Author: Erin Sluka

Brands with a Cause, Food, Natural Foods

CHUM Fruit Bites have the simplest, purest ingredients

Erin Sluka

Comment: I was sent these sheets. Opinions are my own and this post may contain affiliate links. Thank you for visiting.

CHUM Fruit Bites have the simplest, purest ingredients

There are fruit snacks and then there are CHUM Fruit Bites. They are like fruit snacks in that they are fruit-flavored but unlike the fruit snacks you know because they are ONLY fruit. Also, despite the fun colors and animal designs they are not just for kids because I can’t get enough of these myself. I love these as a mid-day working snack.

I feel like I should tell you all about these CHUM fruit bites so you know what they are made of but the ingredient lists are literally just fruits. That’s it! 100% wild without the fake stuff!

I can tell you that when you buy CHUM Fruit Bites you are helping them make a difference. They donate 15% profits to Wild Aid, protecting wildlife.

You can find these REAL fruit bites online at the CHUM Fruit Bites shop and on Amazon. Right now they are having a #StaySafe sale and shipping is free on their site!

Visit our 2020 Fall Foodie Series for more food topics
2020 Holidays, Education, STEM Learning, Toy Reviews

Smarty JOJO Toy teaches directions, shapes, colors and opposites with Play

Erin Sluka
Smarty JOJO Toy teaches directions, shapes, colors and opposites with Play

Smarty JOJO!™ is not just smart, he is interactive. Smarty JOJO toy teaches directions, shapes, colors and opposites with play. Flycatcher is an early UK company that offers innovative tech toys that are brilliant. Available in the US on Amazon is this genius toy plane with personality (if there is a toy out there that has its own personality, JOJO is it)! He retails for under $25 and I still can hardly believe its price point is that low for what he offers in play.

The question I had after learning about Smarty JOJO is how well he actually performs in person so I was able to give him a try. I do not have any preschoolers at home. I do watch my 12 month old nephew – too young for this but he was highly intrigued by his voice and fun design. He carried it all around with him. But I was the one who played with Smarty JOJO for his features and any child from 3-5 will have instant friend with JOJO.

Let me list his awesome features for you

  • Identifies colors
  • Speaks English and Spanish
  • Encourages physical play with its motion sensors. The more your child moves with JOJO the more fun he offers
  • Fun missions teach directions, shapes, opposites, and emotional intelligence: Right & Left, Up & Down, Fast & Slow to name a few
  • Follow a task correctly and JOJO’s lights flash as he states you are correct

Kids learn as they play. For instance, when JOJO is asking your child to “go left” or “go right” there is a small light on each wing that will light up so they know which direction is right/left. When asked to go “land on a color” he will flash lights and give a congratulatory command to indicate you are correct.

He will surely be a hit over the Holidays. Smarty JOJO is likely to remain my favorite recommendation for ages 3-5 for the 2020 Holidays! Find Smarty JOJO and other Flycatcher products on Amazon. Another Flycatcher hit in our home for the older sibling (ages 5-99) is the smART Sketcher! Learn more at Flycatcher Toys!

Smarty JOJO Pin
Visit our 2020 Holiday Gift Guide for more great gift ideas
Gift Guides, Kids, Parenting

Ideas for Throwing Your Kids a Fortnite Party

Erin Sluka

This post contains affiliate links, but is not sponosred

Throwing kids parties for birthday, milestones or graduations is a bittersweet event. It is sweet in that we love to make our child’s day as special as possible but bitter when we can’t find all we need for easy party planning.

Sometimes you have to get creative and make your own decor and that takes time and worst of all, creativity which I actually lack more times than not. Perhaps those moments I pretended I was interested in the game of Fortnite so I can play with my son and get to know his favorite game will pay off now!

Ideas for Throwing Your Kids a Fortnite Party
Ideas for Throwing Your Kids a Fortnite Birthday Party

Because I know what a supply drop is and impulse grenades are I can easily improvise. The best part is when you improvise with cheap items like snacks and balloons it is easily affordable to create a themed party. Buying it already done is nice, but I found out that by taking a day to create DIY pieces saved me a lot of money.

It is the hottest game right now for boys (and girls too): Fortnite! Have you tried looking for licensed birthday party decor? It hardly exists so when Anthony wanted a Fortnite party I took to Google and Pinterest for ideas on how to pull it off and it was a hit!

I lined the Supply Drop favor bags across my entertainment center and hung balloons in blue and black to spell out Fortnite. I tried to find plain yellow balloons where I was because when the drop shipments happen in games it is a yellow balloon that drops them so that is the best color to pair.

VBucks are the spendable points you earn in the game so I made some, used a 2″ craft circle cutter to cut them all out and tape to chocolate coin candies.

I just googled some prints and printed out on heavy paper top hang around the house. This Fortnite party is coming along!

kids birthday party

Fortnite Party Planning Printable – Kids Birthday Party

You can even google ‘slurp juice label like I did and find this pattern. I can fit 3 on piece of paper to print and cut. Slurp Juice is the revive potion and blue gatorade bottles work perfectly. Their is another potion in the game you can find that is purple if you can get grape Gatorade and use those.

Impulse Grenades and bombs occur in the game so you can get brownie bites (I found a bunch as Walmart and Costco also has bins of them). I used cheese puffs for grenades but popcorn works too.

Simple cupcake toppers where I found Fortnite images and craft cut in circle on hard stock paper with toothpicks. Then to finish the Fortnite party off I ordered my son a tee shirt I found online that reads: Eat. Sleep. Fortnite. Repeat.

Food, Healthy Living, Natural Foods, Recipes

Lemon Chicken Edamame Spaghetti Recipe

Erin Sluka

This post is in partnership with Explore Cuisine. This Edamame Spaghetti recipe is my own

Lemon Chicken Edamame Spaghetti Recipe

My husband and I are month 2 into a low carb/low calorie diet. The two things I miss most is steak and pasta. The good thing about changing eating habits is that we are doing it together. I have never been so successful on a healthy change prior to having my husband jump on board. We hold each other accountable and at night discuss what we ate during the day, almost in competition form to who kept closest to the new regimen. Then we allow ourselves a cheat night once a week and look forward to our reward.

Both of us have dropped weight and I reached my goal weight this week. I also learned something else and that is how to get real creative in the kitchen. Ever heard of Edamame Spaghetti? It exists and I am so glad I tried it because I don’t have to crave actual pasta anymore.

Explore Cuisine have taken that popular soybean and created a delicious pasta noodle that I personally love better than actual pasta for more than one reason. First, it cooks in about 4 minutes in boiling water so that saves time. Second, it is delicious and that is an understatement.

When I first served it my husband was a bit skeptical as if we were cheating on our diet. It is so  much like spaghetti but I handed him the box to read and we felt so good about our meal that night because it fits right in with how we are eating. We can have pasta again and not wait until our cheat night run to Italian restaurants.

This Edamame Spaghetti recipe was literally thrown together with leftovers in my kitchen. We are moving next week and living in transition until the home build is complete so I have to use up what we have in the fridge and freezer. It turned out delicious. The house LOVED it. Edamame is loaded with plant-based protein (25 grams per serving), fiber and iron. Explore Cuisine Organic Edamame Spaghetti is made from 100% organic ingredients and is vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO and kosher. Let’s get to the recipe!

Lemon Chicken Edamame Spaghetti Recipe

I had some green peppers I needed to use up so that is what I added to my recipe. It is nice to have a crunch with this dish so you can use any bell pepper and even some pine nuts or zucchini. I just sauted my peppers in some coconut oil and garlic until cooked down a bit.

Tip: When cooking down spinach remember that spinach holds a lot of water. I used fresh spinach and rinsed. Then I drain and blot as much water out as possible. Cook down in olive oil. It just takes a moment or two so don’t overcook. Then I drizzle with some lemon juice and take it from the pan and lay it out on a paper towel lined cookie sheet and cool a tad before grabbing more paper towels to absorb the water still remaining in the cooked spinach.

The picture above is the final step. Put all of your cooked ingredients back together in a large pan or wok. I have cooked chicken breast, cooked spinach and sauted green peppers and minced garlic. Add the cooked and drained Edamame Spaghetti noodles and toss. Drizzle more lemon as you toss. Plate it and top with grated parmesan cheese.

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