Sew Cute Valentines!

I saw a link to Zakka Life about some cute crafty valentines, and at the end she posted another style she made. I thought it was so cute I had to ask my 6 year old which ones she wanted to make. So I scratched my other crafty idea for valentines and made these instead! Everything came from the Dollar Tree store, they were out of heart shape doilies so I found rectangle doilies in their wedding decorations sections (much easier to sew a straight line, than a heart shape line anyways, haha).

We added some stickers to them and signed the backs with her name. Then I pinned a freezer baggie (more sturdier) over the front and sewed a straight stitch around the edge of the plain part of the doily. Leave one end open so you can fill with your treats and then sew it up. Trim the excess baggy off around your stitch and there ya go! I guess they'll have to rip open the baggy to get the candy out. =)

I made these way ahead of time, so just don't plan to make them the night before. It took me probably 2 hours, and be sure to practice sewing on a spare doilie because at first I wanted to use a cute zig zag stitch, but it ate my doilie up! So I recommend a straight stitch.

click to check it out closer:

♥

I am participating in Made By You Mondays, Valentine SYS Party and Making The World Cuter with my Valentines!





♥

enjoy,

Soda Can Chicken

I finally tried a version of Soda Can Chicken , I used a store brand Dr. Pepper though. I seasoned the chicken with my usual salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder and rubbed it in oil. Stood the chicken on the can and roasted it at 425' for 45 minutes, then dropped the temp to 350' for another 45 minutes.

WOW! The chicken came out so beautifully tanned and with crispy skin all around! But boy was my oven a disaster, we had to use the self cleaning cycle on it later. While I loved how the chicken came out so brown and crispy from roasting upright, I could not taste any of the soda flavor. Maybe I should just get one of those roaster stand things.

Also, when I roast a chicken (laying on it's back) I can not cut the pieces off the bird! I always have to disect it up and serve it pretty much off the bones. BUT roasting it this way, I was able to actually cut the thighs and legs and even the wongs off whole!!

So sorry about the flash photos (Mr. is working on a light box for me!), but you get the idea. I served this with some simple rice I've mentioned before. I have seen many recipes online for different flavors of sodas and beer. I'm curious to try orange flavored next time. =)

enjoy,

Review and a Fast Giveaway: Triaminic Thin Strips

Triaminic, a leader in children’s over-the-counter cold and flu symptom medication. As we settle into the winter months, it is important to remember that we’ve also entered peak season for colds and flu. Now is the time to focus on how you can be ready for when cold and/or flu symptoms appear..

Triaminic® has developed two online tools (see below) to help you and your family this cold and flu season.

1) The Sick Day Guidelines, created in partnership with the National Association of School Nurses – Parents know when their kids aren’t feeling 100%. These Guidelines are aimed at helping parents decide when to keep them at home or send them off to school.

2) National Cold & Flu Tracker – This resource provides a weekly data feed of cold & flu symptom trends by region, based on data from SDI Fan® (a source used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Being aware of the activity in your area (or an area that you are traveling) can help you prepare for when cold and flu symptoms appear. For example, Greensboro, Lexington, Knoxville, and Albany have the highest incidence of illness this week.



The Sick Day Guidelines, Cold & Flu Tracker, and a coupon for a discount on Triaminic® products can be found here:
http://www.triaminic.com/moms-just-know/triaminic-flu-tracker.shtml


Triaminic Thin Strips come in these products:

Night Time Cold & Cough
Long Acting Cough
Cough & Runny Nose
Day Time Cold & Cough
Cold With Stuffy Nose
Allergy

Since we all have a horrible little cough going around here, I thought this would be a good time to try out these strips, so I can't wait for them to get here! Please note that children under 4 years of age can not use cold and cough medicine, so we we'll get to review this product on our 2 older ones.




THREE "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" readers will receive ONE pack of Triaminic Thin Strips which includes 4 boxes of Triaminic, with 14 strips in each package.




(This is a must before any extra entries will be accepted!)
1. All you have to do is tell me what your area's activity level says for the cold and flu, click here to find out! Comment below with your answer.

Our activity level says we are green which is LOW.



Earn up to 6 extra entries by showing some "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" bloggie ♥ with these rules*!
-Please post yourself a separate comment for each, letting me know which ones you do.

2. (+1 bonus entry) Follow me on Twitter here

3. (2 bonus entries) Tweet about this giveaway using my Tweet button above, post your link here

4. (+2 bonus entries) Blog a new entry about this giveaway* on your blog & post your link here

5. (+1 bonus entry) Mention this giveaway link on your Facebook & post your link here



HURRY! This Giveaway ends: 11:59 pm pst, Sunday, January 31, 2010.
Please read the fine print:
-Open to USA
- Please leave your email!
-I will verify links/names
-Winner(s) will be notified by email & announced on my Blog & Twitter the following day
-I will choose my winner(s) using Random.org
-Important! Please read about my giveaway rules HERE*


Don't forget to follow along and be the first to see new recipes, reviews and giveaways!


I wrote this review for "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" about Triaminic Thin Strips. I will receive free product to review and keep as compensation for my honest opinion of the product. Info & giveaway provided by PR.

Cheesy Ham and Hash Brown Casserole

When I saw this recipe at Mommy's Kitchen (back in Sept.!), I knew I had to make it! I have already made it once before, but it was so good there wasn't any left for a photo. This time I set aside a little so it wouldn't get eaten so quickly. =)

This is such an easy recipe and everyone loves it. I am also thinking this would be a great potluck dish!

Cheesy Ham and Hash Brown Casserole

1 30 oz. bag frozen, shredded hash brown potatoes
8 oz sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 small onion, diced fine
16 oz package cubed ham (I use sliced deli ham too)
2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, set aside 1 C

Stir all the ingredients together. Place into a lightly greased casserole dish (9 x 13 in). Sprinkle top with 1 C cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min - 1 hour. Let cool a bit and serve.

enjoy,

Review and Giveaway: Dentyne Gum Premium Badge Edition Bottles

Dentyne Gum Premium Badge Edition Bottles is a new campaign for Dentyne. They are featuring their premium badge edition bottles with limited edition designs by artist Anthony Yankovic.
Dentyne® premium badge edition bottles, a first in the U.S. gum category, come in twelve bold, badge, limited edition designs for three flavors Peppermint, Spearmint and Arctic Chill. The bottles, designed by artist Anthony Yankovic, are especially appealing to young adults who love socializing. Anthony previously produced limited edition designs for trend and badge-driven categories like Apparel, Skateboard and Snowboards. http://anthonyyankovic.com/home.html



The artwork is pretty cool. Each bottle is a different scene, so it's fun to talk about each picture and what it's about. The artwork is fun, creative and whimsical. Once the gum is gone, keep the little bottles and cool artwork for your keepsakes! Wouldn't that be neat to have your artwork featured like that? My oldest wants to keep a bottle because "they look cool", so hopefully I can save one from being torn, when you open it.

ONE "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" reader will win a set of all 3 containers of gum, 1 of each flavor!




(This is a must before any extra entries will be accepted!)
1. All you have to do is tell me what you like about the new Dentyne gum wrappers!

Earn up to 6 extra entries by showing some "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" bloggie ♥ with these rules*!
-Please post yourself a separate comment for each, letting me know which ones you do.

2. (+1 bonus entry) Follow me on Twitter here

3. (2 bonus entries) Tweet about this giveaway using my Tweet button above, post your link here

4. (+2 bonus entries) Blog a new entry about this giveaway* on your blog & post your link here

5. (+1 bonus entry) Mention this giveaway link on your Facebook & post your link here

This Giveaway ends: 11:59 pm pst, Wednesday, February 03, 2010.
Please read the fine print:
-Open to USA
- Please leave your email!
-I will verify links/names
-Winner(s) will be notified by email & announced on my Blog & Twitter the following day
-I will choose my winner(s) using Random.org
-Important! Please read about my giveaway rules HERE*


Don't forget to follow along and be the first to see new recipes, reviews and giveaways!

I wrote this review for "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" about Dentyne Gum. I received free product to review and keep as compensation for my honest opinion of the product. Some information & images have been provided by a PR Rep. All opinions for this review are that of myself & family.

My Winner of the Progresso “Souper You Debut” Gift Pack

So I am a little late getting this up today...my lucky Progresso “Souper You Debut” gift pack giveaway winner is...

#14 Jeannette!



You win this:


Congrats!! Watch your email and reply asap! =)

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cocoa-Nana Bread

Steph of Obsessed with Baking chose Cocoa-Nana Bread this week. While at a new-to-me market the other day I found some baby bananas, just a little longer than my fingers. They looked ready to be eaten so I thought they'd be perfect for this bread.

I ended up using about 8-10, dicing up a couple so I could have chunks of bananas in the bread. My batter tasted so good and like bananas. Many others said they couldn't taste the banana in the bread, so I wanted to be sure I could. I have no problem pairing my fruits with chocolate. =)

Many TWD bakers mentioned they had issues with their bread being dry. I hate over baked things. So I thought I'd bake it for 45 minutes and check it. It was so not done. I kept checking it every 10 minutes, and it was still jiggly and a knife came out so wet, I never thought it'd bake through! I'm pretty sure it wasn't the melted chocolate chips I kept seeing (see photo). Finally after 78 minutes (the full bake time), the knife came out cleaner so I just took it out.

This is definatly a dense, rich chocolaty bread with a light banana flavor. Mine was almost dry (ok maybe just a tad, more than I like), and I could not finish my piece, it was so much chocolate! You really need some cold milk to go with this!

PS. I just have to come back to say....try a piece of this with some whipped cream! MMM!

enjoy,

Local Tangerines

How more locally grown can you get? Turning the corner at our street after school, we saw some people with a fruit stand in the vacant piece of land there. We drove on by, went home then walked outside in our backyard down our stairs to them. Nicely located, huh!

They had avocados (not ripe at all), tangerines and lemons. They had made juice from some (juicing) tangerines that was just out of this world! Beautiful vibrant color and perfectly flavored. We bought 10 tangerines for $1.

I spoke to them a little asking if they grew them and they did. I mentioned that our orange tree was not quite ready, they were still a little sour, and they said theirs was too. I found out that they live right down the road from us! (Now I must find that avocado tree! hahaha)

Boy those tangerines were good, a few had seeds though. I love how easy they are to peel, and the kids enjoyed them.

Local tangerines, from down the road! Even our Farmer's Market here isn't that local. =)

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars

room temp

Wow, it's been a while since I've baked with TWD. I don't know what happened, all of a sudden I have no desire to want to bake or eat sweet treats. I guess that could be a good thing, right? But because I admire Dorie, I'll pick it up and keep baking along with her.

Lillian of Confectiona’s Realm chose Dorie's Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars for her week at TWD. This is basically a layered cookie bar and it makes a 9x13 pan full, so you may want to half this recipe or wrap up and freeze what you can't eat now, to have for another time. That's what I did.


I went ahead and cut some when they cooled off, and chilled the rest. Dorie likes her cold so I had to see what they were both like. Cutting them chilled makes it a lot easier, you can slice them pretty thin (mine were 3/4" thick), and I have to admit even though I liked them at room temp. and chilled, I liked them cold best.



These little guys are rich though with the chocolate, cookie layer, peanuts and the raisins. A little piece is all you'll need.

If you would like to try this recipe click over to Lillian's blog, she'll have the recipe posted for ya.

enjoy,

Denim For Donations: Change a Life by wearing Jeans and a T-Shirt

Please will you join in with me and many others supporting Denim For Donations, and challenging celebrities to wear jeans to the Oscars on March 7, 2010, and donate any money that would have been spent on gowns, tuxes, hair, nails, makeup, jewelry and shoes to aid the earthquake victims of Haiti.


"C'mon Hollywood, we know you aren't above it! We *dare* you to walk the red carpet in Jeans and a T-Shirt. You want to make a impression? Forget about the fashion statement... Make the statement that says you care more about the human condition than you do about "looking good for 1 night".

Save your $$. Don't buy the dress. Don't buy the Tux. Don't rent the limo.

Walk the red carpet in your favorite pair of Jeans, and a T-Shirt, and send the cost, you *would* have spent if you went "all out", to Haiti.

Save a life by wearing Jeans and a T-Shirt. Let's DO THIS Hollywood! You *know* you're up for it. Everyone walking that red carpet is worrying who's going to shine & outshine and who's going to make that "best and worst dressed" list the next day. We *CHALLENGE* you to dis the rat race when it matters. It matters NOW. The cost of just 1 of your dresses, just 1 of your tuxes.... Save a LIFE by wearing just Jeans and a T-Shirt... and change the world while we all watch you do it.

The first EVER Oscars where Celebrity status is actually projected toward something else... something BIGGER.

Music had it's "We Are The World"...

Let the Oscars have "Jeans and a T-Shirt". 1 day to change the world. 1 day to make "celebrity" mean something it's rarely meant before.

COME ON HOLLYWOOD!
SET THE TREND
MAKE IT MATTER


Make THIS year's Oscars something we all really WILL be talking about for years to come, and NOT because of long speeches, or commercial delays, or "omg did you *see* her *dress*?" Give the gossip mills and fashion freaks a day off. This one's on YOU.

What's it gonna be Hollywood?


Kat McK"

Join in become a fan & pass it on please, tweet it, blog it, facebook it! Spread the word!

Mini Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

My gal pal Jenny Mac posted about these little cuties on Facebook. I have been looking for new dinner recipes so I thought I'd give these a try (plus I hear they're great for potlucks, so I wanted to try them). I used King's Hawaiian sweet rolls (lucky me, they were marking them down that day at the store, so I froze them until ready to use). I also had a heck of a time finding a honey mustard! I did find some though, and the poppy seeds...I was glad to have found a bottle for $3.79 on sale (gosh those are expensive!), which I'll also use for some lemon poppy seed muffins sometime.

Anyways...these are easy to do, assemble the sandwiches and pour the marinade/sauce over it and let sit over night in the fridge. I wasn't able to get all 24 in my 9x13, so some were just plain little sandwiches. I baked them the next night for dinner. They hold up well, because well all that butter hardens. They are not soggy, once baked they form this nice crusty shell all over the little rolls. Everyone (kids and Mr.) loved them! Yay! My little girl even asked if she could take one for school snack! haha! I served these with a veggie and potato salad for a nice little dinner. It was a nice change.



Mini Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
from BeantownBaker

1 c (2 sticks) butter
1 1/2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 Tbsp grated dried onions
1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp honey mustard (not dressing, could mix honey & mustard?)
2 (12 ounce) packages white party or Hawaiian dinner rolls
1 pound cooked ham slices (I used deli sliced ham)
12 ounces sliced swiss cheese

In saucepan, mix butter, poppy seeds, onion, Worcestershire sauce & mustard, stir until blended and melted. Pour 1/2 of mixture into bottom of baking dish.

Assemble sandwiches with ham and cheese slices (I cut each to fit the rolls). Arrange rolls in single layer in baking dish, spreading them around to soak up sauce in pan. Pour rest of sauce over tops of sandwiches, cover dish and refrigerate up to 24 hours for sauce to soak in.

Preheat oven in 350 degrees, bake rolls for 10-12 minutes until rolls are lightly browned and cheese is melted.



enjoy,