My New Grilling Accessories Set Arrived!

Remember I told you I was having a giveaway for a NSF Approved Grilling Accessories Set?  Well, I received one in the mail today for myself!  I was thrilled!  If you would like to enter the giveaway for the same set, all you have to do is click here and then leave a simple comment on my blog.  That’s it!  You have a good chance of winning because there are not many entries.

The tongs are really nice, from Crate & Barrel, and they lock when you want them to stay closed.  The Rubbermaid Premier container is BPA Free, stain resistant, and is from the AVEC Easy Find Lids grouping.  The meat thermometer is a nice one, nicer than the one we have.  And the Chef’s Apron looks like something from Food Network.  It’s so easy to enter the giveaway for a set for yourself!

 

Menu Plan Monday 6/13/11

It is so nice to have our son home from college!   We’ve been enjoying having him here with us for meals, and I’ve been getting some blogging advice from him, too.  He stays busy working, but we manage to squeeze in some fun activities.  His girlfriend made a one-day trip and drove over to see him yesterday.  We enjoyed all eating lunch together here at the house.  Later in the afternoon, we went to J.C. Penney’s for their super sale plus we all had $10 coupons.  We saved a ton of money!

By the way, here are some great tips for keeping a clean kitchen plus safe grilling tips.  I also have a giveaway for a 4-piece grilling set going on this week.  Check it out!

Monday:  Leftover Rotisserie Chicken from Central Market (Chefs Prepared Citrus Peppercorn)  which are still on sale for $4.99, regularly $7.99;  also leftover organic red potatoes with French-style green beans and salad

Tuesday:   Green Chili Chicken Enchilada Casserole that we never did have last week, fresh fruit for dessert

Wednesday:  Italian Chicken Pasta, salad

Thursday:  Salmon Patties, corn, broccoli

Friday:  Homemade pizza using Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough, pre-cooked bacon (our son’s request), onions, red bell peppers, green olives, pizza sauce, and Italian Style 6 Cheeses (Great Value brand)

The Story Behind the Song: I Can Only Imagine

Bart Millard was born in Greenville, Texas, and many years later became the lead singer in the group Mercy Me. What prompted him to write this beautiful song, “I Can Only Imagine,” that is loved by so many people all around the world?  Here is a little background.
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Bart’s father had been an SMU All-American football player, and his brother was a football player. Bart had a dream of playing football, too, until he suffered an injury in a high school football game, braking both ankles which forced him to take choir as an elective to replace football.  He had a great choir teacher who encouraged him to sing solos, and a music minister encouraged him as well. This is when he discovered his singing voice.
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During Bart’s first year of college, his father passed away from cancer. After the death of his father, Bart wrote the lyrics to “I Can Only Imagine” in about ten minutes, although it wasn’t until several years later that the song was released in 2001 and became a hit. The rest is history!
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Mercy Me also performed I Can Only Imagine with the London Symphony which is a beautiful version of the song as well.
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*This is a cute side note:   The group got its name indirectly from Bart’s grandmother. When he was a working as an intern with youth ministry, his grandmother would call to check on him often and would say, “Well, mercy me, why don’t you get a real job?”

Friendly Friday 6/10/11

 

 

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Welcome to Friendly Friday!

Remember, YOU can host the link list on your blog, too! Just get the InLinkz code and copy it directly into your post. The code is different every week, so be sure to get the new code when hosting Friendly Friday on your blog. Hosting the list is a great way to get even more traffic to your blog and make Friendly Friday more beneficial for everyone.Thanks for joining the Friendly Friday celebration hosted by Christi at Frugal Novice, Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier and Charla at Healthy Home Blog! We invite you to join us every Friday to make more friends in blogville, get more blog followers and follow other great blogs out there.

To join in the Friendly Friday celebration, include your family-friendly link in our list, follow the hostesses in the first 3 spots and then start blog hopping! Visit other blogs on the list and comment to give them some blog love. Then take a minute to follow them through Google Friend Connect – this is a good way to keep up with other blogs, but also lets us show support to each other! Please DO NOT list your giveaways here, links must be to either your homepage or your Friday posting with your blog title. All others will be deleted.

When people comment on your blog and let you know they’re a part of Friendly Friday, return the favor and follow them back. This way everyone gets traffic and followers out of participating, and it’s a win-win situation. We would love for you to also grab our Friendly Friday button and post it on your blog and/or in a post – the more bloggers that find out about Friendly Friday and participate, the better!
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Spotlight on Friendly Friday Followers! We love your participation and want to show it! In addition to gaining followers, each week we’ll select three blogs at random and will feature links and a write-up for those blogs in the content of next week’s Friendly Friday post. There are so many seriously wonderful blogs out there, and this will be a great way to highlight some of those each week. Say hello to the lucky chosen 3 for this week (and feel free to stop by and give them a little extra love):.

Do you feel like your life encompasses aspects of just about everything? Cher at Mom and More does… and she’s right! The SAHM of two adorable little boys, this family will soon be welcoming a baby girl into the mix next month. Blogging since 2008, you’ll find great reviews, giveaways, recipes, money-saving tips and coupons, and more from this Chicago mommy that does it all!
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With the great motto that, “Your experiences make you the person that you are so you should not regret one single event in your life,” Tough Cookie Mommy lives her life with her husband and two boys in NYC. Her blog features her stories, reflections, triumphs, tragedies, comedies, obstacles, epiphanies, thoughts, feelings, and experiences about motherhood, her career, reviews, giveaways, and more that you won’t want to miss.
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Have you ever wanted to find your fitness passion but didn’t know where to start? April at My Fitness World is the perfect person to help! Having helped countless people lose weight through the fitness classes that she instructs, you are now able to have her as your own free personal trainer through her tips, reviews, giveaways, recipes, events, and so much more to help get you on your way to being happy and healthy today!
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Now that you know about these 3 wonderful blogs, it’s time for you to join in! Add your family-friendly link below and we’ll see you back here every Friday! And don’t forget, you can get the InLinkz code to share the link list on your blog, too.


GIVEAWAY: 4-Piece Safe Grilling Accessories Set

Giveaway is now over.  Winner:  Elisabeth

 

 

* Giveaway ended Saturday, June 18, 2011

NSF is a nonprofit organization that is committed to protecting public health and safety by developing standards and certifying products against those standards.   Their cooking and grilling tips are great for the novice and the grilling expert. With summer grilling going on and the Fourth of July just around the corner, a lot of people are grilling!  Check out this news article from CBS about NSF.  Then check out the tips below and also the GIVEAWAY for a 4-piece Safe Grilling Accessories Set!

 

COOKING & GRILLING TIPS TO REMEMBER

 

1.     Start with a Clean Kitchen: According to a swab analysis by NSF International, the kitchen sponge and kitchen sink were the germiest places in the home – items that are typically used in multiple stages of the cooking and cleaning process. Avoid cross-contamination by ensuring these items are clean by:

a.     Placing wet sponges in the microwave for two minutes once per day and replacing them often – every two weeks or more as needed. A better option for kitchen cleaning are dishcloths, towels and rags. These items can be sanitized by washing on the clothes washer’s hot water cycle with bleach. Replace every 1-2 days.

b.    Washing and disinfecting the sides and bottom of the sink 1-2 times per week with a disinfecting cleaner. Sanitize kitchen drains and disposals monthly by pouring a solution of one teaspoon household bleach in one quart of water down the drain. Wash kitchen sink strainers in the dishwasher weekly.

 

2.     Defrost Foods Safely. Don’t attempt to defrost foods quickly by leaving them sit overnight on a kitchen counter. Use one of the following methods:

a.     Option I – Place a covered food in a shallow pan on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator.

b.    Option II – Defrost the food item in the microwave, but keep in mind that you must finish cooking the food immediately thereafter, as some areas of the food may become warm and begin to cook during the microwave defrosting process.

c.   Option III – If there is not enough time to thaw frozen foods, it is safe to cook foods from the frozen state. However, the cooking will take approximately 50% longer than the recommended time for fully thawed or fresh meat and poultry.

 

3.     Practice Proper Marinating. If marinating food, marinate in a refrigerator overnight and dispose of any leftover marinade that has been in contact with raw meat. While acids in marinades can help tenderize meat, too much vinegar or hot sauce can cause meat to be more stringy and tough.

 

4.     Keep Hot Foods Hot and Cold Foods Cold Hot foods need to be kept at temperatures above 140 F and cold foods less than 40 F. Between these two temperatures, bacteria can multiply very rapidly and reach dangerous levels in as little as two hours.

 

5.     Don’t cook with your eyes; Cook with a thermometer. In order to ensure food has reached a safe internal temperature, always use a certified food thermometer. Any leftovers should be put away within two hours (one hour if the temperature is over 90° F).

 

6.     Avoid Cross Contamination. Since bacteria can easily spread from one food to the next via dripping juices, hands, or utensils, think ahead to avoid cross contamination.  Don’t use the same utensils and plates for raw and cooked foods, and always remember to wash your hands before preparing and consuming food.

 

With these great safety tips in mind, here’s a giveaway for safe grilling accessories.

 

Win it:

One lucky reader will win the 4-Piece Safe Grilling Accessories package as pictured below.  This contest is open to all U.S. residents. Entries will be accepted until midnight CST Saturday, June 18, 2011.  Winner will be chosen by Random.org.

 

  • Grilling Tongs (Locking) from Crate & Barrel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • NSF Meat Thermometer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • NSF Certified Rubbermaid (BPA Free, Resists Stains)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • NSF Apron

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mandatory Entry:

Subscribe to Healthy Home Blog by email or RSS Feed.  See “Follow Me!” box at the top of this page.  Leave a separate comment letting me know you’ve done this or if you already subscribe.

 

Bonus Entries:

Be sure and leave a separate comment for each entry.  And if you’ve previously subscribed or followed Healthy Home Blog, let me know that in a comment, too.

  • “Like” Healthy Home Blog on Facebook.(1 extra entry)
  • Follow me on Twitter (1 extra entry)
  • Click the Facebook “Share” button below this post to share it on your FB wall (1 extra entry)
  • Follow me through Google Friend Connect on my sidebar. (1 extra entry)

Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry.

* I was supplied with the Safe Grilling Set for this giveaway. I was not compensated monetarily for this article.

Wordy Wednesday: Covered Glass Candy Dishes

My mother-in-law collected dishes from thrift stores and antique stores.  She really enjoyed looking at dishes and I guess going with her to look at dishes inspired me to collect some of my own.  I collected a few covered candy dishes years ago, and I really like them for candy, nuts, or anything that is small, looks good in a glass dish, and needs to be covered. In this picture, one has pecans in it, another has pistachio nuts, and I don’t remember what the third dish has in it, maybe walnuts.

Nintendo’s E3 2011 Press Conference

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I had fun watching Nintendo’s E3 2011 press conference with our son who’s home from college.   We saw the unveiling of the Wii U with a touch screen controller to use with or without a TV.  Looks awesome!

We sat in our son’s room and watched it live online on his monitor, which is big compared to mine.  While watching, we munched on nachos and Coke (he actually had Strawberry Watermelon Kool-Aid).    It doesn’t take much to have a good time!

Menu Plan Monday 6/6/11

Yay!!! School is out for the summer! I still have workshops to go to, teacher’s manuals to study, online studies to do, plus start making thematic lesson plans for the next school year, but…I can sleep late if and when I want to (except on workshop days and on Tuesdays when we volunteer at the food pantry). I am so exhausted that I don’t want to cook anything much for a couple of days.

Monday:  Eat at Pei Wei (we have a coupon for a free entree – their newest entree, Caramel Chicken) to celebrate the end of school and our son having a 4.0 grade point average. Way to go, son!!!! Our whole family really likes Pei Wei, by the way.

TuesdayRotisserie Chicken Tacos with black beans  (FYI, Central Market has their Rotisserie Chickens on sale for $4.99 this week, regularly $7.99.  They are delicious and better than the ones you get in the other grocery stores!)

Wednesday:  Salmon Patties, corn, broccoli

ThursdayGreen Chili Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Friday:  Homemade pizza using frozen roll dough for the pizza crust.  I’ll let the rolls defrost in the fridge for several hours first.  Has anyone ever tried this before?  I see recipes using frozen bread dough but not for rolls.  I want to use up these rolls, so I’ll experiment and see how this works.

Friendly Friday 6/3/11

 

 

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Welcome to Friendly Friday!

Remember, YOU can host the link list on your blog, too! Just get the InLinkz code and copy it directly into your post. The code is different every week, so be sure to get the new code when hosting Friendly Friday on your blog. Hosting the list is a great way to get even more traffic to your blog and make Friendly Friday more beneficial for everyone.

Thanks for joining the Friendly Friday celebration hosted by Christi at Frugal Novice, Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier and Charla at Healthy Home Blog! We invite you to join us every Friday to make more friends in blogville, get more blog followers and follow other great blogs out there.

To join in the Friendly Friday celebration, include your family-friendly link in our list, follow the hostesses in the first 3 spots and then start blog hopping! Visit other blogs on the list and comment to give them some blog love. Then take a minute to follow them through Google Friend Connect – this is a good way to keep up with other blogs, but also lets us show support to each other! Please DO NOT list your giveaways here, links must be to either your homepage or your Friday posting with your blog title. All others will be deleted.

When people comment on your blog and let you know they’re a part of Friendly Friday, return the favor and follow them back. This way everyone gets traffic and followers out of participating, and it’s a win-win situation. We would love for you to also grab our Friendly Friday button and post it on your blog and/or in a post – the more bloggers that find out about Friendly Friday and participate, the better!

 

Spotlight on Friendly Friday Followers! We love your participation and want to show it! In addition to gaining followers, each week we’ll select three blogs at random and will feature links and a write-up for those blogs in the content of next week’s Friendly Friday post. There are so many seriously wonderful blogs out there, and this will be a great way to highlight some of those each week. Say hello to the lucky chosen 3 for this week (and feel free to stop by and give them a little extra love):
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Hey, It’s Jade is written by a Texas gal who is a Christian wife and mother of two young boys, “trying to figure it out.”  She homeschools their children and has weekly recaps of what they’ve done.  Jade shares a  lot of homeschooling experiences as well as reviews and what she does to try to be as frugal as possible. She has taken the “Homemaker’s Challenge of 31 Days to Clean,” and it’s interesting to read how she’s doing.
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If you’re looking for some great crafts to do this summer to decorate your home or maybe to give as gifts, Confessions of a Paper-Crafts Chick has some great ideas with detailed instructions and pictures to guide you in making your craft. Cards, journals, and candles are just a few of the things she makes. And she enjoys using the Word of God to encourage and motivate others while having fun with the crafts. Her latest project is a framed 3-D poem which looks really cool!

Marni at Your Sassy Sites! is a wife and mother, a crafter and vinyl maker, and loves anything big and blingy, crafty and sassy. She and her husband have two boys plus a “sweet angel baby girl” who is missed every day, and she and her husband have been married 11 years. Marni admits to being a little obsessed with organizing and so she decided to help organize the blog world by choosing a topic for each day and showing off the cutest stuff out there she can find.

Now that you know about these 3 wonderful blogs, it’s time for you to join in! Add your family-friendly link below and we’ll see you back here every Friday! And don’t forget, you can get the InLinkz code to share the link list on your blog, too.



Graduation Party Decoration “Dream”

This dreamy backdrop is easy to recreate.  Just use black plastic tablecloths on the walls and paint starts on them.  Place a silver two-inch candle in a fish bowl and add clear glass pebbles (found at Dollar Tree or Walmart) in the bottom of the bowl.  Cover the table with a black tablecloth, add a white paper placemat (placemats found at party stores).  Letters for the word “dream” can be found at hobby shops and then painted black.

Graduation Cupcakes

Graduation Party Cake

Large Gumballs in School Colors