Even Better.

I mentioned a while ago about my excitement for a new cookbook! I was counting down for the arrival of a cookbook from my favorite food blogger from Dinner A Love Story. 

I follow this blog and I love it. Always so many great ideas and stories that go together with the concept of "It all begins at the dinner table". Something I truly believe and love. Like Jenny, I believe that no matter what happens in your day, the best time to talk and regroup with your family is at the dinner table. Since I was a little girl, no matter where we were going that evening or who was busy with something, we always sat down together as a family at the dinner table. Now that I have a house of my own, my hubby and I follow that tradition and we always sit down at the table, turn the tv/radio or whatever off and eat. 

 My parents had also started a little dinner time ritual of saying our hi & low points for the day. So as we are all sitting down to dinner, we go around the table and say our hi point for the day, and our low point. You have to have one of each & you can't use the same one as anyone else. It is a fun way to get a quick idea of what the family has done that day. 

 Anyways, back to my excitement! I have been keeping an eye on Jenny's book signings but none local just yet! So... my hubby got me this awesome cookbook and today he surprised me with something even better. A bookplate for in my cookbook signed by Jenny Rosenstrach! Could it get any better??? No! Jenny even wrote a little message...

If you haven't checked out her blog and cookbook yet, you can check it out here.

Fruit Projects

My niece and nephew love their playdates with Aunt C. I am always searching Pinterest for more ideas of projects/crafts and other super simple ideas for things to do with them. 

 I had found this on Pinterest a while ago and when my niece was here for her playdate, we decided to call our project a fruit project. So from then on, she always wants to make a fruit project. So I have pinned a few too many projects! 

 This week's project was a caterpillar. I love these fruit projects because they usually involve foods that I already have, usually semi healthy and they can help make it and eat it for easy clean up! Now I didn't have the pretzel sticks for this one so we had to improvise. But Bananas, Peanut Butter, Grapes and Mini Chocolate Chips. So simple. 

I found this over at Little Page Turners and M. loved it! 

Feel free to share any great fruit projects you have made! 

Christmas Lights

As I mentioned yesterday, we put up our Christmas lights this week on the front of the house. YAY. I have to be honest and say that we isn't really the right word to describe who put up the lights. I am the one who really wants to put the lights on the house so I thought I would get out on the porch roof to help put the lights up on the roof and up the peak in the middle. 

It seemed like a good idea even though last year ended the same way but as I am trying to stand on the ladder on the porch roof to climb up onto the roof, my legs may have been a little shaky, and I decided it just wasn't going to be possible. We had to call for backup haha. So my father in law had to help my hubby finish the lights! 

 So we (my hubby, father in law and I) got the lights up! 

G perfectly cozy inside waiting for us! 

 Now I feel like I am ready to watch a little Christmas Vacation or Home Alone! Two of my favorite Christmas movies. What are your favorites?

Freebie Friday

 Free with coupons at Giant Eagle! 

My free sample pack from P&G and my Dial Foaming Hand Soap! 

What did you get this week? 

Torani Flavored Syrup Review and Coupon

Hot Chocolate and Hot Coffee are perfect holiday drinks, especially on a cozy day like today. Do you find yourself spending a little extra each week at Starbucks or any other coffee shops? Would you like to try to make your favorites at home? 

Now with Torani, maybe you can. 

After all the food and shopping (online for me, from the comfort of my own couch) a good hot cup of cocoa is perfect! Thanks to SheSpeaks Blogger Program I was able to try these flavors and share with my friends and family and to review a great new product this holiday season, Torani Flavored Syrup. I got Peppermint and Hazelnut, perfect holiday flavors! With all the great flavors the possibilities are endless! If you would like to try Torani, you can shop here and use code shespeaks for 10% off your order! 

Stop back and let me know what flavor you ordered! 

 These are delicious when added to hot chocolate and/or coffee. You can see recipes on the Torani website by clicking here.  I keep getting the idea of a hot chocolate bar at a holiday party. Pinterest may have been the culprit for that inspiration. 

Now just have to decide which flavor to try first!

Head over to Coupons.Com for a $1.00 off Torani Flavored Syrup coupon, 

and use zipcode 77477 if needed.

 

Dial Foaming Hand Soap Review

Getting ready for the holidays is one of my favorite things to do this time of year. I love everything about the holidays and all the traditions. My family was and is always big on tradition. My hubby and I have always put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving and then finished the other decorating that weekend as well. I figure I might as well enjoy the tree and decorations as long as I can. 

 This past week kicked off the holidays for us. Hanging the icicle lights on the front of the house, (that is a story for another day) the tree is up and the house is decorated. I don't normally fill every nook and cranny with decorations but I do love to add a little holiday cheer to everything! When I was asked to review Dial Foaming Hand Soap with the holiday prints, I jumped at the chance! Foaming hand soap for some reason makes me feel like my hands are getting cleaner haha, not sure what it is, but the foam just makes me think of clean. The scent is great too! 

Who doesn't love a little holiday cheer added to their hand soap? 

Love seeing packages like this on my doorstep from Purex and Dial. 

Everything decorated including the kitchen sink! 

Isn't this cute? 

Have you tried Dial's Foaming Hand Soap yet? What's your favorite hand soap? 

**"Dial provided me a free sample of their Holiday Foaming Hand Soap so I could review them. However, all of the opinions expressed here are my own."**

Free Photo Calendar from Shutterfly

Hurry over to Shutterfly and enter the code CALENDAR2013 to get your free Shutterfly Photo Calendar. This offer is only good until Friday! 

I have mentioned a few times before how much I love Shutterfly and their products but I love them even more when they are free! 

 Have fun creating your calendar! 

25% cash back on Thanksgiving Turkey.

I just earned 25% cash back on the purchase of our 21 lb Thanksgiving turkey! Did you? If you haven't signed up for the Endorse app yet, you can check it out here and sign up. Endorse is a great app for quickly earning cash back on your everyday purchases such as gas and milk. All you do is snap a picture of your receipt and upload it, it's that easy. 

 If you are signed up, make sure you upload your receipt to get your 25% back.

 As I mentioned before, I have already earned over $20.00 cash back this time around, and before the relaunch I had earned almost $400.00! 

 Plus if you sign up and refer your friends, you can earn $1.00 per referral. 

 You can sign up here with my referral link or if you prefer you can just go to Endorse.com. 

 

 Have you earned any cash back yet? 

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Granola bars are something I love but honestly have never made. I can't believe I have never made them before because they are so easy! My sister in law recently shared a yummy recipe for granola bars that looks healthy and delicious. Since I didn't have the ingredients on hand and had already been to the store in the past few days, I decided to make a different recipe. I wanted to try something I knew my hubby would like. He isn't a big fan of the dried fruit (which I love) and he loves anything peanut butter. So I found a Peanut Butter Granola Bar recipe and thought I would give it a try. 

 I made these and I thought they were yummy! Healthier than the store bought version which I love. I know they aren't the perfect 'healthy' ingredients but to me, as long as they weren't all store bought, they were perfect! 

5 Ingredient 

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

 (12-16 granola squares)

4 cups rolled oats

2 tablespoons chia seeds  I didn't have these. 

1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped

3/4 cup natural peanut butter, melted

1/2 cup brown rice syrup (I used honey!)

 I will say I may need to add a little more of the wet ingredients because they turned out a little dry. All in all they were yummy. 

 Now off to find a few more granola bar recipes. 

Do you have any you love? Feel free to share. 

Fresh Picked Today.

After a great lunch date with my Sister today, I just had to stop at Freedom Farms farm market and show my Mom the market. As I have mentioned before we are big supporters of the local farmer. This market has a great selection of pretty much everything you could want farm fresh. I had already stopped this week at the smaller Market that is closer to us, so I didn't need much. Just wanted to show Mom the market. 

I picked up some carrots that were picked fresh today! I used the carrots tonight with the Turkey Rolls I made for supper. They were yummy! I also cut some up for my hubby's lunch tomorrow. 

 We spoke with Dan King, from the Farm Kings tv show on GAC who is a part of the King family that runs this great market. The King family recently brought out the 2013 CSA program and offered it to their customers. I was curious about how the program works and Dan was happy to explain it. 

 Basically you buy your "share" in the farm from one of two packages. They give you a card like a credit card with your store credit for the next 6 months, you can redeem your weekly credit at any of their locations, Freedom Farms, The Market at New Ken or their local farmers markets at a discount. They will have the CSA member price and a regular price. Sort of like a VIP discount. This program sounds great to me! 

You can sign up until May 30, 2013. 

Becoming a Freedom Farms CSA Member Means:



1. Supporting your local farmer & local agriculture

 

2. Reducing the distance between you and your food,

cutting down on carbon emissions and energy waste



3. Improving your personal health by eating the most fresh,

local, and nutritious food available



4. Keeping local money in the local economy



5. Saving money while increasing the value of what you’re bringing home



6. Exclusive members-only discounts and events throughout the season



7. Access to an unparalleled variety of products including baked goods,

local meats, eggs, fruits, vegetables, & more, at no extra cost



8. Having the freedom to choose!



 You can check out more information on the program here. 

 Have you ever participated in a CSA before? I would love to hear your thoughts.