Chicken Nuggets For Big Kids

and little kids too! We ALL love these Crispy Coconut Chicken Fingers from Our Best Bites

P has his with tomato sauce while we prefer sweet chili sauce, though with the curry powder and other seasonings they are definitely yummy enough to eat sans dip!

Crispy Coconut Chicken Tenders

12 chicken tenders
1-2 eggs
1/2 C flour
1 C sweetened coconut flakes - I use shredded, unsweetened coconut
1 C panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder - don't use this, as we don't have any
3/4 tsp table salt
3/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp onion powder - don't use this, as we don't have any
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper - we leave this out for P

~ Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
~ Give coconut a rough chop so it's about the same size as the panko pieces Combine it with Panko and spices in a shallow dish. Mix well to distribute all of the spices.
~ Place the flour in another shallow dish, and the egg in another. Give the egg a quick beating.
~ Working with one chicken tender at a time, dredge in flour... then dip in egg... And then finally coat in the coconut Panko mixture. Press in with your fingers to make sure the entire thing is well coated.
~ Place chicken tenders on a foil-lined baking sheet (for easy clean up!) that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. I give mine a teeny drizzle of olive oil on top to help them crisp nicely, but it's optional. I use a roasting pan, no non-stick spray, they come off just fine
~ Bake in your 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until juices run clear. Try not to overcook them because chicken tenders go from perfect to overcooked really fast! If your tenders are on the small side, they could even be done in about 15 minutes so keep an eye on them. If they're big they can take more like 25. The coconut will be nice and golden and the panko crisp, but light in color still.

These go wonderfully with couscous or rice or even a salad! Let me know if you love them as much as we do!

ImagiPLAY Tumblin' Tree

ImagiPLAY is a company that specializes in wooden puzzles, toys and games for all ages. All their toys are made from plantation-grown rubberwood, like Plan toys are or from sustainable, managed forests. They are of course free of  lead, BPA, PVC and all other ickies. I love the toys because they are not only eco-friendly but because they are also open ended; they encourage imaginative play and don't place restrictions on the child's play.

P and I really enjoy playing with the ImagiPLAY Tumblin' Tree. It is a game of balance, patience and skill that can be set to different difficulty levels - the base of the trunk is rounded and will tip more the further up the trunk you put the base. It is actually 'made for' children ages 6+ but P has no problems with it at all when we set it at the lowest difficulty level where the tree does not tip at all. I love that we have a lot of growing room left with the toy though I'm not even sure I could manage the next level up!

You start by putting the trunk into the round base. We put ours level on the table so it doesn't tip. Then we take turns putting the branches and leaves on the tree.

P concentrates and moves very carefully when putting the branches and leaves on, teaching him patience and a steady hand as well as how to wait your turn; all important lessons for a three year old! Maybe by the time he is six we will have the base up off the table but for now we all have a lot of fun with it on the 'easy' level even though it does still fall over occasionally!

Free Friday - Mittens

Well, it's kind of free if you already have the sweater, like I did :) I actually used scraps, P's hands are small.  Or, you can use a fleece blanket, sweater or yardage bought at the fabric store.

I started with the tutorial and pattern that can be found at Resweater. I quickly traced P's hand before sending him off to bed and went from there

I had to go a good bit of modifying to the pattern found through Resweater and make a practice mitten before I got the sizing and fit right. Fortunately, P didn't mind me trying them on him a few times while he was sleeping

He didn't wake up at all through all THREE fitting sessions though he wouldn't uncurl his fingers. He's so funny.

I took Kris', from Resweater advice and ironed the mittens when I was done, it definately helps presentation wise

These literally take 5 minutes a pair. They're so quick and easy once you get your pattern figured out.

And P loves them. I was afraid he wouldn't! He wore them all morning, though he did take them off for his shower ;)

Wine-o-clock?

If I were the drinking kind I would already be on my second glass of wine.

At 7:58am.

Since I am not, I have the kettle going, I will have an early cup of tea instead. No biscuits though. Way too many biscuits lately.

P woke up at 6:30. At 6:40 he was downstairs turning all the lights on. At 6:42 I was dragging myself out of bed, turning all the lights off and carrying him, screaming by the way, back up the stairs to his bedroom. If you don't need anything (take note of this) and can't see to play it is too early to be up! That's my new motto.

At 7:30 he got noisy again so I went up to get him. I could smell poop from the stairs. I always brace myself when that is the case. This morning there were little chunks of poo all over the carpet. And a particularly appetizing chunk on his left index finger.

He moved his hand up to his mouth, I leaped towards him, apparently in slow motion, yelling 'nooooooo'. But I was too late.

He ate it.

My almost three year old just ate his own poop while I was telling him not to.

What is up with THAT?

I hauled his stinky butt downstairs to the master bathroom and told his dad to supervise him while I cleaned up his room.

And took a minute to throw up a little.

Shudder.

How To Earn MORE Swagbucks!

I've been thinking of doing a post like this for a while so here it is!

Most of you probably already know what Swagbucks is but for those who don't; it is a rewards site that gives you 'bucks' for searching, shopping and completing offers. 450 points = $5 Amazon.com gift card, the most popular reward on the site by far. There are lots of ways to earn swagbucks:

Daily points - each gives you one SB a day for a total of 4
Daily Poll - answer an easy question and earn a buck
Surveys - just checking your survey spot gives you 1 buck. No completing surveys necessary
Daily Swaggertunity - click on the orange 'Start Earning' and hit skip until you reach the end and are awarded a buck!
Toolbar - download and install the toolbar, you will be awarded 1 buck daily when you first open your browser

Search - you should win at least twice a day
Download the toolbar and use it for all your search needs. I also use it to search for the website I need to go to instead of typing the address into the URL bar at the top of the browser. I usually win in the morning and the evening, maybe 2-3 times a day total

Swagcodes -  these are released almost daily and give random amounts. Sometimes you have to search for them, sometimes you don't. Download the widget and check it regularly to see if a code is out

Surveys - check your survey inbox regularly!
Not only do you get 1 SB just for checking your survey inbox but you can also make some good bucks if you qualify and complete a survey! Answer the questions honestly and don't rush through them. A lot of surveys will kick you out if you move through the questions too quickly as they think you are not answering honestly and completely, so take your time

Swagbucks TV
This is one of my new favorite earning opportunities. There are lots of funny videos to watch. You are randomly awarded swagbucks at the end of the videos; I get 3 or 4 rewards a day at 5 swagbucks a piece.

Shopping - earn bucks for shopping through the links on the Swagbucks website. A good deal if you don't belong to any other shop and earn websites like I do.

Special Offers - sign up for free special offers and get bucks!
These are one of my favorite ways to earn bucks and try new programs and offers! It is by far my best earner. There are 5 different offer walls; Gambit, Tapjoy, Trialpay, gWallet and Super Rewards as well as the main offer wall at the top of the page

You will want to create a new email address so your personal or business email address is not bombarded with spam. I have not had it happen but you never know! Also, use a credit or debit card with a low balance/limit and good fraud protection, just in case; all the offers I have completed have been through BBB accredited and reputable companies and I haven't had any issues with charges but just in case :) I use my PayPal debit card. Also, be aware that a lot of the companies will charge 0.01 to $1 to your card to check that it is a valid number. This charge will disappear and always has for me.

Another secret is to set your computer's or cell phone's calendar to remind you to cancel free trial offers before you are charged. And ALWAYS take a screenshot of an offer completion confirmation in case your points are not awarded as they should be - doing this has saved me so much trouble and saved me so many bucks! Ctrl + PrtSc will take a screenshot, then open 'Paint' and hit Ctrl + V to paste it. Save with the name of the wall the offer was on and how many SBs it was worth and you're good to go. Also be sure to save all welcome emails.

Offerwall - this is the grid you see when you go to the 'Special Offers' page. The offer walls are further down this page but there are some great offers to be found in this area too!
~ 7 day free trial of Equifax will tell you your credit score and earn you 960 bucks! - that's almost $10!
~ if you haven't already, signing up for a Netflix free trial will earn you 531 bucks
~ an Identity Guard free trial will also tell you your credit score and you'll earn another 960 bucks - another $10!
~ sign up for the free Weather email and get 11 SBs
~ download the Weather.com toolbar for 12 SBs
~ sign up for the Cool Savings email and for My Coke Rewards and earn 23 and 11 SBs respectively

I could go on and on! Check the 'free' tab and see what else you can find!

gWallet - has videos almost daily that you can watch for bucks. A lot of them you can watch more than once a day for anywhere between 2-8 bucks for each viewing. Find them by clicking on the gWallet 'Free' tab and looking throughout the pages. Make sure you have all necessary media programs installed

TrialPay - also has videos under the 'video' tab. They are not refreshed as often as gWallet's and are usually worth 1 SB a piece. This wall also has all the daily deal sites on it so if you are someone that purchases from sites like Groupon be sure to click through the link in TrialPay found under the 'Local Deals' tab

Tapjoy - is another wall. Check out the 'free' tab reguarly. Right now there are some good free offers available, though you will find the following under the 'All' tab - they have stars next to them instead of 'free' images, use Ctrl + F to search the page you are on
~ sign up for a free 30 day MyFax trial for 408 bucks. You will not be charged during the first 30 days.
~ free 7 day GameHouse trial for 510 bucks
~ create a new York Photo account, get 40 free prints and make a $5 purchase for 510 bucks. So you get a $5 amazon gift card and 60 extra points - gotta love free photos!

Gambit - also has a lot of good free trial offers:
~ Blue Mountain e-card free trial to earn 240 bucks
~ want to build a website or blog? Homestead free trial will earn you 150 swagbucks

Super Rewards:
~ signing up for the Home Depot email through their 'free' tab will get you 21 swagbucks
~ also has videos occasionally under the 'video' tab

I will be updating this post as more good free trials are added. I hope this helps you make some extra bucks and cash in for more rewards next month. Just don't forget to set a cancel reminder and take screenshots of all completed offers! I'd love to hear about it so feel free to share your successes here!

Meal Plan 10/26-11/2

Trying to get back into meal planning to curb our eating out and jump start our vacation fund. I need to send lunch with my husband on weekdays so he doesn't eat out and feed us all dinner.

Tuesday 10/26 - grocery shopping day
Lunch: sandwiches - turkey, cheese, tomato
Dinner: leftovers - our fridge is full of them!

Wednesday 10/27 - Halloween story time at the library and visit to the fire station
Lunch: sandwiches - turkey, cheese, avocado and tomato
Dinner:  Big spinach salad with egg, tomato, celery, cucumber, carrots and avocado
Prep: Make big pot of spaghetti sauce with spinach and carrots hiding in it. Cut up extras for J's lunch tomorrow. Use over ripe bananas to make a batch of banana choc. chip muffins to go in the freezer for next week

Thursday 10/28 - Playgroup downtown - need an easy dinner. May also stop by Whole Foods
Lunch: Salad made while making dinner last night.
Dinner: Spaghetti bolagnaise (meat sauce) - all I have to do is make pasta
Prep: put J's lunch up for Friday

Friday 10/29 - Halloween festival at local cowboy church - need a fast, easy dinner
Lunch: Spaghetti
Dinner: Pizza
Prep: Make 3 extra pizza bases to go in the freezer. Put rest of the spaghetti sauce in the freezer

Saturday 10/30 -

Breakfast:  Whole wheat pancakes
Lunch: Sandwiches and salad
Dinner: Coconut chicken tenders, rice and steamed vegetables
Prep:

Sunday 10/31 - trick or treating - need a fast, easy dinner
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, toast and fruit
Lunch: Sandwiches and salad - gotta use up all the spinach!
Dinner: some kind of steak on the grill, with rice and steamed vegetables. Hubby grills so we won't know what we're having until the weekend; it is in the freezer though! - - we'll eat early so we can get out before it gets too late (and dark)
Prep:

Monday 11/1 -

Lunch: sandwiches or a salad and a muffin
Dinner: Baked potato soup
Prep: Make said soup earlier in the day so it can sit for a bit and 'fester'

Tuesday 11/2 -

Lunch: baked potato soup
Dinner: Tacos with lettuce, tomato, avocado and sour cream and salsa for J
Prep: Take taco meat out of the freezer. Make tortillas

I spent $38 at Kroger today on this week's produce, eggs and milk and am going to stop by Whole Foods on Thursday while downtown for:
~ 2 or 3 loaves of their store brand organic bread - we use it for sandwiches because I have yet to perfect a sandwich bread. Two will go in the freezer for the future since I can only get them once a week. They have a 'buy 5 loaves get 1 free' card so that helps.
~ bacon for baked potato soup. Half will be used and the other half will go in the freezer for the next batch
~ 2 pounds of local ground grass fed beef if it is on sale
~ organic NZ Jazz apples - one of the only kinds of apples J likes so I get them special for him ;)
~ a block of cheese - they have a wider variety of Organic Valley cheeses and maybe even cheaper organic brands?
~ organic brocolli
~ bulk oats for breakfast - they have organic rolled oats for $1.69lb which is the best price I've found!

Make It Monday - Pikelets

Why not try out something new today? I bet most of you, with the exception of my Aussie and New Zealand readers, don't know what a 'pikelet' is, I know my husband didn't. Today is your lucky day!

Pikelets are kind of like mini pancakes but the batter is sweeter than that of pancakes and you eat them with butter and jam instead of maple syrup. Don't ask me what exactly a 'pikelet' is though, I have been trying to figure out what an adult 'pike' is for years now! The recipe comes from my New Zealand 'Edmonds Cookery Book' - I hope to share more recipes from it with you in the future!

Pikelets

1 C plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/4 C sugar

3/4 C milk approximately

~ Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

~ In another bowl beat egg and sugar until thick. 

~ Add with milk to the sifted ingredients and mix until just combined.

~ Drop tablespoonsful of the batter from the point of spoon onto a hot, lightly greased girdle. 

~ Turn pikelets over when bubbles start to burst. Cook second side until golden brown.

Serve and enjoy! I like butter and jam (specifically, strawberry) or golden syrup on mine. P takes his any way he can get them and seems to like them more than pancakes. J eats them with maple syrup though. I let him get away with that one...

Less Is More - What Do I Do With *it*?

It, being the clutter I am trying to get rid of!

I took 29 pounds of men's clothes to our consignment store today, all quality brands; Levis, Eddie Bauer, IZOD. She took TWO items; a pair of jeans and a little handbag and sent me home with the rest because it doesn't sell. What is up with THAT? So much for getting it out of the house.

So, I have a few options:
- donate it all and take the tax deduction of 10-40% of its resale value - doesn't help us until next year obviously
- sell the good things in lots on Ebay and/or Craigslist and get the cash now
- have a garage sale and get the cash now
- do all of the above.

Now, here's the thing, we could really use the cash for our visit home next year (we are planning a trip to Australia/New Zealand, by that point I wouldn't have been home in almost two years and that's a bit much!), but how much is it worth to me to put the extra effort into selling it myself? I don't know. What do you do with your clutter? Know of any Ebay secrets? I would obviously like to get back a little bit to put aside for our trip and to buy a couple things that we need for winter but I don't know if it is worth the effort!?!!

Changes!

So, what do you think? Too much? Not enough? I'm trying to customize my blog a little and I have all these ideas in my head but it's hard to figure out where to start!

And along those lines, I want to hear from you! What do YOU want to see more of? Recipes, crafts, building projects, general green information? You tell me! And I'll tell you what *I* want;

Comments! I LOVE comments :)

The Not So Naked Naked Mole Rat

How is it that we can have books coming out our ears but we still enjoy getting new books at the library? We haven't even read some of the books we have! (Less is More - Books?)

I was reading a book thread a while back and a bunch of my lady friends mentioned 'Knuffle Bunny' and the 'Pigeon' so I had to look them up. 'Knuffle Bunny', 'Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus' and a bunch of other books are written and illustrated by Mo Willems and are just plain awesome. We tracked them down and checked a bunch of them out of our local library.

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!are not only fun to read -- I think they make my husband giggle more than they make P giggle! but they're also SO true. Both books are filled with excuses, sayings and ideas that we hear from our almost 3 year old daily, or, nightly as it were. I think that's what makes them especially hilarious for us as parents, we can relate!

Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny Too are sweet, secretly educational stories about a little girl and her bunny best friend. Anyone who has ever had to pick their 'boneless' child up off the sidewalk will appreciate the first one.

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed -- what more do I have to say? Naked Mole Rats. Enough said. I love the message of this book - that it is OK to be different. This is P's favorite for some reason, I like it because he slips up every now and then and says "Naked Role Mat' just like his mama has been known to do!

We sadly have to take the naked role mat home tomorrow, have you read any great kid's books lately that you suggest we might look for?

Less Is More - Clothing

Less clothing = less laundry

right?

I can see how that would work; less options so you wear that pair of pants an extra time or are more careful about getting messy, don't change when you get home or just being lazy and throwing it in the washing basket after it touches the ground.

Or, does less clothing = doing laundry more so it equals out?

I can see that too. Anyone have any experience with reducing the items of clothing each family member has and its effect on their laundry?

It's My Own Darn Fault

I know it is.

You know those questions you hear a million times a day, repeated over and over again until you answer, even if you *just* answered the same question a few minutes ago. They're our fault.

As our babies grow we narrate our actions;
"Now mama is going to make you breakfast, should we have porridge for breakfast? *baby blinks*, let's have porridge for breakfast. Poooorrriddgggee." 

and ask them (admittedly, stupid questions, for an adult anyway);
"What's that Timmy?" (expecting an answer, already knowing what the answer is ourselves)
"Do you see the ______?"
"Is that a ball? can you say baaaalllll?" trying to encourage them to babble, make sounds and start to talk.

And now my child gives me a play-by-play, verbalizing every thing he does;
"I'm coloring mama, and now I will draw a circle, and then I will get this pen, see this pen mama, see this pen mama, see this pen mama. Mama do you see this pen? Is it blue? what color is it? (he knows what color it is)" (at this point I put the phone down to say 'yes' before he climbs up my leg) and asks us the same questions over and over again.

"Is that a truck mama?" or a plain old "what's that?" even when he knows what it is.
"I don't know P, what do you think it is?"
"Its a truck" he answers.

Well, yes, we both knew that.

But now, because of us and our enthusiasm for brain development, interaction and talking, darn us, you ask us the same ridiculous questions over and over again that we used to ask you, over and over again, because that's what you're supposed to do, right? You're supposed to ask questions that you already know the answer to, aren't you? Mama and Dada do!

The next child will be different.

** and my little disclaimer -- I love my kid, I promise, and I love that he loves to talk, but sometimes, mummy's ears (and brain) need a break **

Less Is More

I am slowly learning that less is more. I mean, in terms of *stuff*. I already only wear makeup for special occasions ;)

I want to have only what we need and use, none of this extra junk. So I am purging. I am considering having an impromtu garage sale sometime this month to move some of this clutter but for now I just listed the more high quality stuff on craigslist -- Eddie Bauer, Levi's and Izod men's clothing -- J has shrunk out of them! Might put some on ebay if they run another free listing promotion sometime soon. I already have two large boxes of clothes of ours for said garage sale. We'll see...

Thanks Amy for the renewed inspiration and motivation!

Wool Clutch Ball

I have had this idea floating around in my head for weeks now. Today I got some child free time while the boys were at a train show so I gave it a go. What do you think?

Machine and hand-sewn. Made completely out of scraps of wool sweaters and interlock and stuffed with wool scraps too. I am considering selling them in my Hyena Cart store but I don't think I have enough scraps to make another one! HA

A Great Use For Packing Peanuts

You can't recycle them, you don't want to throw them out. You can re-use them in boxes, and I do use them for shipping co-op orders OR you can use them to occupy your child while you pack said co-op orders

And he loves them. We are considering shipping him to Australia instead of buying him an adult fare. I KID!

No Mess Jack-o-Lantern

No seeds. No knives. No gooey pumpkin innards. That's my kind of pumpkin carving! (We will of course carve a real pumpkin sometime before halloween...)

I started out by googling 'pumpkin cartoon' and found a great image to use as a template. Set it to landscape, shrunk it to fit the page a bit better and printed it out. Two pieces of orange paper, a pencil and a pair of scissors later

Two pumpkins ready for carving!

A piece of black paper is perfect for the eyes, nose and mouth

P decided where each piece would go and got to gluing!

I made one too

Now what should we do with them? They deserve a special display spot but I can't think of anywhere!?

And his Jack-o-Lantern impression?

Kumon Workbooks

These are P's new love! I had been printing/making matching games for him but I was running out of ideas so these are perfect, he asks me to do 'school books' all the time. LOVES them!

His favorite so far is probably the Easy Mazes, he does really well with it, we were both surprised at his unknown maze skills! I love that they make him think and encourage him to look ahead to make sure he is headed down the right path while teaching pen(cil) control too! We got our latest three just two days ago and he must be halfway done with them already! Here are a couple easy ones from the beginning of the book; they get harder as you go

We also like the cutting and pasting book My Book Of Pasting . They have lots of different activities in them that teach cutting and pasting -- I cut for now while P glues the pieces. This lucky gorilla got a very happy face courtesy of Mr. P; he glued the eyes, nose and mouth on after experimenting with different expressions. And we glued the shoes, glove and hat on for the baseball player.

My First Book Of Tracing is a great workbook too! It works on matching, tracing and pencil control, it also has some simple beginner mazes in it

For those interested, Amazon has a buy 4 for the price of 3 (get the 4th free) promotion running right now.

One Of Our Favourite Open Ended Toys

Lacing beads have got to be one of the best, open ended toys out there in my opinion.

First of all, they're wood! And painted with non toxic paints to boot. Ours are even made in the USA by Maple Landmark; a family owned company based in Vermont. They teach fine motor skills and hand eye coordination; getting string through a small hole and out the other side is not an easy task for little fingers! It also teaches patience and perseverance because toddlers WILL and DO get frustrated with them but are SO proud when they finally figure out how to do it on their own.

P and I have been playing with our lacing beads a lot lately. I began introducing the concept of patterns to him this week using the beads. Red, orange, red, orange... which one comes next do you think?

When I ask him which one I need next he may choose the right one, or he might not but it's all about exposure, right? We did have some success however when it was HIS turn to make a pattern. You'll see he started off with red then orange then red and orange, then he got too excited and just needed the beads on there so we could pretend to be snakes!

So, that's what we did. Our strings of beads became snakes and we talked about the noise they make (we hadn't really talked about snakes before!), how they slither along the ground, what they eat (and how they eat it!), and how they like to sit in the sun to 'recharge'.

Then they were used as a road for his cars, for jumping over, some color recognition practice as he pointed to each and told me what color the bead was and finally they were 'towers'. Well, my snake was a tower, P thought hitting my tower and watching it crumble to the floor was hilarious. So I guess his snake was the wrecking ball? Typical. And of course Cow just watched as the little wrecking ball destroyed my snake.

Flying Again

And my house has never looked as good! Prior to my surgery and minor (OK, major) emotional and psychological freak out I used to follow FlyLady and 'fly' almost daily, then I got sick and sore and then I was just lazy. Well, no more! I have to take my house back from the clutter, toys and dirty dishes. I have started setting the timer for 15 minutes and seeing what I can get done. It's amazing how much one can get done in fifteen minutes so they can go back and sit down again!