About us...

Two moms trying to raise their families a little greener, a little healthier, and with a whole lot of love. All this while trying to save a little green along the way. Product reviews, green ideas, money-saving tips, and more!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Another restaurant.com sale!

You just can't go wrong getting restaurant.com gift certificates. If you missed our blog for restaurant.com (check out the old blog post for more in depth details on restaurant.com), normally, $10 is the price for a $25 gift certificate, which isn't bad.... but with coupon code "CHEF" you can get $25 gift certificates for just $2! Now, that really is a steal! Offer ends Wednesday.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Ridiculously Easy Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

I'm not much of a cook or a baker. I just don't have the patience. I am lucky enough to have a husband who is a pretty good cook and he keeps us well fed. However, I am a sucker for super simple recipes. About a year ago I found a recipe for peanut butter cookies that is so incredibly easy and takes about 15 minutes from mixing bowl to tummy! These are delicious but I modified the recipe to try to make it a bit healthier. I will share both the original and modified recipes.

Original Recipe -
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix the peanut butter, sugar, and egg together.
3. Roll mixture into one tablespoon size balls (or size to your liking)
4. Roll the balls in sugar
5. Place the sugar coated balls on a cookie sheet and flatten with a fork making a criss cross pattern
6. Place in oven for about 10 minutes or until the cookie tops look golden
7. Allow to cool

Modified Healthier Recipe -
1 cup organic peanut butter
1 organic egg
1/2 cup organic sugar
1/4 cup organic milled flax seed
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix all ingredients together
3. Roll mixture into one tablespoon size balls (or size to your liking) (omit rolling in sugar)
4. Place the peanut butter balls on a cookie sheet and flatten with a fork making a criss cross pattern
5. Place in oven for about 10 minutes or until the cookie tops look golden
6. Allow to cool

In the original recipe the sugar is used to bind the peanut butter and egg. I have tried to omit all the sugar and substitute other binding agents such as flour and greater amounts of flax seed. However, I felt that the finished product tasted too grainy. Even though all the ingredients I used are organic, and often cost more, I buy them in bulk at Costco so they ended up being less expensive per ounce than purchasing non organic at a regular grocery store.

Enjoy!



Thursday, September 24, 2009

Tylenol Recall


Check all of your infant and children's Tylenol bottles and packaging... Johnson and Johnson has issued a voluntary recall. For details, click HERE.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Diggin' the Rockin' Green



After reading a multitude of tweets and blogs praising Rockin' Green Detergent, I just HAD to give it a shot. I was intrigued and wondering just how a laundry detergent could be that awesome especially since I have never noticed any true differences between detergents while laundering my cloth diapers (or clothes, for that matter). So, I purchased a bag of the Soft Rock (sensitive version) of Rockin' Green along with a bottle of Shake It Up Pail Freshener, both in the Cucumber Mint scent. Yes, you read that correctly, this laundry detergent designed specifically for cloth diapers is scented and offers a dozen or so fragrances to choose from!

Adding a little bit on the fragrance: A little bit about the Cucumber Mint scent-- It is very minty, like a spearmint, with a soft cucumber scent. I also have a sample here of the Vanilla Buttercream and it smells like a cupcake- yum! While some of the fragrances Rockin' Green offers seem a little different for a laundry detergent, they are delicious and are not overpowering- feel free to experiment and have fun!

A little background here... For my cloth diapers, I have been using Country Save or Tiny Bubbles successfully, or so I thought. However, I had noticed over the past month or so that I was getting a very pungent ammonia odor coming from the diaper pail. I thought it was just me lazy and waiting too long to do laundry or maybe I needed to strip the diapers.

I grabbed my bag of dirty, stinky diapers and tossed them in the machine for a quick cold rinse, then added about 2 tbsp of the Rockin' Green detergent and ran a hot wash w/ cold rinse, then dried as normal. It was so fun to add a little fragrance to the dull laundry routine, but rest assured the diapers do not come out overpoweringly fragranced. The diapers came out fresh and clean but I knew the real test would be after they were used and in the diaper pail again. So, after using the diapers and letting them sit in the pail a couple days, I was extremely surprised and pleased that the ammonia odor was gone! Could it be true? Did Rockin' Green really eliminate my stinkies with just a normal wash and without stripping? I think it did! I've been using Rockin' Green for about 3 weeks now and I have to say I'm in love!

Want to know what else is awesome about this detergent? It takes the stress out of laundering your cloth diapers. I don't know about you, but I am fairly new to cloth diapering and the laundering instructions, suggestions, detergent charts, etc are daunting. Better use enough of this detergent, but not TOO much or you'll get build up. Better not use this detergent because of the enzymes or it will make your diapers repel or your diapers will get stinky. I breathed easy knowing with Rockin' Green, if I was a little generous with the detergent, I wouldn't have to fear buildup and stinky diapers... I would get the same great result! This has especially come in handy this week as I broke my ankle and my awesome hubby is doing the cloth diaper laundry. I instructed him to use the Rockin' Green and nothing else because I knew how easy it was to use and I didn't have to worry about him using too much detergent or not enough!

Here are the basics about Rockin' Green:
Rockin’ Green is:
  • Dye free
  • Comes in several yummy scents (& an unscented version)
  • No fillers
  • No enzymes or optical brighteners
  • 100% Phosphate free
  • Vegan
  • Great for sensitive skin
  • Easy rinsing formula
  • Approved for military use
  • Works wonders on microfiber stink!
  • Perfect for cloth diapers
  • HE compatible
  • Reusable packaging
  • Great for all water types
  • Economical at .13 cents a load!

I also had purchased the Pail Freshener which smells delicious and really does keep the diaper pail smelling fresh and clean. My only gripe with this is that the holes on the top of the shaker don't seem big enough and it is a pain to shake and get product out. I usually just take the top off completely to shake some in the pail. It keeps odors at bay and the nursery smelling delcious; I would purchase again.

Rockin' Green simply rocks!

Have I piqued your interest yet? Head on over the Rockin' Green and buy some today! There is even a small sample size you can purchase if you want to test it out yourself- why not give it a shot for just a couple bucks!

Not in the budget? Here is your chance to win some, sponsored very generously by Kim, Rockin' Green's founder! For your first (and mandatory) entry, peruse the Rockin' Green website and tell us what scent would be your pick!

For additional entries do any or all of the following. Please note: to get your extra entries you must leave a separate comment on this blog post for each additional entry. Confused? Let us know if this doesn't make sense.

1. Follow us on Twitter - link to the right (or if you already follow) and leave an additional and separate comment HERE on the blog letting us know, along with your Twitter username.

2. Become a fan of us on Facebook - link to the right (or if you're already a fan) and leave an additional and separate comment HERE on the blog post letting us know your Facebook name.

3. Become a fan of Rockin' Green (or if you are already a fan)- and leave an additional and separate comment HERE on this blog post letting us know your Facebook name.

4. Follow our blog (or if you already follow) and leave an additional and separate comment HERE on this blog post letting us know.

5. Tweet about this giveaway and then leave an additional and separate comment HERE on this blog post with the permalink of the tweet.

6. Follow Rockin' Green on twitter (or if you already follow)- and leave an additional and separate comment HERE on this blog post letting us know your twitter username.

Contest will run until September 30th at midnight MST. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on October 1st. Please include your email address in your comment for notification or check back on October 1st to see if you were the lucky winner! If we don't hear from you within 72 hours, we'll redraw and pick a new winner. Good Luck!

Friday, September 11, 2009

90% off Restaurant.com

Restaurant.com is having an incredible sale right now - 90% off gift certificates! That makes a $25 restaurant certificate $1! Enter discount code NINETY at checkout an hit "apply". This offer ends Sunday, September 13th. If you have never used this site before it really is simple. All you have to do is enter your zip code in the 'find a restaurant' search area. Then peruse through the restaurants that have available certificates in your area. You simply print the certificate and use it at your local restaurant to receive $25 off your total order. Plus, when you shop Restaurant.com through cashbaq.com you will earn back 20% of your purchase into your cashbaq account! There are some restrictions that vary by restaurant so make sure to read all the details. I have found that the majority of restrictions are dining Sunday - Thursday, a $35 minimum, and gratuity will be added. I have used these certificates a number of times and find them to be a great deal and a much better value than dining with a coupon. Happy dining!