By August, our family meal plans have fizzled and we all are getting a bit bored with the same dinner fare. That’s why last week, I decided to go old school and serve up tasty tacos on, you guessed it! Tuesday- much to the delight of my family! If your summer dinner routine has hit a snag, maybe it’s time to bring back Taco Tuesday and delight your family too.




Bring back Taco Tuesday #summerfiesta


I wanted to keep dinner a surprise, so I headed to Publix by myself with the intention of buying the ingredients for good old fashioned beef and bean tacos. That’s when I noticed the Stand ‘n Stuff Taco shells dinner kit right beside their refried beans and green chilies that I normally buy. I knew these stand-alone shells would be a big hit with my girls, so in the cart they went, along with some avocados for guacamole.



 My WAHM Plan: Avocados from Mexico make tasty guacamole

As soon as I got home, I started making some guacamole with these beautiful avocados. I’m fortunate that my family loves the taste of this fruit! Of course we aren’t alone- did you know that Americans eat 1.4 billion pounds of guacamole a year?! Yeah, I was pretty blown away by that number myself.


I keep my guacamole recipe really simple and easy to follow by using ingredients and spices I have on hand like ground garlic, cumin, Adobo and fresh squeezed lime juice. I’ve found it I stick to this recipe, the guacamole will get gobbled up and used for more than just chip dipping,  We spread it on sandwiches, dip our carrots and peppers and more.


My WAHM Plan: freshly made Guacamole


Avocados do ripen really quickly, so I used all 5 of mine in this batch of guacamole. If your family won’t eat that much, you can store uncut avocados in the frig for a few days, or slice them and squeeze fresh lemon or lime juice on them to keep the avocado from browning. If you’d like to see some recipes for guacamole and other avocado dishes, just head on over to Avocados from MexicoMy guacamole tasted perfect with some Blue Corn tortilla chips I had on hand, so I set it in the frig to chill and got started on my stand’n stuff tacos.


My WAHM Plan: Taco Tuesday stand n stuff tacos

With the Old El Paso dinner kit that has shells, meat seasonings and taco sauce, my Taco Tuesday dinner was done in a flash. Besides cheese and sour cream, I make sure I serve tacos with lots of veggies- romaine lettuce, black olives, tomatoes, peppers, and more guacamole to help them be a bit healthier. 

When my family came to the dinner table, they couldn’t have been more surprised and delighted that I was serving tacos on Tuesday again. And the crunchy, easy to use stand n stuff shells were a huge hit!


My WAHM Plan: serve up a plate of crunchy tacos for dinner


If tacos aren’t your thing, you can find lots of quick and easy dinner recipes like Grilled Fajita Boats over at Old El Paso. They sound just as yummy as my tacos and I’m sure will be just as welcome at your next #summerfiesta dinner. 

Save!

From now, through the 19th, you can save on all Old El Paso products by shopping with Publix. Just upload, or print out the coupons at readysetsave.com to your loyalty card.


Win It:

My thanks to Old El Paso and Publix for sponsoring this $10 PayPal cash transfer giveaway! Entering is easy using the Rafflecopter form below.

Terms:
No purchase is necessary to enter using the Rafflecopter form.  My WAHM Plan is responsible for prize fulfillment. Winners will be notified by email used on entry form and have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.  This giveaway is not associated with nor endorsed by Facebook, Twitter, or any other social channel. 


Good luck!


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Color of the Month- August 2015- Red

in , , , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Monday, August 10, 2015
Happy August dear readers! The hottest days of summer are upon us and we are all feeling, hot, hot hot! After picking another just right red hot chili pepper off the vine, I was inspired to choose Red as the color of the month. 
My WAHM Plan: Red hot chili peppers off the vine #gardening
I hope you like my August color of the month Pinterest board! I'd love it if you would stop by and follow me there. Leave a comment with your user name, and I will follow you back!
Follow Linda A.'s board Color of the Month- August 2015- Red on Pinterest.

Please share in comments: What's the closest thing to you that's red? For me its the bindings on cookbooks to my left! 

By Tera Kinsman 

Hi, everybody! It’s YA book review time again. This week, I’m reviewing Dark Rising, the second book in Monica McGurk’s Archangel Prophecies series. (To read my review of the first book, Dark Hope, on the blog, click here.) As a thank-you, I received compensation, and two free copies of the book (one to keep and one to give away), but all opinions are my own. Shoutout to Monica McGurk for giving me the opportunity to read and share her work!



The Archangel Prophecies series by Monica McGurk



Book summary from publisher:

Can one person upend a prophecy as old as time?

Hope Carmichael is on the run. The only question is, from whom? The mark on her neck has branded her as part of an ancient prophecy, the Bearer of the Key. But the Fallen Angels have misunderstood and think Hope is their long-awaited way to regain Heaven by force. Now Hope is chasing down the artifact that could open Heaven’s Gates, while seeking to destroy it before the Fallen catch up with her. Will the Triad crime ring track Hope and exact their punishment before she gets the chance? Is the ragtag band of angels surrounding her now there to protect her, or imprison her? And will Michael, the Archangel sworn to defend Heaven at all costs, be forced to deny his love for Hope and take her life, instead, so the artifact won’t fall into enemy hands?

The epic narrative introduced in Dark Hope continues in Dark Rising as Hope crisscrosses some of the most ancient sites in Europe and plumbs the depths of history in search of the truth about the Key, herself, and love. Exploring themes of identity, fate, jealousy, trust, and forgiveness, Dark Rising’s mythological scope and moral urgency deepen as we come to understand the choices and consequences faced by a young woman determined to follow her heart and chart her own destiny.

My Summary and Thoughts:

Sometimes, the second book in a trilogy is sort of…boring? Certain Second Books That Will Remain Nameless have fallen desperately short of the first and sometimes even the third books in their series, leaving me flipping through pages, skimming the words and waiting for an exciting part. 

But Dark Rising didn’t do that. Instead, it built on the plot in Dark Hope, and added more tension and interesting plot twists that I genuinely didn’t see coming. The stakes were dramatically raised for Michael and Hope, as they stumble through Europe, searching for the Key, often with only the slightest clues to help them.  Their circumstances grow darker, but they grow closer. As they learn new, unexpected, and tragic truths about the Prophecy and themselves, Hope decides perhaps she was wrong to distance herself from Michael. But she realizes too late that she may have taken her faith from the one person she could trust, and put it in those she never could.

Mona and Don, her parents, also grow more desperate. New leads about Hope’s disappearance are not appearing often. Though Mona and Don are driven together by their shared love and grief, they are just as often pushed apart by their differing opinions on Hope’s disappearance. Mona still holds on to the logical explanation that Hope was taken by the human traffickers that lurk in high numbers in Atlanta, while Don insists that Hope is part of a higher plan, set apart to fulfill an amazing destiny given to her by God. 

By the end of the book, Hope feels even more alone than she did at the end of Dark Hope. Both her and Mona have experienced terrible loss and sadness. Their world, and the outside world around them, has dissolved into sadness and chaos. But neither have lost hope that the happiness – and perhaps the people – they have lost will return to them.

The book ends on kind of a sad note and cliffhanger, but the sneak peek of the third book, Dark Before Dawn (coming out in 2016), gave me hope (I feel like that’s a pun every time I write it…) for Michael, Hope, and her family.

As with Dark Hope, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of these books will be donated to organizations that help fight human trafficking, especially sexual trafficking of minors. 

Giveaway time! Because free stuff is the best stuff.  Below, you can enter to win a copy of Dark Rising.



Dark Rising by Monica McGurk


Terms: No purchase is necessary to enter using the Rafflecopter form below.  Open to U.S. residents sixteen (16) years old or older. My WAHM Plan is responsible for prize fulfillment. The prize will be one (1) paperback copy of Dark Rising by Monica McGurk. Winners will be notified by email used on entry form and have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.  This giveaway is not associated with nor endorsed by Facebook, Twitter, or any other social channel. 



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Comments! In the Archangel Prophecies books, Hope Carmichael is in love with an Archangel. So, what non-human would you be willing to date? Alien, angel, vampire, werewolf? Maybe those trolls, amirite, ladies? Or are you a humans-only sort of person? Let me know in the comments below! 

Never would I promote writing on walls, or worse to me, writing notes in books; but now that I’ve had the opportunity to test out the Slickyboard and Slickynotes free of charge for Shoplet.com, that is exactly what I’m promoting. 

Creativity is about flow and imagination and with these two new products I’m going to talk about today, dry erase boards and note pads, you can let your creativity flow!

My WAHM Plan: Slickynotes starter kit

I received the Slickyboard Beginners kit which included:
  • 10 30X25 inch Whiteboard sheets
  • 1 slickynotes pad in large (Green)
  • 1 slickynotes pad in medium (purple)


About Slickynotes Whiteboards and slickynote pads:

The electrostatically charged, adhesive free dry erase sheets allow you to stick these to the walls and set your ideas free! Now you can whiteboard anywhere you want! You just stick the whiteboard sheet on the wall and it stays put while you work. 

Stickyboards can be used on any smooth, dry indoor surface.  Another great feature of these products is they are reusable. Just wipe off the dry erase marker on the whiteboard, or erase the pencil off the slickynotes and you're good to go. 

Slickynotes products are made of recyclable polypropylene making them a number 5 recyclable and earth friendly. 

Whiteboard Uses:

My kids have drawn on these, played hang-man, designed clothing sets and more all with a dry erase marker, the slickynotes whiteboard and their imagination. 

These boards could even be helpful in my home office, where I can use one to jot down creative blog posts, alert my husband to urgent business matters etc.

My WAHM Plan tests slickynotes

The only drawback I’ve seen with the whiteboards is glare. If you are going to be using them for presentation purposes in a business environment, you’ll have to account for lighting. Even with my lights off and just one window with blinds partially open, I got quite a bit of glare as shown in the photo above. 


Slickynote Uses:

I found a perfect use for the slickynotes with while going through a new cookbook! I just plop the slickynotes on a page, jot down my motes and start a shopping list right there.  

These would be perfect for studying when the kids head back to school to jot down notes, brainstorm ideas for class projects, even doodling and sketching is okay with these fun, reusable notes. 

Learn More:

I invite you to learn more about the Slickynotes Beginner Kit here. I think you’ll like letting your creativity flow with these innovative products!


Please share in comments:  If you had a few Slickynotes dry erase whiteboards and note pads, where would you put them in your home and what would create with them?



Disclosure:

My thanks to Shoplet.com on behalf of Slickynotes for providing a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. I received no monetary compensation. I’m disclosing this in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”


Tropical Yogurt Parfaits recipe #sweetsummersnack #ad

in , , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Saturday, August 01, 2015
The dog days of summer are upon us and nothing beats a cool sweet treat to beat the summer heat.  I was happy to learn that one of our all-time favorite snacks- Yoplait Original Yogurts now has 25% less sugar, so I whipped up these Tropical Yogurt Parfaits for a sweet summer snack and wanted to share the recipe with you.



I try to keep Yoplait yogurts on hand for my family to eat for breakfasts or snacks. We all love their taste and I love that Yoplait doesn’t use high-fructose corn syrup, or milk from cows treated with rBST; and now that Yoplait’s have 25% less sugar, I feel even better about letting them eat a yogurt when they want. You can go to Yoplait and learn more about the flavors available, see recipes and read the nutrition facts.

My WAHM Plan : #Recipe with French Vanilla Yoplait Yogurt

I was excited to try the new Yoplait Original French Vanilla to see if there was any taste difference. I’m happy to share that I couldn’t tell the difference at all! That’s due to the tireless work Yoplait put in to this new formula. 

They tried over a hundred recipe variations before getting a yogurt that had less sugar without sacrificing any of the taste. Speaking of recipes, here is a super simple, 3 ingredient recipe for Tropical Yogurt Parfaits. 

My WAHM Plan: 3 ingredient Tropical Yogurt Parfaits


I bought all my ingredients at Publix. If you shop at Publix too, be sure to visit readysetsave.com first where you can print out a coupon, or upload one right to your loyalty card.


Tropical Yogurt Parfaits Recipe:

Ingredients: (for 2 servings):
  • 2 Yoplait Original 25% less sugar French Vanilla Yogurts
  • 1 cup Pineapple tidbits in fruit juice
  • 4 Tablespoons Sweetened Coconut shreds
Tropical Yogurt Parfaits recipe on MyWAHMPlan.com



Directions:
  • Gather ingredients. For quicker assembly of Parfaits, open yogurts, pour Pineapple in serving bowl and open coconut. I used 2 small mason jars for serving my parfaits, but you can use small juice glasses too.
  • In jar, place a large tablespoon of Pineapple with as little juice as possible in bottom of jar.
  • Next, add about half of the French Vanilla Yogurt container.
  • Add a tablespoon of Coconut if desired.
  • Repeat all steps until jars are filled, topping with a small amount of coconut.

Chill before serving and enjoy this cool #sweetsummersnack

Tasty summer treat: Tropical Yogurt Parfaits on  MWP


Win It:

Want to try the new Yoplait less sugar Yogurts for free? Here’s your chance! Thanks to our sponsors, Yoplait and Publix, one lucky reader will win a $15.00 cash PayPal transfer. 

Terms:
No purchase is necessary to enter using the Rafflecopter from below.  My WAHM Plan is responsible for prize fulfillment. Winners will be notified by email used on entry form and have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.  This giveaway is not associated with nor endorsed by Facebook, Twitter, or any other social channel. 


Good luck!


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