Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Disney On Ice presents a Disneyland® Adventure


Catch the next ride to laugh-out-loud fun with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse on a trip to the park in Disney On Ice presents a Disneyland® Adventure. Swing to the beat on the Jungle Cruise™ with Baloo, have a blast with Buzz Lightyear on Space Mountain™, and take a wild spin on the Mad Tea Party™ with Alice and the Mad Hatter! You’ll see Snow White and Cinderella during the Main Street U.S.A.® parade and thrill to “Incredible” edge-of-your seat excitement when everyone’s favorite superhero family shows up to save the day!


Come experience Disney On Ice presents Disneyland AdventurePlaying Us Airways Center with your family!


A SPECIAL OFFER FOR YOU!

Purchase a 4-pack of tickets for only $44 by logging onto http://www.ticketmaster.com/ and entering the coupon code: MOM.**


Phoenix Show Dates:

Thursday, April 9: 7:30pm

Friday, April 10: 10:30am, 7:30pm

Saturday, April 11: 11:30am, 3:30pm, 7:30pm

Sunday, April 12: 1:30pm, 5:30pm


**Get 4 tickets for $44 by entering the code “MOM” in the MC promotion code box on Ticketmaster. Minimum purchase of 4 tickets required; additional tickets above 4 can be purchased at $11 each. Offer not valid on Rinkside or VIP seating.

Cannot be combined with other offers. Service Charges and handling fees will apply.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

And the winner is...

Melanie from Adventures of the Reluctant Housewife!

She has won my first ever giveaway as part of the SITS Spring Fling yesterday!

Melanie has won a wonderful book for anyone who loves boutique gift items but doesn't want to spend the money on them. This book will show her how she can make her own!

Crafty Mama Makes 49 Fast, Fabulous, Foolproof (baby & toddler) Projects by Abby Pecoriello

It was an exciting day going all over blogland checking out everyones blog and giveaways!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Spring Fling Giveaway!

The girls over at SITS are doing a Spring Fling today and there are a ton of giveaways going on. I was not going to do my own since I am so new at this whole blogging thing but then decided, what the heck!

So here it is....I am giving away a brand new copy of this book: Crafty Mama Makes 49 Fast, Fabulous, Foolproof (baby & toddler) Projects) by Abby Pecoriello. This is a book that shows you how to make things you might find in expensive boutiques!

THIS IS NOT A BOOK OF PROJECTS TO MAKE WITH KIDS, IT'S A BOOK OF PROJECTS TO MAKE AS GIFTS (like things you might find in boutiques)...you can look it up on amazon.com for more details, if needed.

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All you have to do to be entered to win is leave me a comment for a random # drawing to be announced on Thursday! (maybe you might decide to become a follower while you are here!)

Because this is part of SITS Spring Fling, the Giveaway ends Tuesday, March 10th, at 11:59pm Pacific Time

Monday, March 9, 2009

Chicken Potpie

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Who doesn't love pie? Especially chicken potpie! My mom used to buy those little frozen ones when I was a kid and I loved them but I couldn't tell you the last time I had one.

I came across what looked to be a fairly easy recipe to make it myself. Not only fairly easy to make but a low-calorie and low-fat version. This is the first time ever in my life I have made this and it was a hit in my house! The picky toddler had hers on a plate instead of a bowl. She looked at it and said, "I don't like this chicken and what is this?" (holding up her circle piece of pie crust)
Anyway, she ended up licking all of the gravy off of every single piece of chicken on her plate and finally ate a few pieces AND even some of the pie crust! She then stated to all sitting at the table that she liked it! What a surprise! I was glad she finally ate some of it and ended up liking it afterall.

This comes from Cooking Light (it is like my Bible for the kitchen that magazine!)

I decided it would be easiest if I just copy and paste the recipe from their website and include my own pictures. I also put in a few notes next to some items in the recipe.

Also, this makes 3 potpies, I just cut-out 4 circles instead of 3 from the pie dough and put a little scoop of the filling on a plate for my 3 year old since I figured she wouldn't be eating much anyway.

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Because the piecrust topping cooks on a baking sheet and is then placed over the filling, you don't need to use ovenproof bowls for the pies. Use a bowl or ramekin as a guide for cutting the dough. You can use 2 cups chopped leftover chicken in place of chicken breast tenders.

I traced the top of my bowls (which were 4" across) with a knife around the dough which is why they fit right on top of the bowl. Everyone just pushed their crust into the filling themselves.
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Yield
3 servings (serving size: 1 pie)

Ingredients
1/2 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie dough (such as Pillsbury)
Cooking spray
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces chicken breast tenders, cut into bite-sized pieces (I used 1lb and doubled the coating for the chicken)
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 cup mushrooms, quartered (I did not use these..no one eats them in my house!)
1 (10 1/2-ounce) can condensed reduced-fat, reduced-sodium cream of chicken soup

Preheat oven to 425°.
Cut 3 (4-inch) circles out of dough; discard remaining dough. Place dough circles on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat dough with cooking spray; sprinkle evenly with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Pierce top of dough with a fork. Bake dough at 425° for 8 minutes or until golden.
Combine flour, sage, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a zip-top plastic bag; add chicken. Seal bag, and toss to coat. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken mixture; cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Stir in water, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in vegetables, mushrooms, and soup; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and cook 10 minutes. Spoon 1 cup chicken mixture into each of 3 (1-cup) ramekins or bowls; top each serving with 1 piecrust.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 374 (27% from fat)
Fat: 11.4g (sat 4.8g,mono 4.2g,poly 1.2g)
Protein: 24.1g
Fiber: 4.6g
Abby Duchin Dinces, Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2003

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Sunday, March 1, 2009

All Hamsters Go To Heaven

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At least that is what we have been saying today because my teenager's hamster died today.

I took my teenager with me to Costco this afternoon and when we came back this is what transpired:

Me: (in the kitchen putting away things from the store and getting stuff out to make dinner)

Teenager: comes into the kitchen, face beet-red, tears flowing uncontrollably and says nothing

Me: What happened? OMG! You can't come in here like this and not speak! Tell me what's wrong!

Teenager: I think Thumper died!

Me: How do you know? (this happened once a few months ago and it turned out he was just sleeping)

Teenager: He's not moving and it looks like he's not breathing!

Teenager and I go to her room. I look into the cage. He is definitely dead. Poor little guy :(

Me: I'm so sorry. There was nothing we could have done to prevent it. You loved him. You had him for a really long time (she had him since August 2007)

Teeenager: sobbing loudly

Toddler: What's sissy crying for?

Me: Thumper died. He isn't going to be able to wake up again (she doesn't get it, just really hates to see big sister crying)

Toddler: gives her big sister a big hug, tells her she'll be OK (too sweet)

We finally convinced my teenager that we need to get him out of his cage because it is really going to start to smell bad. We take a cute little wooden box with a top that slides closed and put him in it. We let her say goodbye to him and had my husband take him to the garbage outside the house (without toddler seeing this). We live in the dessert, no grass, etc so we really couldn't dig a hole in the ground to bury him. It was sad. I still feel awful for her. There has been a little talk already of getting another one but I keep telling her that the next one might not last as long as this one did, we have no way of knowing.

We love our pets. We have 3 cats and when their time comes it is going to really, really suck.

Rest in peace, Thumper. You were loved.
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