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I have the great, good fortune, to be participating in Arm and Hammer’s Switch and Save Challenge, which means I get to try new products and take a good look at old favorites, plus share what I find with all of you! This week definitely qualifies as “an old favorite”. Arm and Hammer Baking Soda [...]
We're definitely going to bake some cookies!
I have the great, good fortune, to be participating in Arm and Hammer’s Switch and Save Challenge, which means I get to try new products and take a good look at old favorites, plus share what I find with all of you! This week definitely qualifies as “an old favorite”. Arm and Hammer Baking Soda is as common and trusted a brand as could be found, in our household. Like many of you, I grew up with this very familiar product. It is the box I reach for each time I need that leavening power in my baking and it is my go-to cleanser, when I have a tough stain that needs extra oomph, without being too abrasive –like the glass doors on our woodburning fireplace.
Arm and Hammer Baking Soda is a staple in our home.
If you own a woodburning fireplace with glass doors, you will know exactly what I mean when I say they propose a tough cleaning problem. Regular glass cleaners don’t have the power to cut through the smoky, baked-on stains and abrasive cleaners run the danger of scratching the glass. Arm and Hammer baking soda is a perfect solution. Using a damp cloth, I rub the stubborn stain with baking soda and easily remove the mess without damaging our glass doors. A quick rinse with clear water and drying with a soft cloth and the glass sparkles like new!
I went down to the basement to get a picture of me scrubbing this glass clean with Arm and Hammer Baking Soda and found that my sweet, overachieving husband had already done it. So, while you missed the demonstration -- just look at that sparkle! (Note, the ashes are still inside, though. - lol)
Arm and Hammer Baking Soda is 100% pure sodium bicarbonate. When heated, it releases carbon dioxide making our doughs and batters rise; and it contributes to the light, porous texture of the baked goods made from our favorite recipes. For me personally, it’s the only leavening I use when making cookies. Our family prefers soft, chewy cookies with a slightly crisp outer crust. Baking soda causes the perfect rise, without rising so high that the cookies have a “cake-like” texture. Arm and Hammer Baking Soda is a critical ingredient in achieving the perfect texture in our favorite cookie recipes!
Ooey, gooey chocolate chip cookies. They're the perfect texture - crisp outside, soft and chewy inside. That's the Arm & Hammer Baking Soda - just enough rise to be perfect, but not enough to be tall, cake-like and dry.
It gives me great confidence to know that when I use Arm and Hammer Baking soda, it is a natural and pure product. I don’t have to worry about dangerous additives in my recipes, nor am I concerned about chemicals coming in contact with kitchen surfaces or toys that my children or grandchildren may use, when I clean with it. For frugal-minded families living on a budget, Arm and Hammer Baking Soda is a great value at less than $1 per box!
And just in case you’re feeling the need to whip up some of those yummy chocolate chip cookies for your own family, here’s my recipe. 
The name says it all! It’s our family-favorite cookie recipe and it produces perfect cookies with slightly crisp outsides, and soft, chewy centers. Yum!
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 (12 oz) bag chocolate chips
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugars together.
- Mix in the eggs.
- Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix until combined into a soft dough.
- Mix in the vanilla and rolled oats.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix until they are evenly distributed through your dough.
- Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Don’t overbake! They will be just turning brown around the edges and will continue to cook after you pull them out. Trust me! :)
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http://busy-at-home.com/blog/arm-and-hammer-baking-soda-plus-chocolate-chip-cookies/
(This recipe post is linked to Tasty Tuesday and These Chicks Cooked.)
Anxious to see how it’s done? It’s a pretty basic recipe, but here are a few pictures to encourage you.
- Cream the butter and sugars.
Butter, white sugar and brown sugar in my Bosch mixer.
-
Beat in the eggs.
Add eggs to the creamed butter and sugar mixture.
-
Add the flour, Arm and Hammer Baking Soda and salt.
Stir in the flour, Arm and Hammer Baking Soda and salt, mixing until a soft dough is formed.
-
Add rolled oats and vanilla.
Oatmeal and vanilla added to dough.
-
Mix in the chocolate chips.
-
Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.
-
Bake in a 350° oven for 12 minutes. Don’t overbake! They will be just turning brown around the edges and will continue to cook after you pull them out. Trust me!
You will have a perfect, chewy, chocolate chip cookie!
Heavenly
…
This is a sponsored post for Church & Dwight Co., Inc, the maker of ARM & HAMMER branded products, who is compensating me to try different products. Save 50¢ off two 2lb or 4lb boxes of ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda. And be sure to visit The Switch & Save Challenge to tap into more resources and enter to win $25,000.
I received a perfectly delicious challenge from Proctor and Gamble and My Blog Spark, recently. Bake a blueberry cobbler and enjoy it with my family and friends. Then leave the empty baking dish sitting on the counter for 24 hours, before trying to wash it. They even sent me a shiny, white baking dish to [...]
I received a perfectly delicious challenge from Proctor and Gamble and My Blog Spark, recently. Bake a blueberry cobbler and enjoy it with my family and friends. Then leave the empty baking dish sitting on the counter for 24 hours, before trying to wash it. They even sent me a shiny, white baking dish to do the baking in and a sample of Cascade Complete Action Pacs. Eat a delicious dessert and then relax for an evening, instead of washing the dishes? Ummm….yah. I’m pretty sure I can do that.
Blueberry cobbler, hot and bubbly from the oven, just begging for vanilla ice cream.
I’ve never made a specifically blueberry cobbler. I have, however, made cobblers before, using fresh fruit or pie filling and a yellow cake mix, so I was fairly confident I could throw together a cobbler that would be delish in just a couple minutes. I should have pulled out my recipe, instead of relying on my memory and good guesses. My results were definitely yummy, but more like blueberry soup with cobbler topping. I’ll post the correct recipe for you, here, so your results will be more pleasingly, thick than mine.
| Blueberry Cobbler |
Recipe Type: dessert
Author:
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Total time: 45 mins
Serves: 8-10
Super simple and delicious dessert with only 5 ingredients. It’s a perfect way to use your fresh blueberries, or really, any fresh berry.
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh blueberries
- 1 yellow cake mix
- 1 stick butter, melted
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Rinse blueberries and then spread them evenly in the bottom of your ungreased baking dish (or 9×13 pan).
- Sprinkle sugar over the blueberries.
- Cover the sugared berries with the dry cake mix.
- Sprinkle pecans across the top of the cake mix layer.
- Drizzle the melted butter over the pecan layer.
- Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes (until bubbly and golden brown).
- Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Here’s what it looks like going together.
Ingredients assembled. Note the two mistakes in my recipe from "memory". I shouldn't have used the 1/2 cup water and I only needed one stick of butter. It's hard to believe someone would trust me to teach their children to cook, huh? -lol- Always use a recipe for baking. Baking is kitchen chemistry and the correct formula is critical to a positive outcome.
Spread the rinsed blueberries in the bottom of an ungreased baking dish or 9×13 baking pan.
Yum! I love fresh blueberries! (Isn't that a nice dish!?!)
Sprinkle the berries with granulated sugar.
Sweetening the pot.
Sprinkle the cake mix over the sugared blueberries.
The cake mix layer.
Sprinkle on the pecans.
You could use whatever your favorite nuts are, or even eliminate them altogether. Pecans just happen to be my favorite.
The final step is to drizzle the cake mix and pecans with melted butter.
Drizzle the top with melted butter.
Here it is ready to pop in the oven.
Blueberry cobbler ready for the oven.
Bake at 350° for 35-45 minutes. It will be bubbly, and golden brown.
Yum!
My yummy blueberry soup and ice cream.
….
Well, as you can imagine, we polished that off in record time. And what did the dishes look like after we were finished?
The remnants of blueberry cobbler left in our dishes.
I’ve actually used Cascade powder dishwashing detergent for years, but had never tried the Cascade Complete All-in-1 Action Pacs. I really liked them! Everything is pre-measured and self-contained, with nothing to spill or overuse. It’s simple and no chance of spills. Perfect!
Cascade Complete Action Pac.
I simply placed the capsule in the detergent dispenser of my dishwasher and ran the cycle, normally. Even after sitting for 24 hours, the baking dish was cleaned beautifully! That’s definitely a 5-star rating from our family.
- Loaded and ready to wash.
One time through the dishwasher and they’re squeaky clean. I was actually a little surprised, since it seemed like such a small amount of detergent. Cascade’s website describes Action Pacs as containing the best of powder and gel in one powerful pac. The little pacs contain a powerful pre-treater, dishwashing detergent to scrub through stuck on food and cut grease and a rinse agent to leave your glasses sparkling. That one little action pac contained everything I needed to get to this dishwasher full of sparkling clean dishes.
Sparkling clean and ready to be unloaded. I'd say that's an excellent job!
Thanks to Cascade and My Blog Spark, one lucky Busy-at-Home reader will receive a $15 Wal-Mart gift card, so they can take their own 24 Hour Cascade Challenge and put that awesome sparkle on their own dishes! It’s a simple giveaway to enter.
Giveaway Rules:
You must be 18 or older and a US resident to enter. Mandatory entry must be completed before any optional entries will be counted. Winner will be selected in a random drawing using random.org. Deadline for entry is midnight (CST), Sunday, June 12, 2011.
Mandatory Entry:
In a comment below, tell me what your toughest dish washing challenge is.
Optional Additional Entries:
- Like Cascade on Facebook and leave a comment to let me know you’ve done it.
- Follow Busy-at-Home on Twitter. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Like Busy-at-Home on Facebook. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Follow Busy-at-Home on Google Friends Connect. Or click the Join Button in the right-hand side bar. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Subscribe to the Busy-at-Home Newsletter with this link or in the right-hand sidebar. You will receive an email confirmation with a link that must be clicked to confirm your subscription. Once you click the email link to confirm your subscription, leave me a comment to let me know you’ve done it.
- Tweet this giveaway (maximum of 1x per day, please). Win a $15 Wal-Mart gift card and read about Cascade Complete All-in-1 Action Pacs @busyathome #myblogspark http://ow.ly/546LW Leave a comment below with a link to your tweet.
- Post this giveaway on your Facebook page. Win a $15 Wal-Mart gift card, get a yummy recipe for Blueberry Cobbler and read about Cascade Complete All-in-1 Action Pacs at Busy-at-Home http://ow.ly/546LW Leave a comment below with a link to your post.
I received an All-in-1 Action Pac kit, from Proctor and Gamble through My Blog Spark, with a baking dish and sample action pacs, in order to test the product and conduct this review. A $15 Wal-Mart gift card was supplied for the giveaway winner. No monetary compensation was received and a positive review was not required. The views and opinions expressed are wholly my own.
Well, I had a disastrous afternoon of panic, today, when the monitor SNAPPED off my laptop. After several failed attempts to stuff metal parts and wires back inside and hold everything together with electrical tape, I had the expected meltdown, ate some chocolate and found an HP on clearance at our local Wal-Mart. Balance was [...]
Well, I had a disastrous afternoon of panic, today, when the monitor SNAPPED off my laptop. After several failed attempts to stuff metal parts and wires back inside and hold everything together with electrical tape, I had the expected meltdown, ate some chocolate and found an HP on clearance at our local Wal-Mart. Balance was restored to the universe. I was able to transfer all my files and data without losing a single thing, except the last blog post I had been working on — this blog post. So, now it is five minutes after midnight, I have retrieved all my emails and bookmarks and pictures and backups; and before I go to sleep, I still feel compelled to share with you, the phenomenon that is Triberr. Have you built YOUR tribe, yet?
I was introduced to Triberr, three or four days ago, when I received an exclusive invitation from another mom blogger. By using the code she sent me, I was able to log on and become a member of her tribe. Is it just me, or at first blush, does that seem like a strange concept? I still wasn’t sure what it was all about, but I trusted her and it was supposed to be good for my blog. By the end of that same evening, I started to realize what was happening. I wrote a new blog post, which in the past had always been auto-tweeted to my followers, via an add-on for WordPress. Now, something different was happening though. My blog post was tweeted out to FIVE times my normal number of Twitter followers. It was being tweeted by every other person in the tribe I had joined! That’s when I got serious about understanding what Triberr is about. I personally believe it is probably the most powerful amplification tool available to bloggers, since Facebook and Twitter. It increases our reach, exponentially; and since it’s still in beta, I can only imagine the improvements and added features it will offer, as it matures out of its toddlerhood.
When I joined my friend’s tribe, my account was given three tribes of my own and I was declared to be their chief. I totally ignored them, not understanding what it meant, until after my blog post that evening. When I realized what was happening, I went straight to my account on Triberr and started reading and learning about how to build a tribe. The simplicity of how it works is somewhat mind-blowing, if you understand a few key things.
- Set up your account correctly. Membership is exclusive and you must receive an invitation to get started. Once you accept that invitation, by joining a tribe, you will need to do two things:
1) Link up your blogs RSS feed – This is as simple as going to settings and typing in the url where your feed is housed. If you use feedburner, like I do, the url will look something like http://feeds.feedburner.com/yourusername. This is what will notify Triberr, and thus your tribe, anytime you publish a new post on your blog. They will then be able to tweet that, because you will:
2) Link up your Twitter handle. This is also done under Settings. Once you publish that new post, Triberr will send a tweet to all your followers AND to all your tribe members’ followers. Do you see how these numbers can multiply? Each tribe can have 7 members. You join one tribe and are given three others to build. Over time your news could be broadcast to the twitter followers of 28 individuals, besides yourself. Imagine what that will do to get the word out about your blog and what you have to say. In 48 hours, I have seen a tremendous jump in traffic to my site. There’s no question that it is a result of the increased exposure. My posts are now being tweeted to more than 15 times my personal follower list. That’s after just three days!
- Build your tribe wisely. Your first instinct will be to invite as many people as you can, as fast as you can, to build your tribe’s numbers and get the largest number of tweets out there into cyberspace. I think that is a mistake equivalent to buying email or mailing lists and hoping for a 1% return on a mass marketing. It’s a huge expenditure of your energy, for little return and the return it generates, may not be good for your blog. Think about your reader demographic. Who is already reading your blog and who do you know who has a pool of similar readers? You are going to want like-minded individuals in your tribe, who have similar readerships to your own, so their followers will be more likely to have an interest in what you have to say, be comfortable with your blogging style and want to visit your blog. You also want your tribe members to be people you know and trust, at the very least, people whose blogs you have studied and you know they match your Twitter followers. Your reader’s trust in your integrity and blog content are critical to your reputation as a blogger and you should build a tribe of people that you know won’t jeopardize that. Know your readers, know your niche and look for tribe members who fit them. My experience over the last two or three days is that care in building your team will make a huge impact on traffic to your blog. I’m so excited to see what happens from here!
There are other features, that are really cool, as well, like being able to have a personal tweet amplified through your tribes. This isn’t automatic, but it’s as simple as each member clicking the checkmark by the tweet in the tribal stream on their account page (It’s like a cue.) to approve it. The check mark will turn green and the tweet will be cued up to be tweeted to that member’s followers. There is so much more I could share, but these are the basics. This is definitely all you need to get started with a phenomenal blog-amplifying tool.
So, if you haven’t discovered Triberr, yet, and you’re ready to take the next step in growing your blog, I would highly recommend visiting the website and doing a search for tribes that fit your blog’s specific style. Then request an invitation from them and start your own Triberr adventure. I can’t wait to here how it is working for you.
And, if you are a family-friendly blog (my kids would be safe surfing your site and ads), with a focus on any of the following: cooking, frugality and saving, home and garden, family, DIY decorating and household projects, etc., send me an email at glendasembree [at] gmail [dot] com. I still have invitations available for my tribes.
It’s 4-H Day! That was the happy exclamation I was greeted with, this morning. Our nine-year-old is just beside herself about being able to participate in 4-H this summer. I was in 4-H throughout elementary and high school and our two older daughters participated in a local homeschooler’s 4-H club when they were young. I [...]
It’s 4-H Day! That was the happy exclamation I was greeted with, this morning. Our nine-year-old is just beside herself about being able to participate in 4-H this summer. I was in 4-H throughout elementary and high school and our two older daughters participated in a local homeschooler’s 4-H club when they were young. I love the skills and confidence that 4-H fosters and I wanted our nine-year-old to have that experience, but as a one-car family with a craa–aa—aaaaa-zy schedule, I wasn’t too excited about trying to juggle transportation and other people’s schedules to make it happen. Solution? We started our own, small 4-H club with three of our daughter’s friends from church. It has been the absolute perfect solution to my dilemma.
Print the recipe for this healthy, tasty snack at the bottom of this post.
We meet every Friday afternoon, at our house, and spend two hours learning things like how to run a business meeting (parliamentary procedure), how to cook and how to sew. Since the focus of our group is cooking and sewing, we picked the name Pots and Pins for our club. Being a 4-H leader is crazy fun! I’d forgotten that. My older girls were involved with an established group that already had leaders, so I didn’t do much with the meetings back then. But, back in high school, I was a Jr. Leader. I think I taught knitting. (lol I don’t think I can knit any more. Maybe it’s like riding a bicycle. ) Anyway, I love watching the enthusiasm as the girls discover that they are capable of doing things they didn’t think they could do. I get to see dozens of those “light bulb” moments AND they are having fun. No one is making them do it and they WANT to come back. Cool!
We were missing one of our members for our first meeting, but these three were enjoying the fruits of their labor - pizza pockets.
At our first meeting, we talked about the food pyramid and then the assignment was to make something that would include items from several of the food groups at once. No one had a problem with the dairy, grains or meat, but I wish you could have seen their faces when I mentioned vegetables. Do you believe that NONE of them liked vegetables? lol We decided to make pizza pockets and I promised them that when they were done, if they didn’t like them, they didn’t have to eat them. Refrigerated biscuit dough made quick work of the necessary 5″ dough circle needed. We spread out a wide variety of toppings that included the pizza sauce, mini pepperoni, ham, bacon, sausage, grated mozzarella and parmesan, broccoli slaw, diced butternut squash, diced onion and diced red bell pepper. Everyone had to include at least one vegetable. Amazingly, they each selected at least two and one brave experimenter used all four — yup, butternut squash! No one was more pleased than me to see the smiling faces at the end of the project. Not only had they made them all by themselves, but they liked them — veggies and all.
Proud display of a homemade pizza pocket. Please note the little green pieces of broccoli slaw!
At our meeting, today, we finished up our unit on the importance of nutrition in cooking and making good choices about the things we cook and eat. We learned about energy-boosting carbohydrates and the best sources for them. Then we mixed up some absolutely yummy granola bars, to reinforce the lesson. We started with the recipe from the 4-H manual and then learned about “doubling” (yay, fractions!!!) and how to make substitutions and variations in a recipe (we added coconut).
- We used 7 cups of rolled oats in our granola, so everyone had a turn at measuring. We learned the difference in the tools we use to measure wet and dry ingredients and how to measure accurately.
- More oatmeal measuring. Note our nut chopper diligently performing her duty in the background.
While the granola bars were baking, we also studied Vitamins A & C, what they do for our bodies and the foods where we can get them, naturally. We had a wide selection of yummy fruits to select from and made delicious fruit kabobs. Of course I forgot to even pick up my camera during the process, but they were beautifully colorful, full of nutrition and absolutely delicious! We used chunks of fresh pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, cantaloupe, green grapes and chunks of banana. Delish!
- Leveling off a teaspoon of salt with great concentration and lots of moral support.
- Chopping peanuts to perfection. We used three kinds of nuts in our granola bars — peanuts, almonds and pecans.
Our final lesson in the nutrition unit was a science experiment, the results of which will be discovered when we meet next Friday. To understand the importance of calcium in our diet and the important job it does for our bodies, we placed two chicken leg bones into quart jars — one in each jar. The control jar had 2 cups of water added to it and the jar with the variable, 2 cups of vinegar. It will be a dramatic illustration of the importance of a calcium-rich diet. The girls were also surprised to learn of all the non-dairy places they could get calcium in the food they eat, like kale, celery, almonds, spinach, sesame seeds, broccoli and others.
- Our chicken bone – calcium experiment. The lavender ribbon identifies our control jar.
And last but not least, the finished granola bars. These were REALLY good and we’ll be making them again, for our family. I’m also very confident that just spreading the mixture loosely across the cookie sheet to bake it, and stirring it once during baking, would result in delicious granola cereal. The girls were delighted that they had created these yummy, soft and chewy granola bars all while learning the finer points of the chemistry of baking.
- This won’t be the last time our family makes these yummy granola bars.
| Chewy, Homemade Granola Bars |
Recipe Type: snack, cereal, grain
Author:
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 45 mins
Serves: 48
Yummy, soft and chewy granola bars that are simple to make. The nine-year-olds in our 4-H club breezed through this recipe. (This is our variation by the way, doubled and with coconut, so it makes a ton — really, two jelly roll pans full.)
Ingredients
- 7 cups of rolled oats, toasted
- 2 cups of chopped nuts
- 2 cups raisins
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 2/3 cups butter, melted
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- To toast the oats, spread them across two cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Toasted oats have a nutty flavor.
- Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.
- Divide the mixture evenly between two lightly greased, 15x10x1 jelly roll pans.
- Spread the mixture evenly across the pans, pressing firmly to help it start holding together. (If you’re going to use it for cereal, just spread it lightly across the pans and stir it once, during the baking process.)
- Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes.
- Though they will smell absolutely wonderful, resist the urge to cut these while they’re warm. It will cause them to crumble. When they have completely cooled, you will be able to cut them into bars.
Notes
Prep time includes the time for toasting the oats.
These are soft and chewy granola bars. You won’t be able to stack them on top of each other for storing, without first individually wrapping them in plastic wrap.
The yield will depend on the size of bars you cut, but you should easily get 24 bars per pan and more if you cut them smaller.
This post is linked to It’s a Keeper Thursday and Grocery Cart Challenge.
I’m learning as I go in this blogging process and every day I find some new thing I should have known. Is your blog listed on Technorati? It’s apparently an important measure of your blog’s strength, but I have to admit that I still am unclear how it all works. All the rest of you [...]
I’m learning as I go in this blogging process and every day I find some new thing I should have known. Is your blog listed on Technorati? It’s apparently an important measure of your blog’s strength, but I have to admit that I still am unclear how it all works. All the rest of you out there in the blogosphere, could you clue me in to the finer points of getting listed and what it will do for the site. I sure would appreciate your knowledge and input. Thanks!
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Really? Paint me skeptical. I’m not kidding. When I first received the opportunity to review a refrigerator air purifier, it smacked a little bit of a bad infomercial. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it being something that worked. Always the researcher, though, I did take the time to study their website and read [...]
Really? Paint me skeptical. I’m not kidding. When I first received the opportunity to review a refrigerator air purifier, it smacked a little bit of a bad infomercial. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it being something that worked. Always the researcher, though, I did take the time to study their website and read the supplied information. Hmmm….okay — so now, don’t paint me skeptical — just color me intrigued. I replied to the offer and accepted the review because I just had to see it for myself. I still wasn’t sure it could be possible, but on the off chance that it was, I did not want to be left out of this phenomenon.
See, I really didn’t believe that it could work in a real-life fridge with real-life people making real-life refrigerator mistakes; like slicing or chopping a whole onion, using only 1/2 of it and then throwing the rest in a ziptop bag on the counter, only to find that their well-meaning husband has tossed it into the refrigerator to infuse all the ice and any other open containers with that distinctive onion smell. That’s actually one of my biggest pet peeves. Onions happen at my house. We use A LOT of them, so not having some bagged up somewhere just isn’t going to happen. I find the bag in the fridge in the morning, pull it out, and by nightfall, that bag of onions is always back where I found it a few hours before. Aaaarrgghh! I’ve even tried double or triple bagging them to seal the smell in tight. Not so much. Have you ever come in from working outside, poured a tall glass of iced tea to cool off, taken that first refreshing swallow only to be slapped in the face by the pungent aroma and taste of onion? It sort of takes the yummy out of tea and definitely isn’t the thirst-quenching experience I’m hoping for. The Oransi Ionic Fridge Air Purifier has allowed me to have crystal clear, aroma free ice cubes for almost a month, now. The truly most amazing part? There’s still a bag of onion in my fridge! Needless, to say, I love this little machine. What a blessing that I was contacted to review it! I’m a groupie, now, and so you can tie dye me convinced!
Hard at work in my fridge. See how small it is?
When the Oransi Refrigerator Air Purifier arrived, my first surprise was the size of it. It’s tiny. For a short time, a few years ago, we had one of those home air purifiers. It was the size of an over-sized stereo speaker, noisy and left a strange smell in our house. I guess that was more what I was expecting. What I actually got was:
- quiet – Actually, it’s silent. It makes no sound whatsoever.
- small – It fits in any small space available in my fridge. It is probably about 4 inches tall, 2 to 2 1/2 inches deep and 2 inches wide. That’s a guesstimate, but I believe it’s close.
- budget-friendly – It costs $29. That’s a one time purchase. It requires no filters, so you never have to buy a replacement. It doesn’t increase my electricity bill, because it uses 2 AA batteries that need to be replaced only every 90 days – that’s just four times per year!
- No strange odor – The beautiful thing is that since we’ve had it, there is literally NO odor in the fridge — just clean.
- automatic – I don’t have to think about it or remember anything. Once the batteries were installed and the unit turned on, I just placed it in the refrigerator and forgot about it.
How does it work? According to Oransi, the unit contains pantented Piezo-electric technology. I looked it up and piezoelectricity means electricity resulting from pressure. It’s used in things like the push-start button on your gas grill or the lighter in your car. In the case of the air purifier, it produces a high negative ion effect without the harmful side affects of ozone. According to Oransi’s website, the unit was tested by the Industrial Research Technology Institute for ozone output and was found to be 78% below FDA established limits. All I know is that the unit cycles every 5 minutes to clean the air in the fridge and after using it for several weeks, I can say, without a doubt, it DOES work.
Apparently, those negative ions don’t just eliminate odors. They get rid of bacteria, as well. I’m not a scientist, so I’m not going to pretend to explain how it happens, but my produce (especially lettuce) is staying fresher longer than I could have ever kept it before. Twice since having the purifier, I have had one of those, “Uh oh, I totally spaced those strawberries we bought last week.” moments, only to go to the fridge and find them fine. I haven’t had any brown, slimy lettuce remnants, melting away in the crisper drawer either. Obviously, this effect would not be unending, but what it has done is given our family the time to use up fresh produce before it goes bad. That saves a huge chunk of the grocery budget, when food isn’t going to waste.
We’ve only been using the unit for about a month, but at this point, I’m a believer and if I could put one in every smelly sneaker and laundry hamper in the house, I would. — lol — My guess is that they would also be great in closets or any small space where odors could be an issue.
One lucky Busy-at-Home reader is going to get the chance to have yummy, perfect ice and an odor-free fridge, too! Oransi has generously agreed to sponsor a giveaway for one of the refrigerator purifiers.
Giveaway Rules:
You must be 18 or older to enter and a resident of the U.S. The mandatory entry must be completed before any optional entries will count. Winner will be selected in a random drawing using random.org. Deadline for entry is midnight (CST), Sunday, June 5, 2011.
Mandatory Entry: In a comment below, tell me your worst refrigerator disaster. Am I the only one who suffers from onion ice cubes, forgotten and fermented veggies or unidentified containers on the back of the bottom shelf that I’m afraid to open, but would probably be a really cool science experiment? Please, tell me I’m not the only one with a disorganized and aromatic fridge! What’s your story? Spill it and make me feel better about myself.
Additional Optional Entries:
- Visit the Oransi website and in a comment below, tell me one thing you learned about them or their products.
- Follow Busy-at-Home on Twitter. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Like Busy-at-Home on Facebook. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Follow Busy-at-Home on Google Friends Connect. Or click the Join Button in the right-hand side bar. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Subscribe to the Busy-at-Home Newsletter with this link or in the right-hand sidebar. You will receive an email confirmation with a link that must be clicked to confirm your subscription. Once you click the email link to confirm your subscription, leave me a comment to let me know you’ve done it.
- Tweet this giveaway (maximum of 1x per day, please). Win an Oransi Fridge Air Purifier! Have crystal clear, odor-free ice cubes and longer lasting produce! @busyathome http://ow.ly/4XY85 Leave a comment below with a link to your tweet.
- Post this giveaway on your Facebook page. Win an Oransi Fridge Air Purifier at Busy-at-Home! Experience crystal clear, odor-free ice cubes, a smell-free fridge and longer lasting produce! http://ow.ly/4XY85 Leave a comment below with a link to your post.
I received an Oransi Ionic Fridge Air Purifier in order to test it and conduct this review. No monetary compensation was received and a positive review was not required. As with all Busy-at-Home reviews, the views and opinions expressed are wholly my own.
I’m not sure how I missed posting this before, but we definitely have a winner in the Dora’s Garden Gazebo Giveaway. Congratulations to #32, Debbie Jackson! An email has been sent and all you need to do to claim your prize is reply to it with the requested shipping information. Have a blessing-filled afternoon!
I’m not sure how I missed posting this before, but we definitely have a winner in the Dora’s Garden Gazebo Giveaway. Congratulations to #32, Debbie Jackson! An email has been sent and all you need to do to claim your prize is reply to it with the requested shipping information. Have a blessing-filled afternoon!
Our happy reviewers!
You’re going to LOVE these! They are easy to make and the texture is perfect — soft, fluffy, wow! They are absolutely delicious and you are going to be able to use them in multiple forms. First, if you missed the post that shows you how to make your own Sourdough Starter, pop over there [...]
You’re going to LOVE these! They are easy to make and the texture is perfect — soft, fluffy, wow! They are absolutely delicious and you are going to be able to use them in multiple forms. First, if you missed the post that shows you how to make your own Sourdough Starter, pop over there and get your own starter going. Right now! Get movin’. You definitely want to bake these.
Sourdough Rolls with Butter and Honey
| Easy Honey Oat Sourdough Rolls |
Recipe Type: bread
Author:
Prep time: 1 hour 15 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 1 hour 35 mins
Serves: 20-24
Simple, delicious and texturally perfect! You’ll love the flavor of these soft, fluffy rolls whether you use them as sandwich rolls, dinner rolls or in some other form (maybe crescents? hmmm…).
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup warm water
- 5 teaspoons yeast
- 2 cups sourdough starter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 6-8 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Place starter and water in the bowl of your stand mixer and mix together. (Remembering to have your starter out of the fridge and at room temperature, before you start, would be ideal. When I forget, I use hot water, instead of warm, so that it takes the chill off my starter.)
- Add melted butter and honey and mix together.
- Mix in the yeast.
- Blend in the eggs.
- Add 6 cups of flour and the baking soda. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated and a dough forms. Continue adding flour 1/4 cup at a time and mixing it in, until the dough pulls cleanly from the sides of your mixing bowl.
- Knead on medium speed for 5 minutes.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rise until doubled.
- Punch down dough and shape into the desired roll for your menu.
- Place on greased baking sheets, cover and let rise until doubled.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Yield will depend on how large you make your rolls.
This recipe can also be mixed and kneaded by hand.
Yummy, sourdough rolls, fresh from the oven and brushed with melted butter. Don't you just want to grab one and eat it, right now!!??!! Careful! They're hot!
Steps to Making Easy Sour Dough Rolls in your own Kitchen:
- Put sourdough starter and warm water in the bowl of your stand mixer. If you didn’t remember to pull the starter out of the fridge early enough for it to be at room temperature, no worries. I never think of it until the last minute. I put the starter in my mixing bowl, turn on the mixer and slowly add the HOT, not warm, water. It seems to have worked each time, without killing the leavening properties of the starter, which I was concerned about in the beginning. That will bring your starter closer to room temperature and help your bread to rise more effectively. (Or you could be one of those mysteriously hyper-organized people that never forgets to get the starter out early. Cool! Just mix it right in with warm water.)
Add starter and water to your mixing bowl.
- Mix in melted butter and honey.
Add melted butter and honey.
- Mix in the yeast.
- Blend in the eggs.
Once the yeast has dissolved, add in the eggs.
- Mix in 6 cups of flour, salt and baking soda.
Mix in the salt, baking soda and 6 cups of flour.
- Mix until all ingredients are incorporated and dough forms. This is that point we talk about so often, when making bread. The humidity in your home will dramatically affect the amount of flour you need, which for me, means that every batch is slightly different. Continue adding flour 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough pulls cleanly from the sides of your mixing bowl.
The dough will form a lump and clean the sides of the bowl.
- Knead the dough on medium speed for about 5 minutes.
- Move the dough to a greased bowl, cover with a warm damp towel and allow to rise until doubled in size.
Bread dough risen and ready to be made into rolls.
- Shape rolls and place them on a greased cookie sheet to rise until doubled.
Shape your rolls and let them rise until doubled.
Allow the rolls to rise until doubled in size.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Brush with melted butter when you remove them from the oven. I could eat the whole tray, plain, hot and fresh from the oven, but these are so good for burgers, sandwiches, with peanut butter and jelly or honey, any way you can imagine eating bread.
Beautifully browned, flavorful rolls, fresh from the oven.
Easy Honey Oat Sourdough Rolls with butter and drizzled with honey. Delish!
This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday.
Pizza! Just mention the word and suddenly, dinner is a party and everyone is excited! A quick phone call to the favorite local pizza parlor and within half an hour a steaming hot pizza, loaded with your favorite toppings and dripping with melted cheese is on your doorstep and ready to be enjoyed by young [...]
Pizza! Just mention the word and suddenly, dinner is a party and everyone is excited! A quick phone call to the favorite local pizza parlor and within half an hour a steaming hot pizza, loaded with your favorite toppings and dripping with melted cheese is on your doorstep and ready to be enjoyed by young and old. It’s a dream dinner for busy moms on a hectic night — no cooking, very little cleanup and everyone loves it. However, that delicious convenience comes at a premium price that is more and more difficult to afford in our failing economy. The solution? Make your own mouthwatering pizzas at home!
Delicious homemade pizza made with King Arthur products I reviewed in my own kitchen!
The problem with homemade pizza is that we haven’t been particularly successful in achieving the flavors and crust texture that we love so much in the pizzas from the pizza parlor. Oh, we’ve made many attempts and some were better than others, but in the end we resigned ourselves to saving for an occasional treat from our favorite pizza place, rather than enjoying pizza as often as we might have liked. That was until I discovered that one of my favorite places to shop for baking supplies, King Arthur Flour, has created Perfect Pizza Blend. I quickly contacted them for an opportunity to test some of their excellent tools and products for making delicious homemade pizza. How delighted I was to find they would not only agree to allow me to test and review the products, but sponsor an unbelievably generous giveaway for all of you! I received four products to test.
The pizza stone and ingredients I reviewed from King Arthur Flour and that one lucky Busy-at-Home reader will win in our latest giveaway!
Perfect Pizza Blend is a combination of unbleached all-purpose flour, durum wheat flour, inactive yeast and a touch of baking powder. Whether you have time to let the dough rise, or you’re in a hurry and want to get the pizza in the oven right away, you can expect to achieve a good rise on your crust. The flour is perfect whether making thin and crispy or thick and chewy crusts. The other bonus, for me, was that the dough was easy to roll, instead of fighting me with each attempt to stretch it. And in case having the perfect texture isn’t enough, King Arthur helps to develop that familiar pizza parlor flavor in homemade pizza crust, using their Pizza Dough Flavor. Just opening the bag, the aroma convinced me that it was the extra touch that our pizza crusts had been missing. After tasting the pizza, I can’t imagine not putting it in every batch of pizza dough! A round stoneware pizza pan and Pizza Seasoning were also included in the package of products to test. The stone baked the crust evenly, golden brown, and could accommodate a large 15″ pizza. It’s made from lead-free stoneware and is naturally stick-resistant. It’s safe in the microwave, freezer, oven and dishwasher. I loved it for baking our homemade pizzas to perfection. The Pizza Seasoning is a blend of onion, garlic, herbs, spices and salt. The intense flavor puts my regular Italian Seasoning to shame. The whole family absolutely loved the flavor it added to homemade pizza sauce.
The recipe I used, below, is the first of many homemade pizzas we will make at home, now that we have found such excellent tools for creating them. I’m also excited to announce that I will be spending two days in Vermont, in early June, visiting the King Arthur Flour Baking and Education Center. One of several exciting educational experiences I will have there is learning pizza-making techniques and then baking them in a brick-fired oven! I can’t wait to share all that I learn there, with all of you! In the meantime, here is how we made our first yummy, pizza-parlor-style pizza, right here at home and a chance for a Busy-at-Home reader to do the same. (P.S. Remember to enter the fantastic giveaway for the four King Arthur products I tested in my own kitchen!)
| Delicious Homemade Pizza Crust |
Recipe Type: main dish, appetizer, entree, snack, bread
Author:
Prep time: 1 hour 5 mins
Cook time: 25 mins
Total time: 1 hour 30 mins
Serves: 8
Delicious, pizza-parlor flavor in homemade crust! Easy to roll and enough dough for two large pizzas.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 1 Tablespoon yeast
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil (for dough)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil (for brushing crust)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 4 – 5 cups King Arthur Perfect Pizza Flour Blend (or all purpose flour)
- 1 Tablespoon Pizza Dough Flavor
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast and honey in warm water. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer*, add the oil, salt, 3 cups of the pizza flour, and the pizza dough flavor.
- Mix in the dissolved yeast mixture.
- Continue adding pizza flour, about 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough forms a single clump and is pulling cleanly away from the sides of your mixing bowl. (With the rain and humidity we have been experiencing, I used the full 5 cups in this batch.) The dough will be somewhat tacky, but not sticky.
- Knead on medium speed for 5 minutes.
- Place the kneaded dough into a large greased bowl to rise. (If you’re in a hurry, you could roll this out and use it right away, but the best flavor will develop, leaving it to rise for about an hour.)
- Sprinkle a small amount of cornmeal onto the surface where you will roll the dough.
- Divide the risen dough in half and roll each half to your desired thickness for each crust. (We made two 15″, thin-crust pizzas and had dough left over.)
- After rolling it to the desired size, I gently folded the dough in half and then in half again, to make it easy to transfer to the pizza stone.
- Place the rolled dough onto a pizza stone that has been lightly dusted with cornmeal.
- Brush the crust lightly with olive oil and poke it with a fork to prevent it from forming large bubbles as it bakes.
- Bake the crust at 425 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes. (I learned, through our testing, that 6 minutes was better, even though it wasn’t golden brown, yet. This allowed the crust to brown, nicely, without over-browning after the toppings were added.)
- Remove the partially baked crust from the oven and add your favorite pizza toppings and mozzarella cheese. Bake an additional 8-12 minutes, depending on the thickness of your crust.
Notes
* This dough can be mixed and kneaded by hand if you prefer.
Steps to Making Delicious Pizza Crust and Homemade Pizza
- Dissolve the yeast and oil in warm water.
Dissolve the yeast and honey in the warm water.
- Place 3 cups of the pizza flour, salt, pizza flavor, olive oil and the dissolved yeast mixture in the bowl of your stand mixer.
Adding the Perfect Pizza Blend Flour.
- Mix the ingredients, adding more pizza blend flour, 1/4 cup at a time until the dough forms a single mass and pulls, cleanly, from the sides of your bowl.
Your dough may look a little ragged, at first, but it will be smooth and soft after kneading. Expect it to feel somewhat tacky, but not sticky.
- Knead the dough on medium speed for 5 minutes. Place it in a greased bowl to rise while you chop vegetables and prepare any other toppings you need for your pizza. (You can definitely roll this dough out, right away, and the results will still be great with excellent texture and a good rise, however you can deepen the flavor, by allowing it to rise about 1 hour.)
Let the dough rise about an hour while you prep your other ingredients.
- Sprinkle your counter top with a thin dusting of cornmeal. Divide your pizza dough in half and roll out each half to the size you want for your pizza. Lightly dust your pizza stone with cornmeal and transfer the crust to the stone.
Pat each half of your dough into a round and roll it on a board or counter, lightly dusted with cornmeal.
- Brush the crust with olive oil and then prick it with a fork to keep it from forming large bubbles in the oven.
Brush the dough lightly with olive oil and then prick with a fork.
- Pre-bake the crust for about 6 minutes in a 425 degree oven. Pre-baking will help keep your crust from getting soggy as you bake the toppings. (This is also the point where I would cool, wrap and freeze the crusts for use in the future. Remove from the freezer, thaw fifteen to twenty minutes, and add your favorite toppings, baking as usual.)
Pre-baked pizza crust, ready for topping. I baked this one for 8 minutes and decided to switch to 6, after that one, so that the crust wouldn't become too brown as the toppings baked. Six minutes ended up being the perfect pre-baking time, for me, but adjust for your own oven, of course.
- I mixed one can of tomato sauce with 2 Tablespoons of King Arthur’s fabulous Pizza Seasoning to make the sauce we used.
I created a delicious pizza sauce with only tomato sauce and King Arthur Pizza Seasoning!
- Spread sauce over your pre-baked crust.
Spread your favorite pizza sauce on the pre-baked crust.
- Add your family’s favorite toppings to the pizza.
Add pizza toppings. We have pepperoni and sausage on here, so far. We also used red bell pepper and green onions with some finely chopped parsley.
- Cover your toppings with your favorite grated cheese.
Add your favorite cheeses. We used mozzarella and a sprinkling of grated Parmesan. An Italian blend of cheeses would be great, too. I also learned to spread the cheese closer to the edge of the crust, as I realized that it would help keep the crust from getting too brown as it was baking. In this picture, there is too large a gap between the cheese and the edge of the pizza crust.
- Bake an additional 8-12 minutes in the same 425 degree oven, until the crust is done and your cheese is melted, browning and bubbly. Yum!
Slice your delicious homemade pizza and grab a piece for yourself, because it is going to disappear at the speed of light!
We served our pizza with red grapes, for a quick, pick-up, satisfying supper!
King Arthur Flour never disappoints when I’m trying something new in my kitchen. I love working with their products and even though it’s a large company, I never feel “invisible” to them. If I have questions or comments, I know I could speak to someone there who would take me seriously. They provide high-quality products and extraordinary customer service. I’ve purchased items directly from their website, as well as in my local grocery stores. I’m a die-hard fan and I hope you’ll have the confidence to pick up King Arthur products wherever you find them. You’ll be glad you did!
Giveaway Rules:
You must be 18 or older and a resident of the U.S. to enter. Mandatory Entry must be completed before any optional entries will count. Winner will be selected in a random drawing using random.org. Deadline to enter is midnight, (CST), Sunday, June 5, 2011.
Mandatory Entry:
In a comment below, tell me what your family’s favorite pizza toppings are.
Optional Additional Entries:
- Like King Arthur Flour on Facebook. Leave a comment below with your Facebook Name to let me know you’ve done it.
- Follow King Arthur Flour on Twitter. Leave a comment below with your Twitter handle to let me know you’ve done it.
- Follow Busy-at-Home on Twitter. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Like Busy-at-Home on Facebook. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Follow Busy-at-Home on Google Friends Connect. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Subscribe to the Busy-at-Home Newsletter with this link or in the right-hand sidebar. You will receive an email confirmation with a link that must be clicked to confirm your subscription. Once you click the email link to confirm your subscription, leave me a comment to let me know you’ve done it.
- Tweet this giveaway (maximum of 1x per day, please). Win a Pizza Party Gift Set w/baking stone, pizza flour & more. Make perfect pizza at home! @KingArthurFlour @busyathome http://ow.ly/4VZIv Leave a comment below with a link to your tweet.
- Post this giveaway on your Facebook page. Win a King Arthur Flour Pizza Party Gift Set with a baking stone, pizza flour blend, pizza dough flavor and pizza spice. Make perfect pizza at home! http://ow.ly/4VZIv Leave a comment below with a link to your post.
I received a pizza stone, Perfect Pizza Flour Blend, Pizza Dough Flavor, and Pizza Seasoning from King Arthur Flour, in order to conduct this test and complete my review. No monetary compensation was received and a positive review was not required. As with all Busy-at-Home reviews, the views and opinions expressed are wholly my own.
Since most of you will realize this is our third project with Bodycology, it will come as no surprise that I absolutely love them! Spa treatments and exotic beauty products are simply not in our family budget, but I never feel deprived or like I’m missing out, because I was fortunate enough to discover Bodycology [...]
Since most of you will realize this is our third project with Bodycology, it will come as no surprise that I absolutely love them! Spa treatments and exotic beauty products are simply not in our family budget, but I never feel deprived or like I’m missing out, because I was fortunate enough to discover Bodycology products back in 2009. Their fragrances rival any expensive “aromatherapy” concoction you will find on the market and they are available at a fraction of the price.
I never have to take the time to drive to some exclusive, expensive boutique or spa to experience these high quality, inexpensive body care products. It’s as simple as a trip down the health and beauty aisle at my local Wal-Mart, not to mention many other local and national chains. And whether I’m making a purchase for myself or putting together a fun gift basket for a friend, I can find a wonderful variety of products at prices I can afford. Wouldn’t they be perfect for a bridal shower or as a present for a new mom? Imagine the awesome gifts you can create! And when bargains like the current Sweet Petals special at Wal-Mart are available, it’s time to stock up for future gifts! Be sure to see if the Wal-Mart in your area is carrying it.
The beautiful basket of Sweet Petals products I reviewed from Bodycology. (minus the Body Cream which had been claimed by my daughter). From left to right: travel-sized fragrance mist, full-sized fragrance mist, hand sanitizer, gift set with body cream, fragrance mist and soft, fuzzy socks, full-sized shower gel and full-sized body lotion.
I received an amazing gift basket of Bodycology Sweet Petals products for this review. It is every product in the Sweet Petals Collection. The cool part is that since this same set is on special all through May at Wal-Marts across the United States, you can experience it an affordable price, too! Somehow, as I was taking this picture, I missed that the full-sized Body Cream was absent from the set. It had already been claimed and spirited away by one of our daughters, who became an instant fan of the sweet, summery scent.
The body cream missing from my original picture.
What does Sweet Petals smell like? — those moments in late spring, when you know summer is just around the corner. The most fragrant flowers are blooming and berries have started to set on in the gardens, orchards and brambles. The aroma is floral and fruity, all at the same time. It lingers and uplifts your spirit as you go through your day. It’s feminine and breezy. It makes me want to wear a sundress and sandles and take a walk in an English garden. The Bodycology website describes the fragrance as “the heavenly scent of sweet pea mingled with berries to give you a brighter spirit and positive outlook.” They are 100% correct!
My favorite things about Bodycology products?
- Affordable – It’s not a big splurge to own them. Easy on the budget, they can be an everyday luxury.
- Fragrance – There is a fragrance that can match every personality, mood and season. They are long-lasting and stay with you through the day.
- Variety – Each fragrance is available in several formats, allowing you to be able to layer the scents and accommodate many different skin care needs.
- Many of the products are perfect for conditioning and nourishing my skin with ingredients like Moisturizing Aloe Vera, Shea Butter and Vitamins E & C.
Generous beyond belief, Bodycology is once again sponsoring a fabulous giveaway, in which one very lucky Busy-at-Home reader will win the same fantastic Sweet Petals Collection Gift Basket that I had the good fortune to review. Wouldn’t you love to have this wonderfully pampering and luxurious collection for yourself? Be sure you take the time to enter, below!
Giveaway Rules:
You must be 18 or older and a U.S. resident to enter. The mandatory entry MUST be completed before any optional entries will be counted. Deadline to enter is midnight (CST), Sunday, May 29, 2011. The winner will be selected in a random drawing, using random.org and will be notified by email.
Mandatory Entry:
Fragrance is a powerful force for setting memories and mood. In a comment below, tell me your favorite scent of summertime. Do you associate it with a specific memory?
Additional Optional Entries:
- Like Bodycology on Facebook and leave a comment below with your Facebook name, letting me know you did.
- Follow Bodycology on Twitter and leave a comment below with your Twitter handle, letting me know you did.
- Post a message on Bodycology’s Facebook wall letting them know you’re visiting from Busy-at-Home and thanking them for this awesome giveaway! Leave a comment here, letting me know you’ve done it.
- Follow Busy-at-Home on Twitter. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Like Busy-at-Home on Facebook. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Follow Busy-at-Home on Google Friends Connect. Use the “Join” button in the right-hand sidebar. Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done it.
- Subscribe to the Busy-at-Home Newsletter with this link (or in the right-hand sidebar). You will receive an email confirmation with a link that must be clicked to confirm your subscription. Once you click the email link to confirm your subscription, leave me a comment to let me know you’ve done it.
- Post this giveaway on your Facebook page. Enter to win a fabulous Bodycology Sweet Petals Collection Gift Basket at Busy-at-Home! Enjoy the sweet fragrances of summer in luxurious, spa-quality body care products. http://ow.ly/4SK5J Leave a comment below with a link to your post.
- Tweet this giveaway (1x daily) : #Win a fabulously, luxurious Bodycology Sweet Petals Collection Gift Basket @mybodycology @busyathome http://ow.ly/4SK5J #giveaway Leave a comment below with a link to your tweet.
I received the complete Bodycology Sweet Petals Collection, pictured above, in order to test the products and write this review. No monetary compensation was received and a positive review was not required. As with all Busy-at-Home reviews, the views and opinions expressed are wholly my own. Bodycology will ship the giveaway prize directly to the winner at the conclusion of the giveaway.
