I had a very productive weekend at home; got quite a few things accomplished plus a few more. First, we (my husband and I) cleaned out the garden. Took out dead plants, harvested the last remaining tomatoes, squashes, swiss chard, and sweet potato tops. See, it's starting to dip below 32F at night and it's starting to scorch the cold sensitive plants. My husband dug up our sweet potatoes too and now I have a big bucket of sweet potatoes to cook. OH, and don't forget leeks. We got a bunch of leeks too!
By the time I finished washing, cutting and cooking everything up, our freezer is almost full again. I also managed to cook up some delicious banana muffins this weekend. I thought we'd have them for the rest of the week to take with our lunches, but I was wrong. *-*
Anyway, being that busy at home meant I didn't get to do much online. My facebook status was: harvesting for real and not on farmtown. lol! I had some reviews, blog maintenance and web directory submission tasks on my blogging to do list but I didn't get to them so I guess I will try to squeeze them in this week.
So here's to another busy week! Hope you have a productive one.
I love to give books as presents. But as we book lovers know, they don't come cheap. One way that I have found to get books is to enter giveaways online like the ones I hold on this site. Another way to get books cheaply is to keep an eye out for Promos or Sales. Stores should be holding a lot of them now that the holiday season is officially underway.
Here are three sources for great book bargains:
Books-A-Million is what my daughters call the Barnes & Nobles' poor cousin. That's not a bad thing, mind you, Books-A-Million deals are some of the best bargains around! Indigo Books and Music sells new and used books, and their outlet section features some unbelievable deals. BookSwim is perfectt if you like to read but aren’t interested in building up a book collection. They offer a service similar to that of Netflix, only with books instead of DVDs. This is like the library gone online!
It's definitely soup weather again! I made chili yesterday. We had it with cheesy corn bread and it was just perfect!
I love cold weather for the soups! The thing is when it's cold outside, you don't need any fat burners even with all the rich foods you consume during this time. It just all burns away from all the shivering you're subjected to and carrying all that heavy clothing. lol!
If you'd like more delicious soups but just don't have time to make them, make sure you try Progresso soups. That's the only soup in a can that I buy regularly because they do taste almost like homemade!
We received these beautiful soup mugs along with a couple of cans of the new high fiber soup in the Chicken Tuscany flavor to sample. We already love the soups so I don't have to tell you more about that. What we absolutely raved over are these blue soup mugs that also came with branded soup spoons. What a treat!
If you'd like a set, we're giving a set away on our food blog. Go on over there and sign up for the Progresso Soup Giveaway.
So it's been gray, it's been dreary and cold. All I want to do is lay in bed and read a book, my feet nicely tucked into my warm blankie. Just thinking about it is making me sleepy! I want me a warm bowl of soup or hot cocoa with soft fluffy marshmallows on top.
Instead, I get to make myself get up, get dressed and go to work. I miss the bright sunny days when the lightening of my room from the rising sun wakes me up feeling refreshed and energized. I don't like this soggy and dragged out feeling with the cold and grayness.
I guess that's why I've been procrastinating. I procrastinate at home, I procrastinate at work and I procrastinate online. I have several blogging obligations to fulfill and I haven't yet. Instead of writing up my reviews on the review blog, here I am talking to myself instead.
OH, I've also been wasting some major chunks of time on facebook! Yep, been on the farms (two of them) and playing poker all night with my Padron smokin' buddies. Yeah, some folks I hang out with, eh?
I keep saying I'll do better tomorrow, but the next day is just as the day before and all I want to do is curl up in bed. Oh and think up of things to cook. Like this awesome homemade apple pie from scratch I baked up last week. Check it out!
One of the recipes on the book we just gave away in Cooked From the Heart, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, is lasagna. Lasagna is actually perfect for making ahead because you can assemble it and stick it in the freezer and when you're ready to eat it, just pull it out and stick it in the oven and you'll have a healthy and filling dinner in no time.
Of course, I can't leave a simple recipe well enough alone, I kind of messed with the simple recipe that was in the book and made it a little more complicated. HOWEVER, I think the flavor combinations made my version of lasagna was superb and I'm glad I put in the extra efforts for it.
Now before you start worrying about a colon cleanse for all the cheese in this recipe, keep in mind that it is also packed with fiber rich vegetables. For moms trying to sneak more vegetables in their family's diet, this kind of dish is perfect. You can't even tell there are veggies in there!
Today is the last day to enter the giveaway for this book, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms by Jane Doiron. The book is an amazing collection of easy meals that you can prepare ahead of time; making your weekdays hassle free while also providing healthy and delicious meals for your family. In addition to great recipes, Jane also provides tips on how to manage your meals and plan them ahead of time so you're not going to be tempted to go for fast food.
These are simple, family recipes that I am sure most moms are already familiar with I'm sure everyone will find something new or inspirational in this book. For instance, I did follow her advice on cooking extra to freeze for a later meal. I made lasagna, almost like she has it in the book, but of course, I never could leave a simple recipe alone.
I kind of made my lasagna a little more complicated and less desirable if you're on a weight loss kick, but it sure was delicious!
Visit my food blog and enter the giveaway for this book today!
Here we go again, with this week's roundup of giveaways on Amoores.com. Can you tell I love books? :) When you love books this much, you'll forget to eat sometimes. The good thing about it though, you won't be needing any weight loss pills :)
This past week was a trying week I desperately needed some good news, but it was not to be. Instead, it seemed to get worse at some point even. I can't believe I even missed a doctor's appointment! I mistakenly read the appointment and showed up at the doctor's office a day late. Totally embarrassing! The good thing was, though, I ended up getting off from work early. Which turned out to be lucky because I ended up having to pick up and do errands for the girls after school.
So next week, it's dental appointments for them all. Luckily, there's no need for orange nj cosmetic dentist, just some run of the mill clean up dentist.
My girls are now teenagers but they are still kids at heart. They watch cartoons on the weekends and jump at the mention of ice cream. They like their cereal sweet and they like everything else colorful. So when we received a pack of these DenTek kids floss, they were all over it. Wanted to use it, they wanted to play with it. Finally, they settled down long enough to tell me what they really thought of these flossers.
Here's what my 16 year old thought in our first video review.
The verdict is, that they are pretty but for serious cleaning, these flossers do a kid's job. They all admit though that they are convenient to have in their purses and backpacks for quick clean ups during the day. I agree with their assessment.
If you have little kids though, these are a great way to introduce them to the habit of flossing. They are colorful enough and the handles are easy for little hands to grip.
Disclosure: Free samples of the flossers were received and we were compensated for this review
Happy Sunday! Here's a couple of healthy and delicious suggestions for your Sunday dinner. I'm making a roast beef today just because Sunday has gotten to be a roasting day around here. The following dishes are more like weekday dishes for us. They are quick and easy to make, delicious and satisfying. Give them a try if you like.
Earlier in the summer we had an abundant harvest of Swiss Chard from our spring planting and that was when I discovered this recipe for making them into the pie or to put it more fancy like, a tart :)
Don't go running looking for diet pills that work just yet, these two dishes, while not exactly low fat are actually very healthy. The Noodles has hidden veggies in it and very small amount of oil and while the amount of oil in the tart may seem like a lot, keep in mind that it's Olive oil and it's supposed to be good for you. We all have to have a little fat in our diet. We just have to consume it, like everything else, in moderation.
I love to give books as presents. But as we book lovers know, they don't come cheap. One way that I have found to get books is to enter giveaways online like the ones I hold on this site. Another way to get books cheaply is to keep an eye out for 
It's definitely soup weather again! I made 
