An Apron Full of Giveaways 10.16.12

October 16th, 2012
lover dovers clothing, $32

 

Welcome to our Apron Full of Giveaways! I hope everyone is having a great week this week! As we do each week, here is our round-up of giveaways for our readers. We hope that this is beneficial to you and your family! Please let us know if you guys win anything- I love to hear the success stories!

Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we aren’t giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Kid’s Movies).”

Be sure to enter this week’s giveaway for a NInja Cooking System! This giveaway won’t last long and I know this could be a dinner game changer for your family!

Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck to each of you!

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How to Make Chalkboard Pumpkins

October 15th, 2012

If there is one thing you know I love around here it is chalkboard paint. Chalkboard painted pumpkins are a fun way to avoid the pumpkin carving and allow your kids to unleash their inner Picasso. Chalkboard pumpkins are easier to make than you might think and today I wanted to show you how to transform ordinary pumpkins into Chalkboard Pumpkin People that lets your kids be creative while creating a unique accessory to your front step!

Let’s get started with creating your very own Chalkboard Pumpkin People.

Supplies Needed (all found at Walmart):

1 real pumpkin

1 can of chalkboard paint (over in the hardware department)

Masking or electrical tape (this is optional, I ended up not covering my stem)

Wet wipe

White Chalk

1 Skeleton or Witch Body (these are found in the Halloween supplies by the pumpkin carving tools, $7.97 each)

How to Create Your Chalkboard Pumpkin

1. Wipe down your pumpkin well with a wet wipe or damp paper towel to remove any dirt or debris.

2. Hold your can 10-14 inches away from your surface and spray in a sweeping motion side to side with a slight overlap around your entire pumpkin. Follow this pattern horizontally and then vertically. Wait fifteen minutes or so and then apply another coat. You need two coats to create your chalkboard surface.

3. Allow your pumpkin to cure. Do not use any chalk on this for 24 hours! The chalkboard paint will need to harden and will not be ready until then. If you try it before it is ready, it will just scratch the paint through, creating marks and exposing the orange on your pumpkin.
Let your little artists go to work with their chalk. Before giving it to them, make sure to rub down the corners so that they don’t scratch their pumpkin’s surface. I also reminded them to draw gently on these so their paint would remain intact.

Mistakes made? No problem! These can easily be erased and started over again. We had many false starts before deciding on our perfect faces.

Here are our finished faces that the kids drew (the witch’s creator might have had a little help from her Dad). We really loved these cute little faces and couldn’t wait to put them on the pumpkin bodies.

The best part about these though is that you can erase these and use them over and over again through the Thanksgiving holiday with written notes of thankfulness or a countdown to the holidays.

Of course, if you are more of the carving pumpkin type, Walmart has you covered with loads of great carving tools this year!

 

Don’t know what to do with the rest of that can of chalkboard paint? How about a DIY Lunchbox Creation Station, Chalkboard Food Label Frames, or Conversation Bubble Cookie Jars…just to name a few!

 

I am a part of the Walmart Moms program, and Walmart has provided me with compensation for these posts. My participation is voluntary and opinions are always my own.

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Giveaway Closed: Ninja Cooking System : Review & Giveaway (With an All-in-1 Chicken Piccatta with Quinoa Recipe)

October 15th, 2012

Sorry! This giveaway is now closed! We would like to congratulate Amybee (Comment #10) on winning this cooker! We are so happy for your family, Amy! Thank you all for your entries- I wish I had one to give away to each of you!

I am so excited to share with you today’s review and giveaway of the Ninja Cooking System. If there is one thing I love, it is a smart kitchen gadget that can save you time & money in the kitchen. This review of the Ninja Cooking System is going to blow your mind with it’s awesomeness and the best part is that I get to give a Ninja Cooking System away to one of our readers.

I love my slow cooker, but there have always been some things about it that have created more work and dishes for me because of the traditional three temperature cooking knob. The Ninja Cooking System seems to solve many of my issues that I have had with the slow cooker due to its 3-in-1 cooking system that will leave you wondering, “Now why didn’t I think of that?”

Here are just four things that really set the Ninja Cooking System apart from your traditional slow cooker. 

The Stovetop Setting

Let me set the scenario for you that I would have to do with my slow cooker. First, I would go to my stove and brown my meat and make a huge mess around my stove with splatters and then I would try to pour my meat into my slow cooker once it was brown, creating dishes and a drippy mess along the way.

With the Ninja Cooker, you simply switch your dial to Stovetop and place your oil or butter right into the bottom of the pan to sear or brown your meats to the desired consistency. The depth of the cooker helps to keep splatters away and you don’t have to dirty a pan in the process.

The One Pot Ease

Pictured here  the meal that we enjoyed the first night we used the Ninja Cooking System. In this single pot is six cooked chicken breasts, one pound of asparagus, and four servings of quinoa… all in one pot!

The pot comes with a small rack and roasting pan that you can use to create layers in your dishes or can be used to bake items. The pot is definitely not roomy, but it can get the job done for a family of four or can provide a great roasting rack for a smaller whole chicken or turkey.

The Oven Setting

No need to heat up the kitchen in the summer months, you can set the oven setting on the Ninja Cooker to the desired oven temperature and roast or bake right in the cooker, simply by switching the dial. Even items like desserts can be baked right in the cooker, allowing you to free up your oven especially during the busy holiday season.

Can’t you just imagine how awesome this would be in scenarios like camping or in a hotel room when you want to save money and still eat well? I can’t wait to transport this with us!

It’s Cleans Up Like a Dream (I’m Not Kidding)

It is no exaggeration when I say that I put the insert of the Ninja Cooking System in my oven and the food fell away when I sprayed it with water. I cleaned it in five minutes flat and that was with a big batch of quinoa in the bottom. What would normally require a good soaking or a lot of elbow grease, was tidy in just a couple of swishes with dishcoth.

It does a lot more than that though, but those were the highlights for me! I am sharing a recipe from the booklet that I created in our kitchen and I want to give you the opportunity to win one of these for your family! Read the contest guidelines after the recipe and good luck to each of you! 

Chicken Piccata with Quinoa (in the Ninja Cooking System)
Recipe Type: Main
Author: Ninja Cooking System Recipe
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 25 mins
Total time: 30 mins
Serves: 4
Here is one example of an easy one pot dish you can create in your Ninja Cooking System!
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 1/4 pounds boneless chicken breast halves, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup brined capers, rinsed and drained
  • 1 cup uncoooked quinoa, rinsed
  • 1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Instructions
  1. Stir flour, salt , and black pepper on plate. Coat chicken with flour mixture.
  2. Add oil and butter to pot. Set to STOVETOP HIGH and heat until butter is melted. Add chicken to pot. Cook uncovered ten minutes or until chicken is lightly browned on both sides. Remove chicken from pot.
  3. Add broth, wine, lemon juice, and capers to pot. Stir in quinoa and heat to a boil. Place roasting rack into pot and place chicken on rack. Place rack into pot and place asparagus on chicken. Set OVEN to 300 degrees for fifteen minutes. Cover until chicken is cooked through, asparagus is tender, and quinoa breaks apart.
  4. Remove asparagus and chicken from pot. Stir quinoa mixture. Turn off pot. Let quinoa mixture stand.

To enter to win a Ninja Cooking System of your own (retail value $159):

• First Entry: Leave a comment and let us know what you love about the new Ninja Cooking System!

• Additional Entry: Let us know you are a fan of MomAdvice and join the MomAdvice Facebook Community.

• Additional Entry: Follow me on Twitter and get an early scoop on what I am up to and future giveaway opportunities with MomAdvice.

One winner, chosen at random, will receive a Ninja Cooking System (retail value of $159). Please submit your entries by Tuesday (10/23) at 8PM EST. Our winner will be drawn at random. Good luck, everyone!

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How to Make a Duct Tape Pumpkin

October 14th, 2012

Carving pumpkins isn’t for everyone and I am so excited to share with you this easy craft for a duct tape pumpkin that you can pull out year after year. You may have never even noticed the patterned duct tape lurking in the craft aisles, but this is one easy & inexpensive craft material with endless possibilities for a customized duct tape pumpkin that can match any room in your home.

Supplies Needed:

1 craft pumpkin

1 roll of patterned duct tape (Duck Brand)- available in the craft section of Walmart

1 roll of solid colored duct tape (Duck Brand)- available in the craft section of Walmart

Hot glue gun & glue sticks

Scissors

To create your chevron pumpkin base:

1. Twist off the pumpkin stem to create an even surface on top for covering your pumpkin with tape.

2. Pull a strip of duct tape off the roll that will cover the entire pumpkin. Attach it to the pumpkin, doing your best to try not to wrinkle it.

3. Continue covering the pumpkin until it is fully covered with the duct tape, doing the best you can to line up the patterns. If you have wrinkles, overlap the duct tape to cover any minor flaws.

4. Place a dab of hot glue on the top and reattach your pumpkin stem, holding it  in place for a couple of minutes to secure it.

To create duct tape rosettes for the top of your pumpkin, you will need to do the following:

1. Measure a 10″ strip of your solid-colored duct tape and cut it off the spool.

2. Fold the duct tape in half (sticky sides in), doing your best to line the tape up evenly. If you don’t get the tape perfectly even, just trim the edge until you don’t see the white anymore.

3. Twist the tape to create a tight center to the rosette.

4. Begin twisting your tape as tightly or as loosely as you would like to create your rosette. Add a dab of hot glue periodically between the twists to secure it all together.

5. Once you have finished your rosette, add a dab of hot glue to the bottom and secure it to the top to create a rosette “leaf.”

6. Repeat this process again and create one more rosette. Secure the second rosette next to or slightly overlapping the first rosette to add your second rosette “leaf.”

Create your own pumpkin with your family and you could win $1,000 in the Stick or Treat Duck Brand Jack O’ Lantern Contest. The company offers over 100 colors, prints and licensed prints such as Hello Kitty and each roll of tape retails for $3.37 at Walmart stores!

Looking for more pumpkin crafts? Be sure to check out my tutorial for my Painted Address Pumpkin Topiary and Decoupaged Pumpkins that you can do with more of these fun faux pumpkins!

 

 

I am a part of the Walmart Moms program, and Walmart has provided me with compensation for these posts. My participation is voluntary and opinions are always my own.

 

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Amy’s Notebook 10.10.12

October 10th, 2012
Source: Clover Lane

I love this idea for creating a Halloween photo garland to display your kids in their past costumes (@ Clover Lane)

This is a great list of 31 things to freeze to save time & money in the kitchen (@ One Good Thing by Jillee)

I love these ideas for decorating with vintage book pages (@ Inspired by Charm)

I want to make one of these picture frame memory wreaths (@ Infarrantly Creative)

Source: Wild Ink

I am in awe of this super awesome toy soldier costume (@ Wild Ink)

I want to print out some of these free vintage-style bookplates (@ How About Orange)

I love this upcycle from sweater into leggings (@ Make It & Love It)

I need to make a, “meh,” banner for my husband’s office (@ Ecka & Pecka)

I can’t wait to make my iPhone festive with these free Halloween iPhone/iPad wallpapers (@ The Crafting Chicks)

Source: Poppytalk Handmade

I am madly in love with these adorable copper planters (@ Poppytalk Handmade)

I adore this artwork display frame and want to make this for my kid’s rooms (@ make it and love it)

I want to try this recipe for pumpkin doughnut muffins (@ Brown Eyed Baker)

I hope you enjoyed this collection of gathered links to DIY crafts, food projects, and thrifty ways to spruce up your home. Nothing brings me more joy then to highlight other fabulous bloggers. Follow me on Pinterest for daily inspiration!

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Posted in Amy's Notebook | 4 Comments »

An Apron Full of Giveaways 10.09.12

October 9th, 2012
4 Retro Sisters, $37.50

Welcome to our Apron Full of Giveaways! I hope everyone is having a great week this week! As we do each week, here is our round-up of giveaways for our readers. We hope that this is beneficial to you and your family! Please let us know if you guys win anything- I love to hear the success stories!

Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we aren’t giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Kid’s Movies).”

Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck to each of you!

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Butternut Squash Soup With Toasted Pecans

October 8th, 2012

I love when I find a new ingredient to adore in the kitchen. I have started a mad love affair with butternut squash and I can’t wait to share with you a delicious dairy-free butternut squash soup that tastes creamy and sinful while actually be healthy for you. It is a butternut squash soup that will convert any squash hater into a lover of this fabulous and frugal ingredient.

It can be very easy to make a flavorless butternut squash soup. Without the right balance of spices and ingredients, it can taste a bit like indulging in a jar of baby food. What sets this soup apart from other recipes is the heat from a little curry, the warmth of nutmeg, a creamy addition of one potato, the depth of flavor from a leek, the lightness of the chicken broth, and the unexpected crunchy topping of toasted pecans on top. This unexpected list of ingredients truly yield a complex soup that offers layers of flavors that will have your guests wondering just what exactly is in the soup that can create such depth.

One investment that I have made into my kitchen is an inexpensive handheld immersion blender. Transferring soup to my blender usually ends in catastrophe and the immersion blender has paid for its space in my kitchen over and over again while preparing my favorite fall drinks and soups in my kitchen. I can’t recommend this little gadget enough- it is a game changer for soup preparation!

What makes this soup less labor intensive than other butternut squash soup recipes is the simple preparation of preparing the butternut squash with the skin on (be sure to check out my tutorial) and roasting the potato alongside the squash for your soup. Minimal blending and cooking will have to be done once these have been roasted and it makes the soup come together more quickly for an easy weeknight meal.

I have never become more quickly addicted to soup than I have to this one. I guarantee that this is the perfect soup to add to your soup rotations in the Fall and provides just the right warmth in your belly on these chilly Fall nights.

Butternut Squash Soup With Toasted Pecans
Recipe Type: Main
Author: Adapted from Whole Foods
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 1 hour 15 mins
Serves: 6
An easy weeknight butternut squash soup that has the perfect balance of spice and creaminess without the extra calories!
Ingredients
  • 1 large leek
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 potato, cooked and cubed
  • 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  • Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt, to taste
  • 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
  • 1 small pinch of curry powder
  • 1/3 cup toasted pecans, chopped
Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Pierce the skin of the squash and the potato with a fork a few times. Place them on a cookie sheet and roast them for one hour. Pull them from the oven and set them aside to cool.
  2. Halve the leek lengthwise, rinse thoroughly and chop the white and light green parts only. Discard the tough dark green parts. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leek and sauté until they start to turn golden, 8 to 10 minutes.
  3. Add chopped garlic to the pot and sauté for one more minute.
  4. Grab your potato and squash from the cookie sheet.
  5. Peel the skin from the potato and dice. Set aside. Next, cut your squash in half. Scoop out the seeds and discard. Using a spoon, gently spoon out your squash for your soup. The squash should easily pull away from the skin.
  6. Add your squash, potato, broth, and seasonings to the pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes. Let soup cool slightly. In a food processor or with a handheld immersion blender, purée the soup until smooth or to your own desired texture. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  7. Toast pecans at 350 degrees on a baking sheet for five minutes. Watch carefully to not burn them.
  8. Scoop soup into soup bowls and top with a sprinkling of toasted pecans.

 

 

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How to Cook a Butternut Squash With the Skin On

October 8th, 2012

Preparing a butternut squash for a soup can be time consuming and back breaking work, especially if there is a lot of dicing and chopping involved. Today I want to show an easy way to cook butternut squash with the skin on for your soups that requires minimal effort, a single slice, and yields delicious and soft squash that can be instantly pureed for your soups. Cooking a butternut squash with the skin on can be done either in the oven or in the microwave with ease. Today’s tutorial showcases my easy way of preparation.

If you have not cooked with a butternut squash before, you are in for a real treat. Butternut squash is a winter squash and is also known as a butternut pumpkin in other regions of the world.  It has  the same  sweet and nutty taste that is similar to my favorite Fall ingredient and can be prepared in a variety of ways.

The best part about butternut squashes, in my opinion, is that they are relatively inexpensive and can keep for months in a cool dark place, making it a great frugal ingredient to rely upon when times are more lean or the pantry is bare. Stock up on this ingredient when it goes on sale and roast it for easy side dishes, create delicious soups with it, or add it into your favorite Fall casseroles.  The possibilities with this ingredient are truly endless!

 

How to Cook a Butternut Squash With the Skin On
Recipe Type: Main
Author: Amy Clark
Prep time: 2 mins
Cook time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour 2 mins
Serves: 4
This is the easiest way to prepare a squash with minimal work
Ingredients
  • Butternut Squash- Cook as many as you like at the same time and freeze the vegetable for cooking all season long.
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven at 400 degrees.
  2. Prick your butternut squash with a fork.
  3. Cook your squash for one hour. Allow it to cool.
  4. Slice the squash in half lengthwise.
  5. Scoop out the seeds and discard.
  6. Scoop the flesh out of the squash. It should be soft and pull away easily away from the skin.
  7. Alternate Microwave Instructions: Wash the squash in cool running water and pat dry. Use a knife to pierce several holes in the squash. Place the butternut squash in a large microwavable shallow dish, and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Remove the dish from the microwave. Use a large knife to cut the squash in half. Spoon out the seeds and discard. Place the squash, cut side down, back in the dish and microwave for 5 more minutes. The squash’s flesh should feel tender. Leave it in the microwave to stand for another 5 minutes. Use the squash in your favorite recipes.

Be sure to visit my Butternut Squash Soup with Toasted Pecans recipe for a delicious Fall soup addition that the whole family will love!

 

What are your favorite ways to prepare butternut squash? Do you have a recipe to share with this ingredient? Feel free to link it up below!

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Easy Cupcake Photo Picks

October 5th, 2012

Halloween is drawing near and along with all of the costume fun comes many opportunities to share treats at school and fun parties. Today I wanted to show you a fun and easy way to dress up a cupcake with your very own personalized photo pick. This craft could not be easier or more cute for dressing up a homemade cupcake or a store-bought one (Shhh…I’ll never tell!)

Begin by going through your Halloween pictures and selecting a favorite one of your children. You could also get a jumpstart on Halloween pictures and have your children dress up in costume and take a picture in their new costume. If your children are anything like mine, they will be more than happy to oblige and get the opportunity to wear their costumes just one more time.

This is a favorite picture of mine from last year of my two goblins.  We decided to stage a Ninja attack on our little princess for some hilarious photos opportunities for Halloween.  This picture still makes me laugh!

Head on over to the Walmart photo site and upload your favorite Halloween photo to your photo account (you can create a new one if you don’t have one). Next just click here to create your own photo sticker sheet. Select CUSTOMIZE, select your album & then your picture, click the MORE tab, and then click MORE STYLES. Under that you will see all of the cute Halloween backgrounds to customize your photo sticker. You can leave them plain or you can add a cute font and message with your sticker.

Once you have created your sticker, you can have them shipped directly to you or pick them up at your store in 2-3 business days.

To create a cupcake photo pick, you will just need your sheet of photo stickers and a package of popsicle sticks (available in the craft supplies at Walmart)

  1. Grab one popsicle stick.
  2. Peel one sticker from your sticker sheet and stick it to your popsicle stick, carefully centering it.
  3. Peel another sticker off your sticker sheet and stick it to the flipside of your popsicle stick, lining the sticker up carefully with the other sticker.
  4. Stick your photo pick into the top of your cupcake.

Aren’t these so cute? I love that this is a craft that anyone can do and that can add a very special and personal touch to your Halloween treats this year.

Happy Halloween, friends!

 

 

I am a part of the Walmart Moms program, and Walmart has provided me with compensation for these posts. My participation is voluntary and opinions are always my own.

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The Good Life for Less: My First Book Available NOW!

October 5th, 2012

After much waiting and years of hard work, I am so excited to share with you that, “The Good Life for Less,” (my first book, published by Penguin) is now available in bookstores nationwide. This is, perhaps, one of the most surreal moments of my life and I am so proud that I finally get to share it with all of you. It is such an honor to have my family on the cover (shot by Nancy Lary Studios) of this book and it was one of the most special days of our lives and one I will forever remember.

This book is the handbook that I wish someone had given to me when I started my family. It is a book rooted in great family traditions on a dime, how to get delicious and inexpensive meals on the table, how to care and decorate your home for less, how to have fabulous family celebrations without spending a lot, and truly living the good life for less!  It is nine years of hard research and sharing the very best gems of wisdom I have learned over the years, much learned  through my own trial and error, as well as the beautiful words of wisdom you have shared with me over the years that have helped to shape our family.

Even as a child, I also wanted to be a writer and to write my own book. I used to type furiously on an old typewriter in my parent’s basement, writing my own little books of stories of my own imagination.  I am fascinated with writers and have often admitted out loud that the main reason I have a Twitter account is simply to talk to my favorite writers. I am the girl that sends fan mail to my favorite writers. I am forever a bookworm. To be among them, is a childhood dream come true.

We so appreciate your love and support. Without you, a moment like this would have never been possible. This is one of those projects though that I truly need your help supporting- please share about it with your friends, tweet it, pin it, Facebook it, share it, buy it, etc… It would mean so much to my family!

The book is NOW AVAILABLE for ordering, both print and digital versions!  Here are some options for great places to order it! I also encourage you to hit your local bookstore to pick it up! 

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Walmart

Powell’s

Indiebound

I am so thankful for you and your belief in me over the years. Nine years ago, I would have never envisioned where this journey would take us and it has far surpassed anything I could have ever dreamed.

I thank you and love you all dearly!

xo,

Amy

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