My internet connection is slower than 14.4kbps right now. If you’re a 90s chic, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Followed by the “You’ve Got Mail” chime. Slower than slow – hoping to at least get this recipe down to share with you! I’ve been thinking about these tasty quesadillas all day long. Yes, they were THAT good – and I also had some left over for lunch today. So here goes. Here’s what you’ll need: McCormick Quesadilla season packet 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, organic if possible (you don’t want a giant, hormone induced chicken breast. If you get that kind, you’ll need to pound it down…
Cross-Contact vs. Cross-Contamination
Uggg. I wish I could turn this side of my brain off, but I can’t. These two terms have been spinning in my head for the better part of this week now. I have wanted so badly to define them and talk about them, and it seems like this is the best place for that. So, cozy up. Here’s what’s on my mind. What a sexy Saturday night this is! Atleast HBO is on. And I have ice cream. mmmmmm. What is cross-contact? Cross-contact happens when one food comes into contact with another food and their proteins mix. As a result, each food then contains small amounts of the other…
Turkey Italian Sausage Skillet
It’s cold and flu season and it’s wreaking havoc on our household this year. It destroyed our vacation and is dampening our weekend family plans. Just when we think we have one virus down, another one pop up over night. This week our little man has the croup and my husband has a bug, too. Last week , I was sick with influenza, the same bug that both kids had while at Disney. Luckily, my hubs and I have been able to take turns being sick so at least one of us can keep things going. He made a TON of great recipes last week that had everyone cleaning their…
Disney Vacation Day 3
Baby steps. Little man is improving. Slowly. Still not up for much though. So we’ve been strategizing and taking turns with him. Also consuming a copious amount of delish adult beverages. Thank you. Disney. Kim Crawford is a true member of our family. Yesterday Disney surprised us big time. HUGE. While Gigi was watching C+C, a Cast Member named Brittany came to our room to drop off a few gifts for the kids. Brittany had spent the afternoon crafting with Chloe in the Community Room and during that time Chloe told Brittany how sick her little brother was. She also told Brittany about her lack of autographs at Chef Mickey…
Disney Vacation Day 1
No vacation is complete unless someone is either puking, screaming or crapping their pants. This time, puke was how we started our day. We woke up at 5:30 with my little man saying his tummy hurt. We thought he was just hungry. A box of travel cereal later, he seemed fine. Pack up the condo and out the door – our Uber was right on time and drove us to the airport. That’s when up-chuck number 1 happened. In the car. Lovely. Change the wardrobe and bag up the stink. Then we checked into the flight and number 2 occurs. At this point, we decided to delay our flight by…
Moroccan Oil Hair Products + Nut Allergy
Moroccan Oil is very popular right now – it’s found in Morocco and is currently used to bring life back to dull hair. What is Moroccan oil made of? It’s argan oil. Argan oil is derived from the nuts of Argania spinosa, a native desert tree in Morocco. In other words, the fruit of the Argania spinosa tree often called “argannuts” are tree nuts. The oil is cold pressed as opposed to heat processed or highly refined, making it more likely to contain allergenic protein. Tree nuts. TREE NUTS. TREE NUTS. TREE NUTS!!!! Do you know what I sprayed all over my daughter’s beautiful, special, birthday hair-do yesterday?! Moroccan Oil…
Disney Prep
The holidays are over and we’re full-on running into 2017. So far, so good. Knock on wood. It’s my daughter’s birthday next week, so we’ve got a countdown going on for the big “6” – and her fun little party we have planned. The following weekend, my husband and I are going on our annual “fancy” fundraiser winter date with friends. Planning date nights with two kids is WAY more challenging than we ever thought. We have been planning this date since November, and just secured a babysitter in late December. We are crossing our fingers that the virus we have now is the last one we get before our…
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
My Mom and I have a few things we “bake” each December. I say it in quotations because it’s not really baking. More like coating pre-made things in chocolate that we can then say we “made” or as Food Network’s Sandra Lee commonly says, “Semi-Homemade.” Here’s one of our favorites, pretzels with a melted chocolate with a Vermont Nut-free skipper on top to smush all the chocolate into the pretzel. Once it cools, you have a very tasty little sweet and salty treat that’s easy to package up and gift, or travel with. Chocolate is difficult this time of year since so much of it is just not made in…
Allergy-Free Candy Canes
“I love candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup.” Buddy the Elf If you follow me on Insta, you saw that yesterday I was making chocolate covered pretzels when I suddenly ran out of chocolate skippers to top each pretzel with. Some quick thinking led me to an entire unopened box of candy canes in our pantry. I did not know why they were sealed shut, or if they were even safe? Who knows – when I clean up after the holidays, things get crazy and I just start chucking stuff. So I decided to find out who the heck Bobs Candy’s Canes really is. After some research, Bobs is…
It's Our Snack Week!
Just thought I’d share some of our snack week ideas: Monday: Mandarin Oranges + Teddy Graham’s Travel Size Bags, Original flavor Tuesday: Fruit Leather by Target (simply balanced) + Mini Cucumbers – photo below Wednesday: Holiday Party Food + Cheese-Its Thursday: Pirates Booty individual bags Friday: Skinny Pop individual bags
Reindeer Food
Once upon a time, I had two very young kids. Lets see, they were 1 and 3, and I was frantically preparing for the holidays. At this point in life, I was still thinking that I had to “do-it-all” – but I’m older now, by three years to be exact, and while I’m still learning, and things are still changing, I do know this: Whatever I do not finish, you will never know about! The holidays put a lot of pressure on us to do certain things. Sometimes they are traditions that we feel we MUST do, other things are just nice gestures, of which I usually go over…
Starbucks
Quick little post here – last night I grabbed a holiday tall,non-fat peppermint mocha, full whip – when out of the corner of my eye I spied a little Starbucks Gingerbread House + Cookies! Both appear to be 100% nut-free. I called Starbucks corporate office today and they also confirmed the label, stating no nuts or cross contamination. The peeps at Starbucks didn’t seem completely knowledgeable about food allergies, so that was a little concerning to me. However, when I talked with my #1 Mom/Food Allergy friend, she agreed that it was probably safe since Starbucks is actually really, really good about labeling cookies, mints, etc. Have you looked at…
Hot Cocoa
After playing in the snow, my kids almost always ask for Hot Chocolate. Usually, my answer is yes, if we are at home. Like everything else we eat, we must check the label. Hot chocolates are usually NOT safe for us to drink. Like regular chocolate candy, most hot chocolate mixes are made in facilities with nuts, or other winter/holiday items that contain nuts. Rather than memorizing a million different safe brands, I have chosen 2 safe brands to research and stay on top of. 1. Swiss Miss 2. Quick Bunny powdered mix I have been a Swiss Miss fan since I was a little girl, so I’m happy when…
Advent Calendar
One of the ways our family prepares for Christmas is with an advent calendar. Since advent calendars are usually made with chocolate and chocolates are usually made in facilities with other chocolates that contain nuts, we have never had a store-bought advent calendar. We have a homemade calendar like this from Pottery Barn. Today, the kids filled the calendar with Andes candes, Peppermint Andes Candes, and holiday wrapped York peppermint patties. Then, I got a text message from an extremely thoughtful friend who also has a son with nut allergies. She knew we were not feeling well today (OK, I am sick. A mom + 2 kiddos. Sick. Hardest day…
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