baby steals

Hey, for all you folks out there having babies, this is a pretty fun site. One deal a day, posted at 9 a.m. Get 'em while they're hot.

Yummy Recipes

A while ago I bought the Biggest Loser Cookbook, and have been using it once or twice a week. Of course, we have developed favorites, and I wanted to share them with you. They are all super easy, otherwise, they would not be made at my house!

New Beef Stew:
These are the exact directions, however I just throw it all in the crockpot for a few hours. Then the house smells yummy, too!

1 TBSP whole-grain oat flour
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
pinch of black pepper, plus more to taste
1 lb. top round steak, cut into 1" cubes
2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
8 oz. button mushrooms, each halved
1 onion, cut into bite sized pieces
1 TBSP. minced garlic
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 cans (14 oz. each) low-sodium, fat free beef broth
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 " cubes

In a ziplock bag, combine flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Add the beef and shake until all the cubes are coated. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Set a large nonstick soup pot over med-high heat and add the oil. Add the beef cubes to the pot, and cook for about one minute or until all the sides are brown. Reduce the heat to medium and add mushrooms, onion, garlic, and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally. Cook until onion is tender.

Add the broth and carrots, increase the heat to high. When broth comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.

Add the potatoes, and simmer for another 45 minutes, until beef in tender. Season as needed.

275 calories, 31 g protien, 6 g fat

Picante Chicken:
I have made a few versions of this dish, and this is by far my favorite.

1/3 cup, plus 1/2 cup mild, medium or hot picante sauce
4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of visible fat
6 TBSP light cream cheese, from a block, softened
1/2 cup finely shredded, low fat cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread 1/3 cup of the picante sauce on bottom of 13x9 baking dish.

Lay chicken breasts on a cutting board. Use the flat side of a mallet to pound the chicken breasts to a uniform thickness.

Spread the chicken evenly with the cream cheese. Lay the chicken, cream cheese side up, in a single layer in the baking dish. Spoon the remaining 1/2 cup picante sauce evenly over the breasts. Cover the dish with aluminum foil.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese evenly over the chicken. Bake uncovered for 15 minutes or until no longer pink.

198 calories, 30 g protien, 6 g fat

little night light thingies

These are outrageously expensive, but so cool. My sister picked me up a pair for half price at the trade show but I just thought I'd pass it on if you ever find a deal on them. They are little night lights that charge on this base and then you can take them off and they glow all night. Pretty cute I thought. They also have this cool little number:

It just sits in an outlet and doesn't glow until you pick it up then when you go to get your nursing baby at night you have a soft little glow to light your way instead of stumbling through the dark or turning all the lights on.

check it out at http://www.oxo.com/ (yep, the spatula people.)

speaking of ranger cookies...

I made some tonight with 1 C whole wheat flour and 1 C regular (+ some extra oatmeal and chocolate chips) and they were SOOOO good!

I am all for changing the name of this Blog as my bag sewing days have quickly come to a close!!! Don't have any ideas though. Anyone?

My Two New Good Finds

Meet the Frog Pod.

This is actually something I have wanted for about two years, but couldn't justify it in our little apartment, plus I am not sure it would have adhered to the 100 year old tile in the shower. This frog is great. It sticks to the shower three different ways: adhesive, screws or suction cups. The back of the frog is a toy holder, and has holes for water drainage. The top of the frog is a shelf, and all the toes stick out so that you can hang things on them. My kids think it makes their bathroom "a frog bathroom."

There is now a bug version.

Meet The Boon Bug.

If you want to see more of their cool stuff, including a bean bag that you fill with stuffed animals or blankets, check out Boon.

This next one I didn't actually find, unless you count finding it at Becki's house and deciding I want one as finding it myself.

Meet The Kaboost.

This is a good solution to having lots of straps hanging from your chairs in the dining room. Instead of using a booster seat that needs to be strapped to the chair, we decided to get this for Annie. It raises the chair high enough for her to eat at the table without any help. It's adjustable, and very sturdy. The chair doesn't move at all, and now I don't have to worry about her rocking back in the chair. It comes in green, brown and a natural color.

Cool Blog Stuff

Some of you may have discovered this already, but it is new and exciting to me. I have a sister-in-law that changes the background on her blog all the time. She has a cool Olympic one right now that is very cool. Anyway, I have always used Pyzam for my backgrounds, but it erases all the wigets on the side. Well, never fear, you can now change them because of a wonderful site: The Cutest Blog on the Block. That is were I found this background that I thought you would all love. Anyway, all you do is pick one of the basic layouts from blogger and then you add the backgrounds in the layout section with the html/javascript widget. Easy peasy

I also found these cool things on there too.



Okay, I am sorry, but I don't care whether you liked the book or not, that is funny!

I also recommend getting your husband a BBQ if he doesn't have one, for reduced cooking frequency all summer long.

For Silky Smoothness

Noxzema hair minimizing shave gel. It says it is "specially formulated with Capislow to help minimize hair regrowth and reduce shaving frequency." Need I say more?

I've totally been holding out on you guys.

Here are the two things I must have in my pantry. I eat them for one out of every two lunches. Maybe it's an acquired taste, I don't know, but I would like to introduce

Rye Crisp Bread & Finnish Mustard!









Imported from Finland (and Sweden), these two elements of an open-faced sandwich do not disappoint! Rye crisp bread is kind of a cracker-like unleavened bread that is sugar free, fat free, and cholesterol free. The two most popular brands of crisp bread available in the U.S. are Siljans and Wasa. Siljans comes in huge disks that you break apart in pie-like pieces. I prefer this kind because it is what I grew up with . Wasa bread comes in small pop-tart sized squares and has a "light" version that is a little less dense. Both are available in the international or health food sections of most grocery stores.

Finnish mustard, or Sinappi is the best mustard ever invented by anyone anywhere. It is sweet and tangy and goes well on anything. After using this mustard, I turn my nose up at every other kind around. The catch is that it is hard to get (my supply usually comes when someone I know travels back from Finland) and expensive. If you buy it online it is about $10 a tube. BUT SO WORTH IT. Tip: only buy mild, the green cap. Don't touch strong or hot. Hot is instant death.

How do you eat it? Take a piece of crisp bread, spread some butter or light mayonnaise on and then some awesome Finnish mustard. (That is key.) Put on some cheese, good lunch meat, tomatoes and cucumber. Fabulous healthy filling lunch. Hailey and Nora love it too.

Pandora Radio

John just introduced me to this and I have to say I love it. It is a radio station catered to you. You type in a song or an artist and they will play songs that are related that they think you will like. If you happen to not like a song they play for you, you just hit the thumbs down button and it will skip it. The more you tell, supposedly the more it "understands" your music taste. You can also see why it picks the songs it does and read how the songs you like relate to the other it picks for you. Anyway, check it out:

Pandora Radio

No More Ironing!

Okay, it may be just plain laziness, but I have always hated ironing. John's mom actually introduced this to me a few years ago and it changed my life. (Okay, it just changed my clothes. Before, I just wore them wrinkled, now, not so wrinkled.) It is Downey's Wrinkle Releaser. Fabulous product. You can also by a travel size. This really appealed to me because when we were on our honeymoon, I thought I would try and impress my husband with my "ironing skills" at our hotel and what do you know, there was something melted on the bottom and it got all over my shirt. See what I get for even trying!

No More Lost Kids

So, I was watching TV and saw a commercial that mentioned something about a child locator. Of course, this peaked my interest because, well you know, I have a child who disappears quickly. So I briefly checked it out, and the prices are high, but they have some good ideas. So check it out, maybe for a trip to a busy area or something. I am definately considering the purchase.

Child Locator

Another Reason to Have Aspirin

Noah got his very first bee sting today. Actually he got two at the same time, lucky boy. I was visiting with my grandparents when it happened, and since I have never in my life been stung by a bee, I didn't know what to do. Good thing my grandma did. She crushed up an aspirin and mixed it with a little water and covered the stings. The swelling was gone in about 5 minutes. I was shocked! I know baking soda does the same thing, but who wants to carry baking soda in their diaper bag? So, I will now be carrying an aspirin with me, along with all the other "just in case" items.

Short Term Health Insurance

I hate moving. I don't suggest it, but since we all have to some time, here is something that we wish we would have known about before we did.

SHORT TERM HEALTH INSURANCE!

Especially for all you soon-to-be dentists out there, getting your own insurance stinks. There is lots of paper work and lots of info to collect. (Those of you on medicaid, you know how slow their office works and getting the "previous coverage" paper needed, ya, doesn't come so fast) This short term insurance was easy and quick to fill out and it was effective that day. It isn't great coverage, but at least you have some coverage. You can sign up for a month or 6 months. If you sign up for a month and need more, sign up again. Luckily we were safe on the drive out here, but if I would have known about this, I would've had one less thing to worry about (2 whiny kids was enough).

Help

We bought a swimming pool for the kids and thought we would try it out. Well, come to find out, my step-dad didn't want it on his lawn and so he wanted me to put it on the cement on the side of their house. Well, as coordinated as my kids are, I thought that wouldn't be safe. Does anyone have any idea on how to solve that? Is there something I can put under it or something? or am I out of luck?

Two favorites stolen from Becki and Mandie

These are my two favorite purse items. Thanks to Becki and Mandie for originally introducing me to them.

First winner:

Clean Well hand sanitizer found at Target.

• all-natural. No alcohol for Nora to guzzle and travel to the emergency room for. (Couldn't you see her doing that?)
• spray, not gel. Much less messy than Purel.
• smells pretty yummy. Kind of like pine needles and lemons. Like Pine-sol?
• More uses per ounce, which means smaller container to carry around.

I'm so over Purel. Thanks, Becki.



Sunscreen Stick. Looks just like a giant chapstick. I keep this in my purse too. I'm notoriously bad at remembering to pack sunscreen to go everywhere, and besides, sometimes an emergency trip to the park arises after grocery shopping. So this is just enough sunscreen to get you by and cover the basics: cheeks, nose, ears.

Good buy. Thanks Mandie.

I like the spray sunscreen too.

the claw

Alright, this is not a CUTE product, but it is possibly the most highly functional little number I've encountered in a long time and tonight I owe it a debt of gratitude. Should anyone ever be in a similar situation as I was tonight: be aware that this tool exists. The situation is this: I am driving around with a single key not attached to a key ring and decide to vaccum my car. I put said lonely key up on my dashboard out of the way of the vacuum and it promptly slides down the heating vent. If I look through the front windshield, I can get a visual on the key, and although it is only 4 inches out of reach it is SO out of reach. Bless Greg G's heart for coming and helping me try to coax it out with a coat hanger but it wouldn't have worked in a million years. We were thinking up Sandlot-esque ideas like bubble gum, straws, vaccum extractors, when some kid pulls up who happens to have a handy dandy claw extractor and voila, 5 minutes later the key emerges unscathed and ready for action. Needless to say, I will be attaching the key to a 2-foot long keychain asap, you guessed it, a claw.

A Shout-Out to JJ Cole

I purchased this bag last summer, after a bunch of the girls around here bought one. It is the best diaper bag I have ever owned. There are places for everything; my phone, I-pod, keys, wallet, and a bunch of pockets. It has a binky-pod, and a separate changing pad with a pocket. It is just the right size, and it's not a girly-bag, so Pete will carry it. Well, a few weeks ago, the zipper fell apart. It was totally random, and I don't think it had anything to do with the quality of the bag. I called the company, and it turns out there is a 2 year warranty on the bag, so they sent me a brand new one! Holy Cow! I couldn't believe it! Not many companies are that dedicated to their product, but it's also the kind of company I want to stick with until I don't need them anymore. So if you are in the market for a diaper bag (Allison H., this means you!)check out JJ Cole.

The Coolest Bags and Blankets

So I found these bags and they are so cute. Everyone should get one! I bet the girl who makes them is so cute.

I also found the cutest baby blankets ever! I have actually met the girl who makes these. She is way cool!