Worst baby book ever.

This is a review of the worst baby book. Ever.

Maybe that's too hash. This book is meant to be a teething, infant-who-isn't-interested-in-books kind of book, I think. Not a toddler-who-wants-the-same-book-read-to-him-98-times kind of book.

Anyways. We were given This book by Garanimals, which is Walmart's brand I believe.

The book is cute and all, and it makes a crinkly noise and is soft and has nice rubber chewy corners. So, when used as something to chew on, rather than a book to read, I'd give it a thumbs up. BUT, Joshua, for some reason LOVES this book, for reading. He will find it, in a stack of great kids books, and bring it to me and make me read it over and over and over.

So here is my problem with the book. It has no story. Bright pictures, yes, story, no. It is just a bunch of pictures with phrases with them. See below.

There is is. In all its glory. the whole entire book. Now, try to be excited to read it. Now again. Again. Again. . .  See? Not cute. I have begin making up my own story to go with the pictures to save myself for repeating this little peach over and over in my head in my sleep at night. I keep trying to hide this book, and somehow it keeps getting found and ending up back in the pile of other books and toys. 

So a recommendation, from one mom to another. Do yourselves a favor. And buy children's books that YOU wouldn't mind reading repeatedly. At least Joshua likes reading though, so I can't really complain I suppose. I just thought I would take this opportunity to vent about this book while it is still hidden. :) Maybe I need to hide it from Daddy too so it doesn't keep ending up in the pile!

Crazy Good Turkey Taco Meatloaf: A Review

Awhile back, I vowed to cook and eat healthier, and keep you posted on how that goes. Thus far... you may, or may not have noticed, there have been no posts of the sort. But, it wasn't for lack of healthy eating. I could spew out my reasons for going MIA for a bit, but I'll spare you. :-).

Anyhow. I made a recipe from one of the Hungry Girl cookbooks. If you haven't seen them/heard of them. I suggest you check them out! She has just released her third book. One of my best friends introduced me to these books a couple years ago, and I'be been hooked ever since. (I in no way work with/for hungry girl, or am paid to endorse her recipes or anything like that, I just really like them! haha)

That said, this meatloaf was fairly easy to make, did not use a ton of ingredients (many you may have in your kitchen already) the end result was a very juicy, very flavorful meatloaf.

I didn't take pictures of the process because my hands were all meatloaf-ey from mixing, and . . . this is my first time really writing about food, and I didn't think of it ha. But to sum it up for you, basically, you:

preheat your oven to 375 degrees


• saute up about 1/2 cup of mixed peppers and onions in a frying pan in some non-stick cooking spray.
• combine pepper and onions with 1/2 can of sweet corn, 1/2 packet of powdered low fat, taco seasoning, and about 1lb of extra lean ground turkey meat.
• spray a loaf pan (If you don't have one/can't find yours, like me, you can use a regular ol' cookie sheet or 9x9 brownie type pan and hand form the meat into a loaf . . . works exactly the same!)
• spread half of the meatloaf mix in the bottom of the pan
• put 2 low or no-fat cheddar cheese slices on top of the bottom half, make sure it stays inside, so don't let it touch the sides of the pan, I left about 1/4 inch or so all around so i could seal it in easily.
• layer the remaining loaf mix on top, top with 1/2 cup of salsa 


•place in preheated oven for 1/2 hour then remove and top with 1/2 cup shredded no or lo-fat cheddar cheese
• put back in the oven for 15 more minutes (I had to add an additional 10 minutes to my cooking time, so be sure to check the center of the loaf to be sure there is no pink before you serve it up)

When it's all done, slice it up and serve it! Makes 6 servings, and according to the hungry girl, eack slice contains 127 calories, 1g fat, 688mg sodium, 7g carbs, .5g sugars, and a whopping 22 grams of protein.

This is what mine looked like (disregard the bad color. lighting was bad!)

 I served mine with a small garden salad with some more of the shredded fat-free cheddar on top and oil and vinegar with italian herbs instead of regular dressing. Yummy!

If you give this recipe a try let me know what you think! 

Sometimes - a mom just needs chocolate.

This, my friends, is a review of Cafe Fleuri's Chocolate buffet, in Boston, MA.

A couple of years ago, the chocolate buffet was discovered, and myself, and some cousins decided we needed to try it. Obviously.

Since then, we decided it also needed to be an annual event. So this year was the second annual chocolate day! For those of you who have never heard of such a thing. A chocolate buffet, if an all you can eat buffet. Of chocolate. It is located in Cafe Fleuri at the Langham hotel in Boston, MA. And to sum it up in one word. Amazing! It is a chocolate lovers dream. Literally. Anything you could ever want to eat that is made out of chocolate, they probably have. Chocolate martinis, make your own candy bar, sundae bar, chocolate fountain, chocolate crepes custom made to your order. . . etc.

As a self-proclaimed chocoholic. I give it an A+. Even though there isn't any "real" food. We managed to convince ourselves we were having a balanced meal. Strawberries are a fruit, so what if they are covered in chocolate or wrapped in a chocolate crepe? Pretzels are kind healthy... drenched in chocolate fountain sauce, right? Riiiight. Anyways. If you have never been here. You MUST go. I think this is something everyone needs to experience at least once in their life (of once a year, whichever)

The only bad words I have about this place, and maybe this particular trip is this. There was a DJ there... which was OK, a little odd for the venue, but ok. Until a group of about 25 tween girls came in for a birthday party and started requesting very loud obnoxious songs, and hanging out the DJ, and dancing, and singing... in the room the chocolate was in. I would have enjoyed a nice jazz band better. haha. Or anything really. That, and the day did not have enough hours! I actually headed back to NH before much of the group to pick up Joshua, and ended up needing to drive to Hollis to pick up my husband too. Next time, we will need to pick a day when Jay is home to play with Joshua, and when I have more money so we can spend ALLL day in Boston and eat and shop to our heart's content!

What could be better than a day filled with laughs, fun, amazing friends and family, amazing chocolate, and Boston. Not a whole lot. Especially when you are a mama and it's one of your few baby free days that you are not at work all day, like me! That's all I've got. I'd write more, but I'm still recovering from my chocolate hangover. Here are some pictures from the day to entice you to go eat your body weight in chocolate.

I thought this was a regular creme puff. NOPE... filled with chocolate cream.

The first trip to the bar's leftovers.

I don't know what this one was, but it was pretty. 

One of the many tables at the bar.

Chocolate sculpture