Tasty Bites: Adventures in Freezer Cooking

By Beth

Have you ever tried freezer cooking?  Freezer cooking can fit into any lifestyle.  It can involve a very small or a very large investment of time, but this investment that can save time and money on busy days when you do not have time to cook. Stocking up a stash of homemade convenience foods also gives you complete control over the ingredients based on your family’s taste preferences or health concerns. You can prepare freezer meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even snacks. Now is a great time to think about doing some freezer cooking to help ease the busyness of the upcoming holiday season!  Here are some common freezer-cooking strategies:

Batch Cooking – Putting together a few meals with the same ingredient. For example, chicken is on sale, so put together several meals featuring chicken and put them into the freezer.

Cook Once, Eat Twice – Plan your meals so that you make two of each recipe. Eat one that night for dinner, put the 2^nd into the freezer for another night. Double the recipe of pancakes one morning that you have time to cook them, freeze the leftovers in bags containing the number you would need for each breakfast and reheat them in the toaster oven or microwave on a busy morning.

Click to read more ...

Organize This! Set Up a Filing System to Store and Manage Your Paperwork

By Stephanie Calahan (Calahan Solutions, Inc)

Paper!  Paper Everywhere!  Every horizontal space is covered in piles of the stuff.  With all of the talk of our society going “paperless” it has never happened.  In fact, we have more paper today than we did 20 years ago and it is still the #1 reason that people contact us.

Why is paper so difficult?  Well, for starters, it is hard for people to make decisions about what to do with the paper they have.  Sometimes just the thought of letting go of information causes panic attacks. 

Clutter of paper (and other items) accumulates for three primary reasons:

Fear of Scarcity

We worry that we might “need it someday.”  Right?  We fear that the paper holds important information that we need and we are afraid of losing.

When we are in a fear state, we very rarely make good decisions.  We are being ruled by negative emotion.  The solution is Trust!  Trust that you will make good decisions.  Trust that the systems that you put in place will work.  Most importantly:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your way acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Click to read more ...

Works For Me Wednesday: Finding Affordable Prescriptions

By MAD21

I am all for finding easier ways to do things. And saving money is right up there on the list of things I want to do. I stumbled across a website called MedTipster that can give you a list of pharmacies in your area that carry the medications your family takes that may be more affordable.

All you have to do is enter the medication you take, the dosage and your zip code, and it puts together a list of all the pharmacies near you. There is also a lot of other good stuff on the site: a blog; store searches; clinic searches; and immunization/flu shot information.

Every Wednesday, fellow blogger Kristen at We are THAT Family posts clever ideas for getting things done. She calls it, "Works For Me Wednesday" or WFMW. Be sure to go visit her blog to read her post along with links to other blogs who are participating.

Mayo Clinic Website

By MAD21

Looking for a good place for dependable medical advice and information? The Mayo Clinic has a terrific website that has "comprehensive guides on hundreds of conditions." Just type in a letter and it gives you some really good information. You can also look up symptoms you may be having, as well as tests and procedures and they give explainations so you know what you can expect.

"More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers from Mayo Clinic share their expertise to empower you to manage your health."

Two Websites Trying To Make A Difference

By MAD21

This week, I found two groups that are doing what they can to make a difference in the world. Go check them out.

Gift Card Giver "Four friends had an idea to collect gift cards and give them to people in need. They went to a gathering and asked 8 people how much money in unused Gift Cards they had in their wallets and walked away with $50 in Gift Cards to help people in need. GiftCardGiver.com was born...We collect and distribute the cards to appropriate Non-Profit Organizations that can use those cards to help others."

Pig Tail Pals was created by a stay-at-home mom named Melissa Wardy who, "wanted something different for her daughter. You won't find any princesses or drama queens here...[she] wanted role models for her daughter that exemplified courage, intelligence, and independence..." Ms. Wardy states regarding her company, they are "...committed to being... socially responsible... Every decision we make takes into account what message our actions send to young girls, what impact our actions have on our customers, and what size footprint our actions will leave on our environment... Pigtail Pals supports our local community, our nation, our world. Pigtail Pals endeavors to teach girls that with success comes the ability and responsibility to help others. Every month Pigtail Pals will show girls that they can change the world through good works." Every shirt they sell contributes to the charity they have chosen for that month. They "...partner with charitable organizations whose projects focus on children's education, health care, and access to clean water and food."