Recipes, Decor, Crafts, Product Reviews, Giveaways and more.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Chili Chicken & Pasta
I found this recipe for Chili Chicken & Pasta a while back. The original recipe instructs you to make the sauce and add the chicken to it, and then pour it over plain pasta. But I changed it up a bit, stirring the pasta and the sauce together and placing the chicken on top. For this week's post, I'm including the original recipe and my variation. Hope you enjoy!
Original Recipe: Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed 1 can Condensed Cream of Chicken with Herbs Soup 1/2 cup milk 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese 1 teaspoon chili powder 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 4 cups hot cooked corkscrew-shaped pasta
Directions: Heat oil in skillet. Add chicken and cook until browned, stirring often. Add soup, milk, cheese, chili powder and garlic and heat through. Serve over pasta.
My Variation:
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts 1 can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup 1/2 cup milk 1 tablespoon chili powder 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 3 cups pasta
Directions: Heat oil in a skillet. Add chicken and cook until browned, stirring often. Remove chicken from pan. In a separate pot, cook pasta and drain water. Add soup, milk, chili powder, and garlic. Stir and heat through. Serve pasta with chicken on top. Season chicken with additonal chili powder.
I have another excellent giveaway opportunity for you from Uprinting. This time you have a chance to 500 business cards!
There are 3 different business card sizes available at Uprinting. You get the following color options: Color on both sides, Color on one side , B/W backside, and Color 1 side, black backside. And they have die cut business cards if you're looking for something extra unique. You also get to choose between 14pt cardstock (matte or gloss coating) and 13 pt cardstock uncoated.
There are so many ways you could use this prize. If you have a business or you're thinking of starting one, this could be a great way to promote yourself. You could also use these to promote your etsy shop. And if you don't have a business, you could use these to promote your blog to people offline. Or you could create "Mom cards" that you can give to parents of your child's friends and classmates so that they can contact you.
Learning Link Technologies - Brain Training Ecourse, Review & Giveaway
Just in time for Back to School, I have a life-changing review and giveaway to share with you. You may remember the Break Pal giveaway that I hosted back in April. Well, Phil Weaver of Break Pal, contacted me a few weeks ago about hosting another great giveaway for him. This time it is for an ecourse designed to help kids and parents overcome learning disabilities.
The course was developed by Lisa Harp, a learning disability specialist, educational therapist, and founder of the Harp Learning Institute, a leading edge learning center in Northern California.
I had the opportunity to review the course and was very pleased with my findings. Unlike special education programs that are designed to make students feel comfortable and often fail to challenge children, this program is actually designed to retrain the brain.
So what kind of students can benefit from this program? The program is designed to help students with learning disabilities such as ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, autism, and children who are performing below their grade level.
The program is very easy for parents to follow. No special training or educational expertise is required. With this course you get both written and video instruction, and you even get quizzes which will help you determine when your child is ready to move on to the next module in the course.
When you follow the course at an average pace it takes about 12 months to complete. The course includes neuro-sensory brain training exercises that are done once a week and take about 15-20 minutes to complete, and there are also activities that supplement the brain training, which are to be done about 5 days a week for 20-30 minutes.
The exercises and activities are designed to help a child's mind and body work together. And I think children will find them fun and interesting. The activities are also very easy to administer, and all the materials that you need to get your child started are included with the course.
The course is well organized and very easy to understand and navigate through. On the front page you'll find your course introduction, a link to the Brain Training Chat Room, and links to forums on learning disorders. Below this you'll find links to your Month One Brain Training and Month One Activities Instructions and Materials packet.
Next you'll see links for your first 5 days (which are to be repeated for about a month). When you click on these links, a page will come up that will tell you which activities you need to do with your child on that day, and it will provide you with links to videos for all the day's activities. (You can also access the videos for all the month one brain training exercises and activities from the front page of the course.)
The course is designed for students at all levels. In the lessons, Lisa points out that students may have a difficult time with activities at first and that it's a good idea to start slow and then speed up as the child progresses through the program. In the videos Lisa demonstrates all the exercises and activities on a student, and she gives you tips and also points out some things that you can expect from students when they first begin the activities.
My favorite thing about the course is that it includes both videos and written instruction. This will make it very easy for parents to follow along and understand. I also love that the materials packet is included. This will save parents a lot of time and money because they won't have to create their own activity sheets or go out and buy a lot of extra materials at the store.
This is also a great program because it takes less than an hour to complete each day's activities, and because the activities are designed to retrain the brain. Rather than spending time doing extra homework and rather than holding students back and limiting their capabilities with a special education curriculum, this program actually focuses on the problems and it works toward reprogramming your child's brain so that they can learn and reach their full potential.
Phil has offered 3 months of this course to one Simply Sweet Home reader. This is a $240 value!
To win you must leave a comment on this post telling us something you learned from the video I've posted here OR visit learning-aids.com and tell us something you learned from the site. Deadline for entries: Sept 10 at 6PM Central.
**And please, if you don't need this prize, help me pass the word along. There are a lot of people out there who could really use this!**
Additional Entries:
Because this is such a potentially life-changing program, I'm allowing for a lot of extra entries (even more than usual). Just leave comments for each additional entry, and please leave a user name/link or something so that I can verify. Thanks!
-1 entry for following me publicly on blogger.
-1 entry for joining my feedblitz mailing list, or 2 entries if you are already a member prior to this giveaway.
-1 entry for becoming a registered user at learning-aids.com (there are benefits to this such as being able to ask Lisa a direct question which will be answered on her site.)
1 entry for commenting on one of Lisa's blog entries
(That's up to 15 extra entries! )
Other Rules: -Don't forget, if you don't have a blog or a profile with a visible email address, please include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win. (Can't stress this enough!)
I have more cat pictures for this week's blog hop. This week's theme is Funny pictures, quotes, stories, etc. And I couldn't think of anything funnier than a cat invading my fridge...
Dixie Belle loves to look in the refrigerator. I think she knows what it's for! And one day I was putting away the groceries, and I turned around to find her actually in the refrigerator. And of course, being the picture freak that I am, I had to grab my camera right quick and snap a few photos. (Don't worry, I checked the fridge for hair and wiped it down before putting the rest of the food in. And besides, Dixie assured us that she was clean as a whistle.)
Here Dixie Belle is posing for the camera, as if this is exactly where's supposed to be. Doesn't she look innocent?
Here she's gazing at the potatoes in the crisper and trying to figure out why she can't get them. (And if you think she looks intrigued by the potatoes, you should see her when there's a bug or a tree frog on the outside of the windows!)
And here she is going for the food that's not under glass. She's reaching for the cottage cheese here, but what she doesn't realize is there's some fresh chicken just above her head.
...And still intrigued by the potatoes.
And I think she's a little mad at me here because I'm telling her it's time to come out.
And here she's taking one last look at the place before she has to exit. What an exciting tale to tell her brother!
Hello food lovers! Before getting to this week's recipe, I want to tell all you subscribers and regular visitors from the food carnivals about the giveaways I've got going on and coming up. This week I'm launching a wonderful giveaway from Learning Link Technologies. You'll be able to win 3 months of a 12 month ecourse that is designed to help kids who are performing below their grade level or have learning disabilities. This is an amazing course! The first 3 months of this course is a $240 value, so I'm very excited to give you the chance to win. So if you are in need, please come back and enter or tell someone you know who needs this to come and enter. I plan to have this up either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.
Also, if you look over my notes at the top, you'll see links to my Dining Rooms Direct Giveaway. (You can win a Signature Housewares Sorrento Pitcher in your favorite color!) And then there's also a Custom Greeting Card Giveaway, where you can win 250 cards for your home or business (a $90 value).
Now onto this week's recipe. I have a great crock pot meal to share with you this week. This is one of my favorite things to cook, and it is oh-so-easy!
Recipe for Crock Pot Roast Chicken Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (4-6) Water Dales Seasoning Sauce Carrots, Potatoes, Onions, (or other vegetables of your choice) Salt & Pepper to season (optional)
Directions: As you can see there's no exact recipe for this per se. It's basically a pot roast but with chicken. Just place your chicken breasts in the crock pot, along with your vegetables. (I usually use 4-6 potatoes, and a bag of baby carrots. I don't actually put the onion in mine, but if you like onions, just peel 1-3 and place them in the pot.)
Pour enough water in the crock pot to completely cover your chicken and vegetables. Then pour in a "splash" of Dale's Seasoning. (maybe 3-4 tablespoons). You can also season it with salt and pepper if you like.
The cook time depends on how old your crock pot is. My crock pot is only a couple of years old, and it takes about about 3-4 hours to cook on low, (about 2 hours on high). If you have an older crock pot, your cook time may be longer.
Tips & Suggestions:
-If you like your carrots to be extra soft/tender, you'll need to put these in the crock pot a couple of hours before you put the rest of the stuff in.
-If you're not familiar with Dale's Sauce, here's a website where you can learn more about it: Dales Seasoning Sauce. If it's not available in your area, then a good subsititute would be soy sauce, but Dale's Sauce is recommended. (I also use this seasoning for pork roasts, and we use it to marinade our hamburgers and steaks as well. It's awesome!)
It's time for our Sweet Thursday Muffin & Bread round-up! Big thanks to this month's contributors! These are some yummy treats!
Join the Round-Up: If you have posted a dessert that goes with this month's theme and would like to be included in my round-up, justleave your link in the comments section and I'll add your dessert to the post.
Next Month's Sweet Thursday Theme will be: Cookies. If you'd like to be featured in the next Sweet Thursday Round-Up, send an email with a link to your post to simplysweethome@hotmail.com. Deadline: September 24.
I'd love to have more Sweet Thursday bakers. It's a great way to share recipes and show off your blog, so if you're already posting a recipe that will fit in with our theme, you might as well send it our way. To be a part of my Sweet Thursday Cookie Round-up in September, just email your submission to me by Sept 24. For more information on this event, check out my Sweet Thursday guidelines.
Need new dining room furniture? Diningroomsdirect.com is an awesome online retailer that sells formal and casual dining sets, as well as bistro & pub sets and breakfast nooks. They also offer a nice selection of dining accessories, dinnerware, flatware, and linens. And you can find cookware, bakeware, and decor as well.
And they have a ton of brand names available on their site, including Broyhill, Standard Furniture, Kincaid, Stanley Furniture, Knoll, Rachael Ray, and lots more!
What I loved about the Dining Rooms Direct website was that it offers something for everyone, regardless of your personal style or budget.
I was very pleased when I got the opportunity to review and give away a product from Dining Rooms Direct. As I was browsing through the website, I found the Sorrento Collection from Signature Housewares. The Sorrento Collection includes dishes, canister sets, bowls, platters, and just about every coordinating piece that you can think of. Since I love pitchers/jugs, I selected the Sorrento Pitcher to review. The items in the Sorrento Collection come in five beautiful colors. You can select from ruby, burgundy, oregano, wheat, and ivory.
After much deliberation, I chose the Sorrento Burgundy Pitcher. The item arrived quickly and was very carefully packaged. The pitcher is made of glossy, lead-free, chip-resistant stoneware and is very durable. It is safe for use in the microwave, dishwasher, and conventional oven for warming. It has a rustic Italian appeal, and it features a raised dot and olive leaf motif that is just lovely.
I was originally attracted to this collection because of the rustic Italian, antique look, and when it arrived I immediately loved the design and detail work, as well as the color. I was impressed by the high quality of the piece and its durability and versatility.
You can put this pitcher to use, serving drinks to your guests, or it would make a lovely accent piece for your kitchen or dining room.
The Sorrento Pitcher would be a wonderful addition if you already have the Sorrento Collection in your home, but it would also go brilliantly with other dishes and decor that you may have. Despite the rustic appeal of this collection, it would complement any table setting or kitchen decor. And whether you have a traditional, country, or contemporary style, you would enjoy this piece.
Today I am offering one Simply Sweet Home reader the chance to win a Signature Housewares Sorrento Pitcher from Dining Rooms Direct. You can select a pitcher in any of their five beautiful colors: burgundy, ruby oregano, wheat, and ivory.
This giveaway is now closed.
Deadline: September 2.
Additional Entries:
-One entry for following me publicly on blogger.
-One entry for joining my feedblitz mailing list, or 2 entries if you are already a member prior to this giveaway.
-One entry for subscribing in a reader.
-One entry for following or subscribing to my new business blog Fortunato's Hat.
-One entry for becoming a fan of Simply Sweet Home on facebook.
-Two entries for writing about this giveaway on your blog and linking back to Simply Sweet Home.
Other Rules:
-Just leave comments for each additional entry, and please leave a user name/link or something so that I can verify.
-Don't forget, if you don't have a blog or a profile with a visible email address, please include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win. (Can't stress this enough!)
How would you like to receive 250 5" X 7" custom greeting cards?
Digitalroom.com is an online printing company that offers a variety of products for all your printing needs, including custom greeting cards and custom postcards. They offer high quality prints and custom sizes at affordable gang prices and a fast turn around. And prepress checks your files and prepares free proofs before you pay!
What would you do if you had 250 custom greeting cards? Here are just a few ideas:
Business Promotions: Business owners could use this prize to create postcards complete with their own custom logo. Use these to get the word out about your business or to announce sales and special events to your loyal customers. Just think of all the possibilities!
Thank You cards: Perhaps you just got married or had a baby, and you have a lot of thank you cards to send out. Or maybe you sell products on etsy and you'd like to send out a personal thank you card with each order. With custom greeting cards you could say thank you with your own special and uniquely designed thank you cards.
Holidays: Last year I noticed a lot of bloggers creating digitally designed Christmas cards with photos of their kids and family. Christmas is still a few months away, but it's never too early to get those Christmas cards out of the way.
Announcements: Use custom greeting cards to announce an engagement or the birth of a child.
Invitations: You can go to Digitalroom.com and create your own custom wedding invitations. And businesses could create invitations for a special sale or a grand opening. Or perhaps you are holding some kind of meeting or seminar in your area. Mail or hand out custom greeting cards to promote your event. You could even mail out invitations to an online seminar or event.
Two Simply Sweet Home readers will win 250 5X7" Greeting Cards.(Half-Fold; 10 pt Cover with matte or gloss Coating. Full Color Outside and Blank Inside. US residents only. Winner will just have to pay shipping costs.)
This Giveaway is now closed.
Additional Entries:
-One entry for following me publicly on blogger.
-One entry for joining my feedblitz mailing list, or 2 entries if you are already a member prior to this giveaway.
-One entry for subscribing in a reader.
-One entry for following or subscribing to my new business blog.
-One entry for becoming a fan of Simply Sweet Home on facebook.
-Two entries for writing about this giveaway on your blog and linking back to Simply Sweet Home.
-One entry if you also enter the Ugg Boots Giveaway. (Just visit the link, follow the instructions, and leave a comment telling me you entered.)
Other Rules:
-Just leave comments for each additional entry, and please leave a user name/link or something so that I can verify.
-Don't forget, if you don't have a blog or a profile with a visible email address, please include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win. (Can't stress this enough!)
-This giveaway is for US residents only. Winners are responsible for paying shipping costs.
Since muffins and breads are the theme for the Sweet Thursday event I'm hosting this week, I decided to post my banana bread recipe so I'd have something to add to my round-up.
I just love banana bread and banana muffins for breakfast or as a snack. Usually I make banana muffins from a mix, because hubby doesn't like banana flavored stuff, and I don't like to spend a lot of time on something that's just for me. But I've been wanting to make homemade banana bread for a while, so I searched around and finally picked out a recipe to try. And it actually didn't take a lot of time to make. It was very good too!
Recipe for Banana Bread
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 eggs, beaten 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan.
Last year I wrote a series of posts called "Back to College." If you or your child is a current or future college student, please check out my posts. I have information on financial aid, deciding where to go to college, getting good deals on textbooks, dorm room supplies, and more!
The Importance of Planning - This post explains about early planning to finance your college tuition and to prepare yourself (or child) academically for college.
Deciding Where to Go to College - This tells you some basic things to look at when deciding where to go to college, and it tells you about different ways to do your own independent research on schools you're interested in.
Guide to Financial Aid, Part 2 -Shopping for student loans, Positives & Negatives to getting loans through your school, and My experiences with fiananical aid.
A "Major" Decision - About when & how you should choose your major. What factors should you take into account?
For this week's bloghop, we're sharing some favorite recent photos. So I picked out a few funny pictures of my kitties to share with you, complete with my fun and cheesy commentary.
Anytime my husband goes out of town or even leaves the house, the cats seem very "interested" in what's going on.
In these pictures Rebel is....um...rebelling! I'm not sure if he's trying to keep "daddy" from leaving or if he wants to go too. You make the call!
Dixie was a little mad that Rebel got to the suitcase before her...after all, she is the queen and is supposed to have first choice of all items to sit on and play with. But she decided to put her personal feelings aside and focus on the task at hand: Keeping Daddy From Leaving.
While Rebel remained entrenched in the suitcase, Dixie successfully held and defended a pile of clean, just-folded shorts and underwear. "This oughta stop him!"
"If Daddy wants to leave, he has to go through us!"
But in the end, they could not stop the inevitable....Daddy had to leave!
So they retired to the office with me where they napped and snuggled together. Just before falling asleep they had a top secret discussion about future campaigns, including a "Welcome Home Ambush."
....and they did a little grooming too, of course!
Hope you enjoyed the pictures and story. Thanks for stopping by!
Usually I make the easy bisquick pancakes (just add milk & egg), but a while back I was trying a box of off-brand baking mix, and it had a recipe on the box which I decided to try. I apologize for my less-than-beautiful pictures. It's still a good recipe!
Directions: Stir all ingredients together until smooth. Cook on a hot griddle or frying pan on mid-high. Cook until bubbles form on the surface (about one minute). Then flip and cook the other side.
My Variation:
