Posts filed under ‘At Home’
Japanese Masking Tape Craft Ideas
Japanese Tape Craft to Make Dining Fun
Looking for something fun and creative that “masks” a chore?
Check out the Luminarc website for ideas on decorating a kitchen table with Japanese masking tape. Kids will love this clever and creative craft that makes a routine chore like setting the table extra fun. Go to Luminarc’s Craft Corner.
The tape peels off when you’re done, setting the stage for the next craft.
Amazon.com sells a lot of different craft tapes, but check out some of the online boutique craft shops such as Cute Tape (pronounced koo-teh-tah-pee), which is
Colorful Crafting Tape from CuteTape.com
such a sweet website shoppe with great tapes in myriad colors and styles.
I love the purples and pinks and the stripes and hearts… the site is packed with delightful
craft tapes and stamps. Enjoy!
Green Clean Your Home with These Non-Toxic Tips
Today at MommaJam, we interviewed Linda Mason Hunter, co-author of “Green Clean,” a step-by-step guide to cleaning your home with non-toxic, eco-friendly products.
This gorgeously-styled books comes with tips for cleaning every room in the house, recipes for easy, inexpensive green cleaning concoctions, safe ways to recycle, and much more.
If you’re ready to “go green,” but are unsure about how to get started or what to do with products under the kitchen sink, listen to this podcast interview with Linda. She gives great advise on how to dispose of traditional, possibly toxic cleaning products.
Linda also suggest three basic ingredients to make your home sparkle: baking soda, distilled white vinegar and vegetable-based soap, such as Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castile Soap – Lavender, which you can find for about $17 at Target.com. Linda also talks about the pros and cons of Borax, an old-fashioned, yet now controversial green cleaning product.
Click arrow above to hear the Green Clean interview.
For more information and to buy the book online, go to HunterInk.com. Also check out Earth911.org.
Related Articles:
Green Holiday Wrapping with Blue Avocado Bags
Green Your Lunches with PB Green Snack Bags and Sandwich Mats
Go Mobile with MommaJam – Listen on the Go – Click to Get MommaJam on iTunes
MommaJam on 95.9 WATD-FM: 3 Tips to De-clutter Your Home, Pantry, Kids!
This week on MommaJam with 95.9 WATD-FM, we talk about getting rid of old stuff around the house, cleaning your pantry and refrigerator, and feeling renewed for 2012.
Here are 3 tips to help you get it done:
1. Check out a cool, new company called thredUP that lets you trade clothes, toys and books with other moms online. This is a great service for when your kids outgrow Star Wars, but are then into Pokemon or love GAP. Go to thredUP.com to learn more about how to start trading with other moms and join the thredUP community.
2. FOOD TUESDAY this week is all about organizing your pantry and refrigerator. Get rid of old and moldy food that’s expired. Make lunch and dinner with ingredients you already have. Right now, Americans toss about 25 percent of their groceries each year. Ouch!
3. Clean your office, work space or family nerve center. Clean up the holiday mess and get organized. Recycle what you should pass on and toss the rest.
In the end, you’ll feel better and live a happier life. Smile!
Related Articles:
thredUP: Digital Trading Post for Moms
ThredUP: Digital Trading Post for Moms
In keeping with the clean it out, pass it along, clearing clutter mode at MommaJam, we’ve checked out thredUP, a modern day, digital trading post for moms. ThredUP lets moms trade gently used clothes, toys and books with other moms from all over the country.
ThredUP is a green and economical way for parents to get rid of outgrown clothes, toys and books to make way for new things that are age appropriate.
You can join the community for free. Boxes of pre-owned items start at $9 + shipping. For every two boxes you share, you can get the next one free with cash back you receive by selling a box. You can sort by age, clothing style, holiday, seasons, costumes – even designer labels.
For super-busy moms, thredUP has a Concierge Service. Moms can order free bags, stuff them full of 50+ items and send them to thredUP’s expert consignors. ThredUP sorts the bags, certifies quality and posts them online for other moms to buy.
Check out thredUP.com to join and start trading.
Related Articles:
Get Organized: Tips to De-clutter Right Now
FOOD TUESDAY: Clean Out Your Fridge & Pantry
This week at MommaJam is all about getting rid of stuff you don’t need, getting organized and loving life.
Take a look at your pantry.
Is it over flowing with tons of leftover holiday snacks? Clean it out.
Before: Ugggg...! Messy Pantry!
Make a list of all the things you should pack in your kids’ lunches, pack for your own lunch, give to kids coming over for playdates (if your house is like mine, the boys eat everything in site).
Toss anything moldy and gross. Align cans and jars, so you can actually see items and think about what to cook right now without going to the store. (Novel concept, but Americans throw out approximately 40 percent of their groceries each year). Rather than stressing about what’s for dinner, come up with something yummy and creative with ingredients you already have.
After: Clean, Organized Pantry
Once your pantry is cleaned up, work on the fridge. Get rid of old, floppy stuff. Compost as much as you can, freeze what needs to be stored for later use, and eat up what’s teetering on the edge of expiration. Don’t waste it. Turn all those random raw ingredients and leftovers into meals this week.
After the fridge is semi-empty, give it a clean with a refreshing non-toxic mix of water and baking soda. Using a cotton cloth, gently rub out dried up spills, brown gunk from rotten lettuce, and spilled Ketchup.
You’ll feel better once you clean up the kitchen and can “see” what’s for dinner. I bet, it’s something delicious.
Related articles
Get Organized: Tips to Declutter Right Now
These Shoes are Going to Goodwill
Clean the fridge, clean the pantry, clean your desk, clean your closet, clear your mind. Get organized. You’ll feel better. This week on MommaJam is all about Getting Organized.
Donate and Recycle Gently Used Items, Trash the Rest
Make the time today to toss 10 things that you don’t use. Do this every day to clear the clutter and make way for a positive chi in your life.
What better time to make way for the new than after the holidays and the start of a new year. Pick one place in the house today to clean out. Your closet. Are shoes you don’t wear anymore collecting dust? Maybe another gal can wear them.
Pass on shoes, clothes and accessories you don’t wear anymore to organizations the recycle them, such as Goodwill, the Vietnam’s Vet Association (VVA) and Big Brothers Big Sisters. VVA will pick up at your doorstep and it takes second to schedule.
After you clean out the clutter, you’ll feel better and the space will look better.
Next, flip through a a few magazines to help you visualize what you want the clean space to look like and get to work.
Related Articles:
No Resolutions for the New Year
Get Into Zen Mode with Feng Shui for the Whole Family
MommaJam on 95.9 WATD-FM: Food, Fashion, Fun!
CLICK TO HEAR INSTANT REPLAY
Tune in to get the instant replay of MommaJam on 95.9 WATD-FM on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011.
During the segment, we talk about cyber shopping, plus Food, Fashion and Fun:
- How do moms avoid getting busted by kids when cyber shopping for the holidays?
- The new FOOD TUESDAY feature on MommaJam, which covers meal planning, recipes and trends in cooking. Check out the recipe for home made ricotta and more!
- Rockport’s fabulous Lorraine Rain Boots that Miss Piggy will adore. Read the review…
- The Muppets Movie, a great family flick with laughs and tears
Enjoy! Tune in for the next MommaJam segment on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, when we talk about Getting Organized in 2012.
Related Articles
- MommaJam on 95.9 WATD-FM: Marbles: The Brain Store, Sing Your Song & Twilight’s Breaking Dawn
- FOOD Tuesday: Gypsy Juice Spices up the Holidays
Heat up with Homemade Hot Chocolate
Vanilla Sugar for Hot Chocolate
Heat up this holiday New Year with homemade hot chocolate. Ditch the canned stuff filled with preservatives and who-knows-what else and mix up this bubbling brew of cocoa for your family.
4 cups of milk*
2 heaping spoonfuls of high fat cocoa
1 - 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar, to taste
Mix all ingredients in a medium sized sauce pan, stirring constantly, until brew bubbles. Cool and serve warm. Mmmm.
* Substitute milk with Lactaid, as needed, for those with lactose-intolerance. Cocoa and vanilla sugar available at Penzeys or other stores that sell higher end spices and seasonings.
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Food Tuesday: Penzeys Spice Shop Kicks in the New Year
Penzeys Spices Enhance Flavors
If you’re looking for a change of culinary scenery after a week of traditional ancestral eating, try cooking with spices from Penzeys, which boasts a plethora of A to Z flavors for every dish imaginable.
Some recent favorites include: Vietnamese Cinnamon (the best cinnamon, like top shelf tequila); Double Strength Pure Vanilla Extract (vanilla lovers will never go back to regular strength, which tastes wimpy after a dose of this); Grey Sea Salt (mild, yet flavorful); Coriander (oh, the aroma); and Sweet California Style Paprika (excellent as a rub on slow roasted pork ribs).
The beauty of using spices is that you achieve maximum flavor with minimum effort. Add the right spice to a dish and within seconds you enhance the flavor ten-fold.
Or, you can easily alter the theme of a dish by adding a particular flavor like Ground Chipolte powder to ground beef for Mexican burgers, for example. While you’ve got the Ground Chipolte out, you might as well mix up some Good Basic Chili from Penzeys (click to get chili recipe and link to the store’s complete recipe catalog). This is great dish to make for New Year’s Eve.
Cooking with Penzeys Coriander
Penzeys is a spice store version of Trader Joe’s – it’s a tad quirky with a “homegrown” feel both online and in the store. The company has a free catalog of products and recipes that you can pick up in a store or get via snail mail after subscribing online.
More than 60 retail stores are located around the U.S. It’s worth finding a Penzeys store, so you can go in and smell samples of the more than 250 herbs, seasonings and spices sold. Some prices offer a great deal because you’re buying in bulk, but for fancy, specialty items, like saffron, you’ll pay the standard high price. Go to Penzeys.com to find a retail store near you and start cooking!
Food Tuesday: Pastene Makes Cooking Easy
This week’s Food Tuesday is about simple, cost-effective cooking, since every mom I know is running around crazy getting ready for Christmas and Chanukah and can use an idea for cheap, easy meals kids love.
Pastene Italian Stelline Pasta
Pastene, the Italian imported foods company, makes terrific small pastas, called Pastina (which literally means tiny pasta), that cook up in less than 10 minutes. Some favorites are Organic Pastina ($2.39) and Italian Stelline ($1.69), the small star pasta (see photo). Add olive and a pinch of salt, and you have lunches and dinners ready to go. Make sure you reserve leftovers – the creamy texture and rich flavor combo is irresistible.
Pastina or Stelline On the Go
Serves 4 (with plenty of dry pasta left over in the package)
5 cups water
1 cup Pastene Pastina or Italian Stelline
1/4 extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt, to taste (about 2 pinches)
Boil water in a medium size sauce pan. Pour in pasta and cook according to package, about 6 – 8 minutes, or until tender. Drain water. Add olive oil and salt. Mix and serve.
To prepare for kids’ school lunches, divide into containers or hot food jars and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese. Pasta stays warm until lunchtime. Pack a spoon!
Pastina and Stelline make a great last minute side dish for any type of meat you’re serving for dinner (instead of rice, which you need to plan ahead, due to the longer cooking time). If you don’t gobble up the leftovers, save for chicken soup. Store in an airtight container and freeze until “soup’s on.”
Pastene’s Pastina and Italian Stelline are available at most grocery stores nationwide (check website below for store locator), or shop at the company’s extensive online market, which stocks hundreds of imported Italian products. Many items are Kosher and gluten-free. Go to Pastene.com for information and online market.
Mangia!
