Fighting Hunger Together with Walmart!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Walmart Foundation. All opinions are 100% mine.

Whenever we think of people suffering from hunger, images of under nourished children from Africa comes to mind. We have been exposed to so much publicity about starving people around the world, be it Africa, South America or even Asia that few of us realize that there are many people fighting hunger each day, in our very own backyards! Did you know that more than 50 million Americans don't know where their next meal will come from? That’s right, 50 million! You must be thinking, wow, that’s impossible. Let me tell you, it’s more than real. One of the principal causes of hunger is unemployment. With the current unemployment rate being sky high, it makes a whole lot of sense. Also, did you know that traditionally, during springtime, there is a decrease in food and charitable donations to food banks around the country? Yeah, I didn’t know that too.

To help bridge the spring hunger gap, from Monday, April 9 through April 30, Walmart will be working with Feeding America and four of the most recognizable food brands in America (ConAgra, General Mills, Kraft and Kellogg's) in a nationwide Fighting Hunger Together initiative. This initiative is expected to generate 43 million meals for families in need. That’s awesome, right? Guess what? As a consumer, you too can join the fight against hunger in-store or through Facebook!

How? There are two ways actually. The first way is to participate in store. Between April 9 and April 30, whenever you purchase select products from ConAgra, General Mills, Kraft and Kellogg's, you can donate meals to Feeding America or Action for Healthy Kids, a nonprofit fighting childhood hunger. Just remember to check out in-store signage and packaging to make a purchase and help make a difference!

The other way is to participate through Facebook. Between April 9th and April 30^th, Walmart will be hosting a Facebook campaign where fans can rally support for communities in need of hunger relief. Vote for one of 200 communities with the highest unemployment rate (as determined by a Department of Labor Report) and Walmart will donate a total of $2 million to the 21 communities receiving the most support. That’s right, $1 million to the winner and $50,000 each to the 20 runners-up! The winning communities will be announced on May 1^st. I don’t know about you but I will be voting for the people in the New York-Northern NJ-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. This is where I live and hence, they get all of my support! You should vote too! Who will you be voting for? Remember to spread the word to your friends and get them to cast in their vote as well. Let’s all do this together. Vote to fight spring hunger with Walmart!

Boonsong Thai Cuisine - Bloomfield, NJ

We were driving around last weekend, trying to find a new restaurant to checkout for dinner. We came upon this small stretch of shops along Broad St in Bloomfield and we noticed that it was mainly eateries. In that small section alone, there was a Greek, Japanese, Thai, Italian, Chinese as well as a few American restaurants and bakeries. After driving around for quite some time, trying to find a parking spot (there are only limited street side parking available),we finally parked a couple of streets away, in a residential area. We walked down the street a little and decided to check out the cozy looking Thai restaurant (the Greek restaurant looked good too though!).

The restaurant looked pretty empty for a Saturday night but we noticed that most of the servers were Thai. That's a good sign that the food might be authentic, right? *fingers crossed* Our server was really polite and pleasant, and for a moment, we felt as though we were in a restaurant in Phuket or Bangkok :P After being seated, Kevin ordered the Thai Iced Milk Tea (which by the way was really good) before we checked out their menu. The menu was rather basic, with all the 'usual' Thai dishes. However, I was pretty impressed that they had a rather large vegetarian section in their menu. So, vegetarians out there, please take note. You have to go check this place out!

After looking through the menu, we decided to order our food 'family style'. This means everything is served at once and is placed in the middle of the table, so that it we could share them. How can we go to a Thai restaurant and not order Tom Yum, right? So, we tried a small serving of Shrimp Tom Yum Soup ($4.00). When they asked us how spicy we would like it to be, we said very mild. I think that was a mistake, cos the soup wasn't spicy at all. In fact, it was rather tasteless. As you can see from the photo, there also wasn't many shrimps in the soup. Rather disappointing.

We also tried the Tod Mum Pla ($6.95). That's the traditional fried Thai fishcakes that has been spiced with Thai curry, string beans and kaffir lime leaves. The fishcakes were served with a side of sweet peanut sauce. Now, this was really really good! It tasted like the ones we tried when we were visiting Bangkok a couple of years ago, so yeah, very very authentic! I will definitely order this again.

There were also a whole bunch of different Thai curries to choose from. We finally decided to order the Gang Ped Yang ($14.95). Generous amounts of boneless roasted duck, cooked in red curry and coconut milk with large chunks of pineapple, tomato and chilies. Another home run! The curry wasn't too spicy, very creamy and had just the right amount of heat. I must say that this was my favorite dish of the night!

As a filler, we ordered the Pineapple Fried Rice ($9.95). I must admit that I was initially rather disappointed that the pineapple fried rice wasn't being served in a pineapple boat but I think the taste made up for it! Fluffy jasmine rice stir fried with jumbo shrimp, pineapple chunks, onions, scallions, green peas and cashew nuts. Mmmm mmmm mmmm, very very yummy too! Overall, I think that we had a pretty good dinner. Parking was a problem and it was a little bit pricier than other Thai restaurants in the area but I feel that the awesome service and authentic tasting food made up for it. Boonsong Thai Cuisine is definitely a hidden neighborhood gem!

Boonsong Thai Cuisine - Bloomfield, NJ
1040 Broad St.
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
Tel: (973)338 0507
Web: http://boonsongthaicuisine.com

How to Make Beautiful Baby Gift Baskets

Babies are always a blessing to everyone with their beautiful and loving spirits. When you have a family member or friends who just have a beautiful angel and you don't know what to give, giving baby gift baskets would be a good idea.

These baskets are always appreciated whether the baby is going to be a boy or a girl. You have to option to purchase premade baskets or make one on you own. Most of such baskets in the market are too expensive that it can cost you over one hundred dollars. Thus, you can create handmade baskets for the baby to avoid spending much money and adding a personal touch and care to your gift.

You should first determine the size of the basket prior to starting creating one. If you are not in the position to fill a big basket, then you can choose a small basket. You need to buy the predetermined basket, tissue paper or raffia for filling, baby blankets, shredded grass or straw, which you can easily find in stores.

The next thing you need to consider is the gender of the baby, whether it is a girl or boy. You also need to check if the baby has already taken birth so that you can decide on the things that the baby needs. Moreover, you need to know whether the baby is the eldest child or not. If the baby is not the first one in their home, then the mother will most likely have the needed things already at home.

It is advisable to use a container for other gift items that can be utilized by the baby. You can use a baby tub instead of using an actual basket. If the baby is the first-born child at home, then you can include most of the basic things that a baby needs such as rattles, baby shampoos, baby toys, wiping diapers, lotions, bibs, burp clothes and various baby clothes.

In case the baby is not the eldest, you can make a small basket that includes items for other children so that they will not feel neglected. You can fill the gift baskets with items like toys, coloring puzzles and snacks. Moreover, you can give a labor basket to the expectant mother including the necessary things needed at the hospital, slippers, candy, magazines, bubble bath, hair clip, calling cards, relaxation CDs or gift certificates.

MENU PLANNING PRO

This guest post from Edgardo Rosa

This morning at work, I had a couple free minutes to myself after I finished my morning meeting. I didn’t have anything pressing to do for the office and I had another meeting that was starting in an hour. I decided that I was going to take a few minutes to plan out what I needed from the grocery store. I hate to go to the grocery store, I think that it is probably because I always forget something that have to go back to the store every single day ( or at least it feels like it!). I used out wireless internet coverage to log onto a website that one of my friends pinned from Pinterest. It is a menu planning website. It creates shopping list from recipes that you pin from other sites. It helps you to keep track of what you have at home by making inventories and what you need to get at the store. I picked my recipes and the site printed me out an entire list of what I needed to get at the store! It was amazing! I am tired of wasting money and going to the store everyday!

And the winner is...

We would like to thank all of you who have participated in the Toast to the Red Carpet – LIVE, presented by I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! giveaway. It's our first time hosting a giveaway and we are really psyched about it! We wrote out all the names on pieces of paper, placed them all in a hat and Kevin randomly picked out one. The winner of the Toast to the Red Carpet – LIVE, presented by I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! giveaway is...

Jessica T!!!

Congratulations Jessica!! Please email us your mailing address so that we can send you your prize! To the rest of the participants, I'm sorry that you didn't win this time around but stay tuned for more giveaways that will be coming to this blog soon!

Giveaway: Toast to the Red Carpet – LIVE by I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. All opinions are 100% mine.

Let’s have a show of hands. How many of you love the Oscars? I know I do! With all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, what’s there not to like, right? It’s definitely an event that I would look forward to each year. As we all know, with the Oscars comes a host of ‘not to be missed’ red carpet events. This year, one of the buzz worthy event among foodies and fashionistas is the Toast to the Red Carpet – LIVE, presented by I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! online viewing party hosted by I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. On February 26^th, from 3-4pm PST, it will be streaming live on the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter’s Facebook page and guess what? YOU are invited!

During this hour, foodies and fashionistas will be have the opportunity to get insiders access to some of the hottest red carpet fashion by Hollywood stars, even before the start of the event. Also, you can be part of a roundtable discussion with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars as well as a culinary and entertaining expert who will be preparing some really yummy recipes that you can use at your own home viewing party! Oh, talking about recipes, I must say that I found some really awesome red carpet recipes that you could make with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! on their website. They look so good, I MUST share with you one of my all-time favorites. Here’s the recipe for Caramelized Onion & Fig Mini Pizzas.

Caramelized Onion & Fig Mini Pizzas

Makes: 4 main-dish or 8 appetizer servings

Preparation Time: 15 Minute(s)

Cook Time: 30 Minute(s)

Ingredients

- 2 Tbsp. I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!® Spread

- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced

- 1 cup dried mission figs, chopped (about 5 oz.)

- 1 Tbsp. port wine (optional)

- 6 slices low fat Swiss cheese (about 4 oz.)

- 2 (8-in.) prebaked pizza crusts

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450°.

Melt I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!® Spread in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat and cook onion, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes or until golden brown. Stir in figs and port and cook until liquid is absorbed. Arrange 3 slices cheese, torn to fit, on each pizza crust, then evenly top with onion mixture; press gently. Arrange pizzas on baking sheet and bake 12 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is crisp. Garnish, if desired, with thinly sliced fresh basil leaves. Cut each to pizza into 8 wedges.

TIP: Also great as a bruschetta topping! Simply toast rounds of French bread, then top with onion and fig mixture. Garnish with shredded cheese and toast until golden.

Cost per recipe*: $7.70.

Cost per serving*: $1.93

To add to the excitement of this event, I have teamed up with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and we will be having a giveaway! A lucky reader will be randomly selected to win a coupon for a FREE tub of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! All you need to do to enter is comment on this post about why you are going to watch the Toast to the Red Carpet – LIVE online show and interact during the Toast to the Red Carpet – LIVE online show on the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter’s Facebook page. All comments must be submitted by 11:59pm, February 26^th and a winner will be selected on February 27^th.

*Disclaimer: All giveaway items were provided by I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! per FTC guidelines.

Clipix: Organize your life!

I’m not sure if you guys remember me sharing last week about an awesome online tool that I recently started using? It’s called clipix and really, it made my life a whole lot easier. My desktop is no longer all cluttered and filled with all sorts of shortcuts. My workspace is now free from post it notes and little scribbles of urls and links. It just feels awesome! Since that post, many people have told me that they tried using it and they too loved it. For those of you who missed out on my earlier post, I’ll share it with you guys again.

So, what is clipix? Well, clipix is an easy to use, free online tool that allows you to save and organize everything that you see online. How does it work? All you need to do is sign up and drag a bookmark called ‘Clip’ to your bookmark bar. Each time you visit a website that you like, just click on the ‘Clip’ button and it saves it to your clipboard. Yup, it’s that simple! There is no software to download and all the information that you clip is stored online. That’s really awesome, because it doesn’t take up any of the precious space in your computer. With clipix, there is no worry in losing information ever again!

What do I use this for? Almost everything! In my previous post, I shared about how I used clipix to store all types of recipes that I searched for online. Now all my recipes are organized and they are just a few clicks away. Being a self-proclaimed foodie and food blogger, I also spend a lot of time reading restaurant reviews and searching for interesting new restaurants to check out. With clipix, I could just clip all of the links to the restaurants onto my clipboards that I have organized geographically. For example, you can see a screenshot of my “Restaurants NYC” clipboards. Those are the restaurants that I would like to check out this month. Another awesome thing about this is that I could share it on Twitter as well as Facebook. If I like, I could even email it to my friends and family. Not only that, but there are also Syncboards. What that does is that it allows me to clip collaboratively with Kevin, as well as my friends or family. When anyone adds a clip to the syncboard, everyone else that I collaborate with will see it in real-time. With this feature, the burden of looking for a new restaurant to try out doesn’t only fall on me. Everybody can surf and add to the list of restaurants! How cool is that? I am so glad I found clipix and I’m pretty sure you will love it too. So, what are you waiting for? Sign up and start organizing your life today! Remember to leave me a comment to share what you will be using clipix for!

Promoted Post

Cornflake Honey Joy Cups

If you were to ask me what is the one thing that I really miss about spending Chinese New Year back home in Malaysia, I would have to say - THE FOOD! Of course I miss spending time with my family, extended family and my friends too but missing out on the CNY goodies always bums me out each year. This year, I tried making one of my all time favorite CNY treat, the Cornflake Honey Joy Cups! Boy, I really love those tiny cups of awesome! I never really tried making them and I always assumed that they were really difficult to make. After checking out a few recipes online, I realized that they are really simple to make. Here's how you make them!

Start off by melting about 90g of unsalted butter in a large pan. Then add in 4 large tablespoons of honey.
Stir the honey into the melted butter and allow it to come to a boil. Remember not to let it overcook, cause it burns easily. Once you see it bubbling, you can turn off the heat immediately.
Then, add in about 4 cups of cornflakes.
Gently fold in the cornflakes with the honey butter mixture. Just make sure that you coat all of the cornflakes evenly with the mixture.
Next, scoop the cornflakes into tiny little paper cups. This recipes makes about 60 mini cups.
Pop in the tray of cornflake cups into a preheated 325F oven for about 12-13 minutes. You know it's done once it turns golden brown.
Once you have taken out the tray from the oven, sprinkle on some nonpareils colored balls as decoration. Allow it to cool for a bit and it's ready to be served! Wasn't that easy? The smell of the cornflake cups were just simply intoxicating when it was baking in the oven. So so so good! Go ahead and try it. It's awesome!

Organize your life with clipix!

I spend a lot of time online. When I say a lot, I mean A LOT! I’m like a permanent fixture in front of my laptop all day. What do I do online? Well, apart from blogging and spending time on various social media sites, I surf a lot. Being a self-proclaimed foodie and food blogger, I spend a lot of time looking for new recipes to try out, reading food/restaurant reviews as well as looking for the next interesting and new restaurant to visit. Sounds good but my problem is, I’m generally a very unorganized person. On any given day, I would have at least 6-8 tabs open on my browser and my desktop is covered with shortcut links to various websites. I also have tiny pieces of post it notes stuck on my laptop, with all kinds of notes and links. Yes, my workspace is always in a mess. Even with that, I would always have to search for stuff over and over again, just because I can’t remember where I last saw it!

Recently, I found out about an awesome online tool that just made my life so much easier. It’s called clipix. What’s that? Well, clipix is basically like my own personal online secretary who saves and organizes all the things that I surf for each day. How? It’s simple. All I needed to do was sign up and drag a bookmark called ‘Clip’ to my bookmark bar. Each time I visit a website that I like, I can just click on the ‘Clip’ button and it saves it to my clipboard. With that, I do not have to worry about losing information ever again. It’s really simple to use and what’s ever cooler? It’s FREE! You do not need to download anything to your laptop and all the information you save is stored online. How awesome is that?

So, what do I use clipix for? Well, everything! However, to be more specific, I find clipix to be most useful when I search for new recipes to try out. I have customized my clipboards to various categories, like “Asian Recipes”, “Italian Recipes”, “American Recipes” “Desserts”, “Snacks” and so on. I have shown you guys a screenshot of my “Asian Recipes” clipboard. Once it’s saved, all I need to do is click on each picture to view the recipes at its source. I could also share it my friends and family via email, Facebook and Twitter. There is also an iPhone App where you can down, so you can take your clipboards with you wherever you go! I totally love Clipix and I’m pretty sure you will too. So, what are you waiting for? Go sign up and start organizing your life today! Oh and don’t forget to leave me a comment to share what you will be using clipix for!

Promoted Post

Amazing Deals during Sprint's 4 Day Sale!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sprint. All opinions are 100% mine.

These days, cell phones are quick becoming a necessity (as opposed to it being a luxury item say 15 years ago). There are so many new cell phones and plans out there, it’s difficult to know what’s good and not. I personally enjoy keeping track on what’s new in the market, so I know a good deal when I see one. For those of you who are looking for a new phone or to replace your current phone, you have to check this out!

I found out about this deal a couple of days ago and it’s really awesome! Sprint is currently having a limited time, 4 day, online only sale! It runs from the 5^th until the 8^th of February (yes, it’s ongoing NOW!). During this period, you will get to choose between two new and exciting options when you open a new line of service or when you add to your current Sprint account.

The first option gets you the Nexus S™ 4G for FREE when you open a new line of service or add to your account. That’s right, you read it correct. FREE!! How it works is that it combines an online only savings of a $50 Mail In Rebate which converts to an instant and a $99.99 web only savings. Remember, you can only qualify for this promotion if you purchase it online.

The other option gets you the HTC EVO™ 3D for only $49.99 when you open a new line of service or add to your account. With this option, you get a $50 Mail In Rebate which converts to instant and a $50 web only savings. Just like the first option, it’s an online only savings.

Also, with both this options, you will get the activation fee waived for new lines of service and also qualify for free shipping on sprint.com. So, what are you waiting for? Time is running out! Head over to Sprint to get your phones before the sale ends on February 8^th!

Sage Sausage and Cranberry Stuffing

How can you make a holiday meal without making any stuffing? In my opinion, I feel that the stuffing completes the meal. It usually doesn't get to be in the limelight, unlike the turkey but Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the stuffing. So, I have saved the best for last. This is the final part in my four part series of simple Thanksgiving recipes. It's been fun sharing those recipes with you and I hope you will enjoy making them as much as I enjoyed sharing them with you.

This is another really simple but yummy recipe. Start off my melting 4 tablespoons of butter in a large pan. Then, crumble and cook 1 lbs of sage sausage until brown.
Next, add in approximately two cans (14.5 oz) of chicken broth.
Once the chicken broth comes to a boil, turn off the heat and add in one package of herb flavored stuffing. Gently fold in the stuffing into the broth and sausage mixture.
Finally, add in about 1 cup of dried cranberry and gently mix it into the stuffing mixture. Once, it is all evenly mixed, transfer the stuffing from the pan into a casserole dish. Then, cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil and pop it into a 325F oven for about an hour. There you go, another simple holiday recipe. Now, who says cooking for the holidays needs to be stressful? :D

Save with Walgreens Prescription Savings Club!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

I don’t know about you, but these days, I noticed that both Kevin and I have been spending a whole lot more on healthcare and prescriptions. I guess that’s what happens when you get older. Back in the day, we really didn’t take much notice about how expensive medications can be. Now that we have monthly prescriptions to fill, it all really adds up. I can imagine how much worse it could be if someone doesn’t have or have insufficient drug coverage.

If you are one of those who is feeling the pinch from expensive medications (just like us), boy, I’ve got some news for you! Did you know that Walgreens is offering a special discount on annual memberships for its Prescription Savings Club? Walgreens Prescription Savings Club? What’s that, you might ask. Well, for only $20 a year, individuals who join will get discounted prices on your prescriptions. Sounds awesome? Wait, there’s more! For a mere $35 a year, you can get a family membership which covers everyone in your immediate family (that includes your spouse, dependents 22 or younger and pets). That’s right, even your pets are covered!

Among some of the benefits that comes along with membership are savings on more than 8,000 brand-name and all generic medications as well as discounts on flu shots, pet prescriptions, nebulizers and diabetic supplies. Not only that, but you will also get bonuses when you purchase Walgreens brand products and photofinishing services.

Walgreens has always been my favorite neighborhood pharmacy and with its Prescription Savings Club, I’m sure it will be yours too. Don’t waste your money on expensive prescriptions. Join Walgreens Prescription Savings Club and start saving today! You can also stay updated with all of Walgreens current promotions and news by liking Walgreens on Facebook as well as following Walgreens on Twitter.

Classic Green Bean Casserole

Here is another 'must have' on our holiday menu - the Classic Green Bean Casserole! You cannot go wrong with this recipe. It's really easy to make and it has become a staple in all of our holiday meals. It doesn't require many ingredients and it takes barely minutes to prep. Here's the recipe!

Start off by mixing 1/2 a cup of milk to 1 can of condensed mushroom soup. It doesn't HAVE to be Campbell's but I don't know, it always seem to taste better whenever I use Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup.
Then, add in a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce and some black pepper. I like how the Worcestershire sauce adds in a little kick to the entire dish.
Next, add in 4 cups of frozen cut green beans into a baking dish. Then, stir in the mushroom soup mixture. At this point, you can choose to stir in some fried onions if you like. I really love fried onions, so I would usually stir in some. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and pop it into a 350F oven for about 25 minutes.
After about 25 minutes (or once it starts bubbling), remove the baking dish from the oven and sprinkle on some fried onions. Pop it back into the oven (without the aluminum foil) for about 10 minutes. The green bean casserole is ready to be served once the fried onions are nicely browned. There you go, another super simple holiday favorite!

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Casserole

Firstly, I must apologize for the lack of updates. It's been a crazy few months for us and things are just beginning to get back to normal. I know I promised some easy to make Thanksgiving dinner recipes and so far, I have only shared the recipe for roast turkey. In the next couple of posts, I will be sharing with you recipes for some of our favorite sides. To get the ball rolling, here is the recipe for one of my all time favorite - the Sweet Potato Casserole. It's really yummy and the best part? It's also really simple to make! Here's how you make it.

Start off by cooking some sweet potatoes (or yams, depends on which part of the country you are from) in boiling water. Just leave the skin on. It's way easier to remove after it's cooked.
Once they are cooked and soft, take them out from the boiling water and remove the skin. The skin should just slide off without any problems. Be really careful though, cos those sweet potatoes can be HOT HOT HOT! Then, add in about 5 tablespoons of butter.
Mash the sweet potatoes with a potato masher. If you do not have a potato masher, you can just use a fork. It works just as well. Make sure that the butter is mixed evenly into the sweet potatoes.
Then, add in some maple syrup. I used pure dark amber maple syrup that we bought from Vermont but you can pretty much use any type of maple syrup that you like. Mix it into the sweet potato mixture.
Once you have mixed in the maple syrup, the sweet potato mixture should be smooth and creamy. If its not, then you would need to mash it a little bit more. Once your sweet potatoes have reached the desired consistency, transfer the sweet potato mixture into a baking dish.
Then, sprinkle on some chopped pecans or pecan halves. Make sure that your pecans are evenly distributed on the top of your casserole. Finally, cover the baking dish with aluminum foil. Pop the sweet potato casserole into a 350F oven. After about 30-35 minutes, remove the casserole from the oven and it's ready to be served! Now, wasn't that easy? Try it, I'm very sure that you will like it too!

Cooking New Recipes

Thanks to Roman May

Lately I’ve been getting really into cooking. I left my job to move to Irving with my boyfriend, and still haven’t found a job there. Coking helps keep me busy, and keep my boyfriend happy. I figure the least I can do if I’m home all day is have good dinners ready for him when he gets home after a long day of work. Sometimes I get my recipes from TV, but I almost always have to go to the internet to print them out so I can follow them in the kitchen. I also have an app on my phone that has some amazing recipes available. It really messes up my day when out internet connection goes out, because then I don’t have access to any of the recipes I use. I was so sick of our internet provider that I decided we had to make a change. I searched CLEAR internet Irving and found Clear. Since we changed our service we haven’t had any issues and I am so happy. Now my boyfriend has two things he owes me for: my cooking, and my will to change our internet service!

Only Child

Contribution by Saul Martin

As an only child I grew up with adults and I was always really keen on pleasing them. There was always someone around who knew more than me so I was really inquisitive and learned a lot from my elders at a really young age. When I started my own business at age 21 I knew there was something special about me – I had a real capacity for juggling a lot of things at once and really not having to worry about whether or not I knew what I was doing. I looked into vendors and taxes and merchant services all by myself and to this day I feel really good about being the kind of woman who can handle herself in any situation. I knew there was something I was always meant to do but you know, I guess I didn’t think it would be owning a kitchen store. Who would have ever guessed this would be my life’s calling – not me or anyone in my family I think…who can ask for anything more?

Get 30% off Norton Small Business Products NOW!!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Norton Small Business by Symantec. All opinions are 100% mine.

I read somewhere not too long ago that small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and that technology is the backbone of any small business. I couldn’t agree more. Looks like I am not alone on this thought. In a recent survey of small business owners, 28% identified technology as one of their top business priorities. That makes it approximately one in every three small business owner! Going along with that, did you know that almost six out of ten small business owners admitted to having experienced some sort of malware in the past three years and half of them had to pay an expert to resolve the problem?

I can totally identify with that. As a blogger, I also see myself as a small business owner. I have lost track of the times when my computer was attacked by viruses or I have unintentionally picked up some sort of malware from surfing. Now, almost everything I do is on the computer. Apart from blogging, I also do my banking, pay my bills, shopping...pretty much everything else online. As you can see, my computer is not only used for entertainment purposes, but my identity and confidential information is on my computer. Now, that is something I wouldn’t want to risk being compromised from unsafe Internet searches.

I am pretty sure many of you are like me too. We spend so much time and money trying to protect ourselves and family. We set up all types of home security systems and automobile security systems to protect ourselves and our families. Shouldn’t we want to protect our computers (basically our whole identity!) from harm too? Now you can! Norton Small Business by Symantec was launched this past September and I know that it’s the perfect solution to for all your internet security needs. With Norton 360 and Norton Internet Security 2012, you know that you are in safe hands. Don’t take my word for it. Check out Norton’s website to see what Norton has to offer you to help keep you safe on the Internet. While you are there, you could also get 30% off Norton Small Business Products now! Better hurry and take advantage of this great offer. Oh and once you have visited Norton’s website, don’t forget to share with me which Norton product would most benefit you the most and why!

Kevin's 'Not So Secret' Roast Turkey Recipe

I really do not understand why people make it seem so difficult, when it comes to roasting a turkey. From the way people talk, I used to think that it must be really difficult to roast a turkey. It wasn't until Kevin showed me how it's done (about eight Thanksgivings ago, when we first started dating :P) did I realize that it's really not that difficult at all. Really, it's no rocket science. Anybody can do it. In our household, Kevin is the one in charge of making the turkey. So, here's Kevin's 'not so secret' (cos we are sharing it with all of you, right?) roast turkey recipe.
If you have a frozen turkey, the most important thing you need to do is to remember to thaw it! Leave it breast side up in the refrigerator, with the wrapper unopened. It takes approximately 1 day of thawing for every 4 lbs of turkey. Once it's fully thawed, you would want to remove the neck and giblets from inside the cavity of the turkey. Some people would use it to make gravy but we would just throw it away. Come on, we don't have time to make our own gravy. We would just get it from a bottle :P Alritey, so once you have removed the neck and giblets, rinse the turkey through cold water and pat it dry. Then, cut up some apples and stuff it into the cavity. Kevin would also sometimes use oranges and/or cranberries with the apples, it really depends on what we have available at that time.
Now, the secret weapon in making the perfect roast turkey - OVEN BAGS! I personally feel that oven bags are the best. They keep the turkey all moist, juicy and once it's done, the meat practically falls off the bone. So, just shake about one tablespoon of flour in the oven bag to coat it, set it in a roasting pan and place the turkey in the bag. Tie up the bag with the ties that comes with the oven bag and you are done! Make sure the bag doesn't touch the turkey, cos it might stick to it while roasting. Also, remember to poke some holes in the bag, to allow the steam to escape while roasting.
Then, pop it into a preheated 350F oven. It takes approximately 2 1/2 hours to roast a 12 - 16 lbs turkey. However, we are going to set the timer for 2 hours.
After two hours, its time to make the glaze. Combine brown sugar with any type of soda. We would usually use Sierra Mist, Sprite or Ginger Ale but any type of soda works. Slowly add in the brown sugar in the soda, while stirring, until it thickens (the consistency should somewhat be like BBQ sauce).
Once the glaze is done, it's time to remove the turkey from the oven. At this point, it's not fully cooked yet. Just cut open the oven bag and brush on the glaze. You gotta be really careful when you open the oven bag. It's really hot and you do not want to burn yourself from all the steam.
After glazing the turkey, cover the entire turkey with aluminum foil and pop it back into the oven for another hour or so.
You can remove the turkey from the oven after an hour to check it's internal temperature. If it hits 180F, you are good to go. If not, then just pop it back into the oven for another 15 - 20 mins. Once it's done, allow the turkey to rest for a bit and it's ready to be served! Now, that wasn't so difficult, was it?