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Go Big this NYE with Big D Baklava {Recipe}

December 8, 2014 By Autumn Rose Reo 26 Comments

Want to make a big impression on New Year’s Eve? Then make this Big D Baklava – huge on flavor, not on work!

When a group of obsessive-compulsive, Type A mom bloggers get together, we get together to plan for other get-togethers. (Always multitasking we are!)

Recently a group of us met to share recipes and ideas for hosting a New Year’s Party and how to be the hostess with the mostest using Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry. While I’m already a huge fan of pastry puff wrapped brie (my holiday staple), I learned that I could create an entire party menu with a little creativity and a whole lotta puff pastry!

Of course, as good mothers/party planners should, we had to “test” everything.

And it was good. Oh so good!

Did you know that Pepperidge Farm makes not only puff pastry sheets, but cups too? So you can use them for savory items as well as sweet ones like these creamy mushroom puffs. (They were as good as they sounded, believe me.) The puff pastry is made like pie pastry, but when the 60 flaky layers of dough are baked, it rises eight times higher in size! Now that’s a Puff-Out Party!

One of my favorite holiday recipes I’ve been making for years is baklava. My father even requests it and he is a picky eater for his birthday. However, for the holidays, I wanted to add a little something to it for an even bigger taste. By using Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry and a little touch of chipotle powder, my baklava went from great to amazing! Even if you don’t like heat, you can’t taste the spice exactly, you get a new layer of flavors that can’t be beat and using the puff pastry, you get Texas-size baklava that will bring ’em coming back for more each time.

Of course, if you want a little more flavor, you can always turn up the heat. Here in Dallas, Texas everything is always a little bit bigger and a whole lot better, so I’m sharing my recipe for Big D Baklava.

Big D Baklava

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

1 package (16 oz) Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry
1 pound of nuts (I use 1/2 walnut + 1/2 pecan)
1/2 cup butter (or 1 stick), room temperature so it can be spread
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon chipotle pepper (ground)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup honey

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Butter the bottoms and sides of a pan with a lip (9×13 works well.)
In a bowl, mix nuts, cinnamon and chipotle together. Set aside.
Unwrap 1 puff pastry sheet, lay on counter or table and coat one side with butter.
Divide sheet into 12 squares.
Sprinkle 1/3 of nut mixture on each square.
Next with 2nd sheet of puff pastry, butter and cut squares into 12.
Sprinkle 1/3 of nut mixture then cover with squares.
Add remaining nuts to top of pastry.
Place squares in oven and cook for 15-20 minutes until brown.
Meanwhile, boil sugar and water until melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
Remove baklava squares from oven and spoon sauce over squares. Allow to cool. If using for gifts place on wax paper so they won’t stick. Leave uncovered or pastry will get soggy.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry.

Do Good for the Good of Others with Giving Tuesday, Dec. 2

December 1, 2014 By Autumn Rose Reo Leave a Comment

This is a sponsored post. However, my personal experience with GivingForward is all my own and makes it easy to share my thoughts about the importance of Giving Tuesday.

It’s crazy to think how much money has been spent just over Brown Thursday, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday.

If only 10% of the total could go to support true giving; a moment of total selfless acts and gifts that don’t turn into gifts under the tree, but amount to so much more.

Today, Tuesday, December 2, Giving Tuesday is a day dedicated to true giving. Giving Tuesday’s goal is to boost humanity rather than the economy. It’s about doing good for the good of others.

Just about a year ago, my son’s wish to Go to Disney World was granted by A Wish with Wings and Give Kids the World. For one week our family was giving a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to celebrate all that my son, a child with a Congenital Heart Defect, had been through in his short six years. It was a moment we will remember forever and was only possible through the tireless donations and giving of organizations and individuals committed to making dreams come true for children with life-threatening illnesses.

Recently, I felt like I could pay it forward when my best friend’s mother was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. A mother of three children, Cindy had often taken in many “kids” over the year and was always on the bleachers to cheer you on. Knowing that treatments would be expensive and tedious, many of us started our own spirit squad to repay the same favor Cindy had done for us. In efforts to raise money for Cindy, we launched a GiveForward page to raise money for others that wanted to help. GiveForward is the easy, online fundraising platform to help raise money for a loved one in need with the help of

In addition to a one-night fundraiser and our GiveForward page, we’ve raised almost $30,000.

So how can you GiveForward and make a difference? Remember, it doesn’t have to be a big check to make a big impact. On Giving Tuesday give time or money to a cause or person you care about. Buy a trailing customer’s morning coffee to warm and brighten her winter day. Rake your grandparents’ leaves before snow blankets their yard. Contribute cash to a non-profit like A Wish with Wings to celebrate children affected with diseases like CHD.

Acts of true giving take place every day on GiveForward, but Giving Tuesday is a wonderful time to reflect on how both small and large gifts make great impacts. Share your Giving Tuesday moments today by using the hashtags #GivingTuesday and #GiveForward. Or post a #UNselfie with what you’re doing for Giving Tuesday.

Now, go forth and give!

Make the Holidays Count with Help from Market Street

November 19, 2014 By Autumn Rose Reo Leave a Comment

Disclaimer: I’m thrilled to be partnering with Market Street to highlight features, deals and more each month! #MarketStreetTX

Oh, the holidays.

My favorite time of the year. And honestly, one of the hardest times of the year, too.

I love all the decorations, the music, the tradition, the parties, the gifts…Unfortunately, that all takes work. A lot of work. And normally, that’s up to me. I want so much for things to be perfect. To look a certain way, be a certain way, and to be a remembered a certain way.

But after many years of hard work, I’ve decided that what really counts is the time we spend together. The friends I haven’t seen don’t care I spent countless hours preparing my house to look like the magazines. My family doesn’t care mom spent days putting together the perfect holiday meal. And they really don’t care if when everything’s all over, that there’s hours of cleaning up – at least not enough to pitch in (HA!)

So this year, it’s time to decide what is really important. I want to entertain and I want it to be good, but I don’t always have the time to put in.

That’s where my friends at Market S t reet make it SO easy to create the right party set up for friends or the holiday meal that your family will be talking about for years!

Just take a look at this quick, but delicious party, but it certainly doesn’t look like it’s from a container (and I didn’t do anything, but put it in the oven and then on the table.) I just went to Market Street, picked it up and served it up!

MARKET STREET SIGNATURE ITEMS

Smoked Gouda Pimiento Dip

Jalapeno Popper Dip

Market Street Cheese Balls

Artisan Breads (cracked pepper parmesan, white chocolate apricot, good n’ grainy)

Texas Brownies

Thumbprint cookies

Bacon Wrapped Quail with jalapeno

Stuffed Pork Loin

Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Stuffed Roulade (flank steak stuffed with fresh ingredients.)

Or you can get Market Street to put together the whole holiday meal for you with just one order! Take a look at the tasty Turkey Day or Christmas Dinner at http://marketstreetdfw.com/holidaydinners! My Market Street even has a separate drive-through and they will bring out your meal to you! Now that’s easy holiday entertaining!

Credit 101: 5 Things To Teach Your Teen About Credit

November 12, 2014 By Autumn Rose Reo 20 Comments

When did you get your first credit card?

For me I felt it was my first step into adult hood when I opened my first Old Navy Card my freshmen year of college.

My credit limit? $200.

Thankfully, I still have it, but not without a few mishaps and learning lessons along the way. Considering your credit is like your own pass to owning a house, a car or almost anything at all, I was excited to learn even more about my credit from this sponsorship with

Honestly looking back at high school (or even college), classes like Home Economics (which many schools don’t even offer anymore) should be a requirement for EVERYONE. Training on creating a budget, understanding your credit, and even buying your own home should be something we all learn. But we don’t and the irony is, no matter how good at sports, band or science we are, we all should know at least the basics to live.

But in speaking with almost everyone I know, the moment they were 18, they opened up a credit card. And then another. And maybe even another one before things all went downhill. Then they spent the next 7-10 years fixing their bad credit and building up their score so finally they might be able to buy a house, get a good job and plan for the future.

So honestly, these five facts aren’t just for teens, but for most of us. These are good reminders that a good credit score makes a huge difference in your lifestyle for decades to come so you should learn how to take care of it the right way.

1. Credit is not free money.

Credit is a good thing, if you treat it right. And it can be the end of you, if you don’t follow the rules. Credit is more like a loan with a really high repayment rate. And if you don’t repay it when you say you are going to, the companies that gave you that piece of plastic are going to make things difficult for you. They will hunt you down and tell everyone you know or that will make a difference in your life you don’t pay things as agreed and it will be much worse than being benched from a game.

[Tweet “47% of employers use credit checks when making a hiring decision #MyCreditKarma #Ad”]

2. Get a copy of your credit report.

By law, everyone is entitled to one free report at least once a year. Thankfully gives you much more than that – for free. While it is your responsibility to manage your credit, that doesn’t mean you have to do it all by yourselfoffers free credit monitoring and notifies you of any significant changes on your credit report around the clock.

[Tweet “33% of Americans have never checked their credit report #MyCreditKarma #Ad”]

Credit monitoring is a service that tracks your credit report on a daily basis and notifies you of any significant changes on your report. Since the credit monitoring service will notify you any time a new account is opened in their name, many consumers use credit monitoring as a means of preventing identity theft. In addition, credit monitoring can help prevent errors from credit reports. Mostly notably, credit monitoring will notify you of derogatory reports such as a delinquencies from a creditor.

3. Learn to read your credit report.

I admit at first look a credit report looks like a lot like a lot of graphs, numbers and words that either you don’t understand or make it too hard to find the stuff you should be paying attention to. But it’s important to read it and understand what it says.

That big three digit number? That’s your credit score. You want your credit score to be at least 720, which is considered good by many creditors. Some aim higher than that.

4. Make a plan for change.

Sometimes you made the blunder and didn’t make a payment (or 10), but sometimes it’s just a matter of “cleaning house” with the credit agencies. Things happen. Unfortunately, if your credit has been compromised from a data breach or stolen card, you definitely need to stay on top of reporting what is yours and what isn’t yours. If you have something on your credit report you want to change, can help you find the right solution to fix your issue. Whether it’s a late bill from years ago, they will help you with a solution tailored to you.

[Tweet “25% of consumers have errors on their credit reports that might affect their credit scores. #MyCreditKarma #Ad”]

5. Make a plan for the future.

Are you planning to purchase a new home or get a loan to start your business? Then begin planning today with some of Credit Karma’s free tools like the Home Affordability Calculator and Simple Loan Calculator.

But there’s many more tools available from Credit Karma. All you have to do is sign up for free to begin taking charge of your credit future today.

Facebook / Twitter / Google Plus / YouTube

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Credit Karma™.

Italian Twist on Chicken Enchiladas: Mexican Manicotti

November 3, 2014 By Autumn Rose Reo 23 Comments

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Weave Made Media® and Barilla®, but all my opinions are my own. #weavemade #BarillaFiesta http://my-disclosur.es/RgFrEH

In our home, we never get tired of Mexican food. However, my family loves Italian food almost as much as Latin-inspired cuisine. That’s why choosing between whether we eat tortillas or pasta makes getting dinner decisions difficult. I decided there had to be a way to make everyone happy.

So of course, we compromised. And so was the birth of Mexican Manicotti. Taking a delicious favorite, chicken enchiladas with sour cream sauce, I substituted Barilla manicotti pasta for the tortillas.

The recipe is quick to make (taking on a 20 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook) and I made it even easier by using rotisserie chicken.

Step 1: Boil manicotti noodles.

Step 2: Mix chicken and cheese together.

Step 3: Stuff the noodles.

Step 4: Cook the noodles and then enjoy!

Mexican Manicotti

Print Recipe

Description

The perfect marriage of Italian and Mexican cuisines…this dish is like creamy Chicken Enchiladas, but with manicotti noodles!

Ingredients

Scale

1/2 box Barilla manicotti noodles, cooked al dente
2 lbs of chicken, shredded (I use rotisserie chicken without the skin)
1 onion, chopped
1 TBSP olive oil
1 cup monterrey jack cheese
1 TBSP garlic
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
2 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. all purpose flour
2 c. chicken broth
1 c. dairy sour cream
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
To cook the manicotti noodles, follow the instructions on the box. Allow to cool.
Meanwhile in large bowl combine cheese, onion and chicken.
Using a small spoon, gently stuff chicken mixture into manicotti noodles and place into a large casserole dish.
In saucepan, melt butter, blend in flour, seasonings, add chicken broth, and cook until mixture thickens and bubbles.
Stir in sour cream and green chilies.
Cook until heated through, but do not allow to boil.
Pour sauce over manicotti. Cover top of of sauce with remaining cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

After my little experiment, I had all kinds of new ideas on how to use all the Barilla pasta types I found at Walmart. I hadn’t even tried all the noodle types so the choices were endless. By checking out the Barilla Pinterest page, I found all types of recipes and dinner ideas for DAYS.

Oh the possibilities with pasta! @barillaus #BarillaFiesta #WeaveMade #ad

A photo posted by Mama Challenge (@autumnreo) on Oct 10, 2014 at 7:12am PDT

And if you need even more ideas, Barilla will be at selected Walmart stores, Nov. 6-9 sharing recipes featuring wavy lasagna and elbow pasta.

[Tweet “@Barilla hosts food demos at @Walmart, Nov. 6-9! Get recipe ideas + this one –> #ad http://wp.me/p574nU-mq #weavemade #BarillaFiesta”]

Whether it’s a momentous occasion or just a normal Monday, Barilla is the right way to celebrate with your family’s meals!

Relive Family Memories Today with YesVideo

November 2, 2014 By Autumn Rose Reo 1 Comment

This is a sponsored post. #MyMemoryLane

Growing up we didn’t have a video or photo camera, so many memories of my childhood are only the visions I’ve played (or heard) over and over again in my head. So after the traumatic first months of my son’s life, my parents gifted us a video camera. We had all learned first-hand that life is too precious to just let go by, especially when you might only have a few days to create memories. No longer would we have to try to remember the moments of our children’s childhood, we could capture them for the future to remember and relive again and again.

Since then several years of videos have been recorded, but hadn’t been played back. The videos were full of Christmas mornings, school concerts and birthday candles and since my kids are still young and I could remember the memories, it didn’t seem necessary to press play – only record. Until I watched them (with the help of YesVideo.)

During our family’s young history, we’ve had lost two grandmothers, one great grandfather, my beautiful aunt and many friends had left us. And while none of my videos weren’t of those beloved family members, they were during the times they were still alive.

Like the second Christmas of my son where grandma and grandpa both were on the “first row” to see their kids, grandkids and great grandkids open up their gifts. Now watching the video, we can relive the moment of the two of them together – especially for grandma who now has to experience Christmas holding on to our hands instead of grandpa’s.

While our video skills have thankfully gotten better since these videos, just being able to relive the sounds, the sights and the memory, is sometimes exactly what you need to have another moment with someone you didn’t know you wouldn’t have. For 15 years YesVideo has helped families protect and share generations of memories, and we are now the largest and most trusted home movies transfer service worldwide. You can have your VHS tapes, camcorder tapes, movie film reels and 35mm slides converted to video by placing your order directly online or at the photo counter of any Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart or CVS/pharmacy. And you can also send a part of your video to family and friends as a Hallmark Moment video or Facebook. The process is super easy using YesVideo: YesVideo’s process is very safe and secure. They handle customers’ memories as if they were their own. Their Memory Factory contains surveillance cameras at every stage, and digital copies of the transferred videos are archived for added security. Home movie memories make a special and unique holiday gift. While orders typically take 3-4 weeks to complete, please allow extra time as Holiday season is a very busy time in the Memory Factory. Holiday ordering deadline for receiving is Dec. 3 to have your DVDs by Dec. 24. Share the joy of the holidays by sharing your family memories this Christmas with YesVideo.

Breakfast South of the Border with Texas Chilaquiles

October 19, 2014 By Autumn Rose Reo 25 Comments

Hands down breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Make it Mexican style, I’m absolutely head over heels. With a “mama challenge” from Wolf® Brand Chili to create something bold and flavorful, I created a recipe for Texas Chilaquiles that any Abuelita would be proud to serve.

Wolf® Brand Chili is a deliciously bold and recipe for Texas-made, Texas-loved Chili. For generations, Wolf® Brand Chili has delivered authentic Texas chili taste on everything from Hot Dogs, Mac ‘N Cheese, Taco Pizza and now some really good Texas Chilaquiles.

If you’ve never had Chilaquiles, the dish is an old Mexican recipe to use up the left over chips and other ingredients from the week. For me, one of the best parts of the dish is the crunch from the tortilla chips. But don’t just open up a bag of chips, you’ll want to fry up your own chips. It only takes a few minutes and make this breakfast go from buen to muy bueno.

This recipe took only about 20 minutes to make and that included the tortilla chips. Of course, if you have chips or tortillas from the night before, you can always warm those up with a quick refry to get them crisp and ready to hold all the goodness you are about to put on top of them.

While this is considered a “breakfast” dish, a meal this hearty can be eaten any time of the day…especially when it’s cold outside and you want something to warm you up. For me, it’s when you cut into the egg and it runs over the chili when you know you’ve struck “gold.” Add cilantro, salsa, sliced avocados and even some jalapenos to really go bold!

How do you eat in your make your chili bold and flavorful? Share it here and on the Wolf® Brand Chili Facebook page.

This is a sponsored post written by me on the behalf of the Wolf® Brand Chili. #BoldWolfChili

Sleeping Beauty Princess Spa Day Party

October 13, 2014 By Autumn Rose Reo 27 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DisneyBeauties #CollectiveBias

Since the first time my eyes spotted the beautiful sweet lips of my little princess, I was ready to celebrate all things princess. Princess tea party, princess dress up party, princess spa party…we were going to have fun enjoying being a princess as long as she would let me. So when Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Diamond Edition DVD Gift Set came out just last week we had the perfect reason to celebrate with a Princess Spa and Watching Party for my little gal and all her friends!

With just a little planning and one easy trip to Walmart for the DVD, the decor from and royal fare, I had everything I needed for the Princess Party.

PrincessSpaPartyChecklist#DisneyBeauties#Cbias#Shop

Download Your Princess Spa Party Checklist PDF | Google Doc

FORMULATE

Just look at how cute these invitations are from American Greetings line called DesignWare? They even include the thank you notes, too, so must love a twofer!

I couldn’t get over how cute the decor options that were available including everything you need for a party like napkins, plates, utensils, balloons, tablecloths and SO much more like chandeliers, window decor and even beautiful princesses to bring the table, floors, and walls to life!

And of course, a Sleeping Beauty Party wouldn’t be complete without a Sleeping Beauty dress for my gal! All the girls were also invited to wear their favorite princess dresses, but just in case, we also had a little dress up corner if any of the girls felt the need for a dress change (and like many girls at a special event, they did!)

FUN

With the invitations, decor and the dress out of the way, I was ready to put together the plan for the evening’s activities. In addition to watching the movie (many of the girls had never seen it) and the refreshments, we had some spa fun to be had. The biggest goal of the evening was to emphasize that every girl was beautiful, so we made use of a mirror and using Crayola Window Markers (also purchased at Walmart), I wrote “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…” and made sure each little girl knew how beautiful she was with positive reinforcement from everyone. It was such a great way to get the evening started so they felt good about themselves!

The two-hour party was broken into stations:

Glass Slipper Pedicure with Cinderella’s Pumpkin Foot Scrub, Happily Ever After Lotion and Sparkle Polish (part of the favor bag.)
Fairest of All Facial with Snow White’s Apple Scrub, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) Lipgloss (part of the favor bag)
Be the Belle of the Ball with Belle’s Up-dos along with tiaras and magic wands
Jasmine’s Jewels with the rest of the favor bags available for the girls to pick up their DesignWare necklaces, rings, etc. for their favor bags

Glass Slipper Pedicure

For this station, I purchased travel scrubbies, towels, dish buckets, sparkle polish and lotion I found ironically named “Happily Ever After.”

I also whipped up this super easy Cinderella’s Pumpkin Foot Scrub sure to make any foot soft and smooth enough to slide into any shoe!

Cinderella’s All-Natural Pumpkin Foot Scrub for Princess Spa Party

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon Vitamin E oil

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients together for a foot scrub sure to make any foot soft and smooth enough to slide into any shoe!

Fairest of All Facial

Combining a little Snow White & Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, we did a little fun to put their best face forward! First we applied the apple facial, then the girls were asked to lay down while we laid cucumbers over their eyelids for effect (which they loved and took off in 1-2 minutes), and we rubbed their arms with apple lotion while they relaxed watching the movie. After 10 minutes, each princess facial was removed with a warm washcloth. Then each girl selected their own lip gloss for application and then put it in her favor bag to take home!

Be the Belle of the Ball Hair Station

All princesses have beautiful hair already, but we just added a little something extra shiny to make the girls stand out with tiaras and sparkle spray! Since it was Halloween it was easy to find sparkles spray and a run through the favor aisle and for under $1 a piece, each girl had her own tiara and wand! We did add some curls, braids and clips to make each of their dos complete, but we opted not to use any brushes to avoid hair issues like tangles or worse!

Jasmine’s Jewels

No princess look would be complete without jewels! Taking a cue from Jasmine, each girl was able to select her own bag of jewels from DesignWare to wear for the evening or keep for later princess adventures!

FOOD

Since this was an evening of royal treatment, I couldn’t forget the princess touches on dinner! Everything took about 5 minutes to complete, so this dinner was easier than the one I make for my family on most nights!

Princess Spa Party Dinner Menu:

Princess Sandwiches made with bread, cheese, turkey and cut with a princess tiara cookie cutter!
Princess Wands made by skewering grapes to a kabob/dowel rod and adding a star-shaped pineapple slice from a horizontally-sliced fresh pineapple.
Disney Princess Fruit snacks I found at Walmart in the fruit snack aisle!
Princess Pink Cupcakes spotted at the Walmart bakery and added a bag of silver favor rings found in the party section for $1!
Princess Juice discovered on the water/juice aisle at Walmart with tops so there were no spills as the girls traveled to each station.

When the night was over at just about bedtime, we were all sad to see the fairy tale come to an end! But all princesses need their beauty sleep, so each left with their bag of jewels, tiara and wonderful memories of the evening with her princess friends!

5 Things to Do Before Going to Just Between Friends (JBF)

September 25, 2014 By Autumn Rose Reo 2 Comments

I’m a HUGE FAN of Just Between Friends. If you are a JBFer, you know why moms volunteer hours of their time just to be the first ones to get their hands on this incredible merchandise at amazing prices. And if you’re a new mom or just haven’t had a chance to go to a JBF, then you are going to wonder “why didn’t I think of this super cool concept?”

Short of the long: Just Between Friends is North America’s Leading Children’s and Maternity Consignment Sales Event! Moms sell kid stuff to other moms at big convention center area in the spring and the fall. Moms who sale stuff make money, moms who buy stuff save money and JBF does the hosting of this big, money-saving event for your kids.

In DFW, we get the pleasure of having several of the best JBF consignment sales out there. Every spring and the fall, moms and dads gear up for shopping deals you can’t find anywhere else and can make your dollars really stretch. However, I don’t refer to it as budget shopping, but more smart shopping. AND take it from me, a gal who tries never to miss a JBF shopping experience, I have a few tips that will make a real difference between a great shopping experience and understanding how some women have to have their husbands come with a truck to haul it all home. (I’ve seen it many times.)

5 Things to Do Before Going to Just Between Friends Dallas (JBF)

1. Think ahead.

While each sale is just for the current season, so of the deals are so good that you could score the best deal for a coat that you might have for your son’s 6th birthday even though he’s 4 now. And because this JBF sale is in the fall, they also include Halloween costumers and plenty of toys that would look great around your Christmas tree.

2. Make with a list.

A list will save you time and money. Sure I’ve gone plenty of times with nothing but my credit card, but having a list of sizes, whom to buy for (if you have other family members or expecting friends), and a list of what you need (like the skiing coat for an upcoming vacation), you’ll really see how JBF can save you money and make it much easier to get exactly what you need!

3. Dress to shop till you drop.

You might be coming to get the cutest clothes for your kids, but going to the sale isn’t a time to sport your new Jimmy Choos. Take it from me, there will be no judgement from anyone if you throw on those yoga pants that you don’t really do yoga in, a pair of crocs and a pony tail and come out to shop. We all know that we are on a mission for great clothes and great toys for great prices and nobody got time for makeup, Pinterest style and taking selfies.

4. Bring your own bags or rolly carts.

The first time you ever pull into the parking lot of a JBF sale, you will know why I say this. The women that know roll in the rolly carts, wheel in the hanging racks and have a few huge reusable bags to load up all their finds until they hit up the cash register. With plenty of clothes, books, furniture, shoes, toys and more to go through, you need something to hold your stuff and your arms need to be free to keep digging. Plus when you pay out, you can load all the loot back up and take it to the car. I’ve forgotten this a few times and regretted it later because my body hurt from holding it. While there is a “Hold” area for you to drop off things as you buy things, you don’t want to leave your spot in the racks and come back to find someone else picked up where you left off.

5. There’s no shame in a fanny pack.

Yes, there is actually, but I think you get the drift. Again, this is not time to bring out the big mama purse. You need to carry in only the bare essentials – mobile phone, money, chap stick and a water. The water is a big thing if your JBF sale doesn’t have a place to purchase refreshments because shopping can be an endurance sport. Hydration is key when you’ve been going at it for an hour plus and you will be thirsty, especially if you’re pregnant and you are buying everything under the moon so you don’t have to pay full price later. (Make sure you also get your free pass if you’re expecting and you get a special advance time to buy with free admission!)

Now that you’re ready, then get in the car and head over to Just Between Friends Dallas sale happening at Mesquite Rodeo Hall! If you can’t make it today starting at 10 AM then you have until SUNDAY to score your deals. I know that we’re stocked up, but that’s only until the next JBF Dallas sale happening in March 2015, so mark your calendar!

Three Must-Have Pumpkin Recipes for Fall

September 22, 2014 By Autumn Rose Reo 2 Comments

Thanks to Market Street DFW for this sponsored post about my favorite time of year, Autumn!

When you’re name is Autumn, I feel like this time of year I’m in my prime…

The first sign of the season starts with mums, cooler temps and the appearance of pumpkins mean I’m right on cue. So on a cool, crisp September day, I stopped into Market Street and low and behold – it was pumpkin-palooza! Every size, color and type was already on display, just waiting for me to take them home. (And I found out later, they are happy for you to return to their “pumpkin patch” and take photos for fall!)

Now that it’s official fall, I was ready to begin making everything pumpkin. From breakfast to baked goods, I find a way to make pumpkin a part of every meal. However, since I’m working to incorporate more healthy, clean eating into our family lifestyle, I was going to have to do a little bit of work on the front end to create those delicious pumpkin recipes!

So here are the three must-have core recipes everyone needs for everything pumpkin! Pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin pie filling.

Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

1 small pumpkin, rinsed and dried

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut pumpkin in sections from top to bottom.
Remove the stem.
Remove all the seeds and fiber with a spoon or metal measuring cup until only the flesh is left.
Lay pieces fleshside down on a roasting pan
Fill pan with 1/2 cup of water.
Place pumpkin pieces in oven for 1 hour until soft.
Remove pan from oven and allow to cool for one hour.
Once cool, remove the flesh from the peel and put into a blender or food processor and mix until smooth, approximately 3-4 minutes.
Use immediately or place into 1 cup bags in freezer bags and store flat in the freezer for quick use.

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