Search Results for: blog one pot cooking a new cook book

Save Money by Planning Ahead

Dear overachiever mom who attached stuffed animals to the Valentine’s Day cards your kid passed out at school last week:  I don’t hate you.  Never mind, that all my 8-year-old Scotch-taped to her Snoopy Love Day cards were small packages of Skittles.  Not six-inch plush puppies.  I’m sure you never intended to make the rest of us parents feel like inadequate, uninspired, cheap losers. Listen, I considered flexing my creative muscle and having my kid attach snack-sized bags of peanuts to the cards.  Get it?  Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy… the Peanuts gang?  Of course, sending nuts to school in this … Continue reading →

Turning the Corner in 2013

I’d love a life makeover in 2013. Where do I sign-up for that? Actually, I’d settle for a personal chef, chauffeur and housekeeper, paid for by an anonymous donor. Then again, what busy parent wouldn’t treasure professional help to get through the chaos of everyday life? Unless some miracle takes place between now and the stroke of midnight I will likely be tackling the same chores I do every.single.day. throughout 2013. That’s the cold slap of reality. Fortunately, I’m not letting it get me down.  Rather, I am planning to turn the corner in 2013 and help myself lighten the … Continue reading →

The Easy Way to Cook from Scratch

Cooking from scratch is a great way to reduce your overall food bill. Eating out can cost three or four times as much as cooking at home, on average. Faced with the reality of the savings, why don’t we all cook more and eat out less? Well, one of the main reasons is that the idea of cooking every meal at home when our lives are so busy can seem daunting. Guess what, though? Eating at home can actually be less time consuming than going out in many cases. Plus, if you follow the following advice, you will see that … Continue reading →

Winter Meal Planning

It feels like I am constantly running to the grocery store. If I’m lucky, I only go a couple of times during the week. But more often it ends up being three or four times that I visit. Now that it’s gotten colder and I am thinking ahead to the winter months, my goal is to eliminate unnecessary trips to the store. The only way I can really do that is to improve my meal planning skills. Last year I had this great idea of trying three new recipes every week. I was tired of cooking the same things over … Continue reading →

Eating at Sea

Poor Paula Deen. Actually, rich Paula Deen. The celebrity chef was already rolling in dough, but with her recent announcement that she’s become a paid spokesperson for the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, and its diabetes drug, Victoza, Deen’s bank account is getting fatter every day. Unfortunately, the same seems to be true for the butter-loving diabetic. Just days after she made headlines for finally revealing that she’s been living with Type 2 diabetes for the past three years, TMZ posted a photo of the Food Network star chowing down on a cheeseburger and French fries while on a week-long Caribbean … Continue reading →

Organize Yourself For a Successful Holiday Season

As the holiday season approaches, many home-based professionals will be trying to squeeze more and more things into their already packed days (and nights). With so much to do and so little time, it can be easy to become overwhelmed. The good news is that it is possible to have a productive and enjoyable holiday season without sacrificing your work, your family life, or your sanity. The bad news is that like almost anything else, in order to have a productive and enjoyable holiday season you will have to put in some effort up front. By taking some time to … Continue reading →

The Investment of Once a Month Cooking

The first time that you prepare an entire month of freezer meals, you may be surprised by the initial cost, the initial investment that it takes. There are extra costs to consider. I don’t want to discourage you from doing it, because once a month cooking can really pay off in the long run, both in time savings and eventually in the cost of food. But like anything else, there are areas of once a month cooking where you can spend more than less. There are a number a good once a month or freezer cooking books out there that … Continue reading →

No Time For Dinner Together

I really need to cook more. Hailey and I have such different schedules that it makes it hard for us to sit down to meals together during the week. I just don’t have the motivation to fix a full meal when it’s just me so I usually grab a sandwich. Hailey gets home close to 8pm and because I haven’t cooked dinner, she grabs a sandwich as well. This really isn’t good for either one of us. I’ve been doing a lot of research about how to make dinner work with different schedules. If I were younger I would just … Continue reading →

Easter Memories

Yesterday I enjoyed a wonderful Easter lunch with my mother and a great Easter dinner with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and others. As I ate my way through the day, I made a few connections between the things that I was eating and some stories from my family history. I have written these connections down in my family history notebook, so that some day I can share this “slice of family history” with my son. The first family history food story involves my mother’s meatballs and sauce. My mother served us meatballs and sauce for lunch. I knew that she … Continue reading →

Reducing Our Clutter

The war against clutter is one that we have to continually fight in our home. With five people living in one space, three of whom are under the age of 10, clutter just sort of finds its way into our home. Our recent renovations to make our home more energy efficient have put the clutter front and center. All of the extra items stored in the attic, the basement and the garage have recently been occupying our living space, making it very obvious as to how much stuff we own. This has been a great motivator for me. While we … Continue reading →