This week I’ve had so much fun surfing the blogosphere. I learned about StumbleUpon, and got an account. Kelly McCausey, owner of WAHM Talk Radio told our intern group that it would be our newest addiction and she’s right! I found most of these interesting blogs through StumbleUpon. Thank you Kelly! It’s been a blast!

Looking for different snacks to feed your family? This has got to be the neatest recipe that has to do with that nutritious unsung hero, the chickpea.

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!

My 14 year old daughter loves to cook.  When she babysits, she loves to have the ingredients on hand for the littler ones to make their own pizzas.

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!

Ever since my sons grew up and moved out, I’ve had a hard time not cooking for an army. Last night I made a simple noodle meal and cooked the whole bag of noodles. Why I did that, I have no idea. So I refrigerated the left overs and determined I would use them this evening.

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 week, I had a blast surfing and searching for interesting articles and recipes.

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!

Don’t starve – when we starve ourselves, our body will save all the calories we eat because it doesn’t know when it will be fed again. Then it causes us to gain weight even more quickly, when we resume eating normally. Eating 3 healthy meals and 2 healthy snacks per day is the sensible way to keep our metabolism even through out the day.

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.

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