Visiting The World As The Armchair Traveler

By Patricia

Have you heard of the term 'Armchair Traveler'? It means someone who reads about traveling, buys books about traveling, and dreams about traveling, but actually doesn't go anywhere.
Yeah, that's me.

When I was raising my five children, there wasn't the time or money to travel. Now that they are all grown, I have the time, but not the money. But that doesn't stop me from dreaming about places I have always longed to visit.
Paris has always topped my list, along with London and Rome. Europe calls to me, and someday I hope to answer back!!

Meanwhile, it is fun to visit the shops around the Seattle area where I live that cater to travelers or wannabe travelers like me. I love browsing through the books and luggage and clothes and gadgets that are made for traveling.
I can't wait to see all the places I want to visit, even if for now, the view is only from my chair.

Delivering Holiday Cheer and Kleenex With A Gift Basket For a Friend #SharetheSoft

By Patricia

It never seems to fail that around the holidays, someone in the family is sick. But this year was a mini miracle, and we all stayed pretty healthy.

Maybe because I had stocked up on cold and flu medicine, and plenty of Kleenex tissues. It seems like when I don't have any on hand, I have to make a mad dash to the store when we get sick to buy some. We have been a Kleenex brand family for years and years. For us, part of having a cold or the flu is having a box of Kleenex tissues by your side. In our family, Kleenex means comfort.

As happy as I was that my family had stayed healthy, a dear family friend had not. She had the flu and wasn't able to go out, or do anything but stay in bed. My daughter and I decided to put together a gift basket for her, stocked with things she might need to feel better. Of course, a few boxes of Kleenex had to be included in the basket.

I went shopping at my local Walmart to buy some things to put in the gift basket. Tea, juice, and soup are all great to have on hand when you feel terrible with the flu. A little reading material helps too, when you are confined to bed. And of course, I was going to include a few boxes of Kleenex tissues.
 This 4-pack included a $4 voucher to use at Vudu.com, a great source for movies at home.

 As I was shopping, I remembered once when I was a little girl and being sick around Christmas time. I had missed the Christmas program at school, a cookie party with friends, and was just all around miserable. My Mom was sitting with me in my room and trying to cheer me up. She picked up the
Kleenex box and started using the tissues to make the sweetest little angel dolls. Or at least to my six year old mind, they were angel dolls, and we spent the afternoon playing with them. It is one of the loveliest memories I have of my mother.

I was happy to see a $4 voucher from Vudu.com on the Kleenex package . It was super easy to redeem when you have an account, and my daughter and I enjoyed watching the latest Woody Allen movie called 'To Rome With Love' on the afternoon we put the basket together.

There are thousands of movies to pick from on Vudu, and I'd love to watch so many of them. I love movies.

My daughter and I and her children helped put together our gift basket. My six year old grandson is old enough to understand what it means to donate things, and to give help to a friend.

We talked about our friend who wasn't feeling well, and how we were going to be doing something kind for her by giving her the basket.

My daughter and my grandchildren are all coming with me to deliver the basket. We are surprising our friend and I'm hoping she will be cheered up a little and start feeling better soon.

I love that Kleenex is such an important comfort when we are sick. Kleenex has always been a part of our family, and always will be.

You can see my complete shopping experience on my Google+ photo album. You can learn more about Kleenex on their Facebook page and Twitter.



*I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Kleenex® Brand Tissues  #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Cooking A Delicious Dinner For Two With New Campbell's Skillet Sauces #Dinnerin15

 By Patricia

Now that my family is raised, I no longer have to cook a big dinner every night. I often eat at one of my daughter's house with her and her family, and really enjoy sharing that time with them.
But I still like to cook, and sometimes spend time preparing a meal from scratch. Lately though, I've found myself getting busier, with not really a whole lot of time to cook, but still wanting to eat delicious dinners.

I recently found a great new product from Campbell's, called Campbell's Skillet Sauces Dinner for Two. It lets you cook dinner in only 15 minutes. I love and trust the Campbell's name so I knew their new sauces were definitely something I wanted to try.

I had an old friend coming into town and I wanted to be able to cook dinner for us, but he was on a tight schedule and so was I. So, I knew this was the perfect time to try out Campbell's Skillet Sauces.
Off I went to my local Albertsons to pick some of it up for dinner.

I found the Skillet Sauces in the soup aisle, which was a little surprising, but they are a Campbell's product. I was happy to see so many varieties to choose from, and the pictures on the packages looked delicious. And only 15 minutes to prepare dinner. I like that!

Campbell's Skillet sauces come in six different varieties:

Creamy Chipotle with Roasted Corn and Black Beans

Toasted Sesame with Garlic and Ginger

Marsala with Mushroom and Garlic

Thai Green Curry with Lemongrass and Basil

Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Red Bell Peppers and Chiles

Scampi with White Wine and Garlic

There was also a great coupon here for $2 off steak, chicken, or shrimp when you buy one packet of the sauce. You add one of these meats or shrimp to make your meal, so I was very happy to be saving $2 off the chicken breasts I was buying.

I selected the Toasted Sesame with Garlic and Ginger variety. I am a big chicken lover, so this sounded really good to me. On the package it says 'Dinner for two, and then some', so I assumed the serving sizes would be generous. Since it takes only 15 minutes to cook, I was happy I wouldn't be spending a lot of time in the kitchen and could spend the time instead enjoying my friend's company.

I love making a quick dinner when time is a factor, but it has to be delicious, too.
I picked up a few other items for my dinner, and I had to include the wine, of course!

The Campbell's Skillet Sauces make cooking dinner so easy. All I did was cut up the chicken breasts into pieces. It is hard to actually call the Toasted Sesame Chicken dish a recipe because there are only three easy steps:

Heat oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook until browned. Then you stir in the sauce and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and cover for 5 minutes, or until the chicken is tender.
How easy is that?

Browning the chicken is a quick and easy job. I'm loving the Skillet Sauces already because I can see just how quickly dinner really can be put on the table.

I often cook for two, and I can see doing it a lot more when the preparations are this fast. I'm also cooking a pot of campanelle pasta because the Campbell's package says it is great over pasta. I think it would be great over rice, too.

After I finished browning the chicken, I poured on the sauce, and then brought it to a boil. I reduced the heat and cooked it for 5 minutes. The sauce was thick and filled with herbs and spices. I loved the aroma of the garlic and ginger, and I was suddenly very hungry.

I really am making dinner in only 15 minutes! I can't wait to try the other varieties, especially the Marsala with Mushroom and Garlic, and the Thai Green Curry with Lemongrass and Basil.

After the sauce was heated, all I did was pour it on top of the pasta and dinner was ready.
My Toasted Sesame Chicken with Garlic and Ginger turned out perfectly, and really was delicious!

Campbell's Skillet Sauces made making a tasty dinner so easy. It is definitely a product that I will be keeping on my shelves. And it just might become my little secret in the kitchen. I mean, do I have to tell my guests dinner was this easy??

There is an in-store coupon on the display, and on Facebook during the month of January.

Easy 15 minute cooking time fits perfectly into my everyday meal preparation, and into my busy life.
With six varieties of sauces to choose from, there is something that everyone will love.

My friend and I had a lovely, leisurely dinner and he said the meal was delicious. Thanks to Campbell's Skillet Sauces Dinner for Two, I was able to enjoy myself at the table, instead of spending hours in the kitchen. And I always like that!

You can find Campbell's on their Facebook page, and on Twitter. You can read my Google+ story about my shopping trip here. I did my shopping at the Kingston, Washington Albertsons.





*I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Campbell’s #cbias #SocialFabric All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

The All New Good Housekeeping Magazine Subscription Giveaway

By Patricia

Generations of women have loved and read Good Housekeeping Magazine. Cooking, parenting, fashion, relationship advice and more can all be found in it's pages.

The January issue is the first in the newly designed and reinvented magazine that women and moms count on to make life easier. It is all new, and better than ever. I love the content and the new look.

There are fabulous new cooking ideas and recipes. I am a big chicken lover and am always excited about finding new ways to cook it.

I have decided to eat more fruit this year as part of my healthy eating plan. This recipe for Poached Pears looks so delicious!!

I always need fashion advice, and I love these great ideas here. I look forward to seeing what Good Housekeeping has for us in future issues.

I love great decorating advice and pictures of rooms that readers are capable of doing themselves. De-cluttering our rooms is a great way to start the new year, and makes me feel like I have a fresh start at home.


I am loving the new Good Housekeeping Magazine so much that I am giving away a 2-year subscription to one of my readers. To enter the giveaway use the Rafflecopter giveaway form below:



a Rafflecopter giveaway




*Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts Jan 6, 2013 and ends on Jan 21, 2013 at 12:01 am EST. Winner will be emailed and has 72 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. This is a self sponsored giveaway. 

A Pretty Place For Notes and A Day At The Thrift Shops

 

By Patricia

I am determined to have 2013 be the year I get myself together. That is a rather tall order for me, but I am trying in all areas of life, including being organized.
I write a lot of notes to myself, important things to remember, dates, inspirational sayings, and more. But they are never in one place, so they don't help me as much as they could. When I came across this lovely picture, I knew this was a beautiful answer to my scattered notes.
An old picture frame painted in a pretty and soft color, and strung with a piece of wire makes the perfect place to hang my notes. So off I go this morning to the thrift stores in search of an old frame.

Going to thrift stores, garage sales and flea markets are always exciting because you just don't know what you are going to find. Some of my very favorite things have come from these places.
Do you love thrifting, too?

Happy Saturday everyone!!

Photo from Little Emma English Home

Making Snickerdoodles With An Easy Martha Stewart Recipe

By Patricia

I have been a Martha Stewart fan before anyone really knew who Martha Stewart was. I bought her first book called Entertaining, when it was published about thirty years ago. I have loved her style ever since.

But frankly, some of her ideas and recipes are too difficult or time consuming, so I don't always use them. But her recipe for Snickerdoodles is easy and just about foolproof, so this is the one I like to use.
We love Snickerdoodles year round, but especially during the holidays.
I whipped up a few batches just before Christmas, and the last batch yesterday. There is nothing better than cookies and milk, and these are delicious!!


Martha Stewart's Snickerdoodles

Makes about 1 1/2 dozen cookies

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs


2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon


Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment ( or you can use a hand mixer).
Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low, gradually mix in flour mixture.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into 20 balls (1 3/4 inch), roll balls in cinnamon/sugar. Space 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cookies cool on wire racks.

Have A Fun Fondue Party For The Kids

By Patricia

New Year's Eve is traditionally supposed to be fun for the adults, but when you have children or grandchildren, it's wonderful to include them, too.
This year we had a great idea about how to make it fun and special for the little ones. We decided to have a fondue party early in the evening where they could have fun dipping bread, chicken, and veggies into warm cheese. The pot I used wasn't the kind where there is a flame underneath it, so it was perfect for the kids, with no risk of them burning themselves. They loved dipping their food into the cheese, and the party was a big hit with them.

For dessert we let the kids dip strawberries, bananas, and pound cake into warm chocolate. They thought it was delicious, and so did I!!

I now think this is a fantastic idea for a kid's party, or at the holidays, or anytime you want to create fun for your children and provide food they will enjoy eating.