#PCOrganicsBaby Nutritious organic ingredients that taste great too? My Secret to a Success Self-feeder #AD @Preschoice #PCO

Since Alastair was born over 4 years ago, I’ve trusted in President’s Choice Organic baby food options. It was a lifesaver for us at the time. I was overwhelmed by the usual daily mom tasks: cooking, cleaning, taking care of a new baby, nap schedules… the list goes on. Purchasing this product line at the time completely freed us up as parents to get the quality time I wanted to spend with him without the crazy food preparing hustle. And it still included nutritious organic ingredients which was so important to us as a family. Their product line is completely mobile, so I could throw a few options in his baby bag and get out of the house with no fear of looming meal times.

Fast forward, 3.5 years and we are still using PC Organics for Alastair and now his little sister Harper. She’s entered the age of self feeding, thus far she has been loving the mini rice cakes, fruit and oats bars and of course the original puréed pouches. Their new product line fits our busy on the go lifestyle and helps me get nutritious ingredients into them throughout the day. From park dates to coffee shop meetings, both my little guys love these products and help me keep them nourished, healthy and happy.

Here are some of our favourite organic foods perfect for little hands:

Rice Cakes

Multigrain O’s

Fruit & Oat bars in Blueberry Apple

Have you tried the PC Organic Baby line with your self-feeder yet?

Disclosure: I have partner with YMC and PC Organics Baby and have received compensation. But my thoughts and opinions remain my own.

Getting ready for the holidays || Cleaning with Dyson & @TheBrick #AD

Starting this week our home will be invaded by guests right and left for the holidays. From planned festive dinners to surprise drop-in visits; our home is a hub of activity this time of year. With two little people and a big dog, you can imagine that our house isn’t always guest ready in the clean department. So over the years I’ve become a vacuum connoisseur so to speak. We’ve gone through quite a few in the last 6 years so I’ve developed quite the opinion on the subject. By far I love a Dyson over any other brand. I tried a robot vacuum this year, you obviously didn’t get to hear about it on the blog for good reason… I didn’t love it at all! It didn’t clean anything and was constantly getting stuck under furniture. So my little piece of cleaning advice, commit to a Dyson, they have amazing suction and so far I haven’t broken one either!

Introducing our holiday helper the Dyson V8 Absolute cordless stick vacuum. With a powerful V8 motor, two-tier Radial™ cyclones and whole machine HEPA filtration, fine dust and allergens don’t stand a chance. I love how light weight it is and how fast I can get through a room without a cord in the way. A soft-roller cleaner head picks up debris while being gentle on our hard floors because the dogs claws are enough damage on those guys. Thanks to its cordless design and ability to convert to a handheld model I can easily clean hard to reach places like my curtains in minutes. Plus, the hygienic dirt ejector makes it easy to empty the vacuum’s canister. That’s right, no more buying disposable vacuum bags.

The Dyson V8 Absolute helps us quickly get holiday ready in minutes. I don’t think we could ever go back now that we’ve joined the Dyson family a few years ago. Have you tried a Dyson?

Disclaimer: This post was paid by The Brick but my thoughts and opinions remain my own.

#LifesSimpleIngredient || The easiest bread recipe just in time for the holidays…

With the holidays fast approaching our home becomes a revolving door for guests. Believe me, surprise visits warm my heart but they also keep me on my hostess toes! One of our favourite snacks to eat our guests is fresh warm french bread and assorted cheese. So over the years, we’ve found this easy and fast recipe we use throughout the week to keep the delicious bread coming hot out of the oven.

So I’ve joined the Life’s Simple Ingredient movement to showcase my favourite Alberta Wheat Commission product this season: bread! Our secret, we make the dough ahead of time. Let it rise and shape it into whatever you would like it to be… for us, the long and narrow french baguette. I slash it. Then freeze solid for a few hours on a pan. Remove from pan and cover in plastic. Use it within a few weeks for freshness. It’s so simple and convenient. The moment you have a guest walk through that door, start the oven, fresh warm bread is sure to wow your guests. And that smell! Heavenly.

1 cup warm tap water

1.5 tablespoons sugar

2½ teaspoons store bought starter yeast

2 tablespoons olive oil

1½ teaspoons ground sea salt

3 cups wheat flour

Spoon full of melted butter for brushing

In a large mixing bowl add sugar and warm water. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add Yeast. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Stir in your oil, sea salt and half of the flour. Knead into a ball. Lightly grease pan or I like to use parchment paper. Cover and allow to rise for over an hour. (You can freeze portions now) Pop the dough ball, shape as desire, and allow to rise one last time for 20 minutes. Place on greased pan or parchment paper. Slash top, brush with butter and I like to sprinkle with a touch of salt. Bake at 375 for 25- 27 minutes.

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The Mealtime Toddler Struggle || Want to know my nutritious secret?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Enfagrow A+® for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Getting a toddler tornado to eat is not an easy task in our household. I swear it feels like Alastair is on a food strike most of the time, leaving me feeling worried about balanced meals and the nutrients he’s getting throughout the day. At least for me, he’s always on the move and doesn’t seem to have time for structured meal time. We struggle as a family to all sit and eat a meal for even 15 minutes because he just wants to play. The mom meal time struggle is so real for us. Because he just seems to happily snack throughout the day, I sometimes worry he’s missing out on balance nutritious meals. As a mommy of two, I know how important it is to give your child the best head start possible, and that includes nutrition. We have had success with Enfagrow A+ nutritional toddler nutria beverage as a great nutritious snack to get some extra nutrients into your toddler, including the ever so important DHA. If you visit www.enfagrow.ca, you can Sign up for FREE Samples. And the website is a great resource, with the informative Your Toddler Magazine and new video series designed to provide you with advice and pertinent information about life with your toddler. My favourite episode included some great tricks to help ensure your child is receiving important vitamins and minerals and how these nutrients (DHA is not a vitamin) contribute to your toddler’s growth like DHA and iron. They had menu ideas too!

As I mentioned previously this year, Enfagrow A+ has partnered with United Way. The initiative is simply, when you use the hashtag #EnfagrowMomsKnow on Instagram and Twitter to share your toddler stories, pictures, or advice with other moms and they will donate $1 per submission up to $5000 to United Way until November 30, 2017! It’s such an easy way to connect with real parents online and give back to a cause that matters.

Why not see if your toddler likes it? I love this easy, fast and nutritious snack.