As a mom with kids home for the summer, I'm always looking for fun things to keep my kids busy! It's sometimes hard filling up so much free time! Gloria from The Resourceful Gals contacted me and wondered if I would review some fun e-books. She's from a super talented family and they are books that her children have written. As soon as I saw them, I was totally on board! Let me show you why...
Jewels by Julia
Julia has written three really great e-books on how to create necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Her tutorials are really detailed and explain everything you need to know to create beautiful high quality jewelry! I got the How to Create Noticeably Noteworthy Necklaces book. I was actually planning to make a necklace for my review, but after reading through her book, I definitely want to wait until I can get the right high quality supplies. The first thing I said to my husband is "These would make great Christmas presents!" So, if you're a Christmas in July kind of person....these are perfect!! You can buy Julia's books on her website http://jewelsbyjuliashop.com/ and they are all very affordable!
Warfare by Duct Tape
Warfare by Duct Tape is such a fun company! I got The Knight Book to review. It is so fun! It is 81 pages full of detailed tutorials on how to make multiple weapons and knight gear. These books would be perfect for boys, birthday parties or even homeschooling!
My boys and I whipped up some swords to play with. Not only did they have fun making them, they got hours of use in just one afternoon! And each sword was extremely inexpensive to make - we
re talking less than $1 a piece. You can't beat high quality homemade toys for that price! Another bonus of the book is the game at the beginning. So fun!
Gloria has generously offered to give 5 e-books away which means FIVE winners!! And you get to choose which one you want!
And if you just can't wait for the giveaway to end,
You can get 20% off your order using code loveandlaundry20
But hurry, the discount code is only good through June 30th!
This post brought to you by Miracle-Gro. All opinions are 100% mine.
Are you a grower? I love summer just for my garden! Have you heard of The Gro Project from Miracle-Gro? I love it!
Let me show you what I'm doing with Miracle-Gro in my yard this year!
I finally got my garden planted! I love, love, love gardening!! I have a huge garden in our 1 acre yard (that's country livin for ya!). It's 672 square feet! I actually changed up a few things this year, though. If you followed me last year, here's my last year garden plan. I was incredibly ambitious!
This year, we're going to be gone quite a bit through the summer, so I didn't plant as much. I left my big garden box pretty much empty.
Part of the reason that I did that is because I want to change up my garden a little bit to make it better. More like this:
I want to build five 4x16 boxes to replace our huge box. I think it will help cut down on weeds and I'll be able to reach the plants a little better. But, the biggest reason I want to change is because our natural soil isn't very good. It is completely full of rocks! We actually brought in dirt just for our garden. The dirt is better, but it's obviously not perfect.
For the last several years, I have mixed in a bag of Miracle-Gro with the dirt in each of my 5 small boxes I never do it in the big box because it's so huge! It would cost me a fortune. I can't even begin to tell you the difference in the soil quality! My plants grow 10,000 times better in the small boxes!
You can even SEE the difference in the soil! I'm hoping if I make my large box into smaller boxes, I can improve the soil so much better and easier. So, they aren't planted this year.
I've also been working on some other gardening projects. We got some new flower pots to put by our deck and filled the old ones with more flowers. I used Moisture Control Potting Mix in the smaller pots so the flowers would grow better. So far, they look gorgeous!
One of my favorite things about Miracle-Gro is all of the great resources they have! If you already have a green thumb or are just starting out, they have lots of tips and advice. They even have some fun garden projects that you definitely need to check out! You can also check out www.MiracleGro.com and follow the Miracle-Gro Pinerest page for mountians of gardening resources and ideas!
So, tell me. What are your gardening projects this year?
I have a confession to make. We have a smoker in our family. Let me clarify. Not the smoker that you're thinking. A meat smoker. Isn't it beautiful?
Okay, you got me. That's not really ours. But it's one like ours! And we
love it! I never post recipes on here that use the smoker, but we use
it all the time during the summer. And I almost always have to just make
salads because my hubby is the smoking expert resident in our family.
If you've never smoked meat before, it is such a yummy way to cook! At the bottom of the post, I'll explain how to smoke using your grill just in case you don't have a fancy meat smoker like my husband.
He makes this really delicious bacon wrapped smoked pork stuffed with apples and onions. And it's my favorite thing in the world! It's like Christmas for me every time he volunteers to make it! Usually he gets in ready in the middle of the night while I'm sleeping so I can't take pictures. But, this time he did it in the middle of the day!
I'm not used to taking pictures of someone else cooking. Usually I just have to hold as still as I can while I cook. He wouldn't hold still for me, so some of the pictures are blurry.
This is the kind of recipe that calls for a tutorial. You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? In this case, it will save me a thousand, probably very confusing, words!
Ingredients:
2 1lb Pork Loin
1 lb thick cut bacon
1 apple, thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce
Creole Seasoning (I'll show you a picture a little later)
brown sugar
First, start by butterfly-ing the pork loin.
Sprinkle some Creole Seasoning on the inside of the pork. This is the creole seasoning. You can get it at Walmart in the seasoning aisle.
Now sprinkle some brown sugar. Not a ton, but enough to make an even layer.
Then add a layer of bacon.
Then, some slice apples and onions
Then close that baby up!
For the outside, sprinkle more creole seasoning and brown sugar on both sides - just like we did in the middle.
Then, wrap the whole thing in bacon.
Generously coat the pork with Sweet Baby Rays Barbecue Sauce.
Stuff the pork in your meat smoker with hickory chips and smoke at 160 degrees for 5-6 hours. It is so juicy and tender when it's done! And the mix of flavors is just to die for!
Another thing I love about this recipe is that it feeds a crowd! We make this almost every time we invite people over for dinner. And I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like it!
Meat Smoking 101
Okay, so how do you smoke meat? I'm going to assume that if you own a meat smoker, you probably already know what you're doing. If not, let me know...I can always talk about the basics of using a smoker. There are lots of different kinds - charcoal and electric. We own an electric one so that we don't have to monitor the temperature.
But, the great news is, you can actually smoke meat inside your grill! We actually did that for a long time until we burned through so much propane that we finally gave in and bought an actual meat smoker.
You need wood chips or chunks. We like hickory the best, but you can also get applewood, maple, mesquite - all different kinds! Grab a handful of the chips or chunks and soak them in water for about half an hour.
I found a couple of youtube videos to watch. These aren't mine, but they should give you a pretty good idea of how to smoke on your grill!
So, Father's Day. It's getting kind of close. Like tomorrow. It's usually about the day before that I realize that I need to throw something together finish wrapping my husband's present. Love you, babe! Well, just in case you forgot about Father's Day, I've got you covered! Just whip up a batch of these Bacon Chocolate Cupcakes for your man and he will love you forever! And if for some reason he doesn't like them, you can say they were from the kids. Just kidding. He'll love them. They are divine! I like to think of these cupcakes as a good fit for everyone in the family. Bacon for the guys. Chocolate for the girls. Maple syrup for the kids. Works, right? But it really is a great combination of flavors! Almost like breakfast in cupcake form. Hmmmm....could I justify making these for breakfast? I might have to try that.
