Archive for Food and Treats

Birthday Cakes & Disasters – Fun with Food Friday

We had 3 birthdays to celebrate in Februray month, so that’s always lots of fun! We celebrate pretty simply. For our birthdays we get to choose a birthday meal and dessert and choose a movie to watch. We usually decorate with a banner, balloons and sometimes streamers and extras.

The girls and I love to bake. Homemade cakes are not a problem. The problem comes with the decorating. I usually like simple cakes but on occasion we take on something out of our comfort zone. Our four year old likes Elmo and requested and Elmo cake. My oldest daughter found something that looked easy enough without having to buy a new cake pan. It was the head of Elmo. That’s it. I told her to use one of our stainless steel bowls to bake the cake in and voila! Here’s the end result:

Not bad for amateurs, eh? Well, next came the frosting. First, we forgot about food coloring so we had to run out for that, BUT a certain person (who shall remain nameless) grabbed tubes of piping icing instead of food coloring and no one noticed until we got it home. Improvise, right? Uh-uh. Not a good idea when it comes to the right colors etc. The butter cream frosting was de-lish, but it melted way too fast by the time the coloring was mixed in – should have put it back in the refrigerator! We just are not Buddy Valento of Cake Boss when it comes to having royal icing on hand. So here is the result:

A drooping mess of goo. :( Oh it tasted wonderful, the cake was nice and moist and chocolate-y yummy! Our sweet little boy just giggled and said,”A pink Elmo” and yours truly said, “Elmo had too much Pepto Bismol!” which made my husband laugh and say, “Honey!” But all of us “older” folks got it even if the younger children didn’t, as they do not even know what Pepto Bismol is! Thank goodness Nookie Bear is so young to be able to overlook his birthday cake disaster. One last look for good measure and to keep me humbled.

Now look away quick because here was my oldest daughter’s choice of cakes:

Oh yes, it was scrumptious! And no, there’s none left. That cake bit the dust the night it was served.

Here’s how our oldest son’s cake turned out:

And lest you start to feel bad for my poor kiddos, my oldest son was just here as I was editing his cake picture and he said, “Mommy, I love that cake.” Awww…can you say sweetheart? I can!

Let’s just say that we may just be going back to Dairy Queen’s ice cream cake if anyone wants anything fancy again or at least we will be staying within the scope of our abilities!


signature

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Diet Snapple – Hash-Out on Facebook

It’s on!  After you “Like” the Diet Snapple page, look for the “Hash-Out” tab on the left, then choose your side.  Lemonade or Tea!  Lemonade & Tea can’t take it anymore!  They want to know which flavor you prefer.  After you “Get Started”, there’s $1.00 coupon in the upper left corner.  You can win Snapple prizes and cash for your favorite qualified non-profit charity.  Watch the commercial, then “share” your favorite side.  Enter your email address in the next screen to win.  Round 1 ends March 1st.  There are 5 Rounds, here’s the dates.

Round 2 – March 5 to 15

Round 3 – March 19 to 29

Round 4 – April 2 to 12

Round 5 – April 16 to 27

Diet Snapple is giving away 200 daily prizes that consist of a gift bag that has a T-Shirt and Hat!  Then 10 Prizes for each round, which is $500 for the winners and another $500 donated to qualified non-profit organization of the winner’s choice!

Here’s Diet Snapple’s Facebook link – Choose your side – Lemonade or Tea!

https://www.facebook.com/Snapple – Look on the left side for the “Hash-Out” tab

 


signature

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Pizza Hut BOOK IT!

“YOU ARE YOUR CHILD’S FIRST TEACHER”  Great slogan and so true.  Here’s a great reading incentive program for your K-6 kids.  The program is available for Home School Children or contact your child’s teacher and tell them about the program.  It runs October to March – the home educator/teacher sets a monthly reading goal of books to read.  If that goal is achieved, the child will get a “Reading Certificate Reward”, with that certificate the child goes to Pizza Hut (with their family, of course) and they will receive a free one topping personal pan pizza, “BOOK IT!” card, and a Backpack clip.  Enrollment for 2012-2013 begins in March, CLICK HERE for the enrollment form!

What about the Pre-K kiddos!  Try the R.E.D. ZONE.

No pizza for the little one, sorry.  If you register for the “Give Me 20 Reading Challenge”, you’ll be entered to win one of 50 “Skippyjon Jones Prize Packs”!

There are also printables for your little ones!

 

Happy Reading!


signature

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Rally For Real Pizza

There is nothing like the smell of bread dough rising in the kitchen on nights we make homemade pizza. Can’t you just smell it? I can! We use unbleached white flour or wheat, yeast, warm water and salt to make our dough. Occasionally we will put oregano or basil in the dough to give it a different flavor. We will either make deep dish pizza in cast iron frying pans or use the big bar pan from Pampered Chef as our pizza pan. It makes a nice crunchy crust.

It is important to us when we make pizza for our family that we use fresh, all natural ingredients. My older girls and I love to use broccoli, onions, green peppers, red peppers, spinach or even mushrooms on occasion. Really our toppings are whatever we happen to have in the refrigerator when we make it. The rest of the family goes for pineapple, pepperoni or cheese pizza.

As you know, I am trying to lose weight, but I still eat pizza! Our goal is to eat healthier and pizza can be healthy depending upon what you put on it and how thick the crust is and how much you choose to eat. Besides it’s one of our favorite foods!

 

In the Rally For Real Pizza, Freschetta®frozen pizzas desire isn’t just to taste better, but be better. “Freschetta®frozen pizzas are made with top-quality ingredients and taste-tested recipes, just to make sure your pizza will always deliver Fresch® flavor. “ We have tried Freschetta® and really enjoy their pizzas, therefore can attest to how good they taste. Frozen pizzas are great to have on hand for those busy times when there is no time to make something from scratch.

You can join Freschetta’s Rally for Real Pizza by submitting a photo to the Rally Mosaic on Facebook www.facebook.com/freschettapizza. Each week we will select 100 winners — to each receive 5 Freschetta® Pizzas. On March 30, we will also select 10 winners – who will each receive Freschetta® Pizza for a year!


“Faith and Family Reviews occasionally receives compensation in the form of products for posts. However, the opinions I share are solely my own.”


signature

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

SodaStream Review

Turn your water into soda with SodaStream! This a great concept, and it is very healthy for the environment!

So, how does it work?  Glad you asked.  If you purchase a SodaStream online, it will be delivered with a caution of hazardous material papers.  It’s the Carbon Dioxide used to Carbonate the soda.  Assembly is required, however it is very easy.  Then end up looking something like this….Next, you will need to take your reusable carbonating bottle, and fill it with water to the fill line (basically the the entire bottle).  Put the cap on and put it in the fridge to chill (cold water holds a better carbonation).  Once your bottle of water is chilled, take the cap off and tilt the bottle slightly and screw into the SodaStream system.

Pick out your flavor and read the back of the bottle.  Check for the number of “buzzes”, most flavors require 3 “buzzes”.  However, the cola required 5 “buzzes”.  So, make your appropriate “buzzes” and remove your now carbonated water bottle.  It will hiss like opening a soda.  Then, according to the directions on the back of the bottle.  Fill a cap full of soda and pour it into your carbonated water.  My recommendation is to do it over the sink, less messy if you miss the bottle.  Put the cap back on the bottle and shake slightly to mix.

Then ENJOY! Pictured is Cranberry/Raspberry flavor.

Flavors and Machines

There are 7 different machines to choose from and on the SodaStream site there’s a tool to help you choose which machine fits you best.

You’ll also need to replace the carbonator at some point (not sure yet how long it will last and I didn’t see in the directions or online how long they last, sorry.)  SodaStream does suggest to keep an extra around for when yours runs out.

There’s a flavor for everyone!  Choose from over 50 flavors in regular, diet, energy, sparkling naturals, sparkling teas, and MyWater Essence flavors.

Each 16.9 ounce of syrup adds up to about 33 – 12 ounces cans of soda!  Let’s do some math.  If you purchase a 16.9 ounce bottle of Cola from SodaStream which last look was $4.99 and that bottle produces 33 “cans” of soda.  That’s a little over $.15 a “can” of SodaStream soda!  Sounds like a great deal for me.

My Review -

I’m in love with the SodaStream!  It’s fun and healthy for my whole family.  Easy to assemble. Granted the machines can get pricey, but the cost of soda makes up for it in my book.  My family and I reviewed 3 different kinds of sodas and 1 tea.

Cola – It’s good, it has a “diet” soda taste to it.  I hope I’m explaining that okay.  Don’t expect it to taste like the big brand colas in the store.  We will be buying that one again.

Cranberry / Raspberry - My daughter wanted the “Pink” soda, so this was our next flavor.  We all really enjoyed it.  It was refreshing and not overwhelming of either flavor.  Yet another on our next shopping list.

Green Tea with Pomegranate Peach - My husband’s next choice.  I know you all want an honest opinion.  Not my favorite flavor, I think the peach made it really sweet and the pomegranate was overwhelming.  Just my opinion, again.

Root Beer –  When I first tasted it, I instantly thought Sarsaparilla!  We had a special treat the other night of SodaStream Root Beer and vanilla ice cream.  It was a hit, and will continue having SodaStream Root Beer Floats as a treat!  Definitely on the next shopping list!

The initial start up will cost a little bit, but once you get going.  I think you’ll make up the cost from buying those big name sodas.

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

 

 


signature

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Tree Hugging Really Was….

I loved all your responses to our Wordless Wednesday post! I got a lot of chuckles! The tree hugging really was about measuring the tree, but it was for tapping the trees for sap. We need to measure the diameter of the tree to determine how many taps we can put in each of our five maple trees because we are making maple syrup! Today’s fun with food post will be all about our fun tapping trees and making our very own chemical free maple syrup! (I know there is really no food shown, but it’s all about making our own and being self-sufficient in providing our family’s food from our land – rented land in this case.)

Our handy little reference booklet.

Maple syrup supplies.

Photo from Anderson’s website.

Yes, we can measure with the measuring tape upside down, we are talented that way! ;)

Drilling tap holes.

Tapping trees was a family event.

Two of our maple trees are in the backyard, the other three are in the front.

Stay tuned for more of our journey into the world of making maple syrup in our own backyard!


signature

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

FREE Pretzel Day!

 

Go get a Free Auntie Anne’s Pretzel on Saturday March 3rd from 10 am to 3 pm.


signature

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Farm Rich Review

Farm Rich is always there for moms, with wholesome, easy –to-prepare snacks sure to please the entire family.

Farm Rich has a multitude of easy snacking products for the whole family. Their arsenal includes:

 

  • Cheese Sticks
  • Mozzarella Bites
  • Mini Pizza Slices
  • Stuffed Pretzel Bites
  • Queso Cheese Bites
  • Jalapeno Peppers
  • Mushrooms
  • Mini Quesadillas
  • Philly Cheese Steaks
  • Mini Bacon Cheeseburgers
  • Marinara Stuffed Mozzarella Sticks
  • Meatballs
  • Italian Style Meatballs
  • Turkey Meatballs
  • Original French Toast Sticks
  • Cinnamon Sprinkle French Toast Sticks

If you are looking for a good snack alternative just go to the www.farmrich.com website and use their product finder to find Farm Rich snacks at a store near you!

Our Review:

We tried the Cheese Sticks and the Mushrooms…both were very tasty! My children LOVED the cheese sticks. One thing I like is that the bag has a nice Ziploc feature and therefore is able to be resealed…. which makes for a very convenient alternative when you only want to prepare a few snacks and not the entire bag.

My family enjoyed the Farm Rich products and we will buy them again in the future!

The only thing I do have to say is that we used the product finder tool and one of the stores that they told me had the product…did not carry the product when I went to the store. I am not sure if this was just because they do not carry the product or if they just have not gotten the product in yet…but I did end up finding the product at Wal-Mart so that was good!

All in all, the Farm Rich products were tasty and convenient! We will certainly try more options in the future…the children are looking forward to trying the French Toast sticks!

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.


signature

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Guess What We are Doing?


signature

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

5 Ways to Use Garlic

I had so many ask me what I was going to do with all our garlic last week that it inspired a post topic for this week! We enjoy using fresh garlic over powdered. While we like it I have to admit that we do not use it a ton. Guess we don’t want to smell like garlic!

5 Ways to Use Garlic

1. Antioxidants. Garlic has a powerful antioxidant. Studies have shown this – especially aged garlic. Antioxidants can help to protect the body against damaging free radicals. There are claims that fermented black garlic contains even higher antioxidant levels than normal cloves, which is very interesting and something I did not know. (Source: Garlic Central) In our home, we make a mixture of garlic and honey to help combat scratchy throats at the onset of a cold. Only a few of us can stand it though, especially since the daughter that mixes it up LOVES garlic!

2. Antibiotic. Modern science has shown that garlic is a powerful natural antibiotic. The bacteria in the body do not appear to evolve resistance to the garlic as they do to many modern pharmaceutical antibiotics so the health benefits can continue over time rather than helping to breed antibiotic resistant “superbugs”. Too bad medical professionals wouldn’t use this more often! (Source: Garlic Central)

3. Insect Repellent. Garlic not only repels mosquitoes, but it also repels ticks, fleas and other parasites. (Source: Life Hackery) Great for us and our pets!

4. Natural Pesticide. Commercial pesticides are harmful not only to the environment, but to humans and animals. Garlic is all-natural but it can be as effective as any commercial counterpart. Mix garlic cloves and extracts with pepper and a bit of soap to make a homemade garlic pesticide. Some gardeners have found this garlic mixture effective in keeping animals such as rabbits, deers, and groundhogs away from their gardens. (Source: Life Hackery)

5. And of course. Cooking. It can be sauteed, dried, roasted or pressed and added raw to salad dressings and such.

There are many other uses for Garlic, this is only a small sampling. It is one herb that we shouldn’t live without!

Sources:
1 and 2 from Garlic Central.
2 and 4 from Life Hackery.


signature

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS