Continuation of pictures from Cricket Azima Salsa Class and raffle goodies I won and some of the toys I purchased for my daughter at the Festival.
KIDS FOOD FESTIVAL IN BRYANT PARK @KidsFoodFestNYC
3 MarLet me just start by saying Saturday at Citi Pond in Bryant Park was a busy day for my two kids and I. We attended the Kids Food Fest which teaches our kids to eat healthy well balanced meals and help to reduce childhood obesity. They showed the kids how to eat healthy meals by food demos, sampling of foods, healthy snacks, and hands on experience with cooking classes for families courtesy of the James Beard Foundation. We got to the festival early and stayed the whole day. Our first stop was Organic Valley where hot off the grill was grilled cheese sandwiches made wi the best cheese on earth because it is unprocessed, organic, produced without antibiotics, synthetic hormones, and toxic pesticides. Can you ask for a better healthier cheese? They also were serving chocolate milk which was just right. We snagged up a few coupons as well because I love me some coupons.
My daughter’s eye quickly found the Kitchen Crafts for Children play area with toys by Alex and wanted everything in sight. There were so many cooking toys, games, and crafts we went on a shopping spree. Wen it comes to toys like these I don’t mind giving my daughter because I know his is her future and it will help her when she becomes a chef. I have plenty of photos that you will see what I’m talking about. There were also arts and craft where she made necklaces and decorated her own lunchbox.
My daughter also enjoyed getting tattoos from a lot of the sponsors and taking pictures with the performers and dancing with The Little Clubheads.
Next stop was HoneyMaid. They were handing out their new HoneyMaid grahamfuls strawberry yogurt creme which do not contain high fructose corn syrup, and is 100% whole grain which is a big plus for me. They were very good. These are going to be a new snack item in my kids lunches especially since they also handed out coupons.
We picked up a Cooking Light the ultimate Kid-Approved cookbook for my mini chefs.
We headed to the trail mix station where we made our own trail mix where goldfish was a popular item. Next to that was the cheese station by Kerrygold which was tasty. There was also a station by GNT EXBERRY where you can build your own a hummingbird Feader. Exberry is a natural food coloring that do not contain any preservatives or or chemical solvents.
Plum Organics/Kids was letting kids spin the wheel for prizes and offering yummy snacks like Jammy Sammy’s.
Honest Tea were giving out their fabulous pouches like a fruit punch, grape, and lemonade. They also had the Ice Tea bottles as well.
Happy Family is where you picked up your goody bags which had goodies from Whole Foods, Bola, Crunchies, and Wreck It Ralph, once you completed your Balanced Plate Scavenger Hunt. You had to collect stamps on your map from all the food groups like fruit, grain, protein, vegetable, and dairy while sampling foods as well. They also were handing out Happy Squeeze pouches in Coco Strawberry and Super Kiwi Banana and Apple.
Scrapkins station let you build your own monster out of tissue rolls.
Probugs gave out samples of Kefir pops for kids.
Clean Well was on deck for sticky little hands and clean ups.
I entered the raffles and I won a 10 piece cookware set from Circulon Gourmet Cookware, and a Craft Set from Alex Toys, and a one -year subscription to Chop Chop a fun cooking magazine for families.
There were food demos on the main stage and performances by Songs for Seeds, Super Why had a meet & greet, Little Club Heads performed, Super Sprowtz, and Terry Walters made Apple Squash Soup. There were performances all day but we made our way to the carousel and the kids went on twice. Our cooking class didn’t start till 4 pm so we went to lunch, then saw a few more performances before the day was almost over but not before our Fresh, Flavorful, Fun Salsa Class with Cricket Azima from The Creative Kitchen. This was an amazing class where the kids got to make salsa with all types of fruits and vegetables. They used melon, strawberries, kiwi, corn, red peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, cilantro, lime, salt, and olive oil. They chopped everything up then put in a ziplock, added a pinch of salt, squeeze of a lime, and olive oil and shook it up. Salsa!!! It tasted amazing. My kids and I enjoyed it very much!! That was the best fruit and veggie salsa I ever tasted.
Whole foods provided an amazing amount of food to make all of these wonderful dishes. Love Whole Foods!!!
We left with so many bags I had to get a cab.
I have a lot of pictures and I hope you enjoy them because we had fun taking them. I’ll have to make another post with more pictures. To be continued….
TIME FLIES WHEN YOU HAVE KIDS. THEY GROW UP SO FAST!!
19 FebIt seems like yesterday I was holding my first born in my arms and now he is 22 years old. I don’t know how times flies but our babies are now toddlers, teenagers, and young adults. In our eyes they are still our babies though and they will always be.
Everytime I look at pictures I ask them remember this or look how fat you were. Sometimes they talk about it or smile which is good. I like to reminence.
I have no more babies. My daughter is 5 going on 6. My son just turned 10. My teenage son will be 17 and my 22 yr old son will be 23. Everyone always say you have a 22 yr old and I say yes. They can’t believe it. They say I don’t look old enough to have a 22 yr old and I love that compliment. I gave birth to my firstborn at age 17 and turned 18 that next month.
I don’t know how many kids I would have had if I waited later. I noticed with my Twitter followers a lot of families are going on their 3rd, 4th, or 5th child. I like a big family. My grandmother had a lot of children and I like when my aunts and uncles and cousins would come over to her house. I have a lot of cousins.
My friend comes from a big family too. She has 16 brothers and sisters. Lord!!
I’m not big on kicking my kids out when they become an adult. Now if they decide to go to college and move out that’s fine but if they are working or going to a local community college then they are welcomed to continue to live at home.
My son wanted to see what it was like to move out for a few months with a roommate. At first I was very skeptical and asked a million questions and wanted to do a background check on the roommate but when my son assured me of everything and said he was going a few blocks I agreed. The roommate was a longtime friend who worked and they were like brothers.
They both work fulltime and he was only charging my son $150 a month plus $25 for Internet which was fair for a big room. My son would come over for dinner which saved him from spending his money.
I thought he was going to be there permanently until I got a call from him one day saying he wanted to come back home. I asked was everything okay and he said yes, he just wants to save his money. I said okay come home. That’s my baby and will always be. I love having him home. He is now saving and I don’t have to worry as much.
So, basically our kids will have to make decisions in life and we can’t always say no but we can encourage if it’s for the best and hope they choose right.
I love my kids very much and want what’s best for them.
SUPER SPROWTZ SUPERHEROES VEGGIELICIOUS TOUR!!
29 JanOver the weekend I took my kids to see America’s favorite vegetable superheroes none other than the Super Sprowtz. They were on a veggielicious tour and were at Century 21 on Cortlandt Street in lower Manhattan. I was excited to see the guest celebrities that support healthy eating for kids. Obesity in children continues to rise and if parents just take the time to introduce fresh vegetables and less fried and fast foods our children won’t have to deal with bullying, diabetes, and other health issues. Some of the celebrities committed to building a healthy future for our current and next generation include : Shaquille O ‘ Neal Maxwell Daryl Strawberry Chef Todd English Chef Justin Warner Chef G. Garvin, and Selita Ebanks. They were all in attendance. There were a lot of kids who showed up that wanted learn about the different types of veggies and why they’re good for you. To help the kids learn the best way they could were the Super Sprowtz. They were veggie puppets who danced, singed and had the kids on their toes. There were so any veggies I could only remember 3 names because those are the puppets we took home. Suzy Sweetpea, Brian Broccoli, and Colby Carrot. There was also a bilingual band who had the kids learning spanish as well. They had carrots as snacks and a few giveaways. Shaquille, Maxwell, and Daryl Strawberry were dancing as well. My kids loved the broccoli song. I even sing it because I love my broccoli. Speaking of broccoli at the end of the show they announced that we could have the fresh vegetables they have on display. It was so many parents grabbing fresh broccoli or carrots. I grabbed broccoli of course and steamed it that night for dinner. Everyone loved it and it tastes so much better than frozen. It kind of has a sweet taste to it. I will never use frozen ever again! My oldest son even could tell the difference. He enjoyed it very much! Before I went to this event I had never heard of the Super Sprowtz but now that I know they’re mission is to get kids excited about eating more vegetables and making healthier choices I will let my kids see their show on NYC TV, Saturday at 8 am, then Wednesday and Friday at 11:30. I guess I will DVR it because they are in school except for Saturday. What a great way to spend a Sunday with the kids!!
SATURDAY CRAFT DAY WITH MY DAUGHTER
26 JanMy daughter and I tackled another craft project today. We saw in her Chirp book how to make a castle and it looked easy so we went for it.
We got together all the items we needed which were :
Toilet paper rolls
Aluminum foil rolls
Markers
Crayons
Glue
Cardboard
The instructions are listed in the pictures below. We had fun making this. I colored most of the toilet paper rolls because my daughter arm got tired. She wanted to glue and make windows and doors. I also used a paper plate as a base to glue the toilet paper rolls to because I was out of cardboard and it held up well.
I’m really enjoying all the great craft projects with my kids and will continue to bring you more.
FAMILY TRIP TO DISNEY ON ICE OPENING NIGHT AT BARCLAY CENTER
26 JanWon 4 tickets to Disney On Ice opening night at Barclay Center courtesy of a rafflecopter contest given by @NancyJHorn. My kids were very excited to go and I invited my mother along as well since she’s never been to Barclay Center. The show started at 7 pm on one of the coldest nights but we were wrapped up very good.
This show brought back so many memories and I loved every performance. The Lion King was amazing, and the cast of Aladdin was fun they even had the magic carpet. I wanted to try it out. Lol. My daughter waited for Tiana from Princess and the Frog to come on stage. I can’t believe I still remembered the songs to most of the stories. I think the parents were singing more than the kids because younger children wouldn’t know the songs from the older stories unless parents sing it everyday in their house.
Everyone’s skating was perfect and so smooth and flawless.
Timon and Pumba was so cute. Loved Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. You just wanna pinch their faces. Of course Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy were fun. I missed Daisy, & Pluto, and want to know why they weren’t there. Regardless they did a great job hosting.
They had intermission 46 minutes after the show started. I guess they know kids can’t sit long without saying “I have to go to the bathroom.” My kids didn’t have to go they just wanted popcorn and drinks and souveniers. I made sure they ate before we left but I splurged on $12 popcorn, drinks, and fries. I refused to pay $22 on a souveneir gadget that spins and lights up. All those toys require batteries and can knock someone out.
What happened to the hustlers who used to be in the street selling souveniers for $3.00-$5.00? When we took the kids to the circus at Madison Square Garden there were always someone with lights and gadgets for cheap.
They also wanted $15 for a cup with a snow cone inside. The cheapest thing they had was a $5.00 coloring book that I bought for my daughter. I told her I would get her the Minnie Mouse toys at Target. Much cheaper!!!
We had a great family night out and can’t wait for the next one!!
SUNDAY CRAFT DAY WITH MY KIDS!!
6 JanMy daughter gets a monthly subscription from CHIRP magazine designed for kids according to ages. I won this subscription for her courtesy of a Twitter party last year and she’s been enjoying every issue. What I love about this magazine is the fun activities that we can do as a family. In the new issue she just received there was a craft section on making Silly Spoons. You needed to have wooden spoons, fabric, glue, markers, stickers, etc., etc. My daughter immediately wanted to do this project so we went to Target to buy everything she needed. We decided instead of buying a bunch of wooden spoons we would purchase one to see how it went, and use other items we already had in the house to make different types of silly faces. Target had exactly what we needed all in one bag for $4.99. It came with 48 fuzzy sticks, 16 glitter poms, 126 poms, 20 glitter sticks, 40 wiggly eyes, and 10 wild animal fuzzy sticks. I have a picture of the package below. I also purchased glue, markers, and crayons. We had paper cups, paper bags, and plates already at home. I can honestly say we had a fun Sunday morning just inventing different faces with simple items from home and with the great package we purchased. Everyone enjoyed her art and my mother said she should sell them. My son even made a few.
We also made bracelets out of it as well. Cute idea!! They are bendable and shapely. Hope you enjoyed our craft day!! If you make any craft projects with your kids I would love to see.
COOKING FROM SCRATCH WITH MY KIDS
4 JanSince my mother in law was so kind to purchase me my dream appliance the KitchenAid Mixer I decided it’s time to do what I got to do and make everything from scratch. As time goes on I will purchase the different attachments that go along with my mixer for different types of foods that I want to make. I definitely want the pasta attachment and the ice cream maker so far. I’ve always wanted to make fresh pasta and the kids would definitely enjoy homemade ice cream.
My kids and I have been in the kitchen baking cupcakes, cookies, and biscuits in the past but there’s nothing more exciting and fun than doing it from scratch. As much as you try to stay clean and organized it ain’t gonna happen. Even on television. That’s why they have commercials so they can clean the mess they made before they come back on the air.
I love messes with my kids because it just let’s me know we are all enjoying ourselves. I need their help more than they know it. I want them to learn because they want and they want a career out of this.
The first thing we attempted to make were our favorite. CUPCAKES!! Like I said we always did it the easy way out of the box but I did always make my frosting homemade. This day was special. My daughter and I went grocery shopping and got all the ingredients. I found a great recipe on my favorite website Food Network and printed them out and we were all set.
We made vanilla cupcakes with chocolate ganache frosting which was very easy to make : 2 cups heavy cream 8 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips, or 1 1/2 pounds of bittersweet chocolate chopped into small pieces. Heat cream until it comes to a simmer. Remove from heat. Place chocolate in a heat – proof bowl. Pour cream over chocolate. Allow to sit 10 to 15 seconds, then whisk until the chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Allow to cool slightly, stirring occasionally. Mixture should be a little thick but still pourable.
I just dipped my cupcakes into the ganache instead of pouring it onto them. Less work and the kids enjoyed doing that.
We also made vanilla frosting with confectioners sugar, vanilla, and whipping cream. Recipe on website as well.
We all tore those cupcakes up! You can see and taste the difference. They were delicious. I guess this year it’s really on with the kids selling their lemonade and cupcakes. I’ll keep everyone posted on Twitter.
I also made fresh buttermilk dressing to go with my salad. That was amazing!! My family loved it very much!!
The recipe is easy :
1/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste.
I added a little extra seasoning to mine and some red pepper flakes for more of a kick. Very, very good!!
I will continue to post different creations my kids and I make in the kitchen. If any of my readers make any of the recipes please let me know how you like it. Thank you!
The cupcake pictured by itself is a mixed one. I put a hole in the middle, filled it with chocolate ganache and covered the outside with vanilla frosting. Yummy!
#Wimpykidmoms A day with @themoms and @wimpykidmovie @appleseednyc
15 DecToday was a beautiful day for the kids to get out and enjoy a day with @themoms at @appleseednyc meeting the creator Jeff Kinney and star of Diary of Wimpy Kid @RobCapron. They answered questions, signed autographs, and Jeff showed the kids how to draw.
The kids split up into different rooms to create bookmarks, or diaries of their own. They also got to enjoy the play area which my kids were extremely happy about.
The treats were provided by Capri Sun, and Earth’s Best organic pouch snacks. There was also popcorn.
My kids were so pleased with their autographs. They also loved @appleseednyc. My daughter said she had the best time ever and got to see her friends and meet new ones.
We love all the great events @themoms put together for families. They are awesome. Keep doing what you do mamas!! Till next time!
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