Tag: product review

Categories
Everything Else Food

Red Gold Summer Grillin’ Burger Party

It’s no secret that I don’t eat beef or pork. And thus, I don’t cook it {I don’t really know how}.

It’s also no secret to those that know him that my husband is a huge burger fan.

So when we heard about Red Gold tomatoes Summer Grillin’ Party, we were both all in for this one! Red Gold kindly sent a few different kinds of their diced tomatoes as well as recipes for making awesome summer burgers.

I purchased ground turkey from our local HT & decided to try their Italian Turkey Burger first. Can’t tell you how much I appreciate a four ingredient recipe!
Red Gold turkey burger mix

I mixed meat, an egg, breadcrumbs & the diced tomatoes by hand then made them into 8 generously sized patties. We George Foreman grill partied & in less than 30 minutes, healthy, delicious burgers were on the table for all four of us.
Turkey burgers

It was the first time L & Z {who were both sick} tried burgers. They both likes them more than I thought! I was a huge fan & the burger connoisseur was impressed too! And yes, I overcooked the second batch because we were too busy eating & they were still good!

Next up to try? The Caribbean Chicken burgers this weekend!

Red Gold graciously sent me the tomatoes, recipes as well as two aprons. Local readers & friends, leave a comment if you’d like me to share the apron love with one of you!
Red Gold apron

{Lucy & Zach modeled one of the aprons as I was opening the package.}

Red Gold is also excited about their Facebook Summer Grillin’ contest. Be sure to check out their FB page & follow along with the #RGparty on instagram.

Categories
Babies Everything Else

Rock-a-bums Cloth Diapers

The latest & newest cloth diaper to join our rotation is a Rock-a-bums 5-n-1 diaper.

I think the black cover is pretty awesome. Very gender neutral which works for my duo. The two inserts that come with the diaper have a grey side. I love that they’re easy to spot/match with the cover when sorting diaper laundry.

Lucy Rockabums

The interior of the diaper & inserts are also really soft. Lucy & Zach must like that too because this one has suddenly become our most pooped in diaper. LOL! The grey color comes in handy here too as Lucy’s recent blueberry & black bean obsessions have led to some stains in our white interiored diapers.

Zach Rockabums

Rock-a-bums touts this diaper as being 5-n-1. So lots of options {all in one, all in two, pocket diaper, hybrid insert & shell cover}. So far, I’ve only used it as a pocket: snapping the insert in the diaper then tucking it in the pocket.

We’ve used the diaper for a few weeks with no problems: no red marks on their legs & no leaks. The snaps are easy to do & adjustable enough to fit all sizes of babies including my two fairly skinny ones.

As I’ve been mentioning lately, my busy toddlers are on the go. And even with all the moving &, as I said above, pooping, we haven’t had any accidents out the front, back or legs! Lucy was showing off a bit & made it hard to snap a non-blurry shot of her rocking the Rock-a-bums last Saturday. {Zach was in a ‘sposie last weekend due to needing high powered diaper rash medicine.}

Rock-a-bums
I’d recommend Rock-a-bums to anyone in search of a good one-size cloth diaper. I haven’t seen them for sale in my local cloth diaper stores, but you can buy them online {I’d love a red one for fall football season!} as well as read more about the Rock-a-bums story too.

I was sent a Rockabums one size cloth diaper for purpose of this review. I was not otherwise compensated nor are my opinions shared above anything but my own.

Categories
Babies Family/Travel

Enjoying Car Trips with Two

Car trips. They used to be three hours of husband & wife chatting in the front seat. Catching up after busy weeks. Or time spent napping or reading or playing online.

Now I tend to sit in the way back of the minivan while Jason drives. There’s little chatting between us as it’s hard to hear in the back with the AC on.

If the stars align & both Lucy & Zach sleep, I’m sometimes able to pull out my book or catch up on blogging.

But for all those times at least one if not both are up, here’s the few tricks up my sleeve.

Keep favorite toys close at hand. Bright lights & colors & music might seem annoying to parents at first, but its way better than hours of crying.

Books, books & more books. I read in silly voices & alternate which baby gets to help me hold. We bring board books & soft crinkly ones.

Extra bottles. If I think we’ll need them, I premix & keep them in a Packit cooler. We didn’t need them Monday, thanks to timing nursing & naps. But Friday night, hungry babies meant a McDonald’s stop for hot water to warm the bottles.

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Snacks! We have a boon snack ball {which is cute but spills out easily} & the Munchkin snack catchers. Before we take a trip, I fill up the snack containers with a mix of their favorites: Cheerios, yogurt melts, puffs & chews. It cracks me up to watch Lucy dig through & skip over the Cheerios for the melts.

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Monday, I introduced Zach {once he woke from a beautiful nap} & Lucy {my hungry nap fighter} to Sprout’s new toddler snacks. They loved the yogurt bites. The chews were a new texture they quickly warmed up to. I tried them both & thought they were delicious! I felt good giving them snacks I knew were organic as well as mostly fruit/veggies versus being just basic grains.

If all else fails, whip out your smart phone or tablet & pull up baby Einstein &/or the Chica show on YouTube. We might’ve watched 45 mins of Baby Einstein lullaby Friday night!

What are your best car trip tricks & tips?!

I was sent sample sizes of the new Sprout snacks for purpose of this review. I wasn’t otherwise compensated. My thoughts & opinions are genuinely my own.

Categories
Everything Else Food

PackIt Love {giveaway}

I discovered PackIt through a friend a little of a year ago. I won a blog giveaway for their original Personal Cooler. When they heard I was expecting two babies, they graciously also included two of their smaller sized mini coolers too.

I use the Personal Cooler as a lunch bag for myself or as the bag to take Zach & Lucy’s 6 daycare bottles & food in. At 8″ x 10″ x 5″, it’s big enough while still fitting in our {giant} diaper bag along with their cloth diaper wet bags.

The Mini Cooler has become my go to so much that I asked for {& received!} a third as a Christmas gift. I take one every day to bring home my pumped bottles. Three 9oz tall Gerber bottles fit perfectly in the 8″ x 8″ x 3″ bag. I store the bag & bottles in my work mini fridge door through out the day then know my milk will stay cold while running errands & on the drive home in my PackIt. The mini will also hold three daycare bottles & a couple small baby food containers, so when we don’t use another PackIt cooler for daycare, we use two minis. I pack the Packits the night before so I rotate between the different sized bags.

I chatted again recently with PackIt as they just launched a couple new bags. My babies big bottles & ever increasing solids containers for daycare means we’ve started almost outgrowing our smaller PackIts. Just in time, PackIt sent me the Social Cooler. This bag is like my others that its gel lined so the bag itself goes right in the freezer then keeps bottles {or whatever you want} cool for up to 10 hours. But the social cooler is big! It’s a roomie 12″ x 13″ x 5″. Perfect for six bottles, four containers of baby food & room to spare. It’d also be great for a day at the beach or a family picnic lunch.

PackIt
My PackIt freezer shelf, the social cooler: front, back & all ready for daycare.

PackIt is willing to generously offer you, my awesome readers, a PackIt bag of your choice. Do you want a wine bag {or two!} for your BYOB girls’ nights? Or is a double baby bottle bag more your speed right now? Check out the different bags & leave a comment letting me know what you’d choose & why as your giveaway entry.

As a second entry, follow me {@suzstreats} & PackIt {@packitcool} on twitter & tweet something like “Enter to win a @packitcool cooler #giveaway of your choice with @suzstreats http://suzstreats.com/packit-love-giveaway/”. Leave a link to your tweet in another comment, please.

Feel free to also like PackIt on facebook & instagram.

I’ll leave the giveaway open until next Friday May 24th at midnight. I’ll draw a winner using random.org & let the winner know by Memorial Day Monday May 27th. Good luck!

I won three PackIts in a long ago giveaway. I was sent the social cooler for purpose of this review but I was not compensated in any other way. Nor did their generosity sway my honest opinion on their awesome product. 

Categories
Food

Homemade With Love

I had the pleasure last Friday to run away from the office for a few hours & enjoy lunch with local bloggers & Jennie Perillo. In case you aren’t super familiar with her, Jennie, the writer behind In Jennie’s Kitchen, just became a published author! Her beautifully written cookbook Homemade With Love came out very recently & she was in town for a few local book signings.

Homemade with Love sampling
Jennie’s ricotta, chickpea, parmesan & fennel salad, strawberry lemonade & slow roasted tomatoes

I was honored to be included among the lovely bloggers there. It was great to meet new faces & catch up with old blogging buddies.

All the recipes Jennie made for us are from her cookbook. We watched as she put final touches on some of the dishes like the panzanella. I’ve honestly never had anything like many of the dishes I sampled Friday. So I took small portions.

Homemade with Love
Jennie at work, another view of the salad, the panzanella, her chocolate cupcakes & the lentil meatballs that had me swooning.

Jennie’s food was out of this world delicious. I might or might not have gone back for seconds. On everything. Then made room for a dark chocolate cupcake somehow.

Homemade with Love get together
My plate full of deliciousness, ladies chatting, at home Friday evening diving into reading & Jennie’s generous sponsors {Glad & KitchenAid} who helped bring her to Raleigh & give us one of her books.

If you’re looking for a great cookbook with easy to follow recipes, check out Homemade with Love. I love that she’s a big fan of eating whole foods locally grown while being cost efficient & sharing tips for making items ahead knowing her readers are often busy working moms like myself. I’m looking forward to making her pancakes & waffles soon as I’ve heard nothing but great things about her version of one of my favorite foods!

While I received a copy of Homemade with Love, some Gladware & a spoonula from KitchenAid, I was not told to write this review nor was I otherwise compensated. I’m gushing over my love for Jennie’s food & recipes all on my own.