Five Little Words

SUPER SPROWTZ SUPERHEROES VEGGIELICIOUS TOUR!!

Over 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!!

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories Celebrity Scrap Book, Family, Free Events, Fun things to do in NY with Family, Kids, What's Going On?

HOW TO LOOK AND FEEL 7 YEARS YOUNGER @7YearsYounger @nutritionistsam @LauraGeller @goodhousemag @GoodHousekping @themoms @GHGadgetgirl

29 Jan

I was invited to an event on how to look 7 Years Younger at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute located in the Hearst Tower in Manhattan by none other than the fabulous @themoms. I was so excited I knew I had to attend and find out what this was all about.

Not only was the Hearst Tower beautiful but the Research Institute is a place I would love to work or be a product tester, or guinea pig. Lol. It is so clean and everyone is so nice and welcoming.

We were greeted and received a copy of the 7 Years Younger book as we checked in. I’m bad at remembering names but we met so many people they all were wonderful and very important and wanted to make us look and feel 7 years younger.

After posing for pictures and getting to know everyone we broke into 3 groups. First stop on the tour for my group was the Recipes. We learned that by eating better and exercising more you will have more energy and stamina. This will help you drop some pounds. We also learned how to make healthy recipes with foods we love by the Nutrition Director Samantha B. Cassetty for @goodhousemag, and @7YY, also the correspondent for Drop 5 Lbs on @cookingchannel Saturday 10:30 am.

She answered all of our nutrition questions and the samples of food she made were amazing and healthy. You can still have pizza, sandwiches, quesadillas and lose weight.

All of these amazing recipes are in the best selling book 7 Years Younger.

The next stop was called the Visia Complexion Analyzer room where we took turns having our face assessed. It checked the percentage of our wrinkles, UV spots, pores, and texture. This was very helpful. I posted a picture below.

The last stop on my tour was the Makeup. Everyone was able to get makeovers by 2 makeup artists and get their lips done in an amazing red color by the wonderful @LauraGeller who was there all day with us. She is an amazing person and very sweet. Her makeup is the best!!

At first I just wanted lip gloss and mascara but once my makeup professional started adding blush and eye shadow I couldn’t resist. I took pictures of the makeup so I could remember what she used. She did a wonderful job. They both did wonderful jobs on all of the women.

I also learned something I never knew about Good Housekeeping. They test and review all the products before advertising any of them in their magazine. Also, products that have earned the Green Good Housekeeping Seal have met or exceeded the additional criteria established by the Good Housekeeping Research Institute and if any product that has earned their seal is defective Good Housekeeping will replace it or refund your money by notifying them within 2 years of purchase. I love this magazine even more and found a few things I will buy because of your testers.

I absolutely loved my gift bag full of goodies. Best gift bag ever!! Thank you to everyone for a fun filled day and I would love to come back!!

If you want and you should want to purchase the book 7 Years Younger The Revolutionary 7-Week Anti-Aging Plan you can order it at as an ebook online and through bookstores.

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories Free Events, What's Going On?

SATURDAY CRAFT DAY WITH MY DAUGHTER

26 Jan

My 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.

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories Craft Projects, Family, Kids, What's Going On?

FAMILY TRIP TO DISNEY ON ICE OPENING NIGHT AT BARCLAY CENTER

26 Jan

Won 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!!

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories Family, Free Events, Fun things to do in NY with Family, Kids, What's Going On?

COOKING UP A STORM!!!!

22 Jan

I’ve been cooking up a storm and wanted to share a few of my dishes I cooked thanks to some fabulous recipes I came across and might have kicked up a notch with a few extra spices of my own.

The first dish I made was Onions and Pepper Smothered Round Steak. Can I just say this was beyond deliciousness. This was a recipe from none other than Emeril Lagasse. I found it on Food Network.com. I would write out the recipe but it’s so much so just go on website and type out the title. Prep time is 15 minutes and Cook time is 1 hr and 30 minutes. Serves 6. Pictures are below.

Before and after shots.

My next dish was Chicken Chili also found on Food Network.com by Barefoot Contessa. Another fabulous dish. This dish is spicy and we loved it. It’s good to always keep spices handy in the pantry because I find myself using them over and over in recipes so I recommend Costcos for bulk and Whole Foods for hard to find spices. I also told you I’m on a mission to find even hotter spices from different countries.

This was another easy recipe with 15 minutes of prep time and 1 hr and 45 minutes of cooking time. Pictures below.

I added peeled cherry tomatoes instead of whole peeled plum tomatoes which worked just as well. I also added cherry tomato topping with basil which was very delicious. I won those items from a Barilla Twitter party. They are from Academia Barilla specialty products. I don’t think you can find these in the supermarkets but I will ask them. Then I decided to make corn muffins to go with the chili.

My last dish I will post is a breakfast dish. French Toast. This recipe is by Robert Irvine of Food Network of course. There were so many but this was simple with a prep time of 20 minutes and 10 minute cook time. It says 4 servings but I got 6 servings from it.

At first I had to brain storm about what bakeries I thought had Challah bread and I began surfing the web and making calls. I found one on east 86th street called Hot and Crusty. They have a small loaf for about $4.00 and the big loaf for about $5.00. With a large family I took the big loaf.

My kids and I devoured that’s how good it was. I also let my kids put powdered sugar on top of theirs.

Sorry I don’t have a shot of it on a plate with syrup and sugar. We couldn’t wait to eat!!

One more thing. My kids and I made cupcakes and my daughter wanted me to post pics because she decorated them. Hope you like! 🙂

If you can’t find the recipes and need me to post I would kindly do so. If you make these recipes let me know how you like it.

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories Cooking, Family, Food, What's Going On?

ON A MISSION TO FIND THE HOTTEST CHILES AND SPICES @spice_station.

15 Jan

I’m on a mission to find the hottest peppers and spices. As some of you know I love cooking and I started cooking from scratch so now I want to have all types of spices, seasonings, and dried peppers in my pantry. I don’t like to see a recipe I want to make then find out I’m missing one item. I want to be prepared.

My family and I love seafood and chicken a majority of the time and depending who I’m cooking for it can be a spicy dish or not. I know habanero chiles are the hottest but I discovered even more. There’s a shop in California called the Spice Station and I wish I lived by this shop. They have all types of spices and chiles.

I want to try spices that Chinese use and Mexicans because these are used in certain dishes. There are these Schezuan chiles and spices that a chef used on the cooking channel to make a four spice chicken. I want to make that dish.

I found their website spjcestationsilverlake.com, and Twitter page @spice_station, and I will probably have to order online. There are so many to choose from. I can’t wait to order online and create in the kitchen. I will post pictures and recipes when I make these dishes.

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories Cooking, Food, What's Going On?

SUNDAY CRAFT DAY WITH MY KIDS!!

6 Jan

My 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.

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Family, Kids, What's Going On?

COOKING FROM SCRATCH WITH MY KIDS

4 Jan

Since 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!

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories Cooking, Family, Food, Kids, What's Going On?

A BIG THANK YOU TO MY SUPPORTERS ON MY BLOG (FIVE LITTLE WORDS)

28 Dec

I just wanted to take the time out and thank all of my readers, subscribers, comments and likes from those of you who visited and hopefully continue visiting my blog. I love blogging and will continue to bring you articles you like to read about.

2012 has come and gone. Let’s see what 2013 has in store for us!!

I appreciate the love and support. If there is something you want me to write about or have a question please let me know.

Thanks again and Happy New Year!!!

Comments 7 Comments
Categories What's Going On?

@barclayscenter #BrooklynHOOPS #HolidayInvitational pres by @MuscleMilk

23 Dec

I had the privilege of taking 3 of my kids to the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational Men’s College Basketball tripleheader at Barclay Center on Saturday, December 22nd. I won 4 tickets courtesy of Barclay Center.

There were 3 different games that took place from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. The first game was Tulane vs. Hofstra. Tulane won 83-62.
Next game was South Carolina vs. Manhattan. South Carolina won 63-57.
Final game was Seton Hall vs. LIU. Seton Hall won 89-58.

We had a great time and the Barclay Center is beautiful and we had awesome seats 6 rows from the court. Bathrooms are clean, food is good even though we ate at the mall across the street before we went in then just purchased popcorn and fries at Barclay. That saved me a lot of money.
The seats are very roomy especially for tall people.

My daughter got to be on camera during break showing her muscles because Muscle Milk sponsored this event. She was very happy seeing herself on the big screen.

I definitely want to go back and see a lot more. Concerts, NBA Basketball, Circus, Family Events, etc, etc.

I took pictures. Hope you enjoy them!