Seattle....here I come!

You can imagine my shock and surprise when I received an email a few weeks ago from one of the PR firms I have worked with in the past, inviting me to Seattle to meet with the founder of Cinnabon, cook with her at her home, and learn about a new product Cinnabon sending to market soon. Although I've been blogging for almost two years, my main blog is a very niche blog where I write about my passion for and advocacy of breastfeeding (it's called Blacktating, and if you're interested in this topic, please join the discussion over there as well!) However, I am a foodie at heart and I love to eat, cook and especially bake! The thought of actually baking with the founder of Cinnabon in her home makes me giddy.

Anyway, I'll be going on this all-expenses paid excursion February 9-11. I'm going to get to meet some cool food bloggers and some other "mommy" bloggers and enjoy lots of good sweets. It's not exactly going to be the best thing for my diet, but I'll make the sacrifice cause that's how I roll. I know I'll be coming home with lots of goodies, and my guess is that I'll have some fun stuff to give away on the blog, too, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, if you've got a Cinnabon shop in your area, look out for a new design to debut soon. Follow me on Twitter @soulparents and @blacktating for updates from my trip!

Wordless Wednesday

Some Soul Parent Info

Okay,

This is a blog for parents and anyone else who could benefit from the information that we delve into. I was personally affected by the earthquake in Haiti last on January 12th. Although news turned out for the better for my closest family, I've still spent countless hours, like many others, worrying about ALL of the people who were lost.

This SoulParents movement is about being a better parent, yes. I would like to think that being a better parent would just make you a better person. So, whether you are a parent who plans to hold a canned-food drive or start a car wash, party, or a single artist who plans a performance to raise money for Haiti OR ANY OTHER CAUSE, you are, in my eyes, a SOUL PARENT! You are a guardian of goodness. A provider of love, peace, and.... you get the picture, right?

I have witnessed a greater awareness and care for the earthquake than I have ever seen for any other cause in my life. My friends and family were big into a couple of things in the last few years, believe me when I tell you. I think, as I grow older (Yea, I am 30 now!) and as a parent, I just want to be able to tell my son and students the rights and wrongs of man, but I truly hope to be able talk (in-depth) about how people really can and will fight the good fight when the time comes to it.

This post is a general information listing for anyone that would like to volunteer and donate for the sake of Haiti. I couldn't think of any way to put a post together for the tragedy other than something like this.

Volunteering opportunities - This great compilation from Tonic.com includes some big names and other organizations that you may not have heard of yet: Red Cross, National Nurses United, and Habitat for Humanity. There are about 10 more places listed, so please, please, please check out the website.

Donations are being accepted via all means, it seems...

www.unicefusa.org

www.WorldVision.org/HaitiDonate

www.doctorswithoutborders.org

TEXT

All the info below AND MORE can be found at http://www.mobilecommons.com/blog/ :

Update: Over $20 million dollars raised via mobile so far!

• Text HAITI to 25383 to donate $5 to International Rescue Committee

http://yele.org/text/

•Text HABITAT to 25383 to donate $10 to Habitat for Humanity

• Text CARE to 25383 to donate $10 to CARE

• Text OXFAM to 25383 to donate $10 to Oxfam International

• Text LIVE to 25383 to donate $10 to Americares

• Text AJWS to 25383 to donate $10 to American Jewish World Service

• Text Relief to 30644 to donate to Catholic Relief Services

Wordless Wednesday

Soul Parents Recipe: Easy Weekend Breakfast

Over the weekend, I like to enjoy a big breakfast. As you all know, it is really hard to cook anything good when you have to get your child ready, yourself ready, walk the dog, etc during the work week...

With that being said, on Saturday or Sunday, I roll up the sleeves early in the AM, like I do in the evenings, to come up with an interesting Egg meal...

Take some eggs and beat them....

Fry up some sausage

Fry some plantains... did I tell you that I really enjoy plantain?

My idea was to put together some sort of casserole/skillet type pan... I have never done a skillet like this before, but I think it turned out tasty...

I wish I had a good picture... sorry folks...

What I really want to ask is if you have a good egg combination recipe for me to try out one weekend?

Could you help me name this concoction?!?!

Post a comment

or

Send an email to us: soulparents@gmail.com

Wordless Wednesday

Soul Parents Recipe: Marinades from "Be Organic"

A few weeks ago, I posted a recipe for Salmon that used a well-known company that I have no affiliation with to marinade and prepare the meal.

In response to the article, I was approached to review some other, lesser known, marinades. First off, I am a fan of small business owners and I was a small business owner some years ago...

That being said, I ventured to try out what turned out to be a tasty, tasty marinade from a crew called Be Organic... (youtube and another article too!) Their story is pretty impressive! And that is to put it mildly!! I haven't had a chance to sit and chat with them, but I just think that what they are doing is really, really dope!

I have said it before, but here it goes again, "I aint no chef, I just cook a lot." The marinade made it easy for me to make my chicken burst with flavor! I gotta keep it real, the first time that I used it, it was on lamb and it was cool, but I wanted to have more to say than, "its, cool." Our fridge is really cold and I think I messed up by trying to use nearly frozen chunks of marinade on the meat without really rubbing it in. So I figured something out... The marinade was handed to me at room temperature and wet looking, so I probably should have it sit with whatever meat I choose at room while the sauce is at room temp and wet looking. (duh!)

Before After

Below, you will see the process I took to make a meal for my Soul Family...

1st, you should marinade then grill your meat

marinade

then grill

Make some side dishes like Black Beans or plaintains, and some rice.

Here are two finished products...

Lamb Chicken

Steps:

1. Marinade and grill. Use your George Foreman or similar equipment. If you are using chicken breasts, score it (I think that is what its called) and let the marinade sit in the slices in the refrigerator.

2. Fry up some sides... Plantain goes well with this (or any) meal! (Ayiti, stand up!!)

3. Open a can of Black Beans, and put it on the stove. You can cut some onion and green peppers and start off your pot with about a tablespoon of oil. Coat the onion and peppers, then pour your can of black beans in it. They usually have enough salt for me, but if you want to add some, go ahead.

4. Boil some rice. Add some flavor to the rice by using a packet of Goya seasoning. I would link the name, but you know the deal, right?

Anyhow, that was just a quick weekday recipe that you could try out. The least you could do, is check out the folks from Be Organic at their websites, here and here!! Oh yeah, check them out on blog talk radio and tell them about this post!