Bark the Vote

I need a small favor. Please take 2 seconds and vote for my dog treat company to win a small business grant. The grant would allow my sister and I to open our first store. We need 250 votes to even be considered. Your vote does count!

1. Go to http://www.missionsmallbusiness.com/ click 'Log In & Support' and log in using Facebook.

2. Search for my business by name (Barked Goods Jax)

3. Click on the blue Vote button next to our business name to show your support for our business.

I am totally ok with you forwarding this on to people :p

Baby Signing Time

Baby Signing Time is fun way to interact with your baby and toddler. The video series teaches ASL sign language and makes communicating with your wee-one easy!

The songs on Baby Signing Time are very catchy and you will find your self singing them throughout the day (my husband and I joke that we are brainwashed because we can't get the songs out of our head). Check out one of my favorites "The Pets I Love"!

My 14 month old son loves watching the videos and has been picking up signs more quickly than when I tried to teach him on my own.

I have been asked "Why teach your child to sign" and my experience this morning was the perfect example:

When we let our dogs out this morning my son signed to me "eat". We went upstairs sat down for breakfast and he ate. This may sound really simple, however had he not know the sign for eat he probably would have gotten fussy and started screaming since he can't yet say that he is hungry. This simple sign allowed us to communicate without a meltdown and most mommies know that is priceless!!!

Swim Across America

Everyone knows someone with Cancer. It is a disease that has touched all of our lives. At Baylor Cancer Center in Dallas they are swimming laps around Cancer.  On June 9th, 2012 hundreds of swimmers including Olympians will across Lake Ray Hubbard to raise money for the  Innovative Clinical Trials Center at the Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center.

The star attraction of the event is Quinn! Quinn is a four year old Leonberger with a big big heart. This 160 pound cuddle bug is also a therapy dog at the Baylor Cancer Center!

Help support Quinn and the fight against Cancer!

Throw me something mister!

I have a fond place in my heart for New Orleans (I lived there during high school and years later got married there) and I haven't been to Mardi Gras in a many many years, so when my friend Melissa posted a King Cake recipe on facebook that she took years to perfect, I thought I would try to recreate it Gluten Free!

My first attempt below was a big ole #FAIL. The dough was way to sticky and I could barely work with it (The cake tasted great, it just wasn't pretty.)

When my friend Lauren asked me to write a guest post on her blog Whisking Through Life  I knew it had to be something good. So I tried again to make the Gluten Free King Cake....and guess what? It came out great! The photo above was my final result. Check out the recipe and more photos here!

Margarita Jello Shots

It seems like all of my blog posts about cocktail creations start when I visit with my sister.... This weekend my sister was in town and we wanted to create a fun cocktail creation that would be a wow factor at an upcoming taco night I am hosting. We decided to try Margarita Jello Shots! In order to give them that wow factor we decided to serve them in lime wedges.

1. Gather your ingredients: lime jello, tequila, orange flavored liquor, limes and water
2. Mix your ingredients
I decided to make half batch virgin and half batch 21 and over. So I mixed 1 cup warm water with the jello mix. Once the mix dissolved I poured a half cup of the mix into one bowl and a half cup into another.

For the virgin jello I added a half cup of cold water, mixed and then placed it into the fridge to harden (I decided not to put the virgin jello in the lime shells to be sure I didn't mix it up with the grown-up jello).

For the adult jello I added 2 tequila mini's and half a bottle of the orange liquor mini (the total amount of liquor was half a cup) I mixed it together and set the bowl aside.

 3. Juice your limes (you can reserve the juice for guacamole)

4. Use a spoon to get any remaining pulp out of the lime shell

 5. Pour your jello into the lime shells. Be sure to put them in a pan to keep them from falling over (like the handy bone shaped pan I use to make Barkday Cakes)
6. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight (because of the alcohol these take longer to set than normal)

 7. Cut the lime into wedges (you can add salt just be sure to add the salt as you are serving them because it dissolves quickly on top of the jello)

Be sure to check out my other cocktail creations like Drunk Gummies, White Russian Chocolate Pudding and Watermelon Punch!

*Please note this recipe includes alcohol and is intended only for adults over the age of 21. Please don't eat these and drive, operate heavy machinery or text.