Chocolate Crumb Bars Recipe

I used to buy chocolate crumb bars and then decided to myself some money and share the goodness with others by making them at home. The recipe that I used came directly off the Toll House website. The recipe can be found here: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/30257/Chocolate-Crumb-Bars/detail.aspx .

This recipe was okay but it was not as soft as the bakery's chocolate crumb bars that I used to go to. The site recommends that the crust should be baked until brown and that the total recipe should then be baked again for 25-30 minutes. I left it in the oven for 30 minutes and I think that this was too long. Next time I'm not going to leave the crust in the oven until it's brown. When I think that it's done and not browned then I will spread the hot mixture over the crust and only leave the finished recipe in the oven for 20 minutes.

What do you all think about my crumb bars pictured below? Do any of you have any great recipe's for chocolate crumb bars?

Thanks for reading. Don't be afraid to leave a comment below.

Dannon Greek Yogurt Review

I was not a fan of yogurt. It always tasted like curdled milk to me. I've started eating healthier and I wanted to add a food that would help me to feel full and also satisfy my sweet tooth.

Anyway, I decided to try Dannon Oikos in Coconut Vanilla. With 4.5 grams of fat and 160 calories, I thought it was a good snack idea. My only concern was the 19 grams of sugar. Still, with 11 grams of protein I was hoping that I would be full for a while.

This was a satisfying snack. Why is the yogurt brown? I added a tsp of cocoa powder which added 0.5 grams of fat and 10 calories. I LOVED the addition. My dislike for yogurt took a while to work on but I really like the smoothness, thickness and sweetness of Oikos. I'm going to buy a few more of these and split the containers in half so that I can have some yogurt and fruit in a snack serving.

What do you guys think about Dannon's Greek Yogurt. Do you all have anymore tips on how to make Greek Yogurt taste any better?

Thanks for reading!

Orchid Lake Candles Review

I won a giveaway at the start of the month from Orchid Lake Candles and was soooo excited. I won 10 cup tarts and I decided to sweeten the deal and order 16 more tarts on my own dime. I had heard great things about this company and couldn't wait to try their blends and scents. Since, there were so many good reviews about the company, I decided to choose 'safe' scents. I'm new to the wax world and I wanted to compare run of the mill scents with other companies. I also wanted to see how authentic each smell was. Did the apple scent really smell like apples? You guys know what I mean...

The way I'm going to present this review is to just comment on the cold sniff and as I warm each scent, I'll write a review on the throw and actual scent in different blogs.

I let my sister sort out her favorites, nice scents, and not interested scents. She also provided the descriptions. I just typed. Again these are her descriptions based on cold throw. I'm also guessing that these may need a longer cure time.

I'm going to be honest and tell you guys that I've been away for so long because I've been depressed and irritable. I let my sister smell these scents because I'm just over everything right now and I'm trying to recover one day at a time. I don't want to harshly judge something that I know has nothing to do with the product. Anyway, if you all would like a post later on down the road about what is going on I'll give you a general heads up. Until I'm feeling at full force, I'll post at least once a week.

Tie Dye Tart

So back to the review. These are my sister's thoughts:

Favorites:
4/5 of the samples made her favorites:

• Creamy Nutmeg- Extremely creamy. Light on the nutmeg. I enjoyed it and so did she. 
• Berry Bellini- Smells like fresh sweet berries. It reminds me of juicy, sweet raspberries. So, so good!
• Pear Noel- Light and fresh. Reminds me of a Jolly Rancher.
• Pumpkin Brulee- Creamy Pumpkin scent. I like that it's not overly spicy. I'm going to hold out as long as possible to warm this. Every time I walk past the box I smell this. It's smells so good! Like the creamiest pumpkin you can think of. 

1.5 oz. sizes:

• Serendipity (OLC)- Smells so nice. Like cherries and creme. 
• Oatmeal Milk and Honey- Smells like the soap. I can smell a bit of everything in here. Can't wait to melt and test. 
• Cinnamon Sugar Donut- I just smell cinnamon. My sister smells a box full of warm donuts. 
• Georgia Peach- Reminds me of those peach candies that I used to eat as a child. Can't wait to warm and be reminded of my childhood right now. So good!
• Sweet tea- Smells like tea and something else that I can't put my finger on... I'll tell you all when I warm.
• Mango Papaya- This really does smell like papaya. We had a tree out in the backyard where I grew up and as soon as I cold sniffed this, I knew this was the picked fresh off the tree scent. Still can't believe how realistic the scent is. I smell more papaya than mango. 
• Coconut Creme Pie- Smells lightly of coconut and pie crust. There's something else there but I can't put my finger on it. 
• Pina Colada- Smells just like the real thing! Gosh! I just close my eyes and imagine myself sipping one of these on a beach with a cherry on top. I love this!

Okay:
Raspberry- It smells like raspberry candy to me. Like a jolly rancher on a cold sniff if they had a raspberry flavor.
Nana's Coffee Cake- Spicy but it does have a strong pie crust scent.
Butter Pecan- Smells like butter pecan with lots of butter.
Appletini- Reminds me of greenery. We've never had martini's so I'm guessing this is what a martini smell's like. It really reminds me of a Gain scent. I can't put my finger on it. What do you guys think?
Island Cupcakes- This was on my sister's okay list but I really liked this scent. I could smell fresh pineapples. This was not an artificial pineapple scent and I look forward to ordering more pineapple scents from OLC.
Wild Cherry- Smells like cherry Pixy Stix.
Rum Cakes- Smells like rum to me. Have any of you all tried this scent? What do you all think about this scent?

Not Interested:
Blackberry Jam Cookie-right now I'm just smelling a sweet blackberry scent like a popsicle with butter.
Bread & Jam-Spicy.
Baked Apple Pie-extremely spicy.
Double Stuffed- Smells like Brownie Mix. Tempted to lick the bowl.
Apple Caramel Crunch- Spicy Apple and Caramel.
Butterscotch- Very light butterscotch scent. (I'm guessing that this was in the same bag as one of the spicy apple scents. Should be fine once I pop it into my warmer). I can use this as a mixer for sure.
Strawberry Muffin- Smells like heavy butter/pie crust and a dash of strawberries.
Pumpkin Apple Butter- Extremely spicy.
Monkey Farts- Soap and extremely light bubblegum and a very small dash of bananas.
Fresh Baked Bread- Smells like dough and yeast.
Winter Wonderland- Spicy. My sister says she smells pine trees.

As you can tell from my sister, she doesn't like spicy scents. On the other hand, my mom LOVES spicy scents so I'm sure that she will love all of the scents that have been described as spicy.

Overall, my package was well packed. There were no missing tops or cracked scents. I love the tie-dye effects.

My advice to those that are newbies like me would be to give your mailed package a day to air out before judging the scents and to separate like scents together in the boxes or storage containers. I liked my order and generous samples. Thanks so much Wendy for the giveaway!

Have you all tried Orchid Lake Candles? What do you think about the scents. Are any of you into wax tarts? Do you enjoy fruity scents, coffee scents, spicy scents, bakery scents? What fall scents are you looking forward to?

Thanks for reading!

Miss Jessie's Creme De La Curl Review

My sister bought a 1 fl oz. of Miss Jessie's Creme De La Curl on her yearly trip to the BSS. She gave it to me after her mixed experiences with other Miss Jessie's products and I decided to try it out. For the month of September, I'm going shampoo free.

Miss Jessie's Creme De La Curl is a cleansing cream. According to them, it's "finally a no lather sulfate-free shampoo that leaves your hair and scalp silky smooth." Go figure. The cleansing creme is light blue, thick and smells like baby powder. It has that oily feeling of Hair One's Cowash and As I Am Coconut Cowash but unlike some of the Miss Jessie's products that I have tried it doesn't have that almost gritty feeling ( the only way I can describe it is if you rub baby powder between your fingers).

With the cleansing creme in my hair, my curls were popping. Also, these past few days have been extremely hot! I've been sweating, stuck in traffic and just been putting a headband around my head.  The product does say that it "removes product buildup and washes away the daily grime without leaving your hair or scalp dried out." When I washed using Miss Jessie's I could see the dirt leaving my hair. I was happy about this because I tried another 'cleanser' and my hair nor scalp was clean after using the product. The Creme did clean my hair but my scalp didn't have that squeaky clean feeling that I like.

This product did leave my hair feeling a bit dry. I believe this is because of the protein that was in the product. Protein in shampoos and/or conditioners leave my hair parched so this was to be expected. The Creme is to be followed up by a conditioner so I'll  also give it a pass here but I have used another moisturizing shampoo that does not leave my hair feeling so 'dry'. I did like the slip. I have a TWA so my hair has not seen a comb in about 3 weeks. I was able to finger detangle my hair using this product. Also, I don't care too much about the scent of the product. It smells like baby powder. I went help prep for a party yesterday and the cleaner was spraying baby powder scented air freshener. I was walking around unable to tell the difference between the air freshener and my hair. Lol...by the next day, the scent was gone.

Some have complained about the no suds aspect. The product does state that there is "zero lather". The no suds idea is not a big deal for me. As long as my hair and scalp are clean, I'm a pretty happy camper.

The 12 fl oz bottle is $14. I'm on the fence with this one. As I Am Coconut Cowash has fewer ingredients but I find that it's cleaning power is not as strong as Miss Jessie's Creme De La Curl and it's half the price of Miss Jessie's at 16 fl oz. Is it a repurchase? If I'm travelling I'll buy packets to wash my hair so there is no mess in my suitcase. I prefer this over my Hair One experience and it did remove the buildup and dirt from my hair. I liked the feel of the product but again I'm still on the search for a sulfate-free shampoo, cleansing conditioner, conditioner and leave-ins that my hair loves.

What do you guys think about the Creme De La Curl? Would you buy it? Do you have any recommendations for my 4b/c TWA?

I was not paid to give this review. This is just my opinion after using the product.

Whole-Wheat Banana Muffins Recipe

This is a recipe that I got from allrecipes.com. My version are regular cupcake size and not giant whole-wheat muffin size. I will say that I do like banana bread but I only like the ends. I find banana bread to be too 'wet' for me. For this recipe, I added a half a cup extra of whole wheat flour to the original recipe. I also substituted the vegetable oil for canola oil.  I excluded strawberries because I didn't have any in my house and I wasn't sure if they would make the muffins too 'wet'. As an afterthought I wish that I had added raisins. I also think that if the recipe had been 'wet' my family would have been able to detect that I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour.

The original recipe can be found at: Source. I give all credit to the creator. This is an excellent recipe where many have added their own twist.The majority of people who used this recipe enjoyed it. They also added their own twists to the recipe. For example, some substituted a half cup of oat flour of a half cup of whole grain flour. Others used yogurt and reduced the amount of oil used ( I didn't have yogurt in my fridge. I can really see Greek yogurt and this being good friends).  Some reduced the amount of sugar, some only use 2 tablespoons of oil, some substitute vegetable oil for olive oil (I know that olive oil has a distinctive taste. I'm curious how they tasted)  some used wheat germ, some used the recipe as their very own banana bread and some added blueberries. Those that left comments seemed to enjoy the recipe and they also seemed to enjoy the flexibility that the recipe provided for them to adapt it to their needs and wants.

So for the recipe:

2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1-1/2  teaspoon vanilla extract
3 bananas mashed
2-1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 cup of quick oats for garnish

For the applesauce:

I've just started eating healthy so I don't have any applesauce in the house. To make applesauce, I peeled a very large granny smith apple, cut it into slices, put it into a container with a lid, poured a little water into the container, sealed the contained and put it to the microwave for a few minutes. I then put the softened apples into a food processor and processed until the apples looked like applesauce. It made a 1/2 cup of applesauce. I let this cool before adding it to the muffin recipe.

The original directions as listed on allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mimis-Giant-Whole-Wheat-Banana-Strawberry-Muffins/Detail.aspx?evt19=1). Again, all credit goes to the author:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 18 cupcake cups. (The original recipe called for 12 large muffin pans. I don't have muffin pans in the house and right now I'm practicing portion control so the 18 work for me).

2) Using a large bowl whisk eggs, applesauce, oil, mashed bananas and brown sugar. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a measuring cup. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Spoon mixture into cupcake cups until full. I used just under 2 tablespoons per cup. Interestingly for me (I was surprised that I didn't have to use baking powder in this recipe. I guess it's the power of eggs), the muffins rise so I didn't have to worry about the muffins overflowing onto the tops of the cupcake cups. Sprinkle the quick oats over the muffin batter (this is optional and I did it for a garnish).

3) Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven or until when lightly touched, the top of the muffins spring back.

I enjoyed the muffins. I'm still trying to get used to whole wheat flour but I didn't taste the whole wheat when I ate the muffin. There was a bit of wholewheat aftertaste but it wasn't very strong. Also, I liked how my muffins came out 'dry'. You can cut My sister also tried a muffin and she didn't know that I had added whole wheat to the muffin. She ate two today. She did suggest that I spray the cupcake tin with PAM to prevent the muffins from sticking to the cupcake time. I'm not sure if this is the best solution but I'm guessing that for next time it is worth a try.

These are going to be my snack muffins. I'm going to take out 5 for this week and put the rest in the freezer.

So now for what you all have been waiting for. The nutritional information:

The numbers from left to right represent calories, carbs, fat, protein, sodium and sugar content. 

The whole wheat flour really does contain a lot of calories. The overall per serving value of calories and fat does seem okay to me. I'm open to corrections from my readers. I'm new to weight loss and I'm still trying to discover ways to eat healthier and cut calories. I also think that I could have cut down on fat content by using vanilla non-fat Greek yogurt.

Have any of you tried this recipe before? Would you like the recipe just as is or are you curious to put your own spin on it? Would adding raisins destroy the health factor of the muffins?  Do any of you have your own healthy muffin recipes? Would you all like me to add more healthy recipes to the blog?  Don't be afraid to leave a comment. Thanks for reading.

Again, I got this recipe from Source and just wanted to share it with you all. All credit goes to the maker of this great recipe. I would give it four out of five stars.

Maiden Hill Farm

Maiden Hill Farm is a small  hobby farm located in Alabama. It was a joy speaking with the owner. One of my dreams as a child was always to live on a farm with my family and be a schoolteacher. I have been looking online for a vacation like that. For example, The Old Farmhouse at Willet Ponds Horse Farm in Todds (http://www.vrbo.com/85830) or even glamping (http://www.canopyandstars.co.uk).

They do some pretty interesting things on the farm. For example, after breeding poultry, they found that certain types are endangered. As a result, they are helping to preserve and breed these populations. They breed poodles, they make goat milk soaps (their Neapolitan soap is gorgeous), they sell livestock such as silkies, turkey poults, guinea keets and juvenile guineas, lip balms, lotion bars (which I had never heard of until I checked out their store), sugar scrubs, bath tea bags (again something that I never knew was out there) and bare feet treat (a foot salve).

They also have a pretty cool blog that has recipes (peanut butter cake, sweet potato cheesecake,ect.) giveaways and interesting articles about farm life. The photos on the website, blog and facebook page are beautiful and crisp. On the blog, she shares her process for hatching eggs, she shares stories about the animals that she raises (they are very funny and you get to learn more about her experiences in raising such animals. Sammy is such a cute goat! ). Seriously, I had never heard of Satsuma, Scuppernongs, Sculpins, Tupelo honey or Muscadine before I read her blog.

Muscadine is a type of berry/grapevine that is found in the southeastern part of the U.S. She makes a soap in this scent. She sent me a piece of the soap (the picture is below) and I could smell the scent through the bubble insulated envelope. I had never smelt soap that strong before. One of the issues that I have with most soaps is that they don't leave a lingering scent on my skin after I've come out of the shower. I did not have that problem with this soap. I bathed with the soap and let me tell you, I was secretly sniffing myself for most of the day. I can't even describe the scent. It's a sweet, soft scent sort of like blackcurrent, I think, but not really. It smells soooo good. I'm going to recommend that she expand to bathbombs in that scent. I am interested in trying some of her other soaps. Again, the scent of the sample soap was amazing. I can only imagine how a bar would smell. After reading her blog, I'm seriously also contemplating visiting Alabama. Lol...she has a blog on how to talk like your'e from the South. It had me laughing because I have a friend from Texas who thought that y'all was one word. It's a nice read.

Keeping with the family oriented, farm-life theme, the owner Sue is a 5th generation Alabamian who works alongside her mom. She has also posted blogs featuring her grandmother, who I can tell that she really loves and respects. I interacted with her via email and she is beyond friendly, funny and kind. She shared a bit about how she always wanted to live on a farm and I could tell that she really loves what she does.

A while back I won a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Maiden Hill Farm. I received birds nest necklace and matching earrings. If I remember correctly, they came about three days after I had won the giveaway. I wasn't even expecting them in the mail when I came home. That's how quickly she had shipped them. The prize was properly packaged. Nothing was crushed or warped out of shape and she made sure to seal the envelope with a pigs could fly tape (nice touch). She had the earrings and necklace wrapped in gift tissue paper, sent me a sample of muscadine soap and sent a note of congratulations with her business card. The necklace and earrings are gorgeous! The necklace really does look like a bird's nest with little eggs about to hatch. I have gotten several complements on the necklace and earrings.

Bird's Nest Necklace

Muscadine Soap (srry...I used it quite a few times before taking the picture. I couldn't wait.)

Bird's Nest Necklace and matching earrings 

Closeup of the Muscadine Soap (wish you could smell it through the screen)

If you are interested in learning more about living on a farm or finding more about Maiden Hill Farm's soaps, balms, jewelry check out:
 http://www.etsy.com/shop/MaidenHillFarm (store)
 http://maidenhillfarm.weebly.com/contact-us.html (website)
http://thecountrychick.blogspot.com (blog)
https://www.facebook.com/MaidenHillFarm (facebook)
334-282-2213 (telephone)

They also have fan of the week on their facebook. Pretty cool if you ask me!

Some of the soaps that they offer include (http://maidenhillfarm.weebly.com/goat-milk-soaps.html):

• Japanese Cherry Blossom 
• Monkey Farts
• Oh Baby!
• Watermelon Crawl (it really looks like a watermelon)
• Apple Jack Peel
• Neapolitan
• Bama Bell
• Highland Fling 
• Aloha Paradise
• Sunshine
• Chocolate Espresso
• Crisp Apple Rose
• Cotton Candy
• Pinot Grigio 
• When In Rome ( this soap is so pretty! and unisex)
• Pumpkin Pie
• Hot Cocoa
• Shades of Grey -I'll let you ladies guess where the name comes from ;)
• Cowboy Up

She also has specialty soaps some which include:

• Shaving Soap
• Green Tea Avocado Facial Bars
• Minty Foot Scrub 
• Pink Champagne Salt Bar

The common ingredients that are found in her soaps are Shea Butter, Olive Oil and Coconut Oil. She also has some interesting ingredients in some of her soaps like coral reef blue mica, red jojoba beads, cosmetic grade iridescent glitter and Calendula petals just to name a few.

One thing that she told me when I was speaking with her was that if she knows how to do one thing, it's how to make goat milk soap. IMHO, in addition to making great goat's milk soap she also knows how to make beautiful jewelry, is persistent and admirable in following her dream to own a farm, a nifty photographer, a loving and kind mother and daughter and loves what she does (how many people do you know that raise endangered animals or blogs about their animals in such a gentle and respectful way?).

Are any of you fans of homemade soaps? What scents are y'all interested in trying? Are any of you soap or candle makers? Have any of you tried glamping or The Old Farmhouse? What was your experience?
 
I was not paid to write this review. I just loved what I saw and won and wanted to share it with others. Don't be afraid to leave a comment. Thanks for reading!

Hexbug

My dad came to visit and was looking for a toy to give his godson (who is also my cousin) on his return home. He wasn't really sure which toys would most interest his godson or which toys were the latest or which were the most sought after on the market. Hey, the last time my dad played with a toy was quite a while back. My dad just said that's not true. Whatever the case may be...

In Target, my dad just perused the isles to find just the right toy. He noticed a toy called the Hexbug (named for the shape of the packaging as opposed to the number of legs) and instantly became interested in the toy.

He described his interest in the toy as being curious. He was excited that there was a toy out there that was robotic.

Hexbug was placed on the market in 2007 as a part of the HEXBUG Micro Robotic Creatures line. According to the website, "People are drawn to the HEXBUG brand for our products’ fascinating behavior, intelligent bug-like attributes and eye-catching packaging. Some of the products are so animated, they even fool cats, dogs and some humans into thinking they are alive!" Source:( http://www.hexbug.com/about).

My dad and I couldn't agree more. As a matter of fact, my dad was so excited after learning about the brand that he wanted me to write a post on it. So here I am writing a post. Although, I must say that I enjoy writing about it just as much as he enjoys watching the Hexbugs work and talking about them.

A Hexbug is defined on the Hexbug's site (http://www.hexbug.com/) as:
 "1. a micro robotic creature that reacts to its environment or that you control.
  2. An innovative, battery powered high-tech toy.
  3. Fun for all ages!"

There are several types of Hexbugs:
1) Original Hexbug, Nano, XL, Warrior (sizes/functions)
2) Ant
3) Crab
4) Inchworm
5) Larva
6) Scarab
7) Spider

I must say that Hexbug's website is really nice. They have great pictures of each Hexbug, videos, reviews, a Hexbug store and links to their Twitter, Google+, Facebook and Pinterest accounts.

RadioShack right now has a sale on the Hexbugs (http://www.radioshack.com/home/index.jsp). Some of these toys are even sold out online. I mention that because my dad and I went to five target stores in the state that I live in to look for them ( We weren't exclusively looking for Hexbugs. We were just 'site-seeing and if there was a Target in walking distance, we would walk in). One of the Target clerks called three stores and certain popular Hexbugs were sold out! We didn't realize that they were also sold in several US stores.

When my cousin got the Hexbug, he played with it until the battery died out. That's how much fun he had playing with it!

We had never heard about the product before but were pleasantly surprised by not only how they moved but by the fact that some selections were sold out in Target.

My dad did have a few ideas though. Firstly, he wished that there were more advertisements in Target about the Hexbug so we could know what they really were, how they worked and what made them different from other toys. He also commented that it would also be nice if they were rechargeable.

Overall, with the robotics and the heads actually spinning around, the products are a lot of fun. The robotic concept of the toy is what makes it so different from other toys out there on the market. The most fascinating thing for me, is how the legs move. I think it would also be nice to get the kids involved and excited about robotics before they hit high school. I think it would be a fun way to get them interested in robotics, math, engineering and the sciences. It's also a great way for kids to connect with one another in a wholesome way.

My dad wanted to buy one for himself. He couldn't decided on which size or bug was right for him. He was really impressed that a few years ago, this would just be a dream. He was amazed that he could play with something like this in this day and age.

By the way, the prices range depending on the size and make. Check them out and be the judge.

I was not paid or asked to give this review. These are just my comments on cool things that I'm interested in and hopefully others are interested in reading about before they purchase them.

What do you guys think about the Hexbug? Which ones would you like to buy/play with? In your opinion, what is the coolest thing about Hexbugs? What makes them more interesting than other toys on the market today? Do any of you all own a Hexbug? Are you interested in purchasing one or just curious? Don't be afraid to leave a comment. Thanks for reading!

This is one of the Hexbug's that we got. My dad bought another for his Little Brother (lol...he does our community's equivalent of Big Brother/Little Brother's volunteering.)