With 90 degree weather and a bazillion percent humidity, a cool summer treat is definitely needed! And homemade frozen popsicles are always a hit. Especially when they look like these ;c) OurBestBites.com has a selection cool treats for the kids and those young at heart!

Ice Cream with one ingredient? Yep! Bananas. My kids are already addicted to them so this should be interesting once I pull them from my freezer to blend up & spoon out as “ice cream”. So simple, easy on the wallet and healthy! Head on over to The Kitchn for full instructions.

This one is too cool to pass up (even though it won’t cure the humidity) and it can be loved throughout the year. Today I came across Make It and Love It blog. I’m really interested in the Make-A-Cake series. It has everything from cake baking tips, prepping the cake for decorating, fondant & gum paste and all those little nifty tips for creating a beauty for holidays (including step by step tutorial on how to make the cake pictured above)! I shall be experimenting on my own now and following the rest of the series to see how my own cake-making skills go.

Three readers that entered the What’s For Dinner? Giveaway were selected using the Random.org true number service.  And the winners are…

1. #3 – Leslie Cole “All I can say about this is WOW!!!!! I have 3 young boys at home and I am constantly struggling for something healthy and nutritious, yet also delicious, that all 5 of us will eat. This would really help me stress less and spend more time loving on my family.”

2. #24 – Katie Lou “LOVE your blog! With kids with multipile food allergies out mealtime for sure takes some major planning!”

3. #1 – Mollie “Hey Gypsy! I don’t think that I’ve been to your blog before today, and I definitely didn’t know that we have so many common interests…

I would use this resource so much. My mom and I combine forces to plan and make the meals for 8 people, and we eat at home nearly every meal. We’re already doing pretty good, but the routine gets stale and this would be such nice way to get us going again!”

I will be contacting the winners shortly by email to discuss your prize.  Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to those who participated!

If you are interested in more about receiving a copy of your very own “200 Weeknight Dinners” eBook or the online meal planning system head on over to Menu In A Box.

PS: I know there was/is an issue with the correct time & date stamp on comments.  As of 9pm when I checked comments last night, most all comments were posted and were showing as 5/26 AM times.  I plan to fix this issue before the next giveaway so there are no questions/mishaps.

How many times a week do you ask yourself, What’s For Dinner? How much time a week are you planning out your family’s dinner meals, shopping lists and grocery shopping?

A lot! I know that I was spending more time than I wanted to in planning for our meals – probably just as much time or more as I did in cooking & eating them! Then a few months ago, I came across Menu In A Box. I won a free one year membership to the site by simply entering a giveaway on the blog. I was thrilled at the thought of it and trust me, it’s came in handy!

My favorite part of the membership was actually the free gift that came along with it, an e-book. Menu In a Box 200 Weeknight Dinners Budget & Family Friendly includes 40 weeks of meals along with shopping lists. All organized and ready to print for shopping and preparing your meals! You could add one night of leftovers and one night as a take-out or go out to eat and print a page from this ebook and you have an entire week planned in seconds!

Example of How to use 200 Weeknight Meals

If your family is easy to please in the meal department, you could print the lists off and use them in the order that they are. Everything, and I do mean everything, sounds great! I, however, have one child that eats everything in sight and one that is allergic to eggs as well as has some sensory issues (picky about way certain foods feel and/or look in his hands and/or mouth). While he seems to be doing a bit better lately with those sensory issues, I do usually have to make sure I have something else on hand that is most likely microwavable or quick to throw together like a sandwich. As there are 40 weeks to choose from, I have been known to skip through a few of them and print out ones in which everyone in the household is more likely to eat all or close to all the meals from that week. And others I have used a blank printable meal planner of my own and created the shopping list for a few of the meals from the e-book and a few of my own recipes. Since my children are toddler/preschool age, I’m sure they will out grow the picky stage and I’ll have more opportunity to use each and every one of the recipes!

Advantages of 200 Weeknight Dinners

Now here’s your chance to get a copy!

3 of my lucky readers will win a copy of 200 Weeknight Dinners!

Contest starts today May 20 and ends May 25 at 11PM EST

Winners will be announced on May 26th

You may visit Easy, Quick Dinners where you can find more information about this e-book.  

To enter this giveaway, Leave a comment below and tell us how this could help your household’s weeknight meal planning. For an extra entry (must have done the above first), Follow myself @LifeAsMama and Ruthie of Menu In A Box at @MenuInABox .  Tweet out the following, then comment below that you did so.

Win a Free E-Book, @MenuInABox’s 200 Weeknight Dinners | Enter: http://bit.ly/7JYiOT | via @LifeAsMama #MealPlanner #Giveaway

It’s that simple!

I recently posted about the Alphabet Animal Special they had over at Little Nummies.  I had an idea to use it as a homeschooling tool since they posted links to free printables, facts and videos relating to the animal.

I was searching today for cupcake ideas for my daughter’s birthday.  I came across Family Magazine’s Cupcake Alphabet.  These could be used to go along with the letter used with the Alphabet Animal Special.  I will share my full plan for my 3 year old son really soon so that anyone interested could use it as well.

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I have two children.  The last one born almost a year ago now.  I’ve definitely had my share of the ups and downs in the weight-loss and health related departments.  I have been reading a bit on the net since my doctor hasn’t been of any help other than to say “exercise”.  With a leg/foot injury that is kind of hard to do and he had no suggestions as to what type of exercises I should try.

I am following a few people on twitter now that are fitness guru’s or weight-loss professionals.  A lot of the tips are great but they all scream “buy my product!”.  I’m wanting to improve my overall health, not just my weight so I’ve been looking to follow a few twitter-ers or blogs that are into the natural health community.  I found one healthy fellow that I will be following (subscribing to the RSS feed of his website).  The site looks rather interesting and is not in your face about buying a product.  It includes a few topics of interest to me: depression, allergies and healthy recipes.

Do you have any suggestions/links to websites related to health & fitness?  Have you started a weight-loss program or routine this year?  If so, feel free to leave a comment to share your story.  Or if you have suggestions of exercises for someone with leg/foot injury, please leave those as well.