Posted on

Fun and Unique Easter Basket Ideas

*I received many of these items for free, to review*

So, we’re all stuck at home and trying to come up with some fun Easter plans for the kids! I’m working on an indoor scavenger hunt, and rounding up plenty of Easter Basket gifts that aren’t candy. Because kids, inside, with parents working, and lots of candy, just don’t mix!

B Nutty Peanut Butter

I have to admit, I opened these early and made snacks – check out these easy and fast snacks out here – because they’re so good! The little jars are perfect for kid’s baskets and the larger jars are for adults. Or just for me. I made the mistake of just grabbing a spoon and the Totally Toffee the other day, and I ate way too much! At least Peanut Butter is good for me, right?

This gourmet peanut butter is delicious and they have so many varieties, it’s easy to find one that will be perfect for your gift basket!

My kids love the Cinnamon Sugar Cookie peanut butter. They’re pretty sure that a little bit of this on a ritz cracker qualifies as dessert.

You can purchase directly from B Nutty’s website. And you can join their newsletter for 15% off a purchase.

Woodridge Snacks

I’m not sure that my kids will like these, but my husband and I are definitely enjoying them! The Sriracha Sticky Rice Chips are his favorite. He ate them all in one day and has requested more. So, guess what he’s getting in his Easter Basket!

The Mochi Rice Nuggets look suspicious, but they taste WAY better than they look. Just get a bag and try them. I opened them and was like “I guess I’ll take one for the team here” since I had agreed to test them (btw this was the first bag I tried, lol). They’re surprisingly good, and I love how crunchy and airy they are!

The Tempura Seaweed Chips have a decent crunch to them as well, but you can definitely taste the seaweed. If you love seaweed, you’ll love these, but as much as I try to like seaweed, it still always tastes really strong to me. Probably not my first choice, because the two rices are awesome! But they’re still pretty good, and if you just love seaweed snacks, you’ll definitely love these!

The Ginger chews are basically what I expected. They pack a lot of flavor, and probably not a snack that I’m going to sit down and just eat the entire bag, but one or two of these is perfect to finish off some snacking with. And with all the snacking I’m doing these days working at home, I need some snacks that are good for me.

Get 20% off your first order with code: WR20APRIL (expires April 30, 2020)Head on over to the Woodridge Snacks Website and order some tasty and order some unique and tasty snacks for those Easter Baskets you’re working on!

Choc Zero

First things first. This chocolate is sweetened with monk fruit extract instead of sugar. Meaning, that for chocolate, it’s quite low carb. So, if you’re gifting to someone doing a keto diet, you’re in luck!

I’m always skeptical of sugar free candies but I generally like monk fruit so I was willing to give this a try. It’s Delicious!

My favorite chocolate is milk chocolate and these milk chocolate squares are packed with real chocolate and perfectly sweetened without sugar.

I don’t always like dark chocolate but this dark chocolate almond bark is amazing! With all the stress of working from home, homeschooling, etc. lately, it’s nice to be able to stress eat some chocolate without feeling bad about it.

The white chocolate chips are amazing! As I expected, after trying the other 2 chocolates. I’ll be posting a recipe with them later. I’m way behind on recipe posting with all this craziness these days.

And, of course, the syrup. We’re eating so many pancakes with everyone home every single morning. This was such a fun treat for the kids. I’m thinking that they each need their own bottle of syrup for Easter this year.

Choc Zero can be purchased from their website, or from Amazon.

Unstable Unicorns

The first non-food item in my list, because I seem to have this thing for food in Easter baskets! I just couldn’t resist this game for my unicorn loving tween. This card game is a tad complicated, so definitely ideal for older kids. But once you figure it out, it’s so much fun!

We’ve spent hours this past week playing this game. It takes time to play, which is perfect for keeping the kids busy while we’re social distancing. If you have a kid who’s as in to unicorns as mine is, she’ll love this game! And with the hours upon hours of play time this card game offers, you’ll be glad you bought it.

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

If you have slightly younger kids who really want a card game too, but can’t handle the strategy required for Unstable Unicorns, you’ll love this game. Even my 2yr old tries to get in on it by slapping the pile randomly.

It’s super easy to play and fast paced enough that it keeps the kid’s attention easily. Between this game and the Unicorn game I’ve had my kids busy with card games for days! Definitely another great addition to your Easter Basket that will help entertain the kids.

Posted on

Randomness

My goal is one blog post a week, on Tuesdays. And this Tuesday morning I’m squeezing in a post before we head out the door for preschool, sewing class, and errands.

After making breakfast for the kids, I have about two minutes to write a blog post before it’s time to get them dressed and head out the door. I am really looking forward to summer when the only think on our schedule is a trip to the pool!

The other day a friend gave me a couple bags of Amish Friendship Bread Starter, so, yesterday we were baking – also yesterday my husband was home sick, and we had ballet lessons and grocery shopping. Anyways, back to the baking. So, Amish Friendship Bread makes great bread and muffins, but it does not make great pizza crust. I tried a pizza last night for dinner, and while the crust turned out great, it was too sweet. It would have been perfect for a dessert pizza, but with cheese and pepperoni on it, it was pretty bad. Well, I thought it was pretty bad. The kids loved it – I don’t know what wrong with them!

I did save myself another starter and in 10 days I have a recipe for cinnamon rolls that I’m going to try. Since the dough is sweet, they should be pretty tasty!

Yeast is such an interesting thing. One person starts a bag, lets it sit for a while then shares part of it with someone else, who can then just add sugar, flour, and milk, and the yeast keeps producing. No need to add more yeast. It’s amazing how it keeps going and going and going.

Posted on

Birthday Party Woes

So, I went to my daughter’s friend’s 6th Birthday party the other day and I find myself puzzled as to why we as parents continually put ourselves through this. Not that I hate birthday parties, but they all seem to operate the same way, and I can’t figure out why we all do it this way. I’ve been to over a dozen such birthday parties – children’s museum, bounce houses, pool party, splash pad, princess party, gym party, pizza party, and I’m sure a few more I can’t remember at the moment.

They all go the same way, a group of parents (usually just the moms and a few dads), most of whom do not know each other, all arrive at the designated party location. Every child present at the party knows the birthday child and usually knows a few of the other children so there’s a general mobbing/following of the birthday child as she plays because every child wants to play with her and they don’t know most of the other children.

The parents stand (or sit, if there happen to be seats) at the edges of the room and watch the kids play, if you’re lucky, you know one of the parents (other than the birthday child’s parents) at the party and you have someone to talk to, but over half of the room doesn’t know any one else at the party so you say hi to the person you happen to be standing next to, carry on a short awkward conversation about where your kid goes to school (I homeschool so my conversation usually ends with the other parent saying something about having a cousin or other distant relative that homeschools). Then you wait for an hour to an hour and a half while the kids play.

After playing the kids enter the party room and are served cake, icecream, and juiceboxes. Sometimes they even get pizza, chicken nuggets, or other snacks. Really nice hosts have over prepared and have enough food for the parents as well (which only half of the parents will eat because you feel awkward eating at a kids party). But, at most parties, the parents just sit (or stand) and watch as their kids eat.

Next, the birthday child opens presents – which are generally all toys, with lots of admonitions from parents telling their kids to back up and give the birthday child space. Your child receives a goody bag (full of candy and other small objects that will soon be lost or destroyed) and you go home.

Now, what I can’t figure out is why we do this to ourselves multiple times a year. First of all, why do we all stand by bored as can be and watch our kids play for over an hour? You’d think someone would have something for the parents to do. Second, why is there never any food for the parents – we’ve been there just as long as the kids and I’m always hungry come cake time. Usually if the host family provides the food there is food for the parents but if the food is catered by the party place then there is only food for the kids, you’d think they would provide something for the parents as well.  Third, why do we always purchase toys for other children – I dread all the toys my children receive on their birthdays, I never have room to fit them all, and yet I always buy toys (and so does everyone else).

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good party, but it just seems like there must be a better way to do kids parties instead of putting ourselves through this over and over.

Posted on

Superbowl Party

I’m a casual football fan, I enjoy sitting on the couch Sunday afternoon and watching football but I honestly don’t care which team wins. I’ll cheer for whatever team my husband picks.

For me, the best part of football is the opportunity to get people together and spend some time with friends and family. Even if that time is spend yelling at the TV!

That said, I always look forward to the superbowl. It’s late enough the baby goes to bed right after it starts and I can enjoy the game with everyone. And enjoy tasty football snacks!

My favorite snacks:

1. Chili Cheese dip – 1 can of beanless chili and half a container of velveeta cheese, melted and mixed together
2. Pizza rolls – canned pizza dough, with pepperoni, Parmesan cheese, spices, and mozzarella, rolled into a log then baked and cut into rounds.
3. Chicken wings – frozen from a bag
4. Veggie tray – just to balance out all this unhealthy food.

Posted on

Kroger’s Private Selection Frozen Foods

One more review for bzzagent.com and then I have a whole list of Christmas stuff to write about.

Bzzagent.com gave me three free Kroger Private Selection Frozen Foods to try. I tried a pizza, and appetizer, and a dessert.

Pizza: I tried the pepperoni, garlic pizza. I honestly would have preferred to try the supreme/vegy pizza but the rest of my family is picky and I didn’t want to eat an entire pizza by myself.

I liked this pizza ok. I thought it was kind of small for the $6.99 price on it, and I could have done without the crunchy chunks of garlic on it.

If you’re looking for something fancier than DiGiorono then you might like this pizza, but it’s not about to be my new family favorite.

Appetizer: We tried the Chicken Trumpets. I really liked them but the kids were not a fan and neither was my husband. I think these were $4.99 a box. The portion size wasn’t bad, but since I’m the only one who liked them I probably won’t spend $5 on another box.

Dessert: We tried chocolate covered cream puffs. These were winners. I think they were $4.99 a box as well, I don’t remember. These got gobbled up very quickly!

All in all, Kroger’s Private Selection Frozen Foods aren’t bad, in fact, some of them are pretty tasty, but I think they’re a bit expensive for a store brand food.