Enjoy some Soup! The Soupmaker’s Kitchen cookbook Review

 

I grew up in a large family, and we all know it’s not easy to shop or even cook for large families. We find ourselves eager and creative to put dinner together with what we have on hand. I have used this method after watching my mother do it when I was a child. One of my fondest memories was the soups she made, stews or gumbo. They were thick hearty and I really thought for the longest time she went out of her way to buy all this exotic food to create it all. Did she?

No. No my mother did what is shown in The Soupmaker’s Kitchen cookbook- a must for any family but I highly recommend it if you find yourself unsure of what you do with those left over scraps and items you don’t ‘have much of.  So you have a little of this and that, don’t think you can use it up? Wrong, don’t toss them, don’t ignore them –  Use them, all of them to make some wonderful soup! photo (1)

Green takes you through easy steps to stock up the pantry with items ( even small)  to create an entire heart warming soup with ease. Techniques on preparing, when you can sub frozen verses fresh and even how to make some flavors bursts are given throughout the book. Time savings tips, best used pots and other basic tools that will get you through soup season.
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Puppy in my Pocket DVD Review

puppy in my pocket dvd

The other day, the mail man pretty much made my daughter’s whole life by handing her a package. Inside the package was Puppy in my Pocket – Adventures in Pocketville – Friendship Ceremony.

She couldn’t wait to get it in our DVD player, and I was anxious to see if it was a movie that would actually be bearable for me to sit through 300 (just an estimate!) times a day. Luckily for me, this DVD exceeded all of my expectations. It wasn’t annoying at all (like some kid movies can be) and it kept my daughter entertained for the entire 80 minutes.
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Olay-Must Have Beauty Products

Disclosure:The Beauty and Body products from Olay were provided to me to help facilitate my review. All opinions are my own and honest. I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC Guidelines. Please see “Disclose” tab for more information.
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I love finding great products for my face. I also love finding great products for my body. It’s even better when I can find great products for my face and body all from the same line. Olay products are a great hit for my body as well as my face.

About Olay:

Olay is committed to providing safe products to their consumers. They want to make sure to ensure the safety of their products

Each year, Olay conducts over 400,000 safety and quality tests to ensure an excellent experience for women around the world.

All of their ingredients are substantiated for safety over a lifetime of intended use prior to manufacturing. They conduct over 250 separate safety evaluations for new Olay product formulas just last year alone.

About the Products I Tested:

Olay Body Lotion:

I was able to try out the Olay Body Lotion. I was definitely a huge fan of it. The Olay Body Lotion moisturizes to then repair the moisture barrier to help prevent future dryness. This also breaks the cycle of dry skin. With regular use of Olay lotion, you skin will stay hydrated, supple and radiant.

This just might be my favorite lotion. I definitely can feel it moisturize my body, and at the same time I never feel oily or greasy.

Age Defying Body Wash:

This is a moisturizing Body Wash. This great body wash gently cleanses you skin with soap-free formula that rinses clean. This can help condition even the driest skin. The best thing about this, is the fact that it is a soap-free formula.

I have pretty sensitive skin, but I must admit I too was extremely impressed with this awesome body wash. It does a great job and I don’t feel like I have to put tons of lotion on as soon as I get out of the shower.

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Room on the Broom Toys

My son loves his new Room on the Broom book, and even more now that he can read it with the book’s “star”- the Witch!
He enjoys reading the book to the Witch, and snuggling with her afterwards.  The cat and dragon from the book are also available for purchase at stores like Barnes and Nobel and http://www.kidspreferred.com/
The #1 selling Halloween children’s book in the United States, “Room on the Broom” by Julia Donaldson, has expanded to include a collection of playful toys, an upcoming animated TV movie, a new DVD and more. Donaldson, Children’s Laureate of the United Kingdom and author of the wildly popular Gruffalo book series, has sold more than 20 million books globally.  The enhanced 2013 Halloween collection includes a new animated TV “Room on the Broom” movie for a U.S. audience.   The new animated movie, “Room on the Broom”, launches on DVD at Target and other major retailers this August, books can be found at all good book retailers, while plush toys are now available at Barnes & Noble and Bye Bye Baby.

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Flexi-Fit Toilet Trainer from Pourty

Disclosure: Pourty Flexi-Fit toilet trainer was provided to me to help facilitate my review. All opinions are my own and honest. I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC Guidelines. Please see “Disclose” tab for more information.
Pourty Flexi-Fit

Finding a great Toilet trainer seat is very important when you have young children in your home. I have been completely impressed with the Flexi-Fit Toilet Trainer from Pourty.

About Pourty:

The idea of the Pourty Easy to Pour potty chair came about in England while they were trying to potty train their 2 oldest children. Emptying the potty seat was a very messy job. It inspired them to find a better way to go about it. The Pourty was born. It is one of the best selling potties in the UK.

They then realized that not all children want to use a potty chair and that some prefer to go straight to the “big” toilet. They found many problems with each of the toilet training seats that they bought, because they wobbled and didn’t give their children confidence to sit on them. They did some research and found that it was a common problem since most adult toilets are different shapes and sizes. They designed the Flexi-fit Toilet Trainer, which adjusts to fit most sizes and shapes of toilet seats securely.

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Bake and Destroy: Good Food for Bad Vegans

As a mom who wants to feed her kids food that they will not only like but that is also good for them, it has not always been easy. I have 4 very active children ages 8-17. We are the ultimate on the go family, band competitions, football games, basketball games, cheerleading, gymnastics. You name it, my kids jump for the opportunity.

My biggest worry hasn’t been being too busy, we have our break schedule along with the activities but the food they eat. We have more often found ourselves picking up a pizza because the kids don’t like the meals I would like them to eat. Now normally I would just say eat or don’t it’s your choice; but not with their activities.

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Thanks to Natalie Slater and her book bake and destroy I have been able to conquer 3 parts of our
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The Many Household Uses of Baking Soda

Disclosure: Arm & Hammer Pure Baking Soda was provided to me to help facilitate my review. All opinions are my own and honest. I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC Guidelines. Please see “Disclose” tab for more information.

Baking Soda

I have always been a huge fan of baking soda for a few things around the house. I’ve always used it to help with odors in the refrigerator. I’ve used it on my hair even. But, did you know that there are many different uses for baking soda? I would love to share many of the awesome uses of Arm & Hammer Pure Baking Soda.

For The Home:

In The Kitchen

  • Cleaning food surfaces (Put baking soda on to cloth or sponge, wipe clean, rinse and then dry) –Really good for counters, sinks, cutting boards, microwaves, lunch boxes, wooden spoons, oven tops, range hoods and more.
  • Keeping Drains and Garbage Disposals Fresh (Pour some down the drain while running warm tap water.)
  • Cleaning Microwaves Messes (Put on a warm sponge and rinse well with water)
  • Cleaning Fruit and Vegetables (Sprinkle on a damp sponge, scrub, and rinse OR add to bowl of water and let sit to clean off, depends on the fruit type)
  • Cleaning out your coffee machine(Add 1/4 C. to one quart of Warm water)
  • Refrigerator Freshness
  • Soak on the messes in Dishes, Pots, & Pans(Add 2 TB. to dishwater to help with the mess)
  • Cleaning Up Baby Bottles (Put a tsp. in a full bottle of warm water, Shake, & Rinse)

In The Living Room

  • Upholstery (Sprinkle on the upholstery, wait 15 minutes and then vacuum)
  • Carpets (Sprinkle on the carpet, sit 15 minutes, then vacuum)
  • Pet Toys (Put 4 TB in 1Qt. warm water and wash, or sprinkle on toys, and then brush off each toy after 15 minutes)

In the Dining Room

  • Carpet Spills (after area has been cleaned and dried, sprinkle liberally and let sit for 15 minutes before vacuuming it up)
  • Scuff Marks on Floors (Remove dirt and Grime using 1/2 C. in a bucket of warm water, Mop, and rinse clean).
  • Silver Flatware ( 3 parts Baking Soda & 1 part water, rub onto silver with a clean cloth, and rinse thoroughly)

In The Bathroom

  • Bathroom Floors (1/2 C. in a bucket of warm water, mop, and rinse clean for a sparkling floor)
  • Wastebaskets (Add a sprinkle regularly to keep odors at bay, you can also was the container with 1 C. Baking soda/ gallon of water)
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Halloween Adventure Spyro Boys Costume

With school days starting up again, the next big holiday to prep for is one of the favorites in our house, All Hollow’s Eve or Halloween.  Halloween is great because for one day a year, everyone can be who they want to be, instead of who they have to be.  Reality is a little thinner and costumes are the norm.

spyro costume

Every Halloween follows the ritual of, “What do you want to be or Halloween?” No matter what your pleasure, shopping online makes finding what you want so much easier then battling hordes at the local stores.

For many, choosing the “right” costume is dictated by a few things:

1) Scary or sweet? – If your little one a blood and gore kind of kid or a more character driven individual.  Little Man is definitely character driven and loves to dress up as his favorite characters or animals.

2) What new movies, games, TV shows are out?  The newest stuff is always the ‘coolest’.  Be it video games, movies or TV shows, try and find out what your little ones are into now.  This can be difficult to differentiate between the cool ‘right now’ stuff or the cool current stuff.  Sure Annoying Orange might be cool right now, but is it really more fun then Skylanders?  Not if you are my son, LOL.
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