Three Cheese Tortellini Mushroom Soup

My husband and I absolutely love this soup. I found this recipe on skinnytaste.com . I am in love this website . I have made so many low calorie meals from this website and loved them.  This mushroom soup is easy to make and is only 138 calories for 1 1/2 cups. This soup uses celery, onion, garlic, chicken broth, mushrooms and cheese tortellini. I don't always use the type of mushrooms that the recipe calls for.  I use either all white mushrooms or a mix of white and bella mushrooms. Whatever I have on hand at the time.  It tastes amazing which ever kind I use .  I really recommend trying this soup.  If you would like this recipe click here.

If you try this soup please comment below and tell me what you thought.

Jenn

Beauty Reviews 3

BEAUTY BLENDER

  I'm not one to use my fingers to put makeup on, I'm more of a brush person.  So when I saw someone on youtube talking about the beauty blender, I was really interested in giving it a try.  I found one at Sephora but I couldn't believe the price , $26 for a little makeup sponge .  Are you kidding me?  I went on ebay and found a knock off one for $1.53 with free shipping and figured I'd give it a try.  I love it.  It's tear drop shape is perfect for putting concealer under your eyes.  I use it to blend in the L'Oreal Super Blendable Crayon.  You can even use it for eyeshadow.  The only difference is the knock off one is a little firmer material.  26 dollars or $1.53, you do the math.

NICOLE BY OPI - KHLOE HAD A LITTLE LAM-LAM

I saw this colour on sale at Shopper's for $4. It's a blue/green shade . I haven't seen anything like it. It's very beautiful. The polish has very good wear as well. If you come across this colour give it a try. Hard to tell how nice the colour is from these pics so I took a picture with and without the flash

 URBAN DECAY'S NAKED PALETTE

For years now, at least once a month I would buy some sort of eye shadow for my collection.  But I have been wanting this eyeshadow palette for over a year. It is pricey so I could never bring myself to buy it. My husband bought it for me for Christmas. I couldn't have been more happy. You can buy it at Sephora for $60. Since I got this I haven't even looked at eyeshadows in the store . Even though it is a lot for make up I would probably spend more then that on drug store eyeshadows in the amount of time it will take to use up this. I love every colour so unlike the drug store ones I buy then decide I don't like I'm actually going to use this up. It has very long wear that lasts all day. It comes in a very nice case with a built in mirror which is a bonus. It also comes with an eyeshadow brush and a travel size Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion. I love these eye shadows, if your an eyeshadow junkie like me it's worth the purchase. This palette comes with 12 neutral shades from light to dark.

MARC ANTHONY REPAIRING MACADAMIA OIL TREATMENT

I picked this up at Shoppers for around $8 while looking for something to help with frizz and split ends. It works really well. You just apply a few drops to damp or dry hair and style as usual.

Let me know if you have tried any of these products and what you thought of them.

Jenn

Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred

A lot of people were talking about Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred dvd. I picked it up at Walmart for $9. I didn't do it for 30 days straight but I did have a routine for months where I did it 3 times a week. I did lose weight doing it and I found it was a great workout. It is a 27 minute workout that includes 3 circuits a warm up and cool down. Each circuit has 3 minutes of strength training, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs. I think because you're consitantly switching the time doesn't drag. There are also 3 levels.  I really recommend this dvd. I find it works and it was easier fitting in 27 minutes instead of 45 - 60 minutes like other workout dvd's I've tried.

If you have any questions or comments about this workout please comment below.

Jenn

Disney's Cars Theme Birthday Party

For my son's 2nd birthday I decided to do Cars theme since he was obsessed with McQueen. I'm going to be showing how I put his party together. I don't have pictures of everything because I didn't know I'd ever be writing about it but I will post links to explain everything.

                                                                The birthday boy

INVITATION

I wanted an invitation that looked like a ticket. I searched Etsy and found someone that would make it and send me a copy through my email. I ordered it from Kids Party Kreation. I printed out the tickets on card stock at home, but you could also go to a retail outlet like Staples etc.

DECOR

For the decor I used red and white streamers. I went to Party City and bought a checkered flag table cloth roll. It cost around $20. I did about 6 or 7 tables and there's still some left on the roll. I also bought a couple Cars table decorations . I printed out signs on card stock to put up at every game. If you would like the templates click here

.

I made pit passes for each kid to wear with their names on it. I printed them off on card stock and laminated them at home. If you would like the template click here. To protect them I bought a plastic "lamination kit" from the dollar store, which served its purpose perfectly.  I cut out the size I wanted and put a piece on both sides of the pit pass and trimmed the edges. I then hole punched the top and added string.

FOOD

For food I kept it simple and ordered pizza. I also had chips, and a fruit and veggie tray. I bought Cars plates for the kids and red plates for the adults to use. For the cake I made a 3D McQueen cake and cupcakes.

For this cake I used the Wilton 3D Cruiser pan. I looked up a McQueen picture and did my best to copy it.

The cupcakes are hard to see in this picture but I just used white buttercream icing and stuck flags in them. I bought the flags at Party City.


GAMES AND CRAFTS

I had different stations set up with activities for the kids.

Colouring Table - I had a table set up with boxes of crayons and pictures of some of the
                           characters of  Cars. I downloaded some pictures and took them to
                           Staples to make copies.

Sticker's McQueen - I bought a poster of McQueen and downloaded a picture of his smile and
                                 made a pin the mouth on McQueen game. I made copies of his smile at
                                 Staples and used tape to have the kids stick it on.

Ramone's House of Body Art - I bought Car's tattoos for the boys and princess tattoos for the girls.

Pinata - I bought a Cars pull string pinata from Party City and filled it with candy. His party
             was 2 weeks after Halloween so I went on the search for candy on sale the week
             after Halloween.

Bean Bag Toss - I hadn't put on my winter tires yet so I used them to toss the bean bags in.

GOODIE BAGS

To make the bags I downloaded the Cars logo and printed it on to paper lunch bags. I did this at home and it was not as easy as I thought. I had to do one at a time putting the paper bags into the printer. When I was done filling them I folded the top down and hole punched 2 holes and tied ribbon on it. Even though it was a little bit of work I was very happy with how they turned out.

I don't have a picture of what was in the goodie bags but I will post pictures of where I got the ideas from.

In the goodie bags I put some candy that was left over from filling the pinata. I also put Cars stickers in them.

I found a template for Cars bookmarks. So I printed them on card stock and laminated them.

If you would like this template click here.

I found a bag topper template which I also downloaded and took to Staples to print. I used snack size ziploc bags and filled one with Oreos and another with Bugles. I folded the topper on top and stapled it.

If you would like the template click here.


If you have any questions please comment below. I hope you found some ideas for making your little boys birthday special.

Jenn

Foil-Pack Chicken Fajita Dinner

I came across this recipe on the kraftcanada.com website . I love how it's really easy to make and there is hardly any clean up. Even better is each serving is only 350 calories. This recipe uses chicken breast, instant rice, taco seasoning, peppers, salsa, shredded cheese and tin foil. You make each serving in its own pack so you just have to put it on a plate and open the foil. Since each one is put together separately you can customize it if you want. When putting the kids ones together I don't add the peppers because they don't like them. That way I'm not picking through hot food to get them out. If you would like this recipe click here.

Jenn

March Favorites 2013

Here are my favorites for this month.


GO GO SQUEEZE
A friend told me about these apple sauce packs at Costco. They have 16 packs in the box and cost just under $7. There are 2 flavours in the box. Apple and strawberry apple.  The kids love them and they are good for on the go or school lunches. I also love how the ingredients for the regular apple one is just apples and water. Perfect to give to the baby.

BABY TEETHER

Another friend told me about a teether they purchased at Walmart. The end of the teether vibrates when baby bites down on it. I bought it a while ago but I think it was around $8. The baby loves it, and it definitely soothes her sore gums.

LEGO FLASHLIGHT KEY CHAIN
My 2 year old son has become obsessed with Lego and so desperately wanted some Lego people . He doesn't put anything in his mouth but the people are small and I don't think it's a proper toy for him right now. While looking around in Chapter's for books I came across this Lego key chain. It's over double the size of a Lego figurine and it also has a flashlight on the bottom of both feet. You just hold down the tummy to make it work . It cost $11.99 . So now he's the happiest little boy ever to have his Lego people and a little light to take to bed.

DOTTING TOOLS
I love getting designs on my toes when I go for pedicures. But I figured I could probably do some of the work myself at home. I found these dotting tools on ebay.ca for $1.64 with free shipping. You can also get them on amazon.ca. They cost anywhere from $5.99 and up and then you have to pay for the shipping. I didn't mind waiting a few weeks to get them cheaper. Stay tuned for a post about using these tools!

If you haven't entered your email address in the "follow by email" spot on the top right of the page don't forget.

Jenn