Wordless Wednesday

William was about 10 months in this photo.

Pink Together, Raising Awareness and a Giveaway

**Contest Closed**
Winner is #77 sohamolina~ Congrats!

I am sure that no matter where you shop you have noticed that everything is in pink to represent Breast Cancer Awareness. General Mills created Pink Together. Pink Together is a campaign that aims to raise greater awareness of the disease and to help those touched by breast cancer find strength together. You are encouraged to visit PinkTogether.com, an ever-growing community of hope of more than 680,000 breast cancer survivors and supporters. There you can share stories, post comments of encouragement and send virtual flowers to let someone know you are thinking of him or her. There are so many inspiring stories on there and it is a great feeling knowing that you can get support from others- even from strangers.

To encourage personal connections in the online community, General Mills will donate $1 (up to $20,000) to Komen for each inspirational story submitted, encouraging comment posted, or virtual flower of support sent on PinkTogether.com, and for each shared message of hope posted on Pink Together’s Facebook fan page during the month of October (up to $5,000). This $25,000 is in addition to the $2 million donation General Mills has committed to Komen to advance breast cancer research and support education and community outreach projects.

I was provided with a “Connecting for a Cure” gift pack for spreading the word about this great cause from General Mills through MyBlogSpark. My gift pack included a Pink Ribbon car magnet and key chain, travel mug, and drawstring backpack, along with coupons for free packages of one Big G cereal, Green Giant® Frozen Veggies, Macaroni Grill® Dinner Kit, Fiber One® Bars and Progresso® Soup . All of the items included in the gift pack are from ShopKomen.com, where 25% of the merchandise purchase price benefits Komen. Let me tell you, there are some cute things on the site for all pink lovers!


MyBlogSpark is also providing another "Connecting for a Cure" gift pack for one lucky Momfiles reader to win! Here's how to enter:

Mandatory: "like" the Pink Together Facebook page and send a message of hope. I did it and it only takes about 20 seconds!

Additional entries:
~ Sends a virtual flower or add a comment on the Pink Together site.
~ "like" Momfiles on FB
~ Follow Momfiles on Twitter and Tweet this giveaway (once daily)-

Win a #myblogspark Connecting for the Cure gift pack @momfiles http://blog.momfiles.com/2010/10/pink-together-bringing-awareness-and.html

~ sport the Momfiles button on your blog
~ Check out the ShopKomen site and tell us which item you would be interested in purchasing.

This giveaway is open to US Residents only and will end on October 28, 2010 at 9:00 pm EST. Winner will be selected via random.org and contacted by email. Please be sure to leave a valid email address if you do not have a Blogger profile. Good luck!

Disclosure: General Mills provided me with information and giveaway through MyBlogSpark

When the neighbors give you eggplant....

You make Eggplant Parmesan!

It was easy and complicated at the same time to make. I started with about 3 big sized eggplant. I washed, peeled and sliced them into 1/2 inch thick slices. I had 3 separate dishes set up for dredging. First bowl had some plain flour. The second bowl had beaten eggs with some seasoned salt, cracked pepper & some Kosher salt. Third bowl- plain fine breadcrumbs. I lightly coated each slice of eggplant with flour then into the egg and then into the breadcrumbs. I fried the slices in Canola oil for about 4-5 minutes (until nice and brown).

I prepared my sauce. I used 2 jars of Barilla tomato and basil sauce. I added my own seasoning to taste including a little sugar, garlic, some hot pepper sauce etc... I also added good handful of freshly chopped cilantro instead of the traditional basil.
I started the layering process with the sauce and cheeses. I used Mozzarella, Feta and Parmesan. I know Feta in not traditionally used either.
I baked it covered for 25 minutes at 375 and then for another 10 minutes uncovered to brown the top. It makes the entire house smell so good!

Here is the final product. It came out delicious and the Feta and cilantro were the secret ingredients to make it extra special.

I want fweep

William is a thriving 2 1/2 year old who is full of energy all day long. His new thing is deciding that he wants to take a nap-- "I want fweep" in the late afternoon each day. This is not your ordinary nap. Dude wants to sleep hard and long... 2 hours+ if you let him. I refuse to have him napping past 3. He ends up not going to sleep at night until after 10 or 11. That makes me feel like such a bad mother.


I tend to let him catch a good 20-30 minutes and I wake him up. He is pretty grumpy for about 5 minutes but then he springs back into action. I never thought I would say it but I wish my toddler would NOT take a nap during the day!

Have you ever experienced this kind of sleeping behavior with your child?

Family Taco Night (giveaway)

**Contest Closed**
Winner is #43 Shirley~ Congratulations!

I don't know about you but our family loves to have family taco night at least every 4-6 weeks. It's a fun way to get everyone to sit together, chat and share some good laughs while keeping the cost low. I received a "family taco night" prize pack that included a packet of Old El Paso Taco Seasoning, a Cactus Chip & Dip Serving dish, a set of 3 Fiesta Chili Pepper serving dishes and a $10 gift card to purchase our taco fixings.

We went with the Old El Paso Gordita dinner kit and also the Old El Paso traditional soft taco tortillas. You can go here to print a coupon for $0.60 off any two Old El Paso products.
I used some chicken tenders that I sliced thinly and cooked it according to the seasoning packet instructions. I added a handful of fresh chopped cilantro for extra flavor and it came out perfect.
My family sticks to the traditional toppings like shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, a mixture of shredded cheeses and some ranch sauce (included in the dinner kit I purchased).
Here is the finished product. They came out so tasty and was ready in about 20 minutes. We all sat at the table and joked around a good bit. I used to work at a fast food taco joint when I was younger so my husband had great fun talking about old times :)
How would you like to win your own family taco night prize pack? You will get the same prize pack I received which are pictured below and a $10 gift card (not pictured)
Here's how to enter:
Mandatory- Tell us what you would do to make your family taco night special. Maybe you can tell us what unusual toppings or main ingredients you like in your tacos.

For additional entries:
~ you can "like" Momfiles on Facebook
~ follow Momfiles through Google Friend Connect
~ Follow Momfiles on Twitter and Tweet this giveaway (once daily) :

Win a family taco night prize pack #giveaway @momfiles from #myblogspark http://blog.momfiles.com/2010/10/family-taco-night-giveaway.html

~ sport the Momfiles button on your blog

*Please leave a separate comment per entry method for each entry to count. Giveaway is open to US Residents only and will end on October 25, 2010 at 9:00 pm EST. Good luck!

Disclosure: The coupon, information, and prize package for giveaway were all provided by Old El Paso through MyBlogSpark.