Life, Family, and Home - Simplified & Sweetened
As you know, I’m always looking for new recipes and new recipe blogs and websites to explore! I recently found Whisked Foodie. It has a number of recipes that are just perfect for summer from salad recipes to dessert recipes. Today I’m sharing just a few summertime highlights from their site.
Lately I’ve been perusing the internet for homemade popsicles. At their site I found a really great tutorial that will help you make any kind of popsicles you like.
So many of my friends and family members have had babies in the last year, and many more are expecting!
EverydayFamily.com is a great site for parents and parents-to-be. Whatever stage in life your family is in, you are sure to find some valuable infromation. It is a great source for getting pregnancy advice. Whether you are thinking of conceiving, having trouble conceiving, or you are already pregnant, you can find articles and information on the ins and outs of a pregnancy, and even trying to Conceive Stories
And if you’ve already had a baby, you can not only get answers to all your questions but you can also check out their week to week guide on babies. And they have a printable baby log to help you keep up with feeding and sleep times, diaper changes, and medicines. And if that wasn’t enough, you can also order your baby announcements in less than 5 minutes on their site.
Then they have a section about toddlers. It has articles on toddler development and milestones. There’s also a printable toddler journal where you can record sleep times and meals, as well as things to look back on in the future like new words spoken, places you went, and anything new your child did.
Don’t have a baby or toddler? The site also has general parenting articles on a number of topics from homeschooling to being a single mom.
Apart from providing you with information EverydayFamily.com is also community site, complete with forums and groups so that you can get information from other moms and would-be moms like yourself. And you can also find free baby stuff and enter contests and sweepstakes!
I’ve always loved orange muffins and cakes! So I thought it would be fun to make some Orange Buttercream Cupcakes. Of course, I found lot of recipes online! For the frosting, I decided to go with an Orange Buttercream from Real Mom Kitchen. And for the cake, I just used a simple Orange Supreme Cake Mix. They turned out delicious!
And today I’m also excited to try out the recipe plugin Ziplist for the first time. This will make it easier for you to print and save recipes at my site. Yay! Thanks to Dorothy at Crazy for Crust.
When I was a kid, my dad would do laundry, and sometimes my money would get washed in my pants pocket. He would remind me over and over to check and empty my pockets before putting things in the clothes hamper, and I ‘d always complain and say, “Why can’t you check them?”
Fast forward several years later! My Do-Over Moment:
I’d been married for about a year, and we’d just bought a washer and dryer. It was slightly used, but very new to us. I think we’d had the set for about a month, when I opened the dryer one day and found the entire inside was covered in gum! It was cinnamon gum from my husband’s shorts pocket!
Miraculously none of the clothes were ruined. The shorts with the gum inside the pocket had to be re-washed, and there were a couple of other pieces that had trace amounts of gum on them, but this was easily removed. However, I had a dryer filled with dried gum!
So of course I did what any good blogger or modern housewife would do. I ran to the internet to search for ways to get rid of the gum! I found two solutions which worked very well for me. Here they are:
Baking Soda: In a bowl, make a solution of baking soda and water. Place the solution in the dryer, and use a washcloth to rub and scrub te dryer. This will loosen the gum and rub it away.
Dryer Sheets: For small amounts of gum or for places where you’ve used the baking soda method but still have trace amounts of gum, take a dryer sheet and rub. Gum will become loose and stick to the dryer sheet.
Apart from these two tips, I’ve also learned that it’s a good idea to check all pockets before doing laundry. I’ve asked my husband to try and remove things from his pockets, and at the same time, I try to check them myself before putting them in the wash. I think this is a good compromise, and hopefully if everyone works together we can avoid this mistake in the future!
Disclosure: I was compensated for this post as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All the opinions expressed here are my own.
July Watermelon Cross Stitch from Sewingly Along
As promised, today we’ve got a fun promotion and a giveaway from Publix! I know I’m guilty of opting for fast food, when we’re pressed for time, but the truth is that dinner doesn’t have to take a lot of time or ingredients to make.
Publix knows that the best meals happen at home, so they are excited to help you enjoy family mealtime without having to stress about what to prepare or spending hours in the kitchen. Stop by Publix during their “Best Meals Happen at Home” event to find great savings on some of your favorite products. BestMealsatHome.com offers you fantastic recipes, which can be cooked in 30 minutes or less.
Go by and check out their website to find something that your family would love for dinner this week, perhaps something like these Buffalo Chicken Crescents. (You know I love buffalo!)
Buffalo Chicken Crescents:
Prep time: 10 Min
Start to Finish: 30 Min
Makes: 4 sandwiches
Ingredients:
2 cans (4 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent rolls
1 cup shredded cooked chicken
2 tablespoons chopped celery
1/4 cup Buffalo wing sauce
3 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
Directions:
Separate or cut dough into 4 long rectangles, press perforations to seal. Place rectangles on ungreased cookie sheet.
In bowl, mix chicken, celery and sauce. Spoon mixture on half of each rectangle; sprinkle with blue cheese. Fold dough over filling; press edges with fork to seal.
Bake at 375°F 13 to 16 minutes.
And while visiting BestMealsatHome.com you can also sign up to receive emails with weekly recipes and coupon offers that will help you save up to $200 this year.
And from June 21st through June 27th, you can get great savings on participating brands during the “Best Meals Happen at Home” event at Publix, and while your shopping look for money saving coupons that will be valid through July 11th, 2012.
Giveaway: One Simply Sweet Home reader will win a $25 Publix gift card. To win, use the Rafflecopter form below.
Disclosure: The Publix gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark. If you’d like to sponsor a giveaway or advertise on Simply Sweet Home, please send me an email or see my PR page for details.
Before I get to today’s scheduled post, I thought some of my “regulars” might have been wondering what happened to this week’s giveaway. Yes, there will be one, but it will posted tomorrow per the sponsor’s request. (And here’s a hint: Groceries!)
One thing I’ve worked on in our house the last few months, is making the kitchen a little more thematic and color coordinated. At some point last year in one of my posts, I said that our kitchen was having a bit of an identity crisis. So I’ve done different things to make red the primary color, using apples, red checks and plaids. Now I’ve been shopping for things like curtains and curtain blinds.
For my windows I chose: Casey’s Cabin Window Valance by JoJo Designs Red
And I have to confess, and I know I may get some strange looks or laughs for this, but they are actually nursery curtains! I was searching for plaid curtains when I found these, and then afterward I found all the other nursery accessories! (lol)
But I decided to go with these anyway. I liked the different colors and patterns, and it seemed perfect for a country style kitchen!
What do you think? Oh, and in case you’re interested in this nursery theme. Here’s a picture of the crib and all the accessories!
Finding the right furniture for your home can be a nightmare, especially when you have something very personal and specific in mind. The colours don’t seem to match, the price is far too high, or the detailing just isn’t quite right. Sound familiar? Buying furniture is a huge investment and should be given a great deal of thought. After all, each piece will add to a certain atmosphere within the room, which will become your living space for years to come. In these cases, perhaps doing it your self is the best option? However unlikely this may sound, it is actually a possibility. Have you ever fancied your self a bit of an interior designer? Be your qualifications professional or non-existent, the Fashion for Home website is now offering anyone the opportunity to have their own designs brought to life.
Simply upload your design via the Fashion for Home Design Hub, where it will be included in a Voting Area. Fashion for Home customers will be able to give feedback as well as vote on their favourite designs, which may eventually be made and sold on the Fashion for Home website, with a commission per sale for the designer!
Whether you are an established interior designer or just someone with a desire to see their own ideas made into real objects, but without the know-how to accomplish that alone, this platform seems to me the best option. Even if your design doesn’t get the votes you feel it should, seeing other people’s designs might open up your mind to a world of other possibilities for your home. Equally, Evolvex offers the opportunity to customise and design your own furniture online at very affordable prices.
Ingredients:
10 strawberries
5 mint leaves
1 tbs of chopped pecans
Juice from 1/2 of lime
1/2 tbs Splenda
Directions:
1. Chop the strawberries, mint leaves and pecans. Combine in a bowl and mix well.
2. Squeeze the lime into a cup and add the Splenda. Mix well and add to the strawberries.
Enjoy!!
