Sharing Values with Scott, Art and a Movie

Everyone has toilet paper rolls.  Did you know if you save them that you can make something gorgeous?  Something like this?  It takes me a bit longer to save them as I use Scott Bath Tissues because they have 1,000 sheets per roll.  With just glue dots hot glue gun (let's face it glue dots suck), empty Scott rolls and spray paint, you too can make something this gorgeous!

We're talking super simple to make.  If you're as exacting as me, cut your empty rolls into 1/2 inch pieces, arrange artfully (you can see some of our earlier attempts on our Google+ album), hot glue together for extra stability and spray paint.  Easy Peasy!

I grew up using Scott Bath Tissues and Scott Paper towels.  My dad always wanted to live in the middle of nowhere by a big city.  When you live in the middle of nowhere, there are no sewers.  When there are no sewers, no you don't have an outhouse, but you do have a septic system.  A septic system is like having your own little sewer treatment plant in your backyard.

That's where Scott comes in.  Years ago, there weren't too many choices TP wise when you had a septic system, due to the fact that not all toilet paper breaks down the same.  Scott, as far as I know has always been septic system safe.  Hence why its always been one of my favorite brands.  Even though I now live in the Chicago suburbs, where they have sewers, I still choose Scott products.  

One of the reasons I choose Scott bath tissue over other brands is that it is such a great value.  I mean, honestly, what other brand of TP boasts 1,000 sheets per roll?  If you figure cost per square, #ScottValues always comes out ahead.  That and there is almost always a coupon available.  

Not only is Scott a great value, but currently you can find specially marked packages at Walmart with this awesome Vudu sticker on them.  Behind the sticker is a $4 promo code to watch a movie online through Scott Shared Values.  We're not talking an old, been released forever movie, but current ones like Jack Reacher or Beautiful Creatures.  While we're not real big on TV at my house; we do watch movies.  

 This is what you'll see when you go to redeem your Vudu credit.  We chose Jack Reacher, Susie and I have been dying to see it.  We're big Lee Child fans, so this was the perfect movie for us.

Starbucks Mocha Coffee: A Chocolate Waterfall

This week was American Chocolate Week.  One of those events that sneaks up on you.  Or at least it snuck up on us.  Fortunately, we found a good way to celebrate with Starbucks Ground Mocha coffee.  Their new line that utilizes natural flavors.

We were encouraged to try this new flavor after testing it a demo.  Walmart was sampling it at select stores. We had to have some for our very own.  Our mornings are never complete without a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

So, after adding a bag to our basket, which proved more difficult than we expected.  It was flying off the shelves and ours was the last one.  Usually, we buy coffee from a grocery store rather than from a coffee shop.  This Starbucks Ground Mocha will be a new addition to our coffee rotation.  A new flavor to add to our ever growing list of favorite coffee blends.

As we walked through the store we saw a Starbucks display in the bakery.  The coffee was a sign that we needed to stop in the bakery.  We needed to pick out something to go with our coffee.  Obviously, it had to be something chocolate.  Sadly, there were no double chocolate muffins.  Apparently, we're not the only ones that love them.  Instead, we chose some cream cheese brownies.  They're a breakfast food, right?  It didn't matter because we were celebrating chocolate!

All for the love of chocolate we can give up a healthy breakfast for one day of the week.  As we tasted our coffee black, which Alison insists upon.  You don't know what to add until you know how it tastes!  We were glad we picked the mocha because the cream cheese brownies enhanced the flavor.  Twas as if a warm chocolate waterfall poured into our mouths.  The chocolate abounded in our kitchen that morning.  A perfect way to celebrate American Chocolate Week.

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #cbias #SocialFabric

Kettle Chips and Basketball

Who doesn't enjoy a good meal with a good game?  I know our family does.  So, why not use a few bags of Kettle Chips as an excuse to get cooking.  Nothing too fancy because we can't spend all our time in the kitchen and miss the basketball tournament!  There's only a limited amount of time and you might miss your favorite team.  Ours happens to be the University of Kentucky.  They have won in the past including last year's tournament.

So, we decided upon the simplest flavors on the shelf.  The Sea Salt and Salt and Pepper flavors are perfect to build up a great time.  Fresh natural ingredients with fewer additives means that we don't have to worry about adding other flavors.  We know exactly the taste we'll get out of a Kettle Brand Potato Chip.  They are real, all natural and the proof is in the taste.

To go with our Kettle Chips we picked a spinach and artichoke dip for the Salt and Pepper and a roasted garlic bacon dip to pair with the all natural Sea Salt.  A winning combination to go with any tournament game.  Perfect potatoes made simply paired with a few extra ingredients and you know that you are getting the best.

We stopped by our nearest Super Walmart to pick out what was on our list.  An easy stop to make as we know we're getting a good deal.  We gathered up a few bags of chips and headed home to whip up a game snack.  We wanted to cut down on the time we spent so one recipe was for the oven and the other cold.  To top it off we put together some roast beef sandwiches on fresh bread from the bakery.  Completing our trip we used our coupon for Kettle Chips which you can find on our blog.

After a little while in the kitchen, we settled onto the couch and cracked open some bottles of hard cider.  Something a little bitter to cut through the richness of our snack foods.  It was a perfect night with all of our efforts engaged in cheering for our favorite team.  We watched the Wildcats as we always do and hoped for victory.

You can see the rest of our shopping trip here on Google+.  Kettle Chips is also on facebook and twitter.

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Kettle Chips #cbias #SocialFabric All opinions are my own.

Life of Pi Oscar Party with Bigelow Tea-tinis!

Alison:  So, the Oscars are a great excuse to throw a party.  Some glamour and glitz always pairs well with some good food and drinks.

Susie:  You speak the truth!  Any excuse to get together is a good one and why not celebrate some good movies like the Life of Pi.

Alison:  Luckily, I had a few new recipes I wanted to try out.  Including mixing some of our favorite Bigelow Teas into delicious cocktails.

Susie:  Off to Walmart we went to pick up party ingredients.  I'm betting they have a good selection of Bigelow Tea.

Alison:  They didn't have as large a selection of tea as I'd hoped.  For such a large retailer I was surprised to see only a few varieties of Bigelow tea on the shelf.  Also so poorly stocked.  :(

Susie:  But Walmart did have everything else we needed for our party.  Check out the rest of our trip on Google+.

Alison:  Since we recently saw the Life of Pi, we decided to go for a tropical menu.  It was nominated for quite a few categories and we loved the movie.

Susie:  So, we gathered up a few healthy choices with some lean meats and lots of tropical fruit.

Alison:  The Life of Pi is about survival on the open sea.  Not a bad way to structure a meal working to a full nutritional meal.  Pi and Richard Parker are limited to mostly fish for food.  Living in the Midwest, we opted for some crab.  We don't get a large variety of freshly caught fish this far away from the ocean.

Susie:  We paired our shrimp with coconut.  A magical food with all kinds of health benefits.  Not to mention a flavor we love.

Alison: We made some other island inspired foods with pulled pork sandwiches, crab rangoon and fruit salad.

Susie:  Basically, we had all the major food groups with pork, chicken, crab, and beef.  We had fruits, mushrooms, grains, dairy.

Alison:  Of course, all those dishes took time.  We had only two days to create everything from scratch.

Susie:  Luckily, we went simple and focused on flavors rather than fancy cooking techniques.

Alison:  We stayed away from the lure of oils and fats.  We opted to bake everything in the oven rather than fry it in oils.  It takes a little longer but it's a whole lot healthier.

Susie:  Not to mention that it's a lot safer.  Being spattered by hot oil is never fun.  Plus, it's almost entirely unavoidable.

Alison:  After two entire days in the kitchen it was time to set up for our Bigelow Tea Life of Pi Oscar party.  

Susie:  We love Bigelow Tea because of their variety of flavors.  They are always making new ones for us to try out.  There is no way that we could ever have too much of it.

Alison: With Bigelow we can get our caffeine fix without getting an overload.  We found their newest flavor White Chocolate.  Plus their Pomegranate Green allowed us some perfect drink flavors.

Susie:  We decorated with blues and greens to match our island themed food.  Then we set out to mix and set out all of our food.

Alison:  Our guests loved our Tea-tinis.  They even got a full meal while thinking they were only eating party food!

Susie:  We spent some time watching the pre-show while we talked about who would win what.

Alison:  Our bets weren't far off as we thought the Life of Pi would be a big winner this year.

Susie:  We even tried to take some ideas from the movie to play I-Spy but we were much too busy filling our plates.

Alison:  Right.  I-Spy something with coconut!

Susie: Is it the shrimp?  Or the the brownies?  Or the cheese ball?

Alison:  No, it's the white chocolate coconut tea-tini!

Susie: Luckily, we still have some more tea so we can mix up some more!

Alison:  Our party was definitely a hit!

Susie: We were able to spread some good nutrition and culture.


Alison:  Not to mention an amazing array of laughs.

Susie: No party is complete without some laughter!

Did you know that Bigelow Tea is having a Life of Pi contest?  You can enter up till March 20th!  Don't forget to watch for Life of Pi coming out on Blu-ray and DVD March 12th at your local Walmart!

We'll have recipes from our party to share soon!

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Bigelow Tea #CBias #SocialFabric #AmericasTea All opinions are my own.

Chicken Alfredo Flatbread #CookClassico

In my opinion the best part of the Big Game parties is the food.  This year we needed something healthy, lets face it there is always a healthy option for everything, but yet extremely tasty.  We decided on a chicken Alfredo flatbread.  The last couple of times we've been out for drinks with the aunt, we've had chicken Alfredo flatbread.  It was good, but I thought I could improve it.  What better time for a debut than the Big Game?  Chicken Alfredo flatbread is the perfect game food because you can grab a slice and go just like with pizza.

I headed out to Walmart to find some Classico whole peeled pear tomatoes with fresh basil.  Why Classico you ask?  Classico canned tomatoes are pretty new, I've heard great things about them and they're 100% natural.  Just look at the ingredients!  There are just four; tomatoes, tomato juice, salt and basil.  My recipe doesn't need an entire can of tomatoes, but I'm sure I'll find something else great to make with them.

The first thing I saw when I opened the can was a beautiful bright green basil leaf.  YUM!  The gorgeous basil canned with the tomatoes makes me feel great about using them and serving them to my guests.  I don't cook with canned tomatoes as often now because their acidity bothers Susie.  

The flat bread turned out great with a crisp, crunchy crust and just the right amount of sauce and toppings.  Definitely a huge hit at our party!  Almost all of it disappeared within minutes.  

Chicken Alfred Flatbread

Dough:
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (105-115°F)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour                  
1 cup Bread Flour                          
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 large garlic cloves, diced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Grease a 10 x 15 inch baking sheet with olive oil.

Place all ingredients in mixer and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add garlic and herbs and mix until just incorporated into dough.  Dough will be very wet and sticky.  Spread on greased pan using damp hands.  Let rise until puffy about 30-60 minutes.

Bake at 375°F for 20-25 minutes till lightly golden.

Topping:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch cubes
Italian dressing                                            
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
6 -10 Classico peeled and whole pear tomatoes with fresh basil, diced
1 cup Italian shredded cheese
1 + 1/4 cups shaved Parmesan cheese
1 cup fat free milk
1 pkg (8 oz) fat free cream cheese

Place diced chicken thighs in a bowl and cover with your favorite Italian dressing.  Let marinate on counter at least 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, thinly slice mushrooms.  Heat nonstick skillet over medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Pan fry mushrooms until they start to brown, remove from pan.

While cooking mushrooms, in a medium sauce pan add milk, 1 cup Parmesan and cream cheese.  Heat on medium, whisking occasionally until smooth.  Set aside.

Use same non stick skillet you used for the mushrooms to cook the chicken on high heat.  Add half of the chicken to the pan and cook till opaque.  Add the rest of the chicken and cook until all the chicken is browned.  The dressing leaves the chicken a little greasy.  If you want less grease (we normally do) you can drain the chicken on paper towels.

Assembly:
Spread 3/4 of the sauce on the flat bread.  Top with mushrooms, chicken and tomatoes.  Sprinkle with 1 cup Italian cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan.

Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes, or until cheeses are melted.

You can prepare all the ingredients up to the assembly step and then assemble the day of the party.  The flat bread will need to be baked longer.

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Classico #cbias #SocialFabric #CookClassico. All opinions are my own.