McDonalds Cheddar Bacon Onion Giveaway

I'm not a huge fast food fan, but it has its place.  There are days when I don't have time to cook dinner or when I just have a craving for some comfort food.  McDonalds is the easy choice, not just because they're everywhere but because I know what the wee ones can and cannot eat with our dietary restrictions (although I'm still waiting for buns to have no HFCS - they don't need to be sweet!).

McDonalds isn't the restaurant with five items served in styrofoam containers (remember those?) that it was when I was a kid.  While it still has the staples of "Big Mac, Fillet o' Fish, Quarter Pounder, French Fries" and more from then, the menu has expanded exponentially with everything from cafe coffees to smoothies and wraps.  The newest entry is the Cheddar Bacon Onion sandwich, which comes in both chicken (grilled or fried) and burger varieties.

The 1/3 pound Angus burger (or fried chicken breast strips or grilled chicken) is served on a premium bakery bun with caramelized onions, white (pasteurized processed) cheddar cheese, and hickory smoked bacon.  Not advertised is a creamy sauce that I think was a dijon and mayonnaise based sauce. There is no pickle, ketchup or mustard to sully this sandwich.

For $4.39 in my market - as opposed to the $1 McDouble - I would expect something more than a typical fast food burger, and this is not your everyday burger.  When I brought it home, I actually put it on a plate, something I've never done with anything from a fast food restaurant before.

I will admit that I was somewhat taken aback when I saw the menu board and noticed that calories are now included.  The CBO burger contains 790 calories, well over half my daily amount.  The grilled chicken checks in at a much lower 480 calories, and the crispy chicken option has 630 calories.  We won't talk about sodium or fat content because that will simply depress me.  Obviously, this is a treat item, not something to eat every day.

That said, I tucked into my burger when I arrived home, and I was pleasantly surprised with the taste of the burger.  It was a good flavor combination, and I absolutely adored the fact that a fast food restaurant offered caramelized onions.  It's one of my favorite treats, and I don't get them often enough.  The next time I order one, I will probably ask for the sauce to be left off.  I'm not a big creamy sauce person to begin with, and it detracted from the sandwich for me.

This was also the first fast food burger I couldn't finish.  I didn't order fries or a drink or anything else. The sandwich alone is big enough and has so many different flavors and textures to it that it truly filled me up.  I could easily eat just half this burger and be content.

It is juicy.  It has a cheese that isn't standard American, and the onions were divine.  I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't been quite so careful, I would have had grease dripping down my chin as I took bite after delicious bite.  The burger was surprisingly good, which again is something I would expect at that price point.  I know it isn't the most healthy, but it fulfills a need, and I go to McDonalds with my eyes wide open.  And an empty stomach.

So are you ready to try one of these new creations?

I have five of these coupons that expire December 31, 2012 to give away to one lucky winner who will enjoy some lunches on McDonalds!  Are you ready to try them?  First of all, let me stress that you must follow all the rules. If you do not follow the rules, your entry will not count!

This contest is open until Monday November 26 at 7pm CST. I must have a valid way to reach you, so leave me your email address in your comment or be sure your profile has your email address visible. No duplicate comments will count. This giveaway is open to US residents age 18 and older. Winners will be selected via random.org and must respond within 24 hours of being notified by me or I will select a new winner.

Mandatory Entry: Tell me - what's your favorite menu item at McDonalds?

Bonus Entries (leave a comment for each entry - if you put it all in one comment, I'll count it as one entry):
1) Earn one additional entry for following me on Twitter, then tweeting this contest with the following tweet: Holidays are coming. Try the new Cheddar Bacon Onion from @McDonalds with a giveaway from @HonestAndTruly http://bit.ly/Tvw4qZ (leave a link to your tweet as your comment and make sure you do all the steps!)
2) Earn one additional entry by following this review blog publicly via Google Friend Connect.
3) Earn one additional entry by following my “regular” blog Honest & Truly! publicly via Google Friend Connect.
4) Earn one additional entry by liking Honest & Truly! on Facebook. (Yay, it's legal again, so long as you know you have to leave a comment here to enter and that simply liking me isn't the entry, along with acknowledging the fact that Facebook has nothing to do with this giveaway whatsoever.
5) Earn an additional entry by putting me in your Google Plus circle. Am I already in your G+ circle? No problem - just leave a comment letting me know that you've added me or already have me there.

Good luck!

In the interest of full disclosure, I received coupons to try the McDonalds new cheddar bacon onion sandwich.  I am sharing my coupons with readers.  I received no other compensation.  As always, all opinions expressed remain my own.

Giveaway: Wendy’s Gift Card

I wrote last year about Wendy's and the #TreatItFwd campaign last year around Father’s Day.  It’s that time again, and again Wendy’s is making donations to Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, part of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, which helps find permanent adoption homes for children in foster care. They go through a wide variety of avenue to accomplish this from education to supporting adoption agencies throughout the US and Canada to sponsoring A Homes for the Holidays, an annual CBS special on foster care and adoption featuring stories from some children and musical guests.

Last year, this campaign raised $1.4 million, and they want to beat that total this year, but they need you to help.  And it’s easy (and yummy).



Every tweet or retweet using the hashtag #TreatItFwd between now and June 17 is a $0.50 donation.  You do tweet, don’t you?

This year, there is a special mobile-friendly website where you can check in at your local Wendy’s, and Wendy’s will donate $0.50 to Wendy’s Wonderful Kids.  Simply visit the Wendy’s check in site and check in on June 16 or 17.

And you’ll already be at Wendy’s this weekend anyway, right?  Because with every Frosty purchased (originals, parfaits, shakes, and floats), $0.50 goes to Wendy’s Wonderful Kids.

Now wouldn’t that make a great Father’s Day gift?  I know where we’ll be stopping this weekend.

Do you need another excuse?  I have a Wendy's gift card to give away to one lucky reader who can go enjoy a couple yummy Frosties courtesy TheMotherhood. So what do you have to do to win? First of all, let me stress that you must follow all the rules. If you do not follow the rules, your entry will not count!

This contest is open until Wednesday June 27 at 7pm CST. I must have a valid way to reach you, so leave me your email address in your comment or be sure your profile has your email address visible. No duplicate comments will count. This giveaway is open to US residents age 18 and older. Winners will be selected via random.org and must respond within 48 hours of being notified by me or I will select a new winner.

Mandatory Entry: Tell me - if you could donate $0.50 to any cause in the world, what would it be?

Bonus Entries (leave a comment for each entry - if you put it all in one comment, I'll count it as one entry):
1) Earn one additional entry for following me on Twitter, then tweeting this contest with the following tweet: "Win a @Wendys gift card from @honestandtruly. Tweet #TreatitFwd by 6/17 & you donate $0.50 to @DTFA too http://bit.ly/MrVcwD" (leave a link to your tweet as your comment and make sure you do all the steps!)
2) Earn one additional entry by following this review blog publicly via Google Friend Connect.
3) Earn one additional entry by following my “regular” blog Honest & Truly! publicly via Google Friend Connect.
4) Earn one additional entry by liking Honest & Truly! on Facebook. (Yay, it's legal again, so long as you know you have to leave a comment here to enter and that simply liking me isn't the entry, along with acknowledging the fact that Facebook has nothing to do with this giveaway whatsoever.
5) Earn an additional entry by putting me in your Google Plus circle. Am I already in your G+ circle? No problem - just leave a comment letting me know that you've added me or already have me there.


Good luck!

In the interest of full disclosure, I was provided with a Wendy's gift card to go buy a Frosty this weekend via TheMotherhood. I have not received any compensation, and as always, all opinions expressed remain my own.

Winners!

I have several winners to announce, and there are more giveaways coming so keep checking back!

The Hallmark cards pack was won by Summer of A Mom Less Ordinary.

The Purse Perfector was won by Susan from Susan's Disney Family.

And Lexiquinn (no blog - and no, having a blog is not a requirement!) won the Big G prize pack, including the $25 gift card.

All winners have 48 hours to provide their contact information, or I will draw a new winner but I'm hoping I won't have to!

Congrats to all the winners, and check back soon for more fun here.

Giveaway: Wendy's Gift Card

I am all about giving back to my community when and where I can. That's why I'm on the board of the PTO for both the wee ones schools and seem to spend more time there than at home sometimes. Blogging has given me a great opportunity to connect blogging and companies' desires to give back, too.

Wendy's is the company who is making the donations this time around, and they are for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption that focuses on finding permanent adoption homes for all children who need them. They go through a wide variety of avenue to accomplish this from education to supporting adoption agencies throughout the US and Canada to sponsoring A Homes for the Holidays, an annual CBS special on foster care and adoption featuring stories from some children and musical guests.

As with every charity, there is always a need to fundraise, and this weekend, Wendy's is partnering with ... us to support the DTFA and its program Wendy's Wonderful Kids, which is a program that helps foster children in need find great homes. There are lots of ways to participate, and only purchasing Frosties this weekend (June 18 and 19) costs any money - but who doesn't want an excuse for a Frosty?

You can use Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, or buy that Frosty.

With Twitter, you can use the Treat it Forward application on the Frosty Facebook page via the Treat it Fwd tab, or tweet with the hashtag #TreatItFwd. A fifty cent donation will be made by Wendy’s for each designated tweet or retweet made from Treat it Forward.

You can also send a Facebook friend a “virtual” Frosty, or tell friends about Father’s Day Frosty Weekend through the Facebook application, again on the Treat it Fwd tab of the Frosty Facebook page. When you do, Wendy’s will make a donation.

Also, from Facebook, on Father’s Day Weekend only (June 18 & 19), offer a “Here’s to You, Dad!” Frosty “virtual toast” by snapping a photo of you raising your Frosty cup to Dad, tagging it with the words “Wendy’s Father’s Day Frosty Weekend” and posting it to Wendy’s Facebook wall or tweeting it. That's another donation from Wendy’s.

Plus, every person who checks in at a Wendy’s during Father's Day weekend only (June 18 & 19) will result in a donation from Wendy’s.

And of course, every Frosty purchased during Father's Day weekend - again, that's this weekend for those of us who haven't prepared to honor the fathers in our lives yet, June 18 and 19 - will result in a $0.50 donation to the DTFA.

I love it - and guess who's getting Frosties this weekend?

I have a Wendy's gift card to give away to one lucky reader who can go enjoy a couple yummy Frosties courtesy TheMotherhood. So what do you have to do to win? First of all, let me stress that you must follow all the rules. If you do not follow the rules, your entry will not count!

This contest is open until Thursday June 30 at 7pm CST. I must have a valid way to reach you, so leave me your email address in your comment or be sure your profile has your email address visible. No duplicate comments will count. This giveaway is open to US residents age 18 and older. Winners will be selected via random.org and must respond within 48 hours of being notified by me or I will select a new winner.

Mandatory Entry: Tell me - if you could donate $0.50 to any cause in the world, what would it be?

Bonus Entries (leave a comment for each entry - if you put it all in one comment, I'll count it as one entry):

1) Earn one additional entry for following me on Twitter, then tweeting this contest with the following tweet: "Win a @Wendys gift card from @honestandtruly. Tweet #TreatitFwd by 6/19 & you donate $0.50 to @DTFA too http://bit.ly/iZ3k2H" (leave a link to your tweet as your comment and make sure you do all the steps!)
2) Earn one additional entry by following this review blog publicly via Google Friend Connect.
3) Earn one additional entry by following my “regular” blog Honest & Truly! publicly via Google Friend Connect.
4) Like my blog on Facebook and let me know what name you used to like it.

Good luck!

In the interest of full disclosure, I was provided with a Wendy's gift card to go buy a Frosty this weekend via TheMotherhood. I have not received any compensation, and as always, all opinions expressed remain my own.

Giveaway: $200 LOFT Gift Card

This is a compensated review
by BlogHer and Loft.

I received a $200 LOFT gift card in exchange for participating in this event, but all comments and opinions expressed are purely my own and not influenced by this.

Most women love shopping, and I’m generally one of them. Except that now that I’m a mom with two kids, I don’t quite have the time or patience for shopping the way I used to. This is only partly due to the fact that I apparently lost my fashion sense when I gave birth, so I have a hard time finding clothes I like that look good on me.

Enter the LOFT (formerly Ann Taylor LOFT). I’ve always been a fan of theirs and have fond memories of trips to the LOFT in Michigan City to go shopping with friends after I graduated college, although I haven’t spent as much time there lately as I now think I should have.

The LOFT invited me to a holiday event at their store on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, and I jumped at the chance to have a stylist dress me. We had a 45 minute style challenge (and I was a challenge!). We had to put together three perfect holiday looks: the perfect party outfit, an office to party outfit, ad a casual holiday look.

Poor Helen (my dedicated stylist – I love saying that!). I told her that I was game for everything, but I warned her that I also might veto things, as many things that are fashion forward tend to accentuate features I’d rather avoid. Let’s just say that the whole belting a sweater trend is going to pass me right on by.

With a photographer in tow, Helen and I started touring the store. The music was loud and pumping, as they were having a shopping event that afternoon (visit eventsatLOFT.com to find one near you), and I was a little overwhelmed at first. Helen obviously knew the store well, and ohhh those colors and clothes!

We decided to work on the holiday casual outfit first. Helen pointed out a few sweaters that she thought might be a good fit (ha, ha?) for me and left me to peruse the tops and pick out a pair of jeans. We decided that the boot cut was probably the jean I wanted, and then Helen said something to me that made my day. It was probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

Don’t bother trying the curvy jeans. You are not curvy. You have really nice legs, and you don’t need the curvy ones.

I almost cried when she said that. I grabbed a pair of jeans that looked good – feeling like a celebrity with my paparazzi snapping trillions of photos of me. However, I decided to let Helen chose my top. She pulled out a great midnight blue silk sleeveless blouse to go under a fun beige sweater that had all sorts of cool, drape-y layers to it. While I liked the sweater, I had no idea what to put under it, and I would never have even tried the blue blouse. She also picked out a truly funky matching necklace to finish it off, and we headed into the dressing room.

The jeans were amazing. In fact, I bought a pair of them because they fit so well. Usually when I buy jeans, they fit in the waist and the thighs and everything, but there is some excess material under my rear that isn’t the most flattering. These were perfect. Yay! One sixth of an outfit was complete.

Apparently my thinking face is crabby. I certainly hope that Helen knows that I wasn’t unhappy with any of this. This is an outfit that I tried on first that I had to think about.

The sweater unfortunately did not work for me, but we loved the blouse. We kept working and pulling out other options (Helen was very patient with my vetoes – I may not know what I like, but I’m still picky) of things that were really quite cool but just not quite perfect for me. Then we had the brilliant idea of switching out the blouse for a different color so we could do a black sweater over it.

Ta da! Fuscia blouse with matching necklace and the black sweater to fun casual finish it off. You know I liked it when the whole outfit came home with me. And none of it was on sale (ok, except that during the shopping event, the whole store was 30% off!). One down, and I was a happy camper.

(Have I mentioned that I hate pictures of me? Especially when I’m having bad hair days. And they aren’t candid photos? I make a horrid model!)

The second outfit was the office to party look. This one went pretty quickly, as we found a cool suit that I would never have chosen for myself. It’s a cut that I’m going to have to remember, as it was surprisingly flattering. This was one of the best parts about this event. The whole outfit I would never have chosen – I don’t wear suits that often anymore, I would never have picked up that print for myself, and the cut of the jacket would have meant that it would have stayed on the rack. Yet, check it out – it totally works.

Our last outfit was the truly fun one. I got to dress up in my perfect party outfit. Again, Helen chose a skirt and top that I would never have picked up for myself – that skirt was so much shorter than what I usually wear! – but they were great together. I definitely needed something to put on top of the blouse, but LOFT had several good choices. We finally narrowed it down, and sadly my day of glory with people who dress me was over.

I wandered back out into the store sans my personal photographer, and I looked around at some of the clothes that I’d missed before. They really had some great stuff, and I was able to quickly fill my arms. Now that I wasn’t being whisked through the store, it wasn’t so intimidating or overwhelming. I came home with a very large bag (which I’m sure was part of the reason they invited me!), and I’m wearing one of my brand new sweaters right now. My mom even commented on how much she loved it, and she never notices what I’m wearing.

The people in the store were so nice. Everyone from the store manager to the associates working the floor were as friendly as can be – even when they didn’t know I was there for something “special.”

The event was so much fun, and I’d forgotten how much I love the LOFT. I didn’t even get to see the whole store, but I’ll have to visit the store closest to me soon to do a closer look. I wasn’t the only one who benefitted from the LOFT’s generosity, and you can, too. There were fourteen other bloggers around the country who also enjoyed this special event, and we’re all giving away $200 gift cards to the LOFT– that’s fifteen chances to win a $200 gift card! BlogHer.com special offers page

Want to win one here? Make sure you follow the rules, and I’ll be drawing a random winner on December 25.

Even if you don’t win the gift card, you still win. Go to the LOFT for this exclusive 20% Off Coupon for your in-store purchases (valid through 12/31/09).

This contest is open until December 25 at 9pm CST. I must have a valid way to reach you, so leave me your email address in your comment or be sure your profile has your email address visible. No duplicate comments will count. This giveaway is open to US residents age 18 and older. Winners will be selected via random.org and must respond within 48 hours of being notified by me or I will select a new winner.

Mandatory Entry: You must vote for your favorite of the three outfits I was dressed in: holiday casual, perfect party, or office to party and tell me why you liked it best. If you don't do this one, no entries will count.

Bonus Entries (leave a comment for each entry):

Earn one additional entry for Tweeting this contest (leave a link to your tweet as your comment).
1) Earn one additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link to your post in the comments.
2) Earn one additional entry by following this review blog.
3) Earn one additional entry by following my “regular” blog Honest & Truly!

Good luck!