Lions and Bears and.....slugs??

This year I really kicked my gardening up a notch. I have raised beds with fruits and nuts, pallet gardens filled with veggies, and a pretty flower garden with concert scalloped edging. I'm very proud of the work I've done. So imagine my disappointment when I went outside one day to find most of my baby cuke leaved chewed off!! A quick google search told me that slugs were the culprit...gross, slimy slugs. ugh! I have never seen that many around here, but it made the most sense. I was chatting with my friend Becca about this when she suggested a beer trap. Some people swear by it, so I decided to give it a shot. The idea is that slugs are attracted to the wheat in the beer, crawl their slimy selves down to drink it, then drown. The other alternative it to go outside at night with a flash light and salt the buggers to death. No thanks, I'll try the beer first!

Supposedly this is all you need to catch some gross critters

The idea seems pretty simple...pour an inch of beer in a container with a small hole or notch for the slugs to crawl in. If you use a container with a lid, you dont have to refresh when it rains (as it started doing when I was coming back inside). Put the container into the ground. In a few days, you'll have some dead drowned slugs. Worth a shot, right? I'll blog my results. :)

When I lifted up a concrete block to dig a hole for the trap, i was greeted by 3 slugs...so apparently we ARE overrun by them....

yogurt with fruit in it on the cheap!

yogurt is expensive! anywhere from 50 cents to $1 for one of those cute little cups. And who doesn't love the kind with the fruit on the bottom?? My mom taught me a trick when I was younger...she had either bought some yogurt tubs because they were way cheaper or gotten some from my dads work. He worked at a supermarket that would rarely send him home with left over product--we once had an entire upright freezer filled with carvel easter bunny cakes and cadbury eggs--BEST TIME OF MY LIFE!! :) Those tubs of yogurt are great--big size, more affordable, ect...especially with a lot of kids! The down side? There's no fruit in those things!! Kids tend to be picky--plain vanilla yogurt isn't especially fun! Even the strawberry and blueberry kinds lack the cool fruit pieces. So the cool trick?? Add some strawberry jelly to the yogurt and mix it up!! It tastes awesome and turns the yogurt pink--can't get much better than that! I had blueberry yogurt on hand when I did this, so in the photos mine looks purple--still cool! It's a great way to give the kids a nice snack while on a budget.

add some jelly to give plain old yogurt some jazz!

you can see the yummy strawberry pieces in the yogurt!

simple pork chops & potatoes

I love quick and easy things to make for my kids. I often make them pan-fried pork chops...nice and easy...but then I have to find an easy side...and time everything just right...and keep an eye on the pork chops so I don't over cook them...so I decided to try oven-baking. I googled to get an approximate cooking time frame and just went with what I had on hand and hoped for the best. I used thin-cut boneless chops. I placed them in a glass pan and sprayed with olive oil cooking spray. I cubed a few large potatoes and placed them in between the pork chops. I topped everything with some salt and a tiny bit of thyme. 

I cooked everything in the oven for 40 minutes (uncovered) at 350 degrees. Some of the really thin pieces (2 out of the 6) came out a tad overcooked--but still good! The potatoes and rest of the pork were perfect!!

Melting crayon into new, fun, crayons!

My kids have lots of broken crayons, so small that they are barely usable. I remember when I was younger, my mom used to melt crayons together to make a big, multi-colored crayon. I used a silicone muffin pan, so a quick google search gave me a starting point as all the recipes I found used a metal one. I had to play around with the timing to get it right. I started by unwrapping any crayons that still had wrappers on them and breaking the crayons up into smaller pieces to have a nice variance of colors. I tried to mix up the colors so that no one color took over the crayon. 

While I did that, I pre-heated the over to 250 degrees. I heated up the crayon for 30 minutes. If you use a metal pan, I'm sure the time would be a little less. I just kept checking the oven every few minutes and took them out when the crayons were melted.

 I let the wax and pan cool (though I forgot to take it off the oven top--so my first crayon i took out got stuck--its the middle one in the photo--oops!) and popped the crayon out. They look neat and make pretty colors when I drew with them on paper. I can't wait to show my kids these when they wake up!

Easy-peasy strawberry shortcake :)

I'm sure we've all seen an influx of recipes on facebook. I see a handful everyday, and one of my workers always tags me in the ones that look super-yummy, as he knows my weakness for all things sweet! I've decided to try a few and post the results here. The one I did last night is actually the second facebook recipe I've tried, but it's my favorite so far! Here's the facebook post:

"Strawberry Angel Food Trifle OH I'm Making this one!!!! Lets Share it with everyone!!!

(1) angel food cake
24 oz. container frozen strawberries, sliced with sugar added, thawed
3 cups sugar free vanilla pudding
16 oz. container of whipped cream, slightly less than the whole container
Fresh strawberries for garnish
Tear angel food cake into medium pieces. Begin layering cake, strawberries, pudding and whip cream in a large clear glass bowl.Contiue irregular layers, filling the bowl. Top entire dessert with a solid layer of whip cream. Slice a few fresh strawberries for garnish Refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours before serving. To me it tastes like all the flavors of strawberry shortcake in one big yummy bite! I think it would be GREAT to add blueberries to this mix too!'

photo included in the facebook post

The one change I made is using cool whip for the whipped cream, as I thought it would hold up better since I knew this wouldn't be eaten in one seating.  I did this as a test run for a family picnic with my husband's family in a few weeks. The results? AMAZING! I love the flavor and consistency. All my boys love it as well, which is a definite plus! 

Here's how mine turned out--I didn't layer it as nicely as the stock photo. But it tastes amazing :)

Cottonelle Clean care & fresh care flushable wipes!

I recently got the opportunity to do a sample and share through crowdtap for the new Cottonelle Clean care toilet paper, as well as the fresh care flushable wipes. i was very excited for this one, as we are a family of 6 and toilet paper goes pretty quickly here!! I am always up for trying new brands--in fact, I usually switch brands a few times a month based on what's on sale, what coupons I have, ect. The second I opened the 18-pack of toilet paper I was sent, I was in heaven! It's got a nice, quilted texture that is soft and gentle, even though they are 1-ply sheets. In the middle of my sampling, I got a terrible stomach virus, as well as gave birth to my fourth son all in the same week. This toilet paper gave me no issues on either account. The flushable wipes are a great addition to our clean up routine, as I have three young boys--one in the midst of potty training--who sometimes need a little extra help cleaning up. My oldest, who is five, loves to announce that he got to use "the wipeys." They are also handy for cleaning up the small messes my potty-training toddler leaves behind on the seat! Overall, I am very satisfied with both products. They are both something I would definitely purchase!

our fresh wipes sit on the bar soap holder that came installed in the bathroom--perfect location for easy access!!

The entire sample share--a big pack and wipes for me, a small pack and wipes for two of my lucky friends!

ripply texture is part of why I love this product so much!

pretty design on the flushable wipes box! :)