Eating Light Magazine | Recipes with 400 calories or less!

Kick start your New Year’s resolution to shed those unwanted pounds with help from your favorite magazines!  Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Country Living and Woman’s Day bring you Eating Light, the latest Hearst Special. Eating Light provides a 13-week quick and easy eating plan sure to eliminate all of your diet stresses and guide you on your journey to better health. Each week of the plan features six 400 calorie or less dinner recipes, slim-friendly restaurant suggestions (because a girl’s gotta eat out sometimes) and various ideas for the best breakfasts, lunches and snacks to satisfy your appetite. What’s inside?

*Comfort food recipes with a healthy twist—including pizza, chicken pot pie and chicken fingers!
*Guilt-free “sweet treats” that will make your taste buds pop
*Cheat sheet for restaurant dining without losing control
*Quick tips and guidelines to answer your dieting FAQ’s

Eating Light is available for $9.99 and can be purchased at your local supermarket, newsstand or bookstore. A digital edition is also available at Zinio.com or Nook.bn.com.

I have picked out a few recipes that I will be making soon and I will be sure to post about them. I was so impressed with the variety and love how many vegetarian recipes are in there. This will come in handy for making meals that will please my entire family and helping my husband shed some weight at the same time.

For even more photos and inspiration, check out their Facebook  and Pinterest page.

I received a review copy of the magazine. All opinions expressed are my own.

Getting ready for kindergarten

The time has come. It was 5 years in the making. Kindergarten registration is here. Today kicked off the start of Expanded Choice applications in our School District. If you want your child in either a Magnet program or to attend a school you are not zoned for, you must complete an online application. Although we live so close the the elementary school that I would like William to attend, we are not zoned for it. I had to fill out Choice applications back when the girls were Will's age. We want him to go to the same school his sisters went to. Me and my husband laugh at how we are starting all over again!

William is so excited and seems ready for school. I know he will do well socially but I still have my mom worries. With William being the last baby, he has been very babied and I take full responsibility for that. I can't help wanting to do everything for him. He's my baby! I know that I have learn to let go. I have to let him become more independent. I think about things like; will he be able to wipe his nose properly if he sneezes? Will he be able to clean his bottom properly if he goes to the bathroom? Will he eat his lunch? I have so many things going through my head! I have vowed to work diligently with him to get him well prepared for kindergarten. I guess all I can do is know that it will all work out. I was frantic when the girls were starting school too. It sure will be strange when he is gone all day and I will be home with just the dog. I know myself though, I will do what I did with the girls. I will volunteer every single day a few times a week. I am looking forward to all the fun things involved in kindergarten :)

Sriracha | A must-have in my kitchen

I have talked about my must-have staples in my spice cabinet before, but I left out something very important... sriracha. Sriracha is a sweet, tangy paste made with sun-ripened chili peppers, garlic, vinegar, sugar and salt. I love it SO much. I use it on and in just about everything savory. There is something so perfect about the balance of heat, garlic and chili that makes it irresistible. I think from getting more "mature", I can't seem to handle very spicy, hot condiments like I used to.

It's amazing how a few squirts of sriracha can transform a dish. My husband isn't quite sold and still prefers the traditional West Indian pepper sauce. I need to find sriracha in mini-bottles so I can stash one in my purse! I am serious :-)

Are you a sriracha fan?

Influenster Holiday #VoxBox 2012 Review

I was so lucky to get chosen to receive the last Influenster VoxBox of 2012, the holiday edition! It contained a NYC New York Liquid Color Lipshine, Kiss Nail Dress, Goody Quikstyle Brush, Quaker Real Medleys Oatmeal+, SoleSociety discount offer and  EBOOST Natural Energy packet.

The first thing I tried (well more like my son tried) was the Quaker Real Medleys Oatmeal+ in the Summer Berry variety. I really liked how hearty this oatmeal was in comparison to the usual instant oatmeal. It was full of dried berries and the serving was really big. He really enjoyed it and kept going on about how full he was.  I will be buying these for road trips and even for my husband to keep in his desk at work as a quick breakfast option.

I was really excited  to test out the Goody Quikstyle Brush. It has these unique micro-fiber "bristles" that are supposed to help reduce blow-drying time. The brush is also supposed to be good for detangling. I can't be certain if it really lessens the drying time but it works so well for detangling! I think one of the best things is how big the brush is since my hair is so long. It really makes blow-drying easier. You can clean it by giving it a little wash with your regular shampoo and air dry it. This is something I would actually buy in the future.

Next up, Kiss Nail Dress. I was originally going to let one of my daughters try these out but I decided to step outside of my comfort zone and get a little crazy. Kiss Nail Dress is basically nail polish stickers that require no drying time and last up to 10 days. The application process is relatively easy except I had a hard time getting the stick edges to smooth out. I also did not like the strong odor that they gave off. I think my nails had a strong chemical smell for at least 48 hours. I almost took the darn things off! I found that after two days, the edges were smooth and the look really grew on me. I think this particular color pattern (called Shrug) was good for me since you couldn't tell if the tips were wearing down. I kept them on for 7 days and could have gone longer, but I had to remove them since I had one nail break and I was forced to peel off the nail strip. They came off easily but I feel like the surface of my nail looked rough, almost like it was stripped. Thankfully they looked normal the next day. I am still not sure if I would buy these in the future but they are a fun nail look without the hassle of drying time or using polish remover.

I really liked the NYC New York Liquid Color Lipshine in the color Nude York City. It was really smooth, shiny and creamy at the same time. It felt good on my lips and smelled almost like candy. It didn't last very long but I guess most lip glosses wouldn't. I would love to try a darker color in the future. They retail for about $2.50 so that's not bad at all.

The last two items were the EBOOST supplement packet and the $25 off a purchase from Sole Society. I know for a fact I will not try the EBOOST because it does not appeal to me. I looked at the shoes from Sole Society and was not impressed at all. Also, I am one of those people that needs to try on a physical shoes before I purchase them.

All in all, this was a really good VoxBox and I look forward to the next one! Thank you, Influenster!

Boost your laundry and more with Borax {Review & Giveaway}

If you have been a reader for a while now, you would know how much I love old school methods. I received a box of Borax Detergent Booster and after reading the box alone I asked myself, "Why on earth have I NOT been using this stuff all these years!". I remember always seeing a box in the laundry room growing up, as I'm sure most of you have. I think I always associated Borax with only laundry. Turns out, there are many uses. You can use it to clean garbage disposals and drains, dishwashers, carpets and rugs, toilet bowls and of course, for laundry. It softens hard water so it enables your laundry detergent to do what it's supposed to do... clean your clothes. I added a 1/2 cup of Borax along with my regular detergent to a load of whites. I noticed how much brighter they were and the best part was there was no bleach scent left behind. Borax is 100% natural and I will be replacing my bleach with it for my whites. 

Borax works in all machines as well as with cold water. I still can't believe I have not been using this stuff all this time! You can't ever go wrong with old school, multi-purpose and affordable! 

Check out this video to see how Borax works in your laundry...  

Giveaway: 3 lucky Momfiles readers will win a coupon good for one FREE bottle of Purex Baby detergent. Enter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway is open to US Residents only and will end on January 19, 2013. Three winners will be chosen at random and will be contacted via email. Momfiles is not responsible for any lost or stolen prizes. Good luck!

I received products samples for review purposes and was supplied with FREE product coupons to give away. All thoughts/opinions are always my own.