Free Tie for Christmas

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Tiecoon, an online retailer, is offering a free tie for everyone. Enter CHRISTMAS as a promo code at checkout, and you will receive $5.95 off any order (note that most of their ties cost $5.95).  Please note that this doesn't include shipping. This would make an awesome Christmas present or even save it to give to that special someone for Valentine's Day. My husband has three or four Tiecoon ties. They're not cheap looking at all, even though they are cheap! We even used Tiecoon to get ties for our wedding. Hurry fast....the promotion is only going on until December 17th at midnight! Click here to go to their website.

Campbell's® Savory Portobello Mushroom Soup Review

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Campbell's sent me Campbell's® Savory Portobello Mushroom Soup to Review. I used it to make Easy Green Bean Casserole. I've had green bean casserole with the regular condensed mushroom soup before and it was decent (not my favorite), but the Savory Portobello Mushroom Soup really makes the dish fantastic. The flavor was excellent and the moisture was perfect. This is a great side dish. We had the Easy Green Bean Casserole with Creamy Lemon Dijion Chicken, but it would be a great side item with a Turkey, Ham and Chicken Roast as well. It's also super easy to make.

1 carton (14.5 ounces) Campbell's® Savory Portobello Mushroom Soup
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 dash ground black pepper
4 cups cooked cut green beans
1 1/3 cups French's® French Fried Onions

Heat the oven to 350°F. Stir the soup, soy sauce, black pepper, beans and 2/3 cup onions in a 1 1/2-quart casserole. Bake for 25 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the bean mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining onions. Bake for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown.

Disclaimer: I received my sample from Crowdtap for free for testing and review purposes in exchange of my opinion, which is reflected in this entry.

Where to Get Modest Clothes in Boise

Thursday, December 4, 2014

I've found four places so far to find modest clothes for church in Boise:

Petersen's Clothing Store: Petersen's is a family owned store. They carry a few skirts, shirts, dresses and clothes for women. They also carry inexpensive and reasonable priced men's suits. I also like that they are not snobby. We've gone into a few men stores (Mens Warehouse) and found them too be a little bit snooty for our taste.

Deseret Industries: Deseret Industries is like a goodwill, but they have many modest clothing options for extremely reasonable prices.

Downeast Basics: Downeast Basics carries modest shirts, skirts, and dresses. They have a store in the Boise Town Mall and Meridian.

Seagull Books: Seagull Books has a surprising amount of shirts, dresses and skirts. The only downside is that they don't have a changing room available so you have to pull the skirt up over your clothes to try them on. They do have a reasonable return policy.

Swanson Traditional Cream Starter Review

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Campbell's sent me Swanson Traditional Cream Starter to review. Since, we are limiting our carbs, I decided to make Creamy Lemon Dijon Chicken. I thought it was really delicious and the cream starter made it extremely easy to make this recipe. The ingredients were cost-friendly and easy to find in the grocery store. The recipe also seemed like a classy type of dish to have. My husband said it could use a little less lemon taste, but I think this is a recipe and product that we will use again. I encourage you to look for Swanson Cream Starter at your local grocery store and to try this recipe!

Creamy Lemon Dijon Chicken

1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 large lemon
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large shallot, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons rinsed drained capers
1 1/2 cups Swanson® Cream Starter Traditional or 25% Reduced Fat or Swanson® Cream Starter 25% Reduced Fat
2 tablespoons stone ground mustard
instructions

1 . Season the chicken with salt and black pepper.  Grate 1 teaspoon zest and squeeze 2 tablespoons juice from the lemon.

2 . Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook for 6 minutes or until browned on both sides.  Remove the chicken from the skillet.

3 . Reduce the heat to medium.  Add the shallot and capers and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the lemon juice and cook and stir for 30 seconds.

4 . Stir the cream starter and mustard in the skillet and heat to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low.  Return the chicken to the skillet.  Cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Remove the skillet from the heat.  Stir in the lemon zest.  Let stand for 5 minutes.


Disclaimer: I received my sample from Crowdtap for free for testing and review purposes in exchange of my opinion, which is reflected in this entry.

Repurposing Destruction

Thursday, November 13, 2014

This morning as I was reassembling my baby's old car seat after cleaning it, my son found the wipes and decided to start yanking them out of the container. By the time I noticed what was happening, he had 10-15 wipes out. I was a little frustrated, but I realized that I could choose to get mad or just explain to him that isn't something that we do with wipes.Instead of throwing the wipes away, we used them to wipe off his books for dust and any other guck that might have gotten on them. It's easy to just throw things away, but why not re-purpose a destructive moment for something constructive? I also could have stuffed the wipes back in the container, but that didn't seem sanitary.

Campbell's Creamy Poblano and Queso Review

Monday, November 10, 2014

So, I think Campbell's is going to kill me for not cooking with their product properly. My husband very recently was told by a doctor that he needs to stay away from carbs and to lose weight. I have a ton of Campbell's products to review and thought I could adapt the recipes on my own to make them carb friendly. The creamy Parmesan sauce was awesome, the Creamy Poblano and Queso did not work so well. I thought I would cook it as a soup and add grilled chicken, tomatoes, red peppers and cilantro to it and I thought it would taste great. It really needed pasta or tortilla chips
to make it a hit. It didn't taste so good as a soup, but if it had the noodles in it liked the recipe called for on the back, I really think it would've tasted excellent. Also, this is a warning to you all that sometimes experiments do not work. Despite my failures, if you can eat carbs, I suggest you pick up a can and try the recipe on the back. 

Disclaimer: I received my sample from
Crowdtap for free for testing and review purposes in exchange of my opinion, which is reflected in this entry.

Try Zep Quick Clean Disinfectant and All-Around Oxy

Monday, November 10, 2014

Being a mom, I feel like I am constantly cleaning. I used to buy the store brand cleaners, but now I stick to main brand since they seem to clean better. Zep sent me their Zep All-Around Oxy Cleaner and Degreaser and their Quick Clean Disinfectant to try. I was a little skeptical that it wouldn't cleaner better than Lysol Bleach. I always hate trying new cleaner and finding out that it doesn't clean very well. It seems like a waste of money. I'd rather get it right the first time. Zep All-Around Oxy is worth the money! It does a great job. The Quick Clean Disinfectant is great too.

I had this black stain on my dining room table. I am not even sure where it's from. I've tried bleach and scrubbing it and nothing worked! I sprayed the Zep All-Around Oxy Cleaner and let it sit for a minute and the stain was gone. It was a miracle.

Before Zep, you can see the stain in the middle

After Zep

I also used the quick clean disinfectant on my counters and on the high chair after my son's lunch.



If you are interested in learning more about Zep products, click here. Zep is used for more commercialized cleaning, but I think it would be worth it to have in the home. I also found Zep products on amazon.

Disclaimer: I received my sample from Crowdtap for free for testing and review purposes in exchange of my opinion, which is reflected in this entry.

Campbell's Creamy Parmesan Skillet Sauce

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

We recently tried Campbell's Creamy Parmesan Skillet Sauce through Crowdtap. My family loved the sauce. It was very flavorful and tasty. I cooked three-four chicken tenders in a tablespoon of canola oil in a skillet. Once the chicken was cooked, I added cut-up zucchini and yellow squash to the skillet. After the zucchini and squash were tender, I added the sauce. We added fruit as a size. The meal was delicious and low-carb. The sauce really made the meal and it was definitely something that would be worth having on hand to help make a great dinner even better.

Disclaimer: I received my sample from Crowdtap for free for testing and review purposes in exchange of my opinion, which is reflected in this entry.



Micro Spaghetti-o's Review

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Recently, I had the opportunity to try Micro Spaghetti-o's from Campbells. through Crowdtap. I used to love Spaghetti-o's as a kid so I was excited to share it with my little one. We shared it for lunch. My little one absolutely loved it. He thought it was the greatest. It tasted a little different than the spaghetti-o's from what I remember. It has a stronger tomato taste. Spaghetti-o's is a quick fun meal for kids. It's also a great item to have in your food pantry.

Disclaimer: I received my sample from Crowdtap for free for testing and review purposes in exchange of my opinion, which is reflected in this entry.




Recommendations on Children's Halloween Books

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Halloween is almost upon us! I love reading holiday themed books to my son. They help encourage him to love reading and to learn more about holidays. Here are some fun Halloween books to read to kids:

The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone













Click, Clack, Boo!: A Tricky Treat by Doreen Cronin (If you haven't read the other Click, Clack Moo! Books to your kids, I suggest you do.)













Biscuit's Pet & Play Halloween by  Alyssa Capucili












The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree by Stan and Jan Berenstain












The Witch Casts a Spell by Suzanne Williams















Advil® Film-Coated Review

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

As a member of  Crowdtap, I recently had the opportunity to try Fast acting Advil® Film-Coated, the newest innovation from Advil® with an Ion Core designed to stop pain before it gets worse. I tried it when I was starting to get a headache and within a few minutes the pain subsided and never came back. It was amazing! Sometimes with headaches when I take something, the pain is still there and lingers and I hate when that happens. I recommend trying Advil Film-Coated for headaches and aches and pains!


Disclaimer: I received my sample from Crowdtap for free for testing and review purposes in exchange of my opinion, which is reflected in this entry.

*Please note, I am not a doctor or medical professional, please use common sense and don't take or do anything that would counteract with current medical conditions or prescriptions.

Halloween Wreath

Thursday, October 16, 2014

I made a wreath from tulle for Halloween. To make the wreath: cut circles out of tulle, fold the circles in half and then fold two more times, then fold the pointed tip, glue (hot glue) the folded tulle circle to a foam wreath. It will take several hours to do glue the tulle to the wreath. Once finished gluing the tulle, I cut the ring part off of plastic bat rings and glued them to the wreath. It's a fun project!



Paper Plate Skeleton

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

For family night, my husband and I made skeletons out of 6" paper plates. We placed the skeletons in our windows for Halloween decorations. For step by step instructions and templates, go here. This is a fun activity for the family to do and it looks great for Halloween.


Ragu Review #NewTraDish

Monday, October 6, 2014

Ragu recently asked me to review one of their pasta sauces and sent me a coupon to get a free jar of sauce. I chose to go to Walmart and decided to try the organic sauce since it wasn't something we would normally get and it was the most expensive sauce that I could get with the coupon. The organic sauce did taste different than the other sauces and it seemed a little bit healthier. I liked the sauce and thought it was fairly good. It was mild, which was great for our little one. I also like that Ragu puts their sauce in jars rather than in cans that way if you don't use all the sauce for one recipe you can always use it in something else.

We made homemade pizza with the sauce. I used a pizza crust recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook. It's the same recipe as this one here. I used about 1/4-1/2 cup of sauce, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, green peppers, onions, mushrooms and turkey pepperoni. I like turkey pepperoni more than the regular pepperoni, it seems less greasy and more healthier. I like making homemade dinners for our family. It's more traditional, more cost effective, healthier and I think its great thing to pass on to your children.




Disclaimer: I received my sample from Crowdtap for free for testing and review purposes in exchange of my opinion, which is reflected in this entry.

Vichy Idealia Life Serum Review

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

For 8 days, Vichy Idealia Life Serum challenged me to live my life to the fullest including eating that 2nd helping of cake or even pull an all nighter. Being a mom it's hard to run life too crazily it keeps you pretty grounded, but I still feel pretty ragged even without eating junk or staying up to late. Sometimes, I feel like my skin dries out and becomes a complete mess just from stress and waking up at night to comfort a little one. I used Vichy Idealia Life Serum for eight days and found that my skin felt smoother and softer. It also seemed more youthful feeling (not the teen acne days - before that). I felt a subtle skin transformation. I encourage you to try the Life Serum too! You can find out more information about it here and buy it here.

You can also find out more about the top eye creams from review.com. Click here for more information.

Disclaimer: I received my sample from Crowdtap for free for testing and review purposes in exchange of my opinion, which is reflected in this entry.

Places to Eat in Boise: PieHole Review

Monday, September 29, 2014

Are you looking for somewhere unusual to eat? Are you in the mood for pizza? If the answer is yes, then you should check out the PieHole in  Boise. The PieHole offers specialty pizzas such as Potato and Bacon, BBQ Pulled Pork and Thai Chicken. The Potato and Bacon sounds extremely weird, but it is amazing! You can try the Pizza by the slice or as a whole. We usually get a slice or two. I highly recommend giving it a whirl. Please note that they do not have cups for fountain water so if you want water with your pizza, you will need to buy a bottled water or bring your own water.

Things to Do in Boise: Idaho Ice World

Thursday, September 18, 2014

For date night, my husband and I went to Idaho Ice World. Idaho Ice World has two ice skating rinks, an arcade and food court. We went on a Friday night during the public skating times, and were surprise at that there were only about ten or so other people on the ice. It was nice to skate without a huge crowd and we had a good time. I am not an expert ice skater like my husband, nor am I even remotely comfortable on the ice, but we rented a plastic walker to help me learn to skate and get comfortable on the ice. My husband gave me tips and showed me how to skate. Gradually, I became more accustomed to ice skating and had a lot of fun. The walker was well worth the price.  Idaho Ice World can be fun for date night or even as a family activity. I encourage you to check it out and have some fun!

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