Spring Break 2013

Spring Break is two weeks this year and that couldn't have made me happier.  I got lots of time with my babies that wasn't all baths and homework.  Not that I don't like bath time but sometimes fun time would be awesome.  I was able to take my holidays this year for Spring Break, other than a couple of days that my Mom is kind enough to take the kids for.

The first week we spent 4 out of 5 days down in Victoria enjoying the weather, each other and the quiet.  Well the inner quiet because it certainly was not actually quiet lol.  We fed some seals, touched starfish and sea anemones, fed some ducks, took the city bus, went to a bug zoo, ate ice cream and did some shopping.  I loved it and I am pretty sure the kids did as well.

This week started out with some more amazing weather.  Today we made some bath bombs, you can get the super easy instructions here, and we played catch and did a lot of gardening.  Man is gardening ever relaxing, I never knew.  I always grow lots of tomato plants, the kids love tomatoes but man weeding for over an hour, I was dreading it but it was actually really awesome.

When it was time to cook up some dinner for the starving kids I wanted something easy to make.  I despise being stuck in the kitchen when its nice out.  If I can be sitting in the yard enjoying a nice cold beverage I would way rather be doing that than spending all night over a hot stove. 

My girlfriend has been keeping my freezer full of prawns and I have been trying to come up with different things to make with them.  So far I am loving a nice fettuccine alfredo with diced mushrooms, and some peas and of course the prawns on top.  This picture is when I made it a few weeks ago and tonight I even did the garlic bread homemade instead of store bought :)

Any suggestions for other prawn recipes? 
Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Some favorites from 2012

2012 was a big year for me and my family!  I ended my marriage, which was super hard but one of the best things I could have done for the kids and myself.  The kids and I have come so unbelievably far.  The relationships that the kids and I have with my parents are at the best they have ever been.  We are in the best place I think we ever have been.  I couldn't be happier.

When I was with my husband he did most of the cooking, I did some but when I did I was usually ridiculed so the last 10 months have been spent building myself back up and learning some great new recipes and figuring out what we like and want to eat everyday.  I love that the only one who gets the final say on what we have is me, I don't love that I am the only one who can cook but Kristina's learning :)

Now that we can cook with wheat we have a lot more options.  I had forgotten how much I was missing out on with the no wheat.  I am still experimenting with casseroles, I really missed those, and the slow cooker.  Life saver for those nights I work until 6:15, then have to grab the kids, do dinner baths and in bed by 8:00, now that's a rushed a long night!

So now that I have rambled on for so long, without further adu here is my favorites from 2012

Dijon-Parmesan Chicken



Barbecued Pork Tenderloin ( I omit the chipolte sauce because I am a wimp)



Fresh Berry Crisp (I added blackberries as well, so good, we have it once a month :)



Any favourites you want to add?

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own!

Stuffed Mushroom Caps, tis the season

Every year since the kids were little we have a night to do our Christmas decorating and we like to invite the grandparents over and make a night of it with appies and eggnog.  You can't decorate a Christmas tree without eggnog.  Because things have changed so much for the kids this year and we are making new traditions I still want to keep some of the old ones even if they are tweaked a bit.  I am a huge Christmas fan and always had to beg to set up the tree and decorate the house for the beginning of December.  Now we did it when we wanted.  I may be making the kids Christmas crazy but who cares, its Christmas.

November 19th was a long enough wait for us so we decided to invite my parents over and do appies and decorate the tree.  The rest of the house may have already been done :)  My mom is on a wheat free diet, which I am used to with my ex but haven't been doing lately of course.  So I set to work making my menu.  The kids were really into it and I loved it, we made some great memories that night! 

My menu got a little out of control because there are so many appies that we love and so before you know it you are making way to much food.  Some things like crackers, cheese and garlic coil sausage scream Christmas and even my Dad said after having one now it feels like the Holidays!  I also made some homemade potato skins, 7 layer dip, broccoli salad, stuffed mushroom caps, some homemade potato chips and dip and scallops wrapped in bacon.  I think there might have been more but that's all I remember :)

The favorite of the night though, well of Kristina and I's, was the stuffed mushroom caps.  I am a huge fan of stuffed mushroom caps but hate to order them in restaurants when I know that I can make them in about 10 minutes at home and they are just as good if not better because I get to choose everything that goes into it. 

So here is what I did.  I used a package of herb and garlic cream cheese, added some minced garlic, Parmesan cheese and grated cheddar cheese and mixed.  I took the stems out of the mushrooms and stuffed them with this mix.  Then I added more grated cheese on top and cooked them at 350 for 12 minutes.  They were so good, and not to bad for you, compared to the bacon wrapped scallops ;)   There are plenty of other great recipes for appies on Life Made Delicious that you should check out!  This is what I am thinking about making for Christmas morning, with bacon though of course.

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own!!

Pillsbury Chocolatey Crescents

We love chocolate, all of us do and really who doesn't!  The kids love to try and get me to serve dessert every night but I am not really into them eating dessert every night so we only have it sometimes.  I should admit though that sometimes for us is like 3 times a week :)  I try and do different things for dessert and don't love having the same thing again and again.  Sometimes I just give the kids some and then have sometime myself later on once the kids are in bed :)

When the kids found out that we got some coupons to try out the new Pillsbury Chocolate Crescents they were thrilled and hounded me for days until we had a spare second to make them.  Its not like they took long, only about 10 minutes from pulling the box out of the fridge to putting them in the oven but with soccer, going to their Dads and more it took up a good two weeks so do it :)  Its easy to say they were over the moon when we did pull that magic blue box out of the fridge.

Here are a few pics of us whipping it together, pretty easy, I think they could have even managed on their own, other than putting it in the hot oven.

Basically they involved a quick unroll of the dough, squeezing out some filling, rolling up, putting some chocolate filling on top and tossing in the oven.  For those of you who love a good and quick pastry chocolatey snack check them out, available in most grocery stores!

Disclosure – I am participating in the Life Made Delicious Ambassador Program by Mom Central Canada on behalf of General Mills. I received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion. The opinions on this blog are my own!

The dreaded rush for dinner and lunch making

We have been getting crazy busy around here.  Between the schedule of the kids going back and forth with their dad, soccer practice, working full time, and homework, baths, making lunches, and whatever else my poor mind can't remember right now dinner doesn't have a big presence every night.  Its not like we eat at the drive through all of the time either, nobody can afford that.  It just takes some planning and thinking and some more planning.  Being that I am super organized and love to plan this is great for me.

We try and do all of our grocery shopping on Monday's and then we can prep all of our perishables for the week.  I have a great veggie tray that I use, it has a tray on the bottom to allow for better air circulation and then the kids get to pick out which different kinds of fruit they want for the week.  Now that we aren't living so far out in the country anymore we have been also hitting up this amazing fruit and veggie stand to get some awesome goodies.  They taste so much better right out of the ground and are way cheaper.  I always thought that it was more expensive there but its actually way cheaper.  Double win :)

For lunches I do a big batch of muffins and cookies up, wrap them all up individually and then throw them into a big container in the freezer and when its time to make lunches or grab a snack the kids can pull one out, throw it in the microwave and eat it or throw it in their lunch and they are thawed by lunch, along with the yoplait tubes. 

 

I like to have cut up veggies with dinner every night, sometimes we do frozen or canned but while they are fresh and yummy and we have them on hand we prefer raw.  I just spend an hour or so on Monday afternoon, if I am off, and cut up all the veggies so they are ready to go and then I just pull out the tray at dinner time and pour some dip and the kids dig right in, its also great to put out if dinner is running late just to tide them over.

So my tips for dinner would be when you are making something that you can freeze, spaghetti sauce, meatloaf, Shepard's pie, most casseroles, homemade crisps and crumbles, and much more.  I like to make double and freeze half.  Then on the nights that I am running late from work or know we have something going on I can just defrost the meatloaf instead of just ground beef and save myself a lot of time.  Something else that I have been trying is to freeze it uncooked.  If you make meatloaf, a big hit around here, make two, freeze one raw, but totally ready to go in the oven and cook up the other one for dinner. 

 

Another great thing that I found that I have been loving is partially cooked buns.  They are only partially cooked so you grab however many you need for dinner, whether it be one or six and then pop them in the over with dinner for the last like 10 minutes.  They taste like fresh baked buns and all I did was take them out of the freezer :)

Do you have any great tips for me?

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own!

Yoplait joins the General Mills Family with a Giveaway

Did you know that Yoplait yogurt has been made in Canada since 1971?  I had no idea!  I love it though and its just another great reason to buy Yoplait!  I also found out that the great Yoplait Kids products, Yop, tubes and MiniGo contain no artificial flavours, sweeteners, or gelatin, other than Yop Vanilla Tropics which contains natural and artificial flavours.  They are also a great source of Vitamin D and Calcium, of course!

My kids love Yoplait, its our go to yogurt and I also love that I can usually find some great coupons online for them, which helps as well.  One of my favorite things to do with Yoplait tubes is to throw them right into the freezer.  They never go bad, not that they stick around long enough anyways.  They go into the kids lunch bag either the night before or in the morning, depending on how on the ball we are at making lunch's, and by lunchtime its thawed and nice and cold for lunch.  Both kids have been taking them almost everyday.

Have you tried Yoplait Source yet?  Not only is it yummy its great for you, even better than you may think.  Its only 35 calories per serving with no fat or sugar!  With over 30 flavours you are bound to find a new love!  Yoplait Yoptimal is another great choice, it has 40% more fruit than other brands and even contains 2 probiotics.

Yop has been a favorite of Kristina's for a few years and Brandon is getting into it now too!  I am sure he would have been before but I just imagined him spilling it all over my van so he never really got it!  Its the perfect breakfast for the kids when we are running late and don't have time sit and have toast or cereal or something.  Good for you and portable and that's perfect for us!

What have you guys been doing to get back into the back to school routine?  We have been going to bed at the same time every night, having dinner at a consistent time, emptying backpacks and lunches as soon as we get home so its not forgotten until morning.  Checking forms and homework when we get home before they are off playing.  We have also been doing as much outside time as we can before this weather changes.  The more energy they burn off before bed the better bedtime is going. 

I have a great giveaway for you Canadians from General Mills!  You will receive the same kit that I did, 4 yoplait coupons, post it notes, a pen, lunch bag and a journal.  Keep in mind that you can enter on as many blogs as you want but you can only win on one.

To Enter:

Tell me how you are getting back into the back to school routine!

(This must be done for additional entries to count)

Additional Entries:

- add my Fun and Funky Mommy button to your blog (2 entries)

- follow me publicly (2 entries)

- subscribe to Fun and Funky Mommy

- like me on facebook (leave your first name and last initial so I can find you)

- blog about this giveaway with a link to me

- follow me on twitter @Funfunkymommy AND tweet about this giveaway for one entry (can RT daily for another entry)

***Feel free to Retweet this***

Win a great package from Yoplait including some free product coupons! #LMDConnector #GMYoplait @Funfunkymommy http://tinyurl.com/9g87b7b

***** Contest will end on October 15th at 8:00 PM. I will use Random.org to choose the winner. The winner will have 72 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Make sure that your profile is set to public or that you include your email in your comments because if I can't get a hold of you can't win! Contest open to Canada only*****

Disclosure – I am participating in the Life Made Delicious Ambassador Program by Mom Central Canada on behalf of General Mills. I received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion. The opinions on this blog are my own!

Do you like it Hot? Old El Paco giveaway #LMDConnector

I had the opportunity to review the great new products from Old El Paso!  We are huge taco fans, the kids ask for tacos all the time.  I prefer the soft shells and the kids don't really care, they like both the hard and soft shells.  But now Old El Paso has come out with some great new products!  There is a new Extra Mild, Super Tasty Hard Taco Dinner Kit, a new Mild Taco Seasoning, and a new Hot & Spicy Fajita Dinner Kit!

Considering we have tacos about once a week it was easy to fit the new products into our meal plans.  We planted tomatoes again this year, I usually do a good 8-10 plants and so far they are producing about 1-2 babies every day and I am waiting until there is a big one or two one day to use those in our tacos.  The fresher the better!   Its nice to have some more variety when it comes to the taco kits, something a little different is always refreshing.  Now I hope you saw my facebook post about the awesome free product coupon from Old El Paso and hopefully you did it and now have one of those coupons in your hot little hand!  If you didn't get one you can snag a sweet $1 off coupons still!  

  Make sure when you go pick up your free taco kit that you try and grab one with a $4 coupon on it for chicken or ground beef.  Then the next time you go get a taco kit you can get some free or almost free chicken or beef!  Yes I am learning more and more about coupons :)   The great folks at Life Made Delicious and Old El Paco have a great giveaway for you!   You can win the same kit that I got including the three new products and a great dip it salsa bowl to make your table even more Mexican for Mexican night!  

To Enter:

 

Tell me if you managed to snag a coupon

(This must be done for additional entries to count)

 

Additional Entries:

 

- add my Fun and Funky Mommy button to your blog (2 entries)

- follow me publicly (2 entries)

- subscribe to Fun and Funky Mommy

- like me on facebook (leave your first name and last initial so I can find you)

- blog about this giveaway with a link to me

- follow me on twitter @Funfunkymommy AND tweet about this giveaway for one entry (can RT daily for another entry)

***Feel free to Retweet this***

Win a great Old El Paco kit from @Funfunkymommy #LMDConnector http://tinyurl.com/cduk3nk


***** Contest will end on Sept 20th at 8:00 PM. I will use Random.org to choose the winner. The winner will have 72 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Make sure that your profile is set to public or that you include your email in your comments because if I can't get a hold of you can't win! Contest open to Canada ONLY*****

You can enter on as many of the #LMDConnector blogs as you want but you can only win on one

Disclosure – I am participating in the Life Made Delicious Ambassador Program by Mom Central Canada on behalf of General Mills. I received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion. The opinions on this blog are my own!

To hot to cook!

As a part of the Life Made Delicious team, I get to cook up yummy different foods and write about them.  With how hot its been out for the last few weeks nobody seems to want to crank up the stove and start cooking.  I know we ordered pizza tonight because I didn't take anything out for dinner and it was far to hot.  Hot out of the oven dinners are not the only option out there though.  There are so many good recipes on Life Made Delicious for a nice refreshing cool dinner.

How do you feel about a Thai noodle salad with shrimp?  I can't handle much spice but you can alter how much spice is in this salad.  The kids and I love prawns, we could eat them everyday.  Lucky for us my girlfriend and her husband catch a lot of prawns and keep us filled up with prawns.

How about broccoli salad with steak or hot dogs on the grill, I am a huge broccoli salad fan.  Lots of floret's, stems to because they are so tasty, grapes, bacon, not the fake stuff, and some toasted almonds.  Some coleslaw dressing and you are done.  So good, Brandon and I love it and eat if for breakfast lunch and dinner!

Another great easy salad is fruit salad.  There are so many different fruit salad recipes on Life Made Delicious to choose from.  We love fruit salad, great for a quick breakfast, to pack for lunches and even to go with anything for dinner.  I am off to pick some cherries with the kids tonight and am going to can some of them as a fruit salad.  Just cherries, they are the best part of the store bought fruit salad so I am going to pit them and throw them in the jars and add a light syrup.  Then all winter whenever we want to have fruit salad we can just open the jar, drain, and pour in some delicious cherries.  So much easier than the cherry jam I made last year without a pitter :)  Horrible idea!

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own!

Victoria Day Weekend

My mom, the kids and I went down island to the big old city of Victoria for Victoria day weekend.  Fitting I know :)  My brother and I used to go down with my Mom every Easter weekend as kids, well almost, and now my Mom and Kristina try and go every Victoria weekend.  This year, after the great Easter that ended in a separation, I thought it would be a good idea for the kids and I to all go with my Mom for a nice relaxing weekend away.

We had an amazing time, don't get me wrong, but man its exhausting being the only parent.  My Mom was great but its not the same as being with the other parent.  It was amazing, fun, and such a good time, just exhausting.  I may have fallen asleep at 9:00 the second night :)

Totally want to try making this!!

Now this is a Life Made Delicious post after all so I should get to the good old food part.  The truth of the matter is, even though we staying in my Dad's trailer, he works down there during the week, we didn't cook a single thing.  The kids had cereal for breakfast before we would go out for breakfast but not one single bit of cooking took place.  It was heaven.  All we had to decide was where to go and what to order.  Oh and we quickly realized that Brandon doesn't like to eat out three meals a day like Kristina did so much at 4.

He was great just not as quiet as she had been ;)

Now that we are home again and back into our routines we are back to some old favorites that I like to tweak a little bit for Summer time.  I am loving my meatloaf recipe right now.  Well I don't really have a recipe I basically just wing it.  A package of ground beef, an egg, some oats instead of bread crumbs, my Mom is wheat free, some onion, garlic, and some shredded veggies, the more hidden the better and some grated cheese.  I bake it at 350 degrees for about an hour.  Once its about 3/4 cooked I drain off some fat and then add the topping.  1/2 cup ketchup, a tablespoon or two of mustard and two table spoons of brown sugar, mixed well and added to the top.  My kids are asking for this all the time.  I throw together a quick Caesar salad or coleslaw, sometimes a bun and we are set!  It takes under 10 minutes to make and then we are out of the kitchen playing games until its ready!

What are your favorite recipes right now?  Check out some great BBQ recipes on Life Made Delicious!

Summer is coming, come on Summer

I have been loving the weather we had the week before the long weekend.  So warm out everyday, warm enough that while on a conference call in the yard I got a wee bit of a sunburn.  Oops, I seem to do that every year.  One at the beginning of the season and then I smarten up and break out the sunscreen.  At least I only do it to myself and not the kids :)

One of my favorite things to make in the Summer is grilled sockeye, thanks to the kids Dad and my girlfriend who are all about landing all the fish we and our families can eat.  Grilled up on the BBQ with a few spices on top or some soya sauce, sweet chili sauce and honey is a delicious way to eat it.  I love to make up a nice big broccoli salad to go along side it. 

The plate is full of nice colors and is so tasty that the kids and I eat it all up.  Throw some rice or a hunk of fresh sourdough bread alongside it and its a great meal.  I love broccoli salad and usually make up a nice big one and eat it for a few days until its all gone.  I like to use the stems, I learned only a few years ago, don't laugh, that the stems taste sooooo good, I used to just throw them out :)  I like to add some seeds of some sort for some extra crunch, bacon, lots of bacon, grapes of course and you can add raisins, but I don't like those, and of course some homemade sauce.  About a cup of mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vinegar, give or take of course.

Mix and serve, delish!  Even the kids will ask for seconds!

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Smoothies

The kids LOVE their smoothies.  I have been working my way through the freezer full of fresh fruit that we picked last Summer and we are almost out!  Its a good thing there will more soon enough.  Smoothies make a great breakfast and a great snack.  You can put almost anything into a smoothie and they are hard to ruin!

Brandon's favorite changes from day to day.  We start with yogurt and add some juice or milk, lots of fruit and mix till its good and smooth.  Its certainly not an original recipe that's for sure but it works great for us.  One thing I like to watch is to not add to many raspberries or blackberries because then you end up with to many seeds.

My girlfriend has an amazing smoothie recipe that uses flavored tofu, like mango, with mango's and it is sooooooo good.  I am not a tofu fan but whenever she hides it in a recipe I love it every time :)   Check out some more great recipes here on Life Made Delicious!  The bottom one has Cheerios in it :)

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own!

General Mills and Oasis - great deals

So now that its just me and the kids I am couponing more and more.  I only have so much money every month and now I need it to stretch ever further.  When I can get a good deal on something I tend to stock up.  Especially when its something that we eat a lot.

The kids have cereal for breakfast almost everyday.  Both kids, and me with my Honey Nut Cheerios, so that's a lot of cereal.  I have been finding lots of great cereal coupons lately and to make it even better some cereals come with great coupons on the box.  Right now you can buy Cheerios 400g, Honey Nut Cheerios 460g, Multi Grain Cheerios 390g or Oatmeal Crisp cereal 425-505g and you will get a coupon on the box for a free Oasis smoothie 1.75l or a few other 1.75l oasis juices.



There are also coupons for the Oasis classic juice or juice boxes on Lucky Charms, Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, Nesquik, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Reese Puffs, French Toast Crunch, Banana Nut Cheerios, or Chocolate Cheerios! You can't get a better deal than that!

I have already picked up a few, cereal lasts forever, if you can keep the kids from eating it all, and the coupons are good for a while!  Time to hit up the store!  Check out more great offers from Life Made Delicious here!

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Coupon Coupon Coupon

I love coupons lol, I am sure I have told you guys that but what I love even more is sharing coupons with all of you!  Some coupons are for things that you think, I will never use that, and some you think, wow, I could use 5 of those!  Hopefully this will be one of the latter ones.  Ever since the fabulous crew over at Life Made Delicious sent me some of their tortillas I haven't eaten a single hard taco.  I still will break up a hard taco shell over the taco salad I will take with me to work but now I always go for the soft taco.  They are so good for Brandon too. 

Brandon can not easily eat a hard taco, he loves them so he really really really tries but after a bite, maybe two, it crumbles and is everywhere.  He gets frustrated and just wants to eat it.  Now that I am so into the tortillas that's what Brandon gets too.  He loves that he can eat his entire taco without it ending up everywhere and of course having the same as Mommy goes a long ways too.  Kristina only wants what Daddy is having though on the other hand :)

I guess the whole point of my post is to let you know about the great new coupons from Life Made Delicious!  If you click on this link, you can get a coupon for $1 off Old El Paso medium or large tortillas.  Make sure you grab some to try on your next Mexican night!

Don't forget to check out Life Made Delicious for all your Easter Recipes!

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Happy birthday to my Hubby

So it was my hubbys birthday on Sunday, he needed cake, but hes allergic to wheat.  Because I am a horrible wife I was out of his new favorite cake, Betty Crocker gluten free chocolate cake.  So I just made him a boring old wheat free cake and then made everyone else some new Betty Crocker Red Velvet Cupcakes!  They were very easy to make which was a good thing!

I work outside the house Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights and then all day Saturday and Sunday.  Lets just say I love Mondays :)  Its hard on both Kris and I now, but we don't have to pay for daycare, this way one of us is always home with the kids and we figure that once the kids are both in school then him and I can spend some time together again :)

Anyways, back to my point, we had everyone over for cake on Sunday night so the plan was to make cake and the cupcakes on Saturday night and then ice them on Sunday night right before everyone came over.  We ended up going on an impromptu date on Saturday night and my girlfriend babysat so of course we stayed up visiting with her when we got home from dinner so that put us a bit further behind again.  We also brought home ice cream so good luck getting the kids to bed after that.

Brandon was still up, at about 10:00 when I started the cupcakes, please don't judge me, and so we got started.  It was pretty easy, added a few things and mixed it up.  That's Brandon's favorite part.  I don't know what we did before the Kitchen Aid mixer because he works it better than I do. Baking with kids is the best, and I know he will remember it because he loves it so much!   He mixed it all up good and I poured it into my silicone baking cups, seriously love those as well, and then threw them in the oven.  We put the kids to bed and then hubby disappeared to bed and cleaned up the house, did the dishes, made his cake and then pulled them both out to cool.  It was an extra long night.

The cupcakes and cake were a huge hit.  Everyone loved the Red Velvet cupcakes.  How could you not, cream cheese icing, thank goodness it came in the box.  All I had to do was ice the cake right after I chowed down dinner on Sunday right before people were pulling into the driveway.  Then just cut off the tip of the icing bag and iced the Red Velvet cupcakes up in about 2 minutes!  You know it was rushed when I didn't even have time to snap a pic of the finished cupcakes and hubby usually takes pics of singing so clearly that didnt' happen :)

They were all gone before the party was over, no leftovers for me :(  If you want to try them you should do it soon as they are only here for a limited time. 

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Cheerios - Giveaway

So because it is Heart month with Cheerios I have a great giveaway for all of you Canadians!  Its only going for one week but here it is, don't waste any time entering this one!

The Cheerios Giveaway kit is valued at approximately $50 and includes: a set of four heart shaped blows, Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, and the brand new family sized Chocolate Cheerios!!

To Enter:

Share a heart health tip or a Cheerios heart healthy recipe! (You can enter on as many blogs as you want but you can only win on one)

(This must be done for additional entries to count)

Additional Entries:

- add my Fun and Funky Mommy button to your blog (2 entries)

- follow me publicly (2 entries)

- subscribe to Fun and Funky Mommy

- like me on facebook (leave your first name and last initial so I can find you)

- blog about this giveaway with a link to me

- follow me on twitter @Funfunkymommy AND tweet about this giveaway for one entry (can RT daily for another entry)

***Feel free to Retweet this***

Win a $50 Cheerios prize pack @Funfunkymommy #CheeriosHeartMonth http://tinyurl.com/775a7ow


 
***** Contest will end on March 1st at 8:00 PM. I will use Random.org to choose the winner. The winner will have 72 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Make sure that your profile is set to public or that you include your email in your comments because if I can't get a hold of you can't win! Contest open to Canada ONLY*****

Disclaimer: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Connector program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Happy Valentines Day

Well was your Valentines Day all you hoped for?  I had a pretty laid back night, we aren't to big into Valentines Day.  We got the kids some chocolates but that was about it.  Occasionally Kris will buy me chocolates or we will make a nice dinner, usually at home but Valentines Day is usually so overdone and crazy out that its just not worth it.  I always told him that I would rather have a dozen red roses on the 15th of February than any on Valentines Day. 

All we did was have a nice dinner at home and relax.  What did you guys all get up too?  If you are more like me and would rather cook your lobster yourself and get a coupon for a movie out then listen up!

Once again this year the good people at General Mills have partnered with their friends at Cineplex to offer Canadian families an excuse to get out of the house and enjoy a movie or snacks! How great is it to get a bonus for buying something you already love?  Not just that – but this year they’ve made it easier than ever to redeem the on-pack offer!!  All you do is make sure you have your code(s) handy and  go to cineplex.com to get your free movie tickets. Go back as often as you like with your new code(s) – the FREE** Movie Offer is valid until May 31st.

I have already collected one!  Can't wait to get my hands on some more! 

Tell me about your Valentines Day, was it romantic, or are you more like me and waiting for the free movie tickets to go out? :)

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own!

Its Heart Month!

February is Heart month, its time for Jump rope for Heart and what better timing for the launch of the new Cheerios.ca site!   Now before we get to far into the new Cheerios site are you drooling with excitement over the latest Betty Crocker product launch?   Red Velvet Cupcakes!!!   The first nationally branded product of it’s kind and only available in Canada!  If you’d like to get your hands on a box of this goodness, run don't walk to your local grocery store and pick some up, its only available for a limited time so get some or lots and stock up now :)

Cheerios are a staple in almost all homes.  They are a great first food for babies/toddlers, kids love them, and they are great for those of us who are heart healthy and needing to keep our cholesterol down.  Now Cheerios are not just for cereal, there are so many great treats that you can make with them!  Here are a few of my favorites!

Of course you can use Cheerios in a Chex mix, but have you thought to put them on top of yogurt, or maybe a honey nut smoothie?  Who knew that you could use them to make muffins or burgers?!?!

Here is the muffin recipe, it looks sooooo good!

Ingredients:

1 cup (250 mL) mashed ripe bananas

2/3 cups (150 mL) milk

3 tbsp (45 mL) vegetable oil

1 egg

2 cups (500 mL) CHEERIOS* cereal, finely crushed

1 1/4 cups (300 mL) all-purpose or whole wheat flour

3/4 cups (175 mL) raisins

1/3 cup (75 mL) brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp (12 mL) baking powder

Method:

•Heat oven to 400°F (200°C). Spray bottoms of 12 regular size muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray.

•Combine bananas, milk, oil and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients until just moistened. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

•Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes and remove from pan.

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Fiber 1 Chill Challenge

Well its been a month since I posted :(  I can't believe its been that long but I have not been online as much as I used to be since Jan 1st as I have been working on my New Years Resolution :)  I quit smoking!!!  Go me!  I used to take my laptop with me when I would head out for a smoke so I spent a lot more time online before and have been trying to stay busier and off my but to keep from smoking.  So far so good, its been 27 days and I now can consider myself a non smoker!

If your New Years Resolution was to get in better shape then I have a great challenge for you.  The Fiber 1 Chill Challenge is Presented by our friends at the Running Room.  The Fibre 1 Chill Challenge is an opportunity to get active by walking or running for 20 minutes, on Wednesday February 29th.  PLUS as bonus, the first 10,000 people to register will get a free toque!  Abandon the hibernation and get outside - click here for more information!

How great is that?  Another way to motivate yourself and keep yourself going.  Also don't forget to check out Life Made Delicious when looking for some high fiber recipes, and healthy meal ideas!

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

We are down to crunch time folks

Well, we are 4 sleeps away, I can't believe how fast Christmas has come his year.  I know I know people say that all the time but this is the first year that it has snuck up on me this fast.  I guess its because we have so much going on right now.  Between working 30 hours a week, couponing, blogging and raising two kids and a small husband :) we have been crazy.  I am certainly not complaining but man oh man we are busy :)

I know that we are not alone though and that this is the life of so many.  Because so many of us Moms feel like this we all need to have an arsenal of great, simple, fast and easy recipes that we can whip up on a moments notice.  That's how I have been feeling on my days off, oh no its 4:30, Kris will be home soon and I still haven't taken anything out for dinner, what are we going to have. 

Baking too, holy cow, we do so much more baking this time of year and how so you fit it all in with the shopping, wrapping, visiting and everything else that has ended up on your to do list.  Well with only 4 more sleeps I have some great recipes to share with on behalf of Life Made Delicious!

How easy and delicious do these would be, and they double as a great gift!

Christmas Handprint Cookies

Ingredients:


1 pouch (496 g) Betty Crocker* Sugar Cookie Mix

1/2 cup (125 mL) butter or margarine, melted

1 egg

Food colouring

Method:


•Heat oven to 375°F (190°C) for shiny metal baking sheet or 350°F (180°C) for dark or non-stick baking sheet. Stir cookie mix, melted butter and egg in medium bowl until soft dough forms. Chill dough until firm.

•Depending on the size of the hand, take 3 tbsp (45 mL) to 1/4 cup (50 mL) of cookie dough and shape into ball. Place child's hand on ball and press down until handprint is taken. Using metal lifter, transfer to baking sheet.

•Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from baking sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

•Paint handprint with a mixture of 1 tsp (5 mL) water and 3-4 drops favourite food colouring.

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own!

Wow them, easily!

It's time to start all of that Holiday baking, well if you haven't already that is.  I know that I should have started, and wanted to start, about 2 weeks ago but still haven't.  It always creeps up on me this time of year just how much there is going on and how much there is to do in such a short amount of time.  You not only have all of your regular daily food to cook you have to bring appies and desserts to school functions, staff parties and nights out not to mention the gifts and fancy party clothes to pick out!

We don't always have time to whip up a few dozen treats the night before your child tells you that they are signed up to bring treats to school.  What about when you work all day and need to take an appy out for after work?

What all of us need is a stack of easy recipes that we can call on when we are stuck like that!  I also love baking in advance, which I am still trying to do, freeze it all and then you can pull it out and ice it etc the night before or the morning that you need it.  I am thinking that sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies will be great like this.  You pop them out of the freezer and then ice them, soooo good. 

The Life Made Delicious site, that I am sure you have checked out by now, has lots of great easy Holiday recipes on it now.  There is also another one called three steps to wow and its fabulous!  Time to break out the printer or old school pen and paper and mark down your favoties!  You start with Pilsbury cookie dough or some Pilsbury Cresent rolls dough and add a few quick and easy things.  Here are some of my favorites!

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.