvia samples while grabbing a coffee, haha.

The Cranberry Orange Muffins are ready!

My parents kicking back and enjoying their coffee and muffins

After getting everyone else settled, I was FINALLY able
to get myself some coffee!

So thank you again, Crowdtap and Truvia, for the opportunity to try your product with people I care about, and for providing such a fun way to promote your product. It was fun, and I would definitely do it again!

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Keurig® Vue® House Party: MISSION COMPLETE!

So the party was a big success! Everyone enjoyed themselves, and I couldn't be happier! I love my new Keurig® Vue®, and it was definitely a hit with my guests. What they seemed to love the most about it was its versatility.

For example, some of my guests were not big coffee or
sweet tea fans, so when I showed them that you could use the Vue® to get hot water to use for tea bags or hot cocoa packets, they were impressed! I also put travel mugs out so guests could see how well they fit under the Vue® spout. Everyone liked the cold brew options as well. I can't wait to try some iced coffee for myself... | didn't get a chance during the party because l was too busy being a good hostess, haha.

Keurig® sent me a free Vue® for hosting the party (thanks Keurig!), and House Party supplied me with a variety of Vue® coffee/tea packs to offer at the party, as well as some neat party supplies and a Keurig® Vue® apron! And since I was out of printer ink and couldn't print out the neat decorations from House Party's website, I recycled my Keurig® Vue® box and made my own!

We had a LOT of different snacks to munch on as well. We had some yummy Dancing Deer cookies that came in my party pack, as well as some Chips Ahoy and Newman's Own cookies. I made a bunch of loaded potato skins, pizza bites, and some ramen salad. My friend Heather made gluten-free cupcakes and gluten free/vegan muffins (both were DELICIOUS), and my mom made spinach artichoke dip (NOM!). We ate all of this great stuff during our viewing of The Hunger Games!

And the end of the party, everyone got to bring a goodie bag home with them, containing some "after coffee" mints, a pamphlet about Vue®, and a 50% off voucher for a new Vue® from Keurig® all supplied by House Party, as well as some chocolate-dipped spoons and green tea I supplied myself. Everyone like their goodie bags and went home happy and well fed. I would say this was all-in-all a very successful party!

Here are some photos from before and during the party!

The arrival of my Keurig® Vue®!

Such an exciting morning, haha!

Brand new out of the box. Even got a nifty sampler pack!

Making my first coffee in my Vue®...

... looks good!

The arrival of the party pack from House Party!

Look at all of the goodies!

Pretty sweet haul for my Vue® Party!

Party Day!

The coffee/tea bar.

Some of the goodie bags!

Eat ALL the noms! haha. ;-)

The aftermath of the first group of coffee/snack consumers, lol.

Everyone snacking and watching The Hunger Games.

Thanks Keurig® and House Party!

Thanks to everyone who made this an AWESOME house party! Can't wait to get the opportunity to host another one someday!

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Questions and comments are always welcome, read, and replied to...

So go ahead and leave me something!

And as always...

Thanks for reading! (^_^)

This Geek Will Be Hosting a Keurig® Vue® Party This Month!

You heard me right! Thanks to the wonderful folks at Keurig® and House Party, I am one of 2000 lucky people given the opportunity of hosting a party in my home promoting the new Keurig® Vue® single cup brewing system! Which is perfect for me, because this geek NEEDS her caffeine regularly, haha! So a heads up to my readers: be on the lookout for a special blog post all about the party, along with photos of the events. It should be up sometime after September 23, so be ready for it!

Also, if you follow me on Twitter (@shantellevye), I will most likely be popping on there randomly during the party on September 23rd posting party updates and photos, so be sure to check it out! (The party hashtag is #VueParty.)

It should be a very exciting month, so stay tuned!

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Questions and comments are always welcome, read, and replied to...

So go ahead and leave me something!

And as always...

Thanks for reading! (^_^)

Geek NOMs: Homemade Mocha Coolatta!

So like any good geek, I love (and NEED) my caffeine, which for me is usually coffee. And when I want coffee, I would rather not have to run to a coffee shop and leave my computering/gaming behind just to get my fix. My solution? Make my my own!

Sure, a pot of coffee is easy enough to make on your own. But when the weather gets warmer, I lean more towards coffee Coolattas from Dunkin Donuts... but that is inconvenient and can get expensive. So when I got my new blender for Christmas, I decided that I needed to solve this problem!
And after much trial and error, I think I finally have this recipe down. So go ahead and try it out, and see if I'm right!

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Homemade Mocha Coolatta

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Cups of crushed ice

• 1/2 water

• 3/4 milk (I used soy milk for mine)

• Sugar, however much you would usually put in your coffee

• 1 tablespoon instant coffee

• 1-2 tablespoons cocoa powder (optional… for awesome mocha!)

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a blender, and… blend, lmao.

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Yes, it sounds simple... but that is because it is, haha. Not to mention convenient, because it's made from stuff I always have in my kitchen. And this recipe makes enough to fill my ginormous mug! Awesome, right? Now off to drink my coffee...

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Did you try the recipe? Let me know how it came out! Found some ways to make it better? Then send those ideas my way! (Please?)

And as always...

Thanks for reading!! (^_^)