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Johnsonville Sausage Dippers, Cajun Mustard Dip, Chinese Dipping Sauce or Orange Bourbon Barbecue Dip Recipe

December 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Sausage Dippers

3 packages (13.5–16 ounces each) Johnsonville® smoked sausage (such as Beddar with Cheddar, BOLD Jalapeno & Cheddar or Chili Cheese, Smoked Turkey, Turkey with Cheddar or Polish sausage)

Cut sausage links into 1-inch pieces. In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium-high heat until lightly browned and heated through. Serve with toothpicks and dipping sauces.

18 servings.

Cost per serving $0.50

clip_image002Spicy Hot Buffalo Sauce

½ cup butter, cubed

1 bottle (12 ounces) hot sauce (Frank’s)

1 bottle (16 ounces) blue cheese salad dressing

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine butter and hot sauce. Cover and microwave on high for about 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until smooth. Serve buffalo sauce in one bowl and blue cheese dressing in another bowl.

Yield: 2 cups buffalo sauce plus 2 cups blue cheese dressing.

Cost per serving $0.33

clip_image004Orange Bourbon Barbecue Dip

1 cup bourbon or original barbecue sauce

¼ cup orange marmalade

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine barbecue sauce and orange marmalade. Cover and microwave on high for 1-2 minutes or until heated through.

Yield: 1-1/4 cups.

Cost per serving $0.19

clip_image006Chinese Dipping Sauce

1 jar (7 ounces) hoisin sauce

1 jar (7 ounces) plum sauce

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine hoisin sauce and plum sauce. Cover and microwave on high for 1-2 minutes or until heated through.

Yield: 1-1/2 cups.

Cost per serving $0.30

Creamy Mustard Dip

clip_image0081 cup spicy brown mustard

¼ cup sour cream

2 tablespoons horseradish

In a bowl, combine the mustard, sour cream and horseradish.

Yield: 1-1/3 cups.

Cost per serving $0.15

clip_image010Cajun Mustard Dip

1 cup spicy brown mustard

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

Hot pepper sauce, to taste

In a bowl, combine the mustard, seasoning and hot pepper sauce.

Yield: 1 cup.

Cost per serving $0.17

 

 

These recipes are provided by Johnsonville, I received samples to try out the recipes above.

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Lower Your Paper Trail The Green Eco Party Invitation and Holiday Cards

December 15, 2010 By 2 Comments

Remember, we’re going green this December with a series of articles written by my friend Summer. We’ve had lots of great tips from how to recycle Christmas lights to giving gifts that are eco friendly. Today’s Green Tip from Summer is about throwing parties. During imagethe holidays we have lots of parties, but this is a great tip to remember all year round….

Lessen your paper trail by inviting people to your holiday party via electronic invitation. I use evite and they’re updating to new things. A new user interface is in Beta mode but I think for the most part it’s easier to use (though I miss the option to change a guest’s status and/or comment) and evite now is very Facebook-like. Not only will this cut back on paper but you’ll save green (money) on purchasing invitations and the stamps to mail them. AND if you have changes or updates that’s simple, just email them straight from evite.

If your family will forgive you than skip the card sending too! You can make a card or letter via Microsoft Word or Publisher with all sorts of pictures and text and just e-mail them out. Printing cost zero; postage cost zero. It takes just as much time as creating any other card and will save you in the addressing time. You also won’t have to limit who you send it too, like if you only ordered 100 photo cards for the 102 people you owe cards too.

On a final green note, you save the gas and emissions of all the driving just to get your letters to their final destination. (More on lessening your paper party trail tomorrow.)

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living.

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Think Green Give Digital

December 14, 2010 By 1 Comment

Today’s Green Tip By Summer:

If you’re thinking about giving a movie or music then you might want to rethink your method. Their data is stored on plastic CDs and DVDs which do not yet classify as recyclable. With these mediums you have the case, disc, included papers and ads as well as the playing device.

For digital music try a Zune; you still need a player like you do for a CD but you have less since all the music is an MP3 format. The membership for a Zune pass is $15 per month or give a year for $150 (that’s two months free!). You can play music on your computer or you simply use a Zune or Windows Phone 7 of your choice then your receiver can download the music of their choice AND they also get to keep 10 songs per month in addition to just “borrowing” music. You can also get an iPod and use iTunes.

For movies you can stream Netflix on your computer, mobile device or video game console – Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii. Your receiver may have one or more of these devices already; this also saves the paper and plastic of all case materials. For $8 per month you can give streaming movies and for $10 per month you can give steaming plus one rented DVD out at-a-time with exchanging as often as desired via prepaid envelope from the USPS. Streaming and renting DVDs cuts down on physical waist, though streaming alone offers the most environmental solutions as there is no gas and emissions used to deliver the DVD mail as well as less DVDs required for purchase by the rental company. Streaming has the bonuses of immediate viewing and no broken discs too.

kinectMany large companies like Disney Warner Brothers and Amazon have digital copies of movies that you can buy on-line. Oh and Microsoft sent me some information telling me that you can get movies from Zune over the Kinect. Since its launch on November 4, Kinect has been one of the hottest products on the market with over 1 million devices sold in the first ten days alone.

· The magic of Kinect is that it’s instantly fun and promises so much more, from fitness, sports and dance, to controller-free music and movies from Zune, live sports from ESPN, and connecting with family and friends through Video Kinect.

· Recognized by respected parenting and industry organizations including the National Parenting Publications Awards and Popular Science’s “Best of What’s New Grand Award,” Kinect gets the entire family off the couch (no additional controllers/gadgets/gizmos required) for less than the cost of 4 tickets to the Nutcracker.

Moreover, Xbox 360 continues to deliver the best blockbuster game experiences with six games on the Top 10 bestselling games list for October, including “Halo: Reach” and “Fable III,” which are exclusive to Xbox 360. More and more games are also available over download.

 

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living.

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Seattle #TweetDrive 2010 Almost Wordless Wednesday

December 14, 2010 By 17 Comments

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I LOVE using my influence on-line to make a difference in my community. Last week we had a tweet up in Seattle and I helped gather swag, donations and door prizes. The event was the Seattle Tweet Drive. I posted in detail about the Seattle Tweetdrive a few weeks ago when I started looking for sponsors and I’m so happy with all the companies that supported us. See the full list below! We had a great turnout and Look at what we did for the charity Treehouse! I’m exhausted and extremely behind on my blog posts, but I feel great because it was all for a really great cause. Club Sur donated the space, My Seattle Night Out organized the event, and local bands and entertainers donated their time and efforts for all of us to have a great time! We gathered around 333 toys total! Tweet Drive is going on nationally in many different locations, check Tweet Drive 2010 to find a location next to you.

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Special thanks to Channellock (100 bottle openers)

Special thanks to DKNY Be Delicious (over 100 bottles of DKNY Be Delicious Perfume, towels, and awesome swag bags)

Special thanks to Zhu Zhu Pets (104 Zhu Zhu Pets donated)

Special Thanks to Klutz (10 books donated)

Special Thanks to Energizer (40 iPod to go chargers donated)

Special Thanks to Soft Lips (100 packages of lipgloss)

Special Thanks to Build a Bear (5 bears donated)

Special Thanks to Hasbro (for their continued support of Mom Start and donation of 5 large toys)

Special Thanks to TJ Maxx and Marshalls (50.00 Door Prize)

Special Thanks to Hexbug Nano (3 habitats donated)

Special Thanks to Clean and Green Pet Cleaner (100 Free Product Coupons)

Special Thanks to Blue Bunny (door prize)

Special Thanks to Success Rice (door prize)

Special Thanks to Voskos Greek Yogurt (100 Free Product coupons)

Special Thanks to Sesame Street PBS (2 Wii games for door prize)

Special Thanks to Sid The Science Kid (100 notepads)

Special Thanks to Conair (door prize gift basket)

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I hope to do a single post for every company because you all deserve a huge thanks!!

Filed Under: charity, personal, Wordless Wednesday Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Find Your Secret Santa, White Elephant, and Christmas Gift at TJMaxx and Marshalls

December 14, 2010 By 5 Comments

It is the season of giving and Holiday parties. There is something else to do at every turn, but you don’t have to break the bank to impress your co-workers or friends. You can find the perfect gift at TJMaxx and Marshalls and for a discounted price. I had the privilege of visiting with TJMaxx and Marshalls at the TJX headquarters in Boston almost two years ago. We went over their product lines and I was quite impressed to find that most of what they carried is name brand merchandise at a low low price, so low that most of the brands don’t want TJ Maxx to advertise that they carry them there. So it’s a secret, and a fun shopping experience. The hunt is on to find perfect gifts that anyone and everyone will love!

I was able to participate in a Secret Santa surprise with two other bloggers, one sent me a gift and I sent a different blogger a gift. I had a great time going into TJ Maxx and looking for something for my friend. I found something that I really thought would be a great gift, they were bunny slippers and they were adorable. They were such a good price that I thought, well, I’ll have to pick out three more things if everything is this good a deal, and guess what, I ended up putting the bunny slippers back and getting a total of four items. Two shirts, a scarf, and some of my favorite makeup, Clinique in hopes that she would like it as well.

But what I received was the perfect gift for me.

One I received a set of gloves

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Two I received cute laptop bag.

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I’ve been looking for a laptop bag that is cute like this one, I’m always using a backpack and feel like I stick out like a sore thumb. The gloves are cashmere and are so soft originally 60.00 marked down to 29.99. I’ve been using them since I received them and have to keep the dog at bay because she keeps trying to bit them. And I love them too much for her to turn them into shreds. Then the laptop bag was 19.99 and originally 45.00. So when your thinking of that perfect gift or getting a white elephant gift and you need to stay under a certain amount, look no further than TJ Maxx or Marshalls. 

 

Thank you to TJMaxx and Marshalls for including me in the Secret Santa exchange this year. They provided me with a gift card to purchase a gift for another blogger and paid for the shipping to send the gift to that blogger.

Filed Under: 2010 Gift Guide, personal Tagged With: , , , , ,

Find the Best Price with JoeShopping.com A Shopping Community Giveaway

December 13, 2010 By 774 Comments

JoeShoppingJoeshopping.com is a plethora of information when it comes to shopping for products you buy every day. It is still in beta, and not a whole lot of activity, but you will find product reviews, active sales in stores, and my favorite grocery coupons. There is also a listing of on-line coupon codes and savings from on-line stores in their Coupons and Deals section.

Joe Shopping is basically a combination of comparison shopping (like amazon.com or shopping.com), crossed with the best parts of various social networks (Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, etc.). You can post photos to share with friends, add videos of about the products you have tried and what you might find difficult or extra unique, write a product review of the millions of products in their database, write a blog post about their fondest birthday presents,2FriendlyBadge250 share your latest shopping adventure, you get the idea right? There are plenty of ways to share information. In short, it’s a hefty social network themed around shopping. With each activity you do you earn points and badges.

Oh and did I mention that the points you earned are turned into entries into a monthly drawing? The $1,000 Monthly JoeShopping Sweepstakes is a random drawing. At the end of the month, your total points are converted to entries in the sweeps. So the more active on the site you are, the more points you earn. Which means the more active you are, the better your chance of winning.

You can win even more with the refer a friend program. The refer a friend contest over at JoeShopping.com has a grand prize value of 5,000. I’m pretty jived up about that one, are you? If that wasn’t enough, they are selecting 20 runners-up and if you go and check it out right now there aren’t very many contestants. I’m not even sure if there are 20 total yet. The refer a friend program ends on December 31st.

3ShutterbugBadge250Enter to Win:

50.00 Gift Card to Amazon.com

To Enter:

Visit JoeShopping.com and tell me what one of the Hot Deals listed on the site are. You can find the Hot Deals in the middle of the page.

Extra Entries:

Follow @JoeShopping on Twitter
Like the JoeShopping Facebook page
Join JoeShopping.com
Doing something on JoeShopping.com (Add Momstart as a friend, upload a photo, write a shopping status, etc. NOTE: Doing any of these does require users to sign up with JoeShopping.)
5) Blog about this giveaway and include a link to the giveaway AND include a link to www.joeshopping.com (10 extra entries)
6) Tweet:

50.00 Amazon.com Gift Card #Giveaway @Joeshopping http://bit.ly/e3og6C

Enter The Commit A Minute Giveaway
Subscribe to my blog
Follow me on twitter
Follow me on Google Friend Connect
List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig or stumble or use any of the share methods below facebook included (just leave a link to this post)
Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post

Leave a comment for every entry, This giveaway ends December 27th. This is a compensated giveaway. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

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Romantic Vacation Spots Where Would You Go?

December 13, 2010 By 9 Comments

Have you thought about where you would love to go for a Romantic getaway? I think about it all the time and it’s the beach. I love being warm, I love the sound of the ocean, and I love the sand in my toes. I love how bright it is and the cool blue color that the ocean has, and the green it has in Destin on the Amalfi Coast.

mondaymingleBut, today when I considered the question for Monday Mingle over at Eighty MPH Mom, I thought about what my husband would like. Because it wouldn’t be a romantic getaway without him right? We spent our Honeymoon in Victoria. It was amazing, it was beautiful, and even though it was in the Summer, there was only one really hot day. We rode a water taxi, ate excellent seafood, and visited the Butchart gardens. The Butchart Gardens are lovely. Victoria is quite a tourist place with a lot of history and the buildings further illustrate just how historic Victoria is. One of my favorite things to do was have high tea, I think we had high tea five times.

 

Welcome to Monday Mingle, where we chat over video answering questions. It’s fun and the more video you do on your blog the more comfortable you will be in front of the camera. Want to participate? Monday Mingle is a Meme over at Eighty MPH Mom. Go over to her site, find the questions, take a video of the answers and post them to share. Then visit everyone that linked up and have fun getting to know each other.

 

Where do you like to go?

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How Much Are Your Appliances, Computers, Electronics Costing You?

December 13, 2010 By 2 Comments

Coming off the almost week of electronic talk, let’s talk about all those plugs. Though it’s not the season in which you’d typically hear about vampires … you’re plugged in electronics are sucking electricity. Conservationists call these devices vampire electronics, and they claim 5% of American’s electric bills. If you have a charger and are done charging don’t just unhook the item, also unplug the cable from Kill A Watt Product Imagethe wall. You can stop vampire electricity by also unplugging countertop electronics such as your mixer, rice cooker, or coffee maker. During the holiday season also remember to unplug those strings of lights. It’ll literally pay you in the end.

Seeing Summer’s tip today makes me think of what my husband has requested for Christmas. My husband wants me to buy him a Kilowatt for Christmas. A Kilowatt is a calculator that you plug into the wall and then plug your appliances into it. Then it measures how much power the appliance uses and how much it costs you on your electricity bill to measure. I have no idea which brand makes a good Kilowatt. Seems like P3 International makes the actual Kill A Watt,  and Black and Decker has their own version. I just have no idea which one to get him.  I’m also very nervous to see how much our computers that run all day every day are costing us on the electricity bill. We run our electronics 24 hours a day how often are you running your appliances? Do you turn everything off and unplug it or are you like my family?

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living.

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Saving Time is Saving Money Bank of America Giveaway

December 12, 2010 By 746 Comments

My husband and I are always asking each other, is that worth your time? If something is going to take a lot of time we have to consider, if it is really worth the time because when you have kids, time is so very valuable. There is never enough time to do it all. But there are ways to save a little time, tricks to get things done faster every day.

Save Time with Meal Preparation:

Create a Meal Plan, knowing what you are going to make before it’s dinner time will save a lot of time. It also helps you to be organized when making a grocery list.
Do Prep Work for other Meals while you are in the middle of cooking dinner and store it in the fridge for the next meal
Cut up everything you need for lunch time sandwiches for a week at a time and store in re-usable plastic containers then every morning throwing a fresh sandwich together will be a breeze.

Save Time on your Morning Routine:

Pick out your clothing the night before

Save Time on Money Matters:

Bank on the go: It’s easy to set up mobile banking and secure access to your money wherever you are. Download the mobile banking app and you can check balances, transfer money, pay bills, and locate ATMs.  Sign up for text banking and you’ll be able to send a text message to get your balance instantly in a reply.

Make quick and easy deposits: Holiday means a lot of extra work, so eliminate the labor of depositing checks.  With Bank of America’s Deposit Image ATMs, you simply feed checks or cash into the ATM with no envelopes or deposit slips required.  You get images of your checks and a list of cash deposited on your receipt as proof.

Save a trip to the bank: Don’t worry about making an extra stop to the bank during all of your holiday shopping.  Keep track of your spending by using Bank of America’s online banking: set up alerts, check balances, and transfer money.

We do as much of our banking on-line as we possibly can. It’s just easy and convenient and Bank of America makes all of it quite simple!

Save Time Before you Shop:

Plan your route – No more backtracking! A lesser-known “route planner” feature on MapQuest helps you save both time and money by mapping out an entire journey – with multiple stops – all in one convenient step. You can add up to 26 destinations along any route, and the tool gives you the fastest route.  Since launching in July, it has saved North Americans more 3.2 million miles!

Plan your stops – Road trip rules: Seasoned holiday road-travelers live by three simple rules: 1) invest in a quick pass to whiz past hour-long lines at the tolls, 2) plot out where to get the cheapest gas along the way by using a “gas prices” feature on MapQuest, and 3) pre-pack energy-boosting snacks and beverages to avoid crowded rest stops and fast-food joints.

Plan your shops – Make sure it’s in stock: Nothing wastes more time than driving from store-to-store in search of a specific item.  Do yourself a favor and call ahead or better yet check store inventory online before you leave home.  Many major e-tailers offer customers the convenience of purchasing items online and then picking them up in-store…some with express pick-up lines.

Hopefully with all of these time saving tips you can save some time, some money and a whole lot of stress and just to sweeten it up even more we’re offering a giveaway. Thanks to Bank of America and Mom Central you can enter to win a 50.00 Gift Card from Bank of America!

Bank-of-America-Credit-CardEnter to Win:

50.00 Gift Card From Bank of America

To Enter:

Leave me a tip on how you save time and money over the Holidays!

Extra Entries:

Tweet: Share a Time Saving Tip This Holiday Season & Win a 50.00 Gift Card http://bit.ly/f15yZg

Enter The Commit A Minute Giveaway
Subscribe to my blog
Follow me on twitter
Follow me on Google Friend Connect
List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig or stumble or use any of the share methods below facebook included (just leave a link to this post)
Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post
Blog About this Giveaway (linking to the giveaway (3 extra entries))

Leave a comment for every entry, This giveaway ends December 27th. I received the samples mentioned above free to me in exchange for my unbiased opinion. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

 

 

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Bank of America and received a Bank of America preloaded gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate. Bank of America is not hosting this giveaway, Mom Start is”

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Ways to Properly Dispose of Your Batteries Recharge, Recycle, Reduce!

December 12, 2010 By 2 Comments

I know that we have tons of batteries and we’re trying to convert over to all re-chargeable batteries. All of the brands out there now make rechargeable batteries and chargers but it is almost inevitable that you are still going to use some non-rechargeable batteries as well. So, with Christmas coming and all of those extra batteries, what do you do with the old, none-chargeable batteries?

Mom Start’s green guru, Summer has some tips for us when it comes to disposing of those none rechargeable batteries.

Many toy packages have 1 of 2 sets of words: “Batteries Not Included” or “Batteries Included”. Everything seems to run on batteries these days! And that means a lot more trash, especially if you’re sending those batteries to a landfill. Did you know you can recycle those batteries?!? Yeah, recycle! In our area of Seattle many libraries, city halls, community centers, and churches do their part by collecting non-rechargeable. Places like electronic stores and groceries stores will offer bins for disposing of rechargeable batteries. Both types of batteries should not be placed in your trash.

Total Reclaim LogoI just did a search on Google about local places to drop off those batteries. There is a place called Total Reclaim that takes batteries for Alaska, Washington, and Oregon. I also found that If you have less than five pounds of batteries, take them to the nearest Emedia program to recycle batteries as well as cell phones, "electronic media" such as CDs, and inkjet cartridges.

Now Summer has a suggestion on which brand of rechargeable battery we should use.

In my house we personally love (and have been using) eneloop rechargeable batteries by Sanyo. We have purchased ours at Costco but I’m sure many other fine retailers also carry them. They come pre-charged for your convenience. They say they hold their charge longer than their competitor by only diminishing their power by 15% over 1 year as opposed to other batteries diminishing to 0% power over 1 year. Eneloop batteries can be recharged 1000 (so that’s 999 batteries saved). Do your part and buy smart!
If you’re getting rid of batteries but can’t find a recycling facility visit Call2Recycle online or call them at 1-800-822.8837.

We actually use the same brand in our house. I would have to say that having your product at Costco is going to get it in a lot of people’s houses. They last, work great and we keep using them over and over again!

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living.

Filed Under: green Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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