How to remove a carpet stain

Who could be mad at this face? 

        Crystal Light is my enemy today......


        In the Kirkland household we LOVE our Crystal Light!  We drink it by the pitcherful!  The fruit punch is delicious and calorie free!  It makes us drink tons & tons of water and tastes better than plain water! So of course Ella loves it too!! (Judge me if you want- but please your kids will one day drink soda, etc soon) We dilute hers with water, but it's what she loves because she see's us drinking it all day long! She is a smart little girl I tell you- you cannot fool her!

       So without thinking about it we went upstairs on Tuesday, juice cups in tow, to play! (A change in scenery & toys is a must multiple times during the day)  We were running around chasing each other when BAM- we knocked over the Crystal Light cup.  On our WHITE rental carpet... awesome! I hurried as fast as I could to soak it up, poured all my resolve carpet cleaner on it and scrubbed away! (Keep in mind this all happened right before bedtime when Jon was at a dinner conference) So after scrubbing & vacuuming the area I put Ella to bed and finished the rest of the things I needed to do.  I looked at the spot and thought "it looks pretty good, I'll go get some more cleaner tomorrow."  It must have been really dark or something because I woke up to this in the sunlight.....

        WHAT???  No no no- this was not good! Now a lot of you are going to say "oh you can barely see it" but trust me...you can see it!  Very clearly- a red outline on the carpet.  This is a rental condo, and we want our deposit money back, I had to get this stain out!  So of course I went to my trusted Pinterest to get some answers! I found a bunch of different answers, but the most consistent was a interesting method I call "Ironing my carpet."  So I thought I'd give it a try...what could it hurt? If it didn't work I'd spend the money and rent a carpet cleaner to pay for Stanley Steamer to come!

Carpet Stain Remover:

2 Cups water
4-5 drops of Dawn Dish Detergent   (I used knock of target brand and it did just fine)
White towel

Dampen a white towel with soap/water mixture and lay over stain.  Turn your iron on the medium heat setting and place over the towel & stain.  Let it set for 5-10 minutes.  Look at the bottom of your towel.  Repeat in a different stained area with a clean part of the towel.  Best to work in small areas.  You may need to repeat multiple times before stain is gone.

Most of the "recipes" called for the blue Dawn dish soap- but this worked great & didn't dye my carpet green at all! 

Ironing my carpet- I felt like Cinderella

It's amazing what the bottom of your towel looks like- a nice pink shade of crystal light 

Now you can't tell me that doesn't look 100% better!

     I worked!! I couldn't believe it!!  It took me 2 different sessions, on 2 different days (so yes my stain had time to set in....but that didn't matter) but it worked!  My crystal light stain is gone!! Our deposit is safe for now!  However- Crystal Light is now banned from our house! I had nightmares of more crystal light spills on our brand new carpet in our brand new house!! NOT happening!!  I'm going to have to find a "clear" calorie free drink to enjoy or switch to Crystal Light Lemonade! Or heck- just enjoy some old fashion aqua!

  

Her first bite of a Cadbury Egg- she loved it!!

    Ella has been extra "giggly" lately and has learned to blow kisses! She thinks everyone she see's gets a "blown kiss."  That little girl is making friends all over Minneapolis! Such a hoot!! She loved her first Cadbury egg bite from her daddy.... I can tell they are going to be candy buds together! So fun! 

 

Bean burrito night, a wedding, and being on call

       So that's what we've been up to!!  I'm done blogging now right?!  We have had a busy past week with Grace Ellison's Denver wedding weekend extravaganza, Jon being on call a few days, and Ella loving her some bean burritos for dinner one night!

I LOVE bean burritos and sliced up grapes....yummy! 

       Our weekend trip to Denver started out a little rough- we were delayed due to snow in Minneapolis (go figure) and then stranded without a rental car for a while, all while having only eaten very little that morning (first big mistake)!  But daddy pulled through, got us a rental car and Ella a chicken & cheese burrito! We then spent the weekend catching up with old friends, eating yummy food, not sleeping (because Ella decided that staying out past her bedtime & a new time zone meant = lets wake up every 2 hours to play all night), and celebrating the marriage of Grace & Kevin!  While Ella did not sleep or nap much, she did seem to have a great time dancing at the wedding and running around our hotel room in nothing but her diaper! Thankfully now that we are back home she is sleeping all night again- I worked too hard to revert back! I guess there really is "no place like home" to Ella! But aside from lack of sleep- the weather was beautiful, the bride was gorgeous and I had a great time!!  The wedding was so fun too!! It's amazing how Pinterest has changed how weddings are "done" now- it had such a comfortable, rustic, classy feeling to it!! Grace's mom, family and friends did A LOT of work & pulled it off..... it was a BEAUTIFUL wedding!!

A little "self shot" before the wedding....it was freezing that day

My dance party date

Me & the GORGEOUS bride! BFF's since 8th/9th grade!! 

My little lucky charm 

What is this thing?  It is no iPhone.....

        Time for "True Confessions of the Paleo diet"......  Paleo is going "alright" for us!  We splurged a little in Denver because it was impossible to cook food in the hotel & the wedding food was SO yummy! Now that we are back home we are getting back on the semi-paleo band wagon!  After long talks with Jon about the foods we truly love, the amount of time and money that we have to spend, and the fact that he works such long/strenuous hours at work....we've decided to modify our diets.  So to say we are 100% Paleo is no longer true!  Jon has added back beans, brown rice & the occasional whole wheat bread I make from scratch!  Nothing too fancy- nothing processed, but definitely Paleo "no-no's."  I'm still trying my best to stay pretty true to Paleo, but I have a swipe or two (or three or four) of the homemade hummus I make for Ella at lunchtime occasionally! What can I say? It's so good! And again- homemade!  So I'd say we are eating a more "whole foods" diet, but no diary right now and not a lot of gluten when possible!  This whole experience has been great for our family!  We feel so much better, our clothes fit so much better (if they aren't loose :) and Ella is eating a lot more fruits and vegetables than before!  So I figured I'd share our honest truth with you guys since I'd started out so positive about the Paleo Diet.....I still think it's an awesome diet, just maybe too strict & expensive for us during this time in our lives! But we are taking a lot of what we learned & incorporating it into our everyday eating.

Daddy gets 2 of these? AWESOME!  

      Jon was on call a few days last week and Ella decided to play with his pagers for "fun."  She thought they were neat little items to carry around the house.... if she only knew what it meant when they beeped!! Not good!! I guess she's our little "doctor" in the making right now!!

     A new recipe coming by Thursday!!

Melt in your Mouth Goodness for Wednesday

    Oh my goodness what have I done?!  This morning in honor of yet another birthday girl- I made a Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Cake! It is TO DYE FOR yummy!! And the best & most dangerous part is that is is SUPER easy and uses every day ingredients most people have in the house! Which means I can make this cake whenever I want it.... which is everyday! I made it this morning while feeding Ella breakfast and getting ready for our "breakfast party."  It's super quick to make and best served warm! My house still smells amazing at 2pm! Swoon! This might be my new favorite go to dessert! Tastes exactly like a cinnamon roll, but you don't have to let s rise like bread dough! Easy! Seriously- anyone can make this!  I got the recipe from www.sixsistersstuff.com- they have really amazing recipes!

*Again- sorry, I was in a rush and didn't do the "step by step" pictures....I'm just not that type of cook or picture taker! But as you can see- the end result is glorious!!

Seriously- AMAZING!! I wish you could smell it!! 

Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Cake  
Ingredients: 
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 T butter, melted
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 T flour
1 T cinnamon
2/3 cups nuts (optional)

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
5 T milk
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
With an electric mixer or stand-up mixer, mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Once combined well, slowly stir in 4 T melted butter. Pour batter into a greased 9x13" baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix the 2 sticks of softened butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nuts until well combined. Drop evenly over cake batter by the tablespoon and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out nearly clean from center. Place powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake. Serve warm (we like it straight out of the oven) or at room temperature.   (www.sixsistersstuff.com)


   Afterwards we had to teach Miss Ella how to brush her teeth with her new toothbrush! She was crazy about the cinnamon roll cake- begging my friends for bites of theirs and snatching if off the plates when no one was looking!! We also had to put her hair up in the "Pebbles" ponytail...it's getting so long & it's always in her face!!  And alas...she pulls all her bows off now! :(  Such a sad day for me! I will continue to keep trying in hopes she lets me again one day!

    I also wanted to share with you a little pintrest project B & Ella did on our Monday-funday with her!!  Yogurt finger painting! Such a great idea and the girls loved it!! Only problem is you can't really keep the artwork as it is painted with yogurt...but we took pictures of it!! 

Yogurt Finger paint:

1 Container vanilla or plain yogurt

Food safe food coloring in any colors you want

Place yogurt in separate small containers, add 1-2 drops of food coloring & mix until it is the color you want! Then let them go to town! 

We chose pastels/neons for Easter 

They look really excited right?! 

Little Picasso (and yes they did eat some--which is why I used Yogurt)

$50 and it's yours! 

Such a happy little delight Miss B is! 

Ella staring at B's artwork

Oh yes- she ate it too! (I must admit it was yummy vanilla yogurt)

Two peas in a pod these two are! 

   Yesterday Ella & I had a "Mommy-Daughter" date at the Mall of America! We hadn't been in a long time and thought it was a perfect day to go! She loved every minute of it and was so into looking at everything, pointing, talking and showing off all her tricks to new people we met! She loved Cinderella at the Disney store, built Lego's at Legoland and watched the roller coaster as it went "vroom-vroom" through the air! It was the perfect morning for both of us!  I loved watching her little eyes light up with wonder every time she saw something bright, colorful, or sparkly! 

Hiii Cinderella!! 

Mom- look is Cinderella...she's my favorite right now! 

I can and will destroy this tower! 

Just pull harder.... 

Ah ha- I got you tower! 

  Needless to say she napped very well for me that afternoon!  It has been a GREAT week for us! The house is getting closer & closer to being done every day! They started to put the stone up on the outside! The fireplace will be made out of the same stone!! 

To keep Miss Ella downstairs...she loves to climb stairs! 

STONE :)  

Hummingbird Cake & Homemade Bath Salts

      It was two of my dear friend's birthday's last week & this week.  I love birthday's- the celebrating, the parties, the yummy goodies... it's all so fabulous!! I'd secretly love to be a party planner!! Our first round celebration was spent having a lovely "ladies & babies" luncheon.  I love days spent with my momma friends.  We laugh, we talk, we play with our beautiful children and sip on wine! It is a lovely fellowship we have.  It makes my heart smile to be around them and their babies!

    So I was extremely excited when I found out L's favorite cake was a hummingbird cake! Talk about memories! My entire childhood I grew up around hummingbird cakes! My great-grandmother made them, my grandmother made them, my mother made them (as she pointed out) and now I was getting to make one! I know the previous generations would be proud! Not too many people have ever even heard of hummingbird cake- it is a a very southern cake.  It is a light, yet rich cake full of sweet fruit with a delicious cream cheese frosting!  It's extremely unique & SOO yummy!

All of the yummy ingredients

Martha Stewart says dump it all in & mix it up--- you better believe I did as she said! 

Before baking

Ta-Da.... Hummingbird Cake

   I had decided earlier that I would make cake plates for each of them, along with homemade bath salts (I found the recipe on Pintrest of course)! So what better way to give a cake stand than with a beautiful cake on it?! It turned out beautifully and was delicious (yes I tried a small nibble along with everyone- I didn't want to be rude)!!  Such a great experience!

Martha Stewart Hummingbird Cake:

• For The Cake

  • Nonstick vegetable spray
  • All-purpose flour, for pans
  • 3 cups self-rising flour
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
  • 2 very ripe large bananas, mashed
  • 1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, with juice
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 4 large eggs, beaten

• For The Frosting

  • 1 pound (1 box) confectioners' sugar
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon milk, or more if needed
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray and flour three 8-by-2-inch round cake pans, tapping out excess flour; set aside.
2. Prepare the cake; in a large bowl, stir to combine self-rising flour, sugar, oil, pecans, bananas, pineapple, vanilla, cinnamon, and eggs.
3. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans, smoothing with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until the tops spring back when gently pressed with your fingertips, 26 to 28 minutes.
4. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto wire rack. Re-invert cakes and let them cool completely, top sides up.
5. Prepare the frosting; in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar, cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk on medium speed until frosting is smooth. If needed, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, to achieve the proper spreading consistency.
6. Using a serrated knife, trim tops of cakes to make level. Place four strips of parchment paper around perimeter of a serving plate or lazy Susan. Place the first layer on the cake plate. Spread the top of the first layer with 1/4 of the frosting. Place the second layer on top and repeat process with another 1/4 of the frosting. Place the remaining layer on top of the second layer bottom side up. Spread entire cake with remaining frosting. Sprinkle the top with pecans. Remove parchment paper strips; refrigerate until ready to serve.

**I didn't have parchment paper, but used the Pam with flour & they didn't stick at all!!

   I also really wanted to make the homemade bath salts I'd seen on Pintrest!  They also turned out fabulous and smelled so good! Ahhh! The only expensive part was the essential oil, but you only use 2-3 drops....so it will last you forever!! Be sure to pick a scent you love!

All you need for perfection! 

Add a few drops of food coloring

Mix & break up the dyed spots to create colored bath salts

Finished product ready for a LONG HOT bath

Homemade Bath Salts:

1 cup Epsom Salt

1 cup Sea Salt

2-3 drops of Essential Oil

A couple drops of food coloring

       Mix ingredients together in a bowl, your house will smell amazing!  The food coloring kind of clumps up, I just mixed & "chopped" it up until it lightly colored the bat salts.  I chose to make tangerine bath salts in anticipation for the summer! 

    Now it's time to get back to Monday-fun day with Bibi & Ella! Children bring such joy! Hope you have a great start to your week!!  

 

First week of Paleo...

         We made it!! The Kirkland's survived our first week on the Paleo diet and are doing very well! After the first 2 days, it was a breeze (especially after visiting the grocery store to "hunt & gather" our foods)!  Jon initially felt like he was "wasting away,"  but soon realized that with a proper breakfast of nest eggs his day with much easier and he was less hungry.  He said he felt better and was glad we were eating whole foods instead of all the processed crap. I too snack "frequently" through-out the day on veggies, nuts and meats.  I can honestly say that I feel awesome, have more energy, am less hungry and sleep better at night! I don't feel bloated, uncomfortable and cranky anymore! It's incredible! Such a great experience "challenging" our bodies this month with the Wiggins.

Explain's Paleo Do's & Don'ts

          We had a birthday lunch at my sweet friend S's house and she made me the sweetest "Paleo platter" with meat, veggies, fruits, etc! Such a sweet friend to support me like that!  Everyone has been awesome in supporting us!  Even asking for recipes! I really like how one picture I saw put it "Real food doesn't come in packages" and it is TRUE! So I imagine the Kirklands will be "Whole Food" people once this month is over! Add in a few beans, brown rice, etc to fill my hubby up a bit more- but cut out as much processed junk as possible!

We also had our "cheat meals" yesterday- I had sushi & frozen yogurt, while Jon had a burger fries & chocolate shake! YUM! It was so good, and I didn't feel bad about it because we'd been good all week!

Yummy salted carmel & salted peanut frozen yogurt!! Even Ella has some! :) 

Jon's burger & fries at My Burger :) 

   This week I made nest eggs, chicken stir fry and a fruit platter on the Paleo diet! They were all awesome!  I'll share them with you!

Nest Eggs:

-12 pieces of Applegate unprocessed turkey bacon
-8 cage free eggs
-salt & pepper to taste
-Olive oil spray, or coconut oil, or aluminum liners

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray your muffin tin liberally! (I might even use some coconut oil or aluminum liners next time...they stuck kinda bad) wrap the bacon around the muffin tins in a circle.  In a separate bowl crack the 8 eggs, beat them, & add salt and pepper.  Pour evenly into the muffin tins until each tin is 1/2 full.  Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until the eggs puff up and don't jiggle in the center anymore!!

**You could also just crack 1 egg into each cup and cook for 20-25 minutes to have a softer egg center & different kind of nest!

Line the tins with the bacon & mix your eggs

Pour evenly into each tin

Nest Eggs! 

I put them in a zip lock baggie and stored them in the fridge.  My husband reheats 2 every morning for breakfast! He says they are great even for a non Paleo day!! 

We also had an easy stir fry (minus the rice) with some great spices my friends the Wiggins sent us for Christmas! Easy and yummy meal! 

Stir Fry with the leftover crock pot chicken

Yummy stir fry with a cashew topping for extra crunch

Fruit platter for dessert!! Ella's favorite! 

    A couple people have asked if we are making our daughter, Ella, go Paleo too! The answer is yes & no.  We give her the foods & meals that I cook and she usually loves to eat them. She's a great eater! Plus Ella can eat her weight in fruit!  I've never seen a child eat more blueberries in my life! But we continue to give her milk, cheese and whole wheat toast at breakfast! She's a growing girl and deserves all the nutrients she can get!  She also LOVES hummus! She will dip- lick off, dip- lick off & never touch the cracker! Haha!  So I made her the Barefoot Contessa's homemade hummus this week! 

All the ingredients I used 

Yummy, creamy hummus!! 

Here's the recipe: 

Ingredients
4 garlic cloves
2 cups canned chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)
6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
2 tablespoons water or liquid from the chickpeas
8 dashes hot sauce
Directions
Turn on the food processor fitted with the steel blade and drop the garlic down the feed tube; process until it's minced. Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and process until the hummus is coarsely pureed. Taste, for seasoning, and serve chilled or at room temperature.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/hummus-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Come back tomorrow as I'll show you how I made hummingbird cake for my friends birthday and homemade bath salts as a gift!!