Sunday, July 21, 2013
DIY: reuse tea bags and coffee grounds
Remove cooking odors:
Both coffee grounds and tea bags are excellent deodorizers and can work wonders on your hands after chopping stinky foods like garlic, onions and fish.
Clean your floors:
Looking for an all-natural way to keep wood floors and furniture shiny and clean? Look no further than your morning cup of tea!
Due to its tannin content, twice-brewed tea is perfect for adding extra luster to your wooden decor on the cheap. As an added bonus, you’ll also ditch the cleaning product smell and still get results you’ll love.
Keep pests away from your garden:
Noticing ants, slugs and other pests hanging around your garden? Sprinkle coffee grounds around problem areas to keep pests at bay.
Clean your pots & pans:
For squeaky clean pots and pans without the elbow grease, rub spent coffee grounds onto dirty cookware using a scouring pad. The added abrasion will help to remove stuck-on messes without harsh chemical cleaners.
Add to houseplants:
Both coffee grounds and tea bags have loads of nutrients that help houseplants thrive. Due to high acidic content, coffee grounds are perfect fertilizer for acid-loving plants such as tomatoes, carrots, roses, rhododendrons and azaleas. The antibacterial content of tea bags helps to gently clean while wafting away odors and perking up your skin – making these common kitchen leftovers perfect for your next mani-pedi party.
Keep your fridge fresh & clean:
Skip buying baking soda for deodorizing your fridge, and use a small container filled with coffee grounds instead!
Tie-Die:
You already know a splash of coffee can stain light-colored clothes. But have you ever thought of using your morning cup to create a homemade dye?
Clean your face:
Both coffee and tea are loaded with beneficial properties that sooth irritated skin and brighten a dull, tired winter complexion.
Shine your shoes:
We’ve heard of using citrus scraps and even banana peels to shine your shoes. But what about the leftovers from your morning cup?
QUESTIONS: Were these DIY tips new to you? What is the one that you might use at home? What kind of DIY tips would you like to see me cover? Thanks for reading and commenting!
Day 22.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Wordless Saturday! Anniversary of AURORA shootings.
What do you want to say on this anniversary of the Aurora Shootings? Use the COMMENTS, thanks!
Day 20What is a TWITTER PARTY? How do I sign up and get started using Tweet Deck?
Hi! There is a GUIDE for TWITTER PARTIES. Here: http://www.twitterpartyguide.com/what-is-a-twitter-party
I'm so happy you are reading this and at the end I will ask if you plan on attending our TWITTER PARTY on July 31st (1st anniversary of the book, IF I SHOULD DIE BEFORE MY DOG.
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| If I Should Die Before My Dog Book We Will Review! You don't have to be a blogger to do this. You will be writing your review on Amazon.com If you sign up with me with your most frequently checked email on the COMMENTS to this note, you will be able to get a free copy of the book (if you go through the whole blog tour and promise to write a review). I will have an official sign up sheet for this made for you by Sunday, July 21 and will make a new entry with it! |
I'm asking the people who plan to participate in the TWITTER PARTY to tell me when the best day is this coming week and next weekend (July 22-28) to have a PRE TWITTER PARTY (so they can practice and get the help they need to understand how to do it?)
![]() | ||
| Cathy and Joe Connolly, the authors and please join their GROUP, If I Should Die Before My Dog |
Please also JOIN the GROUP that is having the Pre Tweet Party, the Twitter Party and the IF I SHOULD DIE BEFORE MY DOG BOOK TOUR which is https://www.facebook.com/IfIShouldDieBeforeMyDogBlogTour
Here's what you need to download for free: http://tweetdeck.com/
A couple of questions to answer in the COMMENT section please?
1. Have you ever read this book we are reviewing?
2. Would you like to? Will you pay for it or be part of the Blog Tour?
3. Please leave a COMMENT with your email address or link to your blog if you would like to participate.
Thanks!
Friday, July 19, 2013
Recipe pick of the Day! Garlic Cheesy Bread
Hopefully once or twice a week I can show these fabulous recipes that I find on Pinterest and bring them here with giving the credit to the writer and pictures of the process of making this. I will lead you to the complete recipe and today's comes from: Laura's Latest.com
http://www.laurenslatest.com/hasselback-garlic-cheesy-bread/
This bread is the bomb.
Last week, I got some evil Kerrygold Samples in the mail. Basically, it was a box filled with cheese and butter.
Aw, shucks.
What is a girl to do?
To prevent myself from inhaling it all in a 24 hour period, I put some in the freezer, but then immediately thought of this bread I’ve been wanting to make. Everyone has seen the Hasselback Potato, right? Well this is a much more scandalous take on that. Think MORE butter, MORE garlic and MORE cheese. Carbs are my friend, can you tell?
They hang out in my booty.
{TMI? Sorry.}
This bread is the very reason why I run. It helps lessen the blow to the whole ‘carbs setting up shop in my hiney’ thing.
And believe it or not, this is super simple to make! I think its safe to say we all have the ingredients for bread in our pantries. Butter-most likely and cheese-uh, yeah! I seem to have these ingredients on hand all.the.time. I used garlic herb butter from Kerrygold and I’ve seen pre-made garlic butter at the store, but it’s really easy to make at home. {Mix butter and finely minced garlic together. Yup, that’s it.}
So, that’s all the info you need to know, m’kay? Let’s make some bread, yo.
First thing you’re going to want to do is grab all your ingredients. Nothing to out of the ordinary here.
Into a mixer bowl, add in your water, yeast and honey.
Stir it all in and leave it alone for 5-10 minutes. You want to make
sure your yeast is alive and kickin’.
Once your yeast has gotten foamy, stir in the salt and the
flour in 1/4 cup increments. PS-You never want to go above level 2
{stir} when using a Kitchenaid Mixer. I just just read that in the
instructions manual. Making dough=slow speed.
Once the dough starts pulling away from the sides and the
bowl is looking pretty clean, then it’s time to set the timer and walk
away. 5 minutes later your dough should be tacky and smooth. Like, it
should feel a little sticky, but leave nothing on your fingers when you
poke at it. Grease your bowl and dough. Cover the whole thing with a
towel or plastic wrap and let it rise for an hour or until it’s doubled
in size.
One hour later, I got me some purdy lookin’ dough!
Punch that dough down and divide into two equal balls.
Roll those dough balls into two baguette shapes the length
of your baking sheet. I like to twist mine because {1}they look cool and
{2}it helps keep them from shrinking.
Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 30 minutes.
Then preheat your oven to 400 degrees and place the pan nearby to get
all that extra warmth seeping from your oven.
They should have doubled by the time the oven is preheated
{about 45 minutes later}. Reduce the oven temp to 350 and bake for 20
minutes.
In the mean time, grab some of your garlic herb butter…
And melt it down. It’s so much faster working with melted butter.
You’re gonna want to slice some cheese too. I used a sharp white cheddar. OH yeah.
After 20 minutes, your french loaves should start to
golden. Take them out of the oven and brush with some melted butter.
Bake another 5-7 minutes or until perfectly golden. Remove from oven and
cool 15 minutes. Now, we could stop here and have two lovely french
loaves of bread but I’m insane and must add butter and cheese. So, lets
keep going!
Slice your bread into 1 inch slices 3/4 of the way down.
It’s important to let your bread cool at least 15 minutes so that when
you cut it it doesn’t squash the loaf right down. Make sure you use a
bread knife too! *Important*
Once your bread is sliced, take that garlic butter and slather it on top and in between all those cracks. Be generous!
Then put your slices of cheese into those cracks and bake it another 5 minutes or until all that cheese is melted.
Hello, lover.
Come to mama.
See? Not too hard was it! Here’s the printable for ya’ll! Hope you enjoy! Try not to eat the entire thing in one sitting…or at least have the decency to change into stretchy pants first.
A shorter version with added pesto (which is 1/2 homemade) is: http://wearychef.com/2013/04/01/irresistible-cheesy-pesto-bread/
That's the Irresistible Cheesy Pesto Bread!
Which one would you choose to make if you felt like making it?
http://www.laurenslatest.com/hasselback-garlic-cheesy-bread/
Hasselback Garlic Cheesy Bread
This bread is the bomb.
Last week, I got some evil Kerrygold Samples in the mail. Basically, it was a box filled with cheese and butter.
Aw, shucks.
What is a girl to do?
To prevent myself from inhaling it all in a 24 hour period, I put some in the freezer, but then immediately thought of this bread I’ve been wanting to make. Everyone has seen the Hasselback Potato, right? Well this is a much more scandalous take on that. Think MORE butter, MORE garlic and MORE cheese. Carbs are my friend, can you tell?
They hang out in my booty.
{TMI? Sorry.}
This bread is the very reason why I run. It helps lessen the blow to the whole ‘carbs setting up shop in my hiney’ thing.
And believe it or not, this is super simple to make! I think its safe to say we all have the ingredients for bread in our pantries. Butter-most likely and cheese-uh, yeah! I seem to have these ingredients on hand all.the.time. I used garlic herb butter from Kerrygold and I’ve seen pre-made garlic butter at the store, but it’s really easy to make at home. {Mix butter and finely minced garlic together. Yup, that’s it.}
So, that’s all the info you need to know, m’kay? Let’s make some bread, yo.
See? Not too hard was it! Here’s the printable for ya’ll! Hope you enjoy! Try not to eat the entire thing in one sitting…or at least have the decency to change into stretchy pants first.
PRINT and SAVE is here: http://www.laurenslatest.com/hasselback-garlic-cheesy-bread/
Hasselback Garlic Cheesy Bread
Yield: 2 loaves
Ingredients:
1 cup Warm Water
1 Tablespoon Honey
1 envelope Active Dry Yeast (2 1/4 Teaspoons)
1 teaspoon Salt
3 cups Bread Flour
Olive Oil, For Greasing Surfaces
⅓ pounds Sharp White Cheddar, Or Any Other Cheese You Prefer
½ cups Garlic Butter
1 Tablespoon Honey
1 envelope Active Dry Yeast (2 1/4 Teaspoons)
1 teaspoon Salt
3 cups Bread Flour
Olive Oil, For Greasing Surfaces
⅓ pounds Sharp White Cheddar, Or Any Other Cheese You Prefer
½ cups Garlic Butter
Directions:
In a large bowl, stir water, honey and
yeast together. Let yeast proof 5 minutes. Once you know yeast is
active, stir in salt and the flour in 1/4 cup increments. If you are
using a stand mixer, be sure to not increase your speed higher than a 2
or ‘stir’.
Once dough starts pulling away from the sides and the bowl seems to be pretty clean, set a timer for 5 minutes and walk away. Let the machine knead the dough. After 5 minutes, dough should be smooth and tacky but when touched shouldn’t leave any dough on your fingers.
Grease the bowl and the dough. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Punch down dough and cut into two equal portions. Form into two long baguettes the length of the cookie sheet. I like to twist mine because it looks cool, but it also keeps its length and doesn’t shrink. Cover with plastic wrap and rise 30 minutes.
Start to preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place dough close to the oven where it’s nice and warm. Once oven is preheated, remove plastic wrap, from the dough reduce oven to 350F, put the bread into the oven and bake 20 minutes.
In the meantime, slice the cheese into thin slices and melt the butter.
Pull loaves of bread out of the oven after 20 minutes and brush with the melted garlic butter. Bake another 5-7 minutes or until bread begins to turn a golden brown. Remove from oven and cool 15 minutes.
Cut 1-inch slices 3/4′s of the the way through the loaves. Brush garlic butter in between each slice and fill with a slice of cheese. Bake another 3-5 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.
Serve immediately.
Once dough starts pulling away from the sides and the bowl seems to be pretty clean, set a timer for 5 minutes and walk away. Let the machine knead the dough. After 5 minutes, dough should be smooth and tacky but when touched shouldn’t leave any dough on your fingers.
Grease the bowl and the dough. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Punch down dough and cut into two equal portions. Form into two long baguettes the length of the cookie sheet. I like to twist mine because it looks cool, but it also keeps its length and doesn’t shrink. Cover with plastic wrap and rise 30 minutes.
Start to preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place dough close to the oven where it’s nice and warm. Once oven is preheated, remove plastic wrap, from the dough reduce oven to 350F, put the bread into the oven and bake 20 minutes.
In the meantime, slice the cheese into thin slices and melt the butter.
Pull loaves of bread out of the oven after 20 minutes and brush with the melted garlic butter. Bake another 5-7 minutes or until bread begins to turn a golden brown. Remove from oven and cool 15 minutes.
Cut 1-inch slices 3/4′s of the the way through the loaves. Brush garlic butter in between each slice and fill with a slice of cheese. Bake another 3-5 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.
Serve immediately.
A shorter version with added pesto (which is 1/2 homemade) is: http://wearychef.com/2013/04/01/irresistible-cheesy-pesto-bread/
That's the Irresistible Cheesy Pesto Bread!
Which one would you choose to make if you felt like making it?
Thursday, July 18, 2013
BLOG HOP COMING: Back 2 School Bash 2 Blog Hop
Trista from Andersons Angels and Courtney from Joy of Momma Joyner are excited to have teamed up again to host a FUN
blog hop called Back 2 School Bash 2! It will run from 12:01am EST
Friday August 2, 2013 through 11:59pm EST Saturday August 17, 2013. It's
super easy to join in on the fun of getting our kiddos ready to go head
back to school!
Rules to Participate:
- You must get at least a $25 prize/package together to be given away during the event. It can be anything school related. (Ideas: snacks, lunch boxes, backpacks, labels, school supplies, etc.)
- Participation is completely FREE! All you have to do is make sure the button is on your blog side bar, and write a post encouraging other bloggers to join in the fun! Put the link to your blog post in the form below.
- If you would like to participate but do not want to post about the event you can send $5.00 waiver fee via Paypal to andersonsangels2010@gmail.com.
If you have any questions feel free to email Trista at andersonsangels2010@gmail.com, or Courtney at joyofmommajoyner@gmail.com.
You will definitely want to join in this FUN Event! But you've got to HURRY! Sign-ups will end as soon as there are 50 blogs participating OR by July 30, 2013! Your spot on the Linky will be determined by how soon you fill out the form. Don't forget, once you have your blog post up or paid the waiver fee to fill out THIS FORM and put the link to your post in the form.
You will definitely want to join in this FUN Event! But you've got to HURRY! Sign-ups will end as soon as there are 50 blogs participating OR by July 30, 2013! Your spot on the Linky will be determined by how soon you fill out the form. Don't forget, once you have your blog post up or paid the waiver fee to fill out THIS FORM and put the link to your post in the form.
Are you a company or brand looking to participate? If so then please contact Trista at andersonsangels2010@gmail.com or Courtney at joyofmommajoyner@gmail.com to discuss sponsorship opportunities. We can help you connect with a blogger or bloggers also if you would like!
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