Saturday, September 2, 2017

Downy Fresh Protect, It's AMAZING!!!!

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In a perfect world I would have clean sheets every single day.  No, let me rephrase that, in a perfect world I would have a maid who would put clean sheets on my bed every single day.  But, it’s not a perfect world, hubby is the closest thing i have to a maid, oh he will love reading this, but seriously, he always strips the bed for me, we wash the sheets and we both make it again.  But back to my story.  I love the smell of clean sheets, who doesn’t.  I grew up with line dried sheets and nothing in the world smells better, but that’s not possible anymore, so I dump in tons of fabric softener in an attempt to get a fresh smell.  And it works, for a day and then they don’t smell fresh anymore.

I read online that Gain Detergent scent lasts a long time so I bought it after making myself nauseous in the grocery store, smelling all of their different fragrances. I ended up buying their original scent, bought the pricey pods, bought the softener, came home, washed the sheets and they smelled HIDEOUS.  Those reviewers must have been paid because that Gain was some nasty stuff!  It went in the trash and it was back to Tide Pods and Downy for me, but I still wanted that fresh smell to last longer.

Then a few weeks ago we were at Costco and I saw this Downy April  Fresh Protect Scent Booster with Febreze, you add it to your wash and you can sprinkle in a little or sprinkle in a lot.  Well, I washed sheets and blankets and I sprinkled in a lot, I filled that little pink cup to the rim, if a little dab will do ya, then a lot has to be better, right???  And the result...

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Oh my, my bed smells amazing and the scent lasts for days.  

You may think this is an unnecessary expense but the smell is so worth it, your bed smells so fresh, your linen closet smells fresh, your clothes smell fresh, your laundry room smells fresh, what’s not to love..

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner, these little pink beads pack a big punch, this is definitely holy grail at our house now...

Herbal Essences Dry Shampoo, It's Good Stuff!

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I used to wash my hair every single morning, my entire adult life I washed it and blew it dry every morning, and then a year or so ago I realized I didn’t have to do this anymore.   I wear my hair long these days, but never down, I look like a hag with it down, it's always up and I realized that 2nd day hair was always easier to work with then freshly shampooed hair, it had more texture, wasn’t as flyaway and as I age, it’s not oily like it was when I was younger.  It’s a freeing experience, not washing your hair every morning, and my secret trick is Herbal Essences Dry Shampoo.  It gives your hair texture, and VOLUME ladies, you would be surprised at how much VOLUME it gives you.  Not to mention that it smells positively delicious.

So now I can go 2 days, 3 days even, I just spritz this shampoo at the roots and my hair smells mahvelous, dahling.  And it has tons of VOLUME!  The price is great, too $5.99 at your local Target and comes in several scents.

You know I always share the good stuff and this dry shampoo is a game changer!  Did I mention that it gives your hair VOLUME? ;-)  Seriously, it looks so much thicker when you use this!  

Try it Mikey, you’ll like it, pinky swear you will.  ~ Jan

Friday, September 1, 2017

The chili of my childhood...


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It wasn't until after I was grown that I realized not everyone ate pickles with their chili.  It was a staple at our house, and looking back, it was probably mother using what she had.  We always had sweet pickles and dill pickles with chili, no peanut butter sandwiches, no cornbread, just pickles and crackers and always in the fall apple pie.

I loved it then, and I love it now.  I make really good chili, you want to know how I do it?  Okay, here goes...

First of all, I’m a slow cooker kinda girl, it’s easy, you set it and forget it.  But if you don’t use a slow cooker, I’m a fan of putting it in a big pot, adding the lid and baking it in the oven.  You don’t have to watch it or stir it to make sure it doesn’t stick like you do if you cook it on top of the stove, I’m all about easy in my old(er) age.

2 lbs. ground chuck browned with a large chopped onion, two onions if yours aren’t really big, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 can of Brooks Chili Mix with Beans

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Thought you might like a picture, so you can see what it looks like.  If you can’t find this, just substitute a couple of cans of chili beans with sauce 

Now back to the recipe...

1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce
1 small can of tomato paste
2 or 3 cans of light red kidney beans, drained
sometimes I use 2 cans of light red kidney beans and 1 can of chili beans with sauce, I don’t drain the chili beans with sauce
1 can of Rotel tomatoes
1-2 teaspoons of sugar to cut the acidity
1 dry packet of chili seasoning mix - I like Brooks best, it’s hard to find, but any dry mix will do 

Brown the ground beef and onions, stir into chili mixture and cook on high in your slow for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.  If you bake it in the oven, cook it at 350-375 degrees for an hour.

If you like more heat, add a dash or two of cayenne pepper to the ground beef as you are browning it.  Then taste it after it cooks to see if you need additional chili powder.

The Hoosier way of eating chili is to stir in macaroni.  I don’t do this at first but a day or so later, I cook jumbo elbow macaroni, put it in the bowls and ladle chili over it like I did in the picture above.  I never chili mac as a kid, it’s strictly an Indiana thing, but it is good.

Mother didn’t make her chili like this, she just used hamburger, onions, a quart of her home canned tomatoes and added cans of chili beans.  Hers wasn’t highly seasoned, but the pickles took it over the top.

Oh, the pickles - the best pickles EVER, EVER, EVER are these - 

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Oh my, I can’t say enough about Famous Dave’s Signature Spicy Pickle Chips.  They are absolutely wonderful, just the right combo of sweet and hot, they are YUMMY!  We buy these at Costo in big jars, I add them to so many things. tuna salad, macaroni salad and sandwiches and they are gone before our next trip back.  Amazing pickles, if you’ve never tried them, look for them in your market, they are delicious!  If you can’t find them, of course Amazon has them, Amazon has everything... 

 

 

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Dreaming of Fall

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It’s that time of year and nothing is better than fall decorating, I like it even more than Christmas.  This is so warm, so inviting, nothing at all that would work for me, well except for the grapevine and twinkle lights.

Maybe those lights will happen on my back porch, or maybe they won’t but it’s a nice little dream on a Sunday afternoon.

And last week we were in an antique store in Franklin and saw this poster.  It’s perfect for my kitchen, but I have no wall space, so I guess this isn’t going to work either.

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But wait, there is a positive note here.  It’s the butcher block.  My buddy V sent me this picture last summer and I loved it.  

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John and Deanna had a very similar butcher block in their garage, it’s sat there for years, they weren’t using it so they hauled it to our house, hubby cleaned it and it’s in my kitchen.  Isn’t it amazing, it called to me.   

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The shelf above it holds some of my favorite things, mother’s butter mold, an old cow bell with the brass embossing worn off where it rubbed against a cow’s neck, an Elsie the Cow cookie jar, mother’s chicken cookie jar that always sat on her kitchen table and my favorite, a green cow pitcher that Veronica gave me after I told her how much I  loved it.  She had it for years, and she gave it to me.  It was a huge deal for me...

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I could take down the cow collage, put up the Gentry Farm picture, I could redo the top of the butcher block to make it look more like the photo V sent me last year, and if I really wanted it to be authentic, I could draw the pumpkin on chalkboard, well not me, I’m not arty, but hubby is and so is Deanna or Veronica.  I’m looking at this picture and I know I can do better, it’s not vibrant enough, it needs shades of orange and gold and a real pumpkin instead of this raffia one.

It’s only August, one of these days I’ll get a wild hare and redo it.  It’s too cluttered, I need to take away some things, ditch the pig and the turkey, use that real pumpkin, get rid of the snacks in the basket, take better pictures with a real camera instead of my cellphone and repost it.  And I will, as soon as there is a chill in the air I’ll be ready.

But this afternoon I’m going to play with my granddaughter, take her some chocolate and see what’s going on in her three year old world.  Works for me... 

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