Archives for August 2013

Whatcha Reading? – Princess Pigtoria and the Pea

08/27/2013 by Barbara

**This post may contain affiliate links. I receive a small amount of compensation when you purchase from my links, which I"ll totally blow on waffle fries and sweet tea, y'all!**

Promoting literacy is such an integral part of my life, as a teacher and a mother, and I wanted to extended it to all of you. Therefore, I aim to bring a series “Whatcha Reading” to AFM. Here you will find book picks for children, adults, as well as tips for promoting literacy within your home.

In my constant quest for books that satisfy my daughter’s thirst for all things princess, without indulging too much in to the whole glamorized “happily ever after once you’ve found your prince charming” fantasy, I found this little gem at the library recent: Princess Pigtoria and the Pea by Pamela Duncan Edwards. It’s a clever combination of alliteration in its refreshing and witty use of the “p” sound, as well as a twist on a classic tale.

Find this at your local library, or head over to Amazon to snag your very own copy!

Check out these other great titles by Pamela Duncan Edwards, too! Edwards has a nice series of children’s stories using imagination and alliteration, hand in hand.

Amazon.com Widgets

Keep on saving! :o)
--Barbara
**Remember, y'all, this post may contain affiliate links. I receive a small amount of compensation when you purchase from my links, which I"ll totally blow on waffle fries and sweet tea, y'all!**

Filed Under: books, Frugal Parenting, Whatcha Reading

Vegetable Meatloaf Recipe – Great for grilled burgers!

08/23/2013 by Tiffany

**This post may contain affiliate links. I receive a small amount of compensation when you purchase from my links, which I"ll totally blow on waffle fries and sweet tea, y'all!**

Meatloaf has always been one of my favorite dishes, but it can be pretty, well, meaty. Several years ago I started adding lots of veggies into my meatloaf recipe and my family loves it! Red Gold Tomatoes sent me a variety of their canned tomatoes to try out earlier this month, and I just knew their Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano would be the perfect complement to my vegetable meatloaf recipe. This week, I picked up all the ingredients I needed for meatloaf from Aldi and with the added touch of the tomatoes, and our grilled vegetable meatloaf burgers were delicious!

Grilled Vegetable Meatloaf Burgers

Ingredients:

1 zucchini, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

1 cup finely chopped carrots (I use my 3 cup food processor)

1/2 cup minced onion (Yep, food processor again!)

1 can Red Gold Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano
(drained and chopped, save liquid for sauce)

2 eggs

2 cups dry oatmeal

1 lb pork sausage

1 lb ground beef

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients (except liquid from tomatoes) in a large bowl.

2. Measure out 1/2 cup of meatloaf mixture for each burger patty.

3. Brush each patty with oil.

4. Place patties in a grill pan on medium high heat for 5-7 minutes.

5. Brush tops of patties with oil and flip.

6. Cook for another 5-7 minutes or until meat is cooked throughout.

Grilled Onion Buns

Ingredients:

Onion buns

Vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Brush the inside of the onion roll buns with oil.

2. Place face down on the grill pan at medium high heat.

3. Grill for about a minute until they are toasted.

4. Remove from pan and serve with grilled vegetable meatloaf burgers.

Jalapeno Tomato Spread

Ingredients:

Reserved liquid from Red Gold Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano

1/2 cup jalapeno ketchup (I used Mama Selita’s Jalapeno Ketchup)

1 tsp sugar (optional)

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. Pour all ingredients into a small saucepan.

2. Bring to a boil on high, reduce to medium-low.

3. Simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Serve as a spread with grilled vegetable meatloaf burgers.

Click here for a printer friendly version of these recipes!

This vegetable meatloaf recipe is really simple, you basically just dump everything in a bowl, mix it up, and slap these puppies on the grill! Because the weather has been so crazy here lately, I cooked them inside instead on my non-stick grill pan. It is an awesome way to get those seared grill marks without the hassle of firing up a grill. And it’s so easy to clean! I definitely recommend picking one up for your kitchen!

I couldn’t resist sharing this picture of my sweet 5 year old helping me cook. She’s learning to crack eggs without completely shattering the shell, and she’s getting pretty good at it!

This recipe is one of our favorites, and the pre-seasoned diced tomatoes Red Gold sent me added the perfect mix of herbs and spices! You can find more tasty recipes like Caribbean Chicken Burgers and Summer Tomato Burgers on the Red Gold website.

Red Gold provided the tomatoes for this dish, but the recipe and opinions are all my own. This post contains affiliate links.

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: Recipes

Dirty Secrets: My Bissell Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine Review + giveaway

08/19/2013 by Barbara

**This post may contain affiliate links. I receive a small amount of compensation when you purchase from my links, which I"ll totally blow on waffle fries and sweet tea, y'all!**

I was recently given a complimentary use of the Bissell Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine, in exchange for this review. All opinions, and nasty carpet pictures, are completely mine.

I have a terrible confession to make: in over six years living in our home, we’ve never cleaned our carpets. For over four years, they’ve been riddled with little kid grime; yet, we somehow just never got around to getting the carpets cleaned, even though it was always on our long list of things to do. *sigh*

I digress.

When I was approached with an opportunity to try out the Bissell Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine in my home for a trial period, my husband and I both eagerly jumped at the chance! Tanya from Fizz Word of Mouth Marketing dropped it off, and that very weekend, we got to cleaning!

Well, actually, I was putting the kids down for their naps, and my husband took over the carpet cleaning duties. To be honest, I never got to even TOUCH the Bissell Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine during the entire trial period — my husband was in. the. zone. So, to be perfectly clear, this review is really a second-hand account of HIS use of the machine. But I assure you, it was an incredible experience. 😉

The Bissell Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine proved to be light weight, even when full of the sloshy water and cleaning fluid. I’m not sure if you were supposed to vacuum the carpets before hand -remember, my husband took control and you know men and directions…. In any case, we didn’t, but the dirt was just effortlessly pulled away from our carpets, rugs, stairs (all three flights!), and couches.

The day we did this, it was overcast outside (imagine that, during this summer in Atlanta!), so it was difficult to get great pictures contrasting the clean and dirty carpets. But I managed to capture a few, mainly the rugs in our den. First, my husband did the big one, so I put the runner OVER it afterwards, for comparison purposes. You can clearly see the difference! This is in a super-high traffic area, but those filthy rugs didn’t stand a chance against the Bissell Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine!

With enthusiasm -and the “help” of our daughter, dressed as Princess Merida- we tackled the whole house: all the carpet upstairs (including four bedrooms and a super long hallway), all the downstairs rugs, our carpeted dining room and formal living room, the finished basement (half carpeted), as well as front stair case, back stair case, and the basement stairs.

All in all, each time we poured that nasty water tank in to the laundry room sink, we were assured that we were successfully lifting the grime out of our house. Okay, and we were equally disgusted with the level of filth we’ve been walking upon, and our KIDS had been playing in! With each dumping of the water tank, we felt a little -um- relief knowing that the grimy layer of disgust was literally going down the drain and OUT OF OUR HOUSE!

Enter for a chance to win a rental of the
Bissell Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine!

Would you like a chance to try out this bad boy? I’m offering five vouchers each good for a 24-hour rental period (a $24.99 value) of the Bissell Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine. It’s super simple, just comment below on which room(s) you’d most love to tackle with the Bissell Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine, then fill out the entry form here.

And even if you’d don’t win, grab this coupon, good for $5 off your rental. Your local Lowes Home Improvement store offers rental of this machine, as well as the Bissell Pawsitivity Clean Machine, which is designed for pet owners. …..now, go enter to win a free rental trial!

Entry -Form