Hello Bebe au Lait blog readers! We didn’t want you to miss out on a special giveaway we’re running this month- the “Warm and Snuggly Winter with Bebe au Lait” sweepstakes. If you’re not a fan already, head over to our Facebook page and “like” us- then enter to win a Warm and Snuggly gift package for your little one!
Enter here.
Check out Bebe au Lait’s Featured Retailer – December 2011
Store Name: City Sprouts
Years in business: 5+ years
Store Location: 6303 Delmar Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63130 & online at www.citysprouts.com
Contact Info: Molly Curlee
Hours: M- Sat: 10-6 & Sun: 12-5
What Bebe au Lait products do you carry? Hooter Hiders, Bebe au Lait nursing covers and the new Lille by Bebe au Lait Everyday Luxury Blankets because they are great! Plus their original nursing covers come in amazing fabrics and stylish prints.
What are your customers’ favorite prints to purchase? My customers are drawn Aero, Nest and Papillon.
What is your favorite Bebe au Lait product? Hooter Hiders
What is the best way you’ve found to display the Bebe au Lait line of products? We have found that the Hooter Hiders are best displayed in stainless steel buckets and the Bebe au Lait covers sitting on a shelf.
What is the one thing you would like others to know about you? City Sprouts is a one-stop super cool baby & kid shop!
My girls love blueberries and I had gone to Costco to get a five pound tray but we weren’t going through them fast enough….found this recipe. It is delicious! We had to make them into muffins because my daughter is obsessed with the princess liners 
Blueberry Zucchini Bread – Courtesy of Parents Magazine (May ’11)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (I used 2 cups all purpose)
¼ cup packed light-brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. coarse sea salt
½ tsp. baking powder
3 eggs
¾ cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup blueberries
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly coat the bottom of 4 mini 5-inch loaf pans or 1 9-inch pan with cooking spray; set aside. (I used muffin tins that were lined with princess muffin foils)
In a large bowl combine flours, sugars, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and baking powder; set aside. In another bowl, mix eggs, oil and vanilla extract. Add to flour mixture and stir until combined. Gently stir in zucchini and then blueberries.
Spoon batter into prepared pans. Bake about 40 minutes for mini pans or about 1 hour for 9-inch pan or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out clean. (I baked the muffins for about 20 minutes). Allow to cool in pan 10 minutes before removing. Serve warm or let cool completely before slicing. Each mini loaf makes 8 pieces, while the large loaf has 12. Freeze extra mini loaves for up to 3 months.
Nutrition per 2 mini slices 185 calories; 3g protein; 11g fat (1g sat. fat); 19g carbs; 1g fiber; 30mg calcium; 1mg iron; 154mg sodium
How often do you have one of those…I am so awesome as a mom moments? All the time – good for you! For me – not so much. But dinner the other night…definitely, you are an “awesome mom” moment!
Check out this dinner – unfortunately, I cannot take absolute credit for it…Parent Magazine gets the concept and recipe credit and Skip Hop gets the cutest dishware for toddler award for sure. But hey, I at least put it all together
Source: Parents Magazine – November 2011
Ingredients
Mashed – Potato Clouds
3 large baking potatoes; peeled and cut into cubes
3/4 cup buttermilk (I just used regular milk)
3 Tbs. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
Meatball Raindrops
2 small shallots, peeled
1 garlic clove, peeled
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 lb. ground chicken (I forgot to buy and used ground turkey – chicken would probably be better
Steamed broccoli florets (optional) – As you can tell from my picture, I used green beansinstead.
Make it
Grown-up: Preheat the oven to 350; line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Kid: Put the potatoes in a large saucepan. Add enough water to cover by about 1 inch. Add a few shakes of salt.
Grown-up: Bring potatoes to a boil. Reduce the heat; cover and cook 12 to 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Drain and transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.
Kid: Mash the potatoes with a potato masher. Using a big spoon, stir in buttermilk, butter, salt, and pepper.
MEATBALLS (make while potatoes cook)
Grown-up: Put the shallots and garlic in the food processor.
Kid: Add the Italian seasoning, Worcestershire, and salt to the mixture.
Grown-up: Lock the top on.
Kid: Turn on food processor and when everything is in tiny pieces, turn it off.
Grown-up: Empty the contents into a large bowl. Add the ground chicken.
Kid: Using your hands (wash them first) mix everything together until it’s the same color.
Together: Roll the meatball mixture into 3/4-inch balls and place on the baking sheet. You should have approximately 50. Everybody wash your hands. Bake meatballs for 10 minutes. Assemble the dish. Spoon a few “clouds” of potatoes on the plate. Put meatball “raindrops” under the cloud. Makes six servings.
My daughter and I changed it up a bit and decided that the clouds were turned into the tree leaves, with the green beans acting as the tree trunk. The meatballs turned into “rocks” and the green beans at the bottom of the plate was grass. Best discovery ever….the three year old likes green beans!
Happy Eating!
If you are anything like me, you take care of everyone in the house first and then if, you have time and more like energy left over you do something for yourself….sound familiar?
I know and everyone tells you that you are a better mom/wife/partner/everything if you do take time for yourself, so I did just that this weekend and took a couple of delicious hours just for myself!
Ok, so I did get the car washed – but I sat in the sun by myself for 30 minutes WITH MY EYES CLOSED – can’t do that with a 13 month & 3 1/2 year old with you. I then treated myself to a juice smoothie and headed over to the nail salon for a pedicure and mini-massage. Maybe the best three hours I have had in a couple of months!
You don’t have to make a big production out of taking time for yourself – just do simple things that give you a chance to just be.
Kick your feet up everyone once in awhile….I promise, you deserve it!
Edible Eyeballs anyone?
I was searching online for a healthy snack my preschooler could bring to school today to share with her classmates. I couldn’t be happier with this snack and it was super easy!
All you need are carrots, cream cheese and black olives! I cut up the carrots last night and put them in some Tupperware with cold water and also cut the olives in half and put those back in their brine. This morning all I had to do was “paste” the cream cheese on the carrots and plop the olives on top – my three year old helped me with that step.
Happy Trick ‘O Tricking!
Recently, we received two very fun and unique announcements from friends sharing that they’re expecting and if it’s a baby boy or girl. And they’re just too cute not to share with you! Bonus? These expecting moms found a fun way to make their announcements fun for family and friends both near and far!
One really unique way of revealing the exciting news? (It’s delicious, too, if you live nearby!) A friend posted this on Facebook:
And a few hours later…
Love this idea? We thought you might! See below for instructions on how to make your very own “Baby Cakes”
Baby Cakes
1) Prepare a batch of your favorite cupcakes (24 count). Let cool completely.
2) Mix up the filling while cupcakes are cooling:
2 tsp. hot water
1/4 tsp. salt
1 jar marshmallow cream (7oz)
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Food coloring (Red or Blue)
3). Dissolve salt in hot water and set aside to cool.
4). Whip marshmallow cream, shortening, sugar, and vanilla until it’s fluffy.
5). Add in cooled salt water and whip well until completely combined.
6). Add drops of food coloring to filling and whip until you have your desired color.
7). Fill your cakes:
Place filling in a pastry icing bag with a #22 star tip.
Insert tip into top of cupcake and gently squeeze until a small amount of filling is in the cupcake. You can also cut a small hole in the top of the cupcake and spoon filling in if you prefer.
8). Frost your cakes with your favorite icing to cover up the colored dot on the top of the cupcakes.
9) Serve to family and friends to share the wonderful news!
Another friend made the announcement by combining her love of photography, design and shoes!
Did you do anything fun or different to let your loved ones know the good news? Let us know!
How sweet is this?
Last Saturday, I attended “An Afternoon in Italy” Baby Shower in celebration of a close friend, pictured above, who is expecting her first child — a little girl! — at the end of December.
The setting was completely charming! My friends who hosted did a stunning job transforming one of their backyards into a beautiful space reminiscent of an Italian trattoria.
The afternoon was complete with Italian music, delectable homemade and catered Italian bites…
Bellinis, vino, champagne, and Pelligrino…
{On a side note: How cute is that watermelon-baby buggy?! And how about that homemade chalkboard? I made it out of an Ikea picture frame and a can of chalkboard spray paint }
And gifts and games! My favorite game was trying to guess the name of the famous baby mama stuck on your back. It’s a great ice breaker if not everyone knows each other. I FINALLY guessed mine after deducing that my celeb was blonde, around 30, married, not an actress, not a model, not a singer, that she is seen in magazines like Us Weekly and People, and not on reality TV but her dad is — Can you guess who?!
We played two other games throughout the afternoon. In keeping with the Italian theme, the winners each won a bottle of wine. One game was to estimate the number of taffy pieces in a glass jar, and the other was to determine who carried around everything but their kitchen sink/the most useful stuff in their handbag. To determine the winner for the latter, a pen was handed to each guest along with a piece of paper listing 50 items. Anything from a toothbrush to a calculator, rubber band, and safety pin. If you had it in your bag, you got a point. I had a teeny tiny handbag with me that day so I got two points since my smart phone counted as a calculator and a camera. Someone (with a big bag) got 38/50! I didn’t walk away empty-handed, though. All guests received a cute little jar of cocoa butter with the event name and date engraved on the top!
Finally, I just have to share that as gifts were being opened, one of the gals sitting directly next to me whom I had never met before pulled out a Marmont Nursing Cover and started nursing her baby! …Of course I had to say something and she was kind enough to allow me to take photos even after I warned that they might end up here or on our Bebe au Lait Facebook page
Have you attended a baby shower recently? What’s your favorite baby shower game?
I don’t think I have had a decent night’s sleep in close to four years. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration but probably not. My girls are only two and half years apart. I had about six months in-between pregnancy/breastfeeding and getting pregnant again. We planned this so I knew it was happening but the funny thing about kids is that even when you plan you have no idea what you are getting yourself into!
Here is my current situation and I happily solicit any and all recommendations. The baby is still nursing throughout the night! Ok, before you judge, let me give you some background: My girls share a room and it is a lot easier to have one baby up in the middle of the night than two. So we have not tested the “cry it out” method as we did with my first daughter because of the baby possibly waking up the three year old. However, mama has just about reached her limit and if I don’t get some sleep I don’t know how I am going to continue to function. This is how a typical night goes….
Dinner/bath/bed – sounding pretty familiar I am sure. My husband (when he is not traveling for work) usually takes the three year old for teeth/hair brushing, story and bed. Most nights she goes to sleep but sometimes I will have to lay down with her for “one minute” after I get the baby down. As my husband gets the three year old down, the baby and I lay on my bed and I nurse her to sleep. Wondering where the problem is? It starts anywhere from 11:30 pm to 2:30 am. The baby wakes up and starts crying. I drag myself down to their bedroom and retrieve her so she won’t wake her sister. I have tried to nurse her quickly and lay her back down but she always wakes up and starts crying as soon as I put her down. So now I just bring her back to bed with me…. Yes, I can hear the tongues clicking at this. I nurse her back to sleep in our bed and she falls asleep….For like, 15 minutes and then it starts again. And again. And again… This continues until the alarm goes off or our three year old comes in to wake us up.
Obviously, my quick fix solution isn’t working for anyone. I am not sleeping, the baby is not sleeping and my husband may be pretending to sleep but probably isn’t. How do I get this baby to sleep in her crib through the night?
Proof that she does sleep….
As I was making this salad, my sister who is a very health conscious told me that most salads are “ruined” by adding cheese, nuts and salad dressing….to which I turned around and gave her a big fat raspberry and gleefully added dressing (albeit light) to my delicious salad!
So, I guess that I have to give the disclaimer, if you want a “healthy salad” then find another recipe. If you however, want a salad that is SO delicious and not “that” bad for you…then dig in my pretties!
Side salad (feeds four or one or two…depends). All these ingredients came from Trader Joe’s but you can get anywhere.
Shopping List
Bag o Butter lettuce
Goat Cheese
Candied Pecans
Champagne Vinaigrette (TJ’s just started carrying this in the light option…see I am trying)
Mix Together
We also tried this with adding skirt steak and that was delicious….you could add grilled chicken if you want to make it a meal too. The 3 year old said the salad was too spicy (the dressing is a little bit) but I set aside some lettuce, cheese and nuts and she had a faux salad.
Have any additions you would add?
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