I like snowfalls like this. Everything settles down into a cozy peacefulness. And I am stricken with the sudden urge to cook, which always delights the family.

Today, I’m making Manhattan Clam Chowder. Good stuff.

If you are interested in the recipe, I posted it here: Manhattan Clam Chowder. I didn’t get up early enough today to put it in the crockpot, so I’m cooking it on the stove. It needs a little more babying that way, but it comes out just as well. And it cooks faster, too.

How is your Saturday today?

I also follow Tropical Traditions on Facebook, and I think they are an outstanding company. They often link to very good studies and news reports that are health related. The founder, Brian Shilhavy, is a Christian and you can read his stunning testimony here. So besides liking the company and their green drink mix, I thought I’d give the coconut oil a try. It tastes great! It has only a teeny tiny taste of coconut, barely discernible out of the jar. When we cook with it, there is no coconut flavor in the foods.

According to the label, you can use coconut oil as you would any oil or butter. Slather it on your cranberry muffins, use it for stir-fry vegetables, use it in baking instead of the greasy margarine or vegetable oils. My daughter has tried it twice in her cookies, and they came out FABULOUS.

She used cake mix for the cookies, replacing the vegetable oil in the recipe with the Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil. The cookies are light, soft, and very tasty.

According to the Tropical Traditions website, the founders of the company created a special method for extracting oil from coconuts without using the highly-processed, bleaching and refining processes of the other companies. The site has a video about the history of the coconut oil. It’s pretty amazing!

The coconut oil is high in antioxidants, natural chemicals known to protect cells from free radicals, the chemicals that are likely responsible for cancer and other diseases (see the National Cancer Institite site about antioxidants).

Besides coconut oil, Tropical Traditions sells organic food, natural skin care products, dietary supplements, household goods, books, appliances, pet products, and more! Everything geared toward healthy living. Their products are nothing short of amazing.

Now, please realize that I was sent a free jar of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil from Tropical Traditions to review. No one is making any crazy claims that you can jump tall buildings in a single bound by eating coconut oil. But I feel healthier and the coconut oil didn’t give me that artery-clogging feeling like I get when I eat vegetable oil or lard (yuk). My opinion here is 100% mine and is 100% honest. We like the stuff and will be using it as a replacement for cooking oil.

I recommend you try out the stuff. There are a slew of recipes for coconut oil at the Tropical Traditions website, too (the Strawberry Lemon Coconut Smoothie looks so good!). I think the company is worth supporting!

Legal Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Talk about perfect timing. Yesterday’s renovation projects were agonizingly slow and difficult, and I woke up somewhat discouraged and NOT AT ALL motivated to do anything today. It was a wonderful surprise to open the door and find something pretty and sweet-smelling.

Inside the gift box is a package of beautiful, crispy napkins, a lovely white apron with blue trim, and a very neat-looking Febreze air-freshener dispenser! Oh, and lots of curly blue paper ribbons for Livvy. ;)

The new air freshener is called “Febreze Set & Refresh.” I think it is the best Febreze product EVER– requires no batteries and no electrical power to run!

Febreze sent me Linen & Sky. I think they are starting to know me well! I’m not too find of the heavy scents, but I do like the vanilla, cinnamon, and lighter scents. This is a wonderful dispenser– very pretty and not too “overpoweringly scenty” at all.

You insert the scent cartridge into the dispenser, pull out the bottom of the dispenser to create a little stand, and voila! Set it anywhere. It’s very pretty, so you don’t need to hide it. I put it on my new kitchen windowsill. Livvy abandoned her blue curly ribbons to check out the new dispenser. lol. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Well, I like it. And her toilette is half the reason we need air fresheners around here!

As I mentioned, I also got napkins and an apron. ?? What does this have to do with Febreze? Well, I read the accompanying cards, and discovered that Febreze is teaming up with the host from “Money Saving Meals,” Sandra Lee! Sandra specializes in ideas for keeping the home fresh, and preparing for unexpected guests in a flash. Febreze has a video page at YouTube with all sorts of information and helpful tips. I am actually hoping to have unexpected guests more often, now that I am not ashamed to entertain people in my new kitchen. Sandra included a few easy recipes for these occasions, including a luscious Custard Cream Pound Cake, yum!

This latest Febreze invention is, I think, their best so far. It’s delicate, it’s pretty, it’s unobtrusive, and it’s effective. And it doesn’t run on electricity. You can put it anywhere, and it looks nice! Plus, all you have to do to replenish the device is buy more cartridges, so that saves money. This is my favorite Febreze product of them all.

By the way, Febreze and MS&L graciously sent me this package free of charge. I didn’t get paid any money to do this post– I did this review of my own accord. All opinions are mine– I have plenty of my own opinions and don’t need to borrow anyone else’s! Thanks for reading.

I rarely, rarely enter cooking contests. Most are geared toward uber-gourmet dishes. I have FOUR kids and I work a job PLUS I’m renovating my house. I am NOT going to be making gourmet anything for a long, long time. No way. We like our meals fast and we like them budget. BUT I must have them nutritious. No boxed macaroni and cheese or hot dogs for my kids! We are on a semi-raw food diet, too. We usually eat mainly raw foods during the summer anyway, but we are making a concerted effort to avoid fatty foods, cereals, cooked stuff, and stuff with loads of salt and sugars. The raw food diet is extremely healthy. As well as delicious. :D

So we eat a LOT of “wraps.” My daughter makes an absolutely SMASHING hummus wrap– it is incredible. We usually buy Mission Flour tortillas for wraps, because they are very inexpensive, and they usually come in these big packs in 8″ and 10″ sizes. They are also “light” and not heavily glutinous and sticky, which is why I prefer them. And guess what?? Mission Flour Tortillas is having a Mission Menus Challenge! We’re going to enter this contest. The prize is a trip for two to Los Angeles, arriba arriba! Win round-trip airfare and hotel accommodations for two to the Mission Menus Challenge Cook-off on September 10, 2010 at the Hard Rock Café in Los Angeles. And this contest is EASY. It’s BUDGET. Here are the basics:

• Must include Mission Flour Tortillas
• Must be an original recipe
• Must feed a family of five for $10 or less

No gourmet hoops and hurdles! FINALLY, a contest for the rest of us! You can go to the MissionMenus website and see what’s there already. They are geared on the “feeding a family of five” for $10 because Mission Flour Tortillas are heavily supporting the charity “Share Our Strength” to end childhood hunger in America. It’s a worthy cause, and the contest is so easy to enter! We are always making wraps– even some pretty, um, unique, concoctions. So we might win. The hardest part would be choosing who gets to go. :| Other prizes include a $10,000 dream kitchen makeover as well as tons of weekly prizes. It sure can’t hurt to enter!

Please check out the Mission Menus Challenge. Even if you do not have a recipe to submit, check out the charity to help hungry kids in the U.S.

Maybe it’s *finally* over!!

My lousy “luck” with contests. I just NEVER win them! Wah! Well, the kinds of contests where you submit stuff, like videos, and such, I do sometimes win. I have won $1000 before in a video contest. That was very cool. And I won another video contest which… actually.. they never gave me my winnings, hmm….

But when it comes to “random” contests, I just never win. Lord knows, I enter like a fiend.

BUT THIS TIME! I FINALLY WON something!!

It was at Vixen’s Den. She was giving away some Rachel Ray bakeware, and by golly, I WON!! When she told me I won, I nearly exploded in enthusiasm. The poor lady probably got her eyebrows blasted off by reading my email response.

Look! Aren’t they lovely?!

Hmm Livvy likes them, too.

I’m kinda thrilled, can you tell? Maybe now there’s hope for me yet! Maybe I’ll win that $5000 contest at Febreze, and my entire kitchen renovation will be paid for! Ya think?!

By the way, I’m having a contest, myself. It’s the Secrets of the Mountain DVD set. The movie will be airing on NBC Friday night, and I have a DVD 2-disk set to give away. See my post for more details about the Secrets of the Mountain DVD Giveaway. It’s easy to enter, by the way. ;)

Hello, I’m back. From a nostalgic trip down memory lane, you see. I just found out that Dinty Moore is 75 years old!!! As a kid, Dinty Moore Stew by hormel was my absolute favorite stuff to eat. I craved the stew, especially after seeing the TV ads. Do you remember those? I sifted through some old ads and was amazed at how ads have changed today. Moreover, it’s just amazing how some products endure.

Do you know how Dinty Moore got started? According to the book Better Than Homemade: Amazing Foods That Changed the Way We Eat by Carolyn Wyman, Dinty Moore stew had it’s beginning during the Great Depression. Hormel Company, based in Minnesota, had been canning roast beef for a Depression food-relief program. The program suddenly ended, and Hormel was left with half a million empty 1-pound cans. Hormel couldn’t just throw away good cans! They continued to fill them, with beef stew, and sold them cheaply to hungry folks, for 15 cents a can. Ya gotta love their thrift!

Do you know where Hormel got the name “Dinty Moore”? They took it from a local grocery store. But there was also a comic strip running at the same time (mid 1930s), Bringing Up Father, with a character named Dinty Moore. The comic strip creator sued Hormel over the name… but he was so impressed at how the conflict turned out that the comic strip creator wound up doing comics for Hormel’s new stew! Later, George Burns and the hilarious Gracie Allen promoted Dinty Moore. Boy, they were so funny! In 1979, Minnesotan George Spiess made his famous trip across the Atlantic in his 16-foot long boat, eating Dinty Moore stew!

Now isn’t all that neat? I also found out that not too many people (the young whippersnappers out there) know why there’s a big thumbprint on the Dinty Moore cans. You young kids are SO deprived of cultural information, tsk tsk! Don’t they teach you anything in schools?! The thumbprint comes from the Dinty Moore lumberjack! He was the icon for Hormel Dinty Moore back in the 60s and 70s. I remember Mr. Dinty Moore well. He would put his thumbprint on every can. I LOVED those commercials. For a while, I wanted to be a lumberjack when I grew up, because all they got to eat was Dinty Moore stew. Talk about living high on the hog!

Why my mom liked Dinty Moore– fewer dishes!

Then, Fran Tarkenton promoted Dinty Moore, and I remembered that, too. He was funny in those ads. That was during the 80s. Then Dinty Moore was one of the first foods to come in pre-packaged microwaveable cans. Wow, Dinty Moore has come a long way. I haven’t had it in such a while. I’ll have to get nostalgic and break out a can! *sob*

Hormel has some very cool recipes here. Check it out! Happy anniversary, Hormel!

Working. !!! ugh! lots to do this week. I’m happy, though.

And COOKING!

Yum! I made up a new recipe, The Super Speedy Spiedie Wrap. At least, I think it’s a new one. I didn’t get it anywhere… this recipe is so good, and it took me 10 minutes to make. It’s my new favorite meal! Check it out if you want.

I’m feeling strangely domestic today. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I’ve been working 10-11 hours a day on my job. :pinch: But today, I actually had TWO loads of laundry done, soup cooking, bread machine humming, and school work printed out, all before 9am! Yay!

The soup I am cooking is a *new* but old recipe: Lentil Soup. The kids have never had lentils (well, they wouldn’t eat them when they were little), but I have added a few secret ingredients to my recipe that will make it a hit. I thought I would share with you, because, well, sharing makes you feel good inside, right?

Lentil Soup
serves six or more

1 bag of dried lentils
6 cups cubed ham or turkey ham
1 white onion, diced
10+ cups of water

Here are the secret ingredients (don’t tell anybody, ok?):

• instead of water, use chicken broth or stock.
• use Salamida Pinch “Hickory Smoke” Spice Blend for seasoning.

In a large stock pot, add the onions and cubed ham. Cook on medium-high and stir frequently, until heated through. Add the chicken broth and lentils. Add the Salamida Pinch to your liking (it’s a seasoned salt blend). Stir. Bring to a boil, then cover pot and turn to low. Allow to simmer for 2-3 hours, or all day if you like. Add more water as needed. The smell will drive everyone bananas. Try not to stir the pot too much, as it will cause the tender lentils to split apart.

Believe me, it will knock your socks off. Bake some of my Bread Machine Flax Seed Bread to go with it. OH YUM.

This is my first time trying the Salamida Pinch. It’s a new product. I love it!!! It will be sooo good on grilled chicken, come summer. The Salamida company asked me if I wanted to try it and review it, and I jumped at the chance. I used to live in the Southern Tier of New York State as a kid (near Binghamton), home of the Salamida Spiedies. OH MY GOSH you have not tasted heaven until you have eaten a Spiedie. The Spiedie even has its own page at Wikipedia. I used to crave them something fierce. The smell of the grilling meat and marinade turns me into a foaming, slathering fool. It’s good stuff. The Salamida dudes sent me some of the marinade, too (I love you guys SO SO MUCH), and I am concocting a jaw-dropping recipe that I will share soon.

The Salamida Pinch is really nice– it’s very peppery but not hot. I don’t know how they do what they do, but these guys are amazing with their seasonings and marinades. All of New York State adores them. :worship:

If you haven’t had a spiedie, just you wait! I’ll post a recipe soon. Mmmmm. You can find some recipes at the Salamida Blog. And if you place an order, use the discount code SAUCE3 at Spiedie.com, you will get 15% off your order! Coupon code is good until April 1st.

By the way– the Salamida sauces and marinades have NO SUGAR and are gluten free. I think that is what makes them so yummy; I dislike sugar in my sauces. This stuff is amazing, really. You can read more about the products and the wonderful family behind it at the website: Spiedie.com.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Tony’s Pizza. All opinions are 100% mine.

Tony’s Pizza sent me some pizza coupons for us to try out their pizza for free! Wooohooooooo no cooking tonight!!!! Hands down, that is the BEST thing about frozen pizza, right moms? All I have to do is throw the pizza in the oven, rip open a few bags of pre-packaged salad, and throw everything on the table. And I don’t feel guilty at ALL. :D It’s a wonderful thing.
:shades:

Well, being in Upstate New York, we KNOW pizza. I grew up in an Italian family in an Italian area, eating Italian food. And my best dishes are Italian dishes. Those Italians can EAT, I tell ya. So pizza is our speciality around here. We have lots of little pizzerias, which are stocked with yummy Italian goodness. But that stuff does cost a pretty penny. And it’s not exactly healthy to feed your face with 10 pounds of whole milk mozzarella in one sitting, is it?

We’ve tried our share of frozen pizza, like any family. I will admit- I’m not a frozen pizza fan. I prefer to stuff my face with 10 lbs of mozzarella cheese, I confess. But when it comes to budget and to easy dinners, Tony’s wins hands down. That’s my honest opinion. I don’t like the other frozen pizzas out there– some have too thick crusts and their “cheese-stuffed” crusts taste more like Elmer’s Glue. Then there are the super-thin pizza crust pizzas which are slathered with super-spicy sauce. I do not want heartburn later, thank you very much.

Tony’s is not too spicy. They have the best sauce of any frozen pizza I have tried. I think they could add more cheese (heehee), but the taste is just right. And I am in love with how easy it is to make them. We got the individual sizes, which are great for limiting portions. We tried three varieties: cheese, pepperoni, and supreme. The husband liked supreme, but the kids and I loved the pepperoni best.

The pizza is not too spicy, and for this I love it. I think other pizza makers dump loads of spices into their pizzas, because the freezing process makes the pizzas taste bland. But they don’t realize that their blends are disgusting. I like Tony’s because it’s milder, yet it still has great tomato sauce flavor. And the crust is GREAT. Not like eating a cracker! It’s very good.

The Tony’s Pizzas that I got were $1.69 per individual pizza. Throw in a nice salad, and the cost for feeding a family of 6 is still very affordable. Plus, it is wonderful to not have to cook.

Want to try some free Tony’s Pizza? I have FIVE coupons for some free Tony’s Pizza (up to $1.75 value) in my pizza-stained hands! Each coupon is good for one Tony’s Crispy Crust Brand Pizza in any variety!

To win these five coupons, all you have to do is subscribe to my blog, Freaky Frugalite, by email. The email subscription form is in my sidebar. Enter your email, and Feedburner will subscribe you. Then, come back and LEAVE a COMMENT telling me you have subscribed. I will randomly draw a winner on January 29, 2010. I will notify the winner via email by January 30, 2010, by midnight.

If you already subscribe, you qualify for the contest already! Just be SURE to leave a comment here telling me so. Only a qualifying comment counts as an entry.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of HealthyTuna.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

During my child-bearing years, I was told by “professionals” to stay away from seafood during my pregnancies; seafood was prone to contamination by pollutants in the oceans and lakes, and these contaminants posed a threat to my babies. It was a REALLY difficult abstinence; I love seafood. I grew up by a lake, where fresh fish was always available, and so I acquired quite a love for fish. I have FOUR children, so imagine all those months of abstinence! It was AWFUL!

Now, however, I buy seafood. Lots and lots. I especially love fresh and canned salmon, and fresh and canned tuna. Yum! I make up for lost time by buying the HONKING BIG cans of tuna! Livvy found my secret stash…

Well the latest news is that the “experts” were TOTALLY WRONG! Seafood during pregnancy is actually a good thing!

So you mean to tell me that all that abstaining meant nothing?!
:hmph:
Well, heehee, I did sneak in a little tuna now and then… don’t tell the “experts,” OK?
:whistle:
Seriously, healthy tuna and other similar seafood has shown to actually be beneficial for expectant mothers; in some cases, consuming fish during pregnancy reduced a woman’s chances of depression. Of course, it’s the mercury in the fish that must be avoided, so you still should abstain from eating fish such as swordfish, shark, mackerel, etc. I never liked those kinds of fish, anyway!

Fish is important to the development of the unborn child and the health of the mother. God made fish for us to eat! So, girls, go RIGHT AHEAD and eat that seafood! Learn from my mistakes! Manja, manja!!! Here is my favorite tuna recipe– this is SO GOOD and provides a smorgasbord of iron, protein, Vitamin C, Omega-3, and many more yummy nutrients. You will feel like Superwoman after eating this, I promise. I do!!

Wow Chow Protein-Blast Tuna Salad
Serves two, or one ravenous pregnant lady

1 can of healthy tuna, drained and flaked into large chunks
1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
1 cup boiled edamame beans, cooled and drained
Fresh greens: Romaine, radicchio, spinach, and other greens
1/2 cup diced red pepper
1 cup feta cheese, or 1 cup of diced mozzarella cheese (or both!)
1/4 cup diced red onion
Salad dressing of your choice (an olive oil & vinegar mix is best; or Caesar’s)

Place the greens on a plate. Add the beans, the onion, the cheese, and the tuna. Fluff with a fork to mix lightly.
Drizzle salad dressing on top.
Devour immediately. Serve to your family.

I’ll have to post a photo of this sometime; problem is, I usually eat it up before I think to take a photo. It makes my mouth water, it’s so good and so healthy! Moms– eat to your health! Gorge on the fish, yay!!