Mealplan Monday

Another week another meal plan!! This week I start off with smoked chicken leftovers from a fun cookout this weekend. I'll be turning that into Brunswick stew along with some leftover bratwurst and corn on the cob. Check the links for any inspiration recipes I may be using.

Pretzel buns I made last week!! These were amazing as buns for our smoked chicken sandwiches!

Monday
  Brunswick Stew
    -This is a fun dish I make to my liking now no real recipe we follow. The broth is a mix of canned tomatoes (diced and include juice), BBQ sauce (homemade or bottle), and a bit of vinegar (ACV even) for tanginess. Mine usually includes potatoes, smoked meats, corn, lima beans, and carrots/celery/peppers as we happen to have them on hand.

Tuesday
   Bourbon chicken over brown rice with roasted broccoli
 
Wednesday
   Baked marinara pasta with ground beef
    - this week I'm not doing spaghetti but another random pasta shape. Wednesday is our fast nigt as Nolan eats before soccer!

Thursday
     Salisbury style meatballs over mashed potatoes with carrots
   - I've made these before with a little of my own twist to the recipe but they are amazing and everyone asks for more. All kids ate and hubby too no complaints!!

Friday
     This is our easy peasey night as hubby won't be eating with us. I might even do frozen pizza... gasp!!

SAHE Silicone Baking Sheets

I recently got to try out SAHE's silicone baking sheets. These are available on Amazon and ship for free with Prime membership. The two pack ave a woven material layer sandwiched between two thin layers of silicone. The silicone while not actually sticky has a very adhesive feel that helps it stick to the baking sheet.

I've been wanting to try baking sheets to limit the use of parchment paper and extra oils. I always seem to run out of parchment paper when I need it and it's a bit expensive. With my love of kitchen gadgets this seemed like the perfect new addition for my love of baking.

These sheets are oven safe to 450 degrees. They are also food safe and BPA free. Although they don't get very messy in use, they are dishwasher safe if you need it. You can get your own at Amazon!!

I received this two pack to review. All opinions are my own and no compensation was received.

Body Comp Fun!

I was lucky enough to be chosen to host an iHealth party through Tryazon. A part of the party pack included the iHealth core wireless body composition scale and their wireless blood pressure monitor. I was immediately thrilled with the idea of tracking my halt through their free and well thought out app. It's iPhone compatible and you can log in from any webpage to view your private health data too.

The iHealth core body composition scale does a lot more than just weigh a person. Here are some technical specs better left to the pros to explain...

• Body weight range: 11 lb – 400 lb/ 5-180 kg

• Body fat measurement range: 5%-65%

• Body water measurement range: 20%-85%

• Visceral fat rating range: 1-59

• Body weight: ±1.1lbs (11lbs~88lbs); ±(1%+0.2lbs) (8~330lbs); ±0.5kg (5kg~40kg); ±(1%+0.1kg)(40kg~150kg)

• Body fat: ±1%

• Body water: ±1%

• Body muscle mass: ±(1% + 0.2 lbs) / ±(1% + 0.1 kg)

• Bones mass: ±0.66lbs / ±0.3 kg

• Visceral fat rating: ±2

• DCI (Daily Calorie Intake): ±200kcal

You are more than a number. You are Beautiful!

So what's that all mean? For me it immediately gave me the info to show that I was dehydrated. This is important since I'm currently nursing my son. I probably could have guessed this but now that t's in writing it's easier to do something about it! I found out my body fat measurement is fine for a female of my age/size and surprisingly my bone mass isn't as much as I would guess. No idea what to do with that knowledge but with Halloween coming up it made me think of skeletons and I thought they'd be a lot heavier!

It was very easy to sync the scale to my iPhone app and the scale allows more than one user too. Just a tip, don't hold your iPhone and try to measure yourself. It will only give the weight reading not the body fat calculations! 

The wireless blood pressure monitor is also a breeze to use. The data easily syncs to the same app and your information is shown right along with the other data points. iHealth has additional tools such as glucose meters and pulse ox devices too. 

I received the above mentioned products in order to share with friends and review. All opinions are my own and no compensation was received. 

Children's Probiotics - Zahler's Kidophilus

We've tried powdered probiotics for the children in the past but usually stop using them after a few weeks form the hassle. Getting the powder into a food they will eat or into liquid they will take becomes a chore. I received a bottle of Zahler's Kidophilus to review and loved the fact that it was a liquid!! The kids both take it easily with no complaints.

Kidophilus contains Lactobacillus acidophilus which is one of the healthy bacteria of the gut. Its benefits include recolonization of the intestines and immune function improvement. Our pediatrician has recommended probiotics since the time they were little to help reduce incidences of year diaper rashes and constipation. 

So far we've had no issues and I feel good knowing I'll stick with giving the supplement because it's was to do and no one is complaining about taste. I'm excited for the health benefits a healthy gut can bring. Kidophilus is available on Amazon and can even ship with fee Prime shipping. 

I received this product in order to review. No compensation was taken and all opinions are my own!

More fun with SaddleBaby

For the last few weeks, I've taken our SaddleBaby Original and SaddleBaby pack on many adventures. Today's fun photo shoot was one of the best. I joked when we got the SaddleBaby that I could now triple carry. Nolan is always talking about how to make a triple stroller and asking why I can't push or carry all of the kids so we all got a kick out of trying. It was pretty successful and remarkably not too uncomfortable or impossible!!

Ollie went on front in the BityBean, Nolan in our Kinderpack, and Carter up top in the SaddleBaby Original. All kids are within the weight/size limit for the carrier they are in and all carriers were properly fastened and secured. Hubby was a few feet away should any issues arise and everything was done safely and with the kids in mind. They all thought it was hysterical including the baby!

Back to the SaddleBaby original now though. The original sits right across the chest so it can be an issue for women to get a great fit. It feels almost like a life jacket would but with the adjustment of the belt it's possible to accommodate quite a few sizes.

It's so light weight and doesn't add a lot of bulk or weight which makes it great for summer wearing in the heat. Carter loved being up high and felt secure. He finally found the natural handle, the saddle itself, which helps him with his own balance. Hubby thought it was fun too, which is why so many of the pictures turned out a bit goofy as they ran and played together.

Besides the entire carriers, SaddleBaby offers replacement saddles should the need ever arise. You can purchase the pack or original on their website here. As with any carrier read all instructions thoroughly first. SaddleBaby offer a YouTube video with usage instructions that's viewable here.

I received this carrier in order to review and share it with friends! If you'd like to check it out in person just message me! No compensation was taken and all opinions are my own. You can see my review of the SaddleBaby pack here.

Homemade Crayon Art

This week we received #SnBDeluxeCandyMolds to review and play with! They are food grade silicone molds in great shapes. We received two sets of lego bricks, two sets of lego men, and a set of heart shapes. It's their Deluxe set available on Amazon here and with free shipping for Prime members.

Nolan's school is a snack free zone so no edible birthday treats are allowed. They request the kid bring a game to share at recess or a small toy/goodie bag item to celebrate their birthday. I've been brainstorming what we could do for his birthday coming up and these molds gave me the perfect inspiration. We are going to make a lego crayon set for each of his classmates. Here are the results of our trial run.

 I peeled a bunch of our broken crayons and used a small knife to chop them into pieces. Then they were placed into the molds and baked on low (260 degrees) for about 15-20 minutes. The molds were perfect, released easily, and washed up well too. SnB recommends once you use them for non dibble items you keep them as a non food mold so even though crayons are non toxic we'll keep these two for fun non food items!!

Get your own fun molds and make crayons, chocolates, ice, or those new Pinterest-y fruit snacks that have been floating around on social media!!

I received this product in order to give an honest review. No compensation was taken.