Purex Baby Review, Giveaway & Sweepstakes.

****The Winner was chosen with Random.org for 
2 FREE product coupons for Purex Baby Detergent is:

Jennifer Marie 

Please respond to my email within 48 hours to claim your prize.



***Giveaway ends Monday January 7th @ 12:00pm. Thank you.

Purex has developed some great products in the past and as a Purex Insider, I get the opportunity to try them out and share my thoughts with you. I love trying new products and I love it when I find out that they work great! 

I make my own laundry detergent at less than $1.00 a gallon but I always keep an eye out for a great deal and on a great product also. 

 Purex Baby detergent is to be gentle on baby's skin but tough on baby's messes. Although I can't say I have tested this product on baby clothes, (just the hubby and I for now :-) ) I can say that it works great on our towels and other laundry. I am a believer in this product after trying Purex Free & Clear detergent. Love the scent and that this detergent is safe for all washers from high efficiency to top load washers. Any product that is tough on baby stains or any stains for that matter, while still gentle on skin, is a winner in my book. 

Quick recap:

• Sensitive for baby's skin
• Hypoallergenic
• Dermatologist-tested formula
• Bright, white clean with gentle baby-inspired fragrance

Now for the fun part.

 I am giving away Purex Baby to my readers! 

To enter share my giveaway on your Facebook page and stop back here to leave a comment and let me know that you did. 

Good Luck. 

Plus, you can enter the Purex Baby sweepstakes in addition to my giveaway by clicking here. 

Congratulations....

The winners of my Purex Plus Oxi giveaway have been announced... Was it you? 

Find out here. 

Christmas Money.

A few ways to earn extra money for Christmas or anytime. 

I have been a freebie fanatic and deal finder for a long time, saving money anytime with the help of coupon blogs, deal sites and cash back websites but my favorite thing about it is sharing the deals with my friends and family. The holiday season is the best time to earn cash back and deals with so many companies pushing for sales. One question I always get asked is how do you get all the cash back? 

I thought I would do a post just on the ways to earn cash back and a few extras. All of these include my referral link but if you prefer to sign up on your own just search the site in Google. All of these sites are completely free to sign up! 

 My favorite cash back apps:

Endorse (cash back on everyday purchases such as milk, ice cream ect...)  

Ibotta - (Earn $5.00 for signing up) everyday purchases. 

My favorite sites for cash back on your online shopping purchases:

Ownza ~ great site for cash back especially Amazon. 

I can send you an email invite if you would like to sign up!

Ebates

ShopAtHome

Sites to earn a little extra cash just for using their search engine:

Swagbucks - You can redeem these for Amazon giftcards. 

Daily deal sites:

SneakPeeq Get $10.00 today for signing up! 

CBS Local

Groupon

Living Social - Get $5.00 for signing up! 

Zulily

Totsy

Great deal site for our furry friends:

DoggyLoot

Let me know if I missed any great sites for deals and cash back! 

7 Days & Homemade Dog Treats

Still counting down each day & finishing all the last minute preparations for the holidays! I am usually ahead of schedule and save the baking for the last week. 

 I have seen several different recipes for homemade dog treats on Pinterest so I thought I could make a batch or two Ginger (our chocolate lab mix) and a batch to use as gifts for our furry nephews! As I am typing I realize that all of our siblings have boys! 

Well, boys of the furry variety anyways! :-) I don't have a dog bone shaped cookie cutter just yet so I just made them round! I don't think the dogs will care. Now that I have them baked, I am off to make the gift tags. I will share the finished product soon! 

I think Ginger, Duke, Hank & Titan will be happy pups this Christmas! 

 The recipe choices are endless but I narrowed it down to these two. 

 The first is a super easy two ingredient recipe. 

Homemade Dog Treats

•  2 cups of whole wheat flour 
• 2 jars of babyfood (4 oz jars) 

  Mix the ingredients together, roll out on a lightly floured surface and cut to desired shape.  Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 

Bake at 350 for 20 - 25 minutes. 

Pea-Mutt Butter Dog Cookies

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1 1/4 cups hot water
  
  
  
  
    Mix the dry ingredients together then add the water & peanut butter, roll out on a lightly floured surface and cut to desired shape.  Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 
  
  
  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. 
  
  

Get Ready...

Get ready for a new giveaway... 

9 Days & Snickerdoodles.

Snickerdoodles. Yum. 

Short and sweet today, I hope everyone has a great weekend! This time of year tends to be so busy, be sure to take some time to sit back, relax and enjoy this holiday season with your families. 

 We will be sitting back to enjoy one of my favorite funny holiday movies. The Griswald's Christmas Vacation lol. It may not be the best movie but it sure is a good laugh! It is a holiday tradition for us now! :-) 

 What are some of your favorite holiday traditions? 

10 Days & Chocolate Covered Rice Krispie Peanut Butter Balls.

The countdown to Christmas continues. 10 days until Christmas = baking cookies! 

Pinterest is full of new recipes and I have made it a goal of mine to actually try some of them! Today I decided to try these chocolate covered Rice Krispie peanut butter balls. I found the recipe on Pinterest and you can also find it on Praying Twice by clicking here. I adapted the recipe a little and used dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. 

Let me just say, they are yummy! 

Before the chocolate. 

Getting ready. 

All done! Trying not to eat them all at once! 

Chocolate Covered Rice Krispie Peanut Butter Balls ~ Yum!

You will need the following:

2 cups peanut butter

3 cups Rice Krispies

3 cups of powdered sugar

¼ cup melted butter.

2 bags chocolate chips (Any type of chocolate melted, I used dark chocolate chips, about 2 bags.)

I put all the ingredients into the bowl of my Kitchen Aid mixer and mixed. Then formed the dough into balls and dipped in the melted chocolate. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and pop the sheet in the freezer to cool them.   

17 Days & Burnt Cookies.

As I promised yesterday... 

 Burnt Cookies and the pizza delivery guy. You may be wondering why burnt cookies and the pizza delivery guy are mentioned in the same sentence. 

 Let me rewind a bit, growing up I would bake cookies at home with my Mom, Sister and sometimes both Grams. All of us together baking and talking gives me so many great memories, as well as some funny ones. 

One year we were baking and time gets away from you sometimes, so we ended up burning a bunch of the chocolate chip cookies. I don't remember them being completely black but I remember the bottoms were pretty burnt. I am not positive how old I was but I am guessing around 7 or maybe 8. 

 The pizza delivery guy comes to the door and my Dad jokingly says, give him all the burnt ones. Mom always gives all the delivery guys/girls a little gift around the holidays! Well, I took my Dad's advice, not knowing any better at that age. I gave the pizza guy the burnt cookies. 

 I am sure he just loved that little holiday surprise. 

Getting ready for some cookie baking! 

 Do you have any funny holiday baking stories? 

18 Days....

We don't have the Elf on a Shelf just yet but I love the fun of the countdown to Christmas! I am making my list and checking it twice just for what kind of cookies I want to make. I don't make anything fancy, just the classics. My Mom & Sister & I used to bake every year with my Gram. Sometimes both Grams. Mom had always bought in bulk when it came to sugar, flour, salt and powdered sugar. So much so that she put everything in a coffee can size container and we lined them up on our table/counter or prep space. I will always remember one particular year when we were all mixing up batches of cookies and the containers were lined on the counter. One of us, (not mentioning any names) just happened to us salt instead of sugar in one batch. Yes SALT! We all got a good laugh out of that when my Dad took a bit into the first cookie. :-) I will have to tell you about another cookie baking memory, involving burnt cookies but I am going to save that one for tomorrow. 

We usually baked a bunch of classic recipes and way too many haha. 

 Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Gingersnaps

Cocoa Cookie Sticks

Soft Spiced Cutout Cookies

 

I am sure there are a few more, Mom you will have to help me out on that one?? Oh and those Damn Nut Rolls. Yep, that's what they are called. This was my great Gram's recipe and every year she made them they weren't just nut rolls, they were oh those Damn Nut Rolls. Of all the Christmas cookies we made, those are the ones I remember most. 

 For this year, I am thinking Snickerdoodles, Spiced Cutouts and maybe Chocolate Chip. We started a little baking last week when Mom & I had a playdate with M. 

What kind of cookies do you make? 

Sunday Family Dinners and A Fruit Project.

Our Sunday family dinner this week consists of a Pampered Chef Open House. Tis the season for busy schedules and a lot of parties so this week we won't have our usual family dinner. Like I said before, it seems to be a biweekly event or close to it, especially the busier times of the year. December is a busier time usually so anyways, this weekend the guys are hunting (usually) and the girls are cooking/baking. 

My Mom is a Pampered Chef consultant and loves to cook and bake. It is a perfect fit for her. I love the idea of keeping it quick and simple (especially weeknights) just to be sure the family can be together at the dinner table each night. The big one is always make a meatloaf in the microwave in about 20 minutes using the Deep Dish Baker. I love mine! Plus always trying to find quick and easy things that we can make on a busy day ect... At the Open House, we will all be trying dips and more, including this tasty Hot & Cheesy Bruschetta Dip. 

I will leave you with another simple "fruit project". 

 Apple Fish. 

I used...

Apple Slices

Raisins

Celery 

Carrots 

Yogurt (just to hold the eyes on) 

The Countdown Begins... Grinch Smoothies.

Finally it's here, December 1st! I am not normally the person who says "I can't wait for..." I truly believe in living in the moment and enjoying each day as if it were your last. But for some reason, this past month, I have been counting down for December and everything Christmas! It may have something to do with the fact that I have been watching too many holiday movies and searching Pinterest for too many holiday ideas! The tree is up, house is all decorated, and now it's time for everything Christmas. 

I recently won a giftcard from FedEx and American Express for Small Business Saturday to promote shopping local and supporting small businesses. This was in addition to the promo American Express offered (if you "shopped small/local" on Nov. 24th and used your American Express card you could earn a credit of $25.00 back on your statement) so I was searching online for where to use it! More on that in a minute. 

There are so many great local small businesses around us but I figured I would shop for something we actually need. That is exactly what I got, $25.00 worth of veggies, fruit, eggs and milk from The Market. 

Counting down to Christmas, I love the idea of everything holiday/Christmas themed. Today was a Grinch smoothie. Yum. Everyone's version of a smoothie is different, as is mine every time I make them. They are never the same, usually just whatever fruit I have that needs used up, or what I bought through the summer and threw in the freezer. It also depends on what yogurt I have fresh or frozen and what I am hungry for. I also try to add some ground flax seed or some oatmeal to it too. 

The "Grinch" Smoothie

2 slices of Pineapple (I had mine in the freezer from this summer, you could use a handful or two of chunks instead)

1 big bunch/handful of fresh spinach (perfect for the green grinch color. 

1/2 cup or 3/4 plain yogurt. I used Stoneyfield Organic today. 

About 1/4 cup Oatmeal (give or take a little) 

Feel free to add a little aguave nectar, honey or your sweetener of choice. 

Mine was sweet enough with the pineapple.  

Just toss it all in the blender and there you go, you have yourself a Grinch Smoothie. 

The great thing about smoothies is you can pretty much add or replace anything you would like. Like I said, mine is different every time. 

As I mentioned above, I also shopped local for Small Business Saturday and took advantage of the free $25.00 credit on my American Express. I searched on the site for local businesses participating and I found our local bookstore Read's Ink on the list. My Mom & I decided to stop in and check out their selection. So many great books but I was on the hunt for a specific cookbook, the new Rachael Ray My Year in Meals! The owners kindly ordered it for me! I just picked it up this week! Now I have to decide which recipe to try first! 

What is your favorite holiday theme food/drink/snack?