The Musings of a Working Mom

Of course my kids beg me to buy them bananas because they love them so much but what ends up happening?  They don't get eaten and I'm left with brown over-riped bananas - so what to do with them??  Make banana bread of course!  Since it's raining outside (and I hate running errands when it's raining), I decided to stay in today and make some banana bread.  So I started getting all of my ingredients together, and I realized that I had no butter!!  I swear that I had a couple of pounds in the freezer but I couldn't seem to find them.  But I needed to use up those bananas so I decided to alter my recipe to adjust for the lack of butter by using some 2% greek vanilla yogurt.  I also wanted to experiment with almond meal in lieu of some of the flour so we'll see how this substitution pans out.  I used my usual Banana Bread recipe but instead of the butter, I added an extra egg and 6 oz. low fat greek vanilla yogurt.  For the flour amounts - I used 1/2 cup each AP

This month went by pretty fast especially since February is shortest month of the year (plus 1 more day this year).  I kind of fell into a rut and have been using a lot of the same products day after day but there were a couple of products that stuck out for me, especially since I recently purchased a new storage unit/organizer in my bathroom and I had to reorganize all of my makeup and beauty supplies.  I found a lot of previously loved products that got pushed aside but have recently found my love again.  There have also been some recent purchases that I've been using quite frequently for my "quick go-to" looks. 1.  Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer - I purchased this last month and absolutely love this concealer.  Not only does it conceal my dark undereye circles, but they also brighten the area and help make me look more well rested and awake.  The sponge tip applicator feels so nice on the skin but I acutally end up using my fingers to blend the product in. 

There was a great segment on the Today Show this morning about "Mommy Guilt".  Not only did the segment highlight the need for mom's to start taking the time to take care of themselves, but also that many more mom's are starting to let go of the guilt and realize that they are important and need to treat themselves as well.  We mom's spend so much taking care of our families but not enough time for ourselves.  And how can we be good role models to our kids when we can't practice what we preach?  We tell our kids to get enough sleep, eat healthy, nutritious foods, exercise, the importance of good hygiene, etc...but now we need to do all of that for ourselves.  Lord knows that we make enough sacrifices but I think taking an extra 5 minutes here or there for the benefit of ourselves and our families is a good thing.  It is time to let go of that mommy guilt and realize that we need to take time out for ourselves - a happy and healthy woman is a happy and healthy

Let's face it - all kids love pasta!!  What better pasta dish to make for your kids than lasagna!  So here is my base recipe for any lasagna.  You can add anything you want to the ricotta filling, meat and/or veggies. Or better yet, layer this ricotta filling with the bolognese sauce I posted earlier for a delicious lasagna.  Some lasagna recipes call for a bechamel sauce (or white sauce) but my family and I prefer this ricotta filling instead.  The end result - a healthy and delicious meal that everyone will enjoy, not to mention a great dish to entertain with family style! No Fuss Lasagna Boil lasagna noodles (about 12 noodles), according to directions on package. Saute (low-med heat) with olive oil - garlic, finely chopped or grated (as much as you like) red pepper flakes (optional, as much as you like) 1 bag fresh spinach 1 container sliced baby bella mushrooms salt and pepper Mix in med/large bowl - 12oz part skim ricotta cheese 1 egg salt and pepper onion powder garlic powder

I love those diaper caddy's that are sold at the various "baby" stores - they look cute and can really help you to organize your diapering supplies in one place so you have it when you need it.  But let's be realistic - when you have a young, curious, mobile child like I do, I would have to put this caddy out of my son's reach (a.k.a. hide it away which loses it's function of having all of your diapering supplies at arm's reach) or my 16 month old son will pull everything out of it and hide it in places I will never be able to find!!  Well to make things easy for myself, thus having all of my diapering/changing supplies in one location without allowing my son to open the container and get into it, I use a storage container with a secure lid on it to hold all of my diapering supplies.  I purchased mine from my local Target but you can get one from any place that sells storage bins/containers.  I love that the container is large enough to hold not only diape

OK - now that your baby is no longer eating baby food and will only eat the same food that you are eating, what do you do with all of that leftover baby food???  I for one am not letting that food go to waste - after all, that's still good food. And baby food is just fruits and veggies pureed with some water.  So what do I do - I simply add them to the dishes that I make - i.e. pancakes, brownies, marinara sauce, pasta, etc.  That's right, I just add them to whatever we're eating as a family.  I adjust the liquid content of my recipes but I add the baby food and it makes my brownies, pancakes and cakes moist and adds a lot of extra nutrition to my dishes.  I adjust the type of baby food based on what I'm making, savory with savory foods and sweet with sweet dishes.  I have used applesauce and mixed fruits in my pancakes, prunes and other fruits in my brownies, mixed veggies in my marinara sauce as well as mac & cheese, etc.  Also add darker color baby food (i.e. blu

1 pizza dough - 3 different pizzas!! Man oh man did dinner come out awesome tonight!!!  I am so mad at myself for not taking pictures of the end results - but I guess my family and I were way too hungry and we ate the pizza's before I could even think about taking any pictures.  Anyway, I had a ball of pizza dough from Trader Joe's in my fridge that needed to be used so I decided to make pizza for dinner.  But I also wanted to use up some veggies and cheese's in my fridge but I knew that my kids didn't like some of the veggies/cheese and well...I just decided to make 3 smaller pizzas with the one ball of dough that I had.  Now the 3 pizza's that I did make did require some prep time during the day but boy did they come out delicious and everybody was full and happy (and no leftovers)!  I actually had about 1.5 lbs of pizza dough and from this I split it up into 3 half pound balls and rolled them out.  For the first pizza (inspired by California Pizza Kitchen),  I

My kids love pasta - I swear they must have been Italian in the past lives!!  The love pasta  anyway they can get it - plain, with butter and parm cheese, with sauce, without sauce, with meatballs, with veggies...you name it, they love it.  But I love to feed them this awesome bolognese sauce packed with protein and veggies - it's healthy and the kids don't even know it!  I have also found that even though my kids love their veggies, sometimes they can be picky and don't want to eat it even though I want them to...so the trick that I have figured out is that if I finely dice up all of the veggies in the sauce, when it cooks down, the veggies become really soft and almost blend into the sauce and the kids will never know.  Not to mention that the sauce is so thick and flavorful that they'll ask for seconds! I have tried many different recipes but in the end, I just blended bits and pieces of a few recipes and made up my own.  It's a staple in my house and I tend to m

I keep reminding myself that I don't need to buy anymore makeup but then I look on the Sephora site and see things that I've been eyeing for quite some time but just keep skipping on purchasing them...until now. I did purchase a couple of things that I have heard quite a lot of positive reviews for and one items was finally back in stock. On a side note, I generally don't buy something without doing some research on it first.  I tend to go to a couple of awesome and informative websites - mostly http://www.temptalia.com/ and http://www.makeupalley.com/ .  Temptalia's (a.k.a. Christine) site is very informative and initially tended to lean towards MAC products but now features products from all price points and ends of the retail spectrum.  I find that when I'm at the MAC counter, I always check her site before I make my decision to purchase something.  Her reviews are very descriptive, honest and most of the times, spot on.  I won't make a decision without co

So we've all been here before...can't seem to lose those last 10 lbs even though you've been following the same diet (or eating the same "healthy" foods) and working out each week doing the same thing (i.e. cardio and weights) - but who likes to do the same thing day in and day out? After all, we are creatures of habits!  We don't like change - we don't want to change. We like to stay within our comfort zones.  We like doing the same thing because we know what to expect and we know how to do it and it's easy...but think of it this way - it's like driving the same path home every day and realizing that you have no recollection of even driving home because you've gotten so used to driving it that it doesn't even register to your brain that you did it.  Well the same theory applies to dieting and exercising!! Our metabolism and muscles need change - they crave it.  Eating the same foods and doing the same exercises leads to inefficient sti

Yay - I finally got my February Birchbox and was excited to open the box and see what goodies were waiting for me.  I have to say that my box was just OK, I wasn't totally thrilled with what I got but I was really excited with one of the items that was included this month.  The theme of this month's box was "Spotlight" - the Birchbox Team selected samples that were "designed to highlight your awesomeness - and maybe attract a little attention".   The 4 samples included in this month's box were: 1.  Beautyblender - the Original Beauty Blender ; This hot pink sponge is a pro favorite that helps your foundation look airbrushed, no Photoshop required.  -I'm very excited to try out the Beautyblender; I've heard amazing things about this tool - how it makes applying your foundation so easy and effortless, as well as making your skin look perfectly flawless and airbrushed.  I'll let you know how I like using this in a few weeks.

Ever since I had my twins (and now with my 15 month old), I have been on the hunt for the best, most miraculous undereye concealer.  I have some massive bags under my eyes along with the darkness that comes from a lack of sleep and/or interrupted sleep (that and the fact that I'm East Indian and apparently it is prevalent in East Indian's - GREAT!).  Anywho...I'm not sure when I'll get enough sleep to get rid of my undereye circles but until that happens, I will need to find an awesome undereye concealer to hide these puppies.  I have tried many, many different concealers from drugstore brands to high end, department store brands.  Some look ashy and cakey under my eyes, while some do conceal but by midday, it has migrated into my fine lines under my eyes and I have to touch it up throughout the day.  Here are the concealers I have tried so far: - MAC Select Moisturecover - it's ok; very  moisturizing, decent coverage - MAC Select Cover-up - I like; moisturiz

There are so many "discount" websites out there that features big brand companies selling high ticket items (or services) for discounted prices.  I love these sites but there is a discount site specifically for mommies called Zulily.com .  I love this site - not only do they feature great deals for mommies, but also clothing, shoes, toys and more for babies and kids.  My kids love Crocs but I hate paying full price for these - but why should I when I can buy them off of Zulily for half the price!  I have bought good quality snow/rain boots for my twins, organization tools for the family, baby shower gifts for friends, as well as clothing and shoes for myself.  The shipping prices are pretty reasonable (usually under $10.00) considering how much you are saving on the items that you are buying.  If you are like me and are always looking for a great deal or sale, then this is the perfect site for you.  Check this site out and enjoy the savings...

I always do a lot of research before I buy anything, especially baby/child related.  When I was pregnant with the twins, I had heard a lot of great things about the Dr. Brown's bottles- how they reduce the amount of air swallowed by baby (a.k.a. gas), reduce spit up's, reduce colicky events, etc.  And I'm sure that it did do that for our twins but what it didn't do was save us time because we were washing 5 parts to each bottle!  Besides being in a complete daze from having to wake the twins every 2-3 hours to feed/change/put to sleep for 24 hours a day initially, we were spending our quiet time while the twins were sleeping washing all of the parts to our Dr. Brown's bottles.  My husband and I would literally have an assembly line to wash and rinse each part!  What a waste of our time and yeah we could've just put the parts in the dishwasher but since we were feeding the kids so frequently, we didn't want to buy 12+ bottles to make this work.  Then one da

Are you afraid of wearing daring, bright colors on your eyes or lips?  Start with baby steps - add a pop of color in one area only.  For example, start by using a colored eyeliner on your top or bottom lash line and set with coordinating eyeshadow.  And then go neutral/natural everywhere else.  Or go with a bright and bold lip color and go natural/neutral on the eyes.  I find that on days that I don't want to do anything special, I add my pop of color by wearing a neutral eye shadow color on my lid (i.e. MAC Shroom, UD Virgin) and add either a sapphire blue or deep purple colored gel eyeliner on my top lash line (these colors look great on brown eyes).  Or you can try a bronze eyeshadow or the Maybelline 24 Hour Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze on the lid and line the bottom lash line with a green eyeshadow or liner. Or wear a magenta lip with a neutral eye finished with a brown liner.  Just add a "pop" of color and bring the focus to that area.  Try this simple lo

Making fresh, wholesome baby food at home is much easier than you think!  I made my own baby food with all of my kids but I have to be honest and say that I did buy premade baby food for convenience reasons.  And why not?  Store bought baby food has come such a long way - they can be organic, they come in such easy-to-use and portable packaging and most importantly, they taste good (like I-wouldn't-mind-eating-it good).  But making baby food is quite easy, can save you money and requires very few ingredients and appliances.  All you need is fresh/frozen produce (fruits, vegs, yogurt, etc.), a magic bullet type of small blender (or blender) and a microwave or stove top. Making baby food couldn't be any easier - I would typically steam some vegetables and/or fruit (fresh or frozen) in my Pampered Chef steamer with a little bit of water. FYI - don't discard the "steaming liquid", you can use this liquid to adjust the consistency of the baby food; not to mention the

Transitions for anyone are not easy - we all like our "comfort blankets" and we don't like to change.  Doing the same thing is soothing and can really pacify an individual, especially a baby.  And transitioning a baby from the breast to the bottle or bottle to the sippy cup can be a daunting task.  Afterall, it seems like everything for both mommy/parents and baby has to be perfect in order to make the smoothest of transitions (i.e. no sicknesses, having the right bottle/sippy cup, no major events that are occurring during the transition period, etc.).  But the one thing that I have learned with my 3 kids are that in order to have successful feeding transition - you need to make them gradual.  For example, I recently transitioned my youngest from the bottle to the sippy cup.  We started the transition when he was about 11 months old (with the goal to have him fully transitioned by his 1st birthday but that didn't happen and it was OK, we knew that he would eventuall

I've been testing out my new Maybelline Color Tattoo's the last couple of days and here is a quick look that I created using just the color tattoo in Tough as Taupe as well as one eyeshadow palette - the Urban Decay Naked2 palette.  I started out by applying the Maybelline Color Tattoo cream eyeshadow in Tough as Taupe all over the lid using my fingers - you can use a brush but I find it is easier to use my finger.  I then blend out the cream shadow with my finger blending upwards into the crease but not higher than that.  I then go to my UD Naked2 and place the color Pistol on top of the cream shadow with a fluffy blending brush (Sigma or MAC 217) and then blend out the edges so there are no harsh lines.  I then wipe that brush off and use a matte mid-tone brown called Tease and blend that into the crease.  Then take the color Bootycall and place that under the brow bone with a flat shadow brush and blend down into Tease.  Then take just the slightest bit of the matte bla

Having a child is the most amazing and wonderful thing in the world.  After all, you carried this child for 9 months and anxiously waited for him/her to make their grand entrance into your world and everything is all dreamy and wonderful.  Then you enter into the sleepless nights of midnight feedings, diaper changes, singing, coddling, rocking, swaying, etc. and then you wonder when will you get a full night of sleep again?  Well the answer is sooner than you think!  Just to lay it out there - I'm not a sleep expert nor do I claim to be one.  But I do have experience from sleep training our 3 children and I can happily say that my husband and I have peace and quiet from 8pm on and we sleep through the night (minus sicknesses/teething issues/nightmares/etc.) because we have successfully sleep trained our children.  So back to my point... Initially, infants don't have the internal mechanism to put themselves to sleep or even to know day from night.  Many parents think that th