The best insulated lunch bags for kids this year: 7 top picks | Back to School Guide 2019
Having now gone through more than a decade figuring out the best lunch bags for kids, I've determined that insulated lunch bags are the way to go. Let's just say we've come a long way from the metal lunch boxes some of us used to carry, featuring the cast of Full...
Weekly meal plan: 5 easy meals for busy back-to-school weeknights.
This week my kids started back to school (gulp!) and in the next few weeks most of the rest of the country will be too. So we're looking for easy, family friendly meals you can prep ahead or make quickly...and still get to those Parents' Night meetings or football...
Celebrity liquor: It’s a thing
Seems like "yes I act, but what I really want to do is direct" has evolved into "yes I act, but what I really want to do is build a liquor distillery." At least judging from the trend of A-list celebrity-created liquor brands. Why, just yesterday, I saw Ryan Reynolds...
How to use up overripe tomatoes – and bruised ones too! 4 delicious ideas.
Every year I grow as many tomato plants as my garden will hold. If I’m lucky and #thosedarnsquirrels don’t eat them all, I have a bounty of juicy red and yellow fruit that lasts through September. Inevitably some tomatoes will ripen too quickly or blister in the sun....
6 favorite no-cook recipes using fresh tomatoes and basil in season.
I don’t think I will ever get sick of no-cook recipes using tomatoes and basil. I play them on repeat during the summer months because I know that although the ingredients are widely available year-round, it’s this time, right now in August, where the taste of...
Weekly meal plan: 5 easy meals using August’s in-season produce
This week's weekly meal plan recommendations are here, and we've found some easy meals that feature August's best produce. I don't know about you, but my tomatoes are tasting perfect right now, so we're making the most of that! So grab a pen, make your shopping list,...
Weekly meal plan: 5 delicious $10 meals for summer
This week's weekly meal plan recommendations are here, and I'm thinking about $10 meals. Because frankly, I'd rather spend less money cooking and more in air conditioned movie theaters right now! So, inspired by Kate's weekly meal plan of 10 affordable, kid-friendly...
Starbucks drink hack: Save $2 ordering your iced venti drinks this way.
Leave it to my teen to find this Starbucks drink hack on TikTok that's currently making the social media rounds with Starbucks-obsessed consumers everywhere. Iced venti money-saving hack Order a tall iced drink. That's a "small" for those of us not fluent in...
Weekly meal plan: 5 easy meals you can grill, because barbecue season!
This week's weekly meal plan recommendations are here, and we've found some easy meals to get you through the rest of the week. And since it's the middle of summer, we're loving these grilling recipes. They keep the oven off and the kitchen cool while you enjoy the...
This easy weekly meal planner notepad helps end the pain. (Or okay, minimizes it just a bit)
Back to school season is coming up fast, and we're already on it with our Cool Mom Picks Back to School Shopping Guide, rolling out this week. While we're helping parents out with all the coolest gear for kids, we're also going to have some great organizational tools...
Watch out! According to these plates, if you eat too much, you’ll look like a mom!
When Kristen shared Alie Ward's tweet about the obnoxious mom jeans plates she spotted at Macy's, our team collectively responded on Slack with multiple variations of OMG or its more descriptive cousin, OMGWTF. The Washington Post reports that the plates were met with...
Weekly meal plan: 5 easy, kid-friendly meals that are super affordable
This week's weekly meal plan recommendations are here, and we've found some easy meals to get you through the rest of the week with recipes that won't bust your budget. Because summer activities can get expensive. So grab a pen, make your shopping list, and stock up...
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Tips and Tricks we live for!
The game-changing meal-planning tip we had never heard before
This week on the Spawned parenting podcast, I had the pleasure of chatting with Suzy Chase, host of the #1 cookbook podcast, Cookery by the Book. After speaking with nearly 200 cookbook authors, restauranteurs, famous chefs and skilled home cooks over the years,...
How to make Halloween more safe (and inclusive!) for kids with peanut + tree nut allergies: 5 essential tips
We have always had an acute awareness about making Hallowen safe for kids with peanut and tree nut allergies. Especially because some of our own kids of our team members on Cool Mom Picks have grappled with peanut and tree nut allergies that range from mild to...
How to get a teen to pack their own lunch: 6 tips from teen chef Josh Reisner
As parents, we talk a lot about tips to get kids to pack their own school lunches. But the truth is, even teens can struggle a bit when it comes to picking up just one more responsibility. Especially if they're always used to us doing it for them. (Guilty as...
Order dinner with Door Dash and feed 10 families in need while you’re at it. Here’s how.
We're all about a great home-cooked meal with your family, but we are also realists. Despite an amazing meal plan you might already have in place, sometimes you just need to take the night off and order in. BTDT more than once, myself. So just in case you need any...
Mid-morning lunch box snack help: Dozens of ideas from our own readers.
This week, Erin asked our Recipe Rescue Facebook community for ideas for mid-morning snacks for kids for when they "burn out on string cheese, and can't have nuts." The group came through big time, with lots of ideas for quick snacks to pack in lunch boxes, all to...
Recipes
Weekly meal plan: 5 easy vegetarian comfort food meals for fall that even meat-lovers will like
Our all-vegetarian meal plan this summer was a huge hit, so now that the weather's turned cooler we wanted to focus on vegetarian comfort-food meals with this weekly meal plan. From lasagna to chili and pot pie, we've taken our favorite comfort food dishes and...
6 easy Oreo Halloween treats your kids can help make
Spooky spiders, creepy bats, and even a little blood splatter: It’s amazing what Oreo Halloween treats you can make with a bag right from the store and just a few extra items. Yay for semi-homemade! A little scary but mostly sweet, I found an abundance of easy Oreo...
Weekly meal plan: 5 great recipes that use leftovers creatively all week long
This week we're laying out an easy plan for you so you only have to cook three times, but you'll get five meals out of it. You'll be making big batches when you do cook, but you'll have the other nights off to make up for it. Totally worth it, in my book. So grab a...
9 of our favorite easy Halloween treat ideas on our Instagram feed. You can do these!
Here, I've wrangled together some of the easiest Halloween treat ideas we've shared over the past few years. on Instagram You know, the kind you can mainly do without complex instructions. You might not even need the recipe at all. Because while have the best time...
Weekly meal plan: 5 easy comfort food meals for fall
The forecast says the temperatures are finally getting cooler this week, and I couldn't be more excited. So I'm dreaming up some of those comfort food dishes that I've put off making because they just aren't appealing when it's still 100-degrees outside. So grab a...
