Amy Cornwell Giveaway and Coupon

I just blogged about winning a nice gift certificate to Amy Cornwell's store. I cannot say enough how much I adore her jewelry and custom creations! I recent purchased the Family Tree necklace and cannot wait to get it.

Right now, Amy is having a $25 gift certificate giveaway on her blog. She also has a 20% off coupon code that ends this Saturday, July 31st. Make sure you head over to her blog and enter to win this great giveaway, or use the coupon code for great savings!!!

You can enter the giveaway here: Amy Cornwell Designs

Waikiki Meatballs and Okra

I checked my email yesterday and had a recipe in there from Allrecipes for Waikiki Meatballs. I checked out the recipe and it looked pretty yummy.  Normally, I make my meatballs by hand (which is what the recipe calls for), however, I knew I had a bag of frozen meatballs in the freezer.  I read some of the reviews for the recipe and one stated that they made the sauce and put the meatballs in the crockpot with the sauce.  Score!!  I dumped my bag of frozen meatballs into the crockpot, made the sauce on the stove and dumped it over the meatballs, added the pineapple, onion, and garlic and put the lid on.  I cooked it on low all day and then made some Jasmine rice to serve it with.

This was a big hit! Both boys ate every last bit of their meatballs and even hubby said was pretty darn good. If you use frozen meatballs and a crockpot, this is a quick and hassle free meal. It's even a kid pleaser! I also made some zucchini, onions, and tomatoes to go along with it for a veggie. Yummy!!

I do plan to make this recipe again and make the meatballs from scratch using this recipe. But frozen are a "just as good" substitute in my book.

Last week we got some fresh Okra from our CSA. I found a recipe for Okra and Tomatoes from Kelly's Recipes.  The pictured looked really good and I had all of the ingredients to make it.  Turns out, it was AMAZING!! The hubby loved it and both boys ate the okra. They have never had okra before so I was unsure about what their reactions might be to it. But they both loved it and actually picked it out from the tomatoes and ate it by itself.  Definitely try this recipe!!!

I won!!!

So, I entered a contest for a $25 gift certificate for Amy Cornwell over at Our Family Treat. And I won!!!!! Woot!! I hardly ever win anything and I am so excited that I won this prize. I absolutely love Amy's jewelry! I have several pieces of Amy's designs, my sister had Amy make her wedding jewelery, and I also got the heirloom necklace for my MIL for mother's day.

When I entered the contest, I thought for sure if I won I would get the Mama Bird necklace.

But as I was looking through Amy's website, I found the family tree necklace and fell in love!

Amy also has a new long chain available and I adore long necklaces. I emailed Amy and asked her if she thought the long chain would look nice with the family tree charm and she agreed. My decision was made!!

I am so excited and can't wait to get it! Thanks Amy and thanks Lindsay from Our Family Treat!!!

My obsession continues!

So, as I'm sure you've figured out by now, I have this obsession with baby stuff (i.e. diapers, carseats, etc.) We have 4 different carseats and I liked each one for different reasons. However, there is one that I have really started to dislike, the Graco MyRide 65. Now, this is a perfectly great carseat (rearfaces to 40lbs and forward faces to 65lbs. Plus it will fit a newborn great!), however, there are a few features that I don't like about this seat.  It reclines a lot (even in the upright forward facing position), it is a bit narrow, and it is really big (it has a tall base).  Currently, this seat is used for Peytonn in the van. He reclines really far in it and it's hard for him to get into it by himself. Also, he doesn't have a lot of leg room between the seat and the back of the drivers seat.  I also transport 3 kids for work a couple of times per week. I have to put the MyRide in the 3rd row of the van.  It is HORRIBLE (and that is an understatement) in the 3rd row. The kids can't even get their legs between the  carseat and the seat in front of them. They literally have to elevate their feet and put them on the back of the seat in front.  It's annoying and I'm sure uncomfortable for them.  This is why I went on a search for a new seat. If we ever plan on having a 3rd baby, Peytonn will have to sit in the 3rd row and he just can't in that seat.  Not to mention, he is already on the top strap height.

My two options were another TrueFit (the new one I got for Bennett a couple of months ago) or another Britax (they are revamping the old line so a lot are on clearance right now).  After searching the internet for a few days trying to find the best deal, I decided that I do really adore the TrueFit. So, I decided to go with that one. I found a great deal on one through Amazon, its the new version of Bennett's seat.

I have a free Prime Membership through Amazon until October which gives me free 2 day shipping on anything that I buy.  I ordered Peytonn's carseat yesterday and it arrived today. I was super excited because online it said to expect it Tuesday.  I got it all put together and I really love the colors of it. I believe it's called City Chic and its mostly black with silver going down the middle. Peytonn likes it and I LOVE how it fits in the van.  It fits great in the 3rd row with plenty of leg room.

Canning

I've really been trying to preserve a lot of the fresh veggies and fruits that have been available to us so that we can enjoy more throughout the year.  Already this summer I have canned 2 quarts of salsa. Today at the Farmer's Market I got more jalapenos, pickling cucumbers, bread, and blueberries.  Once we got home, it was nap time for the boys. I took advantage of that and started my canning while they napped.

First, I started with pickled jalapenos. I got 16 jalapenos today at the market and had some at home already from our own garden.  I stemmed them and took out many of the seeds, then sliced them and put them in the pint jars.  I then added the hot brine to cover and placed them in a hot water bath for about 20 minutes. This is the recipe that I used for the jalapenos.  I think they turned out great, but it says to let them pickle for about 5 weeks before opening. It's going to be a looong 5 weeks!  I took this picture right after I added the hot brine, but before I placed them in the hot water bath.  The jalapenos do settle back down to the bottle once they have cooled.  I gave a jar of these to my father in law, because he too shares in my love for spicy things!

While the jalapenos where bathing away, I started on the blueberry preserves. I absolutely love blueberries and have since I was a child. But they always seem to go bad so fast. Meijer was having a sale for 2 lbs of blueberries for $3.99, so I got them with the intent to preserve them.  I mashed the entire 2 lbs in a large sauce pan, then added lemon juice, pectin, and sugar.  Once it had thicken slightly, I ladled the preserves into pint jars.  I also gave them a hot water bath for about 10 minutes. I used this recipe. A friend of mine made some earlier this summer and just gave me a jar today. We opened it for dinner tonight and it was awesome!!!

I had planned on making the pickles tonight, but we had a storm roll through around 7pm and it knocked the power out for about 2 hours.  By the time it came back on and I got the kids to bed, it was nearly 10pm. I just wasn't up for chopping. Oh well, I can get to them tomorrow.

So, total I canned 4 pint jars of jalapenos and 4 pint jars of blueberry preserves. My inlaws also brought over a whole truck load of fresh sweet corn that my father in law picked today. I can't wait to eat it! Last weeks batch was YUMMY! There's nothing like some Indiana sweet corn fresh from the fields.

Where have I been?

Funny you should ask! I feel like I have been just about everywhere this week, except my bed, sleeping like an angel.  Where do I even begin? Hubby went back to work, Peytonn went this week to preschool summer camp, the van and truck both went into the shop, and I worked a ton of hours (including 5 court hearings!). Oh, and let's not forget that this entire month Bennett has been getting up every 2 hours (or more) each night. Mama is TIRED and EXHAUSTED!

On a good note, Peytonn LOVED preschool! He was a bit nervous the first day when we dropped him off, but by the time we picked him up, he was all smiles.  That night all he could talk about was what he did at school that day. He woke up the next morning and asked if he was going to school. By the end of the week, he had the hang of things and mom was old news in the mornings.  He had better things to do, such as play on the playground, plant in the garden, or paint a picture to name a few. I'm so glad that he enjoyed it so much. It's also a relief. I was a bit nervous that maybe signing him up for the 5 day morning class for the school year would be too much for him. But he proved me wrong. This week was kind of a test drive to see how the fall would go and I am so glad that it seems like all is well. He walks around the house singing "A-B-C, A-B-C" or "1-2-3, 1-2-3" and some other songs as well. Its super cute!!

I also had to take the van in to the dealership because one of the automatic sliding doors wasn't working properly and I drove around one day for 3 hours with it beeping non stop at me. (I about checked myself into a mental hospital after that day!) So I drove hubby's truck the next day. The dealership called me and said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. (can't say I'm surprised, I have taken it in before and they said the same thing) So, on my lunch and went in and switch the truck for my van so we could have the oil changed in both cars.

Then work was completely stressful and tiring this week. I had a total of 5, yes 5 court hearings this week. I actually had 2 in one day on Thursday, back to back. Plus client appointments and visits as well. I have been so tired this week that I actually passed out on the couch at 5:30pm and awoke to my lovely son head butting me in the stomach. That was lovely!

Oh yes, and then there is Bennett. My lovely little boy who used to be the best sleeper has turned into a complete MONSTER! Yes he's ornery in general, but this boy does NOT want to sleep at night. He has been cutting 4 molars at once, but my this has been ongoing for about 2 months now. This month seems especially bad at night. I give him Tylenol or Ibuprofen before bed to help him sleep. It helps a bit, and some nights more than others, but its almost as if he just wants to see me walk into his room and then he lays back down. ???? How do you fix that? 

All in all, this week has sucked and I am glad it's over. I hope that next week is better and I pray that I am able to get a bit of sleep this weekend to catch up on the lack of it this week.

Roasted Corn & Black Bean Salsa

Today we made our weekly trip to the Farmer's Market and picked up some fresh corn on the cob, jalapenos, banana peppers, and local homemade soap. I wanted to look around some more, but the kids weren't cooperating very well. The kids laid down for naps right when we got home so I got to thinking about what I could make with the corn.  I search 'Zaar and found some corn and black bean salsa recipes. I ended up following a recipe called Baja Black Beans, Corn, and Rice. I had every intention of making the bean and corn mixture now and then making the rice around dinner time so we could have an easy dinner. 
Well, I made a couple of slight changes to the recipe and tried it with some corn chips and it made an awesome salsa!!

Here are the changes that I made:
 --I roasted my corn, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic in a dry cast iron pan.

--I also added a couple of splashes of red wine vinegar, some chili powder, ground chipotle powder, smoked paprika, and dried cilantro.  I also added a few more jalapenos because mine wasn't even remotely spicy with just one. (not even a little kick)

And this is what it turned out to be:

It is so colorful and super yummy!!!! I think this would definitely be great over some rice with some grilled chicken. But its also great just by itself with some corn chips. Enjoy!

Klean Kanteen

Today on Babysteals they have Klean Kanteens for 50% off. I just love these because they are BPA free and made of stainless steel.

I got these for the boys today. They are the 12oz kanteens and they were just $16.95 for the both of them. Just one on Klean Kanteens website is $17.95 for plain and $19.95 for a colored one. So I basically got 2 for less than the full price of one. I wanted to sport spout for the boys, so I am searching the internet trying to find the best price on those and maybe some insulators as well.

Stuffed peppers

Let me first start by saying, I have no picture of these because we ate them so fast there wasn't even time to get a picture first! These were AMAZING!!

I love spicy peppers and have been trying to perfect a stuffed hot peppers recipe for some time. I have tried the ones stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon and although they are good, it was almost a little rich for me with the cream cheese and bacon.  Hence my search for the perfect recipe for us.

Saturday I got some jalapenos and banana peppers from the farmers market and today we got more banana peppers and jalapenos from our co-op. It was the perfect time to try my skills out. This is the recipe that I used and it is my own recipe:

Stuffed Peppers
Filling 
8 oz cream cheese
1 scallion or finely diced onion (this can be to taste)
1 clove of finely chopped fresh garlic
1/4-1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (this is to taste as well)
A splash of milk
salt and pepper to taste
a sprinkle of oregano

1/2 cup-1 cup panko bread crumbs
6-8 peppers of your choice (I used mostly banana peppers and a few jalapenos)
olive oil


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non stick spray.  (I wear gloves to handle my peppers because I have sensitive skin, but do as you wish) Wash peppers, cut them lengthwise and remove seeds and ribs of pepper.  Place them on the cookie sheet.  Place cream cheese into a bowl (it helps if it is room temp, or if you're like me, I just microwave mine for about 30 seconds until you can stir it and mush it easily).  Add the remaining filling ingredients to the cream cheese.  I use the milk to help thin the cream cheese out just a tad so it's not so thick. Once ingredients are mixed well, stuff each half of the peppers with the mixture.  Then place the filled pepper into the panko crumbs with filling side down. (Think of a jalapeno popper here. You want the panko to cover and stick to the filling.)  Place the pepper panko side up back onto the cookie sheet.  Once all peppers are stuffed and covered with panko, I drizzle some olive oil over the panko crumbs so that they will brown up and get crisp in the oven. 

Bake peppers in the oven at 350 for roughly 20 minutes. You want the filling to be bubbling, the panko to be slightly brown, and the peppers to be soft.

Our banana peppers were not spicy at all, but the jalapenos did have a nice kick to them. These are so amazing and I wish I had taken a picture of them. They kind of look like this though, just so you get the idea.

Please try these, even if you don't like spicy, try the banana peppers. You won't be disappointed! :)

Rockin' Green and swim diapers

We love using Rockin' Green on our cloth diapers and to soak stained items in. It rinses very clean and doesn't irritate sensitive skin. Right now there is a 15% off coupon code: KiwiRocks.

They also have scoops that measure out 1 TBSP of detergent. That is all you really need.  Since we have hard water, I get the Hard Rock version and use 2-3 TBSP and it works great for us.  We even "rock the soak" every once in a while for our diapers and I use the soak alot for stained clothing. Then hang them out to dry to really get the bleaching action of the sun. Its a great natural, earth friendly detergent, if you're in the market for one. :)

 Also, today on babyhalfoff they have iPlay swim diapers for $6.50 which is 50% off the original price. I got the red surfboard one for Bennett. These are a great alternative to disposable swim diapers. I only paid $6.50 and I can use it over and over again. Whereas a package of disposable swim diapers is at least $9 and then when you run out you have to buy more.  These are such a great deal!