Thanks to the kind folks at Electrolux, I had the opportunity to head into New York City on Tuesday (Electrolux arranged our transportation to/from) with my son Will to attend a fun-packed banana split party hosted by Kelly Ripa and Stephen Bruce, owner and founder of Serendipity 3, to build banana splits in support of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

Will had a very hard time falling asleep on Monday night because he was so excited to be going on an ice cream adventure with mommy all by himself. He kept saying “Mommy, I have to get a good night’s sleep tonight because we’re going on an adventure tomorrow…but I’m so SKITED – my eyes keep popping open!” He eventually fell asleep, and thank heavens he did because the party was amazing. The kids were entertained with balloon artists (check out Will’s rocket backpack!), made their very own ice cream sundaes, and got their faces painted. Nirvana! And I have to say, I was bowled over by Kelly. I always thought she was incredibly talented – the way she improvises on her show every day is amazing. But on top of that, she was so gracious. She was marvelous with the kids, taking the time to stop and chat with each one and make them feel special. Will was definitely smitten when she oogled his rocket balloon backpack.

Kelly’s Banana Splits for a Cause

While the kids were being entertained with banana splits, balloons, bubbles, and face painting, we moms got the lowdown on a very smart (and fun!) viral campaign that will raise funds for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Here’s what you need to know:
Each time you head on over to Kelly-Confidential.com to indulge your virtual sweet tooth and build a banana split, Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (up to $40k). In addition to doing good – you’ll be entered for a chance to win the daily prize, $50 toward sweet summer treats, AND the grand prize – the ultimate kitchen “split” – the new stand-alone refrigerator and freezer from Electrolux. (Having had my fridge conk out literally days before this event, I was drooling at the beautiful, shiny new one featured…a girl can dream!)

I’ve already submitted mine for today…chocolate was my theme. What’s yours?

What’s your weeknight meal situation?

According to a recent study, cooking at home is actually on the way to becoming something we do less often than eating out or semi-prepared meals. Nearly 50% of our food dollars are spent away from home!

The New York Times ran a story today about how busy families are saving time and stress by joining cooking co-ops. The basic idea is that each member of the group cooks a meal for all of the members in the group one night each week.

Do any of you participate in a dinner co-op? If so, do you live in a suburban or more rural area or a big city? What’s your favorite thing about it? How many people are in your co-op?

What’s for dinner tonight, Sweet Pea?

It’s pea season! And I’m excited to be able to share a wonderful, easy recipe with you, courtesy of the divine Union Square Cafe in New York City. My husband and I were there last week to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary, which was quite possibly, the best dining decision we have ever made as a married couple. The staff treated us like royalty from the moment we arrived – and the food…THE FOOD! It was unbelievable – in particular a seasonal sugar snap pea salad appetizer that will only be available for a few short weeks.

I admit, I love salads. But this one, I swear, made me go weak in the knees. I raved about it to our waitress to such an extent that she finally brought out a printed recipe for me to take home (to shut me up I think). Well, I pined away for it all week, and finally made for dinner last night. It took a whopping 15 minutes. It was as good as I remembered. For a moment, when I closed my eyes, I was almost back in the lovely restaurant sipping a delicious pinot…

…until my 4 year old son reminded me that the only wine I’d be getting was of the “whine” variety. Oh well! The salad was enough to keep a migraine at bay. Make the most of this delectable early summer treat while it lasts.

Ok – enough gabbing. Let’s get to the good stuff!

Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Pancetta, Pecorino, and Mint

Courtesy of Union Square Cafe – Serves 6
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed at each end
1/4 pound pancetta, cut into 1-inch x 1/8th-inch lardons (the salad I made was just as good without this)
2 tablespoons minced red onion
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/8 cup Champagne, or white wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2-3 tablespoons finely sliced mint
5 tablespoon grated Pecorino Romano cheese (this IS worth it – get the good stuff!)
2-3 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Bring 3 quarts water to boil in a large pot and add the kosher salt. Have ready a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking of the peas. Cook the peas in the water for just 10 seconds. Drain the peas in a colander and immediately add them to the ice water. Remove the peas from the ice water after about 2 minutes. Drain well in the colander and gently pat dry with a paper towel. Julienne the peas by cutting them on a sharp diagonal. Set the sliced peas aside in the refrigerator.

Place the pancetta and 1 tablespoon of water into a 10-inch saute pan set over low heat. Stir the pancetta gently with a wooden spoon to separate while it heats up. The water will eventually evaporate and the pancetta will begin rendering its fat (approximately 4-5 minutes). Turn the heat up to medium and cook, stirring and scraping the pan often until the pancetta is completely rendered crisp (another 4-5 minutes). Drain the pancetta in a colander set over a bowl. Set aside the crisped pancetta at room temperature.

Place the minced onion in a non-reactive bowl large enough to mix the pea salad. pour in the lemon juice, vinegar, and olive oil, and stir to combine with the onions.

Place the peas, pancetta, mint, 4 tablespoons of the pecorino, the sea salt and ground black pepper into the bowl with the vinaigrette. Mix the salad, taste, and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of Pecorino over the salad and serve.

The next time you are in NYC, I’d strongly recommend making a reservation! Alternatively, you might want to check out best-selling
cookbooks by Union Square Cafe’s Danny Meyer and Chef Michael Romano featuring delicious, easy to prepare dishes offered at the restaurant. (dh, if you’re wondering what’s on my birthday wishlist…click that last link)

Host of Food Network’s ‘Ten Dollar Dinners’ Shares Tips & Recipes

Carbs have a bad rap these days. All those protein-pushing fads like the Atkins and South Beach diets have taken their toll on how we see bread and pasta.

A believer (not always a doer) of “all things in moderation,” I eat my share of carbohydrates like pasta, rice and wheat. (Do I have a choice with a no-meal-is-complete-without-bread Italian husband?)

So when I was invited to last month’s Bread Art Project event, I happily agreed. The Bread Art Project is a team effort to fight childhood hunger in America sponsored by Share Our Strength, the Grain Foods Foundation, and Food Network host Melissa d’Arabian.

Now through June 30, 2010, every time you personalize a piece of digital bread, the Grain Foods Foundation will donate $1 to fight childhood hunger in America.

One dollar can help provide three nutritious meals to a hungry child; $25 can help feed one child three healthy meals every day for a month; and $100 can help provide 25 children facing hunger backpacks full of healthy food to feed them and their families over the weekend.

“Staples like bread and grains provide many essential nutrients our bodies need to stay healthy,” said Judi Adams MS, RD and president of the Grain Foods Foundation. “Plus, they are affordable and versatile items families can use to stretch their grocery dollars at home.”

For people looking for help with their own kitchen cutbacks, d’Arabian is also offering some budget-friendly recipes and tips.

d’Arabian’s Budget-Friendly Ways to Prepare Grain Foods

My kids like sandwiches without crusts, so I am constantly cutting them off sliced bread. Instead of throwing them away, I save them in resealable freezer bags. I turn them into “dippers” which my kids use for dunking in jam (crusts are apparently completely delicious, just not on a sandwich when you are five), or I use the crusts to make fresh and fluffy bread crumbs. And the color of the crust makes for nice browning when I cook with the bread crumbs.

Don’t overlook bread as a base for sweet snacks! My husband is French and he grew up eating bread and chocolate together. Try it — it’s a delicious dessert or snack. Just spread a baguette with a smear of butter and add a small piece of chocolate. Or, make an “apple pie sandwich” by spreading a slice of sandwich bread with a bit of butter and filling it with sliced apples.

For parties, go to the day-old bread rack and stock up on a bunch of bread — the more varied the better! If it is not sliced already, slice the bread thinly and brush olive oil on all the exposed cut edges. Grill, roast or sauté the bread until golden and serve in a large basket with dips, spreads, grilled veggies, cheeses, garlic-infused olive oil or even simply alone. It’s a festive and inexpensive side item to feed a crowd, it looks beautiful, and it goes with everything! Plus, an interesting bread basket can double as table décor.

Keep different varieties of pasta in your pantry for weeknight meals that are as nutritious as they are quick. Your weeknight strategy: get the pasta started and while it’s cooking, pull out a large sautépan. Add a little olive oil and then check your crisper drawer, freezer and pantry for aromatics, herbs, veggies or meats to sauté in the olive oil. You can always go simple with just minced garlic, red pepper flakes and some slivers of broccoli, for instance. Once the pasta is cooked, toss it into your sauté pan, adding a little of the pasta water and some parmesan cheese to make a light sauce.

Check the bulk aisle for more unusual grains to try when they go on sale. Quinoa is uber-hip right now. It is a complete protein and the crunchy, nutty taste is crave-worthy. In addition to rice, mix things up by trying bulgur, millet or couscous.

Easy, Low-Cost Recipes from Melissa d’Arabian

BLT Tartlets

These bacon, lettuce & tomato tartlets were my favorites at the Bread Art luncheon. Crispy yet creamy with no utensils needed, they would be perfect for party appetizers or as a potluck dish.

Note: A low-mess way of cooking a few slices of bacon, as called for in this recipe, is to sandwich the bacon between paper towels on a plate and pop them in the microwave until crispy.

Serves 4

Cook Time:
15 Minutes

• 8 slices white bread
• 3 T light cream cheese, softened
• 1 T light mayonnaise
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1 t dried oregano
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped and lightly salted
• 4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
• 3/4 cup red or green leaf lettuce, chiffonade (roll and cut into ribbon-like strips)
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil for drizzling

1. Heat oven to 375°. Remove crusts from bread and, using a large spoon, gently press the slices of bread down flat until thin and almost doughy. Brush with olive oil on both sides. Place the slices in the muffin tin, pressing them into the muffin shape, to create a tartlet shell. Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until golden and crusty.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, use a fork to mix the cream cheese, garlic powder, mayonnaise and oregano with salt and pepper until smooth and creamy.
3. Once the bread is golden, remove the shells and place them on a cooling rack to assemble. To make the tartlets, place a teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture on the bottom, followed by the bacon, tomatoes and the lettuce. Top with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

Tuna Bread Salad

In honor of bread and the Bread Art Project, here is a recipe from Melissa’s Food Network show, Ten Dollar Dinners.

Invented to make use of day-old bread, bread salad comes from a frugal Italian tradition. Tuna adds protein to this recipe, giving it zip and a hefty lift into the one-dish meal category. (Gotta love that.)

This salad will taste infinitely better if you use Italian-style canned tuna. No need to splurge on imported brands: Cento and Starkist’s Genova Tonno brand are excellent and easy to find in the supermarket. (See my 3 Super Fast Pasta Sauces Kids Love for another way to use this tasty tuna.)

Serves 4

Prep Time: 15 min
Level: Easy

• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup cooked great Northern white beans
• 1 (5 to 6-ounce) can light tuna, packed in oil, drained (see note, above)
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup sliced pitted kalamata olives
• 1/2 long baguette, cut into cubes (slightly stale works great)
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh basil leaves (or oregano)

1. In medium serving bowl, add the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Let sit for 10 minutes before adding the beans, tuna, shallots and olives. Just before serving, mix in the bread cubes and combine gently.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar and salt and pepper, to taste. Drizzle in the oil, whisking to blend. Pour over the salad just before serving. Add the basil and toss. Taste for seasoning before serving.

Don’t forget to take a minute to decorate a piece of bread at the Bread Art Project: the Grain Foods Foundation will donate $1 to fight childhood hunger every time you do!

Amy Suardi writes about saving money & making life better at Frugal Mama.

Dinner Time Simplified

By Christine Steendahl of dinewithoutwhine.com

Most of us know all about the dinner hour chaos that comes about around 5 or 6 p.m. Everyone is hungry, tired, and ready to eat; and the stress often lands on your shoulders as you try to quickly concoct something before everyone runs out the door for evening activities. Let’s face it – dinner time often turns into stress time. How about we relieve some of that stress? Here are some simple tips to help you feel like you have it together during the dinner hour.

1. Plan Ahead

Take time one day a week, to write out a plan. Look at your calendar and determine what nights you will have a bit of time to cook and what nights it would be best to use your slow-cooker or pull out a meal from the freezer. Take inventory on what you have, and what you need and make a trip to the grocery store to prepare yourself for the week.

2. Use your slow cooker

– if you don’t have one, I encourage you to invest in one! This will turn into your best friend on busy days! You can literally throw in a roast, potatoes, carrots and some seasoning in 3 minutes, turn it on, and have dinner ready when you need it.

3. Consider freezing a few meals.

There are many meals that work great to prepare and freeze ahead of time. Then all you need to do is pull one out the night before and throw it in the oven the following evening. If you need some recipes for this, do a google search for “freezer cooking”.

4. Double the recipe

If you know you are going to have a busy week, why not double a recipe one night and enjoy it as leftovers the following night. You could also change things up a bit. Say you cook a large chicken or several chicken breasts. You could then use the leftovers to make a whole new meal – say chicken and dumplings or chicken enchiladas .

5. Designate Nights

I have a friend who does this. They have something with pork Monday, Pizza Friday, Chicken Sunday etc. She knows exactly what they are having throughout the week because Thursday is always taco night etc. This works great if you don’t mind eating similar foods week in and week out. For some families this works really well.

6. Have an emergency plan.

Sometimes you get home way later than you planned, or you end up having last minute company or something of that sort. Try to have something quick and easy in mind that you always have the ingredients on hand for. There is no thinking involved – you just know that there are ingredients for a quick easy meal if needed. For us these are simple meals that fill everyone up such as homemade pizza ingredients, spaghetti, tacos, that sort of thing. Something all the kids like, and that is quick and easy. We often will have breakfast for dinner too in a pinch. Eggs, Bacon, Pancakes or Waffles that sort of thing. The kids love that!

I hope some of these ideas will help eliminate a bit of your dinner hour stress and make family meal time more enjoyable. There are so many studies out there about the importance of family meal time. We highlight this in our Family Dinner Video. If you would like help meal planning, we offer family friendly weekly menus with grocery shopping lists delivered to your email box each week. You can find us at www.dinewithoutwhine.com
________________________________________________________________

Christine Steendahl – “The Menu Mom” has been helping families with meal planning since March, 2005. Her specialty is in traditional home style menus for busy families – featuring easy to prepare recipes the entire family will enjoy. Dine Without Whine features weekly menus with categorized grocery shopping lists that bring organization, time & money savings, and ultimately families back to the dinner table.

Fat-free and Other Fairy Tales

Article and illustrations by humorist, Alisa Singer

Remember the Seinfeld episode when Jerry and Elaine gained all that weight because the owner of the neighborhood ice cream shop flat-out lied about the fat content of his frozen yogurt? That story resonated with me because it was such a classic illustration of how much we rely upon the integrity of strangers in the trivial (and not so trivial) transactions of our daily lives. There are an infinite number of examples of this: The coffee we’re served by the waiter after dinner – is it really decaf? How can we know? The man in the jacket that so obligingly accepts the keys to our car – looked like a valet, right? But can we be sure he wasn’t just a guy that favors plastic windbreakers with logos who happened to be in the right place at the right time and is now driving your car to Mexico? And those 100 calorie fudge cookie snacks, what if …?

And how many times, out of pure laziness, do we trust even when we are in a position to verify. Like the checkout scanner at the grocery store – do you look to see if your items aren’t double-counted and that the prices are properly recorded? Do you reconcile your checkbook against your bank statement every month and count the change you receive every time you buy a newspaper (you do still buy newspapers don’t you?) or, for that matter, the cash you receive from the ATM? (If you are one of those people that actually does all of these things and sometimes discovers major discrepancies, please don’t tell me about them. I’d much rather be blissfully ignorant and go on trusting.)

But when it comes to the internet, a whole different leap of faith is involved. There is, unfortunately, no such thing as a credibility rating for websites. Accordingly, we are advised to be very skeptical and not to believe everything, or possibly anything, we find online and yet… and yet… we want to believe. I would go so far as to say we almost always do believe. As for me, I tend to blindly trust any website that has “.org, .edu, .gov, or national” in its name, and pretty much all the others too.

Perhaps it is that same slothful inclination that keeps us from counting our change that also makes us want to believe, because the internet is such an easy source for almost any kind of information. Recently, after reading about the calamitous impact that methane emitted from cow burps has on the environment, I turned to the internet to research the environmental impact of comparable kinds of emissions emanating from humans. I quickly found the answer in a paper posted by researcher Zach Elgood, impressively titled “The Isotopic Fingerprint of Human-Emitted Methane”. This paper, replete with fancy charts and graphs, reports the results of a study by the author who examined and compared the average methane concentration of human oral and intestinal emissions. The report concluded that only human vegetarians produce a modest amount of methane through colonic gas emissions; those from human omnivores contain only negligible amounts of methane.

And there you have it – yet another example of Google-asked-and-answered research. Did I doubt the reliability of the study? Not a bit of it. Not even when I came to the end and noted the author used Wikipedia as a source and thanked his dad for teaching him about isotopes. And my confidence remained unshaken even after I learned Zach Elgood was a 7th grader from Kitchener, Ontario because, I reasoned, he must be a really smart 7th grader. So if the subject of the impact on the environment from human methane emissions ever comes up I will, no doubt, refer to the conclusions of Zach’s scientific research. After all, I did find it on the internet.

Still, I am puzzled by the following aspect of my own behavior: In the face of my ready willingness to accept at face value the words and deeds of total strangers, why is it that I am highly skeptical of information when the source of it is my very own husband. I refer, of course, to my inability to take on faith his automatically-generated reassuring response to the following philosophical question I pose to him on a daily basis: “Do these pants make my thighs look heavy?”

I wonder what Wikepedia has to say on the subject.

Alisa Singer’s humorous essays have appeared in a variety of print and online newspapers and magazines across the country and in Canada. You can learn more about her work by visiting her website: www.AlisaSinger.com or contacting her at ASingerAuthor@gmail.com.

By Amy Suardi of frugal-mama.com

Probably the most dramatic way to slash your cell phone costs is to switch to a pay-as-you-go plan and use your mobile phone only for emergencies. Since this is not an option for many people, why not check to see if you can get an employee or student discount on your current plan?

Companies like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Moblie offer discounts — as high as 25% off — to thousands of corporations, government agencies, and schools.

To cop the discount, all you need to do is to enter your employer-issued email address into the phone company’s website. If your email address matches up with the phone company’s list of qualified businesses, you’re in the money. (Hot tip: Many universities offer free email addresses to their students and alumni.)

Almost Too Good to Be True

We were chugging along paying full price for my husband’s Verizon cell phone service until I revisited a Money magazine article — “35 Minutes to Riches” — that I had clipped back in 2007. (Talk about procrastination!)

Buried among the 47 quick tips was a blurb on employee cell phone discounts that caught my eye. I went to verizonwireless/getdiscount and typed in my hubby’s work email address. Within seconds he received a congratulatory email with instructions on how to sign up for a 19% discount!

It’s Up to You to Claim the Discount

My husband has been working at this hospital for a year and a half, but we were unaware of the cell phone benefit. Informational flyers can get buried in the mountains of paperwork you receive when starting a new job. And because phone companies are not motivated to publicize these offers, it’s up to us to find out about the programs and claim the discount.

Just for fun, I typed hubbie’s email address into the AT&T and Sprint sites. Even though he doesn’t have service with these carriers, he would have gotten a 23% Sprint discount, a 13% Nextel discount, as well as an AT&T discount.

Since T-Mobile requires a T-mobile phone number to start investigating special offers, I wasn’t able to check that one out. But according to their site, if your company qualifies, you can request a corporate discount of up to 15%.

Start Cashing In Now

To find out if your employer or school has been offered mobile phone discounts, here’s where to start clicking — and cashing in:

Verizon
http://www.verizonwireless.com/getdiscount

AT&T
https://www.wireless.att.com/business/authenticate/

Sprint
http://www.evpdiscount.com/

T-Mobile
https://my.t-mobile.com/Corporate/Default.aspx

Amy Suardi writes about saving money & making life better at Frugal Mama.

I came across this post the other day at bakerella.com and I just HAD to share it here!

Need something fun to do with the kids? Make these delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cups!

Fun with balloons and chocolate!

What happens after you pop the balloons:

Mmm…whipped cream…

The final product!

You can print out the full recipe here and check out the full bakerella post here. YUM!

I am absolutely in love with this great new healthy snack, Fruitzio.

As a matter of fact my daughter, Lucy, and I fight over who eats them first. I haven’t stooped to hide some from her yet…but I just might.

Fruitzio’s are freeze-dried fruit.

They come in great flavors like Apple (my favorite), Apples & Strawberries (Lucy’s Favorite) and Peach. A bag is only 100 calories and has no preservatives.
But most of all…they taste GREAT! They are completely addicting and are the perfect snack for a lunch box or the afternoon munchies.

You can buy Fruitzio at Amazon.com or go to the store locatorand see where you can buy near you. Give them a try and ENJOY!

There’s getting a meal on the table and there’s getting a real meal on the table.

Increase your odds of doing the latter with this simple meal planning worksheet and shopping list. Bon Appétit!

Download now (PDF)