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Hormel July Grocery 101 Challenge

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Mandy

Summer break is quickly winding down for our family, so as part of my July Grocery 101 Challenge as a Hormel Extended Family Blogger, I decided a special dinner was in order for our family, as well as my parents. We rarely get to all sit down together as a family and have a meal, but this past Sunday we were all able to come together and enjoy a delicious meal prepared with Hormel products.

Our Meal Plan:

Pepperoni & Cheese Tray (Appetizer featuring Hormel Pepperoni slices)

Pineapple Glazed Pork Tenderloin (Hormel Always Tender Pork Loin)

Cajun Ranch Potatoes

Black-Eyed Peas

Pasta Salad (made with Hormel Bacon Bits)

NAVIGATING THE GROCERY STORE:

I’m a firm believer of making lists when it comes to our grocery shopping and having a meal plan in place. Not only does it make it a whole lot quicker to get in and out of the store, but it also keeps me from spending unnecessarily, thus saving our family money. A great thing about most of the Hormel products I used for this challenge was that they were all conveniently located near one another in the meat department at our local store.

MEAL PREP:

It’s hard to wait on great food that is still cooking, so naturally having an appetizer is great way to stave off the hunger pains while having wait. I became hooked on Hormel Pepperoni slices several months back when I did an earlier review for Hormel. Added with some Colby/Monterrey cheese cubes, this make a very quick and easy appetizer sure to please just about anyone.

Our family loves pork loin, but the usual ways of making it were getting a little bit boring. I decided to be adventurous and try a new recipe called Pineapple Glazed Pork Loin, which I found at Cooks.com, and used a Hormel Always Tender Pork Loin. The recipe was easy enough to follow and the end result was an amazingly juicy and tender pork loin with a sweet hint of pineapple. It instantly became a favorite and one we will cook again.

*TIP*: If you decide to try this recipe, I would recommend doubling the amount of glaze for the pork loin. While this was really good, we unanimously decided a bit more pineapple glaze would have been wonderful.

Next up on the menu was Cajun Ranch Potatoes. I normally make this recipe without the Cajun seasoning, but decided to try a little just to kick it up a notch. You could also throw in some Hormel Real Bacon Crumbles to add a little extra flavor to these. Yes, I thought of that *after* I had already made them.

For additional sides, we had fresh black-eyed peas (which can be seasoned with Hormel bacon, *hint* *hint*) and pasta salad, which I used Hormel Bacon Bits in.

END RESULTS:

It was so nice to sit down with our entire little immediate family and catch up on what’s been going on and ponder some big changes on the horizon for us. I’m so appreciative to Hormel for providing a gift card, products, and coupons to cover the expenses of this meal. For more great recipes using Hormel products, please visit www.hormelfoodsrecipes.com/

CONNECT WITH HORMEL:

Visit Hormel Food Recipes on Facebook at www./facebook.com/HFrecipes and check out their summer grilling promotion where you can enter to win a brand new grill!

Melted Crayon Craft Makes Coloring Easy for Little Hands

Posted on July 26, 2011January 1, 2020 by Mandy

On Sunday I started going through and organizing the teaching stuff I used in the past and came across a sad bag of old, broken crayons. I had run across several clever blog posts online about recycling broken crayons instead of throwing them away. I had always meant to give it a try, but just never found the time. Today I made the time to make this melted crayon craft and I am so glad I did because my son and I had a great time doing it.

Melted Crayon Craft

WHAT YOU NEED:

Crayons- you will have to peel the paper off of them.

Cupcake tin or candy molds- Any shape will do. I promise if you use your good tin cupcake pans the melted crayons WILL pop out easily and cleanup will be a snap. (I worried about this, too.)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Peel the paper from each crayon. It really helps to use old, broken ones that already have the paper off, but be prepared to peel if not.

Break the crayons into small pieces and fill each cupcake tin with a handful or so. You may prefer to use more or less depending on the size of the tin you are using and how thick or thin you prefer them.

Place the tin into a preheated oven that is 150 degrees. “Bake” your crayons for 20 minutes. May need more or less time depending on mold size.

After removing from the oven, place the tin in the freezer until crayons harden. It took our batch about 15-20 minutes. Once hardened, the crayons will easily pop out, but be forewarned…they are very delicate and may crack easily. We lost a couple along the way.

Ideally, I wish I had made these a little thicker, but I may go back and add a couple of them together in a tin and melt them over again. Either way, my son was amazed and thinks I’m pretty cool! These would make great little birthday favors tied in a small clear cellophane bag with a cute ribbon. This melted crayon craft was super easy and one we will definitely try again. You could even use some specifically shaped cooking trays to make these even more cute and fun!

Weatheready Compact Rechargeable LED Light

Posted on July 24, 2011July 24, 2011 by Mandy

With hurricane season quickly approaching, having a plan in place before it becomes necessary is very important if you live anywhere near coastal waters. Although where I live is about a 4 hour drive from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, even our town in Northwest Mississippi was affected by Hurricane Katrina. We had damaging winds and power outages, but it was nothing compared to what our coastal neighbors endured. Since then, I always take any storm warning more seriously.

A flashlight is one of the most important items you can have in your emergency preparedness kit. However, with an adventurous little boy in the house, our flashlights always seemed to find their way into his little hands to play with. I’ve been sorry more than once during the night when we have lost power and I had nothing but the light from my cell phone to help while I fumbled around for candles. While candles will do in a pinch, they’re not the safest mode of light because of the risk of fire.

The Energizer Weatheready Compact Rechargeable LED Light has been a reassuring addition to our home. The flashlight simply plugs into an outlet and remains charged until you need to use it. The amazing thing about this flashlight is that when the electricity goes off, the light immediately comes on while it’s plugged in so you can easily find it. I’ve plugged ours in an outlet right beside our bed so it will be readily available when we need it. It definitely makes me feel a little more confident should an emergency occur.

ENERGIZER WEATHEREADY COMPACT RECHARGEABLE FLASHLIGHT:

* Three bright white LEDs

* Recharges hundreds of times with embedded NiMH battery

* Turns on when the power goes out

* 2 mode slide switch, high and low

* MSRP: $15.99

PREPARE YOUR FAMILY NOW:

– Develop a family plan so that everyone knows what to do in weather emergencies

– Know where you will go

– Secure your home whenever you have time to prepare

– Have a pet plan to ensure the well-being of your animals

For more tips on preparing for weather emergencies, please visit FEMA and also consider adding the Energizer Weatheready Compact Rechargeable LED flashlight to your emergency kit.

Yellowstone Bees

Posted on July 22, 2011July 25, 2011 by Mandy

I love beauty and skincare products. There’s ample proof of that in all of my drawers in the bathroom and even under the bathroom sink. If it’s new and promises results I need, I’ll try it. As I’m aging (gah….I hate admitting that one!), I’m looking for products that are more healthy and natural. My skin has also become a lot more sensitive with age. This naturally limits what I can use.

Yellowstone Bees offers body care, bath care, and a home and gift line of products that are pure and natural, made with some of the best things found in nature, such as chamomile, lavender, sunflower, and beeswax. They also offer a great Ingredients Library right on their website so you can read about exactly what goes into any of their products you use.

Given the opportunity to review a few of their products, I tried out the Tea Tree Lip Balm, the Chamomile Lavender Aromatherapy Mist, the Lavender Hand & Body Cream, and the Geranium Ylang Ylang Herbal Soap.

Tea Tree Lip Balm: This was probably my favorite product out of the bunch. My lips stay dry and it’s hard to find a lip balm that doesn’t wear off so quickly and actually hydrates your lips instead of just coating them with a waxy film. This lip balm did the trick and had a great smell to it.

Chamomile Lavender Aromatherapy Mist: This did smell good, but it’s not a product I often use in our home to begin with. However, it is great when lightly spritzed onto your pillows before bedtime.

Lavender Hand & Body Cream: I like this cream. I really like it. One of the things I hate about body creams is that most of them leave me feeling very greasy. This didn’t, so I’m sold. It also had a great smell.

Geranium Ylang Ylang Herbal Soap: Do you know who loved this soap the most in our home? My husband. He was so impressed by it he even asked me what it was. This from a man who does not care what shampoo or soap he uses. The soap had a great, subtle smell that even my son loved. I loved it because it didn’t leave a sticky film feeling after bathing like some soaps do.

Overall, I was very pleased with Yellowstone Bees’ products. It was great to actually be able to use these products without fear that it would cause an unpleasant skin reaction. If you have sensitive skin and are looking for great products that meet that need, Yellowstone Bees is definitely worth checking out.

This Is What Clyde Thinks About Thursday

Posted on July 21, 2011July 22, 2011 by Mandy

Graffiti Artist

Posted on July 20, 2011July 23, 2011 by Mandy

We have an anonymous local graffiti artist in our town. I’m pretty sure most graffiti artists remain anonymous so as not to get caught, right? In any case, ours leaves the letters above on everything around town. Buildings, signs, even in concrete-bottomed ditches. The “art” has made the local paper and this person has yet to be caught after many, many months. I’m not sure exactly what the letters actually mean, but it seems like every week or so I discover them on something new around town.

May I Help You?

Posted on July 19, 2011July 23, 2011 by Mandy

E.B. earned his first allowance last week from my mother. Mom’s back has been giving her trouble, so E.B. has been “helping” her pick up things around her home and be an extra set of hands and feet for her. He did this all week not expecting a thing, and on Saturday she presented him with $5. His reaction? “I’m rich!! I’m rich, I tell ya!!”.

Ever since he has become quite helpful around our home. He’s offering to pick up his toys instead of being told, insisted on helping me fill up the windshield wiper reservoir in the car with water, and really going out of his way to make things easy on me.

And while I love this new attitude, he now asks if I will give him a dollar after every task he completes. Smart kid has figured it out. I’ve promised him at the end of the week he will get his allowance, but I also want him to understand that he will be expected to do age-appropriate things around our home and not because he is getting paid to, but that it will be him taking responsibility for himself and his things. It’s a delicate balance. But I know for sure that I want him to grow into a self-sufficient young man who takes responsibility for himself and picks up after himself.

Should he choose to marry, his future wife will thank me someday.

Free & Cheap Kindle Books

Posted on July 18, 2011June 15, 2012 by Mandy

kindle

Since downloading the Kindle to my Windows phone and home computer, I’ve found a lot of places on the internet that list Kindle books free and cheap, but I don’t have hours to thoroughly look over these websites to find what interests me. Assuming you do, all you have to do is a search for “free Kindle books” to find several of these websites, but if you’re pressed for time like me, you might be interested in receiving quick updates through Facebook from pages created to put the word out about free and cheap Kindle books available on a daily basis. Simply “like” the page and start receiving free book offerings daily.

Daily Cheap Reads– One of the best. Lists free and bargain titles. Nothing over $5. This is easily my favorite page to learn about free Kindle books.

Free Books for Kindle– Always a great selection. Makes it their mission to find the best ones for everyone.

Ereader News Today– Updated daily and also has a link to its website with over a million free e-reader titles.

With any of these sites, it’s always best to double check to make sure the books offered are still free before you download. You may also run across some duplicate content, but I have to say that these Facebook pages do a great job of finding books that offer something for everyone and I rarely run across the same things on them. It saves me time (and money!) and I still feel like I’m not missing out on any free Kindle books.