Adrienne's House

Mustaches

January 31st, 2010 · 1 Comment

Mention Free Milk and my ears perk up immediately. As do the ears of my daughter and grandchildren. It is no secret to any long time reader here that we go through at least 1 gallon of milk a day in our house and now that the babies are off of formula and drinking whole milk, that number has grown exponentially.

My family was lucky enough to be invited to a Got Milk Mustache Campaign reveal featuring Rebecca Romjin and her twins (who happen to be around the same age as ours) at the W Hotel in Los Angeles. During the reveal a gentleman standing behind me commented on the cuteness of Madilyn (duh). As I turned to say thank you, I realized I was staring into the beautiful blue eyes of Jerry O’Connell (Rebecca’s husband) **swoon**. We chatted a bit comparing the twins in age and then remembered we were supposed to be paying attention to his wife speaking (don’t get jealous Rebecca, I was only chatting, he is way too young for me).

The event had great family activities with planting and Legos and even ice skating under the LA sunshine. We even got to take a family picture wearing our own Milk Mustaches (well, only I was actually wearing a Milk Mustache because Ris and Cait were not brave enough to put the yogurt or whatever it was on their mouth it might actually get inside….aaacck!). I will spare you that picture as I think it may be the absolute worst one I have ever taken, but meh the kids look cute.

The other purpose of this event was to inform everyone of the Great Gallon Give Campaign. The following information is from their Press Release (imagine, me as Press. shut it.)

The National Milk Mustache ‘got milk?’ Campaign launched a new initiative called the “Great Gallon Give” with the help of actress and mom Rebecca Romijn, who is appearing in her second milk mustache ad – this time with her twin daughters. The new program will give away hundreds of thousands of gallons of milk – the equivalent of more than three million servings – to help raise awareness of the important role milk plays in building strong families. Events are scheduled from coast-to-coast to give out the gallons and families can register to win a year’s free supply of milk at whymilk.com.

The “Great Gallon Give” will also make it possible to help families in need by passing a virtual gallon of milk to friends on Facebook (Facebook.com/MilkMustache). For every virtual gallon passed, $1 will go to Feeding America, up to $100,000. Feeding America is the country’s largest network of food banks that serves more than 25 million people facing hunger in this country. In addition, milk processors will be donating thousands of real gallons of milk to local food banks in the Feeding America network.

“We want to salute moms for all they do to help build strong families,” said Vivien Godfrey, CEO of the Milk Processor Education Program. “When you sit down to a meal together, you’re doing something good for your family. When you set the table with milk, you are providing your family with one of the most nourishing choices possible.”

Go to whymilk.com to find out if the Great Gallon Give is coming to your town. Local events are planned for 20 markets from coast-to-coast. In total, more than 200,000 gallons of milk will be distributed. While there, you can register for a chance to win a year’s worth of free milk. The first 125,000 people to enter the contest will receive a downloadable coupon for free milk with purchase.

Did you read what it said? Go to whymilk.com now and register to win.

Filed under: Blog, Kitchen
©2010 Adrienne's House

Soup night

January 17th, 2010 · 5 Comments

I am not a big soup eater. I enjoy French Onion when dining out or Tomato with bacon when at home. But I love making soup, the idea of all those fabulous ingredients simmering together and melding their flavors intrigues me (but not enough to actually eat it).

So this weekend, I told Adam I wanted to make soup and asked if he had any requests. After his usual grunt, I decided to just go with a simple vegetable soup.

Since my only soup eater is Adam and he is a Vegetarian, I have to be selective in my ingredients. I found this recipe on the Betty Crocker web site (I changed some of the ingredients) and it turned out quite nicely.

SLOW COOKER VEGETABLE RICE SOUP

32 oz. vegetable broth

1 can (28 oz) recipe ready crushed tomatoes, undrained

1 ½ cup chopped carrots

3 small Italian squash, cut into 1/2-inch slices

1 medium yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

8 medium green onions, sliced (1/2 cup)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 cups shredded cabbage

2 teaspoons dried marjoram leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup uncooked instant rice

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Add all ingredients, except rice and basil to slow cooker and simmer on low for 6 hours.

Add rice and basil and simmer for an additional 15- 20 minutes.

EASY PEASY!

Filed under: Blog, Kitchen
©2010 Adrienne's House

A Very Monkey Christmas – updated with winner

November 24th, 2009 · 13 Comments

I was asked to host a preview party for this adorable new Christmas cartoon. I jumped at the chance if for no other reason than to get Erika and Jackson to come up a day early to Detroit, lol.

I put out the invites on Facebook but we had some last minute cancellations. The movie premieres TODAY on PBS KIDS, and finds George and The Man with the Yellow Hat having a very merry time counting down the days until Christmas. There’s only one puzzle: neither of them can figure out what to give the other for a present. The Man is having trouble reading George’s wish list and George doesn’t have a clue about what to get for The Man who has everything. Maybe you can help!

Below is a Whrrl story of all the fun that was had. Make sure you watch the whole thing for a giveaway at the end!

Contest deadline December 6, 2009. TO win leave a comment telling me what you want for Christmas or Hannukah or Solsitce or just for the heck of it.

For extra entries you can do any of the below choices but be sure to leave a comment letting me know which ones you did.
Become a subscriber to Adrienne’s House
Follow me on Twitter
Tweet about this giveaway

Full disclosure: I was provided a preview copy of the DVD along with popcorn and a cd soundtrack. The prize is also being provided by the PR agency.

Filed under: Blog, Giveaways, Kitchen, Library, Reviews, Screening Room
©2009 Adrienne's House

Dinner Time!

November 12th, 2009 · 5 Comments

I have started this post so many times, I have lost count. Between being sick and my server crashing, I have almost given up. But really this opportunity is way to good to pass up and I have to share it with you!

It’s a virtual dinner party! Genesis Today juices is sponsoring a recipe idea contest and I will be your hostess for the Dinner Entree portion.

Prize: 3 month supply of Genesis Today juices, total of 12 of the 64 oz bottles.

Contest: Create a meal recipe idea or inspiration using one of these three Genesis Today juices: Resveratol Juice, Acai Berry Juice or Goji Juice as an ingredient.

Acai Berry Juice
The Brazilian Beauty Secret! Our Acai Berry Juice is a delicious blend of Pure Acai and other beneficial Fruit Juices, and contains liquid vitamins, liquid minerals, and liquid essential fatty acids for your health. This juice is so potent that it contains DOUBLE the Vitamin C of orange juice! Move over OJ … purple is the NEW orange.

Goji Berry Juice
The Goji Berry has long been nicknamed “The Happy Berry” for its ability to lift moods and energy. This delicious juice blend is a wakeup call for ordinary fruit juices and is loaded with liquid vitamins, liquid minerals, and even contains liquid Beta Carotene and liquid Lutein which are amazing for eye health. The unique blend of goji, lemon, and carrot juices surprises everyone with its delicious taste … how often does something this incredibly good for you taste so amazingly great?

Resveratrol Juice
It has long been a mystery why the French, with a diet high in saturated fats, have a relatively low instance of heart disease. This mystery has become known as “The French Paradox” and the answer may lie in a substance called Resveratrol. Our Resveratrol Juice is a blend of fruits with naturally-occurring Resveratrol and other juices from concentrate. It’s loaded with liquid antioxidants, liquid vitamins and minerals, and contains an amazing 50 mg of Resveratrol in every 8 oz. serving.

This is not about making the best tasting recipe – because I will not have time to test them all (and I am a crazy picky eater)! This is about you showing me how you get your creative juices flowing, and how you could creatively include the Genesis Today juices in your dinner and serving it creatively for your family.

Your submission is judged by:
- innovation and creativity how you use Genesis Today juices in your submission
- relevance to the theme: Dinner

You get extra points for…If you make me LOL, if you record your shopping trip, if your husband and/or kids are in the story.

There are several other blogs also involved in this project, maybe you have a recipe idea for one of them as well, you can enter as many contests as you would like.

CraftyMamaof4 is looking for Smoothie recipes

OrganizerSandy is looking for cocktail recipes

Moms Favorite Stuff is looking for holiday recipes

Coupon Princess is looking for dessert/baking recipes

You can enter any or ALL of the above categories!

Along with the Dinner Party, Genesis Today is sponsoring a Social Media contest where the prize is $10,000! Be sure to go check that out as well.

Rules:

You have three (3) different ways to enter the contest, and a comment here in this blog post is required for each method. You can enter all three ways, as long as you leave a comment for each one of them.

1. Do a blog post how you could use any of the three Genesis Today Juices in a meal (dinner). Link to http://www.genesisofagreatidea.com is a required. Come back and leave a comment with your link.

2. Create a Whrrl story of shopping for your Genesis Today juices and your creative way to using it, use #genesistoday hashtag in your story. Come back and leave a comment with a link to your story.

3. Create a YouTube video of you shopping for the Genesis Today juices and creating a recipe idea. Add a link to this contest from your video description. Come back and leave a comment with a link to the video.

Fine Print
Contest ends at 25, November, 2009 by midnight CT. Winners will be selected by me based on the entry that in my opinion meets the above criteria. Genesis Today or Collective Bias are not choosing the winner of this giveaway. Genesis Today and Collective Bias employees are ineligible to enter. Entries that do not done by the entry requirements will not be considered. The winner will be notified and have 2 days to confirm receipt of the email. If no response is received within 2 days, another winner will be selected. Open to participants in the U.S. 18 years and older. Full disclosure: I received a three month supply of Genesis Today Juices to test them myself.

Filed under: Blog, Giveaways, Kitchen
©2009 Adrienne's House

Book em Dano!

November 10th, 2009 · 3 Comments

Omg, I love this product! I love it for an office, I love it for my house! I don’t know why it has taken this long for someone to think of this and I certainly don’t know why I didn’t think of it!
The Fridge Locker is the most common sense invention I have seen in years. Check it out for your self over on www.FridgeLocker.com. I mean really, it is sad that we need it, that others, especially in the workplace think it is quite ok to just help themselves to someone else’s lunch but it’s true, it happens everyday in offices all over the world. But not only at work, at home as well. Haven’t you ever bought something and got yourself eager to eat it only to find someone else ate it first? aarrgghh. I hate that. Now you just lock it up and it will be there waiting for you for when YOU want it. Selfish? Maybe. But still, sometimes when you get a taste in your head, you need to satisfy it.

Not only that but if you have small children, you can lock up medications or alcohol or whatever it is you don’t want them to get into. Heck you don’t even have to keep it in the fridge, put it under the sink and keep your cleansers in it. It has multiple uses. Did I mention I am in love?

It’s available at Amazon, so go ahead and use that handy dandy little widget over there, search for it and buy it and while you’re at it, buy one for me too.

Filed under: Blog, Kitchen
©2009 Adrienne's House

Silky Smooth

October 25th, 2009 · 8 Comments

I believe I have mentioned before amount the amount of milk that is consumed in our house. But let me clear up something – non of that amount (a gallon a day or more) is drank by either Kathy or Adam. Kathy drinks no milk and will only use what is necessary for cooking (or milkshakes) and Adam will only drink Soy, more specifically Silk Soy Milk.

When Silk contacted me about helping them get the word out about their new Heart Health Milk, I jumped at the chance. Check out their website for a chance to win an amazing weekend getaway. Then they said how about offering your readers a coupon for 55 cents off of a half gallon? Of course, my readers love to save money! Then Mike (he’s the Silk Guy), asked if I wouldn’t mind posting some things to Facebook and get ya’ll to Friend them up on their Fan page. I am on Facebook all the time, so I threw up a quick status update.

Wow, doing all that is asking a lot doncha think? Not really, it is a product I (well my son) use in my home and one in which I believe.

But as a thank you to me and to you, my readers, Silk is offering 10 commenters a coupon for a FREE half gallon of Silk Heart Health and a Pedometer!

Just leave a comment below and I will use random.org to pick 10 winners on November 1.

Filed under: Blog, Kitchen
©2009 Adrienne's House

Deep Fried Oreos

October 25th, 2009 · 1 Comment

Deep Fried Oreos

1/2 cup Milk

1 cub Baking Mix (bisquick or pancake mix)

1 egg

1 1/4 tsp Oil

Preheat oil to 350 degrees

Whisk ingredients together

Completely cover oreo cookie

Deep fry turning once until golden brown

Sprinkle with Powdered Sugar or eat plain.

Canadian Kitchen

October 6th, 2009 · 2 Comments

hdr_big_daddy This is one for my Candian Readers. Finally a contest ONLY for you. Not just any contest either mind you, a BIG contest, where you can win an amazing kitchen makeover.

The new Maple Leaf Market has quite an experience waiting for you on their website. You can meet the Butcher, the Baker and the Pasta Maker, and get easy-to-make meal ideas, all at the click of your mouse. You can also find useful tips, recipes, coupons, contests and more!

In fact you can find this contest there right now. They are giving away a $32,000 Dream Kitchen* and 12 Frigidaire® fridges to celebrate the launch of their delectable new site!

Can you imagine what you would do with $32,000 to remodel your kitchen? Let’s step over to my fantasy house and see what I could do to build a kitchen. There would be marble counters (better for rolling out dough), an island with a separate sink, a multitude of cupboards and I can’t even begin to go on and on about the appliances!

It is very simple to enter. See that link up there? Click on it and just enter your email. You can enter everyday until December 15, 2009. What are you waiting for Canada? Get to clicking!

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Now We’re Cooking

October 1st, 2009 · 1 Comment

Ya’ll know how much I love to cook. I have always wanted to attend cooking classes but being such a picky eater I don’t think they would let me bring a taster along.

In a couple of weeks Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel is holding a cooking school weekend.

Welcome Wine Tasting Reception of Friday evening
Saturday Cooking Demo – Chef Nathan read will teach participants how to prepare the appetizers served the prior evening
Saturday four course dinner paired with appropriate wines
Sunday Cooking Demo – Chef Nathan will teach participants how to prepare the prior nights meal

Take a look at the menu for Saturday night:

^{Saturdays Dinner}

^Soup

^{Smoked Potato and Ham Soup}

^{berkshire ham, sweet onions, smoked russet potatoes and crispy leeks}

^Salad

^{Fall Harvest Salad}

^{local mixed greens, apples and pears, dried apricots, candied walnuts, heartland creamery}

^{methuselah cheese and dried cherry vinaigrette}

^{Choice of Entree}

^{Midwest Bison Short Ribs}

^{cherry wood smoked short ribs, creamy cheddar jack risotto and apple bbq sauce}

^{Berkshire Pork Porterhouse}

^{marinated and grilled newman farms pork, heartland creamery goat cheese grits, apricot salsa}

^Dessert

^{Apple Normandy}

^{Butter Dough with Fresh Granny Smith Apples, Apple Compote and Apple Glaze}

^{Served with Fresh Whipped Cream}

I would love cooking all of that, but again, there isn’t anything I would actually eat. It is only $400 for two people (hotel included), anyone wanna be my taster? We could even check out the Osmonds while we are there!

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