Food

How And Why To Add New Forms Of Protein Into Your Family’s Diet

October 22, 2024 By Teresa Te

Americans basically get all of the protein they need with the amount of meat they eat on a daily basis. Most of them get far more protein than they actually need. With the rates of obesity and the health issues with certain meats, many people are trying to find different ways to get the protein that they do need.

The average adult woman needs about 46 grams of protein a day, while men need 56 grams. It helps to know the size of a serving of meat, when it comes to protein and meat. One serving of meat is about the size of a deck of cards, and contains somewhere around 21 grams. [Read more…] about How And Why To Add New Forms Of Protein Into Your Family’s Diet

Originally posted on January 28, 2016 @ 2:35 pm

Ways to Make Your Likelihood of Getting Pregnant Easier

October 21, 2024 By Teresa Te

Pregnancy never seems to happen at a good time. A couple is either trying to conceive for months and months before they have success, or it happens out of the blue to a couple who isn’t even thinking about having children.

To those who are having a hard time conceiving, it becomes salt in a wound every time you see that somebody else you know is expecting, especially when it seems like they didn’t even want the baby in the first place. If you’re facing infertility issues, you’ve probably researched a lot of options, but here are some ways to make your likelihood of getting pregnant easier: [Read more…] about Ways to Make Your Likelihood of Getting Pregnant Easier

Originally posted on May 9, 2016 @ 1:13 pm

How I Got My 3-Year-Old to Love Veggies

October 21, 2024 By Hannah

I grew up liking veggies, simply because my mom started with me and my sister at an early age. I think my tastebuds – not to mention my brain – got used to the idea that veggies were the normal food, as opposed to hotdogs and meat. Now that I have three sons, I have had different experiences with each one.

The eldest is a special child – in all senses of the word – and he will eat anything! In fact, because of his condition, my problem is to make sure he does not eat everything that he sees at the table.

The second is three years old, and for the longest time, he only wanted to eat hotdogs. He also loves noodles, but when he sees any signs of vegetables, he would pick them out and put them aside. [Read more…] about How I Got My 3-Year-Old to Love Veggies

Originally posted on May 2, 2014 @ 7:46 am

Switching Your Children to an Organic Diet

October 21, 2024 By Teresa Te

Every responsible parent wants their children to grow up to be strong and healthy. Unfortunately, many of the food choices offered to children these days leaves much to be desired. Food manufacturing plants load their food products with all kinds of harmful chemicals and other nutritionally deficient ingredients. For this reason, many parents find themselves having to do a lot of research into food manufacturers to figure out which companies produce the best food products, like chicken, to serve their children at mealtime. [Read more…] about Switching Your Children to an Organic Diet

Originally posted on February 6, 2015 @ 12:11 pm

Mix Those Veggies In and Keep it a Secret

October 21, 2024 By Teresa Te

Encouraging kids to eat their veggies can be a real challenge to parents particularly the moms. Some kids can be picky about what they eat. You may succeed in letting them eat healthy while still babies but by the time they become toddlers, their food preference can change.

Don’t worry, though, as there’s a way to let them eat the more healthy foods without letting your kids know that their greens are actually in their meals. An effective way is to sneak those veggies whenever you can.

Here are some fast and easy steps that you can follow.

Grated carrots – When you make burger patties, for instance, you can grate a small piece of carrot and mix them with the ground beef, pork or chicken you’re using. When cooked, they won’t have any clue that carrots bits are in the patty.

You can do this too to make your meatballs and taco meat more nutritious. And you may also mix this beta carotene-rich veggie in your spaghetti.

Shredded zucchini – When making your spaghetti sauce, why not include some shredded zucchini as well.

Oats and flax seed – If you love preparing pancakes, you can include oats and flax seed for added nutrition.

Beans – Research has shown that babies love beans so don’t deprive it to them. In fact, some toddlers love eating plain beans and this can be a good snack for them. Beans are rich in protein, by the way.

Dried fruits – Nutrition experts suggest feeding your little ones with dried fruits instead of the usual fruit snacks that are normally loaded with sugar, fruit juice and corn syrup.

Image via topnews

Originally posted on April 8, 2013 @ 7:43 am

How to Use Coupons for Baby Products

October 21, 2024 By Teresa Te

Being a mother requires patience and budget management skills. The latter is most important especially when purchasing the family’s basic needs including that of the baby and not go beyond the available budget. It takes practice but it can be done.

Thankfully, there are discount coupons that can be had in many ways today. Apart from the newspapers and magazines, mothers can get them online from various websites. They can also find them from product labels of their favorite grocery items.

Coupons are great to use if you have a tight budget or if you just want to merely try out new products in the market. While some provide discounts on regular prices, the others give away free items without having to purchase a product. Common baby stuff you can get using these tickets are diapers, formula, clothes, gear and magazines.

For diapers, you can get free samples if you request for them or you may register for diaper reward programs. Another option is to subscribe to a company’s mailing list. Some manufacturers have promos that require consumers to collect points or codes which they can later exchange for free coupons, books, gift certificates and toys.
[Read more…] about How to Use Coupons for Baby Products

Originally posted on December 3, 2012 @ 3:00 am

Impromptu Gatherings Made Easy With Recipe Finder

October 21, 2024 By Lara

Some people were born hosts/hostesses, but for others, entertaining at home can be a pain in the butt. For the former group, the logistics of entertaining at home is not a source of concern. For the latter, it can be quite a nightmare. Even more so if the gathering is an out of the blue one. You know, when your partner or kid calls and tells you that they are coming home within a couple of hours, and can you please prepare dinner for their friends as well?

When faced with this situation, you can either go out and get food from a restaurant or hit the kitchen and get cooking. While the first option is always convenient, it can also mean big bucks. If I were you, I’d go for the second option and make sure that you have the right tools to make your impromptu gathering a success. [Read more…] about Impromptu Gatherings Made Easy With Recipe Finder

Originally posted on October 8, 2011 @ 7:28 am

The Easiest Halloween Dracula Cake Ever

October 21, 2024 By Lor

I admit that baking a fancy cake is not my forte. I’m from the school of Mums who make those “it-tastes-yummy-but-doesn’t-look-it” cakes at home. Luckily my sister is a wonderful baker, so when I need something really good I know where to go. The thing is, she doesn’t make this sort of thing – sugar loaded, multi colored characters meant for kids – but more genteel desserts like her to-die-for “Tres Leches” mini cakes, or the german chocolate, richly laden with coconut, a slice of which still sits on my fridge (beckoning) from her Bday lunch.

So to satisfy my little Goth’s request for a Dracula Cake this Halloween, I’ve been on a mission to find the easiest recipe for Dracula cake out there. And here it is (adapted from Piece of Cake Decorating):

Ingredients:

2 10 inch round cakes (to get into the spirit of things, use Red Velvet)
Green, black, yellow/gold and white buttercream icing
4 Tips # 5 – *Ready-made black is better, as mixing your own is extremely difficult!

*** Tip*** If you do not have four #5 tips, do not worry. You will get the same effect using tips #4 or 6. If you do not want to use a tip at all, just cut the end of the piping bag to size. It will work just as well but your lines will not be as tight. This techniques works best for piping the eyes and nose because of their shape.

Directions:

1. Level, tort and fill the cakes. They can be placed on a 12 or 14 inch cake board. In this picture, the cake is placed on a large cake board (in the pic, Pillsbury Pumpkin Sugar Cookies scattered around for added decoration). Ice the cake with your green buttercream icing.

2. Using a toothpick, outline the vampire’s hair. Next, using tip #5 and black buttercream icing, pipe the outline of the hair and fill in with tight lines.

***Tip*** To smooth out the striped effect you get from filling in an outline using a piping bag, simply put a little cornstarch on your finger and gently pat it flat. Most of the cornstarch will fade into the icing but the excess can be brushed away with a decorating brush.

3. Using tip # 5 and yellow icing, pipe the eyes on the cake. Add the pupils using the extra black icing.

4. Using tip # 5 and green icing, pipe the nose. Next, add the mouth and eyebrows with the left over black icing and the teeth (tip #5) with white icing.

As with most cake mixes, do be aware that monosodium glutamate will be used, an additive helps to bring out natural flavors and make it taste better. Despite many reports from amateurs to the contrary, this is a completely safe ingredient to use- as affirmed by the FDA and many other regulators and scientific agencies around the world.

Originally posted on October 12, 2011 @ 2:28 am

Organizing Tips For the Disorganized: The Weekly Schedule

October 21, 2024 By Lor

I have never been one of those people you’d call “super” organized. But after having my third child early this year, I’ve found that one of the best ways to keep my sanity, and for things to run (relatively) smoothly in my growing household is to try and be as organized as I possibly can. That’s always been a rather daunting word in my vocabulary as no matter how hard I try, there is always some amount of chaos in my home.

But with the “busiest” time of the year upon us, and indeed, a New Year a mere month or so away, its a good time to start, and for somewhat disorganized Moms like myself, the first thing I would do is to create a Weekly Schedule and Menu. I promise, its worked wonders for me! Here’s how:

Tip 1 For the Disorganized: The Weekly Schedule

1. Every Sunday, I set aside about half an hour to make our weekly schedule and menu. I take a cookbook or two and sit with my laptop for about half an hour at a time when the kids are busy (a dvd is a good idea) or better, napping.

2. For simplicity sake, I make a chart like above (sorry I haven’t been able to scan mine!) section off each day onto 3 sections. Morning, afternoon, evening. Each day having its own column.

3. First, I put in the family activities for the week. For example:

Monday– Morning -Oliver has no class/ Cat grooming at vet 11 a.m.
Afternoon – Boys playgroup @ home 3 pm./ Nat, gymnastics 4.30
Evening– Mark (hubby), meeting, home late

4. Then, with my cookbooks (or online), I look for meal ideas for the week and type them in the appropriate time. With the activities of the family already there, I know who’ll be around for what meal (and snacks), and best of all, I can make the weekly grocery list, knowing exactly what I need, which helps keep me in budget. I also look at previous weeks menus (kept neatly in my desktop file), to see what worked well and what didn’t.

5. Edit, print and stick it on the fridge. And voila! The family is set for a week of organized bliss.

Photo via Lullaby Mom

Originally posted on August 17, 2011 @ 7:07 am