Relish! Menu Planner & Giveaways!

Relish is a weekly menu planner aimed to help busy families put easy meals (with a gourmet twist) on the table every night. There is no fuss here. It’s an easy step by step process that you can do every weekend to prepare for a trip to the grocery store. You choose the entree and dessert meals that sound appealing and presto- your grocery list and menus are ready for you to rock and roll (and available to print out as a pdf to make life extra simple, too)! The ingredients needed for all recipes are separated into categories making it easy for you to move around the grocery store without forgetting something, which we all always do! The breakdown of ingredients uniquely identifies “what you may need but already have” which eliminates the possibility of buying double of something you already have in the pantry or refrigerator.

As a trendy new mommy, hoping to fit back into my “trendy jeans” one of these days, it is important to watch the fat and calorie intake during the day. With relish, every meal has the nutritional facts posted below the menu. The recipes provided by Relish! keep health conscious moms right on track, utilizing fresh, healthy ingredients. My first weeks’ menus ranged from 200 to 415 delicious calories. It can be said that my time using Relish! meals was full of flavorful meals that even my picky-eater husband enjoyed.

It is a beautiful thing to be able to have HEALTHY meals planned each week for my family without worrying about searching through cook books and forgetting essential ingredients. For $7 dollars a month, this weekly menu planner plus monthly freezer menus and more is great to settle any hungry household.

I feel like a GOOD mom and wife now that I am using Relish! Forget boring grilled chicken with canned peas, this menu planner brings “spice and simplicity” back to the kitchen.

**To recognize Relish! as a favorite of Trendy Mommy, we are having a GIVEAWAY!

Two Trendy Mommy readers will receive a 12 month subscription to Relish! with silcone cooking tongs from Crate & Barrel, too! In order to enter, you need to visit www.relishrelish.com, check out the demos, and sample the menus. Then, leave a comment here about what you had for dinner last night and why this would be a great tool for you! Contest ends December 22nd at midnight - winner will be announced on http://www.thetrendymommy.com/.

So, rejuvenate your Trendy Kitchen and check out the Relish! website for more information. www.relishrelish.com

Yummy Goodness!

We don't review food much here on The Trendy Mommy - but recently we received some awesome granola cereal and breakfast bars from Cascadian Farm and we must say that their new Dark Chocolate Almond Granola Cereal is YUMMY! Cacadian Farm takes select chunks of dark chocolate and bakes them into whole grain oats, wheat and barley and crisp rice clusters to form DELICIOUS granola clusters. And then they throw in some sliced almonds and loose granola bits to make even more tasty. They also suggest sprinkling a few clusters on top of your favorite yogurt. There are about 8 servings in each box and a box retails for around $4.59 and is available in the natural/organic cereal section of your favorite grocer.

We also tried out their new Sweet & Salty Chewy Granola Bars --- again...YUM! They have launched two options (mixed nut and peanut pretzel). We tasted the peanut pretzel and it was just as described --- sweet and salty. The bottom of each bar has just the right amount of chocolate to balance out the pretzel. These are available in the natural/organic granola bar section of your grocer and retail for around $4.39 (5 bars).

Pillsbury Recipe Creations

Pillsbury has some new products out on the market now, one of which is the Crescent Recipe Creations. Recently we were contacted to review this new product - so Kristen, our resident Cooking Guru tested it out. She said it was super easy to work with and tasted oh so yummy! Great for the mom on the go! Kristen wrote the following post on her super cool blog, The Spicy Texan.

"I know it is weird but I'm not a sweets person. So, every time I go to a donut shop I get pigs in a blanket instead. I like them with a little mustard. Well you can have these cute little treats at home too. Plus they take no effort at all. The key is the Pillsbury Crescent - Recipe Creations. Recipe Creations are prefect for the holiday season coming up. You can pretty much make any appetizer with them. I just love how they are so versatile. Just use you imagination. Other great no fuss breakfast items Pillsbury are their Grands Cinnamon Rolls. They now come in the freezer section in a resealable bag. Perfect for baking however many you need plus they even have minis! It can't get easier or more delicious than that. Stay tuned for more Recipe Creations ideas for the Holidays.

1 package smokey breakfast links (sausage)

2 packages Pillsbury Recipe Creations

favorite dipping sauce

1. Unroll crescent rolls.

2. Cut crescent into thirds to create 3 rectangles. Then cut diagonal to create 6 triangles. Repeat.

3. Roll each sausage in a strip of crescent dough starting on the large end. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake at 375° for 12 - 16 minutes or until golden brown.

5. Serve with barbecue sauce, ketchup, or mustard for dipping.

The Spicy Texan recently featured a super cool pancake mold and some hard boiled egg cups --- both great tools to add some pizazz to your little one's breakfast! Check them out!

Also, if you've never checked out the Pillsbury website before - you definitely should - they have tons of recipes on there that are quick and easy! We found these other great ideas on the Pillsbury website for using this awesome new product, The Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations!

Crescent Mummy Dogs

Jack-o-lantern Chicken Taco Cups

Cauldron of Chili with a side of Spider Bread

Combining Fun & Functionality at Mealtime

We are so excited about our next feature! Trebimbi has one super cute line of mealtime essentials. How fun are these cupes, plates, and silverware sets? Seriously your child will enjoy mealtime when he/she gets to use one of the several amazing products in the Trebimbi product line.

Each item in the line is made wonderfully bright and colorful. The smiley cups and cutlery make even the grumpiest of littlest eaters smile.

New for 2008 is the Trebimbi Party Set - which includes a brightly colored kidney shaped bowl, smiley cup & cheery cutlery. {pictured above in pink} Yes, even the knives have smiles etched on them! How fun is that?? And did you notice that the cutlery snaps into place on the cups/plates/other pieces of cutlery? Talk about fun and functional! The Trendy Mommy absolutely LOVES these and we know you will too!

So where can you find these awesome little sets? Visit Nini and Loli to find the best selection. They are offering readers of TM a 10% discount on any Trebimbi order - enter code: tre10off @ checkout to take advantage of this awesome offer!

Spotlight: Cooking for Monkeys

The Trendy Mommy recently found this amazing website - Cooking for Monkeys. Pam Galenkamp, creator of Cooking for Monkeys dreams up & makes these simply fabulous toddler lunches! Visit Pam's site and soak up her great ideas and techniques to make your own very special lunches for your toddler.

HOW DID COOKING FOR MONKEYS BEGIN?Pam asked herself, "How do I get my toddler to eat different foods? How do I keep myself interested in making him new and exciting foods? Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a sucker for presentation. I love good food, but I love looking at pretty food almost as much. And I love nicely packaged pretty food most of all. When I saw these I could not resist."

To read more of our feature on Cooking for Monkeys visit TheTrendyMommy.com.

Our newest Trendy Mommy find is Dejaroom. They are a quaint little online boutique with a huge variety of infant and child products. All of their products are either hand-made or hand-painted. We searched their site and came up with our top two picks and they are:

1. Great gift for coaches everywhere!

2. Cute custom dress

and...they are offering our readers 25% off ---- just enter this code at checkout

imagine_this

Design a Posh Plate

We found a great company, Laurie's Lagniappe, where you can design your own posh plates. The plates are 10 inch rounds and are dishwasher safe. They have some great patterns and icons to pick from. You even get to choose your own font. Super fun! See above for some of our favorites.

C Berry Baby Boutique

We absolutely love the reversible crayon apron found at C Berry Baby! It is really cute and a little sassy - we also love that it's reversible (so it is useful for cooking too).

We also think the 24*7*365=MOM t-shirts are very fun! and oh so appropriate!!!!

Cow-A-Bunga Baby!

We didn't intend this post to be about all cowprint....we went to this site, The Piggy Story, to check out their traveling crayon kit - and started finding more and more cowprint cuties....so make sure to check out their site because they are definitely more than just cowprint!

And on a side note - to celebrate our 100th post --- I stayed up late and gave The Trendy Mommy a makeover....like our new look? We can give you one too :) Check out our site TrendyMommy Blog Design.

This is not your Grandma's Pumpkin Cake

I'll have some pumpkin cake please...delicious recipe and cute design elements of this cake made it worth sharing with all of you! Found on FamilyFun.com. I'll have to admit that if I make this cake...I will more than likely use a boxed cake and ready-made frosting...but here is the recipe for those who are daring!

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
Cake:
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups milk, at room temperature
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature

Frosting:
2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Approximately 9 cups powdered sugar
Green food-coloring paste
Orange food-coloring paste
One flat-bottomed green ice cream cone
12 large yellow and white gumdrops (6 of each)
Sugar (to roll gumdrops on)
2 tbsp. chocolate chips
Clear edible cake glitter

1. Heat the oven to 350° and butter two 10-inch bundt cake pans.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a medium bowl, stir together the milk, pumpkin, and vanilla extract until smooth.

4. In another large bowl, beat the butter or margarine and oil together with an electric mixer until combined. Next, beat in the sugar. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Alternately beat in the milk/pumpkin mixture and the flour mixture until just combined.

5. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.

6. Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely.

7. Directions for Frosting:
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
Mix in the vanilla extract. Then beat in the powdered sugar gradually until the frosting is a spreadable consistency.
Color about 1 cup of the frosting green and the rest orange. 8. Assemble the Cake:
Trim the bottoms of the cakes so they lie flat against each other.
Frost the flat surface of the bottom cake and place the other cake on top.
Frost the entire cake orange. When the frosting dries, add green frosting leaves and top with the ice cream cone to create a stem. 9. Decorate the Cake:
Sprinkle sugar over your work surface and use a rolling pin to flatten 12 large yellow and white gumdrops together into a pancake about 1/4 inch thick. Adults only: use a knife to cut out the eyes, nose and mouth.
Microwave 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips for about 60 seconds. Dip the left side and bottom of the facial features in the melted chocolate. Dab a small amount of water onto the top surface of each feature, sprinkle the edible glitter on top, then press the facial features onto the cake.

Oh so cute and yummy cupcakes!

Did you volunteer to bring dessert for your Easter celebration? Check out these adorable cupcakes!

Pretty in the Kitchen Toddler Style

Yesterday we focused on you and looking cute in the kitchen...today we focus on the toddler. We found this cute toddler apron at Lucky Ducky Designs. They offer 24 cute styles to choose from at $24.00. The best part is...you can throw it in the washing machine when you're little "helper" is done in the kitchen.

Pretty in the Kitchen

Easter is just around the corner, are you having family over to your house for brunch or dinner? We are and I want to look cute while cooking. I found this great apron from SommerDesigns and plan on forking out the $36 bucks for it so that I can look super snazzy while fixing up all those great dishes. You're sure to find something you like as they have LOTS of designs to choose from! HAPPY EASTER COOKING in STYLE!

Love these Cookies!

Spend some time with your children making these adorable Easter Cookies...LOVE THEM! Williams Sonoma 3-d Cookie Cutter Set $24