Monday, October 27, 2008

Bloggy Carnival Giveaway - $20 Starbucks Gift Card

As part of the Bloggy Carnival giveaway, I am giving away a $20 Starbucks gift card to one lucky reader.

To enter, leave a comment with your favorite Starbucks drink or treat. For a second entry, subscribe to my blog and leave a separate comment saying you subscribed.

Open to U.S. only. Entrants must be 18 or older. Contest ends Friday, October 31, 2008 at 11:59 pm PST.

More giveaways at the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Sorry for not posting

Life has been super busy lately.

I am going to wait to post again until Monday morning when I will be putting up my bloggy carnival contests.

To see what the bloggy carnival is all about, click here.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Puppy Chow - for humans

Sorry for slacking, I recently had a friend move in and things have been really busy!!!!

A few years ago a friend brought a dessert called "puppy chow" to work. It is amazing and addicting!!!!! If you love chocolate and/or peanut butter, you HAVE to try this.

CHEX MIX PUPPY CHOW

9 cup Chex
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Put cereal in large bowl. Melt chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over Chex cereal, put into a large plastic bag with powdered sugar and shake well to coat. Spread mixture evenly on wax paper and allow to cool.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Sunday's Etsy Shop Review - Mood Wax

I love delicious smelling candles. They are a million times better than cans of air freshener spray.

Mood Wax Candle etsy shop has amazing scents on their candles. A few examples are Lemon Poundcake and Pumpkin Spice Latte.

To check out the shop, click here.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Olay In-Shower Body Lotion

I have really dry skin, but I hate the feel of lotion on my skin. A while back, I received a sample of Olay in-shower body lotion.

IT IS AMAZING!!!!!!

It works almost as well as regular lotion but it doesn't have the slimy residue on my hands as well as wherever I put on the lotion.

I use it every day and it is worth every penny!

To read a bit more about it, click here.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Win an Oreck XL Gold

5minutesformom.com is giving away a pink special edition vacuum cleaner. I have a VERY fluffy dog who sheds a ton so I always love new vacuum cleaners.

To enter this great contest, click here.

Falafel

I just missed posting on Wednesday, but since I think the day doesn't change until you wake up, it's still Wednesday in my book.

I was just talking about falafel with a friend so I decided to post a recipe for it for today. I've never tried it so if you do try it, let me know how it is. Many comments said to add a bit more flour.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hours, 45 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup dried chickpeas or 16 oz. can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans.
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon coriander
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Oil for frying

Preparation:

Place dried chickpeas in a bowl, covering with cold water. Allow to soak overnight. Omit this step if using canned beans.

Drain chickpeas, and place in pan with fresh water, and bring to a boil.

Allow to boil for 5 minutes, then let simmer on low for about an hour.

Drain and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Combine chickpeas, garlic, onion, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper (to taste) in medium bowl. Add flour.

Mash chickpeas, ensuring to mix ingredients together. You can also combine ingredients in a food processor. You want the result to be a thick paste.

Form the mixture into small balls, about the size of a ping pong ball. Slightly flatten.

Fry in 2 inches of oil at 350 degrees until golden brown (5-7 minutes).

Serve hot.

Serving Suggestion
Falafel can be served as an appetizer with hummus and tahini, or as a main course. Stuff pita bread with falafel, lettuce, tomatoes, tahini, salt and pepper. As an alternative, falafel can be formed into patties and served like a burger.

Serves 4.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Pogo.com

A few years ago, a friend convinced me to buy a club pogo membership. It is a bit expensive (30 or 40 a year) but that comes down to only a few dollars a month and it is really fun. They have tons of games only available to club pogo members and the games are all pretty fun.

I don't get a referral bonus or anything but to check them out click here.

Monday, October 13, 2008

I don't want any sympathy....

I don't want any sympathy....I just want to tell everyone about the craziness of the last week.

Wednesday morning we went to my grandparents' house in Los Angeles for Yom Kippur.

On Thursday, my aunt told us they were rushing out to California (from Denver) to try to see her father-in-law before he died. The father-in-law died on their drive out here.

My mom and I decided to go down for the funeral which was scheduled for Sunday. My grandparents live in Los Angeles so we headed down Saturday morning to spend some time with them.

Saturday afternoon, my grandpa was feeling so sick he went to the emergency clinic. They sent him to the ER. After about 6 hours in ER, he was admitted as a patient and given a room in the real hospital. Once he finally got a room, my grandma and I went home so I could get some sleep before the funeral the next morning.

Sunday morning around 4:30 am, I woke up with food poisoning. I tried to ignore it and went back to sleep for about an hour. But then I couldn't take it anymore. But...I still went to the funeral because I wanted to be there for my aunt and my family.

Now my grandpa may or may not be needing surgery so we may be going back down to LA tomorrow.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

SweetSpice's Etsy Shop

I recently entered a contest where the prize came from SweetSpice's Etsy Shop.

They have tons of awesome products like soaps, lotions, body frostings and more.

Their products are way cheaper than the corporate stores.

All of the products come in amazing scents.

To check out their store, click here.

Saturday's Product Review - HP Laptops

Sorry for not blogging yesterday...I had a bit of a family emergency.

About a year ago, my sister and I both bought brand new HP laptops. We have had nothing but trouble!

Her biggest problem was a faulty hard drive...she lost everything! The only good thing was that her replacement hard drive came quickly.

My biggest problem was a faulty battery, it wouldn't recharge. It took months for them to send a replacement, thankfully the replacement works. Smaller problems are the mouse click buttons peeling away and they keyboard keys peeling away.

We both have a big overheating problem also. I recently had to buy a cooling fan because it was shutting off every time I used it for more than an hour.

People go back and forth about which laptop is the best, will last the longest, etc. I have to say I don't think I will buy a HP laptop ever again.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Day off

Today is my day off but I just wanted to say hi LOL

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Old Navy Contest

I love Old Navy so the contest I am posting today is for Old Navy giftcards. The grand prize winner will get a $2500 giftcard and each daily winner will get a $200 giftcard.

To enter the contest, click here.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The Merlin Menu - Blog and recipes

I have recently found a blog with amazing recipes. I can't wait to try most of the recipes on his blog. I am going to share the Peanut Butter Swirl brownies recipe. I love peanut butter brownies and I love cream cheese swirl brownies so I am really excited to try the two combined.

Chocolate:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tsp espresso powder (my addition)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Peanut Butter:

1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk (I used cream)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x8-inch pan.

To make the chocolate portion, melt the butter and chocolate together in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time. Melting chocolate in the microwave is the way to go but it's easy to burn it, so watch it carefully. Let cool slightly.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt and espresso powder and set aside.

Whisk the sugar into chocolate mixture. Add the eggs, and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and stir until well incorporated. Pour into prepared pan.

For the peanut butter part, beat together all the ingredients until smooth and creamy. Now in the original recipe from Southern Grace she layered the peanut butter on top of the brownie layer and I decided to swirl it together instead. Although mine came out great, the peanut butter mixture is a bit thin, even after baking, so NEXT time I make these, I'm going to put part of the brownie mix in the dish, part of the peanut butter, swirl it around and then repeat the process on top of that first swirled layer. Just my preference after trying them simply swirled.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (I found they needed to be baked close to an hour for my preference for doneness) Cool completely before cutting. Cut in squares and serve. Enjoy, and thanks to Southern Grace for this great recipe.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

A great crockpotting blog

A friend introduced me to a great blog a few months ago. Stephanie, the blog owner, is using her crockpot every day for an entire year.

She has put up tons of great recipes. She has made whole meals at one time, entrees, side dishes, desserts, play dough...just about everything you can think of!

If you need some inspiration to use your crockpot, just go check out her blog.

Click here to go to her blog.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Dogs and Skunks = BAD

I housesit for two adorable dogs. They have a dog door so I don't notice too much when they are in or out. Last night I was eating dinner when I noticed the one dog "Latke" had been outside for a long time. All of a sudden my dad and I smelled the awful smell of skunk. I called Latke in right away and while he didn't smell like roadkill skunk, he smelled gross.

I called their owner and asked what to do. He gave me the name of his groomer. I called today and gee, they are closed on Monday. I have to live with a stinky dog for another day. Hopefully I can drop off Latke first thing tomorrow morning. I feel sorry for the little guy!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

HomeStudio's etsy shop

I recently entered a contest for a Scrabble Tile Pendant from Mark and Stefani's etsy shop.

They have tons of awesome pendants including ones for Halloween and ones from the "Twilight" series.

They are having a free shipping sale right now but I don't know how long it will last.

To check out their shop, click here.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Tupperware Vent N Serve containers

I LOVE Tupperware's vent n serve (formerly heat n serve) containers. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes so there is a container for your every cooking/storing need.

They are microwave safe so they don't get ruined (LOOK GROSS) after using them multiple times. They also have neat little red things (vents?) that you can pull out so the closed container doesn't "explode" like it does with cheap imitation Tupperware.

To view this product and other Tupperware products, check out Audrey's Tupperware site by clicking here.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Dirty Sexy Money contest

Since I ran out of time to blog yesterday and today is normally a day off, I will do yesterday's blog post today...

I love the TV show "Dirty Sexy Money". The premiere of season 2 on Wednesday night was really good!!!! If anyone hasn't seen it, TheHDRoom is giving away the box set of season 1. You can enter every day just by filling out the form on the website.

Click here to go to the contest entry page.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Crescent roll churros

I actually found this recipe on startsampling.com. I made and it my family and I really enjoyed it.

Just four ingredients in a speedy version of the crispy Mexican classic, cinnamon sugar-sprinkled churros.

Prep Time: 15 min
Start to Finish: 30 min
Makes: 12 churros

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted


Directions

Heat oven to 375F. In small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon; set aside. Unroll dough; separate into 4 rectangles. Press each to 6x4-inch rectangle, pressing perforations to seal.

Brush tops of 2 rectangles with melted butter; sprinkle with about half of the sugar mixture. Top each with remaining rectangle; press edges lightly. Brush tops with melted butter.

With sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut each rectangle stack lengthwise into 6 strips. Twist each strip 3 times; place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Brush tops with any remaining melted butter; sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft):No change.

Source: Pillsbury

Click here to go to the page with the recipe.