Shutterfly Coupon

Get 20% off at Shutterfly.com until July 6th. Coupon code B002-BCTR

Shutterfly

I am a HUGE fan of Shutterfly.com. This company makes high quality prints, books and cards. My favorite thing is their greeting cards. I send them to my family for any holiday, because you can personalize them with your own pictures. And, they cost around $3, and are postal mailed to the recipient. You can't buy a plain old Hallmark card for that!

Peanut Asian Noodles

This is kind of a fun, different recipe, that can be easily changed to fit your veggie tastes, or whatever is hanging out in the fridge. I use:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup Asian dressing (something with sesame or ginger)
• 1 package of whole wheat linguine
• 1 and 1/2 cups chicken, shredded or cut in little pieces
• 2 cups frozen and shelled edamame (a fancy word for "soy beans")
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 1 teaspoon of ginger

While boiling up the linguine, mix together the peanut butter, dressing and ginger. Add 1/3 cup of boiling water (I scoop it out of the linguine pot). Whisk this all together. Once the pasta is cooked, put the carrots and edamame in with it. Allow them to boil together for 3 minutes.
Drain the noodles and veggies. Mix it with the peanut sauce. Toss in the cooked chicken.I served mine with a green salad, using the same Asian dressing. It kind of ties it all together.

This Purse.....

I know I have way too many purses, but I haven't bought one since before Connor. I am in love with this one from Target. It's a Rafe Orange flap shoulder bag, and it's $49.99, and that's why I don't have it. Yet.

Peach Baby Food

I had been wanting to make peach baby food, but thought it would be too messy. I mean, who wants to have to blanch, peal and core a peach? So I found this nice bag of frozen, no sugar added, peaches at Target (while on my edamame search, but that is a whole new post). I thawed the peaches, and blended them up using my hand immersion blender (that I won at an Ashley picnic). I blended the peaches in a Pyrex measuring cup, so it was super easy to pour into the ice cube trays. They are now freezing up in my freezer. The whole bag of peaches, which was 1 pound of fruit, made up 1 and a half ice cube trays.

Frozen Baby Food

This is an update on the homemade baby food. After it became frozen in the ice cube trays, I popped the cubes out and put them into labeled freezer bags. From what I've read, you can keep them frozen for about two months.

Heather's Special Enchiladas

This is John's favorite recipe of mine. It took me about six tries before I perfected the recipe.

• 6 tortillas
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 can of unsalted corn
• 1 can of red sauce
• 1 little can of diced chillies
• 1/2 packet of taco seasoning
• 1 large chicken breast - or nearly a pound of chicken
• 2 cups of taco mix cheese
• 1/2 cup of sour cream (I use the fat free, keeps it healthy)

Be sure to rinse the black beans, or else they get weird.

Mix together the corn, black beans, chilies, 1 cup of cheese, and the sour cream.

Spray a 9 by 13 inch Pyrex pan with cooking spray, then cover it with red sauce, using about half of the can.

Shred up the chicken breast, I use two forks to do this. Be sure to toss the dogs the fatty pieces, it's good karma.

Cook up the chicken with half a packet of taco seasoning according to the directions on the packet. Each brand is a little different, but it mostly is just simmering with about a 1/3 cup of water for a few minutes.

Mix the chicken in with the veggies.

Place the mixture into a flour tortilla, about 1 cup or so. Roll it up and place into the pan. Repeat, usually you can fit between 6-8 of these in the pan.

Cover the enchiladas with the rest of the red sauce and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, covered with foil. Remove foil and cook for 10 more minutes to brown up the cheese.

If you use all the mixture, and only 6 tortillas, it means you have 525 calories per tortilla. John is into counting those things now, so there ya have it. Get ride of the cheese, it will save you, but what is Mexican food with out cheese?!?!

Homemade Baby Food

Embracing the housewife in me, I made my own baby food today. It was simple, really. I made carrots, peas, green beans, apples and bananas. I first boiled/steamed the food, then tossed it in the food processor. Once they were blended, I put them into ice cube trays with plastic wrap on top and stored in the freezer. After they were frozen, I popped them out and put them into freezer bags. I haven't tried them yet, so no word on taste.

Laundry

Quick thing, Dreft is expensive, nearly $15 for 200 ounces. For washing baby clothes, try Arm & Hammer's for sensitive skin. It's about $5 for 200 ounces, and works just as well, and baby is totally happy with it.

Cacao Reserve

For my birthday, I received one of these chocolate bars - Cacao Reserve by Hershey's Extra Dark Chocolate. I am in love. Dark chocolate is perfect for my house, because I am the only one that likes it! On the back of the bar, it says "Like most indulgent treats, Cacao Reserve by Hershey's should be enjoyed in moderation." I think that's because the over sized bar has 530 calories in it... I checked out their website as well, and it says "Pair elegant dark chocolate with well-crafted cabernets and California zinfandel's when spending an evening with your friends." So, I am enjoying a portion of my bar, with a glass of my fine boxed wine. (fake fancy chocolate with my fake fancy wine.)

Red Lobster Biscuits

This is a good knock-off recipe. It's inspired by the best thing about Red Lobster - there biscuits.

• 2 cups of Bisquick
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup cheese (colby works good, but so does any nice yellow cheese)
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Mix together the milk, Bisquick and cheese.

In a pourable glassware, like a Pyrex measuring cup, mix together melted margarine, garlic salt and Italian seasoning.

Spray a muffin pan. I use silicone bake ware, just put it on top of a standard cookie sheet to keep it from wobbling. Fill it up with the Bisquick mixture. Then drizzle the margarine mix on top. You need to keep stirring the margarine, so the seasonings are equally distributed.

Bake at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Serve while warm and steamy. I think they go best with pasta.

1-800diapers

For the month of June, new 1800diapers.com customers get $10 off their orders when using the promo code "JUNE1". Added bonus, if the total before the discount is $50+, you get free shipping!

How to make your own Spanx

Ever since I have had my baby, I have had this thing. I like to call it my "muffin top". That extra skin that pops up around your lower tummy, and doesn't seem to go away. I am in a wedding here soon and wanted to help smooth it out. Instead of spending $25+ on a pair of the Spanx Brand Power Panty, I made my own!

I just took a pair of my old nylons that had a few little snags in them. Then I took a pair of sharp scissors and clipped off the leg portion. These Nylons had a thicker knit where I cut them, so they won't run. If yours don't, just spray the area with hairspray I suppose if you wanted all over "smoothing" you could cut lower, but my main concern is the muffin top area. It works amazingly well. Give it a try....what else are you going to do with snagged up Nylons?

Free Stuff

This is a fun web-site. My favorite store, Wal-mart, offers fun free samples of various products, and it usually changes daily. Check it out, I've gotten diapers, shampoo, tampons, granola bars, detergents, pet food, pills, all sorts of fun stuff.
http://walmart.triaddigital.com/Free-Samples.aspx

Easy Bake Ravoli

This is a super easy recipe that I threw together tonight for diner out of stuff I already had in the freezer (all Wal-mart brand, of course).

• 1 jar of tomato sauce
• 2 cups of mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 bag of frozen ravoli, about 25 ounces

Spray down a 9 by 13 pan (of course, I use Pyrex). Cover the bottom of the pan with spaghetti sauce, about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup. Layer half the frozen ravoli and cover with half the remaining sauce. Cover sauce with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.Layer again with the remaining frozen ravoli, sauce and mozzarella cheese. Then sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly brown. Serve with some garlic bread. It makes about 6 to 8 servings. Or 4 if it's John and I.

Reed Diffuser

My mother-in-law sent us one of these things. It's a reed diffuser from Pier 1. We have the Aspen Flower scent. The bamboo type reeds sit in a scented oil, and release the scent into the air. I notice Alysha had these all over her home last weekend. I am nervous about Sammy cat attacking it though, so I have placed it up high in Connor's room. It has covered any of his gross boy odors. It truly is a Fabulous Thing.

X-13D

As most of you know, I'm a Dorito junky. The new flavor named "X-13D" is pretty darn good, tastes like a Burger King Whopper, with out the nasty fries! There is a contest going on to name it, and I have decided to call it "DHARMA Initiative Doritos".

Beer Bread Recipe

I had this treat last weekend, Alysha made it for diner. It's simple recipe, and a complete knock-off of the Tastefully Simple, so instead of spending the $4.99 for the mix, I'll share the secret here. The mix is only sugar and flour.....

• 3 cups of self-rising flour
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 3 tablespoons of melted butter
• 12 ounces of beer - I used Miller Lite

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together, spread into a greased baking pan. I used a 9 X 9, but next time I think I'll use a 9 X 13 pan instead. It came out deeper than I would have liked. Bake at for 23 to 28 minutes, until top peaks turn a golden brown. The bread tastes great alone, or with a bit of a spicy cream cheese spread to zip things up.

Something new to crave....

I am in love with this product...Caress Japanese Exotic Oil Infusions body wash. I normally am a strictly Bath and Bodyworks kind of girl, but this stuff is great. It's white lotus and kukui nut (whatever that is....) scented. It's kind of masculine in scent, Fabulous.

Parchment Paper

Here is the ultimate baking secret. Parchment Paper. Use it when you bake cookies, line the baking sheet with it. I re-use the same sheet of parchment paper for the entire batch of cookies, and they come out beautifully. No stick, no burnt spots, even cooking. It does cost more than if you just used cooking spray, but I have decided it is worth it.