The Musings of a Working Mom

With 3 kids to feed each night, I have to find easy, creative and delicious meals to serve them to avoid the late evening meltdowns.  Well one afternoon, with the kids finishing their homework, I looked up to realize that dinner time was way too close with nothing on the stove or even in the works!! YIKES!!  What to do??   Now I could just resort to making pasta, but they eat pasta like every other day! So I wanted to feed them something different.  I opened the fridge to scan my shelves and see what I could make....and then a Pinterest picture came to mind:  pizzas made in a muffin tin.  I don't recall ever seeing the recipe but I figured that I could come up with it on my own.  So I fished out the canned biscuits, pizza sauce, and shredded cheese.  Yep, that's it!    Preheat the oven to 350F (or whatever temp is listed on the biscuit package).  I sprayed the muffin tin with some Pam.  Placed and spread each biscu...

The theme for this month is "Spring Fling".  Given the theme, I thought that this month's bag would be floral but instead it is a blue/teal/orange chevron pattern...still super cute!  I am very pleased with this month's beauty products...including a full size Zoya polish which retails for $9.00. So here are the products inside this month's Ipsy bag: 1.   Zoya Nail Polish in Jacqueline (full size) - this polish is new from the Spring 2013 Lovely Collection. 2.   NuMe Finishing Serum (10mL) - this finishing serum protects, seals, and treats your hair. 3.   Pacifica Island Vanilla Perfume Roll-On (10mL) - this perfume is 100% vegan, cruelty free, free of parabens, phthalates and propylene glycol.  The scent of this perfume: Tahitian vanilla, loved for its fruity and slightly floral aroma, is anchored with rich Bourbon vanilla notes. 4.   Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss in Champagne (.14 fl oz) 5.   Yaby Concealer in Buff.  This will ...

Tacos and tostadas are one of my family's favorite dishes. We create a "bar" and let the kids top their shells any way they wish.  Since my hubby is vegetarian, I like to use the Morning Star Crumbles in the place of ground beef for our filling.  I make the filling by heating a large skillet with some olive oil, adding some garlic and onion and sauté for a couple of minutes.  I then add the bag of crumbles and heat until fully cooked (until there are no more frozen chunks visible).  I also add some black beans, salsa, and taco seasoning to add flavor.  Then set up your stations as you wish - shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, chopped avocados or guacamole.  Try out this vegetarian variation for your next meatless meal.  ENJOY....

The theme for this month's Ipsy Glam bag is "Pretty in Pink".  The cosmetic bag that housed all of the products is white with a hot pink zipper; the inside is striped white and hot pink as well.  Inside was: 1.  Be A Bombshell Cosmetics Blush in Beach Please (full size)  2.  Mica Beauty Cosmetics Shimmer Powder in Earth (full size) 3.  Sexy Hair Soy Renewal - Nourishing Styling Treatment (travel size, 0.85 fl oz) 4.  Miss Professional Sation Nail Lacquer in Of Corset I'll Call You (full size, 0.50 fl oz) From what I have read, the full size blush retails for $16 so that has paid for this month's bag by itself.  The color is a bit bright for me but I'm sure if I apply it with a light hand and a big, fluffy brush so I don't look like a clown.  The Shimmer Powder will look really nice as all-over lid color, especially in Spring and Summer time.  I really excited to use this one!  The nail polish is a pretty creamy p...

As you know, my husband is a vegetarian so meal planning for guests can be tricky.  But luckily there are so many delicious meatless recipes out there to choose from.  Since we were having some neighbors over for dinner, and I really wanted to showcase wild mushrooms in our meal, but I couldn't find the perfect recipe for what I wanted to do so I decided to combine a couple of recipes to create and tasty yet easy lasagna recipe.  Here is what I came up with (PS - sorry I don't have any pictures but when the lasagna came out of the oven, I was busy talking with my guests and well....we ate it and I missed my photo opp - sorry! But trust me, this is d elish!! ) - Wild Mushroom Lasagna For the mushroom mixture: .    2 tablespoons unsalted butter .    2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil .    3 medium shallots, minced (I used 1/2 large sweet white onion, finely chopped) .     4 pounds wild...

Ahhh....March - this can only mean one thing (well, two if you are a sports fan):  SPRING BREAK!  This month's theme is "The Great Escape" as evident on the cutesy nautical themed bag.  All of the products included this month is travel friendly and perfect to stash away on those carry on bags (read: TSA approved).  This month's bag contains: -LA Fresh Travel Lite Makeup Remover Wipes (8ct) -  La Fresh Travel Lite portable towelette wipes are perfect for jetsetters, go-getters, outdoor enthusiasts and multi-taskers everywhere.  Towelette packets are small in size, designed for practicality and are easy to apply discreetly. -Yaby Eye Shadow Singles in Azalea Petal (es133) and Seashell (es192) -  Whether you want to make a dramatic statement or just add a veil of color to your eyes, the Yaby eyeshadow refills are extremely easy to work with.  Can be used wet or dry and the smooth texture allows blending with ease. -GlamRX Mini Freestyle Palette -...

This month's beauty subscriptions are in and now it's time to compare these 2 subscriptions for the month of February - Birchbox vs. Ipsy!! Both beauty subscriptions had the same theme of "Red Carpet Ready" but which box was better? Now I like that Ipsy's bag was much more "cohesive" in the sense that all the products could be used to create a sultry, smokey eye which is definitely red carpet appropriate.  Whereas Birchbox really didn't have that "cohesive" quality other than the fact that their products can be used to help create a "HD-ready" look.  I also like that Ipsy has a cute cosmetic/makeup bag each month - even though I won't need them all, it adds to the value of your monthly subscription. The value of each box is a guesstimate but the approximate value of Feb 2013 Birchbox is ~$18.34 while the Feb 2013 Ipsy bag is ~$63.36. The winner is:  -For value: Ipsy  -For content: Ipsy Overall winner:  IPSY Fe...