National Walk To Work Day is Today Join the Movement & You Could Win Dr Weil Shoes

Fitness

Details to win prizes below

It's National Walk to Work Day so there's no better time than now to tell you about an exciting walking fitness initiative that I'm taking part in and you can too. 

Celebrating Dr. Weil Integrative Footwear Ambassador 28-Day Walkabout

From Los Angeles where I live to New York from South Dakota to Austin, Texas I am among fifty @WeilBeing Walkabout Ambassadors participating in a 28-day commitment to walk at least 30 minutes daily. I've been walking for two weeks already in my new Rhythm Walking Shoes from Weil Integrative Footwear and have been loving every step!

Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D., Image from SpontaneousHappiness.com

These shoes were designed by Harvard-trained Dr. Andrew Weil, a nationally-regarded M.D. who founded and leads the prestigious Andrew Weil Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson which just happens to be the university where I received my undergraduate degree. 

As an Arizona Alumnus, I'll interject our school's cheer at this point. Bear Down Arizona, Bear Down Red and Blue, Go, Go Wildcats Go, Arizona Bear Down!

University of Arizona campus w/ Bear Down Gym on Left, Arizona.edu

As I was saying... These shoes are engineered with a built-in orthotic by Orthaheel and are stylish and comfortable for pounding the pavement without looking like orthopedic old lady shoes. Not only does Dr Weil's footwear for walking feature technology that will help restore your natural footprint, they are also free of animal products and are eco-friendly constructed of charcoal and bamboo. 

They're lightweight, too, but don't let that fool you. These doggies support the arches in your feet, putting a spring in your step and can make pain-free walking a reality even for those who don't walk simply because it hurts.

Rhythm Walking Shoes I Received from Dr Weil Integrative Footwear

Walk & WIN Prizes

You can get involved too in walking more. Not only that, you  have the chance to win some cool prizes. Just  like the national Dr. Weil Walkabout Campaign on Facebook and sign up virtually to make your own 28-day commitment to walking daily for at least a half hour.

The Rhythm Walking Shoe for women and men is priced at $119.95 and is available direct from Dr Weil Integrative Footwear at WeilBeing.com

FTC Disclosure: I was chosen as a Brand Ambassador for the 28-Day Dr. Weil Integrative Footwear Walkabout campaign. As a member of the brand influencer team and to facilitate my truthful review of the product I received a pair of Rhythm Walking Shoes and assorted branded swag. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one. 

Passover Easy Jewish Creative DIY Project Ideas

Crafts

Passover starts at sundown tomorrow night, this year running from April 6 - 14. For the past few days many Jewish children have been home from school. Of course they're excited that Passover is coming but they're probably a little stir crazy by now, too.

I made this Moses Costume for my son for his Pre-1 School Play...

 

The wonderful resources in this post -- all of which are free -- are meant both to keep the kids busy and to save your sanity so you can finish your Pesach spring cleaning and prepare your festive meal for the Seder.  There are some fun, very creative and easy projects here, something for everyone. 

Depending on the age and skill level of your child, he or she may be able to do some or all of these alone while others will require adult supervision. Of course, by all means, if you have time to take a break from your pre-holiday cleaning marathon you won't regret enjoying making a craft or two with your child while bonding.

Free Passover Download Printables

Image from Aish.com

Passover Symbols Coloring Page from Crayola

Paper Egyptian Pyramid Craft from DLTK

Giant Assortment of Ancient Egypt Coloring Pages from ColorWS

Beautiful Hagaddah Kids Coloring Pages from Aish

Find the Chometz and Find the Afikomen Mazes from Aish

Free Passover Arts & Craft Projects

Image from Kaboose.com

Cardboard Moses Craft from Kaboose

Decorative Seder Plate With Model Magic Clay from Crayola

  

Paper Bag Frog Puppet from DLTK 

Image from DLTK-Kids.com

Fanciful Ten Plagues Placards from Creative Jewish Mom

You might also like this MBE Passover Post
Martha Stewart's Matzah House Craft and other ideas for Passover

Passover holiday crafts that your child makes are not only fun and educational projects that create happy childhood memories, they also become heirlooms for the future.

What kinds of crafts did you make as a child and what projects were your favorites? Have you shared any of your childhood crafts will your own child? Also, feel free to leave links to other Passover projects you like as a comment below. 

Happy Passover 

to those Celebrating

FTC Disclosure: MommyBlogExpert did not receive any payment or other compensation associated with this post. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.

Elegant Passover Kosher Collection Dessert Recipes Chocolate Strawberry Tart and Lemon Meringue Pie

Celebrations

Tweet

I love Passover, also called Pesach, especially the customs and the food. Usually we have guests for both Seder dinners as well as other meals during the eight-day holiday when we retell the story of the mass exodus of the Jews out of Egypt so there's so much food to prepare. For me, it's a time to slow down and appreciate the true meaning behind the celebration and the importance of passing down traditions to my children.

Passover Chocolate Strawberry Tart I Baked

Passover is not only about matzah, the flat unleavened bread that we eat for the duration of the festival. It's also an opportunity to zone out in my kitchen with a blank canvas and some fresh ingredients -- especially California locally-grown produce -- to create some really beautiful and delicious masterpiece dishes for my family and guests to enjoy.

Though not a trained chef I'm passionate about cooking and baking. Particularly I enjoy the challenge of making Passover desserts that my guests and kids will talk about and beg for all year long. So when cookbook author and food artisan Pam Reiss sent me her first and second books for review Soup A Kosher Collection and Passover A Kosher Collection, respectively, I was excited to try her recipes out from the minute I leafed through both books right after they arrived.

I'll be spotlighting some fabulous Kosher Collection soups I've tested in a future post later this spring. Pesach starts on Friday night, though, so I'd like to share two amazing desserts from Pam's Passover cookbook that I made last year and plan to bake again for 2012.  The first recipe is titled simply Chocolate Tart but I think a better way to describe it would be to call it Dense, Luscious Chocolate Strawberry Tart. To make the Lemon Meringue Pie I actually used two different recipes from the Passover cookbook that I combined and transformed into my own original interpretation: Meyer Fresh Lemon Meringue Tart.

Passover A Kosher Collection and my Chocolate Tart

To make either of the tarts featured in this MBE post you'll need a tart  pan with a removable bottom and of course the beautifully-photographed cookbook Passover a Kosher Collection by Pam Reiss, $29.95 and available in the U.S. and Canada. Visit PamReiss.com for information about the author and like on Facebook to hear the latest from Pam.

The Chocolate Tart (page 177) can be made parve with margarine (non-dairy) or dairy with butter and uses matzah cake meal instead of flour as well as cocoa powder, sugar, salt, egg and water for the crust. While the crust is baking you prepare the filling using a double boiler to melt/mix semisweet chocolate, butter or margarine, sugar, instant coffee, and vanilla extract. Lastly, six eggs are blended in one at a time which I think is what makes this the best chocolate dessert of any kind year-round that I've ever tasted. To top it off, garnishing it with fresh, ripe sliced strawberries adds an elegant presentation and requires very little extra effort.

Passover Lemon Meringue Tart I created Combining Two of Pam's recipes

The Meyer Lemon Meringue Tart I made is actually a combination of two of Pam's recipes. For the crust I used the crust recipe for the Chocolate Tart leaving out the cocoa and adding a tiny bit more cake meal than it called for to compensate. Then while the empty crust baked I made Lemon Curd (page 187) using freshly squeezed lemon juice made from our backyard Meyer Lemons which I cooked on the stove top with sugar, margarine, and egg yolks. The next step is to pour the warm lemon curd filling into the baked crust, cover it and chill in the refrigerator. After that I followed the recipe for the meringue in Pam's Lemon Meringue Pie (page 180) recipe. This tart made a stunning entrance at dessert time and everyone loved it. In fact a few friends asked for the recipe to take home, one commenting that this was simply heavenly -- that was my sentiment exactly too.

Mommy Blog Expert secrets to perfect meringue

• Separate yolks carefully from the egg whites you'll be using
• Beat to stiff peaks, but don't over beat whites to avoid toughness
• When you browning meringue watch it so it doesn't burn
• To serve meringue pie run hot water over knife to heat it, then dry and slice

What are your favorite things to cook and bake for Passover? Please leave a comment and share your ideas.

FTC Disclosure: I received Passover A Kosher Collection to facilitate this test and review post. However, MommyBlogExpert did not receive any payment or other compensation associated with this post. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.