Congratulations Duke Blue Devils

No this is not a normal post for me but I could not resist! Congratulations to the Duke Blue Devils Men's Basketball Team for winning the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament!

This is Duke's ninth tournament title in 12 years and they were able to knock-off their arch-rival North Carolina quite handily in the final! Next up for Duke is the NCAA tournament on Friday in Charlotte, NC as a one seed against Hampton. Good luck and GO DUKE!

Cowboy Beans Recipe

This recipe is adapted from a recipe from About.com. For the original recipe please click here. This recipe is also free of the top 8 allergens!

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup barbeque sauce

2 tbsp molasses

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tbsp mustard

1 can pork 'n beans

1 can butter beans

2 cans kidney beans

Preparation:

Brown ground beef until browned. Add onion and cook until tender. Pour meat, onions and the rest of the ingredients into the crockpot. Cook on high for one hour then reduce to low heat and cook two to four hours.

Apple n Amos Giveaway and Discount Code

Our new giveaway comes from Apple n Amos etsy shop. Apple n Amos is the creation of Amos a stay at home mom to a three year old boy. Her shop carries items that she sews and adorable wooden toys.

The items she sews include:

Aprons- Pink Cherry Apron with Cookie Cutter and Spoon

Crayon Roll-Ups- Construction 16 Crayon Roll Up

Eco-Friendly Gift Wrap- Pretty in Pink Reusable Gift Wrap

Scribble Mats- Robot Scribble Snack Mats

Party Banner- Personalized Stripes n Butterflies

She also carries wooden toys and teethers. I love wooden toys because they are super durable for kids and safe. They are hand painted with nontoxic, water based wash and sealed with beeswax and olive oil. Her toys are perfect for playing and teaching your children.

Baker's Dozen Solid Wood Toy Set

Peek A Boo Rainbow Family

Solid Wood Fruit Set

Buy It! You can purchase these items at Apple n Amos store on etsy.

Win It! Apple n Amos has graciously offered this set of Rainbow Stacker Bowls.

This set of six bowls would be great for teaching colors, stacking or playing kitchen. This giveaway is open to the U.S. only and will close at 11:59 pm on Saturday, March 26th. The winner will be chosen by the Random Number Generator. Once I email the winner they will have 48 hours to respond with their comment information or I will select a new winner. Please leave a comment for each entry you complete.

Mandatory:

You MUST be a follower of Too Blessed to be Stressed through Google Friend Connect and visit ApplenAmos etsy store and tell me what item you like best at her store.

Additional Entries:

Follow ApplenAmos blog with Google Friend Connect

Heart ApplenAmos on etsy

Like ApplenAmos on Facebook and tell her Too Blessed to be Stressed sent you

Like Too Blessed to be Stressed on Facebook

Apple n Amos is also offering a discount code to my readers. To receive 10% off your order enter the discount code BLESSED10 at checkout.

Thanks to Apple n Amos for the giveaway and discount code.

Ana's Edibles Review and Giveaway

Ana's Edibles is an etsy shop that specializes in custom stickers and lables. They carry personalized stickers and labels for favor bags, onsie stickers, water bottle/juice box labels, waterproof labels and waterproof food allergy warning labels.

The allergy warning labels can be personalized to your child's allergy. They can be placed on cups, plates, bowls, lunch boxes, toys, backpacks or books to identify your child's allergy.

Their favor page stickers come in many different designs (this is my son's favorite because he is crazy for Toy Story) she carries many popular cartoon characters and childrens themes. They also carry themes for wedding favors.

Their onesie stickers are to be placed on shirts so that you can identify the age of the infant in the photo. The onesie stickers include twelve stickers, one for each month for the baby's first year.

All of their labels can be personalized based on your needs. Ana's Edibles provided me with two sets of waterproof labels for this review. The first set was the small waterproof label set. The first set was personalized for my son and lists his food allergies.

The second set is the waterproof Disney Princess labels personalized for my daughter and her food allergies. She loves the stickers and now calls her cups her "princess cups".

These labels are great, I have run them through the dishwasher and you would never be able to tell they have been washed. They are also perfect for identifying my children's sippy cups. Since all three kids have different allergies it is important to keep their cups seperate (and my younger two can never remember which cups are theirs).

In addition to the etsy shop, Ana's Edibles also has a cupcake bakery in Augusta, Georgia and they ship all over the United States and to APO addresses. The bakery sells cupcakes (which look delicious), cookies and cupcake wrappers.

Ana's Edibles will also ship their cupcake care packages to deployed military members.

Please note that their cupcakes are not vegan and produced in a bakery that utilizes nuts, but if you do not have a food allergy issue I would encourage you to check them out!

My opinion of Ana's Edibles is that their labels are great. They are definately waterproof and have really helped me keep my children's cups seperate. The allergy labels are great for identifying your child's belongings at church, day care, playgroup or even at home.

Buy It! You can purchase Ana's Edibles labels and stickers on etsy. You can purchase Ana's Edibles cupcakes and cookies on their website.

Win It! Ana's Edibles has graciously offered a set of labels (either small or large name labels like the ones I was given for review) for one of my followers (U.S. only) The giveaway will close at 11:59 pm on Thursday. March 24th. The winner will be selected by the random number generator and once notified by me will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

Mandatory:

You must be a follower of this blog and visit Ana's Edibles etsy shop and let me know in a comment which label is your favorite. (1 entry)

Extra Entries:

Heart Ana's Edibles on etsy (1 entry)

Like Ana's Edibles on Facebook (1 entry)

Like Too Blessed to be Stressed on Facebook (1 entry)

I was not compensated for this review, but Ana's Edibles provided me with two sets of labels to review.

The End of my Elminiation Diet

Yesterday I had my first slice of pizza and grilled cheese sandwich in about nine months. I was on a diet free of milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts and soy in order to continue feeding my son, who has severe allegies. I had very mixed emotions about eatting the pizza and grilled cheese. While I love these foods A LOT and really missed them I was torn. Eating them meant that I was officially done nursing my little guy. I had originally planned on nursing him until he was 18 months old, but he may have additional allergies and must go on a more restrictive diet and I think that being on the restrictive diet has already really messed with my body. The doctors also told me that nursing him any longer than 12 months would not make any difference in his allergies.

I nursed all three of my children past their first birthday, but T is the only child that I went on an elimination diet in order to nurse. When T was diagnosed at 4 months I was told that he either needed to go on hypoallergenic formula (which is super expensive and still contains milk and soy) or go on an elimination diet. I opted to go on the diet. The allergist tried to persuade me to put him on formula, but my husband and I decided that nursing him was the best for us (by the way we are no longer at that allergist, but that is a long story!).

I loved nursing all my children even with the difficult times (I only had one child that would take a bottle) and the elimination diet. Nursing gave me a bonding experience I could not have gotten any other way. Eating all the food that I ate yesterday meant I was done nursing and as much as I missed them I would have gone another year without if it would benefit his health, but we are done. And you know that pizza and sandwich did not taste as good as I anticipated.

Allergy Haven Review

I am happy to share with you another allergy-friendly product. Allergy Haven sells EpiPen carriers, medical ID wristbands, benadryl containers, nut allergy dog-tags, pantry stickers and safe lunch bags. Their site also includes tips for safe living with food allergies and links and rankings on food allergy friendly foods.

Allergy Haven provided me with the following items for review: EpiPen Carrier Tote, EpiPen Carrier Strap, nut allergy dog tag and a safe lunch bag.

EpiPen Carrier Tote- This tote fits two EpiPens, a single dose of benadryl and a puffer inhaler (we do not use inhalers so I could not try the inhaler out). This carrier is meant to be put inside a bag in order to locate your allergy supplies easier. Everything fit perfectly inside the carrier and I was able to find it inside of my purse!

EpiPen Carrier Strap- This carrier has Velcro straps that attach to a belt, backpack or purse. It also carries two EpiPens, a single dose benadryl and a puffer inhaler.

ECO Safe Snack Lunch Bag- This is a reusable bag for storing and transporting safe snacks. I thought that the bag was a really good size and could hold a lot.



Nut Allergy Dog Tag- This dog tag comes with a 24" ball chain and a 4" ball chain key chain. It can be worn around the neck, as a key chain or hooked on a bag. The front displays nut allergy and the back reads "in case of emergency administer Epi-pen and Benadryl. Call 911".

My overall opinion about Allergy Haven's products is that they are high quality and I love their patterns! They use very strong canvas for their carriers and lunch sacks and I think that everyone could find a pattern that they would love. Using their product allowed me to always have access to my Epi-Pen, instead of losing it at the bottom of my purse or diaper bag. I would definitely recommend their products to others.

Buy it! You can purchase Allergy Haven's products on their site. Click here to access their store. You can also purchase their carriers on Amazon.

Thanks to Allergy Haven for providing me with these products for review. I was not compensated for this review and the opinions expresses on this review are my own.

Coupon Giveaway Winner

The winner of the coupon giveaway is #36 the prickly pinecone. Congratulations and thanks to everyone that entered my giveaway! Make sure you come back later this week because I have another new exciting giveaway planned for my followers!