Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Giveaways!

Three Fabulous Mommies
Enter to win a Go Green Diaper! ends 9-30-11


Enter to win a Buns Up Baby Diaper

The Cloth Diaper Report
Enter to win THREE bumGenius Freetime AIOs!


Enter to win a Bottom Bumpers Diaper!
Enter to win an Itti Bitti Tutto Diaper!

Happenings of the Harper Household
Enter to win a Grovia Hybrid Trial Pack!


Enter to win an Alva Baby Cloth Diaper!

Enter to win CJ's BUTTer!

Enter to win THREE Bumgenius 4.0 Diapers!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Enter to win (3) of the *NEW* bumGenius Freetime Cloth Diapers! Ends 10-09-11


Diaper Junction and Cloth Diaper Geek have gotten together to do a great giveaway! Entering is super easy! Here is the link: Tah-dah!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Astrid Tasks App

I don't know why but I absolutely drag my feet through Mondays. I struggle to motivate myself to do household tasks in general, but on Monday its sooo much worse! I cant even look at the dishes, I hate my carpet for needing to be vacuumed, and I downright resent the laundry sitting in baskets waiting to be put away. I've washed you, what more do you want?!
Lucky for the inhabitants of my household, I found the Astrid Tasks app for my smart phone! Its a simple To-do list that lets you prioritize your tasks and set deadlines for yourself. It also leaves you passive-aggressive reminders to get things done. "Are you busy? Time to Vacuum." I sure they were designed to be friendly reminders, but I'm more motivated to follow through with chores if I read them as passive-aggressive. Its exactly what I need come Monday. Its a great free app, and worth checking out.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Procrastinating

My husband and I are planning to go to the beach tomorrow, so I should give our little Button a bath and put her to bed, but... I'm not. And I should finish washing her diapers and packing a bag for tomorrow, but... I'm not. I just can't shake the nagging desire to fill my blog with substance so that if anyone should stumble across it they don't just give it a once over and say, "eh..." and move along to whatever else people do on the internet.

So I thought I'd make a little headway in that department and share with you one of my favorite quick/easy dinners. Its basically a Ravioli Lasagna and the great thing about it is that its really flexible. Its great with simple store bought ingredients, but you could really class it up by making everything from scratch.



Here's what you need:
  • 1 lb ground meat (If that's your thing. You can skip it if you're vegetarian or use some kind of tofu)
  • 2 24 oz jars of pasta sauce
  • 25 oz of ravioli (We just use the frozen stuff. I recommend getting big raviolis though. The stamp sized ones leave a lot of gaps.)
  • 3 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella (We usually use at least 4 cups.)
  • 3/4 cup grated Parmesan

Here's a few optional things too:
  • 1 cup diced onion (I like to cook it with a little olive oil and salt and then cook the meat with it. It would also be good in the sauce.)
  • Shredded zucchini and squash (I like to hide it in the sauce. You can cook it in olive oil first but I usually don't. Carrots would work well too.)
  • Sliced mushrooms (My husband won't eat them, so I don't bother.)
  • Herbs and Spices (I'm a big fan of good ol' salt and pepper. I really like basil too. My husband likes to make his sauce spicy. You can really tailor this dish to your liking.)

The recipe is very simple:
  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add a splash of olive oil and cook your raviolis. (The oil keeps them from sticking.) Drain and let cool.
  2. While your raviolis are cooking, season and cook your meat in a skillet and set it aside.
  3. Heat your sauce. (I usually only do this when I'm adding veggies to it.)
  4. Spoon a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of a 13x9x2 baking dish.
  5. Layer with half of your raviolis. Follow with another layer of sauce, then meat, and cheese. Repeat the layers.
  6. Cover with tinfoil and bake for 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees. Uncover and bake for another 10 or so minutes. Let it cool for about 10 minutes and serve.
This dish is a great way to use spaghetti leftovers and freezes well so you can make more than one at a time. I'm not sure exactly how many servings it makes, but I know for sure I've fed six people and had a little leftover. I hope you enjoy this and feel free to let me know if you come up with any variations!

GroVia Giveaway from the Cloth Diaper Blog!


Diaper Junction does a weekly giveaway on their blog and this week they're giving away a Grovia one-size shell and a set of two snap in soakers! They've made it super quick and simple to enter and their website is definitely worth checking out. Their blog has a ton of great information on cloth diapering and their store has some great customer rewards programs.
Plus, if you click my link, you can get $5 off your first $50 order AND free shipping! Just use coupon code AFL550 at check out! (Some restrictions apply).