Spread Possibilities with New Hershey's Spreads

*All products were sent to me for testing and review, completely complimentary, from Crowdtap. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was so excited to be one of only 1000 given the chance to try the new Hershey's Spreads. I'm not sure if others who were given this opportunity got anything different, but the spread I received was Chocolate with Hazelnut.

As part of this sample there were various challenges to complete. I could create a video, but I'm not good at those. I could be daring and try to pair my Hershey's Spreads with something unusual, but some of the options for this (such as pickles) turned my stomach a little. So I went with the challenge of coming up with 5 pairings that I'm going to share with you.

I've said this in every food post but I always feel the need to point it out again. I am not a food blogger. I don't have the time or patience to come up with new recipes and do some fancy set up for pictures. That said, I like food, I love sharing it with you, and I do try my best with the pictures. I really hope you enjoy my fumbling attempts; I know I enjoyed eating/drinking them. :)

The first pairing I tried was hot chocolate. I love making my own hot chocolate with Hershey's powdered chocolate so I hoped this would work just as well. And it did! Better in the case that there was no extra chalky powder at the end of the cup. Though, I was really sad not to have some mini marshmallows in my cupboard but the rich, chocolate-y taste with a slight nutty flavor sated my chocolate craving and warmed me up after a horrible ice storm.

This hot chocolate is very simple (and quick) to make. Simply whisk 3 tablespoons of Hershey's Spread into one cup of milk over low heat - you don't want to scald the milk or burn the chocolate. You can add a pinch of cinnamon (or your favorite hot chocolate spice) for a more Christmas-y drink or take a trip back to your childhood and toss in some mini marshmallows or a scoop of marshmallow fluff.

For my second pairing ... walking down the snack aisle I saw some yummy looking chocolate covered pretzels. However, they were fancy and expensive. Given that the bag had only a handful of pretzels inside it really wasn't worth the price, but it gave me a horrible craving for chocolate pretzels. So, I walked further down the aisle and picked up a much cheaper, very full bag of simple pretzel sticks and satisfied my new-found craving by dipping them into the Hershey's Spread. It was the perfect snack!

I thought and thought and thought about my next pairing. All that thinking made me hungry so I snooped through my cupboards and came up with this sandwich pairing. I love peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and I occasionally love peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwiches. It was really a no-brainer to substitute the peanut butter for Hershey's Spreads.

It was like eating chocolate covered bananas dipped in honey. It was really yummy! I'm also really eager to try just the Hershey's Spreads with honey, and I'm already dreaming of grilling up some Hershey's Spreads with jelly much like I do with pb&j sandwiches.

So, I did snacks, drinks, and lunch with my last pairing ... what about other meals? Say ... breakfast?? How about some chocolate pancakes? I apologize, but I never learned how to make pretty pancakes lol. I just pour some batter into a small skillet and spread to the edges of the pan as best as possible - cook, turn, cook and eat. For this just use your favorite basic pancake recipe (I prefer quick and easy with the least amount of ingredients possible so I use Jiffy mix) and add a spoonful or two of Hershey's Spreads. 

What I also never learned to do is leave well enough alone! I just had to spice these pancakes up a bit. I drizzled on some of my favorite syrup - dark Karo syrup and then I added a scoop of cherry preserves. Oh sweet pancake gods above (or maybe below with how absolutely sinful these are)!! It was like eating chocolate covered cherries for breakfast. Almost tooth-ache inducing but too good to put down! I'm almost hoping a food blogger sees this and runs with the idea because these pancakes really deserve to look pretty!!

But ya know what? All that thinking and mixing and eating ... my all time favorite way to eat Hershey's Spreads is just with a spoon.

Or, since this is my own personal Hershey's Spreads, with my fingers. I have been caught many times just like this.

Want to try some of my pairings for yourself? The new Hershey's Spreads hit shelves December 6th so if you can't find them in your local shop yet keep looking!

*All products were sent to me for testing and review, completely complimentary, from Crowdtap. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Crowdtap & Old Navy In-Store Beach Party

Hey everyone! I recently received the opportunity from Crowdtap to snag some new beach essentials from Old Navy!

The really awesome thing? It wasn't just for me! I could bring 3 friends!

The coupons were for one swimsuit, a pair of flip-flops, a beach bag, and a towel for each of us. All the things you need for a day at the beach!!

I took my mom, my sister, and my niece. We arrived at the store and after informing the manager we headed right for the swim section ... and found ourselves pretty disappointed. I had 'window shopped' ahead of time at OldNavy.com. I had picked out a few suits I wanted to try and could find none of them in store. There were three of their control max one-piece suits that my mom and I prefer and one of them only had two sizes left (a medium and an x-large). Checking the other one-piece suits, the non-control suits, found about 3-4 of them.

I grabbed two of the control suits and two of their regular one-piece suits. I also picked up one of their tankinis. Everyone else grabbed their favorites and we headed to the dressing room.

Trying on the swimsuits presented problems immediately. I'm 5'3, my mom and sister are slightly shorter than me. We found that we were slightly too short in the torso to fill out most of the suits. The bottoms were saggy in ... well, in the bottom. If pulled up the bra part was slightly too high.

However, I did find these two beauties!! They are both control max. The black and white one had soft padding in the bra and side boning to help it stay up (which is really a must if you want to wear it into the ocean). The all black one even has a padded bra and underwire! While I preferred the all black one, I picked the black and white one simply because it fit the best from top to bottom.

While my mom and niece refused to be on camera my sister was ham enough to make up for them. She walked the 'runway' of the try on room! This is the suit she decided on for herself.

We were also allowed to pick up some classic flip-flops, a beach towel, and a really awesome straw bag. I LOVE this bag and plan to use it all summer long - not just take it to the beach! I would have been happy if the coupon just covered the bag honestly, but to get everything else free as well was so generous of Old Navy and Crowdtap!

Our cashier, Andrew, was great! He had never seen coupons like ours, but was more than willing to read through them and help us. He was really nice, and I'm not just saying that because he was cute ... which is always a plus on a girl's shopping trip. ;)

Sadly, he explained that my swimsuit was on clearance that day and  the coupon only covered items that were full price. I quickly ran back and grabbed the all black suit from the try on pictures ... only to find out it was on clearance too. What was I going to do?? I hadn't tried on anything else that I had like. I did the only thing I could do in a situation like this. I went back and picked a cute one at random, making sure to check the price tag this time, hoping all the while that it would fit once I got it home.

This is what I came home with. I'm not too terribly pleased with the stripes, but striped suits in different styles were all they had in full priced one-piece suits.

I don't know. I think it might just be the one that fit the best of all those I tried on. The bottom isn't saggy, the top isn't too high, and everything else sits comfortably. I do wish it was a control max, especially with the stripes, but that's mostly just to make myself feel comfortable and confident in all situations (like sitting down). But I feel no shame wearing this. And getting it free? Well that just makes it all the better!

So, many thanks to Crowdtap and Old Navy for upgrading my beach style!!!