Homemade Garlic Dill Pickles

I have been having a craving for some pickles and we had about 12 large cucumbers in the crisper drawer in the fridge. We had no idea what to do with all of them, so I searched the web and found a pickle recipe that was simple and cheap to make. The recipe I used is the Duggar family garlic dill pickle recipe. I halved the recipe since I only had 5 glass jars and 2 plastic storage containers. We made the pickles on Monday as a homeschool project and was supposed to wait for 10-12 days before eating them, but we opened a jar today to see if they were ready, which they were. We could not resist it and before we knew it, the whole jar of pickles was gone. They were so delicious!! We have never had homemade pickles before, so I figured why not turn it into a homeschool project so my son could see how to make pickles. He really enjoyed helping out and was even more excited to be the first taste tester of his pickles. =)

We will no longer purchase store-bought pickles since we now know how to make them. During making the pickles I did notice the large amount of salt their recipe called for so I just reduced it to 1/3 cup since I was only making half the recipe. The pickles that were in the jars were better tasting than the pickles in the plastic containers, I guess it's because the pickles in the jars were hot from the oven and with the added boiling liquid it helped them process better than the ones I put in the plastic containers in the fridge. However, both tasted really good!! I hope you go check out the recipe and consider making them for your family.

-Nikki

*The recipe can be found here*

Product Review: Ivory 2-in-1 hair & body wash

Hi Guys! It's been a while since I have done a product review or posted anything to this blog, but I am here today with a product review of a NEW body product that I received complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. The product I'm talking about is the new Ivory 2-in-1 hair & body wash. It is suppose to cut down on the hassle of applying shampoo, conditioner and body wash while leaving your body clean. And if you guys are anything like myself and short on time to shower, then this is the product for you.

I received this product this week(Tuesday) and began using it the very same day on myself. It has a clean, crisp refreshing smell that lathers very well using a wash cloth. I washed my body only because this product does have SLS(Sodium Lauryl Sulfate)and I try to avoid washing my hair with sulfates because it dries my hair out. After using this product, my skin was not dry nor itchy at all, it felt moisturized and soft. However, using this product on my son who has eczema & atopic dermatitis, it dried his skin out to the point that he was scratching constantly. It didn't cause any new skin flare-up, just itchy skin for him. So if you have sensitive skin, then this product may not work for you.

On a scale of 1-10 I would rate this at 8.5 just because it does have SLS and Dimethicone in it. I would repurchase this product again because it does clean the body, has a nice smell and it's not overly expensive.




~*I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.*~


-Nikki

Where was God?

Product Review: Bake Shop Butters!!!

Well I'm back again with another great product review that I am SO excited to be blogging about y'all!!! Let me first start off by saying that I was not paid for my review nor am I in any way affiliated with this company. =) So let's begin...about maybe the middle of November a fellow Youtube vlogger *NUREKAD* asked folks if she should sale her homemade body butters that she makes herself. Of course her response from people on YT were, HECK YEA!!! LOL I didn't respond because I KNEW that it was gonna happen. ;) So she launched her website on November 30, 2012 and she sold out super fast of her favorite scent, which is "lemon cake". With that being the scent that I wanted, I had to wait a couple days for her to make more to add to her website. I had no problem waiting because after seeing the reviews on YT about how great the body butters wer, I knew I getting something of quality! Her butters are made with organic products which in my opinion is great since it will be going on the skin.

Fast forward to today.....and the excitment I had when the mailwoman dropped my package off!!! I felt like a kid waiting in line at Disney to get on a ride =) I ordered the Lemon Cake 8oz. size and received a sample of the Vanilla Buttercream. Before I could even get the sealed package open all the way, I got a whiff of something sweet that reminded me of my Lemon Pound Cake and my mouth began to water like a baby that is teething :-D I had to close up the container because I was so tempted to taste it!!! The smell is right on point about being Lemon Cake and the consistency is like a thick, but soft butter that melts and absorbs into the skin and leaves your skin soft and moisturized.

She says that her Lemon Cake brings all the boys to the yard, so I must see if that is true! hahaha ;-)

My package came with with a personalized note which made me feel even more special. I love when people go the extra mile for their customers and make them feel special, because you never know who's day you may change. :) And for that very reason I will always buy from her. Her website information is http://bakeshopbutters.storenvy.com

She offers 6 different body butters. Snickerdoodle, Lemon Cake, So Fresh & Clean, Vanilla Buttercream, Coconut Vanilla Cupcake & Key Lime Pie. And 3 different sizes. 4oz for $7, 8oz for $12, and 16oz for $20. The prices are not considered high seeing that she makes it herself and uses organic ingredients. The shipping is a flat rate of $7, but if your order is over $45 the shipping is free.


Please visit her store/website and make a purchase of some of the 6 scents that she has, your skin will thank you. Until next time, stay blessed!!

Worldwide Culture Mini-Swap for the holidays

A week ago we signed up to take part in the Worldwide Culture Mini-Swap for the holdays. This will be our first mini-swap since we did our big swap last month with Canada, England, Australia & Texas. For this swap we were paired with a family from South Africa which is really awesome because we have studied South Africa in homeschool recently. So my son was thrilled when I told him what country we were paired up with. :-) If you are a little lost as to what a mini-swap or a regular swap is, then head over to worldwidecultureswap.com to sign up. In a brief description it is a swap where 5 families are paired up to swap packages amongst themselves. Two of the five families will be from the US and the other three from different countires. You choose how ever many items describing what it is like to live in your state/country. It can be whatever items you want to choose that would represent your state/country well. I don't remember much of what we included in our swap and I forgot to take pictures before packing them up. So hopefully when one of the families receive a package they will post the pic so I can upload it here.
So for our mini-swap for the holidays here is a picture of what we sent. It was supposed to be between 3-5 items showing how your family celebrates Christmas, but with Christmas being our favorite family holiday, we added a little more than what was asked. ;-)

This is what we included in our swap!!
1. Letter from the family

2. The Christmas Story

3. Family favorite Christmas songs

4. Holiday kitchen towel

5. Mini snow globe

6. Mini candle

7. Jumbo holiday ink pen

8. Christmas pencils

9. A light-up snowflake

10. Christmas candy - holiday peppermint wreath, pop rocks, legend of the candy cane poem & Christmas tree-shaped krabby patties

11. 2 homemade Christmas ornaments by little one. It's a reindeer & snowman :) & 1 mini nativity ornament

12. Santa & snowman bendable figurines

13. 2 hot cocoa packs - family favorite is the peppermint hot cocoa

14. bell-shaped cookie cutter

These swaps are really fun to be a part of and I hope you sign up too. Until next time, Be Blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wordless Wednesday

Image from www.christart.com

How to re-fill spice bottle on the cheap

So being Jamaican we cook with lots of thyme and I am always running out. Well the last time I purchased thyme in the glass jar at my local Sweetbay, it was well over $4.00. I even tried the fresh thyme, but it would go bad before I got to use the whole bunch. So last month while I was in Sweetbay picking up a few items, I happened to walk by a small "spice island" and saw that they had thyme and alot of other spices/seasonings for really cheap. So I got 2 bags of thyme just to try them out, and you could never taste the difference in brands. Here are the pictures of how I re-fill my spice/seasoning containers on the cheap.

This is the empty jar of McCormick Thyme priced well over $4.00!!

This is the bag of Thyme cost $0.69

This is my jar filled half-way with the Badia Thyme. I think a bag and a half will fill it completely up.

This is the jar and the extra bag of Thyme. So for $1.38 I got a jar and a half of Thyme :-) Until next time, Be Blessed!!

November 2012 CurlBox and why I canceled

Hello readers!! How is fall in you neck of the woods? Well I can say living in Florida has it perks this time of the year. We get the cooler nights in the high 60's to the low 50's and the days in the high 70's to low 80's, which is perfect weather for us!! But on another note, today I received my CurlBox in the mail and was a little dissapointed with this month. I know you guys are probably saying, "wow she was so excited about last month!" Yea but I have had a change of heart after reading some of the negative/nasty comments that the owner of CurlBox has been leaving in response to others comments about the CurlBox. I feel that if you are an owner of a company, any feedback that is coming in to you weather it be positive or negative should be responded to in a profesional way, because you never know who may be watching or reading how you respond. I won't post what was said, but I will not be spending my hard earned money on a company who is not considerate of it's clientele. I have since took my business to CurlKit and hoping for a much better outcome. So here is the picture of what was in my box this month

As you can see from both pictures, I received 5 samples and 2 full-sized products. Out of everything in this month's box, I will only use the Palmer's protein pack, the Hawaiian Silky Argan Oil - which I plan on mixing in with a deep conditioner and using, and maybe the nuNaat Treatment - I may give this away to my niece since she has naturally curly hair. The rest of the stuff I gave to my mom, who felt that for $20 this box was not worth it. I so agree with her, so till next month.....stay natural and Be Blessed!!!

Product Review: Curl Care Nourishing Conditioner

So as some may have read that I received my first Curlbox last week Friday in the mail. Well one product that I received in my box was the Curl Care by:Dr. Miracles Nourishing Conditioner which was a full size item. I was excited to get this in my box and even more excited to co-wash my hair with it. So Monday came and I decided to do a henna gloss(not the one in this month's box)before using the conditioner. I applied the henna and rinsed it out after like 30 minutes till the water ran clear, then I rinsed with a cheapy conditioner. I then applied the Curl Care conditioner and my head felt so cool and tingly from the menthol in the product! =) I then put on a plastic shower cap and let it sit for a few hours before rinsing it out. The smell is very minty and might be too strong for some, but it didn't bother me. After rinsing the conditioner out my hair felt soft and very moisturized and smelled great. My scalp even felt clean! I really can't say much about it holding your curls for 12 hours because I blow-dryed my hair(I know bad me) lol, but I did notice some curls on my new growth after I rinsed out the conditioner. I would reccomend this product to others who are natural, transitioning, and also with relaxed hair. It contains no sulfates, parabens, sodium & phthalate. And I just recently found out that there is a leave-in-conditioner by the same brand that I can't wait to try. Until next time, Be Blessed!!!!