Today only!

text OPRAHSHOW to 242424 and they will text you back a code to get 50% off everything at Payless Shoes. I just did this and Christmas is looking good!

SUGAR

Marc and I have sworn off sugar for the month of October (which has actually been a really great thing), but I think one of the first things I'll be tempted to make will be these delicious sugar cookies:

http://blonde-designs.squarespace.com/blonde-designs-blog/2009/9/8/beehive-and-bumblebee-cookies.html

Way cheap flights!

Southwest is having a major sale for the next 72 hours. Click here to get your deal too!

Just made this for dinner

and it is yummy!

Peanut Chicken Curry

Ingredients

1-1/4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken
breasts, cut into bite-size cubes
1 tbsp. peanut oil
3/4 cup lite coconut milk
1/4 cup Jif Creamy Peanut Butter
1 tbsp. ketchup
1 tsp. McCormick Hot Madras Curry Powder
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
Salt to taste
Cooked Rice Select Jasmati Rice
Suggested condiments: chopped cilantro,
shredded coconut, sliced green onion,
slivered radishes, chopped peanuts, cucumber
slices

Directions

Prep time: 10 minutes, Cook time: 15 minutes
Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and brown on all sides. In a separate bowl, whisk together coconut milk, peanut butter, ketchup, curry and red pepper; pour over chicken. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through to an internal temperature of 165°F. Season to taste with salt. Serve warm over cooked rice, accompanied by bowls of condiments, as desired.
Makes 4 servings.

Let's Play Favorites

Favorite ______________ in the area:


Restaurant: Gloria's Little Italy
Treat: Sugar or Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie from Smart Cookie
Thing to do: Gallery Stroll
Place to shop: Sweet Pea Boutique (ok, this one is in Tooele but worth the trip)
Muffin: Provo Bakery's bran muffin
Kid friendly place: Thanksgiving Point Farm Country

Little bow ties

Going to have to make some of these for my little man (won't it be perfect for Christmas time?). Find out how here.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Another yummy treat that is perfect for this time of year:

-Clean out a medium sized pumpkin
-Add chili (homemade or 2 cans worth) into cleaned out pumpkin
-Put lid back on the pumpkin
-Bake on cookie sheet at 350 for about 45min-1 hour

ENJOY! I think we're going to make this an October tradition.

Diaper Rash

Bag Balm is my #1 recommendation for a cure. You can buy it at lots of places (even Nordstroms), but I think the IFA stores have the best prices.

Pumpkin Cookies

Jackie reminded me of one of my favorite cookie recipes:

It is so simple and DELICIOUS!

1 box spice cake mix
1 large can of pumpkin
1/2 to a whole (depends how much of a fan you are) bag of dark chocolate chips

Mix the above 3 ingredients together, drop on cookie sheet, and bake at 375 for about 12-15 mins. THAT'S IT! And they are moist and delicious. Perfect for this time of year.

This sounds yummy

Chicken Bundles

These end up on the menu nearly every month. They are fun for the kids to make and they love how they taste.

8 oz cream cheese, softened (I usually use fat free to make it a little healthier)
2 cans chicken
1 tsp dried minced onion
salt and pepper to taste
2 cans crescent rolls (reduced fat work well too)

Combine cream cheese, chicken, onion, salt and pepper. Mix well. Open crescent roll cans and lay dough triangles out on the counter. Place a large scoop of the chicken mixture on each triangle. Fold edges of dough around the chicken mixture and pinch together so that there are no holes. Place bundles on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 13 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes 16 bundles.

Optional: to make this dinner a little fancier, use sliced green onions in place of the dried onion and add one can of mushrooms (diced) to the chicken mixture. Dip each bundle in melted butter and roll in Italian bread crumbs before placing on the cookie sheet. Serve with a chicken gravy made from one can cream of chicken soup mixed with a half can of water.

Another variation: instead of making "bundles", make "pillows"-- fuse two triangle dough pieces together to make a rectangle. Place a large scoop of the chicken mixture on each rectangle. Fold over and pinch edges. Makes 8 pillows.

From: http://wilkinsonquints.blogspot.com

A Family in Need

This is our friend's brother-in-law:

Naki Family Donation Fund

Naki Maile passed away unexpectedly on Friday, October 16, 2009, leaving behind his beloved wife Abby and daughters Line, Malia, Lose, Eli, Eva and Ane

Naki was a tremendous husband and father. Taken from her blog, Abby tells in her blog the type of person Naki was and what kind of life they lived together.

"Who knew back in 1995 when Naki and I met that we’d find ourselves living in Happy Valley, Utah, with our 6 crazy, loud, and beautiful girls. More often than not you’ll find Naki coming from or going to work, at church, playing with the girls, helping mom with the girls, or falling asleep sitting up."

Naki was very active in services activities, church duties, family life and sports. He played football for the BYU Cougars and developed many life-long friendships there. The site below was put together by some of those friends to help raise money for those precious 7 girls he's leaving behind.

DONATE BY GOING HERE
(no amount is too small)

Truly a Miracle

The Ped Egg works like nothing else I have ever tried for my dry feet. In literally ONE application, my feet were more beautiful than they have been in years (even compared to times I have had professional pedicures). This product gets my full endorsement! I found mine at Wal-Mart.

Old Navy

Old Navy is having their additional 1/2 off on Woman's clearance items right now. Children's and Men's should be coming soon!

Educational

Click here to access a bunch of free and easy to make educational activities, books and file folder games for kids of all ages.

Make your pictures into coloring pages for FREE!

Go Here and at the top of the page click the link "Go to Crayola.com". Go to Lights Camera Color and "enter code" link, then you'll need to login or register. Once you do so, type in code PR24QCHT .Now you can start uploading your photos. You can upload and save five photos at a time, but after printing, you can replace any of the saved files with a new uploaded image. Keep in mind, though, the code will only give you 24 hours of access!

Shoulder Bag

Click here for instructions on how to make these super easy bags that are a hit with just about everyone! They make great gifts too. You only need 1 and 1/2 yards of fabric total (3/4 for the lining and 3/4 for the outside).

Baby Leggings for $1

Christine pointed out this great website on how to make these super cute, super easy and super cheap baby leggings! I am totally making some for Lucy!


photo from: http://obsessivelystitching.blogspot.com

Clean Hands

Great tip that Christine found:

Hand sanitizer cleans marker smudges off kids' hands

Greg discovered that hand sanitizer cleans up more than germs:

My 2-year old son was coloring with markers and, as you can imagine, managed to get just as much marker on his hands as he did the paper. After he finished coloring, dinner was ready, so I decided to wait until after we ate to get his hands cleaned up. I thought I would just put some hand sanitizer on his hands and he would be fine to eat. I was pleasantly surprised when I finished rubbing the sanitizer on his hands to see that they were perfectly clean. The marker was gone. I then remembered how alcohol is good at removing pen marks from furniture, among other places one would not want ink (I once had to get ink off of my computer monitor with alcohol). Instead of using rubbing alcohol on a child's hands, hand sanitizer does the trick.

http://www.parenthacks.com/2009/10/hand-sanitizer-cleans-marker-smudges-off-kids-hands.html

Little white shirt

Just got one of these for David. You cannot find a good Sunday shirt in baby boy sizes and these are onsies so they'll stay tucked in. I LOVE it! Thanks for the tip, Becky (such a great sister-in-law).

charmedlifeclothing.com