The Classy Mommy Blog

Nothing is more satisfying for a 2 year old than diving head first into a tasty treat.

Here he goes!

Nothing but smiles. And a big mess. Today he smelled so delicious after putting it in his hair.

I’ve been slowly mastering the changeover from gas range to my electric hybrid cooktop. Last weekend, I made one of my favorite recipes from my Moosewood Cookbook – Cheedar Cheese Soup. Delicious and probably the best way I’ll ever manage to get my husband to eat tons of veggies. (I’m still working on my picky kids!) Sadly, I honestly have not made this soup since becoming a mother. And my daughter is 4 years old!

This cooktop is powerful. One of the features I love best about the digital dials is that not only do they move from 1-10 but literally move to the 10th decimal between each number. Think cook at 6.5 or 4.2, or 1.8 for simmering. I’m figuring out how best to simmer, scramble eggs, and sautee veggies for my favorite soup recipe.

Disclosure: “I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator, electric cooktop, Washer/Dryer set, and a Dishwasher to facilitate my review.”

Interviewing Punky Brewster and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  Crazy and very cool.  4 years ago when I was leaving Corporate America to be a stay at home Mom, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d maximize “free time” during nap by interviewing Punky Brewster and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Check out the clip below!

The adorable Moms and best friends were warm, outward going, and I truly felt like we chatted on a Mom to Mom basis. I wish I could have done this in person rather than over a video/phone feed as I honestly think these very classy celebrity Moms are 100% down to earth and I could have spent an hour chatting with them. As I’m not the most experienced “celebrity” Mom interviewer on the planet, I asked a few too many open ended questions at the beginning of our conversation and was unable to ask many of my specific questions that came from readers.

10 minutes flew by and before I knew it my time was over.  Lucky me, being these Moms are so classy and cool, Melissa Joan Hart was able to answer a few more fun questions by email.  I heart these Moms forever now!

I’d be lying if I told you my interaction with Molly was much more than a fleeting photo opp. Truly, this spokesperson was whisked in for an intro about Ragu’s Recipe for a Good Start Campaign (enter your favorite  recipe and you might win $5000 for your kids!) and disappeared from the small crowd in the 24th St. Loft as if she was  Angelina Jolie running from Paparazzi.

Molly came back for photo opps with everyone which was very cool. Especially as this busy Celebrity Mom of 3 has probably been dealing with all this attention for some 25 years since Sixteen Candles and the Breakfast Club made her a star.  Annoying to say the least but I’m sure she is paid very well so I won’t feel too bad about wishing she had wanted to hang out with us a bit more Mom to Mom the way Kathy Ireland did a few weeks ago. (Of course, Molly is probably a far bigger star than I realize.) She looked fantastic and far younger than her 40+ years too!

Case in point – I had no idea who Marcela Valladolid was as I sat down to eat lunch with her.  I was thrilled my charming lunchmate and captivated by her conversation and gorgeous necklace. Then realized she was a “somebody” when people were asking for a photo with her. Just a little embarrassing!

Anyhow,  this celeb Mom and Food Network TV Host rocked.  I felt like I was dining with a friend and she made our entire table of about a dozen feel so comfortable.  She specializes in Mexican cooking. I loved her tip to add chipotle to Penne and Ragu to give it a Mexican flair and taste.

At lunch we all got to taste a ton of convenient Ragu recipes – perfect for me as I am truly a Ragu Mom. I am that classic customer that Marketers love – in the group of 20% of people that consume some 80% of their sales.  This Lasagna recipe is fantastic – ultra quick as you can use regular inexpensive noodles dry to make your lasagna ( without cooking them ahead of time before prepping the lasagna -the key is hydrating the noodles with the sauce!)

Did you know that for every 1/2 cup of Ragu sauce you eat, you get 1 full serving of veggies? I love that stat especially as I’m all about the sauce. Perfect way to get kids to consume those veggies!

A fun shot with my friends : Sarah, the RoleMommy team, and ChefDruck.

They may be eating dinner indoors, but my cool cats are ready for the sunshine.

Time flies! Both my husband and I have been continuing to use the Palm Pre Plus on Verizon now for 4 weeks.  And lucky me, they just released a new software version. Normally that’s nothing to write home about but in this case it is – it’s a big deal.  I now have video recording on my Palm Pre cell phone.  It can’t compare to my Flip HD , but it is great for capturing those impromptu moments that the little ones are always delivering.

After using is is for a few extra weeks, I must say that these 5 features really made both my husband and I like it – besides the sneaky mirror of course!

• The Palm Pre Plus size is perfectly “pocket-able” – smaller than my iPhone, seriously the size of my blush & compact.
• Having multiple apps run concurrently.My pooled messages – voice-mail, texts, and emails – all pushed to me even when the phone is locked. It’s weird, but they feel like they’re almost hand delivered.
• Video Capability.
• Flash on the camera (both my husband and I found ourselves taking tons of pictures with it – remember that awesome Disney Fireworks  photo?)
• Slide Out Keyboard – makes the phone smaller overall which is  a bonus

It’s definitely earned its way into my crazy life – and hopefully it will continue to make all that multi-tasking a little easier!

Want to win $50? Tell me more! Which feature of my Palm Pre Plus do you like best or think would make your life easier compared to your current cell phone? Let me know by March 15, 2010 to enter. Please include your email address so we can contact you if you win. Thanks!

Disclosure: Verizon sponsored this post and provided 2 months of Verizon phone service and the Palm Pre to enable me to review the phone & service.

Lights, Camera, Action! Last week I had to leave the kids for a quick 24 hour trip to NYC for the Walmart Moms (formerly known as the Eleven Moms) relaunch meeting. Here’s me getting made up – did you know that there is special HD powder to help you look better on TV? I didn’t!
Walmart hired a new digital agency based in NYC and they took headshots and footage of us all. Seeing many of my Walmart Moms and getting made up by a make up artist for the camera is my kind of fun!
Thanks to my friend @ErikaLehmann for taking these photos. She blogs at Chic Shopper Chick.

Win it! We’re giving away a Liz Lange Diaper Clutch and 1 free coupon for a week’s supply of the brand new Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max. Liz Lange’s diaper clutch is 100% polyester with genuine leather trim and retails for $50. We had the opportunity to test drive 1 package of the brand new Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max before they hit store shelves this past month. They were fantastic. Kyle is now just over 2 and this was actually the 1st time he used Pampers since he was a new baby in Pampers Swaddlers for the first 6 months of his life. He has eczema and I always worry about skin irritation and he had zero problems with the Pampers Cruisers Dry Max. The biggest benefit I noticed was that the diaper truly was thinner than I expected as they’ve been designed to be 20 percent thinner with no sacrifice in performance.

A little birdie told me that Rebecca Gayheart and Eric Dane are to be bringing home their new baby girl in a pink Little Giraffe baby blanket! If only I had a picture of the new baby too.