Make Time For Family E-Mealz Planning Giveaway

A few months ago, my husband and I took a class called Financial Peace University. This class is a video class we took at church led by Dave Ramsey, radio personality and financial guru. He had it all, lost it all, and got it back and shares his experience and advice daily. We learned a lot, it was EYE opening and we’ve changed our lives. We plan things out more now and think before we BUY.

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I was contacted by E-Mealz to host a giveaway and when I saw that it was a “Dave Ramsey Recommended” product, I was quite happy to put my name behind it too. E-Mealz relies on a team of experienced meal planners, writers and editors to create new dinner menus every week that are designed around grocery store sales, seasonal specials and diet preferences. For $5.00 per month, subscribers download a recipe plan for the week with a matching aisle-by-aisle grocery list. The easy-to-follow recipes usually contain fewer than seven ingredients to allow for prep times of less than 30 minutes. It also helps families stay within a predictable budget by being prepared with a detailed list to use at the grocery store.

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The E-Mealz program provides a consistent and reliable approach to food budgeting by factoring the weekly cost of ingredients into each menu plan. Menus are created around a budget of $75 per week for families and $35 per week for couples.

E-Mealz was created by sisters Jane DeLaney, mother of four, and Jenny Cochran, mother of three. The sisters were frustrated by the challenge of coming up with healthy, budget-conscious meals for their own families and inspired by their own mother’s frugal ways, they launched the program in 2003.

The generous people over at E-Mealz have offered us a Discount Code:code MOMSTART for 10% off.

They have also offered us a giveaway.

This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to the winner, serena ames.

All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Elmer’s Kids Craft Camp For Preschool & Toddlers Giveaway

Elmer’s contacted me and asked me to host a very small Kids Craft Camp. Everyone we know is of the Preschool and Toddler age because that is also where we are age wise. So thought and planning had to actually go into our little event. Toddlers need organization, or perhaps this mommy needs organization. Elmer’s actually helped quite a bit with the “organization” part. They sent me an already organized into individual sets camp kit:

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One Adult Kit

· CraftBond Gel Pens
· CraftBond Extra Strength Glue Stick
· CraftBond Tape Runner
IMG_2153· Painters Markers
· X-ACTO Zigzag and Scallop scissor packs
· X-ACTO 8” Scissors
· X-ACTO Punch

5 Kids Kits

· CraftBond Extra Strength Glue Stick
· CraftBond Glue Spots
· Project Popperz Markers
· Mini Bi-Fold Foam Board

Plus they sent me a gift card to get extra supplies needed.

 

 

IMG_2155 You know, stickers, colored paper, more stickers, kid safe markers, and some snacks. Can’t have kids camp without some snacks. Anyways, as I was saying, I still had to be even more organized, crafts with younger children is much easier on my soul if every step is “pre” done. So I had to pick a craft. We looked at three different craft ideas together before I made a choice. Based on what I had with me, we decided to make little summer photo books with the bi-fold foam boards.

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It’s best to have everything pre cut. Say paper shapes, little pieces of ribbon. We like to use pipe cleaners and yarn for a lot of our crafts and Zoe and Miles are becoming quite the experts at making a mess I mean, using glue! So getting all of the supplies ready before hand is a huge help in crafting with preschoolers.

Have smocks ready. We have a lot of baby bibs left over and they make really great smocks. They are the elastic kind and stretch around the neck, fitting most preschoolers.

Make sure your supplies are age appropriate. The packs that Elmer’s sent us were geared for 5 to 6 plus. My kids still get markers all over every piece of their unclothed body so I had to switch out the makers, but everything else was ok for their age. IMG_2159

Lastly, the key is for everyone to have fun. For me doing all the work ahead of time to premeasure everything for each child works best. You may come to my house and think it’s a disaster, but I can’t handle a mess. So whatever I can do to minimize it, I will. Using Elmer’s scissors and X-ACTO products made pre-assembly a breeze for me. I love all the different scissor shapes for scrapbooking.

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The kids decorated the outside front and back. Then, one thing that’s really nice about technology and having enough adults around is that you can take pictures digitally and just print them off right away and add them to the photo book. Then let the kids take the rest home and add their own photos of summer adventures and then they can have the artwork and photos in their room on display. It’s a fun and easy idea. I guess it’s more like a photo collage than a photo book, either way the kids loved the chance to make their own “books”.

 

This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to the winner, Trisha Lynn.

All rules can be found under giveaway rules. We received samples and a gift card to get supplies for our little camp.

Tasty Treat Thursday: Authentic Polish Apple Cake Recipe

My husband is 100%; born in Poland and naturalized in the 1990’s. His Babcia (grandmother) and mom’s apple cakes are his favorite. I have been “training” under his mom for the past 9 years of our courtship and marriage how to make some Polish dishes. This year for his birthday, I finally make an apple cake for him by myself. So here is the passed-down, homemade, authentic Polish Apple Cake.

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Apple Polish Cake Recipe

Authentic Polish Apple Cake Recipe
4.9 from 7 reviews
Print
Recipe Type: Dessert
Author: Summer Oleksy
family recipe
Ingredients
  • 1 – 10 pound bag of Apples
  • 1 cup of water
  • 2¾ cups flour
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 2 teaspoon baking soda
  • cup + 2 teaspoons sugar
  • teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 385oF.
  2. Peel apples. Cut in half. Gut (I recommend a grapefruit spoon or melon baller.)
  3. Boil with water. Stirring occasionally.
  4. Stop cooking when the apples are soft, but not mushy (about 20 minutes).
  5. Drain juice. (I recommend using a colander with a bowl below so you can reserve the apple juice for drinking … tasty!)
  6. Mush up apples with a potato masher until fibers fall apart to a chunky sauce. Allow to cool while making crust.
  7. Combine 2½ cups flour, yolk, baking soda, ½ sugar, salt, and butter. Knead together with hands.
  8. Ball together but reserve about ¼ cup to use as topping. Move big ball to 9×13 pan and press out on to bottoms and sides of pan.
  9. Dump all apples into crust. Level.
  10. Add ¼ cup flour to reserved dough. Crumble together and top. Sprinkle on cinnamon and 2 teaspoons sugar.
  11. Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes. Cool for 15 minute to settle before serving.
  12. Store on countertop to prevent drying. Cover by towel to prevent dust. Eat within 5 days to prevent molding
Google Recipe View Microformatting by Easy Recipe

 

About Summer:

Summer is very active in our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living while cooking up a storm.

Guest Post: Oral Care For Little Ones

When worrying about our little toddlers, one of the first concerns on every mom’s mind is diet. We worry about whether or not they are receiving adequate nutrition through the foods we give them, and through the ones they are willing to eat. If we don’t think they are getting the vitamins they need, then we try to make sure that they are drinking supplements such as Pediasure or taking vitamins.

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However, we don’t always consider the importance of oral health in our little ones – especially when teeth aren’t even in yet. When we think about the mouths of our youngsters, we are often more concerned with teething than anything else. We often by teething rings or gels to help the pain subside, but we often overlook regular oral care.

Good oral hygiene is highly important in young children, and mom’s need to make sure that they regularly clean the mouths of their infants. Throughout years 0-2, parents need to help their kids with oral care especially if they want them to develop great oral hygiene habits later one. Great tips for caring for your child ages 0-2 mouth include:

Gum cleaning

At least once a day, you should wet down a wash cloth with warm water and then wipe down your baby’s gums. Not only will this get your child used to the idea of having something in their mouth, but it will also help prevent them from getting gum disease which even infants are susceptible to.

Brushing

Once your child has a tooth, you should abandon the wet, warm wash cloth and replace it with a baby-sized toothbrush instead. These brushes are great because they are small enough to get around a baby’s mouth, and also have bristles that are not enough to not damage the gums. When brushes your baby’s mouth, remember to brush all areas of the mouth.

Adding Toothpaste

Your child will not need to start brushing their teeth with toothpaste until they are 2. However, some kids like to do everything mom and dad do, and sometimes this includes having toothpaste on their toothbrush. Regardless, young children do not need toothpastes with fluoride in them so make sure that the toothpaste you do give them is a kid-safe fluoride free brand.

First Check-up

Dentists recommend that your child has their first dentist appointment at the age of 1. This is when you will find whether or not all of that gum wiping and tooth brushing has paid off. You can also ask your child’s pediatrician to check-up on your child’s mouth if you are unable to get to the dentist.

Once you have made it past the 2 year mark, it is always important to further educate kids on good brushing habits so that they are more likely to carry on good oral hygiene themselves. Companies like Colgate even offer interactive online games to allow kids to have fun while they learn about oral hygiene – which isn’t always they most entertaining subject. There are also a variety of products such as brightly colored toothpastes and color-changing mouthwashes which will also entice your kids to practice better oral care.

The Aveda Summer Solutions Blogger Meet Up

I Love Aveda, I’ve been using them for almost 10 years now when I feel like splurging on myself in the beauty department. Their hair care line is my favorite because of their fragrant scents they pour into their products. The natural ingredients just mesmerize me.

Jen and Jenny and Aveda put together an Aveda Summer Solutions Blogger Party for us to try out all of the Aveda products. OH it was 3 hours of heaven.

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The summer collection is light and fun and full of choices. Oh and not to mention the UV protection that you’ll find. You’ll find ways to cleanse chlorine, restore hair after sun damage, and protects hair for up to 16 hours, to minimize color fadage, damage and dryness.

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At the party, there was no selling and no in your face products. It was all about having a good time. We went from station to station being pampered and at the end of the day if we did all four stations we received a small sample to take home with us.

 

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I used a peppermint scrub and then a moisturizing lotion. An Aveda hairstylist did my hair, I had my makeup done and we had a kissing contest. Yes, shocking I know, a room full of women was able to pull off a kissing contest. But we did.

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My favorite Aveda products that I often use:

The Rosemary Mint Shampoo – Formulated with peppermint to awaken your senses and rosemary to help protect from environmental damage. Its pure plant aroma naturally energizes and motivates your mind and body.

and

Pure Abundance Volumizing Clay Conditioner – Boosts volume—helps fine hair look fuller, feel thicker, stay more abundant.

Byron’s Fully Cooked Pork BBQ Review & Layered BBQ Salad Recipe

My MOMS Club of Woodinville (MCW) recently had our End of Year Party. This is our biggest and best party of the year, and mostly highly attended. This year our party was catered by “For the Love of Food” a new company by one of our members. She homemade most of our magnificent dishes, but also on the menu clip_image002was Byron’s Fully Cooked Pork BBQ.

 

We had a tray that boasts feeding 30 sandwiches and was 4lbs of meat. We maybe got 30 sliders out of it. They recommend ¼ cup of meat as a serving with 33 servings in the tray … we MCW women must like our meat since our tray didn’t stretch that far. You can enjoy Byron’s Pork in sandwiches as we did or get some new ideas on the Byron’s recipe site.

 

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Try something new for dinner tonight!

clip_image005Layered BBQ Salad Recipe
Serves 8

3 cups Byron’s Fully Cooked Pork BBQ, warmed according to package directions
1 can baked beans
2 cups colorful coleslaw
1 bag (10 ounces) frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
2 cups green bell pepper, diced
Pickled okra for garnish

Heat baked beans on the stove on medium heat until warm (about 5 minutes), stirring occasionally. Layer bottom of a serving dish with the heated baked beans, followed by an even layer of corn kernels and then a layer of green bell peppers. Place an even layer of BBQ on top of the bell peppers, followed by the coleslaw. Place pickled okra on top for garnish.


I found Byron’s to be fully tasty and, unlike other pulled pork I’ve had, Byron’s is not fatty and fully meaty. I can pronounce all the ingredients which I love about a product, but I don’t like that one of them is High Fructose Corn Syrup which is in the ketchup in their sauce. There is also corn syrup in the Worcestershire sauce concentrate.

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Byron’s is available at local stores as well as at Sam’s Club and BJ’s though products are not available at all locations so you’ll have to check your local store.

Samples received to facilitate this review.

About Summer:

Summer is very active in our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living while cooking up a storm.

Camping in the Rain Wordless Wednesday

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Camping Gear featured in this post was provided by Coleman. Full Product reviews on the way. And yes, it rained our whole camping trip, we were unable to cook and we ran out of dry clothes in less than 24 hours. Oh living in Washington state can be so challenging at times.

Hormel Foods Recipes Summer Grilling Giveaway

Well, I haven’t told you guys yet about my camping trip and how we were unable to grill anything because it rained the whole time. Wow that was quite the adventure for us. One, I’m not a big camper, two I’m not a big fan of the outdoors, and three I hate the rain. But yes, we did go camping. We had to come home because we couldn’t cook and we ran out of dry clothes. Just a side note on how we Tried to do some grilling outside.

Hormel Foods is hosting a Summer Grilling Giveaway on their Facebook page. Hopefully yours will not be rained out.

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Grand Prize: One Outdoor Grill ($500 value)
First Prize: Two Grills ($200 value each)
Second Prize: Ten Summer Grilling Coupon Prize Packs ($45 value each)

To Enter the Outdoor Grill giveaway, just fill out a form on Hormel Foods Facebook page. Here on MomStart we have our own little Hormel inspired giveaway.

This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to the winner, Ed Nemmers.

All rules can be found under giveaway rules. This post enters me into a blogger contest sponsored by Hormel.

My Baby Clothes $50.00 Giveaway

My Baby Clothes is an on-line boutique of the most adorable baby clothes. There is nothing more precious than a little baby girl or boy. At MyBabyClothes.com they strive to bring you the most fashion forward and unique baby clothes on the web, all at a Guaranteed Lowest Price! They do have lots of choices and adorable pictures of their own little baby models.

The first tutus were shown off in the mid eighteen hundreds by romantic and classical ballerinas. Tutus and pettiskirts have found their way into children’s fashion and include tulle adorned hems, pettiskirts, and even onesies adorned with tutu style ruffled bottoms.

Check out these Tutus:tutus

 

And don’t you think these Baby headbands and Baby hats are adorable too?

my baby clothes hats

 

While browsing around don’t forget to check out some of their cute accessories like baby hats, baby headbands, baby booties, unique baby socks and much more.

 

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This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to the winner, Linda Kish.

All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

FruitaBu Fruity Sushi Recipe

The Stretch Island Fruit Company was first introduced to me by my MOMS Club. At first glance it looks like just another candy like stretch roll, but you’d be wrong if you made that assumption. Stretch Island Fruit Company uses the goodness of real fruit making FruitaBu a healthy snack option for kids. With no added sugar, no artificial additives, each FruitaBu provides kids 1 full serving of fruit.

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FruitaBu shared a fun fruity sushi recipe with us, so we gathered up the ingredient list and got to work.

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Then we melted the marshmallows and butter.

 

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Added the cereal and spread it out like rice crispy treats.

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We cut out sushi roll shapes

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It was so easy for Miles to help and I loved that the mess was minimal.

 

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and here is the printable version of the FruitaBu Fruity Sushi Recipe.

FruitaBu Fruity Sushi Recipe
4.7 from 6 reviews
Print
Recipe Type: Dessert
Author: FruitaBu
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 5 mins
Total time: 10 mins
Quick and easy recipe to do with kids
Ingredients
  • 6 cups rice cereal
  • 4 cups miniature marshmallows
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 2 boxes of FruitaBu
  • A variety of candy: cherry twists (Twizzlers) gummy worms, licorice, sweedish fish, fruit leathers…
Directions
  1. In a small saucepan, melt the marshmallows with butter over low heat.
  2. Add the rice cereal and stir to coat
  3. Pour the mixture into a greased pan while it’s still warm
  4. Cut the treats into small rectangles or cut out little circles
  5. Create different rolls, nigiri, or sushi using the candy pieces, and wrap each piece with FruitaBu Fruit Rolls for the seaweed effect.
  6. Arrange on a plate with a bit of green frosting for wasabi and pieces of candied ginger for a real looking presentation.
Google Recipe View Microformatting by Easy Recipe