Dinnertime Got You Stressed? Help Is Here!

So what’s your day like? If it’s anything like mine, it’s always rush, rush, rush and there are more things to do in a
day than there is possibly time for. Then dinnertime rolls around and you think, “Oh no! What are we going to have?”

The drive-thru is tempting. It’s fast and easy, but it’s also expensive and downright unhealthy. And although it’s a nice treat once in a while, we can’t do this every single day – or at least we shouldn’t.

And here’s the thing. Mealtime IS important. It’s not only important for adequate nutrition, but it allows our families to bond, is good for our children’s development and allows us to keep up-to-date on what’s happening in their lives.

In fact, there are studies that show having frequent meals together is one of the biggest factors of vocabulary development in young children. And for older kids, it can actually help reduce the risk of smoking, drinking, alcohol and other things we’d really like our kids to stay away from. But still, what do you do? Deciding to get the family together for dinners every day is often easier said than done. But there is help out there – thank goodness!

Make dinnertime easier, more enjoyable, healthier and save plenty of money with a unique menu planning service called “Dine Without Whine“. You receive a weekly menu with your kid-approved dinners planned for you and a categorized grocery shopping list to make it easy to zoom through the store. It even includes brunch ideas for the weekend and 2 weekly desert recipes. Take all the guesswork out of your weekly meal planning and grocery shopping by signing up. Everything is delivered directly to your email inbox each and every week. Just print and go!

All the details are here (including more information on the family mealtime studies I mentioned):

You can try the first week for only 1 cent – or choose a 3 month, 6 month, 12 month or lifetime option to save tons of money on your membership. Forget the stress of getting dinner together and enjoy your time with your family instead.

10 Quick and Tasty Family Meal Ideas

What are you serving for dinner tonight? How about lunch on the weekend? It can be a daunting task to come up with meal ideas especially if you have kids. Here are ten quick ideas for family meals try one tonight.

1.    Spaghetti – It’s easy to quickly boil noodles and simmer some spaghetti sauce. Spaghetti has so many add-ins your family will enjoy: Italian sausage, hamburger, diced vegetables and a variety of herbs and seasonings. For a low calorie meal, use spaghetti squash in place of traditional noodles.

2.    Tacos – Olay! If your family likes Mexican food, whip up a batch of tacos for dinner. Use hard and soft shells for variety. For family menu planning, dice the fixin’s ahead of time so you can just pull them out on taco night.

3.    Macaroni and cheese – What kid doesn’t like this as a dinner main dish? Spice it up with diced tomatoes, crumbled bacon, sliced hot dogs or hamburger.

4.    Pizza – This is not the store-bought or the delivery. Keep several prepared pizza crusts on hand (like Boboli for instance). On pizza night, let the entire family choose which toppings they want on their pizza. Prep time is fun so it doesn’t last long and it takes about 20 minutes or so to bake.

5.    Skewers – you can create tasty chicken, pork, seafood or beef kebobs quickly. Skewer the meat and your favorite vegetables and place them in a sealed container until meal day. This is the benefit of meal planning – getting prep work done early. Cook your tasty kebobs on a gas grill or use a grill pan indoors.

6.    Hot dogs – Nothing could be easier than throwing them in a pot of boiling water or grilling them up. For the health-conscious family, use light franks or turkey franks by Oscar Mayer or Ballpark.

7.    Chef salad – Salads are always quick to fix but they usually lack something in the taste department. With a chef salad you get your portion of protein from lean ham or turkey. The taste comes from the add-ins: bacon crumbles parmesan cheese, tomatoes, shredded cheese, black beans and cucumbers. Use others that your family likes.

8.    Grilled cheese sandwich – Dinner doesn’t need to be a four-course meal. For a new taste, add deli meat or a juicy tomato.

9.    Tortilla wraps – Create delicious quick sandwiches with your favorite flavor of tortilla. Glaze with mustard or low calorie mayonnaise. Add crunchy veggies and diced chicken, pork or beef.

10.    Leftover creations– Use leftovers to create salads, casseroles, sandwiches and soups. Don’t let anything go to waste if it can be used for new meals.

Let these ideas spark your interest in having a great meal with your family.
photo credit: Takanori Ishikawa

photo credit: WordRidden

Easy Additions for Perfect Halloween Meals

It’s Halloween! With just a few little changes or additions to things that you probably already make, you can put the spirit of Halloween on your table.

Scary Eyeballs – Add a little more mustard into the egg centers or a thin dollop under where you will lay a black olive into the creamy center.

Ghost Sandwiches – Cut your bread into ghosts, add the filling of your choice and your children will have a ghostly treat for their school or after school sandwich.

Wormy Hot Dogs – Thinly slice your hot dogs and then microwave. This will make them curl to look like worms. Put them on a hamburger bun and dress with mustard, catsup and pickles to make a slimy swamp underneath.

Ghostly Toast – Toast your bread. When it is cool enough to cut, with a gingerbread girl cutter or a plain knife, cut to make a ghost body. Top with whipped cream cheese or flavored yogurt with raisins or dates cut for eyes.

Orange Jack O Lantern – With a toothpick, gently carve a face into the orange. Careful not to injure the meat/pulp of the orange, your child will have a small version of the Jack O Lantern that is healthy and edible.

Graveyard Snack – Take a cup of plain or buttered popped popcorn; add a half cup each of mini pretzels, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, goldfish crackers and raisins.

Spider Snack – Taking two round crackers, such as the ritz, put peanut butter in the middle. Take 8 small pretzels and stick all around, 4 on each side to make the legs. Add raisins for eyes.

Salty Bones – Making breadsticks for your spaghetti tonight? Here’s a Halloween twist. Unroll a tube of refrigerated breadstick roll and separate the triangle pieces. Stretch each individual piece to make a long bone like figure. Cut about a 1 and a half inch slit in each end with your kitchen scissors. Roll the remaining 4 flaps into what would make the end of a dog bone. Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake as directed.

Goblin Tongues – Using mini bagels, spread cream cheese or mayonnaise, your preference, onto bagel. Cut slices out of circular pieces of bologna lunch meat to look like tongues and put into the top center of the bagel, leaving it to hang out like a tongue.

These are just a small sampling of things you can do to impress the kids or grandkids. Nothing fancy, quite simple for you but they’ll love them. Presentation and excitement is part of children accepting new and different things. Let them help you when creating these treats and they may just be a little more receptive to the new Halloween changes in foods they already love.

5 Frugal Ideas for Cooking Black Beans

by Nicole Dean

If you have a family budget worked out, you know how hard it is to stick to it without having some real concrete plans and strategies to stretch your money as far as it will go. Usually, the first area we can squeeze a few extra dollars out of our wallets is on groceries. I’d like to introduce you to your new partner in your frugal endeavor, the black bean.

If you find yourself wandering aimlessly through the aisles of your grocery store, looking for something to make for dinner that won’t break your budget, take a detour over to the black bean display and check out the price. Considering that black beans are loaded with nutrients like protein, iron, calcium, and potassium, and they are high in fiber, and low in fat and sugar, they really offer a lot of bang for your buck. It’s obvious that black beans should be a staple in every household, frugal or not. So, let’s think up a few simple meals to create with your new best friend… the black bean.

1) Quick and Easy Beany Soup

You’ll need 1 can each of black beans, garbanzo beans, butter beans, and navy beans (although you really can use any kinds of beans). In a large pot, pour 2 tablespoons olive oil, add 1 cup chopped celery and 1 cup chopped onion. Cook until celery is a little tender. Now add 1 clove garlic, minced or crushed and cook for just a minute. Open and drain, but do not rinse, all four bean cans and pour into pot. Add 1 small can diced tomatoes and 1 small can chicken broth. Simmer slowly for about 20 minutes. It’s ready to eat.

2) Bountiful Bean Salad

You’ll be choosing your favorite canned beans for this salad, keeping in mind color and texture; favorites like black beans, butter beans, navy beans, kidney beans, waxed beans, and whatever else you like. Drain and rinse all the beans and put them in a large serving bowl. To the beans, add some sweet onion, or green onion including the tops, chopped celery, freshly chopped parsley, maybe some fresh rosemary, or whatever herb you like, and top it all with a little shake or two of a very good vinaigrette salad dressing, I use Paul Newman’s Own Balsamic Vinaigrette. You’ve got yourself a kid-friendly and nutritious salad.

3) Simple Black Beans and Taco Sauce

Alright, this one may appear a little strange at first, but my daughter actually sold me on its merits. Drain and rinse your black beans, making sure they’re drained well. Put your black beans into a bowl and top them with any favorite taco sauce, even those little leftover packets from take-out. Mix gently and enjoy! You just have to trust me on this one. Of course, you may also use any taco sauce you have in your refrigerator, or even a nice hot salsa will do. But, just a touch, not too much sauce. You want to just flavor your black beans. (Of course you can sprinkle some shredded cheese on top, too.)

4) Black Bean Cottage Cheese Salad

Quick and simple salads are sometimes the best. In a serving bowl, put about 1 cup of cottage cheese, sprinkle some salt over the top and add a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Now, drain and rinse a can of black beans, and spoon about 1/2 cup of the black beans over the cottage cheese. Chop up some celery and sprinkle over the top. You now have a snack or side salad that delicious and nutritious, loaded with protein, iron, calcium and fiber.

5) Quick Black Bean Burrito

If you have a few staples in your pantry you can whip up this simple burrito. You’ll need a flour or corn tortilla, either heated or not, that’s up to you. Drain and rinse your black beans, then start building your burrito however you want. I add black beans, some diced tomatoes, a little onion, lots of shredded cheddar cheese, a little sour cream, leftover rice, some chopped up pieces of chicken from last night, and whatever else I have to use up. Depending on how I feel that day, I go a little heavier on the black beans and lighter on the other stuff. Get your salsa or taco sauce ready and enjoy.

These recipes are just a few ways to use the wonderful, and versatile black bean. All five of these simple black bean dishes can be tweaked easily by you to show off your individual style and to become your own family favorites.

Nicole Dean is the mostly-sane mom and owner of ShowMomtheMoney.com – a fun and informative site to help moms achieve success working from home. She welcomes you to learn more ways to save money in her Frugal Moms section. Be sure to sign up for her free tutorial for work at home moms.

Quick and Easy Birthday Party Snack Ideas

A birthday party just isn’t a birthday party without cake.  With no cake, where would the candles go?  But cake isn’t all there is to birthday party snacking.

Some guests may not want or be able to eat cake.  And some of the kids’ parents may want them to have something healthier in addition to, or as a substitute for, cake.  For those who do have cake, it’s nice to have other, less sugary things to go with it.  Here are some ideas for quick, easy and fun birthday party snacks.

Finger Sandwiches

Finger sandwiches are a staple for any party.  They’re easy to make, and you can make two or three different kinds to make everyone happy.  Peanut butter and jelly, bologna and cheese, and chicken salad are some of the most popular choices.

There are lots of ways to make finger sandwiches more festive.  If you have cookie cutters that go along well with the party’s theme, you could use them to cut the sandwiches into fun shapes.  You could also add a toothpick to each sandwich with an added surprise, such as a small piece of fruit or a party favor.

Kabobs

Kabobs are lots of fun, and they are really easy to make.  You don’t have to grill anything, and you can make miniature ones to suit the appetites of young guests.

Instead of using the large kabob sticks, use toothpicks to spear grapes, small berries, and cubes of fruit and cheese.  You could also cut up come cocktail weenies and add them for extra flavor if you like.  If the guests are really young, you might want to cut the sharp ends off of the toothpicks with a pair of strong scissors when you’re done.  It’s a good idea to make plenty of these, because they’re usually quite popular.

Melons

Watermelons, cantaloupes, and other melons go very well with summer birthday parties.  If you have a melon baller, you can make festive little balls out of a few different types and mix them up for an appealing snack.  If you don’t have a melon baller, just cut the melons up into slices or cubes.  They taste great either way.

Snack Mix

There are lots of snack mix recipes available online.  Most of them are very easy to make, requiring little more than mixing up a few ingredients.  This is a great project for the kids if they want to help out with the birthday snacks.

With all of the other aspects of planning a birthday party, snacks are best kept simple.  Combining standard snack foods or adding a bit of creativity to them will delight your guests while making things easier on you.  So you get the best of both worlds!

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