Food & Dining

My toddler is such a finicky eater and basically refuses to eat veggies. Knowing that his favorite foods include pizza and macaroni and cheese, I've come up with several different ways to "spruce up"

I just saw the most gorgeous, big fat tomatoes at the market, and I suddenly remembered one of my favorite childhood dishes-Tomato Surprise. Remember? Take a large tomato, remove seeds and hollow out. If necessary

My kids are big enough that there's not always an adult home with them after school, and we always find out later that they took advantage of that fact when choosing their snacks.  Since school begins soon

This quick, easy, delicious bread solves our biggest bread problem-should we make blueberry bread or banana  bread. Enjoy both! Stock up on blueberries now, and freeze in ziploc bags for use in autumn and winter

My husband came up with this one... He buys a ton of hot dog and hamburger rolls (usually on sale, buy one get one free) and throws them in our freezer. His theory, which was brilliant, make the kids sandwiches

My husband and I drink a LOT of coffee, and nothing beats Dunkin' Donuts if you're out. But for home, we buy several flavors of Melitta ground coffee from the supermarket. It is absolutely delicious, and

I love these containers from Harriet Carter. The kids can dip their veggies in ranch dressing or dip their crackers in peanut butter at school or on the go. All my kids want their own sets of two.  Each square

Charles Shaw is an American brand of "extreme value" wine produced in California.  I buy it by the case.  Their chardonnay is excellent - and recently won the Best in Glass award at a major

No more whining because the oatmeal is taking too long to cool and mommy isn't blowing fast enough. After my son's oatmeal is done cooking, I just add a handful of frozen blueberries. As they thaw, they

If your kids eat peanut butter, Skippy has a natural version out that is really tasty and all natural.  I love the taste far better than the others and it has no trans fat (which up until recently, most peanut

Yum! Check out this easy, quick, light and refreshing lemonade pie recipe.

I use all natural peanut butter but it has to be stored in the refridgerator.  I hate tearing up the bread when I spead it on so to avoid this, I put a slab of peanut butter into a microwave safe bowl or plate. &nbs

Here is my very low-tech suggestion for storing your recipes:  I keep my recipes in plastic protectors from Staples, and store them in two binders, one for entrees and one for desserts.  This way, I can

We all went to the Outback last week and had a really nice dinner.  We hadn’t been for a long time, but it is a good place to go as a family, and we’ll probably do it more often.  They have

If you're looking for something a little bit more than just wine.com, check out this article from Food & Wine magazine. It lists the top online wine shops for selection and customer service.

If you're looking for a middle of the line bottle of wine- either Chardonnay or Pinot Noir- La Crema is excellent.  Its taste lives up to its name- extremely creamy and smooth! 

Cooking Light is a great magazine for both healthy recipes and tips for keeping yourself and your family healthy.  I have been subscribing for almost fifteen years, and I am still amazed at how many great recipes

Do you have low-fat recipes that call for buttermilk?  Most people don’t generally keep liquid buttermilk on hand, but you can do what I do and keep some powdered buttermilk in the fridge.  You can

Did you know that Wine Spectator has their Top 100 wine picks available for free on their website? You can even download it to your iPod for those "I can't decide" moments in the wine store. Just

What a cute website! I had read about Spatulatta in the Boston Globe and Family Fun, and finally checked it out. Two sisters, aged 11 and 9, have their own cooking website where they teach other kids to cook

I wanted to whip something up for lunch that I could put into a flour tortilla, and came up with this, which was delicious:  chop up half of a sweet onion and mince two garlic cloves, and fry with a small

You know those grilled vegetables you have left over from dinner?  Make vegetable soup!  Chop them up and put them in the food processor, along with some broth, and puree.  You can adjust the consistency

I used to keep my salt in a cabinet and was always pulling it out to cook, which is a pain, but then I found the salt pig. Keep it by your stove so your salt is handy. Plus, it’s really cute.

Do you have basil growing like crazy in your garden, or did you buy a bunch of basil at the farmers’ market?  Make pesto!  Pesto is very versatile – you can mix it with pasta, spread it on

When my husband's away, and I want to make something for dinner that the kids will actually eat, I make "cupcakes" for dinner. Just take any Pillsbury refrigerated cannister such as dinner rolls

Have you tried sea salt? It just tastes, well, saltier. That means you can use less, if you are watching your sodium intake, or you can use the same amount and have lots more salty taste. McCormick makes a sea salt

The title says it all, Simply Recipes. Not much in the way of commentary, but good basic recipes with a comprehensive index.

This is a great cookbook to use with younger kids. It has good, basic recipes that kids will actually eat, and pictures of the ingredients and measurements so that they will understand how to put the dish together

Forget "30-minute meals" (which always take me 60 minutes, by the way). The New York Times has an article on 101 ideas for summer meals that you can make in 10 minutes or less. That has my name written

Forget fancy pasta recipes. I just made the most delicious dinner! Brown and season in your usual way 1 lb. of ground turkey (you could use beef). Add 1 jar of whatever pasta sauce you have in the house

I just found this great new yogurt (well, new to me, anyway) at Whole Foods today.  It's called Rachel's Wickedly Delicious Yogurt.  It looked interesting so I thought I would give it a try and

You know how you grow up with something and don't realize that the rest of the world doesn't have it? Noodles and Cottage Cheese is a delicious, quick, comfort food kind of lunch, and I didn't know it

If you enjoy reading about food, Chocolate and Zucchini is a great site to look at when you have a few minutes. The author is a young Parisian woman with a passion for food, and she has a fun, conversational style

Saving Dinner is such a great book if you are looking for ways to get yourself organized to make dinner on a regular basis for your family.  The book offers thirty two weeks of seasonal dinner recipes complete

My todddlers love to eat grapes.  In the summer, I buy them on sale and then freeze them.  That way, I save money getting more for the sale price and they can eat a cold snack on those HHH days. 

I just discovered that Babies R Us has quite a bit of organic formula and toddler snacks- same stuff at Whole Foods and Wild Oats, and a bit cheaper (Earth's Best Formula is a dollar cheaper).  They also

I had been trying to lose ten pounds but not getting very far. Then I discovered that Weight Watchers has a new completely online service. That means, for busy moms, you don’t have to worry about going

I'm sure there's not a single mom out there who hasn't opened a prepared frozen meal with high hopes, only to see a teeny, tiny unappetizing morsel inside, and hopes are dashed. Well, I have stumbled

You know how your brown sugar gets as hard as a rock after you open the package? Try the Brown Sugar Bear! I found him a year ago, and he’s a little ceramic-type bear that you soak for 20 minutes and then

Here's a recipe for impossible zucchini pie that is easy, quick, delicious, and low fat, low cal. If you've never cooked with Bisquick, you are in for a treat. The pie makes its own crust, top and bottom

Here's a five minute way to make food and snacks yummier for the next week or two. Make honey butter, keep in the fridge. It lasts as long as regular butter (or margarine), but adds a wonderful taste to toast

Whole Foods Market has excellent pizza - buy it by the slice or take the whole pie!  You can order in advance with the toppings that you like- and you know they are using good quality ingredients.  On

I used this website http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ for ideas for my daughter's first meals.  It also has instructions on how to prepare age recommended food and how to store it as well.  I especially found

If you are looking for a family friendly place to eat in North Conway, NH with a variety of dishes to choose from, plenty of space and even kids entertainment in the restaurant, check out the Red

I had a bag of vanilla wafers that wasn't being eaten, so I found this recipe for yummy, quick, easy, no bake Banana Eclair Cake. Line the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish with vanilla wafers. Make instant chocolate

Click on the link http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/Recipe.aspx?RecipeID=41946&RSS=RecipeLink&PubDate=2007710 to get the recipe for Betty Crocker's Lemonade Chex Mix. I love it! I also love the

Too hot to turn on the oven and too tired to cook? Here's a quick, easy dinner. Get some prepackaged chicken strips, such as Perdue Short Cuts (there are several different brands, ask at the market), some cheddar

This National Pork Board website has tons of mouth-watering recipes for all different cuts of pork and ham. Pork loin is really very lean, and compared to beef, very healthy. It is very similar to poultry nutritionally

My kids love mac-n-cheese but I was tired of giving them the same old boring "from the box" recipe.  Plus I had to get some other types of nutrition into them.  I found a great recipe on Kraft

There is a place called 'Let's Dish" near my house and you can create a batch of 4, 8 or 12 home cooked meals in a matter of an hour or two, then freeze them when you get home.  How it works is