Fastest Meatloaf Cooking in History - Redmond Salts Review

Hello my friends!!!

I told ya I was gonna make meatloaf a couple nights ago and guess what!?!?! I did....

Did I get pictures? You ask...

Nope sure didn't! Let me just tell you why.

I had to make an after school evening hours trip to the store which put me back on time cooking dinner. When I finally got home and was in the kitchen cooking the kids decided they wanted to be right there with me telling me how they were simply starving to death because dinner wasn't "on time" Geez.... what kids..... So I had to rush dinner.... I grabbed my ground beef, bread crumbs, an onion, chili sauce and my Redmond Salts to set off on the fastest meatloaf cooking in history.

 

I make a very simple meatloaf. I just threw all those ingredients into a bowl and mixed just until combined. If you over mix It will not be juicy and delicious. It will be a tight clump of meat who wants that? However, It happens a lot that is why so many people hate meatloaf and say theirs is like brick.

So chili sauce you say? Yup, You know that stuff from Heinz....

That stuff is so good on meatloaf because it has a nice little kick to it unlike plain ole ketchup.

 

The next thing.... Redmond Real Organic Salts

I used the Onion and Garlic Salts for this recipe but will for sure be using the seasoning salts as well very soon.

 

 

This was my first time using these salts and they tasted great. I am just now trying to use more all natural and organic products. So I hope to start seeing more of a difference soon.

 

So back to this fast cooking meatloaf.

After tossing in everything and barely mixing it, I gently shaped the big ball of goo into a fairly flat loaf shape and poked a couple indentions into the center with my finger to open it up a little. This increases the cooking time by allowing more of the warmth into the meat. Much the same way smaller potatoes cook faster.

 

At this point I am really wishing I had taken pictures. I am also really wishing the kids would move on to other rooms of our home... No such luck!

 

So about 45 minutes later..... DING dinners done!

 The kids are happy and not even close to near death like they thought. They did finish their food and with a mean burp and "mmm not bad manners, just good food" They were off to get ready for bed.

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: The product(s) mentioned were given free to review, however all opinions are my own and not influenced in any way.

 

Redmond Earthpaste Review

 

Time to brush!!!

 

Words most kids dread hearing. My kids have finally gotten to the point where they don't mind brushing their teeth but are still a little picky about flavor. I am sure glad to find something that may satisfy their tastes and allow them to get the job done happily.

 

I received this Earthpaste, named so because of it's all natural ingredients, for free to review.

 

 

This Earthpaste comes in 4 flavors, Cinnamon, Wintergreen, Peppermint, and Lemon.

I received the wintergreen and lemon.

The first thing I noticed was the great scent out of each tube as I peeled back the inner seal. The next thing that struck my eye was the color of this stuff. It is a tan color not like white or green gel like I was used to. Looks kinda unappealing but, for all of you who are going natural, know that white is not the norm for all natural items anyway.

As I explore farther into this Earthpaste,  read the box and it says, "No Glycerin, No Fluoride, From the earth, No Artificial Coloring, and No Foaming Agents"

Now correct me if I am wrong but isn't fluoride the stuff that prevents cavities?

That was my first thought after reading the box.

And the kids lemon flavored box also read, "Safe To Eat" so no worries about swallowing.

 

 So onward we go... I tried out both flavors and they both were equally tasty for me. 

 There was no crazy hot taste or burning feeling like with traditional toothpastes.

It was a little weird brushing my teeth and there being no foam in my mouth. So I felt a little unsure about the cleanliness.

My kids also tried these for the first time. My son who is very finicky about textures and hotness really liked the fact it didn't foam up. He also was pleased with both flavors as well.

 

 

So overall I do like this toothpaste but I am a little concerned on it's effectiveness towards fighting cavities. At a cost of $7.99 per tube, It is clear you are paying for it to be "All Natural" so that definitely needs to be a factor in your buying decision.

Good Life VoxBox

Hello Everyone!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 I got this VoxBox complimentary from Influenster to review and you could get one like it too!!!

Just go here to request an invite.

Paradise Grove Giveaway (over)

Hello Friends!!!

 

I decided to post again for Paradise Grove Avocados. I have already posted an initial review here. I cannot get enough avocados. I love them so much and these are especially good. They are so fresh and tasty. They have been perfect right out of the fridge into the paper bag for a day then time to eat!

I wanted to show you guys this super easy SalsaMole I made and even my little one loves it! So simple it doesn't even need word.... Just the pictures explain it all.

 

 

 

Oh and one more thing!!!

 

A giveaway!!!!!

1 winner will receive a 6lb box of avocados!!!

  

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Oloves Review and Tasting

I had the pleasure of receiving some yummy snack packs of olives from the company OLOVES. I posted a video of the unboxing and first taste so I will place that here for you.

 

After trying all the yummy goodness I have decided to share a little more insight with you.

 

My hubby and I tried the Hot Chilli Mama Olives in fear they would be so hot we would breathe fire. Sadly, That didn't happen. They were a little spicy but not bad at all. Just the right amount of heat so not to overpower. However, my odd husband said he tasted plastic.... weird.

 

Then, I thought I would try the Lemony Lover ones. I made Caesar salad and just threw those on top to add a little something extra... That was delish as well.

 

The Classic Hummus was very fresh tasting. I had it with those same Multi-grain chips. I wish I had more of it. That was a nice serving though.

 

I tried the Bruschetta on some yummy bread just like I had hoped. It was amazing!!!!

 

Oh yeah, I used to love this place called Schlotskies (I think that is how you spell it) and they had chopped olives on their sandwiches. Well, on the ones I always got anyway..... So I decided to use the rest of the black olive tapenade on a grilled Turkey Sandwich. It was perfection to say the very least. The tapenade gave the sandwich that bit of kick it so needed. it was no longer just a plain turkey Sammy!

 

So anyway.... These OLOVES are a great snack for those who love olives. They deliver a well rounded snack serving in a convenient, liquid free pouch. It also is nice to know they are vegan, vegetarian, kosher, and all natural!!!

Disclaimer: I received these Olives for free to review. All opinions are my own.

Paradise Grove Avocados Review

I absolutely LOVE avocados!

 

I was thrilled when I was chosen to do a review for Paradise Grove Avocados for August.

I was told I would be receiving a 6 lbs box of hand clipped avocados selected just for me. You can find out more about their selection and harvest process here.

Here is the box I received via USPS priority mail. It contained 9 pretty good size avocados.

 They were green when I opened the box as I knew they would be. I just left them out on the table for a few days in the open box to allow them to ripen up somewhat. After a couple days I had been teased enough. I wanted to eat them. I took them out of the box and placed a couple into a paper bag to speed up their ripening a bit and the rest I put into the fridge for later recipes I will try.

I was surprised at how well the paper bag method worked to ripen these up. It was only the very next day and they were ready to eat. So of course  I had to cut one up right away and munch away!

I made a Turkey Sammy with avocado. Simple but so delish!

 

Then this morning I had to have the other one I ripened up with breakfast!

I am telling ya... I love avocados!!!!

 

I could eat these things for every meal! As a matter of fact I almost do. I have slacked off a little in recent past because my grocery stores avocados haven't been as good as they should be. I don't know what they do with them or where they come from for that matter but they are never consistently good.

 

Which brings me to one thing I love about Paradise Grove Avocados, I know where they are coming from and how they are grown.

 

I plan to make some "Frog Dip" with my girls very soon and I will link it to this post when I get it done. I just have to wait for a trip to the store for a couple ingredients.

Hint: It does not included FROGS

 

If you want to find more please visit this link to a variety of avocados recipes



To find out how you can order a box of fresh picked avocados just visit the Paradise Grove Website, Facebook Page, or Twitter.

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I was given this product for free to review.

All opinions are my own and not influenced in any way.

Hugo The Happy Starfish - It's Good To Be Me

Hugo is a little starfish with a big heart. Every day he makes other creatures happy – and doing so makes Hugo happy. One day however, he begins to feel small and ugly, convinced that nobody likes him. When granted some magic wishes he decides to change a few things he doesn’t like about himself.

Hugo learns a great lesson and once those changes are made he wishes he could be himself again.

Join Hugo on his journey as he discovers that being himself is the best way to be – and the only way to be happy.

IT’S GOOD TO BE ME! is a story about the importance of self-esteem when striving to be a happy and successful person.

Hugo’s story is a good way to teach kids about having a healthy self-esteem and to be happy with the way they are.

This book is a great way to teach APPRECIATION and the FIVE SENSES.

Meet HUGO, a little starfish with a big heart and a curious mind.
In very story of the series he learns about a different character trade/ attitude. 


My little girls have been so tickled to receive the Hugo books. We got this one in an e-book version.  Kids love the pictures and parents love the lessons. Even the e-book has colorful pictures to help the kids imagine just how Hugo is dealing with his struggles. 

I cannot say enough good things about these books. Ms. Suzy has developed a great website to accommodate all the books as well. It seems there are worksheets and downloadables for many of her books. After reading a few of the books I am just now finding this. I wish I had seen it earlier. This is a great tool for teachers, parents, and parents of home schoolers.

Speaking of teachers.... There is also a Free Teacher Friday!! Teachers can go and apply with a little paragraph about theirself, their students, and the school they teach at. Every Friday a set of books will be raffled to one lucky winner. That is such an awesome thing to do for our teachers!

You can check out where I have reviewed other Hugo Books

 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Hugo The Happy Starfish - One Step at a Time

“ONE STEP AT A TIME Happiness Begins One Step At A Time”
is a great tale to teach commitment.
Hugo is a little starfish with a big sense of adventure. One day he finds an empty candy wrapper with a picture of a huge chocolate mountain. Usually when Hugo finds trash in the ocean it upsets him but this time what he found made him curious. Hugo discovers that his chocolate mountain is in fact a real mountain, which is called the Matterhorn and is located in Switzerland. He decides to set off on a journey to find this mountain – a huge challenge for a little starfish! Hugo learns to take one step at a time and to enjoy the journey as much as the destination. Join Hugo as he finds the secret of perseverance when the road gets difficult.

ONE STEP AT A TIME is a story about the need for perspective, whatever mountains we face. This book is the perfect way to each kids to divide big challenges into little chunks and to take things one step at a time.

In Hugo, children, parents, and educators will discover a lovable and engaging role model with whom they can identify. 

The story consists of 28 gorgeous illustrations showing a colorful and magical underwater world.

Children will laugh at the delightful characters, hold their breaths in suspense and love to read this story over and over.

The book is suitable as a read aloud book for preschoolers or a self-read book for older children.

 

My little girls have been so tickled to receive the Hugo books. We got this one in an e-book version.  Kids love the pictures and parents love the lessons. Even the e-book has colorful pictures to help the kids imagine just how Hugo is dealing with his struggles. 

I cannot say enough good things about these books. Ms. Suzy has developed a great website to accommodate all the books as well. It seems there are worksheets and downloadables for many of her books. After reading a few of the books I am just now finding this. I wish I had seen it earlier. This is a great tool for teachers, parents, and parents of home schoolers.

Speaking of teachers.... There is also a Free Teacher Friday!! Teachers can go and apply with a little paragraph about theirself, their students, and the school they teach at. Every Friday a set of books will be raffled to one lucky winner. That is such an awesome thing to do for our teachers!

You can check out where I have reviewed other Hugo Books

 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Hugo The Happy Starfish- Flying High

Come on a sea adventure with HUGO THE HAPPY STARFISH as he finds out that HAPPINESS begins with ENTHUSIASM. 

FLYING HIGH (THE ISLAND OF ENTHUSIASM) contains a great educational lesson about ENTHUSIASM AND SELF-CONTROL. 
On the ISLAND OF ENTHUSIASM Hugo learns that Enthusiasm makes the task more enjoyable, however being overly enthusiastic makes you lose your focus and a rude awakening is the consequence. 
The little starfish learns how to use his enthusiasm wisely and to stay balanced with self-control.

Hugo is a little starfish whose home is at the bottom of the wide ocean. He longs to visit the real world, and one day he decides to go and find it. Hugo's journey to happiness isn't quite as straightforward as he hopes though. He is sent to a series of different islands where he is taught important character lessons.
By the end of his journey, Hugo has visited fourteen islands, made many more friends, and, most importantly, learned how to be a better starfish.

‘HUGO THE HAPPY STARFISH - ISLAND ADVENTURES’ is packed with life lessons for kids, showing them the importance of appreciation, patience, tolerance and optimism amongst others.

Teaching children life skills can be tricky, but with this exciting book your kids will come across some of the most important lessons there are to be learned. Like Hugo, their journey to the real world will be full of character lessons along the way.

My little girls have been so tickled to receive the Hugo books. This is the first one we got in e-book but it was just as fun for them. Kids love the pictures and parents love the lessons. Even the e-book has colorful pictures to help the kids imagine just how Hugo is dealing with his struggles. 

I cannot say enough good things about these books. Ms. Suzy has developed a great website to accommodate all the books as well. It seems there are worksheets and downloadables for many of her books. After reading a few of the books I am just now finding this. I wish I had seen it earlier. This is a great tool for teachers, parents, and parents of home schoolers.

Speaking of teachers.... There is also a Free Teacher Friday!! Teachers can go and apply with a little paragraph about theirself, their students, and the school they teach at. Every Friday a set of books will be raffled to one lucky winner. That is such an awesome thing to do for our teachers!

You can check out where I have reviewed other Hugo Books

 

 

 

 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Plus Size Corset Review

One of the biggest things I don't like about being plus sized is not being able to have sexy clothes. Apparently my husband still thinks I am sexy even though I am fluffy! So who says we can't still have the same sexy lingerie fun like everyone else.

 

 

 

It is so hard to find regular size clothes to fit the plus size woman and I assumed buying lingerie would be just as difficult. After being given this opportunity to receive a corset top from Corset Chick, I decided to do a quick web search for plus size lingerie and see what the competition looked like.

The top 3 choices were :

1. a plain Jane site for "granny panties"

2. a retail site again with no sexy stuff

3. a smut looking site with a range of prices from $50-$200+

 

So... No thank you.

The first thing I was asked to do was go to the site and looks around and pick out a corset under $30. I thought, "yeah, right. what a joke." Like there was going to be much under $30 to even have a choice. I was so wrong.

After browsing through regular sizes I decided to get real and move on to the plus size corsets.

The sizes run a little smaller than normal but they have the size chart clearly available for you to make an informed decision. Just a tip... base your size choice on the number size....

 

 

I found my top three choices and sent them in. I received my first choice in the mail just a couple weeks later. I was so happy to see the quality was very good. I was almost expecting a thin piece that would fall apart at first glimpse at my fluffy self.

​

Each corset comes with a g string, nothing more that a piece of elastic sewn to a piece of triangle fabric. But Isn't that what they all are?

 

All the way around this Corset was very pretty. Even to the back tie up. My inexperience self was unaware at first that there was a zipper on the side. You adjust the tie to where it would work for you then you can just wrap the corset around and zip it up. I felt so dumb.

The zipper itself is also a strong feature. The tie in the back is extra long so it leaves a lot of room to open it up to fit in case you misjudged the size and need a little extra wiggle room.

 

Lovely Black Taffeta Style Corset 

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Corset has steel busks on the front, laces on the back and it comes with matching G-string

 

• Corset has steel busks closure on the front, and laces in the back for a perfect fit.
• 12 light-weight bones through-out
• Corset finished in black satin
• Fully adjustable criss cross ribbon lace back
• Corset is 15' in length
• Cut shorter at the back for added comfort
• Pleated trim to soften lines

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Woolzies Dryer Balls Review and Giveaway (over)

Woolzies

The Natural Fabric Softener

 

Hello to my awesome readers!!!

 

 Back to school time and here I am with a pile of laundry a mile high already. School clothes being separated from play clothes means even more laundry... UGH never ending! I have decided that even though making my own laundry detergent is quite cheap I still cannot seem to measure worth a flip. Not to mention the kids help with their own laundry and it becomes a slippery war zone in my laundry room due to all the spills. I have tried and decided I will be using those little pre-measured packs of laundry soap. They clean very well and when it says 18, 50, or 96 (whatever) loads.... That is how many you get. Throw one in and your done! How easy is that?

 

OK so the next step was fabric softener..... buy, make, measure, pour, and spill.....

Nothing but waste of time and money...

I thought about dryer sheets but you have to keep buying and buying and buying those too and then we throw in 2 or 3 per load because we just don't know if one would cut it.

 

I have replaced my liquid fabric softener with these Woolzies Dryer Balls.

They are guaranteed to last for 1000 loads.

 

 

 

 

They look like a very simple concept.... Balls Handmade from  New Zealand Wool.

 

All you do is place these balls into your dryer with the clothes and turn it on.

You buy them once and reuse them over and over! Mine just stay in the dryer and when we throw the clothes in they are already there and no need to do anything else. Then as the clothes tumble in the dryer they bounce around and along with softening the clothes naturally and reducing static, they also reduce drying time! It used to take my clothes the full 60 minutes to fully dry but now we can set the dryer on about 45 minutes and they are dry! Saves on electricity as well as cost of buying more product every week or month.

Oh yeah, and did I mention they are 100% Eco Friendly? Well they are! 100% pure wool, and chemical free. These Woolzies are hypoallergenic so they are safe for people with sensitivities as well.

I am continuing to use these on our clothes everyday and they seem to do just as well as liquid fabric softener aside from the lack of scent. That is kind of expected though when you have all natural products with no chemicals...

Overall,  I am really enjoying the savings we are seeing!!!

 

Guess what else?

 

**GIVEAWAY**

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.