Prefense Review and Giveaway

It's that time of year when our families start getting coughs and sniffles. One of the reasons I dislike cold weather. I try to make sure I'm getting all my vitamins, juicing vegetables and fruit and sanitizing/washing my hands frequently. I've been known to go a whole winter without even a single cold!

I discovered a product called Prefense

One application LAST ALL DAY!

I've never seen anything like it in the stores. Another reason why I love it, is it's alcohol free. My hands get dry very easily with certain soaps and hand sanitizers.

Another reason why I love this product... it includes organic essential oils. You know how I love my essential oils.

This sanitizer is safe for your child to take to school, it's non toxic and non flammable. Because the hand sanitizer is so long lasting, it is way more cost effective than other hand sanitizers. 1.5 oz Prefense Foaming Hand Sanitizer offers 120 applications, costing only $.08 per day, compared to $1.20 per day with alcohol hand sanitizers.

You can order Prefense at their website http://www.prefense.com/ or on Amazon

Would you like your own bottle of Prefense?

Mandatory Entry:

1. Be a blog follower and leave your email address

Extra Entries

2. Like Prefense on facebook  (3 entries)

3. Like me on facebook  (3 entries)

4. Follow Prefense on twitter

5. Follow me on twitter

6. Tweet about this giveaway using @Prefense in tweet.

7. Share this giveaway on facebook

8. Tell me why you would like to win this giveaway

9. Blog about this giveaway (5 entries)

10. Place my button on your blog

11. Add my blog to your blog roll

Contest ends 10/25/11. Winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond or new winner will be chosen.

I received a bottle of Prefense to review. I was not required to write a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Pizza Alla Romana

This is from the food network site.

I used my pizza dough recipe

2 teaspoons salt



9 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil


2 thin slices prosciutto, cut into thin strips


6 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced


1 large Roma tomato, cored, seeded, and diced


1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt


1/4 cup roughly chopped basil leaves


Using your hands, press the dough so that it fits evenly across the entire pan. Spread the prosciutto strips evenly over the surface of the dough, then top with the sliced mozzarella. Sprinkle the chopped tomatoes over the top then drizzle with the remaining 6 tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle the top evenly with basil and the kosher salt and bake until golden brown, about 15 to 17 minutes. Rotate the focaccia half way through the cook time to ensure even browning.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting and serving.




Tuesdays at the Table
Tempt My Tummy
This Chick Cooks
What's Cooking Thursday
Full PlateThursday

The Shunning DVD Review and GIVEAWAY

I mostly read non-fiction books. I'm always trying to feed my brain. But I have one fiction weakness... Amish books.

Especially Beverly Lewis books.

I can't put them down. I usually finish them in one day.

So imagine my surprise and excitment that there is a MOVIE of The Shunning!

The movie is about a young Amish girl set on a path that she questions. Once she finds out she is actually adopted, she further questions her life and what path she should be on.

I really enjoyed the movie. I think you would too. Would you like the chance to win a copy of this DVD?

Mandatory Entry:

1. Go to facebook and like The Shunning. Be a blog follower, and leave your email address in your mandatory entry.

Extra Entries

2. Go to The Shunning website and tell me who plays Katie Lapp (3 entries)

3. Like me on facebook (3 entries)

4. Share this giveaway on facebook

5. Follow me on twitter

6. Tweet this giveaway

7. Blog about this giveaway (4 entries)

8. Add my button to your blog

9. Add my blog to your blog roll

10. Tell me what your favorite Beverly Lewis book is

Contest ends 10/7
Winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond or new winner will be chosen.

I received a copy of this DVD to review. I was not required to write a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An Explanation of Sorts

I have went back and forth whether to explain while I haven't been posting as much. Considering this is a fun blog about recipes, garage sale finds and giveaways. I don't get into personal info here.

But I keep feeling more and more guilty for not explaining.

I don't remember if I have really mentioned it here but my 4th pregnancy I had HELLP Syndrome. I was in the prenatal ICU and on the verge of losing my life at any moment and the baby's. Everyone that came into the room had such a solemn face. I remember thinking judging from the looks on everyone's faces, 'Am I going to die?' But there was one person that didn't have that "look", my husband. Later people told me he was more worried about what he was going to eat that day than about me.

This wasn't something new, this lack of empathy on his part.

After surviving that week, having an emergency c-section and giving birth to a beautiful 1 pound baby girl I came home without my baby (she stayed in the NICU) to a house that was destroyed. You see my husband to refused to cook or clean.

For the next 4 months we lived on an emotional roller coaster. We watched our baby struggle for hours trying to breathe without a ventilator. We saw her skin peel from lack of moisture, we watched her tiny body continue to form. We visited every single day. Everyday you walked into that tiny room and washed your hands for 3 minutes and composed yourself for when the nurse would walk into the room and inform you of the baby's health and struggles. We were wonderous through this. Partners in cheering this baby on to fight hard and live because she was going to come home and a have a bright future in our close knit family.

The day finally came for OUR turn to walk in with a carseat and bring our baby home! Husband was in a bad mood that day because he didn't think the nurse that day was friendly. Then when we brought her home, I had hard time figuring out her oxygen tank. This angered him even more.

From that moment on he was lost. I don't know if he disconnected because our lives had changed so dramatically. The laughter and spontaniety of our lives were gone. In exchange we had  hospitalizations, doctor appts, therapy appts, and specialists. We could not take the baby out in public since she had lung disease (not to mention an oxygen tank and an apnea monitor). I can't tell you how much his support would have helped me. I was so depressed.

I did it all alone. He just seemed miserable. I woke every 3 hours through the night to feed her and I slept on the couch with her since that was where the oxygen machine was.

He started to leave alot to go watch football games with the boys. I was a zombie. I couldn't keep up with the house and my other 3 children and all of the baby's special needs.

Before the baby turned one I was pregnant again but got dropped off at the ER due to pain in my abdomen. It was an ectopic pregnancy. I called my parents since he dropped me off at the hospital alone and I was going to have surgery. I came home and he never comforted me or talked to me about the pregnancy. Just continued to be distant and cold.

A few weeks after that I found out he had been cheating on me after we brought the baby home from the NICU. With several women, using facebook.

Why any woman would be that hard up for attention, I will never understand.

Somehow all this got turned around on me. He cheated because he wasn't happy. It was my fault. I didn't keep an immaculate home while caring for a sick preemie apparently. The house was too chaotic (yes we had 2 dogs, 1 cat and 4 kids).

I wanted this to work, I didn't want to lose my family. I had been with husband since I was 17 years old. I became a shell of my former self. Trying to be a stepford wife, trying to never make a mistake. Because I was never allowed to make mistakes.

Finally last October, he left and said he was staying at his dad's a few days to think about his life. He never came back home. I didn't know what was going on. He told me there was no one else. He was just thinking about things..and that he was being faithful and I was expected to be as well. If he even thought I talked to another guy he would freak out.

Come to find out he was living with another woman, not his dad. He didn't tell me until March he wanted a divorce. I said Ok. But he continued to be jealous and nosy about me and we continued a physical relationship (I still didn't know he was living with the other woman).

Then when I found out they had been living together I sent her message letting her know that he had been playing us both. That he was still sleeping with me this whole time.

She didn't care. She actually rewarded him by renting a bigger house for them all to live in and they went on vacation (on our 14th wedding anniversary). Right now as I'm typing this they are on an Alaskan cruise. While I had to get groceries from a food pantry last week and I have no running vehicle for transportation and 4 kids. We haven't even filed for divorce.

Our kids are confused. They don't understand why he does everything for her kids but not them. Last week he saw them one evening, knowing he was going to be gone for a week on a cruise. So that's one night in 2 weeks he seen our kids, but yet he went to her kids school for a meet the teacher, babysat them, and watched them play soccer.

I have mixed feelings about them both. Sometimes, I want to be his friend. We were always good friends. But then I think, who needs a friend like that. With her, sometimes I hate her. Other times, I feel sorry for her that she would even make the choice to be with someone like that. But then when I think about how bad I needed my husband after the birth of our baby and she was all too happy to distract him, I hate her again. Obviously there is hurt and low self esteem in her past to make her even want to be with someone who has done what he has done to her and to me.

Through counseling I'm getting help trying to get back to myself. For 18 years I have been with a sociopath and a sex addict. I guess I thought things would change after we went through our daughter's struggles. I thought that would change him seeing his 1 pound baby struggle to live and seeing his wife close to death. He changed all right, just not for the better.

So through depression, struggles with anxiety and lack of money I have had hard time posting. I haven't really had the money to make new recipes.

Good news is, through all this God gave me a second chance at life. A good life. Being happy with myself or with a partner. I have met someone who couldn't be more opposite than my sociopathic ex. I'm better just from knowing him. Makes me realize how bad I had it for so long, and I will never settle for less than I deserve ever again. The minute you settle for less than you deserve you get even less than that. And this is just a short explanation. I could never get into all that I have been through with him.

I don't think Angie S. will ever understant the pain that she has put everyone through just because she lacks the self esteem to find a good man and have high standards not just for herself but for her kids. I raised my standards, my ex doesn't even meet them now. You will be amazed at what type of significant other you can attract when you refuse to settle for liars and cheaters.

So I hope to get back to posting more. My boyfriend loves food just as much as I do and he is a better cook than me (just don't tell him I said that).

So don't lose faith in me. Look forward to new recipes in the future!

Recipes From Blogland: Birthday Cake Blondies

   LOVIN FROM THE OVEN

Benefits of Drinking Coconut Water: PHENOM At GNC

What is coconut water?

Coconut water is what you will find when you open up a coconut before it matures. Once it matures the water solidifies to the coconut flesh we usually see.

This water is a naturally isotonic beverage with zero fat and contains more potassium than a banana.

Coconut water is so hydrating, it's a natural and healthy choice as a sport drink or after workout drink.

GNC now offers coconut water that is infused with GNC vitamins and minerals! This line is called PHENOM

Choose from these different varieties:

Phenom-Hydro
has added electrolytes
promotoes hydration
Pure flavor

Phenom-Mega V
added electrolytes and multivitamins
vitamin rich
Pure flavor, Pineapple Punch, Orange Guava Passion

Phenom-Energy
with electrolytes, multivitamins and energizing ingredients
enhanced with B vitamins to support energy production, plus caffeine
Lemon Mojito, Acai Peach Flavors

When can coconut water be useful to you?

When you’re sick


When you take medication

After you exercise

After alcohol consumption

From heat

During pregnancy

As you age


Did you know coconut water is an all natural sport and energy drink
Top 5 Reasons to drink coconut water as an athlete


Did you know you can help prevent a hangover with coconut water??
How to Prevent a Hangover with Coconut Water

 
CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE
PHENOM WATER

free coupon for PHENOM™ until May 15.


Like GNC on facebook
Follow GNC on twitter

Do a search on benefits of coconut water and tell me what you think?
What flavor would you be interested in trying?

Cauliflower Gratin

uhhhhhhhhhhh not the best picture.

This is a recipe from Jessica Seinfeld's second book, Double Delicious.

Cauliflower Gratin

1 medium head cauliflower

1 tbsp butter

2 tsp flour

1 cup nonfat milk

1/2 cup cheese

1/2 cup butternut squash or carrot puree

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tbsp grated Parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 400 f. Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Cut the cauliflower into bite size florets. Blanch for 2 to 3 mins so that they just begin to get tender but are still firm. Drain in a colander and set aside.

2. In the same saucepan, melt the margarine. Whisk in the flour and cook 1 min over medium heat. Slowly whisk in the milk to prevent lumps from forming and bring to a boil. The mixture will begin to thicken. Cook 2 to 3 mins more. Reduce the heat to low and add the cheddar, butternut squash or carrot puree, salt and pepper.

3. Add the cauliflower to the cheese mixture and transfer to a greased 9 inch baking dish. Top with grated Parmesan. Bake for 15 mins until the gratin is bubbly and the top begins to brown. Serve immediately.

Great way to get kids to eat some veggies ;)

Tempt My Tummy
Tasty Tuesday

Easy Yummy Waffles

Ingredients


2 cups all-purpose flour


1 teaspoon salt


4 teaspoons baking powder


2 tablespoons white sugar


2 eggs


1 1/2 cups warm milk


1/3 cup butter, melted


1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1.In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder and sugar; set aside. Preheat waffle iron to desired temperature.



2.In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the milk, butter and vanilla. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture; beat until blended.


3.Ladle the batter into a preheated waffle iron. Cook the waffles until golden and crisp
 
I got this from allrecipes.com

Tasty Tuesday

LAST DAY FOR LOW ENTRY GIVEAWAY

 


WISHAROO PARK AND CAPEZIO DANCE PRIZE PACK

I extended this giveaway for a day because I was not on the computer yesterday to promote it's last day and it's low entry. You have such a good chance of winning! Little ballet shoes and tap shoes..c'mon! Sooo cute.