Odwalla and Champions for Kids Fighting Hunger in the Summer

Odwalla + Champions For Kids Simple Service Project

by Amy Trauntvein

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®, Odwalla, and Champions for Kids.  However, all opinions are my own. #cbias #SocialFabric #Odwalla4Kids

These wholesome snack bars taste great and are an easy way to fill kids’ hungry bellies while giving them the nutrition they need.

Along with the Odwalla bars, we donated  several other food & non-food items that we had in surplus at our home.

With the couponing I do, I also have plenty of non-food items that I purchase for donations and since our local food pantry also accepts these things, we gathered them up as well.  If someone doesn’t have to buy shampoo, soap or other toiletries, then they can have more money to purchase food for their families.

Here are our donations packed up and ready to be given to those in need.

 

When I arrived at our Community Food Pantry, I noticed how empty their shelves were.

After talking with Ruth, the coordinator, and Angela, her assistant, they said that the need keeps rising and also with summer coming, the need will be even greater with kids not getting school breakfasts and lunches.  This small pantry helped over 129 families in April and are tracking to help even more this month.  They receive no funding or government assistance, they only rely on the goodness and generosity of the community.

Angela and Ruth of the Johnstown Community Food Pantry

Ways YOU Can Help! -by Champions For Kids Simple Service Project

GATHER your friends, family and co-workers to fight hunger in the summer by hosting a food drive in your community.  Nutritious snacks like Odwalla Kids Bars and Juice Boxes would be great to give!  Consider giving out prizes to the person who donates the most food at you office or community organization!

LEARN about the needs of children in your community by asking a food pantry volunteer, school nurse, or social worker to talk with your group about their experiences.

GIVE the food items that you collect to a food bank in your community so that children and families will have enough to eat this summer.

SHARE your story with us at www.championsforkids.org/share so that we can celebrate your participation!  How many people were involved, and how many items did you collect?  Please let us know that you are ONE of Millions who helped reach our goal to mobilize 20 Million people by 2020 to become Champions For Kids!

Be sure to check out Odwalla on Facebook, Twitter and Odwalla.com!

Love To All! ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 23 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep me young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening, yoga, walking and saving money! I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

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Spicy Southwest 5 Cheese Dip with Kraft #FreshTake

If You Like A Spicy Kick, You’ve Got To Try This Dip!

By Amy Trauntvein

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Kraft Foods #FreshTake #cbias #SocialFabric. All opinions, ideas, and photos are my own.

My family loves Mexican food and spicy South-of-the-border flavors so when Kraft Foods asked me to create a new recipe using one of their Fresh Take flavors, I knew which one I wanted to try and what recipe I would make.  Spicy Southwest 5 Cheese Dip using Kraft Fresh Take Southwest 3 Cheese.

I took the kids to Walmart to find the Kraft Fresh Take and a few other ingredients.  It was easily found among the cheeses in the Deli Section and had a variety of flavors to choose from.  Also, if you go to the Meat Department, there will be and IRC (immediately redeemable coupon) stuck on packages of chicken.  The coupon takes off $1 for one package of chicken when purchased with Fresh Take.  The coupons will run until 7/31/13.

I love Kraft Fresh Take and have been using it to make some pretty tasty dinners lately.  It’s easy to use and the cheeses and spices are a perfect compliment with chicken no matter what flavor packet you buy.  Since I’ve enjoyed the Fresh Takes flavors, I knew adding it to a dip recipe would turn it from “It was alright” to “Wow, how did you make this? I need your recipe!”  Just look at the yumminess on the package, and it already contains 3 of the 5 cheeses for my dip recipe!  How easy it that?

Now back home for the creation of the spicy, cheesy, ooey gooey goodness!

Recipe for Spicy Southwest 5 Cheese Dip

• 1 Package Kraft Fresh Take Southwest 3 Cheese Flavor
• 1 8 oz Package Kraft Cream Cheese
• 1/3 cup Kraft Mayo
• 1 cup shredded Kraft Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1 Jalapeno chopped finely with seeds removed.

If you like things really spicy, use 2 peppers.  Go ahead, I dare ya!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut Jalapeno in half and scrape out seeds. Chop finely.

Warm cream cheese in in microwave until soft.  Add mayo, monterey jack cheese and jalapeno.  Open package of Fresh Take and mix the cheeses and breadcrumbs together.  Reserve 1/2 cup of Fresh Take for Topping, and add the rest of the Fresh Take to the other ingredients.  Mix well.  If mixture seems a bit dry, add more mayo by tablespoons until mixture looks nice and creamy.  I just mixed it all in the actual baking dish (to save me from dirtying another bowl).  Once mixed well, smooth out the top.

Toss into oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Pull out and stir.  Now add the reserved 1/2 cup of Fresh take to the top and toss back into oven for another 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Serve with chips or crackers of your choosing.  I liked mine with Pita Chips for their “heftiness”.  This cheesy, hot and gooey dip is a perfect compliment to any Mexican, Tex Mex or Southwestern meal, or a perfect appetizer to your next party.  Your guests will beg you on bended knees for the recipe!  I mean, how can anyone go wrong  with 5 cheeses???  Yep, it’s a winner!  And Thanks to Kraft Fresh Take for taking it to the next level of yumminess!

Watch for the Kraft Possibilities Tour truck which will be making stops across the country to the end of July.  To see if they are making a spot in your town, you can check their website Fresh Take Possibilities Tour.

Love To All! ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 23 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep me young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening, yoga, walking and saving money! I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

 

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Ice Cream Festival

Utica’s Sertoma Ice Cream Festival

Each Memorial Day Weekend for the last 39 years the Ye Old Mill in Utica Ohio has been the home of Old Fashion Velvet Ice Cream Festival

It is a yearly tradition for our family, along with many zillions of other people!  I mean really, who can resist Velvet ice cream?  We always enjoy the old time cars (muscle cars), playing games, getting good food and of course eating ice cream.

These pics are from one of our visits in 2010.  I had posted on my Explore Ohio with Sandy blog, but wanted to share with all of you too! I can’t wait until we go this May.

My video gives you the feel of it all.

The water mill works and is just pretty cool.

The Mill is on one side of the street and you can sit by the water, eat your ice cream and check out the extensive car show.

You’ll find carnival games and foods galore!

Then you can cross the street to find more food….. and a large craft show

But the best part is the Ice Cream!

Alex opted for the shake this year.

But not Zach. Notice the ice cream on the nose. lol…. oh so good!

Elise’s favorite is the mint chocolate chip.

Mine happens to be the Moose Tracks… oh yum!

Dave and I enjoying the day with the kids.

I just thought this was a cool pic of Zach.

More information

Utica Old Fashion Ice Cream 
Facebook pageSchedule of Events

Dates

May 25-27, 2013

Location

Velvet Ice Cream The Ye Old Mill
11324 Mount Vernon Road, Utica, OH, 43080

 

This was first posted May 2012.

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Loved Mariano’s in Chicago

Wish We Had A Mariano’s In Columbus!

I had the opportunity to have a tour of the grand opening of the Harwood Heights Mariano’s Fresh Market last week. I walked out of that store really wishing that I would be able to shop there regularly.  Of course, that isn’t an option for me since I don’t live in Chicago, but I’d love Mariano’s to come this way!

The feel of the store was nice. It was very crowded since it was the grand opening and you could feel the energy and excitement that everyone had. What makes the store different?  There were many differences from stores I’m familiar with.

They have a $6 meal that you can purchase to take home, or eat in the store. You can pick the main course and a couple sides for a $6 or $10 meal. These foods looked like awesome home cooked meals. We were going to ate lunch while we were there and everything I saw, I was thinking… oh, I want to get THAT for lunch! Look at those pot pies! They were huge! I’ll tell you what, you wouldn’t be able to pick out these meals at a restaurant for $6!

The bakery was incredible. Have you heard of Fruit Loop or bacon donuts? Look at some of the goodies.

They have their cake decorators work where you can watch them. I really loved that.

They have creativity rights to create fun! These little 5″ cakes were darling. Loved the cupcake cake!

I SO wanted to try one of these cream puffs, but I did refrain.

They had a grill set up in between the seafood and meat departments. You could ask them to take a salmon or steak and grill it for you right then!

They have an extensive wine department. You can also create your own six pack of beer. I thought that was really unique. This particular stores has an extensive couple of international aisles.

We were able to meet Mr. Mariano, the CEO of Mariano’s. He loves visiting the stores and stopping to talk to families shopping. He wasn’t too sure what “bloggers” were, but we helped to fill him in. It was nice to see him in the store, and was really friendly.

There is an huge floral department and the flowers were absolutely beautiful.

Sushi anyone? They had a sushi bar. I’ll admit that I didn’t try it myself. But they were making it fresh as it was ordered.

It sure was pretty though, and three of the bloggers did have sushi for their lunch and loved it.

Melissa @ConsumerQueen and I had a fresh salad and fresh fruit.

Vivian King was our tour guide, and we’ve been working with her through Collective Bias. It was great to meet her in person. She had the ribs that were so awesome! There is a BBQ department that prepares them fresh in the store. We were able to try samples of them earlier. She said that she normally always gets the sushi at the grand openings, but she was straying from her normal today.

This is what I really wanted to try for lunch, but from the samples that they had throughout the store, I was actually a little too full to get one for lunch. They had individual pizzas that they would make to order for you. I wanted a mushroom, onion one… my fav! Maybe next visit to Chicago!

Look at this monster sandwich! It looked, omg good!

I have never thought about “eating” a meal at a grocery store before. But that is very much the norm at Mariano’s.  You can come in for a glass of wine, pick out your meal and eat in the cafe. I will certainly be stopping back by to try some more of their meals on my next visit to Chicago.

I am an employee of Collective Bias and Mariano’s is our client.  I went on the tour to see the store, and took a lot (almost 300) photos while there. I decided to create a post because I was so impressed with the store, I was not asked to write a post, nor expected to. I just wanted to share with you all!

 

 

 

 

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Red Velvet Cupcakes with #CoolWhipFrosting

Red Velvet Cupcakes Recipe + Cool Whip Frosting = Amazing!

By Amy Trauntvein

I love love love Red Velvet Cake!  Red Velvet Cake takes me back to my childhood at my Grandma Maxine and Grandpa Ted’s house where we (aunts, uncles and cousins) regularly gathered on Sunday evenings for fun, games and just being together.  Grandma always had cake and ice cream for us, but the best Sundays were the Sundays she made Red Velvet cake.  I think it was the dark red color that as a child, I thought was pretty cool, but the rich full flavor had me at first bite!

When I heard that Cool Whip now has frosting, I had to try it!  I went to Walmart and found what I was desperately wanting to try on my Red Velvet Cupcakes.  Cool Whip Frosting with Cream Cheese!

The price of the frosting was $2.28 but I printed 2 Cool Whip Frosting coupons which made them only $1.53.  Not bad, you know how much I like saving money!

But first, I needed to make the cupcakes.  Here’s my recipe…

Red Velvet Cupcakes 

- Yield 32-36 Cupcakes

3/4 Cup (1 1/2 sticks) Butter, softened at room temperature

1 1/2 Cup Sugar

1 1/3 Cup Buttermilk, shaken well

2 Tablespoons White Vinegar

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

2 Large Eggs

2 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

4 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 One Ounce Bottle Red Food Coloring

1 Tablespoon Water

Preheat oven to 350 and line cupcake pans with liners.  In a mixer, cream butter and sugar together, set on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until light in color and well blended.

While the butter and sugar are creaming together, combine your wet ingredients (Buttermilk, Vinegar, Vanilla and Eggs whisked together) and your dry ingredients (Flour, Baking Soda and Salt) into separate bowls so you have a “wet” bowl and a “dry” bowl.  Next, in a small bowl combine the Cocoa Powder and entire bottle of Red Food Coloring.  It will form into a dry paste.  At this point, add the Tablespoon of water to give it a more workable consistency.  This is what it should look like.

Now you are ready to make your batter. Turning the mixer onto low, alternately drop in 1/3 “dry” ingredients and “wet” ingredients going back and forth until it is all in the mixer.  This gives a very consistent and smooth texture to your batter avoiding any lumps.  Next, and very carefully I might add, spoon the red cocoa mixture into your batter while it is still on low.  This is what your batter should look like when done.  Isn’t it beautiful?

Load up your cupcake liners making sure you only fill them no more than 2/3 full so you don’t have overspill while they raise in the oven.  You should get at least 32 cupcakes if not more.  I got 36 exactly. (3 full pans).

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, until the cake bounces back when touched, or inserting a toothpick and it comes out clean.  Do not over bake or you will have very dry cupcakes and it will make me sad.  Let cool completely.  I always just leave them in the pan and gently put clear plastic wrap over the top of the cupcakes after they’ve been out for about 5 minutes, just to seal in the moisture until they are cool enough to frost.  Many times I’ve baked cupcakes the night before, left them in their pans, put plastic wrap on them and tossed them in the fridge overnight and frosted them the day after.  I actually prefer doing this as the cupcakes seem to be more moist the next day.

I couldn’t wait to try the New Cool Whip Frosting with Cream Cheese on my cupcakes!  I used a Wilton 4B tip to frost the cupcakes and tiny heart sprinkles for the Valentine Holiday that is coming up this month.  Aren’t they cute?

Now for the taste test.

My daughter and I split one (as I’m trying to watch the waistline) and BAM!  I was hooked!  I love the light fluffy, not too heavy texture and the flavor was amazing!  Some cream cheese frosting is almost too sweet and rich, and half the time I scrape most of it off, but not this time!  It was the perfect balance of lightly sweet and fluffy consistensy, that I actually had to eat a whole one later that evening, I couldn’t resist!  Waistline?  What?  I didn’t hear you, I’m enjoying my cupcake!

Just so I wouldn’t eat all 36 myself, I took them to our youth group activity night (that my teenage son and daughter belong to) at our church. They were MORE than willing to try them out for me!  I can safely say they were gone in a matter of minutes and were thoroughly enjoyed by all!

Find more about Cool Whip on Facebook or Twitter at #CoolWhipFrosting and don’t forget to grab a coupon too!  Coupon Printing Help MAC users, please use browser other than Chrome.

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community.  This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Kraft Cool Whip. #CoolWhipFrosting #cbias #SocialFabric.  All pictures and opinions are my own.

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 22 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep my young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

Exercise Tools – Nike FuelBand vs FitBit

Do I Like To Exercise? No – But I’m Going To Learn To Love It!

Do I Need to Exercise? Absolutely… big time!

I’ve gone through so many phases in my life, and even on this blog, where I’ve started to exercise and get in shape. I’ll do good for awhile, and then I tend to fall back into my old ways. I think there is a part of me that doesn’t think I can ever be one of those “in shape” people. I know that sounds dumb, but after watching my mom struggle off and on for years with exercise (Jack Lalanne and soup cans.. for some of you who might remember), I just have this block in my head – that I’ll never be that person out running a marathon.  Do I have a desire to run a marathon. Nope. Would I like to be able to run for a few miles? Yes!

I have a zillion excuses, I have plantar fasciitis and my Podiatrist said that walking should not be an exercise for me. The nearest club is over 1/2 hour away and my work schedule won’t allow it. My heart rate goes into the 200′s when I try to jog. Oh… there are more, believe me. But I have to break through those.

At the beginning of this year I decided I have to get 70 pounds off.  I did it in 2008, I used Jenny Craig and took off 50 pounds, but I went off their plan and slowly gained it back.. plus another 20 pounds. Menopause hasn’t helped either… along with sitting on my butt for at least 12 hours a day working.

When I lost my 50 pounds, I wasn’t exercising. This time I have to do both. Now I have the fat arm stuff happening, the big belly.. (I never knew your boobs could touch your belly when you sit certain ways! lol) As always my hips, legs and butt are huge. There are things I never have experienced before. I was always very thin growing up.. and this extra 20 pounds in the last year has thrown me over the edge. I’ve had to buy new fat clothes, the backs of my arms will bother me because things are too tight. It’s the pits and I feel gross.

Nike FuelBand

Part of my inspiration is because I feel terrible.  The other part is watching all my co-workers at Collective Bias show all their pictures of running and working out on Path and Facebook. This company is so awesome to work for that they gave us all Nike FuelBands this Christmas. How cool is that? John Andrews and Jay Thornton both got a Fuelband and liked it so much for themselves, that John decided to get them for all 50+ of us.  For a company to care so much about it’s employees, that they REALLY want to see us healthy. That is just one of the reasons I love working at CB. Not because they gave us a cool gift, but because they really care about us. They want the best for us. Love that!

This is really neat. I love the look of it. It comes in a white/clear one or a black/clear one.. or this solid black. You get fuel points for your activity. If you are walking or working out, doing laundry etc. It also tells you how many steps you’ve walked, calories burned and what time it is.  You set a goal and you work to meet it each day. The little red dots at the bottom.. go across as you work towards your goal. They get green when you are into the good zone. Then you can share on Facebook or Path your progress and compare with your team. That is where Collective Bias has been really productive with this. There are several runners at CB, and many of us that aren’t, but they have had fun with sharing their fuel points with everyone. It shows the path they have run, or walked. It syncs with your computer and your phone, so you can easily track what you’ve done.

I think this is an awesome tool if you want to get in shape. If you want to track your progress for the day, have competitions to see who can get the most fuel points or just track it yourself. It is a great way to inspire exercise. You want to get more fuel points to hit your goal for the day.

FitBit

Before I knew I was getting one, I had asked Dave for a FitBit for Christmas. He got me one, so now I have both tools. I also got one for Dave for Christmas. He’s been using it and is happy to show me how far he does walk at work everyday, inspecting the job site he manages.

They are both awesome tools to tracking your exercise and activity. I highly recommend them both. The FitBit is small and clips onto your clothing. Dave wears his clipped inside his pants pocket. I wear mine clipped to my bra. It tells you your steps for the day, calories burned, time of day and a growing flower for your progress. It has an automatic sync (this model of FitBit at least) to your computer and your phone. You can also share with your friends and post to FB or Twitter.  Very similar features of the Nike FuelBand.

What it does do that is different, than the Fuelband  is that you can track your food intake and it also tracks your sleep. There is a wrist band that you slip the fitbit into. It comes out of the rubber clip you see above and easily slips into this Velcro wristband. Then you just hit the timer to start it. In the morning you turn the timer off. The wristband doesn’t bother me at all to sleep, although I did see on a few people who reviewed it, that they didn’t like it.  I like being able to see my sleep patterns. I was surprised I woke up as much as I did through the night.

This also has an alarm feature on it. It will wake you up in the morning. I have yet to figure out how to set that, but I think I saw a way, and just haven’t taken the time to try that feature out yet.

This is what the dashboard looks like. You can earn badges for your accomplishments. Climbing stairs, steps, miles.  You can see where I did my short work out in the morning.. where the yellow spikes are.

The feature I like the best with this FitBit is that I can track my food intake. I picked a program of easy, medium or hard (I picked hard) in order to lose my weight. It has me losing 2 pounds a week, so that I’ll hit my goal of 70 pounds in August of this year. It then calculates your food intake (you plug in the food and there are many options that come up to pick from. If those don’t fit, you can enter your own food item with the portion and calories.) and exercise for that day.

It tells you how much more you can eat for that day… or if you’ve gone over your calories for the day. Several times when I’ve gone over, then it has inspired me to go up and do more exercise.

For me, because I am trying to lose weight along with the exercise.. the FitBit is a better exercise tool. It has been more inspiring to me due to the calorie intake feature, than the Nike FuelBand.  If your main goal is the exercise and getting in shape, then I think the Nike Fuelband would be ideal. I think the guys like the look of the FuelBand.

The FitBit One that I have is $99. I got mine for Dave at BestBuy. He got the one for me online.
The Nike Fuelband is $149.

I can highly recommend both of these exercise tools, and I’m very thankful to Collective Bias and my husband for giving them to me. Neither one expected or asked for a review – I just wanted to share part of my big inspiration for exercising and losing weight.

So far since January 1st of 2013, I’ve lost 8 1/2 pounds. What I was thrilled with, was that it also included a six day trip to Bentonville, AR for work, and I’ve always gained weight when I’ve traveled before. I’ve always had an attitude of “I can eat whatever I want when I’m traveling, because it’s too hard to try and eat healthy”.  But not this time. I exercised 3 of the 4 available mornings I was there with Debba from Girlfriendology. Of course she was far past me in her running and exercising abilities, but she was great encouragement and  inspiration while I was there.

 

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Homemade Caramels Recipe

Making Homemade Caramels, It’s Easier Than You Think

My family loves homemade caramels.  They just can’t compare to the cellophane wrapped squares that you find in the grocery store.  Don’t get me wrong, those store bought ones are great if you want to make caramel apples, but if you want some amazing, soft, decadent eating caramels, there’s nothing like making them in your own kitchen.  When we have caramels in the house, my youngest thinks she can live on eating caramels alone she loves them that much!  And even better, they really aren’t that difficult to make.  The key to good caramel making is to stir constantly.  Otherwise all those sticky sugars can easily burn if not continually moving it around in the pan.  It really only takes about 15 minutes of actual cooking/stirring time so it’s really not that bad.  Let’s start with the recipe that I like to use.

Homemade Caramels

1 cup Brown Sugar (make sure it is soft with no hard chunks)

1 cup White Sugar

1 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 cubes (1 cup) Butter (salted butter is fine)

1 cup White Corn Syrup

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 cup Chopped Nuts -optional (any kind of nut you want, I use pecans)

I also use a good candy thermometer for my caramels.  It is not required and will show you how to test the caramels for doneness without one, but it does make caramel making easier and takes the guesswork out of it.  I bought mine at Target for about $10 a few years ago when my last one gave up the ghost.  This kind is great because it has a clip on the back to hold it onto your pan, the markings are easy to read and the actual thermometer doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan to give you a false reading (the bottom of the pan is hotter than the actual candy cooking).

First, if you are using nuts in your recipe, chop them up before you start cooking.  That way they are ready when you need to add them and you won’t end up burning your caramel while it waits for you to chop the nuts. Don’t chop them too fine, leave some good chunks.

Now you’re ready to cook!  Using a nonstick (works much better for sticky caramel as it won’t stick to the bottom of your pan and burn) pot on medium high heat, add both sticks of butter and melt.  I like to melt the butter first before adding any other ingredients.  Once the butter is melted, dump in both sugars, condensed milk and corn syrup to pan and stir until combined.  Save out the vanilla and nuts.

Bring to a boil and continue stirring.  Once boiling, add the candy thermometer to your pan.  If you don’t own one, it’s ok, skip this part.  Keep stirring…

When it has been boiling for a good 10 minutes, you will notice it turning a darker brown.

Start watching your thermometer and cooking to between “Soft Ball” and ”Firm Ball” or 244-246 degrees F. Mine is just about there…  I’m not a fan of caramels that pull my teeth out so this is where I cook it to.  If you like a firmer caramel, cook right up to “Firm Ball” or 2 degrees above, 248-250 degrees F.

*Testing Caramels WITHOUT a Candy Thermometer- If you don’t own a candy thermometer, this is how you can test to see if your caramels are ready.  Get a small bowl or a short wide mouth cup that is big enough to put your hand in.  fill it with cold water and set to the side of your cooking caramel.  When your caramel starts turning color, pull a bit our with your stirring spoon and drip into the cold water.

Move the caramel around with your fingers for a few seconds until it’s cool and pull it out.  If it holds shape and feels like the consistency you want in a caramel, it’s probably ready.  If it doesn’t hold shape, keep cooking and testing until you are satisfied.  It goes pretty quick, so you’ll want to “test” every couple minutes if not more.  Good thing though, every time you “test” you also get to taste!  It’s a bit messy, but kind of fun and yummy!  Even though I use a thermometer, my kids beg to “test” the caramels this way just like when I was a kid and got to be my mom’s “tester”.

Now that your caramel is done (almost firm ball, or holds shape when cooled), take off heat and stir in vanilla and nuts.

Pour into a lightly greased 9×13 pan (I like to use glass).  Let cool completely (4-6 hours).  I made a double batch, one with nuts and one without.  To do this, I poured half into a pan before adding the nuts, then stirred in the nuts and poured the second half into another pan.

Let cool completely, 4-6 hours then cut into bite-size pieces and wrap.  I like to use waxed paper pieces, but you may also use plastic wrap.

Now you can enjoy these little pieces of paradise and suddenly become everyone’s best friend if you decide to share the little puppies!  I hope you have fun making your own Homemade Caramels and let me know how they turn out.   I would love to hear from you!

Love to all!  ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 22 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep my young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

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English Toffee Recipe

Who Doesn’t Love English Toffee?

by Amy Trauntvein

The holidays are right around the corner and for me that means baking and lots of it, and homemade holiday candy tops the list!  Peanut butter balls, dipped pretzels, almond joys, and caramels, clusters, turtles….  But my favorite homemade treat is my grandma’s recipe of homemade English Toffee.  For years I  just let my mom and grandma make it while I enjoyed eating it thinking it was WAY too complicated and difficult to make, but then my husband and I found ourselves moving across the country with our then 3 (now 4) children and if I wanted any of this wonderfully delicious treat at Christmas time, it was now up to me to make it.  ACK!!  I thought for sure I was going to ruin it the first time I tried, but you know what?  It really was easier than I thought and it turned out perfect!  So now I’m going to give YOU the recipe and show you how you can make and enjoy your very own English Toffee and wow your friends with your culinary smarts!  And one other awesome thing about this recipe, you don’t need a candy thermometer to make it!  Score!  Ready?  Here we go!

English Toffee

• 2 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 lb butter
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup

Topping

• 12 oz chocolate chips or good quality chocolate chopped up
• 2 cups chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts or pecans) Purely optional.

Yes, 1 lb of butter is correct.  I never said it was light and healthy, did I? But there IS one secret to successful toffee and that is do not leave it alone.  Period.  You need stay at the stove because it must be constantly stirred and watched. If you think you can run upstairs and fold a load of laundry or go answer the phone while it cooks, before you know it, you’ve got a big burned mess.  It turns quickly and you need to be present.

First, you need to get your topping ready before you start cooking the toffee.  Chop the nuts, I used pecans for this recipe.  I chopped one cup more finely than the other for the topping.  One cup will go into the toffee (if you desire) and one cup will go on top of the toffee and chocolate.  Take one cup of nuts (the coarser chopped) and sprinkle onto an un-buttered cookie sheet

Chop up your chocolate and toss into a microwave safe bowl. Or if you are using chocolate chips, do nothing.  Here’s my chopped chocolate and the 5 lbs. of chocolate I buy every year to make candy.

My daughter wasn’t real happy about modeling it for me.  I really do go through almost all of it every Christmas making candy so it’s worth it to me to buy good quality chocolate.  No, we don’t eat it all ourselves.  I give most of my treats away to lucky recipients for the holidays!

Now you’re ready to start cooking!  Melt butter in a large non-stick pot on med/med high heat (do not brown).  Add sugar, water and corn syrup and mix well.

Bring to a rolling boil and continue stirring.  This is what is should look like.  I’m showing you so you can see the difference between the color of when it starts and and when it is finished…

Continue to boil while stirring until it turns the color of a brown paper bag (about 15 minutes).  See the bag and the toffee?  At this point it will start to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Let it cook for another 2 minutes stirring constantly.

Take off heat and pour onto the cookie sheet.  I forgot to sprinkle mine with the nuts so I poured them over the top and pressed them into the toffee.  It still worked just fine.

Now for the chocolate.  If you are using chocolate chips, just pour the chips evenly onto the hot toffee and let melt.  If you are using chopped chocolate, toss into the microwave and heat in 30 second increments on high while stirring in between until melted (it took me 60 seconds total).  Pour chocolate onto (still hot)toffee.  Spread chocolate evenly and top with remaining nuts.  Let cool completely.

Once cooled, break into pieces, enjoy the deliciousness and bask in the glow of the compliments you will receive!

Thanks for joining me and I hope this tutorial had helped you get over any qualms you may have about candy making. It really is easier than you may think!  Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Love to all!  ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 22 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep my young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

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Nestle Celebrate The Season with Nestle #HolidayCandy #cbias

 Christmas Recipes with Nestle

by Amy Trauntvein

Ah the holidays…. with everything that the holidays come with, for me it means baking and lots of it!  Nestle asked me to head to my nearest Walmart and purchase their Nestle Butterfinger Jingles, Nestle Crunch Jingles and Nestle Spree Candy canes to try out a couple of new recipes.

 

I was able to find all the holiday candy I needed quite easily at Walmart.  Spree Candy Canes…

Nestle Butterfinger Jingles on the bottom shelf.

And Nestle Crunch Jingles on the top shelf.

I needed to get a few other items that we were out of, and then headed home to do some holiday baking!

First, I decided to make Peanut Butter Sleigh Ride Bars

The kids snarfed them right down. Don’t they look scrumptious?  Would you  like the recipe?

Peanut Butter Sleigh Ride Bars

30 NESTLÉ BUTTERFINGER Jingles, unwrapped 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 3/4 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened 1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350° F.
Beat brown sugar, peanut butter, butter and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour and baking soda.

 Stir in Nestlé Jingles and press dough into 9-inch-square baking pan, distributing Nestlé Jingles evenly.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.
NOTE: Try substituting NESTLÉ Milk Chocolate Jingles.

The next recipe is one I came up with using the Nestle Milk Chocolate Crunch Jingles.

Nestle Crunch Krispie Twirls 

Would you like the recipe for this one too?

 Nestle Crunch Krispy Twirls

• 2 bags Nestle Crunch Milk Chocolate Jingles unwrapped
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 6 cups crisped rice cereal

Pour sugar and corn syrup into saucepan and stir together.

 Cook on Med-Med high heat until boiling.  Let boil for one minute.  Take off heat and add peanut butter and vanilla and stir until smooth.

Pour peanut butter mixture into cereal and mix well.  Dump it all onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet and press evenly.

Put Jingles into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds and stir, heat 30 seconds more and stir again.  If not all melted, microwave at 15 second intervals stirring in between until melted.

Pour melted chocolate onto pan and spread evenly.

Wait 5-7 minutes to cool a bit and then start rolling, using the wax paper to help your roll stay together.

Wrap roll with the wax paper you used or get a clean sheet of plastic wrap.  Either will do.  Let cool completely, at least 2 hours.  When cooled, the chocolate should be hardened and will hold the roll together.  Cut slices and serve.  Kids enjoys these treats as they can just grab and go, plus they look cool!

Nestle has some great Holiday Baking recipes at http://nestleseasonalrecipes.com/ rel=”no follow”

 

Love to all and Happy Holidays!  ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 22 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep my young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

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Year Supply of Trident Gum Giveaway!

Trident Gum- Giveaway

by Amy Trauntvein

Hi, my name is Amy and  I’m a sugarless gum addict. There, I said it.  I feel much better.  However, it’s not going to keep me from my gum!   I love sugarless chewing gum and keep at least 3 different packs in my purse (for variety of course!).   Having fresh clean breath  is important to me, and my friends appreciate it too.   I also love that Trident contains Xylitol and not aspartame, which in my opinion, is healthier for me.  So when Trident asked if they could send me some gum AND do a giveaway to one lucky reader, I said “yes please”!

Trident wants to give you a year supply of gum to one of you, our readers.  Here’s why…

Believe it or not, tooth decay affects approximately half of all second graders and nearly 80 percent of 17-year-olds, but according to a survey by Trident, more than 84 percent of American parents don’t realize this.

Trident’s survey also showed that more than nine in ten (92%) parents believe that cavities in children are preventable; yet getting a child to take care of their teeth can be difficult for 86 percent of parents. To help get the word out about keeping your kids teeth in tip top shape, here are some helpful tips below to help keep kids’ mouths happy and healthy!

Brush 

Remind children to brush their teeth at least twice a day for two minutes each time, using a pea-size amount of fluoride toothpaste.

Eat

Foods such as fruits, vegetables and cheese help build strong healthy teeth and gums. Try chewing a sugar free gum, like Trident, after eating to help fight cavities.

Floss

Children should gently floss once a day to remove food that can get stuck between their teeth.

Avoid 

Try to avoid overindulging in sticky and sugary foods. When kids do have a special treat (especially during the holidays), make sure they brush and floss afterwards.

Routine

Remember to get regular dental check-ups. The more you help kids incorporate healthy oral care habits in their everyday life, the more they will as adults.

To Enter Giveaway-

Contest ends…

Winner will be announced…

Good luck to all, and happy chewing!  I know I am…

Win a One Year Supply of Sugarfree Trident® Gum!

You can win the same amount of gum that Amy shows in the picture! Hoot! I know she was excited when she opened her box to review! The contest ends on 11/30/12 at 12:01am.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*I was compensated with the product for the giveaway.  The pictures and opinions are honest and my own.  ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 22 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep my young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

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Tips To Prepare For Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Will Run Smooth If Your Prepared

The last thing we want to be doing on Thanksgiving day is running around trying to figure out how to accomplish things, because we didn’t plan ahead.

Planning ahead of time makes it possible to borrow or buy the things you need.  Need more chairs or card tables to set things up? This is a good time to ask family  or neighbors if they have what you need.  You might find you need baking dishes, freezer space, extra dishes, oven space – you want to plan this all out ahead of time.

Using labels can help you in your pre-Thanksgiving Day preparations.  To have your Thanksgiving day move smoothly, planning needs to be done ahead of time.

One way to make things move smoothly is to use this idea from Good Housekeeping.  When you set your table, or get out your serving dishes – label them. Use a non-sticky note card and label what is going to go in the dish and make sure you have a serving utensil to go with it.

It makes it very easy for anyone to help you when it comes time to fill the dishes.

Good Housekeeping

Thanksgiving Day Tips for Planning Ahead

• Make sure you have enough seating for all your guests
• Make sure you have all the place settings you need, plates, silverware, glassware.
• Make sure you have the necessary serving dishes and utensils.
• Have all your recipes gathered together
• Make sure you have all the necessary ingredients for your recipes
• See if there are any recipes that can be made ahead of time.
• Be sure you have enough refrigerator space (you may need to ask a neighbor for extra space)
• Write out a schedule of times as to when you need to put each item into cook/bake so that all your food is finished and warm for the meal.
• Write out place cards ahead of time and have your tables set up and ready to go.
• Plan any Thanksgiving day activities, so your guests aren’t bored while you are in the kitchen

I also love this idea of making notecards noting what each item is. We can’t always assume your guests will know what your dishes are. They might be something that is very familiar to us, but something completely new to a guest. They might wonder, but wouldn’t want seem rude to ask. This is especially important if you have any guest that might have some kind of food allergy. In that case, find out what that allergy is, and make a note if it is allergy free for that guest.

Good Housekeeping

Simple steps like this can help your Thanksgiving day meal go smoother.  Being prepared and thinking through things ahead of time will make your day much easier.  It also makes it possible for more people to be able to assist you in the kitchen to prepare the meal.

Here are a couple more of my posts from Thanksgivings past.

Organizing for Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving Is About Being Thankful - 2010

Organizing for Thanksgiving Dinner – 2009

How to Organize Your Coupons

Organizing Coupons Continued…

by Amy Trautvein

Today we are going to talk about clipping coupons, when to pull out expired, and how to organize a shopping trip with your coupon binder.  Are you as excited as I am?  Good!

I only get one Sunday paper, believe it or not.  I don’t want to spend hours cutting coupons and I can get some great coupons on the internet anyway to help bulk up my binder a bit and get some coupons that you won’t see in the Sunday ads.  Every Sunday night, or Monday morning I pull out the coupon inserts, have a seat on my couch, turn on the TV and cut away.  As I’m cutting, I stack the coupons into my categories so it saves much time putting them into my binder.  A must do! Here are my coupons after they ‘ve all been cut and are ready to be filed.  Classy, huh!?
REALITY CHECK:  Do NOT clip every coupon that is printed. Only clip coupons for products you regulary use, would like to buy if it was on sale, and/or are willing to try.  If you’re not sure, say to yourself, “Would I buy this if it was a steal?”  If your answer is yes, then clip it.  I don’t have babies in the house anymore, so why clip coupons for baby products?  I don’t drink coffee, so I obviously pass by the coffee coupons, there are certain products (that I won’t name) that I’ve tried and not enjoyed, and even if it were a steal I wouldn’t waste my time so those get trashed too.  I know it’s just common sense, but I’ve talked to a lot of people to clip every coupon that is in the insert.  Don’t, just don’t.

Internet coupons are great, but it can be overwhelming.  There are SO many places you can go.  My suggestion is to pick your 2 favorite coupon sites and just stick with those.  My top favorite is coupon.com. They have a wide range of coupons from grocery to nonfoods and you don’t have to give your name, address, phone number, first born to print them, and it’s free.  You are also allowed to print up to 2 of each one you want.  I’m not a huge fan of clipping services because you are having to PAY for coupons to then save you money?  Plus like I said, I’m not a shelf clearer and don’t recommend it either. Why would somone need 50 coupons of ketchup?  Here are my internet coupons from this week.  They reset and add new coupons at the beginning of the month so that’s why I have such a stack for this week.  They had some good ones this time.  :)Now back to filing your coupons into your binder…  Just start at the front of your binder and go to your first category, mine is the breakfast asile.  Before  you add any new coupons, go through that section and pull any expired ones.  Then add your new coupons into any empty slots. Do this every week!  It saves time in the long run and saves you from trying to use a coupon that expired a week ago at the reigister.  No need to organize by expiration date.  That adds TONS of time shuffling all your coupons up to the front and adding new ones to the back and doing it all over again week after week.  Remember, you only have 2-4 pages in each section to go through.  Why create more work for yourself?  See how nice and pretty? 
*One other thing I do that is a good idea:  As I’m putting coupons in my binder I keep a sitcky note list of high value coupons that I want to use, but the product may not be in any of your sale ads.  That way, while you’re at the store, it’s easy to take a look at those products, see what the price is and decide, at the store, if they are worth using that day.  My rule: it needs to be more than half off for me to consider, OR just a really great coupon that I don’t want to forget about.  I then put the sticky note on my list for easy reference.

Now you can go through your store adds for the week and compare with the coupons you’ve got.  As you find coupons to use on sale items, pull them out and paper clip them together.  I only do 2 grocery stores and one drug store.  That’s as much as I can handle without having to run around alot.  Also, some weeks are way better than others.  If I find that I’ve only found 2 or 3 good deals for a store, I scratch it and don’t even go.  It’s not worth my time and gas to only save on a couple items.

First, I list how many items I want to get, then I list the product, next the sale price, then my coupon amount (double it if your store doubles coupons, which mine do) and then the final price.  Once you’ve gone through all your ads, put your list into the front of your binder for east reference and marking off as you put it in your cart.  Here’s what it all should look like.  My list of “on sale” products with coupons and final prices, my sticky note of high value coupons, and my paper clipped piles of coupons I know I will be using this week.  Just keep those in the front pocket of your binder.
**Don’t forget about digital coupons either.  Most stores let you add electronic coupons from their website to your store card AND they let you also use a paper coupon fro the same item!  Double the savings!  The only store I know of that does NOT do this is Kroger, but check your stores coupon policy just to be sure.  Also, some stores let you combine a store coupon and a manufacture coupon together for ONE item (CVS, Target to name a couple), also double the savings!  So yes, please check their coupon policy, you may be missing out on saving even more than you thought!

Now you are ready to shop and save!  And be organized so you can save time AND money!  Just remember, this is what works for me.  You may need to do some tweaking for what works for you.  There’s no one right way to do it, just do it!  Let me know how you coupon, I’d love to hear from you!

Love to all!  ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 22 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep my young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

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Coupon Organization

Organizing Your Coupons

by Amy Trauntvein

Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I love, live and breathe coupons.  Even though I have been couponing for over 20 years, I am not what some people call an Extreme Couponer.  I do not keep stacks of coupon inserts nor do I clear shelves.  I coupon to save money, and yes, slowly add to my stock of food and nonfood items in my home.  I wouldn’t call it a stockpile either, just some extras to have on hand when I get a great deal so I don’t have to buy it at full price when we run out.  And if I find that I’m starting to “pile” my stock, I spread the love by donating items to various organizations and/or give away to friends who can use it.

So let’s start organizing those coupons!  For years, I used an accordion coupon organizer and thought it was great, but it took me a LONG time to grocery shop since every time I wanted to grab something off the shelf, I had to pull out the pile from one section and sift through it all to find the one coupon I thought I might have, but couldn’t remember.  It finally came time to swtich over to the binder system.  Here’s my lovely binder…
When looking for a binder, it MUST have a zipper closure and a handle.  Ease for carrying and also, if you drop it (like me), you won’t have coupons flying everywhere.  Been there done that. I found mine at Staples for around $12, but you can buy one at most places that have a school supply aisle. The next thing you need is a zippered pencil pouch.  Enclosed I keep a calculator, pencils, and paper clips.  The front pouch on the left holds general store coupons that don’t really belong in any of my categories (example: $5 off $50 grocery purchase).
The next essential supply you need for your coupon binder are Tab Dividers.

REALITY CHECK: I actually had a bunch of tab dividers from school supply shopping for my kids so I just used those.  Some were used but still in great condition and they don’t match, but it’s ok!  You don’t need to go spend a bunch of money just to make it look cute when you’re trying to save money!  Use what you’ve got and then purchase only if you have to.  Notice mine don’t even match.  Some are solid colors while the ones in the back have designs.  Truthfully, this helps me find the category faster since I know what all my nonfood category tab dividers look like.  :)
Finally you need Baseball card inserts. You can find these and any discount store (Walmart, Target etc) wherever they sell baseball cards. Just ask any associate, they’ll point the way. You can usually find boxes of 25-30 pages for around $5. This is what keeps your coupons nice and clutter free!  Can you tell mine are well used?
When putting your coupons in, many times they need to be folded to fit.  Just try to fold it so you can easily see, 1. the product 2. the amount off 3. the expiration date.  If its too big, just do your best.  Many of my coupons are folded so #1 and #2 are on the front, but #3 is on the back, but it’s ok because you can just flip the page to see the exp. date on the back.  Also, one great thing about these pages is that you are constantly looking at all your coupons so it is easier to remember if you have a coupon for a certain item.  It’s amazing what you remember when you are looking at them all the time!  Here is what it should look like once your coupons are in.
Now…What categories do you choose for your dividers?  I have 19 different categories.  I have chosen to divide my categories into “aisles” meaning, how the grocery store aisles are usually set up.  That way, as I’m heading down an aisle, I normally only need to open up one category and flip through 2-4 pages of coupons.  I know some people have a tab divider for EVERYTHING like; (Breakfast aisle) cold cereal, hot cereal, granola bars, fruit snacks, on-the-go breakfast bars/pouches for 1 aisle so they are flipping through 5 categories in 1 aisle!  I just keep all “breakfast aisle” coupons in one section.  Remember, I’m still only having to look through 2-4 pages instead of 1-2 pages of 5 categories! Plus, by dividing everything up in the sub categories you have even more dividers and baseball card inserts you have to flip through and it makes your binder thicker and heavier with all those extra pages.  Just simplify, please.  Here are the categories that I use and work for me.

1. Breakfast/Fruit Snacks/Granola

2. Fruit/Vegetables/Juices ( includes fresh produce)

3. Cookies/Chips/Crackers

4. Condiments/Soup/Dinners (Mac & Cheese, Box Potatoes etc.)

5. Baking/PB&J/Breads

6. Inernational foods

7. Frozen

8. Deli/Dairy/Meat (basically the refrigerated section)

9. Candy/Nuts and Popcorn/Drinks

10. Paper Products (includes sanitary items)

11. Cleaning Supplies

12. Laundry

13. Pets

14. Body (Lotion, Shaving men and women, shower gel etc.)

15. Hair (shampoo, style)

16. Face (makeup, contact soluction, face wash, fingernail polish since it is with makeup)

17. Meds/First Aid (includes vitamins)

18. Teeth

19. Office supplies/Clothing/Misc. (include batteries)

Work with the categories and adjust to what works for you or how your favorite stores are set up.  It took me a few months of moving coupons here and there and creating new and taking out hardly used categories.  These 19 work great for me!

In the very back of my binder I keep a copy of my favorite stores’ coupon policies.  Very nice to have on hand when you need to win an argument with a checkout employee who is not familiar with their policies.  I’ve been glad I’ve had them for a few occasions.  Just to the stores website and you can find a link to  their printable coupon policy near the bottom of the home page.  If not, just use their “seach” box at the top.  Keep updated around twice a year and reprint the new policies as needed.

One other “coupon divider” I do still use for my purse is a small accordion coupon folder for those stores that I DON’T need to haul my binder in with, but I DO have a coupon for.  Clothing stores, for example.

This little one also holds any gift card I have, and any TOTALLY FREE coupons (that aren’t for groceries) I need to use.  I’ve found they can get kind of lost in my big binder and forgotten since I don’t want to carry my big binder into clothing stores etc.  Notice my pile of CVS Extra Care Bucks! Those are like cash so I keep them in my little binder right in the front so I don’t forget about them and can see them and their expiration date clearly.  I keep the FREE coupons in the front also according to expiration date.  And then other coupons in the other sections.
I hope this post has gotten you converted to a binder system if you haven’t switched yet.  It’s not that hard, and in the end, it WILL save you time AND money!  Later this week I will do a post on coupon clipping, when to pull expired coupons and which coupons you should and shouldn’t clip and more.  Stay Tuned…..! Love to all! ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 22 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep my young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

Pumpkin Rolls Recipe

How To Make- Pumpkin Rolls

by Amy Trauntvein

Tis the Season for anything pumpkin!  Pumpkin pie, cookies, ice cream, cake, but my favorite pumpkin dessert is pumpkin rolls! There’s just something about the yummy pumpkin goodness twirled around the creamy filling that gets my heart to go pitter patter!  Today, I’m going to show you how to make these pretty bites of heaven!  Don’t be scared, they really aren’t that difficult, and once you make your own and see how good they are, you’ll never go back to the grocery store and buy one again!  Let’s start by giving you the recipe…

Pumpkin Rolls

3 eggs                                                        2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup sugar                                             1 tsp ground ginger

2/3 cup pumpkin puree                    1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp lemon juice                                  1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup all purpose flour                 1/2 chopped walnuts or pecans (purely optional)

1 tsp baking powder

Creamy Filling

6 oz cream cheese (softened)          1 cup powdered sugar

4 Tbsp butter (softened)                    1/2 tsp vanilla

 

First, we are going to beat the eggs on high speed for 5 minutes.  Gradually beat in sugar.

Stir in pumpkin puree and lemon juice until well combined.Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl,Gradually add dry ingredients to wet while on slow speed.  Mix until just incorporated.  It should look like this…

Now for a quick Reality Check!  I have been baking for about 22 years and have been using my pans for just as long.  They are clean, just well used and loved.  I’m not about to go buy brand new pans just so everyone can think, “Oh look how lovely her pans are.” So… yes, for all my recipe posts, you will see just how well used all my stuff is, and guess what?  They work just great!  You will only see brand new stuff only if I’ve busted something which may happen.  Look for more Reality Check!(s) in many of my future posts, just so we can “keep it real, people.”

Now back to the recipe….  Line a cookie sheet (15X10 sheet WITH sides) with wax or parchment paper.  Spray the sides only, with cooking spray, you will thank me later.  Pour batter into pan and spread evenly.  Once spread, I like to wiggle the pan back on the counter and pick it up an inch or two an drop it to help even the batter out a bit more.  At this point, if you like nuts, sprinkle your chopped walnuts or pecans evenly on top of the batter.  I don’t do this step, otherwise my kids won’t eat it and then my husband I will have to eat it all.  Hmmm…. maybe next time I’ll throw nuts on!
Bake on center rack in oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.  Do NOT over cook please, and thank you.  While cake is in the oven, lay out a (clean) linen or cotton kitchen towel.  Do not use a terry cloth towel unless you want bits of towel stuck in your cake. :)  Next, sprinkle a good amount of powdered sugar ALL over the thing.  I use a hand sifter to make it more even.
When the cake is done (if it bounces back when touched) pull it out, and run a kinfe between the pan and cake along the long sides.

Next you need to gently pull the cake from the ends of the wax paper.

While the cake is still hot, you will invert the entire pan onto the sugared towel.  Sounds hard, but it’s really not.  Just use a towel to hold the pan so you don’t burn yourself making sure you are also holding the ends of the wax paper so it doesn’t fall out of the pan too soon.
Pull off the pan.  There should be no sticking.  Gently and slowly pull the wax paper off the cake using a butter knife to hold down the cake if needed.  It shouldn’t stick too bad.
Viola!  Your cake is ready to be rolled. This part needs to be done while still warm/hot or your cake will break. fold the edge of the towel closest to you over the cake and start rolling.  and roll the towel right up along with cake.  The towel will help to keep it rolled up while cooling.
Done!
Let the cake completely cool.  Usually takes about an hour or so.  While the cake roll is cooling, go ahead and make the filling.  Throw the softened cream cheese and butter into a mixer and beat together until nice and smooth.  While still beating, add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat unitl smooth again.  I did a double batch of filling (I made two cakes, if I’m making the mess to make one, I may as well make two!) so you won’t have as much, but it should look like this….
Once the cake is cooled, unroll it from the towel (it should stay together and not break if cooled rolled up) and plop all your filling onto the cake.  Start spreading evenly clear out to the edges.  Don’t worry, you’ve got enough, just keep spreading.

Now it’s time to roll it back up the same way you did before, but without the towel!

Pull out two sheets of plastic wrap and wrap the your lovely pumpkin roll in it. Next pull out a nice big sheet of aluminum foil and wrap it up in that.

Now put your lovely package that you are so proud of on a cutting board or cookie sheet and stick it in the freezer! Freeze for at least 6-8 hours preferably overnight. Once they are good and frozen, you can take out the board/sheet. This just keeps them in their nice shape. The secrect to perfectly sliced pumpkin rolls is to cut them while frozen. 
Whenever you are ready to enjoy a slice of paradise, take it out, unwrap (no need to wait for it to thaw) and cut.  You’ve got perfect slices that are not flattened from the knife and the filling stays intact!  Also, you are free to slice just as many as you need, then rewrap the rest on toss it back into the freezer for another time.  Pumpkin rolls stay good in a deep freeze for months as long as they are wrapped tight.  So if you’re having a party, make these way ahead of time and save yourself some stress.  On party day, just pull them out and slice away whenever you’re ready to serve. 
Here you are, beautiful Pumpkin rolls and taste so much better than store bought!  My family actually prefers to eat then while still frozen, the filing tastes almost like ice cream and it’s not as messy!  I’ve also converted many of my friends to eat them frozen too, they love them that way.   Every year near the holidays, I make 2 pumpkin rolls and keep them in the freezer for maybe an impromptu get together, a party we get invited to that we need to take a dessert, or just for surprising the kids on a regular old Wednesday night after dinner or homework.   A unexpected treat for each child, and maybe just maybe they might clean their room!  Yeah right, well it’s a good dream anyway.
Enjoy making your very own Pumpkin Rolls.  Thanks mom for teaching me the art of this recipe and a love for baking.  If you enjoyed this post, let us know!

Love to all! ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 22 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep my young!    Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

Peach Pie Recipe

Who Love Fresh Peach Pie?

I know I love fresh peach pie and my family does too.  I’m always excited when Branstool Orchard in Utica, OH has their fresh peaches. We stopped by last weekend and bought three pecks of peaches.  One went to my Dad and the other two we got to eat and make pies with.

Peach Pie Recipe I used this recipe for the filling. The crust I just used Pillsbury pre-made dough found in the ref. section.

5 cups of peaches.  Peel them and cut them up.
3/4 cup sugar (recipe says 1/2 – 1 cup. I used 3/4)
1 1/2 t lemon juice (I didn’t use it because I was out. Just make into pie quickly so they don’t brown)
1/4 cup flour
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/8 t ground nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees

Place one of the pie crusts in the bottom of the pie pan. Make some holes in it with a fork to vent.

 

Mix the cut up peaches and lemon juice (if you remembered it.. lol) and set aside.

Mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a separate bowl.

Take the dry ingredients and mix well with the peaches

Pour mixture into the  pie shell.

Slightly wet the edges of the bottom pie crust.  Place the top crust and lay over top of the filled pie pan.  Pinch the edges of the two pie shells together.

Make a fun design in the top shell to vent.

Place in the oven for 35-40 minutes.  Mine cooked for about 40 to almost 45 minutes.

Then you just have to enjoy!

I have to apologize because the family was so excited to eat the pie when it cooled that I totally forgot to get a picture of a piece of the pie! We like to eat it warm and put whip cream on it.  It would also be good with ice cream, but we didn’t have any for this pie.  It was SO good, by the way.

 

Black Raspberry Jam

Making Black Raspberry Jam

We decided to try making black raspberry jam from the fresh black raspberries that we pick at the farm.  Each year at the farm we get black raspberries this time of year.  We had a bumper crop this year.  Alex is picking some. As you can see, there are a lot that aren’t ready yet. The red ones will be turning black by next weekend. But there were still plenty to pick this weekend.

We had the kids helping along with one of Elise’s friends.  I didn’t pick many, I took pictures though! lol

All of us got a little scratched up trying to get through the thick brush and thorns.  Dave was blazing a path with a machete, so that helped.

Look at how big some of them are. But not all of them were that big.

We ended up with 21 cups of berries!

We have never canned anything, but decided we wanted to try.  We bought a canning book and canning jars, a basic kit that has the tongs to get the jars in and out of the boiling water. That is a must in my book.

I washed all of them first.

As we prepared the black raspberry jam we heated up the jars in the hot water bath so that the jars didn’t break when we  poured in the jam.

Black Raspberry Jam Recipe (as per the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving)

9 cups of crushed black raspberries (we started out with 9 cups of berries, but once we mashed them we had to add about 3 more cups!)
6 cups of sugar
Add the berries and sugar to a large pot.  Bring to a boil slowly.  Stir the whole time, dissolving all the sugar.
Cook rapidly to the gelling point (we had to look up what a gelling point was – it’s kind of hard to explain so you might want to look it up, but you use a spoon and the jelly, jam will break away from the spoon in a sheet or a flake.
Stir frequently as it thickens and then remove from heat.
Skim foam if necessary (it was necessary for us)
Pour the jam into the jars (we used the funnel and a ladle) and leave 1/4 inch of room from the top.
Put on the lid and then place into boiling water for 15 minutes. Be sure there is 1-2 inches of water above the top of the jars at all times.

Dave had the kids both helping.

We mashed the berries and that is when we discovered that we need a lot more berries than we thought. We started out figuring out 9 cups of berries, not 9 cups of crushed berries.  It took about 12 cups of berries to equal 9 cups of crushed berries. Just so you know.

Looks yummy doesn’t it?

Once it was ready we put it into the jars.

Once we filled the jars, we put them into the boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

We got five 4 oz jars and 4 pints.

Love the little 4 oz jars for gifts. They are just so cute! We’ve given all those away already.

The black raspberry jam came out really good.  I might suggest adding a little bit of pectin next time to thicken it up just a bit more. It’s a little on the runny side, in my book. My Dad didn’t think so at all though, so maybe it is a matter of preference.

We had a great time picking the berries and making the jam. The kids were really proud that they got to pick the black raspberries and then make jam from them!

 

Ice Cream Sandwich

Recipe for an Ice Cream Sandwich Cake!

 

I will tell you that the Ice Cream Sandwich cake itself is not a pretty sight. It isn’t a fancy looking elegant cake. It is more like… oh wow.. what a mess THAT is!

Carrie posted this on my link party a few weeks ago and I’ve been wanting to try it since then. Here is her post.

My best tips…  Be prepared BEFORE you start the process.  I was not.  I decided to make this on a whim. My son ran to the store for me, and came back with 2 boxes of semi frozen ice cream sandwiches to start. The whipped cream was semi frozen also.

Ingredients for the Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

• 24 ice cream sandwiches (I wanted vanilla, but I know others like peanut butter or chocolate ice cream in them)
• Whipped Cream – a large tub
• 12 – 19 oz bag Candy – I used Reece Cups and crumbled them up. You could use Oreos, Butterfinger, Toffee… etc.
• Caramel syrup. – you could also use chocolate.

Prepare First

• Make sure your whipped cream is thawed (if it was frozen)
• Unwrap and break up your candy
• Make sure your ice cream sandwiches are unwrapped and well frozen before beginning.
• Trying to unwrap soft ice cream sandwiches, a bunch of Reece cups while you are trying to build this and things are melting…. isn’t a good recipe for success.  Just sayin’.

Recipe

• Layer 6 ice cream sandwiches across your cookie sheet. (You can also use a large flat platter. It gets kind of heavy, so make sure whatever you use can go in a freezer and is supportive.)
• Top it with a layer of whipped cream, sprinkle a layer of candy pieces on it and top it with some caramel.  then repeat those layers. (I can’t give you exact amounts, just wing it – what looks right to you)
• I went up four layers. The top layer I did not include the caramel sauce, although I could have. I already had such a melting mess that I had to get into the freezer quick… lol

If my whipped cream had been completely thawed it would have been easier to spread.

See, I told you it isn’t pretty…  Looks like a real mess!  But I didn’t care, I was too excited to try it.

Now take this concoction and put it into a freezer for a couple hours.

Ours stayed in the freezer over night.

I took it out this morning, expecting it to look a little different I guess…. but it looked just the same… .but frozen solid.

Since we started it too late for the kids to have any last night … since it had to still freeze,  I did what any  step mother would do – I said they could have a little piece this morning! Yes, they ate their breakfast first.

I cut this piece into thirds for them.

It passed the kid test with flying colors! They loved it. What i think will be fun is that it was SO novel that I let them have a dessert in the morning (I won’t even let them have pop tarts for breakfast on a school morning) they will have really fun memories of this cake.

Elise

Zach

Alex

By the way I tried it also… and loved it. I’m not a huge fan of the DQ ice cream cakes, but I LOVED this! The sandwich part of the ice cream sandwich is such a perfect layer.

This one is going to be in our “keep” file … for sure!

I did see another version where they did it in a cake pan – lined with foil. It would have been just a double decker I’m thinking… rather than my 4 layers. I didn’t do it this way because I thought it would be hard to get out of the pan. It wasn’t until I went back (after I made mine) and looked at the recipe again to see that they had  lined the pan with foil first. Duh!  But the kids loved the tall 4 layer ice cream cake.

Organizing and DIY Link Party – Week 16

Finding Cool Ideas From Others for Organizing and DIY

I know I have found some great organizing and DIY ideas from Pinterest and other blogs.  I love that we can share our ideas with others and that we can find ideas from others via social media.  I found the inspiration for my headboard  on a blog and paint color for my bedroom on pinterest.

Here are some neat ideas that I think you will want to try.  I know I’m for sure going to make this ice cream cake and will also use the picture hanger for my step son’s graduation celebration.

Color Code Your Keys

This is such an easy way to color code your keys and to do it in a fun and personal way. Laurel from A Bubbly Life  found the idea from pinterest with a sparkly glitter key. I love her colors… but I have to say I think the glitter one would be fun too!

 

 

Clothesline Photo Display

This is so simple and so cute.  I want to try it for my step son’s graduation party.  Jillian from ‘Hi, It’s Jilly’ came up with this cute display.

 

Easy Ice Cream Cake

I am SO going to try this!  I like the store bought Ice Cream Cakes.. pretty well, but they seem almost too hard or the icing isn’t right. I don’t usually buy them. But I love ice cream sandwiches, whipped cream and of course the goodies on here.   Carrie from Saving 4 Six  used peanut butter ice cream sandwiches and oreo cookies.  Her other post (linked on her post) with the recipe she uses Butterfinger candy pieces in place of the oreo cookies (that is one I’d more likely try… oh or Snickers or Reece Cups)

 

Bead Board Dishwasher Make over!

Carrie from Saving 4 Six also linked up this Bead Board make over of her dishwasher. I thought this was such a good idea. If that looked worked in your kitchen it would be such an easy way to add some character and help a dishwasher look new!

Link up to my Linky Party! I’d love to see the ideas you create yourself or find from other inspiration online!

1) Link to your specific post – not your blog
2) Please Link back to my blog with my button or link (url code under button tab )
3) Blog post related to Organizing or Cleaning or DIY or crafts or decorating are WONDERFUL!
4) No sales pitches or web sites.
5) Feel free to link up more than 1 post.
6) By linking up to my post, I might use your pic (with link and credit to you) next week in my post!

 

Looking for other link parties? I have a whole list of them. Thumbnail via day above and keep scrolling down to find a more extensive text lists by day on my link party list. If you aren’t sure how to link up… see my link party tutorial here. It is simple. If You Are On A Reader and Want to View All the Great Link Up’s on this post please Click here 
This party will be open until April 29, 2012 at 11:59pm

Fav Pin Friday Pinterest Linky Party

Easter Ideas from Pinterest!

I love finding fun things on pinterest!

There are some of the cutest ideas for Easter floating around out there!  Who doesn’t love bunnies and all the spring colors.    I saw this idea from Pinterest and thought it was SO cute!

Peep S’Mores

Make a Peep S’More.. at home!   You use your typical graham crackers and Hershey chocolate bars – but you add a Peep for the Marshmallow (after all it is marshmallow).  You put just the bottom half (1 cracker, chocolate and Peep) in the microwave for about 8-12 seconds I think. I know marshmallows really puff up huge in the microwave. I can’t wait to try this with the kids!

You can find this post at Eclectic Recipes 

Lori found the Peep S’mores on Pinterest and she put another spin on them.  What a neat idea this is! She made up Peep S’More packs for her kids parties at school.  She got the little bags and then she printed up the instructions and put on the back.  Hopefully the kids will wait until they get home to open and make them, rather than opening and just eating all the ingredients out first!  I LOVE this idea!

You can find this darling idea at My Wood Spoon

Bunny Cupcakes

Isn’t this cupcake darling?  So simple, yet looks so awesome!  I first saw just the backside shot of the bunny in the cupcake. When I went to the post I found this pic with the front of the bunny done up too.  It is a blog written in spanish, but some awesome recipe. Worth hitting the translator for.

You can find this idea at Cupcake Perfecto.

Angry Bird Easter Eggs

How cute are these?

You can find the post for these on The Tip Junkie party ideas

 

Would love for you to link something you would like pinned!

Guidelines

1) Add a link from one of your blog post you want pinned.
2) Be sure to use the picture you want pinned for the picture we see on here.
3) Would love for you to tweet this out, or stumble or pin it. (Only pin my Fav Pin Friday button, not any of the pics I put up from pinterest please – those aren’t my pictures.)
4) Be sure to pin a couple other pins you see on here too!
5) Please click on the pictures, it will take you to my pinterest boards where I pinned these pics.  Please repin these pictures, as it will help the people who originally posted the picture. Visit their posts to help them out.

If you like the pinterest parties you can go to Kim’s at Crafty Mama of 4. She has Pin it Friday 

If you need some help knowing how to link up, this link party tutorial should help.

Fav Pinteret Pin Party – Week 9

St. Patrick’s Day Pinterest Pins

Have you checked out Pinterest for any St. Patrick’s day ideas?

These were some of my favorite pins for Saint Patrick’s Day! This just looks SO awesome! Look at the green sprinkles on top. lol

Love whoopie pies!!

These look too good to eat… and expensive!

 

Would love for you to link something you would like pinned!

Guidelines

1) Add a link from one of your blog post you want pinned.
2) Be sure to use the picture you want pinned for the picture we see on here.
3) Would love for you to tweet this out, or stumble or pin it. (Only pin my Fav Pin Friday button, not any of the pics I put up from pinterest please.)
4) Be sure to pin a couple other pins you see on here too!
5) Please click on the pictures, it will take you to my pinterest boards where I pinned these pics.  Please repin these pictures, as it will help the people who originally posted the picture. Visit their posts to help them out.

If you like the pinterest parties you can go to Kim’s at Crafty Mama of 4. She has Pin it Friday 

If you need some help knowing how to link up, this link party tutorial should help.

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