Fun With Food: Stand 'N Stuff Soft Flour Tortillas

Recently while grocery shopping I found the must have item for any taco night…..Stand ‘N Stuff Soft Flour Tortillas! They are the answer to several problems with taco night, especially for people with little hands.  These shells are basically mini soft shell bowls that stand on their own.  The shells make it easy for everyone to fill their own tacos. 

You simply heat the shells and in the time it takes for them to finishing warming you can prep your fillings. Next, you set out the toppings and wa-laahh BYOM (Build Your Own Meal)! :-D Tyler enjoys helping in the kitchen so this is right up his alley. It also cuts out the time that I normally take to fix his meal and then mine, so on taco nights we're able to sit down at the same time and eat together. 

Tyler's tacos: cheese, steak fajita strips (sold pre-cooked in a package) and salsa. My tacos: sour cream, cheese, lettuce, guacamole, salsa and pan seared scallops. This is the other great thing about taco night, you can easily satisfy the various food critics in your house. Unlike hard shell tacos these don't immediately fall apart as soon as you take the first bite. 

If you and your family enjoy tacos, pick some of these up the next time you are in the grocery store.  I've added these as a kitchen staple. 

Switch Witch: Halloween's newest super hero……for parents!

On Halloween and the day after, Facebook was flooded with cute and awesome pictures of children of all ages (including yours truly) in their Halloween costumes.  As I was scrolling I saw a post that said "For the Switch Witch…" with pictures of a decorated note. When I checked out the details of the note I was introduced to one of the best ideas to get your child to surrender their trick or treating loot…the Switch Witch. I reached out to my friend to ask more about the Switch Witch and their new family tradition. After reading about this, she may soon be one of your family's newest traditions too.

The story of the Switch Witch as shared by Sky:

I first heard of Switch Witch when I lived in Asheville. I didn't have any children then, so I filed the idea away got when I did.   This was the first Halloween my son, Kingston, 3.5, really cared about the candy. He got so much I started to cringe with the thought of endless requests for candy. Knowing the "yes, after lunch, or maybe later" I would reply would surely send him into a whining boy, of which I do not see often. But let's be honest, candy can have that effect on kids (and a few adults I know) (hehehe) (you know who you are).
So it was November 1st, The morning after the big event. I asked him, after breakfast, if he had ever heard of the Switch Witch. He replied "no, who's that?" I said "she's a good witch that switches your candy for a toy. Does that sound like something you might be interested in?" A resounding "YES, I Would!"
We dumped his candy onto the table. I took his candy bucket and said "ok, what candy do you want keep, let's put it in your bucket,"
He set some aside for himself and started a pile for the Switch Witch. His pile was getting bigger so I explained "the more candy, the better the toy"
"Oh, ok." He said. We put just a few pieces in his bucket and put that away for safe keeping.
We got a notepad and I said "ok, let's write her a note telling her what toy you want."
 Then a million question came up, typical for a toddler.
"Where does she live?"
"I don't know!"
"When does she come!"
"When you are sleeping"
"Maybe she will be here in the morning and we can have breakfast with her"
"Maybe, but she has a lot of candy to switch, lots of houses to go to"
"How many"
"More then you can count"
"Wow! She's busy! There's gunna be a lot of happy kids!!"
"Yes there are. You can ask the Switch Witch whatever you want and I will write it down for you,"
"Cool! Thanks mom!"
  We spent a few minutes doing the letter, then he colored on it for decoration.
We put the candy in a bowl with the note.
I think it's an amazing idea. I got him a tow truck toy, per his request, from target ($6.99) and a few small cars (.99 each). The switch witch felt there was a lot of candy to warrant the extra cars (;
Happy boy! Happy mom!
Win! Win!

Halloween Candy Disposal

So, Halloween is over.  After weeks of planning and choosing costumes, decorating houses, school and church activities, Fall Festivals and the most exciting part for kids, Trick or Treating, Halloween is now over.  Probably for the past week your ghouls and goblins have been building a stash of candy, enough and this morning you are looking at it trying to figure out how to get it out of your house.

Earlier this week Tyler had a dental appointment and hanging in the office (Dentistry for Kids) was the above flyer letting us know that their office will buy your Halloween candy ($1 per pound up to 5 pounds) and then send it overseas to the U.S. troops as part of Operation Gratitude, from October 31 - November 15.  The healthy supermarket, Earth Fare, is hosting a TRICK or TRADE-IN this Saturday, November 2, 10 am - 5 pm where you can "trade in your unhealthy candy for a real sweet treat".

Many dental offices offer a candy buy back program so reach out to your dentist or others in your area, this is a win - win for everyone, especially us parents who are bad about raiding our kid's stash.