Wordless Wednesday 9-7-11

Tasty Tuesday: Kettle Corn

My goal is to bring you a tasty recipe every Tuesday.  Any recipe that I share is something that I have made and know works out well.


This week's recipe is the perfect addition to any Autumn Party.



Kettle Corn ( author unknown)


1/2 cup of popcorn
1/4 cup vegetable oil or butter flavoured oil ( I used canola)
1 1/2 -3 tbsp brown sugar ( lightly sweet to very sweet
Salt to taste


Heat oil in a large heavy saucepan that has a lid ( Dutch oven/ spagetti pot)
Pour in the popcorn, sprinkle sugar on top, and cover
Once the popcorn starts popping, shake continuously until all the popcorn is popped.  ( Using oven mitts to hold the lid on as you shake is a good idea)
Transfer to serving bowl and salt lightly.  Makes 8-10 cups


Side note: Making only 1-2 batches at a time.  Any more than that the sugar begins to caramelize in the pot and burn.


Meg

Autumn is in the air

It is starting to get crisp outside.  Maybe in your neck of the woods it is still very warm, but where I live the temperatures begin to drop very early.  It was only 4C this morning.

So since fall is quickly approaching and who am I kidding winter as well, I have made the colours of autumn show on the blog.  If you noticed my new title banner which I made myself is a little different than normal, that is because it is.  It was made with a program that I am currently reviewing and will be hosting a giveaway for sometime next week.  Stay tuned.

Tomato-less Chili

 I am unfortunately allergic to tomatoes.  I developed this allergy when I was 18.  I get lovely rashes and headaches when I eat most things with tomatoes in it, but oddly enough, BBQ sauce in small amounts does not bother me.

But  no pasta sauce, salsa, or pretty much most things with tomato paste in them.  Most things I have lived without, but I have really missed chili.  So I did some experimenting the other night and actually came up with a pretty good substitute.

I pureed 1 red pepper with a medium onion with some water.  Then I also pureed about 2 cups of zucchini with some water.  I mixed them together in a pot with some ground chicken I had fried up.  I also added a pack of Old El Paso chili seasoning, a can of white kidney beans, and 1/2 jar of green tomatillo salsa.  The end result was quite yummy.

My red pepper chili

Comparing my red pepper chili to the regular chili I made for my tomato loving husband.  Doesn't look half bad..

Benjy is 5 months/ New Car Seat

I can't believe how quickly time has gone by.  My little boy is already 5 months old.  I was organizing things this morning and put away his old sleepers.  I held them up to him and there is no way he would fit in them now, but at one time they were loose on him.

He is 20lbs and 27 inches.  Quite a bit bigger than the 8lbs 1/2 oz and 19 3/4 inches he was at birth.

Because he is nearing the weight limit of his infant car seat which is a Graco Snugride, we decided to get him a new car seat.  We have a 2010 Nissan Versa Hatchback, so not just any car seat will fit well into our car.  The two choices that I found from other reviews that fit well were the Graco My Ride 65 and a Safety 1st seat.  I like our Graco products that we have so I went with that seat.

Here is a picture of Benjy sitting in his Graco My Ride 65 in Spiral.

Fitted Diapers Part 2

As I blogged about before, I tried to make fitted diapers.  The first ones did not turn out so well.  Since then I have played around with the design and produce some much better ones.

As I said, I used the pattern from here.  http://www.diapersewing.com/fitted_with_velcro.htm  I shortened the middle by about 3/4 of an inch.  I also made my elastic a bit tighter.  This one here has 4 layers of cotton flannel, with a 4 layer cotton soaker in the middle.  It is also most too thick as it takes forever to dry, but it fits him well.

This is another one I made.  The shape is a little off, but it is nice as well.  I used red flannel inside and sewed black minky on the outside.

Glow Bug Diaper Review

I recently had the opportunity to get a free sample diaper from Glow Bug Diapers.  They are a relatively new business based in Barrie, Ontario and have been giving out free samples to promote their business.  They sell their diapers for $150 for 12.  You can not buy them singly thus they are giving out samples to try before you buy. GlowBug diapers are a one size pocket diapers.

The sample print is black with the glow bug on it.  It comes with two microfibre  inserts that can snap into the diaper.It is a little hard to see, but it has 4 rise snaps which can make it easier to get a better fit.  Most one size pocket diapers only have 3 rise snaps so you have much more versatility with this diaper.

The Glow Bug diaper has an inner gusset.  This inner gusset is good when it comes to messy poops to avoid it going to the edge.  Virtually every time my son has worn this diaper, he has pooped.  The poop has always been contained and did not go beyond the inner gusset.  This is a nice design feature as you avoid any leakage on the leg.

The diaper all stuffed.  As you can see from this picture, that rather than just having a single snap, there are double snaps on the front of the diaper.

Inside the diaper, there is a place to snap in the insert.  The diaper comes with two inserts that can snap in.  Only one insert though can be snapped in at a time. The other would have to be placed on top of the other insert.   Typically I take the insert out before I put the diaper in the pail.  I decided to leave it on to wash it.  It comes off in the wash.  It sometimes flips the diaper inside out, but in the end it does come out clean.

Here is the back of the diaper.  As you can see, there are openings at either end of the diaper.  This makes it very easy to put the insert into the diaper.

 Here is a close up of the front of the diaper.  You can see the 4 rise snaps here, as well as the double row of the front snaps.

 Here is my son wearing the diaper.  In this picture he has the top rise snap done up so he is on the 3rd setting.  He has grown since this picture and now wears the diaper unsnapped.

 As you can see, the diaper fits nicely around his chubby thighs.

 He is quite content wearing his diaper.

I did not try this diaper overnight.  Pocket diapers do not work overnight with my son as we now use wool and a fitted diaper.  It worked very well for the daytime.

PROS:  
Overall, I do like the GlowBug Diaper.  It does have many nice features.  The elastic is very soft and does not leave red marks.  The snap in insert is very handy to use. I like the inner gusset.  It ensures that messes stay inside the diaper and do not try to migrate out.

Their customer service is great.  The first sample diaper I was sent ended up being a dud as the elastic on one leg detached.  I emailed them about it and they were quite concerned and upset. Together we troubleshooted what went wrong to ensure that it would not happen again.  They are very concerned about quality.  Even though I had paid nothing for this diaper, they sent me out another one for free.  The second diaper has been working great, and I have had no issues with it.

The prints that come in their packages which are Girl, Boy, and Spectrum are quite nice.  Their boy prints are pretty colourful.  I love their girl prints.  They are so feminine.  They Spectrum are quite colourful and the snaps on them are multicoloured which would be great to help a grandma or dad know which snaps to snap to.


CONS:

Some cons to this diaper is that I do find when I put it on with the snapped insert in place that it causes a bit of a gap at the front and sometimes pulls the diaper down a bit.  It also seems as if the snap is placed too close to the top.   It also does take some getting used to using two snaps at the front.

As I said this diaper retails in a package for $150 for 12.  That works out to $12.50 a diaper which is very reasonable.  A con to me is that I am not one to have lots of one type of diaper as I like variety.  I also don't tend to have a large amount of money to spend at one time on diapers, so buying 1-2 at a time is more affordable for me.  They do suggest to go in with your friends to buy one, but I do not have too many real life friends that CD.

The prints that come with them are preset.  You get 1 of each in the package.  There is no mixing of packages.  It is either all boy, all girl, or Spectrum.  I like to have variety and not being able to choose isn't fun  to me.

Final thoughts.
Overall, I do think that this is a good quality diaper.  It is not too hard to put on.  It comes in a wide variety of prints. It is easily able to be adjusted and I am sure would fit from a small baby to a larger one quite easily.  My son is now 20 lbs and on the highest rise, but I still need to do it up near the middle.  At 12.50 a diaper, it does easily beat the price of more expensive brands.  If you are looking for a diaper to start your stash with, the Glow Bug diaper does offer you a very cost effective way of purchasing several diapers at once.


Want to own a GlowBug Diaper of your own , visit:  Glow Bug Diapers or check them out on facebook Glow Bug Cloth Diapers



I was not compensated for this review.  These are all my own opinions.