Friday Things #413
1. I can’t believe that this sweet girl is going to be THREE in less than 2 weeks!
2. I had a birthday yesterday and I am so beyond grateful that I get to spend my days with these babes (and my husband!) 💞
3. Couch snuggles are my favorite ❤️️
4. Does anyone soak their produce in something like this when you get it home from the store? Thinking about giving it a try for easier grab and eat fruit and veggies.
5. And a follow-up question: does anyone use these containers for their prepped fruits/veggies? Any feedback would be appreciated!
6. If you’ve never made the salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars, add them to your weekend baking list!
7. Is anyone else out there just NOT a fan of butterscotch? I’ll take a Werther’s Original, but butterscotch chips or butterscotch sauce? It just always feels way too sweet to me (which is sort of saying a lot since I have a huge sweet tooth!).
8. Has anyone used the Olive and June nail system? Their Facebook ads are pulling me in, ha!
9. We recently signed up for the Paramount+ streaming; if you have it, what great things have you watched on it?
10. TGIF! I hope you have a cozy, snuggly weekend!
I have the same issue with my black porcelain stove top. Makes me crazy! I did find one product that works surprisingly well: Trader Joe’s Multipurpose Cleaner. I’ve had to learn to live with the fading in some places, spots in others. My mom was a diehard vinegar and water cleaner for everything from mirrors to windows. I haven’t tried it yet but I’m going to give it a shot this weekend. Good luck!
Also, do you have any good Greek or Mediterranean recipes? I have a nice one for a Greek salad with garbanzo beans, feta, cherry tomatoes, red onion, parsley, and a luscious lemon vinagrette, but I’m looking for others as well.
Thanks so much for all you share!
I really love Olive and June. I started using the mani system last year, and I love having a weekly routine for my nails now. I look forward to that little self-care time after kid bed time, and I feel put together every time I look at my nails. I like the tools that they have, and the prep method before you apply the polish helps my nail polish stay perfect for a week or longer.
I love Olive and June! I started using their mani kit last year, and it has become my weekly routine now. It’s just a little thing, but having that self care time for me after my kid’s bedtime is something that I really look forward to. And having my nails look nice makes me happy when I notice them and I feel more put together. I really like their tools and their instructions, and the polish lasts at least a week for me.
We have always had the CBS app which they rebranded Paramount+. I love watching Sunday Morning on the app. Instead of watching the full episodes, I watch the “extras” since the commercials are only in the beginning of the segment and super short. We enjoyed Piccard. I didn’t realize Yellowstone was on there! I am going to check that out too!
Happy Birthday Michelle!
I soak my fruit in a 3:1 mix of water and vinegar. 3 cups water 1 cup vinegar, soak for 10 min rinse good and and let fruit dry good then refrigerated! I feel my fruit last a lot longer than before.
I soak all my produce in vinegar water. The berries stay good much longer. I do like those containers and use for everything else-recently found out that the little flaps that close them when left open have holes for microwave venting!
For produce I use the Rubbermaid containers for fruit and veggies.
I LOVE the Rubbermaid Brilliance containers. They clean up beautifully too.
I have used Olive and June and I love it! I received their pedicure kit as a birthday gift this year and I love it!! The callous remover and nail clippers are super sharp – my heels have never looked better. I recommend it!!
I use and love those Rubbermaid containers.
Hi Michelle… Yellowstone is an excellent show to binge on Paramount +, its definitely not for kids though. Great acting and Kevin Costner is why I gave it a chance, not usually a fan of the cowboy genre but you won’t be disappointed. It’s so good!
Michelle – I use the Rubbermaid Brilliance containers for EVERYTHING! They are sturdy and amazing, freeze well, wash up beautifully, and are just one of the best storage investments I have ever made. If I could only buy one storage option ever again in my life, this would be the one. I highly recommend them.
Hi Michelle
I use those fabulous containers for storing berries and freshly washed greens. They just came out with GLASS versions and I highly recommend. Keeps produce fresh much longer!
Love those containers, especially the smallest . Use them everyday.
Happy birthday 🎂
Thank you!!
A question actually.
With the arrival of Covid 19 into our lives, I am more conscientious than ever when preparing meals. I want to start using disposal kitchen gloves when handling raw food. Do you have any recommendations?
Hi Karen, I do! I actually bought these before Covid started because I don’t really like handling raw meat with my bare hands, especially if I have cracked skin from being dry. They’re great! I’ve also used them for at-home hair coloring (thanks, Covid, ha!)… https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XJCLP9K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I wash all fruits without peels in a solution of 10 parts water to 1 part vinegar. I let them soak for a bit and drain them very well. Then I put them in any old container, but I try to pick one that is bigger and flatter rather than taller and skinnier. Then (and this is the real trick), I put a paper towel on top of the fruit before putting on the lid, and I store it UPSIDE DOWN in the fridge. Whenever I take it out if the towel is damp, I replace it with a dry paper towel and put the wet one over my oven door handle to dry out. In this way, I have kept raspberries, fresh and un-moldy for 13 days!!!
This is awesome intel, thank you!!!
I eat salads most days for lunch and use this paper towel method for my giant bowl-o-salad that I prep in the beginning of the week. Keeps it fresh all week!
I no longer use any other type of storage container. These are the best. Freezer, microwave, refrigerator. All are good. I’ve dropped them and they haven’t broken or cracked. I will leave one or both latches open to release some of the moisture from frosted baked goods and things inside still stay fresh. I also have the glass variety. Know that the container is glass but the lids are not but they all fit on each other. Really the best.
I’ve decided to get rid of all my plastic containers and buy only glass containers. So many health issues with plastic.
Happy Birthday to you and you have such a nice family.
I think that is where I am at also
I use all glass for my leftovers, as well. I just saw that this line comes in glass too, so I’m checking those out!
Me too.
Happy Birthday Michelle🥳
Thank you, Macy!
Trader Joe’s sells a vegetable wash that I use. The ingredients include purified water, natural cleansing agents derived from coconut oil and corn oil, grapefruit seed extract, and lemon-orange extract.
https://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-FreshWorks-Produce-Storage-Containers/dp/B01FCR7MYM?&linkCode=sl1&tag=picks_probsolv50_3-21-20&linkId=fe48314a83b21e1ad7a73353b34eae12&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
I have the produce savers above and really like them. I put a paper towel in with my greens and they stay nice and crisp. Also, I wash all of my produce in a vinegar and water solution when I bring it home. If I have time, I try to cut up things like celery and carrots right away so they are ready to grab. If they aren’t ready to go, my family doesn’t touch them!
I purchased the Olive and June mani system for myself and another for my daughter because they received such great reviews. It took FOREVER to receive. My polish bottle was broken and I am still waiting for a replacement. That being said, I’ll let you know when I try it.
Happy Birthday, Michelle! I wash all my fruits and veggies in a sink of baking soda water. I usually let it set for about 20 minutes and then wash it all well. I think it helps clean and preserve it.
I love butterscotch. I wouldn’t eat the chips straight, but I love them in a mix in chocolate chip oatmeal cookies with semi sweet and in the 7 layer bars, and in things but not alone. But homemade butterscotch pudding, or frosting, all the time!!!
Thank you, Teresa!
I like the look of the rubbermaid but I would personally choose something glass, esp since the person said they dont stack well.
Happy Birthday!
I’m all about caramel all day long and twice on Sunday, but butterscotch is a pass for me. And Werther’s are definitely NOT a butterscotch!! Funny, I bought a bag with our Costco order at work and keep them in a bowl on the front counter. Everyone loves them – they are so delicious!! Every so often I will come across a caramel that tastes too “butterscotchy” and I’m always so disappointed and usually will toss it.
Olive and June did not work for me but my friend loves it. I think it’s worth the money. My nails just didn’t like it. It would peel quickly.
I always rinse my produce in vinegar water before I put it in the fridge, and it definitely helps it stay fresh longer, especially grapes. I also wash my salad greens this way to make big batches that last longer. I then store them in an airtight container—saves daily prep! I’ve read that baking soda helps wash off pesticides better than anything else, so this wash sounds like a good one to try.
Highly recommend Olive and June!
On Paramount + we watch The Unicorn, Bob Hearts Abishola, Young Sheldon and I am waiting for a new season of Picard. As always, your kids and puppers are super adorable!
I have the containers and I absolutely love them!
They would be great for veggie prep. I use them for lunch meats and cheeses, giving leftovers to my adult children, taking food on picnics,…
They are good quality and so easy to clean. They don’t stain if you put red sauce in them. My only tip is make sure when you put lids on push down on the top of the lid in the middle to push air out of the base container before snapping the lid clasps down. The lids are also easy for kids to open and close too. Great for craft storage as well. They are not heavy and stack easily filled or empty.
Sounds like I work for the company but I don’t. I’m just a huge fan. Lol.
Love your blog. Happy birthday to you and your sweet daughter!
Happy birthday Michelle and almost birthday to Isabelle! I use a water, white vinegar, and baking soda wash for produce. Not sure it works as a preserver but it does the job to remove the dirt and grime! I follow this up by rinsing last in fresh water and drying on clean towels. Really works great for washing strawberries. I also like cleaning potatoes in this solution before baking them whole. It seems healthier to eat the skin that way.
That fruit and vegetable spray won’t do much – it will foam up and make lots of carbon dioxide, leaving you with a solution of sodium citrate. You’d be better off diluting 1 part distilled white vinegar with 5 parts water and spraying that on your fruits and veggies, then rinsing off before drying well and storing. The soak from the “recipe” will be too dilute with just 1/4 cup in a sink full of water and won’t do much either.
A belated Happy Birthday, Michelle! Mine is today.
We might give one of these veggie washes a try – maybe the simple one posted below.
I am a butterscotch fan with a caveat – it has to be GOOD butterscotch as in homemade. The butterscotch chips are nasty – too artificial, like instant butterscotch pudding. They are always disappointing..
You will enjoy Paramount TV, I enjoy watching the series Yellowstone
First off, happy birthday! You’re truly blessed to be able to spend your day with your little cuties. My daughter recently transferred to a university closer to home so she could move back in and “actually see a live human being”. There’s been some positive to this pandemic (more family time, curbside pickup). We were going through the vegetable drawer pulling out items that went bad. Everything that had to be thrown away was in a bag. I was telling my daughter about a new wash that I had found. Typically I take my salad spinner bowl and make a vinegar/water bath for my fresh veggies and fruit. I soak everything for just a bit, swooshing it all around and then throughly and allowing it to air dry. After I’m done, the water looks so disgusting. I also have a bright green sponge like mat in the bottom of my vegetable drawer that helps with air circulation. Between the was and mat, our fruits and vegetables are ready to eat straight from the fridge and last longer too.
Regarding 5. containers on Amazon. Yes, I bought them a year ago and LOVE them. They are awesome airtight containers. They don’t leak and they keep foods extremely fresh. They are easy to clean and store well.
I love the Rubbermaid containers! Tight seal and very stackable!
I’m a food stylist in advertising and just recently styled for those Rubbermaid brilliance containers. My takeaways after 3 days of working with them – they are very attractive, lightweight, and easy to clean. They’re extremely leak resistant but as such the tops are kind of hard to get on and off, they seal super tight! I don’t think they prolong food storage much better than a typical storage container. (However, the Rubbermaid FreshWorks containers absolutely do, like as in they add days if not weeks to the life of veggies.) The downside of these brilliance containers is that they take up a lot of storage space when not in use as they’re not designed to stack without the lids on.
Amd also happy birthday!
Paramount+ has CBS shows, too. Here’s a short list of my favorites:
1. Yellowstone – a Paramount original, so good!
2. Blue Bloods
3. The Unicorn
4. Young Sheldon (and I didn’t watch Big Bang Theory, but I know people who loved it.
5. All Rise
6. Bull
Plus a lot of old shows!
You inquired about Olive and June. My adult daughter and I use their products. Love them!
I wash all my fruits and vegetables in vinegar and water. Two parts water to one part white vinegar. I store them in produce containers that allow a little air to get it. Also very important to make sure they are completely dry before storing. @lovelyluckylife has a fantastic fruit prep highlight nom her Instagram.
I have not used those particular containers, but I do buy mini cucumbers, mini peppers and grape tomatoes at Sam’s Club every week. Then I rinse them as soon as I get home and let them dry on a towel, then put the cucumbers and peppers in the refrigerator and the tomatoes on the counter. That seems to make the cucumbers, especially last until I use them. They seem to go bad the fastest, not sure if it’s because we are in Florida and EVERYTHING gets moldy (even houses), or what?! So, they aren’t totally ready to eat, but they are ready to cut up.
On the other end of the healthy spectrum, I make some cookies with butterscotch chips and potato chips that are really good. I also like them in Pumpkin muffins (just regular old pumpkin bread, but with the chips). And then there are a few bar cookies where they can be swapped out or added with chocolate. But straight up Butterscotch, like on ice cream, no give me CARAMEL!
Happy birthday Michelle, your family has grown up so fast!