Posts by admin:
- 1 pound store-bought pizza dough
- 3/4 cup store-bought pesto
- 1 pound Farmland® sausage
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided
- 1 cup pickled peppadew peppers, sliced
- 1 cup white button mushrooms, chopped
The Art of the Brick Exhibit at The Franklin Institute {Review}
March 26th, 2015
A few weekends ago our little family and friends went into the city to check out a fun exhibit we had heard about since it recently started at The Franklin Institute called The Art of the Brick. We wondered how enchanted our little girls would be with this exhibit being so young. They like Legos at home and even more now since they love stacking and building towers, cakes and designs of their own.
We decided to not to take a stroller into the exhibit telling our girls that this was a strictly no-hands, no-touching experience. Before we started we let them play in Ben’s Brick House that allows kids to build and play before and / or after going through the exhibit. I think this helped the girls have a little fun before going into a no touching territory.
As we started the exhibit we learned that since it was so popular that the tickets were being sold on a timed basis, so we waited in line about 5-10 minutes before staff allowed us in. What surprised me was the fact that we were not allowed to immediately start the visit. Instead, we were roped off to an area with a large screen. It was in this area that we learned a little more about the artist, Nathan Sawaya, who used to be a corporate lawyer before pursuing his passion as a full-time artist.
While I enjoyed learning a little about the artist, it was a little annoying waiting twice to start the exhibit with little ones. While our girls did well, they WERE antsy but other kids were screaming and shrieking, with frustrated parents. Even though the video was a few minutes, it felt like an eternity. I also learned that the concept was very much like waiting for rides at Disneyworld. We thought that while our girls did well obeying and checking out the exhibit I think this special exhibit should be for kids and older.
We also vowed we would NEVER go on a weekend. It was SO crowded that I felt like I was going to scream and explode BUT I am claustrophobic. It was hard to take photos without people standing in front of the art. If you want to learn about how many Legos were used for each piece and to even know a little story for each work DON’T GO WITH LITTLE KIDS! It is impossible. The only possible thing for me to do was to take photos of the works of art and of my kids observing.
While I should have said all of the above at the end, I DID enjoy what I saw. I was in awe of Mr. Sawaya’s talent and passion. I wanted to stand and stare at each work for at least 5 minutes. It was so amazing to see and imagine the time spent creating his own masterpieces as well as his own interpretations of historical works of art like Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
Here are a few works that I loved:
I really think this exhibit is unique and amazing despite my frustrated experience but that is only because we went during a weekend WITH kids. Our girls looked at all the works with us and even experienced some of the interactive pieces available for the public. They even asked why the artist like playing with Legos. It was cute and it was wonderful seeing what their little minds processed.
The exhibit is available until September 2015.
Thanks to Visit Philly for providing the VIP pass for our family to attend.
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Stuffed Sausage Pizza Rolls
March 13th, 2015This is a compensated collaboration with Farmland® and Latina Bloggers Connect. However, all opinions expressed are my own.
The last two days have proven to be a promise of spring quickly approaching. As I was driving into my residential area it was crazy to see most of the snow already melted. The sun shined upon my face and all I could think about was lounging outside and hearing kids playing out in the yard. Something else I like hearing are the guys screaming and yelling about their favorite sports team during game time season. Even though I am not a sport fan, I like seeing others enjoy watching sports. Is that strange?
Yes, I will be that wife and hostess to have food available to munch on while the rest are debating and betting on their favorite teams. If we were all doing the same thing it simply would not be fun right? One of the favorite foods that I see ordered frequently during game time season is pizza. Even though I have my shortcuts for making my own homemade pizza, I decided to take a classic and spin them into quick bites for adults and kids to enjoy with their favorite sauce.
While I like pizza like any other person, I thought that making loaded sausage pizza rolls would be popular. While my family normally likes pepperoni, I decided to make them with sausage, specifically with Farmland® Sausage. I was excited to use this new sausage is that it is gluten free with no MSG and full of the delicious all natural flavor. While it is available in links and patties I was able to use the patties to make sausage crumbles.
I had lots of fun creating this appetizer. I bought store-prepared pizza dough and brought it to room temperature before working with it. I flattened the dough and spread pesto. I cooked the sausage and added it on top of pesto. I then chopped pickled peppadew peppers and added shredded mozzarella cheese. I then rolled the pizza dough like one would for cinnamon rolls and sliced 1 to 1.5 inch slices and placed the slices in a greased muffin tin pan and baked.
They were awesome and delicious! My husband loved them and they proved to be game worthy. Make them for your next party and I am sure they will be a hit.
Stuffed Sausage Pizza Rolls
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients (2 dozen)
Instructions
Remove pizza dough from fridge and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, crumble the sausage into a medium non-stick skillet along with diced onions and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Roll the dough on clean and floured surface until 1/2-inch thick. Spread the pesto evenly over the dough. Add the sausage on top of the pesto then add the chopped peppers and mushrooms. Spread 2 cups shredded mozzarella on top of the ingredients.
Start rolling the dough from the longest side of the dough and carefully roll the dough over the sausage pizza ingredients until sealed. Start cutting slices from the edge at 1 to 1.5-inch in width.
Add each slice to a greased muffin tin. Repeat until there are 2 dozen rolls. Add the rest of the mozzarella cheese over each roll and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden.
Serve with marinara or even some salsa.
-This is a compensated collaboration with Farmland® and Latina Bloggers Connect. However, all opinions expressed are my own.
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Women Are Scary: The Totally Awkward Adventure of Finding Mom Friends (Book Review) + GIVEAWAY
March 12th, 2015
I know you are wondering how I even get to read right? Well, I have been MORE intentional about reading books that pertain to my life or that are edifying because, goodness, I need to feed this brain of mine, you know? While I might not get the chance to read something in a day or two, I make an effort to read a chapter a night or a good portion before going to sleep instead of watching to television
One of the new books I recently finished is called Women Are Scary: The Totally Awkward Adventure of Finding Mom Friends by Melanie Dale. I was SO intrigued by the title and loved the cover picture that I knew I needed to finish this book especially when I found out that the author is a blogger herself.
Melanie Dale is a blogger and author at Unexpected.org and writes about motherhood, adoption, orphan care all with a big dash of humor. Truth be told, I had never heard of Melanie until I got her new book in my hands. I did not know what to expect, except to read a book pertaining to my life.
If you need a good laugh and I mean a laugh that makes you pee a little in your pants, you want to read this book. I feel a kindred spirit with Melanie because it seems like we have a lot of movies in common since she quotes from movie lines in her book. You really can tell a lot about a person by the movies they enjoy to watch.
One of the things that Melanie talks about is the importance of having momlationships. What are those you ask? Relationships with other moms. They are quite different that regular relationships and require a lot of love, patience, endurance and messiness. The book is divided in sections describing the different stages of momlationships compared to dating.
Dating a mom? Yes, momlationships are compared to a dating relationship starting with first base and ending with fourth base, which end with you having your best mom friends. There is truth in every word that Melanie wrote in her book about our messy , complicated lives as moms but how we should all be there for support. Some moms will not click and other will.
How about the fact that we get in the way of relationships with other moms because of our own insecurities. I love the fact that there are verses from the Bible for encouragement and even some recipes for dealing with issues in our lives when it comes to dealing with relationships. Intentional relationships are encouraged too!
I love hearing all of Melanie’s personal stories because then I do not feel so alone. The fact is us moms NEED relationships with other women no matter how busy we are. We are all in the same book. Whatever you do, go and order her book. Here are 10 Reasons why you should order her book now.
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M&M’s® Crispy are Fun to Eat
March 10th, 2015This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CrispyIsBack #CollectiveBias
It is no secret that I like chocolate and candy. Growing up I really did not eat a lot of candy or sugar. My mother was always making natural desserts and treats but then we’d go to school and we’d see other kids eating candy and sugary snacks. I was a bit on the envious side. Well, who wouldn’t? I was curious! Since I wanted to see what the hype was, I started trading my knowledge for candy and chocolate. I would help kids with their homework in exchange for treats I had never tried before.
Sound lame? Well, it was how I discovered candy like M&M’s®. I never really knew that there were multiple flavors available and solely got hooked on the peanut kind. I was one of those people that got hooked on one flavor and became a faithful to it. When I met my husband, I found out he also was a peanut kind of guy but then I challenged us to go on a limb to try new flavors to us.
Flash forward to our present day and I am now venturing outside my chocolate box to try other M&M’s® flavors, like the M&M’s® Crispy. They are making a comeback and are now available at Walmart after not being on the shelves for a while. I simply had to know what the fuss was about. I was concerned I would not find be able to find a bag in the sea of other M&M’s® flavors available.
I was glad to be able to find a big bag of M&M’s® Crispy to take home with me even though I knew I could go home with an individual sized bag at check out which only contain only 180 calories per serving. I promptly came home and started savoring each bite of a new / old flavor with my family.
I only did what I know best to do, which is create a recipe. I added some M&M’s® Crispy to my trail mix and took it with me as a snack on the go. I also made a fun trail mix bark that would be perfect for my husband and I. There is nothing like enjoying a new candy with a special twist for a mid-afternoon snack.
Have you tried M&M’s® Crispy?
See more great M&M’s® Crispy recipe and party ideas on the M&M’s® Crispy social hub.
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Potty Training with Nûby Potty Seat {Review}
March 6th, 2015Disclosure: I am Nuby Moms Ambassador and review products .
Potty training. I am sure I am like any other person who really does not look forward going through the process. Actually, the process, after all was said and done, was virtually painless. We always heard that as parents we should not pressure our kids to potty train so when we finally saw that my oldest daughter, at 2 1/2 years old seemed ready we did a 3 day potty training session.
Summer 2014 went by so fast and kept telling my husband that we HAD to do it before he went back to work so a rainy storm that kept going for several days allowed us to potty train our oldest. It was awesome! She was really attentive and paid attention. She liked that her potty was pink, her favorite color, and that it was comfy for her.
So, how did we do it? She pretty much went around the house with no underwear. When she felt the urge she had to tell us and we would help her go to the bathroom. While it was easier for her to go number 1 it was harder with number 2. We bribed her with a lifesize Sleeping Beauty doll and princess panties.
Now that my youngest is is 2 years old, we have had moments where she is interested but she really has not wanted to sit but the Nuby Potty Seat has been great because we have had stints where she cannot go number 2 and the only way she will go is on the potty. I have always heard the experience is different with kids and it sure is. I am hoping that we will get her potty trained before number 3 baby comes so I only have one baby in diapers.
I love how light the Nuby Potty Seat and the easy clean up. My oldest daughter has easily learned how to clean after herself. The potty has been designed for both girls and boys and is geared towards kids 18 months and older. It is also made from BPA-free material and comes in various colors.
