Kid Friendly Meal!

Tuna Sailboat and a Goldfish Cracker fruit Salad

Another Meal Planning Idea

Another idea for making meal planning easier that I've done is made a list of quick and easy breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Sometimes it's 5:00 and I'm racking my brain, trying to come up with something to make. Now I can go to my list for some quick and easy ideas that I might not otherwise be thinking of. For example, on my dinner list are the following, as well as many others:

Tomato soup & grilled cheese
Breakfast for dinner
BLTs
Easy chicken parmesan (breaded chicken patty, topped w/ prepared spaghetti sauce and
shredded mozzarella cheese)
Tuna melt
Egg in a hole (Butter both sides of a piece of bread. Use a small cup to make a hole in the center of the bread. Let your child eat his/her "hole" - quite possibly my kids' favorite part! Put the bread in a hot frying pan. Crack an egg into the hole. Pierce the yoke. Flip. Done! Mine like it served with ketchup, even though they'd never otherwise eat ketchup on eggs!)

Having this list helps me to easily come up with something quick to make that I might have otherwise forgotten about. Happy dinners to all!

Meal Planning Ideas

Need help with planning meals for your family? I do! Sometimes I plan out a whole week's menu ahead of time, and other weeks I find myself "winging it" all week long! One of my friends came to the rescue when she invited me to participate in a meal planning group. There are seven of us in the group. She sends out a schedule so we each know which week we are to plan. Each girl is assigned a week. You plan for your week and e-mail it to the group during the week prior to give everyone time to grocery shop. So each week, I have my week's worth of meals planned out for me by these other ladies in the group. I only have to plan one week out of seven! Of course, I don't often follow it exactly. Some recipes don't interest me or maybe we'll have other plans for some night during the week, but it's there if I want to use the menu. You can easily do the same thing, and your group can be as large or small as you want it to be.

Here's another great option. Check out the Month of Meals on the Family Fun website! http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/meal-planner/index.html A whole month of meals, pleasing to the kids and adults alike. How convenient!

Family Fun magazine

Have you ever checked out Family Fun magazine? If not, it's worth a look. Has very cute seasonal crafts. This month you'll find out how to make tie-dye pumpkin t-shirts (very cute!), bat mini-pumpkins, and this creepy-looking "brain" out of a watermelon, among other great ideas. Check out the website at http://www.familyfun.go.com

Prescott FallFest

The craft show in Prescott, AZ over Labor Day weekend went very well. The weather was beautiful - perfect, really. Thank you to all who came and purchased CDs. Thank you to those who e-mailed us to tell us how much your kids and grandkids love their CDs! Knowing how happy the children are makes our day.
That last craft show went so well that we are going back to Prescott for the FallFest in the Park on Oct. 11 & 12. What a great time of year to head up to the mountains and feel true fall weather! Now that Youngs Farm is no longer in operation (heart-breaking to us, as well as to so many other Arizonans!), just travel a little farther and enjoy the beauty and charm of Prescott in the fall. We look forward to seeing you then!

Come see us at the Prescott Craft Show Today through Labor Day!

If you live in Arizona, head to the Faire on the Square in Prescott. Escape the heat if you live in the Valley (or anywhere else but the mountains!) - the weather is beautiful! A little breeze, a little cloud cover, and temps 15-20 degrees cooler than in Phoenix! We'll be here Saturday & Sunday 9-5 and Monday (Labor Day) 9-3. Come see us near the corner of Gurley St. and Cortez!

Mmm...Chocolate Chip Muffins that are Good for You

Another fabulous recipe from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook that I loved is for Chocolate Chip Cupcakes. They have 1 cup canned pumpkin (don't even have to puree - just open the can!) and 1/2 c. yellow squash puree. It calls for 2 1/4 c. all purpose flour, so I used approx. 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour, and only 3/4 c. all-purpose flour. Skipped the frosting and called them chocolate chip muffins, rather than cupcakes. Huge hit with my kids, their friends, and their friends' mommies!

Try this: Make muffins in mini-muffin tins. Now you don't have the issue of your kids eating the muffin tops and leaving the rest. They think mini-muffins are really fun - and they like that they get more than one! If you're working on portion control, eating 2-3 mini muffins can be more fun for you, too - and you'll consume less calories than when eating a whole muffin.