Mom Life in the PNW

Gerber® Lil’ Beanies: A Healthy Snack Your Toddler Will Love

Gerber® Lil’ Beanies: A Healthy Snack Your Toddler Will Love

We’re not new in trying out Gerber® Lil’ Beanies baked snacks. I seen them on sale one day at Target through the cartwheel app when they first came out and had to get them to try out for my lil babe. She absolutely loves them, so I get them at least once a week for her to snack on.

This last trip to Target, I had experienced a crying fit, which she had never done in the store before. I’m assuming it was because she was hungry since she didnt want to eat much of her lunch. As soon as I opened up the Lil’ Beanies in the store, she began devouring them and calmed down.

Gerber lil beanies

These are the perfect on the go baked treat for my lil babe since they have 2g of protein and 1g of fiber per serving. I feel good knowing shes eating a healthy snack as these are made with navy beans and also contain 10% of the daily value of vitamin E. There’s no GMO’s, artificial flavors, artificial colors or preservatives. Just a tasty treat toddlers love.

Gerber lil beanies
Lil’ Beanies come in original and white cheddar with broccoli, and the latter being her favorite of course. I’ve tried them myself just to see what she’s eating and they’re pretty good. You definitely can taste broccoli and cheese!

Now that she’s 14 months and becoming more and more picky with what she eats, I’m glad she’s loving these Lil’ Beanies since it makes it a whole lot easier to deal with hungry outbursts in the store or out and about in general.

Lil’ Beanies will always be in our cupboard; Because a happy baby is a happy mommy.

Brazi Bites – Love Your Food Review

Brazi Bites – Love Your Food Review

I love supporting local companies, which is why I agreed to share this Brazi Bites post with you all today. BraziBites originally started in Portland, Oregon (right across the bridge from me) in 2009 since they were having a serious craving for Pão de Queijo, Brazil’s most popular snack food. It took until 2010 to come up with their magnificent recipe since the Minas cheese was not readily available in the U.S.

I got a chance to sample all 4 of their Brazi Bites products and I am happy to say they’re delicious; way better than what you’ll get with your pizza order on a Sunday night.

The flavors are Bacon (who doesn’t love bacon? mmm), Jalapeno pepper jack, garlic Asiago and original.

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Cooking them was quite simple. The package instructions say to cook on a cookie sheet or parchment paper on a cookie sheet but I opted to use my pizza stone since it’s an all-over type of heat.

brazi bites

You preheat the oven to 400 and cook for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

brazi bites

Wa-la, all done!

I decided to a couple of each in my fettuccine Alfredo

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I think the one that is most noticeable is the Jalapeno pepper jack of course because you get a hint of spicy which I love, so I’d have to say that one was my favorite, but I definitely loved them all. They have a unique cheesy blend taste that goes well with Alfredo in my opinion. Best of all, anyone that is on a gluten free lifestyle can enjoy these as well. There’s also no GMO’s, no added sugar and no soy!

And now you can find these at the NE Portland Costco location. And they found out they will be airing on ABC’s Shark Tank Friday Nov. 20th.  Be sure to check it out!

Seahawks Superbowl Party 2014

Did you see that blow out of a game? I don’t think I anticipated that much of a beat down but I am glad it happened the way it did so people can take the Seahawks seriously now. I told you, or my husband told you, that they haven’t played against a real defense so we knew they wouldn’t be able to handle the Seahawks D.

Seahawks Super bowl Party 2014

We had fun though and I could have decorated the house a little bit more but my husband was like don’t we have enough decorations? Hell no! He kept telling everyone I was going overboard, but you might as well go big or go home right? Or at least try to. I could have done some streamers everywhere and had balloons, maybe even painted the walls blue, but this was mellow for me.

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Zaycon Foods Chicken Review

Image from CAMonkeyMomma, as I forgot to take a photo.

 

I got a chance to receive a 40 lb box of Chicken from Zaycon Foods when they arrived in my city for their monthly food dispersing travels for posting about them previously. All opinions are my own and no monetary compensation was received besides the free chicken.

Zaycon Foods was actually quite easy to deal with. I placed my order online, chose a date that they would be in my town, and then waited for their arrival.

Once it was time for me to pick up the chicken, I printed my receipt from my email, drove to the area they had set up and waited in line in our cars. It was literally a drive-thru chicken pick up and took less than 10 minutes tops. They opened our cars back door, laid down plastic over our cars interior and dropped the box of fresh chicken on our seat in a total of 1 minute. They’re fast!!

They did have a bit of difficulty with the truck they used for shipment, but they made sure to call me and let me know they would be a half an hour to an hour later than normal since they were having mechanical problems with the truck. But that was fine because I had to go grocery shopping anyways and just stopped on the way there when I was done with that. I liked that they called me to let me know thoug, as well as sent an email out.

When we got home, my husband and I had to vacuum seal 40 lbs of chicken and let me tell you, it was a daunting task LOL but so worth it. I didn’t pound the chicken with a meat tenderizer and I think this helps to make it more tender and less chewy when you cook it since its going to be easy to over cook it as its so thick and huge. Maybe even best to slice the breasts into halves or even thirds, cause 1 person could definitely share 1 chicken breast. I found that cooking on a pan though without doing any of the mentioned above made the chicken taste rubbery and chewy, even cooking it in the oven gave me the same results. I tried the crock-pot and that seemed to work a little better but there were still a couple of chunks that were a little bit chewy, but overall much better.

Thank you Zaycon Foods, you were a pleasure to work with, hope to be a repeat customer if the prices are still right!

Mexican Lasagna Casserole Recipe!

Thank you to my husbands sister in law for this recipe. It has become a frequent dinner in the weekly routine and the best part is, there’s leftovers for another meal! Sometimes I just loathe cooking, other times I want to be creative and venture outside of the box. However, last night was not one of those nights.

Mexican Lasagna Casserole Recipe

What you’ll need:
  • 1 lb of Hamburger
  • 1 Large Jar of Spaghettie Sauce (your choice), we usually use traditional or garlic.
  • 1 16 oz Jar of  Medium Salsa.
  • 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese.
  • 1 can of olives, either large whole and cut them up or pre-chopped ones – your choice.
  • 1 can of sliced mushrooms.
  • I usually add pinto/black beans as well and about a half-cup of mild jalapenos. 

Directions:

Preheat the oven on 350 degrees and start browning the hamburger.

Add all above ingredients into large sauce pan and simmer for 5-10 min.

Layer the bottom of the casserole dish with flour tortillas. I use soft taco size and it requires 2 for each layer usually.

 Top each layer with the sauce mixture and cheese. Repeat until all sauce is gone, distributing layers evenly. I usually have about 3 layers in my casserole dish.
 Top it off with flour tortillas and the rest of the cheddar cheese. Stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes. You want the top to be melted-cheesy goodness and a little crispy.
Once it’s finished, let it cool for 5-10 minutes, slice and Enjoy!


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