Jerri at Simply Sweet Home

Chicken Spaghetti

January 17, 2011 18 Comments

Today I’m sharing my *new favorite* recipe! My friend Cindy at Hun…What’s For Dinner shared this Chicken Spaghetti on her blog several weeks back. She originally saw it over at The Pioneer Woman and decided to make a few changes to it. I then looked over both recipes and made further changes. lol.

I have to tell you, I see so many recipes from week to week. Many of them get bookmark and some of them eventually get made, but once in while, I see something that looks just good enough (and easy enough) for me to make it the same week. This was one of those times, and it definitely did not disappoint. I’ve already made it twice since I found the recipe, and I know I’ll be making it a lot more in the future! Enjoy!

Recipe for Chicken Spaghetti

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken, cooked

3 cups dry spaghetti (broken)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1/4 cup green onion, chopped (I didn’t have this so I used chopped carrot)

1 teaspoon Lawry’s Seasoning Salt (I think regular salt would work just as well too)

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (for topping)

Directions:

Cook chicken on stove top. (I used 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but the original recipe calls for a whole fryer chicken.) Remove chicken and cook spaghetti in the same water. Shred your chicken into tiny pieces and place in large bowl. Add soups, veggies, cheese, and broth. Drain the water off your cooked spaghetti, and add noodles to the bowl. Add seasonings and mix. Pour into a 9×13 glass baking dish. Pour an additional cup of cheese over the top. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I’m sharing this recipe for this week’s blog parties.

Filed Under: casseroles and quick meals, Recipe of the Week, recipes Tagged With: chicken, pasta, southern food

Spotlight on Thirty-One Gifts

January 17, 2011 4 Comments

Today I’m really excited to tell you about my newest blog sponsor. I’m excited because this sponsor not only sells great products but can also be an outlet for women to make money and even have a little fun.

The sponsor is Thirty-One Gifts, and they offer adorable purses, bags, totes, accessories, and organizing items. These come in a number of adorable colors and prints and can be personalized for you.

You can look through their extensive catalog of items and place an order online at any time.

Thirty-One Gifts provides an outet of fun, by allowing you to host a show. This can be a live show or an online/catalog show. You can invite your friends over for an evening of fun, and an independent representative will share the products with you, and when you host a show, you can earn free and half priced products!

Thirty-One Gifts also offers a fantastic business opportunity for women. Thirty-One is a faith-based company, whose name comes from Proverbs 31:31 in the Bible where it talks about celebrating and rewarding women, and there is a focus in the company about being the Proverbs 31 virtuous woman.

Thirty-One is a direct sales company that gives women the opportunity to make a little extra money or an extra income. Independent Thirty-One Director Laura Aridgides has been in the direct sales industry working from home with her children for 11 1/2 years. For her, Thirty-One Gifts has been an amazing opportunity to be able to put family first, and still contribute to the family budget (and have a girls night too!).

You can join Laura’s team for just $99. When you join you will receive a new spring starter kit valued at over $300. Plus, if you join Laura’s team in January, you’ll get a free Jewelry Roll.

If you’d like more information on this opportunity, just visit Laura’s webpage. She has an excellent 10 minute video which explains the opportunity further. If you like what you see, you can join Laura’s team through her website. You can also contact Laura directly via email (laura@31team.com) or via phone (802-264-4884) with any questions you may have.

Upcoming Giveaway!

I’m pleased to announce that I will be reviewing a product from Thirty-One Gifts next week. And there will also be a giveaway with 2 winners!

Don’t miss it!

Disclosure: Thirty-One Gifts is a paid sponsor on Simply Sweet Home. If you’d like to advertise, please see my PR Page for details.

Filed Under: making money, product review, Sponsors

Spotlight On Chunky Bling – Cute Jewelry! Plus Affiliate Program!

January 15, 2011 Leave a Comment

I’m really excited to share this new affiliate program with you! My good bloggy friend Elizabeth from Twelve Crafts Till Christmas turned me on to it, and so I thought I’d share it with you.

I don’t sign up for too many affiliate programs, and when I do, I basically have two requirements. The first is that they need to have good products. And secondly, they have to have a pretty good payout. I believe Chunky Bling satisfies both of these requirements.

They sell really cute jewelry, including rings, bracelets, and necklaces, and they come in a variety of styles, so you’re sure to find something you’ll like! You can also build your own watch, choosing from a ton of bands, watch faces, and sets. Very cool!

Now for the pay out! Chunky Bling pays you 15% for direct sales, which is an awesome rate. Plus, they pay you 10% for direct referral sales and 5% of indirect referral sales. For example, let’s say Affiliate A refers Affiliate B, and Affiliate B refers Affiliate C. Each month, Affiliate A would earn 15 percent on all direct sales from their site, as well as 10 percent of Affiliate B’s sales and 5 percent of Affiliate C’s sales.

And when you sign up you’ll get paid once a month via paypal or check!

It takes less than a minute to sign up, and as of this writing there are less than 250 affiliates at Chunky Bling, so this is a great chance to get in early.

And if you do want to sign up, please click my banner, or use my referral link so that I can be credited for referring you. I would really appreciate it!

And if you don’t want to sign up, you could always just check out their jewelry! Thanks!

Filed Under: Sponsors

Spotlight on Whimsy Couture

January 14, 2011 1 Comment

I am very excited to reannounce Whimsy Couture as a sponsor here at Simply Sweet Home.

This fabulous etsy shop is a craft and sewing girl’s dream! It offers easy to use, hand written sewing patterns with step by step instructions and colored pictures. These patterns are perfect for busy moms to whip in a short time. And you’ll love the variety of items you can make for your child from the patterns at Whimsy Couture.

Denise is the owner of this etsy shop. Her style is vintage inspired and whimsical. Among the items offered in her shop are patterns for dresses, tops, pants, skirts, aprons, bloomers, capes, and more. She even has pattern for cute appliques for your projects.

Pattern styles include everything from the peasant style, to A-line jumpers, to pillow case tops, strappy tops and items with cute ruffles. Whimsy Couture even offers you great savings through 3 Packs.

And if you don’t have a small child in your family, you should check out Whimsy Couture’s adorable pet bed patterns for the 4-legged, furry members of your family! So cute!

Check out Whimsy Couture on etsy and pick up your patterns for these lovely creations and more. You can also follow Denise through her blog Whimsy Couture and follow Whimsy Couture on Facebook.

If you’d like to advertise on Simply Sweet Home, please see my PR page. Ad prices start as low as $6/mo and just $5 to sponsor 10 posts.

Filed Under: crafts, shopping, Sponsors

Friday Favorites – Week 46

January 13, 2011 8 Comments

Hey guys! Thanks for stopping this week for Friday Favorites. This week’s featured projects seem to have a common theme going….everything is pink! That wasn’t exactly planned, but I love the result!

Coincidentally I just created my first treasury on etsy: Pink Things I Love. (please check it out!)

I made the treasury before I even started working on Friday Favorites. Kind of strange, huh? I guess I’m in Pink mood this week! Hope you’re all in a pink mood too!

Valentine Wreath (made of loofahs!) from Trendy Pockets

Cupcake Burp Cloths from Whipper Berry

Scottie Dog Pillows from Two Succulent Sisters

How to Paint a Cupcake from Mural Maker & More

Valentine Topiary from Trendy Pockets

Linky time! I can’t wait to see your projects!

Filed Under: Friday Favorites

Berry Heart Wreath

January 12, 2011 10 Comments

With Valentine’s Day only a month away, (Wow, this month is going fast!) I thought it would great to share this really cute wreath I have on my door. No, sadly, I didn’t make this. I actually ordered it a few years back. I was shopping around and I found a few things similar to it at Shop Wiki if you’d like to take a look.

Anyway, when we moved I packed it up, and I just got it out of our outbuilding this past fall. So this is our first time to use it. I really love using bright colors like red in the winter time, even after Christmas. It really brightens things up and adds a lot of warmth.

What do you guys think?

Looking the wreath over, I see that it actually wouldn’t be hard to make one like this either. You could easily purchase a round twig wreath at Hobby Lobby. Then purchase a piece of berry garland, and then weave it through the wreath. Then add just a little hot glue to hold the garland in place and fluff it out as desired.

I attempted to take some pictures of how the pieces of garland are woven through the wreath. I’m not really sure how good you can see it though.

I also bought a piece of garland to match this wreath, and last week I actually used it on a few projects which I’m really excited to share with you in the coming weeks. So stay tuned!

I’m linking up to these fun craft and decor parties!

Filed Under: crafts, decorating, Home/Garden

Kritter Kondo Review and Giveaway

January 11, 2011 85 Comments

Rebel and Dixie got an extra special Christmas gift this year! They were curious and intrigued when Lisa at Kritter Kommunity offered to let them review her Kritter Kondo Deluxe!

If you’ve been searching the internet for cat enclosures or cat runs this product is for you!

The Kritter Kondo Deluxe is a product that allows you to let your indoor cats (and small dogs) go outside for a little playtime without having to worry about them getting into trouble.

It’s also a great thing to have if you ever have a large group of people or children around and you need to keep Fluffy separated from your guests. When I was little, my Mamaw Veal had a small dog that I was terrified of. They had a little gate to keep him out of the room and away from me, but I was always afraid that he’d still be able to get me. It’s too bad Mamaw didn’t have a Kritter Kondo back then!

Our Video Demonstration
When we first tried out the Kritter Kondo there was snow on the ground outside, so we decided to set it up indoors. And I got a short video of them inside because I love making videos of the cats and I thought it would be a good way to show you just how much room is inside. Mind you, it’s not the greatest video in the world, but I’m sure you’ll get the idea!

Our Review:

I think this product is a work of genius! I can’t believe someone didn’t think of it before. I can’t wait for spring to get here so we can let the furbabies have a trip outside. And I also love the idea of actually using it indoors. If you have a pet that you needed to “lock up” temporarily for some reason, and you didn’t really have a room to put them in, this could be a viable solution.

My husband also pointed out that if you ever went out of town and needed to leave your pet at someone’s house, this could be very useful.

I especially love that it’s very portable and the set up is very quick and easy! It’s also the perfect size for two or mayb even 3 cats. In the video you can see that we placed a scratcher and cat bed inside, and our cats still had plenty of room to walk around.

And the cats seemed to like it inside. They’ve never seen anything like this, so once they got inside they immediately started playing with their toys and with each other. So I’d say that this is a great product with a potential to be used in a number of ways and overall it’s a good quality product. We definitely would recommend it.

Buy it!

You can order the Kritter Kondo Original and the Kritter Kondo Deluxe directly from theKritter Kommunity webpage.

Connect!

Website: Kritter Kommunity

Twitter: @KritterKondo

Facebook: Kritter Kondo Fan Page

Blog: Kritters That Twitter

Party!

The guys at Kritters that Twitter are also having a Valentine’s Day Blog starting February 5th, with lots of product reviews and prizes, so please go check that out!

Win it! Lisa at Kritter Kommunity has generously offered a free Kritter Kondo Deluxe to one Simply Sweet Home Reader. This is a $154.99 value!

Mandatory Entry: Be a follower of my blog, and visit Kritter Kommunity. Then come back here and tell us something you learned/saw on the site. Deadline: January 25

Extra Entries: Leave a comment for each.

-1 if you follow @KritterKondo on Twitter.
-1 if you like Kritter Kondo on Facebook.
-1 if you follow @SimplySweetHome on Twitter.

-2 for subscribing to Simply Sweet Home via email.

-1 for “liking” Simply Sweet Home on facebook.

-1 for subscribing to my RSS feeds through Feedburner.

-1 for sharing this giveaway on Twitter or Facebook. (Sample Tweet: Win a Kritter Kondo Deluxe for your cat or dog! http://bit.ly/gzixr3 @SimplySweetHome @kritterkondo #giveaway) (Limit one entry per day.)

Disclosure: We received a free Kritter Kondo for review. This is not a paid post. The opinions expressed here are my own. If you’d to see your product featured here at Simply Sweet Home, contact me via email.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Pets, product review

Spotlight on Nicole’s Homemade Treats

January 11, 2011 4 Comments

My newest sponsor will definitely leave you licking your lips! So “Go Ahead and Indulge!”

Nicole’s Homemade Treats is a fabulous etsy shop offering yummy, delectable, sweet treats!

Nicole is a stay at home mom of two boys and a military spouse. She uses candy-making as a stress reliever and creative outlet! She also enjoys baking, cooking, golf, playing with her kids, reading, socializing & working out. “Candy making, it is a great stress reliever and creative outlet for me! Selling my products locally and online is a fun and rewarding endeavor! I have spent many hours trying to get my treats ‘just right!’ It is safe to say that some of my first attempts were very interesting!”

Nicole’s Homemade Treats is an LLC operating out of New York State. All the products are prepared in a fully licensed kitchen. NYS Dept. of Agriculture #31AAAA

The treats are prepared in small batches, to preserve the taste and quality of the product, and to ensure that there is no waste. It takes about 5-7 days to produce your order. But Nicole PROMISES – they will be worth the wait!

And if you’re interested in only the highest quality sweets (and who isn’t?), you’ll be very impressed with Nicole’s menu of products: “I make only all natural, preservative free products, and use as many organic ingredients as possible. My products may not have the shelf life of store bought products, no worries! They won’t last very long!”

Nicole’s Homemade Treats is also a very environmentally conscious company: “The packaging products I use are considered ‘green’ because they are made using recycled products, or come from ecologically conscious companies. I am really conscious about who I purchase my products from – the majority come from local companies, farms, and shops, however if that is not possible I buy from companies that are known to be eco-friendly/green themselves.”

“I hope you enjoy eating my treats as much as I like making them!”

Be sure to check out Nicole’s Homemade Treats for all your Valentine’s Day (and everyday) goodies! You can also connect with Nicole at her blog and on twitter @Nikid70.

Go ahead and indulge!

Disclosure: Nicole’s Homemade Treats is a paid sponsor. If you’d like to advertise on Simply Sweet Home, please see my PR Page. Rates start as low as $5.

Filed Under: cookies and candy, shopping, Valentine's Day

Making Snow Cream

January 9, 2011 12 Comments

We were so excited and surprised to get a White Christmas a couple of weeks ago! It got me to talking about the few times in my life when we actually got enough snow for my dad to make snow cream. I was asking my husband if I should try to make some, and I soon found out he had no idea what I was talking about!

When I emphatically said, “You’ve never had snow cream!” he said, “I’m from Mobile. It doesn’t snow in Mobile.” (Oh yeah! Duh!) Then remembering that my husband lived in Colorado for a little while, I ask him, “Well, don’t they have it in Colorado?”

He just kinda looked at me. I guess that was a dumb question. So either they don’t make snow cream in Colorado, or 20-something and 30-something year old men don’t make snow cream! What do you think?

Either way, my dad always made great snow cream! It tasted just like homemade ice cream. The stuff I made didn’t taste quite as great as his. (Alas!) But it was still pretty good. Today I’m sharing the recipe I used.

So do you guys make snow cream where you live?

Recipe for Snow Cream:

Ingredients:

1 gallon snow
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups milk

Directions: Take a bowl and collect some clean snow. Add sugar and vanilla, then stir in just enough milk for the desired consistency. Serve at once.

I’m linking up this week at these linky parties.

Filed Under: desserts, Recipe of the Week, recipes

Friday Favorites – Week 45

January 6, 2011 9 Comments

Welcome to our first Friday Favorites party of the year! I look forward to spending Fridays with you this year and checking out all your posts. It’s always fun to see everyone’s ideas, and I appreciate you coming by to share them with me!

Let’s start by looking at a few of the projects that were linked up last week.

Snowman Treats from Flexible Dreams

Stenciled Wall from Ali Lilly

Lots of Yummy Cookies from Apples and Twinkies

VW Bus Quilt from Dirt Cheap Decor

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Chili from Once a Month Mom

I’m excited to see your posts from the week. Link them up below!