• Cruising on “Serenade of the Seas”

    We had the privilege of cruising on Royal Caribbean’s “Serenade of the Seas” ship on our last vacation.  The first evening we were aboard the boat was full of exploring the ship, our cabin, the schedules, activities and the amazing services they had to offer.  It was our second cruise and the “Serenade of the Seas” was a bigger ship as well as a longer trip.  We were excited to have the opportunity to explore more islands during our trip.   Both of us slept very well aboard our time on the ship as they cruised from island to island during the night.  We met a lot of really neat people and was able to spend some quality time with our family.  “Serenade of the Seas” is one of Royal Caribbean’s newer ships.  Here is some information about “Serenade of the Seas”:

    Ship Facts

    * Maiden Voyage: August 1, 2003
    * Passenger Capacity: 2,114 double occupancy; 2,502 maximum
    * Godmother: Whoopi Goldberg
    * Gross Tonnage: 90,090
    * Length: 962′
    * Beam: 105.6′
    * Draft: 27.9′
    * Cruising Speed: 22 knots

    Ship Highlights

    * Rock-climbing wall
    * Portofino Italian Restaurant
    * Chops Grille
    * Latté-tudes,SM a specialty coffee house featuring Seattle’s Best Coffee®
    * Seaview Café
    * Themed bars and lounges
    * Casino RoyaleSM
    * The Colony Club, a unique British colonial-style lounge with self-leveling pool tables;
    * Beautiful indoor Solarium
    * Indoor/outdoor country club with golf simulator
    * Adventure Ocean® youth facilities
    * Day Spa and Fitness Center
    * Sports court with basketball/volleyball court

    These were just a few of the details of “Serenade of the Seas”.   We enjoyed amazing food, great entertainment and a fun times.  We would go again if we had the opportunity.  If you have never cruised before it is an experience worth trying at least once.  None of our party got sea sick.  The trip was pretty smooth and the service wonderful.  Check it out if you are thinking about taking a cruise.  Who knows who you’ll meet along the way!

    A Vacation To Remember series is a reflection on our recent trip and ways we relaxed.  Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away.  Go with a good attitude and looking for fun and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories.  It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine.  Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn.  You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!

  • Life Simplified: No Grocery Shopping (Continued)

    Now that we are through January 2011 you may be wondering how I  did with my No Grocery Shopping Month Challenge.  I did a lot better than I anticipated, but still had a hiccup or two.  Thankfully no one starved or went hungry in our house during my challenge.  We even hosted guests for a few meals!  It took a little extra planning on my part to cook meals from items already in the pantry and fridge, if we didn’t have something we did without it or found a creative way to make it out of what we had at home.  The amazing part is the entire family was supportive of my goal even if that meant a slightly altered menu.  The only comment I received from one of the girls that indicated they noticed was “Mom, did we eat up all the leftovers in the fridge because it looks a little empty?”

    Here is the complete list of groceries I purchased in the month of January:

    • 6 gallons of Milk
    • 1 loaf of Bread
    • 1 package Ground Hamburger
    • 1 package Cube Steaks
    • 2 Yogurts
    • 1 container French Onion Dip
    • 1 container Cottage Cheese
    • 1 package Flour Tortillas
    • 1 box Kellogg’s Toy Story 3 cereal

    The total spent on groceries for this month was $27.95 including the tax.   Milk was by far the most expensive part of our expenditures for the month of January adding up to $18.93.  We had an extra expense of $1.50 from the Kellogg’s Toy Story 3 cereal that did not meet my criteria.  Leaving only $7.52 for all of our other grocery purchases for the month of January which I bought last week.

    The food I bought had to meet the following criteria:

    • FREE – I don’t want to waste free grocery coupons that my family will use while doing this goal
    • Necessity – Milk, Eggs, Bread, etc…
    • For Someone Else outside of my household.  For example I make meals for new Moms in our church and if I need to pick up an item for them on the way to deliver a meal that will be an exception.

    I have decided to continue with this challenge.  It has been wonderful not having to go to the grocery store every week for anything other than milk.  Our pantry still has plenty for us to eat and our freezer is fairly full.  So I am going to continue with this challenge into February and see how much longer I can make it stretch.

    One of the questions I have been asked is – What are we eating?  Do we have recipes for these meals?  To answer those questions I will be sharing a little more about what we are eating and recipes in a later post.

    I will continue to share with you the challenges, successes and what I had to purchase so you can keep me accountable or even go through the journey with me by participating  and sharing your story.  I am excited to be extending this goal into the first part of February!  It has been great learning to say “no” when at the grocery store to extras and being creative with we have at home.

    Life Simplified is a series on getting rid of the extras in our life while learning how to enjoy what God has given us so we can continue to be a blessing to others.  Our homes can quickly start are bursting with “stuff”  and if you are like us we just have too much.  I am doing a series on ways we are learning to simplifying our food, homes, and lives.  When our hearts, lives, and homes get too cluttered we may start missing out on opportunities to serve and bless the people around us.

  • Save A Lot: Deals for the week of January 12-18, 2011

    Here are this weeks deals at Save A Lot.  The deals are continuing from last week if you haven’t had a chance to take advantage of these deals.  Sign up for the Smart Shopper Club, by doing so you will get a $5.00 off of $25.00 coupon!

    Meats and Seafood

    Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast – $1.49 per lb

    Ground Beef (73% Lean) – $1.79 per lb

    Fairgrounds All Meat Hot Dogs – $0.75

    Banquet Brown n’ Serve Sausage Links (40 count) – $2.99

    Carolina Ground Turkey (16 oz) – $1

    Shaner’s Chicken Breast – $5.79

    Fairgrounds Lunchmeat – $2.99

    Pick 5 for $19.99 promo on going: Pick any 5 specially marked packages of your favorite cuts of fresh, frozen or smoked meats and pay just $19.99 (about $2 per pound).

    Fridge and Freezer

    Take & Bake Pizza (Pepperoni or Sausage) – $5.99

    Armour Lunch Makers – $1.99

    Wylwood Broccoli – $1.29

    Coburn Farms EggsZactly – $1.49

    Coburn Farms Low Fat or Light Yogurt – $0.50

    Tony’s Crispy Crust Pizza – $0.8
    Use $1/2 printable coupon from Tony’s
    $0.39 each after coupon

    Household

    Xtra Laundry Detergent – $1.99

    Charmin Basic Double Roll Bath Tissue (12 rolls) – $5.00
    Use $0.25/1 coupon from 12/26 Proctor & Gamble (Expires 1/31/11)
    $4.75 each after coupon

    Facial Tissues – $0.99

    Produce

    Iceberg Lettuce – $0.89

    Fresh Pineapple – $1.50

    Yellow Onions – $0.99 each

    Grocery

    Malt O Meal  Frosted Mini Spooners or Berry Colossal Crunch (42 to 50 oz) – $2.99
    $0.75/1 printable coupon from Malt O Meal
    $2.24 each after coupon

    JJ’s Apple or Cherry Pies – $0.33

    Krunchers Kettle Cooked Potato Chips (Assorted Varieties) – $2.00

    Mantia’s Grated Parmesan Cheese – $2.55

    Save-A-Lot Soda – $0.69

    J. Higgs Potato Chips – $0.99

    Caskey’s Chunky Soup – $1.49

    J. Higgs Crackers – $0.79

    Del Pino’s Canned Pasta – $0.69

    O’Days Mac & Cheese – $0.33

    Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix – $0.39

    Mantia’s Spaghetti – $0.79

    Sundia True Fruit Cups – $0.89

    Instant Oatmeal – $1.49

    Del Monte Spaghetti Sauce – $0.79

    Kool Aid Bursts – $0.99

    Manwich Sloppy Joe Sauce – $0.99

    Hargis House Vienna Sausage – $0.37

    Hargis House Chicken Vienna Sausage – $0.37

    Hargis House Chili with Beans – $0.99

    Hargis House Beef Stew – $1.79

    Hargis House Corned Beef Hash – $1.49

    Hargis House Chili without Beans – $1.29

    Remember you can use the $5/$25 printable coupon to sweeten these deals!  Plus you can earn up to 5 additional $5 off $25 coupons for sharing the coupon with your friends.

    For more information about Save A Lot’s coupon policies go here.  If you find additional deals or savings please let me know and I will add them to the list.

  • Book: “Cooking for Kids, Kids’ Party Food”

    My Mom gave me this book for Christmas 2005 Favorite Brand Name: Cooking for Kids, Kids’ Party Food.  The girls were still small then but it has been a great book that all of us have enjoyed over the past few years.  We love looking through it and have tried many of the recipes; several have become family favorites.  It has creative recipes that the girls love helping me with and some they can do almost on their own with a little adult supervision.  Once they start reading it will be even easier for them.  There are are pictures along with creative ideas for cooking and parties. If you are looking for a great gift for a young child or Mom and they like to cook this may be an awesome book for them.

  • Recipe: Sour Spiral Cookies

    Here was a fun recipe we made during our Christmas Baking Day on Saturday.  It was a good one to do in between recipes because several steps required some time in the refrigerator.  Although it does not take up a huge amount of room you’ll need space in your fridge and freezer to complete this recipe.  I doubled the batch so the cookies came out pretty big but they were a huge hit with everyone.  This was my favorite recipe that we made from Favorite Brand Name: Cooking for Kids, Kids’ Party Food on our Saturday baking day because it was unique and tasty.  I made my cookies with red and green spirals for the Christmas Holidays but you can do any two flavors of gelatin.  These are colorful, fun, and have a mix of sweet and sour all mixed into one delicious cookie.

    Sour Spiral Cookies

    • 1 package (18 ounces) refrigerated Sugar Cookie Dough (Here is our recipe for Sugar Cookie Dough if you need one)
    • 2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons Lime flavored Gelatin (original recipe called for Blue Raspberry, I did Lime for the Christmas Holiday, however you can do any flavor)
    • 1/4 teaspoon Gel Green Food Coloring (match the color your gelatin mixture)
    • 2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons Strawberry flavored Gelatin
    • 1/4 teaspoon Gel Red Food Coloring
    • All Purpose Flour

    1. Remove dough from wrapper; divide in half.  Reserve 1 dough half.  Place remaining dough half in large bowl.  Let dough stand about 10 minutes.  Add lime flavored gelatin and green food coloring to dough in bowl; beat at medium speed until well blended and evenly colored.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

    2.  Combine reserved dough half, strawberry flavored gelatin and red food coloring in large bowl.  Beat at medium speed until well blended and evenly colored.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour.

    3.  Roll green dough to a 10×6 rectangle on lightly floured waxed paper using lightly floured rolling pin.  Repeat with red dough.  Refrigerate both dough rectangles 1o minutes.

    4.  Place green dough rectangle over red dough.  Remove waxed paper from green dough.  Starting at 10 inch side, roll up jelly-roll fashion into tight log. Wrap in plastic; freeze 30 minutes.

    5.  Preheat oven to 350° F.  Grease cookie sheets.  Cut log into 1/4 inch slices.  Place on prepared cookie sheets.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are firm.  (Do not let cookies brown.) Cool on cookie sheets 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

    Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.  I doubled my batch of cookies since we were sharing them with family, friends, and neighbors.  It is a great cookie to make while you are doing other baking since it has time in the fridge and freezer.  The girls helped me make this one a little bit but with all the steps they will need to be older before doing this one on their own.  These cookies were a hit with my kids.

  • Smiles Spread Cheer

    I enjoy making smiley snacks for the girls especially when they are not expecting the fun surprise.  They were outside playing last week and I decided to make something healthy for them to munch on.  Smiles spread cheer and excitement when they are delivered.  They ate their smiles at the picnic table while talking and giggling. You can make a smile snack with anything that you have at home.  Both girls had a big smile matching their plates when I handed them over.

    Here is what was on each smile snack plate today:

    • 1 Banana
    • 6 Chocolate Covered Almonds
    • 1 Cherry Tomato (from our garden, one of the last few)
    • 2 slices of Zucchini
    • 2 Raisins
    • 4 Baby Carrots
    • 1 Mozzarella String Cheese Stick (cut up)

    Add a smile to your kids food today and see how excited they get over it.  Life is short, have some fun.

  • Recipe: Monkey Bread

    Monkey Bread

    Perfect recipe to share at parties.  It has an amazing sweet taste especially when it is still warm from cooking.  Delicious!  I have adopted this Monkey Bread recipe which given to me at my bridal shower from Charlene.

    • 2 cans of Biscuits
    • 1 stick of Butter
    • 1 cup Brown Sugar
    • 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon
    • 5 tablespoons of Water
    • Optional – 1/2 cup of Coconut & 1/2 cup of Chopped Pecans

    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the bundt pan.  Optional: sprinkle coconut and chopped pecans in the bottom of the pan.  Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut individual biscuits into quarters.  Roll biscuits in the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture.  Place into bundt pan.   Mix butter, remaining brown sugar, and water in a pot, bring to a boil.  As soon as it starts boiling remove from heat and pour over biscuits.

    Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Let stand for 5 minutes then turn out onto a serving dish.

  • Thanksgiving Recipe: White Cranberry Brined Turkey

    The turkey is a great part of the Thanksgiving dinner.  There are so many different ways to cook a turkey……smoke, bake, or fry.   If you are looking for delicious new way to cook the turkey try this one out.  We have tried several great recipes for the turkey.  I found this several years ago in a Ocean Spray booklet.

    • 128 ounces of White Cranberry Juice
    • 1 gallon of Water
    • 2 cups of Kosher Salt
    • 1 cup of Sugar
    • 2 tablespoons Whole Black Peppercorns
    • 8 cloves Garlic (crushed)
    • 8 Bay Leaves
    • 8 to 12 pound Whole Turkey

    Mix together all ingredients (except turkey) in a 13 to 14 quart stockpot until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Place the turkey in the brine.  Refrigerate turkey in the covered stockpot for 12 to 18 hours.  Discard brine.  Dry turkey with paper towels. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Roast unstuffed turkey for 2 3/4 to 3 hours or until internal temperature of the thigh reaches 180 degrees.

  • Thanksgiving Recipe: Cranberry Sauce

    You don’t have to eat your cranberry sauce from the can this year.  This is an easy and delicious recipe for making homemade cranberry sauce.

    • 1 cup of water
    • 1 cup of sugar
    • 12 oz of fresh or frozen Cranberries (rinsed & drained)

    In a medium saucepan bring the water and sugar to a boil.  Add cranberries and return to a boil.  Once boiling again reduce heat simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Pour sauce into a bowl, cover and cool completely at room temperature.  After it has cooled put it in the refrigerator until it is ready to be served.  You can garish with sliced oranges or herbs.  Makes 2 1/2 cups.