Breakfast Date and Oatmeal Recipe from Corner Bakery

July 28, 2014 by Sharon Garofalow 2 Comments

*My son and I were treated to breakfast at our local Corner Bakery. And I enjoyed my oatmeal so much I’m sharing the recipe with you. All opinions are mine. Is it odd to say that I miss my youngest son? I’ve been with both my kids all summer, every day, except for a few quick trips. But I miss my baby. Although he was in preschool a few days a week, we still had a few days where we would run errands together, hang out together and do projects together. But since my other son is out of school too, they play more together and I do more chores around the house or errands by myself on the weekends. I miss my little buddy! So I decided to take him on a breakfast date with me to Corner Bakery. A month ago I got invited to a media event at our local restaurant. I couldn’t make that event so they sent me gift certificates so I could try out their featured menu items on my own. It was the perfect opportunity for me to reconnect with my little guy who starts kindergarten this fall!

And the Chilled Berry Almond Swiss Oatmeal blew my mind! That is not an exaggeration. I REALLY liked it! And I get to share the recipe with you. But first, more on my breakfast date…

I got totally duped by this amazing looking bakery treat. I thought it was a pop tart so I told my son he could have it. Then, when we were asking about the flavors, I was told it was an Apple Hand Pie… So my son got pie for breakfast…This breakfast date was all about making memories so I just rolled with it. And he was delighted to get a hot chocolate too. And I got to eat some too. The pie was delicious.

We worked the hand pie in to more of a full breakfast by adding on a side of bacon. Breakfast of champions, right here.

This one suddenly loves bacon. Look how happy it makes him.

And when they ask to take selfies, you always say yes. I just knew I would have to delete about 30 of the same exact photo.

It was so fun to be able to have a leisurely breakfast and chat with my son. We were not at all rushed and had a great time just hanging out. I think it is so good to be able to spend one on one time with your kids when you can. It is sometimes really hard to fit in but it is so important. I can’t wait to schedule something with my oldest!

After breakfast we played a very artistic version of tic tac toe. My son was more interested in us creating designs than actually playing.

And then he decided he wanted to customize our coffee cup sleeves. I love his use of color.

But back to this oatmeal. This chilled oatmeal is the perfect oatmeal for summer. The Berry Almond Swiss Oats is a seasonal item on the Corner Bakery menu so hurry in to try it before its gone. Or you can use this oatmeal recipe at home, all year round!

Corner Bakery's Chilled Berry Almond Swiss Oatmeal Recipe

Ingredients

6 oz. Old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup Dried cranberries
1/4 cup Currants or raisins
1 TBSP sugar (or to taste based on sweetness)
2 cups Low Fat vanilla yogurt
1 1/2 cups Skim milk
Granny Smith apple, medium sized, chopped
Banana, medium sized, chopped
1/4 cup fresh strawberries chopped
1/4 cup fresh blueberries
1/8 cup sliced toasted almonds

Instructions

Mix oats, cranberries, currants and sugar in a large bowl.
Add yogurt and skim milk, mix well and let sit 15 minutes.
Dice the apple and banana, add to oats mixture and let sit another 15-30 minutes.
Top with fresh strawberries, blueberries and toasted almonds.
Serve chilled.

http://www.cupcakesandcutlery.com/oatmeal-recipe-from-corner-bakery/

While in the restaurant be sure to try some of their new menu items, released at the beginning of July, the Buttermilk Pancakes with Berries and the Spicy Asian Pork Hot Toasted Sandwich!

Thanks for breakfast Corner Bakery! We really enjoyed it!

Filed Under: Family Life, Recipes Tagged With: breakfast, oatmeal, orange county

New Red Robin Allergy Friendly Interactive Menu

May 15, 2014 by Sharon Garofalow 20 Comments

*The Red Robin information and gift cards have been provided by Red Robin. I was sent a gift card to Red Robin to try out their new Interactive Allergen Friendly Menu Builder portion of their website. I jumped at the chance because Red Robin was one of the first restaurants that I let my food allergic son eat out at because the staff and management ALWAYS went out of their way to ensure his safety. With the creation and launch of this new meal planning feature, making allergen free dining even easier and safer, I wanted to share my experience with you all. All opinions are mine.I LOVE Red Robin. And always have. From their high octane cocktails that I discovered in college (Sand in Your Shorts was always my go-to but I probably haven’t had that in about 10 years!) to their fries (I’m obsessed with their fries!) and on to my current favorite the Whiskey River BBQ wrap, I could eat at Red Robin daily. But I don’t. We really don’t eat out all that much. I prefer to save money and make dinner at home. But it wasn’t always like that. I pretty much unconsciously set out to NOT learn how to cook from my mom growing up. So when I got married, and even after I had my first child, I was getting some homemade meals on the table but they were NOT nutritious, particularly tasty or frequent. All of that changed when I found out my son had tons of food allergies at one year old. He had had continual, severe eczema for 6 months and I was desperate to get to the root of the problem. I will never forget one Monday night, however, when the phone rang and it was his doctor. After months of trying crazy harsh creams and steroids, we finally did a blood test to see if it was food allergies. It was after 5 pm when the call came and she said, “He’s allergic to milk, eggs, soy, peanut, probably shellfish and other tree nuts. You can give him Rice Milk. They sell it at Whole Foods.” And with that, I was left to navigate his food allergies on my own. We changed pediatricians and I got to work trying to figure out what would be safe to feed him. I did my research online and in books and by wandering Sprouts and Whole Foods. I immediately had teach myself to cook and made pretty much all of his food. I didn’t feel confidant with reading labels to know if I was going to give him something that would harm him. And I certainly didn’t feel comfortable taking him out to restaurants and having to rely on someone else’s knowledge, or lack thereof, of food allergies to keep him safe.

I brought all of his food with me wherever we went. If he did come to a restaurant with us I carefully wiped down the table and made sure he wasn’t sitting by anyone that had one of the food’s he couldn’t have. But finally, when he was about 4, I decided that if I wanted to give him more of a normal childhood experience in terms of dining out, that I should take the next step of trying to navigate restaurant menus. One of the first places I went was Red Robin. I did some research on line and felt that there was at least some conversation about allergies on their site. I called a manager and inquired about food allergies and decided to try it out. Even back then they handled food allergies with ease. And it was a place he could eat where I felt he was safe with fries no less! So when I got an email asking if I would like to check out the new Red Robin allergy friendly interactive menu builder, I jumped at the chance. A few Saturdays ago, the family and I headed to Red Robin for lunch.

While it is possible to pull up the website on your own phone (and of course from your home computer), the manager at our Red Robin location brought us out an iPad to view the menu builder on. Of course my son had to try it out first. I think he really just wanted to see if they had Minecraft on the iPad. Red Robin trains all team members on how to deal with dietary restrictions and modifications to their menus. The use special allergy alerts in different type so it is clear on every order. The alert notifies the kitchen that a special allergen kit is required for the order. The kit includes tools that are to be used on allergen orders only and are purple to clearly distinguish them from other kitchen tools. Awesome! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Family Life, Food Allergies, Food Finds, Orange County Tagged With: Eating out, food allergies, orange county, Red Robin

December Loves

December 19, 2013 by Sharon Garofalow 2 Comments

Sorry for the terrible iPhone pic, but we tried out a new restaurant a few weeks ago and it was AMAZING! If you are in Orange County and haven’t tried Pizzeria Mozza yet, you HAVE to. It was phenomenal. We tried a bunch of different things and all of it was perfection. And this cocktail, the Holiday Garland I think it was called, was sensational! A spiced cranberry reduction with bourbon and a cranberry gelee garnish. FTW! I had 3 of them! 3!! I never have three cocktails when I’m out. And I was able to walk myself out so they may have been light on the liquor. Or my belly was THAT full of delicious yumminess. We also spotted a celeb chef eating there. That is always a good sign.

Kristin and I attended a party thrown by Microsoft hosted by Erica of P.S. I Made This to showcase holiday gift DIYS that can be done with their products. We got to take home these awesome plastic ornaments that were printed on a 3D printer! (image via Getty Images for Microsoft)

We also got to create our own wrapping paper. Using the Fresh Paint program, Kristin drew a Christmas tree pattern and then it was printed out for her! SO cool! I’m dying to play with Fresh Paint some more.

It is rare that a company sends out a thank you note after working with you on a project. It makes sense, you sometimes are working with a PR company and not the actual brand. And some of their campaigns include a huge number of bloggers. But I got this thank you note from Chinet (remember this post?) and thought it was super cool. Not only was the message very nice but it was personalized with the name of my blog right on the front. I thought it was a really nice touch.

You all know that I love U.S. President’s right? I saw a girl wearing this sweatshirt when we were at Disneyland and I almost stopped her to ask her where it was from. I googled it once we got home and found out it was from Forever 21 (says no longer available but they have this version too)! Sold! It’s my fave.

I can’t wait to use this cake topper from Little Cat Design Co. available at Sweet and Saucy Shop! My youngest is turning 5 a few days after Christmas and this will be coolin’ out on top of his cake. They come in a bunch of colors and phrases and if you live in Orange County, you can order over the phone/email and then pick it up in one of their stores (I went to the Newport Beach location). That way you save on shipping AND since you are in the bakery, you might as well pick yourself up some delightful treats.

What did you love this month?

Filed Under: Blogger Meet Ups, Fashion, Lifestyle, Orange County, Party Planning, Things I Love Tagged With: birthdays, blogger events, cocktails, diy, Eating out, fashion, Microsoft, Mozza, orange county, Party Decor, Presidents

I’m Hosting a Party at C. Wonder and You’re Invited!

December 2, 2013 by Sharon Garofalow Leave a Comment

*UPDATE 12/4/13: C. Wonder has decided to increase the discount they are offering to 30% off your purchases and have added a raffle to win a $75 gift card to the store!! So cool! And if you aren’t in Orange County, click here to see where all the other events are being hosted so you can attend one in your area!

YOU GUYS!! I’m hosting a party at C. Wonder Fashion Island on Thursday, December 12, 2013 from 6 pm – 8 pm and I want to meet you! If you are local, please come say hello! C. Wonder is a great store for gifty items and cool clothes and accessories for your holiday party dressing. Store stylists will be on hand to help you make your purchases. C. Wonder will be offering 25% off of all purchases during the party and 10% of the total sold will be donated to a very special organization, Operation Shower.

Come for sweet treats and get some holiday shopping done at the same time! The party is open to the public and kids and husbands are more than welcome (although the party will not be geared towards them :)).

RSVP here by December 9, 2013!

C. Wonder Fashion Island . 347 Newport Center Dr. . Newport Beach . CA 92660

I hope to see you there!

Filed Under: Blogger Meet Ups, Fashion, Gift Ideas, Holidays, Lifestyle, Orange County Tagged With: C. Wonder, Events, fashion, Gift Ideas, holiday party, orange county

Disneyland is Pure Magic

November 29, 2013 by Sharon Garofalow 9 Comments

*My family and I were invited to preview the new holiday features at The Disneyland Resort on behalf of Savvy Sassy Moms. All opinions are mine. Be prepared, this post is long and features lots of reminiscing.

I grew up in Anaheim. Which means I got to go to Disneyland a lot. We had annual passes for many years and one of those years was the 30th year anniversary celebration in 1985. Every time you went through the gate you got something. It was usually a collectible pin, but you could also win tickets to Disneyland. My mom would take us every day after school to see what we would win (I mean, there were also cars, etc. that were up for grabs). I remember even going in the rain. Clearly, that is not ideal. You could say that Disneyland had lost its sparkle for me. And getting to go so often, on off-peak times, makes you a little bit reluctant to deal with the crowds. And then I had children. You know that you will end up at Disneyland at some point (and oh yeah, now there is also California Adventure which is super new to me since that was not around during my kid years). We waited until my oldest son was 4 before taking him the first time. I wanted to make sure he could really experience all of it. And, well, he wasn’t very expressive with his emotions and I felt like if I was going to spend the money, I need some high-pitched screaming or jazz hands at the very least.

So my almost five-year old had never been. When I was asked to cover the holiday preview at both parks for Savvy Sassy Moms (go read the full post over there where I give all the details on the holiday features) I started to get really excited. He would give me the child-like wonder I wanted to see. So I kept the trip a surprise and told them the morning of. We would have two-day park hopper passes and get to stay a night at the Disneyland Hotel. The only HUGE bummer was that my husband was in Australia on business so he couldn’t experience it with us! I texted him pictures constantly though. And my mom came with me which was huge. Not only is she a HUGE help to me, it was also fun going back to a place I had been so many times with her.

The boys couldn’t have been more excited! We stopped by the hotel to drop off our bags before heading to the parks. I know that I have been to the hotel before (back in college I think?) but what I found was a really nicely done hotel. While it had hidden Mickeys and character features, it didn’t feel child-like. The colors were great, the materials were nice and I really liked it. And we hadn’t even seen the room yet! We decided to hit the parks and sneak back later to change in to pants for the evening.

We headed straight to Cars Land and started riding the rides. The boys were in heaven. And since it was a Thursday, the crowds were not that bad. We rode three rides and then made our way to Radiator Springs Racers.

Where the line was quite long. The boys were really good for about 20 minutes but then I started hearing, “Mommy, I want to go home.” What? No. But they persevered and when we finally got to ride it. O loved it. M said he really liked it but finally changed his mind to say it was scary. But that was their first fast ride and it made me remember how much fun the rides at Disneyland are. Evey where you look, whether you are waiting in line to actually on the ride, the details are just amazing. And the staff is incredible. They are so friendly, full of amazing information and really do make your time in the parks enjoyable.

Oh yeah and we might have gotten THE RADDEST THING EVER along with my “media” pass. When we checked in for the blogger event we were given coupons for a few of the rides. With these, we could walk in the exit and walk RIGHT ON THE RIDE! Boom.

I was super excited to find out that one such pass could be used on It’s a Small World, my favorite ride. You guys! I just really love that ride! From the way the building looks to the all the colors and happiness on the inside, I just really freaking love it. I was excited to share it with the kids too.

The coolest part is that they have given it a holiday make-over. In almost every area, there are holiday decorations that go along with the country represented. There are carols playing and everything seem even more joyous than usual. It was so rad to watch the kid’s faces. I suddenly realized that I had a smile on my face for the entire ride. What a nerd. [Read more…]