Back to School Shopping Time

I love this time of year. I feel like the start of the new school year is like a chance to reset, almost better then New Year's. Maybe I am just in the mood to reset since we have accomplished all our DIY goals for the year! (More on that another day).

Back to school shopping has always been fun, but before my daughter was in Elementary School it was just not the same. I love looking for kids fashion clothes . My daughter is all about her "style" lately so we can't just go with what you find in the stores. But seriously how cute are these clothes from Popreal?

Also don't forget to pick up toddler girl jackets when you are on the Popreal site, I ALWAYS forget coats for my kids! We might try these this year....

Let me know what you pick up for your little ones!

Imagine Food Soups and Broths

Trying new products is one of my FAVORITE things to do! So when Influenster sent me some products by Imagine Foods I was excited to see what the line offered. My kids are HUGE soup eaters, strange I know, but they love soup. We try to make a lot of it ourselves because I do not like buying food with things in it I cannot pronounce (or my six year old cannot read). Finding soups that they like and I will buy can be a bit challenging.

So the Imagine Foods lines is a big win in our house.  What is not to love when the products start with real and organic ingredients! Even better our local Wegmans carries these products. That was a side track, back to the products we were sent.

I always like to have chicken broth on hand and this Super Reds sounded amazing to both Hubby and I. I decided to try the chicken broth first. I browned up some chicken and then added the pablano and queso soup, thinned out with the broth to a pan and simmered for about 7 minutes. While the chicken was simmer I cooked the couscous in the broth as well.

This was a super quick and easy dinner (I forgot to snap a picture), but both kids loved it (even my little one who claims she does not like chicken if not in nugget form).

I can't wait to try the Super Reds another night!

**The Imagine Foods products were provided to me free by Influenster to facilitate this review.

Fall/Holiday Decorations

Who else LOVES this time of year? I mean all the fun outside activities and the chill (60's here finally) in the air, and pumpkin EVERYTHING!

The girls and I decided to add more decorations to our Fall boxes this year. So we started with new Fall bows. I use wired ribbon, on sale at the craft stores, and this method to make my bows!

 Seriously I am in love with these bows. I think I need more in my life!

Next up was decorations for the cabinets in the kitchen, the girls love putting these up. So I was going to cut things out (again) when I remembered my mother in law has this machine

The girls and I had a ball playing with it. Here is a sample of what we made:

We covered Halloween and Christmas quite well I think!

What are your favorite DIY decorations? I love to add things to our supply!

Fall Decorations

This Fall I decided we needed some new decorations around the house and I wanted something a little more adult (even with 2 little ones!). So as you do, I headed to Pinterest  and create a Halloween and Fall holiday boards.

Here are a few of our additions.

This little guy is sitting on our front porch for the Fall Holidays (aka until Christmas lights go up). I got this carveable pumpkin at Jo Ann's and printed my  "R" off the computer. I cut out the letter to make a stencil and then traced it on the pumpkin. A little silver paint and some outline in silver glitter (borrowed from Miss E's art supplies) and this little guy was done in about 30 minutes (includes dry time.)

Next was on to a burlap banner

I followed the information I found here and just left off the black dots. I liked mine without them.

Finally I decided to do a Fall leaf garland as well. I found a leaf clip art that I liked and then just cut out my leaves. I tried to keep one edge all the burlap edge at all times. Then I just used some Fall paint colors around the edges to finish it off and attached it to a piece of burlap string.

What have you been working on this fall?

Halloween Princess style

My 3 year old princess crazy little girl has decided her sister needs to also be a princess for Halloween. Because I refuse to pay $25 for a baby princess dress, I decide to check my Pinterest boards. I remembered pinning something about princess shirts and found it here. Miss E asked for her sister to be Cinderella so I used this tutorial as a guide. First thing I did was look for a shirt.

I was in H and M one day on my lunch hour and thought I would look around the baby section real quick, when I found this:

Three organic cotton long sleeve bodysuits for $12! How could I pass this up, and one in a light blue perfect for Cinderella:)

So on to the silk for the sleeves and skirt on the guide. While I was working on another project, I came across the silk from my mom and mother-in-law's wedding dresses I used to make ring pillows for our wedding. I decided this had to be used for the Cinderella costume. I cut out 6 pieces, 2 for the skirt and 4 for the sleeves.

Then it was time to sew. I started out my attaching a piece of lace like fabric ("borrowed" from my MIL that was left over from the dress she made for Miss E). I sewed that around the waistish area of the onesie and then added  the skirt puffs as seen here.

I did not want to cut off the sleeves (she will only be 8 months old) so I just did the same thing as the skirt puff around each sleeve and the shoulder seem.

Here is the finished product:

It came out very much how I saw it in my head so I was very happy with it. Add a little $1 headband from Jo Ann Fabric and Baby B is all set to go for Halloween!

Burlap Fall Wreath

I try to use my lunch hours to the best of my ability, so after I saw this wreath on Pinterest, I knew it would be a lunch project.

To JoAnn's (coupons in hand) I went and bought my 12'' wire wreath and 20 feet of burlap. I set my desk up one day and got to work.

About 15 minutes later I had this!

I love the addition of the flowers (yes they still needed to be cut at this point, but I was so excited to see it done already I had to do this). When I got home I cut the flowers attached them (so they could be replaced and changed out) and put the wreath up.

Seriously for under $10 and 15 minutes this is a great product!

Blog with Love

It's as easy as one, two, three!

1. Blog with Love - post about the importance of moving breast cancer awareness into action by getting involved in breast cancer research.
2. Tell them HOW - ask readers to Act with Love by joining the Health of Women Study at www.healthofwomenstudy.org.  This study is a new revolutionary project of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation that will be launched to the public on October 1st!  Be the first to let them know!
3. Celebrate! - celebrate your post by tagging your blog with the official BFYBD button that will be sent to you upon finalizing the pledge form below.

Don't have a blog?  You can still participate!  Take the pledge and dedicate a Facebook Note on October 1st to BFYBD.  Be sure to tag the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation in your note!

How do I Act with Love?

Despite the reigning success of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and millions of dollars raised, we still have very little knowledge about breast cancer.  Now is the time to shift the discussion from awareness to pinpointing the cause and accelerating prevention--and you can help!  Turn your fervent awareness of this disease that kills one in eight women, and take action by investing yourself in breast cancer research.  Together we can fast track research and end breast cancer within our lifetime.

What is the Health of Women study?

With the introduction of the Health of Women study (HOW) on October 1st, the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation will revolutionize the fight against breast cancer.  By crowdsourcing health information, and involving the general public directly, we will uncover the information that will end breast cancer.  This groundbreaking initiative invites the public, men and women over the age of 18 of all health backgrounds, to be collaborators by participating in the study via the web or on their mobile devices.  HOW will also turn traditional research practices on its head by creating a venue for researchers to gather and share information, with the definitive goal of ending breast cancer.  To learn more about the Health of Women study, visit: www.healthofwomenstudy.org.

*Content from Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation

Health Tips

We all our looking for ways to be healthier all the time. As someone who has spent a "lifetime" in the educational world, I find September to be the best month for starting over or "checking in" with my goals. Due to an injury my workouts have been few and far between, not something that I like at all! Because of that I have been really taking stock of what I am eating. I am eating a lot more fruits and vegetables lately and keeping my sugar intake lower (not easy for me). As always though I am not letting my coffee indulgences go by the wayside, especially not during pumpkin latte season!

However in an effort to watch my calories I am trying to make my own coffee drinks. Since I cannot seem to find a pumpkin replacement I have been using hazelnut:

I love the nutty flavor of the Tasters Choice Hazelnut. It is my favorite this time of year because it just makes me all warm and cozy inside! I  love that I can have so much flavor for no calories. Sometimes it is so hard to find great coffee with NOTHING added anymore. Thanks to these little beauties I don't have to worry about any extra calories and I can bring them with me to work.

*All thoughts are my own and no compensation or product was received, but this is posted as a member of the @NescafeUSA Tasters Panel.

Cooking with decorations

One of my first projects over the long Thanksgiving weekend was to turn my fall decorations into edible delights!

I like to take my pumpkins after the holidays and make my own pureed pumpkin to use in recipes. The first step is to clean out the pumpkins and put the seeds into the oven to roast. I just use some cooking spray on the seeds then add a little salt and into the oven for 25 minutes.

*I have a granola recipe that calls for seeds maybe that will be next in my kitchen.*
Then it was time to tackle the actually pumpkins. In to the pots to steam.

This year I decided to use my blender to puree the mix.

So easy and such a good use for my pretty pumpkins.
What do you do with your Fall decorations when the season is over? I am so glad that I have found a good use for my beloved pumpkins!

Fun Target Finds

I love random Target trips that have yummy finds. When I went to Target last week they did not have what I was looking for, but I did find some fun sale items (including a few gifts items that are not pictured for obvious reasons!)

But I did find 3 seasonal yogurts! I love the Archer Farms items and the pumpkin pie was a favorite last year, so here it is again! Along with Eggnog and Apple Cobbler. Love that they are all fat-free. These will make yummy desserts (hopefully)!
What is your favorite seasonal flavor? 

And check out this fun coupon for Hamburger Helper from General Mills and My Blog Spark! We love to use Hamburger Helper on weeknights!

Some days work is good….

Over the weekend, we had a carnival at my work. We had all types of fun carnival foods around for people to enjoy. Including a make your own caramel apple station. Now I have never had a caramel apple before (strange I know) and when I saw they had Granny Smiths (my favorite apple) I just knew I had to make one. Over I went and dipped my apple into the hot caramel sauce then rolled him (yes my apple is a him and no I am not sure why) in chocolate chips!
Here he is!

So yummy! Caramel Apple

Love this city’s food

I love being so close to Philly and love that TastyKake does Pumpkin Pies this time of year!

Not a healthy treat but it was a yummy one!

Tis the season…

For PUMPKIN! On Saturday morning we took our weekend guests out for breakfast at the Bagel place around the corner. (We had never actually been to this place, but had heard great things). In we went to find Pumpkin Bagels and Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese! I am sure you could guess I had a toasted bagel with the cream cheese on the side

I loved the cream cheese (and saved the rest for another breakfast treat) but the bagel was nothing special it just tasted like a bagel, the combo however was AMAZING! What was your favorite pumpkin treat this Fall?

Easy Weeknight dinners

Hubby and I love having soup for dinner once the weather gets cooler. Well on Monday I wanted to have some of the healthy Italian Wedding soup Mom gave me awhile back (she used ground chicken for the meatballs!) but hubby is not a spinach fan, so I knew I would need to cook something else. I was planning on making a quick easy potato soup recipe I thought we had (thought is the key word here), well when I got home and didn’t find the recipe, I was in a little shock. Then I pulled out a few cookbooks and found a Rachel Ray recipe for sweet potato soup. Well that could be changed I thought and came up with Quick and Easy Chipotle Potato Soup.

I made this for just hubby so it can be doubled or tripled, etc.

1 carrot sliced

1 celery rib sliced

1 half an onion sliced

1 garlic clove

1 tsp dried thyme

2 potatoes cubed

1.5 cups milk

1 cup chicken stock

Chipotle sauce to taste

First add onion to the pot and sauté the veggies (I used red onion because that is what we had).

Then add the garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the milk and stock then bring to a boil. Add in the potatoes and cook 10 mins or until tender. Use a stick blender to puree the mixture together. Then add as much or as little chipotle sauce as you like. Serve nice and hot.

 

For something that I just threw together last minute Hubby really liked this soup. He added a little bacon and cheese and ate it all!  If you make potato soup what do you like to add?

Tuesday night was another easy meal night for us. I used a favorite fast meal, Chicken Helper. I like to make these sometimes and add some veggies, also I only use half the protein they all for. Last night we tried the Whole Grain Honey Mustard Chicken.

I used 1 chicken breast and added frozen green beans, peas, and mushrooms to the mix.

Although it might not look that great, this was really good and the brown rice had a great flavor to it. I will be buying this one again…when they go on sale!

Here is mom’s soup just because it was that good! (I would ask for the recipe but you ever notice you cannot make things as good as mom?)

Fall Flavors and more good buys

Yesterday morning I decided to try a new tea flavor that I have been saving up for the Fall.

So I think the problem is that I expected this tea to be great because I waited so long to try it. Do you ever do that, wait to try something they it just never lives up to the expectations you have for it? It did not really taste like anything special to me so I guess I was just disappointed it was not more pumpkin like. Oh well I will stick with Starbucks and Whole Foods lattes!

I had to make an exchange from our weekend purchases (I grab 2 of the same Laughing Cows by mistake) so back to Shop Rite I went and found our Barber Foods chicken stuffers on sale (and I had a coupon for them too!)

I got both for only $5. I love these for quick week night meals. Work has been super busy this week so this post is not going to be long, but check out the super cute giveaway that my friend MRM is having right now!

Weekend Highlights

Hubby and I actually had a pretty busy weekend. We started to work on getting ourselves ready for the holidays. Yes I know that it is just the start of the October, but if Target can have holiday decorations out then I can start working on gift buying! That being said I am not sharing any more details because of the family members that I know read the blog

Saturday night Hubby and I went to my parents house for dinner and to play pool (Hubby had not yet got to play on the new table they got this summer). Per usual mom made a very yummy meal (beef for the boys, fish for the ladies) and she had some fun desserts from Whole Foods. Have to love these little mini desserts.

In the box was (top first left to right) Coffee Cheesecake, Chocolate Caramel Brulee, Vanilla Cheesecake, Chocolate Cheesecake, Mango Tart, and Key Lime cheesecake. The ones I ate (citrus allergy means no Key Lime for me) were all so yummy and not overly sweet. These little desserts were just perfect to share a little bite of each

We had some grocery shopping to do on Sunday, and although not all of the stuff we got was fun, I will share a few items (yes we did go to 3 different stores, but we normally shop at both Wegmans and Costco since they are down the street and share a parking lot and since Shop Rite had some good sales and we had been at other stores near it we popped in).

Shop Rite buys included 4 Laughing Cow cheeses on sale for $2.49 each. We wanted to try some of the flavors so thought this would be a good time to do that. We now have Mozzarella, Sun Dried Tomato & Basil,  Queso Fresco & Chipotle, Blue Cheese, and French Onion.

At Wegmans, we got Food Should Taste Good and Popchips both at $2 a bag! We are trying to buy only healthy chips from now on. We will see if this will last with Hubby. We also grabbed some Wegmans flour since it is on sale for $0.99! Have to start thinking about the holiday baking!

Then to Costco we went for a few larger items. I wanted to get some Halloween candy (we have a busy month and I do not want to wait until the last minute) and Hubby found this great bag of mixed “fruity” candies (Gummy Lifesavers, Laffy Taffy, Skittles, etc) the best part I am not a huge fan of these candies so I will not want to eat them! ( I think that is my best hope with Halloween candy!) Also since the Costco sample ladies are so helpful ( ) we left with these blueberry and chocolate chip muffins for Hubby and I to share for breakfasts. Although I am not a huge fan of store bought muffins at only 100 calories each and when you get 32 for $5 I could not pass then up.

This afternoon I got ready for the week by making lunches for both Hubby and I (nope Sarah you are not the only ones that does this!) Lots of salads, sandwiches, fruits, veggies, and chips all ready to go!

What is your favorite way to help make the weeknights easier?

Curried Cauliflower Soup

The other night Hubby decided that it would be the prefect time to have soup (it had been raining all day). Being the good wifey that I am (ok and really wanting soup too) I decided that we would try this Curried Cauliflower soup recipe that has been hanging around for quite some time.

Here is the soup simmering away….

Picasa Content

I was not too sure about it at this point, but after it was blended up, it looked much better.

This soup had a really nice kick to it and was so easy to make. Here is what you need:

1 TBSP butter

1 TBSP oil

1 medium onion chopped

1 TBSP curry powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 head cauliflower (or a 16 oz bag of frozen)

1 potato cut into chunks

6 cups stock

 

First you heat the butter and oil, then add the onions until softened. Stir in curry and cayenne, cook for 1 minute. Add cauliflower and potato sauté for 2 minutes. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook 25 mins. Puree mixture (or stick blender it), reheat and serve.

We had it with a side of Archer Farm crackers and it was just perfect for a rainy night.