Kenmore Archives - MomStart

Have You Given up on Your New Year’s Resolution?

January 31, 2014 by Beeb 4 Comments

I attended the Kenmore Blogger Summit last year.

It’s the last day of January, and predictably, many people have long since written off their New Year’s Resolutions – according to a new survey by Harris Interactive on behalf of Sears, 53% of Americans have already given up the ghost on their resolution. To help keep you motivated, Kmart and Sears have teamed up with frugal expert Andrea Woroch for some fast tips for staying on track with common goals, along with some product recommendations from the ShopYourWay “Resolve to Redeem” New Year’s Sale:

Eating Better: To save time, Andrea recommends picking one night per week to chop up healthy vegetables and fruit in advance so it’s ready-to-go through the week, thus reducing temptation to hit the drive-thru for a quick fix. 35% of those surveyed stated that getting a new kitchen appliance motivates them to cook healthy – if this sounds like you, then you can save $20 on this Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Juicer at Kmart; ShopYourWay Rewards members get an extra $5 off.

Exercise: Working out at home, either by following fitness videos online or using home gym equipment, is one way to stay on track. Try DailyHiit.com for free workout videos – or if you fall into the 38% surveyed who said that a new treadmill would motivate them to exercise more, use your ShopYourWay Rewards points to save on a new NordicTrack T6.1 Treadmill.

Togetherness: With Valentine’s Day coming up, it’s a great time to get on that resolution for keeping date night going! Andrea suggests looking at afternoon movie matinees or restaurant happy hours as an inexpensive but fun way to get out of the house.

For more tips from Andrea on how to keep New Year’s momentum going, click here! For more product suggestions, visit ShopYourWay Rewards’ “Resolve to Redeem” page for more 2014 deals.

How Much Time Do You Spend Party Planning? Survey Says: Ages!

November 19, 2013 by Beeb Leave a Comment

I was a guest at the Kenmore Blogger Summit last month. This post wasn’t required or related to the event, I just thought it would be fun to share it!

At the Kenmore Blogger Summit last month, we spent a lot of time discussing holiday party prep, common pitfalls and ways to save time and make preparations easier. Last week, Kenmore announced the results of their new holiday survey revealing what average Americans struggle with most this time of year. A poll of 1,000 adults conducted by Wakefield Research came up with some surprising and not-so-surprising findings:

85% of people surveyed avoid making a specific holiday food because of the resulting cleanup. I can TOTALLY relate to this – when I see certain recipes, I get a vision in my head of my trashed kitchen and “Nope” right out of that cookbook. Now that I own a dishwasher, I’m a lot more bold with what I’m willing to make because the cleanup is so much easier than scrubbing every single dish by hand.
An average of 5 hours are spent prepping, cooking, and cleaning for holiday parties. Only 5?! It takes me so much longer to prepare for parties. I think back to the times I’ve pulled all-nighters getting ready for my big Halloween parties, rolling bat-shaped cheeseballs by hand. I think I might need to scale back just a tad. 😉
61% percent surveyed have found party leftovers in strange places like under the couch (35%) and under the bed (10%). I am now feeling so grateful that I have never found a plate of moldy hot wings under my bed after a party.
More than 1 in 3 said they have waited a day or more after a party to clean up. Guilty as charged!!
79% of respondents would prefer a practical holiday/hostess gift over a trendy novelty item. This makes total sense to me. I love finding presents that I know someone can really use! I received a breadmaker as a gift for my 25th birthday and it’s one of my favorite things – it was one of those life-changing appliances for me! In fact, Kim received a Kenmore breadmaker during the gift swap at the blogger summit, and I was excitedly telling her how much she was going to love it. Hahaha!

Do any of these findings surprise you? What is your biggest struggle during holiday party-planning?

A Flaming Good Thanksgiving #HolidayHosting

October 31, 2013 by Beeb 5 Comments

Kenmore provided travel & other consideration.

During the Kenmore Blogger Summit last week, each blogger submitted a story of their most memorable “Holiday Disaster”. This is mine:

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Back in the 1990s, my Grandma and Grandpa flew over to the US from Australia to visit my family and spend a special Thanksgiving with us. We had just moved into an apartment building that was situated right next door to the local fire department, and the kitchen was extremely small – more like a glorified closet than a full kitchen – so my mom had a big job on her hands trying to juggle a full turkey dinner for extended family with very little elbow room.

During the hustle and bustle, we became aware of a strange smell, and looked up to see the stove on fire! Mom had moved a big stockpot onto the counter briefly to add an ingredient, and when she placed it back on the stove, she didn’t realize that there was a potholder stuck to the bottom of it. The potholder caught on fire and sent thick black smoke billowing out of out window directly to the Fire Department’s front door. We got the small blaze put out quickly and felt embarrassed because we were sure that half a dozen firemen would be rushing in our door any second. But they never came over – we always found it amusing that the firemen next door never noticed all the smoke billowing in the windows!

Fortunately, the rest of Thanksgiving went off without a hitch, although Mom’s potholder had seen better days!
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What was your most memorable holiday disaster?

Kenmore Blogger Summit, Day 2: Exploding Fruitcakes! #HolidayHosting

October 29, 2013 by Beeb 12 Comments

Thanks to Kenmore for providing all travel and related consideration for this event.

On day 2 of the Kenmore Blogger Summit, I got up early and joined Malini and Marina in the Hotel Felix lobby to sneak in a little sightseeing before the day’s activities began at 7:45. We were right in the heart of downtown Chicago, so we were able to walk down by the water and see some landmarks like the Chicago Tribune. I hadn’t expected to have time to see any of the city, so I was excited to have the chance to look around a little bit and had so much fun hanging out with the ladies.

After our lightning-fast walk around Chicago, we headed back to the Hotel Felix for breakfast. I forgot to get pictures, because apparently I was hungry. 😉 Once we had eaten and gotten a little coffee, we walked over to the Kenmore Craftsman Brand Live Experience studio for day two of activities.

From left to right: Marina, Melinda, Yoly, and Malini

This day was jam-packed and full of so many fun and unique experiences. To start us off, Chef Kari Karch warned us that it might get messy, and gave us all ponchos and goggles to wear. They then brought out a fruitcake which they blew up! Exploding fruitcakes are a great way to start off any blogging event.

The exploding fruitcake was our introduction to “Terrible hostess presents”, which was the theme of the 30 minute cooking challenge where my team was responsible for the fruitcake stuffing that ended up winning. After working up an appetite cooking all that food, we took a break for lunch, and then got a presentation from the Kenmore team on their appliances and what goes into them.

I got a chance to talk to some of the team members that innovate improvements and new features on everything from fridges to vacuums, and it was interesting to hear how much Kenmore pushes to have the newest and best of everything. They spend a lot of time researching what their customers most want in terms of performance so that they can develop “Kenmore Exclusives” – features that you will only find in their products. I got “Up close and personal” with Kenmore’s kitchen appliances during the cooking challenge, and it was the first time I’d ever used an induction oven. I can add that to my wishlist now that we’ve finished the kitchen remodel!

Now that we had learned all that goes into making these appliances, we were extra excited for the “Yankee Gift Exchange” where each blogger got to pick a bag from under the tree. Each bag contained a mystery gift from Kenmore. I’ve never done a “Yankee” gift exchange before, but it involves a lot of present-stealing! Each person picks a number and takes turns picking out an item. They can either choose from under the tree – or swipe someone elses’ gift! At the end, everyone was given a 15 second window to do one last frantic present steal. Keep in mind, everything was wrapped, containing a sealed envelope with a photo of the gift which would then be mailed out – so all the “Stealing” was based on wrapping and intuition alone! I’m not the tussling type, so I just picked out the bag under the tree that I thought was prettiest. I was gifted a Kenmore Ultrasonic Humidifier for Large Rooms!

The Blogger Yankee Gift Exchange was inspired by a Facebook contest/charitable drive which Kenmore will be unveiling soon, so watch this space for info on how to win when that launches!

After gifts, we had one final send-off cocktail before catching our shuttle back to O’Hare. To commemorate the event, we were each given a cookbook with the recipes submitted by bloggers in attendance – it was so fun to see my Mince Pies in print! We were also gifted a copy of the Kenmore 100 Year Anniversary Cookbook from our very own Kari Karch.

It was a weekend jam-packed with activities, fun, information, and even a little sight-seeing! I had so much fun hanging out with the awesome Kenmore team and wonderful bloggers. I had the opportunity to meet some friends I’ve known online for ages, and meet new fast friends whose blogs I will now be bookmarking!

Kenmore Blogger Summit: Day One Recap #HolidayHosting

October 28, 2013 by Beeb 9 Comments

Travel and related consideration provided by Kenmore.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Kenmore Blogger Summit in Chicago, Illinois. This fun gathering brings together bloggers to check out the latest appliance innovations and see how they might help them in the kitchen – especially important with the holidays around the corner. “Holiday Hosting” was was this year’s theme, with bloggers bringing recipes and tips for making the season bright.

To get us all into the spirit, they decked out the studio with a full blown Christmas tree, topped with a spatula. Isn’t that adorable?

To welcome us, they served cocktails and a delicious dinner buffet. The appetizers which were served were actually favorite recipes submitted by several bloggers in attendance!

The proceedings were hosted by the wonderful Chef Kari Karch and the awesome Kenmore team. Kari shared some neat “Holiday Hacks” for making the season easier, such as adding chilling a glass of wine by adding frozen grapes, or putting a pair of too-tight shoes in the freezer with a bag of water to stretch them and make them more comfy for holiday parties:

Another suggestion was to add a festive fragrance to your home by sprinkling cinnamon on the carpet and then vacuuming.

After we had gotten a chance to eat and mingle, they brought out Brandon Ogborn, a stand-up comic who recently auditioned for Lorne Michaels. “Yeah, Lorne asked me to do SNL this week and I said, ‘Nah, I’ve got this Kenmore thing,'” he quipped. He brought out two comediennes, who helped with his efforts to dramatically retell holiday disaster stories. Each blogger had submitted a story about their most hilarious holiday mishaps, and Brandon called several of the funniest onstage to tell their epic stories. One of my favorites was the story of well-meaning parents who mistook a pan of frozen ground beef for Tiramisu and unwittingly served it to their guests who were too polite to say anything!

After they read out a few blogger stories, the comedians also shared a few stories they had written, inspired by the blogger accounts they had read. It was pretty funny to see these guys embrace the bizarre angle and have fun integrating snippets about Kenmore appliance features in their stand-up comedy!

After the entertainment, we headed back to the cozy Hotel Felix and hit the hay for a little shut-eye after a long day of fun and travel!

30-Minute Cooking Challenge: True Teamwork

October 27, 2013 by Beeb 13 Comments

Travel, accommodations and other consideration provided by Kenmore.

Have you ever watched those food competitions like “Iron Chef” and “Chopped”, where chefs are thrown into a kitchen with random ingredients, asked to invent a recipe on the spot, and have a ridiculously short amount of time to do so? I have a hard time watching shows like this because it stresses me out – I get tense just thinking about that kind of pressure!

So imagine my surprise during day 2 of the Kenmore Blogger Summit when it was announced that we would be starring in our own blogger version of this competition! I’m always up for a challenge, even if I think I will fail miserably – which I was quite convinced I would! So I was game, but I expected to be a frazzled mess. Anyone who knows me in person knows I struggle with this type of multi-tasking, and I figured the intense pressure would have me sputtering and unable to think clearly. But I’m always game for anything!

We were all split into randomly-assigned groups, and I found myself in Group 2 with the awesome Jennifer of Makobi Scribe, Kimberly with Tampa Bay Chef, Malini of Restaurant Fairy, Marina of Mommy Snippets, and Theresa with The Local Tourist.

Chef Kari Karch introduced the challenge by discussing “Most-Hated Hostess Gifts”, and pulled out a table containing the least favorites: Boxed wine, Royal Dansk butter cookies, fruitcake, and a cheese platter. (To be honest? I’d actually like to receive any of these for a hostess gift, so feel free to bring box wine next time you come to visit. ;))

The challenge was that each team would be given one of these hated ingredients, which they must then use as the basis for a delicious recipe, using a randomly-assigned Kenmore appliance. The contestants would have 30 minutes from start to finish to prepare this, and would not know the ingredients or appliance until the clock was ticking.

Our group went last, so we had half an hour to speculate as to what we might be stuck with. In the meantime, there were a variety of other activities to complete, such as collecting holiday hacks for a separate contest, giving interviews, and blowing up fruitcake. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not great at multi-tasking, so I was pretty preoccupied just trying to collect the holiday hacks!

Team 2 sat at our table trying to think of holiday tips and also come up with a strategy. Kimberly is a true strategic planner and was thinking hard about what to do if we got X, Y, or Z ingredient. Malini said that she really, really did not want to get the fruitcake, because what on earth would we do with it? I suggested perhaps a trifle, and Kimberly said, “But what if we need to do a savory dish, though?” I thought for a minute and then said, “We could do stuffing.” Kim thought it was a great idea – so when our turn was up and we walked into the kitchen to see that yes, indeed, we HAD been stuck with the dreaded fruitcake, we quickly asked the rest of the team what they thought about doing stuffing, and they were all game.

This contest was one of the best examples of teamwork that I have seen. Here we are, a group of random people just getting acquainted with each other and thrown into a high-pressure situation, and every single person was amazing. Everyone started throwing out ideas for what to add to the dish and how to prepare it – our required appliance was a Kenmore 120 sq. in. Indoor Grill, so we decided to grill the fruitcake and some pieces of french bread for the base of our stuffing. How many times in your life will you utter the words, “Grill the fruitcake”?

Taking the “Thanksgiving stuffing with a twist” theme and running with it, our team grilled up chicken (since we didn’t have turkey) and veggies to round this out as a full Christmas dinner. All the ingredients were symbiotic – the stuffing had some savory elements and the veggies had a kick of sweet to tie it all together. The stuffing was grilled fruitcake, grilled french bread drizzled in olive oil and seasonings, almonds, apples and a touch of chicken stock and water – possibly a few other ingredients that were thrown in and forgotten in the mad rush! 😉

Malini made fabulous chicken, at one point pounding it with a pan because there was no mallet available! Every person had amazing ideas, skills, great teamwork and smart strategies. After the breads had been grilled, I heated the stuffing on the stove and then got ready to put it in the oven to bake for the finishing touch. At this point, I asked Kimberly to take over watching it in the oven since I have the tendency to overbake things and I trusted her sensibilities on the timing more than my own. We were also being judged on cleanliness, so at this point I rushed over to start wiping down counters and help Jennifer get the dishes dried and put away. Did I mention that we didn’t have a dishwasher that we were allowed to use?? When the final buzzer rang, I was literally running with clean dishes in my hand to put away!

Our recipe was then introduced by Malini:

The judges tasted our recipe, and this is what they had to say:

Imagine my shock when they announced our recipe as the winner! Each one of us won a food processor for our efforts. Never in a million years did I ever think that I would be able to come up with a passable recipe under such circumstances, never mind a winning recipe! My kooky ideas were a strong point in this contest, and the amazing Team 2 took the concept I threw out off the cuff and came up with brilliant ideas for ingredients and putting it together as a full meal. It was like we had an expert for every single delegated item – there’s no way my fruitcake stuffing idea would have turned into a winner without them. We had team members that had expert foodie sensibilities, great cooking skills and gorgeous presentation, great strategy, eloquence describing the recipe and how the grill was utilized, plus master speed cleaning skills and fast chopping

This challenge was a toughie and each one of the teams created such wonderful dishes – next year, I think they should do appetizers as the cooking challenge, so that we can sample them all at the end!

Mince Pies & Other Holiday Traditions

October 15, 2013 by Beeb 12 Comments

I am participating in the Kenmore Blogger Summit 2013. Travel consideration is being provided.

I’m excited to announce that I will be attending the Kenmore Blogger Summit 2013 on behalf of MomStart next week. This event is all about getting ready for the holidays, so we’re going to be swapping our hostess hints and favorite recipes. Holiday food traditions vary so much from family to family and country to country, and I’ve always found it fascinating to learn what says “Christmas” to other people!

For me, it’s making Mince Pies every Christmas. It’s a holiday tradition in Britain that usually gets raised eyebrows in this country, but once I introduce my American friends to them, they’re usually hooked! I know what you’re thinking, but these are actually fruit pies. Mince Pies were originally a mixture of meat and fruits back in the old days, but in modern times, mincemeat is a combination of candied fruit like apples, raisins and orange peel. Some contemporary versions contain beef suet, but the varieties I buy use either vegetable suet or none at all, so they’re a strictly-sweet treat. Click here to check out my recipe!

We all know that holiday baking can be time-consuming, so one way that I save time is by making my pie crust from oil. This is another thing I do that gets raised eyebrows, but only because people are so stunned to learn that it isn’t butter. Not to brag or anything – ahem 😉 – but I’ve always gotten big compliments on my crusts and requests to bring pies (Of any kind) to gatherings. A lot of people have never even heard of using oil in a crust; it’s a recipe from my treasured 1969 Betty Crocker Cookbook, which I’ve been using ever since I started baking. The oil crust is super fast and easy to make and comes out perfectly flaky. So if you want a time-saving tip for those holiday pies, give oil crusts a try!

I’d love to know how YOU save time during the hectic holiday season. What are your “Holiday Hacks”? Can you share any time-saving tips with me?

The Kenmore Blogger Summit Fox Force Five

January 23, 2012 by Momstart 13 Comments

You may look at this title and think WHAT?

You may look at the people in this photo and think, Never Mind!

If you said never mind then you must know the fabulous people in this photo and how crazy creative they are and the humor behind the name Fox Force Five. Redneck Mommy couldn’t even say the name without cracking up. Fox Force Five named the winning group of the Kenmore Blogger Summit Crock Pot challenge and named a major contender in the Kenmore Vacuum Video Challenge as well. I mean who else could come up with flying underwear being conquered by the Kenmore Progressive Canister Vac? None other than

Jim (Busy Dad Blog), Shawn (Backpacking Dad), C.C. Chapman, Tanis (The Redneck Mommy), Tricia Night Owl Mama And Me!

Sadly, this photos is missing a key member, Shannon Mr. Lady was supposed to be part of our group but her flight was canceled due to the inclement weather we had. Shannon We missed you!

We were tasked with a few challenges during the day. One of them was to come up with a crock pot recipe in 20 minutes using the Kenmore crockpot and the other challenge was to come up with a Kenmore Canister Vacuum commercial in less than 30 minutes. Our recipe was amazing with a little bit of Asian flair, and our commercial was the funniest. I wish I had the footage to share with you because it cracked me up. Tricia was killed with dirty underwear, and I played the part of the SUPER Vacuum that saved the day throwing the dirty laundry into the Kenmore Washing Machine. Oh and I can’t forget to mention that the dirty laundry was played by Tanis and C. C. Chapman. Words just can’t describe how funny our commercial was.

These are some of the funniest and most successful people I have ever met. One thing I love about them is that their success doesn’t make them impossible. They are genuine, kind and humble and they never stop cracking me up. I highly recommend each of them.

Even though this post has hardly anything to do with Kenmore, they did provide travel and expenses so that Fox Force Five could play together all day. Thanks Kenmore, I look forward to further testing the crockpot and writing more about the Summit.

After A Long Day, I Had To Sign For Make Up

January 11, 2012 by Momstart 9 Comments

Wow, today was quite a long day. I had a great day but I felt like all day I was putting out fires. I dropped my kids off from school and I worked the whole time Miles was in Preschool and it was all for the blog but I have nothing to show for it so I feel exhausted like I need to post something but I have no idea what to post.

So I figured I’d just share that I had a long day. I’m going on two trips next week, one with Krispy Kreme and the other with Kenmore Appliances, I love visiting Sears! I had to put out some travel arrangement fires. Easy but time consuming. I found out two of my contributors will be leaving me and I can’t tell you how helpful they’ve been around here. They have helped me keep MomStart going when I didn’t feel like anything in my life should be going. While I’m dealing with my inner emotions and craziness they’ve been pushing out posts for me. So I’m a bit sad.

I picked up the kids, picked up my husband, made my husband something to eat, he went back to work, we went outside to play, the kids didn’t get a nap and after dinner Ummm the crying started. Not my crying, my daughter’s. When she gets so tired she just breaks down and everything makes her cry. She was in the bathtub and she was crying. I had to leave the bathroom because her tears made me laugh. I’M NOT TIRED, oh yes you are. When I could go back in without laughing, I got her out and put her to bed. Her poor brother had to go to bed too even though he was amazingly in a good mood.

So here I find myself, thinking of the reviews I need to get done, which are actually pretty small. I need to finish all the Florida posts, put up some tasty recipes, and I think that’s it. Funny thing today, FedEx has been trying to deliver something to me for two days. I had to sign for it. My FedEx driver, yes I call her mine, she knows me, she is so kind she always comes back at the end of her day if I had to sign for one and today she saw me and the kids playing outside so she brought it right to me. I opened it and it was make up. Make Up, who requires a signature for make up. Plus the make up came in a box from staples. It was so weird.