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Books for the Princess Fan: Disney Frozen Hairstyles and Disney Princess Hairstyles

November 30, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Books provided for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

Raise your hand if your daughter has asked you to give her a hairstyle like Elsa’s. And now raise your hand if you have panicked at this request because you had no idea how to do it.

Well, now you can learn exactly how to make an Elsa braid, or an Anna braid, for that matter, or any number of fun hairstyles inspired by Frozen. We are absolutely loving Disney Frozen Hairstyles, which just came out in October (and is currently available for just $9.50!). There are dozens of great looks, ranging from styles the beginner can try all the way to more complicated techniques that will require more practice. The pictures are cute and fun and my daughter really loves flipping through the pages.

Or if your child wants an up-do like Mulan’s one day, and a ponytail like Jasmine’s the next, you might be the right candidate for Disney Princess Hairstyles (currently $10.56 on Amazon). While this book also has some looks that are too complicated for me to attempt without some practice, I really love that all the styles are created on little girls, instead of on adult models. And I think the books do a good job of showing each step.

Here’s a very simple little trick I learned and that I’ve been doing with Darah’s hair for the past few weeks. You simply take a regular braid and hold on to one of the 3 sections of hair while you push the other sections back up. Then you can guide them back down a bit to achieve the look you want. It looks like a more elaborate braid in the end.

I do this on either side of her head and connected the two braids in the back with a ponytail holder. It’s very simple and very cute!

I think either one of these books would be a hit with any princess fan. Having long hair is definitely a plus, as most of these styles are intended for kids with long hair, just FYI.

Beauty Box 5: Still a Shockingly Affordable Beauty Subscription Box

November 29, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 6 Comments

Products provided for review purposes, and affiliate links included. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

A few months back I wrote a Beauty Box 5 review (go check it out if you missed it because I did a fun video unboxing!). I just received November’s box and I wanted to show it to you. As noted previously, I’m really drawn to this particular subscription box because the contents are a fun mix of higher end, boutique and mass market (drugstore) brands, and that’s exactly what my makeup and beauty purchases are: a mixture. I can’t afford to only buy from places like Sephora, but I also know that sometimes the higher prices can be justified. But it can be tough to roll the dice on a higher-end product if you don’t know for sure; Beauty Box 5 gives you the opportunity to try things out so you can see how you like them!

Ok, so here’s the November box.

Based on the offered retail values, I estimate the worth of the contents to be about $14.50, as 3 of the 5 items included are sample sizes.

Here’s what came in the kit, ranked in the order from least exciting to most exciting (for me, personally).

1. DenTek Floss Picks and Case. For me, the case is a waste of plastic as are the picks. Just use some floss, people.

2. Dove Deep Moisture Body Wash. I actually like Dove, but I prefer to use soap over body wash, so I wasn’t thrilled to see this.

3. Laura Ashley Body Butter. Ok, in some ways I was VERY excited to see this. I grew up absolutely adoring a particular fragrance at Laura Ashley, so this took me back. But I found the scent choice (Italian Lemon) to be very odd for November. I don’t want to smell like lemons this time of year, so I’ll be setting this aside until May or June.

4. HASK Macadamia Revitalizing Shine Oil. Super pumped to see this as I have very dry hair. I’m hoping the bottle might actually have more than one application in it.

5. Nicka K New York Eye light Crayon. The color is rich and I love that there is a sharpener in the bottom of the crayon so you can double this eyeshadow as an eyeliner if you want. Great product and a great price (it retails for just $4.49!).

Beauty Box 5 is available for $12/month, but I really think you should go all in and get the yearly subscription, as it’s just $99 (and that includes free shipping!), bringing your monthly box cost down quite a bit to just $8.25. I think that’s a pretty affordable little indulgence for you to have every month, and a really fun way to try something new.

The Subscription Service for Budding Bookworms: Little Fun Club

November 26, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Sample box provided for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

You guys, I LOVE to find beautiful, unique and well-written children’s books. I think any parent can tell you from experience that despite the thousands and thousands of children’s books on the market, most of them aren’t all that great, especially if you have to read them 100 times.

Little Fun Club takes the guesswork out of finding high quality, sure-to-be-loved books for your kids. For $25/month, you will get a curated collection tailored to your child based on age, of delightful books that are a bit off the beaten path, but that are true treasures. Some boxes also include other great learning tools like puzzles. You should expect your box to have 3-4 items.

Here’s what came in our box for a 5-year-old.

little fun club 3

We got 3 great titles; all hardback books, too! They were all quite good, but I think two of the three are going to be kept indefinitely.

This read, A Blue So Blue, was one that really tugs at the heartstrings. It’s about a little boy who is an artist, and who finds himself traveling all over the world in search of the perfect shade of blue. Spoiler alert: he finally finds it, in his mother’s eyes. I totally cried when I read it! The pace and rhthym of the book are just wonderful. Such a great read!

And The Beastie Book, while perhaps just a touch scary, is nothing short of breathtaking. I’ve never seen such rich illustrations! Every letter of the alphabet has a corresponding beastie to go with it. They are funny little (and BIG!) characters and I noticed that Darah likes to spend a lot of time looking at the pictures.

I really love the concept of this subscription service. I also like that you don’t have to sign up for a set number of months; you can feel free to cancel at any time! Could you purchase these books on your own online for less than the subscription price? Most likely, but in my case, I’d never even heard of these books, so I didn’t know to look for them in the first place. That’s part of what you are paying for here: the curated selection!

I can tell that a great deal of thought was put into the selection of the books, and I was impressed with our first box, so much so that I plan on ordering another one early next year!

Our Favorite New Family Game: Moustache Smash

November 26, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Products received for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always. Affiliate links may be included.

A few weeks ago I told you about 5 different family games my family would be testing out, and that I’d report back with our top pick. Well, we have a very clear winner, friends!

The game is called Moustache Smash, and while it is designed for ages 7 and up, we have been able to play with our two girls (ages 4 and 2 1/2) by making some adjustments to the rules.

The basic concept is that everyone get a moustache that they must hold up under their noses. There are 6 different moustaches from which to choose, so there can be up to 6 players. There is a deck of cards that get flipped over, one at a time. If the moustache on the card is the same color OR the same style as your moustache, you smack it (there’s a little suction cup on the end of your moustache wand) to collect the card for your pile. Sometimes, this happens:

There are also wild cards in the pile that simply say, “Moustache Smash!” and anyone can collect those. Additionally there are “Moustache Pass!” cards, and if you smack one of those, you lose 2 cards from your pile.

To make the game easier for younger children we have tried simply going for the same color and not for the same color OR the same style. We’ve also removed the “Moustache Pass!” cards from the pile. Additionally, we take turns letting each person have first dibs on smacking the card that gets turned up. That gives the little ones a little extra time to think about if the card would fit in their pile. If it is their turn for first dibs, then they can take a second to think, and then smack it when they realize they can. If they aren’t able to smack it (perhaps they have a brown moustache and a black moustache is shown) then the other players will have had time to figure out if they can smack it after the person with dibs lets it go.

We all laugh a lot when we play this game, and the girls both want to play it at least twice a day. You can purchase Moustache Smash on Amazon right now, but just yesterday I spied it in the game section at Walmart for just shy of $10, which I thought was a terrific buy!

Holiday Entertaining Hack: The Appetizers-as-Dinner Trick

November 25, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

This post brought to you by Farm Rich. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Stuff Parents Need.

This is one of my very favorite things to do when entertaining guests during the holidays, OR when I want to treat my family to something special and fun but not spend too much time in the kitchen: I make an entire meal out of appetizers, and by using a few simple tricks, I pull this bite-sized feast off without too much effort on my part.

I recently headed to Walmart, armed with a get $1.50 off 2 Farm Rich snacks coupon and after viewing all the great options, I basically just went nuts and brought this awesome assortment home to my deep freezer.

I decided to have a special weekend meal for my crew today, even though my “to do” list was a mile long. Still, I wanted to make a bit of time for getting into the spirit of the season, and that means having festive and fun food for some of our meals. I knew that I could put together an entire meal with appetizer options from Farm Rich Snacks , and I’d have enough of each item left over to repeat this meal again later on in the season since the boxes and bags can all be closed.

I started things off by preheating my oven to 425 degrees and getting out my toaster oven, which I needed for the pizzeria bites, as they need to cook at 375 degrees. While my oven was preheating, I got out two baking trays and covered them with aluminum foil, and sprayed them lightly with olive oil. I put Farm Rich meatballs on half of one of the trays. The meatballs went in first because they take the longest to cook (around 35 minutes). While they were cooking, I made a super easy sauce for them out of a bottle of barbecue sauce and a can of whole cranberry sauce, just letting it warm on the stove top. DELISH!

After the meatballs have been cooking for 15 minutes, it’s time to add the breaded mushrooms. Set the timer for just 3 1/2 minutes, because more food will need to go in the oven at that point. The breaded mushrooms taste fantastic with a ranch dip. I made mine by combining 2/3 cup of greek yogurt, 1/3 cup mayonnaise and 1/2 of a packet of ranch dip mix.

After the breaded mushrooms go in the oven, you’ll also want to put your pizzeria bites in the toaster oven, set at 375. They need about 13 minutes.

When your meatballs and breaded mushrooms have about 10 minutes left to cook, it’s time to add a second tray of food to the oven, and it should have toasted ravioli and cheese sticks on it. They are both HUGE hits with my kids, and I loved arranging the raviolis in the shape of a circle and putting a bow at the bottom to make it look like a wreath. This couldn’t have been easier, friends!

And the cheesesticks really can shine on their own, but they are out of this world with a little homemade marinara.

I found it easy to make the sauce in between the time I was putting everything else together. You’ll need one 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, 1 Tbsp of minced garlic (I buy the stuff in the jar; I can’t really tell the difference between it and garlic I peel myself and it saves a TON of time). You’ll also need some olive oil, a pinch of salt, 1/4 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp black pepper and a bit of fresh basil.

Cook the garlic in the olive oil over medium-high heat for about a minute, and then add the tomatoes and give it a stir. Then add the salt, oregano, black pepper and a sprig of basil (spring for the fresh stuff…it honestly makes a difference). Give it another good stir and bring it to a simmer, and then reduce the heat to just above low (so that’s setting 2 on my stove) and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove the basil before serving. Easy!

The only other thing that I added to our appetizer feast was some yummy rasperry and honey crackers with goat cheese. You just need some water crackers with a smear of goat cheese on them. Place a fresh raspberry on top and drizzle with honey. These are nearly effortless and they were inhaled VERY quickly. I made them as everyone was getting out plates, cups and utensils.

I so love that this entire meal came together with me just putting stuff in the oven at the right time and making three SIMPLE sauces! And yet, it felt like quite the feast. Having some Farm Rich products tucked away in your freezer this holiday season for a quick appetizer, or for an entire meal of appetizers, is a great idea. I’ve found the food to taste fantastic and to be really enjoyed by those it is served to (which makes them great for bringing to gatherings, too!). And of course, I have personally loved how much time they save me in the kitchen. My family enjoyed every product on our table today. On my list next to try are the Loaded Potato Skins, which sound absolutely perfect for a cold night!

Have you ever done an entire meal of just appetizers? I think it is so much fun! If you’d like to try it for your family, be sure to look for Farm Rich Snacks to help you out so that the fun dinner idea doesn’t become overwhelming for the chef! Use the Farm Rich Product Finder to make your search a snap.

Veggie Snack Break: Check Out Harvest Snaps

November 25, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

This post was created in partnership with Harvest Snaps. Product has been provided for review purposes. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I always love hearing about new snacks. And I REALLY love hearing about new snacks that my daughters’ school will accept in lunch boxes (they are pretty darn hardcore about not allowing sugar).

This week I’ve been sampling 6 different flavors of Harvest Snaps. These are baked, gluten-free, high in fiber and protein, and low in sodium and fat. They are also all very flavorful. I was actually expecting them to be loaded with sodium based on how yummy they tasted. I was so glad to be wrong!

The big surprise for me was the flavor that I assumed I would absolutely hate: wasabi ranch. Doesn’t that just sound like an assault to your taste buds? But I did try them since I needed to report back to you all on them, and guess what? They are one of my favorite flavors. They definitely clear out your sinuses, but then you find yourself reaching for another, and then another. I actually liked all the flavors offered except the onion thyme variety. It tasted like exactly that, and those are flavors that need to be combined with something else, and not enjoyed on their own (at least in my opinion!).

If you are looking for some Lunchspiration for your kids’ lunches or even for some new snack ideas for yourself, I would definitely suggest Harvest Snaps. They’ve got a satisfying crunch, they are absolutely packed with flavor, and they are relatively guilt-free.

When Pink Eye Visits on Thanksgiving Week: Still Celebrating the Season with Nestle

November 24, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

This #Feast4All shop has been compensated by #CollectiveBias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

So last week Tim had an eye infection that we self-diagnosed as a stye. Since he’s a big boy, so he can deal with a little discomfort; no big deal. Only we realized it WAS a big deal when our 2-year-old woke up Saturday morning with what was so very obviously pink eye. Then we realized that Tim was dealing with a mild case of pink eye all along, and he inadvertently gave it to the little one, who got a rather nasty case of it in both eyes. All this on the weekend before Thanksgiving. Good times.

My girls were already only going to be in school on Monday and Tuesday of this week, and I had a to-do list that was beyond what would be possible without bending the space-time continuum. Whatever your profession might be, most women seem to have such a list during Thanksgiving week, so I’m guessing you can relate. I am fortunate to not be hosting Thanksgiving at my house, but we will be doing some traveling, and I am preparing 3 dishes for the event. Let me tell you this right now: those 3 dishes will be pretty much all I will be making this week in the kitchen from scratch. For our family dinners, I’m going to be getting some help from Nestle.

I had already planned for one dinner this week to consist of a yummy DIGIORNO® RISING CRUST® Pizza, and now that I need to scrap my old set of plans for how this week would go and operate in triage mode, I’m headed back to the store today to buy another one. Thank goodness that desperate times don’t have to call for desperate measures when it comes to feeding my family something delicious. All I need is a hot oven and 25 minutes, and dinner is served.

nestle thanksgiving 2

Gotta love that original sauce made with California tomatoes, and that topping of Wisconsin cheese. It was scrumptious!

As I strip down my list of items that need to get done and remove everything that isn’t absolutely critical (hello gift wrapping…you are going to have to wait another week), one thing I am mindful of is that this is a holiday week, and that means that my kids should have some fun opportunities to celebrate the season. I do truly believe that this is the most wonderful time of the year, and if I am too busy to take a moment for fun, then I’m setting a poor example. So along with our delicious DIGIORNO® RISING CRUST® Pizza that we’ll be having today, we are also going to have a very kid-friendly dessert: ice cream sandwiches.

Is the ice cream homemade? Definitely not. How about the cookies? Nope! Do I feel even slightly guilty about cutting corners? Not a chance. I simply don’t have time to take on either endeavor, so the only way to have a fun special treat this week, outside of the pie I’m going to make for Thanksgiving Day, is to get a little help from my friends at Nestle.

Look at what I found while shopping at Walmart last week! First, I found the pizza I knew my family would love.

Then I headed over to the refrigerated dough section where I saw many wonderful things from Nestle, but one item, in particular, really caught my eye.

I could hardly wait to tear into NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Pumpkin Spice Refrigerated Cookie Dough; good thing we were about to eat DIGIORNO, or else I might have broken the house rule not to have sweet treats soon before dinner.

I so appreciate that these cookies come ready to be placed on a baking sheet. For cookies that cook the most evenly, I highly recommend using parchment paper. I will never forget a cooking experiment I did at the Reynolds test kitchen where we made cookies on all different types of surfaces (ungreased baking sheet, greased baking sheet, all different types of aluminum foil and parchment paper). The cookies baked on the parchment paper looked the very best! 🙂

Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream Sandwiches

1 package NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Pumpkin Spice Refrigerated Cookie Dough
1 carton of ice cream (I recommend butter pecan or vanilla)

Directions

Follow the instructions on the back of the cookie dough package. When the cookies are done, give them a few minutes to cool down. If serving immediately, add a small scoop of ice cream in between 2 still warm cookies and enjoy! If saving for later, allow the cookies to cool completely before adding ice cream on top of one, and then add the second cookie on top, give it a little squish, and wrap in plastic and place in a freezer bag.

Since the cookies had a pumpkin spice flavor, I thought a great ice cream pairing was butter pecan. It was an outstanding choice, if I do say so myself! I think you also can’t go wrong with good old-fashioned vanilla.

The very best tasting ice cream sandwiches do require a still-warm cookie, so if it is at all possible to make and eat these soon after they come out of the oven, that’s the path I recommend. Your cookies can be baking while your family is eating their pizza!

Having a sick one on Thanksgiving week has caused me to take a good, hard look at my task list to determine what really matters and what is just going to have to wait. I have to say, I think I prioritized correctly. Layah had one of these right after lunch, and as soon as she went down for a nap, I got a treat, too (though my ice cream wasn’t as firm as hers…mamas always get the leftovers!).

Yummy to my tummy and easy as can be! Nestlé Toll House pumpkin spice ice cream cookie sandwiches. #Feast4All #ad

A video posted by Tiffany (@stuffparentsneed) on Nov 11, 2014 at 10:32am PST

If you’d like more ideas about great ways to use Nestle products so you can get through the holidays with less stress, there are some great ideas on the Flavorful Moments website, as well as on the Nestle Pinterest boards.

Hands-Free Help in the Kitchen with My Intel All-in-One

November 24, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 2 Comments

#spon: I am in a partnership with Intel. Through this partnership I gain access to content, product, or other forms of value.

Today I’ll be headed to the grocery store to purchase my list of ingredients needed for Thanksgiving. In anticipation of this large shopping event, I have been steadily working on cleaning out my pantry, my fridge and my freezer so that I have plenty of room for the dishes, as well as for the leftovers!

My Intel All-in-One has actually been perched on my kitchen counter for the entire weekend (and I have a small kitchen, so that’s really saying something that I let it stay there!). It’s SO portable, and with this particular device I’ve got a huge screen, which is like a desktop, but there’s no tower to tote around, which makes it like a laptop. I’ve been using it for pretty much every meal, looking up ideas (I LOVE searching by image!). Yesterday I was able to quickly find a way to put chicken thighs and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce to use: chicken carnitas!

But wouldn’t you know it? During the process of making this recipe, I learned that I was all out of chili powder. I had Google at the ready just in case I needed to look something up while I was cooking. So without having to even touch my computer, I said, “Ok Google…chili powder substitute.”

My computer registered my voice and accurately recorded it as a query for Google. In just a few seconds I had my answer and was back on track with my recipe. That was awesome, friends! Now if only I could figure out how to get my All-in-One to chop vegetables…

If you are also trying to make some space in your kitchen for all those yummy dishes you’ll be making later this week, use your computer as a resource to help you figure out what you can make with what you already have. And if you are REALLY wishing for a new computer, like the fabulous Intel All in Ones, there’s no better time than the holidays to snag one for one heck of a bargain. You can always use the argument that you need a sous chef!

How I’m Getting My Produce to Last Longer in the Fridge

November 24, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

Product provided for review purposes. All thoughts are my own, as always.

My family keeps dabbling with the Paleo diet. It’s not a huge hit with my kids, but Tim and I have both noticed that we feel our best eating this way. To over-simplify, it basically means that about half your plate at any given meal is meat, and the other half is veggies (with some fruit sprinkled in here and there).

This definitely has an impact on our grocery budget (meat is crazy expensive, if you haven’t noticed) and it also has an impact on our refrigerator. Our crisper drawers are always stuffed with veggies and there’s always overflow that just has to sit in the fridge without being in a special compartment. And there are always at least 3 different cuts of meat that are in the fridge, either thawing from being previously frozen or in the queue to be consumed in the next day or so.

What does all this mean for the fridge? Frankly, it means that it doesn’t smell great in there. And that’s not really a good thing to be overwhelmed by unpleasant smells when you are reaching for something to eat. Additionally, since we have so much fresh produce, I’m constantly moving things around and trying to shove as much as possible in the crisper drawers in the hopes of increasing the length of time that the fresh produce actually stays fresh.

So when BerryBreeze reached out to tell me about their product that can help eliminate odors and end premature aging of produce, I wanted to try it out.

What I Love about BerryBreeze

So the BerryBreeze has been in my fridge for 4 full days now, and I could tell a significant difference in the odors within 24 hours. It used to smell like an unfortunate mixture of raw meat and wilting produce (and a few forgotten leftovers), and now it doesn’t smell like anything at all. Don’t let the name of the product fool you: it doesn’t emit a “berry breeze” scent into your fridge. It doesn’t mask odors at all, in fact. What it does is emit oxygen so that odors become neutralized. There are no chemicals being used. No absorption packs. No filters that need to be changed. It’s really just the magic of oxygen at work. Pretty cool stuff!

The produce I purchased earlier this week that isn’t in the crisper drawer is definitely holding up better than it would have before the Berry Breeze. I appreciate that fact, and now don’t feel as stressed out about having to rearrange and strategically place stuff in certain spots every day. For example, I bought some mushrooms a few days ago, and I usually find that I absolutely MUST use them within 48 hours of purchase. We are right around the 72 hour mark and they are doing just fine!

For me, BerryBreeze is doing a great job of neutralizing odors in my fridge and based on what I’ve seen so far, I think it will help our produce stay fresh longer, which will make my life as the meal planner less stressful.

What I Don’t Love about BerryBreeze

When I first started using the BerryBreeze, I didn’t really notice any difference at all. And then I realized that the product needed batteries in order to work. Of course I felt like an idiot once I made this realization. Did I think the BerryBreeze was operated by magical miniature unicorns inside of it? It has to have a power source. Unfortunately, that power source comes in the form of 4 size D batteries. That’s a lot of batteries, and a lot of big, expensive batteries. I was totally bummed to realize this, and I honestly don’t know how long the BerryBreeze will operate with them before they have to be replaced. Maybe it will chug along for a year! Maybe it will die in 30 days. I honestly don’t know. But I’m guessing the reality will be closer to 30 days than to 1 year, and that means more large, expensive batteries to buy. I realize it sounds ridiculously lazy of me, but anything that requires semi-frequent battery changes annoys me and is a strike against that product making my life easier. This may be a total non-issue for a lot of people, but I don’t know…I just really don’t like the fact that it requires 4 huge batteries to work.

Where to Buy BerryBreeze

If you have a foodie on your holiday gift list this year, I do think the BerryBreeze is a cool device (just include the batteries with the gift, please!). It’s also a great option for any family that cooks a great deal, as I do think it will help prevent food spoilage, which means lots of money saved! You can buy BerryBreeze directly from the product website for $49.95, and shipping is free.