Kraft Homestyle Macaroni

I had been wanting to try these for my family since I can't eat macaroni or cheese. I hoped that this would give me a go to on those omg I need dinner quick nights. I found them on sale at Walgreens last week, and with coupons figured for $0.17 I would try them. It was easy to make, but when opening up the cheese packet, I was a little frightened. It looked like someone had left the velveeta packet open too long and then sealed it up and put it in the box. Discouraged as I was, I had high hopes for this dish since it looked so irresistible in the picture. Well, my son said it was good, and he would eat it, but that my from scratch mac-n-cheese is way better. The twins, however, were not so kind in their reaction. They both picked up a noodle, took a lick and proceeded to throw every single one onto the floor. Not a good sign Kraft! If these cheese-lovers rejected it, I can only imagine what it actually tastes like.

Silk Amond Milk

I am allergic to dairy and have tried every soy milk out there. I have tried a lot of the rice milk varieties too. I usually buy Silk vanilla flavored soy milk because it is the best flavor for the price ( I usually buy at Sam's for $7 a 3 pack of half gallons or they are typically 2/$5 at Kroger and when they have a coupon that is the cheaper route.). I had never tried the almond milk mostly because of the $3+ per half gallon price tag. This week Kroger had the almond milk marked down to $1.99 per half gallon in their mega sale, and a few weeks ago there was $1 off coupon in the Sunday paper. Score! I decided for $0.99 per half gallon I would give it a try. I bought the vanilla flavor, and I think next time I will buy the unsweetened. The vanilla is a little sweeter than I would prefer, but overall a good creamy flavor with a hint of almond. I eat homemade granola (check out the recipe here) with my milk, and with the honey it was too sweet, but since I have a few half gallons in the fridge I will be on a natural sugar high for the next few weeks!

Turbo Tax Deluxe

So I have never done my own taxes before. When I was single, my dad always did them for me, and last year my husband and I went to the tax center on post and let someone else input everything for us. This year, my hubby is gone and I had planned to go to the tax center myself. There was an online ad for Turbo Tax, and hell their commercials advertising the GPS style taxes is on every evening during my 30 minute TV break, so I thought I would give it a shot.

It was awesome! I will probably never have my taxes done by someone else again (unless I win the lottery or have a multimillion dollar business which isn't forecasted in the near future so Turbo Tax, you have a new customer!

I found I was eligible for deductions I didn't know about and the forms were so easy to fill out. It really was like a GPS navigating me through the ins and outs of taxes. Totally worth the 35 bucks for the deluxe (they do have a basic edition that is free).

Thanks Turbo Tax for saving me the pain of taking 3 kids to the tax center and questioning every keystroke the poor guys make!

Success Boil in Bag Rice

So I was given this product to try, and was really excited because who doesn't like brown rice, and it doesn't get much easier than boiling in the bag. With all of my food allergies, rice is one of the few items left on my approved list so I have become somewhat of a rice connoisseur. I have to tell you that I had to add a lot of seasoning to this rice in order to choke it down. I am also not a picky eater, but this was definitely one of the least tasty rice products I have had, and when reading the ingredients, I was appalled at the list. I think I will stick with Uncle Bens, Minute, Mahatma or other brands of easy to cook rice when I am in a hurry, and on days when life is normal, I am ok with a 30 minute cook time for my rice. In addition to Mahatma, I recommend ParBoiled long grain rice and for a splurge Lundberg's long grain and wild rice blend is awesome.

Presto Pressure Cooker

This was definitely my favorite kitchen purchase of 2010. I learned to can this year, and found this pressure cooker hiding on the shelf at WalMart. It is a 16qt and is very user friendly. The one I chose is made for use on smooth top stoves. Many others that I looked at cautioned you against using them on such cooktops. I love that I don't have to monitor a pressure gauge. This model just requires you to put a few metal disks on with the regulator top in order to maintain 5, 10, or 15 pounds of pressure. This is definitely not your grandma's pressure cooker. It is new, improved, and much easier to use than any I have ever seen. I hope to incorporate a few more sizes into my collection.

Raisinets

An oldie but Goodie

I signed up on the hosties and was invited to have a Raisinets baking party. Awesome! They sent me several bags of Raisinets including milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and cranberry, complete with a few recipes to get me started. (I will be posting these on the recipe page so be sure to check them out over here!) I think my husband was the most excited when the package arrived. He immediately opened up the box and began sharing the Raisinets with my twins girls. They were in love! I will definitely be adding Raisinets to the kids' trail mix. Our favorite recipe with Raisinets so far was the bread pudding. It was a big hit for the holidays.