A Little Bit of Momsense

The last guest post this week is from Don of Foodieprints here in Ottawa. He is one of the most pleasant people you’ll meet in blog world or on twitter – follow him at @foodieprints.  This week, he takes us inside the world of lunches and portable lunch containers.  Thanks Don!!

___________________

 Rebeccca of “A Little Bit of Momsense” (@bitofmomsense) asked for guest bloggers, we jumped at the opportunity. She is one of the most genuine, sweet, and enthusiastic people we’ve had the good fortune to met. Besides, food bloggers both, Jenn and I check back with Rebecca’s “A Little Bit of Food Sense” regularly.

Rebecca being a mommy blogger and Jenn being a teacher, I am well aware the back to school season has descended upon Ottawa. I’ve been dragged on enough shopping quests to check local blogs beforehand for the latest happenings. On August 12, I came across one post on the subject school lunches and snacks. Then, I came across Thermos’ latest campaign to market “FUNtainers.”

FUNtainers are good and all, but, in my opinion, they are small and better suited for younger children. What about older children? What about cube-dwelling parents? What about those of us who snack throughout the day (as opposed to sitting for a large midday meal)? What about those of us concerned about eating greenly at lunch? Enter Laptop Lunch Systems and Ontario-made ThermaPods

We discovered these bento-style (compartmentalized) lunchbox solutions at Chef Judi Varga-Toth’s Credible Edibles (78 Hinton Avenue North). Credible Edibles is more of a canteen than a restaurant. There, she serves locally-sourced food that adheres to author Michael Pollan’s famous food rule, “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.” She teaches cooking classes. She operates a Daycare and School Lunch service that delivers lunch to homes, daycares, and schools in Westboro, Hintonburg, downtown, the Glebe and Old Ottawa South. And, she sells “ecological lunch boxes and accessories.”

Laptop Lunch-wise, there were three “original” Bento Box Sets ($25.99) remaining on the shelves when we arrived, along with carrying cases.

Laptop Lunch Sets

Black and Red Set Open

Pink Set Open
Made with no phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), or lead, the sets consitst of multi-use containers that can accomodate a large variety of foods. This includes sandwiches, meats, salads, pasta, cous cous, rice, and grilled vegetables. The bento box outer container and inner containers are dishwasher safe. The inner containers, save for the lids, are microwave safe.

While Laptop Lunch boxes offer some insulation, Thermapods ($34.99) are designed to retain heat. Likewise, I surmise Thermapods would be equally effective in keeping foods cool.

Thermapods

Thermapod Open
Made with no phthalates, BPA, or lead, the pods are also leak proof, sturdy (protecting the foods within), and microwave, dishwasher, and freezer safe. Each features a compartment for cutlery, which can include chopsticks.

For anyone interested in recycled products, Credible Edible currently sells lunch bags ($19.95), made from re-purposed Kool-Aid packets.

Kool-Aid Lunch Bags

And, after you finish lunch box shopping, we highly recommend sitting down to lunch or brunch.

This past weekend, Jenn had a “Credible Egg Muffin” ($4.95).

Credible Egg Muffin
It was made with local free-range eggs and whole wheat english muffin with a tomato. Normally, it comes with cheese, but Jenn opted out.

Me, I had the small combo ($9.97), which included a soup, sandwich, and a dessert.

Dulse Lettuce and Tomato

DLT Combo
Soup-wise, I had the tomato gazpacho with fresh herbs. Sandwich-wise, dulse (seaweed), lettuce, and tomato. Dessert, a sweet potato cupcake with cream cheese frosting that was dusted with pumpkin spice. The dulse was a little chewy for my taste, but it made a surprisingly good substitute for bacon.

We are fans of Chef Varga-Toth’s and her food philosophy. We also think Ottawa residents would be hard pressed to get a fresher tasting brunch anywhere else. Many of the ingredients are picked from the hanging garden that surrounds her restaurant’s patio.

Particulars:
Credible Edibles
78 Hinton Avenue North
(613)558-7569

Thank you Danielle for guest posting this fabulous sounding recipe today!  My kids are huge bean lovers so this is perfect.  For those who prefer not to keep the dish vegetarian, I suspect that subbing ground beef or even turkey for the ground vegan round meat would work too!

____________________

I will not defend our choices that we take as parents on what our kids eat. We have been vegetarian before I was pregnant. I remained vegetarian through out my two pregnancies as the thought of meat made me feel ill. We decided to raise our kids the same until they ask us for meat.

I get a lot of flack from my doctor, family and friends on why we raise our kids on being vegetarian. What the naysayers do not see is how healthy our kids because they are not ingesting the steroids and hormones that are contained in meat. We all enjoy our milk, cheese, eggs along with our vitamins.

If you ever thought of even going meatless one day a week, give my not-so-secret recipe a try. I bring it to parties as our meal and share. Meat eaters swear there is meat in it.

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

2 15oz black beans drained and divided

Two 8 oz cans tomato sauce

2 cups vegan ground round meat

1-cup chunky salsa

1 tbsp chili seasoning mix

½ tsp ground cumin

¼-cup sour cream

½-cup shred cheese

Drain and mash one can of beans. Combine mashed beans, other can of beans, sauce and next five ingredients in large saucepan.

Stir well. Place over med heat and cook until well heated. (about ten minutes)

Top with sour cream and shred cheese. Enjoy!!

Four servings.

One heartfelt benefit from raising vegetarian kids is seeing my compassionate young daughters with animals. It solidifies our decision for what goes on their plates. One day they might ask for something different. I will comply because that is their choice. It is part of my job as their mom. I make the choices that I need to make and let them make theirs.

______________________

Danielle Christopher is a stay-at-home mom of two daughters, ages one and three.  She blogs for The Momoir Project and writes book reviews for Women’s Post. Danielle’s work has also appeared in The Yummy Mummy Club and other mom sites.  She lives with her husband of seventeen years and her girls in Langley, B.C.  Follow her on Twitter @justdworld or her blog: www.justdworld.wordpress.com

Here is a link  to my recent work on The Momoir Project:

http://www.themomoirproject.com/?p=1213

My latest Yummy Mummy Club piece:

http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/when_breastfeeding_does_not_work_danielle_christopher

Today we are kicking off a series of guest posts by putting this blog right in the toilet – literally.  Gillian has been on a similar path that I was, potty training, and is in need of some advice.  Thanks Gillian for sharing – it’s a topic many parents can relate too!

________________

Originally written March 27, 2010
That’s not just a clever title. There was no previous post entitled Potty Training #1. This post is about poo. Let’s just get that out in the open right now. And I promise you, I’m holding nothing back. This was a big day in our family and I feel the need to share. Read on if you dare, you have been warned.

Picture it: Vancouver, this afternoon. Costco seasonal furniture aisle. The little man begins to walk a bit funny, and Mr. Awesome inquires if he has to go pee. He claims he does, so Mr. Awesome grabs the folding potty seat and the boy and marches off to the restroom. The little miss and I continue our wandering, heading over to the produce section. I get a text message from my darling husband with only two words, but these two words would cause crippling panic in any parent alive.

CODE BROWN!!!

Before we go any further into this tale, let me provide a little background. The little man has been pretty successfully peeing on the potty for a couple of months now with a few accidents here and there. He has, however, refused to poo in the potty. He would prefer to drop a grenade in his underpants and then pretend it hasn’t happened until we notice the bulge or smell the aroma. We diligently explain to him that poop should go in the potty, dump it in and let him flush, but the message just wasn’t getting through. The good news was that they were always fairly solid and dropped into the toilet with very little mess.

Until yesterday.

For the first time ever, the little man had what Mr. Awesome refers to as “soup bum”. My mum had him over at her house yesterday and God Bless Nang Nang yet again, she must have changed him five times in the course of the two hours he was there.

We thought the tide had turned and didn’t even hesitate as we set out on our bi-weekly (I’ll admit it, sometimes weekly) trip to Costco.

So, given the events of yesterday, CODE BROWN took on a whole new meaning. Given that Mr. Awesome had gone equipped with only the toilet seat, he had already done his part in cleaning up the mess. It was then my job to take the little man back to the bathroom to put on his new underpants.

Fast forward a little. Mr. Awesome and I have now each made TWO trips into the Costco bathroom, the little man is in new underpants AND pants, and we have not actually had anything happen IN the toilet. We are now trying to finish our trip as fast as humanly possible, weaving in and out through the shopping cart traffic jam that is Costco on a Saturday.

We’re now in frozen foods. Once again, the panicked expression crossed the little man’s face. Mr. Awesome was done by this point and flat-out refused to go a third time. It was my turn and I was up to the challenge.

Given the inactivity on the toilet so far and the repeated false starts, I was pretty sure if I waited long enough we would see some action. My little man perched on his Diego folding potty seat and we waited. I offered lots of encouragement and we discussed the situation in as much detail as you can with an almost three year old.

I am sure the woman in the stall next to us was silently dying inside. This is what she would have heard:
“That’s it buddy, you can do it!”
“Come on sweetie, just try and get it out.”
“Oh! There you go, that’s right, you can do it!”
“I can see it sweetie, come on, get it out!”
“That’s so awesome buddy, I’ll show you when you’re done!”
“YEAH! Buddy, you did it! You pooped on the potty!”

(I was reminded of the Austin Powers scene in the bathroom where Austin says “Who does #2 work for?” and Tom Arnold cheers him on with “That’s right Buddy, you show that turd who’s boss!”)

My little man pooped on the potty today and yes, maybe I’ve set my standards lower over the last three years, but man was I proud. He repeated the miracle when we got home, and seems to get just how much better it is than the trouser bombs he usually manufactures.

Never one to count my chickens before they’ve hatched, I will not assume we have now turned a corner in the potty training saga. We will see what happens tomorrow. 
 
**Update: Since writing that post, Gillian has this update:
 
Fast forward to August 2010 – I think I can count on one hand the number of times he has pooped on the potty since that dramatic day. We try and we try, but we now know that at some point EVERY day we will be dealing with poop. It’s not that I accept it, I think I’ve just been worn down slowly over the last eight months. Maybe the FBI should talk to my son about how to break witnesses over a long period of time. He’s an absolute master. At this point I would give him just about anything if he would JUST POOP ON THE POTTY. Seriously, anything.

_______________

My name is Gillian. I’m a wife, a mother, a career woman…and trying to juggle the fun that comes with all three! My husband (hereafter to be named Mr. Awesome) and I have two kids, a three year old boy and a ten month old girl. I’m currently on maternity leave from a marketing job with a Canadian non-profit organization. I love my job. I love the organization, the people, the work I do. I joined Weight Watchers in December 2009 and reached my goal at the end of July, after losing 65lbs. It’s been an awesome journey and I literally have a whole new lease on life. Posts on my blog are musings about life in general, rants about the kids not sleeping, confessions of naughty eating slips…anything and everything that makes up this awesome life.

Once upon a time, I loved clothes.  I bought far too many.  I loved shoes.  I wore different ones every other day.  The heels were my favourite.  I also had so many accessories.  Different earrings, scarves, necklaces, bracelets, purses.  It was especially fun finding a deal. 

Over time, the practicality of these items declined.  The necklaces were playthings to babes in arms and a potential hazard to me as they were pulled on.  The heels were tricky to balance in when going for a long walk or wearing the baby (although, at my sister’s wedding, I successfully pulled off heels and babywearing quite nicely).

I have more jeans than dress pants, something that hasn’t happened since high school.  I own more t-shirts than blouses.  Before I hardly owned a t-shirt.

I don’t mind wearing jeans and a simple top when I’m going to the park.  Or a playdate.  I don’t feel the need to be Mrs. Fancypants.  But when my husband and I go on a date, or I head to a friend’s place for a nice dinner, my closet is suddenly drastically bare. 

Clothes that I wore before my first pregnancy fit differently or not at all. 

When I go shopping for clothes, I get caught up looking at what’s practical; what will get the most use.  I stare at the pretty items, the dresses, cute tops and wonder where I would be able to wear them in the next month or two.

I need to get back into the style that I know I prefer.  Although, this dual-style is not a problem for me, I need to have options.  I also like to keep things within a decent price range.

Over the past couple of years, the only thing saving my wardrobe are the hand-me-downs from my younger sister who cleans out her closet every so often and gives me the stuff she doesn’t wear anymore (which is always still in great condition).  That’s been the bulk of my ‘shopping’.

Fall is coming, and it’s my favourite time of year for clothes.  I think I will go out and get some nice things just for me.  And force myself to find somewhere to wear them.

Last week I bought a very cute non-fancy, but still nice dress that I can wear to functions (whenever I go to functions, ha!) or even a nice dinner.  I also got a cute jacket.  It’s a start. My new post-baby, still-nursing body is still unsure of it’s size or whether or not it will stay this size but I feel ready to commit to clothes again.

How do you find your style is now?  Where do you love to shop?

The look on my son’s face when we took him to his first MLB Home game (we’ve been to see the Tigers play the Jays before) was priceless. 

I live for these moments

You’ll notice on the side bar, to the left a few links.  I have been doing some work here and there, some extra writing and what not.

It’s really great.  I am able to do a lot of the work in the evenings when the kids are asleep or the mornings before we start the day and while I didnt’ plan on taking on paid work for a few more years, the flexibility that these jobs have offered me is fantastic.  Plus, most importantly, I really enjoy it.

I get to make new connections beyond this blog that benefit this humble place that is mine to share. 

I have a couple recent posts on Buy Canadian First that I’d love for you to check out, and if possible comment on.

One is about Fall Fashion, the other Baby gifts.

I also wrote an article for Everything Mom featuring 8 ways I am currently trying to prepare my son for school.  I do not have an article for preparing myself. 

Also, I am the Community Engagement Manager for Best Tools for Schools, which you’ve likely seen be tweet about or have talked to me directly about.  You know my love for mom businesses is great, and that’s only one reason why it’s been a fantastic fit with Best Tools. 

One of the best things about Candace and Laurie is their desire to give back.  Interested in helping those children in the Ottawa area that can’t afford school supplies? You can give to the Supplies for Smaller Scholars program and help.  Plus, $4 from every school supply kit sold from Best Tools for Schools is given back to the school.  If you have a moment, I would love for you to give them a Vote on the SavvyMom Award site.  No.  I don’t get paid to write about Best Tools on my personal blog I do it because I believe in it and more specifically, them.

Lastly, next week my husband is taking some days off and I’m going to try to ease up on the writing/working at night.  We have a couple of busy days and as I discovered a couple of weeks ago when I was visiting my mother-in-law, despite best intentions, when I’m on vacation mode, I am really on vacation mode.

With that, I would love to share YOUR writing with my readers.  Guest posts and being shared by others has really helped my blog and I can’t be more grateful.  I’d love to do the same.

I am looking for 4 guests posts.  Either an existing blog that you are really proud of or want to share, or write something fresh and new.  If you are interested, please email me at info at bitofmomsense.com.  The content should fit A Little Bit of Momsense or A Little Bit of FoodSense. 

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you!

 Thanks to PartyMummy for coming up with “That’s How SHE Blogs” Check out her post for more info!

Here’s what to do:

a) Cut and paste the quiz onto your blog.

b) Delete my answers (after carefully studying and committing each to memory. What?).

c) Answer the questions (feel free to embellish and totally make stuff up. I do it all the time).

d) Tweet a few of the bloggers you’d love to get to know better and invite them to play along.

e) In the comment section below, leave a link to your blog where you’ve answered the quiz questions.

——————————————————————————————————————————

1.    Did you attend Blogher10? Not this year (I wrote why here), but next year in San Diego I will plan to be there!

2.    Are you attending BlissdomCanada this fall? Yes!!

3.    When are you at your blogging best – a.m. or p.m.? Typically am – the kids are happy, I have coffee and a somewhat fresh night of sleep. The reality is, I blog whenever, and wherever I can sneak some time in.  Right now it is 11:53 pm.  I’m sitting in the dark.

4.    How many blogs do you have? (Include the links)

1. http://www.bitofmomsense.com

I also own http://www.bitoffoodsense.com which will eventually house my recipes once I switch them over.

I also have an idea for at least 1 other blog, we’ll see if I get time for that.

But, I write other blogs – on Best Tools for Schools and on Buy Canadian First.

5.    What technical skill would you like to learn to improve your blog? I am mostly teaching myself as I go along, so knowing more about HTML and Coding would be great.  Photo editing would be handy, but I hardly ever post pictures anyway!

6.    Do you prefer the sound of silence or does action abound while you blog?  See answer to question 3.  It’s very silent right now (and that’s how I like it!)

7.    Do you include the names of your family in your blog? No.

8.    Do you post pictures or videos of your children? No, sometimes the backs of them.  But trust me, they are adorable

9.    What’s the grossest thing you’ve spilled on your keyboard? ew

10.    Ever posted something you wrote while intoxicated? What?!! Me drink?!  

11.    Do you go back and edit old posts just because you can? If within a few days, otherwise, meh.  You get what you get with my blog,spelling errors and all

12.    Have you ever suspected somebody took something you wrote and pawned it off as their own?  No, why, did you see something? I don’t like conflict.

13.    Does your spouse read your blog? What do they say about it?  Yes! He is super supportive, was the one who encouraged me to start.  He reads it and gets excited if someone comments or tweets it.  And tells me when the pictures don’t work, or links are broken or I’ve spelled something wrong until I want to scream ‘you BLOG it then! and that’s very helpful….

14.    What’s something cool/positive/unexpected for you, that has resulted directly from blogging? This is a big one I think.  As a stay at home mom, the first thing it did was connect me.  I found so many other like-minded (and very cool different-minded) people through blogging. It’s a strong community. 

I also got to keep writing while not working and contribute to other sites and when I started getting a few dollars for some other blog writing it was pretty great.  Then I got the job as Community Engagement Manager with Best Tools for Schools – all from connecting online – and that was amazing.  It gives me a job that I can do when the kids are asleep and I work for wonderful people, in my own community. 

The internet makes the world a very small place, and I like that.

15.    Link to a post (or two) which demonstrate your writing style:

 Once and a while I am heartfelt http://bitofmomsense.com/2010/02/17/how-one-little-boy-showed-my-son-kindness-that-i-will-never-forget/

Other times I am random http://bitofmomsense.com/2009/10/20/battaw/

16.  Name a blog(s) that makes you exclaim, “Damn! I wish I’d written that!”

There are so many!

Love Her Bad Mother and Redneck Mommy for their rich and raw posts

There are a ton of Yummy Mummy Club writers who are awesome (well, let’s face it, most)

And it’s no secret that my two ‘I want to be like’ bloggers are Danigirl and Andrea

And seriously, if The Bloggess doesn’t make you laugh, I can’t help you

When I was invited to participate in the Playhouse Disney Canada blog tour to look at some Playhouse programming (watching cartoons, now officially the hardest thing I’ve done for this job it was not a problem.  Quite frankly, I didn’t even open the dvd of shows (including Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Super Agent Oso and The Imagination Movers) because I know all of those shows all too well.

We get Playhouse Disney programming on our Family Channel (on Rogers) and when we visit my mother-in-law she gets Playhouse Disney Canada, so my family is very familiar with these shows.

They are fun, on early in the morning (when my children wake up) and the kids like to watch – especially Handy Manny and The Imagination Movers.  My son for the longest time would put a pencil behind his ear and tell me he was just like Handy Manny. 

The website also offers some fun games that are great for children just learning and getting to spend more time on the computer. 

You can Win!

You know I especially love doing these blog posts  when I get a chance to give YOU a prize. YAY!

You can win a Playhouse Disney Canada prize pack that includes the Playhouse Disney DVD with 5 full episodes, a magnetic pen, pencils and a colouring magnet.  Planning a road trip soon? This is a perfect prize!

To enter:

1-Leave a comment below telling me your favourite Playhouse Disney show or character. 

2-Contest is open to Canadian residents only

3-Contest ends Wednesday, August 18th at 9 pm EST.  Winner will be selected at Random.

EDITED TO ADD: Please note that you can only win one prize pack. If you are also selected to win on another blog, I’ll pick another winner – we’re spreading the love and prizes to more people that way thanks!

Good luck!!

I am participating in the Playhouse Disney program by Mom Central. I received a Playhouse Disney prize pack and a thank you gift card to facilitate this post. The opinions on this blog, as always, are my own. For more information, see my Policies page.

Points if you know the show that the title comes from….

It’sfrom  my current obsession the show my family is currently loving Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel (or Family Channel if you are a Rogers subscriber. 

Anyway, if you haven’t seen it, it’s about 2 brothers (a blended family actually, something you don’t always see on kids programming!) who are on summer vacation and each day want to do something super awesome.  Like make a roller coaster.  Or a medieval fair.  Or a one-hit wonder.

The show is hilarious.  There is a sub-plot involving a secret agent platypuss (you read that right) and their older sister is always trying to get them in trouble for whatever they are doing, which she never can do.

But the entire premiss is that these kids are on vacation and rock at making the most of it.  You don’t see a couple of kids duffing it during the summer here!

All week I’ve been posting about Back to School, the fact that my son starts elementary school this year, products I like/use, and so on.  I hope you’ve found them useful. 

But while I am still anxious about school starting, and will likely have a zillion more posts about it, before and during our transition, for the time being I am going to be like Phineas and Ferb and enjoy the rest of the summer.  We’ve been rocking it pretty hard so far, and have some more fun family things planned so that will be a blast.  I love spending time with the family, and my kiddos. 

We may not be finding Atlantis, but we’ll have fun.  Are you making the most of your summer so far?

ps: Stay tuned this weekend for a giveaway from the Disney Channel!

If you read my lunch post you’ll see that I am not the most creative with lunches, we typically have the same rotation week after week.  They like what they like, and what they like is healthy, but it would be nice to have many many options when the lunch hour hits. (Note: read the lunch post comments, there are some awesome ideas shared!)

I can’t imagine how hard it is to send a full lunch with your child to school.  I have only ever had to send a snack (and this year will be no different) but sending 2 snacks and a balanced lunch (that won’t come home uneaten) might be a challenge.

There are a few things I’ve learned though delivering lunches to these two day after day, travelling and packing lunches for on the go and trying not to go insane.

• Sending a variety of food to pick at is an option.  We typically see lunch as a main part, side of veggies or fruit, and a drink.  What often works best for us is bento style – some pita, some dip, some cheese, some fruit, some veggies.  This gives my son the chance to pick and fill up on healthy items, but all stuff he likes.
• Buy containers that are easy to pack this style.  If you buy divided containers, you can pack a variety of items without sending 5 different containers. 
• As much as possible, avoid the package stuff.  Ever look at the ingredients on the Dunkaroos?  If you can, make mini-muffins (I have easy recipes for Blueberry/oatmeal , Strawberry and Banana chocolate chip), banana bread or oatmeal squares. 
• Peanuts are typically banned at school which eliminates peanut butter sandwiches.  And lunch meats are typically full of junk, sodium and other unwanted ingredients.  This leaves the need for protein alternatives.  A few that work for us:
  • Baked beans.  Can be served cold or warm (send in a Thermos container)
  • Eggs.  Egg salad sandwiches, or boiled eggs chopped.
  • Salmon/Tuna. In a sandwich is my son’s preference.
  • Chicken. Again, in a sandwich (use whole grain if possible!) or just as pieces to go along with the bento selection.
  • Hummus dip.
• I also try to send things that he can open easily or that arent’ super messy.  A yogurt or applesauce he can open himself now, and I try to find him containers that her can open.  Like the Lunchbot or these Kinderville jars.

Some days it’s all a roll of the dice to see what they will eat.  I know lots of people will send wraps as a lunch, but my son prefers sandwiches over wraps (though he loves eating pita in dip). 

One of the things I’ve discovered is that if I involve him, he is more likely to want to eat it without argument.  This usually means I ask him a choice for snack/lunch.  For example “Do you want applesauce and crackers for snack, or yogurt and blueberries?”.  His choices remain healthy, but he feels like he has some control over what he eats. 

The other thing? Usually on a Friday I would send a surprise. Maybe a homemade cookie or something as a special treat.  That way when he opened his snack, he’d get pretty excited.