Cleaning with water and S'mores cake

How does THIS look??!?

I think it looks pretty darn good and from licking the knife I used to take it out of the pan, I can tell you it's super yummy! I made it for my first Norwex party, which is tomorrow night. What's Norwex? Well, I'm glad you asked! :)

I recently learned about Norwex through a friend, and am very excited about their cleaning products - I got so excited about their products that I jumped right in and decided to become a consultant. I've always been interested in a home-based business but hadn't found just the right one that I could really get excited about enough to sell. When I discovered Norwex I knew it was the right move for me because these products are cost-effective, time-saving, healthy for your home/family, and environmentally-friendly - all of which are things I am passionate about.

If you've never used Norwex products, Norwex stands for Norwegian Experience - the reason being is that the technology for the microfiber the company uses was developed in Norway. It's a unique microfiber that has a silver agent imbedded in it. Silver kills bacteria, so you can clean with just the microfiber clothes and water and a few hours later, 99% of the bacteria on the rag has been destroyed. The reason I love it the most is that I can clean without the chemicals that I'm nervous to use around Sophia, especially with her climbing all over everything and crawling on the floor. It's also fabulous because you can stop investing so much of your money in paper towels, chemical based cleaners, etc. It's also been proven to save you 50% of your cleaning time, but since I've never timed myself cleaning (before or after using these products) I can't attest to it personally. :)

Now that the sales pitch is done, take one more look at this cake:

It's a Barefoot Contessa recipe with marshmallows and graham crackers on top - how can you go wrong?!

If you're interested in eating some of this cake tomorrow night while you learn about Norwex products, let me know at beth(dot)zustiak(at)gmail(dot)com. (trying avoid spammers!).

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Secret #2: Frappe Recipe!

Remember this?

I certainly do - I've made this twice since posting the teaser. :)

Alright - so here's the recipe.

You'll need:

instant or brewed espresso

hot cocoa mix and/or flavor syrup

skim milk

ice

This is how I did it, but you could easily adjust the amounts so that it's to your tastes.

I used instant espresso, so I made 6 oz. first and then put it in the fridge.

**Quick note: If you're making this after 8pm you should definitely double

check to make sure you're using decaf espresso

(I made the mistakeof not checking a few nights ago)

1 cup skim milk

4 oz. espresso

a few TB of hot cocoa mix

1 TB of caramel syrup

1 1/2 c. ice

Blend

Pour

Enjoy!

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Homemade frappe anyone??

Yum! After a loooong day of getting things accomplished...

...I decided I needed a treat. We don't have treats in our house, though, because my self-control generally rates somewhere around ZERO. So, I thought back to my days working Caribou and dug through the cabinets and ended up with something VERY yummy. You're gonna LOVE this recipe, cuz it's easy, yummy and low enough in calories that since there was extra, I had one and a half and didn't feel guilty at all!

Okay - but where is the recipe?

Haha - I want "followers," and I, yes, I am resorting to bribery to get them! If you look down the left side a little ways, you can click the "follow" button.

C'mon - it'd be fun to know who's reading our blog - and if you do it, I'll share my secrets...

(And, yes that is Sophia in a moving box. More on that another time - we are FULL of secrets today...)

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Strawberry FLOP!

We had a picnic with some of the small groups from church on Sunday night. I signed up to bring a dessert. So, I thought it would be fun to try something different and the flavor of strawberry lemonade was in my head. Naturally, I went to google.

This was the picture I saw online:

This is the mess that I made in the kitchen:

And this is how I would describe my face as I ate one of them.

They definitely tasted like strawberry lemonade, and the crust was AMAZING (shortbread crust - yum!). But, they were REALLY tart and experiences like this are why you aren't supposed to bring a new recipe to a potluck. Dan and I saw a few faces as they tried them and I think they had the same reaction that we did. Unless I can think of a good way to make these a bit sweeter, without adding another cup of sugar, I probably wouldn't make these again.

Lesson learned - always test a recipe!!

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Kid Food

I LOVE eating "kid food." Chicken tenders, mac'n'cheese, hot dogs...you know, all the things that aren't great for your waistline. A couple months ago, I attempted to make home-made chicken tenders. Dan loved them, I thought they were fine, but tasted pretty boring, so last night I tried again and came up with a good recipe. They're not too bad for you and SO good. Now if I could only find a healthy hot dog!

Chicken Tenders

-1 package boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into long strips

-2 cups of flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

-3 eggs, whisked

-1 1/3 c. Italian bread crumbs

-1/2 c. panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Mix the two bread crumbs together and set up a breading line: three containers in a row, first flour, then the eggs, and last the breadcrumbs. Coat each of the strips in the flour, then cover with the eggs, then coat with breadcrumbs.

Bake for 15-20 minutes (baking time will depend on the thickness of the strips) and then enjoy guilt free!

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