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  • Fresh Express 30-Day Salad Swap

    Disclosure:  This post is sponsored by the Moms Meet program, May Media Group LLC, who received this product directly from the manufacturer.  As a Moms Meet blogger, I agreed to sample this product and post my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are 100% my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the manufacturer of this product!
    Let’s face it, eating healthy is really a struggle for some of us and our families.  The biggest reason I’ve heard for this is that eating healthy requires sacrificing great taste.  The next biggest reason was cost.  A lot of us are under the influence that it costs a fortune to eat better.  So, when I was asked if I wanted to join in the Fresh Express 30-Day Salad Swap, I said yes.  I agreed for the following reasons:
    1: I was already familiar with the Fresh Express brand.  They are my go-to for ready made salad blends.
    2:  They have great quality.  All of their salads come washed, rinsed, dried and packaged in their patented “Keep-Crisp®” breathable bags and are preservative free.
    3:  Fresh Express offers an awesome selection of different salad mixes and recently released a variety of ready-to-eat salad kits.  They even have a USDA-Certified Organic line!

    4: Depending on the salad and retailer Fresh Express salads will run you between $2-4 per bag, which is a steal compared to $5 per person at a restaurant for full-size salads.  (You can score a $0.55 off coupon for a limited time here.)

    Using the Salad Swap app and website, I have been able to check out all of the different salads I can create and swap out regular meals for.  Let me tell y’all, the possibilities are endless.  We are on Day 20 and haven’t gotten tired of salad yet!  We’ve been alternating between swapping a regular lunch or dinner meal for one of the salad creations.  So, if we had a Caesar salad on Monday for lunch and Tuesday, we had my favorite, taco salads for dinner.  Check out the recipe below.

    Ingredients
    1 bag of Fresh Express Premium Romaine salad mix
    1 bag of tortilla chips (fat free or organic if possible)
    1 bag of Mexican (or soy) cheese blend
    1 jar of salsa
    1 pack of ground turkey
    Instructions
    1- Brown turkey in a pan using medium to medium-high heat.
    2- While turkey is browning, preheat oven to 300 degrees.
    3- When turkey is almost completely browned, heat tortilla chips in the oven for 2-5 minutes.  Drain turkey and return to pan with the heat off.
    4- Arrange 15-20 tortilla chips to cover the bottom of each plate.  Top with a handful of roughly chopped Fresh Express salad mix (I just used my hands and broke apart the lettuce a little bit).  Next sprinkle on a 1/3 cup of ground turkey.  Finish off with 1/4 cup of shredded cheese and 1 1/2 tablespoons of salsa.
    There you have it, a yummy meal under 600 calories.  This meal was a total of  roughly $18 with taxes (salad $2.99, cheese $2.50, salsa $2, ground turkey $7, and tortilla chips $2) to make and we had leftovers that will be used for lunch.  So, that’s a little of over $2 per person each day!  Much cheaper than eating out.
    I challenge all of you to take the Fresh Express 30-Day Salad Swap.  Get the coupon mention aboved, download the app (or sign-up on the website), and start eating healthier today!  Don’t forget to follow Fresh Express on Pinterest and Facebook for more inspiration, savings and more!
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  • Thankful Thursday

    Happy Thankful Thursday y’all!  I woke up tired, but in a good mood today.  I’m still on a high from seeing my finished book cover.  Thanks again Christina!  And I woke up to find two packages waiting for me.  They were books!
    In case, y’all don’t know by now, I LOVE books.  I know, I know, I’m such a nerd, but I don’t care.  There’s just something about getting sucked into a new book.  And while I like ebooks, I prefer the feel of a physical book and the act of actually turning the pages.  So, I’m thankful for my new books.
    JJ is still doing well with his speech therapy.  We haven’t heard him say any new words this past week, but he’s starting to understand the signs.  Now the key is get him to use them on a consistent basis and to get him to a point where he will say words when prompted.  Right now, he blurts out words at random with the exception of “No.”  Despite being a standstill, I’m thankful nevertheless because he isn’t regressing again.
    I’m thankful for the progress that I’ve been making on Forever Branded in terms of writing it.  I have a notebook where I’ve been jotting down all of my chapter ideas.  I’m also grateful that I’ve been connecting with other writers.  It’s nice to have others who understand the issues and stress that come with writing a book.
    My neighbors were unusually quiet earlier this week.  Maybe, that 24/7 partying and being turned up to the max is starting to get old for them.  Although, we’re getting ready to chuck up the deuces to this place, I still appreciated that quiet time without any loud laughter, blasting music, etc.
    I’m just thankful that life is good at the moment.  I haven’t won the lottery or anything, but I’m grateful that I’m still alive and so are the people that I love most.   That in and of itself is enough for me.
    What are you giving thanks for this week?

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  • It Takes A Dream

    I’ve been in love with books my entire life.  I kid you not.  My mom started teaching me how to read at an early age.  I read my first book by myself when I was 3.  I remember starting preschool and asking if I could read a book for storytime once.  Our classroom had two teachers- Mrs. O and Ms. H (who happened to be my mother’s older sister).  
    Mrs. O taught for sure when I asked to read Snow White (it was my favorite book at time) that I was just going to give a narration of the pictures.  My aunt told her, that I could in fact read and so I did my first storytime while they laid out snacks.  I remember just feeling so happy and over-the-moon proud of myself.  All the other kids were in awe that K could read.  They wanted to learn to.
    My love affair with books inspired me to want to become a writer.  The only problem was I hated the actual action of writing.  If I could have spoken into a mic and had my stories written for me, I’m sure I would have been the youngest writer in the world.  But that kind of technology wasn’t out back then.  I hated writing because I felt like I wasn’t good at it.
    My actual handwriting was sloppy and often times unreadable.  And I was bad speller.  Sure, I could read, but that was because I knew how to sound out words and once you sound out the same words enough times, you just recognize them when you them.  My mom finally put her foot down and started making me practice writing on the weekends until I was in the second grade.
    That’s when my want turned into a dream.  I became separable from my notebook and my pen.  True story.  My family was always asking me when my novel was coming out because all I ever did was write.  And if I wasn’t writing, I was reading.  And I wasn’t really reading books for my age group either.  I think that I read my first James Patterson book at 12 or 13.  And by the time I was 14, I had learned so much about sex from reading explicit books from authors like Zane.
    My mom had had the sex the talk with me, but reading about it in graphic detail was different.  I started discovering iconic authors and books like Toni Morrison, Walter Dean Myers and Jane Eyre (my all time favorite book) or the Great Gatsby.  I was just in awe of the talent and the ability for a book to suck me in emotionally and help me escape from reality for a while.
    My dream continued to grow and I started taking a creative writing class in high school.  I took honors and AP English classes because we got to write more beyond the essays on Shakespeare and share original pieces.  In college, even though I was a fashion major, I took two creative writing classes.  I started this blog and got the opportunity to co-author a great book on surviving motherhood with some pretty awesome ladies.  I felt like I was on top of the moon.  I felt like a legit writer.
    And then, I realized that I wanted to write that novel that I’d always dreamed of writing and Forever Branded was born.  It’s been a slow and sometimes frustration process, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.  I recently enlisted the help of my favorite go-to person for things related to visual and graphic designing, Christina of Being Mrs Jones and fellow author, for some help with my book cover and I have to say she really delivered (cover reveal coming soon on my author blog)!
    Seeing that book cover just made everything feel so official and real.  My dreams are coming fruition and it feels amazing.  This journey has taught me that all things are possible, but it takes a dream first, then having the faith to believe in that dream and keeping yourself surrounded by others who believe in you and your dream!  So, whatever your dream, I urge you to go for it.  Don’t throw in the towel.  
    I’ve wanted to write a novel since I was in the second grade and I’m just now accomplishing my dream at 28.  It took a while, but if you want something bad enough, you keep pushing to make it happen.  You climb the ladder and take steps to make your moment a reality.  So give in to dreaming and then dare yourself to chase those dreams!
    What is/was your biggest dream?
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  • Dude, Where’s My Grill?

    Happy Monday folks!  Hope that everyone had a lovely weekend and that you remembered to change the time on your clocks.  Hopefully, nobody was late for work this morning.  So, speaking of the weekends, ours was pretty good until Sunday night.  What happened?

    Well, after a few days of rainy and chilly weather, Sunday turned out to be a really beautiful day.  The temperature here got up to the low 70s and the Mr was off.  So, he decided since we hadn’t been to the park in what seemed like ages, that it would be nice to go and enjoy some family time.  What could be better than some family time outside?

    The kids were excited.  We loaded up and headed to the park.  We mention something about the weather starting to warm up.  And y’all know what warm weather means… grilling season!!!  Yes, we love to grill in this house. Spring, Summer, Winter or Fall, we are grilling out.  We haven’t been able to really grill out much in the last couple of months because the Mr has been working like crazy and once again we had this insane rainy/storm season and then the snow storms.  Curse you, Polar Vortex! (Maybe, not really since I like snow.)

    But anyways, Moo has taken to wanting to learn how to grill.  I already told you guys, she’s going to be a chef when she grows up.  I’m sure of it because loves anything that has to do with food.  And I had started letting her be my assistant when I grill.  It’s a great bonding time for the two of us and gives JJ and the Mr bonding time while they’re in the house.  So, needless to say, I start mentioning how we can pull out the grill this week.

    We stay at the park until it’s black dark outside.  Like the street lights are on, the temperature has dropped and everything.   On the way back home, we stop and get something eat because after playing and chasing two really energetic kids around the playground neither of us wants to cook.  Everyone is happy.  The car is full of bubbly chatter as we pull into our parking space.

    Then, the Mr asks, “Did somebody steal our grill?”  I’m all like, “No, it’s on right there on the porch.”  Of course, it’s dark out and our porch has vertical spindles that are close together in between the railing.  So, at night you really have to be on the porch to see what’s on it.  Plus, we didn’t leave the light on because we weren’t expecting to stay at the park until it got dark.

    He gets out the car and goes on the porch to see if the grill is there.  “We have been got,” he says when he comes back to the car to help with the kids.  I’m still in denial because the grill has been sitting on the porch since we moved here.  “Maybe, you moved it to the back porch,” I say hopefully.  He goes to look.  Guess what?  No, grill.

    We have been got folks.  Somebody has straight up walked up on our porch and stolen our grill. That grill wasn’t even a year old.  I was too pissed (and I’m still kind of pissed) because here I am making plans to grill some turkey burgers, but I don’t even have a dang grill to grill them on now!  The Mr is actually taking this missing grill situation better than I am, but I seriously wanted to call the cops and have them dust for prints and the whole nine.

    I didn’t though.  I know they have more important cases to attend to and chances are whoever took the grill didn’t leave behind any prints.  The bright side of all this is that they just took grill.  We do have an alarm system and keep the sign the company gave us on the front lawn.  So, that probably discouraged them from trying to break-in and that I am grateful about.  I just wish that people would stop stealing and just doing bad stuff in general.

    Of course, our grill being stolen has put Moo on edge because she knows stealing is bad and now she’s a little apprehensive.  You know they make criminals and bad guys in kid movies so scary.  I kind of wish the Mr had just waited and said something about it in private.  And I wished I hadn’t have gotten so upset about it in front of the kids because more than anything I think my emotions transferred to her a little bit.  I hate it that she doesn’t feel completely safe.  She asked me if they were coming back to steal anything else and I told her no.  I think that calmed her down a little bit.

    So, no grilling out this week y’all.  Another comfort in all of this is that we’re getting ready to move and I have already started packing.  To say that I am going to be overjoyed when we are free of this apartment and neighborhood is an understatement!

    Have you ever had anything stolen from your front porch or yard?
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  • Thankful Thursday

    “Hold fast to dreams,
    For if dreams die
    Life is a broken-winged bird,
    That cannot fly.”
    -Langston Hughes

    Happy Thankful Thursday folks.  I am definitely thankful for being able to hold fast to my dreams!  It’s only March, but I feel like I’ve seen so many people talking about how they’ve thrown in the towel on a dream or a goal they had coming into the 2014.  It’s sad when you see someone who’s giving up, especially when you know that they can make if they just keep trying.
    We all go through difficult seasons in our lives.  We all have those moments where nothing ever goes right.  Something is always happening.  Maybe, you finally get out the house on time to make it church and get there only to discover the service time has been changed or whatever.  But does that mean you should give up on trying to make it to church?  No!  
    I feel the same way about our dreams.  I mentioned last week, how I pretty much started over from scratch with my novel.  Sure, I had a moment during my writer’s craziness where I wanted to say, “Screw trying to write this book.”  I was so frustrated that I was having such a hard time doing something I’ve always loved- writing and creating.  Nothing was going right and the thoughts had stopped flowing.
    Once my panic subsided, I gave myself a mental pep talk.  I wasn’t throwing in the towel.  Quitters never prosper and y’all know I’m all about prospering in every aspect of my life this year.  I refuse to be a ‘broken-winged bird’ walking around here moping when I could be soaring in the clouds with the others.  In that moment of putting my foot down towards myself, I knew inspiration was going to come and it did.  The book is coming a long again and that’s what I’ve been working on during my spare time and when the internet is on the skitz.
    I’m thankful that I’m able to encourage my children to pursue their dreams.  I’m thankful that as a mom, I am able to let my children be who they are.  For example, Moo is a free spirit and adventurer by nature.  I have no doubts that I picked the right name for her now.  And I do a good job at letting her be free and chase age appropriate adventures.  Now that doesn’t mean I let her do what she wants 24/7 because I am still the parent.  I’m here for guidance and discipline and to set the right examples.  I do that, but I don’t stifle her or break her spirit.
    I’m thankful that every week I can see small improvements with JJ.  Just looking back on where we started with this speech therapy journey and what we have achieved now gives me so much hope and excitement.  I’m thankful for all of the resources that are out there for us to take advantage of.  I’m thankful that he’s being such a champ through all of this.
    I’m thankful for awesome friends who check in and see how I’m doing because we’re too far away to talk in person and catch up face to face.  I’m very thankful that my missing packages finally started to trickle in.  I have two more that I’m waiting.  I tell y’all that snow storm really set things back and some areas are still getting snow and extreme cold temps.  I’m thankful that our snow didn’t stick yesterday.
    It’s too soon to be snowed in again.  I’m ready for some warmer weather for sure.  C’mon Spring!
    What are giving thanks for this week?
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  • Still Kicking

    Happy Wednesday!  I know I’ve been missing around these parts since last Thursday, but rest assured we’re still kicking. And yesterday as well as Monday, I had a really cool post on National Reading Month that I wanted to post,  but my internet was acting a straight fool!  I’m telling y’all, Time Warner is lucky that they are getting any of my money because our internet spends more time being down than up it seems.  The sad part about all of this is that we actually upgraded to a faster and stronger connection package.  I’m just confused…
    “Mama, I wanna to be on YouTube!”  I kid y’all not, these were the words that were spoken to me two weeks ago by my five year old Moo.  She knows that I vlog now and watch vlogs on YouTube and she’s insisting that she gets in on the action by being in one of my videos.  “I can help you,” she told me while trying to con me with a smile.  I’m sorry to burst her hopes of becoming a YouTube sensation but for now the Mr and I have made a decision to not put the kids in my videos.
    It took him a while to get comfortable with their pictures being up on the blog and Facebook.  He’s very private.  And for me, I’m very protective of my children.  YouTube commentators are the worst.  They will talk trash for no reason and I don’t play that about my children.  Say the wrong thing in regards to my children and forget having to worry about my husband coming for you, I hold my own!!  And yes, I’m still working on not being so quick to let people’s ignorance when it comes to my children get me so fired up, but in the words of Steve Harvey, “He [Jesus] ain’t through with me yet.”  I’m still a work in progress in that area.
    JJ has really been extra affectionate lately.  I told y’all that he was going through a stage where he was acting like he was too cool for kisses and hugs let alone to held.  However, he’s singing a different tune now.  And I must say that I’m loving it!  If you’re a parent then you know that getting affection from your children is better than EVERYTHING!!  I think now that maybe it was just from him being overwhelmed with therapy and he had to cope somehow.
    Source
    I’m just glad that he no longer runs the other way when I ask for a hug or a kiss.  And he voluntarily climbs into my lap and we snuggle for hours.  It’s the best feeling.  Moo joins in too. I can’t tell y’all how much those moments make my heart swell.  Theses moments also help me to cope with my baby fever.  Like, I know I have a lot on my plate already, but I’ve been thinking about babies ever since before Thanksgiving when we had that pregnancy scare.
    I know we set a date for when I would come off my birth control and we start trying for number 3, but honestly, I don’t know if I can wait that long. Well, I can obviously, but I don’t know if I want to.  However, this isn’t a decision that is just up to me to make.  I know I could probably convince the Mr to get on board, but I don’t feel like I wouldn’t be doing the right thing for JJ.  He needs my undivided attention right now while continue to navigate through this therapy and get him to where he needs to be.
    I would feel awful not being able to give him my all because I’m tired and on bed rest or running to OBGYN appointments.  So, I guess we’re waiting until at least the end of this year and going from there.  And while I’m on the subject doctors and medical stuff, y’all I woke early this morning and noticed my eye was sore.
    I was intending to get some water and go back to bed but when I looked in the bathroom mirror and saw that my left was swollen halfway shut, I about had a fit!  I haven’t had a stye in years.  I’m talking about since I was 10.  I spend most of the morning with it covered up so that I wouldn’t touch it and make it worst.  Moo told that I looked like pirate.   Way to help the situation.  Thankfully though it’s gone down, but every time I bend down to pick up something this thing hurts something awful.
    So, send up prayers and keep your fingers crossed that it doesn’t get worst or spread to the other eye!  I have two vlogs I need to film and I don’t want to be looking like a one-eyed Jane doing it either.
    How would you feel about putting your children in your vlog videos?  Any advice on coping with baby fever?
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  • Thankful Thursday

    “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
    Happy Thankful Thursday!!  I am definitely giving thanks today for being more than a conqueror!  Seriously, I can definitely see and tell how much stronger I have grown in my faith and as a person.  This past week has been challenging in many aspects and I am thankful that I have been able to handle each challenge well.  This is welcomed progress for me.
    I’m thankful that JJ continues to do well with his speech therapy.  He had a great session yesterday and we got him to say the word egg using his toy dinosaur egg.  Now, we’re going to continue to work on getting him to verbalize on a regular basis instead of just having these random verbal outbursts where he’ll say a certain word once or twice and then stop.  We need him to get used to saying them daily and when prompted to repeat them.  We’re still working on teaching him how to sign as well.
    And I’m thankful that Moo has been very helpful with that.  She’s learned some of the signs and when she talks to him uses the signs as well.  I’m just amazed and in awe of that little girl y’all!  And while I know that she’s a great kid and that she loves her brother to death, it just surprises me how hard to she goes out of her way to be so supportive for him.  Like, I didn’t even think she would be so interested in learning to sign, but she’s always asking me what sign is for this word or that word so that she can use it when she talks to him.  I feel like I’m seeing another new side of her compassionate nature and I’m falling more in love with her than I already am.
    And that same for JJ.  I’m thankful that this past week, especially he seems to be more affectionate.  He’s really been into letting me hold him, giving hugs and that’s a welcomed change.  He was going through this stage where he seemed like he was getting too cool for hugs and kisses from Mommy.  I’m glad that’s not the case because 2 years old is definitely too soon for him to going through that change.  Now, when he becomes a teenager, I will understand and try to respect his space and not embarrass him in front his friends by smothering him or plastering him with kisses.
    I’m thankful that the Mr and I celebrated 9 years of being together.  Yep, it’s been 9 years since we first met and decided to go steady and eventually get married.  When I look back over those 9 years, I feel grateful that we’ve made it this far.  I’m thankful that we still feel like our relationship is worth maintaining and fighting for daily.  My anniversary prayer was that we continue to grow and that God molds us into even better spouses for each other.
    I’m thankful that the YUMMommy community keeps growing.  Like seriously, you guys are the best!  We’re almost at 600 likes on Facebook and everyday I’m getting new followers on Twitter and seeing more readers and new commentators here on the blog.   But it’s not really the numbers that excite me, it’s the fact that you guys are reaching out to me and other moms (and dads) are seeing that and starting to join in.
    I’ve had some of you tweet me questions, ask for advice through the messages on the YUMM Facebook page and that makes happy knowing that you trust and respect my opinion enough to seek it.  I love that some of you who have probably been following along in silence for a long time are starting to interact more and come out of your shell.  That’s why I started this blog and continue to blog.  I love community, the sharing of our journeys and stories with each other and the support!
    Lastly, I’m thankful for unexpected blessings and renewal.  I have mentioned on here that I was writing a novel and honestly, for a while I got overwhelmed with it.  I felt like the ideas for chapters were coming faster than I could keep up with an then I would get frustrated when I couldn’t remember them.  And in a fit of writer’s rage, I chucked everything except for the first chapter I wrote.  Like it was completely gone.
    I write my chapters out by hand first and then them type but I haven’t typed some of what I wrote in ages.  And so I shredded everything to pieces and threw it in the recycling.  Then it hit me that I just pretty much deleted half my novel and a feeling of ‘what-have-you-done’ panic started to sink in.  But something awesome happened last Friday, I got a fresh idea for my novel’s storyline.
    And it was honestly better than what I had previously wrote.  So, I’ve gone back over the first chapter and fine tuned it a little.  And now I’m working on chapter two and because I don’t feel as much pressure to hurry up and get this story out, the ideas aren’t coming faster than I jot them down but just right.  I’ve found my fiction writing groove again and I love it.  I’m looking forward to releasing Forever Branded (yep, I kept the title) and seeing what the response will be.  
    I’m even taking the time to put together resources for a book tour online as well as lining up the information to do book signing at my local libraries and bookstores.  No, half-stepping on this project.  Writing is my craft and I want to treat it as such.  So, stay tuned.  And don’t forget that you can check me out on my author/book blog.  It was really important for me to keep YUMMommy separate since I’ll be passing the reigns on to Moo and JJ when they become parents.
    Anyways, I hope that everyone reading this is having a blessed day and that you remember that you are more than a conqueror!  You have power over your life and that no matter how bad things seem at this moment, they’re still not as worst as they could be. There is still something to be thankful for.
    So, what are you giving thanks for today?
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  • And The Del Monte Prize Pack Winner Is…

    Good morning and Happy Wednesday!  I know that a lot of us are excited about that.  And if you entered the Del Monte giveaway, then today is another reason to get excited because I’m announcing the winner.  So, stroll on down below and see if you won. Good luck and thanks for entering!!  More giveaways to come soon.

    a Rafflecopter giveaway
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  • Mini Del Monte® Mango Pineapple Fruit Cup® Cobblers Recipe

    Last week, I had the opportunity of hosting a review and giveaway for the Del Monte® Fruit Burst® Squeezers and their Mango Pineapple Fruit Cup® Snacks.  By the way, the giveaway for 2 VIP coupons and a $25 Walmart gift card ends at 11:59 PM EST tonight!  Click here to enter.  As promised, I’m sharing my Mini Del Monte ® Mango Pineapple Fruit Cup ® Cobblers Recipe.  Let’s get started!
    Ingredients

    Filling
    5 Del Monte® Mango Pineapple Fruit Cup® Snacks 
    3 tbsp light brown sugar
    1/3 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
    Crust
    2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
    1 cup butter, cold & cubed
    1 tsp granulated sugar
    1 tsp salt
    9 tbsp water, ice cold
    nonstick spray
    Directions
    1. Drain 4 of the 5 Mango Pineapple Fruit Cup ® Snacks.  Pour all 4 into a medium bowl.  
    2. Add light brown sugar and ground cinnamon.  Mix well and refrigerate.
    3. In a large bowl, combine all-purpose flour, granulated sugar and salt.  Mix well. 
    4. Add butter and mix until flour has a crumbled consistency.  Then gradually add water, making sure to work dough in between pours.
    5. Once all the water is added, knead dough for 2-5 minutes on a floured surface.  Roll into a ball, wrap in plastic and let rest in the refrigerator for 45 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    6. After 45 minutes, roll out dough on a floured surface and using a cookie cutter or drinking glass cut out cobbler crusts to fit inside muffin tin.  You can also cut out tops to cover your cobbler if you wish.
    7. Spray muffin tin with nonstick spray, line with crust and spoon in cobbler filling and add top crust if desired.
    8. Bake for 30 minutes or until crusts are done.  Let rest for 10-15 minutes before serving. 
    And there you have it folks!  In less than 10 steps, you and your family can be enjoying some yummy mini mango pineapple cobblers.  Might I add that the mini cobblers are portion control friendly, too.  No huge baking dish of left over cobbler to tempt you through the night.  If you have extra dough left over, you can freeze it or use to make more cobblers or apple turnovers.
    You can take dessert one step further and serve these with ice cream or top them with whipped cream, fresh berries and powered sugar!  Enjoy.

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  • 3 Family Lifestyle YouTube Vloggers To Watch

    Listen y’all, I have a confession to make.  I’m hooked on family lifestyle YouTube vlogs!  Seriously, I’ve stopped watching reality shows on cable (or well, I’ve pretty much stopped watching cable period) and I now I watch my favorite YouTube vloggers instead.  I’m just over watching adults act like animals on those shows.  Also, I toyed with the idea of doing like video diaries when I was college and before I had kids, but I chickened out.
    Plus, it’s just interesting to get a look at the lives of other young families.  I thought that I’d share a few of my favorite family  vloggers with you guys.  Hopefully, you will check them out as well.  So, let’s get started.

    itsJudyLife

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBS3fWHo7qY]
    What I like about Judy and Benji is that they both remind me of myself. For example, Judy is really into beauty and fashion. Check out her beauty channel.  And you guys know that I was a fashion major and I like beauty.  Then, there’s Benji, who’s in to gardening, cooking and healthy living like me as well.  They have an adorable little girl, Juilanna aka JB (Juilanna Bear), and are expecting identical twin girls literally almost any day now.
    I really love how family oriented they are.  I also respect the fact that they work hard to teach and expose JB to their different cultures.  You guys know that I come from multi-racial family and I feel more inspired than ever to find a way to teach our children about the different traditions from our culture.  I remember my mom used to take us the Native American expos when they came the Carolinas.  
    It was such an awesome experience for me as a child to see first hand some of the foods, dances and authentic garb that my great mother and her ancestors had.  I love that they’re both really doting parents.  It’s so cute watching them dance and sing with JB. I know Maroon 5 thinks Mick Jagger has the moves, but I don’t know.  Benji and Judy, especially Benji, are giving Mr Jagger a run for his money They’re funny and they’re real.  Like, you’ll see them filming in their night clothes, Judy films without makeup and they talk about personal stuff.

    Gabe & Babe TV

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mIkj9gE6cE]
    Gabe And Babe (Chad) are an interracial couple and they have the cutest little man, CJ, and an adorable pooch, Oscar.  Watching how Gabe was killing those P90X3 workouts has motivated me to get my exercise game up.  I haven’t been consistent at all with working out and I don’t like that.  Working out isn’t fun and I don’t have a workout partner, but the excuses are out the window and I’ve gotten my workout videos together, a workout music playlist and some workout clothes.  Mama is getting right, not just for the summer, but because I want to be healthier, more fit before I get pregnant with baby 3 and better able to keep up with Moo and JJ.
    Gabe honestly reminds me the most of myself because she’s just the right amount of girly.  Like I’m not girly, girly, but I still enjoy makeup, getting my nails done and doing my hair.  And speaking of hair, Gabe is all natural like me.  She has her own hair/beauty channel as well.  Lastly, one of the things that I got me hooked on them was that in a few of their earlier videos, they talked about their love for going to church and their faith.
    I’m not a holy rollie or holier than thou as some people say, but I strive to live right or in a way that is pleasing to God.  And, let me tell y’all I was watching some of the older videos I missed from like Thanksgiving/Christmas time when I was down about JJ’s whole Autism screening and stuff, and I’m glad I did because Gabe’s grandmother Nana is hilarious!  Like I love her.

    AprilJustinTV

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOWxMKDQNCg?list=UU1wpYTu2dLT6U2kxqOWQeew]
    Omg, April is like a little ray of sunshine!  Like seriously, she’s so upbeat, positive and perky about life that it’s contagious.  And she has the sweetest husband, Justin, who is also a talented musician.  These two are the cutest!  They have three cats and are expecting their child, Baby Liam, soon.
    And April keeps it really real y’all.  Like if she ever decides to write a pregnancy or motherhood book, it would be on my must read list.  She’s been honest about her experience with pregnancy and talked about nipple cracking, vaginal discharge and all that stuff that some think is TMI or that pregnancy magazines kind of gloss over.  I’ve been a first time mom and I wasn’t and still not into having motherhood and pregnancy painted or depicted as just being all sunshine and rainbows.
    It’s not and you’ll be really unprepared if you don’t at least get some real advice or insight.  They’re both foodies like me and about healthy eating for the most part.  April has a great cooking channel, and I’m excited to try out some of her recipes.  I’m doing the banana tempura today.  I just can’t get enough these two.  I really love that they share the highlights of their day at the end of each video.  
    It reminds me of something that we do in my family.  Each night before we pray, we share one (or for Moo, two, three or ten) things that we are thankful for that day.  This is something I was raised doing, it’s where the idea for Thankful Thursday came from and it helps to keep me humble and grateful for all my many blessings.  I think that April and Justin are going to make excellent parents when Liam arrives!
    Do you have any favorite YouTube vloggers/channels that you like watch?  Share them below.

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