Radical Review Wednesday: Philadelphia Cooking Creme

I had a free coupon for the new Philaelphia Cooking Creme and couldn't wait to try it! BTW, in the ads, these look huge, but in reality they are small - 10 oz. I bought the Italian Cheese and Herb flavor and decided to go with a recipe on the box - Creamy Italian Chicken & Orzo Skillet.

But, if you are a reader of my blog you know - I can never cook the way a recipe says. Usually i don't have or like the ingredients so I "make it my own."

Mine looked a lot different but tasted as good as this probably does!

This recipe calls for orzo - didn't have, so I used rice; zucchini - don't like and didn't have so I used onion; and tomatoes - I THOUGHT I had a can but didn't. However, the dish was still delicious and so creamy!!!

I LOVED the cooking creme! The flavor was outstanding! All of the spices that I try to use but somehow they taste better in this creme.  The nutritionals aren't TOO bad, but it is really high on fat. I would only use this on occasion.

Highly recommend this!

Clever Girls Collective's Twitter Party!

Join Clever Girls Collective  tomorrow, Wednesday, June 29th, and help them raise $10,000 for Girls For A Change.
The party is from 3:00–4:00pm EDT/12:00pm–1:00pm PDT. RSVP here to be eligible* to win gift cards - one worth $250.


Change Is Good:

If you knew then what you know now,
what CHANGE would you encourage your younger self to make?

The party is brought to you by Yahoo!, and they’re offering an amazing opportunity that could change the lives of thousands of girls. For every person who changes her homepage to Yahoo! [special link coming soon!] before July 1, Yahoo! will donate $10 to Girls For A Change, up to $10,000!


Please tweet to help get the word out:

Join @CleverGirlsColl party June 29 @ 12PM PT/3PM ET! Fab prizes, great cause! RSVP http://bit.ly/mwbFlP #CleverChange

PRIZES
Only participants who RSVP are eligible* to win one of several gift cards, ranging in value from $25 to $250! (Plus we’re raising money for a great cause!)
*Prize Eligibility: Winners must have RSVP’d and be 18 years or older.

ABOUT GIRLS FOR A CHANGE
Clever Girls Collective selected GFC as the non-profit for this generous Yahoo! campaign because it matches our mission of empowering women to help each other. Clever Founder Sheila Bernus Dowd was a GFC volunteer and member of the advisory board, so we have first-hand experience with their commitment to helping girls become community leaders. Here's how they describe themselves:

“Girls For A Change (GFC) is a national organization that empowers girls to create social change. We invite young women to design, lead, fund and implement social change projects that tackle issues girls face in their own neighborhoods. GFC empowers girls for personal and social transformation. The program inspires girls to have the voice, ability and problem solving capacity to speak up, be decision makers, create visionary change and realize their full potential."

WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER CHANGING YOUR HOMEPAGE TO YAHOO!
Yahoo! offers:

• Personalized content: The Yahoo! homepage delivers you the most relevant content based on your interests, time of day, and what’s most popular with other users like you.
• Your World and The World: The Yahoo! homepage uniquely brings together your world (your email, local news) with the world around you (current events, entertainment news, financial updates and more)
• Human Interest: Articles on the homepage have a human approach – more than just news, it delivers human interest stories that you just have to click on.

(I have received no compensation for this post - just a fan of Yahoo! and doing good... and a gift card fan too!)

Re-introduction

Oh so much to say, and only now 2.5 months in can I actually take some breathers. I have a long list in my head of what to say about motherhood, its difficulties, it joys and how I feel so different from every other mother I have seen.

On June 1st

Baby E was 11 weeks yesterday! At his 2 month appt, he weighed 9lbs 15 oz, up 1lb 3oz from birth. He lost weight his first month, that is why. But with formula, he is finally getting enough. (He has always liked eating - he likes putting anything is his mouth he can!). He can hold onto objects and has just started reaching out. He has already been to Illinois and Woodloch Pines in PA. Disneyland is next! He is a great kid! And soon he'll be able to DO stuff!!!

June 16, ready to go out to dinner

It has been quite an adjustment! We still are adjusting LOL!!! so I am planning on getting this blog back on track, at the very least posting some sales and deals and giveaways. And more about my life, at least to have a bit of a memory book? I missed the deadlines for some giveaways, unfortunately, but hopefully I can get this going again and pick up some more fans :) I'm going to try to post regularly - maybe not every day but regularly! thank you to everyone who is still around!!

One more pic...

Father's Day, I want to eat this kid up!!!!

<3 lots of love!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms! This was my first one, and it was pretty good. had a good time at the in-laws and Baby E was well behaved :) Jeff's grandparents got to meet the little guy too. 4 generations! Crazy.

I am hoping to get more content up this week... this baby has kicked my butt, and I am getting nothing done. I've been trying to organize my coupons and start thank you notes for a week .No such luck yet! But I DO have things to post! We will see how this week goes!!

Cozy Mystery Challenge: Book 5!

Continuing the non-culinary cozy mystery books, I read Dead Cat Bounce by Sarah Graves.

Summary: With the advent of amateur sleuth Jacobia Tiptree, Eastport, Maine, could become as deadly as Cabot Cove. Having left the daily grind of her job as a financial adviser in New York, Jake, as she is known to her friends, has settled in an old house in Eastport with her teenage son, Sam, away from her annoying ex-husband, the brain surgeon. When Jake discovers a dead man in her storeroom, an ice pick stuck in his head, her tranquillity is up-ended. Her friend and neighbor, Ellie White, starts acting strangely and then confesses to murdering the man, one Threnody McIlwaine, an old friend of Ellie's father and a ruthless corporate raider. Jake is quickly convinced that Ellie is protecting someone - perhaps her vicious mother or her father, who was ruined by McIlwaine - and despite threats to her own well-being continues nosing into the dead man's past. In her polished debut, Graves blends charming, evocative digressions about life in Eastport with an intricate plot, well-drawn characters and a wry sense of humor.  (from Publisher's Weekly)


My Review:  This was a very different book than the ones I have read so far. It seemed a lot more gritty and real mystery than more light-hearted and funny.  The core mystery was good, and I had fun going through the suspects trying to figure out who did it. I really enjoyed the characters - not only the locals such as Can Man and rotten Sadie Peltier - but also Jake's ex-husband and his girlfriend. It was so nice to not have any tips or tricks or, yes, even recipes! This is the first book in the Home Repair is Homicide series, and I would read the rest!

That said... I think I will go back to a culinary mystery for my next book in this challenge!

Want more information on the cozy mystery challenge?Just click the picture below!

I'm Still Here!

Emmett was 3 weeks old yesterday! I don't know where the time went - it seems like the days go so quickly, but his birth seems like it happened so long ago! Having a newborn has been the hardest thing i have ever done in my life. I still am in some pain too. And of course, exhausted! 5 hours of restless sleep a night... naps just don't happen :( But overall it has been a fun ride so far... a few more weeks until it is supposed to get better they say lol

I hope to be back in the swing of things soon. Monday Jeff goes back to work, so we'll see how it goes with just Emmett and me all day. i am a little nervous but we'll be fine!

(Here is a pic of our adorable boy in his Easter outfit, before I get  to the meat of this post!)

Awww! <3

I did want to post a link to this article from Intentionally Katie. She is one of my favorite bloggers becuase she is so real. She recently wrote a must-read post called Raising Future Husbands. I am very lucky that Jeff does so much around the house. I think that was an advantage to marrying someone who had been on his own for awhile - he HAD to know how to clean and cook and do laundry, etc. Now that I am SAHM, I am planning on doing more around the house, but he will still be helping out. All of the things he has done since Emmett was born has been amazing - this house would be a smelly mess without him. As much as we joke about having a kid to do all of the household chores - it IS important to teach him the basics and have him help out around the house. We want to teach him to be self-sufficient. and one of the reasons why Jeff is such a good husband is that he can take care of the household and does help out. I want Emmett to be like that as well.

Anyway, if you have a son, then you should definitely check out Katie's post.

New Baby!!!

Things have been a little quiet around here lately because little baby Emmett Blaise was born Thursday, April 7th at 5:07 p.m.!!! Thankfully he decided to make his appearance before my scheduled induction.  Everything went well, and now we are adjusting to life as lb and j and e :D I'll get back to posting ASAP, including those 2 giveaways that I was going to post earlier this week!!

Isn't he precious???

Tide Samples Still Available!!

Head on over to the Tide Facebook Page and take the Tide Stain Release Challenge to score a  free sample of Tide Stain Release! There is still a lot left!

Due Today and...

I am sick! Sick :( I've had a little stuffy nose for 5 days or so, but Fri morning I woke up with a horrible sore throat. It continues yesterday, and today my cold is worse and my throat is still on fire.

I guess it's a good thing because the thought of labor still pretty much terrorizes me, and I'd rather not have to fight off any extra pain! Yes I am going to be a whiny, all about me person today... not many of those days left ;) I sut hope this sore throat goes away soon.

Here's a pic from last night... He's still high up apparently, so i ma still waiting!!! At least everything we need to get done is almost done.

Now to feel better and get this kid out!

Cozy Mystery Challenge: Book 4!

For my 4th book, I decided to go out of the culinary genre and expand my horizons a bit. I'm not entirely sure what this book is classified as, but it was definitely different!

Moving is Murder - book 1 of the Mom Zone Mysteries by Sara Rosett

Summary from Publisher's Weekly: Packed with helpful moving tips, Rosett's cute cozy debut introduces perky Ellie Avery, who prides herself on knowing her way around crying babies, poopy diapers and air force bases. Ellie, pilot hubby Mitch and baby daughter Livvy have hardly settled into their Vernon, Wash., off-base digs when Ellie discovers the body of another 52nd Air Refueling Squadron wife, Cass Vincent, by Cass's SUV alongside the road after a get-acquainted barbecue. Cass is the apparent victim of a nasty allergic reaction to numerous wasp stings, but Ellie later finds evidence that the flirty environmentalist may have been murdered.

My Review:  This was a good book for a first time author. The plot was interesting and full of many details to throw you off the whodunit scent. I had the same issue as I usually do - too many characters thrown at the reader at once so it was kinda confusing. Learning about the Air Force was also interesting, and it brought back memories of when I used to visit my friend at her husband's Army base. The book was very heft for a cozy mystery, but that was a good thing to  me! As someone who is pregnant (at the time of writing this - I have it scheduled to post!), I enjoyed reading about Ellie's daughter. The moving tips were all right. i will definitely read the next book in this series.

For more information about the cozy mystery challenge, just click the image below!