Squatty Potty Giveaway

 

    We had the opportunity to receive a Squatty Potty to review.  I jumped at the opportunity.  My youngest son suffers from frequent constipation and my oldest son suffers from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  I was willing to try anything to offer them some relief.  When I received the Squatty Potty, my teenage son kind of laughed.  I told him to just try it and see if it helped at all.  It has been over a week now, and he admits to using it EVERY TIME.  He is in the bathroom a lot less length of time and my youngest son says it makes it "not hurt" now.  Even my husband uses it and to paraphrase what he said after he used it the first time "that was the best "poop" I ever had".  ;-)  Men!  But you get the idea, the product works.  I wish I would have gotten one years ago.
    The premise behind the product is that it helps line your body up in a way to facilitate the bowels to move.
     Now, the company has also been gracious enough to allow us to give a Squatty Potty Ecco away to one of my followers.  Isn't that great?  Sign up below and good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway




I received the product for free to review but the opinions expressed are my own. 

Homemade Potato Chips (Easy & Delicious)

    Homemade potato chips are awesome.  They taste soooo much better than store bought and are made without all the preservatives. 

Homemade Potato Chips

russet potatoes

salt

oil

     Wash your potatoes.  We are a family of four (three of which or male).  We used 3 large potatoes.  Peel the potatoes and place the potatoes in cold water.

Peeling a potato

 Take your mandolin and slice the potatoes real thin.  Put the slices into the cold water as you slice them.

 

Slice them really thin.  As you can see, you can almost see through these.

   Heat oil in a deep skillet.  I put about 1/4" or a bit more of oil.  Let it get hot.  You need just enough oil to cover a thin layer of potatoes.  As the oil is heating, remove a small handful of potato slices and lay them on a clean hand towel.  

 

Dried off and ready to be fried.

       Blot off excess water and when the water is hot enough, gently drop a few in the oil at a time.  Do not put too many in.  Give them potatoes room to cook.  Turn the potatoes over after about a minute and a half. 

     Once both sides are nicely cooked, drain on a clean hand towel (we don't use paper towels at our home).  Transfer to a plate and gently salt them. 

 

  Once cool they are ready to eat.  If they are not cooled all the way down, they taste good but do not crunch.  As they finish cooking, we place them inside the freezer so we can rapidly cool them off and enjoy them sooner.  :-) 

      These go great on hamburgers made with my homemade hamburger buns!

 

 Follow us on Pinterest

Follow us on Twitter

Follow our Youtube Channel

Follow us on Instagram

 

Day & the Park & Geocaching

    Today, the boys and I decided to go into town when Ron went to do some errands.  He dropped us off at the park and went to do what he had to do.  We had a great time!

Ronny:  A caged animal?  (lol)

He doesn't know he's too big to ride it.  :-)

My 16 year old son, Bubba, hanging out.

We finally talked Bub into swinging.

I even climbed to the top of the ship/fort for a picture with Ronny.

As you can see, we had a good time!

Ronny climbing up the small rock wall.

Ronny popping his head out of the port hole to scare me.  

Ronny swinging.  Right after I took this he slid off the swing and slid his bottom along the ground.  Ouch!

     I know some of the pics are blurry but it was super bright out and I could not really see how they were coming out until after we got home.  It was also VERY windy so excuse our crazy hair. ;-)

      Once Ron picked us back up, we decided to do a bit of geocaching in our area.  We went to two different locations and found them both.

The boys looking for the cache.

The boys just HAD to sit on the 8" Howitzer that is on display there.

Bub reaching for the cache at KTC, Talihina campus.

He got it.

Ron posing with the KTC cache.

   All-in-all, it was a fun day!

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on Pinterest

Follow me on g+

Follow my Youtube channel

Follow me on linkedin

Au Gratin Potatoes

    I love my au gratin potato recipe mainly because it gives me a chance to use some of my dehydrated potatoes.  :-) 

Au Gratin Potatoes

 1 quart jar of dehydrated potatoes (or enough potatoes to cover bottom of your pan)

4 c. milk

2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. butter

1 T. dehydrated onion

1 T. parsley

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper 

                                                                                                                                                                                      Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Soak your dehydrated potatoes in boiling water for 10 minutes.

The dehydrated potatoes soaking in hot water. 

 Drain and then place them into a 9" x 13" cake pan.  Sprinkle the onion on top.

Cover the bottom of the pan with your potatoes and sprinkle on the onions. 

    In a sauce pan, melt the margarine.  Once melted, whisk in the flour, salt, pepper, and parsley flakes.  Slowly stir in the milk.  Bring to a boil and let it boil for 2 minutes.   Stir in the cheese.

Use as much or as little amount of cheese as you desire.

    Now, pour the sauce mixture over the potatoes.  Bake for 1 hour.  Remove and enjoy!

Follow us on Pinterest

Follow us on Twitter

Follow our Youtube Channel

Follow us on Instagram

How to Tie a Noose (Video)

      Here is the newest video by my husband.  In it, he shows you how to tie a noose.  It is a short, quick video (barely 2 minutes long) so it is quick and thorough.  He will be doing a video about once a week teaching you skills ranging from household repairs, computer maintenance, prepping, carpentry, farm life, etc.  Be sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel so you never miss a video.  Also, if there is a specific topic you would like him to cover, please leave a comment and we will add it to the list.

Follow us on Facebook
Follow me on Pinterest
Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on g+

Follow our Youtube channel
Follow me on Instagram 

I shared this post on the following blogs:
The Gathering Spot

Cornerstone Confessions
The Backyard Farming Connection
Wildcrafting Wednesday
The Homeacre Hop
Raising Mighty Arrows
Simple Life Sunday

Dehydrating Hash Brown Potatoes (How to dehydrate potatoes)

     If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time, then you know I am a dehydrating fool.  I LOVE to dehydrate and I use my dehydrator almost every single day.  Dehydrating just makes sense to me.  Dehydrated foods last a LONG time; dehydrating is easy and fun; dehydrated foods take up less space than even home canning. 

 

 

     I usually dehydrate my potatoes into the au gratin/scalloped potato style but we love having hash browns for breakfast and use them in casseroles so I decided to start dehydrating some shredded potatoes also.  Here is how I do it:

Dehydrating Hash Brown Potatoes

    Scrub your potatoes and then peel each one.  I have four dehydrator trays so I peeled 4 large potatoes.

I always peel potatoes with a paring knife.  I just don't like to use a potato peeler. 

   Now, shred your potatoes.  I used a cheese grater to shred mine but you can use whatever you have on hand.  Once shredded, drop the shredded potatoes into boiling water and let boil for 2 minutes.  Drain quickly and run cold water over the potatoes to cool them off and stop the cooking process.    Spread the potatoes out on your dehydrator trays.
   

Spread the shredded potatoes out evenly on your trays.

   Turn on your dehydrator and let them dry.  It takes about 8 hours to dehydrate them completely.  I just turn the dehydrator on before I go to bed and they are ready the next morning.  You really can't "over" dehydrate them so don't worry.    Now just put the dehydrated hash browns into a baggie or mason jar and store them on your shelf.  :-)

Ready to use.

 

 

  

     To use these, just place the dehydrated potatoes into a bowl of really hot water (just enough water to cover the potatoes) and leave for 5-10 minutes. Use as desired.    For example, put 1 cup of dehydrated potatoes into 3 cups of boiling water.  Remove from the stove and wait 5 minutes.  At this point, your potatoes should be ready to use.  Just cook them in a greased skillet like you normally would.  Or if you are cooking them in a casserole, just put them in with the rest of the ingredients. 

Follow us on Pinterest

Follow us on Twitter

Follow our Youtube Channel

Follow us on Instagram

I shared this post on the following blogs:
Mega Inspiration Monday
Simple Life Sunday blog hop
The Chicken Chick
Create with Joy
The Gathering Spot
Cornerstone Confessions
Love in the Kitchen
The Backyard Farming Connection
Simple Life Sunday

#DisneySide Home Celebration Hostess

  I am super excited!  I was chosen to be a hostess of a #Disney Side @Home Celebration.  I applied awhile back and received an email recently stating I had been chosen and yesterday, my shipment arrived.  It weighed 24 lbs.  Holy moly!  I could not wait to open it up and see what all was included.  The media people were kind of secretive about it all.  We knew there would be party favors and other things included but they wanted to surprise each hostess and believe me, my whole family was excited when the UPS man arrived.
     When we opened the box, this is what we saw:

  I love the color of the suitcase.  Since I live with three males (hubby and 2 sons), it was quite obvious who gets it.  Me!  :-)

Isn't it pretty?

   Then I unzipped the luggage and it was completely full of stuff.  Oh, wow!

   Here are some of the items that came in the luggage:

A table cloth for the party table.

These are nice heavy stock posters to hand out to guests.

Some really cute foil decorations to make it all festive.

Mini calendars to hand out to party guests.

2 packages of party plates.

Over 5 packages of this so we can take a lot of pictures to share with each guest.  They even sent enough for invitations.

Bracelets to give out as party favors.

Aren't these cups cute?!

Balloons!

Several boxes of craisins.  A yummy snack.  We'll put these in the goody bags too.

Nice metal Cookie cutters.

Face painting kit.

   They also sent us a Disney Bingo game, Disney trivia, recipes, and so much more.  I am so excited and am already planning the party.  I would love feedback from all of you.  Please send me your ideas to make my party great.  Recipes, crafts, songs, etc. would be appreciated.  :-)

   I received free products in order to host the Disney Side @Home Celebration.  The opinions expressed here are my own.

Follow my Pinterest board

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on g+

Follow us on linkedin

Follow our Youtube channel

Fanny Foozle Review & Giveaway

   Up until just recently, I had never heard of "Fanny Foozle" but after introducing my young son and grandchildren to Fanny, we are fans for life! Fanny Foozle is a pink animated character that is fun for the preschool aged child.  She has the sweetest little voice and her song is addicting and quite catchy.  You'll catch yourself bobbing your head along with it and the kids just get up and dance and twirl around as she sings.    Here is the link to the "Fanny Foozle Theme Song".  Fanny also has another song "Fantuckle Failure" that is just as lively and fun.

   Once your preschool aged children or grandchildren hear the song, I know they will want more.  We next went and downloaded the fun & FREE app of Fanny Foozle called "Fanny Foozle Story Chimes" for ipad or iphone.  Or if you want it for Kindle here it is:  Kindle version Fanny Foozle Story Chimes.  I encourage you to click on the app name and download it right now.

   We have only had the e-book app a few days but I guarantee you we have gone over it a dozen times or more.  The 3 kids are dancing around the house singing the song and having the story read to them over and over again.  You can have the story be animated with voices and my 4 year old grandson is already beginning to read along with Fanny.  And it is more than just a simple story book.  It really engages the children and they have fun while learning.  They especially like the tongue-twisters and the memory match game.     As a parent, I like that it provides a positive learning environment for my kids and does it in a way that engages them and lets them learn as they have fun.  

   There is also a Fanny Foozle Pop game that is for the ipad or iphone and it is a fun game that you "pop" the character balloons and see how high of a score you can get.  I made the mistake of introducing my kids to Fanny Foozle by just letting them hear the theme song.  They wanted more.  Save yourself time and kids frustration by downloading all the different Fanny Foozle things I have listed.  Your kids will love you for it. 

     

    A lot of characters you find exist only in a digital world but thankfully, Fanny Foozle is available also in paperback form.  I am all for digital but I love having a real book that I can sit and read with the children.  

  

   "Fanny Foozle:  The Four Leaf Fantuckle Festival" Volume 1 meets that need.  This book is colorful and is just the right length to keep the kids entertained without boring them.  Just like the apps, it is educational (teaches team work and manners).  It would make a wonderful addition to your home library and will be a child favorite too. 

   Again, I encourage you to download the apps, buy the book and fall in love with Fanny Foozle.  Keep an eye out on future Fanny Foozle projects by following on Facebook:  Fanny Foozle; following Fanny Foozle on Twitter and following the Fanny Foozle youtube account. 

    
    GIVEAWAY:  Leave a comment stating who you would like to win the paperback book for and you are entered.  Will draw a winner from people leaving comments on Monday the 27th.