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Category Archives: Reviews

Gluten Free Shrimp/Chicken and Rice Casserole

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Daniel & April

If you are looking for an easy recipe that can feed 6-9 people here it is!

We found this great ready to mix then bake pre-bagged meals from The Gourmet Cupboard. (By the way it’s a direct sales company so be sure to find a friends link and support them, if you don’t know anyone then use this link here and support this nice gal Emily – Click Here)

Superb with shrimp, great with chicken, or fabulous with both; this recipe is a winner!
We used 1 bag of Shrimp/Chicken and Rice Casserole Mix (from The Gourmet Cupboard), 1 can of gluten-free broccoli cheddar soup, 1 can of chicken or vegetable broth, 1 cup grated cheddar cheese, and 2 whole cooked and diced chicken breasts and a 1/2 lb of cooked shrimp.

Yields: 9×13 pan. Prep Time: 20 minutes Bake time: 40 minutes.

This meal served all 9 members of our family and loved by all ages from 5-88! We will definitely be making this again! We served our with fresh steamed asparagus.

Simple enough that the kids can even help out.

Tasty Meal in a bag…

Posted in Family, Health, Recipes, Reviews | Tags: Chicken Recipe, Easy Family Meals, Gluten-Free, recipes | Leave a comment |

Jurassic Adventures

Posted on March 9, 2019 by Daniel & April

Underwhelmed would be an understatement…

We were provided tickets through our homeschool program, thankfully. I would have been even more disappointed if I had used my hard earned cash to pay for my family of six.

It would have cost us $180+ tax to attend their event. Not to mention half of things inside required you to by additional tickets to participate.

The first half with the animatronic dinosaur set up was neat, but they were not well maintained and the displays were dull.

The speakers that were playing the dinosaur sounds were awful quality. It seemed like the speakers were blown.

There was a small Dino Dig area that the younger kids really enjoyed. It was a sandbox with dinosaur bones underneath.

Opposite side of the Dino Dig was three bounce houses that were not anything spectacular.

The second half of the dinosaur arena was where the “rides” were. From their website they made their rides sound cooler than what was actually there. The rides require you to buy tickets which were $20 for 6 tickets and each ride was two tickets.

When the site says you can ride dinosaurs and it shows a picture but not quite a whole picture. These rides don’t actually go anywhere in fact it moves about as much as those “rides” you see in front of grocery stores.

The disappointment on just about every parents face was pretty obvious.

We were expecting something exciting that we’d want to spend all day at. Instead we barely stayed an hour.

If you like throwing away money for a mediocre memory then I’d suggest this event. If you care how you use your hard earned money then I suggest looking elsewhere for a fun educational event.

Posted in Family, Kids Activities, Reviews | Tags: Dinosaurs, Family Events, Family Friendly, Jurassic Adventures, Kid Activities | Leave a comment |

Laundry Hazards

Posted on April 11, 2018 by Daniel & April

Lately I’ve noticed a big push in advertising for laundry sanitation products. As a mom it seems like I do hundreds of loads of laundry each week from germ covered kiddos so I figured I’d do some investigation.

After contacting the company I found out a lot about this product.

This product DOES GO in the fabric softener dispenser. It does NOT get added to detergent in the wash cycle. It absolutely CANNOT come into contact with laundry detergents, softeners or any other products.

It needs to go in the final rinse and remain for a minimum of 16 minutes to even be effective!

The warnings listed on the label are scary and the product specialist even stated “to take them 100% seriously.”

So should you have this in your home? Well I’ll tell you no way will it ever come into my home! There’s several ways to safely sanitize your laundry without risking your health or your families safety!

Here’s just some of the fine print on the product….

Product Warnings:

Eyes: Get medical attention immediately. Call a poison center or physician. Immediately flush eyes with plenty of water, occasionally lifting the upper and lower eyelids. Check for and remove any contact lenses. Continue to rinse for at least 10 minutes. Chemical burns must be treated promptly by a physician.

Inhaled: Get medical attention immediately. Call a poison center or physician. Remove victim to fresh air and keep at rest in a position comfortable for breathing. If it is suspected that fumes are still present, the rescuer should wear an appropriate mask or self-contained breathing apparatus. If not breathing, if breathing is irregular or if respiratory arrest occurs, provide artificial respiration or oxygen by trained personnel. It may be dangerous to the person providing aid to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. If unconscious, place in recovery position and get medical attention immediately. Maintain an open airway. Loosen tight clothing such as a collar, tie, belt or waistband.

Skin: Get medical attention immediately. Call a poison center or physician. Wash with plenty of soap and water. Remove contaminated clothing and shoes. Wash contaminated clothing thoroughly with water before removing it, or wear gloves. Continue to rinse for at least 10 minutes. Chemical burns must be treated promptly by a physician. In the event of any complaints or symptoms, avoid further exposure. Wash clothing before reuse. Clean shoes thoroughly before reuse.

Ingested: Get medical attention immediately. Call a poison center or physician. Wash out mouth with water. Remove dentures if any. Remove victim to fresh air and keep at rest in a position comfortable for breathing. If material has been swallowed and the exposed person is conscious, give small quantities of water to drink. Stop if the exposed person feels sick as vomiting may be dangerous. Do not induce vomiting unless directed to do so by medical personnel. If vomiting occurs, the head should be kept low so that vomit does not enter the lungs. Chemical burns must be treated promptly by a physician. Never give anything by mouth to an unconscious person. If unconscious, place in recovery position and get medical attention immediately. Maintain an open airway. Loosen tight clothing such as a collar, tie, belt or waistband.

Handling Instructions:

Eyes: Safety eyewear complying with an approved standard should be used when a risk assessment indicates this is necessary to avoid exposure to liquid splashes, mists, gases or dusts. If contact is possible, the following protection should be worn, unless the assessment indicates a higher degree of protection: chemical splash goggles and/ or face shield. If inhalation hazards exist, a full-face respirator may be required instead.

Skin: Chemical-resistant, impervious gloves complying with an approved standard should be worn at all times when handling chemical products if a risk assessment indicates this is necessary. Considering the parameters specified by the glove manufacturer, check during use that the gloves are still retaining their protective properties. It should be noted that the time to breakthrough for any glove material may be different for different glove manufacturers. In the case of mixtures, consisting of several substances, the protection time of the gloves cannot be accurately estimated.

Body: Personal protective equipment for the body should be selected based on the task being performed and the risks involved and should be approved by a specialist before handling this product.

Respiratory: Use a properly fitted, air-purifying or air-fed respirator complying with an approved standard if a risk assessment indicates this is necessary. Respirator selection must be based on known or anticipated exposure levels, the hazards of the product and the safe working limits of the selected respirator.

Then if that’s not enough information for you… here’s the statement that sealed my decision:

Potential chronic health effects:

Once sensitized, a severe allergic reaction may occur when subsequently exposed to very low levels.

Other information:

They openly state their product was tested on animals. Specifically rats, rabbits & guinea pigs.

Here’s the real dirt on laundry:

Fresh clothes are dirtier than you’d think and you have no idea about it. It just not hygiene, there are plenty of issues that make clothes dirty even after washing. Here are few reasons:

The first reason is that washing machines are generally teaming up with microbes.

Even if you sanitize washing machines, you’ll end up washing mixed loads. So by the time wash cycle is complete, the clothes would still be dirty.

Ordinary detergents just remove dirt from the top layer. The deeper layers and clothe fiber remains home to pathogens even after washing.

The use of natural laundry sanitizer or some home remedies can ensure that clothes not only sparkle, but become really clean inside out.

Listed below are some options which you can consider for disinfecting laundry:

1. Lavender – This aromatic herb is used for variety of issues, in form of essence and oil. The most basic use is of its aroma. It is also used for improving immune system, getting relief from allergies and relaxing. But where can it be used as fabric sanitizer?

By just adding 1- 2 drops along with unscented detergent will render clothes pleasant smell, and disinfect them. Lavender has anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties.

2. Tea Tree oil –Another good and natural solution to disinfect laundry. Tea Tree essential oil has been noted for its antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties. This is why it is an important ingredient base for most cosmetics, detergent etc. Putting 2-3 drops of Tea Tree oil in the washing machine, with preferably unscented detergent sanitizes laundry. Besides, it gives a tinge of good smell to clothes.

3. Vinegar and Baking Soda – This combination not only works for white clothes, but has many uses for laundry care. Vinegar can be used as a fabric softener. A drop of essential oils like Lavender, Pine, Tea Tree Oil, spruce, pine, orange etc can be added to give clothes a pleasant smell. This mixture can be added during the rinse cycle.

If you use vinegar and baking soda together it will work brilliantly to remove hardest stains and help keep white clothes white. Vinegar also acts as natural disinfectant, killing germs, bacteria or mold present in the laundry, and removing soap residue as well. The backing soda acts as a natural cleaners and scrub.

Use 5 to 6 cups of vinegar, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of baking soda and 12 and 15 drops of your favorite essential oil. For a super fresh smell, lemongrass, orange, lime or lemon are good choices. Combine all the ingredients in a plastic container and use 1 cup per load as you choose

Another easy fabric softener blend is…

• 6 cups Vinegar

• 1 cup Water

• 15 drops Lemon, Orange, Lime, or Lemongrass oil

Combine all ingredients in a heavy-duty plastic container. Add 1 cup to rinse cycle for each load. You can also choose a spice oil or spice blend for the essential oil(s).

4. Grapefruit Seed Extract – With 10 percent extract in 90 percent water you can create a great disinfecting liquid and dip laundry one by one in it. Or you can run the grapefruit extract in between the rinse cycle to make your laundry hygienic.

5. Some Other Important Tips:

• Try washing clothes with hot water. Often cold water is used to save electricity.

• Avoid mixed loads. If not this, then at least exclude undergarments. Wash them separately.

• Clean washing machines regularly with hot water and detergent.

• Use a good laundry sanitizer disinfectant to ensure clean clothes.

• Soak kitchen towels and rugs in  a few drops of Tea Tree oil, Eucalyptus oil or Lavender in water before washing them in the machines.

Posted in Clean Living, Health, Product Review, Reviews | Tags: clean clothes, Clean Living, Families, Healthy Lifestyle, laundry, laundry solutions, Live Clean, sanitation, sanitize laundry | Leave a comment |

Beauty Counter Foundation

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Daniel & April

What initially drew my eye: Beautycounter’s commitment to products with safe ingredients. They have a list of over 1,500 ingredients that they promise to never use. They regularly pour over all sorts of studies and even commission some of their own to examine ingredients for toxicity. That’s awesome. But that’s not the whole story.

They don’t claim to be all-natural, “Over 80% of the ingredients in our products are organic, natural or plant derived. The others are synthetic…but that doesn’t mean that they are unsafe.” I get it. To mass-produce things economically and safely, you often have to include synthetic preservatives to make sure your products don’t spoil and kill someone. That is always my answer when a reader asks why I don’t sell my own products. And I’ve said time and again that natural skincare is not an all or nothing process. Any little step helps in the journey towards a healthier life. To foster transparency, Beautycounter even provides a complete glossary of their ingredients.

I’ve tried a lot of safer make-up brands but have yet to fall in love with the whole line. I have been on the hunt for a safer foundation so my awesome friend Stephanie invited me to try Beautycounter foundation. I decided to give it a try, so I bought the Tint Skin Foundation for $41 +tax & shipping. The price doesn’t really bother me cause before switching to safer brands I still bought high end products. I am extremely fair skinned so I purchased the porcelain shade which turned out to be a perfect match.

I applied with a brush. It went on smoothly and evenly. A little bit of product went a long way. It is a very light weight foundation so I used about a dime sized amount to get a full coverage. I tend to have oily skin and found that this did not add to my oiliness nor did it dry me out. It stayed in place well over 14 hours of rigorous mom life of 4 kids ages 1-10! When it was time to hit the hay I usually notice that when removing my make-up my skin will feel dry or even flakey, but not with this foundation. My skin felt soft and plump!

Overall thoughts
I applaud Beautycounter for their mission. I believe in it, I support it, and I want to do everything I can to bring awareness to the brand in the hope that more and more women will recognize the chemicals in their products and start choosing safer alternatives.

That said, from trying out their face products, I get the impression that these are designed more for the woman who doesn’t like to wear a lot of makeup, prefers a very natural look when she does wear makeup or for a woman that already has beautiful skin. These products are formulated to enhance what you already have, but if you’re looking for something with the ability to transform, hide or cover, these products are probably not the best choice for you. I would love to see Beautycounter come out with a face line that provides a broader range of coverage options, but understand that they’re bound by their ability to do so while sourcing from ingredients that are healthy and sustainable.

Posted in Beauty, Clean Living, Make-Up, Product Review, Reviews | Tags: California, clean, Clean Beauty, Clean Living, Healthy Lifestyle, Live Clean, Make-Up, no cheap ingredients, non-toxic, Review, Safe Cosmetics, Safer Make-Up, sensitive skin, stylish | Leave a comment |

Blendtec Classic 570

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Daniel & April

blendtecREVIEWI was so excited to get this blender, but after trying this out I was greatly disappointed. I picked this blender because it seemed quite similar to the famous Vitamix and a few hundred dollars less.

Now I wish I had just spent the extra money and bought the Vitamix. Obviously I returned the BLENDTEC 570 CLASSIC  and now awaiting my new Vitamix Professional Series 750 Blender. (Review Coming Soon)

Another BLENTEC CLASSIC 570 con:

Didn’t even use the heat/hot option and it started to strip out the plastic bearings on the bottom of the container melting tiny little curly rings all over the place.

 

Posted in Reviews | Tags: BLENDER REVIEW, BLENDTEC 570 CLASSIC, BLENDTEC CLASSIC 570, BLENDTEC REVIEW, Review | Leave a comment |

Veggetti

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Daniel & April

Pretty neat kitchen gadget. A veggie noodlizer or spiralizer is a must have for any home. It’s an excellent way to change up your meals and plus kids really love almost anything that looks like a noodle! In our home our kids will devourer 6 zucchinis with some lite marinara sauce as long as it looks like a noodle!

Posted in Reviews | Tags: As Seen On TV, Kitchen Gadgets, Kitchen Tools, Review, Veggetti, Veggie Noodles, Veggie Spiralizer | Leave a comment |

Hilton SLC-Utah Review

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Daniel & April

SLC-HiltonReview
We had a fantastic stay at the Hilton in Salt Lake City, Utah. It might not look too thrilling from the outside but the inside was gorgeous. It was warm and inviting. The staff was kind and helpful.

What we really loved was the bathroom in our room. It was wheelchair accessible done right! The shower was huge and all of the handles, knobs, shower heads were with in reach! The toilet (not pictured) was a great height, with wall mounted assist bars that were well placed.

Another fantastic feature was that the bed was NOT on the typical huge platform.

Even the carpet in the hallways were not the usual thick arm breaking quality, it was nice and smooth and did not require assistance just to make it too our room.

Thank you for paying attention to all these details they REALLY added to the enjoyment of our stay.

The only BIG accessibility issue was the outside. If you plan on walking to a local shop or restaurant the driveway down to the sidewalk is extremely steep. It definitely requires assistance.

(FYI: They do have restaurants located within the hotel. While the food was excellent we found them to be a bit too pricey for our taste.)

photo 1Hilton-SLC-Lobby

Posted in Accessibility, Reviews, Travel | Tags: Family, Healthy Lifestyle, Hilton Review, Live Clean, Modere, Review, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City Hilton, Salt Lake City Hotel, Utah, Wheelchair Accessibility, Wheelchair Accessibility Hotel Review | Leave a comment |

Comfort Inn Fallon NV

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Daniel & April

COMFORT-FALLON-REVIEWOn our way home from our amazing Salt Lake City, Utah trip, we decided to stay the night in Fallon Nevada. We were over tired from driving all those hours and it was a spur of the moment stay. We had not made any reservations so of course we “googled” local hotels.

First we stopped at the Best Western but they had no wheelchair accessible rooms available and then the lovely hotel desk clerk directed us to the Comfort Inn. She also informed us they were known to have roll-in-showers at Comfort Inn, which is exactly what we needed. (FYI: A roll-in-shower is a shower that is all tile with no edges, no lip, and no tub basin. Made perfectly for a person in a wheelchair to roll right in to the shower without having to transfer.)

So to aid other travelers who are in wheelchairs or for those that have family members in wheelchairs this is our review of their accommodations.

Overall it was a pleasant stay, but if I had been on my own it would have been difficult. Room was well suited accessibility wise, but getting in the building was a pain.

Posted in Accessibility, Reviews, Travel, Weekend Fun | Tags: Fallon, Fallon Nevada, Hotel Review, Hotels With Roll-In-Showers, Nevada Hotel, NV, Roll In Showers, Wheelchair Accessibility, Wheelchair Accessibility Hotel Review | Leave a comment |

Laundry Pods by Modere Review

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Daniel & April

laundryIf you have any children chances are you have several of these baskets just like this at least once a week if not more.

Then once the pile is sorted you notice all of the hundreds of stains and you find yourself wondering…”now how did they get THAT, There?”

If you have more than two kids you have probably given up on the whole “pre-treat/pre-soaking” idea, because honestly who has the time.

We grew tired of all these stains and at one point considered throwing it all out and starting over, but then we of course came to our senses. It was time to find a better detergent. Our kids are extremely sensitive to certain soaps, perfumes, detergents etc. so we couldn’t just run out and buy anything that looked good. We began researching clean, safe brands. A friend shared Modere with us and told us they were all about cutting out the gross nasty chemicals that aren’t good for anyone. We looked up their laundry pods and immediately we saw “Free of: phosphates, dyes, chlorine, and NPE“… we were thinking…hey that’s a good start. So we decided this would be the one we try out.

Do you really need harsh chemicals to keep your clothes germ-free? In wanting to get my house chemical free I was in the search for laundry soap that would do the job of cleaning our clothes but didn’t put harsh chemicals on our skin or in our environment.

Check out our review:

★★★★

Pros:

  • Smell absolutely amazing with the fresh scent of vanilla and lavender. I love lavender! It’s calming and one of those most relaxing essential oils out there.
  • I love that they come in a pack of 32 pods come in a small canister, so it can fit in even the smallest of laundry rooms.
  • I love how clean and sleek the design is of Modere products, it definitely caught this graphic designer’s eye. 
  • Laundry Pods make laundry a breeze. These convenient, pre-measured pods are easy to pop in the wash and clean all our clothes.
  • It can be used in hot or cold water (I normally use cold water).
  • I have an HE machine and it can also be used in standard washing machines too.

Cons:

  • Did not completely remove heavy stains unless I added some extra Lemon essential oil to the load.
Posted in Family, Product Review, Reviews | Tags: allergies, clean, kids laundry, laundry, no cheap ingredients, non-toxic, safe, sensitive skin, smart, stylish | Leave a comment |

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