review - Matthew's Puzzle - Autism Recovery, Gluten Free, Green Living Mom Blog

Palmolive Soft Touch Review #PalmoliveSoftTouch

May 17, 2013 By Maryann

I had a great Mother’s Day, but even with it being such a great day I still had my mess ups and miss steps. See, I really wanted baked beans. Homemade baked beans to be exact. The night before I soaked the beans just like the instructions. Come Mother’s Day morning I drained the beans and put them in a baking dish. They seemed a little hard, but instead of letting my husband boil them for a little while I said they would be fine if we baked them at a low temperature for several hours. Well, I think you can see where this is going. Come dinner time the beans were still really under done. Larry had to run out and get canned beans so we would have something for dinner.

But the mess up doesn’t stop there. No. Instead I took the beans and put them in the slow cooker and let them cook forever. Well that was a big mistake too. Ended up with just a big burnt mess in my slow cooker that I wasn’t sure would ever come out. And we lost some good bacon to that fiasco.

I decided to try soaking the slow cooker in the Palmolive. Then I cleaned it all up. No evidence of the baked bean incident and my slow cooker is back to normal.

Palmolive has a new formula called Soft Touch, it comes in three formulas: Vitamin E, Aloe, and Coconut Butter. I got to test out the Vitamin E and Aloe formulas. I thought it worked well, but I felt the scents were overpowering and I couldn’t find the list of ingredients. Since I’m such a “green” blogger that did concern me. Palmolive comes to you at a great price of $2.99 for 25 fl. oz and can be easily found at Target or Walmart, among other retailers.

“I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.”

Gluten Free Mom Certified Cookbook Review and Giveaway

May 11, 2013 By Maryann

If you are on a special diet you know how hard it can be to come up with a daily menu. You certainly can’t leave eating to chance. You can’t go to just any restaurant and you have to always be prepared. So when a recipe book comes out that is simple to use, offers easy, fast and delicious meals, then you just have to try it.

Tiffany Hinton created this wonderful recipe book containing over 60 gluten free recipes. Each recipe offers dairy free options too. I love that since we are usually dairy free too. The book, with foreword by Carol Sherby, offers everything from breads and cookies to entrees like loaded chili and sausage and peppers.

As I was looking through the book I really was excited to see a steak fajita recipe. We tried it out the other Saturday and served it with homemade guacamole and handmade corn tortillas. It was a big hit. I did substitute the rib eye the recipe called for with a flank steak we had on hand. There is a recipe for Strawberry Lemonade Cake that just sounds amazing and I would love to have that for Mother’s Day. I adore anything lemon or lime. I also really want to try making her French Onion Burgers. They sound extremely moist and delicious.

I would love to see Tiffany’s take on additional entree and breakfast items. For me, breakfast is always the hardest since the boys aren’t that interested in traditional breakfast meals.

I was lucky and Tiffany sent me both the electronic and paperback versions of the book. I know I will be pulling this book out for all her wonderful treats. I will be making her Orange Melt Aways as soon as possible.

Want the book? You can purchase it here. Follow her on Facebook. And check out her blog.

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Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil Review

May 1, 2013 By Maryann

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

We are hooked on coconut oil! I use it all the time. There are really only 2 oils we use in the house and that is olive and coconut. I do keep butter around for certain things but my first choice whenever I bake, fry or cook is coconut oil. I have even been known to add it to my coffee!

Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is beautiful and fruity, it smells just like a fresh coconut. Since it is still a bit cool here, my bottle of Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil is quite solid, but I’m sure as it warms up around here it will begin to melt. I don’t know why, but I love to open the jar and find liquid coconut oil waiting for me. There is something so luxurious and exotic about that.

Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil is 100% organic virgin coconut oil from the Philippines. And as I said I like to use it to bake and fry with. I used it recently to fry corn tortillas for our taco dinner the other night. But Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil can also be used as a moisturizer for your skin and hair. I have several friends who swear by it for taming their frizzy curly hair. They simply take a small amount of the oil, rub it in their palms to warm it up and rake their fingers through their hair. To use it as a moisturizer simply warm a small amount in your hands and rub over your skin.

Tropical Traditions does have a slight coconut flavor, but my boys like it so much they actually ask for a spoonful of it whenever they see I have it out. Of course I indulge them. You can visit Tropical Traditions website and get all sorts of wonderful recipes using coconut oil. But Tropical Traditions doesn’t stop there, their website has EVERYTHING you can imagine from soaps to swing machines!

UV Skinz Review

April 25, 2013 By Maryann

Every single one of us in our family is fair skinned. My husband has a tendency to burn easily and I worry about the boys being out in the sun for too long. Years ago, before I really understood about good skin care, I got a horrible sun burn. It was so bad that my legs were actually purple, I blistered and became very ill. I started vomiting and had to go to the ER to get IV fluids. Obviously this was a serious burn. It took weeks for my legs to return to a normal color, I actually thought they may never be the same again.

That is why I am adamant that my kids have good sun protection. I know we need to have a fair exposure to the sun to form vitamin D but prolonged exposure can cause damage and when little boys are having fun in the pool they have no desire to come into the shade. I don’t love slathering them up with chemical laden sunscreen. A better alternative is to use UV Skinz.

UV Skinz is a line of sun protective clothing. Matthew received the Blue Ocean Camo Combo with shirt, board shorts and hat. This will be perfect for all our outdoor activities. I like and trust the UV Skinz products so much that I went out and purchased two additional sets, one for our middle son and the other for our youngest son. I am also looking at getting Larry a UV Skinz shirt and possibly even purchasing a UV Skinz cover-up for myself.

I am hoping to have us outside a lot more this summer but I can not take chances with our healthy. I don’t want my children to end up in the Emergency Room with a severe sunburn all because we were having too much fun in the sun.

From the FAQ’s on UV Skinz website: One bad burn in childhood doubles the risk factor for melanoma later in life.Protecting children against UV exposure is essential for skin health into adulthood. A blistering sun burn during childhood increases the risk of melanoma as an adult. Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer.

That is a scary statistic considering my sunburn was so bad I was taken to the ER to be treated. Consider keeping yourself and your family safe this summer with smart sun protection such as UV Skinz.