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MOMables Homemade Lunches #Review

February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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logoDo you struggle figuring out what to make your kids for lunches for school? Before MOMables I had given up on trying. I was always too busy in the morning to try to get a lunch together for Buddy and too tired at night. Now I take one morning each week to make all the lunches for the week. (Usually four in our house because I let him pick one day per week that he wants to eat hot lunch.) What is MOMables?

Feeding your kids wholesome food doesn’t have to be complicated. MOMables™ picky-eater, kid-tested recipes are made quickly — in ten minutes or less — with simple and fresh ingredients. MOMables™ streamlines the lunch making process with a weekly menu and a shopping list.

lunchables, review, homemade lunchesThe above pictures are my lunches made based off of one of her menus. I didn’t use her entire menu since I had already gone shopping for the week, but it was very inspirational to me. Since finding MOMables it takes me about 15-20 minutes per week to make the lunches and can even line up a bunch for the other kids to have in the fridge at the same time. I usually do it on Monday morning while I’m making my husband’s lunch. I love the ease of just going into the fridge in the morning and pulling out a lunch for Buddy. I even have enough bottles stored up now to have his milk containers ready to go for the week as well.

MOMables is a subscription service. It costs $18 for 3 months, $33 for 6 months or $60 for 12 months. If you’re fresh out of ideas and inspiration, it’s a great way to get you going! It’s definitely inspired me!

Note: I was given a subscription to try MOMables. All opinions are my own. 

Filed Under: Reviews & Giveaways Tagged With: , ,

Slow Cooker Lasagna #Recipe

February 21, 2012 By 2 Comments
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I wanted to try lasagna in the slow cooker but didn’t know which recipe to try. My friend Amanda told me to try this one from Betty Crocker. I found that making it in the slow cooker takes just as much work as making it in the oven and it finished WAY faster than it was supposed to. The recipe said 4-6 hours on low and it took 2. I put it in thinking I needed about 5 hours and had to turn it off early so that it wouldn’t be mush. It turned out tasty!

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Slow Cooker Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3 cans (15 ounces each) Italian-style tomato sauce (I actually needed more sauce at the end so I used a little spaghetti sauce on top)
  • 2 t dried basil leaves
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 ounces)
  • 1 container (15 ounces) part-skim ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 15 uncooked lasagna noodles

Instructions

  1. Cook sausage and onion in 10-inch skillet over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink; drain. Stir in tomato sauce, basil and salt.
  2. Mix 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and the ricotta and Parmesan cheeses. (Refrigerate remaining mozzarella cheese while lasagna cooks.)
  3. Spoon one-fourth of the sausage mixture into 6-quart slow cooker; top with 5 noodles, broken into pieces to fit. Spread with half of the cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with 5 noodles, remaining cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with remaining 5 noodles and remaining sausage mixture.
  4. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 4 to 6 hours or until noodles are tender. (It only took mine 2 hours so make sure you check it.)
  5. Sprinkle top of lasagna with remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Cover and let stand about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Cut into pieces.
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http://frostedfingers.com/2012/02/slow-cooker-lasagna-recipe/

Filed Under: Main Course, Recipes, Slow Cooker Tagged With: , ,

Bisquick Coffee Cake #Recipe

February 20, 2012 By 3 Comments
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This has always been one of my favorite recipes. I’m bummed it’s no longer on the Bisquick box.  I made it for my International Delight Coffee Klatch tasting. My kids kept coming in and stealing a piece when they thought I wasn’t looking.

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Bisquick Coffee Cake #Recipe

Ingredients

    Dough
  • 2 cups Bisquick
  • 2⁄3 cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
    • Topping
  • 1⁄3 cup Bisquick
  • 1⁄3 cup brown sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons butter

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Grease a deep pie plate, 8"x8" square pan, or 9"x9" square pan.
  3. Mix dough ingredients and put in baking dish.
  4. Mix topping ingredients with a fork or pastry mixer until crumbly.
  5. Spread topping mix over dough and drag a butter knife through your dough several times.
  6. Bake for 25 minutes.
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http://frostedfingers.com/2012/02/bisquick-coffee-cake-recipe/

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Arm & Hammer Ultra Last Litter #Review

February 19, 2012 By 2 Comments
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review, mom central, cat litter, clumpingI have finally found a litter that I like! I normally use generic clumping litter because of it’s price, but I think from now on I’ll be switching to Arm & Hammer Ultra Last Litter. The scent is nice and not overpowering. The litter clumps nicely, unlike generic where the clump breaks up when you try to scoop it up, the Ultra Last stays together and comes out clean.

New ARM & HAMMER® Ultra Last™ Clumping Cat Litter features a highly effective formula in which each granule is coated with ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda. It also has powerful odor destroyers to provide extended odor control.

 

Long Lasting Odor Elimination and Control

  • Baking Soda coated granules combined with powerful odor destroyers provide long-lasting odor control even when you can’t scoop every day.
  • ARM & HAMMER® Ultra Last™ Clumping Cat Litter creates rock solid clumps, allowing cat owners to easily remove the source of odors.
  • Moisture activated fresh scent helps deodorize each time your cat uses the litter box.
  • Among ARM & HAMMER® cat litter products available, ARM & HAMMER® Ultra Last™ provides the longest lasting odor control that will keep your home Fresh All Day™.
With the fact that the clumps stay together it makes it faster to get the litter box clean. Do you have a cat that sits there impatiently waiting for you to clean his box? Mine does! He barely lets me finish before he’s back in there and trying to go. My cat is not one of the most patient, or nice cats. I think I need to get him a playmate. He still has that kitten spunk and no one to play with. My dog is 12 and doesn’t want to play with him and he plays way too rough for the kids. Maybe in a few months I’ll bring home a second kitty to be a part of our family. I have no doubt that Arm & Hammer Ultra Last will stand up to the two of them! The real question is, can I?
Note: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf Arm & Hammer and received a product coupon to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.
Filed Under: Reviews & Giveaways Tagged With: , ,

What are your goals?

February 18, 2012 By 3 Comments
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picture courtesy of fossils-uk.com

When I was growing up I wanted to be a paleontologist or veterinarian. My parents used to go fossil hunting and I grew up with a father that had a license to take care of injured and orphaned animals. We had raccoons, skunks, possums, hawks, owls, all sorts of creatures in our house. No wonder I wanted to do either of those jobs. As I got older, though, the only dream I had was to become a mom. I met my husband in high school and could dream of our life together raising our five kids. (We’ve only had three.) Now that I’m a mom, though, what else do I want to do with my life? I really enjoy cooking, reading and blogging. Maybe I should visit a life coach in Chicago, Illinois to find out the right path for me? Maybe I’ll just continue on the path I’m going and enjoy the ride for a while. I do know my current goals are to get in shape, lose weight, be healthy and be there for my kids. Maybe, maybe even work on number four.  Outside of my family life my goals are to continue to grow my blog and work on friendships that I’ve let fall to the side and enjoy the year! I can’t wait for my trips and vacations I have coming up this year. So what are your current goals? What are you working on right now in your life? Do you know what you want to be when you “grow up?”

Filed Under: Personal Tagged With:

Sponsor me at #Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal #sponsor

February 14, 2012 By 2 Comments
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Brandcation sponsorshipI am looking for companies to help promote at Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal. I would like to represent a company that fits my character and the general mood of this blog. If you’d like to see how the last two Brandcation events went please check out my thank you posts for Brandcation Kissimmee and Bloggers on Bourbon. The women who went on these trips showed a LOT of love to sponsors!!

It will be held in Pensacola. Costs are estimates only:

Bloggers Gone Coastal pass: $108.62

Flight: $375

Hotel:  $125

Meals: $100

Total trip costs: Approx $700

This conference is an excellent opportunity to get your company noticed by the most social and influential bloggers of our time! Because this is a small group of women at the conference your product will have better visibility because it won’t get lost with all the other swag!

I am someone who will properly represent your company and has connections to a majority of the women attending the conference and will there for be able to spread the word about your company and products with ease. I am extremely active in social media and online networking. Allow my expertise and creativity to help your business flourish!

Sponsoring me at Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal 2012 can be broken up into the following sponsorship levels.

Platinum Sponsorship: $700

Have your company fully represented at Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal! This sponsorship package includes:

  • An item or items of your choice included in my Swag bags to be passed out at the conference.
  • Your company’s marketing material passed out to over 30 women who will be in attendance. Your company logo screen printed on a shirt to be worn at the conference by me.
  • A year of ad space on the front page of Frosted Fingers and on this page until after Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal 2012.
  • Three posts devoted to the Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal experience: Before, During & After. All posts will have a link to your company with a thank you message.
  • Weekly #followfriday Tweet devoted to just your company/site.
  • Regular Tweets about your company.

Gold Sponsorship: $350

The gold sponsorship will include the following:

  • Distribution of your company’s marketing materials during the conference.
  • Weekly Tweet devoted to advertising your company.
  • One item of your choosing to be passed out in my Swag bags to be passed out at the conference.
  • Ad space on this page until after Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal 2012.
  • Three posts devoted to the Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal experience: Before, During & After. All posts will have a link to your company with a thank you message.

Silver Sponsorship: $200

This sponsorship package includes:

  • Inclusion of business card and/or one product in swag bags.
  • Ad space on this page until after Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal 2012.
  • Three posts devoted to the Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal experience: Before, During & After. All posts will have a link to your company with a thank you message.

 

Filed Under: Brandcation, Conferences Tagged With: , ,

Kenmore Blogger Summit Recap #KBS2012

February 14, 2012 By 3 Comments
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On the weekend of January 20th-21st, 2012, a bunch of bloggers braved the joy of heavy, fast falling snow to arrive in Chicago for the Kenmore Blogger Summit.  I ended up leaving 2 hours earlier than I planned to make it downtown. I’m glad I did! It took me 1.5 hours to make a 35-40 min drive. If I would have left any later it would have taken me four hours. (That’s what it took hubby to get home from work.) I arrived at Sofitel downtown and was amazed by the hotel. My room was gorgeous. It was so fancy it had a Bose radio and robe with slippers! I had a mixup with the internet service, which I ended up paying a lot of money for. Live and learn. I took a nice hot shower and got ready for the evening. I met up with my friend Kim and went down to the cocktail reception and dinner. It was so nice to meet new people! We met Rob and Sara who became two of our teammates for the next day. We had a fancy dinner while people from Google Places and Google + talked to us. (Kim ended up using Google Places the rest of the time we were downtown that weekend!) I loved this video that the Google + speaker shared with us:

After dinner a few of us hung out in the lobby chatting and then I hung out with Cher for another hour up in my room. I got up bright and early Saturday, even though I had no reason to. I got ready for the day and went downstairs to have some yummy pastries. I actually really loved the vanilla yogurt they had and I am not a yogurt fan! After breakfast we all got on a bus and headed over to Kenmore Live Studios for the day.

When we got to the studio we were welcomed in and sat down. We had a quick cooking demonstration by Chef Suzy Singh, who was on Master Chef, Season 2. We were then asked to break into our groups, come up with names for our group and then head upstairs to do the first ever Kenmore slow cooker challenge.  We were given a basket of vegetables, wine, water and broth and were told to make a meal in our slow cooker. There was also a table of extra veggies and spices we could use. Jessica took point on this and was awesome! We all even shared a tiny cup of wine, too. Shhh. After we got our slow cooker going we went back downstairs to listen to some brand innovations from Samuel Monnie,Tom DeSalvo, and Marty Olsen. We learned about all of the appliances that Kenmore has to offer. We had an exercise presentation by Mark Barchi of Chicago Fit Club on how to get a workout with your vacuum.

Kenmore Blogger Summit, #KBS2012We were served an awesome lunch by Truffleberry Market. After lunch we had a vacuum challenge where we had to come up with a creative video introducing one of the Kenmore vacuums. Our team went with the theme that aliens were coming and we needed to clean before they came. We all wore aluminum foil on our heads so they couldn’t read our brain waves. Goofy? yes :) We then had a presentation from Evan Hansen of Wired.com.  He had a lot of interesting things to say. Throughout the day they had an innovation board where you could write any innovative ideas and at the end of the day we would vote on the best idea. We also had a small presentation on how to make a smoothie from Green Grocer Chicago. At the end of the day we found out that our team came in second for the slow cooker challenge. The winner of the innovation challenge is getting an AWESOME 50/50 double oven as her prize.

After the Summit was over a bunch of us went out for pizza and drinks. I had a great time that weekend learning more about Kenmore and creating new friendships. Thank you to Kenmore to inviting me to a great weekend and thank you for allowing me to review my vacuum! For more photos click photo below.

 

Kenmore Blogging Summit

Note: I was invited by Kenmore to take part in this blogging summit. All expenses were paid, but all opinions are my own. Thank you Kenmore for the invite!

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Trunki Review & #Giveaway @gummylump

February 13, 2012 By 133 Comments
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trunki review, giveaway, child suitcaseThe first time I saw a Trunki was at BlogHer last year. I saw a few bloggers in front of me pulling these animal suitcases behind them. We stopped them to ask about them and they told us they are Trunkis.

Trunki kids suitcases are ride on toys, luggage, and pretend play pals in one! Trunki is the greatest travel innovation since the wheelie bag! Trunki allows children to scoot along on their luggage through the airport or train station. This lightweight, sturdy, carry-on sized suitcase serves as luggage, riding toy, and transport for kids on the go! At home,Trunki may be used as a convenient kid-friendly storage bin too! Features include a tow strap, carry handles, secure catches, integrated wheels and stabilizers to prevent toppling over. Holds up to 75 lbs.

I decided to let Buddy get this little blog perk for himself since the younger two seem to get the most fun. He was SO excited when I opened the box and let him have it. We also got Trunki fun face stickers, a saddle bag and tote bag. Buddy had a blast customizing his Trunki.

review, giveaway, children's suitcase, child suitcase, suitcase on wheels, pull suitcase

We already used our Trunki to pack up some pjs and toys to take with to our friend’s house for the Super Bowl. We got some compliments on such a cute suitcase. The only problems we’ve had with it is that it’s a little hard to slide the locking mechanism up and down to close and open the trunk and the keys we got don’t seem to go into the hole deep enough so they kind of slide out as you’re trying to turn the locks. Besides that, the suitcase overall is awesome. The kids love packing it up and pretending to go on a trip. I may have to steel it from Buddy to use on the next couple of conferences I’m going on. It would be nice to pull my carry on bag instead of lugging it on my back through the airports!

How would you like to win the same Trunki and accessories I reviewed?

Buy It:
You can purchase your own Trunki for $31.99 and accessories (sold separately) at their website.
Win It:
One of my lucky readers will win a Sunny Orange Trunki with matching tote bag, matching saddlebag, and all 3 sets of stickers.  (Pictured to the left)

 
 

Mandatory Entry

Visit Trunki and tell me which suitcase you’d like for your child.

Extra Entries

  • Like Frosted Fingers on Facebook
  • Follow Frosted Fingers on Twitter
  • Like Gummy Lump on Facebook 
  • Follow Gummy Lump on Twitter
  • Sign up for Gummy Lump’s Newsletter 
  • Tweet about this contest once every 24 hrs. Please include @frostedfingers and@gummylump. You can click the tweet button above.
Connect with Trunki:  

Website

Trunki Facebook

Trunki Twitter

 

Please leave a separate comment for EACH extra entry indicating that you performed the required entry.  Provide links to Tweet, etc. as required for the entry.

Giveaway is open to the continental USA and ends on February 27, 2012 at 11:59 pm CST. Winner will be selected at random from all eligible entries and will be contacted by email. Winner will have 24 hrs to respond.  Winner may only win one prize pack, if you win on another site, a new winner will be drawn. Please add paula@frostedfingers.com to your trusted email filter.  If original winner does not claim their prize within 24 hrs, it is forfeit and a new winner will be selected promptly.

Note: I was given a Trunki and accessories to review.  All opinions are my own. 

No purchase necessary to enter or win. Odds of winning are not increased by a purchase.

Filed Under: Reviews & Giveaways Tagged With: , ,

International Delight Iced Coffee Klatch Tasting #IcedCoffee #CBias

February 13, 2012 By 5 Comments
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International Delight, Coffee Klatch, Social Fabric, Collective Bias, iced coffee, vanilla, original, mocha, coffee cake, trifleA few weeks ago I was asked to have some girlfriends over to try the new International Delight Iced Coffee.  I set up a date after school drop off that my Mom friends could come over and have some iced coffee and snacks and we could just sit around and catch up. I served a Bisquick coffee cake (which I still need to post the recipe) and my strawberry-choco trifle. The night before I poured some of the Original Iced Coffee into ice cube trays to freeze as ice cubes so that when they would melt the coffee would not get watered down by ice. I actually enjoyed just eating the cubes and I think they’d be awesome blended up to make a frozen iced coffee. :)

International Delight, Coffee Klatch, Social Fabric, Collective Bias, iced coffee, vanilla, original, mocha, coffee cake, trifleInternational Delight Iced Coffee comes in three different flavors: Original, Vanilla, and Mocha. My Walmart didn’t have any vanilla so we only got to try out the other two.  I didn’t have as many friends show up as I would have liked to the party because everyone was having an illness week. (Including us, but luckily it was a day of clarity around here.) I have had people stop by and do taste tests on their way to run errands or do drop offs. My husband even brought some in to work with him. Everyone that I know that has tried it, even coffee haters, have liked the International Delight Iced Coffees. A few of my friends and I added caramel creamer to the mocha flavor and really enjoyed it. I’m a HUGE caramel lover though. International Delight needs to come out with a caffeine free caramel iced coffee and I’d love them forever! I really do wish they’d come out with a caffeine free version of their iced coffees because I’d love to have these on a regular basis. I’m caffeine intolerant and normally get a migraine 2 days after having any caffeine. Surprisingly I did NOT after these but I’m scared to try again. Looking at my pictures in my post here are really making me want to go make a glass right now. I’m sure you’re asking why I decided to review these coffees if I’m caffeine intolerant. I’ve heard so many good things about them that I wanted to try them myself (darn the consequences) and I wanted to share them with my friends. I’m glad I did! I think I sold a few people on buying them for their houses.

International Delight, Coffee Klatch, Social Fabric, Collective Bias, iced coffee, vanilla, original, mocha, coffee cake, trifle

My coffee cost $3.98 and there’s supposed to be 8 servings in each container. That makes it .50 per serving. Can you get iced coffee at your local coffee house for that much?! I bet your single coffee where you currently get it costs about $4 just for one. Take advantage of this awesome deal and enjoy iced coffee in your own home without the high cost.  I suggest you check out International Delight Iced Coffee for yourself. I found mine at Walmart but I hear they’re starting to pop up in other places as well. If you’d like to see my shopping trip where I bought my coffee, click here. Which flavor will you try? Connect with International Delight below.
International Delight, Coffee Klatch, Social Fabric, Collective Bias, iced coffee, vanilla, original, mocha, coffee cake, trifle

Connect with International Delight:  

Website

International Delight Facebook

International Delight Twitter

 

Note: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All opinions are my own. 


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Organize your family life with clipix

February 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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The other day I told you about clipix. Now they’d like me to tell you how clipix may help you organize your family life. It solves the problem we all have of seeing tons of things online each day and never having a good way to save and organize them. Use clipix to keep everything you find online that you want to save and come back to. If you see a cool way to clean your house, organize your kitchen, make some playdoh , feed some birds, organize books you want to read, keep inspirational quotes, etc. The list goes on and on of what you can keep on clipix.

Aren’t those some cool ideas for your home? I love finding things I can do to help me clean and organize. I’ve also found fun projects to do with the kids and recipes to try.  It’s definitely so much better than the old fashioned way of hoarding bookmarks in the bookmark bar. I would save and save and never go back to look at what I saved, or if I would go back, I couldn’t figure out what each page was. It’s awesome to have a visual bookmark now! Using clipix has sparked my creativity. How could it help you? Check out clipix and find out. 

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