Introducing My Best Friend!

I have to share something with you today. I want to introduce to a best friend of mine. We've been together for quite sometime now and I think a proper introduction is needed. Introducing... my Crock-Pot.

Yes, the my Crock-Pot is one of my closest friends when it comes to cooking in my kitchen. Now don't get me wrong. I LOVE to cook. I enjoy finding new recipes and experimenting, I mean offering/trying them out, on my family.

Let's face it. We all have busy, crazy days where we just want dinner to welcome us when we get home. We just want to walk in at dinner time and everything be ready to place on the table, eat, and clean up. That's it.

It doesn't always happen that way but when I use my good ol' buddy, it does. I can simply grab the ingredients I need, toss them in, and go! Dinners ready in a few hours and no worries on my part. Unless I forget to turn the pot on and then... well... it's not a pretty way to end the day.

So, grab your coffee, or tea, and go with me on the journey of why I love my Crock-Pot.

A dependable tool
With the exception of forgetting to plug it in or turn it on, this pot is the most dependable tool I have for cooking a delicious meal on time. It takes the hassle out of standing at the stove, waiting for things to happen. This can be doing the work for me when I'm doing other things around the house like working at my job, cleaning the kitchen itself, or homeschooling my kiddo.

A forgiving tool
Although I try my hardest, sometimes I mess up things and they don't always taste the greatest. The Crock-Pot itself is a very forgiving way to cook a meal. It is welcoming to all your ingredients and cooks them thoroughly for you so there's no hard feelings ;-)

A time saver
Goodness me, I can't tell you how much this has saved me over the years. I've had a variety of Crock-Pots in our married life together and each one has been a huge time saver for me. When I have an especially busy day it's there, cooking dinner for me, so I can offer a delicious healthy meal to my family at the end of the day.

A money saver
Yep! You read that right. It has saved us money in a variety of ways. I can throw dinner in the pot before leaving for the and it stops the, can we just get dinner out, mentality. There's no need to run for take-out when dinner is waiting at home. It helps us to eat healthier too as I know exactly what went into that pot. Sometimes the restaurant meals you're playing guess that ingredient. Not with the CP!

Always Ready When We Are
Another great benefit to these amazing pots is that when we need dinner to be ready, it is. Sometimes we never know what time dinner will be due to work schedules, extracurricular activities, etc. This way we know that dinner can be ready whenever we need it to be. I love the warming feature as well since it's able to just keep it warm if we have to eat at different times from each other.

No this is not a review. No I'm not getting paid to say any of this. (course if Crock-Pot wants to pay me I'll GLADLY write a different review :) LOL)

I just want to encourage you whether you're single, newly married, have a bunch of kids or no kids, your Crock-Pot is your best friend. There's a ton of different amazing recipes out there to fill your pot with love and deliciousness.

Right now I've got chili going for our dinner tonight since the temperatures have dropped here. I'd love to hear what your favorite go-to CP meal is. I'd also love to hear why you love your crock-pot!  Share them in the comments below and happy crocking!!!

Cave Tools Meat Claws Review!

If you've been around here any length of time you know I love to cook. Kitchen tools are one of my favorite things and I love trying them all out. Recently I was given the opportunity to review the Cave Tools Meat Claws and I'm telling you what... they are awesome!!!

These awesome tools make it easy to shred your  meat for BBQ, enchiladas, tacos, whatever you need shredded meat for. For this review, I used it to shred up some boiled chicken for our chicken noodle stew I make.

They are easy to use. Easy to clean and are a perfect addition to your kitchen arsenal!

Purchase the Meat Claws Here!

Priced at less than $20, these make a great gift for the chef in your life. Each of the claws have six prongs and it is in the shape of a bear claw. What better way to shred your meat? I honestly have to say these came at the most perfect time for us. I had just said I wanted a pair of these after shredding a pork roast with two forks (no fun). 

These claws are BPA free and are heat resistant so you don't have to worry about shredding your very hot meats as you get them finished cooking. I also love the fact that once I'm finished using these, they can be tossed in the dishwasher for easy clean-up.

There are multiple uses for this must-have kitchen tool as well. Not only do they easily shred the meat, you can pick up a large piece of meat and put it on your platter or you can use one claw to stabilize the meat for easy carving.

I highly recommend you checking out the Cave Tools Meat Claws yourself. These are perfect for the avid griller, crock pot user, or meat lover to have in their home. You can even use them to stabilize your large pieces of watermelon or other large items while you carve!!

Check out the other thoughts by clicking here and you can use this amazing coupon code for 15% off your purchase : MEOY47SI

Don't just take my word for it! Try them out yourself :). It makes for easy meat shredding for your next BBQ dinner, taco night or soup night!

** I received this product free for my personal review. All opinions and thoughts are mine .You can see my full disclosure by clicking here. **

Lemon Cake with Lemon Buttercream Icing

Boo Bear has decided he wants to learn how to cook. That thrills me to no end! I love cooking, baking and creating in the kitchen. It's really and truly a labor of love to me.

I'm thinking what sparked this was watching cupcake wars on Netflix. He loves to watch that show and it's inspiring him to want to learn to cook more.

So this weekend we went in the kitchen and created a one layer lemon cake with lemon buttercream icing.

I love lemon stuff and so does my kiddo. Hubby was also enjoying the cake.

The only thing I want to do is figure out how to make the icing where it isn't as sweet. It's not as bad the next day but to begin with, whew!

So here's the recipe and our finished product. It's fairly easy and something can be whipped up in no time. I think it's a great recipe to have when you just want a small cake and not a lot of leftovers. It makes one layer and the icing we did made a good amount. You could adjust for whatever you like.

One Layer Lemon Cake: (Adapted from Betty Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

1 1/3 C all-purpose flour
2/3 C sugar
2 TSP baking powder
2/3 C milk
1/4 C butter, softened
1 egg
1 TSP Lemon Extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray Bakers Joy on 8 x 11/2 in round cake pan. Mix together your flour, sugar and baking powder. Add milk, butter, egg and lemon. Beat with a mixer at low speed until combined. Then beat on medium speed for one minute. Put the batter in the pan and cook for about 30 minutes or until your toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan then place on your cooling rack to completely cool before icing.

Lemon Buttercream

1 stick of butter, softened
2 TSP of lemon extract
3-4 C of powdered sugar
Milk to make it thinned out

Mix all together with your electric mixer to the desired consistency. We added lemon extract to make it a little more lemony so you can play with the amounts to your desired taste.

Here it is :)

So what do you have cooking this week? Share your kid friendly recipes with me so I can try them out here!

Silicone Cupcake Molds Review

I love to cook, bake and experiment with new kitchen tools. I've seen the new silicone molds for muffin pans and the cupcake liners but never tried them. Until now. And I'm hooked!!!

 Recently I had the opportunity to try out the California Kitchenware silicone cupcake molds. They come 12 to a pack and run about $8.00. To me, they are totally worth it!!!

These vibrant little cupcake molds are awesome and easy to work with.

 They are food grade non-stick silicone and you do not have to use the muffin pan. You can bake these babies right on a cookie sheet and they still keep their shape. I used my muffin pan just simply because it was the one I grabbed out of the cabinet.

They are safe for the dishwasher, hand washing, freezer, microwave and up to a 500 degree oven. You can use these for so many wonderful ideas like muffins, cupcakes, meatloaf muffins and egg muffins for breakfast.

Simply choose your favorite "muffin" recipe and get to baking.

I was a little concerned because I have been told "non-stick" before and still had to spray it to keep it from sticking. These were not that case. When they say non-stick, they mean non-stick. The muffin popped out very easily and in one piece. 

Not much left in the cupcake mold at all...

And one of the best parts? Clean up was a snap! I hand washed mine simply because I was already washing and was curious as to how easy it was. They came clean with no problems and I've used them several times again. 

I highly recommend you checking this product out and seeing what great creations you can come up with. You can purchase them on Amazon and see other great reviews there as well. 

Have you used silicone molds before? 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Three Cross Layered Bamboo Cutting Boards

Recently I was given the chance to review the Three Cross Layered Bamboo Cutting Board Set. This amazing cutting board product comes with three different sizes to fit any kitchen needs you might have. There is a smaller one for items like veggies or making sandwiches. A medium and larger size help you to tackle those bigger jobs such as a variety of veggies, potatoes etc all at one time.

These eco-friendly boards use a layered system to help make them stronger and more sturdy. The two outer layers are supported by an inner layer that is put in horizontally to add extra support.

 It comes in a nicely packed package that gives you instructions on care and tips to keep your Bamboo boards looking great and being strong for a while.

These boards are easily cleaned with soap and warm water. Let them air dry and they are ready to go! These boards are also natural and are 100% antimicrobial. One feature I like? They do not dull your knives! A lot of time the boards can make your knife dull and that's one thing you don't have to worry about with these boards. Here's a shot of the smallest board you receive in the package.

I highly recommend these if you need a handy cutting board that you don't have to worry about around the house. Check these out and purchase them on Amazon here. The entire set runs for less than $20 right now. Go check it out and see how you like these awesome cutting boards!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Cook'n Recipe Organizer Review and Giveaway!

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

If you guys have been around here any length of time, you know cooking is one of my passions. I love to get new kitchen tools, try out new recipes and explore new foods. I also love sharing when I find something fun and easy to use!

Recently I got to try out the Cook'n Recipe Organizer, version 11. This is an $80 value and is a program to put on your computer to keep all your recipes in one easy to find place. Now, when I first saw this program I was excited. When I actually got my hands on it, I couldn't believe it! There are so many wonderful features to the program itself. Take a look at some of my favorite ways to use the software!

We all have heard of Pinterest and some of us have become quite addicted to pinning their favorite recipes, crafts and other items. Most of the recipes I find are on blogs. I like pinning them so I can keep up with them much easier and go back to find them. I don't like the fact that when I try printing them out to actually cook with them there's a lot of blog to go through at times. Don't get me wrong. I get it. I'm a blogger myself! I mean, you're reading my blog. But I would love a way to get just the bare bones of the recipe and not have to worry if I'm missing something or get sidetracked reading how great what I'm about to cook is. :-) Cook'n allows you to actually capture the recipe from the blog and put it in your recipe book. When you go to transfer a recipe this is what your screen will look like:

The blog is on one side and the recipe entry form is on the other. You simply highlight each section of the recipe such as ingredients, description, etc and then click the button in the middle. That will then transfer the information into the correct location on the other side. Your recipe card will come out looking like this:

That was easy right? I did have a little trouble to begin with but once I got the hang of it, it went quite smooth.

Another awesome feature I like is the homepage. When you open up the app it has the newest recipes that have been added that day all on your homepage. You can scroll through to see what recipes are happening on the internet right then. It's really a neat feature and there are some very yummy looking recipes I have added to my recipe book to try.

There are many other amazing features in this software. The menu planner option allows you to plan a menu for a week, a day or 3 months at a time. You can create your shopping list from the menu planner or just start one in the app itself. It will also calculate what the cost of your shopping will be. You can analyze the nutrition of any recipe you have to see what your content is. This is especially helpful if you are on a special diet and watching carb intake or just need to know sodium etc.

Going back to Pinterest, you can import all your recipes from Pinterest and have them right in your Coon'n cookbook. Move over the ones you want to try or the ones you have tried and really like. The choice is up to you. Some of the major highlights of this software include:

- Capturing recipes from unformatted websites such as blogs
- Menu planning made easy
- Generate a shopping list
- Print recipe cards
- Share your recipes with ease
- Scan your favorite recipe cards to keep protected
- Get ideas for dinner

You can stop by the website  to watch very informative videos to see the software in action.

What's the best part? I get to giveaway one of these awesome software packages to a lucky reader!!! That could be you! Be sure to enter the giveaway and share with your friends. This is an $80 value!!!


I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. a Rafflecopter giveaway