Cash back when you shop online!

Online shopping around the holidays is getting more and more popular.  If I could do all my holiday shopping online from the comfort of my home, I would.  Well, maybe I'd save one thing to get in the store because there is something special about the "holiday spirit" at the mall, but I certainly don't like to make a habit of fighting crowds at this time of year, particularly in the parking lots!  One of my favorite perks to shopping online is FREE CASH BACK!  Even when I'm making a small purchase, I like to do it online and pick up in the store if I can, just for the little bit I might get back.

Ebates is my favorite site for earning cash back on my online purchases.  Read on for all the ins and outs on how it works.

If you haven't signed up yet, this is the time to do it because there are a few great promotions they are running...

• Get a $10 gift card to Target, Macy's, Kohl's, or Walmart for signing up and making a $25 online purchase.
• Double cash back at many retailers.
• Get a $50 bonus when you refer 2 friends!

This is totally legit and there are no strings attached.  All you do is go to the Ebates website, type in your retailer, click the link, do your shopping as you normally would, and make a percentage back.  It's a win, win!

Ebates is a website that connects you with the website of the store you want to shop and if you make your purchase through their link, you will get a percentage back.  These percentages fluctuate.  Sometimes it might be 1% or 2%, sometimes there will be a promotion where you will get double cash back, etc.  They also show you any coupon codes available (such as a percentage off or free shipping). You can make your purchase online by connecting to your store through their website and either have the items shipped to you or pick up in the store.  

Ebates works with tons of stores including Sears, Babies R Us, Toys R Us, Amazon, Sephora, JC Penny, Kohl's, Home Depot, Overstock.com, Groupon, Walmart, you name it, so you are sure to find your favorites.  Membership is totally free.  You simply get paid cash back for shopping (by check or paypal).  

There is nothing to lose with this program.  Anytime I am making a purchase I try to remember to check Ebates first to see if the store has an account with them and go through them to earn a little extra back.  We're not talking millions of dollars here (unless you are spending millions of dollars I suppose) but every little bit makes a difference.

Click here to sign up for Ebates today!

Our Thanksgiving Menu

Well, this picture is the best I got last year but
I'm unimpressed!  Here's to hoping I won't forget
to take a better one next week!

My husband and I have cooked and hosted Thanksgiving Dinner every year since we married.  Our conversation at the dinner table last night confirmed, not at all surprisingly, that he agrees with me that we should continue to do this for as long as we possibly can.  One Thanksgiving I received a compliment that I'll never forget... it was that I seemed so calm and was never stressed out while preparing Thanksgiving dinner.  Honestly, I think I sometimes stress about normal daily mealtimes more than I do holiday meals.  We've gotten ourselves into a good groove... we know what to make, when to make it, how to share the space (although I still wish I had a double oven!), and how to enjoy every second in the kitchen.  Thanksgiving Dinner (and Christmas too, since it's identical because we love it so much) is absolutely, positively our favorite meal of the year, and since we find so much joy in it, we figured we should share it with you!

We've toyed around with different side dishes and recipes throughout the years but in the end, this is the final list, and I doubt it will ever change!  I will link to recipes if I have them typed up.  My husband says he will not share the recipe for the turkey but I'll continue to work on that.  I'm realizing that I have a few other recipes to add to the blog to complete the list so stay tuned!

Breakfast:

• Pumpkin Muffins and/or Pumpkin Pancakes 
• or Cinnamon Bites

Main Meal:

• Turkey (the bigger the better, 23.88 pounds this year, a little small for us but the largest they had in the store!)
• Crockpot Cornbread Dressing
• Green Bean Casserole (I follow the recipe on the can of fried onions but I use my own cream soup)
• Mashed Potatoes
• Fried Apples
• Cranberry Sauce
• Biscuits
• Gravy

Dessert:

• Apple Pie (or Sour Cream Apple Pie with Streusel Topping)
• Pumpkin Pie (with Cinnamon Roll Pie Crust)
• Pecan Pie Cheesecake
• Cookies (something fun for the 3 year old... thinking turkey hands this year or fall leaf colored sugar cookies)

Beverages:

• Apple Cider
• Apple Cider Sangria
• Egg Nog
• Whatever else people prefer

Don't let holiday meals get the best of you... don't let them stress you out!  Let them be filled with love, joy, deliciousness, and memory-making.  It sounds so sappy, but it's so true.  What's on your menu this year?

Make your own broth/stock! (DON'T THROW AWAY YOUR TURKEY CARCASS!)

I just recently purchased a little package of chicken bouillon cubes to make my own broth.  Although it was only 99 cents at Market Basket, it was still a little bit painful because it had been almost a year since I had to buy it!

Last Christmas, after dinner, and after I placed all the leftovers in the fridge, I looked at the carcass of our 26 pound turkey and thought, "There has to be something I can do with this other than throwing it in the trash!"  I went to google, and several hours later, I had almost a one year supply of turkey broth!

Here is all you need to do...

Put your turkey carcass in a large pot, covered with water.  Add any carrots, celery, onions, etc that you have on hand and whatever seasonings you like.  Bring everything to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer for about three hours.  Skim yuckiness off the top periodically.  Basically, when when the bones are bare, it's done.  Remove the bones from the pan and cool the stock in the fridge overnight.  Skim off the top layer of fat that you'll find in the morning and you'll see your stock underneath - the more gelatin-like the better!  I take my cooled stock/broth and filled ice cube trays, and once frozen, I place the cubes in zip lock freezer bags in the freezer.  Last year, they lasted about 6 months in the freezer before they started getting all freezer burn-ish.  I just melt a few as needed for any recipe that calls for broth throughout the year.

PS ~ This stock is perfect for making your own cream soup for recipes!  You can check out that recipe here.

Liquid Chalkers!

Recently the creators of Liquid Chalkers sent me an 8 pack of chalk markers to try out and provide my unbiased review!  My thoughts in a nutshell?  LOVE!

We do a lot of arts and crafts around here and any new products we can use to switch things up are super exciting (particularly to my 3 year old).  After receiving our Liquid Chalkers in the mail and carefully reviewing the how-to tips they emailed to me, we got to work.

We first tested surfaces just to confirm that in fact they would wipe off when we were done.  These are best used on non porous surfaces because otherwise the liquid gets sucked right in and doesn't wipe off easily.

We drew on our chest freezer (a huge hit since this sits right in our playroom!) and our windows (another huge hit because we NEVER draw on windows!).  How exciting to have a product that lets you do the things you never get to do!

I created a weekly meal plan ~ right on the fridge!

We were also super excited to use these for my sister's wedding reception with a theme full of chalkboards!

These Liquid Chalkers were a fantastic addition to our crafting supplies.  They are easy to use, can write with both a wide and finer tip, provide vibrant color, and wipe away easily on non porous surfaces.  I do find that after wiping away, a little residue is left over that can be easily wiped away with a hand or cloth (kind of like the residue that is left over when you use an eraser on pencil).  Using these on chalkboard paint is a little tricky because the ability to wipe away easily depends on the surface the paint is on.  Always test a small surface first and invest in a Magic Eraser if needed.  These were the recommendations sent to me by the company and are, from our experience, perfectly accurate.

You can purchase Liquid Chalkers online through the company's website or through amazon.  The company has graciously provided me with a coupon code to share with you for 15% off ~ just enter EXCLUSIVE15 at checkout on their website.  It's good through the end of this month, so place your order today!

Disclosure: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.  I did not receive compensation for this review, other than Liquid Chalkers to try and keep.  The opinions expressed are my own.  

What to do with all those green onions!

I like to think of green onions as a "gift that just keeps giving."  One bunch of green onions from the grocery store can give you bunch after bunch if you know what to do with them!  Simply use the onions as you typically would but save the white bulb and root part in a jar with some water and they will regrow!  Again, cut off what you need as you need it, keep giving them fresh water, and repeat!  It's a great way to save money, always have fresh onions, and add some cute decor to your countertops!

Regardless of the fact that I can make one bunch of green onions last for a pretty long time, my husband decided to plant a plethora, yes a PLETHORA, of green onions in our garden this year.  The result?  This project showed up on my to-do list this week!

A few hours of cleaning, separating, and clipping away with scissors gave us this:

We will keep these in the freezer and take out whatever we need for recipes for as long as they last us!  I froze green onions for the first time when I had several regrowing on our windowsill prior to us moving last summer.  I had no easy way to transport the jar so I chopped them up, filled an empty plastic water bottle, threw it in the freezer, and simply shook out whatever I needed whenever I needed it.  It was fantastic.  Sadly I did not have enough water bottles for this year's harvest but I think the zip lock bags will do!

Incredibly Easy Homemade Tortillas

I have had making homemade tortillas on my to-do list for a long, long time.  Someone once told me it was easy but I apparently wasn't convinced enough to try.  We use tortillas a lot around here for sandwiches, quesadillas, and tacos so I'm not sure why it too me so long to brave the task!

Last night my husband was unexpectedly home early for dinner so I wanted to come up with something to make other than leftovers.  I had some ground turkey, shredded cheese, lettuce, homemade salsa, taco seasoning, nacho chips, and ONE tortilla.  Tacos?  My motivation to have tacos was high but my motivation to go to the store was low!  Desperate times call for desperate measures so I took to Pinterest to find a tortilla recipe and chose this one.  It's funny.  Even when the recipe told me it would be easy, I still didn't believe it.  But, I told my 3 year old to get ready to work, grabbed the ingredients (everything I had on hand, and you probably do too), and got started.

Friends, this may have been the EASIEST thing I have ever made!  It was so easy that I kept doing that  whole "apology in advance" and "no promises" thing to my husband.  In the back of my mind I was coming up with back-up plans.  This had to be too good to be true... But it wasn't!  Please hear me when I say that I will never, ever pay a PENNY for tortillas again.  These were easy, delicious, fresh, and cost me nothing.

I love finding new treasures right in my cabinets that I never knew I had.  And I love finding things that I can make myself and add to my "never buy in the store again" list!

Perhaps the best part of this project is that sometimes tasks seem even more daunting when I think about doing them with a 3 year old.  I love having her help me in the kitchen because I know that I'm encouraging really good things in her when I do.  But, I have to be honest and say that some things just are going to be more complicated with little curious, excited, and sometimes reckless hands involved!  This recipe was absolutely perfect for 3 year old hands and it actually was a help to have her!

Anyway, here's how to do it!

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 5 tablespoons shortening
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup very warm tap water

Directions:

• Mix flour and salt in medium bowl (you could get away with a medium bowl but I recommend large if you're mixing with a 3 year old!)
• Add shortening to the bowl and mix together with your hands to work out all the clumps (you'll be done when there are no more large clumps of shortening)
• Pour in very warm tap water
• Use a fork to stir until a dough forms
• Put the dough on the counter and knead until you have a soft dough (the original recipe said 10-15 minutes, we probably did a little less, but this is SO fun for your little one, it's like squishy playdough)
• Roll the dough into a log and separate into 12 equal pieces
• Roll the pieces into little balls 
• Put the little pieces in a zip lock bag in the fridge for 20 minutes - 2 hours
• After removing from fridge, flatten a ball in your hand and then roll out on a floured surface into a thin round tortilla (flip and turn as you roll to make an even circle, doesn't have to be perfect)
• Place tortilla in a heated frying pan (medium heat, you will know it's hot enough because it should sizzle a little when it hits the pan)
• Leave the tortilla in the pan for 30 seconds and then flip (it will bubble a little the first time, but try to push it down flat with a spatula after you turn it over so it cooks through)
• I had to play around with the heat a little bit to keep from burning, but you'll get into a rhythm after the first or second one 
• Remove from pan and place in aluminum foil to keep warm

Enjoy!

You can find the original recipe here with extra tips and pictures!

Premama Review & Giveaway

Are you in the market for prenatal vitamins but could do without swallowing gigantic horse pills?  If so, keep reading!  Who wouldn't love an alternative option for easily taking in all the nutrients to make you a healthy mommy... while easing some prenatal discomforts along the way?

I was recently asked by the team at MomSelect to review Premama Prenatal Vitamin Mix and was provided a 30 day sample for my honest review.  I was so excited!  I never would have thought to try something like this on my own, but after the first day, I was sold!

Premama Prenatal Vitamin Mixes are packed with all of the vitamins and nutrients suggested for mommies before, during, and after pregnancy to support healthy baby development.  It helps keeps you and baby healthy at the same time that it soothes symptoms like morning sickness and minimizes constipation.

Now, let me tell you the most exciting part about the Premama formulas...  they come in little packets of powder that you simply mix with your favorite non-carbonated cold beverage or soft food and enjoy!  Even oatmeal!  All of you pumping and nursing mommies who are trying to boost that milk supply by eating oatmeal can fill up on your vitamins at the same time!  You can get the powder in either a taste-free or a light citrus flavor alternative.  Premama eliminates the huge pills.  I am sipping some fruit punch as I type and although I can't taste it, I know I'm filling myself with lots of healthy vitamins with each sip!

Premama comes in two varieties, Premama Essentials and Premama Plus and both are sold in 30 day supplies.  You can purchase them through the Premama website, amazon, or in a store near you!  There is also a great feature on the Premama website where if you refer a friend, you will both earn money toward the purchase price... and there is no limit to how much you can earn, so the more friends you refer, the better!  You can also ask your doctor to request a coupon code for additional savings, or subscribe for monthly automatic delivery.  If you'd like to try Premama first, there is an option to request a sample as well.  All of the details are on the website.

MomSelect and Premama have provided me with the opportunity to offer a giveaway of a 30 day supply of Premama for one of my readers!  You can enter the giveaway below.  A winner will be announced one week from today on Monday, October 21.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to review this product and share it with you through both the review and the givewaway!  Thanks MomSelect and Premama!

If you'd like more ways to connect with Premama, check out their social media links below!
http://facebook.com/Premama
http://twitter.com/drinkpremama
http://pinterest.com/drinkpremama
http://instagram.com/premama