Summer — MomStart

Children’s Book One Special Day a book for Big Brothers & Big Sisters

May 23, 2012 By Momstart 10 Comments

By Summer:

What has been that one special day in your life? Can you at least pinpoint the top three? How about for your child? I can tell you one such day for my 5YO was when his brother’s birth almost 3 years ago. For Spencer, it’s the same!

Everyday Spencer is boy who is as strong as a bear and as funny as a monkey, among other things. BUT his parents have left him with grandma and have returned soon making Spencer something he has never been before … a brother! This One Special Day is a great book for soon-to-be big brother and sisters. My sons (even the younger one) love to read this book over and over. My older can even read it to my younger; and to me it’s just sweet that they’re sharing THIS book in particular.

One Special Day: A Story For Big Brothers & Sisters is all about the specialness of your “bigger” child. The specialness is even echoed in the book’s inner cover starts with Spencer alone doing activities and if you flip to the back Spencer is with his younger sibling riding in a wheelbarrow, banging on pots, mimicking, eating popsicles, playing in the garden, and hugging. If you aren’t captivated yet, you soon will be …

This book is an interactive book giving your child a chance to “read” the book with you as not all of the text is provided. When Spencer is as strong as a bear he is really, “as strong as a” with a picture of a bear; your child is drawn to complete the sentence and read with you. As you can tell from the cover, Spencer is like a bear, horse, giraffe, elephant, monkey, tiger, pig, and bird until one special day!

I just can’t say enough about this book. This is a must own in any children’s library and especially those of soon-to-be siblings, but beyond that it’s a keeper! Just to get your children excited and reading on their own. Not only is One Special Day: A Story For Big Brothers & Sisters cute, it’s very original which is why it will survive the purge of other sibling books from your at-home library. As I said before, it’s a keeper!

One Special Day: A Story For Big Brothers & Sisters is available now at your favorite bookstore or on Amazon. Get it for yourself or add it to your baby registry for the big brother or big sister in your house.

My Mom Start Review Grade of the One Special Day: A Story For Big Brothers & Sisters Book: A+++++

In addition to this review, I’d also like to thank the distributor, Disney, for the extra copy which was donated to an under privileged school in my community.

DISCLAIMER: A book was provided for review, but all thoughts in this post are my own and not influenced by the author, publisher, or distributor.

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.

Filed Under: book review, Summer Tagged With: big brothers, big sisters, Book, book review, Children's book, one special day, Summer

Tasty Treat: Snack Happy Bars Recipe A Salty Sweet Snack

May 17, 2012 By Momstart 28 Comments

By Summer:

Who doesn’t love a salty sweet snack? That’s where this creation came from! I thought about adding other ingredients, but this is all I did. I was thinking of peanuts, peanut butter, white chocolate chips, or coconut; all of which I think would be nice additions.

Snack Happy Bars Recipe

Ingredients:

6 cups chocolate cereal*
2 cups crushed pretzels
20 (5.5 ounces) caramel cubes, chopped (or if you can find the bite size nibs)
¼ cup butter + extra to grease dishes
40 ounces marshmallows

1. In an extremely-large buttered bowl, combine cereal, pretzels, and caramel and mix.

2. Over medium-low heat melt butter and marshmallows together. When melted together and gooey pour into dry mixture.

3. Stir until dry mix is coated in marshmallow cream. Dump into buttered glassware to set. Firmly press into glassware to cohesive bars form. Allow to cool 30-minutes and cut into bars. Allow to continue to cool and harden together. Serve when desired.

* I used Three Sisters’ Cocoa-Snapz because I was shopping at Whole Foods and that’s what they had. Three Sisters does use corn syrup. Cocoa-Snapz is similar to Cocoa Pebbles, which to me looks like chocolate covered corn flakes.

About Summer:

Filed Under: recipe, Summer, Tasty Treats Tagged With: recipe, salty sweet, snack, Snack Happy Bars, Summer, sweet and salty, tasty treat

The Bear Went Over the Mountain Children’s Book Review

May 6, 2012 By Momstart 23 Comments

By Summer:

No secret we love to read in our family. Today we went to Value Village and bought 10 new books. I love when new books get offered to Mom Start. When I saw this particular book was by Iza Trapani I was so excited! From Iza Trapani we own her first book, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and her third book, Oh Where, Oh Where, Has My Little Dog Gone! Now we own Iza Trapani’s Then Bear Went Over the Mountain.

This well-known little ditty about an exploring bear has now been extended covering not only “to see what he could see”, but the other 4 senses too. The bear wonders around all spring, summer, and autumn, until he hibernates for the winter. I can’t sing, but I love to; my children don’t mind my off key tune, so I always turn out getting caught up in the book and singing it by the end whether I had started the book singing or not.

It’s not necessarily that this book is cute. Rather this book is charming, captivating, and spell binding. The reader wants to finish it time and again. I also love that the text is so memorable that my oldest son has been “reading” it to my younger son. (My Pre-K 5YO is learning to read, but in no way would be able to simply sight read this book yet.) The “level” of this book for independent reading would be Kindergarten with some assistance. I think this is a MUST ADD classic to your at home library. This is also a great teacher appreciation week or graduation gift from a child. If you didn’t know, teachers supply their own in-class library, so you’d be treating the teacher by getting them something they would actually use, and be giving their class the enjoyable gift of literacy.

I’m not the only lover of Iza Trapani’s The Bear Went Over the Mountain, on Amazon the book has a 5-star rating from four reviews (soon to be five with my review). You can own the Hardcover edition of The Bear Went Over the Mountain for less than $13.

My Mom Start review grade for Iza Trapani’s The Bear Went Over the Mountain Book: A+

You can also keep up with author and illustrator Iza Trapani on her website, by Liking her on Facebook, and tracking her on Twitter.

About Summer:

Filed Under: book review, Summer Tagged With: book review, Children's book, Summer, The Bear Went Over the Mountain

Tasty Treat By Summer: Copycat Hostess to Homemade Apple Fruit Pie Recipe

May 3, 2012 By Momstart 37 Comments

By Summer

Apple Fruit Pie

I didn’t want to make anything this week … I was lazy and then I started thinking and then I started doing and I made mini imitation Hostess Fruit Pies (Thank you ClearanceCuisine.com for such a great photo of a Hostess Pie).

I use to eat these as child. Of course they bragged about being filled with real fruit, however I liked the lemon ones best and I’m sure IF there was real fruit in the lemon ones it was very little!

Here’s how mine turned out.

And here is the process to make the Apple Fruit Pie in photos

Apple Fruit Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

Pie Crust
½ cup local Honey Yogurt
1 egg
½ cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon clove
½ teaspoon ginger
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 ½ cups AP flour

Pie Filling
6 apples, peeled and chop/mince
½ cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon almond extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF.

2. Mix together crust ingredients. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out to ¹/₈to ¹/₁₆inch thickness. Cut out circles. Use all the dough.

3. Combine all the filling ingredients. Cook on the stove top in a sauté pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Allow to cool for 2 minutes then strain excess juices. Spoon about 1 heaping Tablespoon of apples onto dough circles.

4. Fold circles in half (you may have to stretch them a bit to close, dough should allow for that). Press edges firmly together with a fork. Place on to cookie sheets for baking (they can be close to one another as these won’t rise).

5. Baking in preheated oven for 12 minutes or dough is browned.

6. Allow to cool before eating as insides will be hot!

About Summer:

Filed Under: recipe, Summer Tagged With: apple fruit pie, Apple Pie, copycat recipe, hostess fruit pies, recipe, Summer

WWJD II: The Woodcarver on DVD

April 30, 2012 By Momstart 24 Comments

By Summer:

All moral DVDs have a purpose that is usually evident from the beginning, which usually turns a lot of people off. I wish many could see past the blatant message in order to receive that message as well as a desire to understand the message. WWDJ (a.k.a. What Would Jesus Do) II is about three stories: a divorcing couple, a troubled teenager, and a healing widower who also lost his parents and his own son too soon. WWJD II is about their interwoven lives with needs and how each becomes met when they trust in God to handle their lives with not just words, but with action.

WWJD II stars John Ratzenberger who is most popular for his role as Cliff Clavin in Cheers, and for all his roles in EVERY Pixar movie (the only voice to appear in every single film): in all the Toy Story movies he’s the voice of Hamm, A Bug’s Life as P.T. Flea, Finding Nemo as the School of Moon Fish, The Incredibles as Underminer, in the Cars movies as Mack, Ratatouille as Mustafa, WALL-E as John, Up as Construction Foreman Tom, and Monsters, Inc. as The Abominable Snowman as well as the upcoming Monsters University also as The Abominable Snowman (2013), and Brave as a Scottish Soldier (to be released this summer). No one else in the film is as notable as John Ratzebberger, but it’s not about the actors. It all leads back to the message of this film.

All-in-all I have to say that I did like the movie. I’ve seen worse over the top writing and acting in moral movie. It’s not just about the message; it’s about “will people watch it”, and I think people will if they give it a chance (i.e – add it to their Netflix cue and pass on the word if they like it). The best thing is, this movie has no bad language, no sex, no drugs, and no man to man violence though in the very beginning the teen does get in trouble for vandalizing the church building. But as you can imagine this is what drives the whole movie and how these lives come together.

My Mom Start Review Grade for the WWJD II: The Woodcarver DVD: B-

This is a great DVD for family movie night and to share with tweens and teens. This would be a great junior youth group or youth group movie.

About Summer:

Filed Under: Movie review, Summer Tagged With: Cheers, christian movie, John Ratzebberger, Pixar, Summer, wood carver, woodcarver on DVD, WWJD

Tasty Treat By Summer: Angel’s Golden Lemon Halo Cake Recipe

April 26, 2012 By Momstart 37 Comments

By Summer:

This recipe is adapted from the book Keeping Good Company by Roxie Kelley. My mom loves her cookbooks and has bought me four. I like them; I like the look and they offer simple stories and other “party” ideas. I adapted this recipe instead of creating my own like I usually do because I don’t know how to reinvent Angel Food Cake!!! I thought that I could try using honey instead of the granulated sugar … and that might work but I don’t want to use up 10 of my precious eggs experimenting. I might take the step when I have my own chickens, but for now I don’t have chickens.

Angel’s Golden Halo Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

10 large egg white
1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 cup granulated sugar
1½ cups sifted powdered sugar
½ cup sifted all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
zest of one large lemon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF.

2. Egg whites should be clear of any yolk or they will not stiffen and peak! Add cream of tartar and lemon extract to the egg white and beat in your Kitchen Aid stand mixer using the whisk attachment on speed 6 for 1 minute and then speed 8 for another minute. Lift whisk out of bowl; a soft peak should form. If not, beat a little longer (30 seconds to 1 minute more) on speed 8.

3. In the meantime sift together flours and powdered sugar. Sift at least 3 times.

4. Once you have desired peaks, start mixer again on speed 8 and add granulated sugar a teaspoon at a time continuously until sugar is gone. Let rotate for 30 additional seconds after the last teaspoon of sugar has been added. Raise whisk out of meringue; peaks should be stiff.

5. Zest a lemon into the meringue and one ¼ of the flour mixture. Fold in gentle until combine. Add another ¼ of the flour mixture and fold in. Repeat.

6. When fully combined pour cake batter into an ungreased tube pan or bunt pan. Cook for 40 minutes. Cake top should be spongy to the touch and “bounce back” when pressed. Allow cake to cool for 30 minutes UPSIDE DOWN. Remove cake from pan with a thin metal spatula.

* If you have a hard time separating the white and the yolk make sure you’re using cold eggs! Then leave the whites sitting in the bowl to come to become room temperature before attempting to meringue.

* Also, I’m in Seattle and have a hard time getting my eggs to peak a LOT of the time. I was watching Paula Deen the other day (LOVE HER) and she informed me that it’s hard to meringue eggs in damp weather. It rains here a LOT; so there’s the answer to my people. So if it’s raining, try another one of my recipes and come back to this one on a dry day.

About Summer:

Filed Under: recipe, Summer Tagged With: Angel’s Golden Lemon Halo Cake Recipe, angle food, cake recipe, lemon cake, recipe, Summer

Tasty Treat: Skinny Jeans Blueberry Muffin Tops Recipe

March 22, 2012 By Momstart 19 Comments

By Summer:

This recipe will help you get into your skinny jeans while you eat muffin tops! Ironic! As always this is a one bowl recipe … why make more work?

If you’re about to start the recipe please know you’ll need a whoopie pie pan, a.k.a. muffin top pan. I didn’t have one, but a recipe I wanted to try called for one. I started looking at other recipes calling for this type of pan and decided I HAD to have one! I got mine on Zulily and it’s the Rachel Ray brand. If you like to experiment bake, do bake sales, or just need kitchen gadgets … get one!

This is also a gluten free recipe. You can make it Primal with using a coconut flour and not a blend (though you might need a stabilizer like xanthium gum); honestly I thought I was ordering coconut flour and didn’t realize it was actually a blend until I got it. But no worries, I’ll try and bake with anything. Just FYI.

How to make Skinny Jeans Blueberry Muffin Tops:

Skinny Jeans Blueberry Muffin Tops Recipe:
Ingredients:

1 cup almond flour
1 cup coconut blend flour
¼ cup apple sauce
3 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ripe banana
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ ground cloves
½ cup honey
2 cups whole, fresh blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF. Butter/grease a muffin top pan.

2. Thoroughly combine ingredients except blueberries. Fold in blueberries.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

About Summer:

Filed Under: recipe, Summer, Tasty Treats Tagged With: gluten free, Skinny Jeans Blueberry Muffin Tops Recipe, Summer, tasty treat

Natural Balance ALPHA Pet Food

March 21, 2012 By Momstart 18 Comments

By Summer:

α: Not a Simple A, That’s an ALPHA

I have two dogs. I like to take care of them by purchasing good quality food. I look for food with meats that aren’t simply byproducts, and I look for no grain food, especially no corn. Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc. asked Mom Start to review their ALPHA line. ALPHA is completely grain-free, offers moderate protein levels with the high quality protein garbanzo beans, healthy digestion prebiotics, and unique fruits and vegetables combined with meat.

Natural Balance is a family-owned pet food company and we make super premium, holistic, natural pet food with high quality ingredients for cats and dogs. Natural Balance Pet Food is “The Food For a Lifetime”, and is used and respected worldwide by top trainers, breeders, veterinarians, kennels, and caring pet owners who want the best for their animals.

The true test is will dogs and cats eat it. My dogs are free fed with the kibble, and scraps from the table thanks to a 2 and 5 year old. They don’t have to eat because if they don’t like what’s in their dish there is other food to be had, and I’d replace the contents (it’s happened before). α [ALPHA] is tasty. The alpha in my house inhales a portion and I refilled it for our beta.

Natural Balance offer an ALPHA line with “Chicken, Turkey Meal & Duck”, “Trout, Salmon Meal & Whitefish”, and “Lamb, Chicken Meal & Rabbit” formulas.

You can find Natural Balance Foods, Inc. on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Vimeo.

I like Natural Balance Foods, Inc.’s ALPHA and not just on Facebook. I also love that I found a location I trust in my area that sells Natural Balance; in my hometown of Woodinville, WA I can go to one of the most trusted locally owned animal and agriculture shops, DeYoung. I know you’ll be pleased feeding Natural Balance ALPHA to your dog or cat.

Disclaimer: Samples were provide to facilitate this review, but did not influence the authenticity.

About Summer:

Filed Under: review, Summer Tagged With: Dog Food Review, Natural Balance ALPHA, Pet Food, review, Summer

Tasty Treat Summertime Savory Veggie Muffins Recipe

March 15, 2012 By Momstart 22 Comments

By Summer:

I can’t make my own bread! I know bread sounds intimidating … but really if you make muffins, you’re making bread; the trick is it’s usually not so sweet. Today’s treat is a savory for a hearty snack or an addition to really with any mealtime.

Summertime Savory Veggie Muffins Recipe

Ingredients

2 handfuls of spinach – probably about 3 packed cups un-wilted or ½ cup wilted
½ cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¹/₈ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 Tablespoons cottage cheese
1 teaspoon Basil, dried
½ teaspoon parsley, dried
¼ cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
1½ cups flour – I used 1 cup whole wheat and ½ cup all-purpose
1 cup 2% milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF. Line or grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

2. Place your spinach in a colander and pour a kettle of boiling water over top to wilt. Allow to sit so water drains out.

3. In your Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer bowl place butter, baking powder and soda, and salt. Turn to stir. Drop in eggs one at a time. Allow to combine on “stir” setting.

4. Pick up spinach in your fist and squeeze excess water out. Chop spinach. Stop mixer and add cheeses, spices, tomatoes, and spinach. Stir again.

5. Add half of flour to mixture. Combine. While stirring add in milk. Combine. Stop mixer and add in remaining flour. Combine.

6. Pour mixture equally into the 12 prepared muffin tin compartments. Place in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes until tops are golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

About Summer:

Filed Under: recipe, Summer, Tasty Treats Tagged With: muffin recipe, Summer, Summertime Savory Muffins Recipe, Tasty Treat Thursday

Tasty Treat Thursday: Peaches and Cream Cobble Griddle Cakes Recipe

March 1, 2012 By Momstart 9 Comments

By Summer:

After making the Apple Ring recipe I was thinking about what else I would do. Peaches seemed logical! Peaches and cream are a favored treat. Making rings out peaches isn’t possible without fresh peaches, so I had to alter my thinking. From jarred peaches I diced to bit size and added a creamy cheese … YUM! Eat these as a breakfast or brunch item if you wish, but my children just love to munch on these finger food favorites (minus any sticky sauces of course!).

Peaches and Cream Cobble Griddle Cakes Recipe

Ingredients:

1 egg
½ cup milk
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon all spice
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
4 ounce block of cream or Neufchatel cheese
1 ripe peach, peeled and pitted

Directions:

1. Chop cheese into mini bites about pea sized. Separate each piece; make sure pieces aren’t touching. Place in the freezer to chill.

2. Mix together all ingredients except cheese and peach. Stir until combine. (I usually add all the ingredients except ½ cup of flour and add it as the last ingredient. I mix as I got to get a smooth batter.)

3. Warm griddle to pancake temperature. On my stove top gas griddle I use the 6 heat setting.

4. Chop peaches into small bites no bigger than a dime. Add peaches and cheese to mixture. Fold in.

5. Pour batter onto griddle into desired size griddle cakes. Batter will spread a bit. When bubbles appear and pop on top, flip and fry the other side. Allow to cook until second side is also golden brown (about 45 seconds).