Deep Cleaning: Use S.O.S. Pads on your Kitchen Sink!

Do you ever clean you sink, scrub it down, and realize there are still stains lingering?  Today I came to find a great tip - use S.O.S. pads!  Once you're done scrubbing your pans from dinner and you still have some S.O.S. pad left - use the rest on deep cleaning your sink.  You'll get a new shine you never knew you had.  Keep in mind - use the pads on metal sinks only.

What you need:

• 1 S.O.S. Pad
• Pair of cleaning gloves
• Elbow grease (scrubbing power!)

Let me know how it works for you!

#deepcleaning #SOSPads #kitchensink

Quinoa Summer Salad

Happy Summer! It is getting so hot outside... it's time to cool things down a bit.  I've made a lot of warm quinoa dishes, so I decided to create a cold quinoa salad that I call a Quinoa Summer Salad.  The great part about this salad is that you can throw virtually anything you have sitting in your fridge in and it'll taste great.  Add a red pepper or some cherry tomatoes.. make it your own.  But first, here's my recipe:

What to Gather:

• 1 Cup Quinoa
• 2 Cups Water
• 2 Small Cucumbers (about 6 inches long each)
• 1 Bell Pepper
• 1/2 Small Onion Chopped
• 1/2 Cup (or more) Black Olives
• 1/4 Cup Feta Cheese
• 2 tsp Minced Garlic
• 4 TBSP Vinaigrette 

What to Do:

•  Before starting this salad, make the quinoa ahead of time if possible.  Since this is a cold dish the quinoa needs time to sit in the fridge for a while to cool (or you can put it over an ice bath if you don't have enough time).  Cook the quinoa in the 2 cups water, bring to a boil then reduce heat for 15 minutes.  Once done, cool the quinoa.  Add to the salad.
• Cut the small cucumbers long-wise in half, turn 180*, then long-wise in half again.  By now you'll have 2 cuts in the cucumber - finish cutting the cucumbers creating 4 pieces per cut by cutting down long-ways as usual.  You should have 4 pieces of a pie cut out with each cut. [Now I feel like I'm on Food Network's Next Food Network Star trying to explain how to cut these for the salad haha]
• Cut the bell pepper and the onion into small squares, place in salad
• Cut the black olives in half, place in salad
• Top with feta cheese (you can add more if you like!) I use:
  
• Add the minced garlic
• Add the vinaigrette - I use the All Natural House Vinaigrette from Aldi's:
  
• Now, mix all together and serve!  [to note: this dish is best served after sitting overnight!]

Enjoy! :)

With Love,

Mel

Gluten Free Food at Aldi's!

Gluten free food can be expensive.  Trying to sort through which gluten free brands are best takes A LOT of trial and error.  On a recent shopping trip at Aldi's I found, and I'm not kidding, A TON of new gluten free items!  Now before they had brownies, cake mix, and a few other things, but now... they have so much more under the live G free brand.  So, I walked the whole store and found some great finds... cake mix, cookie mix, pizza crust mix, cornbread mix, pancake mix, brownie mix, sandwich wraps, frozen pizza, frozen ravioli, mac & cheese, pasta, breakfast bars, and more! 

The best thing is that the prices are great... I bought a few things to try, and my bill was so reasonable:

1. GF Pasta (100% corn).....$1.29
2. GF Frozen Ravioli.....$3.29
3. GF Mac & Cheese.....$1.49
4. GF Cheese Pizza.....$4.99
5. GF Brownie and Cake Mixes.....$2.99 each

The prices are great... so far I've had:

1. Brownies - Good, best in a smaller pan, doesn't taste GF at all!
2. Mac & Cheese - Ok, seriously... this is the best (gluten free) Mac & Cheese I've had (still doesn't come close to my old favorite shapes Kraft Mac & Cheese but hey... a GF girl's gotta do what a GF girl's gotta do)
3. Frozen Pizza - Ok guys save your time here it's mushy and Glutino has much better frozen Pizza.


I'm going to be putting my my favorite GF brands next - any suggestions on what you'd like to see?  Write me a message below!  I'd love to hear from you all :)

With Love,
Mel