Spicing it up with some new recipes

I love to try new recipes, and couponing as well as the Eat from The Pantry Challenge that I did in January in February has helped me continue to stretch my creative muscles to use the food we have on hand or what's cheap.  This year I've already found a couple of great go-to recipes that are easy to fix and extremely tasty.   My current fave:  Shrimp Fried Rice.  When you're able to get shrimp and rice on sale, it's a fairly frugal recipe to prepare, with sesame oil being a possible exception if you don't use it much.

If you like to make things ahead, this is a recipe for you.  It's SUPPOSED to be prepared with leftover cold rice, so I just cook that and dice the vegetables earlier in the afternoon during my daughter's nap.  Near dinnertime, just saute the shrimp and follow the directions.  Dinner on the plate within 15 min.  At least to my taste buds, this rivals takeout...mmmm!

Mini Apple-Cheddar Meatloaves is another recent find which can be whipped up in a short amount of time to rave reviews.  It's ground turkey-based, so there's an added level of healthfulness.  To cut the prep time, opted to put my onion and apple in the food processor to get it into small pieces rather than shred them.  You can also substitute regular breadcrumbs for panko. 

I've been able to get amazing deals on pork tenderloin in the past couple of weeks, but I really didn't have any pork tenderloin recipes.  Enter Pan Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Blue Cheese and Olive Stuffing.  This isn't a cheap recipe to prepare, nor is it quick; but it's easy and tastes fan-freaking-tastic.  Think restaurant-quality-impress-your-guests delicious.  I'm still dreaming about the sauce.  From all the money we've been saving, it was a bit easier for me to fork out the extra cash for olive tapenade and blue cheese to make this splurge meal.  Well worth it for a dish that makes me miss going out to nice restaurants just a bit less.  ;)

Best of all, my 2 year old will eat all three of these!  Woo hoo!

photo courtesy of dearbarbie on flickr

Alphabet Train Fun

Chugga chugga chugga woo woo!  Ok, I don't know how to spell train noises, but that's my best attempt.  We got the Infantino Alphabet Train from our church's toy exchange and gave it to Li'l Girlie for Christmas.  It's really designed for kids 3-5, but since she's really, really into trains right now, we figured we'd try it out.

Right now Li'l Girlie just enjoys watching us put the train together, making train noises and trying to say what the object is on the top of the train cars when we point to them.  I can see how it will become a really fun way to learn the alphabet as she gets to be a bit older.  This puzzle, along with several other Infantino puzzles, is an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio winner and has suggested games and activities on the top of the box. The whole train is over 5 feet long, so the size of it even appealing for little kids.  Definitely a floor puzzle that can be worked on by more than one person.

The pictures are cute and colorful; the only kind of odd one is the big Jello mold for the letter 'J'.  But then again, how many easily recognizable things begin with J?

Eat From the Pantry Challenge

There are a couple of blogs that I follow to help me be a more frugal mama and a better steward of the time and money that I have.  MoneySavingMom.com is one of my favorites.  She is co-hosting the Eat from the Pantry Challenge for the month of January.  It's not a contest or a competition, but rather an opportunity to challenge yourself to cut back and use up what you have in the fridge, freezer, and pantry.  Especially with a drop in our income (not to mention my husband spending most of 2009 unemployed) and even more so in this economic environment, the creativity to use what you have is a skill that I'd like to develop. 

While my pantry/fridge/freezer stockpiles aren't huge, I'm still going to give it my best shot.  My goal is to have meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks) for an entire week without having to shop for any ingredients.  My week will start on Sun, January 10th. Any longer I can go is a bonus. 

Here are my own 'rules' and caveats:

• I will still grocery shop during the challenge week, but only for essential dairy and produce (I do have an almost 2-year old in the house) as well as future food stockpiling.  
• I can't use any of the future stockpile stuff for challenge week meals.   
• No stockpiling purchases can be full price...they must be on sale, and preferably have coupons.
• I have a dinner commitment on Tuesday nights which I will keep; I have to make sure that my husband and daughter have ample leftovers to eat that evening.  
  

At least to me, this venture seems less intimidating when I'm doing it alongside other moms, even if they are online and I can't see them. I've felt inspired to continue to try to save money and have fun doing it.  MoneySavingMom has a FAQ's page with some leads on getting started saving  It's easier than you might think.

One Finger Touch

Getting to play with the toy soldier ornament
Originally uploaded by bunnyfabulous

As I look back at Christmas and the entire season with a tree full of breakable ornaments and tons of toddler eye candy (a.k.a. 'I want to touch it' candy), I am ever more thankful for an idea shared with me by a wise mom friend called 'one finger touch.'

Her daughter MB is two years older than mine, and like Li'l Girlie, she's a very tactile kid. To help MB satisfy her curiosity in stores without breaking things, my friend would tell her daughter before entering a store whether it was 'no touch', 'one finger touch' where MB could touch things, but could only use one finger to do so, or she could touch anything (very rare).

This accomplished several things. It prevented unnecessary tantrums, near-constant 'no's', and MB having to wonder each time whether she'd be admonished to not touch something each time she tried. Plus, one finger touch helped MB learn self-control while still satisfying her curiosity in a safe, appropriate manner.

One finger touch has worked great with Li'l Girlie. We didn't have to move any of our ornaments higher on the tree...though I did put 'safer' ones that she'd be interested in at eye level, and I feel comfortable taking her into most any store without worrying about her being destructive.  She did get to play with the toy soldier ornament on our tree; we lifted the one finger touch rule for that, and she had a ball with it.

Being paid to shop

How fun is that?  I'd mentioned that I started couponing a number of posts ago, and it's really been saving us a lot of money.  Our grocery/household/personal care expense savings are hovering around 47% as of 2 months of couponing.

When I talk about it with friends who don't coupon, one of the questions I get the most is 'do you end up buying a lot of stuff you don't need?'  Here's my answer: I only buy stuff I don't need if it's either free and it's something I can give to a food pantry or other charity OR if I can make money by purchasing it.  Extra bonus if I can give it away.

One of my fave couponing and good-stewardship-of-your-finances websites is Money Saving Mom.  Here's her post giving readers a heads up on how to make $13 on Bayer meters at Walgreens as well as how to get free Lipton Tea and Theraflu.  I'm not diabetic, but I can certainly use $13 and give a glucose meter to charity so that someone who can't afford a meter can have one.  Everybody wins!

Teaching a Toddler about Christmas

From a young age, we want Li'l Girlie to be hearing the real story of Christmas and learning why we celebrate it. She's 22 months old this Christmas, and some of her favorite things (like most kids) right now are books and Fisher Price Little People toys. Playing to those interests, I found a couple of things that would be great for her for this year, but we could continue to use as she gets older.

The children's ministry director at our church --a mom of three herself, and a children's book aficionado -- recommended Patricia A. Pingry's The Story of Christmas for toddlers and preschoolers to tell the story of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, wise men and of course Jesus' birth in an easy-to-understand manner. Li'l Girlie likes it a lot, especially since there are animals and a Christmas tree in the book. It ties in why we give gifts; to show our love and to celebrate Jesus' birthday. My personal opinion is that it would benefit from adding at least a paraphrase from Luke: "for today a Savior is born, which is Christ the Lord." Something about why baby Jesus is so special. Just my opinion. Maybe Pingry left it out so that parents could fill it in.

Our other Christmas story purchase was the Fisher Price Little People Nativity Set.  We have some lovely nativity sets, but none appropriate for toddler playtime.  She likes pressing the angel on the top of the stable to hear 'Away in a Manger' and she's learning who Mary, Joseph and Jesus are.  As she gets bigger, we can use the figures to act out the story.  Fisher Price also has the Three Wisemen and the Inn at Bethlehem sets, but we've also been on a tighter budget this year, so for us, those will be purchases for another year. 

The tradition that we started last year (when Li'l Girlie was too young to even notice) was making a birthday cake for Jesus.  This year, I let her squirt some of the frosting on the cake before I wrote the words.  She was nonplussed.  Oh well, hopefully seeing the finished cake and the happy rejoicing and eating will be a little more fun.  We still have yet to break out the cake today. 

I wish you a very merry Christmas celebrating our Savior

Erin

Bike!

Yes, after all my talking about the Strider Running Bike, we finally got one for Li'l Girlie.  Her Grammy and Grandpa gave her one as an early Christmas gift, and boy has she taken to it.  She knew what it was immediately, signed 'bike', did a little happy dance and threw her leg over it.

The folks at Strider say that most kids walk with the bike between their legs first, then gradually learn to trust the seat and their balance and start zooming from there.  That's pretty much the pattern we've seen with Li'l Girlie.  She's just starting to coast for a second, so we can see the real speed coming just around the corner.

We've been extremely pleased (as has Li'l Girlie) with the Strider so far.  She's learning balance that most kids don't learn for another couple of years, and she's so confident riding her bike.  She'll never use training wheels (the bane of my learning to ride a bike experience), and will transition straight to a regular bike once she gets big enough.

The bike's adjustable enough to fit a child as young as 18 months to your average 5 year old, and as an added bonus, it's a whole lot cheaper than the other leading pedal-free bike brand.

Here's Li'l Girlie in action. Look at her go!

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm most thankful for God's giving me what none of us deserve - life in Him.  I'm thankful for my dear husband, daughter, and spending time with my family this Thanksgiving.  We're all a bit off center, but then again, isn't everyone?  ;)  I hope it's a time where you can have at least a moment between the turkey and football games to reflect on what you've been given. 

Happy thanksgiving, y'all. 

Kitchen Giveaways Galore

So I've already given you the heads up about The Five Fish's Step 2 Kitchen giveaway in my last post.  Just so happens that there are several other opportunities to win a Step 2 Play Kitchen out there right now from some top mommy bloggers' sites.  You've got to hurry, though, most of them are only open until the end of November or soon thereafter.  

Here's the scoop on each.  Look for their blogs' buttons on the left as well:

First, Our Ordinary Life'sStep 2 Deluxe Kitchen and Give-a-way runs until December 1st.  Our Ordinary Life (Kristen) is a test drive mom for Frigidaire (which by the way, is sponsoring a Creative Kids in the Kitchen contest in conjunction with Step 2) so she knows her kitchens.  Her review of the Step 2 was just as positive as The Five Fish's.

Another great giveaway where you could win the Step 2 Deluxe Kitchen is on Amanda - A Stay at Home Mom's Point of View's blog.  Amanda took some great photos of her kids' kitchen to give you an idea of what the accessories and features look like.  She also remarks about the easy assembly.  Her giveaway runs until Nov. 30th.

Lizzy at Lizzy Dear's Life is holding a Step 2 Lifestyle Party-Time Kitchen Giveaway, also open until December 1st.  Her kids have really enjoyed playing with theirs, and Lizzy says that it's the perfect size for a play kitchen; not too big, not too small. 

Finally, if you're looking to win the granddaddy of all play kitchens, Two of a kind, working on a full house's Step 2 Lifestyle Grand Walk-in Kitchen Review and Giveaway is not to be missed. She takes great photos of the kitchen's amenities and talks about the ways in which her son plays with it.  It keeps him entertained for hours.  Apparently, it's not TOO big, and it even has a slighly squooshy faux hardwood floor.  Can I have that for my kitchen?

These are some great opportunities to win a big Christmas gift for your kiddo(s), but even if you don't win, I hope that you're able to get some great deals to help your gift budget stretch farther.  Check out the rest of Step 2's great toddler toys too!

Fishing for a Great Gift? Catch this Giveaway

Toys that keep your child entertained for hours are worth their weight in gold.  Ones that foster imagination, creative play and allow for several kids to play together are even better.  Another mommy blogger whom I've started following, The Five Fish, recently reviewed such a toy, the Step 2 LifeStyle Deluxe Kitchen.  She should know about the multiple-kid, multiple ages playability of this toy -- she has twin toddlers and a 6-year old who've all loved it.

And, she's giving one of these fab kitchens away, courtesy of Step 2.  Read her review and enter the giveaway for a chance at your child enjoying the cool food & utensil accessories, realistic appliance sounds and lots of storage space for all of his/her culinary creations. . . for free.

Li'l girlie is already interested in kitchen play; she empties out her cupboard in my kitchen daily and one of the few recognizeable-to-the-general-public words is 'bowl'.  She loves bowls, especially the one on our salad spinner.  I could see her going nuts over this kitchen and its play food and dishes, and I'll probably play with it a ton too if we won, truth be told.  I love to cook, and am excited to continue fostering a passion for it in my daughter.

Thanks for giving away one of these awesome toys, Five Fish!   We all love the opportunity to get free cool toys like this for our kids to foster their imaginations.