Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Crusty Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies

It is the 44th day of quarantine. How are you going to spend your day today under lockdown and quarantine? 

Our kitchen was again busy with all the budget-friendly dishes for lunch and dinner down to the baked sweets by my daughter. 

She made this simple crusty chewy chocolate chunk cookies for dessert and snacks.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1-cup chocolate chunks

Mix all the wet and dry ingredients in a separate bowl, mix them both without over mixing. 

Plate the mixture inside the fridge for about 20 mins then scoop, using a spoon or ice cream scooper for measurement. 

Bake it for 25-30 minutes, then let it cool for an hour before serving. 

Perfect pair with vanilla ice cream, coffee, or tea. 

This makes 7 large cookies. 

Depending on your sweet preference you can adjust the amount fo sugar and flour for batter and cookie consistency. 

Since this was my daughter's recipe, I will try to adjust and some other cookie ingredients next time when I bake.

Did you bake anything today?



















Monday, April 27, 2020

Quarantine Baking Episode: Oatmeal Raisin Banana Bread with Roasted Ground Flaxseed







Since we have a lot of time in our hands might as well spend it wisely, cook meals for the family, and bake goodies! 


Ingredients: 
(wet)
12- ripe Cavendish bananas
1cup- evaporated milk
3- eggs
1/2cup- vegetable oil
1tsp- vanilla extract
1cup- plain yogurt
1cup- white chocolate chips

(dry)
1-1/2cups- all-purpose flour
1cup- oatmeal
1/2cup -ground roasted flaxseed
1cup- brown sugar
1tsp- salt
1tsp- baking soda
1tsp- baking powder

Mix the dry and wet ingredients in a separate bowl, then mix the two together. DO NOT over mix, once all the flour is coated with the wet mixture place it in a greased loaf pan. The amount of batter can make two large loaf pan. 

Pre-heat your oven to 350F before placing the pan inside the oven. 

Bake it for 55 minutes. 

Let it cool, slice, and serve it with ice cream, coffee, or tea. 





What did you bake lately? 







Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Continuous learning amidst COVID-19 situation



***This is a sponsored post written by me for OneClass, and it's my own material and thoughts.

It has been 30-days since the lockdown- simultaneously shutting down the schools, businesses, industries and all sorts of person-to-person physical contact to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 virus. 

Our current health condition not only hampers the working class, the economy, our government system but has had the biggest effect on the students and their learning.

At first, the relief of keeping ourselves and our family members safe by keeping them staying at home, eventually as days passed by, we can see how our children react to this kind of set-up. 
I can say that the lack of motivation, the eagerness, the strategy that our students are accustomed to when going and attending to the normal school set-up was lacking. 

While technology is readily available to carry on learning irrespective of the current situation, the lack of motivation can set in. 


Continuous learning during this health situation will make it possible for parents and students to take advantage of what technology has to offer by learning online. 
In addition to this health problem which the world is facing, online learning has been implemented as an additional learning tool. Schools incorporate teachings online as an advanced course before and after the current term. Online education gives the greatest advantage one can provide to all learners. 

An online tutor can provide one-on-one set-up by discussing certain subject areas needed, and, getting it for free like OneClass.com offers! 


"The first education company to receive an ICAI review.

As an online education platform, it is important to ensure that any tutor you work with has received the proper training in the field of academic integrity. The International Center for Academic Integrity's objective is to review the academic integrity policies of higher-education institutions, and we are the first education technology company to have received their review."


Live discussion of tutors for high school, college, and university math and chemistry, 7 days a week. Provides an online schedule to a specific subject and tutor. 

Their resources are widely available from: 
    • Class Notes
    • Textbook Notes
    • Study Guides
    • Textbook Solutions
    • Homework Help
    • Solvit App

Sign up and log in to the particular subject you need, and you're off to keep your kids learning so they can achieve their goals.


Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Featured Product and Story of Shannon DiPadova- Tub Cubby




I’m a working mom with three kids and this is my story about how my kids and I invented the Tub Cubby. 

One night about four years ago I walked into the bathroom and couldn’t believe what I was looking at. It was like a bomb went off with toys, shampoo and soap everywhere.

I calmly screamed at the top of my lungs “Marco!!! Get in here and clean up this mess!”

Marco came back in the bathroom and tried to organize his toys by stuffing them under the sink, but there wasn’t room and really no place to put them all.

His two sisters came up with a great idea to take a re-useable grocery bag and stick a hanger through one shoulder strap to hang it from the towel bar. It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing and my girls were feeling pretty smart for their ingenuity.

Later that night the kids were watching Shark Tank, a show about entrepreneurs who bring products to market and they decided they wanted to make bath toy organizers for other kids.

The next day we found an old mesh style beach bag and I helped them cut and sew some pockets in it for soap and shampoo bottles. We bought some suction cup hooks from the local hardware store and the first prototype Tub Cubby was born.

We shared it on social media with my girlfriends who had kids and within a few hours we had several orders before we had even made any real ones.

I figured it would be a good business lesson for my kids so the next day I spent $140 on supplies which only made about 7 Tub Cubbies and took us a week to make, but we sold them all, earning us a whopping $70.

At this point I felt my economics lesson was on the verge of failing, we were out $90, and my kids kept reminding me we weren’t making any money. My doubts were starting to get to me, and I could hear the Shark’s saying, “Cute idea lady but we’re out!"

To make matters worse, the kids’ initial excitement had turned to dread. They were tired of the 2 hours it took to make one Tub Cubby and explained to me that it was eating into their schoolwork, which I knew was code for please don’t do this to us.

But the one thing that kept me going were my girlfriends who had bought them from us. When I asked, “OK, be straight with me would you really pay $10 for one of these?” they all said without a doubt it was a lifesaver and they used it every day.

And more than economics, what I really wanted to teach my kids was perseverance. So, over the next few weeks we did some researched online and found a manufacturer to produce them. 


Against my (usually supportive) husband’s advice I went ahead and invested in 500 units and listed them on Amazon. It took about six months, but they eventually sold out, with many customers leaving us 5 Star reviews. Some left pictures of all the toys they could stuff in the big mesh net bin. One Mom said it even saved her marriage and another funny guy posted a photo of his “Beer” shower caddy.

With all the great feedback my kids were getting excited again and helped me come up with new ideas for making it better by adding soft foam bath toy ABC & 123s letters and numbers.

It’s still unbelievable to me, but the first full year we sold $250k worth of Tub Cubbies, and last year in 2019 we sold $838k, with lifetime sales of over $2.2 million dollars.

We even got a call from the producers of Shark Tank and asked to send in an audition video, so fingers crossed!

The best thing though is now I don’t have to worry so much about my kids’ college tuition, because as I explained to them with a little ingenuity and a lot of perseverance you can accomplish great things. - Shannon DiPadova


https://amzn.to/2UIcKPi


Sunday, April 5, 2020

Strategise your resources via Polk Partners

***This is a sponsored post, this article is written by me, opinions and views are 100% mine.

This global health crisis that we are facing right now is impacting the entire world. 


Polk Partners give priority to what customers want by providing a single monthly payment with low-interest rates.


The world faced a health crisis before the year ended last 2019, that continues to shake the world to this very day. Financial prosperity has plummeted significantly, jobs and education have been drastically impacted, leaving the majority of the world's population with work now being laid off.
Layoffs occur when a corporation is restructured or goes out of business. In certain situations, a layoff can be temporary, and when the economy recovers, the employee is re-hired.

With the employment status, we are facing right now, the question of how and when can we go back to our usual way of living where we work and get paid, we can get to pay our rent, buy food and provide for the family. If this can't happen soon payments will pile-up and sooner or later things can be unpredictable. 

Unpaid mortgages, house and car loans, lack of access to medical and other facilities that include insurance premiums are some of the potential situations when one becomes unemployed.

To secure status in life you need to be employed. This is how you can have a normal way of living.

Three weeks ago, we were emailed by our employer about our last day from work and we were immediately summoned to evacuate the building before 5 pm. The attached memo explained the severity of the Coronavirus and the major road services will be locked down for a month. Along with the memo is the no work-no pay closure policy for all the private companies that we are under. 

When we got that email we are all in shock, although we are all concerned with our health safety when we read the no work-no pay policy it hit us with the reality of how are we going to sustain to provide for ourselves and our family which we are supporting. But, that is only the beginning of the hurdle, when this health crisis goes on and the workforce can't go back to normal. 

Although this is not a permanent situation, we will move forward to this state and regain our financial stability. This is how the importance of building your credit status in a good position so that you can rely on when these things happened. One can also try to consult with financial strategists for your personal or business finances in a time of crisis like this. 

For now, let us all hope that things can go back to normal soon. That businesses and workforce can regain back strong and stable. That business can hire back their employees. That the busy and crowded places like cafes, malls, parks, tourist spots, food establishments, salons, technology, and medical facilities can operate back to normal flow.