Weekly Meal Plan: 5 easy recipes for the week ahead, including an easy Bolognese sauce and slow-cooker BBQ
It’s Friday, which means we're here to help you start planning your meals for next week! From an easy Bolognese sauce to slow cooker BBQ to round out Labor Day, we’ve got five dinners that will get you through the week ahead. So grab a pen, make your shopping list,...
Smart, store-bought snack swaps to make lunch box treats a little healthier for kids
I get it, believe me. School mornings are busy! And as much as we love sharing healthy, homemade lunch box snack recipe ideas, I'm totally no-shame when it comes to a pantry full of store-bought snacks that I can pop into my kids' backpacks or lunch bags in a second....
The cool new smart garden that’s giving us fresh herbs year-round
A lot of stuff ends up on our desks at CME HQ and honestly, most of it doesn't pass muster. But after getting a chance to try the new Click and Grow indoor Smart Garden 9, consider me a new fan! This smart indoor planter system takes all the guesswork -- and most of...
Weekly meal plan: 5 easy meals for the week ahead, from a Meatless Monday “Meatball” Sub to a Chicken Pot Pie that brings the comfort
It’s Friday, which means we're here to help you start planning your meals for next week! From a Meatless Monday idea to some dishes that let you keep using that grill as long as you can, we’ve got five dinners that will get you through the week ahead. So grab a pen,...
Do you need a permit for your kid’s lemonade stand or pop-up bake sale? Here’s how to find out. Seriously.
The quick answer is that yes you may need a permit for your kid's lemonade stand or bake sale. Sigh. Remember when we could just set up our own lemonade stands with a makeshift table, a tub of Country Time mix and some plastic cups, for a lesson in fundraising and...
Can you win at ice pops? With these zombie ice pop molds, we’ll go with yes.
Remember back when we thought gummy worms were gross? Hahahaaha! That was nothing. Feast your eyes on these hilarious zombie ice pop molds from Tovolo, which of course will now top the wish list of any kid reading this post over your shoulder. Of course you can use...
5 deliciously simple dinners made with a pint of cherry tomatoes.
It’s peak tomato season and luckily for my family, this fruit is one of our favorite vegetables. If you're wondering what to do with a pint of juicy cherry tomatoes right now, I can help! Whether you're growing your own (lucky you!), scooping up a perfect pint from...
5 inspiring, easy preschool lunch ideas for toddlers. No molars or utensils required!
With my son starting preschool for the first time this fall, I have to start figuring out some preschool lunch ideas that are toddler-appropriate. He still lacks the teeth to eat anything that requires a thorough chewing. (Read: nuts or baby carrots). Fruits with pits...
Play with your food: 14 fabulous dishes and plates for kids to help make mealtime fun.
We are not beyond sneaky parenting tricks, clever meal ideas, and fun dishes and plates like the ones we've found here, to give us a little help at mealtime with our toddlers, our older picky eaters, and our kids who'd rather skip right to dessert. Hey, maybe these...
The one thing you need in your pantry to clean sticky messes. All of them.
This week I casually strolled into my kids' playroom and immediately spotted -- amid the Peppa Pig figurines, LEGO bricks, and 87 board books littering the floor -- a big wad of gum smushed into my brand new rug. That pretty much sums up life with a toddler, right?...
Weekly meal plan: 5 easy meals for the week ahead, including a one-pot chicken dinner and roasted red pepper soup
It’s time to start thinking about your meal plan for next week! From a one-pot chicken dinner (yay for less cleanup!) to an easy, end-of-summer taco bar, we’ve got five dinners that will get you through the week ahead. So grab a pen, make your shopping list, and stock...
4 clever dinner ideas that make life easier for families with picky eaters
We're sharing our favorite picky-eater dinner hack, because oof. Picky eaters. We know we're not the only parents who don't want to spend time cooking dinners our kids won't eat, or resorting to chicken nuggets or plain pasta for the entire family at home, just to...
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Tips and Tricks we live for!
How to (actually) brown ground beef perfectly in 4 easy steps.
I can rattle off about ten recipes where the first step calls for browning ground beef, from chilis to casseroles, sauces, pasta dishes (taco spaghetti!) and more. But for years, I've always found this simple step really hard to execute – with the meat always...
What does feeding kids well really mean? One pediatrician’s advice.
This week on Spawned with Kristen + Liz, our weekly podcast about parenting and parenting culture (you are listeners, right? RIGHT? ), we covered a topic that should be right up your alley, Cool Mom Eats readers -- kids and nutrition. We were really lucky to get a...
Tips to get your kids packing their own lunches at any age. Yes, even the little ones.
If you're looking to lighten your load this school year, look to the kids. With these tips, you'll have your kids making lunch in no time at all! I'm not a morning person. If your personality also improves throughout the day, you'll understand why my life's goal as...
Smart, store-bought snack swaps to make lunch box treats a little healthier for kids
I get it, believe me. School mornings are busy! And as much as we love sharing healthy, homemade lunch box snack recipe ideas, I'm totally no-shame when it comes to a pantry full of store-bought snacks that I can pop into my kids' backpacks or lunch bags in a...
Do you need a permit for your kid’s lemonade stand or pop-up bake sale? Here’s how to find out. Seriously.
The quick answer is that yes you may need a permit for your kid's lemonade stand or bake sale. Sigh. Remember when we could just set up our own lemonade stands with a makeshift table, a tub of Country Time mix and some plastic cups, for a lesson in fundraising and...
Recipes
A creepy kids’ Halloween mocktail recipe that’s not all about the sugar
With so much candy floating around at Halloween time, we're always looking for kids' mocktail recipes for Halloween parties that don't require copious amounts of gummy worms, gummy spiders, or gummy anything, really. Not that I'm anti-sugar on Halloween. I just...
Super easy pork tenderloin recipe the kids will love. Bonus: It’s good enough for a dinner party and makes great leftovers!
This easy pork tenderloin recipe was one my mom's favorites and I remember thinking as a kid that it was pretty fancy. How excited was I to find out it's probably one of the easiest easy family meals she ever made us? For background: my mother hated to cook. That...
Weekly meal plan: 5 say meals for the week ahead, including an autumn panzanella salad and relaxed ham-and-cheese sliders
This week, we have another round of weekly meal plan recommendations, from a fresh and savory autumn panzanella salad to the easiest, most relaxed ham & cheese sliders the kids will love. These five dinners that will get you through the week ahead easily and...
How to (actually) brown ground beef perfectly in 4 easy steps.
I can rattle off about ten recipes where the first step calls for browning ground beef, from chilis to casseroles, sauces, pasta dishes (taco spaghetti!) and more. But for years, I've always found this simple step really hard to execute – with the meat always...
6 irresistible fall donut recipes, from pumpkin spice to apple cinnamon to chai.
We've found 6 delicious fall donut recipes that capture all the apple-cinnamon and pumpkin-spice you are craving, all in easy, you-can-do-it-we-promise recipes. Because what's even better than a cup of coffee in the morning? A warm, homemade donut to go with it. If...
