I like this....alot!

I really like this idea from The Inspired Room blog. Simple, easy, only five minutes each morning. I think taking five minutes each morning to do these four simple things will really help me get into a better routine for the day.

I need to do something to get back on track and get my house organized again. I'm way too busy with kids, school, volunteering, Girl Scouts, my photography business....YIKES taxes are coming up.......

What ideas do you have for helping a busy mom keep her life and house clean and organized? Leave a comment.

Getting Back on Track

Him: "Who's coming over?"
Her: "No one, why?"
Him: "You cleaned the bathroom."
Her: "I don't only clean the bathroom when someone comes over."

In my defense, it hadn't been that long since I cleaned the bathrooms.

I am reminded of this poem that I have on my refrigerator:

My Children

I hope my children

look back on today

and see parents

who had time to play.

Dusting and scrubbing can wait 'till tomorrow

for babies grow fast

we learn to our sorrow.

There will be years

for cleaning and cooking

but children grow up

when we are not looking.

So settle down cobwebs

and dust go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby

and babies don't keep.

Author: Unknown

Since I was cleaning my bathrooms today I printed my Motivated Mom's Chore List. When I stick to this chore list, my house stays clean and more organized. (I've got to stick to this chore list!) It also gets me to plan my weekly dinner menus, which makes life so much easier!

The Motivated Mom's Chore List is ON SALE right now, so it's a perfect time to try it out.

Is This Still Good?

We have all asked that question as we pull something out of the fridge. Here are two great websites that will help you determine if you should eat it or toss it.

FoodSafety.gov

StillTasty.com

Room Temperature Eggs

I was watching Ciao Italia on PBS and Mary Ann Esposito gave this great tip.

I often forget to take the eggs out to come up to room temperature before baking with them. If you also forget, Mary Ann Esposito suggests to put them in a bowl of warm water. They will warm up nicely.

Great tip! Thanks Mary Ann!

Barbie Doll Cake

I made a Barbie doll cake for my daughters birthday party. I thought I would share how I did it.

You can purchase special cake molds to make the skirt. I did not want to pay the $17, especially since I already have things at home I could use. 

I used the Pampered Chef large batter bowl. It is the perfect shape. The only issue when using the Pampered Chef large batter bowl is baking the cake evenly. If you purchase the cake mold (sold at Michael's and other stores where they sell Wilton products) the mold comes with a heat-conducting rod. This rod helps your cake bake evenly.

Not having a heat-conducting rod, I looked for tips online. I found a great tip at allrecipes.com. Instead of baking my cream cheese pound cake at 350˚F for one hour I baked it at 250˚F for 2 hours. It worked out great. The cake baked very evenly.

The cake skirt you make will be a little short if you want to use a regular Barbie or Barbie type doll. You have a few choices. You can purchase a cake doll which is just the top half. Instead of legs there is a pick (which is what I did). Another option is to purchase a cheap barbie type doll at the dollar store and just rip the legs off.

I used buttercream frosting for my cake. I purchased it at Cake Works in Campbell. Since I was making a bride doll, I knew Cake Works would have pure white and it saved me some time not to make it myself. It was worth the trip. 

I am just learning how to use a pastry bag and tips. I need more practice, but it was fun decorating this cake. This time I made the bodice of the dress with the frosting and the small flower tip. The first time I made a barbie cake I used fondant for the bodice. Either is fine. Just depends on what you are comfortable with and what look you want. 

The look was complete with flowers and veil from my daughters Barbie.

I had a lot of fun making this cake for my daughters birthday party. The most important thing is my daughter loved it.

Herb & Cheese Chicken Tenders

This recipe is from Rachel Ray. It's a fun dish to make with the kids. I like getting the kids involved in making dinner. (when I'm not in a hurry, or cranky) They will eat better when they help prepare the dinner. Especially if it's something new or something they don't really like to eat.

Tip

This one can be messy. Might I suggest using disposable rubber/latex gloves when coating the chicken tenders. It helps with cross contamination and its easy clean up, especially if you have the kids help. I like to keep a box under my kitchen sink.

Herb & Cheese Chicken Tenders

Light olive oil, for frying

1 & 1/2 pounds chicken tenders

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs, beaten with 1/4 cup water

BREADING

1 & 1/2 cups Italian-Style bread crumbs (eyeball it)

1/2 cup shredded Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (2 to 3 handfuls)

6 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, stripped & chopped (2 to 3 tablespoons)

6 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped (3 tablespoons)

2 handfuls chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Place a nonstick cookie sheet in oven with a foil liner.

Heat 1/2 inch oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium to medium-high heat.

Season chicken tenders with salt and pepper. Place flour in a shallow dish. Beat eggs with water in a second dish. In a third dish, combine the remaining ingredients. Coat chicken in flour, then egg, then breads and cheese mixture.

Add chicken to the skillet and cook until deeply golden on each side, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to hot cookie sheet already in oven and bake for another 5 minutes. Cook 5 or 6 tenders at a time in a single layer, adding additional oil if necessary. If chicken browns too quickly, lower heat slightly. Serve chicken hot or cold with green salad, or complete as a parmigiana (make pasta with a tomato sauce).

My sister-in-law (and BMCC member) shared this website with me and I HAD to spread the news!

You go onto RetailMeNot.com and type in an online store you would like to do some shopping. For example I entered "Hasbro" this morning. RetailMeNot.com will then list several coupon codes for that website. The first one on the list was a 25% off code. I was in the middle of ordering Santa gifts and proceeded to enter the discount code on my Hasbro order. BOOM! I got 25% off my order ($6.25 off!!!). I was so excited!

Thank you APG for that wonderful website!

Happy Shopping!

Don't Forget the Coupons

This is not necessarily food related. It could be, but I just had to share this. It's one of those "duh!" moments for me.

I don't know about you, but I tend to forgot all those great coupons I get in the mail, at HOME. Not the best place for them. Especially if I'm trying to save money and lower my expenses.

I got this great idea from a few of my mom friends at my daughters school.

Collect all your coupons from the mail and newspaper and put them all in one of the large coupons/ads that folds up. Now get one of those large binder clips and clip it all together. Now you have a neat little packet of all your coupons. You can keep them in the car (so you don't forget them) or even in your purse. 

These are my coupons for this week. I'm going to try this and see how much money I can save by actually USING my coupons.

A great big thanks to "the Cowgirl" and KF for the great idea!

Healthy Tip

I do our school newsletter. If I need a filler I add in a "Healthy Tip of the Month." My tips come from Raising Healthy Eaters, 100 Tips for Parents by Henry Legere, M.D.

This is a great little book. It's easy and fast to read. You don't even have to read the entire book, you can just go through and read which tips sound good to you at the time. Here is one I feel very strongly about.

Tip 26 - Even if your kids are picky eaters, don’t cook separate meals.

There are many things you can do  to encourage your children to enjoy their meals, but one thing you should not do is prepare different meals for them. Your children will not allow themselves to starve, so don’t worry if they skip the occasional meal or if they just pick at some of your dishes. You’re not a waitress, and your kitchen isn’t Denny’s, so don’t feel that you have to whip up a separate meal for each of your kids. Let’s face it: most parents don’t have the time or the energy to prepare a separate meal for each member of the family, and you shouldn’t feel obliged to.

There are some things that you can do, however, to encourage your children to eat with the family. Include your kids in a weekly or monthly menu planning, but don’t allow them to engineer each meal around their one or two favorite foods. You should be aware of your children’s favorite dishes and do your best to incorporate them into your menu at least every other week. For typical meals, incorporate familiar and acceptable dishes, but keep in mind that children still need to be exposed to new types of foods. Remember, kids may reject a food more than ten times and then come to like it, so persevere.

Lowering Your Grocery Bill

Here is some tips on lowering your grocery bill that the BMCC shared in some emails in 2005. I thought it should be on the blog. I hope you are able to get some ideas.

• knowing what your family eats and what they won't.

• Certain things are cheaper at Costco, like meat, bread, eggs and milk

• Keep a food journal that tracks prices of foods you regularly eat

• One thing I practice, that I enjoy is getting the grocery store ads and going over what menu I could do with all the sale items.

• I also look at the ads to stock up on what is a good deal, like cereal or juice. (this is where  the journal comes in handy)

• I almost never buy cleaning products, paper products, or baggies or foil at the grocery store. Once a month I will go to Walmart or Target to get those. The price differences are huge

• for my weekly menu I try to have at least one dinner that leads to the next, like pork cutlets one night and fried rice the next (I use the left over pork from the day before) or BBQ chicken one night and BBQ chicken pizza the next. There are lots of meals that use small amounts of meat, like stir-fries, casseroles, pasta dishes, and soups

• A great book and website is "Miserly Moms" by Jonni McCoy. She has some great tips. (there is also a website. The link is in our favorites list to the right.)

• Another tip, I got from my single mom, is I always use cloth napkins, real plates and flatware. No paper or plastic. It's a waste of money. I can wash cloth napkins and dishes and stainless flatware. People think it's fancy, but I'm really being cheap. It's amazing what just getting rid of paper napkins will do

• Find a friend, relative or neighbor who has fruit trees. Offer to pick the fruit and take some home with you. They usually have more than they can eat. My girls LOVE doing that and then I get a bunch of free food. My mother-in-law has 2 apple trees (among other things). I make tons of apple sauce. It's so good. Better than store bought and MUCH cheaper.

• Plant a garden. You don’t need a lot of space. One or two nice size planter boxes work great. Things like tomatoes and lettuce are easy to grow and so good from the garden. Make sure you plant things your kids will want to eat. Some type of window screen on top if you have birds or critters that you need to keep out. If you have an onion or garlic that has sprouted in your kitchen, put the entire thing in the ground or in a pot. The greens will grow and you can use them to flavor all your dishes when you don't have the onion or the garlic. Also good in salad.

Freezer Tips

I thought we could all use a tip from my great aunt and uncle. They have some great freezer tips I had to post. My cousin has written about them on her blog. Read Waste Not, Want Not. on Windshield Rosary's blog.

Motivated Moms

A friend of mine, and fellow BMCC member, discovered Motivated Moms. What a find indeed MM! I printed out a sample page to try it. I have only used it today and already love it.

Motivated Moms is a chore list - for the entire year! It's great. Someone has typed me up a chore list. It includes all the little things, that I put off. You do a little cleaning each day. (What a concept. I've heard about doing this. I love that someone has made the list for me.) It's totally worth the $4 (on sale right now!). Even $8 at regular price is a deal for this great chore planner.

There are different formats. You can get a weekly list or a daily list with space for appointments, notes, and your menu. Both versions come with or without Bible Readings. You can also get either version in 8 1/2 x 11 sheets or half size sheets. I just have to figure out what format works for me and I'm ordering one!

Go to Motivated Moms and click on the "Order" button. If you want to view what the different versions look like go to the very bottom of the page and click on the sample links.

I'm so excited to get my house organized!

Nob Hill/Raleys—Getting More from Your Grocery Store

My primary grocery store is Nob Hill. I love my Nob Hill. They have the best produce, know me by name, know my girls, and go out of their way to help me find something I'm looking for.

My sister-in-law, and BMCC member, is an even bigger fan. Here is her tip:

"I am a fan of Nob Hill/Raleys and especially their “Extra” magazine.  I am on their mailing list and get coupons for free groceries every week. That’s a good deal too, but what I’m really jazzed about is their website that has 25 recipes you can make with a rotisserie chicken. BTW Their chickens are WAAY better than Safeway and are great if you can’t get the Costco one. 

And do get the Extra magazine. I can’t tell you how many recipes that have wowed my family. You have access to all the recipes online too."

Thanks GG! I've signed up for Nob Hill's email coupons! I can't wait to get extra savings. We love there rotisserie chickens too. It will be fun to try some of their recipes.

If you have a tip to share please email me or leave your tip in the comments of my entries.