I love making homemade jellies and butters. Our local farmers market had a special on peaches, buy one box and get one free. I ended up with about 4 lbs of peaches for $3.
I went to the farmers market to get the peaches because I wanted to make peach butter. I made this years ago, and of course could not find the recipe I originally used. I ended up searching online and found one that sounded good. I saved it to Pinterest for anyone else that wants to try it.
I started by peeling the peaches. The easiest way I've found to do this, is to drop the peaches in boiling water for 30-45 seconds. Then plunge them in ice water. The peels pretty much fall right off. I then pitted and chopped the peaches. I used a big pot and added the peaches, water, and sugar.
After about 20 minutes of cooking, I pureed the peaches in my blender. I did this in three batches. Then you put the puree back into the pot and cook for 30-40 minutes until thick. I ended up with 5 - 1 cup servings. You can can this, but I chose just to use the freezer containers. I kept one for myself and gave four away to lucky friends and family.
My favorite way to eat the peach butter is on a toasted English muffin.
I've said it before, I always have an over abundance of bananas in our house. They are usually ones that need to be used soon, or ones that are too ripe and I freeze for making muffins or bread later.
I saw this pin for frozen banana bites and thought they looked interesting. I had everything on hand and thought they sounded like an easy snack. I decided to just use one banana, even though the recipe called for four. I didn't want to use that many in case I didn't like them.
They were really easy to make. I sliced the banana into slices that were a little less than an inch thick. I just made sure to have enough slices to make sandwiches. You then spread peanut butter on one slice and cover with another. Freeze the little sandwiches for about an hour. Then dip in chocolate and freeze again.
I thought of a couple of things while making these that would make them easier. I found the peanut butter kind of hard to spread on the slices. I think freezing the slices for 15 minutes or so might help with that. I would also wait to take the sandwiches out of the freezer until the chocolate was melted. By the time my chocolate melted, one side of the bananas started to thaw and it made it really hard for the chocolate to stick on the last few that I dipped.
You can tell the ones where they were thawed just by looking at the picture :)
I was really surprised with how these tasted. They actually had an ice cream consistency, I felt like I was eating a little mini ice cream sandwich. Addison also really liked these. I will definitely make these again trying my changes.
We had a Hobby Lobby open up an hour away from us. Addison and I were in that town for some doctor and dentist appointments and decided to check out the store. Of course we couldn't leave empty handed, but I also didn't have a craft in mind before going into the store.
While browsing, I found a two pack of canvases. I remembered a cute picture I saw on Pinterest. We quickly picked out paint and some foam brushes so we could make it when we got home. The original pin was just a picture, so I just looked at the paint color to pick out the hues that I liked best.
Addison absolutely loved this project. She was so excited to paint on the large canvas, instead of just paper. She is so goofy sometimes and decided she had to wear her hood from her winter coat while she was painting.
We used two different shades of blue and one white acrylic paint for the background. I picked up a four pack of foam brushes, so we would have a separate brush for each color. Once the background was dry, I painted the inside circle of the sun with yellow and orange acrylic paints. Then I painted Addison's hand with the yellow and orange, about half and half. We then pushed down on the canvas around the sun to make the rays.
I then used a pencil to free hand a rough outline of the words. Then I used a paint brush and black acrylic paint to paint over the pencil marks.
I love how this turned out. I think it is one of my favorite projects we have ever done! I have this hanging at the end of my hallway. It makes me smile every day.
Purex has launched a mega sweepstakes for the month of August. This sweepstakes is really fun. They are giving away awesome prizes every day for the 31 days of August!
In order to be eligible to win these prizes, you do need to be a fan of the Purex Facebook page. My favorite things they are giving away are:
- Apple iPad Mini
- Patio Furniture Set
- Swing Set
- New Fall Wardrobe
You can enter for your chance to win 31 different prizes here!
I'm also hosting my own giveaway with this promotion for a $10 Amazon Gift Card! For this giveaway you will need to share the 31 Days of Fun Sweepstakes on your own social media pages like Facebook, Twitter, your own blog, using the URL above that you used to enter the sweepstakes. Once you have done so comment on my blog that you did so and let me know how many followers you shared the sweepstakes with. I will be choosing a winner on August 23 from the comments!
Good luck on both of the sweepstakes!
We spent the 4th of July weekend up in Ely with my family. I was asked to bring some treats. I searched my 4th of July board on Pinterest and decided to make Patriotic Crunch.
This was so easy to make, Addison helped with most of the work!
Patriotic Crunch
2 cups pretzel sticks
2 cups rice Chex
1 bag plain white popcorn popped. Make sure to take any unpopped kernels out.
5-6 blocks almond bark
sprinkles
M&Ms
Mix the pretzels, Chex, and popcorn on a wax paper lined pan. Melt the almond bark and pour over the mix. Mix well and sprinkle with sprinkles. Once hardened break into pieces and add M&Ms.
The next time I make this I think I will add the M&Ms prior to letting the mix harden. Most of them fell to the bottom of the bowl.
Everyone loved this and I will definitely make it again. I couldn't find red, white, and blue M&Ms, but I would love to make this for other holidays with the holiday coloered M&Ms.
I was lucky enough to receive a pair of Dr. Scholl's For Her High Heel Insoles, through BzzAgent, to test. These came at a perfect time as I wear sandals almost every day during the summer. I have loved using these with my healed sandals. They have added extra support in my arches as well as made them more comfortable.
I would definitely use these insoles again and would recommend them to anyone that has shoes that need extra support or comfort.
The following is information regarding these wonderful insoles.
Guaranteed to provide all-day comfort or your money back, Dr. Scholl’s® For Her High Heel Insoles help prevent foot aches and pain caused by
wearing high heels two inches and higher.
- Unique design is clinically proven to help prevent pain from high heels 2” and up
- Ultra-soft gel arch shifts pressure off ball of foot
- Immediate and long-lasting comfort guaranteed, or your money back
- Practically invisible, even in strappy heels
- Slim design won’t make shoes feel tight
- Insoles stay firmly in place, and are easily removable without damaging shoes
- Made to fit women’s sizes 6–10, including all open-style shoes
Stand, walk and strut in comfort
Dr. Scholl’s® products are backed by a highly
technical group of scientists focused on foot care. Extensive research,
development and clinical testing go into every product, ensuring they’re
effective before they meet your feet. Because the makers of Dr.
Scholl’s® For Her products are focused on women’s needs,
clinical studies for the line were performed on ladies just like you —
high-heel wearing general managers, students, office workers and busy
moms (to name a few)!
Dr. Scholl's is in the middle of an Extra Step Challenge. You can find more information here.
You can also find more information on Dr. Scholl's products as well as coupons on their Facebook page.
I received samples and coupons from Dr. Scholl's for my review. As always my opinions are my own.
I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted! We have been super busy this summer with sports and activities.
Addison's last day of kindergarten was on May 30. It was very bittersweet. She absolutely loved kindergarten. I was very proud of her. She did very good on her school work as well as state testing.
She was so sad the school year was ending. She loved the learning, all of her friends, and her teacher. Her wish is that her teacher will start teaching first grade and she'll have her again!
We searched Pinterest for an idea for an end of the year gift. While I like the look of the printed tags on the gifts we saw, I like for Addison to write her own, especially since she is really learning how to read and write. We both decided we liked the "Thanks for making me one smart cookie" idea we saw.
Addison's teacher loved the gift!
