One of my Favorites

So out of the 7 people in our family 4 of us wear glasses/contacts.  So a place that we discovered and LOVE is zennioptical.com   They have SCREAMING DEALS on great glasses for the whole family AND the coolest part is that you can take a picture of yourself and upload it to their site and actually “try” on the glasses to see how they would look on you.  IT IS AWESOME!!  We’ve been using them for a couple of years now and we have never been disappointed.  Just thought you all should know.

Conversational Controversy & Giveaway

So I just bought my first bag of conversational hearts for the 2011 valentine season I opened them up with anticipation digging through the bag looking for my favorite colors white and yellow.  Ahhh sweet success!  I found a yellow one I pop into my mouth and continued the frantic search for my ultimate favorite the white ones.  I soon realize, just about at the same time that the flavor of the yellow heart is registering to my brain that UGH!!!! The Necco people changed the flavor of their conversational hearts from traditional although sort of indefinable flavors to their new fruity flavors. YUCK!!!  So I was thinking that I would write to them and tell them about how badly they missed the mark on this one.  Then I was thinking that maybe I’m alone in this opinion and that there are now a whole lot more satisfied customers…so here is my question to you * FYI (you can still get the the traditional flavor)

Which do you like better the Traditional Conversational Heart flavors or the New Nasty fruity flavors??

This also brings us to the giveaway part of the program.  I will be giving away just in time for Valentines Day a big ol’ box of Chocolates (okay maybe not the coolest giveaway ever but hey it’s chocolate and it’s free)  to 1 lucky winner. Here are the rules

1. You must be a public Follower of I’m a Mom not a Professional (1 entry)

2. Participate in the poll located on my sidebar (1 entry)

3. Do a post about this on your blog (5 entries)

4.Be one of the first 5 people to participate (2 entries)

5. Leave me a comment letting me know how the new fruity flavors are ruining you life (0 entries, I’m just curious)

Leave a comment letting me know which ones you did and good luck I’ll be doing the drawing on February 3rd so spread the word.

YOU MUST LEAVE A COMMENT IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE

Have fun!!

Maybe the YUMMIEST thing EVER!

The other day our friends had us over for dinner and I volunteered to bring something, I was having a hard time deciding what to bring. I was waffling between rolls or a dessert.  So instead of choosing between the two I combined them and possible made the yummiest thing EVER.  (not to pat myself on the back or anything)  Ok, so I only made Fancy orange roll pull-a-parts but seriously they were scrumptious.

The pictured really doesn’t do it justice.

This is how I did it.

First you’ll need some dough I used my  PLEASE RESTRAIN ME! Dinner Rolls that recipe will give you more than enough dough, you could actually  use only 1/2 the batch.

After I had made the dough AND after it had risen the first time I punched it down and kneaded it a few times (I did that right in the bowl).  Then I ripped off little chunks of dough and rolled them in melted butter then I rolled then in a combination of sugar and orange zest. About 1 cup of sugar to the zest of 1 & 1/2 oranges (depending on their size).  Then I layered them in my bunt pan and sprinkled it with sugar in the raw.  I filled the bunt pan up about half way. I let it rise again for about 30 min.  Then I baked it at 350 degrees for about 34 min.  After it was done I glazed it with some vanilla frosting (1/4 cup?) that I thinned by adding orange juice and more zest. 

FYI-  I should tell you that I live at sea level so if you ever make something from here you should adjust accordingly

VARIATION:  My husbands favorite citrus fruit by far is limes.   His birthday is on Friday and I think I’ll be making him the lime version I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Go Check it Out

Just wanted to give a little shout out this morning to Jodee over at A to Z for Moms like Me. She contacted me last week so she could feature me today on her blog (here) so COOL. You should go check it out she has a great blog!

Valentines Frames

Last night for family night activity we had a great time creating photo frames.  It was really fun to see all of the kids designs.  All we used were wooden frames, sticky felt (felt that already has the adhesive on it) foam stickers and a little bit of glitter. Here are the kids creations.

Cranberry Oat Bread

I make our families bread every week and I usually use this recipe that makes 3 loaves.  But when bread making day falls on a Friday I like to make something different for two reasons 1. we don’t eat a lot of bread over the weekend and 2. I love to try new bread recipes. So this is the recipe I made today.  I found it awhile ago on Allrecipes here.  I changed it up just slightly so this is how I make it. 

Cranberry Oat Bread –Jaime’s Version

1 cup of warm water

1 TBS yeast

1/4 cup of honey (just under)

1 TBS of oil

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2/3 cups of oats (just under)

2 1/2 cups bread flour

1/2 cup of dried cranberries

I mix this altogether in my Kitchen Aid for 2 minutes then let it rise until double.  Then knead it a few times, shape it into a loaf and let it rise again until it’s about 1 inch above the pan then you bake it at 350 degrees for 30 min.

I think this loaf is screaming at me to make it into stuffed french toast… who am I to deny its request.

ENJOY!

Flower appliques skirt or me messing around with my new machine!

I got a new serger for Christmas and mostly I made this skirt (for my 8 year old) so I could play around with it. The flowers are my favorite part.