Tropical Traditions Expeller Pressed Coconut Oil for Pets Giveaway!

Our border collie, Scooter, is a loyal farm dog.  We adopted him from a shelter in the city shortly after the twins were born.  A family who lived in an apartment had surrendered him, at the tender age of one year, after he destroyed their furniture and his crate.  So we brought him home for a trial visit, and fell in love.  He's so well behaved and always up for adventures with the boys - and running with me.  He's a hard working dog, and the best dog we've ever had, so we really want to give him premium care. 

You've probably heard of all the health benefits of coconut oil lately.  It's been pretty popular among humans - but did you know you can get it for pets?  Tropical Traditions carries Expeller Pressed Coconut Oil for Pets - and right now it's on sale for 70% off!  It contains no hydrogenated or trans fats.  Coconut oil offers very nutritive medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) which is what makes it so valuable to health.  You can also find Tropical Traditions on twitter and facebook.

Scooter seems to like the coconut oil.  It's actually a solid - similar to butter - unless the temperature is over 76*.  I sprinkled a generous spoonful right on top of his food, and he gobbled it all up.  I will continue to put it on his food daily - and hopefully he will enjoy good health! 
Disclaimer: I was provided with a quart of  Expeller Pressed Coconut Oil for Pets for purposes of review.  The opinions stated above are my own.
Want a chance to win some for your pet?  Click on "Read More" below to enter through Rafflecopter.

Make Way for Chickens errr....Beef! Rural Thursday

Welcome to the very first Rural Thursday hosted by A Rural Journal and myself - I hope you'll link up and go visiting today to meet many other like-minded folks who enjoy living a simple life.  Today I'm going to show you (with dismay) that I'm a bit disorganized by sharing pictures of my deep freezer.

You know we raised a bulk batch of free range organic chickens at the end of last summer to provide for our family through the winter.  We still have a lot of chickens left.  A lot.  Over 20 for certain. The problem is that we have 1/8th of a grass fed cow on the way, in about 2 weeks.  And somehow we have to make room in the freezers.  We have 3 freezers in the house (ridiculous, isn't it?) and they are all fairly full.  In case you're thinking that 1/8th of a cow couldn't be that much - well - it's SIXTY pounds of beef that we need to find room for!

Here's the current state of our deep freezer.  There is some room, but not 60 pounds worth of room.  Yes, it needs a defrosting.  My husband just piled all the chickens on top - which makes it difficult to know exactly what all is on the bottom. When I suggested that next year we put chickens on the bottom, he said, "Well you should just eat the chickens faster."  Wow, helpful, dear husband! 

We've got more chickens in this little top freezer.  Also quite a few salsas from the garden last summer.  I know there are frozen cooked veggies in the deep freezer too, but they are all buried in the bottom where I can't get to them. 

We've certainly been eating a lot of chicken lately!  I've also dug out zucchini bread, tomato pies, and pumpkin cookies all from last summer.  So fun to get to eat the spoils from the garden.  Wish us luck as we try to make our way through much of this in the next 2 weeks!  Chicken again, anyone?

What's in your freezer?

Got a post from this week that fits in with the rural or simple lifestyle theme?  Come link up with us!  To get the most out of participating in a blog hop, be sure to visit and comment on at least 3 other links (and more if you have time).  It's a great way to find new bloggers.  Be sure to enter the url (link) to the actual webpage of your post (not your general blog).  It would be wonderful if you shared the beautiful button that Nancy made in your blog post as well. 

I can't wait to go visiting those who link up to see through your eyes the rural life.  And Happy Groundhog Day!

Instead of Candy in Your Valentines...Why Not Make Playdoh?

I confess I'm not always super excited about the bags of candy the boys bring home from school after every little holiday.  Oh, I don't begrudge them the candy, I do want them to live a little, but I sometimes wish there wasn't so much, particularly of the lollipop variety.  We still have Dum Dums sitting around from Halloween - I should throw them out!

A cute alternative, particularly with a small group of kids like a preschool class, might be to make your own playdoh.  It's simple to do, your kids can help, and it's inexpensive.

You'll need:
2 cups flour
2 cups water
1 cup salt
2 tbsp. oil
4 tsp. cream of tartar
Red food coloring

1.  Combine flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a large saucepan.
2.  Gradually stir in water mixed with oil and food coloring (I used about 1/4 tsp. red)
3.  Cook over low heat stirring constantly until a ball forms.  When it feels like your arm is going to fall off, you are almost there!  It can be a little hard to stir at the end.
4.  Remove from heat.  This is the part where the kids will enjoy helping - have them knead the dough for 5 minutes.  It's smooth and warm - so much fun!
5.  Package in cute containers.  This recipe makes enough for 10 small servings.

 You can find these cute hippo tupperwares at Dollar Tree - 2 for $1.00.  Still too costly?  Try ziploc baggies, and add the child's name to each bag.  Then allow your child to decorate them with heart stickers. 

A fun way to send a Valentine, that will last a lot longer than a lollipop!  Do you have any fun ideas for Valentine's Day this month?

This post linked with Mommy Club Linkup at Milk and Cuddles. 

Taking Omega 3s for Ultimate Health

Do you think, on a daily basis, about small things you can do to improve your health?  One of the supplements that I really like are Omega 3s.  They help maintain a healthy heart and circulatory system, they support joint flexibility and movement, and they maintain a healthy immune system.  They also support optimal metabolism and body composition, help balance blood sugar levels, and support the body's natural anti-inflammatory response.  These are all things that I really care about as a runner and a mom. 

Recently I received some Ultimate Omega-D3 from Nordic Naturals to review.  Their products provide all the good and essential fatty acids without the risk of toxicity that you might get from fish.  Not to mention, fish has gotten quite expensive in the supermarkets lately (we aren't eating it in my family as often as we used to as a result) and it's more economical at this point to get your Omega 3s in a pill form.  Nordic Naturals Omega 3s are 750% purer than fish.  They have a mild lemon taste (no fishiness after taking one!). 

I liked that the pills are soft gels, because I have a hard time with large pills.  These don't seem to bother my stomach.  They even sent some samples (in a cute ecofriendly reusable produce bag) - so Pierce got to try their strawberry chewables (he loved them) and our border collie, Scooter, got to try some pet Omega 3s on his food. 

Nordic Naturals is currently running a What's Essential contest, where you can share your own story about what matters most in your life, and enter to win a trip to California and other prizes.  You can check it out here. 

Disclaimer: I was sent a bottle of Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega D3 for purposes of review.  All of the opinions stated above are entirely my own. 

Groundhog Day Themed Muffin Tin Monday

Groundhog Day is just around the corner.  When I explained the tradition to Pierce, he was fascinated.  He gets pretty excited about the changing of seasons.

 

Pierce had ranch bacon chicken salad wraps (made from one of our own chickens - sooooo yummy), pasta salad, apples, and pickles (canned from last year's garden).  In addition, he had a groundhog in pudding with crushed cookies.  I have to give credit for the groundhog idea to Angela from WV Treasures.  Thanks Angela!

Pierce is torn.  He wants the snow of winter (since we still haven't actually had any snow) but he also wants it to be spring.  Can't wait to see what the groundhog says on Thursday!

For more cute lunch ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom. 

Special Dining in the Rainforest with Bertolli Roasted Chicken and Rotini Pasta Soup

Bertolli has a variety of new restaurant quality soups out. They are prepared on the stovetop in about 5 minutes.  Each one is individually flash frozen at the peak of freshness for maximum flavor.  I was excited to try the soups with my family and prepare a special meal for them - with less than one hour of prep time.  I decided to go with a rainforest theme - my boys just love animals.

First, I used my bread machine to make a dough.  I used a dough recipe for challah and added 10 drops of green food coloring.  This took about 5 minutes of prep time.  Then the bread machine took care of the rest.  Once the dough was ready, I took it out and stretched it and shaped it around some custard cups.  Then I transferred it to a greased baking sheet and let it rise an hour.  Total active prep time on this about another 5 minutes.  (If necessary, you could make the dough the day before, and place it in the fridge until ready to bring out for shaping and rising). 

I added raisins for eyes and pepperoni cut to a forked tongue shape before baking the bread at 375* for 25 minutes.  I left the custard cups nestled around the bread to help it hold shape.  I then tossed together a prepared Caesar salad and started pulling together the table.  I used blue cellophane and floral moss to create the Amazon river down the middle of our table.  I used family silver and blue laced napkins to add a little beauty.  Small, red votive candles were also a nice touch.  Then I started the soup.  Cort was impatient and got in his chair before dinner was ready.

The boys had monkey plates, bowls, and cups on bamboo placemats.  Small stuffed animals from the rainforest came to dinner too.

Paul and I had butterfly themed plates and bowls, with blue goblets for our drinks.  I had a frog eating beside me for the evening.  Can you see the slight green tinge to the snake bread?

Cort really approved of the soup!  Actually, we all did.  I'm not a huge fan of canned soups or microwave dinners, so I was a little skeptical at first.  But the soup tastes homemade.  The veggies are tender crisp with lots of flavor.  And the chicken isn't all rubbery without flavor like so many frozen meals - no, the chicken was tender and tasted as though it had just been baked fresh in the oven.  Overall, it was a delicious meal, and I think took me about 45 minutes total in prep time to pull together a fun themed meal for my family.  They loved the special settings and I think having more formal circumstances helped them to eat more enthusiastically.  Cort took his first bite and exclaimed, "YUMMY!"

For more fun and easy meal ideas, you can check out Bertolli on Facebook, twitter, and of course, the Bertolli website.  The website is very user-friendly, and I found it helpful in locating a nearby grocery store that carried their soups. 

How do you make meal time special at your house?

Disclaimer: I was compensated by Bertolli to participate in the Weeknight Meal Special Challenge.  All of the opinions stated above are entirely my own (and my family's). 

A new Rural Life Themed Blog Hop - Linky - Meme Starts Thursday!

I am so excited to tell you all about the new blog hop that is starting this week - Rural Thursdays.  Finally, a place you can come to share with other bloggers your adventures in gardening and canning, breadmaking and sewing projects, egg gathering and varmint fighting.  Indeed, it's going to be a great place to meet other like-minded bloggers.  And you don't have to be living the rural life to link up - rural is all a state of mind in living the simple life. 

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Nancy from a Rural Journal was kind enough to invite me to cohost this blog hop.  I've loved Nancy's blog forever (well, it seems that way) and am so excited to be working together on this project.  She takes gorgeous photos (and has mad photo editing skills that leave me envious) and she is also witty and humorous - the type of blogger that leaves you eager to read her daily posts.  She's a committed blogger, and a wonderful commenter as well.  If you're not already following Nancy, I highly recommend you subscribe to her blog.

Now, if you haven't done a blog hop before, it's so easy.  It's one of the most productive ways to meet other bloggers and help your own blog grow.  Basically, you'll do your blog post, then grab the code from the button (you can see it on my sidebar - just copy the jibberish below the button and paste it into your blog post).  Then you can come either here or to Rural Journal on Thursday to link up your post, and visit other blogs as well.  To get the most out of doing a blog hop, I'd recommend you visit and comment on at least 5 other folks that link up (the more the better, if you have the time).  You can get more details by visiting Nancy's page here. 

Looking forward to reading your posts on Thursday!  If you have any questions or need clarification, please don't hesitate to ask.