Then we were invited to a party where we had to wrap a gift for the kids for the big Santa gifting moment. We decided on token gifts – something simple (and cheap) and we were lucky as we spied a Piggy bank. Speaking of piggy banks one of my favorite companies, Sprig Toys, came up with an idea for Spriggy (dino-like) banks – which are too cute and I can’t wait to see them up close. Since my daughter carries coins all over we thought it would be ideal. So you can see why I thought this book would have been perfect. Written by a Certified Financial Planner (so she knows her numbers), Feeding Penny Pig is about a grandma (Mimi) who buys her granddaughter Laney a piggy bank – called Penny Pig for her birthday. Laney is taught to feed the pig with money she earns from doing chores etc.

Although very simplistic, the book does not go into too much detail, I liked it for that very same reason. The attention span to read a long book or a book sounding too preachy,tis one not down my my PreK kid’s alley. All we need to do is introduce the concept of saving early in our kid’s lives, and hopefully that seed will grow into being responsible financially )one can hope) as they grow themselves. In fact my daughter loved the book and still carries her piggy around, except her’s is called “Pinkie”!

Disclosure: I was provided the book for review purposes.

So with a hop, skip and jump (and a car and train) I got myself to New York for an event hosted by Ragu. I was psyched that Molly Ringwald was going to be there. Since I barely know any “stars” of today it was nice to hear a familiar name of “my” time. The event was short but pretty well put together.

We got to the the “loft” which was totally like a scene from a cooking show with even pasta covered walls. Molly Ringwald arrived and began to talk a little about her involvement with Ragu. Her passion for family and healthy eating was the main reason for her partnership. Since I have not seen her in years (I am so not a tabloid type) she just looked like before, only older (in a good way). The fact that the Ragu has a full serving of veggies in 1/2 cup of sauce is a good thing. Being a vegetarian (and having my kids grow up as vegetarians) I know just how important that is. Don’t forget to watch the video at the end!

There was also a launch of a new contest for a $5,000 scholarship for your healthy recipe and you can find more details at Recipe For A Good Start. We were then divided into 3 groups and attended different stations. I was thrilled to be on the red team because we started with lunch first. Ok, so I was hungry.

Lunch was made up of various totally yummy (and healthy) dishes made with Ragu, but more tasty than that was the fact that we were dining with Food Network star Marcela Valladolid (host of Mexican Made Easy). Did I mention that there were a few kids amongst us and they were clamoring for autographs? Do you think they actually watch Food Network?

Then we went on to get all the facts about nutrition and tips on sneaking in veggies at another station. Loads of ideas came into play and finally we headed to the last station to actually make the lasagna dish. What thrilled me the most, except for the fact that we used regular lasagna noodles and did not have to boil them, was that the dishes we prepared were going to a food kitchen for the homeless after.