Olive Garden Review and Giveaway

Whenever my girlfriends and I talk about getting together for dinner or an occasion the conversation usually leads to the Olive Garden. We have had many events, birthdays and even one of my baby showers there. Also when my husband I are talking date night I seem to bring up how yummy the Olive Garden is and we usually end up there. With the Olive Garden you know that you are going to get bread sticks with your choice of soup or salad with your entree. How could you go wrong? Recently the Olive Garden has brought back the Never Ending Pasta Bowl that has a total of 42 combinations between the pastas and sauces, that's 7 pastas and 6 sauces!!




For only $8.95 you get the Never Ending Pasta Bowl (aka all you can eat) with unlimited salad and bread sticks. We just had to check it out and boy were we in food heaven!! We brought the boys along because JJ's favorite anything is pasta, he would eat it every meal if I let him. To start off we chowed down on some bread sticks and salad. YUM.






The first pasta bowl I ordered was the Penne pasta with Five Cheese Marinara and it was amazing! I loved the sauce so much I was dipping my bread stick in it just to make sure I did not leave any sauce or cheese behind. Cheese, cheese and more cheese please!!!






My husband ordered the Penne pasta with Roasted Mushroom Parmesan with Sun-Dried Tomatoes. He is a mushroom lover so this was right up his alley. He said that the mushrooms were great and it gave the dish a lot of flavor.





For our next bowl we changed it up and this time my husband ordered the Fettuccine noodles with Pizzaiola Meat Sauce. It was pretty good, classic he says.



I picked the Fettuccine noodles with Alfredo sauce, again another classic that you know you can't go wrong with. It was pretty good but after my Five Cheese Marinara not much else compared, but still really tasty.






We enjoyed our meals and the experience. Everyone is always so nice at the Olive Garden, so along with the great food you always get great service. To show everyone just how much we enjoyed ourselves here is a picture of me scarfing down my food and because I posted this one of myself I am putting one up of the husband too!! Haha Oh and JJ at the end cause he loves the Olive Garden too!!!





GIVEAWAY

 

Win a $25 Gift Card to Olive Garden

To Enter This Giveaway: 

Visit the Olive Garden website and tell me what Never Ending Pasta combo you would like to try.

My favorite is the Penne pasta with Five Cheese Marinara!

*Leave a comment answering the question and be sure to leave your email address if its not public in your Google account*

Extra Entries: Can be done after leaving a comment for mandatory entry. If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on. 

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-Share this giveaway on Twitter or Facebook using the Share Button at the bottom on this post. +1 
for each share you do. (can be done once a day) This means you have the chance to get 2 extra entries a day.

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*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts September 12, 2011 and ends on September 24, 2011 at midnight PST.  Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. I was provide a gift card to Olive Garden for free by the company or PR firm representing them. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others.

Super Easy Super Tasty Fruit Dip

With all of the BBQ's and outdoor parties we have been going to this summer I needed a quick and easy go-to dip to whip up in a hurry. My friend Jodi is the women when it comes to cooking, this gal is the Queen of tasty yet easy. We showed up to her house for a party and she had made this dip with all of the cut up variety of fruit to go with it, heaven help me! It was delicious and I NEEDED to know how she made it. When she told me it was 2 ingredients I about fell over, now it tasted even better because it was so simple. The dip is sweet but also gives has a little tang to it, or something like that. All I know is it is good and I have since made it several times for several occasions and it has WOWED every time!!!


Ingredients:
1) 1 - 8oz pack of cream cheese
2) 1 - 7oz jar of Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme



Pick out several of your favorite fruits to dip, this time we went simple with strawberries and apples.





Step 1: Combine the cream cheese and marshmallow creme.

Tip: If the cream cheese is a little hard microwave it for about 20-25 seconds so it is a little softer to work with.


Step 2: Mix the two ingredients with a fork or spoon until they are blended really well together (or no lumps).


Step 3: Chill in the fridge for about an hour. Cut your fruit up into dipping size pieces while you wait.


Step 4: Dip and Enjoy!!!!


That's it, easiest thing ever. Hope you liked this treat, we ALWAYS do.

*Special thanks to my BFF Jodi for letting me "steal" her famous dip! Try it you won't be disappointed!

P.S. Don't you feel like the fruit cancels out any calories you consume by the cream cheese and marshmallow creme? I do.

Honoring 9/11

I was trying to think of a way to honor the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 attacks. I thought maybe a post about where were you, how did it effect you, what do you think about 10 years later but none of it seemed fitting enough to honor the day in the way it should be. For me I realized that it a reminder everyday to hug the ones you love, kiss the ones you love and be thankfully every day we have on this earth to be Americans.

We all have our own story of how it effected us and where we were and those are good stories. Write them down, tell them to the younger generation and be thankful for the men and woman of the Armed Forces, Fire Departments and Police Departments all over America.

My son is too little to understand what 9/11 means so for us we are watching Fireman Sam cartoons and being grateful for the country we love. We thank my sisters husband who served in Afghanistan in the Army, my brother who served in the Army and a close family friend Jodi for her husband who still continues to serve in the Army.

Children's Hospital Thrift Stores

I have been on a roll lately with my thrifting (not a real word but it is to me now ha!) it seems like I am slightly addicted. Oh dear. Well this time when we came across the Children's Hospital of Seattle Thrift Store on Bainbridge Island I knew that we had buy stuff to help this great cause. When my now 25 year old little brother was born he was very premature and sick. They did not think he had much of a chance to live, it that was so hard on the whole family. The relief that my parents did find was at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, where we living at the time. Needless to say they helped my family and my little brother and he is a healthy 25 year old aspiring "rock star" and we have them to thank.


I have been wanting to get JJ Dr. Seuss books to add to his home library because every kid has them or knows about them. We had them as kids and I have fond memories of reading these classic books. Honestly though at $8 a pop I was having a hard time justifying buying a bunch of them at a time, I know I could buy one at a time but buying in bulk is so much easier. So when we found these for just $1 each at the thrift store I scooped them up! They are in great condition and were most of the ones I was searching for, The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Are you my Mother? just to name a few. If you do the math if I had paid retail at $8 each x 6 I would have paid $48 and since I bought them second hand I only paid $6 for all. I saved $42 dollars, how frugal of me!!!




And while we were there we found this turtle for $3, the shell comes off to store hidden treasures. JJ is obsessed with turtles so we had to have him. Kind of cute huh?





Anyways, Happy Thirfting All!!!

Halloween Decor on a budget

I LOVE HALLOWEEN! It is one of my favorite holidays to decorate and celebrate. The kids are always happy this time of year and the decorations are everywhere. I seem to want to buy everything but I am on a budget you know and sometimes I have to real myself in. I am finding in my frugal state the Goodwill or any second hand store is a great place to check out when you are looking for holiday items. Like every second hand store there is good stuff and crappy stuff, you just have to search. I came across these two items the other day and for 99 cents each I knew I couldn't go wrong.

A vintage looking Ghost, cute and not spooky :)






A more modern feel with this spider web metal candle holder. See the glass pieces inside the web?

I love a good cheap find, something that I know I will use year after year. Not only do they have great items that you have to do nothing to or with, there are many DIY projects just waiting for you at any second hand store. Check them out, you won't be disappointed. In fact...I see another trip for me in the near future!