Lower Calorie Peanut Ramen Noodles!

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Mae

I have been busting my butt lately (literally and physically!) to lose the last of Munchkin’s baby weight. I have been counting calories and working out about 5 times a week!

I love food… check out my blog if you haven’t and there are TONS of recipes! I have been tracking calories and my workouts on Myfitnesspal.com. I love that it has about everything I eat (and LOTS that I don’t). I also enjoy that I can easily add favorite recipes.

I have been watching this recipe for Ramen Noodle Upgrade by Martha Stewart pop up on my Pinterest feed for weeks.

Today I took it and redid to make it a little bit lower calories.

Low Calorie Peanut Ramen Noodles

Ramen Noodle Chicken Flavor
2 tablespoons of PB 2
1/2 tablespoon of Lite Soy Sauce
Sriacha Chili Sauce (to taste)
1 thinly sliced green onion (optional but SOOO worth it!)
1 tablespoon chopped peanuts (if you need the crunch!)

Boil the noodles with about 1/4-1/3 of the seasoning packet. I did mine in the microwave with water just about the noodles. Drain off most of the water and then add the PB 2 and the soy sauce. Add the Sriacha sauce to taste, a little goes a LONG way with that stuff! Top with some green onions and if you need them peanuts.

I did NOT add the peanuts to mine (I didn’t have any and wanted to save calories!) With out the peanuts the entire package was 439 calories. Not the lowest of calorie meals, but it killed the craving and saved about 50% on calories.

Also, PB2 it looks like this:

They took all the oil out of the peanuts and left you with a powder. 2 tablespoons of PB 2 added to 1 tablespoon of water gives you peanut butter!! This stuff is awesome in shakes too. I am hoping to bake some cookies with it soon!

Enjoy!

A Fairy Fourth Birthday for Munchkin!

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Mae

OK I am behind on my blogging…. Munchkin just celebrated her 4 1/2 birthday so this is OBVIOUSLY late! But it was a blast, so I felt like I should share it with you.

Munchkin went back and forth about what she wanted to do for her Birthday party. She wanted a pool party, or a Build-a Bear party, or a gymnastics party…. the list went ON! We finally settled on a small party at our house. The theme… FAIRIES!

I instantly popped over to Pinterest the land of everything! There are a MILLION ideas there (even a few of my own!). I also checked out Disney Fairies and there were LOTS of cute ideas on their too!

Here are is what we ended up with for Munchin’s special day!

Decorations:

Even though Munchkin is a little girl she invited several boys. We picked two colors to focus, blue as an addition to the main color, her FAVORITE, purple.

I always try and buy the bulk of the decor in colors instead of the ‘theme’. This saves a TON of money. I usually pick up the small cake plates and one pack of napkins

The adorable Paper Poms came from Paper White Designs. The beautiful paper straws are also from Paper White Designs all the kids LOVED them. I found some silver frames at the Dollar Store and printed a couple of silhouettes of Tinker Bell on color coordinating card stock. Tip: Pick easy to cut images. I was SOOO glad I stuck with easy ones.

The Feast

Make your Own Fairy Houses:

I found this cute idea in a Family Fun magazine. I couldn’t find the correct size cups in paper so I ended up with foam instead. We decided on these colors because they were ‘Fairy-like’ and gender neutral. I found a multipack of Fairies and they fit into the houses. I cut the door from the cup. I spray painted both parts and then glued them!

Little bowls of things to decorate their houses

A dino cave from one of the boys!

Fairy Dust:

I found these little bottles and corks at Hobby Lobby. I bought a bottle of sand (Hobby Lobby) and some packets of glitter to add to it from the Dollar Store! Each kiddo picked their packet of glitter and their sand color. They helped me dump the sand and glitter into the bottle with the help of a funnel. We glued the cork with a bit of hot glue and glued the tags around the top. I made the tags simple but they looked great! I would suggest gluing the corks because I think they would be very tempted to sprinkle fairy dust otherwise!

Munchkin’s Dust

Lunch for Fairies:

Munchkin wanted Hotdogs as her main food item. Another very important part for her is ALWAYS fruit, so we made Fruit Wands. I took kebob skewers and cut the fruit to fit. We used a star cookie cutter to make the tops. Fairy wing toast was a bit hit too! I just toasted the bread, spread jelly and cut up some fruit!

Fairy Wing Toast- Found on Disney.com

Pixie Dust ‘Mallows

Marshmallows dunked in white chocolate and purple sugar!

The Caterpillars in Cocoons were hot dogs in crescent rolls.

For her Birthday cake her fabulous Aunt J made a cool Tink topper out of paper that we stuck into the cake. Munchkin is known for asking for tricky cake flavors. This year… WATERMELON. I found this recipe on Pinterest and it is AWESOME! It tasted amazing too! I covered it in purple marshmallow fondant. We found some sugar butterflies (by: Wilton) and added those for an even more Fairy-Feel.

Sooo moist!

I made a simple punch with pink lemonade and some berries. It went over very well with ALL the kiddos!

Fairy Punch!

Goodie Bags:

I try to avoid the traditional bag when possible. This was fun and I think the girls loved it! For our two boys we bought trains.

Games:

Found this wall cling at the Dollar Tree. We cut our purple fairy wings and played “Pin the Wings on the Fairy”.

Pin the Wings on the Fairy

As I mentioned before we always as that friends who come to our parties bring gifts for a place we as a family have chosen to donate to in honor of our kiddos’s birthday. Munchkin wanted to help a dear friend who has a daughter battling cancer. After several calls we decided to put out the word that we were collecting gift cards to be used at the cancer center where she was being treated. The gift cards are given to the kids throughout their treatment for birthdays, families in need and special days.

Munchkin collected nearly $800 in cards from our family and friends! She LOVED this and to this day talks about how much we helped Maya and the other children at the center.

You can follow Maya’s Journey here Healing Maya or here HealingMaya.org

We had an awesome day celebrating our sweet little 4 year old! Happy 4th Birthday Munchkin!!!

Surviving Christmas: The 4 Gift Rule

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Mae

Yes, this is a post about Christmas in September. No I am not completely off my rocker. I am a planner I do my best to get the majority of things done early so I can enjoy the real reason for the season.

I have been trying to get ideas from the girls so I can start stashing things I find on sale! We have a new plan this year…. we are scaling back gifts.

Last year I really thought I did well I think each kid had maybe 10 gifts from Mom and Dad, 1 from their sister, and then their ‘Santa’ gift. It still felt like too much.

This year I am making it MUCH easier. We are sticking to the 4 Gift Rule!

Something you:

Want
Need
Wear
Read

We are going to stick to this rule for adults too! I am really excited about this. I don’t have to fret about what I am going to buy. I have already some ideas going for the kiddos.

Munchkin (Age 4):

W: Magformers- These awesome squares/triangles ect. that you can build 3D shapes with!

N: A star ‘turtle’ in pink

W: A dress for her and her American Girl Doll (Purple and sparkly of course!)

R: This is up for debate… she is reading so maybe some ‘easy readers’

Peanut (Almost 2):

W: Her own ‘laptop’. She would LOVE something to ‘type’ on!

N: Still thinking!

W: Not sure!

R: Tag Jr. Reader and Books (we actually have these from Munchkin but she will LOVE them!)

So what is on your Christmas Lists?

My Easy $10 Wreath!

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Mae

I will admit I have had my wreath hook up on my door since last Christmas. Which has been sad and lonely since I have no other wreaths for it! It did have a nice Valentine’s Day wreath on it for about 10 days.

I was wondering around Hobby Lobby tonight and decided I could make one! There are about a million varieties on Pinterest. I sort of meshed a couple ideas together to make an easy version.

Not only is this wreath VERY easy to make, it is pretty inexpensive as well. Most wreaths will cost you about $25 or more!

Check out my breakdown of cost:

Grapevine Wreath- $4.99
Flower (get one with a wire stem)- $3.50
Letter- $1.50
Spray Paint – $4.00 (Free if you have the right color)
String/wire/twine (You have some sitting somewhere in your house!)

So for about $10 you have a great wreath!

I will give you the instructions on how to make it. The best part is everything is interchangeable. So when you are over the Letter color or the flower switch it! Seasons changing, holidays, birthdays all can be easily done with one $4.99 wreath!

How To:

First get a grapevine wreath of the size that will fit your door or wall.

Then take a flower of your choice (you can substitute whatever decor you might like apples, wire beads, ect) and cut off most of the stem. The amount you cut off will depend on the size of the wreath. I left about 3 1/2-4 inches of stem on my blue flower. This was enough to shove through vines and bend back. It ‘locks’ it in place so it doesn’t just fall out.

You will want to pick out a letter that floats nicely inside your wreath. I picked this swirly “S” and I think it looks great! I painted it a light cream color so it will pop off the blue door. Be sure and pick a color that will show against your door or wall. I also chose a color that could work with LOTS of decor changes. Spray paint (or use acrylics) to achieve the color you desire.

After the letter is dry, attach it to the wreath. I used some wire that I had laying around. It was SUPER thin gauge and I actually painted the part that is wrapped around the “S”. You could use fishing line, ribbon, floss, string, ANYTHING really. I wrapped the wire around a few branches to secure it but not make it permanent. I don’t plan to ever change my last name but… I thought “Ho,Ho, Ho” or “boo” would look cute!

The $10 Wreath!

There… that is it! My $10 Wreath! There are SO many ways you can make this yours and because there isn’t any glue, if you hate it CHANGE IT!

Bye Bye Christmas… Hello Consignment Sale Season!

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Mae

For those of you who aren’t personal friends of mine I am going to let you in on an addiction of mine. Besides Pinterest (hehe), I am going to publicly come out and admit it. I am addicted and in love with consignment sales and stores!

I know it is an addiction because do you see that picture above. Just looking at it makes me get all excited. I have mentioned before but will reiterate here, I am cheap! Thrifty really. I have nice taste in clothing, but can’t justify spending a bunch of money on an outfit that might be worn once before being covered in a bodily fluid, rejected because it has; too few ruffles, too many buttons, ect. or out grown with in a week (how does that happen?!). So that brings me to my point. Consignment sales allow me to buy the clothing brands and styles I want for nearly nothing and then make some money back by reselling them!

Now we have been living in this area for a couple years so I have become aware of what sales I like to shop and sell at. Once you start shopping Consignment sales you will figure out your favorites too!

Typically, I sell what the girls have out grown. This consists of clothing, toys (those that don’t get played with or drive us parents crazy!), and gear (think jumperoos, baby baths ect.). I have a pretty easy system for storing my items ready to consign. As Peanut grows out of things I throw them into a box. When the box is overflowing I take it to our basement. There I have a couple tubs ready for the next sale. One for fall/winter clothing, one for spring/summer clothing, and one for toys/odds and ends.

Usually I shove pieces of an outfit together (bloomers into the dress/skirt or pants into the shirt), this really helps so you have it all in one place. Outfits sell better than single pieces but all the items in an outfit need to be the same size when hung up. Save all those store hangers to use for the sales. No need to spend money on hangers! Also, invest in a tagging gun. You will want one after you poke yourself 1 or 15 times using safety pins. They are not very expensive and worth the $7 on eBay! Blood on clothing doesn’t help it sell.

Every thing sold is hung up and each sale has specific rules about tagging and hanging. One thing ALL sales have in common a quality control inspection. Before items are hung up or put out sales have people checking each item to see that it is stain free and all parts work (zippers, buttons, batteries, ect). Obviously, there are items that get missed but this is helpful for the consumer.

I spend a few nights hanging and tagging the items, but it is worth it! Last year I sold about $300 worth of items (this was the $$$ in my pocket) and bought about $150 between all the sales! This got me MOST of them items needed for both girls for the fall! I was also able to offset the cost of Peanut’s new big girl carseat with my earnings.

My fall 2011 Haul

Above you can see my haul from one of the sales I went to this fall. In that photo I have 2 name brand winter coats (Old Navy and Osh Kosh), 2 name brand Christmas dresses (Gymboree and Carter’s), a hand full of sleepers, holiday outfits, and a bunch of toys (most were given for Christmas- the zebra is for Peanut’s birthday!). How much do you think I spent… wait for it…. $100. Yup, you read that correctly! $100. I will use all the stuff I bought for Munchkin again for Peanut, and resell after her.

These sales are NO joke. You need to try and get to the presale if at all possible! The best of the best are sold most of the time before the public even walks in! In order to get to the presales you need to work a shift (hanging, sorting, checking in items) or be a consignor. I really try and work a shift during set up so I can scope out the stuff we have to have. I usually show up with an empty stroller/wagon and a couple of big blue Ikea bags to grab my loot!

Now you are asking yourself, why haven’t I consigned and shopped consignment sales? Where are they Mae? How can I find these gems in my area? Well look no further… Consignment Mommies has the answer. They are getting the latest information on sales across the country!

Check them out on Facebook too. They offer tons of suggestions on how to shop, what to look for, how to organize your items to get the most money for your stuff! You are going to want to check them out and learn from all the seasoned shoppers that frequent their wall. There is a method to consigning and shopping consignment sales and you can gain a lot of information from their posts on Facebook.

This is only the first of what I am sure will be MANY posts on consignment shopping you will see! I am getting excited because the sales are right around the corner.