THRIVE Helps Our FHE

With my husband working swing shift for a couple of weeks, we decided to hold our family home evening (FHE) in the day-time before he goes to work.  Sometimes, like today, that makes things a little rushed.  Today, our FHE got squeezed in between my dentist appointment, followed by lunch and a Primary Presidency meeting. 

And so, once again, THRIVE saved the day!  We are focusing our FHE lessons on THE FAMILY: A PROCLAMATION TO THE WORLD.  Today, we talked about how we look like Heavenly Father and how we came to earth to receive a physical body.  Our lessons are generally quite short (my kids are 2 and 3 months), and I try to do something to help make what we talk about meaningful.  Unfortunately, I'm not the greatest idea person, so I turn to Pinterest!  And a lady shared how her kids used play-doh to make bodies for this lesson.  Well, at first I thought play-doh would be fun...  But then I thought about sugar cookie dough!  Because then we could eat our body-cookies ;)!

So these were the finished product!  Okay, so we look like giant Michelin men...  But that's our family in cookie form ;).  THRIVE made this so easy on a hectic day, because all I had to do was cream the butter, add the cookie mix, and some water -- and then I opted for powdered egg, because we were going to be handling the dough (and possibly eating it...).  It was so awesome!  And my 2 year old really loved making the dough people with her daddy while I fed the baby.

I feel like this was a successful and fun lesson!  I'm grateful for idea people (since I'm not one!) and grateful for THRIVE products that help me execute quickly!

Happy THRIVEing!

A Meal By Mail

I have a dear friend in Alabama who recently had a sweet baby girl.  With all my heart, I wish I was closer so I could go over and take dinner for her family.  I know how fun it can be to have a newborn and still have to prepare dinners for a hungry family!  I know it takes a while for the whole family to adjust to the newest little member.  And so, when dinners were brought to our home just a couple months ago, we were so very grateful.  I wanted so very much to offer my sweet friend the same thing.  But I live in Washington -- and it's not super convenient to drive to Alabama to deliver a meal ;). 

But once again, THRIVE Life came to the rescue!  It occurred to me that I do have a way to offer my friend a meal for her family that would be very quick and easy to prepare.  Literally just add water!!!  So this morning, I prepped a whole meal for her family and shipped it off in the mail -- all using THRIVE!  I posted some pictures of it to my Facebook business page ("THRIVEing with Hila," if you're interested in following me!) and had a request that I share the recipes.  So here they are, the recipes I used for a meal by mail for my dear friend!

VEGETARIAN TACO SOUP  (original recipe posted here, but I changed some measurements)
 1/2 cup THRIVE Instant Black Beans
1/4 cup THRIVE Taco TVP
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons THRIVE Sweet Corn
3 tablespoons THRIVE Chili Peppers
1/4 cup THRIVE Tomato Powder
2 tablespoons THRIVE Chopped Onions
1 tablespoon Taco Seasoning
3/4 teaspoon ranch dressing mix

Bring 4 cups water to boil.  Add contents of bag and simmer 15 minutes.  Add additional water to your preference.


GOLDEN CORNBREAD (this is a THRIVE Life recipe)
1 cup THRIVE Cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour*
2/3 cup white sugar*
1/2 cup THRIVE Butter Powder
2 tablespoons THRIVE Whole Egg Powder
2 tablespoons THRIVE Nonfat Powdered Milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put contents of bag into a medium mixing bowl.  Add 1 1/2 cups water and stir (or whisk) until well blended and lumps are gone.  Pour into a greased 8x8 pan.  Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to set 15 to 20 minutes before serving.


SUMMER (BERRY) LEMONADE (recipe from the can of Summer Lemonade)
1 cup sugar*
2 tablespoons THRIVE Summer Lemonade
berries of your choice (I included THRIVE Strawberry Slices and THRIVE Raspberries)

Mix contents of larger bag with 2 quarts (8 cups) water.  Chill.  Add berries of your choice to individual servings.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

All of these things can be done in jars as well.  In fact, we will be making the Golden Cornbread at our upcoming jar meal event in September!  So if you're interested in attending, let me know so I can get you the details!  The cornbread is awesome, by the way...  My family had it with chili on Friday (the chili recipe will also be available at the jar meal event in September!).

I noted in the instructions to them that I recommend these be used within a month, since they are not vacuum sealed.  At the jar meal events, we do vacuum seal the jars and that means they are good for 5 years!

I am truly excited I found a way to get a meal to my friend.  She is an amazing woman and we have a friendship I treasure beyond words.  And I hope this dinner makes at least one of these days with a new little miracle just a little bit easier -- and yummy to boot!

If you'd like to know more about this and how you can get all these great ingredients, contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website:  www.thriveingNilla.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla.

Happy THRIVEing!

Lactation Cookies

Many of my friends know from when we had our first baby that I had issues with milk supply when trying to breast-feed our little girl.  We ended up having to use mostly formula, and I would breast-feed whatever my body could supply.  Though not the way I'd hoped things would go for us, it was the way things went; and I learned to live with it and be grateful for the blessing of being able to feed my child, even if it wasn't the way I'd always imagined it being.

Fast-forward a couple years and we have just had our baby boy!  Knowing it was highly likely I still wouldn't produce enough milk to sustain my baby's life without supplementing with formula, we were more prepared this time.  But still, I have decided to try a variety of things to increase my milk supply.  A friend of mine told me about lactation cookies, so I went and looked them up!  And then I made some -- with the help of THRIVE!

These cookies are actually not too bad, but the brewer's yeast certainly has a taste that cannot be completely masked.  I'm not sure if they are officially working, but I have been eating them anyway :).  And since I used my THRIVE ingredients to make them, I thought I'd share them here!  This is where I got the original recipe, but below is the recipe as I made it.

LACTATION COOKIES

2 Tbsp. flaxseed
4 Tbsp. water
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 THRIVE eggs (2 tablespoons THRIVE Whole Eggs + 4 tablespoons water)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. Brewer’s Yeast
3 cups THRIVE quick oats
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

 

Cream together the butter and sugars.  Add eggs one at a time and mix well.  Add flaxseed and vanilla.

In a medium bowl, combine together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, Brewer's Yeast, and oats.  Add to the butter mixture 1/2 cup at a time.

Once the dough is mixed together well, add chocolate chips.  Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake 8 to 10 minutes (mine took 8). sdfasd

Product Highlight: THRIVE Potato Beads

Some days I need easy!  And today was definitely one of those days!  As the due date for our little baking bun draws ever nearer, there are simply more appointments and more things to get done.  Today was our "Stork Express" visit where we get pre-registered at the hospital.  So I wasn't feeling like spending a lot of time in the kitchen in the evening, especially because I had some appointments to keep after dinner was all done.

Today I relied on my THRIVE Potato Beads to round our our dinner with a delicious side dish!  And, to be quite honest, I've been relying on these Potato Beads quite a bit lately.  They are just so easy to use and so quick to make!  I follow the recipe on the can -- generally.  But we discovered that we like our potatoes a bit moister, so I always increase the water to 2 cups and keep all the other ingredients (milk, butter, salt, pepper) the same.

Because these potato beads are so easy to use, I literally had my side dish (mashed potatoes) ready from start to finish in the same amount of time it took to cook the biscuits!  It was a beautiful thing :).  Particularly since I threw all this together at the very last minute.  I love not having to peel or chop potatoes and wait for them to boil and soften.

I also love that I can have my sealed cans of these on the shelf for up to 8 years and they still maintain all their nutrients!  Or that I can open them and have the can's contents last up to a year!  I can't say that about regular potatoes (and I have had plenty of moldy ones to prove it!).

The Potato Beads are pre-seasoned, so they do have a higher sodium content than the regular Mashed Potatoes available through THRIVE (which I also love -- and just stocked up on more during the BIG DEAL sale going on right now!).  But my sister-in-law raved over these; and when she found out they were being discontinued, she stocked up.  So I wanted to try them.  They are delicious and fast -- just what I need!  Yes, they are being discontinued, but they are still available until the stock runs out.  So if you think you'd like to have some in your home store for those crazy busy days, contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or shop my website:  www.thrivelife.com/thriveingnilla

Raspberry Sauce/Filling

Yesterday I had some extra kiddos coming over early in the morning.  One of them is only 8 months old, so he wasn't going to be caring too much about pancakes for breakfast...  But the other is 4, and then my toddler is almost 2.  So I figured I'd make a "special" breakfast.  Particularly because my husband likes to tease me about my cast iron pancake puff pan (the as seen on TV! one) that I have used only a very few times, yet continue to move around with me from home to home.  Well, here's the thing:  my dad got it for me many years ago, because he thought I would like it.  I'm kind of a sentimental person, so I hold on to things like that.  Plus, it is super cute!  And I just know my kiddos will appreciate the fun of having pancake puffs in the years ahead. 

But I decided it was a good time to make pancake puffs, since I'd have an older kid over at breakfast time.  And then I started thinking about how much fun it would be to actually fill the puffs (the pan comes with gadgets to help you add pizazz!  And one of those gadgets is a syringe type thing) with something yummy!  And I thought of my THRIVE Raspberries, and the recipe on the #10 can of THRIVE Raspberries for Raspberry Sauce.  So I decided to give it a try!

I will confess straight up that this did not go entirely as I hoped.  I was playing around with the recipe on kind-of short notice.  I decided to cut back on the water in the original recipe to hopefully make a thicker sauce which would do the trick.  Well, it really didn't quite.  It wasn't gel-like enough.  Which means I have learned I need to do some more research.  However, it was still a really fun experience, and the sauce just soaked into the pancake puffs and still made them delicious anyway!  So I'm still posting this and then I will hone the technique and post again when I've had 100% success!

I started out by making my pancake puffs with my THRIVE 10-Grain Pancake Mix (which was just pancake mix and water).  We love this stuff!  I also made up a few regular pancakes with the batter, since it wasn't vital that I have puffs ;). 

While making the pancakes, I started the Raspberry filling.  Here is the way I did it (which was basically cut the original recipe in half, except I significantly decreased the water):

RASPBERRY SAUCE/FILLING
1 cups THRIVE Raspberries
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons white sugar*
1/2 tablespoon honey*
1/2 teaspoon THRIVE Pure Vanilla Powder
1/8 teaspoon salt*
3/4 teaspoon lemon juice

Boil all ingredients in a saucepan until slightly thickened and syrupy (only I was trying to get it very thick, so I boiled longer).  Place sauce in a strainer over a bowl and push through, leaving only the seeds in the strainer.  Discard seeds.  Cover and refrigerate sauce before serving over desserts.  (Well, I actually used mine right away, which probably didn't help the lack of thickness!  Also, I didn't spend a lot of time on the straining.  I got a lot of sauce out for injecting into the puffs, but left the rest in the strainer with the seeds, and then spread it on my pancakes -- still yummy!)

I tried to get a close-up of the puffs so you could see the filling/sauce squeezing out a bit ;).

Dinner and Dessert -- With THRIVE Help!

I love THRIVE Life foods.  For a number of reasons.  But I don't use them exclusively.  And that's just because I have a lot of the ingredients on hand already, which I didn't purchase through THRIVE Life.  Or they are items not available through THRIVE Life.

But when I do have those THRIVE goodies on hand to help me out...  It's just awesome!  Because I am often able to shave 5 or 10 minutes off my meal prep, simply by not having to chop onions or clean and chop celery, etc.

Yesterday, I was making dinner for my family as well as taking some to a friend who recently had surgery.  And THRIVE Life helped me out!  Here are all the THRIVE Life Ingredients I used in yesterdays dinner (and dessert!):

For dinner, I made Salisbury Steaks, mashed potatoes, and purchased a pre-made chopped salad kit (just for something a little different).  Dessert was chocolate chip cookies. 

(sorry for the sideways picture!)






I love these chocolate chip cookies!  I have made them before using THRIVE Butter Powder as well, but this time, since I am running low on the butter powder (need to get that on order!), I used regular butter.  You can find the recipe here. 

I love that THRIVE Whole Egg Powder allows me to eat raw cookie dough guilt-free when I'm pregnant ;).

The THRIVE Chopped Onions saved me some time for the Salisbury Steaks, and the THRIVE Potato Beads saved me a ton of time!  I didn't have to wash, peel, chop, or boil potatoes!  I just brought water and milk to a boil with some butter and a couple other seasonings and added in my THRIVE Potato Beads, and voila!  Side dish was done!  And I love that!

Don't get me wrong:  I am excited about all the things I can prep ahead of time using so much of my THRIVE Life ingredients.  But even on the days when I'm just using a few of the awesome THRIVE ingredients to cut some corners and save myself some time and effort, I'm grateful to have my home store of delicious THRIVE Life foods!

Why I Love THRIVE: Saving Me Time!

Celery ready-to-use!

Let me tell you a true story.  It happened today.  It's happened other days as well...

With my husband working swing shift, somehow the whole household falls into a later schedule.  And so it was that the 3 of us were still snoozing until about 8:40 this morning.

...Which meant the munchkin and I were late getting to our play date that was supposed to start at 9:30.

We got home around 11:15, and it was time to start thinking about lunch and nap.  I needed a nap too (I'm feeling a little extra tired these days)!  Well, lunch happened.

...Nap did not. 

So, instead, munchkin and I went to library story time.  And then, by the time we got home, she was ready for a nap.  And I was still ready for my nap ;).  So I took one too!

And by the time I woke up, it was 2:45...  And guess what I hadn't thought about all day long?

Dinner.

And so I started racking my brain.  What would I do for dinner?  And thanks to THRIVE Seasoned Chicken Slices, I had my answer!  Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad.  I've made it before (you can follow that link for the recipe), but today it was my last-minute solution. 

And that's just one reason I have loved my THRIVE Life!  I can save time by not having to thaw chicken, then cook it, then shred it or cut it.

This has been true with other items as well!  The THRIVE Sausage Crumbles, the THRIVE Celery and THRIVE Chopped Onions that are already chopped for me...  I just save so much time when I add THRIVE to my meals. And tonight, I was just so grateful for that convenience!  It allowed me to come up with a fast and delicious dinner solution that was not fast food!

Do you want to save time in the kitchen?  Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com and I'll help you out with that!

The Q: Q&A

One of the many fabulous options offered by THRIVE Life is the Q.  Pictured above is my Q shipment for September!  (I am anxiously awaiting my October Q shipment -- it's wheeling it's way to me as I type!)

So, what exactly is the Q?

The Q is a convenient and easy way to get some of your groceries delivered right to your door every month! When you set up a Q through THRIVE Life, you set a budget of how much you want to spend on THRIVE yumminess each month.  You choose what items you want to have arriving at your doorstep and add them to your Q.  And then they arrive!  The idea is to reallocate some of your monthly grocery budget to ordering long-lasting, healthy, delicious, and convenient foods to start building your home store.  With the Q, you also have control over when your order processes each month (the date your credit card is charged).  You can even change it from month to month!  And though you can always order through me -- and always get the Q price when you do...  When you have a Q, you will get the Q price every time you log-in and place your own order on your Q!


What is a home store?

A home store is a supply of food in your home from which you can "shop."  It can be a time and money saver!  Here's how:  Have you ever found yourself in the middle of making a meal and find you are lacking one stinkin' ingredient?!?  I have.  And it is the most frustrating thing!  For me, it seems the ingredient I am most often without is sour cream.  Even when I plan my menu out for two weeks and I know I'm going to make a dish that calls for sour cream, I somehow frequently forget to put it on my grocery list.  So then it doesn't get purchased.  And then I find myself mid-meal-prep with no sour cream.  One day I called around to 2 friends who live nearby to see if they had any.  They didn't.  So I texted my mom at work to see if she did.  She did.  So I had to get my baby ready, and go to my mom's house for sour cream.  True, I could have gone to the store...  But since I could walk to my mom's, I saved gas.  And I saved myself on impulse buys.  But I still wasted a ton of time in the endeavor!  So guess what is coming to my house this month in my Q shipment?  THRIVE Sour Cream Powder!  I will never have to make an extra trip to the store -- or shop at Mom's -- now that I will have sour cream in my own home store!  I can just "shop" at home!!!

Is there a minimum required budget?

Only if you are a consultant, in which case the minimum budget to remain active as a consultant is $50 a month.  For non-consultants, there is no minimum budget.  You can set your budget at $20 a month or $200 a month, it's all up to you and what your family feels is best.  The most important thing to remember is that your budgeted amount does not include shipping.  Shipping is additional to your budget total.

Is there a contract or commitment for the Q?

Yes.  When you sign up for the Q, you commit to spending your chosen budget for 3 months.  For example, if you sign up for a Q in October at a budget of $60, you commit to ordering $60 in October (or whichever month you choose to begin, as you can post-date your first Q shipment), $60 in November, and $60 in December.  After the first 3 months, you can increase your budget, decrease your budget, pause your Q, or cancel your Q entirely.  It's all up to you!

When I am on the Q, are my shipments pre-determined, or do I get to choose what I want to have shipped to me each month?

It depends on your preference!  If you would like to allow THRIVE Life to select items for you based on some parameters you define, you can do that.  If you want to start out with one of their Smart Start Kits, you can do that. (These kits have the most popular items and will offer you a large variety for the first 3 months of your Q, giving you an opportunity to try several THRIVE Life products quickly so you can determine what your family likes best!)    Or, if you prefer, you can opt to always choose your items yourself.  This is what my family has chosen to do!  Then I decide each month what treasures will be arriving next :)!

Can I only purchase food items on the Q?

No!  THRIVE Life offers other awesome products, such as emergency essentials and food rotation systems -- and you can purchase them all on your Q, as well as the delicious, long-lasting foods!  (If you'll notice in the above picture, I ordered a 5-in-1 Emergency Whistle as part of my September Q!)

What is the Q Club?

The Q Club is similar to the Q, but better!  When you join the Q Club, you have access to new products when they first come out (meaning you can pre-order them before others can), you are able to purchase the Q-Pon item (the most deeply discounted item each month), and you receive rewards points!  Your rewards points can continue to accrue as long as you want them to, and then you can redeem them for free product at THRIVE Life!

How do I join the Q Club?

You can join the Q Club 3 different ways:

1. Become a consultant!  You are part of the Q Club free for life!
2. Set your Q budget at $100 or more and you're in the Q Club for free.  (If you choose to order the Smart Start Kits, these will automatically qualify you for the Q Club your first 3 months.)  Remember, the budget amount does not include shipping.  You must purchase at least $100 in product, NOT INCLUDING SHIPPING, to be in the Q Club at no additional charge.  If you choose to lower your budget to below $100 after the first 3 month commitment, you will retain the points you have earned, but you will not continue to earn rewards points unless you pay the Q Club membership fee.
3. If you do not wish to set your budget at or above $100 or become a consultant, but still want the benefits of the Q Club, you can pay $79.99 to join the Q-Club at any chosen budget.

I hope this little Q&A session about The Q has been helpful!  I know there is a lot of information to learn when one chooses to set up a Q, so I want to help as much as I can to make it easier to understand and use from the get-go!

I love my Q and look forward to filling it each month with the THRIVE Life goodies I want to try next -- or add to in my ever-expanding home store :)!

Would you like to set up a Q to help you build your home store?  Contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com and I'll help you get started!

THRIVE Mushroom Pieces

One of my very first THRIVE purchases after becoming a consultant was the THRIVE Mushroom Pieces.  And here's why:

• I love mushrooms.  A lot.
• I add mushrooms to many of my dishes:  soups, pizza, stir fry vegetables, pasta sauces
• I am grossed out by slimy mushrooms -- and by week 2, my fresh mushrooms are usually slimy :(...
•  So I either have to deal with the slimy mushrooms...  Or waste money and throw them away and go without mushrooms.

Ergo...  THRIVE Mushroom Pieces came with my very first Q shipment!

Do I still purchase fresh mushrooms at the store?  Yes, I do!  But in a much smaller quantity -- and I use them in dinners almost immediately.  Because I really love the taste of fresh mushrooms in my stir fry vegetables.

But my awesome THRIVE Mushroom Pieces are sitting right there waiting for me to use in all my other mushroom-needing dishes!  And I love that!  They have now replaced my use of store-bought canned mushrooms completely.  And my dishes now have less sodium when I do that, thanks to THRIVE!

Did you know canned mushrooms have around 15% of the daily recommended allowance of sodium just in one serving!?!  This is because preservatives, such as salt, are added to the product to give it a longer shelf-life.

But not so with THRIVE!  THRIVE Life's Freeze Dried Mushroom Pieces are just that:  mushrooms!  No added sodium or other preservatives!  And still an amazing shelf life of one year (once opened) and 25 years unopened!!

I love that I can return and return to this can multiple times over months, scoop out what I need, add it to my dish, and close the can until the next time!  This means no more slimy mushrooms.  And no more waste!

So, in a nutshell, here is why I love love love my THRIVE Mushroom Pieces:

• Awesome shelf-life which means my mushrooms don't go slimy and don't get thrown away...  And I'm not left without mushrooms in my dish!
• No added sodium to preserve!  They are just freeze-dried mushrooms!
• So convenient and so easy to use!  No need to wash or slice!  Just scoop and dump!
• Rehydrating (which I do when I use them for pizza) is super fast and easy...  But for soups, I don't rehydrate!  I just throw them in the pot!

I have used them on pizza, in pasta dishes (both white sauce and red sauce dishes), and in a variety of soups. These mushrooms truly are among my favorite THRIVE Life products, and they will be a part of my home store from here on out!

How do you use THRIVE Mushroom Pieces?  Post in the comments below!

Happy THRIVEing!

Why I Love THRIVE!: Eating Healthier

THRIVE Life is amazing.  I am especially fond of the foods.  Not that that is surprising... I am a foodie, after all ;).

There are several reasons why I love THRIVE Life foods!  One of those is that they help me -- and my family -- eat healthier.

For one thing, the vegetables and fruits are delicious right out of the can!  Which means I am more likely to have healthy snacks.  Because it is so easy to just open the can of asparagus or corn or peas and scoop out some to satisfy a munchie craving!  I also love that my little girl is getting her veggies better this way.  Our favorite vegetables for snacking are the asparagus, corn, and peas.  Our favorite fruits to snack on are the pineapple, peaches, and strawberries!

I will admit that I have always struggled at getting my daily suggested servings of vegetables...  THRIVE is helping me improve in this area of having a healthier lifestyle!

THRIVE's fruits and vegetables are picked at the peak of ripeness, flash-frozen, and shipped to the freeze-drying facility where they are then freeze-dried, packaged, and ready for sale!  This means the fruits and vegetables were able to ripen naturally and were not sprayed with chemicals to keep them from ripening during shipment or chemicals to help them ripen later on!  How awesome is that!?!

The other amazing thing about these fruits and veggies is that they don't have added preservatives, like salt and sugar!  And yet most of them have an shelf-life of 20 to 25 years!  This is wonderful, not just for snacking, but for when I cook with my THRIVE!  For example, one of the ingredients I love to include in soups and spaghetti sauce is mushrooms.  I didn't realize it before, but every time I added canned mushrooms to my soups or sauce or pizza, I was adding a lot of extra sodium!  So now, if I don't have fresh mushrooms, I use my THRIVE Mushrooms -- and all I'm adding is mushrooms!  No added sodium :).  And so my meals are healthier.  I love that! 

And most of THRIVE Life's foods are non-GMO!!!  And the list is constantly expanding.  Just this past week, we received notification that the white flour, cornmeal, and shortening powder have joined the already-extensive list of non-GMO items!  There are also several organic options through THRIVE Life as well :).

I have really enjoyed having so many healthy foods in my home store, thanks to THRIVE Life.  I love all the benefits I am getting with a long shelf-life!!!

If you want to experience these healthy-eating benefits with THRIVE Life, just let me know at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com!!

A Visit to THRIVE

Last week, my mom and I (and my toddler) had the opportunity travel to Utah to visit my younger brother.  Right before we went, I realized just how close we would be to the THRIVE warehouse!  So I decided then and there that I needed to stop in!  (Plus, since my Q order was processing right around that time, I was able to schedule a pick-up and save on shipping :)!!)

Oh my goodness...  I felt like a kid in a candy store.  Samples of everything everywhere!  In retrospect, I feel like I should have taken advantage of that more than I did.  But I was chasing a toddler around, so I was somewhat distracted :). 

Nonetheless, I did manage to sample the ground beef.  I wanted to taste it before I decided to buy it -- make sure I liked the flavor and all.  Well, I did!  So I'll be adding that to my Q soon!

The showroom was awesome.  All the THRIVE Foods you could possibly want, staring you in the face!

My two regrets:  that I'm not a millionaire ;).  And that I didn't realize sooner that I'd be so close to the warehouse and be able to visit.  Because I'd have loved to schedule a chance to tour the whole warehouse and see where the freeze-drying is done :)!  I'll have to make sure to do it next time, I guess.

So I only got one picture while I was there -- and it's a bit cheesy.  But that's okay :).