Why I will never go to SeaWorld again

Why I will never go to an orca or dolphin performing park again. And I will teach my child the truth. 

Blackfish

http://blackfishmovie.com

Watch Blackfish on Netflix instant stream.

The Cove

http://www.thecovemovie.com

The Cove was on Netflix instant stream but is not currently. 

I'm baaack! Goodbye FB

Hey family, 

I'll be dusting off the ol blog while I take a refreshing break from Facebook and try to focus my mind elsewhere-- my family, updating our house & shopping for a potential new house! 

I have an idea for a new look & slight change in theme for the blog. I hope you all check in now and then to see pictures of Ayla on her weekly adventures! 

Love to you all!<3

Fruit smoothie "ice cream" & healthy treats!

Finally! My kid is devouring fruit! 

Both my 4 year old and I are not crazy about fruit. Usually it's too tart, or too mushy, over ripe or not ripe enough. Texture is also an issue with both of us when it comes to eating. 

I've tried smoothies in the past and didn't like them so I haven't tried to feed them to my kid until now. 

Recently I saw a smoothie tip on PBS and they made "ice cream" smoothies. The tip was to slice bananas and freeze them, then grab a handful of frozen banana slices, and whatever other fruit you want. The texture came out like frozen yogurt. 

I added fresh-then-frozen blueberries and frozen strawberries in addition to the bananas. I read on other blogs that you can add juice, milk or yogurt to the smoothie. I added orange juice (that was a mistake). When adding liquid, add just a little at a time. You don't want to make it soupy.

It came out very tart! But a great "ice cream" texture. I mixed in a couple heaping spoonfuls of Greek yogurt (which my daughter also does not like) and she said it was SO good! She's devouring her fruit like ice cream right now! 

I took the remaining smoothie and poured it into little plastic cups (mini throw-away sippy cups. We also use these to put Easer egg dye in.) and then stuck a plastic spoon in the cup for a Popsicle stick. The smoothie was thick enough to stand the stick (spoon) up. If the smoothie is not as thick as you'd like, add more bananas! 

I'll add more fun smoothie ideas after we experience them! It feels so good to know my daughter had a big, healthy intake of fruit today! 

Let me know how you all like them or tell me your take on smoothies for kids, or getting kids to eat more fruit!

Time for Dinner

Every time I go to "Time for Dinner" I have to talk about it. It is the greatest concept since anything convenient! It's for working families who don't have time to constantly put together fresh, portioned, meals. For people who are not the best cooks (me) and have trouble coming up with different meals and think most recipes are too hard. It's for the people who buy tons of ingredients for one meal, and waste all the rest because they don't know how to tie the ingredients into anything else (also me).
Time for Dinner is a place where you go to make fresh dinners in bulk. There are stations set up for each dinner offered, with recipe cards to follow, and all ingredients laid out in front of you. You bag up your meal and move on to the next station. The best part? They clean up your mess for you! By time you get to the next station- you are set with clean utensils to make a meal!
At www.TimeforDinner.com, you place your order and pick the time that you'd like to come in and make your meals. When ordering 1 meal, you are ordering 6 servings split into 2 meals of 3. For my family of 3, we get 2 dinners out of 1 meal purchased. I take one portion size, my 4 year old takes half a serving, and my husband gets 1.5 servings.
My neighbor who told me about this place more than a year ago, they have 4 people in their family and eat most of the 6 servings. The rest gets packed for the husband's lunch.
The dinners are fresh, and usually have a freeze expiration date of 6 months. All dinners come with nutrition facts and even Weight Watchers points (bonus for me!). These are NOT microwaved meals and my husband and I agree that most meals are restaurant quality and definitely better than anything I make on my own! Seriously.
I typically pull a meal out 2 days before I want to make it to give it enough time to fully thaw in the fridge. Most meals bake for a half hour. You just pop 'em in! Some have the option of grill or broil, some in the skillet and every once in a while you'll get a dinner that goes in the crock pot.
All meals come with a sticker on the package with cooking instructions.
Time for Dinner is located at Manchester off of Brentwood Blvd in St. Louis.
It is WELL worth the drive!
Www.Timefordinner.com
Did I mention this is fun too? I hate cooking but I love going to Time for Dinner!!! Please use me as a referral: Amanda Sansone

Tonight we tried crab Rangoon chicken-- our favorite so far! Even the 4 year old scarfed it down!! Chicken breast wrapped around a cream cheese filling. I left out the crab. (I'm not a seafood eater and can't ignore the crab if I actually have to put it in there myself!) Topped with a sweet & sour glaze and won tons! SO GOOD!

The most filling healthy meal I've ever had!

Tonight I had THE most filling, yet healthy meal I've ever had!!

Cheese stuffed Chicken breast with sauce and mashed cauliflower

Weight Watchers power points:
Chicken breast (smaller) 3 pts
Mozzerella string cheese 2 pts
Spaghetti sauce 1 pt
Smashed cauliflower 1 pt

Preheat oven 375
Spray pan with Pam

I butterfly-sliced the chicken breast and stuck one string cheese in each breast. I used toothpicks to close the chicken breast. I hear a better way is to hammer out the chicken breast very thin and roll it around the string cheese.
I seasoned the chicken breasts with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Top each chicken breast with a 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Cauliflower: Steam a whole head og cut cauliflower until a fork slices the cauliflower easily. Once soft, drain the water from the cauliflower. I did not measure everything, but I did put 3 tablespoons of butter, a little chicken broth, garlic powder, salt, pepper and mashed.

YUM

1 cup of mashed cauliflower =about 2 points. This should make about 4 servings.

This dinner was SO filling because of the cauliflower!! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I think this might be my 4 year old's new favorite dinner!!! She loved it!
The husband loved it too.

Flat Out Pizzas

Tonight we tried out Flat Out brand Flatbread to make healthy pizzas. Flat Out has had wraps for a while-- but I wasn't a huge fan and did not like pizza on them either. The flatbread is so much better! We preferred one flavor over another, though.

I picked up Rosemary Olive Oil and Spicy Italian. Both 4 WW points for one wrap. First, you pop them in the oven at 350 for 4 minutes to make them slightly crisp- and trust me- you'll want to do that so all your toppings don't slide off your "floppy" pizza.

After that, add your favorite pizza sauce & toppings. I used sautéed bell peppers, onion & garlic, and a 1/2 cup of mozzerella cheese (4 WW pts). Bake for another 4-8 minutes depending on the amount of cheese. I baked for another 6 minutes but could have left it in a couple more min.

Our favorite was the spicey Italian flavor flatbread! It filled the pizza with a lot of spicy-pepper flavor! Both are worth it!

You can find Flat Out products at Shop N Save by the deli.

Sunday Night Breakfast: Eggs in the new Orgreenic Skillet

So we have been watching infomercials for the new Orgreenic pans that say NOTHING sticks to them. This isn't a huge review but we have a couple samples of what we tried with the pan- eggs & cheese.
Long story short, the eggs did lift right off the surface if the pan and left no residue what so ever.
The cheese DID stick to the pan, but probably not as bad as it would to any other pan. My husband did have the stove on HIGH so maybe that is why? It didn't roll right off the surface like in the infomercials.
Still a great pan!
Here are our silly little videos.. Ignore the 4-year-old, the chihuahua and the border terrier ;) And my husband was mad after the cheese wouldn't roll so he was done making videos! For now.
Eggs:
http://youtu.be/EOvoV01YBqE
Cheese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvodumzcMNg