Corel Video Studio 2010 - Giveaway!!!

Corel Video Studio 2010 is a new video editing program that the company allowed me to try out. It's a great user friendly product that I think is ideal for someone just learning about video editing. It's not too difficult to use, but it also has features that the pricier products don't, like the ability to rotate videos! It's a blogger's dream!


(thanks Jaime for allowing me to use your video in my review, you ROCK!!!)  The good news...I get to give 2 away to my lucky readers!!! Here's what you need to do:

1. Tell me what you would use Corel Video Studio for
2. Become a Fan of HomemadeMom on Facebook
3. Follow my blog (on the left hand column) with Google Friend Connect
4. Follow me on Twitter
5. Tweet this giveaway

Don't forget to leave me a comment for each item completed to get the most entries possible!The giveaway ends on Saturday February 13th.

Time Out Pad

I recently purchased a time out pad from www.mamabargains.com and I'm loving it! My only complaint, I wish it went up to 6 or 7 minutes. It goes from 1-5. I don't foresee me ever using the 1 minute timer. I'm not sure they really understand it before 2 years old, but my 6 year old still sits in time out every now and then.

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OAMC Mission - FAILED

Ok, so I really tried. I started the month with a plan but I didn't really follow through with it. I think a month's of recipes are just too much for me. I did really good the first 2 weeks following the plan, then I just kinda fell off the wagon. We had pizza one night, McDonald's another, ate at my Mom's one night. Then I guess I was distracted enough to just completely ignore my menu plan clearly posted on the fridge.

It's still up there and as I am trying to decide what's for dinner I glance up there and select one of the recipes that I haven't cooked yet. I'm not really in the mood most nights for what I listed as my dinner for that evening. So I pick and choose from whatever is left on the calendar.

I also went shopping on Sunday for snacks, fruits, and breakfast and lunch type items. I spent a bit over $100.00, so I spent more for the month than I wanted to if you add that in, and you have to add that in. My new plan:

• shop the store ads and plan my menu based on what's on sale
• 2 weeks at a time of dinner recipes

I really did enjoy having a menu plan. It alleviated a lot of stress in my life and I can tell that the stress is on the rise again. I hate cooking and this little experiment has taught me that having a plan will really help me to get things done, not just wish I had things done. The hard part is actually doing it. So I'm going to take stock of what I still have on hand and the recipes I have yet to cook. I'm going to try and plan again for the first 2 weeks of February.

Wish me luck!

AP Hotsling Giveaway - We have a winner!!!

Number 45 goes to Melissa Stover!!! Congratulations Melissa! You have just won an AP Hotsling!!!

I see that your favorite was the Tokyo Pattern, love it! I have the Tokyo Pattern in a regular hotsling, not the AP and it is super cute!

Melissa, I'll be sending you an email. Congratulations!!!

Fun with Gladware

This afternoon I caught Cohen digging in my plastics drawer.

I wondered what he was up to considering I had just got 4 board games out for him.

He was mad that I walked in to what he was doing. It was supposed to be a surprise. :-)

It looks like the Simpson Family (from our Clue Board Game) are in jail

It looks like Krusty and Smithers are up to no good!

He's proud of his "creation".

Gaming Systems & Power Suck?

Paul Smith from GreenSmith Consulting contacted me yesterday with an interesting article that I wanted to share with you all. With all the "Green" talk going around don't you wonder how you can save at home? We've all heard that the things we leave plugged in and not actually use will suck the power more than we know. Things like cell phone chargers, laptops/desktops, printers, VCR/DVD players, TV's, iPod chargers, etc. What about gaming systems? Do you unplug yours when you're not using it? We should, but does anyone actually do that? NO!

Here's a solution:

A Smart Power Strip. I've never seen these before. Genius! Here's how it works:

The BITS provides 7 outlets; two of which always have power, and four of which turn themselves off whenever there's a 10% or more drop in the power being required by the primary two outlets. So, you can plug your computer, which needs the permanent surge protection, into the main outlets and plug your printers and speakers and everything else into the controlled outlets - Then, when you shut your computer down, the BITS Power Strip will sense it and also shut down all your peripherals. It'll also turn everything back on when you turn your computer (or whatever you choose to plug into the main outlets) back on.

Click here to check it out and watch the short video. Very insightful. Can you imagine how much money you could save if you had these all over the house? I could really use one for the entertainment center, one for the computer station, one for the kitchen electronics and one each for our 4 bedrooms. The boys have a bunch of stuff plugged in; alarm clock, TV/DVD player, Leapster charger and lamp.

They analyzed gaming systems for this article and here's what they found:

	In use	Idle	Standby
Wii*	20w	15w	2w
Xbox 360**	189w	155w	3w
Playstation 3***	193.6w	177.2w	1.9w

WOW! We have a Wii and I'm happy to see that it scored the lowest in the amount of power it sucks. It's plugged in constantly though, right now it's in standby mode. I see that little yellow light taunting me, saying "I'm costing you money!". That and my cell phone charger's tiny red dot. Now I'm thinking of the toaster, toaster oven, coffee pot, microwave and blender in the kitchen all plugged in right now. Not good. Money is too precious to throw away, and that's pretty much what I'm doing. I'm sure we're all doing it. I'm disgusted.

I think it's time for an investment in savings. Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? You know what they say "You have to spend money to make money", in this case "You have to spend money to save money."

Birthday Trip to the Science Center

*Please ignore the date stamp on the pics. We used Cohen's new camera that he got for Christmas and it's plain to see that he's been playing with the settings. LOL! :-)

Our trip to the St. Louis Science Center. The boys really enjoyed the Dinosaur Exhibit and Build-A-Dino. Cutler really enjoyed the show from my hip while being carried in the AP Hotsling.

Cohen turns 4!!!

It's hard to believe that 4 years ago today God blessed me with this:

Creating an instant family of 4

Allowing Daddy to be a father of 2

 Allowing Camden to become a loving big brother

Now by baby is 4!!!

He has his ups and downs

He makes me smile everyday!

He makes my world a brighter place

He loves being a brother

Cohen is a vital part of our family and without him we would lose balance. I'm so blessed to have him in my life.

Menu Planning: Homemade Mom Style

Recently I stated on Facebook that I planned and purchased 30 days worth of dinners for only $170.00. I was asked to explain how I did it. So here goes.

1.  First I went to my recipe binder and picked out 30 recipes. I tried to vary it up by selecting a few meatless, crockpot, chicken, ground turkey, tilapia, pork chops and sausage type meals. I put a post it on each page so I could come back to it later.

2.  Second I wrote out a list of ingredients. I went one by one with each recipe writing down all the ingredients and separating the amounts by a comma. For example:

Milk: 1 cup, 1 cup, 1 1/2 cups
Ground Turkey: 1 lb, 2 lbs, 3/4 lbs.
Sage: 1t, 1T, 1t

You get the idea. This part took me about an hour. I ended up with 2 pages front and back. I then went through my fridge, pantry and spices to see what I had and marked it off the list. Leaving only the items I needed to purchase.

3.  Third I organized the list in an Excel Spreadsheet. You can view it by clicking on the link. I tried to organize it by categories; dairy, produce, canned goods, meat, breads, etc. This was pretty quick. I'm a fast typist. It took about 30-45 minutes. I had to break away from it a few times to get the baby back to sleep though.

4. Fourth is shopping. I spent $120.00 at Aldo and $50.00 at Krogers. I purchased most everything I could at Aldi because the prices are lower. All my zucchini, squash, canned goods, cheeses and meats. They even had jars of artichoke hearts! For the cheeses needed I bought them in block instead of shredded. It takes more time to shred them yourself, but you will save money this way. Also a bunch of chicken recipes called for the chicken to be chunked up. I bought chicken leg quarters for $3.99 a bag instead of the grilled chicken strips for $7.99 a bag. Even the boneless skinless chicken breast is $6.99 a bag. So the savings was obvious, it required more work, but worth it in the long run.

The items I purchased at Krogers were the items I couldn't get at Aldi's, such as: eggplant, parsnips, green onions, jar of roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, no boil lasagna noodles, a few spices and a few cheeses that Aldi didn't have. So all together I spent $170.00! Not bad! Shopping took about an hour and a half.
5. Lastly is prep work. When we arrived home Lou went right to work chopping/slicing up all the veggies while I shredded all the cheeses. I opened up my recipe binder and wrote the recipe title on ziploc bags. Large bags for the veggies and small bags for the cheese. That way all I had to do is to grab the appropriate bag for the needed ingredients. I wrote out the recipes on my dry erase board on my fridge and any recipes that we would eat the last 2 weeks of the month went into the freezer, the rest went into the fridge. This took over an hour, but the kids were quietly playing and the baby was sleeping. So it wasn't too bad.

The next day we worked on the meats. Lou boiled all the chicken, took the skin off and pulled it off the bone. Then we sorted the remaining chicken in ziploc bags per cups needed for the recipe. He also cooked all the gound turkey. We sorted and bagged all of it too. This took some time but it wasn't required that we be in there the whole time. We watched a Burn Notice marathon while the food was cooking away.

So all in all I invested around 5-6 hours including planning, shopping, and prep work. I really don't think that's bad at all considering I would spend about an hour a day doing my "what are we going to have for dinner tonight" drama. Scouring the pantry and fridge for something that looks good/easy to make. I never have my meat thawed out. So for me it's totally worth the effort. I say that now, and I fully believe it...but can I keep it up? I don't know. I hope so.

So how does it all sound? Doable? Leave me a comment with how you menu plan or suggestions to cut some time off my plan. I want to hear it all!

Vintage Pearl Giveaway

 I just came across a blog called I Should Be Folding Laundry and she is currently hosting a giveaway to The Vintage Pearl Jewelry. It's so beautiful!!!

You should head on over there and enter to win! Don't miss out!!!

Amazon Filler Item Finder

Recently I was reached out to by Amazon to inform me about a great way to ensure that you get FREE shipping when placing an order with Amazon. Have you ever placed an order on Amazon only to find that you are just a few bucks short of FREE shipping? Well, not anymore! They have come up with:

The Amazon Filler Item Finder for Free Super Saver Amazon Shipping

Unless you've been hiding in a cave on eBay somewhere, you may already know Amazon has become the source of the best bargains on the web and now is the most popular destination for the online shopping community. Amazon offers everything from A to Z, and when it's time to deliver the goods they even offer FREE Super Saver Shipping on eligible items.

So what happens when your cart falls short of the $25 minimum? That's where the Amazon Filler Item Finder comes in handy.

Finding Cheap Filler Items for Amazon.com Free Shipping

Why are cheap filler items so important?

Here's a typical situation. You toss a few of your favorite dvd's in your cart. At checkout you see the message:

"Wait! Add $3.17 of eligible items to your order to qualify for FREE Super Saver Shipping."

So you begin to scour the "jungle" of a site for cheap filler items to just knock your total over $25. Well, this can be the most tedious task next to finding an honest used car salesman. Wouldn't an...ahem..."filler item finder" be extremely helpful right about now?

Using the Amazon Filler Item Finder you simply enter the amount needed in the search form and it returns items for the specified amount or a bit more. You click the item you want and you're done. That simple!

Spending $3.17 to save $8.50 always makes "cents".

Like the story so far? Take the Amazon Filler Item Finder out for a test drive.

So what do you think? I think it will help all of us save a few bucks. I LOVE ordering my diapers from Amazon just because of the free shipping. It's so nice to go shopping and not have to worry about whether or not it will fit in my car or not, I love that it shows up on my front porch!

So tell me, what do you order from Amazon?

The NEW AP (adjustable pouch) Hotsling!!!

I've recently been suffering from baby carrier addiction. My new favorite is the Hotsling! It's one piece of fabric so you don't have to worry about getting the straps adjusted properly, because they're aren't any! I've purchased 2 used ones and contacted Hotslings to rave about how much I'm enjoying them. They're so small that you can easily fold them and keep one in your diaper bag and maybe even another one in your car. I've never been a huge fan of using a stroller, it always seemed to be more hassle than what it was worth. When you carry your baby it is possible to have your hands free and not kill your back. Here's a few pics of me using my existing Hotsling.

Now I'm not sure this is the right fit for me or not. I've had another sling/pouch from a different company and I followed the sizing guidelines only to find out that I didn't like the fit. The one in the photo above is a size 2. I'm right on the cusp of needing a size 3 but I plan on losing some more baby weight. It's a big snug for now, but I feel that Cutler is safe in it. It feels good and tight, BUT...if you don't want to have to by a specific size they now have the AP (adjustable pouch) sling!!! Benefits of the adjustable pouch:

• Great for multiple caregivers
• Perfect for right after delivery and even after you lose the baby weight
• Suitable for all seasons. The adjustable feature will allow you to fit it over a jacket/coat.
• Great for babywearing while pregnant

That being said, I had to have one!!! Lori from Hotslings.com sent me the Adjustable La Vie En Rose. It's so beautiful! Here's a short video of me unveiling my new AP Hotsling!!!






Here's the best part, I get to give one away!!! Rules to enter:
Leave a comment stating your favorite AP Hotsling pattern For extra entries leave me a comment for the following:

Become a Hotslings fan on Facebook
Follow Hotslings on Twitter
Tweet this giveaway
Fan HomemadeMom on Facebook
Follow HomemadeMom on Twitter

Giveaway is open until Sunday January the 24th.

Day 10,11, 12 & 13 of OAMC

Monday night we had Thai Peanut Chicken it tasted much better than it looked. Lou cooked fried rice to go with it. YUM!

Tuesday I had made lasagna and I followed the directions that were on the back of the box of no-boil noodles. I had a La Leche meeting that night and I didn't have time to allow the dish to finish cooking. So I left it in the oven but shut the oven off before I left home. When Lou arrived home he didn't smell anything so he picked the boys up from my meeting and stopped off for a pizza on the way home.

So Wednesday night we had the lasagna. It was really good!

Tonight I have reinvented the roasted vegetable gratin from the other night. I added some cheese, roasted red peppers, ranch dressing, french fried onions and some italian bread crumbs. I cooked it in the skillet for a while, then threw it in the crockpot to finish up. I hope it tastes better than it did the other night! Keep your fingers crossed!

Zuvo Water Purator - Review

We all know the reasons we need to drink more water: weight loss, healthier bodies, better energy, exercise aid, cooking, the list is endless. The new Zuvo Water Purator, (Zuvo means to your health in Latin) a terrific new easy to use eco friendly device would be a great fit in any upcoming segments on hot new ideas for the home that improve the quality of your health, clean up your tap water, and a great way to kick off any New Year's resolutions that include drinking more water. The Zuvo is telegenic and visually fascinating to watch, once it's plugged in you see the water bubbling in a blue UV light and getting cleaner before your very eyes.

In our community there is a crazy high cancer rate and no explanations, of course. Doctors still can't tell us what causes many of the cancers, but I suspect that toxic drinking water and other environmental factors have something to do with it. I'm sure that our tap water passes the government requirements but that still doesn't mean that it's truly clean/safe drinking water. We don't buy water because I don't want to add to the pollution problem by using more and more water bottles. We always use reusable water bottles. We have more than we need. For quite some time we've been using a PUR water filter, but the space that it took up on my faucet was bugging me. It made it hard to get larger pots and pans underneath it to fill up.

That's when I found Zuvo. It sits on the counter or it can be mounted under the sink with an attachment on top. I was thrilled to have found something that would allow my family to have clean/safe drinking water and the price isn't too bad either. Granted, it's a bit more expensive than a PUR filter or a Brita but the benefits of this device are worth the extra cost. Here's what it does:

• Step 1: Ozonation - Ozone mixes with tap water to treat and improve taste and odor; ozone is a powerful oxidizer.
• Step 2: Ultraviolet(UV) light exposure - The ozone saturated water is flooded with high intensity UV-light to reduce microorganisms.
• Step 3: Photo-oxidation - Ozone and UV work together to treat contaminants and microbes.
• Step 4: Water goes through activated carbon filtration with lead removal.
• Step 5: Post filtration UV - The filtered water is again exposed to UV light.

Zuvo Water sent me a Purator to try.

Zuvo offers user friendly new technology that reduces unwanted, potentially unhealthy contaminants in drinking water -- without stripping it of the trace minerals that give water its refreshing, distinctive taste. It works in real time with no waiting. No other water cleansing system can make this claim of cleanliness combined with good taste.

This small home water treatment appliance is based on a patented technology platform that reproduces the photo-oxidation process naturally occurring in the environment. It is an easy-to-install, cost-effective device ($.06 per gallon, compared to more than $1 per gallon for bottled water, over the course of a year) not requiring interim plastic pitchers or chemical additives. As an added bonus, eliminating the use of bottled water helps reduce the 32.8 billion water bottles that end up in landfills every year and it requires fewer filter changes that the famous name brand filter systems on the market. 

The Zuvo Water Purator will revolutionize the way you think about easy to use home water filtration systems. A perfect gift idea, It's ecologically friendly and elegantly designed and has been awarded the Parent Tested Parent Approved Award for best new green products, and we are on track to receive the Good Housekeeping Seal. 

The Zuvo Purators retail for $299.99 and are way more cost effective than disposable filter brands.

Here are a few additional reviews/information you may want to check out!

About.com

CNET

Fast Company

Right now they're offering a Zuvo Challenge - 60 day FREE trial of the Zuvo Water Purator! No risk! Try it and you'll be hooked!

Bitches on a Budget

Thanks for inviting us to guest blog on Homemade Mom.  It’s been an awesome week. Our book Bitches on a Budget: Sage Advice for Surviving Tough Times in Style, was just released and has been #1 in the “Hot New Releases Category in Consumer Behavior” on Amazon.  In addition to writing for the Huffington Post, our daily blog bitchesonabudget.com and our incredibly active Fan page on Facebook, we’re working on a television series for The Bitches!  So exciting.

The Bitches is a compendium of smart tips and thoughtful advice about living a stylish life for less.  It’s fun to read, sometimes bawdy, often ironic, and chock full of practical help and information. Ten chapters cover everything from: shopping, to exercise, to healthy eating, to wheels, to travel, to home décor, to food, to pets (pamper the bitch).   A modern woman just can’t (even if she could afford to) consume everything in her path.  After all, nothing is less attractive than a bloated bitch. 

We know how hard it is for busy moms stretched tight for time and cash to take care of themselves.  But it’s important to remember that you too deserve pampering. We have an entire chapter devoted to grooming, and thought it would be fun to share just a snippet.

A little taste from our book published by the New American Library division of

Penguin books.

Hair Obsessed

You hate your hair.  It’s too thin, too thick, too curly, too straight. The color is dark, it’s mousy, it’s oxidized, it’s gray.  The ends are split; the strands are fried. It looks different every morning; it looks the same every morning.  How neurotic!

Take heart! You’re not alone: just like most women think they’re too fat, most women hate their hair. Yes, you are just a normal bitch with low hair-esteem. This makes you easy prey for all those overrated snippy stylists with more attitude than talent, for those glammy mags whoring goods masked as ‘tips,’ for those nauseating cure-all shampoos and dyes pitched by over-processed starlets.  Baby, it’s time for some serious hair behavior therapy.

www.bitchesonabudget.com

Bitches on a Budget on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter @bitchesonbudget

Busy Body Book Review

About a month ago, Joan from Busy Body Book sent me a 2010 planner. I was so excited! I LOVE planners! There's just something in the promise of those blank pages that makes my heart flutter. I imagine all the things I'll write down; recipes, websites, phone numbers, email address...all in one place! I have to say that I have many planners. For whatever reason they don't get used. Usually it's because they look so nice that I'm afraid my scribblings will "mess it up". Stupid isn't it? I know.

So when my Busy Body Book arrived in the mail I stared at it for a while. Then I opened it and felt all the pages like they were magic. I immediately saw how handy it was going to be! I love everything about it. Let me explain:

2 Monthly Planners - One planner to record birthdays & anniversaries! Another to note next year's appointments & future events. Months-at-a-glance - An overview to help plan ahead for the holidays, vacations, or special events. Key contact pages - 2 Pages for your emergency contact information, doctors, coaches, babysitters... Removable shopping lists - Perforated pages for creating handy grocery or gift lists. 2 Pockets - Inside front & back covers provide a deep pocket to hold important papers, receipts, coupons... Bookmark - Easily flip to the current week with this unique bookmark that grabs the spiral. Notes - A full page each week for notes, to do's, lists, or alerts. Plenty of notes pages in back of BBB too to record and keep important information. NEW! - Sturdy, clear plastic covers now provide BBB's beautiful covers with even more protection.

Well, enough about my Busy Body Book...go get one! They are available in calendar year and school year, love that! A girl has to have options! Here's a peek at a page from their website:

She's so sure your gonna love it that they even have FREE printable grid pages for you to try out!!! If you find that the organizer isn't enough for you and your family...there is a larger 7 column format and a wall calendar available! Something for everyone! I love mine! Start the year off right and get organized with the help of the Busy Body Book.

Expressiva Nursingwear Giveaway Winner!!!

Congratulations Hannah!!! You won!!!

You won the "I Make Milk" T. I'll be in touch with the information. Congratulations!!!

Day 9 of OAMC - 7 layer gratin

Tonight we had 7 layer gratin. It was really yummy. I think the artichoke hearts got lost in the taste. I love artichoke hearts and missed them even though they were here.

So far so good on cooking every night! I never thought I'd be able to pull it off. It just goes to show that with a little bit of prep work it is possible!

Day 7 & 8 of OAMC

So last night I ended up cooking the Chicken Florentine. It was great! It was full of spinach, artichoke hearts, chicken, cheese and spices. It was so tasty! (We had terrible drama last night too. Click here to read about it). We even had it again today for lunch.

Tonight we had Taco Night Pasta. It was a nice change. It was pasta, enchilada sauce, diced tomatoes, great northern beans, kidney beans, cheddar cheese and some spices. Even Camden ate it! However, he was eating in his room which was not well lit. I don't think he would have eaten it if he knew it had beans in it, but he'll never know!

Neighbor Scare

I was cooking Chicken Florentine and I needed one more egg. So I sent the boys over to Billie's house.

Let me start with a little backstory: Billie is my 83 year old next door neighbor. She didn't have any children so she's really great to my boys. They love going over there to eat up her Hershey Kisses! lol! Last year she slipped and fell and broke her hip. It was about this same time last year, snowy and icy out. She ended up getting surgery and was in the nursing home for months. She recovered and was back home. It was really weird to be looking out my kitchen window over at her house and not see her light on. She's a night owl, always up late watching late night TV or knitting when everyone else should be sleeping.

So back to tonight, the boys went to get eggs. I was on the phone with my friend Jaime and began to wonder what was taking them so long. Then Cohen comes running to the back door yelling that Billie fell and it was an accident!!! I put a beanie on the baby, wrapped him up in a blanket and ran over there. I tried to open her back door but she was laying in the floor up against the door. Camden had told Billie to push the button on her necklace to call for help. He ran to the living room, unlocked the door and had it opened and waiting for me. He was on the speaker with Life Alert when I walked in. I shouted to them that I was in the house, they let me know that the ambulance was on it's way.

I ran to Billie and asked how she was. I saw that her glasses laid beside her broken in the floor. She bumped her head going down and expressed that her knee was hurting her. I was really concerned that she may have re-injured her hip. She told me that the boys had their hands full with cookies, eggs, and ice cream sandwiches, so she leaned forward to attempt to hold the door open for them. She lost her balance and went forward.

Shortly after that the paramedics arrived and they were able to get her up and sitting in her chair. They couldn't fit the back board in that small space so they carried her out to the ambulance in her chair. Mom and my aunt Joyce went with her to the hospital. Billie has a large goose egg on her forehead. Later after a few tests we found out that she cracked her 2nd vertabra which could have paralyzed or killed her! They think the fracture was old and that we're lucky they found it. She also broke her femur and will require surgery to put in a steel rod. They transported her from the local hospital to Barnes in St. Louis.

I'm so proud of my boys and how they handled a stressful situation so well. Daddy took them out to McDonald's for milkshakes.

* Update: She's still in St. Louis. She's in a room but doctors haven't decided if they will treat her there or send her back home for treatment. We're just waiting to hear what's next.

Day 4 , 5 & 6 of OAMC

Day 4: Monday we had Eggplant Zucchini Bake and it was AWESOME! Meatless of course, for meatless Monday. The ritz cracker topping was just the exact crunch it needed.

Day 5: Tuesday we had Tilapia Veracruz. There are some recipes out there but the simplist way to prepare this is tilapia on the broiler with olive oil, salt and pepper. Then top with Mango Peach Salsa and chopped up Avocado. It was delish! We had it with rice and steamed broccoli.

Day 6: Tonight was supposed to be Chicken Florentine, but we had McDonald's instead. The boys really wanted the Alvin and the Chipmunk toy from the kids meal, so we ate fast food. I know...we're bad. Tomorrow we'll have the Chicken Florentine, I'll just move everything over one day, which works out perfect because it turns out I didn't pick anything for the 31st. Works for me!

Day 2 & 3 of OAMC

Last night for dinner we had Apricot Teriyaki Pork Chops with white rice. It was pretty good. I've had it before, I like it. Nothing fancy. It went pretty quickly too.

Tonight we're having Crock Pot Chicken with black beans and cream cheese. It doesn't look or sound tasty, but it's amazing! I loved it last time we had it. I like planning my crockpot meals for the weekends because I just don't feel like cooking.

Well, so far so good! I've actually cooked 3 days in a row! That's pretty shocking, just ask my husband. lol! I never cook on the weekends. It's been really nice having a warm meal ready. I don't really have an excuse for not doing it before. I just really don't enjoy cooking.

Scrapblog Giveaway - WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

Scrapblog has graciously given me the code for a FREE hardbound fully loaded (up to 20 pages) scrapbook.

I wish I could have generated more interested in this giveaway, it's truly awesome! So here it is:

The lucky winner is: Sara!!!

Congratulations!!!

Once A Month Cooking...or my version of it.

I've been reading blogs for a while now and I've come across "Once a month cooking" a few times. I HATE cooking and I thought this could be just what I needed. So after reading some more I found this blog. I decided that this is going to be one of my new goals for 2010. I need to get dinner cooked at least 5 nights a week instead of waiting until the last minute. I find that when I wait I get frustrated because I'm unprepared...don't have a clue, no meat defrosted, no plan. You've been there. It sucks. One hour til dinner and I'm stalling because I didn't make a plan! I'm done with that!

I'm not sure I'm doing it right, it looks like the OAMC (once a month cooking) mom's seem to pick recipes that build on each other. Like ravioli one night, baked spaghetti another, tacos one night, then burritos another. You get the idea. My plan...not so well thought out. I went through my recipe binder and picked out 30 recipes that I thought looked tasty and not too difficult. They don't necessarily build on each other, but it will work. I wrote out all the recipe ingredients and made myself a shopping list, then off to the store I went!

The general idea is to do all your cooking and prep work in a few hours on one day. For me that won't be the case. When I got home from the store, hubby and I started on the prep work. He sliced and diced all the veggies and I shredded up all the blocks of cheese. Granted, purchasing shredded cheese would have been easier, but not as affordable. Today, Lou cooked all the meat. We bought chicken leg quarters instead of boneless skinless chicken breasts because it's the more cost effective option. He boiled them, took the skin off and cut them all up into bite sized pieces. Then he cooked up all the ground turkey. (we use ground turkey instead of ground beef because we're trying to limit our beef consumption.) Here's what I have now:

I labeled all my freezer bags with the title of the dish, so I can easily find it. My meals are not all prepared ahead of time like they do with OAMC, but the with the prep work being completed I think this will save me much time and peace of mind.

Tonight we had Chicken Bruschetta Bake. It was super easy too!

So tasty! I think it may quickly become a family favorite. So join me in my journey to get dinner prepared for the family each and every night! I will no longer face the frenzy of dinnertime.