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Sesame Seed Roasted Broccoletti Recipe

December 4, 2011 By 8 Comments

Roasting veggies in the oven is a great way to get the kids to like them. Let them pick the veggie and be sure to flavor them in some way. This time, we tried Broccoletti with Sesame Seed oil from House of Tsang a Hormel brand.

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Sesame Seed Roasted Broccoletti Recipe

Ingredients:

Broccoletti
Sesame Seed Oil
Salt
Pepper

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Directions:

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees
Cut about 2 inches off of the Broccoletti Stalks
Place Broccoletti in a shallow glass baking dish (or line a cookie sheet with foil and place on there)
Sprinkle with oil
Sprinkle with salt & pepper
Flip the Broccoletti over and sprinkle with a little more oil

Leave in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes

Be sure to have your kids help you prepare the food! They are much more likely to try it if you let them help you make it.

Filed Under: recipe

Holiday Appetizer: Autumn Salad Bites Recipe

December 4, 2011 By 4 Comments

The Oroweat Sandwich Thin Minis are quite versatile. They can be used for a Sausage & Cheese Sandwich Recipe or for something even fancier.

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Keri Glassman a nutrition expert came up with an Autumn Salad appetizer that you put on top of the Whole Wheat Arnold Sandwich Thin Mini’s.  Her recipe called for red onions and goat cheese. I’m not a fan of goat cheese so I switched it to feta.

Autumn Salad Bites Recipe

Ingredients:

2 Arnold Sandwich Thins Mini Rolls, separated and toasted
4 fresh ripe figs
2 tsp water
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp raw cane sugar
2 drops vanilla extract
1 1/4 tablespoon olive oil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp finely chopped fresh mint
4 cups baby spinach
4 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
4 tablespoons chopped cashews

Directions:

Combine the figs, water, lemon juice raw cane sugar and vanilla extract in a food processor.
Mix until mixture is smooth
Spread mixture on toasted rolls
Mix Olive oil, fig vinegar and mint in a small bowl and set aside
Top rolls with spinach, feta cheese, cashews.
Drizzle with oil and vinegar

I received samples.

Filed Under: recipe Tagged With: , , ,

Love Traveling with the Samsung 9

December 4, 2011 By 5 Comments

Before I talk about how much I love traveling with the Samsung 9. Packaging seems to be important to some companies, Samsung is one of those that paid attention to details in making their box.

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The computer is in a sleeve, inside the box and the cables (Series 9 laptop with 13.3-inch screen (model NP900X3A-A03US), 40 watt AC adapter, rechargeable battery, operating instructions) are underneath it.

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I took the Samsung 9 on one of my blogging trips with me. It responded well the whole time, it was so easy to keep in my purse, I have a big purse, but it’s so lightweight. Plus using it on the airplane was wonderful because the battery lasted a long time, the screen was bright and easy to see and it came back to life so easily.

Why I loved traveling with the Samsung 9:

It’s lightweight. The Samsung 9 is the thinnest computer I’ve ever used. The Series 9 laptop features the dramatic duralumin enclosure complete with arching curves and remarkable durability. Its material usually found in aircrafts with twice the strength of aluminum keeping it under 3 lbs. This is the laptop to carry.

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It’s fast. I was impressed with how fast it would boot up and come out of hibernation. I didn’t realize this at first but you no longer have to shut down your Samsung computer, just close its lid and it goes into a special powerless sleep mode. When you open the lid your computer comes back to life in 3 seconds and you are exactly at the same place as when you shut the lid. Fast Start saves your data and system configurations to your hard drive and PC memory. So, when you power it back on it is just like you left it. LOVE IT!
It’s thin. It’s so easy to slip in and out of my bag. IMG_6218
It’s Entertaining. The Samsung 9 comes with Windows Media Center and has enough processing power for 3D gaming capabilities and it has a long battery life. Up to 7 hours!
It’s Windows. Windows 7 Home Premium is pre-installed.

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Technical Specs:

LED display with HD resolution, 128 GB Solid State Drive (SSD), and 4 GB of system memory and a second-generation, low voltage Intel Core i5 dual-core processor.

Series 9 also includes backlit keyboard, a brilliant LCD display screen and a large multi-touch SuperButton clickpad.

Next-generation Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity

Thank you to the Windows Champion program for loaning the Samsung 9 to me for review.

Filed Under: review, Tech Tagged With: , , ,

WowWee Toy Coupon Code blogpromo5

December 3, 2011 By 3 Comments

Hey everyone. I have a great coupon code to share with you all. WowWee has a fantastic assortment of toys.

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Use blogpromo5 at WowWeeToyShop.com and receive 10% off.  Save on Lite Sprites, Paper Jamz, and Light Strike. The discount is available through the end of 2011

Filed Under: savings Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Hickory Farms Farm Fresh To Your Front Door Infographic

December 3, 2011 By 3 Comments

 

Hickory Farms Infographic

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Beauty And the Beast The Enchanted Christmas

December 3, 2011 By 5 Comments

By Summer:

In the original Disney Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite movies. In the movie however Belle and the Beast seem to develop something in the wintertime, during the “Something There That Wasn’t There Before” song. This Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas story is a “fill-in” to the original film.

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The voices weren’t the same, the art didn’t seem to be the same and the colors also seemed duller to me. There are new characters introduces; there are new antagonists and the Christmas characters in this story. Children will love the five new songs I counted during the show though the credits said there were seven songs. On the bonus there are also Sing-A-Longs for your little performer.

My 4YO is too afraid of the new bad guys, but my brave little 2YO seemed to enjoy it. My mom liked it too. I however thought it was just okay though it is nice to have another addition to our young children’s movie collection.

SPOILER ALERT: I don’t understand how this movie fits into the original film. Belle and the beast learn to love each other in this film despite the schemes of one of the beast old companions (who is not in the original film) Maestro, an old pipe organ. In this film Maestro doesn’t want the beast to fall in love with Belle which I don’t understand why he doesn’t want to be human again.

I just don’t’ get it but my family seemed to find it entertaining. I don’t know if I had my hopes too high, but this Christmas version of Beauty and the Beast just wasn’t appealing to me.

This Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is available now and only for a limited time!

My Mom Start Review Grade of Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas: C+

About Summer:

Summer is very active in 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 while cooking up a storm

Filed Under: Movie review, Summer Tagged With: , , ,

The Adventures of Tintin and Alouette Cheese

December 3, 2011 By 239 Comments

Join Alouette for an adventure in entertaining this holiday season with the release of the upcoming movie only in theatres, The Adventures of Tintin.  Do you guys know what Alouette is? Yummy, delicious cheese, blended cheese and spreadable cheese and just lots of cheesy goodness. Alouette has joined the quest with Tintin, an intrepid young reporter whose relentless pursuit of a good story thrusts him into a world of high adventure.  Presented by Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures, this 3D Motion Capture Film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson will surely set your sails this holiday season! You can view the official trailer here:


 

The Adventures of Tintin Synopsis:

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The first installment in the series finds adventure-seeking Belgian reporter Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) and surly Captain Haddock (voiced by Andy Serkis) racing to recover a powerful artifact that was lost at sea four centuries ago. Meanwhile, the malevolent Red Rackham (voiced by Daniel Craig) is determined to beat them to it. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Toby Jones provide additional voices for a film written by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, and Steven Moffat

You are invited to win an Adventures of Alouette Cheese Prize Pack and other exciting treasures here and on the “What’s Your Culinary Adventure” Sweepstakes on Facebook. One of you could win one of these three culinary adventures

Wine Weekend in Sonoma Valley, CA
Wine & Food Festival in South Beach, FL
A fine dining restaurant tour in NYC

Visit www.alouettecheese.com/tintin for more details.

You can also check out the Alouette Tintin Menu featuring delicious recipes inspired by smooth and creamy Alouette Cheeses and The Adventures of Tintin: Like these fun recipes!

AlouetteGarlic and Herbs Couscous and Cornish Game Hens
Alouette Crème de Brie Treasure Chest
Alouette Crème Fraiche Rum Cakes
Alouette Baby Brie Dogs

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This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to the winner, Anna.

All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Filed Under: giveaway Tagged With: , , , ,

AMEX Gift Chain

December 3, 2011 By 1,243 Comments

I’ve worked with American Express on Holiday Giveaways for three years in a row now. I love working with American Express and they always surprise me with a new and unique way to make gifting during the holiday season fun! This year they have The Gift Chain!

The Gift Chain consists of hundreds of thousands of gifts, ranging from $500 American Express Gift Cards to one-year Shoprunner memberships, to $5 statement credits, to well the list goes on and on and on.  In addition to all that, some lucky cardmembers will get three bonus gifts to share with Facebook friends, spreading the joy of the Gift Chain via social media. Seems like everything is tied to Social Media now right? Yep, it’s a part of life now. To join The Gift Chain, cardmembers need to register an eligible American Express® Card and spend $25 or more at a participating online merchant.

 

Amex Gift ChainParticipating online retailers include:

·        American Eagle

·        Bed Bath & Beyond

·        Blue Nile

·        Dell

·        GameStop

·        J.Crew

·        Lenovo

·        Neiman Marcus

·        Nike

·        REI

·        Rue La La

·        Toys R Us

·        Vente-Privee

·        Walmart

·        yoyo.com

·        Zappos

Types of Gifts include:

 

·        $500 American Express Gift Card

·        $500 Hilton Honors Card

·        One-year Shoprunner membership

·        $30 Dell Gift Card

·        $25 Toys R Us Gift Card

·        $25 Zappos Gift Card

·        $20 Nike Gift Card

Remember, Each time you shop at participating online retailers and spend $25 or more you will receive a gift. (up to 10 gifts, while supplies last). American Express will instantly send you an email revealing a surprise gift, which for select gifts could be shareable. 

This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to the winners: Dana, Jessica T. and royalegacy.

All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

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Save Big Money with the Entertainment Book

December 3, 2011 By 152 Comments

What do consumers want most for the holidays? A way to save money this year and next. That’s what I want for Christmas. A penny saved is a penny earned and this isn’t a cliché. I love to save money and use coupons all the time. And giving the gift of savings is a great gift to give.

That’s what makes The 2012 Entertainment Book a unique and ideal gift. 

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For about $30, gift givers can provide their friends and loved ones with thousands of dollars of coupons good throughout 2012 at favorite national and local retailers. You can find great deals and so many coupons you’ll never use them all.

The 2012 Entertainment Book (www.entertainment.com) contains hundreds of deals including:

· 50% off coupons and 2-for-1 discounts to top national brands

· Up to 70% off to local restaurants

· Huge savings on travel – airfare, car rentals, vacation packages and hotels.

· And much more…

With a 2012 membership, a free mobile companion app is also available to download, allowing consumers to search and redeem coupons on the go while using their smartphones.

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According to NCH Marketing Services 2001 Consumer Survey, 81% of consumers report using coupons regularly.  There is no more topical gift this year than the gift of savings.

This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to the winner, CherylS22.

All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

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The Brainy Company Glowberry Bears: The Glowing, Giggling, Cuddly Cute Night-light Bears

December 3, 2011 By 4 Comments

By: Ashley

Glowberry Bears are one of the great toys The Brainy Company offers for young children. The recommended age for the Glowberry Bears is 3+, but I can see how even a little guy like my (almost) 18-month-old would love to cuddle, snuggle, and giggle with Twinkleton, one of the Glowberry characters.

This is a great interactive toy that can bring smiles to any little one who loves stuffed animals. The Glowberry Bears aren’t just ordinary stuffed animals. These bears have a glowing belly that is activated by a tickle of the tummy (which also makes the bear go into a silly giggle spell) or by simply pressing the bear’s right paw. Pressing the right paw actually turns on the night light feature which can help comfort little ones as they go to sleep at night. The light stays on for about 1 minute and then turns off automatically as the bear says “Night Night.” If you press the bear’s left paw, the bear will talk to you and ask questions. Unfortunately, the bear can’t answer back, but the imaginations of preschoolers will make the conversation keep going. With a little imagination, Glowberry Bears can even talk to each other!

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You may be asking yourself what “Glowberry” is all about. Well, from the Glowberry packaging itself, I learned that:

“Behind mountains of snow and glaciers of ice, is nestled an island of magical delight. On Glowberry Island, flowers bloom, and berries glow, streams meander and waterfalls flow. Houses are orange and pink and blue, the island comes to life in every hue. It is on the island where Glowberry Bears thrive – Little Glow, Twinkles, Twinkleton, Dusty McStardust, Summer Lightly – all five!”

If you’re searching for a gift for a special little one, Glowberry Bears… or any of the great toys that The Brainy Company has to offer might be just what you’re looking for.

Disclosure – A product was provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the writing of this review; however, opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation.

About Ashley:

Ashley has a background in teaching Kindergarten and working with children K through 8th grade. She is now a SAHM and President of our local MOMS Club chapter. She writes her own blog at Momicles.

Filed Under: Ashley, review Tagged With: , , ,
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