Simply Budgeted

DIY Wedding Cake Series: Trial 3

May 28, 2011 By Beth Leave a Comment

Welcome to Trial 3! (I am posting about trial 1 and 3 then the final cake success thanks to the products provided by Wilton and Duncan Hines!)

Background: My sister got married earlier this May. She found the cake she wanted. It is simple and beachy which is perfect since she was getting married on the beach. The cost for a wedding cake that feeds 125 people though was priced “starting at $600″. gasp!!! So my mom and I decided we could take on making the cake for her. What the heck were we thinking?!

I was so pleased to partner up with Wilton and Duncan Hines for this effort. They have provided some products to helped us “practice” and get to the final cake!

So here was Trial 3.

What was trial 2? Trail 2 was a lame trial on my own where I tried yet another icing recipe. The taste was there on that recipe but I couldn’t get it smooth.

We once again used the Wilton Tired Wedding Cake Pans! This time we used ALL FOUR cake pans and made what would be actual cake. For the largest cake pan, we tried using the cake pins that are recommended for large cakes so they bake even.

As for the icing, we made a decision to use the Wilton pre-made icing you can buy in tubs. You can buy this in a million different places …. Walmart, Joann Fabrics, Amazon.

For starters …

Wilton Performance Pans Round Pan Set, 3 Inches Deep are the Cake Pans we used for all of the trials and final cake. The Confetti Cake Mix was used in Trial 3 and the Final Cake!

Making the Cake …

So making the WHOLE cake took more work … a whole Saturday and several week nights. I made three of the layers prior to that Saturday. My mom made the candy decorations prior to the practice day. So we had to make the big cake and then decorate. Oh and when making the big cake, we had level the cakes. That was a lot of work. Here is a picture of that effort … now just figure out who took this horrible picture. hmmm I was totally not picture ready that day. Oh well.
The Final Product …

Ta-da!
Here is the final practice cake with the REAL cake topper on it!!
We did learn a few lessons such as putting the “sand” on before we layered the cake. We also figured out how we wanted to group the candies (mostly in groups of three.)

What the heck do you do with a practice cake that feeds 100+ people? Well my sister took the bottom layer to work and the top layer to her future in-laws. I took the second layer to a church function the next day and then the third layer to my work. whew. That was a LOT of cake! My sister left before we took the cake apart because she didn’t want to see that effort. haha

Look for posts outlining the Final Cake in the next Saturday!!

Note: I was provided with Wilton cake pans and coupons for Duncan Hines cake mixes in exchange for the review of their products during the DIY Wedding Cake Series.

Filed Under: Simply Food, Tips & Techniques Tagged With: cake decorating, cake mix, DIY, Duncan Hines, wedding, Wilton

Friday Favorite: Pet Water Fountain

May 27, 2011 By Beth 4 Comments

Friday Favorites is another almost weekly feature here at Simply Budgeted. The whole point of this feature is to share some of my favorite finds. Anything is game. Food. Cleaning supplies. Kid stuff. Garden favorites. Recipes. Anything that I really like and want to randomly post about. Reminder/Disclaimer/Whatever: Everything in Friday Favorites is something that I use and bought on my own.

Up this week …

Pioneer Fountain Big Max- Stainless Steel

Details …
Pet fountains help your animals to drink more water because they are attracted to moving water. In the past the only option you had for an automatic pet fountain was a plastic one. Now finally there is a stainless steel pet fountain that looks like it belongs in your kitchen. Our stainless steel drinking fountain is extremely easy to take a part and clean. It is 100% dishwasher safe and is made from high grade stainless steel. There has never been a fountain that looks or works as well as this one does

My thoughts …
We bought this in an effort to encourage our one cat to drink more water. We have three pets though (2 cats and 1 dog) and I wanted to get down to one big water bowl (we have had two). So I went with the Big Max version of this fountain. The great news is all three pets are drinking from it!!
My TIP is that you have to fill it up before plug it in or it makes a HORRIBLE noise. This scared our dog away from the bowl until he saw the cat drink from it.
I have put a pitcher of water near where the water bowl is an just about every time I walk by it, I add water. You are suppose to keep it pretty full according to the directions.
All that being said, the pets are drinking from the new bowl which is what I wanted!

If you are looking for a new pet fountain or maybe are like us and are trying to encourage a pet to drink more, check this pet fountain!

Did you miss my last Friday Favorite? Find it here!

If you have a suggestion for a Friday Favorite, leave me a comment and let me know.
If you have a blog post that includes a recipe, tip, or article you wrote that you want me know about, leave me a comment and you might see it in a future Friday Favorite!!

Filed Under: Friday Favorites, Home & Garden, Memes, Simply Life Tagged With: Friday Favorites, pets, review, water bowl

Cover Your Hair

May 26, 2011 By Beth

**This giveaway has ended! Thanks to all who entered. The winner is comment #15!**

I recently had the chance to receive and review to beautiful headbands from Cover Your Hair.

Details …
At Cover Your Hair, you can find some of everything … Hair Clips, Hair Accessories, Baby Hats, Baby Headbands, Snoods, Head Scarves, Headband Bandana, Head Coverings, Head Accessories to name just a few things. Whew!

When they asked me to pick something to review, I didn’t even know where to start. I then remembered I hadn’t picked to hair accessories for my girls to wear at my sister’s wedding. They were flower girls in her wedding and had these brightly colored dresses that my mom made them. As I looked through the Cover Your Hair site, I found the Girls Sprinkle Stones Flower Hard Headband!
My Thoughts …
So here are my girls modeling their hairbands before the wedding … aren’t they super cute?

They really loved these headbands. I actually had to hide them before the wedding because I was afraid they would break them (they tend to break headbands). Thankfully these haven’t broken even though they continue to pull them out to wear them!

I am pleased to announce I have been provided with the opportunity to giveaway a surprise box of products valued at $25 to a reader!!

This drawing will end Friday, June 10th at 11:59pm EST. I may pick the winner using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to reply with their address. You must include your email address in your comment or have it in your profile so you can be contacted if you are a winner! Please make sure I can see your email address!!! You must complete the Mandatory Entry for the additional entries to count.
This giveaway is open to Worldwide!!!

So how do you enter?

Mandatory Entry: Tell me what what your favorite product is at Cover Your Hair!

Additional Entries:
1) Like Cover Your Hair on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hairaccessory
2) Like Simply Budgeted on Facebook: http://facebook.com/simplybudgeted. (worth 2 entries!)
3) Follow me on Twitter. Leave a comment with your twitter name.
4) Tweet about this giveaway with this tweet:

RT #Win a $25 surprise box from @CoverYourHair! @simplybudgeted http://bit.ly/iAlgq0 #giveaway #hair #hairaccessory ends 6/10

Leave a comment with the URL for your tweet. (One Tweet per day until end of giveaway!!)
5) Add my blog button to your blog. Button is in my sidebar! Leave a comment with the URL and where to find the link.
6) Follow me publicly through the Google Friends Connect on my side bar. Leave a comment with your name that you subscribe with.
7) Subscribe to my blog using the Subscribe To option on the sidebar. Leave a comment stating you subscribe.
8) Leave a comment in a Simply Budgeting series post! Leave a comment here with what you did.

NOTE: I was sent a product in support this review. No other compensation was received. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Kids, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Family Tagged With: children, Giveaways, hair accessories, hair bows, review

The Berenstain Bears

May 25, 2011 By Beth Leave a Comment

I recently had the chance to review a copy of both Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple and Gossip Gang.

The Berenstain Bears: Here’s the Church, Here’s the SteepleAND

The Berenstain Bears’ Gossip Gang
Details …

Nearly 50 years after their debut, Jan and Stan Berenstain’s The Berenstain Bears return with two new books that teach children the importance of keeping one’s faith and loving one another.

In HERE’S THE CHURCH, HERE’S THE STEEPLE, young readers will get to experience one of their favorite rhymes through fun, liftable flaps that allow them to tour the Chapel in the Woods and its Sunday school.

In GOSSIP GANG, Sister Bear learns how upsetting gossip can be when the same friends she’s been gossiping with turn their gossip on her. When Sister was talking about other people, she felt special, but when the tables are turned, she realizes how hurtful some words can be.This book also includes a set of stickers to make the story even more fun for young readers.

My thoughts …
Did you read The Berenstain Bears growing up? I did. Loved reading the The Berenstain Bears books. These are same great stories you knew then but new ones. I love finding items that I remember from childhood to introduce to my kids and well books are a great way to do this. These book like all the The Berenstain Bears books teach great lessons. These books are ones that if my kids don’t grab them for reading time then I grab them because I enjoy them. I always love to find books that I pick in their collection!
Oh and Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple is a lift the flap book AND Gossip Gang has stickers. How do you beat that?!

If you remember these books from when you were a kid then, you should check out these great newly released books!! You can buy The Berenstain Bears: Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple
new Amazon.com for only $6.99! You can also buy The Berenstain Bears’ Gossip Gang
for only $4.99!

NOTE: I was sent a copy of these books in support this review. No other compensation was received. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Filed Under: Kids, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Family Tagged With: Berenstain Bears, book, children, review

Wednesday Randoms

May 25, 2011 By Beth

What is the purpose of Wednesday Randoms? Well honestly there isn’t one besides to share something random. Maybe your child did something new, maybe you baked something yesterday, maybe you are behind at work, maybe you got in your work out today or maybe you didn’t. Anything is game. Well anything that is appropriate. If it isn’t appropriate, I will delete it. Here are mine …

Summer classes started on Monday. I am not thrilled. BUT I am done July 3rd. I can do this. Then I get a little break! (YAY, blog time!!)
Every day this week and weekend has rain in the forecast. I think the weatherman gave up and just said 40% chance rain every day.
My husband dug a big place in the back area for the new preschool shed. Now to build the shed … did I mention it is big? ack.
I am ready for our CSA veggies. I need my local produce fix. Is that bad?

I really hope some of you leave a comment with maybe your own randoms this week. I would love some comment love!

Filed Under: Memes, Wednesday Randoms

Fanboy and Chum Chum

May 24, 2011 By Beth

I recently had the chance to receive a copy of Fanboy and Chum Chum.

Fanboy & Chum Chum

Details …

Put on your cape and your tighty whiteys for full tilt fantastic adventures with Fanboy and Chum Chum! Meet Fanboy s favorite comic book hero Man Arctica! Help the duo outwit the likes of bully Boog the Chum Chum obsessed Yo and evil Janitor Poopatine s quest to wipe out all the gum in the Galaxy Hills school district! Join them as they first meet Kyle a wizard expelled from Milkweed Academy and Dollar nator a tough talking videogame sent back in time to loan Fanboy a dollar! Plus other adventures into the imaginative and the absurd!

My Thoughts …

I had never heard of Fanboy and Chum Chum before I received this DVD. Yes, I do live under a rock sometimes. Sorry! So I asked my preschool teaching husband and he of course had heard of them. He said our kids may have seen the show but it wasn’t something they watched often. That being said, I wasn’t sure how this DVD would go over at our house. I mean it wasn’t Dora or Chuggington. The kids weren’t sure about Fanboy and Chum Chum to start with but I think they got into the movie a little bit. While this isn’t a favorite in my house right now, I will hang onto it because I think as the kids older, they will like this even more than they do now. I mean what kid doesn’t like a super hero in a cape?

You can buy Fanboy & Chum Chum for $14.99 on Amazon!

NOTE:I was sent a copy of this DVD in support this review. No other compensation was received. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Filed Under: Kids, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Family Tagged With: children, dvd, Fanboy and Chum Chum, review

Guy Fieri Food

May 24, 2011 By Beth 62 Comments

**This giveaway has ended. Thanks to all who entered! The winner is comment #45!**

I recently had the chance to get a copy of Guy Fieri Food from MorrowCooks. Be sure to check out their blog titled, The Secret Ingredient Blog!

Details …

Bursting with personality, fun, and flavor, Guy Fieri Food is the first-ever cookbook from the Food Network superstar, host of NBC’s popular game show “Minute to Win It,” and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Diners, Drive-ins & Dives and More Diners, Drive-ins & Dives. Filled with more than 150 original recipes, gorgeous full-color photos, and loads of great cooking tips, Guy Fieri Food is an absolute must for any Fieri fan!

Book Description

If you’ve checked out my Diners, Drive-ins and Dives books or visited my restaurants, Johnny Garlic’s and Tex Wasabi’s, you know I’m down with all types of good food—and that I’ll do what’s required to track it down. In Guy Fieri Food, I’m cookin’ it my way, from the perfect recipe for Pepper Jack Pretzels (from Mr. Awesome Pretzel himself—that’s me) to how to pull together a Red Rocker Margarita Chicken sandwich to a full-on vegetable Guy’d (bet you didn’t see that one comin’!). Before I’m finished I’ll have you throwing parties with everything from Bacon-Jalapeno Duck appe-tapas to Chicago Beef Pizza to Johnny Garlic’s Cedar Plank Salmon.

Fact is, I’ve been cookin’ it, livin’ it, and lovin’ it since I was just a kid, and it’s a privilege to help you bring home some of my own classic, big, and bold flavors.

Get the full details on the bookpage!

My Thoughts …

We love to watch Guy’s shows here at our house. He is a lot of fun to watch and not the same old boring cooking or food show. So when I heard Guy was coming out with his first cookbook, I knew we had to make room on our cookbook bookcase (yes, they have their own bookcase) for his book. Looking at the cover of the book, I knew the book was really part of Guy. The cover just screams his personality! That theme continues through the book. The cookbook does contain many great recipes but it also has many great stories from Guy. This makes it a great read and not just a reference book to sit on your cookbook bookcase!

I am excited to share a recipe from Guy Fieri Food. Here is Guy’s Watermelon Pork Tacos!

Watermelon Pork Tacos

Pork
1 pork tenderloin, silverskin removed, cut into 1-inch-thick slices
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped ginger
1 tablespoon seeded, minced serrano chile
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Salsa
1 cup watermelon cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 cup seeded English cucumber cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 Haas avocado, pitted, peeled, and cut into 1/4-inch cubes

Lettuce “Shells”
1 romaine lettuce head

1. To make the pork, combine all the ingredients in a resealable 1-gallon plastic bag and marinate for 30 minutes.
2. While the pork is marinating, whisk together all the ingredients for the vinaigrette. In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients for the salsa. Very gently fold in the vinaigrette. Chill.
3. Trim off the soft dark green end of the romaine. Cut off the root end and separate the leaves to create 4-inch-long lettuce “shells”. Rinse, dry, and chill the leaves.
4. Preheat a grill to medium. Discard the marinade. Grill the pork for 3 minutes on each side. Remove from the heat, let rest 3 minutes, and roughly chop into 1/2-inch pieces.
5. Fill the lettuce shells with the pork, top with the salsa, and devour!

If that doesn’t sound yummy to to then, I am not sure what would. I honestly can’t wait to add this our menu next month. We will have to leave out the oyster sauce as I am allergic to oysters but I think it will still taste great.

You can buy this on Amazon.com right now for $18.97!

I am pleased to announce I have been provided with the opportunity to giveaway a copy of this book to my readers!

This drawing will end Tuesday, June 7th at 11:59pm EST. I may pick the winner using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to reply with their address. You must include your email address in your comment or have it in your profile so you can be contacted if you are a winner! Please make sure I can see your email address!!! You must complete the Mandatory Entry for the additional entries to count.
This giveaway is open to US residents only!

So how do you enter?

Mandatory Entry: Tell me what what your favorite dinner is from our April Meal Plan. (See extra entry #1 before you head over there and get TWO entries super fast!)

Additional Entries:
1) Leave a comment in on the April Meal Plan post! Leave a comment here with what you did.
2) Like Simply Budgeted on Facebook: http://facebook.com/simplybudgeted.
3) Follow me on Twitter. Leave a comment with your twitter name.
4) Tweet about this giveaway with this tweet:

RT #Win a copy of Guy Fieri Food #cookbook from @MorrowCooks! @simplybudgeted http://bit.ly/ki5qv0 #giveaway #book #recipe ends 6/7

NOTE: I was sent a copy of this book in support this review. No other compensation was received. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Promotional, Recipes, Reviews, Simply Food Tagged With: book, cookbook, cooking, Giveaways, Guy Fieri Food, Recipes, review

Mamavation Monday: Another Monday

May 23, 2011 By Beth

It is Mamavation Monday time again!

I have nothing to report this week. It seems to be a standard post for me these days. My eating isn’t that off. Maybe a few extra treats as I just have a hard time say no but that isn’t the problem. I know I can say no. I can’t seem to find the motivation, energy, or time to be active. Work is as a busy time with extra hours, we are trying to get the yard/garden/path in order before it is 110 degrees outside, and school started again today. It is always something. I don’t know where to add the minutes because I can barely convince myself to get out of bed in the morning and I just crash at night after I finish the “must-do” list for that day. It just isn’t there.

It is on my mind to figure this out. I know I will but I don’t know what will make this change for me yet. If you have ideas, let me know. I seem to be out.

Are you ready to watch Mamavation TV tonight? You can check it out here! (It is past my bedtime so I miss the show every week!=/) Oh and if you are in the 5 before or after me, I will comment tomorrow, I promise!!

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Simply Life Tagged With: eating healthy, lifestyle change, Mamavation, Mamavation Monday, weight loss

Princess Parables Books

May 22, 2011 By Beth Leave a Comment

I recently had the chance to get a copy of both Princess Grace and the Lost Little Kitten and Princess Joy’s Birthday Blessing.

Princess Grace and the Little Lost Kitten (Princess Parables)

and

Princess Joy’s Birthday Blessing (Princess Parables)

Details …
PRINCESS GRACE AND THE LITTLE LOST KITTEN
Remember how the tale of the lost sheep reveals God’s love for each and every one of his children? In the story, the shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep in his flock to find the one sheep that is lost. Authors Jacqueline Johnson and Jeanna Young team up to inspire young girls with a retelling of that famous parable in PRINCESS GRACE AND THE LITTLE LOST KITTEN, part of the Princess Parables series (Zonderkidz; $12.99; February 2011). Together these authors reach out to little princesses everywhere with a story they will love.
In PRINCESS GRACE AND THE LITTLE LOST KITTEN, one rambunctious kitten slips away from a litter of five, to the dismay of Grace, a young princess who happens upon the kittens. The princess and her sisters exhaust themselves looking for this one kitten as the others stay close together. Princess Grace learns the parable’s lesson that God will go to any length to bring back one of his lost children.
Drawing from a timeless tale to weave tender, lovely language that young girls everywhere will enjoy and illuminated by beautiful designs from acclaimed illustrator Omar Aranda, Johnson and Young bring the beloved parable to new life.

PRINCESS JOY’S BIRTHDAY BLESSING
The parable of the banquet gets all dolled up in Jacqueline Johnson and Jeanna Young’s precious tale, PRINCESS JOY’S BIRTHDAY BLESSING, part of the Princess Parable series (Zonderkidz; $12.99; February 2011). As in the parable, the young princess learns that God welcomes everyone to his celebrations.
When Princess Joy’s sisters ask all of her friends to her upcoming surprise birthday party, they expect the castle to be swarming with princes and princesses eager for games and treats, including an enormous birthday cake for Joy. But almost every invited guest offers excuse after excuse, puzzling the disappointed sisters.
Princess Joy and her princess sisters learn that just like in the story of God’s great banquet, it is not so important who comes to the celebration, but the love and simple friendship that is shared.

My thoughts …
I was drawn to the books at first because my oldest daughter is named Grace and well she firmly believes that she is a princess as does her little sister. So I knew they would love the princess story in these books and I wasn’t wrong about that. I didn’t know that I would love the stories in these books. They both offer great lessons to the girls in a setting they know … princesses! I love they get to see the stories about God and the gifts He gives us in a format they will catch their attention. They have started to remember the stories already which is always good for warming a mommy’s heart!

If you have little princesses in your life, you should check out these great books. You can buy Princess Grace and the Little Lost Kitten (Princess Parables) new Amazon.com for only $11.04! You can also buy Princess Joy’s Birthday Blessing (Princess Parables) for only $10.39!

NOTE: I was sent a copy of these books in support this review. No other compensation was received. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Filed Under: Kids, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Family Tagged With: book, children, Christian, Princess, review

DIY Wedding Cake Series: Trial 1

May 21, 2011 By Beth Leave a Comment

Why do I say Trial 1?? Because this was trail 1 of 3! (I will post about trial 1 and 3 then the final cake success thanks to the products provided by Wilton and Duncan Hines!)

My sister got married earlier this May. She found the cake she wanted. It is simple and beachy which is perfect since she was getting married on the beach. The cost for a wedding cake that feeds 125 people though was priced “starting at $600″. gasp!!! So my mom and I decided we could take on making the cake for her. What the heck were we thinking?!

I was so pleased to partner up with Wilton and Duncan Hines for this effort. They have provided some products to helped us “practice” and get to the final cake!

So here was Trial 1.
I am going to admit that Trial 1 happened last year. It was a long time ago. I just haven’t had time to write this post when I got behind with everything else late last year.

Trial 1 was red velvet cake mix. My mom picked this. I have no idea why she picked this. My sister wanted the confetti cake mix (Duncan Hines variety has one but I learned it can be tricky to find!) But red velvet cake mix it was for this round.

The Wilton Tired Wedding Cake Pans were easy to use. They were actually much easier to use than I thought they would be for a insanely huge cake! The lifesaver for me, the designated cake baker, was the guide that told me how many cups of batter to use in each layer. This is key!!

During Trial 1 we used several different icing recipes. I don’t even remember which ones we used by now but they were all “voted off the island” …. errr, cake.

Sorry for the pictures in this post … this was my effort to make them a manageable file size. I am not loving it but will work on my skills!;)

For starters …

Wilton Performance Pans Round Pan Set, 3 Inches Deep are the Cake Pans we used for all of the trials and final cake.
Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Red Velvet Cake Mix, 18.25-Ounce B ox was used for this trial. The Confetti Cake Mix was used in Trial 3 and the Final Cake!
Making the Cake …(Me, my Mom in the background, and my two girls)

(The two baked cakes)

The Final Product …(My two girls licking that bowl to the bottom and the bride-to-be in the background!)

(The final cake … the cake topper hadn’t been ordered yet so that was a picture of it! LOL)

So the end result was getting to where we wanted to be. We realized we could bake cakes in these pans AND get them out of the pans!! We also realized the edging job we did was horrible! LOL I don’t know if we were scared or if we just happy we made something at this point. I do know the whole icing issue topic was a big area of concern. We needed an icing that tasted good and was easy to make smooth!!

Look for posts outlining Trial 3 and the Final Cake in the coming Saturdays!!