3 Minutes to Excellent Oatmeal!

I recently tried new Quaker® Steel Cut Quick 3-Minute Oatmeal. I am a BzzAgent, and got to try the oatmeal for free, thanks to BzzAgent. I enjoyed this oatmeal: it is very easy to make, and has great taste and texture.

Breakfast is ME Time

I wake up about an hour before my husband and toddler daughter. This allows me to have a little bit of quiet time to enjoy a shower and breakfast without being needed by anyone.

One of my favorite things to eat during this "me-time" is oatmeal. I usually eat regular (rolled) oats, which I mix with milk and microwave. I enjoy a hearty, nutty oatmeal, so I usually then stir in peanut butter and almonds.

Lately though, I've been getting tired of the same old oats each morning. Microwaving those traditional rolled oats (you know, the ones from the canister) make them more mushy and less enjoyable than I like. And I frequently experienced the problem of the milk boiling over in the microwave and making a mess. If I had time to make them on the stovetop, I'm sure they'd be great, but I don't.

Also, my morning me-time has recently been decreasing. My daughter is waking up earlier, and my husband has been trying to get out the door earlier to avoid traffic. This means I cannot linger over a lengthy breakfast, and I certainly can't take the time to make fancy oatmeal for myself.

Quaker® Steel Cut Quick 3-Minute Oatmeal

So this is why the new Steel Cut 3-Minute Oatmeal from Quaker is so great! I can pop this oatmeal in the microwave for 3 minutes, just the time it takes to make my coffee, and then enjoy a bowl and still be done before the rest of the house is up. It is just the right amount, and I have not had any trouble with it spilling in the microwave. And it's a nice change from the routine oats I'd been having.

I've been interested in trying steel-cut oats for awhile, but had never had the chance. I heard they were nuttier and tastier, with a great texture - very appealing to me. But I also heard they take awhile to cook, and that fact intimidated me. I think you can soak them in the refrigerator overnight, but who has time for that?? 

With Quaker® Steel Cut Quick 3-Minute Oatmeal, though, there is no intimidation factor at all! It is so easy to empty the packet into a bowl, add water, and microwave for 3 minutes. No crock pot, no soaking overnight, no super-long cooking time. Just 3 minutes, and you still get a great nutty flavor!

My 2-year-old daughter also really likes it, especially the Blueberries & Cranberries variety. I'm excited to try the Brown Sugar & Cinnamon variety soon. It is an excellent product, and I highly recommend it!

iRobot Roomba 870 Review

I don’t have a lot of experience with robots, but I can tell you that Alice, my new iRobot Roomba 870, is my favorite.

Before Alice, I used a complicated system to sweep our hardwood floors. I pushed around a wide dry mop, then cleaned the mop off with a handheld vacuum. It involved a lot tedious work and awkward bending over. In the carpeted basement, I used a traditional vacuum - again, a lot of work.

Alice makes the whole process so much easier. Now when I want to clean our hardwood or carpet floors, I just turn her on and get out of her way. Like magic, I return to find the entire floor clean. It’s amazing! I wish I had gotten a Roomba sooner. I got a discount on Alice as through BzzAgent, and wrote a review there as well.

We named our iRobot Roomba 870 Alice, after Alice the maid from The Brady Bunch. My 2-year-old daughter was a bit scared of Alice at first, but she has gotten used to her. Now she chases her around the room saying “where’s Alice going?” The thing is, you can’t tell where she is going to go next, but somehow, Alice gets the entire floor clean. It gets around all your furniture, but we move the smaller stuff out of the way if we can, for a more thorough job. The Roomba is only about 4 inches tall, so it also fits under the couch - somewhere I NEVER bother cleaning myself!

The iRobot Roomba 870 comes with two virtual walls, which prevent the robot from going where you don’t want her (or him) to go. Those worked very well for us, though the Roomba turned around a few inches sooner than I expected when using them.

The “cliff-detection” system, which prevents the Roomba from falling down stairs, did not really work for us. Alice comes to top of our stairs, stops, and says “error, please reposition Roomba and start again.” But that’s ok, because I just use the virtual walls at the top of the stairs.

The bin of the Roomba does get full more quickly than regular vacuums, but that doesn’t bother me. Obviously, the entire thing is much smaller than a regular vacuum. I have Alice clean our entire carpeted basement, which is about 700 square feet, and I only have to empty the bin once in the middle.

As I said, I wish I had gotten a Roomba a lot sooner - it has saved me lots of time and effort. I will not be vacuuming our floors anymore. I love Alice the Roomba, and I would recommend the iRobot Roomba 870 to anyone.

Fisher-Price City Ckyway: Great toy for learning and keeping little hands busy

I received a Fisher-Price City Skyway for free as a product trial thanks to Fisher-Price and BzzAgent. My daughter turned 2 right around the time we received it, so we decided to give it to her as a birthday gift. She loves it. One of her favorite things to do is fill the cars up with gas. She seems to understand that they need a fill-up before going down the ramp - very cute.

At first, my daughter was frustrated that she couldn’t predict or choose which path the car would take on the way down (she’d say “I want THIS one!”), but now she likes that it’s different every time. She is learning her colors, and I love that each ramp is a different color, so we can say “it came out the orange one!” etc. Another thing my daughter enjoys is the gate at the bottom. She loves to sit on one side, and push the cars through to me on the other side.

The City Skyway comes with two cars and I believe you can purchase more. My daughter enjoys putting anything she can fit down the ramps, and I know she is learning by doing that - things with wheels go, things without them don’t. I do wish that some of her other car and truck toys fit down the ramps.

The “realistic crane” doesn’t do much, but we use it to store one of the cars when she isn’t playing with it. There is another shelf/parking space to store the other car. But if you’re planning to purchase more than the two cars the City Skyway comes with, there won’t be anywhere on the toy to store them.

One thing I found strange is that the pretend sidewalk at the base of the Skyway has litter on it! There’s an apple core, pieces of mail, a spilled ice cream cone, and even a broken camera. I suppose that is realistic, but I found it odd. There are other cute things, like a sidewalk chalk drawing and dog footprints. All of this is just on the plastic sidewalk base - so the attention to detail is something, even if some of the detail is garbage.

Putting it together: My husband and father-in-law put the Skyway together. It took about 30 minutes. It wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be, but they enjoyed it. There are 44 steps on the instructions, with pictures. My advice: DO NOT put the pieces together without reading the directions. My husband decided to just start snapping together pieces that had the same numbers on them, not realizing they had to sort of wrap around the base structure before being snapped. So don’t do that (or don’t let your husband do it!).

Also, once the Skyway goes together, it doesn’t come apart easily. This means that it does take up quite a bit of room. Yes, the actual floor foot print is only 13” x 18” but the roads stick out about 6” on either side of that, and, as I’m sure you know, this thing is more than 3 feet tall. Just something to keep in mind if you’re tight on space.

That said, my daughter is just the right height for this right now, and we look forward to playing with it for quite awhile. Here is a picture of her enjoying her birthday present!

I also posted this review on Amazon. You can buy the Fisher-Price City Skyway here.

All Black & Blue - In a Good Way

One of my favorite burgers to eat out at restaurants is a "black & blue" burger. Other toppings vary, but it always includes blue cheese. Blue cheese adds a great punch of flavor to a great burger.

Despite enjoying a black & blue once in awhile at restaurants, I have never attempted to put blue cheese on a burger at home. I sometimes purchase blue cheese crumbles to put on salads, but putting them on a burger has never even occurred to me, because I know it'd be messy and difficult.

Until now. Castello® Burger Blue cheese, which I was able to try for free as a BzzAgent, is a great sliced blue cheese that is ready to put right on your burgers at your backyard grill. It comes in convenient slices, with papers in between that make it easy to apply to the burgers.

My husband is the one who does the grilling in our family. We decided to try black & blue burgers tonight. Since we were low on time, he grilled pre-formed burgers from our grocery store. He put the Burger Blue slices on just before the burgers were medium-well done. The slices were definitely easier to put on the burgers than crumbles would have been, but the slices themselves were still a bit crumbly, so coverage wasn't as perfect as it would be on a restaurant black & blue burger.

However, this cheese tastes GREAT! We enjoyed some pretty fantastic black & blue burgers for dinner tonight. I may not wait until we have burgers again - this cheese is good enough to eat on its own.

The Castello® Burger Blue cheese was hard to find for awhile, but I believe it is now available at most local grocery chains. I will definitely try it again soon.

Neutrogena Nourishing Long Wear Makeup

I recently received a free sample of Neutrogena Nourishing Long Wear Makeup from BzzAgent.

Neutrogena Nourishing Long Wear Makeup works very well for me. I am one of those people who wears foundation every day. I typically use drugstore brands. But I have also tried a few department store makeup counter foundations. I find Neutrogena Nourishing Long Wear Makeup to be more like the department store brands, even though it has the same price and availability as drugstore brands.

This foundation goes on smoothly and blends well. I have light skin, so I'm using the lightest shade. It works well for my skin. The pictures shows a before and after of my face. On the left, I'm not wearing any makeup at all - you can see there are some red splotches and spots. On the right, I'm wearing just the Neutrogena Nourishing Long Wear Makeup - no other powder, concealer, or anything. There's a big difference in covering the spots, etc.! And it's well-blended too!

Despite providing good coverage all day, this foundation feels comfortable on my skin. It does not feel cakey or greasy after a few hours. It is lightweight and natural feeling.

The product goes on easily, but I do have one suggestion. I read from the BzzAgent campaign site that you should shake up the foundation before each use. I have found this to be true, but I don't see that instruction anywhere on the bottle. I wouldn't have known to do that if it weren't for BzzAgent. Maybe it should say it somewhere on the bottle.

I recommend Neutrogena Nourishing Long Wear Makeup. Give it a try!

Keebler® Simply Made Cookies

I recently received a sample of Keebler® Simply Made cookies in two different flavors: Butter and Chocolate Chip. I was lucky enough to try them because I am a BzzAgent.

Keebler® Simply Made Butter cookies are very tasty. I have a young toddler who is just starting to eat cookies like this on her own. These butter cookies were easy for her to eat, and she enjoyed the taste. "More cookie" is now one of her favorite phrases!

My husband and I enjoyed eating the Simply Made Butter cookies as well. They are not quite as good as homemade butter cookies, but pretty close! They really have a good, buttery taste, and the texture is not grainy like some packaged cookies can be. I enjoyed them with my afternoon coffee.

Keebler® Simply Made Chocolate Chip cookies are also good. The flavor is tasty and buttery, and there is just the right amount of chocolate chips. I preferred the Butter flavor, but the Chocolate Chip ones did not go to waste! They are not soft and chewy, so if you prefer a crumbly cookie with lots of chocolate chips, these are for you! Come to think of it, the ingredients that are added to packaged cookies to make them soft and chewy are probably not natural ingredients you would have in your pantry. So it makes sense that these Keebler® Simply Made Chocolate Chip cookies are on the drier side. I love that they are made with more wholesome ingredients.

I love baking cookies, but with a young child at home, it's certainly more convenient to open a package than to bake from scratch. Since Keebler® Simply Made cookies are made with the same ingredients I'd use at home, I feel much better about serving them to my family. I recommend trying Keebler® Simply Made cookies next time you find yourself in the cookie aisle!

Why not choose fair trade??

I received a sample of Green Mountain Coffee's Three Continent Blend coffee via BzzAgent.

The Green Mountain Fair Trade Three Continent Blend is wonderful. It is so rich, robust, and flavorful. I'd gladly drink the Three Continent Blend every day for my morning coffee. Not only does it taste great, though, this coffee is helping farmers on three different continents, and their communities. That makes it even more enjoyable to me.

Even though I won't be able to go to Peru anytime soon to see coffee growing in action, I was able to live vicariously through Kelly Clarkson by viewing her travelogue at ChooseFairTrade.com. The whole website is really well-done and interactive. I especially enjoyed seeing the statistics on the "A Fair Trade Story" page. Why wouldn't you try Fair Trade Coffee from Green Mountain?

Be sure to visit ChooseFairTrade.com and try some new Three Continent Blend soon!

Filippo Berio® Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I received a free sample of Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil through BzzAgent. My husband and I have enjoyed trying this olive oil in various dishes. We use olive oil pretty often in our kitchen already, since it is healthier than butter and other alternatives. Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil has a great taste. Here are some ways we used it:

Salads: During the summer, I'm a huge fan of making salads that don't necessarily involve lettuce (pasta, potato, caprese, bean, etc.). This week, I made a salad with orzo, chickpeas, cucumbers, dill, and a light olive oil/lemon juice dressing. It made a wonderful summer weeknight meal, and I know it was much healthier than a heavy potato salad made with mayonnaise and sour cream.

Cooking: We use olive oil for cooking most dishes. It's easy to saute just about anything with it. Recipes that call for butter to be melted in the pan can easily use olive oil instead. And the Filippo Berio Extra Virgin has a nice flavor that we appreciate.

Popcorn: We love to snack on popcorn! It's low in fat, and when you don't top it with butter, it's almost fat-free. I use a stovetop popper and good quality popcorn. I drizzle a couple a teaspoons of the Filippo Berio olive oil on the popped popcorn, then sprinkle on some tasty combination of seasonings. The olive oil helps the seasonings stick to the popcorn, and adds a nice flavor. Yum!

You can download your own printable copy of an Olive Oil Substitution Chart at filippoberio.com. You can also find tasty recipes and create ways to use olive oil. I'd definitely recommend giving Filippo Berio Extra Virgin a try!

Got2b POWDER'ful Volumizing Styling Powder

I have been trying POWDER’ful from Got2b that I got for free from BzzAgent. I usually use it on days I don't have time to wash my hair, thought it works any time I need a little extra volume. I have found that I only need a little bit, sprinkled on my hands, for the product to work. It's easy to get too much, especially when you apply it directly to your head. Then my hair gets a little too sticky and feels dirty. But with just a little, the powder does provide a small bit of volume that I don't otherwise have (my hair is generally very, very flat!). It's really not a lot of volume - I could definitely not replicate the gorgeous model's hair on the package - it is just a little bit. I also wish it lasted a little big longer before going flat, but maybe that's just my wimpy hair.

Though I've had hair powder applied to my hair at the salon before, I had never used a styling powder at home until trying POWDER’ful. Now I'm glad I've tried it, and would recommend it to others.

Me Time with Café Escapes

With a young baby in the house and a part-time job, it's very, very hard to find "me time." But after I received some free samples of Café Escapes K-cups from BzzAgent, I was eager to make it happen!

I usually have some kind of coffee drink in the morning on my way to work. Having a Keurig brewer is great for when I'm running late and need a cup FAST! However, this BzzCampaign encouraged me to slow down and enjoy one of the new Café Escapes cups while relaxing. I thought that was a good idea. Here's me relaxing with my favorite mug - As you can see, I've got my hair pulled back, and sweatshirt on!

I had tried the Café Escapes Chai Latte before, and always found it a nice break from regular coffee. The new flavors from Café Escapes are no disappointment. Café Caramel seriously tastes like you're drinking melted caramel candy. It might be a little too sweet for some, but not me! That was my favorite for a relaxing afternoon treat. The Café Vanilla was equally good - kind of like the Chai, just with less spices. I don't have hot chocolate very often, but when I do, I much prefer dark chocolate, so the Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa from Café Escapes is a great choice.

One thing people may not know is that when brewing a drink that contains powdered milk, like hot chocolate or any of the Café Escapes flavors, your Keurig machine needs to be flushed out afterwards. I learned this the hard way a couple years ago. I would make hot chocolate, then find that the machine kept clogging up and breaking! Luckily, the support person I talked to at Keurig told me what to do, and it's been fine since. After you brew a cup of any Café Escapes flavor, just remove the K-cup and "brew" a cup of plain water. That should clear things up enough for the next use.

I'm very glad I got to try the new (and old) flavors from Café Escapes. I will definitely keep several Café Escapes K-cups on hand for relaxing treats in the future!

Redbox Instant by Verizon

Unfortunately, I have not been impressed with Redbox Instant by Verizon so far. I received a free one month trial from BzzAgent (though anyone can sign up for a free trial here). The trial included access to streaming movies on their website, as well as four credits for renting from any Redbox kiosk.

My husband and I have not really used Redbox in the past, so we were excited to try out the new service. We used all four of our DVD credits at kiosks in our area. The great thing about that is that we learned where the kiosks are closest to our house! The Redbox website makes it easy to browse the movies available to rent at the kiosk and reserve one for a certain site. It's equally as easy to browse at the kiosk. We also liked that you could return movies to any kiosk, not just the one you picked up the movie from.

However, all of that nice stuff above is not new - it's part of regular Redbox, and has been for awhile. The new product is Redbox Instant, the main purpose of which is supposedly streaming movies online. And this is the part I found very disappointing. We found very few movies we were interested in watching among the selection available for streaming. The service claims to have new releases and a good selection, but I just did not find that to be true.

The most frustrating thing to me was the service's website. I found it confusing and difficult to tell which movies were available to stream versus to rent at the kiosk. Then I discovered that there is a whole other category: movies available to PAY to stream. These aren't part of Redbox Instant, but you can pay (usually $4.99 or more) to stream them from your computer. It needs to be clearer which category you're browsing through on the website. I would find a video I was interested in seeing, see the words "WATCH NOW" and think I could watch it as part of the Redbox Instant subscription. Only to find that when I clicked WATCH NOW, it said I had to pay.

I understand that part of the issue with having certain movies available for streaming is with copyrights and the people who make the movies. But if similar subscription-based streaming services (Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu Plus) can provide better choices, why can't Redbox Instant? I've tried all three of those other services, and as of now, I'd take any of them over Redbox Instant.

When I did stream a movie, I used my Mac laptop. The quality was great, and it took NO time to load. This is definitely an improvement over similar services - if Redbox Instant had better choices, I would recommend it for the quality.

I also tried to use my Chromebook to stream, but that didn't work, since you need Microsoft Silverlight for this service. There are a few quirky things sometimes too - like the sign-in window continuing to pop up even after you've signed in - but I can overlook those, since it's still in beta. I'm sure those will get fixed.

Also, it would be nice if we could have streamed the movies through our Sony DVD player or Wii. I understand the service is already available on some devices like those, and I assume they are working on adding more devices, hopefully including what we have.

I'm glad this free trial exposed me to the Redbox kiosks, and I think I will continue to use those - something I hadn't done before. The Redbox Instant subscription comes with four DVD credits a month, but costs $8 a month. Renting four DVD's from the kiosks directly would be a few dollars less than that. So for me, it's definitely not worth it to continue paying for Redbox Instant. I won't continue my subscription until they add more movies or somehow make the service better than similar ones already out there. I'll stick to the kiosks for now, and use Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu Plus for streaming movies and TV shows.

Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream

I recently received free Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream as a BzzAgent. I had used other Neutrogena products in the past, but had not tried the Norwegian Formula, which is a concentrated glycerin-based formula meant to repair and protect very dry and damaged skin.

  

As you can hopefully tell from the pictures, I certainly fit the bill for having very dry skin. In winter, my knuckles are often so dry they crack and bleed. I have the bad habit of picking at the skin of my cuticles whenever I am nervous or bored. And I have one nail that grows in completely split down the middle (my problem nail). I would love to get professional manicures more often, but with a new baby, that isn't easy.

I usually end up taking care of my poor hands myself, often doing one or two steps a day, instead of all at once. After trimming and filing my nails to the length I like (ok, I admit, sometimes what I really mean is biting them to the right length...), I take care of my cuticles. I clip off all the little pieces that I would otherwise be tempted to pick at, using an angled cuticle trimmer like this one. I trim away all I can and try to get them as smooth as possible.

Then I move on to my problem nail. I have experimented with many products over the years to try to get this nail under control. If I don't, it gets caught in everything I touch, rips further down the nail bed, and causes me lots of pain and headaches! Here's what works for me: I trim a piece of fiberglass or silk to fit over the split, squeeze a little nail glue and powder on top, then wait for it to dry. Then I shape the nail with a file and buffer, and apply some clear polish (I like Hard as Nails from Sally Hansen).

If I'm feeling ambitious, or have a hot date that requires painted nails, I can then paint over the broken one with no problem. I will admit I don't paint my nails too often though - especially recently - so it's important that they look at least ok without any polish.

After working on my nails, I always apply some type of hand lotion. I have found that the Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream really helps my dry skin and cuticle problems. In addition to after manicures, I also apply it each night before bed, and again in the morning before going to work. The bottle says you only need a little bit, because it is so concentrated. But I find myself going back for more and more to rub into each cuticle. Once I do so, my cuticles stay soft and moisturized for longer, so I am not tempted to mess with them!

I used to use a special cuticle cream on them, and have also tried plain old Vaseline. But the Norwegian Formula keeps every part of my hands moisturized, and isn't greasy like Vaseline.

Here's what my hands look like now, after a few weeks of using Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream:

  

Hopefully you can tell that the skin around my cuticles looks much better, and the dry knuckles are almost gone! I really like the Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream, and will continue to use it. Now I just need to stop picking at my nails!

My Christmas Cookie Tray

Ok, it's after Christmas, so this is kind of silly to write about now. But at least for my own record, I want to make a list of what Christmas cookies I baked this year, with links to recipes. I have to say I think I did a pretty good job on these, and I'd like to make them again next year. So, instead of thinking "hmm, those macaroons I made last year turned out perfect! Now, what recipe did I use again...?" - here's my list!

1. Sesame Wafers: This recipe was in my December Food Network magazine. I didn't have enough regular sesame seeds, so I used black ones. They were not the prettiest cookie, but very tasty. If you like sesame seeds, make them! If not, don't.
2. Dutch Spice Cookies: Also in the December Food Network magazine. I don't like molasses, so actual gingerbread is not that great to me. But these! All the goodness of gingerbread minus molasses! Mine were not soft at all - very crunchy, but this made them excellent with a cup of coffee.
3. Glazed Citrus Rounds: The last from the magazine that I made. These were one of the most popular on my cookie tray. Very tasty!
4. Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons: I have always had trouble making coconut macaroons correctly. This recipe is the first that has been a major success for me. Use good chocolate; I melted down a chocolate Santa that someone gave us, and it was great. I wish I knew what kind of chocolate it was!
5. Chocolate Cherry Cordials: Chocolate + cherries = delicious!! I saw these in Parade magazine, and had to make them. I totally forgot to roll them in sugar before baking them, but they were still fantastic.
6. Chocolate Mints: I make these every year - my Mom's recipe!
7. Toffee-Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies: The name says it all.
8. Jam Thumbprints: I used pineapple and cranberry-raspberry jams, because that's what I had on hand.
9. Nestlé® Toll House® Dark Chocolate & Mint Morsel Cookies
10. Hot Chocolate on a Stick: Not a cookie, but worth mentioning, since it was as much work as cookies, if not more! I gave almost all of these away as gifts, and have just two sticks left, awaiting a cold day for me to try them myself.

Dark Chocolate & Mint Morsel Cookies

Clockwise from top left: Chocolate Mints, Pretzel-Toffee Peanut Butter Cookies, Buckeyes (from a friend), Jam Thumbprints

Draftmark Tap System

I received a new Draftmark Tap System to try out through BzzAgent. When my BzzKit arrived, I was excited to try this new system, which allows you to serve draught beer right from your refrigerator. My husband, a bigger beer enthusiast than me, was excited too. We took the system out of the box and starting charging the battery. After we purchased our first refill, it was very easy to set up the system and get it going in the fridge.

The system takes its own refills, and right now there are only a few beers available: Shock Top Belgian White, Shock Top Wheat IPA, Michelob Amber Bock, Bass Pale Ale, and Goose Island Honkers Ale. We tried the Belgian White and Goose Island. I hope more beers become available soon.

We served the most beer from our Draftmark tap during our New Year's Eve party with eight friends. All who tried it thought it was good, and asked a lot of questions about the system. It was really great having the beer cold and ready to go in the fridge as soon as guests arrived.

At first I had trouble finding the beer refills. The system and refills are now available at many places in the Chicago area, including Binny's and Jewel. Unfortunately, Draftmark's own website does not have an updated list of where you can buy the tap system and refills (side note: I must say the website's splash page, where you have to choose your birthday from a timeline, is rather cool). Most of the refills are about $15 - a little more for Goose Island.

Is the system a good deal? Well, refills are one gallon. I didn't keep track of how many glasses we got from each gallon, but I can do some math: there are 128 ounces in a gallon, which is about the same as 11 12-ounce bottles of beer. For the $15 refills, that's about $1.36 per 12 ounces. A 6-pack of Shock Top Belgian White, one of the refills I tried, is about $8.50, so about $1.42 per 12 ounces. So, without accounting for the cost of the system itself, the beer IS slightly cheaper to buy this way.

Plus, my husband and I have been drinking the beer in small glasses, so it has been a lot more than 11 servings for us. And that's part of what makes the system great: you can have as much or as little as you want.

But the best part about the whole system is that the beer's NOT in a bottle: it's ON TAP!! The taste and texture are very similar to getting a glass from the tap at your local bar. Except it comes right from your own fridge! The refills say the beer stays fresh for 30 days. The one I've got in the fridge now has been in there for about 35, and it still tastes ok. The beer has been quite frothy - sometimes too much - no matter how I've poured it. But it goes down smoothly and tastes great!

The system does make some noise - enough to be a little annoying. There's a sound like a growling generator that it makes every once in awhile. But only while the beer is being poured. I'm sure it's necessary to make the system work, but it was enough to scare my four-month-old, so I'd prefer it was a little quieter. Otherwise, no complaints about this new tap beer system. We'll definitely keep using it, and will recommend it to friends!

Chocolate Mints

These are the best Christmas cookies in the entire world. If you like mint and chocolate (and who doesn't?), I think you'll agree with me. My mom has been making these since I was a little girl, so I don't know where the recipe originally came from. I make them every year, and people are always surprised at how good they are. Of course, you don't have to make them just at Christmas - but that is usually when it's easiest to find a box of Andes mints.

Here is my mom's recipe, with a few of my own modifications. It makes 80-90 cookies, depending on how large you make them - so half it if you don't want that many! Also, note that the dough has to chill, so be sure to allow time for that.

Chocolate Mints

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips or pieces
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Andes mints, about 1 pound, unwrapped

In a large saucepan, over low heat, cook butter, sugar, and water until butter is melted. Add chocolate pieces and stir until partially melted, remove from heat, stir until melted, and pour into large mixing bowl. Let stand 10 minutes to cool slightly.

With mixer at high speed, beat in eggs, one at a time. reduce speed to low and add combined dry ingredients, beating just until blended.

Chill dough at least 1 hour for easier handling. Chilling overnight is even better.

Preheat oven to 350˚. Line cookie sheets with foil. Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls; place on cookie sheets about two inches apart. Bake at 350˚ for 11-13 minutes - not longer as cookies crisp as they cool.

Remove from oven and IMMEDIATELY place one mint on each hot cookie. Allow mint to soften, then swirl the mint over the cookie (I use the back of a spoon to do this). Remove from cookie sheets and cool completely.

You can decorate with chocolate sprinkles, but I like them without. I sometimes make the cookies a bit smaller, then use just half a mint on each. These cookies also freeze well, so you can enjoy for a few months like I do.

Pantene Pro-V Silky Moisture Whip - Quick Review

I received a sample of the Pantene Pro-V Silky Moisture Whip from VocalPoint.  I was prepared not to like it at first, because the texture was different than any other product I've tried on my hair before.  Plus it's a "Moisturizer + Styler" and I wasn't sure what I would want that for: do I use it like a mousse? Before or after styling? Will it make my hair greasy? Will it make any difference?

But I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really like the Moisture Whip.  I put it on my hair while still damp (as I would a styling mousse), then styled as usual with a hair dryer and round styling brush.  After using the new Pantene Pro-V Silky Moisture Whip, my hair is extra shiny and smooth.  It also holds its shape better than usual - which is very hard for my stubbornly straight hair!  I thought the texture would be more like styling mousse, but it's a little different - more like whipped cream!  It goes on my hair smoothly, and smells nice.

I do wish that I could get less to come out of the can - I try pressing the button down for a nano-second, and a ton comes out, way more than I need for my medium-length hair.  It also makes my hair seem a little more greasy than usual by the end of the day, but not too bad.

After this sample is gone, I will purchase the Pantene Pro-V Silky Moisture Whip in place of the styling mousse I had been using.  I love Pantene products!

Burt's Bees Intense Hydration

I have been using the new Intense Hydration line from Burt's Bees for a few weeks now.  I received samples of this new line as a BzzAgent.  The best thing about this line is the smell.  Clary sage is the main scent, and it is wonderful and calming.  The clary sage scent is present in all three of the products I tried: the cleanser, night cream, and treatment mask.

I have eczema, and it most often shows up on my upper lip. After a few weeks of using Burt's Bees Intense Hydration cleanser, mask, and night cream, the eczema is really a lot better.  I forgot to take a picture "before," but picture my upper lip area as being red, itchy, and a little flaky.  This is what it looks like now, after using these Burt's Bees products:

Hardly any redness/itchiness/flakiness.  Yay!

The cleanser is not sudsy - which is great for preventing dryness - but I sometimes miss the suds.  It makes me feel like it's working.  I have read that soap makers actually add the sudsing properties to products like this, just to make us think they're working.  So I guess suds are better off not there.  My only critique is that the cleanser didn't always remove the makeup I was wearing.  I had to use a different face wash to make sure all my makeup was gone.  I have been using the Intense Hydration cleanser at night, followed by the night cream, then a different face wash in the morning.  That works well for me.

The Intense Hydration night cream also worked well for me.  I don't usually wear night cream, but - as I'm getting into my mid-30's now - I might as well start!  The cream is thick and, as I mentioned, smells great.  It feels like the cream stays on and provides moisture all night long, but without feeling caky or weird in the morning.

I have only used the treatment mask a few times, because I keep forgetting about it.  But those few times, it has been nice.  The mask, which you slather on your face and leave on for 10-15 minutes before tissuing off, has a similar viscosity to the night cream: thick and creamy, providing lots of moisture.  It really felt like it soaked into my skin, keeping everything from getting too dry.  But it had a cooling, refreshing feeling at the same time, which was nice.  And of course, it smells great.

In these cold winter months, I'll definitely be using my Burt's Bees Intense Hydration products to keep my skin moisturized.  Try them out yourself soon!

Dr. Pepper Crock Pot Ham

We spent this Thanksgiving with my husband's family, so my mom came to visit the weekend before to get her grandbaby time in.  I wanted to make a Thanksgiving-like meal.  Something significant and tasty, but not turkey and stuffing.

I love ham.  I love Dr. Pepper.  I love smelling lovely things cooking all day in the slow cooker.  When I went to the store, ham and Dr. Pepper were both on sale!  I did a search for Dr. Pepper ham and it turns out lots of people have tried this combination.  What I did is below.  It turned out a fantastic, juicy treat - one of the best hams I've made!

For sides, I combed through my November Food Network Magazine.  I chose Celery Root, Potato, and Pear Gratin; Pumpkin-Parmesan Biscuits; and Roasted Green Beans With Pancetta and Yogurt.  If you haven't tried celery root, you should - it's lovely.  The gratin was tasty, but a little time-consuming to make.  Next time, I think I'll just roast the celery root.  The biscuits were amazing, and I will definitely make them again.  I can never find pancetta, so I used turkey bacon in the green beans.  The yogurt sauce was nice.

Dr. Pepper Crock Pot Ham

1 shank ham, whatever size fits in your slow cooker (mine was about 7 pounds)
1/2 - 1 cup brown sugar
1 8 oz. can pineapple, chunks or tidbits
1 - 2 cans of Dr. Pepper or other dark cola

Trim some of the fat off the ham and cut into pieces so that it will fit in your slow cooker, if needed.  Put the ham, flat side down, in the slow cooker.  Rub brown sugar all over the ham.  Pour the can of pineapple, juice included, over the top.  Pour the Dr. Pepper over the top and around the sides.  I like to have the crock pot at least half-full of liquid, or else things tend to burn, so I used about 1 and a half cans.  Cover the slow cooker (with the lid if it'll fit, with a couple layers of foil if not), and cook on high 4-5 hours or on low 6-8 hours.

I forgot to take a picture, so it'll have to wait until I make this ham again.

Glade Expressions Collection

Have you noticed that the air freshener aisle at Target has become kind of overwhelming lately?  There are SO many choices for keeping your house fresh and clean, from plug-ins to sprays to candles to diffusers.  There are so many affordable choices of great-smelling products now, no one needs to keep a stale bowl of potpourri on their coffee table for a couple years (like my mom did).  And the leader of the pack, with the most choices and best scents, is Glade.

I recently tried two new Glade Expressions products: the fragrance mist and the oil diffuser.  I received coupons for samples through BzzAgent.  In fact, the store where I purchased the items was also giving away a free refill for each of these items with the purchase of the starter kits.  Yay!

Glade Expressions Fragrance Mist

I purchased the pineapple & mangosteen variety of the fragrance mist.  Now, I have no idea what "mangosteen" is, but apparently it smells good when combined with pineapple.  The scent is very fruity and the best thing is that it seems to immediately cover up whatever I was smelling before.  I have been keeping the mist in the bathroom, and as you can imagine, some scents need to be covered up in there!  The scent also carries quite far.  When I spray it in the small bathroom, I notice a faint pineapple fragrance throughout the entire floor.

I like that the mist has an easy to remove label which, when removed, makes the bottle a simple white shape.  It's still obvious that it's an air freshener, but it's slightly nicer to look at than other varieties if it's sitting out on the sink like in the picture below.  And I definitely like the idea that I only have to purchase a refill to keep using this mist.  I can even try out a different scent next time, while spending less money.

One thing I don't like, however, is the actual act of spraying this thing.  A quick glance when you pick up the bottle doesn't make it apparent which side the spray is going to come out of - so you might accidentally spray your furniture or yourself.  It's also a little difficult to squeeze the bottle to make the mist come out.  I have some carpal tunnel in my arms, so I have to use both hands to squeeze - not a big deal, but not quite so convenient either.

Glade Expressions Oil Diffuser

For the oil diffuser, I tried out the fuji apple & cardamom spice flavor.  I love fall scents, especially apple-cinnamon, and this one is no disappointment!  I placed the oil diffuser in our nursery, right next to the diaper pail.  Within seconds of opening the oil container and setting up the diffuser, the ENTIRE second floor of my house was filled with a warm, apple-y scent that I loved!  It not only covers up the diaper-pail scent, it also makes all the rooms nearby smell great too.

The scent has not stayed quite as intense as when I first opened the package, but it is still going strong after a couple of weeks.  Every time I come up the stairs, I start to smell the apple & cardamom and it makes me feel warm & happy.

Like the fragrance mist, the oil diffuser looks great with our decor.  I got the white one, and since everything else in the nursery is white, it blends right in.  I also really like that I don't have to use up an outlet or find batteries or push a button to diffuse the scent.  It provides continuous apple-scent just by sitting there.  With a little person soon to be crawling around that room, I can't put fragrance diffusers in the outlets.  Here's a picture of how nice it looks:

Both of these new items from Glade do a great job of covering up bad smells and creating nice ones instead.  And both blend in with your decor more than other air fresheners out there.  Give them a try today!

Best Excuse in the World

Here's why I haven't been keeping up with my blog for awhile:

Yep, my baby girl was born on September 1.  I have, of course, been focused on nothing but her since then.  But now I am ready to start posting again - and not only that, I am going to have a lighter work schedule to allow me to focus on blogging and writing from now on.