Baked Chicken and Potatoes

Baked Chicken and Potatoes

6 medium or large potatoes washed and poked with a fork (use enough potatoes to cover the bottom of your crock pot)

Use your choice of: 1 whole chicken, several chicken legs & thighs or 1 or 2 whole split chicken breasts - bone in. (I usually use frozen chicken and just put the pieces in the crock-pot still frozen)

Salt
Pepper
Garlic Salt
Paprika
Onion Powder

I put the potatoes on the bottom. Lay the chicken on top of the potatoes. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic salt, paprika, and onion powder - or whatever spices you like.

I cook on low for 6-8 hours. Time varies by crock pot and fresh chicken will take less time than frozen. If I only have around 4 hours (Sunday Mornings) I set it to high.

The chicken gets very tender and falls off the bone easily, so remove carefully from pot! I take the skin off before serving it.

This is one of our favorites!

Help Fund Free Mammograms with a Click of Your Mouse.

Did you know you can help fund mammograms with a click of your mouse.  Just click onto The Breast Cancer site  and sponsors will donate $ toward free mammograms.

I had an aunt pass away from breast cancer several years ago and know this is a disease that affects almost every family in some way.

I would encourage you to click.  You don't need to sign up for anything!  Just click here and then on the pink button and a donation is made towards mammograms.

100 Books Every Child Should Hear Before Kindergarten

I ran across this article some time ago and have been wanting to share it. It is a list of 100 Books Every Child Should HEAR Before Kindergarten.

There are several books included that I like a lot like:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carl

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

also a few by children's authors I like such as:

Virginia Burton and

Byron Barton.

Although we've started Kindergarten, we think that this is still a great list of read-aloud books!

What is your favorite read-aloud book? Leave a comment and let us know.

$5.00 Lysol Reward

It's great to get money back for something you are going to do anyway. If your child has/had a doctors visit between 1/1/08 & 3/31/09 and you've bought/buy 2 Lysol products, here's $5 for you!

Have you gotten your Lysol Reward Yet? Here's how:

1. Purchase any TWO (2) different LYSOL® Products between 1/01/08 and 3/31/09.

2. Take your child to a doctor’s office for a check-up between 1/01/08 and 3/31/09.

3. Complete the LYSOL® Pediatrician $5 Reward Offer Form.

4. Mail in the Offer Form along with original receipts from your LYSOL® products’ purchase and a copy of your doctor’s office visit receipt or bill.

You can get the all the details and the form to fill out here.

Product Review - EcoStore Spray Cleaner

I am really excited to be able to introduce a new product to you. I was contacted by Meijer and asked to test and do an honest review of a new product line they have just introduced to the Meijer stores.

Meijer is introducing the EcoStore products to the US market. The EcoStore products are plant based cleaners that contain "No Nasty Chemicals".

I was excited to test these products because they are environmentally friendly and also safe for children and pets. Also, I have severe problems with my hands cracking due to cleaners, so I was happy to try something that might possibly be more hand-friendly.

Several weeks ago I received 2 cleaning items to test. The first I will review for you today, is the EcoStore Spray Cleaner. This product is a citrus based all-purpose cleaner. I first used this product when we needed to clean our whole house.

To give the EcoStore Spray Cleaner a real test, I dispensed with my yellow rubber gloves. If a normal all-purpose or window cleaner type product comes in contact with my hands, the result, for me, is cracked and bleeding finger tips. So, in order to give you an honest test of the product, I decided to donate my finger tips to science for the day!

I used the Spray Cleaner to clean my baths and kitchen, including the mirrors and toilet bowl. I found the cleaner did much better than I actually expected, cleaning even the mirror nicely! I have to admit I was surprised that it did not streak. I have tried citrus based cleaners before and was not impressed with their final result. But, I found the EcoStore Spray Cleaner did a very nice job.

So, here is my opinion on the EcoStore Spray Cleaner:

What I liked about the cleaner was that it cleaned everything well. I liked that I could use just 1 cleaner for all my cleaning. It made it easy to go around the house and not have to take 3 or 4 cleaners around to all the bathrooms. What I liked best is that my hands did not crack or have any negative effects from the cleaner. That is a big plus for me! I liked that it contained no chemicals and since I have small children and a cat - that is a good thing too!

Scent is rather subjective, the cleaner actually had a rather non-descript smell. It did not have that strong "cleaner" smell, which was nice, but it didn't actually smell real "citrusy" either. So if you do not like cleaner fumes, this may be something you like, if you crave the "Pine-sol clean" smell, you will not get that with this cleaner. I would describe it as a non-descript and non-offensive smell.

Would I buy this product? (If I can get it at a good price,) I certainly will use this as my cleaner! (After all, this is a frugal blog.) I have had such problems with cleaners causing problems with my hands, that I was just thrilled that my hands were great after using this one! Good news - I will be telling you how to get these products at a good price!

Here is some information from the EcoStore website about their products:

Safer ingredients:

We use sustainably sourced plant and mineral based ingredients to create safer, healthier products that do the job just as effectively as the petrochemical based ones.

We practise the precautionary approach - if there is any doubt about the safety of an ingredient for the environment or for people's health we will find a safer alternative.

Outstanding performance:

We set the benchmark high. Our products have to perform just as well or better than top selling supermarket brands and our research and development team is second to none.

Value for money:

Our plant based ingredients are more expensive than petrochemical ones but we manage to keep our prices down by economically concentrating our formulations.

We don't use cheap fillers or bulking agents - just pure active ingredients.

Cost per use is actually less than many other supermarket brands.

If you would like more information on the products you can check out the EcoStore website here.

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EcoStore products have been introduced in the US as a Meijer exclusive item. If you purchase an EcoStore item at Meijer in March you will get a Catalina for $2.00 off your next purchase. You can also print a $1.00 off coupon here. So that gives you a total of $3.00 off each EcoStore item.

The coupon expires 3/14/09 and the Catalina deal is only available for the month of March. I do not know the shelf price at Meijer for the EcoStore items, but it is my understanding that with the coupon and Catalina deal that they will be very affordable.

I will be reviewing the EcoStore Laundry Liquid very soon for you also! So check back in the next few days for that review.

Baked Rigatoni Casserole

We love this casserole. It is great made with Ziti or Penne also. This makes enough for 2 meals for us.

Baked Rigatoni Casserole

1-2 Lb Ground Beef or Turkey (I use 1 lb frozen ground turkey from Aldi)

Chopped or Minced Onion (if desired.)

2 Cans (26 oz ea)Pasta Sauce

2 Cans Tomato Paste

16 oz Pasta (Rigatoni, Penne, or Ziti), cooked according to directions

1 Cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tsp Italian seasoning or oregano

1. Brown and drain beef or turkey with onion.

2. Cook pasta according to directions, drain.

3. Mix all ingredients together, except cheese.

4. Spoon into 9x13 casserole,

5. Sprinkle with cheese.

6. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and brown.

Sunday Meditations

Proverbs 22:7

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.