According to Charle

Sorry to be MIA for awhile but I've been busy chasing and homeschooling my almost 4-year-old around while being super pregnant. I haven't introduced my big girl yet so this will be her first appearance on our new blog. Our big girl is strong-willed (hence the name of my blog) and brilliant which gets her in trouble all the time. Every day is a new day and we really strive to encourage her independence and "positive" parent her so that we don't break her spirit. At almost 4, she finally can spell her name when I tell her what letters to write (I'm working on her memory of how to spell it.)

Each week I am wanting to do an According to Charle segment which includes some of her funny sayings or wisdom of the week.

Charle got out of her pool and I didn't have a towel ready so she "dried" herself off with dirt. 

 So "According to Charle," if you don't have a towel, dirt will do the trick.

I hope you enjoy and have a nice laugh with us.

Creamy Chicken en Croute

 Don't let the name scare you, this is a simple recipe that you family will love and beg for more.

Let me start off by apologizing for forgetting an after picture but it was so delicious and my family was too hungry to wait for me to photograph the final product. I started off by letting two packages of cream cheese come to room temp and I cheated by sitting them on the stove while I started cooking my bacon so that they would heat up faster. I only needed a few pieces of bacon but cooked the whole package since I had it out and I used it in my potato soup that I was making to go with these. I let the bacon cool and drained most of the fat from the pan then added my chicken breast that were seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder. I seared both sides then threw the pan into a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes until it was cooked all the way through but not dry. While the chicken was cooking, I chopped up the bacon and my chives.

I then added this to the cream cheese that was warm enough to mix easily. I then added salt and pepper to taste and added a shake of garlic and onion powder each. Once the chicken was cooked and cooled, I cut up half of a chicken breast into tiny shred like pieces so that it would blend into the cream cheese and there were no chunks of chicken but you can have chunks if you like. 

Once everything was blended, I opened up two packages of croissants and started separating them into groups of two. I pinched two triangles together to make them rectangles and added about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of the creamy mixture in the middle and folded over the croissant to make a square. I cut off the extra and made more filled pastries with them, I ended up making about 14 of these and had 3 tablespoons of mixture left over which I threw into the fridge and will use for something else later. I put these on a cooking sheet and into the 350 degree oven until golden brown on top, about 20-30 minutes.

You can make these into pinwheels kind of like cinnamon rolls or this way, they both taste amazing.

Ingredients: 

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of onion powder

salt to taste

pepper to taste

2 packages of room temp cream cheese

1 cup of chopped/shredded, cooked chicken

2 tablespoons of chopped, cooked bacon

1 table spoon of chopped chives

2 packages of puff pastry 

Directions Above 

Let these sit for at least 5 minutes before serving unless you want to melt the faces off of those that you are serving.. My hubs learned the hard way when he wouldn't wait.

February Freebies (Beauty)

Here is a list of my favorite Beauty Freebies for February. Remember that these are while supplies last and it takes normally 4-8 weeks to receive some of these in the mail so be patient! Another good things about these samples is that most of these companies will send a high dollar coupon with the sample for you to use when you fall in love with their product. 


FREE Origins Winter Sample Kit: You can snag this free kit through Origins facebook page and they will send you the coupon via email for you to redeem in their stores by Feb 15th.

FREE Aveda Samples: This is another one through facebook and you can enter to be one of 5000 winners daily until Feb 10th.

FREE Schwarzkopf Shampoo and Conditioner: Another freebie through facebook and it goes to the first 100,000 plus they are mailing you a $2 off coupon with the sample. 

FREE 10 Day Supply of Clinique Smart Custom Repair Serum: If you stop by any Clinique counter all you need to do is ask for this and you get it free without needing to make a purchase and they do free make overs so take advantage while you are out! This is great as we are about to go into Spring and it's getting time to switch up your make up and wardrobe. 

FREE Eminence Clear Skin Moisturizer: Go to their facebook and fill out the form to get your 3ml sample of the Moisturizer. 

FREE Purology

The other day I posted about Purology being one of my favorite things and now they have a free sample out! Click on this link to try it out for free and see why I love this! Just remember that samples take 4-8 weeks to come in the mail so you do have to be patient. I will post a larger number of beauty samples later today but I was too excited to not post this now. HURRY HURRY HURRY to snag this one before it is gone!

February Freebies (Food)

Here is my list of Freebies to snag now and throughout this month, just click on the links below to snag them quickly:

1. Free Coffee From Chick-fil-a: You get free coffee without purchase all month long at Chick-fil-a. You can choose from either 12 or 16oz and between iced or regular coffee. I love when places do this, it makes my life a little happier.

2. Free Frozen Yogurt From Menchies: On Feb. 6th from 4p-8p you can get a free frozen yogurt up to 6oz per person for free for National FroYo day. 

3. Free Sandwich From The Honeybaked Co: This is on going but when you sign up for their emails, you get a coupon for a free Honeybaked Ham Sandwich. I got this one awhile ago and they continue to send you coupons and deals by email for their wonderful sandwiches.

4. Free Meta Health Bar: I got one of these from P&G the other day and it was a nice morning snack and healthy for you too. I love getting these in the mail so I can throw them in my pocket book for while we are on the run and my little princess starts fussing that she's hungry because we just passed a million food places but I'm not stopping.

5. 3 Free Twinnings Tea Samples: This is one of my favorite samples to snag. Twinnings has Green, Herbal, Black, Chai, Organic, and Seasonal teas to choose 3 samples from. My favorite are the Chai's which are a spiced tea from India, it was originally introduced to me as a cup of apple jacks but to me it has even more of a pumpkin flavor and I love it either way.

6. Free Freedom Clip for Keurig 2.0: Who just got a Keurig 2.0 for Christmas? My Mother In Law did and it was disappointing when she opened it up and the directions stated that she could only use Keurig K-cups. whaaaaaatt? I love buying k-cups off of amazon and I don't always like the Keurig brand so I just snagged this for her so she has the freedom to buy whatever she wants. 

7. Free Quest Protein Bar: Here is another protein bar and it looks like you get two free samples in the mail. I'm excited to try this one since it is new to me. Please make sure you read all labels on these things before you eat them to check for allergies or things you are choosing to not eat. 

My Favorite Random Things!!

Here is a list of my favorite and very random things (these are not sponsored)

Purology shampoo: this shampoo is sulfate free which is awesome since sulfate irritates my skin and is bad for anyone. Companies use it as a lathering agent and it's cheap so you find it in most hand soaps/shampoos so that the company can cut costs but it is something you want to run from. Check your shampoo or hand soap..

Publix: Their customer service is thebomb.com and the quality of what they sale is amazing. I could travel to whole foods but Publix is closer and the people there aren't snobby like I found at WF. At our store, if they walk your groceries to your car, you get a coupon for a free item the next time you go in there to go shopping. I also love their fried chicken and key lime pie.. yum yum

YARD SALES: I am a huge thrifter and LOVE LOVE LOVE yard sales.. over half of our house and items have been purchased there. I will do a blog later about my yard sale finds and how to be successful when you host or go to yard sales.

Caron Simply Soft Yarn: I crochet a lot and this yarn is like crocheting with butter. It is amazing to work with and so soft, I just want to line my bed with this and lay in it some days.

Thrift Stores: This ties into yard sales but I love me a good thrift store.  Sometimes you can find better deals because they don't have emotional attachments to items, just prices.

A Good Fitting Bra: Everyone is a different shape and size and there is no better feeling than your bra fitting right. Please, Please, Please go get fitted at a local bra store!

My Singer Sewing Machine: I'm scared of it and haven't used it much yet but I love this thing, it can do anything :)

Diamond's Direct: Oh My, their customer service is top of the line. My husband took me in there to design my engagement ring and we were both just blown away with how we were treated. We got the best bang for our buck too but I didn't care what we paid after how well we were taken care of and now we still get free cleaning, polishing and diamond replacement any time we need it.

EOS: I love their lip balm and their lotion. I have eczema, EOS lotion and salt water are the only things that help sooth and clear it up. I've tried tons of products and creams in the past but have only found these two things to work.

Salt-Water Swimming Pools: It is so much healthier for your skin (this clears up my eczema every summer) and chlorine is so bad for you. You get all the benefits of the ocean without the sand.

ABCMouse.com: This is an amazing website that can be used on a smartphone or tablet too. I have a 3 year old but this is perfect for up to 6-7 year olds too. It has a classroom environment, educational games, and other learning tools for the kids to navigate and learn on their own. My daughter's favorite is the puzzles, she can do puzzles all day long if I let her.

Disney Jr. and PBS kids: The shows on PBS is way better for your kid and mine loves it but she also like princess shows and Disney Jr. has quality princess shows that teach lessons instead of the other kid channels that I feel turn my brain to mush so I'm sure it isn't good for my kids. My child learned her ABC's by the time she was 2 by watching SuperWhy on PBS kids and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. I also find myself enjoying the shows on these channels with her instead of dreading watching her shows.

Mustard Base BBQ Sauce: I love all BBQ sauces but the mustard based ones just make my taste buds sing. This probably gives it away that I'm from South Carolina since this is the BBQ sauce of choice around here, along with vinegar based sauces. You should try it, it might change your mind..

Fudgy Brownies: There is nothing better than getting a brownie that is super fudgy and not dry. I even like mine with chocolate frosting on top and chocolate chips in them.. I never said they were healthy but dang, my mouth is watering right now.

Kraft Blue Box Mac N Cheese: This treat takes me back to my childhood and there is just not better boxed mac n cheese.. don't argue, just embrace. 

Ok I'm done for now, I may do another post like this.. it was a lot of fun for me and I hope you find something on here that you've never tried and try something new. 

Earn FREE Gift Cards

Who like free? My Nana used to always say her favorite word was spelled f-r-e-e and I think I picked up on that at an early age and it has become my favorite word too. 

I have free apps/websites that will earn you gift cards pretty quickly. I earn a minimum of $100 in gift cards each month and barely work for it using each of these. You can click on the names and they will take you to the website so you can create a free account and start earning free money/gift cards as well!

1. ebates: Right now you can get a $10 gift card for just signing up and when you go through this site to make online purchases, you get cash back. This is my favorite site to use when I'm Christmas shopping and all throughout the year when I don't feel like going to the store.

2. Swagbucks: I use this website and app on a daily basis and earn Amazon gift cards daily. $5 a day x 30 days a month = $150 just from one site and Amazon has EVERY thing you can want or need

3. Ibotta: This app you can download on your smart phone and scan items that you buy to earn cash back. I love using this and it's even better when I have a coupon for that item and then get cash back too! If you don't have this app, download it and use my referral code: vbt2q to get $5 just for signing up. 

4. shopkick: Download this app and when you walk into stores, just open up with app and it rewards you for going into the store. Also while you are in certain stores, you can earn extra points for scanning items. You earn gift card points for going into stores and you don't even have to purchase anything!

5. Receipt Hog: I love this app because I shop at several stores and you get to scan any receipt from any store to earn points. Download it and enter in my referral code: bler6062 to get 5 free spins to earn points until you scan your first receipt. 

6. Walmart Savings Catcher: Most people have seen commercials for this one and it is so simple to use. I downloaded this app 6 months ago and had $100 to spend at Walmart on Black Friday of last year. This is another receipt scanning app but it is exclusive to Walmart and you only earn Walmart gift cards if they find an add at another store with a better deal than you got it at Walmart. 

7. Viggle: This is my final favorite app, you just open it up and tell it whether you are watching TV or listening to Music then it scans the noise and you start earning points to redeem. How easy is that when you are watching TV at night or listening to the radio in the car?


As you know, I am all about free so comment below if you have more that I should look into and add to the list!

Chicken Paprikash aka Sour Cream Chicken Paprika

This is my spin on a traditional Hungarian dish and it is sooo yummy. Last night I made the Buff Chicken Dip for the hubs but I was craving this dish so I made this for me and the wild child in my small crock pot.

I put one chicken breast that I cut in half to make it thin and cook faster and usually I would put a chopped onion and garlic with chicken broth in with it but the smell of fresh onions and garlic are morning sickness triggers AND I was out of chicken stock/chicken bullion cubes. Instead of my usual suspects, I improvised with lots of garlic and onion powder with about two and a half cups of water. I also added lots of pepper and about a teaspoon of salt with a tablespoon each of dill, paprika and extra virgin olive oil. I started that crock pot at high for an hour and then pulled the chicken out to shred it and placed it back in the pot. By this time I remembered that I had carrots in the fridge so I quickly put a small pot on the stove with water and boiled them until tender while I cooked the pasta for this. I wish I had some celery for it but I was not going back to the store on Superbowl Sunday for celery. Once the pasta and carrots were done, I drained the pasta and cut up the carrots then threw them in the crock pot then added half a container of sour cream.. I would have used the whole thing because I LOVE SOUR CREAM but I was our :( and again, not going back to the store. I stirred it up and probably should have done a better job because you can see the sour cream when it should have been a smooth mixture but it tasted the same so I didn't care too much. 

Ingredients:

1 Chicken breast 

2 1/2 cups of water or chicken broth

1 tablespoon of garlic powder or 1-2 cloves of chopped garlic

1 tablespoon of onion powder or 1 onion chopped

1 tablespoon of dill

1 tablespoon of pepper

1 tablespoon of paprika

1 teaspoon of salt and extra for taste

1/2-1 8oz container of sour cream

Any vegetable you want to add I like carrots and celery but you can add what you like.

Cooked pasta, rice or mashed potatoes

I used pasta but you can also make this gluten free by putting it over rice or mashed potatoes which I think I'm going to go with the potatoes for my leftovers for lunch today and I might thicken the sauce up with a little bit of milk since I'm still not

You can use white or dark meat and you can even use it with the bone in, it is up to you. I grew up with this as a bone-in dark meat chicken but you use what you want and like. Also you can tweek this recipe to fit the needs and likes of your family. Enjoy!!

Superbowl?

Buffalo Chicken Dip:

Normally I am all into the Superbowl each year and we go to parties or host them but with being pregnant and all and the fact that we just had a dinner party at our house 2 nights ago, I'm not feeling it. Plus I wanted the Packers to play this year so I'm boycotting it.. 

About an hour before kick off my husband requests that I make him some type of Superbowl food, his favorite, Buffalo Chicken Dip. I had everything except the cream cheese, chips and chicken because I was using the last of the chicken for my dinner so off to the store I went (hubs better know that I love him.) 

For this dip you just cook the chicken then shred/cut up really small and mix it with the other ingredients until silky smooth then throw it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. You can do that way or you can just add all the ingredients, unmixed, to the crock pot and put it on high for about an hour and stir it up every so often. With the baking option, I always top it with shredded cheese which adds a little yummy on top. 

See how smooth this looks? It takes some serious muscles because I always forget to leave the cream cheese out to get to room temp.

Look at this yummy goodness!

Ingredients:

2 packs of cream cheese

1 dried ranch packet

1/4-1/2 cup of buffalo sauce

1 cook chicken breast

1/2 cup of shredded cheese 

Directions above

My husband is currently attacking and trying to take down this whole dish.. he might succeed. 

DIY Gifts

Last year seemed to be the year of weddings for our friends and my Hubs and I were included in that group. This year is the year of babies for our friends and again, we are included in that group. 

We had 10 friends get married last year (not including us) and that gets expensive when you are looking at buying each a gift. I got creative and made each of them gifts vs. buying something off of their registry. It is beyond cheaper to make a gift vs. buying them and they mean more to the couple so they tend to hang on to it for good vs. regifting or giving them away as they no longer want or need that item. Another plus is that you can write something special on the back of the letter or plaque to the happy couple and it reminds them, 25 years from now, who gave it to them.

For the weddings I made each something similar but special to them. For a majority of the weddings, I bought a wood letter of their last name and glued (with modge podge) jewels all over it with the jewels being the color of their wedding. Another had a short last name so it bought a wooden plaque from my craft store and used smaller letters then painted the letters one wedding color and the plaque another. I also made a wreath for another couple that had their initial and the colors of their wedding were in the flowers. 

Wonderful baby gifts are baby blankets. I crochet and you can knit or sew one if you do those things. I had a girl make my first daughter a fuzzy pink blanket, now that my daughter is almost 4, she is still carrying around that blanket. I always ask what theme they are doing in their nursery so it will fit in and it is different than the normal blue vs pink. I like to youtube new crochet ideas so that no one of my friends get the same type of crocheted blanket as well plus it is fun for me to do different things each time and broaden my ability. I also like to personalize it by adding the birth stone color as a boarder or somewhere in it. This picture is for a January baby girl so that is why it has the garnet ring:

Let me know if you have any creative DIY gifts that are your go-to!

Earn Money From Home

You hear about all of these "Get Paid from Home" gimmicks all the time but here are my top three paid survey type websites:

1. Swagbucks: You sign up and start earning points to use toward gift cards. You can earn by using their search engine, taking surveys, finding swag codes and they have more info in their blog about how to optimize your earnings. It only takes 450 points to get a $5 Amazon gift card which is super easy and can be earned in a day. 

2. Inbox Dollars: Right now they give you $5 for just signing up and you can earn $.50 for surveys and $.02 just for reading their emails that they send you. How easy is it to just open an email and earn money? The earnings add up quickly.

3. Pinecone Research: This website is hard to get into but once they have openings you will earn $3 per survey. I get about 1-2 surveys emailed to me a week and then they mail you the check immediately in most cases. Right now they are not accepting new users but you can check the website daily and get in quick when they are. 

I will do more posts on my other favorite earning sites and even work from home websites soon. I have personally had success from these three sites and use them on a daily or weekly basis, but let me know about your experiences with these types of websites in the comments below!

Baby Sprinkle vs. Baby Shower?

Should women have a shower when they are having their second baby? I grew up with people chastising those that had showers for second or third children so I am conflicted. My husband and I are expecting our second daughter this spring but I gave away a lot of her things because I was unsure if I would have any more children. We have a friend having a shower for her second but she's now having a baby of the opposite gender so I justify in my mind that she is right for having one. Our friends have talked us into having a baby sprinkle and even though we need big ticket items, I felt that it was only ok to ask that people bring diapers, wipes and clothing vs. registering for all sorts of things. What are your thoughts? 

Also something that got me in the spirit of this sprinkle party is Pinterest. Holy cow does Pinterest have some cute ideas for sprinkle parties! Here are some below:

I'm having a girl so these are all pink themed but you can easily do most of these blue or a neutral color

I love doing chocolate dipped pretzels, I make these pretty often with white and dark chocolate candy melts then I can just add sprinkles to this and done!

Yogurt or Ice cream bars are awesome! I have a chalk board that I made that I can just drawl sprinkles on because I really don't want to mess it or the frame up by plastering sprinkles all over it but I do love this idea and adding the theme into the decor as well.

Ok so here is one of my favorites because people over look these wafer cookies but they are pretty inexpensive and you can use the candy melts or icing for these to get the sprinkles on.

Rimming the cups in sprinkles?? What genius came up with this? I love it but this one can be tricky to keep them on so don't get all Pinterest fail on this one.

I have also seen funfetti cake pops and I love making rice crispy pops but what about making them out of fruity pebbles? The possibilities are ENDLESS!! 

I also found this website that sells sprinkles wholesale and all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors so you don't have to spend a ton and you can go sprinkle overboard if you want :)

I hope your creative juices are now flowing and I would love to hear what you think about baby showers vs. sprinkles and should they be the norm?

Gluten-free Lasagna

So you already know, I love hiding veggies in anything that I can. Last night I made a lasagna that was filled with them and guess what? You can make this gluten free too! 

I boiled cauliflower (this is one of my go tos) and mashed it up with a fork then added about a cup of parmesan cheese, about a cup of cottage cheese, and a half a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese plus salt and pepper to taste. That's the cheese mixture I used for this yummy meal.

 I did add half lasagna noodles and half zucchini noodles but you can use just zucchini. I make zucchini noodles for lasagna by just using a cheese cutter and make long ribbons and I use a julienne tool to make zucchini spaghetti noodles. 

I layered a ladle of marinara sauce on bottom then a layer of lasagna noodles and on top of that is the cheese mixture then zucchini layer and just repeat. I topped mine off with about a cup and a half of mozzarella cheese and a little bit of parm then baked it off at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and I served mine with garlic bread since that is what my hubs prefers but you can do this with a side salad or whatever you like with lasagna. 

My husband ate this up and didn't notice most of the veggies, if you get the zucchini thin enough, it just melts into the lasagna and no one knows it is in there.

Ingredients:

2 cups of mozzarella cheese

1 cup of parmesan cheese

1 cup of cottage cheese

1 head of cauliflower

2 zucchinis 

6 lasagna noodles (cooked)

1 jar of marinara sauce or spaghetti sauce

Directions above

I hope you enjoy and comment below if you have any questions or suggestions on how you make this!

  

Hide Them Veggies Shepherd's Pie

Have you ever had issues with your children eating the veggies you give them? Ha, who hasn't, right? My biggest problem is my HUSBAND not eating his veggies or anything of substance and my three year old normally eats what I give her. I hide veggies EVERY where that I can and the best to hide them in is casseroles and starches like mashed potatoes or baked spaghetti so shepherd's pie is the best place I can think of. I started off by boiling three large potatoes with 3 cloves of garlic and half a bag of frozen cauliflower (I use frozen because no where around here has organic, fresh cauliflower and I haven't started growing it yet.) Once the potatoes were cooked, I transferred it to a mixing bowl after draining the water and I added a stick of butter and about a half of cup of milk. Now I did just say a stick of butter but you can always cut that, I just felt like all the veggies kind of maybe cancelled a little of it out.. maybe. I use an immersion blender but you can hand mash it or put it in a mixer or use a hand blender, they all work perfect. Ok now we are on to more veggies. I cut up about two hand fulls of baby carrots because that's what I keep on hand for snack for me and the wild child and then I peeled and chopped up half of a large rutabaga and halved about a cup of brussel sprouts. You can use whatever veggies you feel like using, I stayed on the sweet side because that pleases the Hub's pallet. I sauted all of these veggies except the brussel sprouts in a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper until I could pretty much almost mash the carrots then added the brussel sprouts until they started to get soft (about 2-3 minutes.) I just dumped all the veggies into the bottom of a baking pan, I used a round cake pan but use whatever you have, and then started to brown the ground beef (I only used 1/3 of a pound but use up to a pound for this recipe.) Once the beef was almost done, I put in my beef broth which was one cup of water that had been simmering with two beef bullion cubes while I was cooking the other ingredients. I let that rise to a simmer then poured it on top of the veggies. All that was left was the mashed potato layer and I just slathered those on top and smoothed it with the back of my wooden spoon then topped it all off with a mix of cheddar and monterey jack cheese. I tossed that into the preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes and presto, ready to eat!

I should have taken pictures throughout the process and this picture isn't that great but I did take one!! I will get better at that next time, promise. 

Ingredients:
3 large potatoes
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 a bag of frozen cauliflower or half a head if you use fresh
2 handfuls of baby carrots
1/2 of a rutabaga
1 cup of brussel sprouts
1/3- 1 lb of ground beef
1/2 cup of milk
1 stick of butter
2 beef bullion cubes
1 cup of water

Directions above

GLUTEN FREE: you can make this a gluten free by changing the bullion cubes to homemade beef stock or broth or just omitting that all together because you can still get beef flavor by adding the cup of water to the ground beef before adding it to the pie.

Hide the veggies by mashing them up before adding them to the pie if you have super picky eaters, I forgot to do that and mashed up my husbands before I served it to him and guess what, HE LOVED IT!!

I hope you enjoy it and if you have any questions, please comment below!