reviews

pork makes a party easy *GIVEAWAY*

Melissa 98 Comments

I am thrilled to be partnering with the National Pork Board this year in honor of National Pork Month. (Didn’t know pork has it’s own month? Today is also National Kick Butt Day, in case you were wondering.)

To celebrate October as National Pork Month, Costco is offering discounts on top pork cuts from chops and roasts to pork tenderloin and boneless loins. Costco members can take advantage of weekly savings ranging from $2.00-$2.50.

Between October 8 and October 14, Sirloin Tip Roast is $2.00 off. Available only at Costco, the sirloin tip roast is a flavorful, marbled cut perfect for the slow cooker and great for entertaining. Not only does this slow-cooking, low-maintenance roast give the host more time to actually enjoy the party, it also comfortably feeds a big crowd on a small budget.

We love pork – just last week, I made a honey mustard pork tenderloin that was divine! Pork is easy, inexpensive and makes great leftovers! Check out this great video sharing a recipe for Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Slow Cooked Pork . YUM!!!

Want to head to Costco and take advantage of this fabulous sale?

WIN IT!

I’m giving away a $50 Costco Cash Card plus a meat thermometer to one lucky winner. If you’re not a member, you can use your cash card to join! To enter, simply watch the video above and tell us your favorite part in the comments.

Additional entries:
(please leave an additional comment for each entry completed)

2. Follow Melissa on Twitter and tweet:

I entered to win a $50 Costco Giftcard from @MelissaAngert #PorkParty http://girlymama.com/?p=5397

One winner will be selected at random using the WordPress plug-in And The Winner Is… and will be notified by email. Please have a U.S. Mailing address. For other contest rules, see my giveaway policies page.

 

Disclosure: This post is part of a campaign with The National Pork Board and The Motherhood. I am receiving a stipend for my participation. Opinions remain my own.

dealing with arthritis – exercise is key!

Melissa

Today the lovely Sam from Have Sippy Will Travel is guest posting for us on her struggle with RA. She’s a fabulous girl with a huge heart, who I’m always so happy to see, so I hope you’ll welcome her to Girlymama!!

I love to exercise. Maybe not in all it’s forms- but I enjoy sports (playing, not watching!) yoga, Zumba, pilates, and doing the circuit on even days at the gym. The release of stress, working up a healthy sweat, all in a child-free environment is something I look forward to. Just keep those “spinning” bikes away from me and we are all good.

One thing that I don’t love about exercise is the pain I often feel due to my arthritis. Being young, most people don’t expect that someone my age can have this issue. For me, arthritis came with an auto-immune disease in my early 20’s, and has been a struggle since. Mostly, it is in my fingers, wrists, and knees- but with regular movement, and learning how to take care of my body with proper joint, muscle, and bone care, I have learned to manage the pain and swelling.

There is no known cure for Arthritis, the nations leading cause of disability. Impacting one in every five adults, and affecting millions worldwide, The Arthritis Foundation wants to encourage all Americans to take simple steps that will prevent or decrease the pain and disability of arthritis. The Foundation is launching the Take Action Against Arthritis initiative in support of World Arthritis Day on October 12, 2012. Observed every year on Oct. 12 since 1996, World Arthritis Day is part of a global awareness initiative by the United Nations-endorsed Bone and Joint Decade.

Take care of yourself and your joints. For myself, daily yoga has been enormously helpful, as have been supplements like chondroitin and glucosamine. Check out fightarthritispain.org/worldarthritisday to learn more about osteoarthritis, and tips to keep your body healthy. Easy changes can make all the difference- no one should be in pain all day.

corolle picks: 2-in-1 carriage and tidoo baby dolls

Melissa

I’m so very proud to announce that I’ve been recently named as a Corolle Ambassador!

We just love Corolle in our house – I’m sure I’ve mentioned them several times here already! We’ve had several dolls that are just favorites of my girls – they have outlasted other dolls like you wouldn’t believe! Corolle is a premium doll brand designed in France, whose faces are sculpted in the likeness of real babies.They are life like, adorable, sweet and all the dolls have a fresh vanilla scent – its just lovely. For the next few months, Gracie and I will be covering tons of Corolle’s products just in time for the holidays!

Two of our favorite Corolle products? The 2-in-1 Carriage and Tidoo Poppy!

The 2-in-1 Carriage ($100) is just darling. It makes me want to go for a walk in Central Park! Its the nicest, most well made doll carriage/stroller I’ve seen! It converts from a carriage to a carry bed so its like two products in one. It fits up to 17-inch dolls, folds for easy storage and is very easy to assemble, taking us less than 5 minutes to pop on wheels and add the sunshade.

We just love the Tidoo line of dolls ($40). Unlike most dolls, they don’t end up moldy because they either don’t empty fully or they are really not meant to be immersed. But Tidoo is specifically designed for bathtime as it’s filled with polystyrene beads that dry quickly. Not only that, but Tidoo floats, has a little pacifier and sucks its thumb. Tidoo comes in several versions: four pink, Tidoo Candy, Tidoo Raspberry, Tidoo Grenadine, Tidoo Suce-Pouce in Pajamas, more gender-neutral Tidoo Turquoise and Tidoo Poppy, and the African-American Tidoo Graceful (also in pink pajamas).

Disclosure: I’m a brand ambassador for Corolle this holiday season. These samples were provided to us to facilitate our reviews. As always, all thoughts and opinions are our own.

try this: pork chops with rose romano’s peppers

Melissa 2 Comments

Just last week, I got a lovely package in the mail containing four jars of Rose Romano’s Italian Peppers, so I planned my meals this week using them!
As a busy working mom, with three kids involved in way too many activities, one of my biggest challenges is getting a healthy, yummy dinner on the table every night. As long as I plan ahead by getting my weekly menu set up and having my grocery list up to date, I’m usually good. On Sunday, for example, we grilled burgers for dinner. Then, after we were done, I threw on some pork chops for the next day. All I had to do was heat them up and dinner would be well on its way.

So last night, I decided to heat up the grilled pork chops in some Rose Romano’s Italian Pepper Marinana with Red Bell Pepper. I had to have a taste while it was simmering on my stove, making my whole kitchen smell divine, and could only yell, “YUM!” The sauce was rich and layered with garlic, onion and those yummy peppers – it was just slightly sweet, but not overly so. (I would love to taste a spicy version of Rose Romano’s eventually!)

I served it with roasted broccoli tossed with garlic and roasted potatoes – dinner was on the table in just about 30 minutes. The verdict from the family?

TWO THUMBS UP! Everyone (even my little one who refused to try it at first and normally hates marinara) gobbled it up and asked me to make it again soon.  I love how Rose Romano’s allows me to get quality meals to my family quickly – all with all natural ingredients and no preservatives. I’m betting we’ll be seeing this on every grocery store very soon!

Linked up to:

Gluten Free Recipe Roundup via Musings of a Housewife

disclosure: i received product to facilitate this post. all opinions are my own and yumminess is not exaggerated.

bona hardwood floor mop

Melissa

This weekend we came home from our trip to find out that our mighty hunter kittens had two… shall we say “victories”… while we were gone. Can I get a collective “ewwww” from the peanut gallery?

Thank you. My thoughts exactly. Nothing gets me in a cleaning frenzy like when we get escapees from the woods behind our house!

So it was the perfect time to break out my Bona Hardwood Floor Mop to scrub those floors squeaky clean! Bona is a premium spray mop that includes a Microfiber Mop and Bona Hardwood Refill Cartridge all in one!

The Bona Hardwood Floor Mop arrived in 4 pieces, and took less than 5 minutes to put together. Instructions were crystal clear and it was very easy. I used it on my floors – that I had just vacuumed and looked perfectly clean – and the microfiber cloth was super dirty. Totally gross. I can’t believe how dirty the floor actually was! The cleaner worked amazingly well and I love the microfiber – just throw it in the washer and no waste. The cleaner smelled pleasant – not overpowering – and I love the size of the cloths. They are huge! I was able to clean all the floors in no time!

One thing that had me hesitating about the Bona system was the cost – special pads and cleaners?? How much is this going to cost me? But actually, I can find all the pads and cleaners in the local Target and they cost much less than I would have guessed! Replacement pads are about $8 and the cleaning solution is only $9 for 28.75 ounces.  Very doable, especially as the pads are reusable for awhile and I felt like I barely made a dent in the cleaning solution even after a heavy cleaning.

And the best part?? Bona waterborne floor cleaners are safe for floors, families, and the environment and GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certified. Bona’s specially-developed non-toxic and biodegradable formula also limits the harmful effects of downstream pollution. LOVE this!!

I highly recommend the Bona Hardwood Floor Mop!

disclosure: i received a bona mop to facilitate this post. as always, all opinions are my own.

all i want… is to get away

Melissa

Last week we went away for a weekend.We left our computers and work at home and went away together. Somehow, that three days was more relaxing than our last week-long vacation where were were answering emails and phone calls and (basically) still working while we were there. It reminded me how important it is for us to get away from it all.

At BlogHer, I attended a lovely event hosted by Trumpting Media in New York City that had Beaches Resorts as one of the sponsors. And as I chatted with friends about our trip to Beaches Negril… I was immediately dreaming about going back and unwinding for a few days.

 

Doesn’t that look heavenly?

I could so go for some relaxing on a beach right now. Or some eating in yummy restaurants every day.  Or some swimming with dolphins. Or getting tucked in my Elmo. We cannot recommend Beaches Resorts highly enough!

Next time we want to head to Beaches Turks and Caicos. We fell in love with snorkeling in Negril and we’ve heard that Turks and Caicos has some of the best snorkeling in the world! My newly certified scuba diver husband found out that Beaches Turks & Caicos vacation puts you at the epicenter of a collection of world-famous dive sites that are ranked among the top two in the world by Scuba Dive magazine. Now he is DYING to go there!

Part of me wants to go back just with my husband, for a romantic getaway. But we had so SO much fun with our kids that I can hardly imagine going back without them! It was amazing to just relax and unwind with our kids. The kids kept saying how much fun we were being – its incredible how freeing it is to not have to worry about those details that we parents constantly have on our minds. We were able to just enjoy our kids and enjoy being together as a family.

Someday soon…

 

disclosure: i attended this event and received a gift bag as a thank you. we visited beaches negril as part of a press trip and had a portion of our expenses covered.

“glad” for back to school lunchtime!

Melissa 1 Comment

Its the first week of school. (Didn’t we just do this?) Time to get back into the swing of things making lunches for everyone every night. Last year, I decided that our lunches were not only boring, but wasteful. My kids like lunches with lots of variety. But that meant a small bag of grapes, a small bag of blueberries, a small bag of crackers, a small bag of cheese, a small bag of cookies… That’s a lot of plastic bags getting thrown away every day. So I decided to switch to reusable containers. I considered bento boxes, but there were so expensive and I wanted to have at least 2 per kid, so I could work ahead when we’re extra busy.

I started using Glad storage containers and silicone muffin cups – instead of spending $100+ on bento boxes, I had enough for two days of lunches for three kids for around $25. My kids love their lunches – I pack them up the night or two before and every day they get something new and different. They’ve even told me their friends are jealous – and that they’ve convinced their moms to make lunches like this!

Every other night, I set up an assembly line of fruit, veggies and lunch supplies and go to town!

My oldest is a huge fan of wraps. Her favorites are turkey and cheese and veggie. She is a huge veggie lover, so her lunch always has lots to munch on. Sometimes I put a small container of ranch dressing for her to dip veggies in, as well.

turkey and cheese wrap, celery sticks, yellow pepper strips, raspberries, cucumbers & grape tomatoes

My other daughter hates sandwiches. Her favorite things to bring are salad or leftovers, like soup or chili. She has a little insulated thermos for leftovers and we use a small snack container for her salads – they’re the perfect size for her appetite. This is one of her favorite Quinoa Salad, which I paired with some fruits and veggies. When she brings things like chili, her box contains things like shredded cheese and a few tortilla chips as well.

quinoa salad, celery sticks, yellow pepper strips, bing cherries, cucumbers, grape tomatoes and raspberries

My son loves either salami sandwiches or cheese and crackers for school (since school is a no peanut butter zone). And his favorite “cheese sticks”.

salami sandwich on whole wheat, cucumbers, celery sticks, yellow pepper strips, blackberries, grape tomatoes and string cheese

My kids love their fancy lunches – they really don’t take any longer to make. I usually stop at the farmer’s market once a week to stock up on fresh veggies and fruit and spend a bit of time before the school week starts washing and chopping so everything is ready to go for lunches that week. Glad makes my food prep and storage and transport easy as pie! I love how easy it is – I can just throw everything in the dishwasher – and they are so inexpensive that its not a big deal if one gets misplaced at school. And they’re BPA-free to boot!

Do you have great tips and tricks for getting healthy lunches into your kids every day? Share your Back to School recipes, tips and ideas on the “Mom Made” promotion on the Glad Facebook page before August 31st and you’ll be eligible to win a lunch kit for your kids’ entire class!

I have partnered with The Glad Products Company through DailyBuzz Moms to help promote their Food Storage products. I have been compensated for my time commitment to review this product. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Thank you GLAD!

mug it up with dunkin’ donuts

Melissa 4 Comments

A few weeks ago, my coffeemaker broke. Let’s just say is was a rough couple of days. I was in mourning. It had been with me through sleepless nights, 60-hour work weeks and jet-lag. I even brought my coffeemaker ON VACATION WITH ME. No joke.
My relationship with coffee is deep and its real. I make at least 5 cups a day. But I don’t drink that much.

Let me explain.

I always make a cup of coffee first thing every morning. But I usually only get through half that cup before misplacing it somewhere as I try to get the family out of the house. Then I make another cup, that I’m drinking as I do some chores. Which I then misplace. Then I sit down at my desk to work. Typically I can keep track of this cup, since I’m not moving and all.  Then I get my afternoon cup of flavored coffee (My fav is Dunkin’ Donuts Mocha!)

I find coffee cups in the strangest places… the windowsill of the bathroom, on the bookshelf in the family room, my son’s dresser, outside on the front steps, on the shelf over the washing machine, in the waiting room of music lessons… Ask my husband, as this is one of his favorite things about me and it doesn’t drive him crazy AT ALL. I did a quick spin around the house and found three mugs this morning:

Its really bad when he travels for work and there isn’t a helpful spouse to go around and collect my half-finished coffee cups that are sprinkled around the house and load them in the dishwasher. Then I have that horrible moment when I go to make my afternoon-pick-me-up-cup-of-coffee and there are no more mugs left. Then I have to go around and try to find them or resort to using a Christmas travel mug in August.

Do you have a favorite mug? Now through August 26, Dunkin’ Donuts coffee fans are invited to enter the Dunkin’ Donuts Mug Up Promotion – you can upload a picture of you and your favorite mug and win some fabulous prizes!! Mug Up Promotion by uploading a photo of themselves with their mug of coffee to www.dunkinathome.com. All eligible entries will be entered in six weekly and one Grand Prize drawings… win a one-year supply of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee or Dunkin’ Donuts coffee mugs or grocery gift cards!! (Which I would totally use to buy more coffee. Did I mention I drink a lot of coffee??)

I will totally enter as soon as I find my coffee mug! Now where did it go…..

disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Dunkin’ Donuts packaged coffee and received product samples and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

elmo’s alphabet challenge

Melissa

You know how much we love Elmo! So we were excited to head up to NYC last week to see a screening of the new DVD, Elmo’s Alphabet Challenge. How excited? THIS EXCITED!

The new 45 minute video was completely adorable and the kids were laughing hysterically. So fun. Elmo, Abby & Telly are transported into Abby’s “Fly Pad” (iPad) – and must conquer and win a series of Alphabet Challenges in order to safely return to Sesame Street. Parents will appreciate the humor of each of the video games too – they work their way through Angry Birds (“Angry Words”), Pacman, MarioKart and even Just Dance. So funny!


Kids will LOVE Elmo’s Alphabet Challenge! And you can download the FREE Elmo’s Alphabet Challenge app too! Play games and your DVD will activate other features of the app too.

Then, THEN we got a special performance by Elmo and Abby! We played the Alphabet Game and sang songs!

We were so excited to meet Elmo and Abby:

Even Mommy and Daddy got to get in on the action!

It was such a fabulous event – the kids had a blast. We had hardly walked in the door of our house when they were begging to watch the “Alphabet Challenge” again! This is great for preschool kids, like Colin, who are learning letters and letter sounds. I’ve been working on this with his over the summer – and a love that he can practice what he’s learning by watching Alphabet Challenge!!

 

disclosure: thank you to sesame street for inviting us to this preview screening event. we received a free copy of the movie to bring home. as always, all thoughts and opinions are our own.

back-to-school with libby’s *giveaway*

Melissa 30 Comments

Back-to-School means reading, ‘riting, recess and running around like a crazy person. I was looking at our schedule and realized that we have something almost every night. Dance classes, Girl Scouts, music lessons, soccer practice… not to mention how my husband and I both work and have busy schedules as well!

One of the biggest challenges for me when school ramps up is finding time to get healthy food into my kids. Lunches are easy – I pack them the night before and fill them with fruits, veggies and their favorite sandwiches and wraps. When we only have 20 minutes for dinner or – better – when we’re eating in the car between Girl Scouts and Ballet lessons, I need food that is both healthy and easy.

I was so thrilled when Libby’s Fruits & Vegetables sent me their Single-Serve Fruit Cups – perfect for lunchboxes and after-to-school snacking. The 6 oz. single-serve cups some in four varieties: come in diced peaches, diced pears, mixed fruit and cherry mixed fruit. I checked them out and was so glad to see that these snacks have no additives. There are no gels, creams or other unhealthy additives, and each cup is just 120 calories! I read all the labels and saw only fruit, sugar (not HFSC), Vitamin C and natural flavor. Nice!!

WIN IT

Libby’s wants to help YOU get ready for Back-to-School!! You can win a prize pack that includes a SkipHop Zoo Lunchies insulated lunch bag, a Snack Taxi Red reusable sandwich bag, a Lunchbots Duo Stainless Steel Food Container and Libby’s Single Serve Fruit Cups! You’ll be all set for back-to-school!!

 

To enter to win, tell us your favorite after school snack!

Additional entries:
(please leave an additional comment for each entry completed)

2. Follow Libby’s Table on Twitter.

3. Follow Melissa on Twitter.

4. Subscribe to Girlymama daily updates either through your favorite RSS Reader or via email.

One winner will be selected at random using the WordPress plug-in And The Winner Is… and will be notified by email. Please have a U.S. Mailing address. For other contest rules, see my giveaway policies page.

 

disclosure: i received the giveaway items as a thank you for running this giveaway. as always, all opinions are my own.

**GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**