WFMW: Crock Pottin’ It Up!

I know there have probably been 1,000 Works for Me Wednesday posts on this topic throughout the blogosphere, but I can’t help posting about my love for the crock pot, because it is something that works for me very, very frequently! Like at least twice a week. I have one basic recipe that has several different variations. The basic ingredients are 6 frozen chicken tenderloins, 1 can cream of chicken soup, one can or frozen bag of vegetables, and 1/2 soup can of milk. The variations include what kind of vegetables (a can of mixed vegetables or a bag of frozen broccoli? A bag of frozen “italian blend” veggies or “mexican blend”? The possibilities are endless!) I almost always add a clove of garlic (pressed), and if I’m going Italian style, I add italian seasoning, if mexican style, I add a can of diced tomatoes and chili powder. Four hours on high or six hours on low and you’ve got a culinary masterpiece! I usually serve all these masterpieces over egg noodles or rice. The mexican blend I like to serve with rice inside a tortilla, topped with cheddar cheese for a very yummy burrito! Sometimes I get crazy and use cream of mushroom soup, onion soup mix, and sour cream for an oniony-stroganoff type dish. Basically I just re-invent it every time I make it! And I almost always have enough left over for me to eat for lunch the next day. Yum!

So, the crock pot works for this very un-gourmet cook! For more great WFMW ideas, check out Rocks in My Dryer!

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WFMW: Bebe Belay

One of the many, many, many challenges my darling daughter has given me is the challenge to keep her clothes clean at mealtimes. Girlfriend is an anti-bib baby. She is 15 months now and about 5 months ago she started bib-ripping. First it was just the disposable bibs she could jettison from ’round her neck with ease, then she got good at getting the cloth bibs off. For awhile, she’d keep them on if I put them on backwards, but eventually she outsmarted me there, too. So I resigned myself to using a LOT of detergent and Clorox 2 until…

(angels singing, bright lights shining from heaven)

…the Bebe Belay came into my life!

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The Bebe Belay was invented by a mom and is one of those simple but genius things I wish I would’ve been smart enough to think of! It’s basically a cute, adjustable ribbon with two very sturdy clips on each end. It can be used as a pacifier holder, a baby bootie connector, or what I’ve been using it for – to create an instant bib out of a napkin, paper towel, dish towel, or burp cloth. Here’s Sophie with her Bebe Belay holding up one of my (very attractive) dish towels as a bib.

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I’ve been using this thing three meals a day for a week and she hasn’t bothered with it ONCE! She acts like she doesn’t even know it’s there! And she’s no longer getting food all over her clothes! It’s a miracle!

What I like best about the Bebe Belay is it’s cute, it’s small enough to easily slip in your purse or diaper bag, and it stays put. The clips are very sturdy and they don’t slip. I also like that it’s affordably priced at less than $10! Well worth it for the time & energy I’ve saved stain-treating Sophie’s clothes. And it’s much nicer to make a bib out of a Bebe Belay and a napkin when you go out to eat than it is to pull that crusty bib out of the diaper bag from LAST time you went out to eat! Click here for a list of places you can buy your own!

The Bebe Belay works for me! For more Works for Me Wednesday ideas, check out Rocks in My Dryer.

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WFMW: Entertaining Kids in the Shopping Cart

There are few things I love more than browsing aisle after aisle (especially the clearance endcaps – what what?) at Target. Or Tar-ZHAY and I prefer to call it. But there are few things that kill that browsing buzz faster than a screaming baby or toddler. Especially if said baby/toddler belongs to moi. So what do I do to ensure I can browse a bit when I go to Target? I head straight to the books section as soon as we get to the store and pick up a couple – few of those noisy annoying, musical books. Pressing the buttons on these books used to occupy Joshua for quite a long time when he was little and now they work for Sophie too! Although, I will say, her attention span is shorter than his and she will need two or three diferent books to get her through a shopping trip. Now it’s true these books are obnoxious, BUT tee-rust me, there are few things MORE obnoxious than Sophie screaming her head off in Target (or Kroger’s, etc!) when myself and many others are trying to get our shop on!!

Of course, sometimes there is a bit of fallout when I go to put the books back before we check out, but that can generally be dealt with by letting Sophie play with my cell phone briefly in the checkout line. Thankfully it’s rather sturdy!!

So, that’s what Works for Me! For other great tips, check out WFMW guest host Don’t Try This At Home!

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