Cooking deliciousness with Dash!

 

The house we are currently living in doesn't have a lot of storage space, so I've always said I wasn't going to be getting anymore big appliances or kitchen clutter. When the air fryer trend really started to take off, my mom picked one up and I decided to borrow it one night. We quickly realized we enjoy using it, so we would swap it back and forth between the houses since we never used it on the same nights. However, when Dash offered to let me review one of their air fryers to have as my own, I couldn't say no! I was sent a 6QT family air fryer in the color grey.

Sweet Potato Fries

We've used this to make a lot of delicious main courses along with plenty of yummy side dishes. The main difference between this one and the one we were using is that it doesn't have specific settings for certain dishes like fish, chicken, potatoes, and so forth so there may be a little bit of a learning curve trying to figure out what amount of time & temp to use when cooking. The only thing I slightly burnt was some broccoli that I left in for a little too long, but it was still edible and tasty. 

Sesame Style Chicken to go on Rice

My two favorite things to make in this is boneless chicken fingers/wings and vegetables. Prior to having the air fryer I would steam our veggies while cooking the main meal, but this air fryer helps cut down cooking time since you don't have to wait for water to boil & steam plus it cooks our veggies how we like them. I like that I can pop open the pan and check on everything as it is cooking so I can flip or mix what I am cooking and add seasonings. I've also made homemade sweet potato fries & carrot fries using this air fryer. Depending on what you are cooking a light spray of cooking oil or wiping it down with a little butter can help combat anything sticking to it.

I have found that it is easy to use and easy to clean after we are done using it, everything comes apart without any issues, and dries quickly. We are a family of four & this cooks the perfect sized amounts for side dishes, when it comes to main dishes depending on what we are cooking we have to split it up into two batches. I like that it isn't super loud when it is on, some air fryer models can be quite noisy when in operation. You can buy the 6QT air fryer in black, aqua, cool grey or red to go with the colors of your kitchen, they sell for $99.99. Along with air fryers Dash offers dozens of awesome & fun products such as waffle makers that are in festive shapes, egg cookers, blenders and more all at affordable prices.

Disclaimer- Dash provided the product above for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase. 

Farmer Jones Farm at the Chef's Garden Review!

 

Have you ever wanted to get fresh produce directly from a local farm, but you don't live close enough to a farm to do so? Farmer Jones Farm at the Chef's Garden allows you a chance to order fresh produce and seasonal products directly from their family owned farm to your home. They are based out of Ohio but shipping was quick & everything was well packaged, you can tell everything was packed up fresh at the farm and placed directly into the boxes that ship out each week. Being as how everything is fresh, yes there will be dirt on your produce and items such as spinach aren't pre-cut in a bag so you'll need to wash everything & do some prep before being able to eat it. Some of the products also have some absorbent towels inside of the bags to help with some of the moisture in the bags which also helped to keep everything fresher while it sat in our fridge waiting to be used. 

I was lucky enough to be sent one of their best of the season vegetable boxes, a tomato marmalade, and a flowerhouse Rooibos tea. Seasonal boxes will change through out the year, at the moment the boxes contain: Potatoes (we received sweet potatoes), mixed beets, lettuce, spinach, turnips, lacinato kale, kohlrabi, edible flowers, and more. We also received some carrots in our box which were not on the official list, however they do note that depending on availability from the local farms in the area that the variety of produce may vary since they work along side other family owned farms to help bring you delicious home grown foods. As I was taking everything out of the box I immediately started making a mental note of what I wanted to make with all of the goodies.

We are a family of four & there was plenty in this box for all of us to eat. I made several side dishes with these vegetables to go along with our main dish during the week. Some of the dishes I made from these vegetables included sweet potato fries, sweet potato casserole, a delicious mixed salad with micro greens, baked carrots, candies carrots and more! Plus we still have some more carrots and other items we haven't used yet which goes to show just how much was packed into this box. 

The tomato marmalade is interesting & different, I hadn't heard of it until receiving this box so I had to look up what it is typically used on or in. It is typically used on toast, crackers, on burgers in place of ketchup, along with many other uses and some even like eating it right out of the jar. It tastes similar to ketchup with a slightly different texture and slightly sweeter, I think this would taste good on toast with a little bit of cream cheese to balance out the flavors. We haven't tried the tea yet, I am looking forward to brewing it though as the information on the box says it will be blue in color.

We were very pleased with the box we received & the assortment of produce included, we were able to make a lot of our favorite sides. The quality of the product was excellent, their boxes range in price depending on how large of a box you'd like to receive, they come in the serving sizes 1-2 people, 2-4 people & 4-6 people ranging from $69-$125. Along with fresh produce they also sell an assortment of honey, bar soap & much more which can be purchased through their website along side their fresh produce.

Disclaimer- Farmer Jones Farm provided the product above for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Upgrade your kitchen accessories inside & outside your home with Barebones Living! + A Giveaway.

When my husband and I started dating we were both pretty young and didn't really cook a lot, but as we've gotten older and learned new ways to cook it is a lot of fun cooking meals either together or on our own. Part of cooking is having the right tools for the job, so when I was offered the chance to review a very sharp and eye catching chefs knife, I couldn't refuse. A company called BareBones Living and they also have the brand NoBox which sells a range of products for "barebones living" to help those who love camping, living out of their RV's etc and one of the products they sell is a gorgeous chefs knife that comes with a leather sheath. 

The knife arrived in a box that is quite giftable, I was excited to get it open and test out the knife to see if it would live up to how it looks. The sheath it comes with is made from full-grain leather and a metal clip to keep it safely inside of the sheath when not in use. The handle is made from natural rosewood, which gives it a comfortable hold and it allows enough weight to keep the knife balanced. My hands aren't very large, however I have no issues with gripping the handle or having a comfortable hold, I found this knife easy and comfortable to use, plus it was a lot of fun seeing how thinly I could cut a tomato with it.

The blade itself is made from stainless steel and it is sharp enough to cut all types of foods without any issues. I barely touched it to a tomato and it started cutting through it with hardly any pressure at all, it also did a great job cutting through chicken breast that was still semi frozen. I am a little picky with meat when I am cooking it, I usually look for the pack that has the least amount of fat so when I go to cut it off it doesn't take that long. This knife made cutting off the small fatty or ugly looking pieces a breeze, I was able to get dinner prepped just the way I like it in a matter of no time.

Due to the handle being made from rosewood it is not recommended to soak this in your sink with the other dishes, because it can ruin the natural wood handle. To keep this knife in it's best condition I would recommended just washing it right after using it and drying it off with a clean hand towel. The knife is simple to clean and so far this has been one of my favorite knives that I own! You don't have to keep it stored in the sheath, however the sheath itself looks lovely as well so you may want to show off both pieces. 

We haven't gone camping in a while as the heat is starting to rise here in Arizona, but you can bet this will be coming with us the next time we go camping. You can purchase this knife from their website for $110. If you want to see the knife in action I will be putting up a reel over on my Instagram page (@Themoonlitnook) to show you how well it cuts.

Along with the chef knife I was also sent a heavy duty cutting board which I was also excited about because one of our large cutting boards recently broke and we couldn't quite find one we wanted to replace it with. I knew before hand that the knife was being sent, but the cutting board was a complete surprise! 

At the moment I can't find any info on it on their website so I can't link it, however I do have the tag that came with the board. It is a thick maple wood cutting board that has a steel handle. I like that the handle makes this easy to hang off of your grill if you want to, and it is small enough it is portable to take camping. Both of these products are extremely well made and I feel like they will last a long time, especially if they are cared for properly. The company also offers a ton of other awesome products to take along camping or to use at home. 

Prize Alert: One lucky winner is going to win their own Chefs Knife! This prize is retailed at $110

This is open to US Residents! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! 

This giveaway ends on 04/29/2021

Giveaway entry question: Leave a comment telling me another product you'd love to try from BareBones Living. 

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Disclaimer-  Barebones Living provided me with the products mentioned above for the review + giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase. 

Decorate goodies with Gramma In A Box!

Some of my favorite memories with my great-grandmother are of us in the kitchen baking and cooking. Every winter during the holidays her kitchen turned into a bakery filled with tins and tins of cookies that we baked for family members and friends, it always smelled so good in her house during the holidays. I am very thankful that we live close to my mother so that my children can create their own memories with their grandmother. However not everyone is fortunate to live as close to their families so their children might not get to spend as much time with their grandparents as they'd like. One grandmother named Terry came up with a way to still spend quality time with her grandchildren even though they moved away.

What was her solution? She still wanted to be able to create these memories with her grandchildren so she would come up with fun cookie/treat ideas she could do with them. She would pack up a box filled with plain sugar cookies, frosting, decorations and more to send her her grandchildren then she would chat with them via Skype while they worked on their cookies. After telling some friends about it, it has now become a full time business called Gramma In A Box!

I recently received their August box which featured Beach party treats, each box comes with three fun projects to do with your children or grandchildren and all of the supplies you need are included in the box. There are enough supplies in the box for several children and an adult to participate with easy to follow instructions. Our box included projects to do Goldfish Bowls, Seashell Pretzels and Sea Life cookies. I like how everything was packaged and made to be as easy to do as possible.

The first project we worked on was the Goldfish bowls shown above. This project required; Melting chocolate, goldfish, marshmallows and graham cracker dust. The melting chocolate does require an adult to melt in the microwave otherwise everything is ready to go, you dip the marshmallow in the chocolate to make it look like the water in the bowl, then roll it in the graham cracker crust to look like the sand, add a goldfish and let set. After the chocolate has set you can eat your fishbowls.

The second project used the second half of the melting chocolate to create chocolate dipped seashell pretzels. After dipping each pretzel into the chocolate, you get to add a chocolate seashell and some pearl sprinkles that look like bubbles. Both of these projects were fun to create, however we didn't quite like the taste of the melting chocolate itself but that is due to the company who makes the chocolate not Gramma in a box. Otherwise we enjoyed both of these projects, and thought they turned out pretty cute. You can do all three projects at once or you can space them out a bit to make the fun of the box last a bit longer. My children had a blast with this box, they love baking and cooking so this box was right up their alley, after we were finished they asked if we were going to get another box like this.

Last but not least was the Sea Life Cookies which we all had a blast with. The box included three colors frostings plus several decorating supplies that the kids really enjoyed using. I like that the decorating frosting was already in easy to use decorating bags, you just needed to cut a bit of the tip off before using it. The box came with eight sugar cookies to decorate, four of them were fish, two were seashells and two were starfish. I decided to decorate one with the kids as well and decorated the fish with the heart shaped eye above for my husband to eat. The sugar cookies were so good, and the decorations were not overly full of sugar which was nice.

You can purchase a singular box to try out or you can purchase a 3,6,or 12 month subscription and automatically at the start of each month your box will be shipped out. In total there are enough goodies in the box to create 15 to 20 finished items (each cookie counts as a finished item). A single box is $20 or if you buy a subscription the price lowers a bit depending on which subscription you purchase. If you are a new subscriber you need to place an order before the 3rd of each month in order to receive that month's box. This subscription service is only available in the US. During the holidays there are holiday themed items in the box which adds to the fun of the box.

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Gramma In A Box for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Farewell to Parragon Books.

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by PaRragon for the review free of charge.**

This will sadly be my last post for the book buddies program with the company PaRragon books. I recently received a farewell email letting the reviewers who have worked with them know that PaRragon will be closing it's doors in the U.S which means the book buddies program will be ending as well. However they do still have locations in Europe, Asia, Australia and India if you live in those locations you will still be able to purchase books through them.

Knowing the company is closing in the U.S is a bit heart breaking for me, I've always been a big book worm. I remember reading often as a child and loved going to the book store with my grandma when I was young, I've always made sure that my kids enjoy reading as well. PaRragon has a great selection of books suited for every age so it is a bit sad to see them go. Any how let's get onto the goodies that were in the last box.

The last box I received was given a space theme and encouraged you to reach for the stars and follow your dreams. The first two books in the box are from their new Stem Stars Series by Discovery and the titles are as follows;

Women Who Rocked Space (Retail Value $4.99) - This book tells you about nineteen wonderful women who all contributed to astronomy in one way or another. Each women has a two page layout that tells the reader a bit about each women along with what they contributed and it features their photo. This is a great book not only for little girls but for young boys as well, my daughter is a curious learner and she knows a lot of the big male names when it comes to astronomy and the space program but doesn't know any of the women (neither did I to be honest) so this is a nice book to have.

Women Who Rocked Medicine (Retail Value $4.99) - Just like the Women who rocked space this book is all about many of the women who made an impact in the medical field. This book features another nineteen women who made various contributions to medicine such as Florence Nightingale and  Virginia Apgar. Each lovely lady has two pages with her story, a photo if one was available and what they did for the medical field.

Dream You'll Be (Retail Value $9.99) - This is a rather cute bedtime rhyme book which goes over a variety of things your child might dream about becoming from a superhero or a pirate to a vet or school teacher but at the end it let's them know what no matter what they dream of being that they are already the most important thing to you the parent reading the book. I think all of the illustration in this book are fun, eye catching and charming they are quite colorful and drawn in a soft manner so everything flows well.

The Learnalots Preschool Thinking Skills (Retail Value $3.99) - My son is starting kindergarten this year and although he already knows everything this book covers this will be a good book to do a bit of work in daily to give him a re-fresh course to make sure he is ready for school and it will give us some one on one time while my daughter is doing her homework. It includes two pages of stickers as well to be used as rewards!

Bountiful Bowls (Retail Value $12.99) - While this book isn't related to space it is technically related towards goals of being healthier since it features dozens of recipes for different food bowls that use fresh ingredients like avocado, grapes, cabbage, lettuce and more. All of the recipes give you a list of ingredients for the bowl and any dressings you may need plus step by step instructions on how to make the bowl and a photo of each completed bowl. There are a lot of great bowls in this book, I look forward to trying some of them out.

Chedz Giveaway & Review!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Chedz for the review & giveaway free of charge.**

Do you love cheese? If the answer is yes then you will love Chedz, What is Chedz? They are a flavorful, cheesy and wholesome snack produced with great care by Hall Brands. They offer seven delicious flavors and several of those flavors are gluten free. The flavors are Mild, Spicy, Gluten Free Mild, Gluten Free Spicy, Gluten Free Peppercorn, Gluten Free Mexi, Gluten Free Chia.

                          

                          

Some of my family members are big cheese fans, they love string cheese, cheese on crackers, etc so I knew these would be a big hit in the house. Two of the bags were opened and two bags were taken over to my mothers house for the football game before I was even able to find time to take photos of them so that really tells you how much everyone loved them. They are great to snack on, they have the consistency of a cracker but are packed full of cheesy flavors. I am sadly not one of the bigger cheese fans in my family so I can only eat about five or six of these before I feel full but they are pretty tasty, my favorite is the mild. All of the Chedz are pretty consistent in size and measure about as long as my pinky finger and the width is about the same as well, so they are a pretty decent sized snack. A suggested serving size is about 10 sticks.

Not only are they great for snacking but they are also wonderful for cooking with. You can use the Chedz as a replacement in almost any recipe that calls for bread crumbs or crumbled crackers that you'd like to have a cheesy flavor layer to it. I used my Chedz in place of the crackers that my meatloaf recipe called for. They crumbled perfectly and mixed in with the meat well, I did note they seemed to cook faster than crackers do so the edges may get a little crispy but to me they were perfect and really gave the meat loaf a elevated taste to them! I have also added these to my salads in place of adding croutons and parmesan cheese. Careful though they are tasty and will leave you wanting more so the bag will be empty before you know it! Not sure what you'd like to cook with them? The Chedz website has a whole page of recipes you can try out.

PRIZE ALERT:
One lucky winner is going to win Seven bags of the assorted Chedz flavors + a Chedz fidget spinner.

This is open to US Residents ONLY!!! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email!
 Giveaway winners are announced on FACEBOOK, If you would like to see who won my latest giveaways please visit and like my facebook page. This giveaway ends on 10/06/2017
 
Giveaway entry question: Please leave me a comment letting me know which flavor you'd want to try first.


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Cave Tools Review!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Cave Tools for the review free of charge.**

With the summer heat we like to avoid turning on the oven too often because it creates unnecessary heat in the house, so instead we like to throw some meat and veggies onto the grill. Letting everything cook on the grill creates delicious BBQ and helps keep the house cool! A company called Cave Tools sells a lot of useful products for the grill including brushes, lights and more. I've reviewed their shish kabob skewers in the past and we loved them so when I was asked if I wanted to work with them on another review I was happy to agree. This time around I was sent the Rib roast BBQ rack which can also be used for cooking chickens, turkeys, ham and more!

The ribs we bought were a little short for the rack but the rack still held them into place just fine as you can see from the photos above.You can use it as shown above for ribs or you can flip it over to place a whole turkey/ham,etc onto it to cook. The rack is dishwasher safe and is easy to clean, the food comes off without any issues. The ribs turned out well, the rack helped cook them evenly and made it to where we didn't need to keep turning them over to make sure everything was cooked which was nice. My step-dad did think it was a little difficult to add extra BBQ sauce while they were cooking, it would be easiest to use a pair of tongs to lift but the meat and brush on the sauce that way. This rack sells for $17.99 and can be purchased along with all of their other great grilling products on their website linked at the start of this review. You can also purchase this product on Amazon.You can use coupon code RIBROAST15 to get 15% off the rack shown above.

Ozeri Review

Cooking is always a time for us to come together in our house everyone helps out when it is time to cook dinner,One of us pulls everything out, while one starts to cook,our toddler will help hand us eggs,ect it is a great time to spend time together. Recently for a review I received a 8" Green Earth Frying Pan by Ozeri, with Smooth Ceramic Non-Stick Coating. The pan is Utilizes an ultra-safe ceramic coating derived from nature which is 100% PTFE and PFOA free & features a scratch-resistant 100 percent ceramic coating as found in nature (no heavy metals or chemicals) that is super easy to clean.

This pan works fantastic every dish I have made turns out perfect & cleaning the pan is very easy nothing ever sticks to it. I think my favorite thing I have made in this pan so far is bacon, Why? It comes out perfect it is just the right amount of crispy without being burnt & the grease is easy to drain. This has become our favorite pan to use for a number of reasons,the pan is a great size,it has a large handle making it easy to transport & turn while cooking & the base of the pan is a little thicker to control where the heat sits & slightly raises the pan off of the burner so that the bottom doesn't get ruined I can see owning this pan for a very long time it is sturdy & reliable. I am very happy with this product & would love to own more products from Ozeri including thier Kitchen Scale,Thermo Glassware,& more. Right now on Amazon this product is avalible for $25 & ships for free with Super Saver Shipping I think some of the pan prices are a little high but they are worth paying for a product that works this great! ****This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others.Products were Provided by Ozeri for the Review free of charge****