How to make homemade Biscuits

alright, we love our biscuits.  So I thought it would be fun to make a video to show you how I do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgkNUB3D0BE

DIY with the dirty dozen veggie wash

So this is the beginning of a ton of post.  That is your only warning.  I will be coming back later that I had to get on my frugal tightwad ship and set sail to be efficient with my single income, five children home. Hate to admit, I have been shopping with an attitude of entitlement.

First off, let's clean some stuff.  So we know with all the Monsanto and organic arguments, oh and also e-coli outbreaks that washing veggies is a necessity.  And our store has all kinds of things to buy and spend our precious resources on.

Image source:http://veggiewash.beaumontproducts.com/UltimateEditorInclude/ImageViewer.aspx?id=243

There are a ton of veggie/fruit wash recipes.  Here is the one I like at allrecipes.

http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-vegetable-wash-preserver-that-works-spray-or-soak-300387

So I prefer the soak method. I can fill and walk away until later. So I fill my washtub with cold water and add an estimated quarter cup of white 

 Vinegar with about 2 tablespoons of salt.  And let soak for 15 minutes.

Now the thing to realize is there is a pretty list of dirty food and good ones.  I have spent years ignoring it, but I must arm myself with its knowledge.

12 Most Contaminated

• Peaches
• Apples
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Pears
• Grapes (Imported)
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Potatoes

12 Least Contaminated

• Onions
• Avocado
• Sweet Corn (Frozen)
• Pineapples
• Mango
• Asparagus
• Sweet Peas (Frozen)
• Kiwi Fruit
• Bananas
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Papaya

Source: www.organic.net

As, always wanting to feed my family well, without debt.

Recipe Card - Jello pie

This is a true anchor from weight watchers over 10 years ago.  Jello pie.  This thing is really 4 points.  I seen where it said 3 points in a couple of places, but when I calculate it, its 4.  This is great to take to parties or have when you might be tempted.  You can make it in all kinds of variations.  This time I had strawberry, next time I think I am using upside down pineapple cake yogurt and lime jello, to have a pina colada pie.  I might by pass the crumbs crust too.  So enjoy!

Thanksgiving -WW recipes

As I finish my first week on plan, I am in epic failure mode.  Hmm, a small trip has turned my efforts into drive thru madness. as thanksgiving is fastly approaching, I am building my arsenal to be prepared with low point options at the dinner table.  I have held onto these recipes for some time and they can be a true lifesaver for just knowing what I can eat and how much versus adventuring into the unknown.

My first is the Weight Watcher Bread Stuffing.  Please be aware that this will not look, smell or taste like diet food.  It is very probable that it may be consumed by all guest and not just the dieting ones.

Now I do enjoy the Weight watcher Cranberry Walnut Relish.  Besides just being pretty, it makes me feel as though I have a since of culinary gourmet affluence.  Hmm, which I do not, but it is fun to pretend.

My ultimate comfort food, has got to be the mashed potatoes.  No reason to skimp on taste with this dish.  Adding the garlic and thyme brings a well deserved pop of flavor to every bite. 

Weight watchers has always been wonderful at making the meal more than just a diet, but a lifestyle and an occasion.  Always adding to your menu fresh foods and staying to natural and less processed foods, makes every meal healthy and delicious.  Most of all, almost every weight watcher recipe I have found to add to my life is usually straight forward and easy.  But most of all, do able without a special cooking class.

Have a great thanksgiving.

~trish

WW Week 1: hearty breakfast

For me, breakfast is the make or break me meal of the day.  If I am not satisfied, the day is going to go down hill for making good decisions on what to eat.  This is my go to meal in the morning.  It is 1 cup of steamed potatoes and 2 eggs for a total of 6 points.

 The potatoes are not fried.  Today I am using left over potatoes from dinner. I have a tupperware steaming container, i.e., sealed container with a vent.  I dice the potatoes and season with my favorite all spice.  Then I microwave them for about 8 minutes, depending on how much I have in there.  On mornings I do not have left overs, I dice up 1 small red potato (only 1 point), microwave for about 5.  Then spray some cooking spray and brown.  ta da. Now this is when I will add chopped green onions, like today.  Or chopped tomatoes, green peppers, or any other zero point veggie.

One thing to be aware of.  I love salsa.  I added 2 Tbsp of salsa for zero points and then was in horror when I figured out that those little spoonfuls had 1/6 my daily sodium intake.  This is why I use salsa type veggies in my potatoes and not salsa.  That sodium will mess with your head and scale.  Too much and you are retaining water like a camel and the scale will show it.  One gallon of water is 8 lbs on the scale.  Besides it is horrible for your body in so many other ways.  So stick with fresh.

For me, I feel satisfied and like I am not on a diet.  Besides, when the diet is over, this is a lifestyle choice I would still enjoy to have every morning.  Thus, helping me to keep the weight off.  And for me, losing the weight isn't the problem, it's keeping it off.
~trish

Week 1: Cassoulet

Another great favorite of mine is Cassoulet.  I love this, to me this recipe is excellent for comfort in the fall, but also gives me the grown up version of beans and weenies. This is really a great recipe for any bean, even cranberry beans.  This recipe is a version of the original put out by the WW recipe mill.

To keep your points low, use the low-fat turkey smoked sausage.  If you do, this recipe will  serve 4 with 6 points per serving.  Also, if you are not using canned beans then portion out 4 servings from dry beans and prepare them to use.  If you want a quick way to prepare them, go here.

Also check this out for some more great recipes for using beans! http://www.pulsecanada.com/uploads/4f/3c/4f3c70cc5efe8ead7b1f1c1f052ae932/Cooking-with-Beans-Peas--Lentils-2010.pdf

I hope this helps you, if you are looking for ways to add more fiber to your life with a yummy flavor.  For us, beans are a favorite in my house.
~trish

Week 1: Beef Stroganoff

See the WW, hmm, after all my success I am back onto weight watchers.  The new points plus made me lose it quick, but it came right back on.  So after a week kicking the idea that I needed to start again, last night I made the commitment.

So in search of a refresher I found Debra at Losing it!  Who is sharing day by day her efforts to be on plan.  She was a bunch of inspiration for me and I do suggest you check her out.  For the love of good food, I wanted to share this recipe for stroganoff. When I first started weight watchers almost ten years ago, this recipe was my go to for comfort.

My recipe card is a 5by7.  I love printing them at the photo lab and laminating them.  I use storybook creator and this layout is made from Creative Memories Rugged Outdoors Digital Addition.

This recipe comes from one of the best weight watcher, original points plan, cookbooks. I hope you enjoy.
~trish

Freezing beans!

So after a few lessons from http://everydayfoodstorage.net/f/legumes, I got about 4 pounds of beans and got them ready to freeze today.  I bought navy, red, and northern beans.  These are beans that we typically eat a lot of.  I did get the navy, because everyday food storage

 

http://missvickie.com/howto/beans/howtobeantypes.html

 

When I froze them, I put them into 1 cup portions in sandwich bags.  I then put the sandwich bags in a 1 gallon freezer bag.  This way, they are all together and I can be cheap and not have to waste a freezer bag on each portion.

 

Now that I am posting this, I am making my second batch.  We already ran through this one.

~trish

Party time! #1 is turning 6

So what do I love most about being mom!  Birthdays!  They were a miserably difficult experience to birth these wonderful children.  I never thought I could ever go through that much pain and live through it, much less be so happy.  I must say, God has a great since of humor.  It is horrible to go through it once, but then to repeat the process.  Hmm, must be a bit crazy.  So I love each birthday, because I am having another year with my child and I can celebrate that I went through the worst pain I can imagine and survived!  Wow!  My body is amazing for its strength!

So this week is #1’s storybook character parade and it works perfect with our costumes anyways.  So here is my little pig (1 of 3).

I still have 2 more pigs to make.  The overalls were a pair I had made for #2.  I added pink to the straps and the cuffs and was so thankful they fit here.  My husband and I had it out trying to put the snaps on them (this goes back to having 2 engineers that live and breath together).  I made the ears and tail out of felt and I used a good gauged wire left over from my wedding stuff.  I did pick up the nose at the party store.

So to celebrate at school, we brought in cupcakes.  To help make it special they had to be cute.

Here cake for her party is just finished. 

and my kitchen looks about like this.

Plenty of candy, another cake for just the family tonight.  What a mess!  I am so thankful for the Dollar Tree when it is birthday time!  I got her a balloon for each year!

 

I made custom bag toppers for her goodie bags. 

I am really trying to challenge myself to do more everyday stuff with my digital program.  I look forward to sharing some more of my ideas!

~trish

Digital Recipe Cards – Cheerful Halloween Digital additions Preview

I am so excited that I got to preview one of the new digital additions from my Creative Memories Consultant, Tracy Croy!  She has really managed to get me hooked on making recipe cards.  They are relatively easy and then you can print them out via a 4x6 printing service or at home.  So I was able to play with the new Cheerful Halloween Digital Addition.  This picture shows you everything you get in the kit.   I have to say this is amazing!  Since the digital file is only $5.95!

So I decided the best thing for some good recipes to add to my recipe collection would be to look in www.familyfun.go.com.

 

So I came up with these 3 recipe cards.

You can click and save these jpegs and then either print to your local printer or send it to a photo lab.

Enjoy!

~trish

Cooking with dried beans

Cooking Dried Beans in the Slow Cooker

Day 292.
It's day 292. And I finally have cracked the cooking-with-dried vs. cooking-with-canned-beans code.
Why did it take me 292 days?
Sheer laziness. I have no other reason.
1 bag of dried black beans costs $1.89 at the fancy-pants grocery store, and it costs $0.89 at our local produce stand.
1 can of organic black beans at Trader Joe's costs $0.99.
1 dried bag of black beans (16 oz) = 3 cans (15 oz each).
Which means even if you buy over-priced dried black beans you will save some money making them at home yourself.
The Ingredients.

--bag of black beans (or other beans. but remember that kidney beans have that freaky toxin.)
--water
--crockpot (4 quarts and up)
The Directions.
Pour the entire bag of dried beans into a colander and rinse under cold water. If you see any beans that have broken in half, or skin that floats to the surface, get rid of it. Also pick out any beans that look shriveled and gross.
Dump all the beans into your crockpot. Add enough water to cover all the beans and an additional 2 inches.
Cover. Do not turn on. Let the beans soak for at least 6 hours, or overnight. If you live in a very warm area, and the crockpot won't be in a room that is climate-controlled, put the stoneware in the fridge. You don't want bacteria to have the opportunity to grow.
In the morning, dump the water, and rinse your beans. The water will be bean-colored.
Put the beans back into your crockpot and cover with enough fresh water to completely cover the beans with an extra 2-3 inches.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
The beans are done when they are bite-tender. Don't worry if the water hasn't all absorbed. You're going to dump it, anyway.
Drain the beans.
When cool, put 1 2/3 cups of beans into storage containers or freezer bags (you're adding this amount because you aren't adding filler-liquid like the cans have). The beans will store nicely in the refrigerator for 1 week, or in the freezer for 6 months.
Use as you would canned beans in your favorite recipe.
The Verdict.
I like knowing what is in my food. I like the idea that we can save money and reduce consumption by using dried beans.
This takes a while. When I do this again, I'm going to get quite a few bags of beans and do them all at once in a few crockpots. The kids liked picking through the beans to weed out the undesirables, and they will munch on black beans (and garbanzo and pinto and kidney) for a snack, which makes me happy.
I've found a chart that breaks down the energy consumption of kitchen appliances:
(First Energy Corp., Ohio--scroll to page 5)
it states that a crockpot costs 2 cents an hour to run. Which means that even with adding the cooking time/cost to the beans, it's cost-effective to cook your own.

Make It Fast, Cook It Slow

by Stephanie O’Dea

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Posted by Stephanie O'Dea at 7:02 AM

I am featuring post from another blog.  My husband found it, in his effectiveness to prove to me, why my chili is a failure.  So here it is.

Cakes for 100 and More! Strawberry Shortcake!

As finding my best way to serve God in Our Awanas church program, I figured out, I should make desert.  So each week I make desert that will need to serve 100 or more people (kids and adults).  Now the thing to realize is there is a budget.  Ready!  Here it is!  I have got about $20 to let God do miracles with!  So I am going to share my recipes with you on how I get it done!

So I just served strawberry cake last night and I thought we were going to have to roll the adults out of the room.  Everyone was getting their cake to their seats and then going for their dinner.  Wow!  It really gave me the sense that, yep, God is using me and this is what it is for!  So this cake is a hit!  This is a picture of a test version I did before I made the big pans of it!

RECIPE! for 100!

4 boxes of Yellow Cake mix ($4)

1 jar apple sauce ($2)

1 dozen eggs ($1.50)

4 boxes Strawberry Jello ($4)

4 tubs of white icing ($5)

1 Large bag of frozen strawberries from walmart ($6)

1 cup sugar (on hand)

So you make the cake via the directions, except substitute the oil with applesauce.  When the toothpick comes out clean, pull it out and poke holes all over the cake.  Make Jello as directed and immediately pour over hot cake.  Let cake cool to room temperature (you can skip this, if you are in a time crunch, just becareful not to crumble the cake when you spread icing.)

Spread icing all over the top.  Defrost strawberries and smash them up, so they are crushed.   Add sugar to the strawberries to make a sauce with a juice.  Spoon strawberries all over the top.  Put in fridge until you serve it.

 

When I make this, I am using 2 13 by 24 inch pans.  I am also an industrial oven. 

I hope you enjoy.  I am going to put the other recipes I come up with.  But you can see, I can make that $20 go far.  I have a mud cake and a pineapple upside down cake recipe.  If you have any box cake recipes to share, please send them my way.  I need 2 more recipes.

~trish

The Once A Month MOM Cooking website and podcast

I stumbled across the podcast and then found her site.  AMAZING!  This is another source for doing your once a month cooking.  She has it all very professional with printable recipe cards! 

She puts out a monthly podcast about the meals.  You can get all the information you need at her site.

I am excited about the pop-tart recipe.  My kids love pop-tarts and so does my husband.  So I look forward to making these.  I am going to plan to use her plan for my next cooking session. find her here!

~trish

Bulk Produce

  

I might be guilty of having a love for buying in bulk.  There is just something about buying 100 tomatoes that gets me giddy!

 

So the other day I went to the farmers market.  It is like a whole other world there. You can buy from market stands.

Out of the back of trucks

you can buy in quantities of one thing or 1 box.  So I got excited and went shopping.  A little too much.  Thankfully, I only had one kid, I had to rearrange the seating.

I bought 2 boxes of corn, 5 boxes of tomatoes, 1 box of peppers and 5 watermelons for about $60.  Let me say!  WHAT WAS I THINKING!  Way too much to put away.  I ended up putting up the corn and 1 box of tomatoes.  The rest was handed out and I did buy 2 boxes of it for my MIL and mom and split the peppers.  BUT still, I got 4 kids and one on a ninni!  How did I think that I could put food up.

 

Oh but I loved the smell of those peppers and tomatoes. YUM!  But at the end of the week, it made me realize that I needed to keep things simpler.  SO no clothe diapers, no homemade wipes, no bulk preparation.  I am going as easy as possible and maintaining health.  So SAM’s Club here I come.

~trish

PS I think I am going back, I love the freshness.  Maybe neck week.

OAMC June Cooking Event

 

Monday

1. Prepped Tuna casserole, minus noodles and froze.
2. Bought ingredients at Walmart
3. Made myself crazy by showing up at Sams 3 minutes after they closed
4. Had pitty party in parking lot, went to Joanns to make list of patterns I want for the big sale on friday as a since of therapy.

 

Tuesday

1. Buy the remaining ingredients at Sam’s.
2. Found the source of the mysterious smell in the Van.
3. Pre-warned the Manager of JoAnns that I will be there when the doors open on friday with all 4 kids.  (He is the new manager, I figured the least I can do is prepare him.)
4. Cut onions
5. Cook ground beef.
6. Slice beef roast (I bought stew meat instead, Sams stew meat is all the cut offs from the steaks and is high quality) and brown.

Wednesday

1. Boil chicken, cool, debone, bag meat up.  Save broth.

Thursday

1. Make pasta sauce.
2. Chop celery and slice mushrooms.
3. Make and freeze beef stroganoff
4. Make Beef tips and Freeze.

Friday

1. Soak beans
2. Hit the Memorial Sale at JoAnns for $1/yd fabric, follow with library,
3. Undercook the beans.
4. Make and freeze Creamy Chicken
5. Make and Freeze Jambalaya
6. Make and freeze Red beans and Rice

By the end of the weekend everything was finished.  I had some distractions that kept me off task, I provided you with them to show you that it really isn’t a daunting task.  I may have some attention problems right now.

I ended up with 29 meals in the freezer.  I skipped the tuna patties, because I took too long to get to the rest of the tuna.  I feared for the safety of it.  Every night that I prepped the meals, I pulled a bit a side for dinner that night, so I really got 45 extra meals on top of the ones in the freezer.

I skipped all the pasta and rice.  I am going to make the rice and pasta the day of, to save time prepping them and to save room in the freezer.  Some things I did not mix well.  Like the bean recipes, I divided the beans out the day before and had them in the zip lock bags and then the next day I mixed the remaining ingredients and added them in after the fact.

Things to consider on the lazy lasagna and cheeseburger pasta.  Do not make your arms hurt, cut the the velveeda and cream cheese up and put them at the bottom of the ziplock.  Then mix remaining ingredients and pour on top.  My arms are killing me.  And add the shredded cheese last when mixing.  It is very difficult to mix shredded cheese when you multiplied the recipe by 4.

Another Note about my recipes.  The creamy Chicken can use a little something.  I figured it would be a meal requiring sides, I think it needs vegetables in it.  Over the next few times I make it, I will figure out what to add.

Now my future bulk cooking will not be this intense.  I just had to get caught up from not bulking for a while.  After next week (when I get paid again), I plan to bulk cook 1-2 meals each week.  My thought is if I am putting in 6-7 meals into the freezer each week than I should always have 30 meals in the freezer.  Than I will not have another hard wallet hit, like this week.  I think I am going to have to get a payday loan from my husband, I might be short by about $10, $45 if I have to get diapers.  (On that side note, I better get my laundry caught up, to clothe diaper).

Email me with any questions you have. If you bulk cook, link me to your blog.  This post took me all week to write.  I am excited to be done cooking and start sewing.  I got a new skirt pattern and wonderful $1 yard fabric to use.

~trish

Good Morning Breakfast

Is this not the cutest set of eyes to make breakfast for? 

 

I just wanted to share our morning breakfast table with you.  This was breakfast of eggs, grits, and sausage and Orange Juice from the freezer section.  My husband makes fun of me for getting them to eat grits, especially since I was a grit hater growing up.  I am not sure why my dad never gave them to me with butter and american cheese on a plate with fried catfish? This was all it took to be a grit lover.  The simple truth, why my kids are asked to eat them, they are cheap and easy.

I just really wanted to touch base with you because I am not done cooking yet.  It is not because it is a long process, I just never want to get started.  I start about the time I should be preparing dinner and then I will do 2 different meals in that time and bag them up.  I really need to get motivated and finish before my cooked food goes bad.

Alright, I am off to cook.

~trish

Onion dicing, 10 lbs at a time

My mom swears by this little gadget.  See the gallon of onions, they are all uniformly diced and it took me about 45 minutes to do 10 lbs.  Of course, this is with the occasional interruptions and nursing a baby and trying to get to tumbling in a rainstorm and just deciding to go back to the onions.  With mom out of town and her onion chopper all alone for the weekend and me having all these onions to do, I went over to her house in the silence and snagged it.

This thing is awesome and will be a must have or totally barrowed from.  All I did was pealed and quarter the onions and then put them on the grid, push the top down and done!

Clean up on this thing was marginal effort.  I checked them out at JCPenny’s are this gadget runs between $20-30.

I just wanted to share the gadget that saved me time and tears.  Oh yah, I did no crying in the chopping of these onions.

~trish

June 2010 Bulk Cooking Menu

This took me a bit of time to get together.  Like I said before, planning is key!  First I came up with my meals and the recipes.  I have a list below that show what I am making, how many it serves and the total number of meals I am making of it.  To make things easier, I linked the recipes for you.  Some I had to type out and post, some I changed the recipe from how I would make it to one that was already on the web.  For some of you, you may have never thought about cooking in bulk like this before, so I want to make it as easy as possible to follow along.
Menu List

Chicken	Servings	# of Meals
Creamy Chicken Casserole	6	2
Chicken Pot Pie	6	2
Chicken and Sausage cassoulet		2
Jambalaya	8	2
Ground beef
Lazy Lasagna	6	4
Cheeseburger Pasta	6	4
Tuna
Tuna Casserole		3
Tuna Cakes		2
Sausage
Red beans and Rice	6	2
Stuffed Shells	6	2
Beef Tips	6	3
Beef Stroganoff	6	2

Alterations:
Jambalaya: I will be using canned tomatoes (diced) instead of fresh tomatoes.  I will be browning the cooked chicken and sausage as it says.  I will make the mixture and then freeze and will cook it later in the crock pot.
Tuna Patties: Calls for bisquick in the recipe.  I am not buying it.  I found a recipe for baking mix here.
Beef Tips: This recipe is for a huge amount, I am cutting the recipe in half and assuming it will suit 3 meals of 6 servings.

Now, sorry I did not type it all out, but it is so much easier to hand write my ingredients for each meal.  So I scanned the pages for you.  Here they are:

Just click and you should be able to print.
Now from here, I consolidate my list to create my grocery list to shop from.

I then check my pantry for what I have, so I can delete it from my list.  From this list, I am using my $0.68/lb whole chickens and the 4 pound can of tuna I already have. 
After, I cruise sam’s club (website) to see what I can buy in bulk and mark it on my list.  I also check out the weekly ads to see if it can beat the price.  I plan to buy first at walmart to price match anything and then go to walmart.  My initial approximation is that this will cost me $200 for 30 days.  Now if you read about my frugal finances, I get $300 every 2 weeks.  So for the next 2 weeks no doubt, we are eating from the freezer.  But the following 4 weeks, we will eat about every other night.  This way I can make our favorite, fried meat, rice and gravy with green beans.

As for cooking this bulkiness, that will be a later post.  The nice part is after all this work, I can always repeat this bulk planning with just the shopping and cooking effort.
If you bulk cook!  Please leave me a comment and send us a link to your blog where you post any of your recipes.  Coming up with the meals I want to eat is my hardest part.

~trish

Cheeseburger Pasta

This is my creation based on my husband’s love of those nasty boxed meals that all you need to do is add a pound of beef.  I am not naming names of the dinner HELPER.  But I don’t like the stuff and I can not figure out how it is healthy with vegetables.  So taking inspiration by the flavors available, I created this one.  AND I know mine is better, cheaper, and healthier.  And it freezes well.

Cheeseburger Pasta

• 1 pound ground beef, cooked
• 8 oz pasta, cooked
• 1 c. chopped onion
• 8 oz Velveeta cheese
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1 TBSP Gourmet Steak Seasoning
• 1 c. diced tomato
• 1/2 c. shredded cheddar

Cook onions within the ground beef in skillet on med/high.  Stir in Velveeta, milk, garlic, and steak seasoning, until blended. Stir in pasta and tomatoes.  Sprinkle with shredded cheese and heat 2-3 minutes.

Again with the pasta, remember to undercook it, so it does not turn to mush in the freezer and re-heating process.  I will replace the fresh tomato with a can of diced tomatoes, when cooking in bulk.  I Mix it all together after the beef and onions were cooked and put it into a zip-lock for the freezer.

~trish

Lazy Lasagna

This is a recipe from a family collection cookbook on my husbands side.  I love this recipe, another absolute favorite of mine.  I am not a determined woman enough to do all the layering to make traditional lasagna.  I enjoy all the cheese that is in it, but I love to be able to add any vegetables I want to change it up.  I have froze this meal many times and it turns out marvelous.

Lazy Lasagna

• 1 lb ground beef, cooked
• 8 oz pasta (elbow, bowtie, etc.), cooked
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 egg
• 16 oz cottage cheese
• 12 oz shredded mozzarella
• Italian seasoning
• 3 c. spaghetti sauce

Mix cream cheese and egg. Combine all ingredients, except for sauce. Pour into  pan, top with sauce.  Bake 350F for 30 min.

Important note, cook the pasta just until it is done.  You want it to be a bit hard, so that it will freeze well.  Not to worry, it will cook all the way when you thaw and heat it.  I am sorry for the lack of precise measurement on the ingredients.  For the ability to share the recipe, I just approximated the amount.  I have swapped the ground beef for spicy Italian sausage, my husband and I loved it, the kids not so much.

~trish