Mexican Fiesta!

Hello everyone!

Today on our #EatAroundTheWorld week, we are doing some very simple Mecian dishes, including super simple ground pork taco filling, mango salsa, pico de gallo, and guacamole. 

I hope you enjoy these super easy and simple recipes from my kitchen. 

Mango salsa:

1/3 of a ripe mango
1/2 a yellow pepper
1/2 jalapeno (seeded and de-ribbed if you want it mild, or are cooking for children)
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 a ripe tomato
2 tsp fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp white vinegar

 Chop all of your ingredients into large chunks

Throw them all into a food processor and press "chop" until it becomes the consistency you like

Serve with your Mexican favorites!

You see how easy that is? All of these recipes for the day are like this. It is just good, wholesome, simple cooking, that anyone can accomplish with the right tools and ingredients. I love cooking food like this, and I try to whenever possible. It is so fun to see the bright colors, smell the aroma in the kitchen,
and hear the silence after you let everyone dig in. Mom
made this? 

Yes. Oh, and hell yes. 

Our next recipe is just as simple! 

Pico de gallo:

1 ripe tomato
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 jalapeno
1 tsp garlic
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 lime, juiced (aka the juice of 1 lime)
1 TBSP fresh cilantro

 Place all your ingredients, cut up into large chunks, into a food processor. Chop into thick chunks. I simply washed my food processor out with dish soap in between dips, but you can make these days in advance if you don't have the time/energy to stand in the kitchen and make salsas one after the other. I would recommend that the guacamole is made the night of, so that it doesn't oxidize, otherwise, all these salsas can be made in advance. 

Also, this next stp completely depends on what is happening in your area, but in our home we compost. So I leave the clean compost bin out on the counter the entire time I am cooking so that all the peels, shells, rinds, seeds, piths, and ribs can go into the compost without me having to touch the cabinet to get the bin out every five seconds. It helps me keep my work area clean and helps me keep my mind on composting, otherwise, like most people, I forget. 




Small batch Guacamole:

This is perfect for a family of four or five. There might even be cries of outrage at the end of the night because it will have disappeared magically during dinner. I served this to HelperBaby and my hubby, while I was cooking as an appetizer of sorts, so that HelperBaby wouldn't get mad over the fact that there was food that she couldn't have yet. I served all the dips with the Tostitos Baked Scoops, a very healthy and delicious alternative to regular tortilla chips. 

2 ripe avocados
1/2 yellow onion
2 TBSP fresh cilantro
1/2 red bell pepper
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt 
The juice of half a lime

 Place into food processor and chop until creamy.

Serve as an appetizer, snack, or with your main meal. 

Avocados are a great source of healthy fat and the freshness of this guac is sure to please. 

 

Cilantro-Lime Quinoa

2 cups water
1 cup quinoa
3 TBSP fresh cilantro
1 lime, fully juiced and zested






Simply place the quinoa and the water into a pot and set on medium high heat. Cover and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and let simmer until the water is fully absorbed. This normally takes about 15 minutes. this serves about four to five people. 

After all the liquid is absorbed, chop the cilantro and lime zest together and add in the mixture as well as the lime juice to the quinoa. Stir well until full combined. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Yes, quinoa is that easy! It is such an amazing super food, a great grain, and so delicious, even my hubby likes it! We have quinoa over rice most days, and rice is reserved mainly for Chinese or Japanese night. Quinoa is too versatile and too fast and delicious to pass up. We buy ours in bulk from Costco, this way it isn't as expensive, and it lasts us quite a while. But, if you are not accustomed to buying in bulk, I would recommend Bulk Barn so that you can decide how much you want, and you aren't paying for the packaging. Just remember to grab a directions card! 

The rest of the meal is very straight forward. I served warm whole grains tortillas with ground lean pork seasoned with home made taco spice. Warmed black beans, Firey Habenero cheese (normally I wouldn't buy pre-shredded cheese, but desperate times called for desperate measures), lettuce, tomato, yellow pepper, diced jalapeno, and 1% sour cream. 

 I hope you enjoyed coming to Mexico with us today! Again, these dishes are very simple, fresh and filling. I am not claiming to be a personal chef, or an expert in authentic Mexican cuisine, I just know what my family and I like, and I wanted to share it with all of you. Thank you for reading, and come back tomorrow for another day of great food and some beauty reviews. 

Warm wishes.

This week on the Imperfect Parent...

Hey all!

I wanted to give you an update and let you know about a few things that are happening around here. First off, the reno is done! Finally! and I am in a new setup with an amazing camera and and a new veal for cooking, baking, DIY, and blogging. I am so excited to share this with you, and I can't wait to get started. 

This brings me to our update section. I am adding a new tab to my blog called Weekend Update (yes, after the SNL sketch) to let you know on Sunday what has happened the past week and what I am doing for this next week. This allows me to let you know if posts will be up late, and what DIY, food, etc I will be doing.

That brings me to what I am doing this week. I am pretty excited about this, so hold onto your seats! We're going in!

I will be doing an Around the World for dinner this week! My family really LOVED this week's menu plan, so I'm excited to share it with you!

Our weekly menu:

Monday: Mexican Fiesta! 
Tuesday: Classic English Pub Grub
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: A Bella Notte in Italy
Friday: Thai Wonderpot
Saturday: Shwarma on the Grill
Sunday: Leftovers

I hope you enjoy this week of recipes. All of this food is healthy, balanced, and 100% satisfying. 

I hope you have a wonderful week, and keep coming back! 

Warm wishes. 

Hey All, Just an update

Hello all ,

I just wanted to get you up to date on what is going on in my life. My computer somehow died, and as that is, I am unable to do full reviews and videos. It takes me a long time to actually be able to film and edit videos, especially because I am having trouble with lighting and such. I am working on getting all of this fixed. Until then, I will be doing nothing for the next week and a half. This is very frustrating, but I am doing the best I can with what I have. I will be back around May 11th, but in the meantime, enjoy my old videos and my old posts, and hopefully the next time I see you lot will be when I have a new setup and a new lighting and sound system.

I hope you all forgive me and I hope to see you very soon.

XO Caitlynne

No Puppies Here

Hey guys, 

So I wanted to let you know what is happening now, and keep you updated about what is going on with the blogging/beauty video situation. 

Tomorrow, you would normally get a Man's Best friend post, but I will be in Ottawa all day with my best friend instead! i hope you will forgive me! You will definitely get one next week, so make sure you check that out when you can. I am "babysitting" an adorable little Collie/Hound/Beagle mix named Chopper. Her daddy is on a business trip and couldn't find a place for her to stay for the next couple of weeks, so when he asked if I could do it, I was so excited! I love dogs of all types, and I am one of those people who believes that every dog is born good, and has a great heart; Chopper is no different. She is the sweetest thing ever and she gets along great with my two babies. I was so thrilled to be able to watch her for such an extended period of time because I think it will really let me get my confidence up when it comes to taking care of other dogs. I am so excited to test myself. 

So, I will be posting tons and tons of pictures on Instagram, so make sure to follow me there @caitlynnescagel and make sure you check out my videos that WILL be up next week. I know that I have been horrible at posting videos, and I am so sorry for that, but I have been crazy busy, and unlike with the blog, I can't preload any videos onto YouTube. With the blog, I can knock out five or six posts in a day and then preschedule them, but with Youtube, not only do i have to edit all the videos, but I can only post them one at a time, so if I am crazy busy on that day, I can't know when I will be able to upload. It really sucks, but that is why my videos have been all over the place lately. Next week, because I will officially have my blogging area set up, I will have videos up every day that I can manage. 

I hope that you continue to follow me on my social networking sites because that would mean the world to me! I am just starting out, so I am trying my hardest to do what I can for you guys. And I know that my pictures are horrible quality, but if you stick with me for about nine more months, I will have a brand new camera and tripod and lights and everything set up, so I will be able to give you amazing, high quality videos. So please keep reading and comment, subscribe, like, whatever you have to do to support me as a blogger and vlogger. 

I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I can't wait to show you the amazing things I am about to get up to!

Warm wishes. 

My Sick Little Child

Hello all,

So as you probably already know, a few weeks ago, my little HelperBaby was very sick. So had a fever and was uncomfortable in everything and was cranky and needed lots of hugs and snuggles and medicine. This is just a little post about what I do when the little one is sick. I hope this helps you. *** Go check out my disclaimer sections please***

First, I fill the bath with nice, warm water, with the Johnson and Johnson's Soothing Vapor Bath. This is what I use to wash HelperBaby as well. I find that it really clears up her nose and she has a lot more pep after a bath in this stuff. I also use a baby vapor rub, but it isn't pictured here because I couldn't find it this time. 

Next, we throw our toys that we want to play with into the bath. 

While she is doing that, I throw her pjs and her towel into the dryer and put it on sensor dry. By the time the sensor catches up with the machine, it will be about time to get Penguin out of the tub and into the nice warm towel and pjs. (My washer and dryer are in the SAME ROOM as the bath. I did not leave her unattended, I promise.)

I then give her some White Grape Tylenol for cough and cold for infants. Ages 0-23 months. I give her one does according to her weight and that will be able to work its magic so that she shouldn't be coughing or have a fever by the time she goes to bed. 

This is her sitting patiently on the edge of the tub waiting for the water to fill up. She is so sweet. 

This is her nose aspirator. It is battery powered, and I find that it works the best. She doesn't like it all that much, but neither would I. But it is what is best for her so we can all sleep through the night. 

I give her a gummi multivitamin everyday, but when she has a cold, I stop the multivitamin and pump her full of Vitamin C and D. 

This is just regular Vasaline that I use on her bum and her lips and nose, if needed, because when she gets sick she gets little itchy rashes everywhere. And no, I don't use the same tub for her bum and her face. it is simply the same product. 

This is her having a ball in the bubbles. 

Washing herself. 

Then, because i don't want her sickness to become worse, and also because if I don't dry her hair before she goes to sleep, it becomes a horrible ratty mess in the back, I blow dry her hair on low, alternating between the warm and the cool so that she never gets too hot or too cold. 

That is the tube of Vasaline.

Now that we are all clean and dry, we get into our nice warm pjs, and we are ready to brush our little teeth and go to sleep!

I hope you guys enjoyed this little routine. I hope to see you soon, and let me know what medicines and remedies you use for your children! Have an absolutely amazing day and I will talk to you later!

Warm wishes. 

The Dresser: Part Two.Two

Hello all!

***I need to start saying this before all of my posts really get started, make sure you go and check out my disclaimer tab and my credits tab so that you know that I am legit and that I am not trying to do anything crafty or bad. Just my opinions and thoughts. ***

So today, I wanted to share with you the look we achieved with some items in our guest room. This is a continuation of the dresser post from yesterday, of me refinishing the dresser. This is more of a "what is going in and on the dresser" post, so that is why is is in the Reduce, Reuse, Reorganize section of my blog. These are all things that I had in my house and I simply repurposed, aka, didn't use myself, even though that is what they were intended for. (Also, side note, you will notice that the leave in conditioner that I talk about is not actually a full size or a travel size bottle of the real conditioner. That is because the bottle is an emptied out Downy Wrinkle release spray bottle, from Walmart, that I washed out thoroughly and filled with my leave in conditioner. Just one more way this is a RRR post) 

 The last installment will be to show you the finished room, obviously, so for now, this is a post on some of the knick-nacks and decor we will be using as well as an update on the furniture situation. 

Here we go!

To start out, this is the dresser now:

These are all things I had in my house already to put into the guest room. 

The first thing is I put some of Ella's baby oil with aloe vera into one of the oil bottles from a set that I got from my great grandmother (on my mom's side). They are so beautiful and delicate and the set really reminds me of old world romance and sophistication, so I wanted to bring a little of that into the very bold, modern colors of the guest room. The second oil bottle I filled with Aromatherapy oil from Fruits and Passion. There was a lot left in the bottle because I only used this once. The scent is not my favorite, but it is pleasant, and I found it helped me go to sleep, so maybe my guests would enjoy a little tap of aromatherapy on their wrists before they sleep. 

The third container in the series is a squat, wide container that was probably used for powder back in the day, but I simply poured a whole bottle of back up lotion I had in my closet. It is lavender scented, which is calming, and I enjoy this Aveeno lotion because it is smooth and well scented. Again, something great to use before bed or before a cup of relaxing tea on the elbows, and knees. 

This next lotion is amazing. I got it from Winners and I have no idea what the brand is, I will try and find out for you guys! It is in the scent snow gardenia, and I am obsessed with gardenia at the moment. it is just so luxurious and lovely, and the bottle went with my white and gold with a hint of black theme. I just loved the packaging and the scent and the pump. Everything about it is perfect to me.

The next two items (pictured together) are two lavender mugs that I picked up at Winners for $4! 

Now, a little random background and info,when I started this project, I was thinking that the guest room would have that light and airy Martha's Vineyard, upper Vermont feel to it. I wanted it to be very light and refreshing and relaxing to be in, with a hint of subtle glamour and a huge helping of relaxation. I wound up going in a very different direction. The room is still very calming to me, but I did some fun things with the bedroom layout and even the mirrors and the hooks and the decor is very unique and very me. 

I have been told that when people are around me they feel very calm and relaxed, and that when I am working, I have this calm "zen' energy about me. I like that. And I wanted people to feel ME when they stayed in my home. I wanted little touches of my childhood and my passion and my laid back personality. So, I went to a very pretty grey for the walls, with royal purple accents, white furniture and hardware, and little tiny black accents throughout the room. 

These mugs really reflect where i wanted the room to be, back when we first started. And I still think that they are quite pretty, and I enjoy looking at them, so I figured I would keep them n the guest room, especially because I don't really have any other mugs that I want to put in there right now. Though, now that i think about it, I do have a really nice set of black mugs with coasters from David's Tea that I really don't use because I prefer my prettier mugs. So I will start another poll. If you want to help me decorate my guest room, vote on the sidebar! Black simple mugs, to bring a little more of that black into the theme, or keep the white and lavender mugs? Vote vote vote! (I will post pictures from the David's Tea website so you can see the black mugs, and the lavender mugs side by side after I publish this post!)

So these next two things are self explanatory. I found this lavender floral printed candle that smells like roses and peonies to me at Winners as well. Again, while I am telling you where I found these items, these were not bought for the guest room. these were things that caught my eye, and as I "shopped my stash" for houseware items, I found them again and they just happened to fit the theme. The other two items are a ring holder, that I received from my mother ages ago, and a bowl for whatever the guest wants to use it for that I received from my husband's aunt. Both are clear glass with a floral pattern on them. 

These next products are all ones that I had bought for traveling and not used at all, so they are going into my guestroom now. I just feel like baggage prices are so freaking high right now that the less my guests have to pack, the better. And God forbid one of my guests has their luggage lost in transit, they can rest well knowing that they will have fresh breath and a clean body, as well as a little something to get rid of their headache and settle their stomach. I have added a few more things, but you will have to see those next week! 

Here we have Tresemme's Moisture Shampoo and conditioner (all of these items are travel size), a Softsoap Coconut Body Cleansing Scrub, a bottle of sexyhealthyhair Leave In Conditioner, Extra Strength Tylenol, Pepto, and Beano. As well as Crest Toothpaste with Scope and Glide Floss. I have added a few extras to this first aid/get well soon/beauty drawer, but you will have to see those next week.  

The last item on my list is this Tassimo. yes, I know you are all thinking, there is no way you had a perfectly unused Tassimo coffee maker in your hall closet waiting to be used. But, I actually did. I had this because it was our house warming present from our realtors. We have an identical black one in our kitchen, and I love it, so I am going to be putting some Earl Grey tassimo discs in there and it will be ready to go for my guests.  

So, that is what we will be putting on and in the dresser. 

Come back next week to see everything that I added and see the entire layout of the room as well as the other furniture we refinished and the extras we added. 

Warm wishes!