A Puzzling Lunch on Muffin Tin Monday

I confess that as the school year draws to a close I'm becoming lazy about creative lunches for Pierce.  This past week Pierce found himself with a puzzling lunch combination:

He has a Trader Joe's Apple/Carrot crusher, some yogurt covered raisins, animal crackers that were not animals but letters/numbers, and a puzzle shaped cheese and mustard sandwich.  I found the puzzle sandwich cutter in Walmart, in the baby section - next to the sippy cups.  They are new from Munchkin, and there were other designs as well.  Cute, huh?

For more fun kids' lunch ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom. 

Eclos Skin Care Program with Giveaway #EclosBeauty

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of éclos Skin Care for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I'm in my upper 30s now and it seems like I see the effects of aging on my skin more dramatically each year.  As a runner, I'm going to be prone to more wrinkles than the average person, simply because of the exposure to the elements.  Of course, in my mind, the benefits of running certainly outweigh the wrinkles, but I was interested in trying the éclos Skin Care program to see if it would help.

Eclos features apple stem cells extracted from a rare Swiss apple that have been shown to stimulate skin stem cells which encourages skin to behave younger.  Plant extracts, vitamins, and antioxidants help minimize fine lines, wrinkles, and tired skin.
My kit included Facial Cleanser Skin Prep, Skin Renewal Clay Mask, Cellular Activator Skin Serum, Moisture Therapy Regenerative Cream, Instant Radiance Facial Scrub, Restorative Eye Cream, and a terry cloth head band.  This is a lot more product than I am used to using on my skin, but it was actually kind of nice to feel pampered.  I started with the facial cleanser skin prep, and I loved how sudsy it was.  My skin felt clean afterwards.  I used to use clay masks in college frequently, but it had been years since I'd tried one (let's face it - having kids doesn't leave you with a lot of spare time) and I also enjoyed using the mask.  The scrub was salty and warm to the touch, and after the combination of these 3 products my skin felt very clean.  Then it was time for the moisturizers.  I don't use a lot of scented products, so it took a little time to adjust to the scent, but it wasn't unpleasant.  I liked the 3 moisturizing creams and my skin felt good afterwards.
So as a disclaimer, I have to tell you that I cannot use moisturizers on my forehead.  I just can't do it - I break out every single time.  So I had to decide what to do.  Use them on the forehead so I could really review them and most likely breakout?  Or not?  I decided to go ahead and use them, with the knowledge that there has never been a moisturizer I can use on my forehead.  So please don't blame the product for the pimples you will see - it happens to me no matter which type of moisturizer I try, and it definitely could've been a lot worse!
The picture on the left is the before pic, the picture on the right is the after (taken 8 days after regular use, 2x a day).  It's hard to see in the photos, but I did notice a reduction in the lines around my eyes, and I also think there was some slight fading in the age spots on my right cheek.

Overall, I liked all of the products and would definitely continue to use them (just not the moisturizers on my forehead!).  I think my favorites were the skin cleanser and the facial scrub.  If I had one suggestion for Eclos, I'd love to see them add SPF to their moisturizers!
So readers, are you interested in winning an Eclos Skin Care Program to try?  I have one set to giveaway to a lucky person!  One winner will win the following:

To enter, leave a comment on this post telling me which product you are most excited to try.  For an extra entry, 'like' Two Bears Farm on Facebook (leave a second comment tell me you have done so).  Winner will be chosen by Random.org. Giveaway ends 5/25 and winner must respond within 48 hours!


This giveaway is now CLOSED.  Thank you for the entries!  The winner is #49, Madeline Brubaker. 

Bike Shorts Film Fest

Paul submitted a film of Pierce learning how to ride his bike to the Bike Shorts Film Festival, so recently we all headed downtown for the event.  First we grabbed dinner at the City Marketplace.  I had the most wonderful food - I think it was called Incan Paradise -

 I'm going to try to recreate it at home.  It came from this place called Firefly Fare, which is all local cuisine.  So yummy! 

 This was the first time I'd been in the City Marketplace since the big remodel.  It looks very nice.  Course I miss the old Cuban place - I loved their food so much.  Happy to still be able to see those grand tall ceilings:

And I thought this mural on the floor of the entry was a nice touch:

After dinner, we had some time to kill, so we decided to go for a trolley ride. The boys were thrilled - we hadn't ridden the trolley since last summer.

Possibly the cutest picture of Pierce with his Dad ever!

After the trolley loop, it was time for the reception, which was held at the Taubman Museum of Art.

We just barely managed to entertain the 3 boys until the films started.  Thank goodness they were all 'shorts' - otherwise we'd never have survived! 

Paul's film seemed very well received - lots of laughter from the audience.  While it didn't win, it was fun to see Pierce on the big screen.  This isn't the full film, but you can check out the trailer for it here:

Touring Polyface Farms - Rural Thursday

Seems like I'd wanted to tour Polyface Farms forever, and finally the other weekend we made it happen.  A multigenerational organic farm located about two hours from us, we'd watched the video, read some of the books, but needed to see it with our own eyes!  I called up my parents, who were also eager to tour Polyface, and we met them there.

 All of the animals we saw looked healthy and happy.  The cattle are moved every day so they stay on fresh green grass.

Cort and Reid had fun exploring.  Reid is in the background, petting a barn cat.  See Cort's shirt?  Reid's shirt says, "Me Neither".  This was the first time they'd worn them, and they were a huge hit!

Beautiful greens.  There were several hoop houses like these stuffed full of beautiful vegetables. 

See the wood furnace in the hoop house?  They can use it to heat the house in the winter, when they have the chickens in there. 

The chickens are moved frequently too, on this day they were in a permanent hoop house, where they were stirring up the dirt and matter that the rabbits had produced.  Let me say that while it was full of chickens in there, there was absolutely no icky smell.  The floor looked nice and clean, too.

Baby chicks!

Rabbits!  Their cage may not be fancy, but it's moved everyday, so they always have fresh grass.

Walking up the road, to find some pigs.

We found some chickens, carefully guarded by a VERY vocal goose.

And we found some chicks too.

Lucky for Cort my Dad was there to be his buddy and carry him...all day long...so he wouldn't get his feet muddy.  He was especially concerned about getting his feet muddy.  So he says.  I think he just wanted a free ride.

This is the barn.  The barn was full of pigs on this day.

The barn where the pigs were was the only place we found to be a little smelly.  However, the place still looked clean and the pigs seemed quite healthy.

Afterwards, we went in the shop, where you can buy their products.  Unfortunately, we hadn't thought ahead to bring a cooler with us.  Their cuts of meat looked beautiful though - the organic bacon was especially tempting.

Just outside the store.  The boys had so much fun touring Polyface with their Cat Cat and Pop Pop! 

Peach Glazed Chicken with Plum Organics + Prize Pack Giveaway

Even before I was contacted by Plum Organics about creating a gourmet recipe for their Little Foodies Cookbox, I frequently purchased their baby foods as snacks for the boys.  Because while you might consider them baby food, they actually have so much more flavor than other purees, and I love how portable they are for snacks.  Plus, I feel good knowing that they are wholesome and free from all the yucky stuff - indeed, the only ingredient in the Just Peaches is just that...organic peaches! The boys love all the different flavors, and are thrilled when I pull them out.  I think Reid may hold the world record for fastest guzzling of a Plum fruit pouch. 

 While I had never considered using their products in the creation of dinner, I realized it was a brilliant idea!  The recipe I created is for Glazed Peach Chicken.  Bursting with flavor, you'll notice just a hint of the succulent peaches.  It doesn't even take many ingredients to toss this together.

Recipe Ingredients:

1.5 pounds chicken breasts

½ cup soy sauce

½ cup cream sherry

4 tsp. sugar

2 chopped fresh garlic cloves

2 (3.5 ounces each) Just Peaches Plum Organics pouches

Directions:

1.       Combine soy sauce, sherry, and sugar in a small saucepan.  Heat until sugar has dissolved. 

2.       Remove from heat and stir in garlic and Just Peaches pouches.

3.       Divide sauce in two.  Place chicken in an airtight container and pour half the sauce over chicken.  Place remaining sauce in separate airtight container.

4.       Allow chicken to marinate in the fridge for 2 hours.

5.       Preheat oven to 325*.  Place chicken in baking dish and discard marinade.  Pour fresh reserved sauce over chicken.

6.       Bake uncovered for one hour.

 You could half the marinade recipe and reuse it, but I've always thought that a little icky, which is why I made a double batch so you can use fresh.  I'm sure, as well, that you could skip the fridge marinating part if you were in a pinch time-wise, and still end up with a delicious dinner.  I served ours with a barley/celery/onion and herbs medley, plus some steamed broccoli.  You can also check out the recipe on the Plum Organics Little Foodies Cookbox here. 

Plum Organics is generously giving away a prize pack to one reader.  This prize pack is so cool that I had to hide it in a closet, for fear my boys would get a hold of it!  Stuffed with an assortment of baby food, toddler food, snacks, buttons, stickers and even coupons, this would be a great one to win!  This is a Rafflecopter giveaway, so just click on the "Read More" under my signature to enter.

Disclaimer:  Plum provided me with a 6 pack of the peach flavored baby food to create a recipe.  I was also provided with a prize pack to give away on my blog. In addition, I was compensated for the development of the recipe.  This did not influence how I feel about their product, and the opinions above are my own.

Hiking Devil's Marbleyard

The other weekend we all got the hiking itch, so we loaded up in the car and headed out for a new adventure.  Granted, it was supposedly a strenous hike, but we just knew we could do it.  Before hitting the trail, we filled little bellies with grilled cheeses at the Pink Cadillac Diner, and then after a few wrong turns, we found the Belfast trailhead. 

 The boys loved running back and forth across this bridge that marked the very start of our hike.

Back in the day, I guess this used to be a place called Camp Powhatan, as evidenced by the stone marker.

There is a cycle of cicadas that is emerging this summer in Virginia.  They only come out every 17 years.  We heard their noise frequently throughout the day, louder on some parts of the trail than others.

Mountain laurel, in bloom:

The trail started off so nicely.  Packed dirt.  A few little steps.  Nice and wide. 

I loved this little waterfall, behind the blooming rhododendron.  It reminded me of the Weeping Rock in Zion. 

As we climbed, we came into some stunning views, of those beloved Blue Ridge mountains I call home.

And here, you catch a first glimpse of the Devil's Marbleyard - an immense field of boulders on the side of a mountain.  It became quite rigorous getting up there.  We had to finally put the twins in the packs for fears of their safety on the big rocks, and we had to take it very slow with Pierce too.  He was a trooper, even on the steep sections, but I finally reached a long slanted boulder that I didn't feel comfortable having him cross, and we decided to call it a day and head down.

Me and Cort, with the marbleyard in the background:

Pierce rock scrambles:

That's a LOT of big rocks!

Navigating, very carefully, back down:

We found a friend.  "Odie" (according to his collar) joined us for the walk back down the mountain.  The boys were thrilled.

And soon Paul and I found ourselves without our hiking sticks.  Turns out the little guys enjoyed trying them out.

Hiking is a lot more fun when you have a hiking pole.

Brotherly love -

Four hours later, we made it back to the car.  Several servings of Doritos and a few minutes after that all we saw was this:

But you're not surprised, are you?

Never Again on Muffin Tin Monday

I had never fixed cabbage rolls before, but for some reason I got it in my head that I wanted to.  And you know what?  They're kind of annoying to make.  It takes much longer than I expected.  The recipe I used, from a trusted source, was very bland.  So I was disappointed in them overall. 

Lunch was roasted potatoes, carrots and onions, a strawberry, cabbage rolls, and a brownie with peanut butter chips for dessert.  Pierce ate a few bites of cabbage roll, but it really wasn't his favorite thing either.  Oh well, sometimes you venture out cooking something new and it flops.  And then you learn!

For more fun kid's lunch ideas, check out Muffin Tin Mom.