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More on Private Selection

I FINALLY got to try out the Private Selection pie with the free coupon I got from bzzagent.com. I was hoping to try cherry but all I could find was dutch apple so I decided to go ahead and try apple since these pies have been so difficult to find!

As I was checking out the lady at the register told me about how good the pie was and how much she and her husband loved it. So, I was all ready for a great experience.

I tipped it over in the car so the pie ended up being squished to one side but I was able to mostly flatten it back out. We ate it for dessert the other night. It’s really, very tasty. Much better than I was expecting from a packaged pie in the deli section. The top was crunchy and the apples in the center were soft and sweet.

I think it’s called a personal pie but a 6″ pie is really just right for me and my husband to share.

I’ll definitely be purchasing this again next time I want a sweet treat for after dinner!

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Oreo Birthday Cake

For my Birthday I made my own cake. Now, before you say you’re sorry I had to make my own cake, you have to know, it was between making my own cake and letting my husband make my cake. I’ve never seen him bake so I probably would not get a cake in the end and it would be much more work for me to walk him through the cake making process.

It was a delicious cake with a fun topper. I love Indiana Jones!

And, I had fun taking pictures of my cake…

I got the recipe from a blog called My Baking Addiction. It was delicious! The icing really tasted just like the oreo filling and what’s not to like about an entire box of oreos on the cake!

Oreo Cake

INGREDIENTS:

For the Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix {with or without pudding}
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

For the Oreo Buttercream

1 stick salted butter – room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter – room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 pounds confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar, 10x)
3-4 tablespoons very cold milk
25 Oreo cookies chopped

DIRECTIONS:

For the Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottoms of (2) 9 inch round cake pans with parchment and grease pans thoroughly.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mix, salt vanilla, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and divide batter into the prepared pans.

3. Bake for 25-35 minutes, rotating pans half way through baking the baking time. Bake until the top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake for at least 30 minutes before inverting. Allow cake to cool completely on wire rack.

For the Oreo Buttercream

1. Cream the butters in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract and combine well.

2. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, begin adding the very cold milk… one tablespoon at a time, combining well after each addition until you reach the desired consistency.

3. Fold in chopped Oreo Cookies and frost your cooled cake layers.

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Private Selection Product Testing

I got to try out some great Private Selection products as part of another Bzz Campaign from bzzagent.com. I got coupons to try three different items for free this time. Ice Cream, ground beef, and a personal pie.

1. I loved the ice cream. I tried the black raspberry chip with my coupon and also purchased a chocolate moose tracks. Both were delicious! Black raspberry chip is my favorite ice cream flavor and most brands don’t carry it so I was so excited to see that Private Selection has it! Graeters is still my favorite ice cream brand ever, but Private Selection came pretty close. And Private Selection is a lot cheaper. All in all, I’ll definitely be purchasing Private Selection ice cream again!

2. Ground Angus Beef. I used this to make tacos one night for company. The tacos were delicious. To me though, ground beef is ground beef and I have trouble telling the difference in flavor or texture between this and the Kroger store brand. The Private Selection Angus beef is at least twice as much as the Kroger store brand ground beef so it’s hard for me to justify purchasing the more expensive meat. It sounds like it should taste better so I may purchase this again, but only with a coupon or on sale.

3. Personal pie. The coupon is for a free 6″ apple or cherry pie. Unfortunately, I hunted 2 Krogers (I even asked the lady at the deli counter) for these pies and they were not to be found. My coupon doesn’t expire for a while yet so maybe I’ll still get to try them. I was really looking forward to my very own cherry pie…

Private Selection’s products are pretty good. A little more expensive than the store brand and a little cheaper than a name brand so when I have a coupon I definitely prefer Private Selection to a name brand since I can save so much money and it tastes basically the same.

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My Favorite Online Deal Sites

Every so often I like to make a list of my favorite online deal sites. These sites tend to change fairly often just because I find that usually when a site first starts up they have great deals and then as time goes on the deals are no longer that great.

My Habit – This site is run by Amazon and while I think the deals are sometimes good and sometimes bad, shipping is always free. On most deal sites shipping isn’t free and shipping is often more expensive than the item I want to purchase. My Habit has men’s, women’s, children’s, and home.

Sneak Peeq – My latest favorite. They have home, attire, and food. Some of the sales have free shipping and some don’t. If you order one thing you get free shipping on the rest of the site for 24 hours. You can only view the prices on 20 items a day, but they have unique things, and I’ve gotten some really great deals off of here. ($2 for two cotton kitchen towels).

Zulily – Children and women’s clothing, toys, and educational items. Every now and then they run a free shipping deal if you order so much. I don’t order off of here often because I don’t like paying shipping but their deal prices are pretty good and if you find several things that you want the shipping doesn’t seem so bad.

The Mini Social – Children’s clothing, toys, etc. I like their deals but I don’t like to pay shipping so I don’t order from here often but when I’m looking for a deal on some child item I just have to have, this is a pretty good site.

The Foundary – Home, and sometimes toys. They often carry expensive brands and even discounted I’m not willing to pay for them, but they also have sales that I really like the prices. I’ve purchased from here several times this past year. When I’m looking for something for my house this is a great site to find something unique and discounted.

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Garnier Fructis Review

I got to try Garnier Fructis’s new Sleek & Shine Shampoo and Conditioner from bzzagent.com.

First of all, I like the scent of the shampoo and conditioner. It’s very mild, and a little bit sweet. The scent doesn’t seem to stay on my hair after I rinse it out, which is always nice.

I have slightly wavy hair and this shampoo and conditioner combination helps to keep my hair from getting frizzy, and keeps my hair feeling softer and shinier.

However, the shampoo tends to straighten my hair a bit, which doesn’t work well if I’m going for a wavy style. As long as I decide how I want to fix my hair before I wash it, it’s no big deal. I also noticed that after a week of using it it’s kind of building up in my hair a little bit, so I need to use a different shampoo at least once a week to keep this from happening.

So, it smells good, makes my hair soft, shiny, and straight, and it builds up in my hair just a bit. In the end, I like the shampoo pretty well, but I think I still like my old shampoo better.

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Free Photo Canvas

Canvas People has their Free 8X10 canvas or $50 off any canvas coupon code again. You can order as many canvases as you like and you get the discount on each one. I just ordered two with photos from our latest family pictures!

If you order an 8X10 canvas shipping is $15 and for any other canvas shipping is $5.

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Radio Flyer Wagon

I have a 3yr old and a 1yr old and we love to spend time at our local (or almost local, it’s about an hour away) amusement park and water park. Last year I pushed the oldest in the stroller and carried the baby but this year that’s not an option since they’re both getting so big. So, I went on a hunt for a good two-seater stroller option.

My first thought was to purchase this Graco Ready2Grow Stand and Ride Stroller. I love that the children sit back to back so they can’t kick each other. However, I have trouble with my current stroller getting wet and otherwise dirty at the water park and it’s so hard to clean a stroller. Plus, I would still have to lift my 3yr old in and out of this stroller. If I had an infant again this year this would have been my pick. But, since I have two young children and no infant I decided to go a different rout.

I decided to purchase this Radio Flyer Ultimate Comfort Wagon for the girls this summer. It’s plastic and it has drain holes in the bottom. So, when it gets dirty all I have to do is take it outside and hose it off. Or, I could have the girls clean it while I clean the cars.

I took it with me to the amusement park for the first time this past week and I loved it! It rolls really well – sometimes a little too well, it’s easy for my 3yr old to get in and out of, and the seats are super easy to move around for one or two children. Part of the time both girls rode facing each other, part of the time just the baby rode with the tray down and her bowl of popcorn on top, and near the end of the day when they were getting cranky they both rode facing the same direction so they couldn’t kick each other any more. It takes just a few seconds to move the seats, so much easier than I was expecting!

And the best part, it was so much easier to get all the popcorn out than it was with my stroller! I really think the girls had more room, and definitely more freedom, than they would have in the stroller.

As for cons, the wagon rolls really well, which is great unless you’re going down hill. With both girls in it it kind of pushes me down the hills. Next time I’m going to try turning it around and taking it down the hill backwards so it doesn’t run me over. On the bright side, it’s pretty easy to get it up a hill.

Also, there’s no wheel locks like on a stroller so if I need it to stay in place while my child climbs in or out I have to keep it still, and I can’t park it on a hill. And there’s a lot of hills around here.

And, I haven’t figured out how to get it up or down steps so if a place doesn’t have a ramp I’m not sure what I’ll do. However, I don’t think a two seater stroller would be any easier and most buildings have a ramp somewhere.

All in all, I thought it was easier to pull around the park than a stroller, the girls had more room and more freedom, and the snacking was way easier to clean up after.

The storage bag easily fit my two beach towels, diapers, cups, extra clothes, and snacks. There’s still room for more beach towels, clothing, diapers, and anything else I need. I also love that each of the girls has a cup holder for their cups and there’s two cup holders for my cups (though my 1yr old figured out how to reach my cup – while buckled in. Every time I turned around she was helping herself to my drink).

I really enjoyed my new wagon, and I’m very happy with how easy it is to use. I can’t wait to see what else I can do with it this summer!

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Meringues

I love meringues! And this recipe is so easy to make. I make them every time I have extra egg whites. In this case, I had 10 extra egg whites after making my pudding so I made a triple batch. That’s a LOT of meringues!

Meringues
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup sugar

Have egg whites at room temperature. Add vanilla, cream of tartar, and dash salt. Beat to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, beating till very stiff peaks form. (Meringue will be glossy.)

Cover baking sheet with wax paper. Drop spoonfulls of meringue onto paper. Bake meringues at 275 for one hour. Turn off heat and let dry in the oven with the door closed for about 1 hour.

Makes about 3 dozen.

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Banana Cream Pie

There’s just something about a good banana cream pie. I tried out this pudding recipe earlier this year and loved it.

The pudding takes 5 egg yokes and since I doubled the pudding recipe for this pie I ended up using 10 egg yokes. And with my 10 extra whites I made meringues. I now have a house full of meringue cookies! (the meringue cookie recipe is coming up next)

Banana Cream Pie

Nilla Wafers for crust

4 bananas thinly sliced

Pudding
2              C whole milk

¾             C heavy cream

½             C sugar

3              T cornstarch

2              T flour

¼             t salt

5              large egg yolks

¼             C unsalted butter cut into ½” cubes

1              t vanilla extract

(double this for group sized pie)

Topping
2              C whipping cream

8              T sugar

¼             t rum flavoring

  1. Bring milk and cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, whisk sugar, cornstarch, flour, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add egg yolks; whisk until smooth (mixture will be very thick). Whisking constantly, gradually add milk mixture to yolk mixture. Return to saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until thick, 2-3 minutes. Add butter and vanilla, whisk until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl; press plastic wrap directly onto surface of pastry cream. Chill until set, at least 2 hours.
  2. Line bowl with nilla wafers. Put ½ cup pastry cream evenly over bottom of bowl. Layer half of the bananas. Spread ¾ cup pastry cream over bananas, layer the rest of the bananas. Spread the remainder of the pastry cream over bananas.
  3. Beat whipping cream, sugar, and rum flavoring until medium-stiff peaks form. Spread over pastry cream and serve.