MAKING FAMILY DINNER HOUR POSSIBLE!

A QUICK FIX...A MUFFIN MIX

2012-02-14T19:54:00.000-08:00

Although, you can get some screaming deals on box muffin mixes when they go on sale, they are not as cost effective as homemade. Some of you may be saying that buying the flour, sugar etc. is more expensive than a box mix. It may be initially but you will get so many more mixes from a few staples than you can ever imagine. Most of the ingredients will already be in your pantry.

Commercial dry mixes use dehydrated shortenings, eggs, butter and preservatives. We prefer fresh ingredients when at all possible. Like most of you, we have very little knowledge about the additives and preservatives that are added to store bought mixes. Yikes, we can’t even pronounce their names. We do know that we have good reason to be concerned about some additives and preservatives and that consumption of too many of them might be harmful to our bodies.

Having the dry ingredients mixed together a head of time will give you the convenience of a store box mix along with the satisfaction of being homemade. After making your own mix a few times, it will become second nature to you. You’ll be able to create fresh, warm muffins in no time at all.

Once you find a muffin recipe that you love and learn how easy it is to make substitutions, you’ll never be content with anything but the real deal.

The Basic Muffin Mix

9 cups of white flour
1 tbsp salt
2 ½ cups sugar
1 tbsp baking soda
3 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 ¼ cups dry buttermilk or powdered instant milk

Mix the dry ingredients together by using a wire whisk. Store in an air tight container.

To bake a dozen muffins:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Measure out 2 ¾ cups of the Basic Muffin Mix into a large bowl. In a small bowl, beat 2 eggs, 1 cup of water, ½ cup of canola oil or melted butter, 1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla (try Mexican vanilla). Add the wet ingredients to the dry mix. The batter will be lumpy (that’s okay, it’s suppose to be). Do not over mix. Fill each muffin tin ¾ of the way full. Bake for 16 – 18 minutes.

In the following recipes, as indicated, add or substitute the ingredients to the Basic Muffin Mix to create variations.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

1 small package instant lemon pudding
1 tbsp poppy seeds
2 eggs
Substitute ½ cup of the water with lemon juice

Pumpkin Muffins

1 cup pumpkin (canned)
½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
½ cup mini choc chips

Sour Cream Muffins

Substitute ½ cup of water with ½ cup of sour cream

Chocolate Muffins

¼ cup of cocoa
½ cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips

Carrot Muffins

1 cup grated carrots
½ cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg

Zucchini Muffins

1 cup grated zucchini
½ cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg

For other variations, add either ½ cup of dried or fresh fruit, such as blueberries, apricots or try adding mashed bananas to the Basic Muffin Mix.

This is just a smart way to use a basic recipe. The sky's the limit! Coming up with new variations is fun for the whole family. Muffins don't cost much to make and they sure can add to a breakfast meal or brunch. They also make a great snack. Do you have a favorite basic mix that you would share with us? We would love to hear from you. When we share recipes and tips it helps us all to keep the family coming to the dinner table.

Tips to Make Kitchen Life Easier!

2012-02-14T06:27:00.000-08:00

Today we have a random list of tips you can use to make your kitchen life easier--collected over the years from places such as Real Simple Magazine, Good House Keeping Magazine, clever neighbors and wonderful aunts and grandmas. It's all about working smarter, and not harder:

1. When using a double boiler, add 3 or 4 marbles to the water. They'll rattle when the water gets low. This idea could've save us from ruining a couple really nice double boilers a few years ago!

2. You can make healthier crisp taco shells by draping flour tortillas over the bars of an oven rack so they form inverted U-shapes. Just bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until they harden. Remove them gently with tongs.

3. A couple cool things you can do with olive oil: a) Unstick a stuck zipper. Run an olive oil-dabbed cotton swab up and down the zipper teeth and voila! Works like new again. b) Use it instead of shaving cream for a closer shave! (Who'd of thought?)

4. HOT water will keep syrup or other viscous substances (honey, molasses, etc.) from sticking to the measuring spoons and cups. Run them under HOT water first, let linger in the water a moment to bring their temperature up (so they stay warm for a few seconds) and what you're measuring will slide off easily.

5. A sturdy gift box (either lid or bottom) makes a super cupcake transporter. Turn the container upside down and slice X's into it. Measure using your cupcake, so the space the X's create when pressed down will nicely accommodate the cupcake. Measure also so that each cupcake has enough room around it (to not touch another cupcake).

Life gets hectic and our energy is precious, so it's nice to know how to do things in a quicker and easier way. Do YOU have a tip you use that makes kitchen life easier? Please share--we love hearing from you. In the meantime, here's to family dinner made easier as kitchen life is made easier as well!

THE UN-KNOWN SNEAKY MOM

2012-02-13T07:02:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, even the freshest of vegetables can be under appreciated. I have even known a few individuals who actually loath veggies. I, for one, am an advocate of them. I believe that any vegetable treated with a little respect and the correct cooking technique can give a great deal of pleasure to one’s palate and let’s not forget that they are “good for you!”

A few years ago, I realized that a new trend was in progress. Cookbooks were offering strategies on how to sneak vegetables into our children’s menu. These books began to surface in every cookbook aisle. Even though at first I concluded that this trickery might be the wrong thing to do, I was able to rationalize that while this practice might be a little underhanded it would all be done in the name of good health. After much deliberation, I thought the cover up was worth a try. If I could fool my husband, I could fool anyone.

It was late January, if memory serves me right, I took some squash, cauliflower and a green pepper and made sure I didn’t overcook them. Then when no one was looking, I blended them so that there was not a trace of what they actually were. Again making sure no one was looking; I quickly cast them into a pan along with my favorite spaghetti sauce. I made sure the sauce was thoroughly heated and then knowing it was too late to turn back, I put the undisclosed sauce on top of the cooked pasta.

I had to admit to myself the sauce looked beautiful! I wondered if he would be able to detect what I had done. I waited a minute, but it seemed like forever while he readied himself for his meal. In what seemed like slow motion, he took his first unsuspecting bite, chewed, swallowed, smiled and took a second bite. I waited as he took yet another bite wondering if there might be an aftertaste. He continued to consume the secret sauce, happily and contented. Wahla! It had worked! It actually worked, I duped him and he was none the wiser.

I have to confess that I am the world’s worse liar and I can’t for the life of me play a practical joke. I always crack. This time was no exception, it was only a matter of time, and soon my conscience began flaring again. I felt like I had been so deceitful. I couldn’t take it any longer, so I spilled the beans. Yes, I broke down and confessed! I told him in detail how I had deceived him. He gave me a scowl but kept eating.

Then a strange thing happened. Instead of crying and vowing not to ever do it again, I began giggling like a little girl, my mind already plotting my next deceitful episode of hiding even more vegetables into my hopefully unsuspecting husband’s food supply. It wasn’t long before I graduated from spaghetti sauce to secret meat loaf and then to an even stranger deception – beans in his brownies!

I’ll admit it, it’s like an addiction. The process becomes uncontrollable. I have even begun to wonder how I might sneak sauerkraut into his food. Please don’t judge me too harshly for this. Remember that, although honesty is the best policy, I do this all for a greater good “his health!” And, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

Secret Meat Loaf

Combine using your hands, in a large bowl these ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef
¼ lb Italian sausage
½ cup Italian dried bread crumbs
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 small can tomato paste
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
½ cup shredded carrots
½ grated potato
¼ c finely chopped green pepper
1/8 medium onion

Shape the meat on a piece of waxed paper into a 9’X 13’ rectangle.
Sauté the carrots, green pepper, potato and onion in 1 Tablespoon of olive oil for 3 minutes. Spread this onto the meatloaf that has been shaped into a flat rectangle. Roll the meatloaf around in the vegetable mixture. Garnish the top the meatloaf with 3 Tablespoons of Ketchup and 1 Tablespoon dried parsley.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
REMEMBER MUM'S THE WORD! WERE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.

Getting Organized for Next Week

2012-02-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

Don't you love Saturdays? This is the day to get prepared and organized for the coming week. And usually we NEED this time for just that.

Today (Saturday) we're going to do a little house cleaning (change and wash bed linens, iron a few shirts, do some dusting and vacuuming, and clean out the fridge) and then do some shopping. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? But with Jeanne's "Give Me 20 Minutes" approach (see yesterday's post), it'll pretty much get done.

Of all on the above list, we think one of the most important chores is cleaning out the fridge. Because we need to do some grocery shopping, we need to know what we already have. And the only way to accurately know this is to clean out the fridge. Too many times we just run to the store and hope we remember what we need. And too many times we come home with stuff we already have plenty of! (It was hiding behind the leftovers on the 2nd shelf or buried under slimy produce in the crisper drawer, or...) You know the story.

So later today we'll empty out the fridge--wiping down the walls, shelves, drawers, etc. with our favorite disinfectant spray that we make:

1 quart water
25 drops grapefruit seed extract
10 drops peppermint essential oil
3-5 drops eucalyptus essential oil

There's no science to this concoction, so make it to please your nose (you'll adjust the amounts of essential oils). Just be sure to use the grapefruit seed extract--it's much more powerful than Clorox or other bleach and is non-toxic. Alice puts this extract in her morning green smoothies, that's how safe it is.

Then we go through everything we pulled out, hunting for the moldy, slimy, dead stuff (and dang, there usually is some). We combine dibs and dabs of this and that to save space. We toss things that have proven they just aren't used enough to merit space (the 9 month old Wasabi sauce is a good example). Then we reload the fridge, grouping and storing like items together. All leftovers go in one place, all dairy is grouped together and goes in one place, and so on. We think fridges serve us better if there's rhyme and reason as to how they're stocked.

NOW we can see what it is we are out of, what we have plenty of, and plan accordingly. The shopping goes so much easier and being organized feels so good! Do you have tips on how to clean or organize the fridge? We'd love to hear them, so please share. Meanwhile, here's to family dinner made easy as we get the 'ol fridge cleaned out and ready for a new week!

GIVE YOURSELF 20 MINUTES

2012-02-10T18:17:00.000-08:00

There was a time not many generations ago that at the end of the day a woman could look back and see the fruits of her labors. If it was laundry day, that was the task at hand, if it was ironing day that's what she did. At the end of the day, she could look back and feel a sense of accomplishment.

We now live in a day when you are lucky to get the laundry even close to being done. Ironing is often a thing of the past and dinner preparation is often a daunting task. Our days are filled with work schedules, errands, children's activities, appointments and hundreds of other projects. By the end of the day, I have heard women say "I didn't get one thing done." In reality they were busy as beavers all day long. Evening comes and they still have to help children with homework and other activities. The days come and go with many people feeling that they aren't accomplishing anything. On top of that, we have also been told that we need to take time for ourselves (big sigh!). Good luck with that one!

Let me tell you a story of how Jeanne learned the value of 20 minutes.

When she was a young mother of five children, she was busy all day long caring for her babies. She was also experiencing some major health problems. And to make matters worse, she lived in a country far away from family. She was private about her health issues and, frankly, only a couple of people knew she had any problems at all.

Let me share with you how she learned to use and appreciate 20 minutes.... It started with a timer that she would set for 20 minutes. In that 20 minutes she would do as much as possible, such as, cleaning a bedroom or bathroom. When the timer rang, she would lie down for a 10 to 20 minute break. This was repeated several times during the day. What did she learn from this experience? You can accomplish much more in 20 minutes than you might think.

Using a timer can also help children work a little faster. Trying to beat the timer can be kind of fun. If you have job charts for children, that is a great first step. But make sure they know how to accomplish the task and what is expected of them. For instance, our bathroom charts had "Shake the carpets ... Outside." Sure, it sounds funny, but more than once we have had carpets shaken in the bathroom

Our thought today is because we live in such a busy, on-the-road society maybe the 20 minute plan will help you. Don't say "I can't do that because I only have 20 minutes." Instead, ask yourself what one thing can I do in 20 minutes and get it done. Then at the end of the day, when you still have much to do you can look back and say "I accomplished a lot in the small amount of time I had." These 20 minute intervals can create a different frame of mind about housework. And by the way, you can even have dinner on the table if you take that first 20 minutes and make a crock pot dinner.

You may have an even better plan and we would love to hear from you. What works for you? After all we are all in this together.

Bake a Batch of Cookies FAST!

2012-02-09T07:26:00.000-08:00

We're always asking each other, "Do you think they know about this?" "Do you think they know about that?" "Do you think they'd be interested in the other?" If we come to the conclusion that even a handful of you would like to know about a certain something, then we go for it.

Such is the case with today's topic: A FAST Way to Bake a Batch of Cookies. While we understand that probably lots of you know about this, we're thinking there may be a few of you younger moms out there that don't know this. So here goes:

When you're in a pinch, time-wise, but you need or just want some fresh cookies, mix up your dough and spread it out on a well greased jelly roll pan (nothing more than a cookie sheet of sorts, with an edge all around). You end up with cookie BARS. Folks naturally do this with a BAR recipe, but fact is, it can be done with any cookie recipe.

Plop the entire glob of dough onto the middle of the sheet and use wetted fingers to spread it evenly out to the edges. Then just bake for maybe 1 or 2 minutes longer than your recipe calls for, to compensate for the increased volume on the pan.

When you remove it from the oven, and the dough is still warm, use your pizza cutter or your large kitchen knife to cut it into desired sizes and shapes. Allow the cookies to cool slightly before removing from pan to avoid crumbling (don't let cookies completely cool or they'll stick to the pan--ask us how we know...).

And speaking of sizes and shapes, Alice cuts VERY small cookies when she's making treats for the nursery-aged children she teaches on Sunday. And that's one of the nice features about baking cookies this way--teeny tiny cookie balls would easily over-bake and end up like little rocks. This way you can have small portions that are moist and chewy all around.

She also likes to slice the dough at an angle to get diamond cookies. Then she drizzles some thinned chocolate icing over them, and oh my--fancy smancy--her family is delighted when they get this treat! And once she cut the baked dough with her biscuit cutter so she'd have evenly sized rounds. She put the little triangley pieces that were left over, in her blender and made cookie crumbs. She then put those in a zippered freezer bag and saved them for later use as toppings on ice cream, fruit crisps, etc. Alice says, "I"ll do this again--it worked well."

We figure if we use a cookie recipe that makes 3 dozen cookies, baking the dough all at once saves around 15 minutes--maybe more. (You figure 7-8 minutes per batch to bake, and we baked all three batches at once.) Sure, 15 minutes isn't a ton of time, but those little dibs and dabs of time add up throughout a day, so it's smart to save where we can. (Also, think of the energy saved as well.) Now do YOU have cookie-making time-saving tips you can share? Please pass on your wisdom and experience, and until next time, here's to family dinner made easy as we save a little time in the cookie-making department!

KEEPING HYDRATED AND THE WINNERS OF THE COOK'N SOFTWARE

2012-02-08T07:46:00.000-08:00

Feeling dizzy or lightheaded? You’re probably dehydrated! According to some experts on the subject, however, the fact that you’re thirsty may mean you are already experiencing signs of dehydration.

For as long as we can remember, it’s been suggested that we should drink at least 8 glasses of water per day. Regardless of how much water we consume in a day, one thing is for sure – water is essential. People have been known to survive without food for several weeks, but we humans can only live without water a matter of days. Did you know that our bodies are 2/3 water?

Ever notice that when you have “cotton mouth” or you’re feeling parched, your body craves water? Nothing quenches thirst better. It’s refreshing and, get this, it has no calories.

Sports drinks do have their place. If you are exerting a lot of energy, energy drinks replenish salt and electrolytes while adding a boost of glucose. This means, of course, they are packed with sugar. They have their place but they don’t replace good ol’ water!

Whether you prefer water straight from the faucet, bottled from a spring or purified, drinking plenty of water, particularly during the summer months, is a smart thing to do

We are sending you this reminder to drink plenty of water because we know how important it is to stay hydrated and we also know how difficult it is to remember to drink water throughout the day. Drinking water before a meal can actually keep you from eating to much. Something we are trying to remember as well as the importance of drinking that recommended 8 glasses.

Let's remember to drink our water and remind our family to do the same. And as a side note: nothing taste better with dinner than a cool glass of water! Happy Hydrating!

Our winners for the Cook'n Software are Jim Erlandson and Marcia McFarlene. Congratulations to both of you.

A Smart Tip for Getting Dinner On

2012-02-07T07:02:00.000-08:00

Do you sometimes feel like you're spread thinner than a drink of water? We do. Time is just racing by--where the heck did January go? And next week we'll be half through February, for crying out loud.

So with this TIME thing on our minds, we'd like to share a super smart tip for saving a little time (and a little money) in the getting-dinner-on department. It has to do with the shopping for dinners:

When getting your cuts of meat, ask your butcher for help. He'll pick out the best cuts of this and that. He'll let you in on when he marks things down and where he sits them in his meat cases. And he'll introduce you to things you may not have noticed he has available. For instance, did you know you can buy fresh chicken cordon bleu (with asparagus tucked inside), from your meat department? There's a time-saver for you. He'll even slice whatever you need sliced (another subtle time-saver for when you're home prepping your meal).

It occurred to us that what we always say at the end of this blog, "We're all in this together!" really IS true. In other words, we're not alone in our efforts to provide good meals each evening. We have the help of others, if only we'll ask for it.

And not just help from your butcher is available, but your produce manager wants to make life easier for you as well. Ours really understands the challenge we're facing what with the high cost of food now. So when the box of red-banded bananas is empty (the markdowns), he'll take a minute and comb through the rest of the bananas and find us more he can band for us. It's true they're on the ripe side, but they're perfect for banana bread, smoothies, mixing into yogurt, etc. And if he can't find any that seem a little too ripe, he'll band some for us anyway! So this thoughtful man saves us a little $ at the checkout stand. It's small things like this that make a big difference over the long haul, and make what we're trying to do a bit easier.

So that's today's tip: Let's not be afraid to ask for help. And isn't it wonderful when readers help each other--sharing their good recipes, sharing easy ways to cook this or that, or sharing quick methods to get the meal to the table? So that said, again we conclude with asking YOU for help: "What are some time-saving tips YOU have that can help us get the meal on quicker and easier?" We're all in this together you know! Until next time then, here's to family dinner made easy as we ask for help and generously share OUR tips and ideas!

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

2012-02-06T07:45:00.000-08:00

Most of you have heard the saying "you are what you eat." We believe this is a true statement. Processed foods are full of preservatives that are hard to digest and, frankly, we don't know all the repercussions of eating processed foods long term. We do know that processed foods can lead to poor health and we are learning more about disease-causing products and additives.

We also know that it is almost impossible to stay completely away from all the foods that are tagged "bad for you." We live in a fast-paced world and we can't be thinking about food every minute of the day. We are, however, true believers that just one change can make a difference and that every time we make a better food choice we are helping our bodies. If, for instance, we decided today to drink more water and less soda, we have made a good choice. On the other hand, we may stop and pick up a hamburger today while on the run with errands. Let's try asking for a protein style burger wrapped in lettuce and if we have to have fries, let's make it a small order. Ideally it would be better to bring our own food from home.

We know from experience that over-indulging in unhealthy foods causes unhealthy food addictions and weight problems, both of which have a negative influence on our health.

It is not a crime to eat a piece of cake once in awhile, but it becomes a problem if we are craving it everyday. Training the mind to think about what's being eaten, and why it's being eaten is an ongoing process.

We believe one of the best steps we can take is to write down everything that goes into our mouths each day and what the portion size was. This helps us see and understand eating patterns. We think we know, but it is such a revelation when everything is written down. Again, we live in a real world and to think we or our children are never going to indulge in some unhealthy eating is not realistic for most people. So our advice is to use moderation, look for some healthy alternatives and take time to enjoy your food.

And when we slip, we can start over. For instance, Jeanne over-indulged during the Super Bowl yesterday and doesn't feel so great today. She knew better but did it anyway. Today she will have a mixed green salad with a light salad dressing, baked salmon and brown rice. This dinner will take about 10 minutes to make if the rice is done ahead of time.

As you think about your food choices and study out some easy alternatives, you will find little by little your food choices will change. So, enjoy thinking about what you can feed your body that will help keep it strong, keep your energy levels up, and keep a smile on your face!

Look for easy, healthy ideas that will keep the family coming to the dinner table--remember, we are all in this together.

SAVE $$--Shop Restaurant Supply Stores

2012-02-04T06:27:00.000-08:00

We have a hot tip for you today: If you want to save money when it comes to purchases for your kitchen and dinner table, consider the restaurant supply store. You young mommas that are on a tight budget, but want to collect better kitchen things and set a pretty table...this is your resource! Here's how we discovered this:

For the last few weeks part of our routine for the new cooking magazine, Cook'n, has been outfitting our test kitchen. We've needed tools, appliances, cookware, bakeware, gadgets, and serving pieces. There are some wonderful kitchen shops in our area--Williams and Sonoma, Spoons & Spice, and Sur la Table. And then there's Bed, Bath & Beyond, along with Target and other "big box" outfitters. But hands-down, we found our best quality and variety, at the best price, at restaurant supply stores.

Check your local listings to see what's available in your area, but do consider an exploratory jaunt into this amazing world that caters to cooking and baking. Here's where you'll find the best dish cloths, towels, and hot pads. This stuff is pretty and built to last. Here's where you'll find commercial-strength utensils, food storage items, glassware, and so on--again, at really affordable prices. For instance, we paid over $6 for a fairly small count of cut parchment paper at a kitchen specialty store (name withheld to protect the guilty), but at Restaurant & Store Equipment (230 West 700 South, Salt Lake City) we found packs of 100 sheets for $2.87!

So far (we're still exploring), our favorite supply store is Standard Restaurant Supply (3500 South West Temple, Salt Lake City). And if you live in or near Denver or Lakewood, CO; Mesa, Tucson, or Phoenix, AZ; Boise, ID; Alburquerque, NM; or Las Vegas, NV, then you're in luck--you have a Standard store in your back yard.

We're headed there today--they have Fiesta Ware and rimmed bright white place settings at killer prices. (Alice needs white cereal bowls and some cute sturdy goblets.) And we need heavy-duty stainless steel spatulas, a pancake turner, more measuring cups and spoons, and durable SHARP paring knives for the test kitchen. And our amazing photographer, Kaycee, needs industrial-strength shelving for all her props that are currently resting on the floor of our photo shoot room. (We found it--chrome shelving, 4 pieces, 24x48x72, on casters--regularly $187 for $109!)

So gotta cut it short and get shopping--but as always, we'd like to hear from YOU. Anyone out there shopping at a restaurant supply store? What's been your experience? And until next time, here's to family dinner made easy as we save a grundle of money at one of the best resources out there--the restaurant supply store!

A Great Answer to "What's for Dinner?"!

2012-02-03T03:44:00.000-08:00

A few years ago we ran across a brilliant little cookbook/meal planner, What's for Dinner?, by Jana Schofield. We like it so much that we thought you ought to know about it. It contains 30 weeks of menus with easy, practical recipes. Most of her recipes serve 6-8 people, but they can easily be halved or any leftovers can be made into your own TV dinners by using good freezer containers.

But it's not just the good recipes Jana offers, it's the meal-planning piece that makes this book such a treasure--her techniques have saved us hours each week in meal preparation and clean-up.We've found it only takes 2 to 3 hours to prepare 12-15 meals using her plan. Then down the road, instead of a sink full of pans and bowls facing us at each meal time, there are usually just the dishes we ate with. Here's her plan in a nutshell:

1. Look through the menus for the next 4 weeks and categorize by main ingredient (chicken, ground beef, beef, vegetarian, etc.).

2. Make sure you have enough ingredients for all of the dishes you'll be preparing. We like to go shopping the day before we cook so everything will be fresh.

3. Start browning enough ground beef for the recipes requiring it. While it is browning, prepare other meals calling for ground beef, such as meat loaf or meatballs. Chop enough onions, celery, etc. for all of the meals you are preparing, and set aside using as needed.

4. Put enough chicken breasts into a pot for all meals calling for cooked, cubed or shredded chicken. Fill with water and boil until done. Save the water and use for chicken broth or stock in soups, stir frys, etc. While chicken is cooking, prepare meals using whole chicken breasts. If you cannot prepare the entire recipe, at least prepare as much as you can and include accompaniments with it. For example: Malibu Chicken is best cooked fresh. However, you can prepare the individual chicken pieces and wrap in plastic wrap. Include ham and Swiss cheese slices in a separate bag and freeze along with the chicken in a freezer bag.

5. Buy roasts to use for soups, stews and beef dishes. Cut in pieces and divide into separate recipes.

6. [This is our suggestion:] If you prefer meatless or less-meat meals, then cook all beans and rice ahead of time. We like our pressure cooker for this job.

Jana realizes the above ideas may not work for everyone, so she factored that into her book by adding a section called "Looking Ahead" notes. These are throughout the book and give you ideas on preparing as much as possible per recipe, ahead of time. Throughout the book there's space to make notes when you modify a recipe (which we all do, so it's nice to have the space to do that). She concludes her advice with, "When adding a recipe in one of the note spaces provided, make sure you add it to the index so you can find it quickly the next time." Doesn't that make good sense? Another time-saver.

And we would conclude her advice with our own: "You might want to consider covering the pages of this book with clear contac paper to protect it, because this will be one heavily used book!" This spiral bound, 130 page gem sells for around $20 (tax and shipping included).

You might want to visit her website, www.whatsfordinner1.com, or drop her an email with any questions: hewhatsfordinner@hotmail.com. Jana's even so accessible that she included her phone number in the book: 801-773-3618. In the meantime, here's to family dinner made easy, as we draw on the expertise of other great cooks such as Jana Schofield!

And just for fun, here's her recipe for the previously mentioned Malibu Chicken (available, along with LOTS of other recipes, on her website):

MALIBU CHICKEN
1 cup water
6 slices ham
1 teaspoon chicken
6 slices Swiss cheese
bouillon salt and pepper to taste
6 boneless chicken breasts

Bring water to a boil in large skillet. Add bouillon and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Add chicken breasts and marinate for 15 minutes, turning frequently. Cook for about 20 minutes, turning every 10 minutes until no longer pink inside. Place a thin slice of ham and a slice of cheese on top of chicken. Cover and cook for another minute or until cheese starts to melt.

Presentation is 9/10s of Preparation!

2012-02-02T07:06:00.000-08:00

Do you remember learning that philosophy in your high school Home-Ec class? This was actually considered a RULE in Alice's Home-Ec classes at West Valley High School, Spokane, WA (rah!).

Her teacher spent a lot of time stressing that we eat with our eyes first, and then our mouths. Now that we're moms and grandmas with many thousands of meals under our belts, we know the truth of this philosophy. SO many of our plainest and simplest meals were enthusiastically received because we took the steps to present them well or in a fun fashion.

And speaking of FUN, we thought we'd toss out some ideas on unique and fun ways to serve up our food. You've probably noticed how your children get such a bang when you break from the routine, and serving food in unusual containers is a simple way to do this.

For instance, if you're serving tater tots as a side dish, why not serve them in a sheet of newspaper folded into a sailor's hat (some think it looks like a ship)--decorated or undecorated? This is just a take on how you get fish & chips in England--they serve the whole thing in a couple sheets of newspaper.

We've seen tiny orange jello salads actually served in the half cups of oranges that were left over after the juice was squeezed out of them. Pretty and clever. This picture shows another take on this idea--orange cranberry relish served in hollowed-out orange peel cups. Cool, don't you think?

Our ultra-creative Cook'n Magazine photographer, Kaycee, often uses pint canning jars for drinks, and over the years we've loved serving the morning's breakfast juice in the prettiest goblets we could find (from the thrift stores, of course).

And one of our ingenious neighbors served her cantaloupe chunks on toothpicks stuck into apples (turned upside down so each one would stand steady at each place setting).

You get the idea. Let's mix it up a bit--get creative and have fun with how we present our foods once in awhile. Do YOU have creative ideas for serving food? Please do share with us--variety can be the best spice in our cupboard! Until next time, here's to family dinner made easy as we jazz things up for the ones we love!

Another Way to Eat Vegetables ... Japanese Style

2012-02-01T06:27:00.000-08:00

Tempura is a lightly battered vegetable or seafood that is fried in oil. Fresh produce and seafood are a tempura, as you want the fresh flavors and the crunch.

The vegetables should be cut in uniform sizes, that way all vegetables cook evenly. They should also be washed, dried and then lightly battered. The tempura batter is almost transparent and very light.

This batter is surprisingly easy to make, consisting of flour, egg, salt, soda and ice cold seltzer water. The cold water makes for a crisp batter.

Tempura Batter

¾ cup flour
¼ teaspoon soda
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg (yolk)
13 ounces ice cold water

Mix all the above ingredients together with a fork. Make this just before you are ready to dip and fry.

How to fry:

Sesame, peanut and Canola oils work the best. It is best to fry only a few vegetables at a time. Crowding the pan will reduce the heat of the pan. It is also important to have some paper towels close by to drain off the excess oil before serving. Tempura should be served hot, so you have to keep things moving. Most vegetables are cooked in about 3 minutes and should be a nice golden brown color. If you are also going to fry shrimp or chicken, do so after you fry vegetables. The cooking time required if the meat chunks are small is still approximately 3 minutes.

Vegetables that are great cooked tempura style:

Onions

Cauliflower

Broccoli

Green beans

Sweet potatoes

Mushrooms

Dipping Sauce:

3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Few splashed of chili sauce

Making dinner exciting for the family is often trying new things. Let the kids help pick out the vegetables and prepare the ingredients. If you don't want to take the time to make the batter, buy it from the store. We hope this helps you on your quest for making dinner hour happen in your home.

Cloth Napkins a Nicety with Impact!

2012-01-31T06:56:00.000-08:00

First of all, thanks so much for your enthusiasm and well wishes regarding our new cooking magazine. We'll keep you posted as to exactly when it hits the stands, so stay tuned. But as we're waiting, please do take a look at yesterday's list of topics and see if you don't have a favorite recipe to submit. We'd love to try it out.

Yesterday we were in the test kitchen experimenting with doughnuts--maple bars, chocolate cake, and maple glazed raised. We discovered that the leftover doughnut dough made excellent cinnamon rolls! While it's lots of fun pouring through recipe books looking for "just the right recipe," we're certain it'll be much more fun pouring through YOUR recipes and giving THEM a try. So, let's work together and make this the best cooking magazine out there!

Now just a quick thought for today:

We know that paper towels and napkins are a real convenience and are here to stay. They sure have their place in our kitchens. But we'd like to suggest that once in awhile we use cloth napkins at the table. They are a unique nicety today, and they silently tell the family "You are special and I'm glad to go to the extra effort to make things extra nice for you."

We've never gone to much expense for our napkins--we make our own out of sale fabric from the fabric stores or from snazzy fabrics we find at the thrift stores. And for those that don't sew, this still works. We just cut the fabric the size we want and then fringe the edges by pulling strings. This pleasant and mindless work is what we do when we're watching our favorite TV show or a good DVD.

So if you're not already using cloth napkins, think about adding this extra nice touch to your dinner table sometime soon. You've probably noticed how little things like this can really dress up the plainest of menus. And do you have other ideas for fancying up the table and sending that "You're so special!" message? Please share--we're all in this together! In the meantime, then, here's to family dinner made easy as we set the table with cloth napkins and submit a favorite recipe to Cook'n! :-)

Calling All Cooks!

2012-01-30T09:12:00.000-08:00

Guess what, guess what! We have been hired as the editors of the new international cooking magazine, Cook'n. Gorgeous, glossy, and loaded with drool-worthy photography, Cook'n will be in all major bookstores and online, six times a year. The first issue appears in May.

Part of our excitement is that Cook'n is totally focused on reader contributions--over 80% of all recipes coming from amazing cooks like you! We try them out in the Cook'n test kitchen, looking for the best-of-the-best to spotlight.

And each issue will be studded with exceptional photographs of our cooks' creations as well as step-by-step instructions on how to prepare these reader- and editor-tested recipes. (Go to www.northridgepublishing.com to see the quality of the magazines Cook'n will model.)

We'll always be looking for healthy recipes for you health-conscious readers. And each issue includes a question we ask you to answer. Our first question: "What is one thing your mother taught you about cooking?" awaits your comment. In Jul/Aug we're asking "What is one thing no good picnic should go without?" This is truly YOUR magazine--Cook'n with YOU in mind!

We talk about the best tools/equipment and wonderful cooking-oriented websites/blogs out there as well.

Most (if not all) cooking magazines and books are about the authors, but Cook'n is about YOU--what you're cooking, what successes you've had, what you want to know, and so on. And we're excited to send our readers YOUR way--if you have a favorite cooking/foodie website (or have your own!), we believe people should know about it and we will help them find out! Cook'n is all about "sharing the good stuff!"

So Cook'n invites YOU to contribute! Wouldn't you love to have one of your family-favorite recipes in a magazine that will be worthy of not just saving, but savoring throughout the years?

The May/Jun issue wants any of YOUR recipe that are focused on:

1. Fresh spring greens

2. Quick and easy meals

3. Strawberries and all their possibilities

4. Doughnuts

5. Ice Cream sandwiches and cakes

We'll be watching for your contribution(s) and are excited to include the best-of-the-best submissions in upcoming issues. Meanwhile, here's to family dinner made easy as you search and contribute from your favorite family recipes.

Some Quick and Hugely Helpful Organizing this Weekend!

2012-01-28T05:33:00.000-08:00

The weekend can be a good time to do a little organizing. One good place to start for a quick little bit of tidying up and rearranging is in the kitchen herb and spice cupboard, drawer, or rack. Here's why:

1. Herbs and spices go bland and stale fairly easily--they don't store well for long periods of time. It's best to toss any you've had for over a year. The old saying, "A cook is only as good as his tools." is especially applicable to herbs and spices--those of you that have cooked with FRESH know the amazing difference this makes to the overall taste of whatever you're making. So to have the freshest packaged herbs and spices is the next best thing to live herbs and spices (growing in the garden or kitchen windowsill).

2. And speaking of rearranging--packaged herbs and spices need a cool (and preferably dark) storage spot. For years we stored ours in the little cupboard above the hood of the stove. It made sense, arrangement-wise. After all, they were close to where they were used the most--the stove. But a big OOOPS here--the rising heat zapped their flavor within weeks. We were young, inexperienced, innocent cooks--we didn't know!

So go through yours with a fine tooth comb, toss the old stuff, and make a list of the new that you need. Then do yourself a favor and separate the herbs from the spices. This is a huge time-saving tip. Who has the time to paw through the herbs when they need a spice, and vice versus?

And besides separating them out and moving them to a better spot (where it's cooler and darker), we now use those round white double-decker Rubbermaid turntables. One holds herbs, the other holds spices. Cooking and baking life is SO much easier when we can find quickly and easily just the herb or spice we need!

The beauty of this organizing tip is how little time it takes, and the major impact it can have on your kitchen operations overnight!

Now in closing, we want to ask your help with something: We're in the process of planning a revamping of the look and content of MAKING FAMILY DINNER HOUR POSSIBLE. We want to change the title to FAMILY DINNER MADE EASY, first of all. And then we'd like to know what you are wanting to read--time's short, and none of us have it to waste on stuff we're not that interested in. So what are you interested in? What would you like to know more about, what do you need help with, what are your fancies that you just love reading about? Would you take a minute to comment with your answers?

In appreciation for your help, we're prepared to thank you with a copy of Alice's book, It's Here...Somewhere (Alice Fulton Osborne and Pauline Hatch), so take a minute if you will, and let us know what you think. Meanwhile, here's to family dinner made easy as we freshen up and organize our herbs and spices!

And STILL Two Things: Recipe Contest and FREE & EASY Placemat Idea

2012-01-27T06:15:00.000-08:00

1st thing: Red Alert: This is the last day to enter our "All Things Asparagus Contest." Take just a few minutes to send us your favorite recipe featuring asparagus and you'll be eligible to win a $99 package of the best recipe organizer ever created. Cook'n Recipe Organizer Version 10 can be yours! Read Monday's post for all the features this product has--it's impressive. We'll announce the winners on Monday, so get your recipe to us.

2nd thing: Here's an idea for making some fun placemats, for FREE. Decor, upholstery, and furniture stores have upholstery sample books they regularly get rid of. Sometimes they'll charge a small fee, but usually they'll give them away for FREE.

While these books vary in size, often times the books we've gotten contain samples the size of a typical placemat. The neat thing about them is that they're arranged in color families--all the blues are together, all the reds are together, all the greens are together, and so on. Although the prints aren't the same, the fact that you have color families is enough of a unifier to make for a darling set of placemats.

We find the color families we like and want to work with and cut the fabrics out as close to the spine of the book as possible. Then we just fold the cut side under and stitch it down. The other three sides are already stitched! And voila--we now have FREE and really pretty placemats. And the beauty of this is, any beginning sewer in the family can help make them.

While you don't want to put these in the washing machine, they do wipe clean easily. However, the other beauty of upholstery placemats is, because they are free, it's no big deal if they get stained beyond help--just toss them and get another sample book for making more placemats!

As always, we invite your input: Do YOU have ideas for affordably adding to your table linens--placemats, runners, napkins, tablecloths? Please be sure to comment if you do--we love hearing from you. And in closing, we hope you will send us your favorite asparagus recipe, find an upholstery book and make some darling FREE placemats, and have a great weekend. Until Monday then, here's to family dinner made easy!

STILL Two Things: Recipe Contest & Hot Tip for Hot Cocoa

2012-01-26T05:24:00.000-08:00

THING # 1: Wonderful readers, just another reminder about the recipe contest going on: Thanks to all those that have sent your favorite recipe featuring asparagus, and to those that mean to, but haven't as yet, hustle hustle. Get it in. We'll be announcing the two lucky winners of the Cook'n Recipe Organizer Software Version 10 on Monday. This product lists for $99 and sells for $79 on the Cook'n website (www.dvo.com), so you know this prize is a screamin' cool deal!

THING # 2: We have a hot tip for your hot cocoa: Whenever you have any extra hot cocoa (or make extra so you can do this), or whenever you have any leftover chocolate milk (or buy a quart so you can do this), freeze it in an ice cube tray(s).

Then the next time you serve up this wonderful wintertime treat, and it's scalding hot, just pop a couple chocolate ice cubes in the mug. The cocoa will cool down enough to start drinking right away. AND, as the cubes melt, they'll add to (rather than dilute) the flavor.

Another thing we've done, cocoa-wise, is to melt chocolate chips and thin them with milk, and then pour that chocolatey goodness into ice cube trays. You can see where we're going with this. You can freeze all sorts of things that would add a nice flavor to your cocoa:

Marshmallow creme
Melted and thinned WHITE chocolate chips
Peppermint-flavored cream (you add drops of peppermint to a quart of cream--to your taste)
Almond-flavored cream (same deal--add drops of almond extract to a quart of cream--top your taste)
Etc.? What would YOU add?

The beauty and fun of cocoa is how easy it is to make and how adaptable to your creativity it is. Bring the kiddies into this and see what they come up with as well.

SO, let's join the contest and enjoy a delicious hot mug of cocoa while we're making family dinner possible!

CHILI TODAY ... NAVAJO TACOS TOMORROW

2012-01-25T05:49:00.000-08:00

Chili is one of those foods that actually taste better the next day. If you make chili and discover you have leftovers, plan a Navajo taco night. Add some green salad fixin’s and fry bread to the equation and you are ready for a favorite of ours.

Navajo Fry Bread

2 cups of flour
2 Tablespoons oil
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ to 1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt

This dough should not be sticky

Combine all ingredients together with mixer. Roll flat and fry in canola oil over medium high heat. Drain on paper towels and they are ready to serve.

Fry bread is easy to make. You can use any bread recipe and fry a thin slice in oil just like you do American scones.

Scoop up a nice big spoon full of hot chili and spread it on the fry bread. Then layer on some of those salad fixin’s you have left from last night such as shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, olives, etc… Serve with salsa and sour cream.

This is so tasty. The only trouble is that you maybe be hungry again in a couple of days. Kids love Navajo tacos, it will for sure keep them coming to the dinner table.

2 Things: Spice Tips and Asparagus Recipe Contest!

2012-01-24T05:28:00.000-08:00

Let's talk about 2 things today:

SPICES--what an important difference they make to our cooking and baking. And we have four tips for you:

1. Whole spices are better than ground. Ground spices often contain additives to prevent caking and to ensure they'll actually shake or pour out of their containers. When you use whole spices, you know exactly what you have!

2. Whole spices should be toasted for maximum flavor before grinding. Professional chefs say this brings out the earthy undertones of the spice. Who knew?

3. We should buy the best spices we can afford because there's a reason cheap spices are cheap. The American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) has very low standards for what they deem "acceptable," which means that up to 20% of a bottle of spices can contain mold, exctreta (yep, that’s poo), dead insects, rat hairs, wire, string and a list of other ‘foreign matter.’ The ASTA claims the percentage is usually lower, but still...GROSS and BARF!

4. We should buy our spices in small quantity. A no-brainer in a way, since quality spices are a bit expensive. But also because we always want the freshest spices in our cupboards. Ethnic markets are often a good source of quality whole spices. And there are four good online sources we can turn to:

Penzey’s Spices (USA): http://www.penzeys.com Phone 800-741-7787.

World Spice (USA): https://www.worldspice.com/ Email: info@worldspice.com.

Epices de Cru (Canada): Email: info@epicesdecru.com.

Mountain Rose Herbshttp://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ (USA): USA Toll-Free 800-879-3337, outside USA 541-741-7307, Email: customerservice@mountainroseherbs.com

NOW, the Asparagus Recipe Contest: Please see yesterday's post for details. But as a reminder, and in a nutshell: We're giving away some wonderful recipe organizer software, Cook'n Recipe Organizer Version 10, to two lucky people. All we ask is that you share your favorite recipe featuring asparagus! We'll announce the winners on Monday, so don't delay--go through your files now and share, share, share. Meanwhile, here's to family dinner made easy as we use the best spices we possible can!

We're Giving Away the Best Electonic Recipe Organizer Ever!

2012-01-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

Oh are we late with our post today. We've been in the kitchen cooking--testing recipes all day! We started early and didn't finish until 5:30 pm-ish. We made:

1) Deviled Egg Potato Salad
2) Farm House Breakfast Casserole
3) The Juiciest Burgers Ever
4) Chocolate Fudge Dream Cake

We'll be sharing these recipes, so stay tuned. But meanwhile, we're running a new contest. We need recipes that feature that amazing spring vegetable, asparagus ('cuz spring's just around the corner--smile and nod...).

And so to motivate you to share your favorite, we thought we'd offer the WONDERFUL Cook'n Recipe Organizer, Version 10, software. The list price is $99.95, on the company's website (www.dvo.com), you can get it for $79.95, and we are giving 2 copies away this week!

Just look at all the features this software provides (in other words, WHY YOU WANT TO SHARE AN ASPARAGUS RECIPE!!!):

It's the easiest way to find the best recipes on the Internet
With this software you can Capture and Save Internet recipes
You can enter your own personal recipes
You can sync recipes with iPhone, iPad, & Android
You can scale recipes automatically
You can share recipes with friends
You can print a family cookbook
You can plan meals & menus
You can create shopping lists
You can analyze nutritional values, thus seeing immediately if a recipe will be food for you or not

So hunt through your collections, find your favorite tried-and-true recipe featuring asparagus, and share it with us. We'll be announcing our two winners next Monday. Meanwhile, here's to family dinner made easy, as we cook for the ones we love!

One Pot Meals Mean More Time & Energy for You!

2012-01-21T06:34:00.000-08:00

It's good meal-management practice to master the art of ONE-POT Cooking. One-pot recipes are another way to reduce effort and energy, particularly during clean-up. And they can be enticing to the newbie cooks in your family because of their ease. So this weekend, take a look at your next week's menu and see what meals could be combined into one pot.

For starters, here's a recipe we found a long time ago on the Martha Stewart website for a very simple one-pot dinner:

PARMESAN & PENNE PASTA

12 oz penne pasta

2 C broccoli florets

2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Zest and juice of one lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

2 C grated Paremesan cheese

1 C pine nuts (we never seem to have these on hand; we substitute chopped walnuts instead)

Boil penne 6 minutes less than al dente; add broccoli florets, and cook until penne is al dente. Drain; return to the pot, and toss with a couple of crushed garlic cloves, some olive oil, the zest and juice of a lemon, salt and pepper, and Parmesan. Fold in nuts. This can be embellished with fresh chopped basil, diced fresh tomato, etc. Your imagination is your only limit on this tasty recipe. It's one meal that's sure to call the gang to the table in no time.

This is what we'll have tonight--it's a typically busy Saturday, so a one-pot meal will meet our needs. What recipes do you have for one-pot meals, and do you have any special tips to share regarding one-pot cooking?

We hope you have a great weekend, and until Monday, here's to family dinner made easy as we cook it up in one pot!

Make Your Own Brown Sugar for MORE Independence From the Grocery Store!

2012-01-20T06:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we talked about making your own powdered sugar. Have you tried this? Let us know what you think. There's something comforting about not having to run to the grocery store every time we run out of something, don't you think?

This said, here's another idea for MORE independence from the grocery store: make your own brown sugar. Did you know you could do this? It's easy. All brown sugar is, is white sugar that's had molasses mixed into it. Who knew?

And the quality and taste is so much better--it's so much fresher. Another reason we enjoy making our own brown sugar is that we no longer have this sugar going hard as nails in our canister. Because it's so easy to make, we only make it in small amounts--perhaps enough for a week's-worth of recipes.

So to make your own brown sugar, measure white sugar according to how much brown sugar you want on hand. The basic recipe is:

"HOMEMADE" BROWN SUGAR

1 Cup white granulated sugar
1 Tbsp unsulphured molasses

In a bowl mix together the sugar and molasses. That's it. We almost fee obligated to say more--to somehow make it sound more complicated. But we can't. This is ALL you do. There'll be a point where the mixture seems a little sticky or gooey at first, but press on. Keep mixing. We promise, the sugar absorbs all the molasses and all stickiness or gooiness disappears.

We hope you enjoy this additional independence from the grocery store. So going forward--together we can laugh in the face of being out of powdered or brown sugars! As long as we have plenty of white sugar in our pantries, we're still in charge!

In closing, do you have any tricks of your own to staying out of the store? Please share, we love hearing from you and so appreciate your experiences and expertise. We're all in this together, and we can't think of better people to be "in it" with. Until next time, then, here's to family dinner made easy as we practice a little independence from the 'ol grocery store!

A Treat or Dessert From Next to Nothing? You Bet!

2012-01-19T07:28:00.000-08:00

Is it possible to whip up a treat or dessert when there's next to nothing (groceries-wise) in the house? Absolutely! And in keeping with the theme of "Skinny Pickins'" that we've been dallying with this week, we thought we'd pass on this idea as well.

The answer to "What's for dessert?" (when you hardly know what is for dinner), can be an old Scottish tradition--SHORTBREAD. This delicious, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that's been around for 200 years, is a real tribute to the ingenuity and frugality the Scotts are famous for.

With butter, a little powdered sugar, a bit of cornstarch, and some flour, you can present your family with a delightful treat at the end of one of those "we gotta make do tonight" dinners.

And like yesterday's suggestions, this recipe was also found on allrecipes.com. We've tried lots of shortbread recipes over the years, and this is without doubt one of our favorites. Notice how simple it is:

BEST EVER SHORTBREAD

1 C butter, softened

1/2 C powdered sugar

SCANT 1/4 C cornstarch

1 1/2 C flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whip butter until fluffy. Slowly add dry ingredients, mixing carefully so they don't fly out of your bowl. Don't panic, you DO NOT need to add any liquid. The fat globules eventually expand to absorb all the dry ingredients. At first the contents look like little crumbles, similar to pie crust dough. But keep mixing--it'll come together nicely.

Grease a baking pan (8 inch square works well if you don't have the traditional shortbread pan), then sprinkle greased pan well with granulated sugar. Plop the blob of dough onto the middle of the pan and with wet fingers, spread it out to the edges, trying to smooth the top as much as possible. That's it. Bake for about 15 minutes, but watch this closely, as oven temperatures vary. You don't want to over-bake it, you just want it lightly browned.

Turn off oven, and after removing from oven, place a cutting board on top of the pan and quickly turn it upside down so the shortbread falls onto the cutting board. While the shortbread is still warm, prick it evenly with fork tines (see pictures) then use a long knife or pizza cutter to cut even squares. We do three cuts one way and three cuts the other way to end up with 16 square cookies. Return shortbread (on cutting board) to the oven; prop the oven door open and let shortbread sit for about 10 minutes. This allows moisture to escape the cookies. Store cookies in an airtight container when completely cooled.

We know this isn't a glamorous dessert, but it's sure yummy. Serve 2 or 3 cookies placed nicely on a napkin alongside a glass of milk and voila, a dessert from next to nothing that will be a nice surprise and tasty ending to your evening meal.

Now before closing, here's another tip: If you're even out of powdered sugar, you can still make this cookie. Just make your own powdered sugar: Put a cup of sugar in your blender and blend on high until "powder" appears. (You'll end up with more than 1/2 cup.) Keep the lid on tight--this stuff likes to escape. It won't be the exact texture of the store-bought stuff, but it'll be close enough to work just fine in this recipe.

And as always, we'd like to know if you've ever made shortbread and if you have a favorite recipe for it? Also, do you have your own tricks for pulling dessert off when there's next to nothing in the house? And of course, thanks for sharing and helping us all make family dinner hour possible!

Let's Not Cook Tonight!

2012-01-18T07:59:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's nice to not have to cook and still be able to have a quick, healthy meal with your family. We like to find a few recipes that cater to those busy days. Is it possible to have a quick dinner with minimal assembly, that is healthy for you? More importantly, that your family will eat? We say "Yes, Yes you can!" We found this recipe on allrecipes.com . It's what our family is having for dinner tonight.

If you don't want a sandwich, we think this tuna recipe would also be great served on a bed of lettuce. We like this recipe because it took out the mayo and uses oil and vinegar, making for a healthier choice. Also, with the use of beans and tuna together this recipe is loaded with protein.

TUSCAN WHITE BEAN AND TUNA SANDWICH

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 (15 ounce) can small white beans, rinsed and drained
1 (6 ounce) can solid white albacore tuna packed in water, drained
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
4 Pepperidge Farm Plain Ciabatta Rolls, split and toasted
2 cups packed fresh baby spinach

Beat the oil and vinegar in a small bowl with a fork or whisk. Coarsely mash the beans and tuna in a medium bowl with a fork. Stir in onion and half of the vinegar mixture. Brush the rolls with the remaining vinegar mixture, lightly toast in oven or grill. Divide the spinach among the bottom roll halves. Top with the tuna mixture and remaining roll halves.

This recipe uses Albacore tuna which is all white meat. May we also suggest that you buy it packed in water instead of oil. Our favorite is the Albacore tuna that comes in the foil packet. As we looked at this recipe we thought, why not add a piece of cheese or a slice of tomato, use a regular hamburger bun, or wrap the sandwich in foil and heat in the oven.

We want to get you thinking about recipes that give you a night off from cooking that are healthy. Do you have a recipe you can share with all of us that gives you a night off from cooking and is healthy? These kinds of recipes help us have more time to relax, sit down together, to listen and share the events of the day with people we care about. It's not easy to find time for dinner but we know it's important for families to eat together as often as possible. Here's to a healthy dinner made easy!

Breakfast for Dinner? Why Not!

2012-01-17T06:37:00.000-08:00

Let's talk about when we're out of groceries and unable to get any until payday. Relate to this scenario? So what's for dinner?

In answer to this question, and in continuing our theme on breakfast ideas, we'd like to suggest we have breakfast for dinner. While it wasn't something we did all the time, it was a fun change from the usual pattern of meals and it was a reasonable solution to how to deal with putting dinner on the table when there's was next to nothing to fix.

Waffles and pancakes were always popular. We'd up the nutrition factor a bit by topping them with nut butter (peanut or almond) along with the syrup. And then there was the omelete bar. We'd dice or chop up whatever we had in the fridge--tomato, green onion, ham, even leftover cooked broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, etc. If we were lucky and had any cheese around, we'd shred it and add that to the assortment of add-ins as well. Then there's those breakfast burritos we talked about yesterday if we wanted a new twist to an old theme.

One thing we were always sure to do, no matter how plain and simple the dinner, we always set a full table--even with candles. We might have been having breakfast for dinner, but we still wanted everyone to know how special they were and that just having dinner with them was the highlight of the day. That's the point, isn't it? This lovely tradition is meant to be based on those at the table, not what's on the table.

Have you had breakfast for dinner? What did you serve and how did your family feel about this? Please share your thoughts--we love hearing from you. And until next time, here's to family dinner made easy, even if it's breakfast!

Breakfast Burritos Are a Quick, Healthy Way to Start the Day

2012-01-16T09:02:00.000-08:00

Breakfast Burrito

Here we are harping on breakfast again. Breakfast is the best way to keep you from eating lots of junk food throughout the day. Mornings can be hectic, especially when you’re trying to get the family out the door for school and work. We think having a homemade microwaveable breakfast burrito is a great alternative to cold cereal. This type of breakfast can help keep those teenagers from stopping by a fast food establishment on their way to school. Jeanne has some grandsons that love these and often snatch them at other times of the day. Like before a sport activity, piano lessons etc. There seems to be no filling those growing kids up! This idea really helps fill the bill and the belly!

Scramble eggs with, green chilies and cheese or whatever your family likes, wrap them in a flour tortilla. Fold all sides together and wrap in plastic wrap, then pile them into a gallon freezer bag and pop them into the freezer for another time. When you want one or two, take them out of the bag and plastic wrap and microwave for 1-2 minute and off you go.

Other quick ideas for breakfast include: Yogurt and a piece of fruit, cheese and tomato on an English muffin, a bran muffin and a banana or apple slices on cinnamon toast.

It is important to try and make sure your breakfast consists of some protein, a carbohydrate and some fiber to stave off the hunger monster before lunch.

A healthy breakfast can be prepared quickly, and gives the family time to sit down and have breakfast together. If you don’t have that luxury, have a grab-and-go. There is still dinner as a family, to look forward to.

What tips do you have for making breakfast happen in your home? We would love your ideas. We are all in this together and a breakfast burrito is just one more way to help keep everyone full, happy and ready for the day!

Let's Think About Someone Besides Ourselves and Do Some Listening!

2012-01-14T12:24:00.000-08:00

A quote by the late journalist, Brenda Ueland, got us to thinking about something important:

"Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. When we really listen to people, there is an alternating current and this recharges us so that we never get tired of each other. We are constantly being re-created."

How many of us know any TRUE listeners? If you're lucky enough to know someone who is more interested in you than him- or herself, then you've had that sweet experience that Ueland talks about--leaving their company feeling so good about yourself--like you, and what you have to say, matters. And that, by the way, is one of the informal definitions of a good listener--they care more about listening to YOU than they do you listening to them.

And what about when you've had the opposite experience--talking to someone who only wants to talk about themselves and/or their own family? They go on and on as though we're breathless to hear whatever it is they have to say, and never once think to ask you about YOU or YOUR kids, YOUR job, YOUR... Research says this is the more common experience, and a pretty disheartening one, at that. Researchers say folks tend to leave such encounters feeling a little sad, for all sorts of reasons.

And this ties to another quote we just read: "We have an obligation to leave the world a happier place for our having been in it." (Not sure who said this.) Isn't it amazing that something as simple as really listening to people can leave them happier--hence leaving a little spot of the world happier?

OK, so what does all this have to do with family dinner? Dinnertime is the perfect time to talk about listening, teach listening, and model listening. The research also says that this is a skill and attribute that doesn't come by osmosis. It must be taught and modeled to our children if they're to be the exception to the rule, as mentioned above.

So, during dinner we can discuss the politeness and graciousness listening shows (it's a class act). We can engage our children in thought-provoking questions such as "Who brightened your day today and what did they do for you?" or "What's something you wish had gone differently today, and why?" or "If you could live anywhere in the world where would you live, and why?" or "I've noticed you really like _______(fill in name of person). Why are you so fond of them?" or ... you get the idea. And then everyone can enjoy the chance to answer and maybe more importantly, to really listen to each other.

We think this is one of the most important pieces of the family dinner--aside from the opportunity to nourish the body, the heart and soul are nourished as we engage one another in good conversation and truly listen to what's being said. Everyone leaves the gathering knowing more about each other and feeling good about themselves. It's an easy and profound way to leave the world (in this case, home) a little happier. And after enough time and practice in the fine art of listening, who knows? We may just turn out some children who get it--that it's just smart AND nice to listen more and talk less. They'll be the ones who care more about listening to YOU than you listening to them! Now that's a real service we've done the world.

In closing, we need to thank YOU for listening. And we look forward to any comments you might have on this topic. Do you have a favorite listener in your life? How do you teach your children to listen and care about the other guy? Please share--we're all in this together. In the meantime, here's to family dinner made easy, while we actually listen to one another!

Dinner Doesn't Have to Be PERFECT to Be Dinner!

2012-01-13T06:34:00.000-08:00

It was a crazy busy day yesterday and upon running in the door around 5:00 pm, the question was "Oops, what's for dinner?" We bet you've been there, done that, have the T-shirt? So here's how Alice handled things:

[Alice talking] "To top things off, I didn't have much of anything, grocery-wise, in the house. So I got creative. I invented a dish I now call "Chicken and Noodles in Thyme." Get it? In Thyme? Kinda cute I thought.

"Anyway, it was fast, hearty, and delicious (is it OK to do our own bragging sometimes?). I paired it with some freshly ground whole wheat baking powder biscuits and there was dinner. The meal would've been even better had I had salad fixin's in the fridge, but I didn't, so we went with what we had. And sometimes that's what we gotta do. We know you get this--dinner doesn't have to be PERFECT to be dinner."

Now here's the recipe. Let us know what you think if you try it. And if you have any thoughts on how to improve it, we'd love to hear about that too. And finally, don't you just love the bloggy thing--this amazing, efficient, and fun way to connect with one another? We're all in it together, and together we can help each other be our best and do our best! So here's to family dinner made easy, even if it isn't always perfect!

CHICKEN AND NOODLES IN THYME (serves 2 to 4, depending on how hungry people are!)

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
1 32 oz container chicken broth
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 Tbsp cornstarch
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 C noodles
Thyme (to taste)
4 to 5 Tbsp olive oil

In large skillet, cook onion and garlic in olive oil until clear. Add diced chicken and Thyme to taste. [Alice talking] "The more the better actually. I used a combination of fresh and dried--about 2 Tbsp all totaled." Whisk cornstarch in a little of the chicken broth until smooth. Add container of chicken broth to skillet along with the cornstarched broth. Bring to a boil and stir until everything thickens a bit. Add noodles and stir well until everything is coated with broth. Boil for 1 or 2 minutes. Place lid on skillet and turn off heat. Let this all sit until noodles absorb liquid and are to the al dente stage. Watch closely--you don't want mushy noodles.

Good Routines Help Make Dinner Happen!

2012-01-12T03:47:00.000-08:00

We've been thinking about something: A year of family cooking and family dinners will be a lot easier and much more inclined to happen if some good routines are in place. (We're talking in terms of cooking and after-dinner clean-up.) It's all a matter of making some decisions beforehand. For instance:

1) Have you thought about delegating parts of the cooking? Or the table-setting? We always had a stool in our kitchens so the little folks could help with the stirring, mixing, etc. We had our dishes in an underneath cupboard so our children could easily access them to set the table and empty the dishwasher. (Kinderlocks protected our dishes from the busy hands of the toddlers in the house.) And on any given day, the table-setter knew exactly who he or she was and reported for duty while the meal was being prepared.

2) Have you thought about the process you want to use for clean-up after dinner? We had our children carry their own place settings to the counter, rinse their dishes, and place them in the dishwasher (AFTER we'd taught the crew how we wanted the dishwasher loaded). Even the younger kids, thanks to the stool, could rinse their dishes and then place them in the dishwasher. Yes, it's true, sometimes something got broken. But since our glass tableware came from the thrift store, cost wasn't an issue, so we as the moms didn't feel the need to hover over the process. And If something got broken (which was actually rare), everyone knew only a "big person" should clean it up--little fingers stayed safe.

3) Do you have an efficient "leftovers" center established that makes clearing the table a smooth process? And is your fridge organized in such a way that putting the leftovers away is easy, and accessing them for another meal totally possible (before they go green and fuzzy)? Whether you use plastic or glass, be sure you have enough of these keepers and store them with their lids ON. This habit saves lots of time when cleaning up--there are few things more irritating than scrounging through a drawer or cupboard trying to find a lid that fits a certain container. Who has time for that? And children don't have the patience for it.

The bottom line to all of the above is this: Smart mamas work their way out of a job! In other words, if you do less FOR them (your children), you can do more WITH them (playing, reading, talking, exploring on outings, etc.). Our motto was, "Since we all live here, we can all work here." And when we all work together, it's fun, and an efficient way to make things happen!

Taking the time to think through the results you want and how you want things executed is the first step. Training and modeling the behavior you want is the next step. If consistently practiced, this investment of your time and energy will pay BIG dividends. Research says we do our children a huge favor when we teach them how to work--self esteem and confidence increases exponentially in direct proportion to how capable and skilled children are. Home's the best place for them to learn skills and dinner time is the perfect setting for teaching them important skills that will bless them throughout their lives.

Finally, do YOU have advice on how to organize and mobilize your family dinner hour? What are some things you do with your children that help make your evening meal happen? Please leave your comments so we can all benefit from your expertise and wisdom. Meanwhile, here's to family dinner made easy as we get clear on the habits we want to establish, and organized in how to establish them!

Make Ahead Tin Foil dinners

2012-01-11T07:26:00.000-08:00

Tin foil dinners always remind us of camping. We use the foil to make the infamous hamburger, onion and carrot tin foil dinner that is so common during the summer camping season. Many of you have probably used foil to line a pan or crock pot to keep the clean up mess minimal. Tin foil dinners aren’t just for camping or for only hamburger. Foil packets are a great way to steam your meat and vegetables, thereby cutting back on the amount of fat you might use. Chicken breast is a wonderful example of how to make a sophisticated meal with none of the mess.

Steaming in a foil pouch is a healthy and fast way to enjoy a meal. Foil dinners are an easy make-ahead-meal. These meals are juicy and delicious and the chicken comes out nicely browned. Another little tip for having evenly cooked chicken is to pound the chicken breast so that it is the same thickness. Foil dinners are also practical if you want to keep your servings at 2 to 3 ounces per person. Load on the vegetables and spices and you have a healthy meal with easy clean up.

Foil dinners can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for several hours. When using chicken, it is a good idea to pat the chicken dry with paper towels and then drizzle a bit of olive oil over it. Seasoning is also an important part of the meal. We like to use lemon pepper, sea salt and a little garlic powder but you can use anything you like. Since onion is usually part of my vegetable choices, I don’t add onion salt.

It is a highly flavorful option to marinate the meat first. These dinners, besides being easy to make, can be cooked on the grill or in an oven on medium heat.

Now let’s talk about making the foil packet and then I will give you some high-class, tin foil dinner recipes. It is best to use 3 or 4 sheets of tin foil per packet layer. For most meals, 12 inch square sheets are about the right size but you may want to experiment. Using multiple layers of foil helps to keep the juices in and not leak. Fold the foil packets in to the shape of an envelope and fold the edges to seal the packet. Or, if you’re making a larger meal, use the full 12 inch squares on the top and bottom. Just make sure you fold all the sides well. After cooking the tinfoil meal, let the packet sit for about 5 minutes. And, be careful when opening packets – allow the steam to escape!

Orange Fennel Chicken

3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh tarragon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 oranges, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
1 fennel bulb (about 12 ounces) tops discarded, halved, cored, and sliced thin
4 (6 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed, pounded if necessary
2 green onions, sliced thin

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Combine the oil, green onions, tarragon, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a bowl. Toss the mixture with the oranges in a bowl. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.

Arrange the carrot fennel mixture in the center of 3 or 4 pieces of foil. Lay the chicken over the vegetables, then spoon the orange mixture over the top.

Place the remaining pieces of foil on top and fold the edges over several times to seal. Place the packets on a rimmed baking sheet and cook for about 25 minutes. (To test the doneness of the chicken, you will need to open one of the packets. The juices from the chicken will run clear or 160-165 degrees.)

Baked Chicken and Garden Vegetables

2 small zucchini
2 yellow crookneck squash
1/2 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
2 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Teaspoon minced oregano
1/4 cup fresh basil
4 plum tomatoes seeded
3 garlic cloves (minced)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (pounded)

Pat chicken dry. Add olive oil and spices together in a bowl and lay vegetables on the lower layers of foil. Top with chicken and sprinkle the oil and spices over the top. Add the remaining layers of foil, making sure you seal edges together well. Bake on grill on medium heat for about 30 minutes or until juices run clear, or bake in oven at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Marinade Chicken Breast

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
3 finely chopped green onions
1/4 teaspoon finely grated ginger
1 Tablespoon olive oil

Mix soy sauce, brown sugar, onions and ginger together in a bowl. Marinade pounded chicken breasts in a shallow dish. Place chicken in foil packet and cook on medium heat on the grill for 30 to 40 minutes or cook in oven at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until juices run clear.

These recipes are tender and full of flavor and can be made in the morning or the night before.

We would love to have you share your time saving tips with us. We are all in this together, trying to make dinner happen.

Morning Sandwich Cookies

2012-01-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

We thought after the holidays life would would slow down a bit. If you are like us, we are still on the run. Some days getting breakfast means grab-and-go! We ran across this interesting recipe for a morning cookie that might spark your interest as it did ours.

You can see that this recipe has some really healthy ingredients, making these healthy cookies. These cookies take 30 minutes from start to finish. So this is a good make-ahead item that you can grab-and-go on those busy days.

1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 tablespoons Honey
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup instant oatmeal
1 cup grated apple
1/4 cup chopped prunes
1 cup shredded carrots
1/3 cup egg whites
1/4 cup fat free milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat a 13x9 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray; set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and set aside.
Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add almonds and oatmeal. Cook and stir for about 3 minutes; remove from heat and cool.

In a blender or food processor, blend oatmeal mixture, apple, prunes, carrots, honey and flour. Blend or pulse until doughy. Press evenly into a prepared pan. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven; cool in the pan.

Cut into bars. Spread with peanut butter and jelly. Top with remaining bar. This recipe should make 12 bars.

As you know, we believe in having family dinner hour. In fact, we believe families should eat meals together as often as possible. We also know that sometimes it doesn't happen. Life gets busy and time runs away from us. Healthy and quick recipes keep us from running into the store to buy doughnuts etc. This recipe gives your family an on-the-run breakfast or snack when you are all dashing out the door. This is a good time to remind your family how much you love them and that you are looking forward to spending the dinner hour with them.

What are some of your ideas for a quick and healthy breakfast or snack when your day get over booked? We would love to hear from you! How do you make meals happen on your busy days?

Let's Master This New Year!

2012-01-09T07:59:00.000-08:00

We LOVE this time of year--a new beginning! And because of the cold weather and next to no yard and garden work, we have a little extra time to devote to getting organized. One of the ways we get the year organized is by spending time on a chart we call "MASTERING _______ (you add the year, in this case 2012).

It's nothing more than a piece of 8x10 paper divided into boxes with their own headings (shown in no particular order); after thoughtful pondering, we fill in each box with 2 or 3 hopes (or goals):

What I want MOST in 2012:

Things I want to learn to do:

Habits I want to develop:

Habits I want to overcome:

Books I want to read:

Places I want to go:

Projects I want to finish:

Major purchases I want to make:

Things I want to do for others:

People I want to visit:

Classes I want to take:

Improvements I want to make in our home:

Improvements I want to make in our yard:

Music I want to buy:

Civic service I want to get involved in:

You can see this isn't a page you can fill out in an hour or two. We usually take the last week of December or first week of January to lay out these plans. What we've noticed over the years of doing this is that while we have never accomplished ALL of our desires (goals, etc.), because of this roadmap, we've accomplished a lot more than we would have, had we not had it to refer to all the time.

And refer to it all the time we do! We keep ours in our day-planners and look at them almost every day-it keeps us on track. For instance, we noticed that we would forget about what we were saving our money for and succumb to impulse shopping often, if we weren't looking at our Year Mastering Charts on a regular basis.

This brings us to one of our favorite reasons for creating and using this page: we now have a central holding place for all the random good information that comes our way. For instance, have you noticed that when someone mentions a book you just gotta read, or a CD you just need to listen to, or a recipe you just must try, etc., you jot the information down on a scrap of paper, or on the back of a bag, etc., and then you end up losing that hot tip? Not anymore--this stuff now has a safe place to land, and shopping isn't from impulse anymore--it's now well planned.

But how does this all relate to our goal to bring the family to the dinner table most nights of the week? Well, we've added another box to the page: Meals or foods I want to perfect. We list general categories of food, or specific dishes, etc. and this becomes our guide in our recipe hunts, our meal planning, and our grocery shopping.

And throughout the year, as we accomplish what we've listed, we just run a line through the item. So you can see, at the end of a year that was handled with a YEAR MASTERING CHART, you can look back and actually see your growth and accomplishments. This is one of the most effective and motivating ways we've found to approach the old New Year's Resolutions schtik.

Now how about YOU--how do you get organized for a new year--what are your tips and tricks to setting and achieving goals? Please comment. We're all in this together, so let's help each other along the way. And meanwhile, here's to family dinner made easy as we plan well and execute those plans!

Make Your Own Fabric Softener

2012-01-06T08:01:00.000-08:00

Ever thought about making your own fabric softener? We thought we would share with you today our home made version of fabric softener. The main ingredient is hair conditioner. Hey! If it’s good enough for your hair, it ought to be good enough for your clothes. We buy the cheapest and best smelling hair conditioner. Suave Ocean Spray is a good choice.

When cheap hair conditioners, that are thick and creamy go on sale we buy up a few extra. The cost is between .69 cents and 1.00 dollar. Distilled vinegar is not expensive and can be used in other homemade cleansers. The essential oil is to add that really nice smell that you get when you buy the expensive fabric softener and of course is optional.

Fabric Softener

2 cups (cheap) hair conditioner (15 ounce bottle)
3 cups water
1 cup white distilled vinegar
A few drops of essential oil (optional)

We use an empty fabric softener bottle, add the above items and shake it to mix.
The ingredients will mix together better after they set for a day or two. Sometimes we add a few drops of an essential oil just to change the smell.

This little tip will help you save money and that means more money for those necessities that you need to keep dinner hour happening at your home. Give it a try and let us know what you think?

"Legal" Sweet Breads (Make 'Em Healthier)

2012-01-05T06:46:00.000-08:00

For us, winter is the time we pull out the frozen shredded zucchini, mash up the over-ripe bananas, or open that extra can of pumpkin and whip up a batch of sweet quick bread. Do you do this too? But we're getting more and more interested in healthifying our foods, so we wondered what we could do to improve these family favorites. Here's what we found:

It's worth the effort to tweak our quick bread recipes because according to nutritionists, a slice of a traditional sweet bread will have more calories, fat, and sugar than a chocolate chip cookie. And we've never stopped at just one slice. Who does? But with a few adjustments, we can fix a quick bread recipe so that more than one slice will be no big deal.

1. Lots of people know to use applesauce in place of all the fat (the oil, butter, or shortening) in their baking. This technique works really well in sweet breads. For instance, if the recipe calls for 1 C fat, substitute 1 C applesauce.

2. Use whole grain flour instead of the refined white flour. You can even mix in ground flax seed or wheat germ to bump up the nutrition factor.

3. We are learning how to substitute stevia for sugar, also. The bread's texture and flavor are the same, but the sugars are no longer an issue (calorie-wise or insulin-resistance-wise). Some folks say they find an after-taste when using stevia, and we have too, with all except the Sweetleaf brand. If you're interested in trying stevia: 1/8 tsp = 1 tsp sugar; 2 Tbsp stevia = 1 C sugar.

Taking these simple steps will cut the fat, add an important fiber boost, and minimize the sugar load--all important pieces to healthier eating. However, if you wanna leave your recipe alone and just make your bread as usual, then consider treating each slice as a dessert, not a bread. Good luck with that one--as Alice says, she's got the will-power of a three-year-old!

In closing, what do YOU do to healthify your quick bread recipes? Do you have a good recipe to share? The start of a new year is a great time to make some commitments to improving the food we serve, so let our readers know what you do. Meanwhile, here's to family dinner made easy, AND healthier in 2012!

The wonders of Flaxseed

2012-01-04T12:57:00.000-08:00

Our mothers grew up boiling flaxseed in water to make hair gel for those cute waves that the women wore back in the 30’s and 40’s. When added to water, flaxseed made a hefty gel. It has no smell of its own and it’s not overly stiff on your hair.www.fromnaturewithlove.com

Flaxseed has other benefits as well. They also contain essential fatty acids. Flaxseed also has oils that are essential to help your body work at its optimum level. Fatty acids are "good" fats that have been shown to have heart-healthy effects. These seeds are also helpful for skin, eyes and hair, as well as helping you with brain activity.

If you have ever put flaxseed in a glass of water, you’ve seen that it quickly thickens and becomes sludgy. Because of the quick thickening process it becomes difficult to drink if you don’t get it down quickly. Luckily, we don’t have to ingest it with a glass of water! Nowadays flaxseed is incorporated in many cereals, breads and crackers. We add flaxseed to our oatmeal along with other seeds and nuts and fruits.

You have all heard about Omega 3 and it’s important. Each tablespoon of ground flaxseed contains about 1.8 grams of plant omega-3s. Flaxseed also contains lignans, which have plant estrogen and antioxidant qualities.

Think about how you can add flaxseed or flaxseed oil into your family’s diet. When you add flaxseed meal or oil to your smoothie, you won’t even taste it. We like to combine 1 cup of milk, a banana and two tablespoons of flaxseed meal in a blender for a quick and tasty on-the-go breakfast. This is the perfect drink to give your kids before they head out the door for a sports activity.

Take some time to search out the benefits of flaxseed, see how it can help you and your family become healthier and keep them coming to the dinner table. http://www.fitsugar.com/Health-Benefits-Flaxseed-8415863. Thanks for taking time to read our blog. We would love to know how you are using flaxseed in your diet.

A Picnic in January

2012-01-03T16:42:00.000-08:00

We have grandchildren and we have to tell you that there is nothing that has a more versatile definition than the word Picnic. Basically it means eating your meal outdoors in the fresh air, hopefully with some sunshine. We have even had a picnic on the back porch on a rainy day to the delight of the little ones. This doesn’t make us a super grandma, it means we grew up in the beautiful Pacific Northwest near the Pacific Ocean.We where we did not always have sunshine – even in the summer – but it never stopped us from having a picnic.

We recall several times that we kept our coats on and still enjoyed being out in nature sharing a picnic and gathering sea shells. On those days our meals usually consisted of hot chili, scones, raw vegetables, cookies, a few finger foods and, of course, some hot chocolate. On warmer days, we had the fried chicken and potato salad with all the trimmings; a good, old fashioned traditional picnic. It’s a carefree time during which family and or friends can just relax and take pleasure in nature.

The charm of a picnic is that it can be a simple snack, a family gathering, a reunion or a romantic meal for two. You don’t even have to have a special reason for picnicking. We believe the big appeal is being outside in nature with family and or friends and sharing a meal.

We know that some of you are thinking if it’s not a beautiful day then I am not going on a picnic. That’s the beauty of the picnic concept. You can spread a blanket under the kitchen table and you still have delighted children. Why not do something crazy like have a spaghetti dinner on a blanket and or big sheet of plastic under the table?

Once on a rainy day, with disappointed grandchildren, Jeanne spread a blanket out on the covered porch and we had a delivered pizza and pop. They were overjoyed! Hey you don’t have to worry about staying out too long, the kids are easily coaxed into coming in for a game or a movie, but we guarantee you that all the kids will hear about the cool party.

Cooking Efficiency--2 Steps to Family Dinner Made Easier!

2012-01-02T06:58:00.000-08:00

Since so many of us like to set new goals or re-attack our old goals at the beginning of a new year, we thought it would be good to look at what we can do to help us with our goal of consistent family dinner. One of the first places to start with this is looking at how we work in the kitchen. The name of the game is cooking efficiency--the very word implies EASE and working smart. So we thought we'd start 2012 off with a couple tips that could help us do just that:

Always Be Gravy-Ready

Keep a dry mix of 1 part cornstarch and 2 parts flour in a container to use for making gravy. Just scoop out amount needed, add meat drippings from your fry or roasting pan, mix with cold water and boil to desired thickness on stove top or in the microwave. Smart, huh?

Contain Splatters for EASY Clean-Up

We've mentioned it before--put anything you need to mix in a large paper grocery bag, set the bag in the kitchen sink, and reach down inside with your hand mixer and mix away. All splatters are contained on the inside of the bag, so after-mixing clean-up is a quick breeze. But here's another slick idea for splatter-containing sent to us from reader Linda Simpson:

Find a plastic lid about 2"-3" (5-8 cm) larger than your mixing bowl. (If you ever get a gallon tub of ice cream, that lid is usually perfect for most mixing bowls. You can use smaller lids for smaller bowls.) With kitchen shears, cut a slit through to the center of the lid, then cut an oval in the center to accommodate your beaters and put the beaters into the mixer THROUGH the oval hole. If the lid is clear, it's easy to mark a dot at the center of the lid with a permanent marker. Mark a line from the center dot to the outside edge and hold the lid up to your mixer where the beaters attach. With your permanent marker, draw an oval around the center dot that will allow at least 1/4" (1 cm) clearance around the beater attachment holes. Make your cuts, starting with the slit. The slit allows you to twist the lid and get it off the beaters without removing the beaters from your mixer.

And as always, we invite YOUR thoughts on how to cook smarter--more efficiently. What do YOU do to get your meals on quickly and easily? We're all in this together, so let's share. In the meantime, isn't it exciting to ponder 2012's possibilities and our hopes for this new year? One thing for sure--let's keep up the good work we're doing at our family tables as we go forward this year--so here's to family dinner made easy!

3 EASY Steps to a Healthy 2012!

2011-12-30T10:07:00.000-08:00

"Family dinner made easy" has a lot of pieces to it. One that we like to talk about is simple ways to healthify our meals.

As we get ready to move into 2012, how about considering 3 EASY steps to helping our families eat better? These steps are small, but over the long haul, taking them would have a big impact on overall health. Think about:

1) never using margarine again. Replace it with real butter (and use that in moderation). On the website truthorfiction.com, we found that margarine increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol). Consumption of margarine affects the quality of mothers' breast milk because of the trans fats it contains. Dr. Mary Enig says that consuming trans fatty acids "Affects immune response by lowering effeciency of B cell response and increasing proliferation of T cells." Trans fats can increase blood insulin levels, which increases the risk for diabetes.

2) using REAL SALT or Himalayan salt rather than typical table salt (Morton's, Western Family, etc.). What remains after typical salt is "chemically cleaned" is sodium chloride -- an unnatural chemical form of salt that your body recognizes as something completely foreign. And this form of salt is in almost every preserved product that we eat. Therefore, when you add more salt to your already salted food, your body receives more salt than it can dispose of. Eating common table salt causes excess fluid in your body tissue, which can contribute to cellulite, arthritis and gout, and kidney and gall bladder stones.

3) using cold pressed coconut oil or butter when baking and cooking rather than shortening. The reason for this hearkens back to the same reasons we want to avoid margarine--the trans fat issues.

So with these 3 EASY and really painless adjustments to how we cook, we'll be boosting the nutrition factor of our meals and thus fostering better health in our families. Small and simple can have a big impact over time! Now do YOU have any ideas for simple steps to take this new year for cooking healthier? Please share--we'd love to hear what you are doing. In the meantime, here's to family dinner made easy as we choose to cook with butter, REAL salt, and coconut oil!

Vinegar's for Flavor and Health

2011-12-29T10:26:00.000-08:00

Every pantry needs at least 2 or 3 types of vinegar. Vinegars are called for in many of the sauce recipes and they can add a punch to some of the bland soups and vegetables. Most vinaigrettes, marinades and salad dressings have vinegar in their recipe's as well. Many types of vinegar are interchangeable for instance: cider, red or white wine vinegars are similar enough to be used in each other’s place in most recipes. Let’s talk about a few kinds of vinegars and why they are a must for your pantry.

Cider vinegar or apple cider vinegar has a fruity, tart flavor that can be used in just about any recipe calling for vinegar. If you buy the raw apple cider vinegar you will notice some “floaties” in the bottle, they are called the “mother.” Raw vinegar is not as pretty as processed vinegar but the taste and health benefits make it so much better. Check out this website for health benefits. http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/the-benefits-of-apple-cider-vineg

Balsamic vinegar is a sophisticated vinegar with a reddish brown color and a mellow flavor. This vinegar is not only great for sauces but makes a great dip for artisan breads. It’s also delicious over fresh tomatoes and basil.

Distilled vinegar is used for pickling and can also be used for cleaning purposes. If you haven’t, you should try making your own homemade cleaners. They are cheaper and less toxic. http://organizedhome.com/clean-house/pantry-recipes-homemade-cleaning-products

Rice vinegar is almost sweet in flavor and is great in Asian salads. We like to sprinkle it on cooked cabbage, spinach and green beans.

Red wine and white wine vinegars are what we use most often in our kitchen. They seem to work well in any recipe. These two vinegars are delicious in anything from marinades and soups to salad dressings. Red and white wine vinegar are exchangeable and work great as a flavor enhancer to chowders and bean soups.

White wine vinegar is what you would use if you were going to make your own fruit or herb vinegar. This is how it is done;

1. Combine vinegar with the fruit, garlic or herb of choice and simmer in a pan for just a couple of minutes.

2. Pour into sterile jars for 2 to 4 weeks.

3. Drain off the vinegar and pour into bottle for storage.

Vinegar's enhance so many dishes. Try using them on vegetables and in soups and tell your family to make dinner a priority because you have!

Cold and Flu Relief From the Kitchen

2011-12-28T07:13:00.000-08:00

Have you and your family been able to dodge the cold and flu bugs so far? This past week we've been fighting them in our families. Alice was even in bed for a couple days.

(And here's an observation for ya! Life goes on just fine--including Christmas--when mom's laid low. Alice said it was a little humbling, yet freeing, to see how folks can manage just fine without her micro-management of stuff!)

Anyway, experiencing some winter sickness prompted us to think about simpler times--a time when moms couldn't rush their kiddies off to a doctor's office or neighborhood health clinic. What did they do then when they got ill? They relied on the wisdom handed down from generation to generation--all sorts of home remedies that could be created in their kitchens.

And we happen to have just such a remedy that we've used over and over as we raised our kids: the 1st Aid Mustard Plaster. This is a miracle-worker when it comes to chest colds. It feels cold when first applied, but heats up quickly and does a super job of breaking up any congestion in the chest. It's a terrific way to stave off potential pneumonia or bronchitis. Here's the recipe:

1st AID MUSTARD PLASTER

1 egg
2 Tbsp shortening
1 Tbsp camphor oil
1 Tbsp dry mustard
Flour (to thicken with)
Water (to make a spreadable consistency)

Mix ingredients well and spread on a clean flannel cloth. Apply to chest. Check periodically as this can burn the skin.

We hope you and your families are staying warm, healthy, and happy and getting ready to welcome in a wonderful new year. While you're at it, though, won't you share with everyone what YOUR kitchen health remedies are? How do YOU fight colds and flu? What are YOUR preventative measures? We're all in this together, so let's help each other. Meanwhile, here's to family dinner made easy as we pull out our kitchen remedies when the cold and flu bugs get the best of us!

The Big Oops: What NOT to DO When Making Homemade Cocoa!

2011-12-27T05:57:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the month we talked about all the cool things you can do to enhance your cup of cocoa. Well this morning we have to report in on what NOT to do when making cocoa--especially homemade cocoa!

[Alice talking] "Our family spent the day tubing at Soldier Hollow resort yesterday. We brought up a picnic-type dinner that we ate in the lodge after we were finished playing. There was a slow cooker of chili dogs (hotdogs cooked in with the chili--really good), lots of snackies, and a slow cooker of homemade cocoa (amazing recipe, but bungled). My adorable son-in-law teased me that it was kind of fun to have drinkable pudding--a new experience for him."

So the "big oops?" (And you probably already know this, but for those that don't--we gotta share.) I cooked the recipe in my slow cooker. It didn't need cooking, it just needed a warming. Any recipe with dairy in it--white sauces, gravies, chowders, cheese soups, etc. should NOT NOT NOT have the dairy added early on and cooked for a long period because the prolonged heating causes everything to separate and curdle. Once it does this, there's no reclamation. It just can't be stirred back into a smooth consistency. The trick when making cheesy broccoli or cauliflower soup, for instance, is to start with steamed veggies, add boiling hot liquids (the milk, cream, etc.), and then just warm the soup until serving.

Thus because Alice cooked it rather than warmed it, the cocoa ended up as a curdley, drinkable chocolate pudding concoction. It tasted OK, it was just a little odd. Needless to say, there's leftovers. Anyway, let's look at what to do so this never happens to you (or her again). When making homemade cocoa:

1) Mix your dry ingredients together.

2) Add boiling hot liquids a little at a time and stir well. You start off with a thick paste, and eventually end up with a smooth and thin consistency.

3) Pour this into your slow cooker. Whether transporting or serving at home, don't turn on the heat (meaning--WARM) until about 45 minutes to an hour before serving. Because you started off with boiling hot liquids, your cocoa will be hot enough by just sitting on warm. Cocoa does not need to be cooked--only warmed.

We like to make our cocoa with cream and powdered milk. We add extra cocoa powder--no matter how much the recipe calls for. And we always add pure vanilla. Your cocoa recipe probably calls for something similar. Just remember--boil your liquids initially, then simply keep things warm. Oh, and always add the vanilla as the very last thing you do. That way you retain its flavor.

Have you had any cocoa fiascos? Do you have any cocoa-making tips or good recipes to share? We're all in this together, so please comment--there's no reason we all gotta go through the "big oops." And until next time, here's to family dinner made easier--especially if we know what NOT to do when making homemade cocoa or any other dairy-based dish!

Ice Cream Snowballs

2011-12-26T09:29:00.000-08:00

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream
10 ounces flaked coconut
Using a round ice cream scoop form ice cream into balls. Place on a cookie sheet and freeze. Roll in coconut and serve. For added color and taste, add a few raspberries or mint leaves.

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! We are still enjoying our families and that means that the celebrating is not over. Tonight is game night and tomorrow we have more family coming. If you are looking for something fast and easy for a dessert, this is a good one. This yummy dessert with it's festive flair will keep them running to the dinner table.

A Healthy Alternative to Cold Cereal That's a Neat Christmas Gift As Well!

2011-12-23T06:42:00.000-08:00

We're finishing up our gifts--the last being food gifts. Today we're making "Pauper's Granola." Here's a little background:

Back in the old days when Alice was feeding her family of 9 on less than $10 a month, she needed a money-saving alternative to cold cereal (folks can only take so much cooked oatmeal and cracked wheat mush!). They were living in Portland, OR, and her friend, Shirley Smith, gave her a recipe for homemade granola.

As you know, most granolas are fairly expensive, this recipe included, so Alice massaged and tweaked it until it was just the money-saver she needed--hence the name, "Pauper's Granola."

It was so good and such a hit, that she ended up making it at Christmas time to sell at bazaars and to give to family and friends. So today we pass this recipe on to you--whether you want to save a little on your grocery bill or just want another idea for a great last-minute gift. You might like this:

PAUPER'S GRANOLA

10 C old fashioned oats

1 C whole wheat flour

1 C powdered milk (instant is fine also)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 C honey

1/2-3/4 C brown sugar

1 C healthy oil (grapeseed, coconut, walnut, sesame, or extra virgin olive oil)

1 C old fashioned peanut butter

2-3 Tbsp pure vanilla

Raisins

In large roasting pan, mix dry ingredients. Heat honey, brown sugar, oil, and peanut butter until melted and blended well. Remove from stove and add vanilla. Pour over dry ingredients. Bake at 225 degrees for 1/2 to 1 hour, continually checking and turning the mix so it all roasts evenly. Add raisins. Let cool before packaging into containers.

NOTES:

1) There's nothing sacred or scarey about any granola recipe, so tweak it to your needs and preferences. For instance, if you can't eat wheat, omit the wheat flour and substitute millet, amaranth, teff, etc. The flour acts as a binder for the liquid ingredients--it helps coat the oats. Also, if you can't eat peanuts, then substitute almond butter for the peanut butter. And if you don't like raisins, substitute dried cranberries or diced dried apricots, or... Play around with this.

2) This is pretty much a bare bones recipe, but if saving $$ isn't an issue and you really want to jazz this up to increase the "WOW!" factor, then add black sesame seeds (to increase the lignans), raw sunflower seeds, unsweetened coconut, walnuts (or cashews, or hazelnuts, or...), pumpkin seeds, etc. You get the idea.

3) This is so versatile--you can use it in cookies (we put it in our "Cowboy Cookie" recipe) and you can make granola BARS with it. Before roasting, press the granola onto a cookie sheet with a raised edge and roast until golden brown. Upon removing from oven, use your chef's knife to cut into bars. Let rest and cool before removing from pan. If you want a chewy bar, add a little extra honey and oil to the mix before pressing onto the cookie sheet. (HEY! Homemade granola bars--now there's another good Christmas present idea! Put each bar in its own baggie, and put the number you want to give in a nice, reusable container and tie with a pretty bow. We're doin' this!)

Don't you just love serving foods that are not only good, but good FOR you? This is really one of those foods, and we hope if you don't give it a try now, you eventually will. And then drop us a comment as to what you think of it, what changes (if any) you made to the recipe, etc. And so until next time, here's to family dinner made easy as we serve up a healthy alternative to cold, store-bought cereals. Merry Christmas!

A Delicious (and EASY) Treat to Add to Your Crowd-Feeding Buffet Table!

2011-12-22T06:24:00.000-08:00

Is the week getting away from you? Us, too. But we're having fun planning Sunday's dinner, and we have another EASY idea to add to yesterday's tips on feeding your crowd:

First a little background on it: [Alice talking]
I was in the bulk-foods section of our local whole foods store, Good Earth. A lady next to me was filling a bag with medjool dates. Wondering what she was going to do with so many dates, I asked her. And here's where the idea comes from:

[Nice lady in the bulk-foods section talking]: "This is one of our favorite holiday treats. I slice each date in half, remove the pit, fill each half with cream cheese, and top with a few toasted, slivered almonds. They are to die for!"

I asked if she adds anything to the cream cheese and she said no--there's no need because the sugar in the date melds almost instantly with the cream cheese, so it's truly sweet enough. Plus the date flavor enhances the whole thing.

So I bought a bunch and tried one at home. Oh my! She was absolutely right. These little babies are dessert in and of themselves. Boy was I glad I had the wherewithal to ask her about her date bag, and I'm very grateful she graciously shared! It's like we always say: We're all in this together, so let's help each other out.

We hope you like this idea for such an unusual (at least we think it's unusual--maybe we just don't get out much) and amazingly delicious treat to add to your crowd-feeding buffet table this Sunday. Until next time then, here's to family dinner made easy as we prepare yet another wonderful and EASY dish for our Christmas celebration!

Six Tricks for Feeding a Crowd!

2011-12-20T21:18:00.000-08:00

When you have a large group coming to your home for dinner there a few things that can help you become a better prepared hostess. The first thing to do is don’t panic! You will be amazed at the solutions you already have in your head, if you take some time to plan and think about serving items you already have on hand.

When planning dinner for a large group of people, definitely go buffet style. It may be simplistic, but by way of definition, a buffet is where all the food is placed on a separate table or tables and the guest picks up plates from the head of the table and dishes up their own choice of foods. Then they carry their plate to the tables set up for eating. A buffet works well with a formal or casual meal.

You should ask yourself, “How can I feed everyone with the dishes and utensils I already have?” There are three answers to this question. Don’t be afraid to mix and match your plates. Everyone will think that is part of your creative plan. If you want to use washable plates and don’t have enough, check out your local second hand store. (We have found a couple of sets of beautiful plates and serving dishes at our local thrift store.) You can also ask a friend or family member to loan you some of their dishes. It is a good idea to coordinate the colors the best you can; stacking them so they are mixed in together lets your guests know this was all part of the plan. If you don’t want to use washable plates, go for a high quality plastic or paper plate.

Wrapping the silverware into packets or a nice little bundle will make food pick-up easier on the guests. Have the packets located at the head or end of the table. This keeps people from running back to the line and asking “Where are the forks, etc….?” Securing the silverware with a tie around the napkin keeps them intact and is a fancy addition. Kids love to wrap and tie the utensils, so this is a good place to put them to work! When you are finished wrapping, place them in a pretty basket or box.

Decorations are nice on the buffet table but not necessary. We personally think garnishing the food is the best way to go. If you do use decorations, keep them in a place that doesn’t interfere with the serving of the food. I would keep the table decorations for the dining area.

Plan the menu and prepare as much of the food, as possible, ahead of time. One thing to remember on a buffet table is that hot dishes should be kept hot and cold dishes should be kept cold. Heating trays are wonderful and packing cold foods on ice is a good idea. It will ensure your guests feel more comfortable, as no one wants to get sick, which could happen if the foods are not kept at the right temperature.

Here are some ideas that will help with buffet set-up:

Set up tables. Cover with a nice cloth that will compliment your color scheme.
Set the plates on both sides of the table, at the end of the table where you want your guests to start serving themselves. Place utensil bundles at the end of the food — it should be the last thing people pick up.
The main course should be the first item, followed by side dishes.
Salads and breads are next, unless they are already on the guest tables.
Salt and pepper shakers should be at each table, as well as butter.
Have a separate table for desserts.

We love a dessert table that has a beautiful presentation, assembled in a way that really shows off the food. This can be nicely done by changing the height of some of the dessert platters. For example, you can create various heights by placing books, upside down dishes, or boxes underneath your tablecloth. Then arrange your dessert platters.

A buffet that is set up correctly will help everyone feel comfortable. The questions will be minimal and you will be assured everyone is getting just what they want. If you have a very unruly bunch, bring a large whistle and a big stick! Just kidding! Everyone will get the hang of it. After you formally welcome everyone to your home, you can explain the buffet setup and process. This will help everyone know the routine you have planned for the meal.

So don’t panic, this isn’t hard. You will in fact have an amazing time and your guests will be astonished at your terrific entertaining skills.

These ideas might be helpful in getting dinner hour to happen at your home when the crowd comes.

Old Fashion Sugar Cookies

2011-12-20T08:47:00.000-08:00

Nothing smells more like Christmas than sugar cookies baking in the oven. Years ago we found a recipe that makes soft, fat sugar cookies. If you have ever had a “pink cookie” and you know how good they are. Now imagine a fresh one straight from the oven. This recipe is so close to that thick pink cookie it is unbelievable! We have been making and enjoying these cookies for years. So put on some Christmas music, bake some sugar cookies and shabam! The family will be gathered in the kitchen before you can say Merry Christmas! Oh, we have to tell you that these cookies turn out best if you use a large cookie cutter, one that doesn’t have too much detail - like a circle, star or outline of a snowflake.

Good old fashioned sugar cookies definitely gets us in the Christmas spirit. We hope you get a chance to try this recipe and that you enjoy it as much as we do. Time in the kitchen with your family will create memories that will never be forgotten.

OLD FASHIONED SUGAR COOKIES

4 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/4 cups butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

1 cup buttermilk

In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients. In a mixer bowl, add butter and sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and lemon extract and beat well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to shortening mixture. Cover and chill for about 3 hours. These cookies are easier to handle if cold.

Roll dough 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 3 inch shapes with a cookie cutter. Place 3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. If you don't plan on frosting them, sprinkle extra sugar on the top. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until done. This recipe makes about 24 large cookies.

Tip: If you don't have buttermilk, combine 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of milk and let set for 15 minutes.

Enjoy your family or a friend and keep them coming to the dinner table with these yummy sugar cookies. Take sometime to talk about life and your many blessings. Oops! Don't forget the hot chocolate.

An EASY and Very Thoughtful Christmas Gift!

2011-12-19T05:43:00.000-08:00

We hope your Christmas plans and doings are going well for you and you're especially enjoying all that comes with this wonderful holiday.

Two things this morning: First reader "Chris and Kristy" commented on yesterday's post, and her idea is such a good one, we want to repeat it here, in case you don't read the comments. This is really worth repeating, and we want to publicly thank her for taking the time to share:

"I cook lots of chicken in one batch and shred it. Then I put it in bags (1 pound) and freeze it. Makes it super easy to add to any dish. Also, my favorite method for shredding chicken is to use my electric hand mixer. When the chicken is hot, you don't have to burn your hands to shred it and it comes out SO nice! Plus it's super quick."

Second: Here's a very easy and very thoughtful Christmas gift that's perfect for taking to your favorite neighbor, sister-in-law, etc. We can't take credit for it--good friend Daphne Budge is the creator of this clever poem and idea:

Throughout the year she buys paper goods (plates, cups, bowls, napkins and plastic utensils) when she finds them on sale. At Christmas time she packages sets in Christmasy bags with handles, inserts tissue paper, and attaches this cute note:

"Everyone deserves a break from the dishes.

So we're sharing this,

Along with our Christmas wishes!"

Darling, huh? Don't you just love the creativity and resourcefulness people come up with? We like to say "We're all in this together" (meaning Life 101) and it makes us so happy that we are, because of the good things you share and the good example you are. We wanna be on YOUR team!

This said, it's not too late to let us all know about any last-minute or time-saving holiday ideas you may have. We'd love to know how you keep the joy in the holiday as you so effectively get your TO DO list done. Until then, here's to family dinner made easy as we share our gifts with those around us.

6 Tasty Ways You Can Turn Boxed & Canned Stuff Into Homemade-Like Dinners

2011-12-18T06:50:00.000-08:00

Alice's Aunt Annie cooked mostly from scratch. But every once in awhile she'd have to resort to convenience foods for dinner due to an extra busy day - we can all probably relate. She was such a creative cook - she knew how to jazz up store-bought foods (pantry items) with her special touches that made them taste very "homemade."

Besides being a creative cook that could turn ho-hum pantry items into truly noteworthy dishes, she was very modest. We'd ooh and aaahh over something we thought was amazing and she'd always reply with "Oh, this is something I found in my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook," or "This is Cousin Ruby's recipe," or "This is straight out of Taste of Home Magazine," or... She never took credit for any of the meal magic she worked. But we all knew better - the most fantastic recipe in the world can flop in the hands of a so-so cook. Nope - Aunt Annie was a true dinner diva and we were in awe.

And two of her favorite pantry items that she could do wonders with, were canned soups and boxed macaroni and cheese. Here are some of her family-tested answers to "What's for dinner on this super busy day?":

1. For extra pizzazz, add an envelope of onion soup mix to canned split pea soup. The flavor is terrific.

2. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder to canned cream of mushroom soup, then add any veggie leftovers you might have on hand. Leftover rice gives this dish extra character as well.

3. To dried chicken noodle soup mix, add about 1 1/2 cups of frozen peas and carrots plus a can of vegetable soup. This is a hearty soup that goes really well with sandwiches.

4. Give your standard boxed macaroni and cheese a new life. Make it according to the directions on the box, then add a can of Italian-style stewed tomatoes and any leftover cooked sausage or ground beef. Aunt Annie would also top the whole thing with about a cup of grated Cheddar cheese.

5. Adding a dollop of sour cream to your boxed mac & cheese when finished putting it together. This makes it even creamier and gives it a little zip.

6. Finally, prepare boxed macaroni and cheese according to directions, and when it's done, stir in a small can of chunky ham, or add any leftover ham (diced) you have. This is an effortless entree!

What do YOU do to get a dinner together when it's been a super-busy day? Having a few tricks up our sleeve will always help--please share yours--we're all in this together! Until next time then, here's to family dinner made easy, even on a super-busy day!

Dessert on the Run: No-Fuss Angel Food Cake

2011-12-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

We're so excited to announce the winners of our PURE VANILLA GIVE-AWAY! First of all, thank you to all of you for commenting. We know life is busy--exceptionally so at this time of year, so we truly appreciate you reading, commenting, and supporting our efforts to get our families back to the dinner table.

SO here you are: ELLEN GREENAWAY. Ellen suggested vanilla be added to children's playdough--the smell is soothing. JIM ERLANDSON. Jim suggested soaking cottonballs in vanilla and using them as bait in mousetraps. He says it's a no-fail approach to ridding yourself of unwanted pests! Wonderful ideas!

We'll be shipping the vanilla off immediately, as soon as we get our lucky winner's addresses.

NOW: Today's topic: Since we've been talking about last-minutes dinner fixes, here's a great idea for a super quick and easy dessert. And it can be a real money-saver as well if you go the day-old bakery basket as well. Here are the 4 basic steps to create Angel Food Cake Deluxe!

1) Buy an un-iced angel food cake

2) Ice it with your favorite homemade frosting or from a can of store-bought.

3) Crush peppermint candies and sprinkle all over the iced cake. OR, depending on your icing flavor, you can chop up a candy bar and sprinkle it atop the cake.

4) Call it good!

If you're looking for a terrific icing recipe, look no more:

CREAM CHEESE HEATH BAR FROSTING

8 oz cream cheese, softened
2/3 C packed brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla (and of course, we like to add a little more)
1/8 tsp salt
2 C whipped cream
1 Heath candy bar

Blend first four ingredients well then fold in whipped cream. Loosely chop Heath bar. Ice cake, cookies and sprinkle the chopped candy bar over the icing for extra taste and a pretty garnish (or as Alice would do, drop a huge glob into hot cocoa. Oink.).

We hope this dessert on the run is your answer for getting your family to the dinner table.

Cool Things to Do With Vanilla

2011-12-15T02:42:00.000-08:00

There are some very cool things we can do with pure vanilla besides bake:

1. It eliminates stubborn bad odors in the refrigerator--just wipe down the inside with it. Then to prolong the fresh vanilla scent, soak a cotton ball or small piece of new sponge with vanilla and leave it in your refrigerator. We do this to counteract the lingering smell of cut onion.

2. It deodorizes the microwave also. Just pour a little vanilla extract in a bowl and microwave on High for one minute.

3. It neutralizes the smell of fresh paint. We like that aroma, but for those that don't, mix 1 tablespoon vanilla extract into the paint can when you open it. The vanilla doesn't affect the paint and the house will smell delicious!

4. It sweetens the overall smell of the home. It's an old Realtor's trick (along with baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies). Put a drop or two of vanilla extract on a light bulb, turn on the light, and your house will be filled with the lovely scent of things baking in the oven.

5. It sweetens the smell of the car. Soak a few cotton balls in pure vanilla extract and place them discreetly under the front seat. This is a non-toxic way to enhance your ride!

6. It perfumes or slightly flavors granulated sugar. Just store your vanilla beans in your sugar in an airtight container. Both the beans and the sugar benefit.

7. It relieves minor burns. When you've just experienced a kitchen burn (grabbing a hot pan handle or being splattered by hot grease, for instance), quickly dab on some vanilla extract. The evaporation of the alcohol in the vanilla cools and soothes the burn.

8. It is a skin saver and soother, thanks to its antioxidants. Because it can prevent damage from environmental pollutants and toxins, you might want to try this delicious reviving scrub recipe:

VANILLA SCRUB
1 lemon
5 vanilla beans
3 Tbsp brown sugar
3 drops vanilla essential oil
3 drops vanilla extract

Squeeze lemon into a bowl; discard seeds. Slice open vanilla beans lengthwise; scrape out seeds with spoon. Add vanilla seeds, brown sugar, vanilla oil and extract to lemon juice. Mix well. Apply scrub to face (avoiding eyes) and massage in for a few minutes. Rinse with warm water, then splash with cold.

9. It is a hunger buster. Smelling a satisfyingly rich scent such as vanilla can trick your brain into thinking you've eaten more than you actually have, says researchers. This cues the body to feel content sooner, thus you'll eat less. Hmmm, who knew?

10. It's a soothing bath additive. Alice adds it to her bath water (about 1 tablespoon) along with 2 cups of epsome salts.

11. It repels bugs--they don't like this smell. Dilute 1 tablespoon vanilla extract with 1 cup water and wipe the mixture on your exposed skin to discourage mosquitoes, black flies, and ticks.

12. It makes a natural and delicious perfume. While bugs don't like the smell, people do. Once in awhile, dab a little extract behind your ears and on your pulse points. Notice all the extra hugs and snuggles you get! (Alice's hubby, Rich, likes eau de vanilla almost as much as he likes eau de bacon and eau de gravy!)

Finally, food-wise, beyond baking: Add it to your milk for a nice flavor snap. We like to add it to the egg mixture when making French toast. It's also a nice addition to the pancake and waffle batter, and Alice adds it to her morning green smoothies and when making homemade cocoa.

The uses go on and on. What do YOU do with vanilla? Please take a minute and pass on your ideas. We have a beautiful bottle of PURE vanilla extract we will be giving away to the best idea that's shared--so don't be shy. Just comment with your idea (here on the blog, not on Facebook) and email us with your address and we'll ship it off to you! How cool is that?

While these ideas may not necessarily make it easier to get family dinner on, they certainly enhance the atmosphere. So until next time, here's to family dinner made easy while we do some cool things with vanilla!

One Skillet Meal Appeal

2011-12-14T05:20:00.000-08:00

Did you know that some of your family's favorite meals can be prepared with the ease of using just one pan? Not only is this a quick way to prepare a meal, but it no doubt makes for a trouble-free clean up. Another constructive reason for making a one-skillet dinner is the simplicity of being able to serve the meal directly from the pan to the plate.

Don't wig-out on us here! Although serving from the skillet creates a casual setting, it also gives the warm feeling of a casual family dinner. Skillet meals are very much like making a casserole only without having to use so many pans and bowls. Cooking in one pan unquestionably makes for a shorter preparation time. If you haven't tried one skillet dinners, we highly endorse them, especially during this busy season.

First, you need to have a large skillet. This can be cast iron or stainless steel. An electric skillet will also work well. After you find a few recipes that you think your family will enjoy, a skillet dinner will become another source of being able to get dinner on the table quickly, and without much fuss.

Here are just a couple of recipes that we thought you might enjoy trying. Chop your vegetables ahead of time and have them ready to go, this will also cut down on prep time.

TEX-MEX ONE SKILLET DINNER

1/2 cup chopped onion

16 ounces canned pinto beans

1 cup water

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 cup white rice

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

2 - 10 ounce cans diced tomatoes with green chilies

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup frozen corn

In a large skillet, cook the ground beef and onion. Drain off any oils. Stir in a can of undrained tomatoes with chilies, pinto beans, water, rice, chili powder, cumin, corn and bring

to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the rice is cooked. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

RAMEN NOODLE CHICKEN LO MEIN

2 packages Ramen noodle soup mix

1 green pepper (sliced)

2 skinless chicken breast (sliced)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoons soy sauce

3 cloves of minced garlic

1 1/2 cups snow peas
2 cups mushrooms

3 cups boiling water

2 cups chicken broth
2 Tablespoons corn starch
1 red pepper (sliced)

Break noodles in a large bowl and sprinkle with 1 seasoning packet and cover with 3 cups boiling water, set aside. In a bowl, combine the broth and corn starch. In a large skillet, heat oil and stir fry all vegetables until tender. Remove from skillet and set aside. Add remaining 1 Tablespoon oil into the skillet; bring to a boil and add vegetables. Drain noodles from bowl and add to skillet along with soy sauce. Continue cooking until the mixture is heated through and sauce is thick.

Now that was easy, making dinner hour happen once again in your home.

The Perfect Christmas Gift: GOOD LUCK Foods!

2011-12-13T04:11:00.000-08:00

If you're wondering what to give to someone that seems to already have "everything," how about the gift of good luck? It seems almost every country has it's New Years Day tradition of serving a "lucky food" as part of the holiday meal, so why not give that food for Christmas, to be used later, on New Year's Day?

We especially like this idea because it's meaningful and consumable (Alice loves the idea of gifts that don't turn in to clutter!). AND there's the extra attraction that the gift could come in a container that could be used after the fact.

If you like the idea, too, then here are a few New Years Day good luck food traditions:

Vasilopita is a New Year’s Day bread or cake in Greece. It contains a hidden coin or trinket which gives good luck to the receiver. It is made of a variety of doughs, depending on regional and family tradition. Alice's future son-in-law, Alex, is Greek and last year he brought her some of his mom's vasilopita--they all loved it and thought it was the perfect gift. Here's a good recipe:

1 C butter
1 Tbsp butter for greasing pan
2 C sugar
2 Tbsp sugar for sprinkling
3 C flour
6 eggs
2 tsp baking powder (we recommend non-aluminum, such as Rumford's)
1 C warm milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 C blanched slivered almonds
CLEAN coin wrapped in aluminum foil (a quarter works well)

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 10 inch round cake pan with 1 Tbs butter. In medium bowl, cream the cup of butter and 2 cups of sugar together. Stir in flour and mix until batter resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add eggs one at a time, blending each one in well.

In small bowl combine baking powder and milk; add to cake batter and mix well. Finally, combine lemon juice and baking soda in small bowl; add to cake batter and mix well. Pour cake batter into greased cake pan; insert the foil-wrapped coin; bake for 20 minutes.

Remove cake from oven; sprinkle nuts and 2 Tbs sugar over cake, then return it to oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until the cake springs to the touch. Allow to cool on a rack for 10 min.; invert pan onto a cake plate. Serve warm (serve the most senior member first). Alice added sweetened whippped cream to each piece--to her, whipped cream is the universal symbol of good luck!

Pomegranates: Long associated with abundance and fertility, they're eaten in Turkey and other Mediterranean countries for luck in the New Year. Why not give several in a pretty drawstring bag? There are lots of great recipes calling for pomegranate (see our blog in November on pomegranate know-how), and they're especially wonderful added to a morning smoothie!

Lentils: Thought to resemble coins, they are eaten throughout Italy for good fortune in the New Year. Here's a wonderful soup using lentils:

LENTIL, KIELBASA, VEGETABLE STEW

2 tablespoon(s) olive oil
2 pound(s) turkey kielbasa, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 large onion, chopped
1 pound(s) carrots, cut into 1/2-inch half-moons
4 medium stalks celery, sliced
5 clove(s) garlic, crushed with press
6 cup(s) water
2 can(s) (14- to 14 1/2-ounce) chicken broth
2 can(s) (14 1/2-ounce) diced tomatoes
1 1/2 bag(s) (16-ounce) lentils, picked over and rinsed
Celery leaves for garnish

In 8-quart saucepot, heat 2 teaspoons oil on medium until hot. Add half of kielbasa and cook 4 to 5 minutes or until browned. Transfer to medium bowl. Repeat with remaining kielbasa and 2 teaspoons oil.

In same pot, heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil on medium. Add onion, carrots, and celery; cook 15 minutes or until vegetables are golden, stirring often. Stir in garlic; cook 1 minute. Add water, broth, tomatoes, and lentils to pot; heat to boiling on high. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, uncovered, 40 minutes or until lentils are tender. Stir in kielbasa; heat through. Spoon half of stew into serving bowls; garnish with celery leaves. Spoon remaining into freezer-safe containers.

Black-eyed peas: A common good luck food in the southern United States, black-eyed peas are thought to bring prosperity, especially when served with collard greens.

Hoppin' John

This moist and delicious rice/pea mixture, traditionally served on New Years Day, is said to bring good luck. This is a simple recipe--no presoaking necessary! On the day of your dinner, make rice, then reheat peas and stir together before serving.

1 tablespoons cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium red pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 packages (16-oz) dry black-eyed peas
1 large (about 3/4 pound) smoked ham hock
2 cans (14 1/2 oz each) chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon red pepper, crushed
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoon salt
2 cups brown rice
parsley, chopped, for garnish

In 4-qt saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add celery, onion, and red pepper; cook 10 min. until golden. Add garlic; cook 2 min. longer. Rinse peas with running cold water; discard any stones or shriveled peas. Add peas, ham hock, chicken broth, crushed red pepper, bay leaf, 1 teaspoon salt, and 4 cups water to celery mixture; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 40 min. or until peas are tender.

Meanwhile, prepare rice as package label directs, but use 1 teaspoon salt and do not add butter. In large bowl, gently mix pea mixture and rice. Serve hot. Garnish with chopped parsley if you like.

So with these two dishes in mind, here's our final gift suggestion, with the idea in mind that you could add black-eyed peas to the Lentil Kielbasa Soup (no taste difference and you have DOUBLE the luck!), or add lentils to the Hoppin' John (again, no taste difference and again, you'll have DOUBLE the luck!). In a quart canning jar, create layers of black-eyed peas and the colored lentils. Add some pretty cloth and twine plus the two recipes to the jar with your wishes for New Years Luck, and there you have an easy, inexpensive, and meaningful gift! And not only will you be giving the gift of good luck, you'll also be giving the gift of family dinner made easy!

Make Ahead Comfort Food

2011-12-12T06:42:00.000-08:00

We've been thinking this morning about easy comfort foods since yesterday we talked about piggy-backing. With that idea, two recipes popped into our minds that work well with this principle. Meatloaf and meatballs! Our good friend Shauna Hooper shared these two recipes with us and she is an excellent cook!

It's been our experience that not all meatloaf recipes are created equal. Once you find a delicious recipe, it will become one of your favorites. It's easy to make an extra meatloaf and freeze it. When it comes to meatballs, make a boatload, freeze them and use them throughout the month.

Since you probably bought the hamburger in bulk, go ahead and cook some of the meat with taco seasoning for tacos and freeze. You can see where we are going with this. This principle of planning ahead can make your life so much easier, especially when you get busier than a one armed paper hanger!

FYI- to make uniform sized meatballs try using a cookie scoop.

AMAZING MEATLOAF

3 pounds ground beef

1 envelope of dried onion soup mix

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 (8 ounce) Stove Top dressing

1 clove garlic (minced)

1 pint sour cream

1 teaspoon oregano

1 egg (beaten)

Mix together. Divide into two loaf pans. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 1 hour. While the meat loaf is baking, mix the following ingredients together to make a sauce for the top of the meatloaf.

SAUCE

Heat together in a small sauce pan;

2/3 cup ketchup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon mustard

After putting the sauce on the loaf, bake another 20 minutes.

If you are only using one meatloaf, freeze the other before baking.

MEATBALL MAGIC

1 pound ground beef

2-3 carrots (shredded)

1 large raw potato (shredded)

1 yellow onion (grated)

1 egg

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

SAUCE

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix meatball ingredients together. Roll into fairly large meatballs (1 1/2 to 2 inches) and place in a lightly greased 9x13 inch pan. It's alright if the meatballs are close together. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Mix sauce ingredients in a medium sized bowl and whisk until creamy. After meatballs are browned, pour sauce evenly over meatballs and place back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes (or until the sides are hot and bubbly). Serve over rice or noodles.

If you freeze the meatballs do not add the sauce. This sauce is just one example of what you can put over the meatballs. These recipes are family favorites and easy to do. This is just another example of how to make dinner hour happen in your home!

Piggy-Backin' for EASY Meal Management!

2011-12-09T06:42:00.000-08:00

Shall we keep talking about easy ways to keep getting the dinner on during this super busy time of year?

We all know what a smart thing a menu is--what an easy way to simplify the decision-making process. When we have a menu arranged, there's no "5 o'clock wandering and pondering" over what's for dinner! But do you use piggy-backing in your menu planning?

Piggy-backing is the fine art of creating meals on top of a meal, and you probably grew up with your moms doing this. For instance, you buy one big chicken for Sunday dinner and you be sure to save some of it for two or three more chicken-oriented meals throughout the coming week. So it's roast chicken on Sunday, chicken noodle soup on Monday, and chicken enchiladas on Wednesday.

This technique is also a terrific dollar stretcher as well. We always build our weekly menus off the week's grocery ads. If pot roast is on sale, then that's the featured item for the weekly dinners. Sunday is pot roast (with spuds and carrots--all in the slow cooker or roaster together), Tuesday is beef stew and homemade baking powder biscuits, Wednesday is beef fajitas, and Friday's lunch is roast beef sandwiches. You get the idea.

Speaking of pot roast on sale--are you aware of the Shirley J line of Dutch oven seasonings? On their website, www.shirleyj.com, they say that this product "adds full flavor to meats, and perfectly moistens and seasons..." It's true. We ask this question because of how sometimes a cut of roast tends to be on the tough side. Using this wonderful slow cooker seasoning turns out a moist and flavorful pot roast every time. We also appreciate its low sodium content and lack of MSG! It's made one of our favorite meals even better.

If you're in Utah, you might want to stop in to their corporate office and store to pick some up--on 400 South in Orem. Tell 'em Alice sent ya. If not, you can order online as well. Now here's one of their recipes for an amazing pot roast using this seasoning:

SLOW COOKER ROAST AND GARDEN VEGETABLES

1/3 c. Shirley J Dutch Oven Beef Seasoning
2 1/2 lbs tri-tip, or other beef roast
2 c. water
1 onion, cut in quarters
8-10 red potatoes, cut in quarters [from us: any potato works great]
5 large carrots, cut lengthwise and then into chunks

In a hot skillet, brown roast on each side. Place the roast in a large slow cooker with onions on top. Mix Slow Cooker Seasoning with water, following package directions. Pour over the top of the roast, and turn crock pot on low. Cook for two hours. Add carrots and potatoes to the slow cooker, mixing lightly to coat with sauce. Cook on low for four more hours. The sauce will make a nice, flavorful gravy in the bottom of the pan. Serve roast, potatoes, and carrots with gravy over the top.

So much for the carnivores in the outfit. How about us vegetarians? Can we piggy-back our menu as well? You bet. Alice does it all the time using brown or wild rice. For instance, Sunday is veggie stir-fry over rice. And since she has been sure to make LOTS of rice, then Monday is vegetable & rice soup with homemade cornbread, Wednesday is veggie & rice wraps, and Friday's dinner has Caramel Rice Pudding for dessert.

Here's the pudding recipe, found in a Better Homes and Garden Magazine a few years ago (and is now on their website, as well):

CARAMEL RICE PUDDING

1/2 cup rice 1 tablespoon butter 3 cups milk [from us: we prefer using cream here]
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup caramel ice cream topping
1/3 cup sugar [from us: Alice substitutes Stevia successfully here]
2 drops hot water

In a medium saucepan cook and stir uncooked rice in hot butter or margarine for 2 minutes. Carefully stir in milk and cinnamon (mixture may spatter). Bring to a low boil. Cover and cook over low heat about 30 minutes or until most of the milk is absorbed, stirring occasionally. (Mixture may appear curdled.) Remove saucepan from heat. Stir in vanilla. Swirl in caramel ice cream topping. Transfer to four individual serving bowls. Keep warm.

In a small saucepan heat the 1/4 cup sugar over medium-high heat until sugar begins to melt, shaking saucepan occasionally to heat sugar evenly. Do not stir until sugar begins to melt. Reduce heat and cook for 3 to 5 minutes more or until sugar is melted and golden in color. Remove pan from heat. Stir in the 2 drops hot water. Quickly drizzle topping over each serving of rice pudding. Makes 4 servings.

Finally, how do YOU manage your menu? Do you piggy-back? What are your favorite entrees to build a piggy-backed menu off of? Please share what works for you--we're all in this together!

And if you're not already piggy-backin', start this habit. Now's a good time to start, don't you think? It'll save you so much time and energy during the holidays--it's just such a smart way to deal with the grocery budget, time constraints, and decision-making. So until next time, here's to keeping our focus on things that matter most (one of which is keeping up the family dinner tradition), as we master the fine art of piggy-backin for EASY meal management!

Set Up a Tomato Soup Bar for a Fast & Easy Dinner!

2011-12-08T03:59:00.000-08:00

Would we agree this is one of the busiest times of the year? And it seems in the rush rush of everything, dinner is one of the easiest things to shove aside. Because it IS so easy to skip, it's crucial to have a few quick meal ideas up our sleeve so we can stay in the family dinner groove.

That said, here's an idea for a fast, easy, and very tasty dinner you may want to turn to when you're feeling spread thinner than a drink of water: The Tomato Soup Bar. Built around the idea of a baked potato bar, we set out a covered soup tureen filled with either the good 'ol standby, canned tomato soup, or our homemade tomato soup. (We try to have containers of this soup in the freezer on a regular basis.)

While it's true that any soup can make a fast and easy meal, the reason we use TOMATO soup is because of it's versatility. Just as tomato sauce is a perfect backdrop for pizza toppings, tomato soup is the perfect base for a wide range of add-ins, which then results in a nourishing and hearty meal in a bowl.

Thus to create that heartiness factor and round things out, we provide bowls of:

a few different crackers (oyster, Ritz, saltine, Triscuit, etc.)
shredded cheeses
diced tomato
chopped onion
chopped black olives
chopped bell peppers
chopped onion (scallions, yellow onion, etc.)
crumbled cooked bacon
chopped and steamed cauliflower and broccoli
chopped fresh basil
sour cream
canned black beans

The trick to a soup bar being a truly fast and easy meal is "gravels." Putting on this spread is a cinch if your items are already chopped, diced, shredded, etc.--and that's what having a freezer stocked with "gravels" is all about. On a slower day, we chop, shred, and dice things and then flash freeze them. Then we bag them up and they're at our disposal on those days when we need a quick meal. So when you decide to have a Tomato Soup Bar, pull out all the gravels you need--they thaw quickly.

If you're not under a time constraint, and you like the idea of a Tomato Soup Bar with homemade tomato soup, here's a recipe we've used for years that never fails:

FRESH TOMATO-BASIL SOUP
5 tomatoes - peeled, seeded and diced
4 cups tomato juice
16 leaves fresh basil
1 cup cream or milk
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter
salt and pepper to taste

Place tomatoes and juice in a stock pot over medium heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Puree the tomato mixture along with the basil leaves, and return the puree to the stock pot. Place the pot over medium heat. Thin cream cheese with a little of the cream or milk, then gradually add the rest of the cream or milk. Add to soup pot along with butter. Season with salt and pepper. Heat, stirring until the butter is melted. Do not boil.This is amazing!

In closing, let's carefully monitor what we're putting our time and energies to this month, to protect ourselves and our families from getting caught up in the thick of thin things--so we can feel the peace and joy Christmas is all about, and so we can continue to pursue our goal of regular family dinner. And as always, we ask if YOU have a quick meal idea you could share--we'd love to post it so others can benefit from your expertise and wisdom. Meanwhile, on those days that do get away from you, we hope this idea will help make family dinner easier.

Easy Holiday Punches

2011-12-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year when the world falls in love! We certainly fall in love with the sight, sounds and smells that are unique to this time of year.

If you are like us, your schedule is getting full with activities, especially parties. An important part of hosting a party is serving punch. When we see the punch bowl, we think to ourselves "hot diggity! we're having a party!" With Christmas parties and the New Year ahead, you might be asking yourself, what kind of punch to serve? Here are some recipes that you may not have tried yet. We think these recipes are easy and delicious!

WHITE CHRISTMAS PUNCH

1 (12 ounce) can frozen limeaid

3 cups sugar

3 cups water

2 liters of Sprite

sliced limes

Maraschino cherries

Dissolve sugar in the water. Add limeaid and freeze in a large pan. Two hours before serving, remove from freezer. One hour before serving, pour 2 quarts of sprite over the top. Float lime slices and maraschino cherries.

CHRISTMAS PUNCH

1 (32 ounce) cranberry juice

1 (46 Ounce) pineapple juice

2 cups orange juice

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons almond extract

1 (2 liter) bottle of ginger ale

Combine first six ingredients; chill. Add ginger ale just before serving.

CRANBERRY ORANGE PUNCH

2 (32 ounce) bottle of cranberry juice

1 cup lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1 liter orange soda

In a large bowl, combine cranberry juice, lemon juice and sugar; stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add orange soda just before serving. Don't forget the ice! Float orange slices on top of the punch.

We would bet that you have even created your own favorite punch. We would love to have you share your recipe with us. After all, we all like a party and what better way to say party than serving punch.

Until tomorrow, thanks for taking time to read and share. We are all about making a party happen with family and friends and getting dinner on the table as often and as easily as possible.

HEALTHY Eating with Cinnamon!

2011-12-06T06:43:00.000-08:00

We spend time researching healthy eating and especially how to healthify our family dinners--we ache over all the childhood obesity we're seeing today, and we're convinced a very effective way to address this issue is by having consistent family dinners that provide nutrient-dense food.

So that said, we found a great resource, The Healthy Snacks Blog, that has lots of good ideas for healthifying our meals and snacks--ideas that are easy and practical. For instance, the blog's author, Chris Davis, suggests we include more cinnamon in our meals. Here's why:

1. Studies indicate that cinnamon has anti-fungal, antibacterial and anti-parasitic properties. Research says it's effective in fighting vaginal yeast infections, oral yeast infections, stomach ulcers and head lice.

2. Cinnamon has anti-inflammatory properties. Fried, fatty and processed foods cause internal tissue and organ inflammation, which is linked to heart disease. Dr. Andrew Weil (and hundreds of other M.D.s) suggests anti-inflammatory diets are a means of reducing our chances of suffering heart attacks, strokes and heart disease. In his book Natural Health, Natural Medicine, Weil says “Cardiologists pinpoint abnormal inflammation in artery walls as a root cause of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease.”

So, humble cinnamon is a potential ally in our fight to decrease inflammation and protect our families from heart disease (which by the way, is showing up in children in alarming rates today).

3. Cinnamon is helping people with Type 2 diabetes in controlling blood sugar levels, and significantly lowers LDL “bad” cholesterol, total cholesterol and triglycerides (fatty acids in the blood). In 2003 researchers from the US Dept. of Agriculture showed that Type 2 diabetics who daily ate 1 gram of cinnamon, experienced a significant decrease in blood sugar levels, LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol and triglycerides.

While Dr. Frank Sacks (Brigham and Women’s Hospital and nutrition professor at the Harvard School of Public Health) warns against substituting cinnamon for cholesterol medications, he also says that the unusual potency and efficacy that cinnamon displays in the USDA study:

“...has beneficial effects that lasted for at least 20 days after people stopped taking it. ‘I don’t know of any drug or product whose effects persist for 20 days.’”

4. Cinnamon is an excellent source of manganese, dietary fiber, iron and calcium. Calcium + fiber help to remove bile, which prevents damage to colon cells, which helps prevent colon cancer. Fiber also helps with constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.

5. Research shows that just smelling cinnamon improves our memory and task performance.

And other sites we studied said that:

Cinnamon reduces the proliferation of leukemia and lymphoma cancer cells.
Cinnamon has an anti-clotting effect on the blood.
Honey and cinnamon combined has been found to relieve arthritis pain.
Cinnamon fights the E. coli bacteria in unpasteurized juices.
Cinnamon has been found to be an effective natural remedy for eliminating headaches and relieving migraines.
Cinnamon can helps stabilize blood sugar (which is great for weight loss).

Convincing, huh? And the double whammy is that most everyone likes cinnamon and it's easy to insert it into our food. So why not? Sprinkle it on the morning oatmeal or buttered toast, add it to your chili (a Texas tradition) and cup of cocoa, sprinkle it on fresh-cut apple slices or add it to applesauce, add it to your fruit juice or herb tea, use it when making cookies and fruit pies (which Alice makes with Stevia instead of sugar), and include it in your morning green drink or smoothie.

Finally, steep a pot of cinnamon water on the stove--this fragrance especially compliments the holidays well, and of course, as said, could boost our memories. (Boy do we need that!)

In closing, do YOU have ideas for using cinnamon? What do you cook or bake that uses it? Please share--it's a tall order to keep our families healthy, and we're all in this together, so let's help each other. Meanwhile, here's to family dinner made easy as we healthify our snacks and meals with a little dash of cinnamon here and there!

When You're in a Pinch!

2011-12-05T08:31:00.000-08:00

We felt in a bit of a pinch to get this blog on this morning. Are you feeling like your calendar is too full and your energy level too low, and if you're in a pinch the last thing you want to do is go to the store and pick up that one thing you forgot? More than likely this will happen at least once during this Christmas season, with all the extra cooking and baking that happens this time of year.

No problem! We may have just the solution for you. These are great substitutes that may help you if your'e in a pinch. In fact, we think some of these substitutes are just as good as store bought. For instance, our brown sugar substitute is better than store bought in our opinion. We haven't bought brown sugar for years. The reasoning behind this is that we are tired of lumpy or hard-as-a-rock brown sugar. Sure, you can put a piece of carrot, apple or bread in the canister and it will soften the sugar up for you, but that is only a temporary fix.

Since baking in our homes requires brown sugar only sometimes, and we prefer ours fresh, making our own makes more sense don't you think? So here's how we make your own brown sugar and we also thought you might appreciate knowing how to make your own buttermilk (when you're in a pinch).

BROWN SUGAR For every cup of white sugar add one tablespoon of molasses.

If you want a darker brown sugar add a little more. Mix together with a fork or your hands until the molasses is completely combined with the sugar. When measuring, pack the brown sugar in a measuring cup just as you would with store bought brown sugar.

BUTTERMILK SUBSTITUTE

We have at many times needed buttermilk and not had any on hand. This is a great substitute.

1 cup milk (preferably whole; you could also use cream)

1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice

Put the vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring cup and add enough milk to make a cup. Let stand for 5 minutes. You will notice it curdles and thickens automatically.

So instead of running to the store, try these tips when you're in a pinch. Until next time, here's to family dinner made easy!