I absolutely adore our reusable stainless steel water bottles -- I love knowing nothing weird is leeching into what we drink, and I love how they look -- but I really, really miss being able to put ice in my water bottle without a mallet…
I am a stubborn mom, so I am going to continue to put vegetables on my kids' plate at every meal, but I am practical enough to realize that they aren't always been ingested. My son has been known to slide his plate down the table at maxi…
I knew that I had found a winner with Home Free's line of allergy-free treats when I stole the last cookie before the kids came back into the room for more. At that moment, I would never have guessed that there was anything "missing" fro…
I'm going to go out on a limb, here, and say that nothing strikes fear into my husband's heart quite the same was as those three little words: Honey, smell this . Try as I might to keep track of what's in our fridge and use it up in a ti…
No matter how conscious we may be about the earth-unfriendliness of bottled water (how does 150 million pounds of plastic waste each year grab you?), we've all had that situation where we simply had to buy a bottle of water. For me, it a…
You weren't going to bring a bottle of Manischewitz for Passover were you? Fine, your call. But me, I would be running to my nearest gourmet store to grab a box of Dark Chocolate Matzo from Vosges . It is seriously one of the most incred…
My kids have grown up knowing how important food is to me, so it's not surprising that they are both fascinated by the kitchen. Children's cookbooks are a frequent gift at birthday and holiday time , but I'm usually very disappointed in …
I'm one of those really obnoxious food snobs who turns up her nose at boxed cake mixes. But here's my secret: I always kind of wished I was the type of person who didn't. Mixes provide a lot fewer opportunities for giant messes, and they…
It is nearly impossible these days to grab a simple ice cream cone that doesn't contain a whole lab's worth of multi-syllabic ingredients. So when I got wind of Haagen-Dazs five , just in time for the beginning of Ice Cream Season '09, I…
We've always loved modern high chairs but they tend to be on the squint-your-eyes- as-you-hand-your-credit-card-over side of things. Even so, the cheap plastic versions aren't a very appealing alternative when you consider the damage to …
Back when my daughter was a toddler, I'd stroll the aisles of the supermarket and get incredibly angry. As a working mom, I wanted nothing more than to buy convenient snack packs of her favorite foods, but then I'd look at the nutrition …
Besides unconditional love, the only thing that I want for Valentine's Day is something chocolate and decadent . Like, say, these heart-shaped brownies from Kitchen Witch . I've already gushed about Casey's ready-to-bake line of cookies,…
Those of us with food allergies in the family know the scary importance of reading food labels. So does Jackie, a New England graphic artist turned mom of a son with celiac disease. She turned her years of obsessive label reading into a …
I don't think I could ever send my kids off to school with a flimsy paper lunch bag after getting one of Toby + Rei's sturdy and very cool reusable Robot Lunch Sacks . These heavyweight, 100% organic cotton sacks are so much bigger than …
Let's be clear, here--I'm a from-scratch baker. I like to bake, and I like to know exactly what's in the foods I'm feeding my kids. So when I first came across the baking mixes from Matisse & Jack's , I thought maybe they'd be good... fo…
Have you tried Hint Water yet? You have to. You just totally have to. Take it from me, because I'm not a flavored water fan. Mostly I think water is pretty darn good, and it doesn't need a whole lot of flavoring. But Hint Water--all natu…
Yesterday, both my kids' daddy and my own daddy opened up their brand new copies of Top Chef: The Cookbook . Which is why I held this review until today. Publisher Chronicle Books always does an outstanding job with their titles and this…
We first raved about Divvies Bakery almost four years ago, when we discovered that nut-free, dairy-free, and egg-free didn't have to mean yummy-free. There's nothing not to love about vegan, kosher, most-common-allergen-free bakery treat…
Sure, you can pay all kinds of money for a fancy reusable lunch bag, but why would you when there's Neela Bags . This purveyor of a variety of earth-friendly polypropylene reusables now offers their lunch tote as a $5 standalone product …
My mother was the queen of homemade baby food. And while I admire her commitment and even bought a micro food processor to follow in her footsteps, more often than not I have to reach for something cooked, pureed, and packaged far from m…
With my birthday coming up, I almost forgot to mention that July 20th is National Ice Cream Day. Thankfully I remembered in the nick of time, because the guilt of forgetting to tell you guys that eating tons of ice cream is your patrioti…
Friday July 11th is National Mojito Day, which, if you ask me, is as good an excuse as any to whip up a batch and raise a glass to the classic Cuban cocktail. Traditional mojitos are excellent - you really can't go wrong with white rum, …
Popsicles and icies are good, but when you want something great you need to grab some ice cream, milk, and your favorite mix-ins to make a killer milkshake. This summer, if you want to make a frozen treat that will bring all the kids (an…
I'm not one for dieting, but sweet summer cocktails can be surprisingly high in sugar and calories. It's hard to resist the idea of skinny cocktails that are just as delicious as the original versions, only with a fraction of the calorie…