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Have You Tried Wool Dryer Balls?

Have You Tried Wool Dryer Balls?

Wool dryer balls – the greatest thing to happen to laundry since the invention of the washer and dryer! Ellie’s Best Wool Dryer Balls I am a bit of a tree hugger, but I draw the line at sacrificing quality or efficacy when looking for eco-friendly cleaning solutions.  A few years back I went thru a phase of trying every “green” laundry detergent and fabric softener I could find – even making my…

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Quick Tip: DIY FREE Potscrubbers

Every once in awhile two problems collide to solve each other… Problem one:  I love my hand crocheted washcloths because they are fun to make, easy to clean/sterilize and gentle on my dishes.  They are, however, useless when confronted with a stuck on mess.  I refuse to use plastic scruffies because they are expensive, impossible to sterilize so they quickly get nasty, and fall apart after a…

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Easy, Elegant Mushroom Bisque - Plus a Bonus Recipe

Easy, Elegant Mushroom Bisque – Plus a Bonus Recipe

This soup blows the doors off the canned stuff and delivers instant comfort. It’s so quick and easy, I actually make it for myself for a weekday lunch, and the leftovers are just as magical the next day! First let me say that Better Than Bouillon’s Mushroom Base is the magic ingredient.  Mushrooms are naturally full of flavor boosting glutimates (think naturally occurring MSG) so they amp up the…

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Mixed Citrus and Beet Salad (Ensalada Navidad)

I love citrus season so much.  We scarf down big bags of grapefruits, Cara Cara and Heirloom Navel oranges (yay Trader Joes!) and I definitely break into my happy dance right in the produce aisle (can’t stop won’t stop!) when I spy the first Meyer Lemons of the season.  Swoon!  I also love me some beets, so I have always been attracted to the gorgeous Mexican Christmas salad, Ensalada Navidad.…

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Snowscapes and Fun with Waterlogue

It doesn’t snow here often, and usually when it does it’s a fleeting thing.  But every once in awhile we get a proper snowfall (we got 6″ today!) and it’s magical. The man and I went for a couple of walks to bask in the beauty, and of course I couldn’t resist bringing my camera and firing up Waterlogue (I will be doing a post later to show some fun things you can do with your Waterlogue…

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Why You Should Never Shop Online Without Honey

A few weeks ago one of my fave home decor bloggers posted a video about how she uses the shopping app/browser extension, Honey.  I do a huge % of my shopping online so quick like a bunny I signed up (free) and added the extension to my Chrome browser.  Cha-ching!  This thing rocks! What does Honey do? Basically as you are shopping online, you can click on the Honey button on your browser and…

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Christmas Cake Cookie Bon Bons

Whoa, I know that title is a mouthful, but these yummy Christmas confections are a magical blend of part fruit cake (don’t think the gross kind full of soggy nuts and chemical laden frankenfruits), part cookie and part candy-like bon bon.  They are chock full of real dried fruits and citrus rinds, crunchy walnuts, and oh yeah, Bourbon and dry Sherry!  They are definitely for the grown-ups, and…

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Easy, Festive Dessert for a Crowd Hey, y'all, since it's Christmas time and you may be looking for an easy, festive, make-ahead dessert to feed a crowd, I thought I'd share an updated version of the most popular recipe on my blog - …

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Spritz Cookies 101 - Fast, Easy, Gift-Worthy and Delicious

Spritz Cookies 101 – Fast, Easy, Gift-Worthy and Delicious

Are you looking for a Christmas cookie that looks festive, tastes great, ships well, stays fresh and yummy for ages and oh, yeah, is quick and inexpensive to make a LOT of?  Would you like to crank out 10-12 dozen gift-worthy treats in less time than it takes to do a load of laundry? They say you can’t have it all, but with Spritz Cookies, you really can. Spritz are my #1 favorite Christmas…

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10 Ways to Make (and Keep) the Holidays Happy

A little Christmas Cheer in the kitchen The Holidays (and by that I mean Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years) really are “the most wonderful time of the year”.  But more often than not they are a festival of stress, anxiety, debt, busyness and self-inflicted drama. I understand why the Holidays can be lonely times, or sad when someone close has passed away or there has been some kind of family…

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Holiday Decorating Tips

A few Tips and Tricks to get your Holiday decorating off to a great start!

I REALLY love decorating my home for the seasons and holidays.  Over the years I’ve developed a system that makes it easy and fun and hopefully keeps things looking fresh and festive.  Here are some tips to get your holiday decorating going: Keep Your Stuff Organized If you don’t know where stuff is or it’s hard to get to, the whole process is just frustrating and “unfun”.  Have separate,…

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Stollen Muffins

Merry Christmas in muffin form! Finally!  It’s officially (past) time to start crankin’ the Christmas tunes, bustin’ out the holiday decorations and baking, baking, baking!  I’m one of those weirdos whose favorite season is winter, because faux fur throws, snow and CHRISTMAS!  Christmas is my happy place, and I hit it hard.  Today I whipped up a batch of my all-time favorite muffins – Stollen…

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Homemade Remineralizing Mouthwash

I am a bit of a stickler for oral hygiene.  Hand to God – I floss religiously! My dentist loves me!  But there is one thing he would like me to do that I just can’t get down with – swishing with some iteration of Listerine every day.  That stuff is excruciating!!! I dunno, pain is our bodies’ way of saying “yeah, not so much” so I’m just not keen on lighting my mouth on fire twice a day in the…

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Coffee Reheating Hack

Coffee has a profoundly special place in my life.  If I saw irrefutable proof that coffee shortened your life by many years, I’d be like “see you soon, Jesus!”  Yep, I’m one of those crazies who buys fancy beans, grinds ’em herself in a fancy burr grinder, and brews it all up in fancy ways that use precise combos of time and temperature to get the best cuppa I can.  I even have a way-too-big (not…

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Waffled Potato Hash

I’m a pretty stiff critic of my own cooking, so when I say that this is one of the best dishes I have ever developed, that is saying something.  These little babies are waffled perfection!  Waffling things was all the rage last year, and I spotted a recipe in one of my fave mags, Eating Well, for a breakfast dish made by waffling a mix of potatoes, eggs, cheese and other add ins.  Looked so good!…

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Apple-Cheddar Pull Apart Bread with Variations

Apple-Cheddar Pull Apart Bread with Variations

It’s finally cooling off around here (truth be told it’s literally freezing), and that means several things.  Clothes and bedding are swapped out for snugglier options, my army of space heaters is stationed at their posts, and I don’t have to think twice about heating the house up to do some baking!  This afternoon I felt like whipping up some bread to go with the roasted pumpkin, red pepper and…

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FreshWorks - Miracle Boxes for Your Produce

FreshWorks – Miracle Boxes for Your Produce

Y’all need to get yourself a set of these babies, STAT! (as ever, my product reviews are my own, unsolicited opinions – I don’t get anything for sharing about products I love). Some people impulse buy in the candy aisle or the shoe department.  Not me.  I impulse buy in the produce aisle.  Those jumbo boxes of baby greens at the warehouse club are my crack.  Trays of Persian cukes, bags of…