Monday, February 29, 2016

Win a Tula Batik Abalone!



Tula Batik Abalone Giveaway

From the high quality to the beautiful prints, TULA baby carriers have taken the babywearing world by storm. TULA baby carriers are are not only gorgeous, they are the perfect choice for carrying your baby or toddler safely as well as beautifully with safety and convenience features that are second to none.

TULA features

  • Can be used in both front and back carry
  • Can be used from 15-45 pounds (baby sized carriers)
  • Can be used from birth with the use of the revolutionary Tula Infant Insert (optional accessory)
  • Provides an ergonomic M-position seat supporting optimal development for baby’s body
  • Includes a removable hood to support baby’s head while asleep, protect from sun or wind, and allow for comfortable breastfeeding
  • Includes a front pocket for storing on-the-go necessities
  • Is hand made from 100% Öko-Tex Standard 100 certified cotton

Now you could win one of your very own TULA standard carrier in the stunning Batik Abalone print. 

batik-abalone

Open to residents of the US and Canada, 18+




Disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by The Anti-June Cleaver and the rest of the participating blogs. The blogs hosting this giveaway have not received compensation for hosting this giveaway.

Monday, February 22, 2016

Onya Baby Outback Carrier Giveaway!!


Welcome to the Onya Baby Outback Giveaway, 
hosted by Maman Loup's Den & sponsored by Gentle Nest and Onya Baby!

About the Outback: Whether you’re out with your child wandering the urban jungle or hiking with them in the hills, the Onya Baby Outback offers a new approach to the soft-structured carrier. A durable, water-resistant, rip-stop nylon exterior and air-mesh lining makes it perfect for hot weather or hiking the trails. Parent and child will stay cooler with the air-mesh lining, which wicks away moisture leaving you both comfortable. It can be worn as a front-pack or backpack, and comes with an integrated seat that will fit almost any chair – for when you’ve decided to take a break for lunch and the restaurant doesn’t have a seat for your little one.

Check out the full review from Maman Loup here
Enter the Giveaway
Entry-Form

Disclosure: Participating bloggers are not responsible for prize fulfillment or technical failures. Contact Lindsay at MamanLoupsDen@gmail.com with questions or sponsorship inquiries.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Get Amazon Credit for Being in a Mattel Fisher Price Focus Group!

This is a sponsored post. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Mattel Fisher Price, a familiar brand in our homes and a worldwide leader in the design, manufacturing, and marketing of toys and family products, has created a private online community of about 300 expecting Moms.
Fisher Price is relying on these Moms to help them gain a greater understanding of the lifestyle and needs of their consumers as it relates back to the world of play, and is opening up this invitation to you.
As a member you’ll be part of an exclusive group that provides Fisher Price with feedback and perspective on toys, challenges you face as an expecting mom, and other topics of mutual interest of the group. To thank you for your impact on the brand, you’ll receive a $5 Amazon gift code for joining and an additional $10 Amazon gift code each month for participating.
Are you expecting your first child and interested in joining? See if you qualify here*: http://bit.ly/1SYsoQe

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Visiting Didymos in Ludwigsburg!


This story about our trip to Germany is a little bit out of order, but I really need to tell you this story because it was really one of the highlights of my journey as a mother and blogger. Having the opportunity of visiting the Didymos Store in Ludwigsburg Germany was such a special event for me.

It all started about a year ago when I told my friend Gretchen that I'll be going to Germany over Christmas the following year. She asked "Are you going to visit Didymos?" Wow- I guess I hadn't thought about that!

I've been a babywearing mama from the very start, but mostly with knitted wraps, ring slings and soft structured carriers. Now that my second daughter is now a toddler and my "someday baby #3" is on the horizon, I knew that I would love to start getting into wrapping with a woven wrap. So I started doing my research on finding a Didymos woven wrap that I fell in love with. I finally did - Indio Sole Occidente.

I will tell you with full honesty that I dreamed about this wrap, many times. I was excited to see it in person and actually feel my first Didymos wrap. So time passed and I waited. We spent our vacation in Germany and saved our visit to Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg for last.

In preparation for our trip I contacted Didymos to see if I can set up an appointment to chat with someone about the wraps, a little bit about the company and maybe get some babywearing tips from the source. I was honored and *so* excited to learn that Anna Hoffman, an owner and one of Erika Hoffman's children would be meeting with me. I mean, really - an owner of Didymos made time to see me?!



We arrived at Didymos and somehow I was expecting this gallery of wraps, a museum of babywearing history and assistants just waiting to help parents learn about babywearing. Babywearing Heaven, really. What I found was a colorful store that had about 2 dozen wraps on display and a direct focus on organic and quality made children's clothing and accessories. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but a nice surprise.

Anna welcomed me into her store and we talked about the wrap that I had chosen for myself, Indio Sole Occidente, as well as a few other wraps that friends had begged pleaded asked me to pick up. I quickly drooled over my new wrap and she asked if I would like to have a tour of their office. Uhm, YES PLEASE.


Behind the original Didymos shop is a larger building that houses the offices. We walked into their shipping room where all the Didy wraps we love come from. Literally, walls and walls and walls of wraps in their boxes. "And this isn't even our largest room," Anna joked.

As we walked through the building, and Anna showed me things that she made me promise not to talk to anyone about, we talked about the legacy of the wrap. She spoke about her wrap that she used on her son, now 18 years old, and it is as precious to her as a symbol of her relationship with her son as perhaps my wedding ring is as a symbol of my relationship with my husband. Her description invoked images of all the things that a wrap does for us as mothers and for our children, and really that it isn't something that needs to be tucked away when the child outgrows it. She likes to use her wrap as a table cloth, a scarf or stole, anything really - to bring it out and enjoy the memories it's given her. She's saving it as an heirloom for when she becomes a grandmother one day. What a wonderful thought! It totally revised how I will think of mine.

Although Didymos is one of the most well known names in the woven wrap industry, not only for their beautiful colors and amazing handiwork, but really for the commitment to quality. Anna's mother, Erika Hoffman, the creator of Didymos and whom I would credit as bringing modern day babywearing to the western world, started wrapping simply out of necessity with her twins. As a mom who had her second child a week after her first child's second birthday, I can absolutely agree and wholeheartedly thank Ms. Hoffman for coming to this revelation almost 15 years before my own birth. I credit so much of my attachment parenting style and motherhood capability for the ability to wear my children. I've worn them through the house to do chores, through the zoo to give them a better peek up, closer to my chest when they are sick and need snuggles, and across the world and through large crowds to keep them safe.




But the need to find a solution to a problem isn't where Ms. Hoffman ended. Her strict requirements for the materials and labor that go into the wraps also is evident in her work. Didymos adheres to incomparable standards in quality of material. Didymos has always received high marks for compliance in Öko-Test and Eco Institute. All components of the wrap making process are controlled and even the ingredients to the dyes used are limited to being the most natural available. This truly makes a big difference to me, when I consider how much time my children might spend in a Didymos wrap.  It was truly one of the highlights of my trip to Germany and I am so thankful that Anna Hoffman took the time to speak with me!


I managed to bring home a 
Didymos stowaway!!
Check out the absolutely gorgeous 

Indio Ruby Red giveaway

Further Didymos reading:  http://issuu.com/didymos_das_babytragetuch/docs/didymos_jubilaeumsbuch_en_ansicht

Monday, February 1, 2016

Parmesan Chicken Cutlets

Every 4 months, 80 lbs of chicken breast waits on my kitchen island. I spend a whole day, sometimes with
my mother in law, sometimes by myself, processing all that meat into packages of unseasoned, marinated, shredded or ground meat. I have over 50 meals started, and it costs me $135

I order a lot of my family's meat through Zaycon Fresh. The chicken breast comes fresh and straight from the farmer, so it ends up being a lot fresher than what you buy at the grocery store. For example, my last case of Zaycon Fresh chicken breast had a bar code with a time stamp for the butcher date that was 3 days prior to my receiving it. I recently went to my local grocery store to see what their time frame is - and their chicken was 15 days old and also had 3% water injected. It's really not much of a discussion on which chicken I prefer to buy!

So today I want to share with you one of the ways that I meal prep when I am processing all of this meat. When I prep the breasts to freeze I cut them into 3 separate ways (after trimming the fat off) - a tenderloin, a breast and a cutlet. A cutlet is made by laying the breast down on a cutting board and cutting through the middle of the breast, horizontally.


I like to make my cutlets really small; they are really more like a chicken coin than a true cutlet. 
 It's about the size of your palm. Cutting that small bit off a breast makes the breast thickness more uniform so that it cooks easily and the "coins" are really tender. They are perfect for Chicken Parmesan Cutlets!

For the breading:
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
  • 1 tablespoon of paprika 
  • 1 tablespoon mustard powder
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 1/2 c of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
This will bread about 16 small chicken "coin" cutlets. 2-3 cutlets per adult is a standard serving. The remainder can be frozen between sheets of parchment paper and bagged in freezer bags once fully frozen.

Instructions:
1. Prepare three small mixing bowls. Fill one bowl with 3/4 cup flour, fill the second bowl with 1 1/2 cups of Panko, 1 T paprika, 1 T mustard powder, salt & pepper, and the third bowl with the beaten eggs. Set the 1/2 c of freshly grated Parmesan aside. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Dip each chicken cutlet first into the flour, then into the beaten eggs and then into the Panko mixture.
*If you are prepping for a future meal, skip the baking portion and read the instructions at the end.*
3. Place onto a greased broiling pan or cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 425 degrees F and bake for 15-25 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked. Flip half way through.
5. Remove from the oven and give each cutlet a good sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
6. Voila! I love to serve mine with my lazy girl gnocchi (using left over mashed potatoes!!) and spaghetti sauce. 

**If you are going to freeze these, after step 2 place them in between two squares of parchment paper and freeze them on a cookie sheet. After they are frozen, store them in a freezer safe ziplock bag.**

Get started on saving your family money but not compromise the quality of your meat! Zaycon Fresh is where it's at. Sign up here! Also - check out my favorite Zaycon Fresh product - Wild Alaskan Salmon - and how I love to prepare it!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Affiliate links help keep this blog going and using them is at no cost to you! All images, opinions and the recipe are my own.