Photo Gift Recommendation: Shutterfly.com

I personally feel that one of the best gifts that I can give the parents and the grandparents are personalized gifts of the boys. We’ve always lived quite a distance from both sets of parents and grandparents and I want to give them something from the boys that they can enjoy all year round. I’ve done photo coffee mugs, calendars, posters, mouse pads, etc through various sites out there. I’ve tried at least 5 different printing sites and can say without a doubt that I like Shutterfly.com the best. The quality and finish of my photos and photo gifts have always consistently been amazing; with some other sites, my photos have come out distorted and uneven. I’ve never had a single problem with the ordering, shipping or quality of my photo gifts from Shutterfly.

In fact, I just ordered (2) photo calendars last night from them for my in-laws and the grandparents on my husband’s side of the family, getting the second one 50% off automatically (through December 2nd on various gifts). I received in my email a couple of different codes that might help you out:

Free shipping over $25 with code FREE25
Get $10 off your order of $30 or more with code JOLLY10

Have you used Shutterfly? What do you think of their services and do you recommend them or another service?

Recipe of the Week: White Chicken Chili

Here is a very hearty, simple one-pot wonder...

White Chicken Chili
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 can Rotel
1 can Cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
1 packet White Chicken Chili seasoning

Mix all ingredients in a pot, simmer for 15-20 minutes.

*Note - I usually do not need to add any additional liquid, but if you like a less thick chili, feel free to add chicken stock or water to your liking.

25% off entire Gap purchase!

Get 25% off your entire purchase at Gap.com through November 22. Use code GIFT123 at checkout.

Menu Plan Monday

Brought to you a day late, here is this week's menu plan:

Monday - Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
Tuesday - White Chicken Chili, side salad
Wednesday - Steak, scalloped potato gratin, Steamed broccoli
Thursday - Braised pork chops, brown rice
Friday - Dinner out

Recipe of the Week: CrockPot Indian Butter Chicken

Have you heard about A Year of Slow Cooking? This awesome woman, Stephanie, used her Crock-Pot every day for a year and chronicled it on a blog. She now has a wonderful cookbook available. Anyway, I've just started trying out some of the recipes and I've already made this one twice. It is delicious! I did make a few changes: I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts because we prefer white meat. For the cardamom, I substituted about 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg. And I did not use the garam masala at all.

Crock-Pot Chicken Makhani (Indian Butter Chicken)

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (mine were frozen solid)
1 onion, sliced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
4 T butter
15 cardamom pods (sewn together!)
2 tsp curry
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 can coconut milk (I used light)
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
2 T lemon juice
1 cup plain yogurt (to add at the end, I used fat free)

Use a 5 quart or larger crockpot. Carefully sew together the cardamom pods using a needle and thread. You can put them in a little cheese cloth bundle, instead, if you have that in the house. Put chicken in crockpot, and add onion, garlic, and all of the dry spices. Plop in the butter and tomato paste. Add lemon juice and coconut milk. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. The chicken should shred easily with 2 forks when fully cooked.

Stir in plain yogurt 15 minutes before serving. Discard cardamom pods. Salt to taste, serve with white or brown basmati rice.

*Recipe courtesy of A Year of Slow Cooking

Friends & Family Sale @ Crazy 8 - 25% off everything!!

If you have yet to discover the greatness that is Crazy 8, Gymboree's little (cheaper) sibling, then this weekend will be the time for you to check it out. Crazy 8's Friends and Family 25% off everything will start Thursday, November 12 and run through Sunday, the 15th. Enter code CZYEMAIL for the discount. Free shipping for orders over $75, otherwise it's a $5 flat rate charge.

Cookie Recipe Contest

Do you have an awesome cookie recipe that is your go-to staple for the holiday season? Are you in search of a great new cookie recipe to dazzle your holiday guests or to hand out to your co-workers or neighbors? Would you like to win a new cookie recipe book for your collection? Well, here's how!

This is how it's going to go down: you submit a cookie recipe (with or without a picture) to adventuresofa20somethingmother@hotmail.com by November 21st at noon. Starting Monday, November 23 through November 30, I will post the recipes one by one for all readers to review. I will then open up the voting to all of you to vote on who has the best holiday cookie recipe! The winner will get to choose one of the following cookie recipe books:

• One Dough, One Hundred Cookies by Linda Doeser
• The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes by Kris Holechek
• Cookies Year-Round: 50 Recipes for Every Season and Celebration by Rosemary Black

Have thoughts? Sound off below!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Lasagna, salad, bread
Tuesday: Crock-Pot Indian Butter Chicken, brown rice
Wednesday: Tilapia, spinach salad with gorgonzola
Thursday: Baked chicken, sweet potato fries
Friday: Pizza out

Care.com Free This Weekend!

Sabrina over at Care.com wanted me to let all my readers know that you can join for FREE this weekend! Care.com is a great tool to search for trusted caregivers in your area! You can read and post reviews for babysitters, nannies and daycares in your area, as well as post a job of your own! Sometimes, it can be scary when you are trying to find a babysitter or a daycare-you search online, but it's hard to find trusted reviews and dedicated professionals to care for your child. There are even specified services, such as Special Needs Care, Tutoring and Private Lessons listings, Pet Sitter listing, Housekeeper listings, you name!

But you have to hurry! This offer is only good through Sunday, November 8th!

Holiday Shopping Advice, From Me to You

I am a sucker for the holiday season. In the past, I've literally gone nuts around the holidays, buying this or that for everyone in the family and spoiling everyone, including my sister in law, rotten. And what do I have to show for that, years and years of cheer? Mounting credit card debt that forced us to go into a DMP (debt management plan). Now, it wasn't the holidays fault that I couldn't keep my spending habits under control, but seeing the flashing lights of 'Sale!' and 'Buy Me! Your Kids Will Love It!' sure seemed enticing. And now that I am all grown up, I have to live within my limits. And with that, here is my holiday shopping advice, from me to you.

1. The best thing you can do for yourself, right now, is make a budget. If you don't have that budget, every spare dollar you have, you will spend on that French Press you think your mother in law would love for her study. But with the recession pushing fears inside the heads of every American, creating a budget that you can stick to will help in the long run. Promise.

2. Now that you have a budget, put together a list of people you'd like to buy presents for; now look at your budget again, and distribute a dollar amount fairly and appropriately. Also include those people you are just going to send a holiday card to, and make sure you factor that into your budget as well. We have so many family members that we barely see and live out of state that a photo card of the kids that they can hang on their fridge is just as lovely as sending them a candle basket.

3. I like to then get an idea of what I plan on buying these people, just so I can keep an eye out in ads and online sales, instead of randomly buying things. Like this year, I plan on buying Parker the Wonder Pets Fly Boat. I know, right now, Target is selling it for $36. So, my goal is to find it at a lower price. We won't be spending Christmas at my in-laws this year, so we want to get something that will be cheap to ship--we are going to order a personalized photo calendar through Shutterfly, which is about $20 (probably get some for the grand parents as well). Now the goal is to research and wait until the best price comes up (about mid November, according to Baby Cheapskate).

4. Now you are looking around, searching for the presents off your list, and you see a sale sign, full of glitter and sparkles and your instinct says to grab that item on November 6th, in fear you won't find it at a lower price. STOP! Drop the Zhu, Zhu pet, and walk away. Black Friday and beyond is where you are going to find the best sales on 98% of items. Yes, some places are doing pre-Black Friday sales early, but that doesn't mean that you should complete your entire shopping list already. If you are seriously doubting yourself, see if the item is available for a raincheck and if not, just keep the receipt to return or price adjust later (make sure to get the stores price adjustment policy). Keep an eye out for Black Friday sales here.

5. Don't forget to check online. The past two years, Black Friday sales have quickly crept online to the point where I don't need to get in line in -20 degree weather to nab that digital camera. I can get it online now. Target.com, Bestbuy.com, Amazon.com, all of these places have started putting their sales online and it isn't just reserved for that Black Friday through Cyber Monday-you will start seeing almost fire sale, daily prices, on hot items from about November 15th through two days before Christmas.

6. And one last tip: remember to check sites like A Full Cup to keep an eye out for hot sales. And not only for hot sales, but also places where you might be able to find a little extra change behind your ear for that extra special present-by using coupons. For instance, you can get Glade scented candles for a steal right now and be able to use the gift card you get to help buy your presents this year! And you going to start seeing a lot of that not only with stuff like candles, but also with food.

I also plan on doing a Holiday Gifting Advice post, as well as a Holiday Baking Advice post. If you have any suggestions (such as a Holiday In-Laws Advice post!) or have anything you want to see touched on, please leave a comment and I'll work on it!

Do you have any holiday shopping advice for me?

Walmart Pre-Black Friday Sale!

Get ready for the non-stop, almost daily awesome 'deals' now that the holiday season is upon us! But be careful: a good deal isn't always the 'best' deal (I'll post more about that in a little bit). But, that doesn't mean retailers aren't going to try to entice you into their stores every week with new sales, and that also doesn't mean you should pass up a great deal.

Walmart, this Saturday, will be doing a Pre-Black Friday Sale. The best deal? Buy a Xbox Arcade system for $199, get a $100 gift card! Now, you could do a lot of damage with that $100 gift card, right? Right! Here's the catch-there is only going to be 10 per store. So, if you really want it, be prepared to camp out! Find more information about what else Walmart is offering this Saturday here.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Pasta with roasted grape tomatoes, salad
Tuesday: Shrimp and crab bake, sauteed asparagus, homemade bread
Wednesday: Grilled beef tenderloin steaks, sweet potato fries, salad
Thursday: Baked chicken, couscous
Friday: Pizza out