This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Ragu.

I get kind of high-strung about feeding my children. I mean, if you know me, you know that being high-strung is just part of who I am. The issues of food, health and nutrition are very important to me. Combine that with my older son’s texture issues and a schedule that keeps us busy, I sometimes struggle with our meal plans. It has gotten better since I have started planning our meals two weeks at a time. I find that knowing what we’re going to have (and, as such, I’m going to
make) helps with the flow of our day and our week.

I struggle, however, with recipes and new ideas. As I mentioned before, my older son has texture issues. New recipes are often met with looks of horror, whining and eventual tears and gagging. The truth is that he really likes most foods, he just has problems with new textures for the first bite or two. He loves flavorful things including anything with sauce. I’m pretty sure I could put sauce on just about anything and we’d be good to go at the dinner table. That’s why I was excited when BlogHer asked if I wanted to review three of Ragu’s new sauces and three new recipes. I figured new recipes would help me out and sauce would help BigBrother out. (For the record, if it holds still, LittleBrother will eat it. He might even eat it if it moves. Just a warning.)

We received three different sauces: Sweet Tomato Basil (new!), Margherita (new!) and Cheesy Classic Alfredo (mmm). With these three different sauces we made three different meals. I first made Chicken Margherita. I think this might rank up there with my favorite sauces. I’ll definitely be purchasing it again. As I made it like it looks in the picture on the recipe itself, I made a bit of pasta with the chicken itself as a side. The boys preferred the pasta to the chicken itself but they ate both without (much) complaint. FireDad and I really liked the sauce with the mozzarella cheese on
this particular recipe. We’ve saved it as a “to make again” recipe.

The next recipe I tried out was the Upside Down Deep-Dish Pizza. My kids love anything that claims to be pizza. This one looks a bit more confusing because, after all, the crust is on the top! I chose to go with the spinach (though BigBrother might have enjoyed the broccoli better; it’s hard to tell). This was a really quick and easy meal to make that we enjoyed. I got some initial hesitation from BigBrother because of the “green stuff” but he ate it as well. I was really pleased with the flavor of this sauce and the meal in general. (Recipe change: I added pepperoni because, well, I like pepperoni!)

Our last recipe was the Chicken Alfredo with Fetticuine. Can you just say delicious? While I do have my own recipe for “from scratch” alfredo sauce, I loved the taste of this sauce and the ease of making the dish. Homemade sauce is wonderful but when you’re crunched for time, it’s nice to have an alternative that tastes rather delicious! The boys loved this dish, being a fan of noodles, chicken and sauce. It was a win with all in our house. (The picture below is of how I changed up the recipe with shrimp because apparently I forgot a picture of our chicken day and/or can’t find it on one of our three cameras. Hmm.)

Why have I told you all of this? Well, BlogHer and Ragu want to know what you do to feed your kids well. For discussing the topic, one randomly selected comment will walk away with a $100 Visa gift card! You can use it to purchase some healthy foods for your kids or, you know, a new fall sweater for yourself. However you want to spend it is
up to you. But first you have to enter!

How do you enter?

1. Leave a comment below telling me what you do to feed your kids well. Take that however you want to: planning meals in advance, eating only organic, encouraging them to try no foods, banning certain things or promoting other things. You may leave one comment of this nature. No duplicates.

2. You can earn extra entries by tweeting about this giveaway or blogging about it on your own public blog. Simply tweet or blog with a link to this post (you can use this link: http://bit.ly/38tpSW ) and come back with a link to your tweet or post. You may do this once a day.

Of course, there are some official rules. They read:

• This giveaway is open to US residents, aged 18 and older.
• Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

To make matters even sweeter (which makes me think of the Sweet Tomato Basil sauce), you have more than just a chance on our blog to win! Check out the rest of the BlogHer Reviewers’ Ragu meals – you have 10 chance to win a $100 Visa gift card. And, for kid-friendly recipes, healthy tips and more, be sure to visit Ragu.com. If you have any questions about this giveaway, the other BlogHer-Ragu giveaways or the recipes which we made, please don’t hesitate to ask.

I look forward to reading your comments! (Any tips on texture issues, healthy eating and kids would also be appreciated!)

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and the Shell Family of Cards.

We are at the beach! We are at the beach! To be more specific, we drove to the beach from somewhere in Ohio to Emerald Isle, NC. Google Maps told us that it would take us about ten hours. You know, if we didn’t have a one-and-a-half and a three-and-a-half year old sitting in the back seat singing along to the song Moose A. Moose taught them. “We’re goin’ on a trip. We’re goin’ on a trip. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” We banked on closer to twelve hours. We were spot on.

We choose to drive on this annual vacation for various reasons. Many of them have to do with the two previously mentioned (loud, very loud) children who sit behind us and sing songs for twelve hours. Packing enough toys, music CDs, DVDs, clothes, diapers, shoes, books, coloring books, crayons and snacks to keep them occupied… just for the drive… requires more than the plane would allow. Plus, despite the threats of turning the car around, we do enjoy a good road trip! And, yes, we’ve seen gas prices.

That’s why we’re taking the advice of BlogHer and Shell this year.

BlogHer and Shell have paired together to tell us (you, me, everyone) about some great time saving and money saving tips for road tripping.

Maybe you already took a vacation this summer but are planning to drive over the river and through the woods for Christmas. Maybe you didn’t get to take a vacation this summer because you’re saving up for next year. Maybe you’re leaving in two (2! Two! TWO!) days as well.

Read on about these products and how they might benefit you on your family road trip.

• Newest Product: Shell $aver Card: This is a card that you simply attach to your bank account and use when you’re purchasing gas at Shell stations. Why would you do such a thing? Because right now you can save two cents on every gallon! There are no enrollment fees and no credit check. Just simply attach it to your bank account and save money on the road. Sounds good to me!

(We considered this option for our trip though we have previously utilized one below.)

• Credit Card: Shell Platinum MasterCard® from Citi®: While this requires a credit check, you should know that it could really benefit you. This particular card offers a five percent rebate on Shell gasoline purchases and a one percent rebate on all other purchases. You’re basically saving money every time you use this card at the pump. Don’t believe me? Visit 877myshell.com to calculate your savings. You can apply for the card there or call 1-877-MY-SHELL and apply over the phone.
• Gas Only Credit Card: Shell Gasoline Card: Different from the above MasterCard from Citi, this card can only be used at an of the Shell gas stations (coast-to-coast). And also at Jiffy Lube locations. (Just in case you forgot to do something before you left on vacation!) And at ATMs across the US. This is a great idea for customers who want to keep their gas budget separate from the rest of their budget whether that’s for vacation or monthly treks to and from work. This card boasts no annual fee, flexible payment terms, the convenience of paying at the pump and free (FREE!) online account access.Best thing? For a limited time only, the Shell is offering a return of 30 cents per gallon on the first 100 gallons purchased with a Shell Card within a 90-day period. The promotional savings is available at all Shell-branded stations nationwide for those who sign up and are approved for a new Shell Card from June 29, 2009 to September 30, 2009.
• Refillable Card: Shell Refillable Card: The FireFamily has utilized this particular option in the past. We guesstimated how much we thought we would use on our road trip for gas. We loaded our card via the phone (though they offer an online method as well). And we hit the road. In the end, we had extra money left on our card that we used for our filling up after our return home for… quite some time! (It felt like free money!) This way, our gas money was kept separate from our vacation fun money. We didn’t get in the car at the end of the last day of vacation to realize that we had no money left. We had more than enough! This particular card is also a great way to teach younger drivers about money management.
• Gift Card: Shell Gift Card: Works like any other gift card. You can use it for gas at Shell. And car washes! Repair services! (Which hopefully you don’t need on vacation!) Food and drinks. All at any Shell station. Keep this in mind if you know you’re going on a long-driving trip next summer. When asked what you want for Christmas, reply, “Shell gift cards, please!”

But don’t just take my word for it. As I said, BlogHer has paired up with Shell and various other bloggers are talking about these products and sharing their travel stories. Check out the other BlogHer reviewers’ tales from the road. And for more information, hit up Shell: The Shell family of cards is great for Summer road trips.

We’ve been having a fabulous time on vacation. I’ve been talking about it on our regular blog. You can follow our trip until Saturday over there… and then we drive back home with the help of Shell. And caffeine.

You know here at Stop, Drop & Blog we’re concerned with issues surrounding safety. It’s also summer which allows many of us, including the FireFamily, to travel. That’s why it is so cool that Safety 1st is offering a “Summer Road Trip Safety” basket to one of our lucky readers! Summer travel can be fun and exciting (and tiring…), but it is so important to first ensure the safety of your little ones in the back seat before you are able to sit back and relax.

The giveaway basket includes items from Safety 1st’s ProGrade line, all of which are crash tested by the Safety 1st team of certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians. ProGrade items include the See Baby Soft Mirror (for the backseat headrest), the Secure View Mirror (for the rear view mirror), the Soft Solution Roller Shade, the famous “Baby on Board” window sign, and a $25 gas gift card to fill your tank! Sounds great! (To enter, read below and comment about your summer travel plans!)

Also, for those of you attending BlogHer in Chicago (this is me, being jealous), be sure to stop by the Safety 1st booth to learn about the latest development in child safety. Side impact crashes are by far the most harmful type of collision for children; and Safety 1st has developed Air Protect, a groundbreaking new car seat technology to help protect against this terrifying threat. Safety 1st will be giving away the Complete Air car seat, the first car seat available with Air Protect, so make sure you stop by and enter to win!

To learn more about Air Protect, visit Air Protect.

–

To enter the for the basket of safety gear: Leave a comment on this post telling me about your summer travel plans! You may leave one comment.

For some extra entries: Tweet, Stumble, Facebook share or otherwise promote the giveaway and come back to leave your link and/or name under which you shared a link to this giveaway! You may do this as often as you please. These entries do not count if you haven’t left a comment about your summer travel plans.

The giveaway runs through July 23rd at 12:00pm. Winner will be selected at random and contacted by email. Their information will be forwarded on, shipping direct from the providers.

A big thanks to Mom Generations for recognizing that Stop, Drop & Blog cares about safety!

The economy stinks. You can’t get around it. Even though where we live is relatively cheap to maintain our lifestyle, things have gotten more expensive. That’s just the way that it is. We’re doing little things to save money around here… we plan our menu so we can eat at home more often, we cloth diaper and we avoid splurging on things we simply don’t need.

Recently, I got to participate in a web conference with financial expert and author Laura Rowley sponsored by Kodak. She taught me quite a few money saving techniques by taking us through every room in the house. We took a few of her tips and are now spending less on our cable channels as well as being hyper-aware of electric vampires and water usage. Furthermore, the other awesome bloggers on the call exchanged tips on saving money in this economy. (What did I share? While on vacation or even a staycation, visit your local firehouse for a free afternoon of learning and fun! We do this on our vacations to create memories and have an afternoon where we spend absolutely no money.)

Working from home and also working with the boys on things like coloring and writing letters at home, I print quite a bit. I also print quite a few photos every week. So when I went to Kodak’s Print and Prosper website and calculated how much I could be saving on ink every year, I about fell off the couch. Since I print so much and use ink that is not particularly cheap, I could be saving over $400 per year. That’s right. I could use an extra $400 this year. Couldn’t you?

So, what did I think of our new Kodak All-in-One? I like it. I really do. Why? It was easy to set up, even with multiple computers in the house. It hasn’t yet given me an error message when attempting to print (though I’ve only had it a few days). The pictures it prints are clear and crisp. And, to prove the money savingness: the black ink cartridge will run us under $10 a pop while the color cartridge will be just under $15 each time. Doesn’t that sound heavenly?

Well, I’m giving you a chance to save money as well. We’re giving away a Kodak All-in-One printer to one lucky reader. How to win? Two ways!

1. Go to <a href=”http://www.kodak.com/global/mul/consumer/print/en_us/index.html?userLanguage=en-us&xmlURL=xml/dataFilesURLs.xml&firstPage=calculator” target=”_blank”>Kodak’s Print & Prosper Calculator</a> and find out how much you would save by switching. Come back here and tell me your magic number of potentially saved dollars in a comment on this post. You may do this once.

2. Tweet about this contest by copy/pasting this into your twitter stream: Save money & win with Kodak & BlogHer & @FireMom! Win a printer & a chance to go to BlogHer: http://tinyurl.com/SDBsave Until Fri, May 1! (You don’t need to comment with your URL. I keep track of these via mentions & a spreadsheet.) You may do this as often as you choose through May 1, 2009 at 3:00pm.

Giveaway runs through 3:00pm on Friday, May 1, 2009. I will then pull an entry via random.org and send it off to the company who will ship the printer direct to you. But wait, it gets better!

That winner will then be eligible to win a full scholarship to the <a href=”http://blogher.com” target=”_blank”>BlogHer</a> conference this year. You know, the sold out one. Yes. That one! Talk about saving money, for real! How very exciting! (I can’t attend BlogHer (again) this year due to something I can’t blog about as it involves a surprise for someone in our family. So I hope that if one of our readers wins the BlogHer prize, they will print out my picture and take it with them! You can afford to do that with your new printer, right? Right!)

Get to entering. Tweet your friends. And start saving money.

[By the way, pick up Laura Rowley's book Money and Happiness: A Guide to Living the Good Life for more tips.]

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that I like to pass on safety tips on occasion. Today I am sharing one that was brought to my attention by BlogHer. They have teamed up with Intelius and are having some bloggers review some of their most helpful offerings. I got the chance to review Intelius‘ Neighborhood Watch program. In short, the site monitors sex offenders in your area and alerts you when a new offender has moved into the area.

One of the most awesome things about this database is the map. After I entered our address and payment information, I was taken to my service page. There I found a map with a green arrow pointing to my house. At first I freaked out! The green arrow was all but covered by red dots. Those red dots were symbolizing the last known addresses of sex offenders. Then I realized that I was zoomed out too far. As I zoomed in, the red dots got further away from my house. I sighed an audible sigh of relief! (So, tip: zoom in! Immediately!) The best part about this map is the fact that you can mouse over those red dots and see:

That is awesome. I now know that if I am crossing the intersection of the street I drive on frequently and another street and I see a large, balding man with crazy blue eyes and a tattoo of a rose on his arm, it would behoove me not to let him in the car, alone, with my children. (Description of man is a composite of a few different offenders in our area.)

On your service page, next to your map, you can then click on “View Report.” This was somewhat discouraging but useful as well. There are 52 sex offenders in my area. (Just another reason to be moving out of the city, right? Right.) This report page also has a picture of each sex offender (in most cases) and lists all of their pertinent information like the map but also lists some other characteristics. Things included are height (since you can’t see that in the picture), weight, eye color, hair color, tattoos and scars, age and again their offense. I find this to be an added benefit because, again, you can’t always see detail in a photo. Details like these are what can help keep your family safe.

However, my most favorite offering from this site is the fact that you can add multiple addresses to the same account. I have now checked on my mother-in-law’s town. I am now considering moving in with my mother-in-law as there are no registered sex offenders in her entire town. None. I think this would be incredibly useful if you were visiting another city, leaving your children with a babysitter outside of your area or just generally traveling!

Issues I had? I couldn’t delete an address from my account while using Firefox or Internet Explorer. I accidentally added one address twice. Clicking “remove address” brought up an “error on page” in the javascript. I’m sure this is fixable once they know about the problem. Related, possibly an error and possibly not, is that you cannot have more than three addresses. This doesn’t seem to be an actual issue as long as you can delete. Also, scrolling on the page often lead to zooming in and zooming out on the map even after I had made sure to click outside of the map so it wouldn’t happen. This lead to some minor but tolerable frustration. As long as the removal option is fixed, the site is really easy to manage.

In the end, being aware of what, or really, who is around our children is our job. Some counties provide this information in easy to navigate sites. Some counties provide this information in difficult to manage sites. Some counties fall short in this way. In the end, this is a one-stop-spot to keep this information. Furthermore, as any changes are immediately emailed to the account of your choosing, you won’t ever find yourself surprised.

I encourage you to consider using this resource from Intelius. Being prepared with knowledge allows you to make appropriate decisions for you, your children and your family as a whole. To boot, Intelius also has some free “iSearch” products for you to use to your advantage. Also, check out BlogHer for a round up on what other blogger had to say about this and other available Intelius products.

[Hat tip to BlogHer and Intelius for the paid review opportunity.]

BlogHer and HP came together and sent me a Photosmart (C6380) wireless printer. It’s one of those fancy schmancy printers as well that scans, prints, copies and does everything but watch my children while I’m at practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays (our current issue). I must say, it’s a fabulous printer. For many reasons! Let me tick off the reasons why I love this thing. Ready to follow along? Great!

1. It was easy to install and set up with our various computers. We are a three computer household at present time. One is a very (very) old desktop that is in the process of being turned into BigBrother’s game computer (though that may not work because, oh, it’s oooold). One is my one year, four month old laptop and one is FireDad’s brand new laptop. (Small note: All are HP products.) Two are running Vista and one is running XP. And we had no cross-platform issues. Everything installed and worked on the first attempt. I’ve never had that easy of an install on cross-computer stuff. Ever. I was really excited! The less frustration in my life, the better.

2. We previously (as in two printers ago now…) had a wireless printer (non-HP, mind you) that would sometimes work and sometimes wouldn’t and it involved a lot of running back and forth from where I was trying to print to where the printer was (office). That sort of removed the point of wireless printing and was why we went back to non-wireless. So far, I’ve had absolutely no issue. From any computer. It’s been great.

3. The photo printing is amazing. Seriously. I’m picking about my pictures. (Have you visited our new photoblog?) But I’m picky. I like a certain crispness and most home photo printers don’t deliver what I want. This one? Does! I’m so excited about it! I’ve been slowly printing out pictures of, well, everything.

There are other reasons, of course, but the whole idea that this thing is wireless is really the point. I don’t have to move from where I am, hook up, wait for my computer to recognize it and go from there. I just click print, select okay and we’re good to go. I love that. Anything that saves me time is something that I want and need in my life.

The best part? I’m giving away one of these fancy schmancy printers to one lucky reader! That’s right! You can win this thing and make your own life just that much more awesome as well. How to enter? Very simple: leave a comment as to what you think you would be printing with this new printer. Would you catch up on old pictures? Would you make gifts for people? Would you print your novel from the comfort of your couch? Just let me know!

The rules, because we have to have them!

To enter, leave me a comment below and share your printing plans – or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below.  The contest will begin at 12:00 a.m. (PST) on Friday, February 6th, and will end Thursday, February 12th at 11:59 p.m (PST).

Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.

Rules:

• No duplicate comments.
• This giveaway is open to U.S. residents.
• Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

(And so, if you’re reading this on Thursday, you can’t leave a comment until midnight on Friday! That’s the breaks! Come back tomorrow!)

If you’d like to up your chances of winning, just hit up BlogHer and enter their giveaway as well! If you’d like to check out the specs or buy one of your own, hit up HP for more information.

If you’re trying to pick which movie to put in your child’s stocking this Christmas (you are budgeting for Christmas already, aren’t you?), I’d go with WALL-E. I really would. And not just because as a child of the 80’s, I was totally in love with Short Circuit. (Number 5 is alive!) Or, maybe somewhat because of that reason. But it’s not the total reason.

One thing I love about this movie as a parent? Well, as an example, two of BigBrother’s favorite movies involves a lot of dialogue. Some of it includes a few words that aren’t necessarily naughty but are words that we don’t use. Examples include “shut up” and “moron.” This movie doesn’t rely on dialogue. Sound effects make up much of the movie. As such, there are not many language concerns and, to boot, your child won’t be randomly quoting the movie in front of your intellectual friends. Of course, on the flip side, he could start “talking robot” in front of your same intellectual friends and you’re still going to have to fess up that you let Little Mikey watch television and/or movies. Either that or tell them that it is some new language and your kid is a genius. They’ll be impressed and your secret will be safe. All the same, this is one Disney movie that you won’t want to wear earplugs for, whether you’re a Dad who hates musicals or a Mom who can’t stand silly jokes. It was so interesting to listen to this movie!

What was my favorite part? Well, as a Fire Family, I have to tell you that we got a kick out of the scene where WALL-E discovers the fire extinguisher and gets blown around by the pressure. (Fire safety tip: teach your children that fire extinguishers are not toys and should only be used in an emergency!) But, I admit, I laughed. So did FireDad. But don’t tell. We won’t admit it.

BigBrother is really falling in love with the whole robot idea. We play robots at home and any time he sees a robot he makes noises. The whole movie has spawned a lot of imagination play. Thankfully without any of the shooting or potentially violent scenes (the only negative of the movie, in my opinion). BigBrother, instead, is a very friendly robot with an inquisitive nature. I’m all for imagination play, even if it was spawned by television or movie!

And so, I’m serious. If you’re still trying to decide which movie is best for your family this holiday season, go with WALL-E. To boot, if you decide to go this route, there are many toys which you can toss into the stocking with the movie to make a “themed stocking.” (And yes, I’m that dorky. I do make themed stockings. Don’t laugh at me!) (And yes, as you can see above, they do make WALL-E themed underoos!) After the presents are unwrapped and the food is open and new toys have been tossed aside, you can all gather together and look at the future through the eyes of a robot on Christmas evening. Nothing wrong with a little family togetherness, now is there?

So, buy it now on DVD! Or Blu Ray! (Or buy me a Blu Ray while you’re at it.) OH! And HEY! Go see the sweepstakes over at BlogHer!

Full disclosure: this was a paid review from BlogHer and Disney. But it’s still an awesome family movie. Trust me!