Mac and Cheese for Toddlers

Mac and Cheese with Veggies for Toddlers:

150g-200g of elbow macaroni (roughly half a packet)
1 teaspoon flour
1 teaspoon butter
150 ml of milk
3-4 slices of American cheese
1/2 carrot (small)
2 teaspoons of chopped broccoli
2 teaspoons of chopped spinach

1. Add water to pan and bring it to a boil and add the pasta to it. Add a pinch of salt and a couple of drops of olive oil or if you prefer butter. Cook as per the instructions until soft enough.
2. Take a pan melt butter and add flour to it on medium heat. Stir continuously for 3-5 minutes, until the flour is slightly cooked and changes colour slightly. Then add milk to it and keep stirring to prevent lumps from forming. Increase the heat to bring to a boil then reduce the heat.
3. While the white sauce is cooking add the finely chopped vegetables to it.
4. Keep stirring the sauce with veggies until the veggies are cooked and the sauce is a thicker consistency, if it gets too thick, add some water to it and stir until the veggies are soft. You may cover it if you like.
5. Add mixed herbs and black ground pepper to it and when the sauce it ready add the cheese slices to it and stir until it melts.
6. Stir for another couple of minutes until the cheese it completely melted then mix pasta to the sauce. Keep cooking in the pan for 5 minutes so the sauce sticks to the pasta and its nicely coated with the cheese sauce or alternative you can to bake it for 20-30 mins, but eating it without baking tastes good too.

Tips:

• Just add a pinch of salt to the pasta, don't add any salt to the sauce as American cheese can be salty and adding salt to the sauce can make it too salty. I try and limit the salt intake.
• Adding oil olive/butter to pasta prevents it from sticking together.
• You can use whatever veggies your kids like e.g. peas, beans, or even pre-cooked chicken.
• Cut the pieces according to what you child can easily eat. But chopping them finely ensures that it cooks quicker.

Total prep and cooking time is roughly 40 mins (without baking).

Even DH enjoyed it, even though he's not a big fan of home made mac and cheese.

Tory Burch Sample Sale at Clothingline

Starting

Tuesday June 12

Tuesday 11:00 am - 7:00 pm

Wednesday 11:00 am - 7:00 pm

Thursday 11:00 am - 7:00 pm

Friday 11:00 am - 7:00 pm

Saturday 11:00 am - 4:00 pm

Clothingline 

SSS Sample Sales 

261 W 36th Street (between 7th & 8th Ave) 

2nd Floor

New York, NY 10018

Tory Burch Sample Sale for Women ready to wear, bags & footwear

All FOOTWEAR AND BAG SALES ARE FINAL!

The dressing room will be open for try-ons but closes 1/2 hour prior to close of store. Our entrance and selling floor closes 10 minutes prior to close of store.

Kiehl's Vital Sun Protection Lotion SPF 40

Vital Sun Protection Lotion SPF 40 
Pros:

• Very light weight and very easily absorbed.
• Safe on kids (pediatrician tested)
• SPF 40
• $19.50/5oz
• Protects against UVA/B spectrum
• Has minimal chemical ingredients
• Last up to 80 minutes in water.

Cons:

• SPF could be higher.

Simple Facial Clensing wipes

 

 I have been using these for almost 6 years now and sometimes I find something new and like to try them out but I always come back to this:

Pros:

• $6 (approx) for 25 wipes.
• Very gentle on the skin and has no harmful chemicals.
• Frangance free
• The makeup comes off easily, even your (waterproof) mascara along with any dirt and grime. Leaving your face feeling clean to the pores.
  
• They are a good size so you never really need more than 1. I even use them to clean my brushes when I am in a rush.
• Pro-Vitamin B5 and glycerine really does help soften and smoothen the skin.
• No alcohol, or oil - so it's non-drying and non-greasy.
• Dermatologist tested
• Ophthalmologist tested (safe for use on your eyes).

Cons:

• The wipes isn't the softest of materials (unlike some of the others I have tried, but are not as effective as this) but I guess that just helps it loosen all the accumulation on your face.

Now readily available in the US, at CVS, Walmart, some Duane and Reades as well.
Best cleansing wipes.

Sugary drinks: what is your take?

There is the whole controversy going about sugary drink intake. I have discussed with a lot of people, some are extremely offended by it, saying its a slippery slope, where does it end. Others are more like meh! what’s the big deal, I don’t really care. But I have not yet seen anybody who is ready and open to embracing the idea.
I personally think that you can’t really tell people what to drink or eat, but I guess putting on a limit to the consumption of unhealthy sugary drinks available with your meal is not a bad idea. When you get something with your meal you end up consuming most of it. Like her in the US if you get a large drink at a cinema is like a bucket size. I honestly don’t see why people would want to drink so much coke/sprite etc but I have seen people buy it and while you watching a 2 hour movie you end up consuming most of it if not all of it.
Our idea of normality changes depending on where we live, for example in the UK at McDonalds you get smaller portion (coke is what I am using as an example):

• UK Small is 105kCal with 26g sugar
• UK Medium is 170 kCal with 42g sugar
• UK Large is  210 kCal with 53g sugar

While in the US at McDonalds:

• US Child is 110kCal with 29g sugar
• US Small is 150kCal with 40g sugar
• US Medium is 110kCal with 29g sugar
• US Large is 110kCal with 29g sugar

Check out Sugarstocks to get visual idea of how much sugar there really is in each portion, looking at it might surprise you a little.
Even a child size portion is bigger than a Small portion in the UK and there you get Small as a standard size with your food. Its just normal, that’s the normal amount of sugary drink intake you are expected to consume as that is the “industry standard” there. This is what is served.
While in the US everything is bigger, but that doesn’t necessary mean better. So what if Bloomberg wants to lower the sizes, after a while that is what will become normal and people will get used to it. That is how it works, if you want a bigger drink nobody is stopping you from getting a bigger size. Hey, if that not enough for you get two.
But for the next generation who grows up with a smaller size drinks that will the size they get used to consuming, which is beneficial in the long run compared to drinking buckets of sugar drinks.
I for one who definitely wouldn’t like my child to consume that much sugar in a day, especially now a days when everything from bread to a small serving of yopait has so much sugar in it. And being Indian we are genetically predisposed to get diabetes. I would do what I can to limit the intake of sugar for family whether Bloomberg is able to make this change or not. Would you?

future solution lx Ultimate Regenerating Serum

 

This was one of the items that came in the CN Style Society packages from Shiseido and was my favourite so I decide to write about it.

Pros:

• Very light
• Sinks right into the skin.
• Skin feels hydrated, supple and plumper
• Doubles as a primer, actually better than a primer
• Gives a glow to your skin
• A little goes a long way

Cons:

• Nothing except for a hefty price tag of $225 for 1 oz.

As much as I'd love to use it on a regular basis, I just can't afford to pay that much for a serum. I could put that much money to better use.

Conde Naste Style Society Shiseido samples

A few weeks ago CN Style Society did a survey and offered the first 500 survey takers the opportunity to try some Shiseido sample. As it turned out I was 1 of those 500 and I got my samples in the mail few days ago. And I have been trying them on and am liking it so far. Reviews to come soon.