Since we are experiencing tough times, I found it encouraging that My Wooden Spoon has some great information about  online couponing and freebies.  A Cowboys Wife makes a good point about taking advantage of these offers to help our budgets.

When I read this recipe from At the End of the Day…Are We There Yet? I was intrigued that the instructions say to put the bisquits in the pan gravy. I’ve never heard of this, and it sounds very good. It’s another way to get rid of your bottles of BBQ sauce too!

Chronicles of a Curious Cook has a simple recipe with sausage, fried potatoes and fried apples and onions. I’ve always wanted to taste fried apples and onions. It looks like a ‘stick to the ribs’ type meal.

Kate with Cooking During Stolen Moments came up with a quick snack that’s a winner.  It’s a real fast snack that curbs the sweet/salty cravings, and will be fun to make with little ones.

Jenny at Picky Palate came up with these luscious candy bar cookies. She calls them “Butterfinger Milky Way Chocolate Chunk Cookies” To me, it looks like they will feed the cookie monster in us.
Jen at Skinny Habits has this delish weight watchers friendly pizza that not only satisfies your pizza craving, but is only 6pts per serving. She has some awesome ideas and recipes for eating healthful.

At Pantry Eats, I found this recipe for whole grain bread that is cooked in the crock pot. It’s nice to know I can have fresh bread without a bread machine or going through the whole process of making bread. I never knew we could bake bread in the slow cooker.

Click around these sites and see for yourself how informative and creative these recipes are.

I was so excited to organize my spice cabinet with the Spice Clips I found at amazon.com. When I ordered them a couple weeks ago, I felt they would be the answer to “all my spice organizing problems”.

I won’t have to go through the ‘cumin toast’ episode ever again.

Now it was time to organize that spice cabinet.

When I opened the clips I noticed they were four clips across. My spice cabinet is too narrow for that.  Upon examination, I noticed the manufacturer had conveniently put deep grooves between the clips. It was very easy to bend the plastic and take one clip off.

The instructions are very clear that only the smaller spice jars should be used, and none that were over 4 inches long.

I could deal with that.

I grab that size of jar regularly anyway.

It was very easy to stick the bar of clips on the cupboard with the sticky foam type tape they had mounted to the back of the clip rows. Then I began adding my spices.

The hardest part of the whole project was deciding how I wanted my spices organized. I decided the ‘sweet spices’ would be on the bottom, the peppers in the middle with the bay leaves and alternative spices on top.

It all came together perfectly.

Notice my cinnamon is not on the same row as the cumin?  No more “Cumin Toast” for me!

What type of kitchen organization do you think would make your life a bit easier?

Last Sunday I was in a funk – have you ever been there? You know, just not sure what to make for dinner and the freezer seemed so ominous? I’m there a lot. It was 9 a.m…. hmmm I was looking into the freezer like a deer in the headlights….I knew I needed to make at least ONE nice meal this week…. But what should I do? I really didn’t want to cook.

Taking my “I didn’t know my crock pot could do that” thinking to a new level, I decided to throw four (4) FROZEN boneless pork chops into my crock pot.  I turned it on HIGH. Then I chopped an onion, put in 4 or 5 smashed cloves of garlic (took the back side of my spatula and gave it a good smack to totally smash the garlic then peeled it and threw it in), and a bottle of old BBQ sauce that’s been sitting in the fridge. I’m keeping it VERY real here, aren’t I??

Then I left it for the rest of the day. I spent time with my family, played with the grand daughters a while, and enjoyed my day knowing I didn’t have to think about dinner.

About 4 p.m. my house smelled heavenly!  And the crock pot looked great with simmering beads of steam dripping from the lid. I opened it up to a great reward – soft, moist pork chops. They were so tender, they broke apart with a fork. The onions had carmelized and the garlic was tender.

I shredded them easily with a fork and made hot shredded meat sandwiches for dinner. They didn’t need anything extra, just some mayo and a little dijon mustard to top them off.

So, if you have a whole day to let your crock pot do its thing, you can put frozen meat in it and let it go!

The finished sandwich was absolutely scrumptious.

Now that the days are getting warmer, it’s time to fire up the old grill that’s been sitting all winter. I have the perfect barbecue meal for you to make! It would be great for Mother’s Day, a birthday or any other special occasion. Most everything is made right on the grill. So if you choose to do this mid summer, your house won’t heat up!

Now, let’s talk about the Best Ever BBQ Meal, shall we?

When barbecuing, you want to pick pieces of meat that are pretty much the same thickness all over. This ensures even cooking. Look for lots of marbling in the meat – the white streaks. This is extra fat that helps keep the meat from drying out on the grill. If you’d like to know more about choosing meat for BBQ-ing, you can read what BBQ Bob has to say about it. He has some great tips.

I love to cook shishka-bobs on the grill. It takes time to cut, marinate and skewer the meat, but almost each skewer is done at the same and the pieces are perfect serving sizes.

The menu for our Best Ever Barbeque Meal is simple: shishka-bobs, baked potatoes, grilled veggies and for dessert, grilled fruit served with vanilla ice cream. For your convenience, you can print this whole post with recipes

Shopping list for The Best Ever Barbeque Meal

• 3 med to large onions
• 1 large red onion
• ½ to 1 cup olive oil (or your preferred oil)
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic
• 1 ½ cup Italian Dressing
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 pound choice steak, per adult cut in 2″cubes
• 1 large green pepper, cut in 1″pieces
• Zucchini 1 for every 2 people
• Yellow Squash 1 for every 2 people
• Roma Tomatoes 1 for every 2 people
• ½ cup butter
• Salt and pepper
• Potatoes, one for each adult and ½ for each child
• Aluminum foil
• Skewers of your choice, metal or bamboo
• Your choice of any three following fruits: pineapple,
• peaches, bananas, pears, apples, nectarines.
• Vanilla ice cream
• Ice
• Beverages of your choice

First, we want to start the potatoes. They take the longest to cook. I bake one potato for each adult and half a potato for each child. Get your grill good and hot. Neighbor Nancy has a great tip to help us know how hot our cooking surface is. Take each cleaned potato and poke it all over several times. Wrap it in foil so that no skin is showing. Put on the grill and pretty much leave them alone for a good half hour to 45 minutes, turning them every once in a while to ensure even cooking. After that, start testing for doneness every 15 minutes. They are done when it squishes slightly as you squeeze the middle of the potato.

OK, let’s turn our attention to the rest of the meal. I buy one pound of meat for every 2 adults when figuring how much meat to buy for a barbeque. There are other goodies served so I know they will get ‘fed up’. This recipe would be perfect for a family of two adults and 1 or 2 children. Adjust it to fit your own needs.

I think this is a good time to talk a bit about skewers. Both are good. I have metal ones, because I use them over and over again. They last forever and I don’t have to worry about them catching fire. However, they get hot. Bamboo skewers are great, too. It’s important, though, to soak them in water for at least an hour before using them. But they don’t get near as hot as the metal. You can choose which ever works best for you.

Here are the recipes for each dish and my favorite tea recipe, too. For your convenience I have provided the recipes in a printable format.

Cee’s Marinated Shishka-Bobs

• 1 cup Onion, chopped
• 1T olive oil (or your preferred oil)
• 1 ½ cup Italian Dressing
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 pound choice steak, cut in 2″cubes
• 1 large green pepper, cut in 1″pieces
• 2 medium onions, quartered
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed

Saute chopped onion in oil; remove from heat. In mixing bowl, stir in Italian Dressing & Worcestershire sauce with grilled onions. Place meat and cut veggies in a zippy bag. Pour marinade over meat and vegetables. Zip tight and marinate at least 4 hours to overnight in refrigerator. Remove meat and vegetables from marinade; reserve marinade. You can skewer the meat only or you can alternate meat and vegetables on skewers. However you choose is good. Today I’m in a no nonsense mood, so it’s only meat! LOL!

Grill kabobs 5 minutes on each side – remember – there are 4 sides, so it will roughly take 20 minutes, over medium/high heat or until desired degree of doneness, brushing frequently with marinade. As you take them off the grill, keep warm.

What’s a good barbeque without vegetables? You can grill the veggies taken out of the marinate if they haven’t been put on the skewer. For more variety, here is a recipe from a good friend of mine, that kids don’t mind eating:

Hilda’s Grilled Veggies

• Zucchini
• Yellow Squash
• Roma Tomatoes
• Red Onions
• 2-3 Tablespoons melted Butter
• 1-2 Tablespoons Olive oil
• 1 clove Crushed garlic
• Salt and pepper

Cut ends off of the Zucchini and Squash. Slice in thick slices, lengthwise, about ¼ to ½ inch thick. Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise. Cutting veggies lengthwise helps keep them on the grill better and there is no need for any other pan or foil. Quarter the red onions. Mix butter, oil, garlic and salt and pepper in small bowl. Stir well. Brush all sides of veggies with butter mixture. Grill about 2 minutes per side, or till nice and brown. Don’t cook all the way done, these are best a bit crunchy. Serve warm. Salt and pepper to taste.

Now that the kids have had at least 3 bites of grilled veggies, it’s time to treat them!

Let’s make grilled fruit and serve it with vanilla ice cream. Your guests who are more health conscious can have the fruit only, and the rest of us can slather ice cream on the fruit!

What type of fruits can we grill, you ask? Pineapple, peaches, bananas, pears, apples, nectarines all grill up very nicely. Some people even grill watermelon. The trick is to cut the fruit in uniform pieces and skewer them. (See why I use metal skewers?) Choose three different fruits to grill. It’s simplest that way.

The most important part about grilling fruit for dessert is to clean off the grill with a wire brush before adding them to the heat. We don’t want barbeque sauce on our dessert.

Brush the fruit with melted butter and grill over medium/high heat about 2 to 3 minutes each side. We want the fruit hot but not cooked through. Now it’s time for ice cream!

For the beverage, I serve sweet tea. I love sweet tea. I was taught to make it by my southern in laws. However, I know my place as a western girl, and won’t step over any boundaries, so I call this recipe:

Desert Sweet Tea

• Makes one gallon
• 6 tea bags (I prefer Tetley but any tea will work)
• 4 cups boiling water (I use bottled water here in the desert)
• 2/3 to 1 cup sugar – to taste – Being a westerner, I like less sugar in my tea

Bring water to boil, steep tea bags 5 minutes, squeeze lightly and remove. (If you’re ‘going green’ this would be something to add to your compost, worm bin, or other recycling bin.) Add sugar and stir till all is dissolved. Fill gallon jug with ice and pour tea over. Add more water till it’s full. The ice cools the tea faster so we enjoy it sooner. If you don’t want to put ice in, just put the tea brine in and fill with water.

Thank you for allowing me to share my Best Ever Barbeque Meal with you. It has been such a pleasure and honor to serve as intern here on Family Foodies. You all have been so kind as I’ve learned what to and not to do in blogging. Thank you for your encouragement and tips. Now I graduate to guest blogger. I encourage you to visit often and check for new posts, as we will be getting a new set of interns soon, and I know you will want to see what they blog about!

Do you love to cook? Are you looking for an internet based business idea?  Combine the two!

I want to let you know about Just Add Sweat. It’s a great eGuide that has been released catering to people who are interested in cooking, recipes and making some money on the internet.

After reviewing  ‘How to Start a Recipe Blog for Fun and Profit’ Guide I highly recommend it.  It’s great for someone who’s interested in starting a business based on his or her love of cooking. I love the easy “just having a cup of coffee with you” style they have as they tell it like it is in the audios.

Of course, as with any JustAddSweat guide, the only thing you need to add is your own hard work and sweat!

What it covers:

• Definition of a blog.
• How you can make money blogging.
• How to choose your market and set up your blog.
• What to blog about.
• How to get traffic to your blog and make money.

There is real value in this product and for one great price you get a 35-page eGuide, a SweatStory Success interview, audio blog tips, bonus Time Management Guide and a 2007 Blogging Calendar.

JoAnne Wescott and Nicole Dean are two great business owners who are sick of the hype and just want to offer real information on making money using real business models.

There’s a quote on their website that really does a great job of defining their whole concept:

“Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.”

- Thomas A. Edison

Check it out for yourself, right here.

This recipe for Freeze and Bake Biscuits is a perfect addition to freezer cooking. What a great quick weekend staple. I was thinking they would be great with brown sugar and walnuts melted with butter in the bottom of the pan too.

I’ve always used a Secret Ingredient when cooking, but this one deserves an Oscar! The step by step picture guide for making home made pizza is awesome too.

Have you ever craved chocolate terribly? I have.  This ultimate fudgy Brownie Recipe could be called heaven on earth. I usually have all these ingredients in my pantry too! I feel a binge coming on!

I love rice, especially brown rice. However, I have a hard time getting it just right. Here is a brown rice recipe that you will want to keep on hand. I had never thought to put as much liquid in as is recommended, but it makes sense.

My mom used to make what she called “hobo dinners” where she put everything in a 13×9 pan and baked it together. I think this layered crock pot dinner would be the new millennium version of Mom’s hobo dinner. I’m looking forward to trying it out.

This blog post doesn’t have anything to do with food, however, if you are thinking about blogging, you want to read it. As a new blogger, I’m always second guessing myself. At WAHM 2.0 there was a great guest blog post from author Jen Singer that really helped cement my determination and inspired me to continue blogging.

This week for our Buzz a Mom project, the two fabulous interns at Family Foodies have interviewed author of Work at home success Bible,  Leslie Truex.

Edie and  Cee each asked Leslie one question.

Edie asked: “While you worked on writing your book, what time Saving tips or strategies did you use in the kitchen to keep your family Fed?” -   I have found that having a menu for each week has been a big help. I’m not very good at walking into the kitchen at 5 PM and deciding what to cook. Instead I opt for take out. But with a menu, I know each night what I’m Going to cook and it fits with the schedule. So on a soccer night, I plan Something quick. Another thing I try to do is to chop all my veggies and Store them in the green storage bags. I hate chopping and it often keeps me From making healthy foods like salad. So if I chop it up all at once, then Its ready to use during the week.

Awesome advice on chopping the veggies as soon as they come from the store. Thank you for the tip, Leslie.

Cee asked for a  favorite recipe that Leslie would like to share with us at Family Foodies.

A favorite at my house in the winter is Corn Chowder. This is the healthier Version.

• One package of lower-fat bacon – cut to bite size pieces
• 5-6 white potatoes (I use red potatoes sometimes too) – Chop to bite size pieces
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 1 can of corn
• 1 1/2 cup skim milk and 1/2 cup of fat free half-n-half
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes until almost tender. In separate pot, cook the bacon in a Soup pot. Add the onion when bacon is nearly done (I keep the bacon Grease…its unhealthy but adds to taste). Lower temperature to a medium Low and add the cooked potatoes, corn (don’t drain) and milk with Half-n-half. Add the bay leaf and salt and pepper. Heat the soup, stirring To prevent curdling. My family can’t wait and will eat it as soon as its Warm enough, but ideally you should let it cook for 30 min or so. I remove The bay leaf before storing left overs.

That recipe sounds very good.

Thank you Leslie, for participating in the Buzz a Mom program. We wish you lots of luck with your book!

Here is how it works – Every Friday there is a new a list at fridayfillins.blogspot.com that you fill in the blanks with your thoughts to complete the sentences. Then tag 3 other mom bloggers to do the same.

My answers are in the parenthesis behind the sentence.

OK. Ready? Set? GO!

1. Join me in praising God for His love and provision.
2. Put a little spice in your day!
3. Happiness is fried potatoes.
4. Hungry and confused.
5. I’m waiting for dinner.
6. Ice cream is hard to resist.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to watching my niece dance at her recital, tomorrow my plans include a big birthday party for my two youngest grand daughters with a jumpy and Sunday, I want to sleep!

The three mom bloggers I am tagging are:

• Lori Wray White at “At Day’s End, Are We There Yet?”
• Lisa Jacobs at “Homespun Simplicity”
• Crissy Herron of “Indie Biz Chicks”

Tracy knows my internship with Family Foodies is coming to a close. She asked me this question: Have you enjoyed your time at Family Foodies so far and what plans do you have once your internship is finished?

Oh, yes, I’ve enjoyed the internship very much here at Family Foodies and hope to guest blog once I’m on my own. I recommend Kelly’s internship to anyone who wants to start blogging as a business. She is an awesome teacher and caring mentor. This internship has grown me in ways I never expected. I tend to play around a lot, joke and what not. I realize that blogging is NOT playing and am grateful for the lessons I’ve learned here.

As for the future, I definitely want to continue my relationships with all the wonderful mommy bloggers I’ve met. In my former life (outside of blogging) I made and sold natural soy candles, as well as taught classes on how to make them,  for 5 years. I have decided to turn the candle business into a blog. The name is Dancing Flames because it helps pay for my daughter’s dance lessons. I also have a ministry that I’ve turned into a blog, called Cee’s Thots.

I hope to be a contributing, giving member of the mom blog community for many years, as well as being a good example for all mom bloggers.

I have one more question for you, Tracy. What are your favorite spices to cook with?

I found this bookstand that I can’t wait to try!

Do you have any ideas for making your kitchen time more convenient?

This week, Edie McRae and Cee Tindall, have “Buzzed” Crissy Herron from Indie Biz Chicks. Not only is she a master at teaching women how to build their own internet businesses. She is pretty great in the kitchen too. Crissy has always been a ‘forward thinker’ and was a work at home gal before it was cool to be working from home.

We asked Crissy about cooking. This is what she had to say:

I love to cook! I love to look through cookbooks, I read them cover to cover, like a novel. I take the basic recipe and put my own spin on it. In addition to meals, I make a lot of cookies…….. I don’t really measure things out… I cook by intuition.

She sounds like a promising food blogger! So we asked her for a recipe or two.

Crissy’s Special Sandwich
Take some ciabatta bread, top it with cranberry sauce (the whole berry kind), turkey, and meunster cheese. Yum.

That sounds so good. Easy and simple. But that’s not all. She sure dazzled us with her Lemon Rice Soup.

Lemon Rice Soup
This will make a hearty serving for one or a nice sized serving for two:

Put 10 oz chicken broth in pan and set to medium heat. Take two lemons and cut them in half and squeeze the juice into the broth. (squeeze ‘em in a separate pan so you can pick out the seeds). Bring the broth & juice to a simmer.

Start making some short grain or medium grain rice (DO NOT use long grain or jasmine. It won’t work right). Do this by putting 1/2 c rice and 1 c water in a pan, bring to boil, reduce heat to a minimum, cover, and steam for about 7 minutes or till cooked.

Take 2 eggs and crack ‘em in a bowl, scramble ‘em, and then temper them by adding a ladle of the simmering broth slowly into the eggs, stirring constantly (if you don’t temper them, they’ll cook in strings, like egg drop soup at the Chinese restaurant) I usually put a couple ladles of broth in the eggs to make sure it cooks smooth.

After the eggs are tempered, add the eggs to the broth and keep stirring. Add the cooked rice. Stir for a few minutes until thickened. Serve with a hearty bread.

Crissy, you can come back and visit us with more recipes any time you’re feeling “Foodie”!

Here is a nutritious doggy cookie recipe that I developed from several I’ve tried over the years. It’s fun to make with little ones too. It’s so simple and uses ingredients you’re likely to have at home.

Cheese & Garlic Dog Cookies

• 1 cup wheat flour (or regular if you don’t have wheat)
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated and room temperature
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon butter or oil, softened
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 bouillon cube (optional)
• 1 egg

Cream cheese, egg, bouillon (optional) and butter or oil, add garlic and flour. Add enough milk to form a dry ball of dough. Don’t get it too soft. Chill for 30 minutes. Roll onto board and cut into shapes of your choosing (I use iceream cone and heart shapes). Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Then flip over and bake another 15 minutes till  hard and light brown. Store in covered container up to 1 week.

Bon-a-Puppy!

Thank you for all the great links and advice on saving money on groceries, Tracy. I, too, like the Hillbilly Housewife. I only just discovered her site. It is packed with lots of great home making ideas as well as kitchen helps.

Tracy asked me:

What other cool ideas have you found to help a mom provide nutritious, easy to prepare meals (breakfast & dinner are my downfall)? And can you share some recipes?

Great question!

Menu Planning Central has excellent meal planning ideas and is a great resource also. Christine Steendahl has both free items for menu planning and a subscription service that does much of the planning and shopping list for you.

Now I have a question for you, Tracy: What is the mission of Moms In A Blog and how can others get involved?

My conversation will be with Tracy Roberts from Moms In A Blog. I am going to start our talk and the answers will be at her blog.

Tracy, thank you for participating in this Cross Blog Conversation with me! I’m excited and I know you are too. Without further ado, I’ll begin.

I noticed you have a post on cooking from your freezer. Would you like to explain what that is?I have never heard of that before.

We talk a lot about feeding our families on a tight budget here at Family Foodies. I see you have four children at home. Do you have any favorite tips or hints you’d like to share with us on how you save money on your grocery bill?

Remember, Foodies, Tracy will be answering my questions on her blog. Watch for her reply post!

Have a great evening!

I’ve followed MTN (aka Moms Talk Network) for years. Kelly McCausey has become a trusted source for work-at-home-moms everywhere. Her style is that of a straight shooter who tells it like it is. When I decided that I could provide better service to my own clients if I had better working knowledge of blogging, Kelly’s network was my first stop. Not only were her information products truly valuable but also extremely helpful. Imagine my suprise when her call for interns went out on Twitter and having worked with her in this capacity, I can see why so many moms are doing extraordinary things because of her Moms Masterminds Group.

Let’s help Moms Talk Network get the recognition it truly deserves!

Remember, it only takes a second to let the world know how Kelly has helped you – Vote at Startup Nation

Please allow me a few moments to tell you about how Moms Talk Network has influenced my life.

After a few years away from the online community, I decided that I wanted to begin writing again, but my writing skills were rusty and I didn’t have a clue about blogging. I have been subscribed to one of Kelly’s email lists for a while. Shortly after my decision to begin writing again, Kelly sent out a request for interns at her blogging network. I jumped on it and she allowed me to participate.

She took a big risk on me, because she didn’t know me, I had NO blogging experience and I really didn’t know WHAT I wanted to blog about! She and the other moms have been so kind and helpful as I’ve learned about blogging here and on Mom Masterminds. Now I know what I want to blog about and have a vision for my writing future!

Thank you Kelly, and thank you to all Mom Masterminds!

Kelly McCausey is such a wonderful, giving pillar to the whole mom blogging community. If you have benefitted from her and this amazing network, please vote today!

All you need to do is click the Popularity Meter to the right. It will take you to a page to vote for us.

Thank you all for reading our blog and supporting us!

I wonder, am I doing everything I can to be frugal in the kitchen? This mom really kicked her frugal ways up a notch. I admire her attention to detail. Never would I think to freeze the things she freezes!

Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. Have you ever needed an ice pack immediately, and there wasn’t anything suitable in the freezer at the time? I say this mom’s ice pack for her broken foot is perfectly peasing.

Have you ever had 30 minutes before someone important (say, your mother in law?) will be at your house? They hadn’t bothered to make an appointment a week ahead, so you could clean up a bit before they arrived? Instead they were ‘just in the neighborhood’ thought they’d give you a call and drop by? This advice will help you clean up quickly!

All you moms out there with sons will really enjoy this blog.  My sons are 24 and 27 but they are still my babies. I have to say they loved watering outdoors too! (Fourth picture down)

I saved the best for life, and it was my FIRST Stumble Find. I am sure this Pasta Pie would be a great hit at a family get together! She gives such perfect pictures of each step that I could almost SMELL it!

Thank you for dropping by today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Take Care!

Here is the recipe she put together about a year ago:

Mikki’s Personal Pizzas

• 1 can Grands buttermilk biscuits
• 1 package pepperoni
• 1 bag pre-grated mozzarella cheese
• small jar of pizza sauce

Set oven to 350, open can of biscuits. Take one at a time and flatten them out, putting them on a cookie sheet once they are flat. Put as much sauce as desired on each pizza with a spoon. Sprinkle with cheese and add pepperoni pieces.

Bake in oven 13 to 17 minutes, depending on oven. Let cool a bit and enjoy!

I made a stir fry with zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, celery, onion and plenty of garlic. Then I remembered my promise to myself – the noodles!

I put them in the pan and let them warm through with the veggies. Then I sprinkled the whole lot with a generous helping of parmesan cheese. Yum!

The best part was it took under 30 minutes to make the one skillet meal.

This recipe for brownies sounds so good. I can’t wait to try them. I think the bar of chocolate vs cocoa would make a big difference.

Want to wow your family with this recipe for home made crackers? I love the idea because I know just what is in the crackers.

For those of us who are trying to eat more healthfully here is excellent advice.

From my favorite website, Neighbor Nancy helps us make elegantly flavored Ramen noodles.

On the saving money subject, I thought HoustonMom had the right ideas.

This recipe is simple and will satisfy us garlic lovers.

I saved the most unique recipe for last – Homemade Poptarts!

This week was certainly a delicious week in the blogosphere! Don’t forget to surf by for next week’s link love!

Move more – exercise, walk more, walk the dog, stroll the baby around the block, use stairs, go to the gym, use the Wii fit, swim, how ever we are motivated to get out and move, we need to do those things more.

Weight train – muscle uses more calories to maintain than fat. The more muscle we have, the more calories we naturally burn. It doesn’t have to cost money to build muscle, we can use our own body weight for it. Push ups, crunches, leg lifts, all are excellent ways to use our body weight for weight training.

Drink 64oz of water daily – our body needs to have an abundant supply of water in order to flush toxins out of our system. At first, we may feel like we are going to the bathroom all the time, but our body is flushing the toxins out. Once our body is accustomed to having this amount of water regularly, it will absorb the water better.

Drink green tea – green tea has been proven to help our bodies burn more fat than other drinks.

Eat when hungry – Food is fuel to keep us going. We don’t realize

how often we eat just because we don’t have anything else to do. This is what causes us to gain weight. If we wait till we are hungry to eat again our body can properly digest what we’ve eaten and ask for more fuel once it needs more, by sending us hunger pains.

Finally, a rule that my grandmother taught me – Eat like a king at breakfast, a queen at lunch and a pauper at dinner - or to put it another way, get most of our calories early in the day.

Recommended Reading:

This week, Cee Tindall and Edie McRae (Two FABULOUS Interns Here at Family Foodies) teamed up to pick Laurie’s brain for tips on eating healthy and balanced meals while juggling it all.

Our featured mom this week is Laurie Ayers, a single WAHM of two. Laurie owns and operates two successful businesses-a professional security services firm and a thriving wickless candle business.

What are your favorite “Quick” meals to prepare?

One pot meals. I love them. I started with a basic rice, broccoli, cheese and cream of mushroom soup recipe and constantly change it up – sometimes adding chicken or some other meat, sometimes adding asparagus instead of broccoli, sometimes adding “crunchies” like celery or water chestnuts… You get the idea. It’s a different meal each time. It takes me less than 10 minutes to whip up, 30 minutes in the over and voila! Much healthier and tastier than KFC’s $2.99 Mashed potato, corn, chicken bowl! LOL

Do you have any short cut tips in the kitchen for us WAHMs who are learning to balance business and home life?

I make and bake a lot of food from scratch because I have time and I like to do that, but there is absolutely no shame in pre-packaged, pre-baked, pre-anything that you just put the finishing touches on and stick in the oven. The slow cooker is also a nice quick and easy way to have a meal ready after a busy day.

Being a single mom of two, how do you juggle work and preparing nutritious dinners for your children?

Being a single mom has its perks! Sustaining a marriage takes time and effort and that’s one element I don’t have in my formula. Plus my two girls (teenage and pre-teen age) are both in school all day. Also, each is responsible for planning, preparing, and cleaning up for one meal each week. It’s one of their opportunities to contribute to the household. Mac and Cheese and PBJ don’t count as a nutritious meal either. They look forward to their turn and opportunity to open up one of our many cook books and try something new.

Tell us a little about these exciting wickless candles! What makes them different than ordinary candles? What do you like best about them?

That’s a loaded question..I could talk about Scentsy for a long time. The short version is that Scentsy is a safe candle alternative that has an extraordinary strong throw. I’ve been in the candle biz since the mid 90s and I have never found a candle that the scent lasts as long nor is as strong. That’s what won me over. All of our candles are flameless, wickless, smokeless, and sootless. Our candle bars are melted in electric decorative candle warmers that use a 25 watt bulb. We also have new plug-in warmers that are great for kitchens and small spaces that use a 15 watt bulb. They’re very pet and kid-friendly. I can leave them on 24/7 and never worry about candle fires.

Which scents would you recommend for the kitchen, that would compliment foods we cook?

Great question, normally I don’t like to have scents in the kitchen that could compete with the food – who wants Clean Breeze, which is a delightful smell of dryer sheets, to mix in which a nice Greek salad? Blech! Not me.

I actually switch out the scents on a very regular basis. Vanilla is always a safe bet. We have one scent called Herb Garden which reminds me of a little Italian restaurant – with basil/oregano smell. It’s always fun to melt our bakery scents – makes others think you’ve been cooking all day – we have Baked Apple Pie, Blueberry Cheesecake, Coconut Citrus Parfait, Pumpkin Roll, and Sugar cookie to name a few. Does that make you hungry?

Oh that reminds me of a funny story. My daughter’s teachers all get Scentsy warmers and bars for Christmas. One of her teachers told us that she was melting Pumpkin Roll and her husband came home and was all excited that she’d backed a pumpkin pie for him. Ha! Sorry… no pie – it was just her Scentsy!

Here’s a TOUGH question…KITCHEN ODORS! Let’s say you cooked fish, and your kitchen smells “fishy”. What would you do to banish the odor?

Oh we have the perfect product for that. It’s actually not a candle bar. We also have concentrated room sprays (a little dab’l do ya!) We also offer a product called Odor Out – it eliminates unwanted smells and has a clean citrus aroma. It truly works fantastic – it doesn’t mask the odors, but actually removes the stink – definitely a must have if you’re cooking with onions, cabbage or fish.

We appreciate Laurie for taking time out of her busy schedule to share with us. For more information on Laurie, her fabulous candles (or her business), please be sure to visit her on the web.

Talk about a mommy moment in the kitchen.

I learned a very important lesson about keeping my spices organized in the spice cabinet.

One morning I decided to make cinnamon toast for breakfast and noticed the cinnamon sugar shaker was empty. I grabbed into the spice cabinet, got the jar, dumped some into the shaker and put a healthy dose of sugar on it, put the lid back on and gave it a good shake till the toast popped up. Ah…. nothing like cinnamon toast with my coffee….

I sat down and took a bite….and realized I didn’t grab cinnamon…. I grabbed the cumin! Cumin sugar toast does not taste good! LOL I had to laugh at myself! It was pretty funny.

This is also a good lesson in “being in the moment” as they say. I had my mind on 100 other things and wasn’t paying attention. I seen the red lid and the C and just grabbed the jar, instead of making sure I had indeed retrieved the cinnamon!

I ate a banana instead!

Now my spices are neatly organized – Lesson Learned!

Update: I had to share with you that I JUST found, and ordered, this spice clip set for my spices! It goes on the cupboard door, or on the side of the cabinet. I found that I have 3 iddy biddy jars of Pumpkin Pie Spice because two were way in the back that I hadn’t seen. I’m sure this spice clip set will help in my ongoing quest for ‘Spice Organization’!

I just don’t want to cook lately! I just want to forget about cooking.

Do you go through this in the spring? For me, it’s usually because I’ve done so much comfort food cooking through the winter that I’m burned out (see photo to the right).

So what’s a mom to do when she’s just sick of cooking, it’s finally nice outside after a long winter, and she can’t stay focused?

First, I open all the windows in my house so I can hear the birds (it still gets nippy inside but I wear my trusty sweatshirt jacket). It gets my energy up so I can start thinking better.

Then I’ll do some or all of the following:

• Brew a cup of chamomile tea, it’s my favorite.
• Ask the family for their input. Write their ideas down and look for new recipes of their old favorites.
• Do a search for Spring recipes and look for something that inspires me.
• Go to the store and see what fruits and vegetables are ‘in season’ and be inspired by those.
• I also ask the kids for help in the kitchen when I just don’t want to cook. They love spending time with mom and we can make a memory out of the whole thing!

Here is a cute recipe for making a vegetable flower that is sure to inspire your creative juices!

Remember, you’re NOT alone when it comes to ‘cooking cabin fever’.

Nicole Dean who is fast becoming one of my heros as I learn internet blogging from her, submitted 5 ways to eat black beans – a fast frugal recipe she submitted at Little Hands Big Heart.

Dr. Daisy Sutherland, at Dr. Mommy Health Tips , gives us tips to  eat frugally and healthfully too. As I clicked through her site, I was amazed to find that we don’t have to skimp on nutrition as we buy less expensive items in Great brain foods for our children.

Foodie Momma has many fun articles about eating healthfully on a tight budget. But as I read a yummy recipe for Tuna Casserole I couldn’t help but think, Is Tuna the new chicken? It sure is packed with a lot of nutrients that I didn’t know it has.

That’s all for my Link Love this week. Come by again next week to see where the blogosphere has taken me!

• That food dated for “sell by” or “use by” isn’t spoiled if you use it after that date?
• That food dated for “best if used by” date is not a safety date, it’s for the best quality of the food?
• That the term “Sizzling Hot” came from the custom of testing the temperature of a griddle or skillet by splashing a couple drops of water on it to see if the water sizzled, or danced, on the surface?

Did you also know that….

• Cleaning up a broken egg from the floor is easier if it’s sprinkled generously with salt? After about 10 minutes, it can be swept into a dust pan.
• Your favorite sponge can be sanitized by putting it in the dishwasher? I put mine in a small plastic cage made for small items.

Stay tuned for next week’s “Tweeked Tip Day” when I give you crazy cleaning ideas that work!