Doing spring cleaning last month gave me an opportunity to take stock of our toy inventory.  I thought our toy stash wouldn’t grow too much with the second child, I was wrong.  Having a boy after having a girl means lots of new trucks and balls in the house.  It’s hard to stay on top of it when the collection keeps growing.

One of the more modern ways of being green is being digital.  I think this works for both the adults in the house and the kids.  There isn’t a need to buy a coloring book from the store when there are so many cute printables online!  I print one piece of paper as needed, instead of buying a whole book that may or may not get used.  Using our iPhone and iPad for games and books is a new way of life for us and it really does help manage some of the clutter.  Plus they can’t be beat for traveling.

Using apps with your kids is all about moderation.  The time they spend in front of them is included in “screen time” for the day.  Here is a quote from Raising Children network

Children aged 2-5 years should have no more than an hour a day. And children aged 5-18 years should have no more than two hours.

We are not big into TV and neither is my daughter, except for Curious George of course.  She would rather borrow our iPad to play something interactive.  There are so many great toddler apps out there to assist in learning I feel okay about letting her use them.  The apps don’t replace quality time together or reading, but it does let me get dinner on the table while Madison gets to practice counting.

She recently tested out the new Dr. Panda Teach Me app.  There is both a full version and a Lite version and we tested out the full deal.  You know it’s a winner when your child takes the phone, hides in a corner and you find her playing Dr. Panda.  I’m happy when I see she gets to practice her matching skills, counting, color and more.  The interface is easy to use since a 3 year old figured out in about one minute that if she wasn’t listening to the directions Dr. Panda gave her, she could tap him again to get them repeated.  There are little hints for the kids when they hit a hard one, but it also gets harder if you beat the computer quickly.  I test out the apps myself so I know what Madison is doing and get a sense for how educational it is.

Madison’s favorite screen is the Frozen Tundra…must be the cute penguins!

Talk to your children about what they are learning.  I ask for their favorite parts of the game, or screen shots.  The apps don’t make up for asking questions and fostering a learning environment in your home.  However, they can cut down on additional toy clutter and make that 5 o’clock hour a little more bearable. Plus your child gets reward stickers online for her “zoo”, instead of real stickers that end up on your furniture.

Dr. Panda Teach me is available from TribePlay and can be purchase via the iTunes store for just $1.99.  It’s much better quality than the freebies available for kids and works on both the iPad and iPhone.

Do you have some favorite apps?  What is your opinion on letting your kids use the computer?

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Disclosure: I was compensated for this review, however the opinions here are my own and it in no way influenced my 3 year old’s opinions. 🙂

Ever start one recipe and then it turns into something else?  Sometimes it’s because we are missing an ingredient, or you are trying to incorporate some healthier ingredients like whole wheat flour.  I often wonder, when does a recipe become your own?  Change two ingredients, not really.  Maybe three or more, sure I think it’s your own recipe.

So here is my recipe for my Carrot Pear Muffins, adapted from Rise & Shine Muffins from The Newlywed Cookbook by Sarah Copeland.

Ingredients
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups 100% whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (or 2 cups white whole wheat flour)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
4 medium carrots, peeled and grated (2 cups)
1 pear, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 cup pecans chopped
3 large eggs
2/3 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup plain yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract



Instructions
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
-Place raisins in a small bowl, cover with hot water and set aside to plump.
-In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients.
-Stir in the carrots, pears and pecans.
-In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, yogurt and vanilla.
-Add the egg mixture into the flour mixture.
-Drain raisins and fold into batter.
-Fill greased or paper lined muffin tin 3/4 full with batter. (I use a a mini muffin tin below and fill with an ice cream scoop.)

-Bake 25 minutes (15 minutes for mini muffins) or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.

-Enjoy!

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Linky love: Melt in Your Mouth Monday, It’s A Keeper, Muffin Monday

After a lovely weekend filled with egg hunts, a competitive game nightand hosting Easter Dinner, I’m ready to take it easy this week on the menu plan front.  I opened my freezer to take inventory and low and behold, it’s STUFFED.  I’m all for stockpiling when there are sales, but I don’t like when I can’t quickly see what I have to work with.

Time to take some freezer inventory.  Typically I use a list on the side of the fridge but I do like the idea of using a dry erase marker to take notes, especially for a deep freezer chest.  If you are wondering how long you can keep things in your freezer, check out this free printable from Life Your Way.  I keep it in my menu planning/recipe binder. Maybe I’ll even take some time and bring this “pin” to the real world and get the freezer organized.

Monday~ Easter leftovers: Ham, Green Bean Almondine and Corn Bread Pudding…and Lemon Bundt Cake.
Tuesday~ Lentils with Ham and Rosemary (crock pot recipe~ from Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook
Wednesday~ Sweet and Sour Turkey Meatballs from freezer (yes, this has been on the plan 2x this month. Maybe 3rd time’s the charm.)
Thursday~ Spaghetti and meat sauce, peas from freezer.
Friday~ Pepperoni Pizza at home with dough from Trader Joe’s…which did go up by $.20/bag.  Maybe it’s time I try to make my own dough…

For snacks, I think I may make another batch of my Carrot and Pear Muffins. Plus granola and yogurt.

What’s on your menu plan this week?

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I love to hear your feedback and comments. Stop by and visit FacebookPinterest or Twitter for more conversation!  Or get posts delivered via Email or RSS Feed. Thanks!    


For more meal planning ideas, check out Plan It, Don’t Panic ebook with tips, tricks and menu plans ready to go.  Or Menu Plan Monday with OrgJunkie for hundreds of meal plan ideas.  

I am in love with holiday decorating. Easter included.  Time to decorate those eggs!  This year I finally took some time to do some egg dying with natural ingredients.  Everything came from what I already had in the house.

I bought generic white eggs.  I went with hard boiled instead of blowing them out because I was wasn’t sure if my kids could handle something so delicate.  Cook for at least 15 mins on a simmer to avoid cracks.

I did some clean out of the fridge/freezer and cabinet to test out a few options.  The blueberries soaked in water for about an hour.  Others were boiled for about 20 minutes to draw out the colors.

Once the liquid was ready, I divided it up into smaller containers and added about one teaspoon of vinegar per one cup of liquid.

Cover the area with a large cloth or newspaper as this got messy when the eggs were dropped in!

We got used the following and let the eggs sit in the mixture overnight.

Spinach~ light green
Cranberries~ light pink…I would strain in a cheese cloth before doing this again.  I got funny bubbles on the eggs
Pomegranate tea~ turned green over night!  Originally was pink
Carrots~ light yellow
Red wine~ brown, almost prehistoric looking.
Beet juice~ (very) light pink
BLUEBERRIES~ dark blue. Favorite of all the eggs by far.

We drained them on a cookie cooling rack.  I didn’t care about little marks as it just adds to their character. This was an easy kids activity when adult can make the natural dyes at the stove ahead of time.  The eggs are safe to eat as long as they are refrigerated.  Find more egg dying ideas on my Pinterest Board.  Next up for me are some chalkboard eggs!

Happy Easter and Passover to all!

When was the last time you got takeout for lunch?  Before this week, it may have been never in my case.  My sister’s last day visiting was on Tuesday and she had a craving for Stone Hearth Pizza.  Never one to turn down pizza, I was happy to jump into this new lunch treat.

We used the online Foodler delivery service to place our order.  I had a paper menu and my sister gave me the details of her favorite pizza~ mozzarella/provolone cheese, garlic olive oil, broccoli, roasted red pepper and chicken.  I checked the computer and we were able to place our order in faster time than talking to someone on the phone.  Click, click, enter tip for driver (yeah since I never have cash!), click and done.  The Foodler system gave an estimated delivery time, which was about 45 mins away.

Surprise, the pizza arrive 20 mins ahead of the time estimate.  Just signed a slip and all done.  It’s the little thing like having the credit card stuff all set before the delivery guy arrives that makes me happy.  Plus it feels more secure.  Part of my “Modern Green Living” tagline is to see what else we can do via the computer so I can reduce the amount of paper in my house.  Getting rid of take-out menus (which we hardly use) and just  use the computer makes me happy with a program like Foodler.

Lunch was lovely and a great way to end my sister’s vacation. Love how Stone Hearth Pizza uses chicken from Bell & Evans and it’s antibiotic free.  Veggies are as local as they can be this time of year.  This is the only pizza box I read.  See all the local farms listed below?!

Ever get takeout for lunch?  Want to check out Foodler.com to see if they deliver to your neck of the woods?

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I love to hear your feedback and comments. Stop by and visit FacebookPinterest or Twitter for more conversation!  Or get posts delivered via Email or RSS Feed. Thanks!    


Disclosure: I was compensated to review the Foodler delivery service. This in no way influence my opinion shared here.

I have enjoyed reading all the comments on the Wallaby Greek Yogurt post.  So many happy customers already!  I’m sure any of these readers will be happy to test out the 5 new Greek yogurt flavors.

Without further ado, the winner is… #20 Stacy said…
“Just tried the blueberry…yum!”

 
Congratulations!  I will be in touch to get your information. And don’t forget to make a batch of my homemade granola to go with your yogurt!

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We are still enjoying my sister and niece visiting from Hawaii.  Dinners have been festive over the past few days as extended family gets together.  This week will continue the trend as we have new house guests arriving on Friday for the Easter weekend.

Source: Food Network

Monday~ “CORN” Clean Out Refrigerator Night.  Lots of pasta dishes to finish up!
Tuesday~ Chicken Piccata, Broccoli and Pasta
Wednesday~ Steak Tips on the grill, Green Beans and Sweet Potato Fries
Thursday~ Chickpea Curry
Friday~ Good Friday.  Testing out Foodler online delivery ordering service.
Saturday~ Easy day to prep for Easter Dinner
Sunday~ Hosting Easter dinner…Ham, Green Bean Casserole (no can cream of mushroom here!) and Corn Bread Pudding.  Still deciding on desserts.  Any suggestions?

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I love to hear your feedback and comments. Stop by and visit FacebookPinterest or Twitter for more conversation!  Or get posts delivered via Email or RSS Feed. Thanks!    

For more meal planning ideas, check out Plan It, Don’t Panic ebook with tips, tricks and menu plans ready to go.  Or Menu Plan Monday with OrgJunkie for hundreds of meal plan ideas.  

Do you have a room in your house that ends up being the dumping ground for papers, pictures and more?  That  is what has become of my home office.  It shares space with the playroom in the basement and over the past few months, it has been collecting more than its fair share of random items.  I am a big believer in finding a home for everything so this area was a big stress.

The scary “before” shot

Now it’s time for week 4 of Project Simplify.  It’s pick-your-own hot spot this week and I knew it was time to tackle the home office. Don’t miss the giveaway at the end of the post to help you get started organizing your home management projects!  

I realized that it was time for the home office to share the burden of organizing both the grown-up’s stuff and also the kids’ craft stuff.  It’s more fun to enjoy crafting time when you can put your hands on crayons and paper quickly.

Vintage glass containers with chalkboard labels

The clean out project came first.  It took a few hours, including a few with my husband to do the all important task of weeding through our filing drawers.  We were left with bags of papers to recycle, items to be donated, pictures to be added to albums (hundreds of them at that) and finally a clear work space to decide how to organize what was worth keeping close by.  I suggest doing this first to make it easier to then decide what types of containers you may need, instead of buying containers first.  I decided to use what I had and give them consistent labels to help create some cohesiveness.

The hutch is my favorite area as everything now has a home, and I can find my glue gun super fast!  I used the Chalkboard Contact Paperthat I also used for my Pantry Project during week 2. My favorite craft punch is the Tag Punchbecause I can create tags from any paper I have on hand.

I wrote on the labels with Wet Erase Chalk Marker for large labels and then use a very skinny line silver marker for mini drawer labels.  I like how the black and white labels looked so I tried to be consistent throughout the office area.

My working desk is now cleared off and I can give all three of my major projects their own space.  I am using a Naked Binder for my blogging paperwork, including their binder dividers and pocket folders. These binders appealed to my eco-friendly self as they are made from 100% post consumer waste board.  Absolutely no plastic. For my other two volunteer projects, I’m in the process of creating binders to keep the paperwork from getting scattered around.

Blogging Binder 

I’m also starting to use the invite.L daily planner.  It has grid lines and space for me to write to-do lists for the blog, farmers market, Parent Talk and just everyday home stuff.  Now I don’t have multiple lists going and it’s helping me prioritize what I need to tackle first.  Plus the cover is in French which always brings a smile to my face.

Leave a comment below to win a daily planner from invite.L and also a Naked Binder package!  Contest will be open until midnight April 10th, 2012. A winner will be notified via email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
I hope this organization series has inspired you to tackle some of your own hot spots.  I think sharing organizing tips is relevant for Random Recycling as it can help you find items to repurpose, or save you from buying a new stapler when you really have two buried in a drawer.  I have found Organized Simplicityhelpful in reminding me that less is more.  The less stuff laying around, the faster it is to clean your house.  There is also a sense of calm that exists when you walk into a room and don’t see a pile of to-do’s staring at you in the face.  I hope you have enjoyed this series as much as I have, and your home has too.

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Week 1: Kids’ Storage with Paint Buckets
Week 2: Creating a Pantry
Week 3: Laundry Closet

I love to hear your feedback and comments. Stop by and visit FacebookPinterest or Twitter for more conversation!  Or get posts delivered via Email or RSS Feed. Thanks!    


To see even more organization ideas: SimpleMom, TidyMom, BlueCricketDesign,  Frugally Sustainable, Your Green Resource, and OrgJunkie

This is the final week of Project Simplify.  It’s been so much fun tackling a specific area each week.  My husband likes it so much he has picked out our “mail table” for next week to continue our challenge.

Everyone gets to pick their own hot spot this week.  For me it’s the home office.  It has been a bit of a dumping ground since the holidays and it needs some TLC.  I have a variety of projects I work on, including the blog, social media marketing for volunteer organizations and helping to launch a farmers market in town.  There are too many piles of stuff so I will also be sharing some new organization systems for managing different projects.

Plus there will be a giveaway to celebrate the end of Project Simplify!  One winner will receive products from both Naked Binder and invite.L.

Here is the starting point for the home office…I’m already looking forward to cleaning this up!

 

What’s your hot spot for the week?

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Week 1: Kids’ Storage with Paint Buckets
Week 2: Creating a Pantry
Week 3: Laundry Closet

I love to hear your feedback and comments. Stop by and visit FacebookPinterest or Twitter for more conversation!  Or get posts delivered via Email or RSS Feed. Thanks!    

Oven Roasted Salmon and Asparagus

The past week was an emotional roller coaster of highs and lows.  I finally got to hug my lovely niece for the first time.  She is nearly six months old and it’s been a long wait.  Sadly she and my sister were home to say their goodbyes to my Nana who passed away last Thursday.  We will never forget how Nana reached for my niece the moment she laid eyes on her.  It was a moment to treasure forever.

So this week ahead is one of memorial services and visiting with family.  The meal plan is light and bound to change.  The important thing will be spending time with each other as much as we can.

And we will raise a glass to Nana.

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I love to hear your feedback and comments. Stop by and visit FacebookPinterest or Twitter for more conversation!  Or get posts delivered via Email or RSS Feed. Thanks!    

For more meal planning ideas, check out Plan It, Don’t Panic ebook with tips, tricks and menu plans ready to go.  Or Menu Plan Monday with OrgJunkie for hundreds of meal plan ideas.