Vitacost vs. iHerb

A colleague joked about my posts about stuff related to my kids. Sorry here it yet another on kinda related to my kids, so “Thomas” you can stop reading now.

vs

Some time ago I posted about my positive experiences with ordering organic smoothie pouches from the US-based company iHerb (my posts here). BabyL is now big enough to consume atleast a pouch a day, so  I thought I would replenish my stocks. To my dismay iHerb has changed their shipping rates. Going from a flat international rate (sponsored) to actual shipping costs. They sent out information about this when customers complained about the jump in shipping costs. Needless to say, I no longer order from iHerb due to the high postage costs, as stuff I order are pretty heavy. Even with VIP-status and shipping discounts when the order exceeds certain amounts, shipping is still too expensive. See that there are groups on Facebook that are as unhappy with the change in international shipping rates as I am. Hopefully iHerb will take it to heart, and reinstate the flat rate international shipping option.

Rant over, back to the point. As I lost iHerb as a reasonable option to order organic smoothies in pouches from, I was tipped about another site. Vitacost offers flat rate shipping, though the rate is higher than what iHerb offered (iHerbs 4 USD vs. Vitacost 7.99 USD)

Their selection is very similar to what I found on iHerb. Much of what I have ordered earlier from iHerb is available and at similar pricing. So far I have made one order to Vitacost and my experience is so far good. They pack and ship orders reasonably fast. I like that they have Paypal as a payment options, adds a level of security.

Not sure what more I should write about, so let me know if you have questions.

As I’m still very new to Vitacost I don’t know all the ins and outs. But I have made a note that all new referrals can get a 10 USD discount on their initial order over 30USD(before discounts, shipping etc.) by using this link: http://goo.gl/nm5D50

That’s it for now.

- what are your experiences with Vitacost?

Banana

A fun discovery we made this weekend. Banana crash as SweetieS called it. While watching Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood  on NRK Super they made a fun, frozen desert.

It’s as simple as 1-2-3…
Put a ripe banana in the freezer.
Using a blender, blitz for a few seconds – until you get the crumble consistency you’d like.
Enjoy!

I managed to snap a picture right before SweetieS chowed down…

I did however make some discoveries along the way.
- peel the bananas before freezing them (saves time waiting for them to defrost and then being able to peel them when putting them in the blender)
- use very ripe bananas (the sweeter the better)

Here @CasaR we always have bananas that we end up throwing away when they get so ripe that they feel to mushy to eat. This is a great way to use those bananas instead of wasting them.

Another tip for when you have overripe bananas, make banana bread. Here (from Det Søte Liv – it’s in Norwegian, but Google Translate should do a decent job translating) is a recipe I’ve used a lot.

- do you have any trick to overripe foods?

For those of you who don’t have any overripe bananas at hand..enjoy this vid…

just love these guys…

Still alive…

I know I haven’t been posting much lately. With a new baby in the house I don’t get as much rest as I want..so not much time to write posts.

This week, and the next few weeks BabyS is taking some time of from kindergarten. So have my hands full…luckily DaddyO is taking a few weeks of from work too.

Not much happening happening at CasaR other than sleeping, feeding, burping and diaper changes the last few weeks. In between we’ve had family and friends visiting…and MommyS has had time to do some Ebay surfing. Not much we need, but after joining the Facebook group “<3 Ebay Barn&baby <3” I’ve found lots of items that I found interesting. (a group for Norwegians posting their Ebay buys)

My latest Ebay buy where these mini straws. Perfect for small drink containers like Danoninos drinking yoghurt. Just before BabyS started her summer holiday from kindergarten we were told that BabyS wouldn’t be served milk in the month of July with her meals. So the straws were perfect to send with her lunchbox and a Danonino drink.

+

=

no spill drinking when out and about

- do you Ebay for your children?

Phew…

Sorry for my absense latetly. Last weekend BabyS turned one year old. According to Chinese customs it needs to be celebrated, big time.

The last two weeks before the big day were spent om planning and organizing. With a control freak like me, nothing was left to chance. With my latent fear of not having enough food, large amounts of food were bought.

At the last minute I had decided to make tapas for BabyS celebration. Which in the beginning sounded like a good idea. I could make much of it advance and if the guests had any preferences they could just eat more of what they liked. With the big family dag being on Saturday I had my hands full on Friday with chopping and wrapping and frying and baking and so on…shortly put, I might have bitten a little more than I could chew…When I went to bed at midnight I was about halfway.

Despite a stressful morning at CasaR the celebration went of without a hitch. I just totally spaced and forgot to take a picture of the finished food…and the cakes. Have asked DaddyO to make a mental note, remember to take more pictures! Sorry BabyS, MommyS totally spaced….but you and everybody did enjoy yourself!

Some of my friends wondered about the food that was served, so here is a recap…

Tapas:
Foccacia (receipe here, thanx Gunhild for the link), I made mine without olives or sundried tomatoes
Baconwraped dates, note to self: use a whole slice of bacon instead of half a slice as many recommend
Pork nuggets
Chicken nuggets
Mozzarella with cherry tomatoes
BBQ chicken wings
Oven roasted potatoes, with tex mex herbs
Feta cheese
Garlic and chilli marinated scampi, plain and simple – marinated overnight
Bratwurst, barbequed
Knackwurst, barbequed
Fried rice ^w/chicken, my safe bet for children attending (thank you mummy for the help with this one)

Dessert:
Minipavlova, with cream, custard and all the strawberries, blueberries and raspberries you could eat
Pandan chiffon cake (see my earlier tries here)
Chocolate swiss role
Fruit screwers with marshmellows

Hmmm while writing this post it sound so little, compared to the work I put in…

The second celebration day for out little BabyS we added sushi and cupcakes to the menu.

Thank you friends and family for making BabyS one year birthday a wonderful experience. Love you all!

- bitten of more than you can chew lately?
- does your family have any traditions when it comes to babys’ first birthday?

Glow in the dark cake

I finally got a hold of some pandan paste. Bought from this sweet Ebayer.

Here @CasaR Pandan bread is a favorite. Sweet and fragrant the Pandan buns don’t stand a chance. Pandan bread are widely available at Asian stores here in Oslo, in the freezer. But I thought it would be fun to be able to make them myself. So I went online and did some research. I didn’t find much about making Pandan buns, but lots of versions of Pandan Chiffon cake. That’s one tasty cake! I know from my tastings in Singapore of Pandan Kueh. So I thought I would give it a try…

Thank you to I at, I shoot, I post blog post with all his experience from making chiffon cakes. That post is here.

My notes from this try:
- more pandan paste (you can’t taste the green coloring )
- if possible add pandan juice
- I did have some big bubbles in the cake, so maybe try getting more of them out before baking it in the oven

- Have you made a colored cake that looks strange but tastes great?
- What’s your favorite Pandan flavored food?

Show me your lunchbox…

…and I’ll show you mine. With BabyS starting kindergarten this fall I’ve started looking for fun ways to pack her lunchbox.

I looked into different kinds of solutions and concluded I wanted a box with some kind of compartments. That way I can mix different sizes of food in one meal with just one box. There are MANY different solutions “out there” but the one I liked the most is the IKEA Krus box. Plain and simple…

Here is an example I came across from June HS blogg

Love that the dividers can be taken out and thus creating bigger/smaller compartments. IKEA offer this box in three different sizes and the prices won’t bankrupt you either;

Size:	24 x 14 x 10 cm	24 x 19 x 13 cm	24 x 19 x 7 cm
Price:	49 NOK	59 NOK	49 NOK

I’ve also gone shopping for cool trinkets to help facilitate the creativity going into making BabyS lunchboxes more fun! I’m looking forward to playing with these…

boiled egg molds…

some of the cookie cutters I will be using for more than gingerbread cookies bought from Dealextreme

I’ve seen lots of pictures where cookie cutters have been used to cut out slices of cheese, “fish pudding”, cucumber…

- What kind of boxes do you use to pack your lunch?
- How do you pack your lunchboxes?

Now all I have to do is get my butt over to IKEA and buy the boxes…

In pouches

With BabyS becoming a bigger eater I’ve started ordering larger amounts of food online (from iHerb.com)

A little note about iHerb: In January all customers are VIP customers, thus enjoying even more discounted prices. So if your considering ordering from them HURRY UP. Offer lasts to midnight January 2013 – yes, that’s  two more days if you live in Norway.

Ordering from iHerb for the first time? Have a coupon. Good for your first order.

use coupon code WGB528 for a few dollars off on your first order

Last time I posted about BabyS eating from pouches it was all about pouches by Ella’s Kitchen. When browsing the iHerb site I found that they also stock other brands of baby food pouches. As they were a little cheaper I thought I would give them a try. They come in other blends, so nice to have other options.

Last week a few boxes came from iHerb with a whole lot of pouches. BabyS seems to like food that comes in pouches with no concern when it comes to brand. So MommyS will be ordering more.

With several different pouches in the house BabyS has a lot to choose from.

Haven’t tried food pouches?
Can definitely recommend having a few at hand. They are great to have in the diaper bag in case baby gets hungry and your out and about. When your baby learns to suck from the pouch there is just about no spillage! They come with a screw on cap, so if your baby doesn’t eat all in one go, just put the cap back on and back in the bag it goes. And the pouches take up no space at all!

- how does feeding from food pouches work for you?
- does your baby have any favorites?

Christmas baking

Earlier this week I spent time with my “stroller-girls” and we baked up a mountain of ginger bread “cookies”. We had planned on spending the afternoon decorating them, we wound up spending more time rolling out and cutting out shapes than actually decorating. Well the rolling and cutting part took longer than planned and I went home with a big borrowed cake tin full of “naked” ginger bread “cookies”.

before – a little plain

Well this weekend I sat down and did some decorating…

after – a tin of Christmas joy

The kitchen counter was filled with a color palette of colored icing sugar…hard not to be a little playful when you have so many colors at hand. Had a lot of fun decorating this ginger bread “cookies”, I’m already looking forward to next Christmas…when BabyS will be joining me in making a mess in the kitchen.

- Are you finished with your Christmas baking?
- How do you decorate your ginger bread “cookies”?

St. Lucia buns

Yesterday was December 13th, which for me means traditions…St. Lucia traditions. If your children are in kindergarten they probably participated in procession with candles and handed out Lucia buns. I’ve missed Lucia buns the last few years…so this year, I made some myself (though a half day too late…better late than never). Next year BabyS will hopefully be in kindergarten…

I found a recipe online. Though I didn’t use saffron (that’s one expensive spice!), I used turmeric instead…Here’s the recipe. 

yummy yummy buns

Ella, Ella, Ella

I’ve hopped on the latest craze amongst friends and family, Ella’s kitchen organic baby food.

 
picture borrowed from www.nymomsworld.com

What I love about these is the packaging and the combinations for flavors/ingredients. So far BabyS is still just tasting different things…so she doesn’t eat a whole bottle at a time. But when she does … MommyS will have a bottle ready in BabyS’ diaper bag.

After doing some recon on prices in the local grocery stores I found that the there are two “flavors” that are widely available - The Red One and The Green One, are the cheapest ones. At only 8 Norwegian krones pr. bottle.

Consists of:	Apples, pears, bananas and kiwi	Strawberries, raspberries, apples and bananas

Unfortunately if you want the other varieties available, they are almost double the price. Well I came across a blog that recommended to buy from the website www.iherb.com. Where they had many flavors to choose from at about 2 US$ pr. bottle.

My notes on buying from iherb
If you buy for less than 200 Norwegian krones –> no customs fees (yay!)
Shipping is flat rate, cheapest option = 6 US$ just remember to keep weight under 4 pounds/1816 grams
Don’t forget to use a coupon code if you’re a first time buyer, and get 5 US$ off  (Don’t have one? here’s one: WGB528)

A quick calculation from iherb.com…
10 x Ella’s kitchen = 22 US$
Shipping = 6 US$
Discount = 5 US$
--------------------------------
Total = 23 US$ = ~140 NKr (with November exchange rate)

compared to Ella’s kitchen bought in a local grocery store…
10 x Ella’s kitchen = 150-220 NKr

Iherb.com also has another brand that is very similar to Ella’s kitchen, called Happy Baby. These have many similar flavors to Ella’s kitchen, and they are even cheaper! At only 1,50 US$ pr. bottle.

Well I placed my order today. Estimated shipping to Norway is about a week. So look forward to receiving my first package and testing the different flavors on BabyS.

Cupcakes galore

Hubby turned 31 years yesterday and I thought I would try and do some baking. It’s been ages since I made cupcakes, so I thought why not…

Hubby loves cakes with nutty flavor, as well as spicy. As always, Google is my trusted friend. After doing some searching, I wound up trying to make these two.

Spicy cupcakes:
150 gr margarine
2 eggs
125 dl milk
4 dl flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
0.5 teaspoon ground cloves
2 dl sugar

Stir sugar and margarine together, until white.
While stirring, add one egg at a time.
Mix together flour / baking powder / spices.
While stirring, add alternately milk and flour

The batter is enough for about 20 small / 12 medium cupcakes.
Bake at 175°C for about 20 minutes. I made medium size cupcakes, so I baked them almost 10 minutes longer than the recipe recommended.

Icing:
125 gr “natural” cream cheese
60 gr margarine
4 dl powdered icing sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Use margarine that is room temperature, mix everything together until a thick cream. I used this icing for both the cupcakes, I just left out the cinnamon in the icing for the nutty cupcakes.

Source: http://gryskjokkenskriverier.blogspot.no/2009/12/krydderkake-muffins-med.html

Cupcakes with nuts:
100 gr margarine - melted and cooled slightly
3 eggs
2 dl sugar whipped until fluffy, stir in melted butter
2 1/4 dl flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 dl chopped nut kernels

Mix sugar and eggs together, until sugar is dissolved.
Add the melted margarine.
Mix together the dry ingredients and mix with batter.

Fill the cupcake forms about halfway and bake at 200°C for about 15-20 minutes. The batter was enough for 12 medium size cupcakes.

Source http://www.kursagenten.no/artikkel/656/Oppskrift-Nottemuffins-1083.aspx

Now to enjoy the “cakes of my labor”.The nutty cupcakes to the left and spicy cupcake to the right

Spicy

When I came over this project I was inspired to do some organizing of my own. Over the years spices have accumulated in my house and finding the ones I need is not always as easy.

Good luck finding anything here…

With the project fresh in my memory I googled some pictures as to how others had done their spice rack labeling as I didn’t have as big a space as Vegan Chickies spice drawers, not to mention that many empty glasses.

I came over this picture over at Barnes and Nobel and thought “this looks about right…”

I jotted down all my labels and dug out my JustRite Monogram Stamps. I used some address label sheets I had laying around and started punching out labels. Took some time, but when I was finally done I had make quite a few labels. To add some “creativity” to the labels I added the first letter as a monogram in the middle in different colors.

With the help of my husband, the labels where attached on the appropriate bottles in no time.

Looks much more organized

An apple a day…

(No, this is not a post about iPhones, iTunes or such from Apple….)

Long have I not been able to eat apples due to my food allergies. And with Norway being a nation with a variety of local grown apples, I sure miss being able to eat apples. (I used to be able to eat anything)

I read somewhere that pregnancy hormones might cause a change is allergies. So I thought ‘why not?’ can’t hurt…. And to my big astonishment…no reaction to the first bite, or the second bite, or the third bite…Before I knew it I had eaten the whole thing!  So these days I’m getting my fair share of apples – while I can….