5 brilliant food bar ideas ideas for last minute entertaining
My favorite part of any holiday is the food, and Mother's Day and Father's Day are no exception. What I want most this year is to sit around the table with family eating and laughing. One of my new favorite ways to make everybody happy, including me, the cook, is to...
Deliciously edible gifts for Teacher Appreciation Day that say thank you in a big way
It's May (eep!) and the school year is almost over. Even though my kids' teachers deserve my thanks every day, I especially want to make them feel loved on Teacher Appreciation Day which is May 5, by the way. I always say that the best gifts are the ones you wouldn't...
5 of the best websites for school lunch ideas that are easy, healthy, and realistic. No wacky bento art.
If you run out of school lunch recipes and inspiration oh, about a week into the school year, you are not alone. Which is why we have put together favorite websites and other online resources that are jam-packed with awesome school lunch recipes. The requirements:...
The Blender Girl Smoothies app: More healthy than Candy Crush in a few ways.
A peek into our food archive shows that we’re big into smoothies. But no matter how many awesome smoothie recipes we track down for you, nothing will compare to having a constantly updated collection in your back pocket from the smoothie master herself, Tess Masters...
Skinny comfort food recipes that gently ease you into healthier eating. (Or bathing suit season. However you want to put it.)
As soon as spring hits, I immediately try to switch food gears by ditching all that stick-to-your-ribs winter fare in favor of super light meals instead. It’s a good impulse, but sudden changes like these rarely last more than a week for me. Know what I mean? After...
Kitchen tools for your little sous chef
My kids are more than eager to help in the kitchen, but there's only so much they can do with a big dull butter knife and a spoon as long as their arm. Fortunately, since discovering these cool kid-size kitchen utensils, our nightly dinner service has gotten much more...
2 fun resources that can get a picky eater to actually eat.
Anyone who’s dealt with a picky kid (and who hasn’t?) knows that feeding a picky eater is the opposite of fun. And I've found two new parenting resources—one a book, the other a game—which aim to change that. Both were developed by moms to use children’s natural...
What’s the difference between a macaron and macaroons? Where do we start!
Macarons are all the rage these days, and certainly not to be confused with those big coconut things that one eats at Passover and generally stay in your stomach until oh, June. The difference is, macarons are melt-in-your-mouth delicious French almond cookie...
4 awesome kids’ books about food, with recipes that make them even better
Pairing food and wine is an art. Pairing food and music is a new trend. Pairing food with a good food book: It's one of the best ways to get kids excited about eating--even foods that they're not normally excited about eating. To celebrate the bounty of summer, I've...
Gourmet chocolate pretzels from Fatty Sundays: Bet you can’t eat just 70 million.
I hate showing up to someone's house empty-handed, even when the hostess says, "Oh...just bring yourself." That's why I always have so much fun scoping out affordable hostess gifts for you all each year. While we can always grab a bottle of wine or fresh flowers,...
6 cookbooks that every parent should own
Love it or hate it, if you're a parent, you've got to feed your kids. Whether you already cook nightly or...not so much, but want to cook more, these, six of my staple cookbooks, provide just the inspiration you need to get food on the table with a minimum of stress....
The Family Cooks: In which Laurie David helps make kids crave kale. For real.
Parents, don't we all secretly dream our kids will someday request kale over cookies? Laurie David and Kirstin Uhrenholdt, authors of the wonderful Family Dinner are out with a new cookbook, The Family Cooks. They are hoping the recipes and tips they've gathered will...
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How this Instant Pot-phobe finally became an Instant Pot convert
I'm not quite sure why I've always been afraid of the Instant Pot. People I love and respect in my life swear by it. I'm even a member of the Instant Pot Community on Facebook (that also might be why I'm afraid of the Instant Pot, now that I think of it). And...
This year, order your Girl Scout cookies from troops struggling with homelessness
Despite my commitment to be healthier this year, I'm going to cave and buy some Girl Scout cookies, because another resolution I've made is to spread goodness as much as possible. When I was reminded that I can buy Girl Scout cookies online to support troops...
9 helpful tips for making a homemade gingerbread house. Learn from my successes….and uh, failures.
I never thought I'd be the person offering tips for making homemade gingerbread houses, but you know, 2020. Chalk it up to the baking bug so many of us caught in 2020, but my kids and I attempted our own homemade gingerbread houses for the first time this year....
We love these 10 festive ways to package Christmas cookie gifts | Holiday Gifts
Even if you've picked out your perfect Christmas cookie recipe already, you might be looking for ways to package those Christmas Cookies as gifts. Though the big crowded cookie swap I usually attend every December is canceled this year due to the pandemic, homemade...
What to make for a smaller Thanksgiving this year: 8 ideas to help you see it as an opportunity
So many of our readers and friends are asking about what to make for a smaller Thanksgiving this year. While this may be the prudent choice, I know it still comes with a lot of feelings. So many of us are skipping travels plans and raucous gatherings with...
Recipes
Thanks a lot, TikTok: Trying the Baked Oats recipe with teens
As a totally cool mom (at least, in my head, anyway), I like to think I stay up to date with the latest social media and trends my kids are seeing and experiencing. But let's be honest, I am often waaaaay behind them, which is the case with TikTok. I've been...
5 easy high-protein, low-carb family dinners | 2021 Weekly Meal Plan 7
Last week we were all about hiding veggies in our kids' dinners so they didn't even know they were eating them, but this week we want to focus on protein too. Do your kids pull all their toppings off pizza and just eat the crust, or sneak the bun out of their...
5 tofu recipes for kids that they will actually eat — all recommended by our own kids!
I really wanted to write about tofu recipes for kids, because I know so many families who are trying to work more plant-based foods into their meal-planning these days. I also know it can be daunting; when my family switched to vegan-at-home several years ago, I...
The folded TikTok sandwich hack: 20 variations and ideas to get you through another day of making lunch
Whether you're slapping lunch together for the kids before they run out to catch the bus, or preparing a quickie lunch between breaks in their virtual school day, I'm sure lots of us are sick of trying to figure what's next for lunch. So, when that cool-looking,...
5 delicious family dinners that sneak extra veggies in. Your kids will never even know. | 2021 Weekly Meal Plan 6
Have you ever sat back at the end of a week, proud of all all that effort you put in in the kitchen, and then wondered...Did my teens actually eat a vegetable this week? Nope? Just me? If your kids are like mine, all "bring on the pizza and chicken tenders" but...