DIY - Emergency Kid Kit

As many parents find out sooner or later, it is inevitable that your child will get hurt. And in my case, being prepared makes me feel better and more in control of the situation than not. But to carry around an entire first aid kit isn't as convenient as say in the car - so I made my own with travel size items and things I might need spur of the moment. I send this out as a template as every child, mommy and family relies on different items. Everything, including the travel bag cost me under $10 (actually under $7 since I had coupons!!) and is small and compact - about the size of 2 diapers. I included in my bag:

1. Band-Aids


2. Packets of gauze


3. Waterproof medical tape


4. Neosporin's Neo to go!


5. Vaseline


6. Baby Tylenol


7. Baby Aquaphor wash


8. Shout Wipes


9. Wet Ones antibacterial wipes (pocket size)


10. Travel Size Adult Tylenol (for Mom & Dad)


11. Hyland's Teething Tablets

Life

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away" - Maya Angelou

Recipe of the Week 2/20/09

Peanut Butter and Cranberry Energy Bars

I found this recipe in Sunset Magazine (one of my favorites!) and they are awesome. I switch out the figs and use raisins, and sometimes put in dried blueberries instead of cranberries to mix things up. They are great to keep in my laptop bag, baby bag, gym bag and my husband loves them for a snack or before the gym because they are full of protein. They use a lot of ingredients, but I make them on Sunday night and keep them in an air-tight container to enjoy the entire week.

Ingredients
Cooking-oil spray
1 cup regular rolled oats
1/3 cup oat bran
3 tablespoons flax seeds
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped roasted salted peanuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup finely chopped dried Mission figs
3/4 cup natural chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup low-fat milk
1 large egg
1/2 cup honey
Finely shredded zest from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Preparation
1. Line a 9- by 13-in. pan with plastic wrap, leaving an overhang on the 9-in. sides, and coat with cooking-oil spray. In a large bowl, stir together oats, oat bran, flax seeds, flour, baking powder, salt, peanuts, cranberries, and figs until well blended.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together peanut butter, milk, egg, honey, lemon zest, and lemon juice until well blended.

3. Add flour mixture to peanut butter mixture and beat until completely blended. Scrape dough into pan and, with wet fingers or a rubber spatula, pat to fill pan completely and evenly (dough is sticky, so you may need to wash your hands a few times). Chill dough until firm, about 30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 300°. Invert pan onto a work surface, lift off pan, and peel off plastic. Using a bench scraper or knife, cut straight down lengthwise through middle, then crosswise to make 16 bars, each 1 1/2 in. wide. Place bars about 1 in. apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment.

5. Bake bars until lightly browned and somewhat firm to touch, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Make ahead: Store airtight up to 2 weeks or freeze.
Note: Nutritional analysis is per bar.
Nutritional Information
Calories: 227 (40% from fat)
Protein: 7.4g
Fat: 10g (sat 1.5)
Carbohydrate: 29g
Fiber: 4.1g
Sodium: 160mg
Cholesterol: 13mg

Recipe found at http://www.sunsetmagazine.com/

American Eagle Jeans Sale Online

All jeans at American Eagle Outfitters are $30 and under. I love their boyfriend jean so I will be sure to pick up an extra pair :)

www.ae.com

Mommy Steal - "Kitchen Organizers"

About every couple months or so I seem to find my kitchen cabinets and pantry a disaster. So I have scoured the stores to find some organizational help, and found some great items (at great prices) at IKEA. I found this set of 17 storage containers (ie: "tupperware") for $4.99 and it comes with all sorts of sizes, I like the small ones for my daughter's snacks when we are out as ziplock baggies tend to crush things like crackers. The larger ones I use for my pantry items that come in a bag (uggh!! - I hate that) such as brown sugar or flaked coconut or trail mix. The containers with a flip top I love for Goldfish crackers.

For store locations goto: www.ikea.com. Happy Organizing!!

Inspiring Focus

As many of us women out there "doing it all", there comes times of discouragement, fatigue, frustration and the inevitable emotional breakdown. I try to live each day as positive and healthy as I can, but I too every so often find myself in a "rut", and feel as though the sinking sensation is triumphing over my strength to get back to my routine and focus. I keep these little books in my nightstand that are filled with quotes, sayings and poems that I read and re-read when I feel like I am out of sorts and overly tired. I keep them alongside my bible and together read - and do my very best to keep things in perspective and focus on what really counts in my life. I definitely encourage everyone to do the same, as I am so blessed to have my family, health and motivations to make it through each day and onto the next. Good luck out there, and remember that you cannot control what happens in life but you can control how you react to what happens.

"There is a time to let things happen, and a time to make things happen"

Recipe of the Week 2/13/09

I try to utilize my crock pot as much as possible - so when i saw this recipe in a magazine I had to try it and it's really good. I add a few ingredients to mine, so the listed recipe looks a little different than the original I got from Campbell's Soup. It's a great one for cold, rainy days and makes the whole house smell amazing!

Slow Cooker Savory Pot Roast

Ingredients:
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular, 98% Fat Free or 25% Less Sodium)

1 pouch (2 ounces) dry onion soup & recipe mix
6 small red potatoes, cut in half
6 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
3 -to 3 1/2-pound boneless beef bottom round roasts or chuck pot roast

4 stalks of celery cut into 2 in. pieces

4 Tbsp. of chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
Stir the soup, onion soup mix, potatoes, celery and carrots in a 4 1/2-quart slow cooker. Add the beef and turn to coat.
Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours* or until the beef is fork-tender.

Add parsley in the last 20 minutes of cooking
*Or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours.

Recipe collected from Campbell's Kitchen, for original recipe click here.

Freezing Leftover Fruit

It always seems to happen that I have 1/2 carton of leftover blueberries or go to the farmers market and anticipate eating an entire crate of strawberries in 3-5 days. It never happens and I end up throwing it away - which I hate doing, especially with the price of produce these days. So I did some research and learned how to freeze my leftover ripe berries and fruit. Its easy:

1. wash the fruit thoroughly
2. pick over any pieces that are "over ripe"
3. Sweeten with sugar or sugar syrup (optional)
4. Freeze at least 1 hour on a baking sheet or shallow pan
5. Seal in freezer ziplock bags or freezable containers

This fruit is great for smoothies or those months when certain fruit is not in season. Plus you're not throwing money away. Here is a link for prep and sugar suggestions I found, I don't sweeten my frozen fruit so it's entirely optional.

Sale at Borders Books

I was at Borders Books today shopping with a friend and they are having a huge sale! Tons of markdowns on cook books, children's books, novels, invitations, calendars, journals and lots of other items as well! If you are near a location I would recommend stopping in - I found hard cover (and thick-cardboard pages) stories for $2 - $8 and box sets with 4 short stories inside for $5, not to mention a Williams-Sonoma cookbook for $7.

Check www.borders.com for locations

Stress

This was sent to me by a great frind of mine and it holds so much truth, I had to share it:

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked 'How heavy is this glass of water?' Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes. That's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes too heavy and you won't be able to carry on.As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When you're refreshed, you can carry on with the burden.So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. You can pick it up tomorrow. 'Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment.
Put down anything that may be a burden to you now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
* Remember to fill your senses with something uplifting: Music you love, a gorgeous sunset, a really great meal, passionate kisses, a heart to heart conversation with someone you care about.
* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to be kind to others.
* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
* It's the second mouse that gets the cheese.
* When everything 's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
* Birthdays are good for you The more you have, the longer you live.
* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
* We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty, and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Have a wonderful day and know that someone has thought about you ...May you always have Love to Share, Health to Spare, and Friends that Care.

Baby Clothes Sale at Target

I was at Target yesterday picking up my usuals and breezed through the baby/toddler clothing section to find a ton of stuff marked down. To make room for all the spring lines I am assuming...but there were great deals for boys and girls on sweatshirts, long sleeve polos, pants, jeans, etc. I got my little one a really cute cotton hooded sweater coat and pair of jeans for $5 each. Not bad :)

Recipe of the Week 2/4/09

I accidentally found this recipe as I scoured the cabinets looking for something to make for dinner one night. I found a box of Stove Top stuffing and this was posted on the back - and it's awesome! Plus it's easy, inexpensive and even my 18 month old (at the time) had 2 servings. I pre-cook the chicken only because I freak out about salmonella, even if I am short on time I will throw the chicken in the crock pot with water and leave on as I go about my day and it's perfectly cooked when I get home.

Stove Top Chicken Bake

Recipe
1 pkg (6 oz) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1-1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
1/3 cup Breakstone’s or Knudsen Sour Cream
1 bag (16 oz) frozen mixed vegetables, thawed, drained

Preheat oven to 400°F. Prepare stuffing mix as directed on package; set aside.
Mix chicken, soup, sour cream and vegetables in 13x9-inch baking dish; top with the stuffing.
Bake 30 min or until chicken is cooked through.

http://brands.kraftfoods.com/stovetop/hearty-meals/easy-chicken-bake/

Blank Canvas...

A new blog, a new project! Technically this isn't new for me - instead of emailing all my tricks, tips and short cuts to freinds and family I will be posting them here for all to utilize however they can. My plans are to keep up this blog as much as possible with posts such as;

• Recipe of the week: Easy and delicious recipes from my collection and those I find
• Mommy Steal: Deals and steals I find online or in stores that we can't live without
• Positive Thinking: Quotes or sayings I find that inspire me and my crazy life!
• Mommy Time: Good books, movies, ways to unwind, exercise tips, etc.
• DIY (Do it yourself): How to's from facials to crafts to homemade cleaning products
• Drink of the Month: I love trying new wines, cocktails and "mocktails" too

I hope some of these short cuts can be used, I am happy to take requests or suggestions too!!