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Free K-Cup Sample

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Homemade Croutons

On Pinterest, I'd found a recipe for home made croutons. I followed the recipe to a T for my first batch, but both my husband and I thought they were very bland. So, in the many batches we've made since (yeah, ours are that good), we've altered the recipe to make them much more bold flavored!

What You'll Need:

1/2 stick of Butter

Bread, cubed

Butter Flavored Cooking Spray

Seasoning: Garlic, Onion, Parmesan, Spicy etc... just one needed per batch!

Cut up bread into whatever sized croutons you like. I wouldn't go too small, but they don't have to be huge. I think mine were about 1 inch long x .5 inch wide x.5 inch thick... but again, your preference. We've used Panera's Sundried Tomato Bread, and French Bread, and also some Sesame from Panera. Any kind will work really, though I haven't tried sandwich sliced bread.

Either leave the sit out on the counter for ONE night, or bake them in the oven at 300 for 10 minutes so they can dry out a bit.

Melt the butter in a pan on MEDIUM heat (don't ever change the heat setting from medium!), and sprinkle some of your chosen seasoning in. Just a light dusting over the top of the melted butter. This will absorb into your croutons... the more seasoning you use, the stronger the flavor!

Let the bread sit in the pan in a single layer. Check one or two pieces ever few minutes to see if they've started to brown on the other side. Once they brown, flip them over. Just before you flip them, spray them with the Butter Cooking Spray and sprinkle on another dusting of seasoning.You'll almost need to do this piece by piece to not burn any. You don't have to toast the exact opposite side of the crouton, just make sure that you're toasting a side not already toasted!

Once the other side has browned, take the off the heat. They can sit in the pan to cool and will stay good and crunchy. After they have cooled, put them in an air-tight storage bag or container. 

 My husband and I have found this to be a great way to rescue bread that might be tasting a little old or dried out. They last for weeks after you make them, so make several batches to have on hand! We will never buy croutons again!

No more lost pacifier!

The best time saver that I've found yet... hanging the pacifier on the wall. No more middle of the night searching for that teeny tiny little thing buried in the blanket, or under a stuffie, or between the crib mattress and the slats.

I just took a plastic stick-on hook, put it on the wall (well out of baby reach) and viola'! An instant pacifier holder! I can put two on there, and in the middle of the night, grab one off of there for instant quiet baby, then do a quick sweep of the crib for the 'missing' pacifier. If I find it, great, I hang it up, if not, I have another one on the hook for later!

So, name brand is always better huh?

Guess this will be a product review! My first one!

My husband and I have no problem using 'off brand' diapers. Lets face it, it's something they pee into, why spend extra $$ if they work right? So, we've been using Parent's Choice (Walmart) and Up and Up (Target) for our 2 girls. 

This weekend, P&G had a diaper changing station set up at our county fair, and they were also handing out free diapers. So, we got about 15 (very nice of them!) in various sizes. We put my 19 month old in a size 6 Pampers last night. She normally wears size 5, but, sometimes wets through them. We thought "hey, won't have to change the sheets in the morning!"

Boy, were we wrong! She was completely drenched. Her pajamas were soaked, sheets, pillow, blanket and stuffed animals. ALL, soaked. Even when she wets through normally, it's never this bad.

So, my overall rating? Not the best! Now of course, that's just my family. I know plenty of other people who have the opposite issues! And my daughter usually drinks 2 bottles or sippies through the night, as many toddlers don't.

Rainbow Iceburgs

My older daughter, who just turned 19 months, gets bored with her bath toys fairly easily. So, to mix things up, I tried an ice cube trick I'd seen on another website. So, I gave it a shot. Filled an ice cube tray with water, added food coloring drops to each section, and mixed them up with a knife.

I was so excited to try them out!

 I dumped the whole tray into the tub, so she'd have variety and get the 'excitement factor' full tilt... She did love them, but I learned a few thing:

1. They melt really fast in a warm bath, so next time I'll either add them 2 at a time so the experience lasts longer, or freeze big cubes in a tupperware container.

2. If you do all the colors in the box, like I did, by the time they melt, it looks like someone poured a can of coke into the bath... gross! So, I'll probably just do colors that will mix attractively next time. Blue and Green cubes OR Red and Blue cubes etc. 

However, at the end of it all... they were a hit!

German Chocolate Cake... with a Southern twist!

In this world, I have a few things that make me smile, whether I'm sad, angry,  having a night with my family, or out with my girlfriends. One of those never fail things, like most women I know, is chocolate. So, it seemed fitting that my first recipe post, was about chocolate!

My husband's favorite cake is German Chocolate Cake, complete with the gooey pecan and coconut frosting. I try to make it for him for his birthday every year, and just to be nice through out the year. 

A couple of years ago, we were visiting his family in super south Arkansas. A family friend brought over a cake that he instantly fell in love with. It was a large thin chocolate sheet cake that this sweet woman had poked holes in with a fork, then poured Sweetened Condensed Milk over. It was incredibly rich,... and oh so yummy! 

Last week, just to let him know how much I appreciate his hard work, I decided to make a combination of these two cakes. With my 2u2 (2 babies under the age of 2) girls, making things from scratch just doesn't happen much, so I used cake from a box and frosting from a can (don't tell Martha Stewart!). I baked the cake, then used chopsticks to poke holes in the cake, then poured Sweetened Condensed Milk over it, spread out with a spatula. I microwaved the frosting for 30 seconds so that it would be easier to spread because the SC Milk had made the top of the cake super moist and sticky.

My husband loved it, so did my 18 month old daughter! 

The SC Milk kept the cake super moist and gooey till we finished it (which wasn't long)!