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Redbox Code 09.15.08

Monday, September 15th, 2008

Today’s free code for a Redbox movie is 2THS48. This code is good for one free movie and you can use it until midnight tonight. Enjoy a free family movie together!

Side Notes:

– If you want to rent more than one movie for free, bring more than one credit/debit card. You can use the same promotional code, you just will need different cards to charge it to. The charge will be zero as long as you return your movie on time for the next day.

– When entering in your free movie code, you need to enter it FIRST before picking the movie. On the very first screen, click the, “Rent with Promo.” Enter in the above code and then make your selection- the amount should then total zero.

Here is an updated list of new releases:

Baby Mama
The darlings of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update are reunited. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey star in this comedy about a straightlaced and squeaky clean career woman (Fey) who, after discovering she’s infertile, hires a surrogate (Poehler) who turns out to be crass and downright crazy.

Forbidden Kingdom
It’s every kung fu obsessed teen’s dream come true (or it should be): get recruited by a band of martial artists in China and trusted on a deadly mission (in this case to rescue a character named The Monkey King). Action heroes Jet Li and Jackie Chan star.

Barbie & the Diamond Castle
This animated feature might, at first, seem like Barbie and her close friends singing songs and enjoying the meaning of true friendship. Soon, though, they find themselves having to save the Diamond Castle – and music itself! – from the evil muse Lydia!

Payback
Returning from last week, it’s a new release exclusive to redbox! When a cop-killer escapes prison after ten years, he goes straight after the family of the man who put him away – the partner of the cop he murdered. Christopher Atkins and Costas Mandylor star in this fast paced thriller.

Then She Found Me
This movie picks up in the aftermath of some pretty tough times for the main character. Her husband has left her. Her adoptive mother dies. As if that weren’t adjustment enough, her biological mother suddenly enters her life. Helen Hunt gives a great directorial debut, starring Bette Midler, Colin Firth and Matthew Broderick.

What Happens In Vegas
Forget how the saying goes — it doesn’t always stay in Vegas. Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz play young opposites who start a night in Sin City as total strangers and wake up as newlyweds. After Ashton hits big on the slots, a judge (Dennis Miller) orders them to honor their wedding vows for six months.

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Posted in Freebies | 4 Comments »

Skillet Ziti With Chicken & Broccoli

Monday, September 15th, 2008


I had several new recipes for this month’s planner that I was trying and wanted to review for you guys. This first recipe comes from the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, a favorite cookbook in my collection. The cookbook includes really great reviews on the best products and rates common cooking tools for chefs. There has not been a recipe yet that I have tried and not enjoyed!

I am a big fan of skillet dinners because you only have to dirty one pan and they come together quickly. Two of my favorites are the Skillet Penne & Sausage Supper (also from the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook) and the Cheeseburger Pasta Skillet Dish. These dishes are great for busy weeknights and make great leftovers for the next day’s lunches.

Skillet Ziti With Chicken & Broccoli

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced into 1″ pieces
Salt and pepper
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, minced (we omitted this due to personal tastes)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 ounces ziti (2 1/2 cups)
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream (I substituted this with half & half)
1 bunch broccoli (1 1/2 pounds)
1 cup jarred roasted red peppers, rinsed and sliced 1/4″ thick (we omitted these due to personal taste)
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (1/2 cup)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (optional)

Pat the chicken dry, then season with salt and pepper. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a 12″ skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until it is lightly browned, but not fully cooked, about four minutes. Transfer chicken to a bowl. Add 1 more tablespoon of the butter, onion, red pepper flakes, oregano, & 1/2 teaspoon salt to the skillet. Cook until the onion is softened, about five minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Sprinkle the ziti evenly into the skillet. Pour the broth and cream over the ziti. Cover and bring to a boil, about five minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the broccoli and roasted red peppers. Cover and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta begins to soften and the broccoli turns bright green (approximately eight minutes). Stir in the chicken and any accumulated juice. Cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about three minutes longer. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, the Parmesan, and lemon juice (if using). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  • This dish made about six servings for our family. I diced fresh tomatoes to sprinkle on top of the pasta, which added a really nice fresh burst of flavor and sprinkled it with a shaving of Parmesan cheese.
  • When I packaged our leftovers, I added a drizzle of chicken broth to each container to keep the pasta moist for reheating.This definitely helped it to not dry out when it was reheated and added a little additional flavor to the leftovers.
  • If you want to make this an Aldi-friendly recipe, just substitute the ziti with elbow macaroni or penne pasta and adjust the cooking time accordingly. You would have to omit the red peppers and replace heavy cream with half & half (which substituted beautifully).
  • Don’t be afraid to add a little extra liquid to the dish- I added an extra 1/4 cup of chicken broth and an extra 1/4 cup of half & half to keep the pasta nice and moist. You don’t want the pasta to dry out and it should have a very thin sauce that helps to coat the pasta.
  • To make this dish vegetarian, just omit the chicken and up the veggies. The sprinkle of tomatoes or a handful of sundried tomatoes and spinach could make this a veggie packed dish worth repeating!

This dish was a huge hit with everyone except with Ethan, who has firm beliefs that no food should ever touch. He liked all the foods separately, but not mixed together. The rest of us absolutely loved it and I plan to make this again and again!

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Posted in Main Dishes | 13 Comments »

Looking for Talented Writers

Friday, September 12th, 2008


Update: Thank you to everyone who has emailed me. I have received sixteen responses and I think that is all I can handle right now. I will let you guys know when we need more writers for the Family section and will open it up again! Thank you for your enormous response!

I feel very blessed to be part of the new Blissfully Domestic website. If it has been awhile since you visited, you should swing by there and see the great new design, writers, and editors that are making this a hot spot for women to learn and share.

I am the Editor for the Family Channel where we cover everything from parenting, family, empty nesters, grandparents, new parents, working parents, love & marriage and everything in between. We currently have 28 gifted writers who are contributing to my channel alone and I would love to expand our team further.

If you are interested in writing, please email me at amy@momadvice.com and let me know! With our booming team, you can commit to once a month or once a week. Of course, the more often you commit, the more often you will be seen and be able to direct traffic back to your own site. Our goal is to promote bloggers and help you grow your website!

Please let me know and I look forward to hearing from those of you that are interested!

Posted in Announcements | 6 Comments »

Freebie Friday: September 12, 2008

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

A big thank you to Heather, from Freebies 4 Mom, for helping to contribute to our list. If you don’t want to wait all week for your samples, be sure to visit her blog regularly for your weekly freebie scoop! Heather’s blog is always hopping with the latest freebies, coupons, and scoops on current sweepstake offers & giveaways.

Happy Freebie Friday!

Health & Beauty

Huggies Diapers (Walmart sample)
Deseo (fragrance for him)
Carefree
Poise (Costco sample)
Kotex LightDays Pantiliners (Costco)
10 day supply Estee Lauder Foundation (scroll to the bottom for the coupon)

Entertainment

Organic Valley Kids Activity Flyer
Parents Magazine 2 Year Subscription (ValueMags)
Electronic Gaming Monthly
PC Magazine Subscription
Gooseberry Patch Fall Favorites Cookbook

Mark Your Calendars

September – Walgreens Take Care Health Tour
September 13 – Lowe’s Kids – Make a pirate ship
September 13 – Thomas & Friends Playdate @ ToysRUs
September 18 – Smoothie King Coffee Smoothie before 10:30 am
September 20 – Carvel Customer Appreciation Day – free ice cream 12 to 5
September 20 – Doll crafts @ Michaels
September 25 – Coldstone Creamery Ice Cream Social (donations benefit Make-a-Wish)

September 27 – National Museum Day
September 27 – Geoffrey’s Birthday @ ToysRUs
September 27 – Lowe’s Kids – Make a fire truck
October 4 – Home Depot Kids (make a whistle fire truck 9 am to noon)

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We are offering two exciting giveaways on our blog- don’t forget to put in your entry!

This week, I provided a list of 35 Ways to Save on Your Grocery Budget that I hope will be really helpful for families. I want to add a #36 though that I know would make your day… how about free toilet paper and paper towels for an entire year from Scott’s? Head over right now and put in your entry at The MotherLoot today. Please do not enter here, only entries over here will qualify. The contest is open until Tuesday night and then I will draw our winner!

And our brand new giveaway has just begun! Enter today to win a 10th Anniversary Harry Potter prize pack. We are giving away beautiful boxed sets of the Harry Potter series and the new anniversary editions of, “Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone” Please do not enter here, only entries over here will qualify. The contest is open until October 13th and then I will draw our winner! The contest is open until Tuesday night and then I will draw our winners!

Good luck, everyone!

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Posted in Freebies | 3 Comments »

Amy’s Notebook 09.11.08

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Did you miss my notebook last week? Please say yes! Here she is back in her full glory again, with a fresh new set of linky loving for my sweet blogging friends!

Remember anything that you like out of the notebook can be added to our notebook experiments section each Thursday! Happy reading!

These homemade peanut butter cups look delicious (@ Have Cake, Will Travel)

I love these necktie glasses cases (@ Craftzine)

This chocolate mint icebox cake looks like it is to die for (@ Divine Domesticity)

I am loving this newspaper bunting (@ maya made)

I had never heard of this site where you could find local yarn shops (@ Craftzine)

I love this rug made out of a tea towel (@ knick knacks & ric rac)

I want to give this pumpkin spice latte recipe a try (@ Baking & Books)

I really love this little cupcake stand (@ Once Wed)

I am loving these felted rocks (@ resurrection fern)

I am always up for trying another banana bread recipe (@ Posie Gets Cozy)

I have wanted to know how to recycle yarn from sweaters and this post helped so much (@ Craft Leftovers)

I like these tips for seasoning your cast iron skillet (@ Joy the Baker)

I am going to have to keep my eyes peeled for a funnel pitcher for our house (@ Baking Bites)

This chocolate chunk coffee cake looks amazing (@ Genesis of a Cook)

These brownies in a mug might be a fun dessert when we are entertaining (@ A Year of Crockpotting)

I want to try tie dying shirts with the kids one day (@ Motherhood for Dummies)

I loved this post on what is an appropriate food budget for a family of four (@ The Simple Dollar)

I love these little princess crowns and I know my daughter would too (@ The Homespun Heart)

I will now know what to do with the wooden boxes from the Melissa & Doug toys that the kids get for Christmas (@ Parent Hacks)

I love this dinosaur feet craft (@ Problem Solvin’ Mom)

I have never tried cooking my rice this way, but I just might have to give this a shot (@ The Kitchn)

I love these fabric & button barrettes (@ belle & burger)

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Posted in Amy's Notebook | 15 Comments »

Notebook Experiments: Can We Survive a Money-Free Weekend?

Thursday, September 11th, 2008


Experiment: Can our family survive a money-free weekend?

Experiment Taken From: Notebook Entry 07.24.08

Materials Needed: Please see The Simple Dollar for the full instructions on ideas for completing this task. Since it is a money-free weekend, you can bet that all those materials need to be free and laying around your house.

Results: I will admit it, we have the most trouble with our spending on the weekends. All of the leisurely free time just makes me think of all the things that I could be buying. It really doesn’t help that we live off the main drag for shopping either!

For this experiment though, we made a commitment to have a money-free weekend. I had withdrawn our grocery money earlier in the week though for our grocery shopping, but that is where our spending ended.

What did we do on our no spend weekend? Well, we played board games in the evenings and caught up on our favorite shows. I spent some time working on knitting some washcloths for my grandma’s birthday. I cleaned out my closet and took a load of stuff over to Goodwill to make a donation. But our favorite no spend idea that we did… well, maybe our kid’s clothing choices might help you guess!


No, we didn’t get to see a free game, but my husband’s work throws an amazing tailgate and we thought this would be the perfect way to celebrate not spending that weekend.

And you know what is free at those events. Yup, tons of free food! My kids gorged themselves on a plethora of sugary treats and salty snacks. We all ate until we were in food comas and then swung by to see the local radio station all set up and distributing stickers and football necklaces for a special little treat for the kids. We threw our name in a raffle and chatted for a bit at their table. We watched all of the craziness that ensues for Notre Dame games and just drank in all the fresh air and sunshine.

“How convenient,” I exclaimed to my husband, as we walked over to our car! “We just so happened to have parked right next to the Starbuck’s. Momma could go for some delicious coffee.” My husband just grinned at me and kindly replied, “Oh wait! Didn’t you say we were having a NO SPEND weekend? Awww, too bad!”

I think one of us took this no spend thing a little too seriously!

Conclusion: I really loved having a money-free weekend and I plan to do this more regularly in our house. Thanks to Trent, at The Simple Dollar, for encouraging families to save instead of spend!
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I am so excited to open our Notebook Experiments up to everyone and I hope that you will be able to participate this week or in weeks to come! I will be posting this each Thursday so please mark your calendars if you plan to participate. You can post your entries at any time throughout the week and then leave your entry in the links below.

We have this handy banner that you are more than welcome to use, but it is not a requirement! It is just something you can add to add a little sparkle to your entry.

Rules for Participation:

1. Choose anything from any of our notebook entries (past or present) to do with your family. We have hundreds of bookmarked links of crafts, ways to save money, and organizing ideas.
2. Complete an experiment from the notebook and share about it on your blog or website. We would love to see pictures of what you accomplished or a detailed description of how your projects turned out. Please include a link to this entry, a link to the original posting of the entry (at the original crafster’s blog), and (to help us relocate the project) the date or link of the notebook entry where you found it. You can use the same formatting as our entries or you can just include that information in your post in your own unique way!
3. Post a link below. Please include your name or blog name & a fast description of your project. Example- MomAdvice (WHO bread)

I can’t wait to see what you create and what you find inspiring!

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Posted in Money & Finance | 3 Comments »

Finding Deals on Eye & Vision Care

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Piggybacking on our discussion on going without vision and dental coverage, I got the opportunity to share with WSBT some ways that families can save on their eye coverage. I researched contact lense prices, discount programs that you can take advantage of, and where you can score an inexpensive eye exam.

Our family is currently going without optical and dental insurance and my daughter managed to break my only pair of glasses. I was overdue for an eye exam and was on my last pair of contact lenses. I drove around from place to place in town and decided that Sam’s Club would be the best place for me. The selection fit my needs, the eye exam was inexpensive ($35 for my son, $55 for myself for contact & glasses fittings) and they had designer frames for between $65-90.

Although there are cheaper places on the internet to buy glasses, I really wanted to be able to try my glasses on and get them properly fitted to my face. There is something to be said for feeling confident in what you are wearing and if I would have bought them online, they would have not fit me as well.

I am planning to put this information into an article for reference on our site. Thank you all for your feedback please feel free to discuss where you have found the best deals on optical care!

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Posted in Frugal, Money & Finance | 6 Comments »

Free 2 Year Subscription to Parent’s Magazine

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008


I doubt this offer will last long. Head over to ValueMags and pick up a 2 year subscription to Parent’s Magazine for free!

Your subscription should start within six to eight weeks!

Enjoy!

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Posted in Frugal, Money & Finance | 2 Comments »

Me On You Tube: Save Money With a Baking Day

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Emily & I decided to have a chat with you in our pajamas while preparing for our day of baking. Setting aside one day out of the week to work on baking and the prep work for mealtime can be really beneficial towards staying on track with your budget. You can read more of my tips for a successful baking day and I hope you will be able to watch the video for more ideas to help make your baking day go really smoothly.

Sound Off: What steps do you do to make your cooking go smoothly for the week?

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Posted in Announcements, Frugal, Money & Finance | 4 Comments »

Play it Again, Momma: Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

With the Pumpkin Spice Latte season upon me, I thought it would be great to bring this little entry back for your viewing pleasure! After all, I can’t be the only one with a Pumpkin Spice Latte addiction!

My absolute favorite drink at Starbucks is their Pumpkin Spice Latte. Each year, I look forward to them adding this onto their menu and this year was no exception. Unfortunately, my wallet can’t handle the frequent trips to get coffee so I have had to get creative this year.

My girlfriend, Christina, had this amazing little gadget called the Cocomotion. If you haven’t seen one of these, check it out and put it on your Christmas list. I decided to go with the Back to Basics Cocoa-Latte Maker (similar, but it has a dispenser to dispense the drink) and I have yet to be disappointed with it. It is so nice because it stirs and heats everything up, just like a blender. When it is hot, it will stop stirring and you can hit the Dispense button. As it comes out, it will come out with a beautiful froth on top, just like the coffee shops. I think the best part about it is no cocoa or coffee goes to waste. I hate when you get the bottom of your glass and there is all this cocoa that fell to the bottom and didn’t get mixed properly. With this machine, you don’t have that problem.

We have had our little cocoa machine humming every single night. As soon as I flip it on, it is like I have Pavlov’s dog in our house. Everyone runs up the stairs to wait impatiently for the cocoa to be ready.

Well, my handy little gadget makes the absolute BEST Pumpkin Spice Lattes and after trying several combinations, I finally have a recipe that I am happy with. This recipe will make two large lattes and I hope you can enjoy it as much as we have.

To save on cost, store your morning’s coffee in the fridge to be used for the lattes. You can also save on the cost of these by making a batch of powdered milk for your drinks.

If you want to splurge a bit, make sure to have whipped cream on hand to top with a dusting of cinnamon.

Let me know if you get a chance to try this recipe! Adjustments can be made according to your own taste! This is the perfect post-Thanksgiving Day treat!

Amy’s Version of Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte

2 cups milk
1 cup very strong coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons sugar (or one packet of Splenda)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (plus extra for dusting)
2 heaping spoonfuls of pumpkin

Pour all of the ingredients into a pot and heat over medium-high heat until the coffee is steaming hot. Pour into mugs and top with whipped cream & cinnamon. Enjoy!

If you are interested in purchasing a Cocoa-Latte Machine, check out Ebates and order from there. They have the Cocoa-Latte Machine (just go under Search in the left hand corner) for $30 with four percent cash back through the Ebates program.

Not an Ebates member? You can sign up today. You get five bucks in your account and so do I for referring you. It is THE place to Christmas shop! Please be sure the use the link provided so that we get credit for our referral & thank you so much! (Originally Aired: November 13, 2006)

(Photo Source:Dalboz17)

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Posted in Drinks | 13 Comments »

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