If you haven’t discovered Pinterest yet, you are definitely missing out on a great way to find things you like and file them for future reference. I was on Pinterest this morning when I saw this:

Immediately, I thought “Why didn’t I think of that?”

With different members of the family needing to take different medications – some twice a day for 5 days, others 3 times a day for 10 days, it gets really hard to remember who has had what and who needs what. This photo solves the problem of keeping track of what medication has been taken.

Take a simple Sharpie marker and make a grid on the bottle that indicates how many days the medication must be taken and how many times each day. AWESOME!!

It’s sometimes difficult to figure out the original source of something on Pinterest, but I am attributing this image to Kim and Kimberly as it says the image was uploaded by the user and is not linked to a website.

Happy New Year!! The Christmas Tree is down, decorations are put away, and now its time to tackle 2012 head on! The one thing that starts my week off right is a menu plan – without it, we are lost – we don’t eat right, it costs more money, and I feel stressed.  So, here is the plan for this week:

• Monday – BLT Sandwiches & Soup
• Tuesday – Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken, Rainbow Salad (see below for recipe) and Sweet Potato Fries
• Wednesday – Sloppy Joes, Macaroni & Cheese, Tossed Salad
• Thursday – Angel Hair Pasta with Meatballs, Salad
• Friday – High School Swim Meet so we will grab subs on the way

At Christmas I discovered this amazing Rainbow Salad thanks to my super talented sister-in-law of CeliacFamily.com. The flavors were so refreshing and I think it pairs nicely with just about anything.

I have had quite a few requests for the menu plan template that I use each week, so I have made a blank one you can print and fill in for your family (Download the blank menu planner as a PDF file).

What’s on your menu plan this week? Looking for more inspiration? Visit Laura’s massive Menu Plan Monday link up for hundreds of menu ideas!

My favorite shortbread cookie recipe is the one my best friend’s Mother has used for years. It is so easy to follow and make and the best part is when I want the cookies I just slice and bake! No more eating the entire tray while I wait for the next to come out. In the time it takes me to make tea I can bake 3 (or 6) shortbread to enjoy with my tea.

Enjoy with tea, coffee, hot chocolate and friends. They also make a quick holiday gift or the perfect cookie to take to your next cookie exchange.

~Karen Owen aka Karenmomofthree

If you need a last minute gift idea for teachers, co-workers, neighbors or friends or an irresistible snack for the party table, check out this recipe I have borrowed from a good friend of mine. I added a Christmas touch – calling them Rudy’s Rockin’ Pretzels, but these are good anytime – for football parties, poker night, birthday parties, you name it.

Once the pretzels were made and tested (oh yeah, they are yummy) we packaged them up in treat bags with our own recipe tags. My son made the cutest reindeer graphic for me so it had to be on the tag. You can actually get the coloring page version of this silly reindeer on my Printables4Kids.com site.

Click on image below to view and print full size or you can download the tags as a PDF file.

These are so quick and easy to make and they will disappear just as fast!!

When was the last time you had your eyes checked? If it was over two years ago, the time has come to go visit your ophthalmologist or optometrist. Why? Because your vision is nothing to joke about. We spend countless hours at the gym running, cycling, lifting weights – just to appear healthy. We also spend a lot of time meal planning, weighing out foods, and peering at nutritional charts just to make sure we’re eating balanced meals. But what about our eyes? Isn’t having your eyes checked to see if we need eyeglasses an important part of being healthy?

You’d be surprised how often people put off looking for new glasses because buying glasses is considered a luxury to them. Is seeing properly a luxury?

Many people view vision care as a luxury because the cost of prescription glasses is out of control! Ask yourself this: would you rather invest $200 in a really nice gift for someone for the holidays or spend it on a new pair of glasses? Given that it’s the holiday season, you’re probably thinking “gift”. What if the glasses were only $50 and not $200?

If you search for glasses online, you’ll see that there’s a plethora of sites to visit but not all sites are made the same. Additionally, not every site carries high quality glasses. Some sites mark their products really low and it seems too good to be true. If it seems too good to be true, it may be. GlassesUSA.com is a site you can trust!

Millions of Americans trust GlassesUSA.com when it comes to their vision because their prices are competitive, their quality can’t be beat, and their customer service is extremely friendly and helpful. Why opt for bad vision because glasses can be expensive when you can get great eyewear for a fraction of the cost? It’s a win-win situation! You can even get a great deal on their eyewear! From now until December 4th, you can take 30% off any pair of glasses on their site and you get FREE U.S. shipping. Basic single vision lenses are included but you’re welcome to upgrade for an additional cost. To take advantage of this sale, use the code CYBER2011 during check out.

This holiday season, give yourself a gift – the gift of sight. There’s never been a better time to start taking care of your vision.

This post was paid for and sponsored by GlassesUSA.com

Enough is enough! We have gone without a menu plan for too many weeks in a row and it is just not good!! The last few weeks have been as close to insane as it can get and I know that if I would have just taken the time to do a menu plan things would have been so much easier. Well, no use whining – let’s get it done!

• Monday – Baked pork chops with Red Hot Applesauce, egg noodles and steamed veggies
• Tuesday – Vegetable Soup and cheese quesadillas
• Wednesday – Lasagna, garlic bread and salad
• Thursday – Taco bar
• Friday – Scatter night so Mom’s not cooking – one has a swim meet, one has gymnastics, one is going to a friend’s house – yeah, it’s crazy like that

I have had quite a few requests for the menu plan template that I use each week, so I have made a blank one you can print and fill in for your family (Download the blank menu planner as a PDF file).

What’s on your menu plan this week? Looking for more inspiration? Visit Laura’s massive Menu Plan Monday link up for hundreds of menu ideas!

I usually like to test out a new recipe on my own family before I venture to make it for a larger audience. Thanks to an opportunity I was given through the Macy’s Culinary Council, I now have the perfect dish to share on Thanksgiving morning, Black Friday (aka how to use up the extra ham or turkey and fuel up for a day of shopping) or the next pot-luck dinner we go to.

In celebration of 85 years of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Macy’s Culinary Council has teamed up with some of the most renowned chefs of our time to create a one of a kind Holiday Cookbook. Recipes in the book range from the very traditional – mashed potatoes to the newer culinary styles of Ming Tsai and Wolfgang Puck to recipes for Hannukah and even New Year’s. The cookbook is $24.99 and can be purchased at Macy’s stores or online at Macys.com.

I have long been a fan of Emeril Lagasse and happen to have a thing for comfort-food, like yummy casseroles, so I just had to try the Broccoli, Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole on page 49. If it turns out good (you’ll have to keep reading to find out) then I am going to bring it to our family Thanksgiving Day celebration so we can enjoy it while we watch the parade.

Everything in this recipe is fresh and for the most part healthy. I realized after I had taken this picture that the recipe calls for 8 eggs not 3 but by then there was no way to re-take this photo – I was in too deep!

Breakfast Casserole with Broccoli, Ham and Cheese

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, plus more to season
• 6 cups broccoli florets (from about 2 pounds broccoli heads)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1?2 cups finely chopped onions
• 1 1/4 cups (about 8 ounces) finely chopped ham
• 3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 8 cups cubed crusty bread such as French or Italian (1-inch cubes)
• 8 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 cups half-and-half
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh chives or scallions (white and tender green parts)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

To assemble the casserole:

Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with nonstickspray. Fill a large pot three-fourths full of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath. Season the water with salt, add the broccoli florets, and blanch until bright green and barely tender, about 1 minute. Using a skimmer, transfer the broccoli to the ice bath to halt the cooking. When the broccoli is fully chilled, drain well, pat dry with paper towels, and set aside.

In a small saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and a couple of pinches of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft, about 4 minutes.Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine the broccoli, cooled onions, ham, Cheddar cheese, and bread cubes. Toss gently to combine, then transfer to the prepared baking dish, spreading the mixture in an even layer.

Using the same bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, chives, 11/4 teaspoons salt, paprika, and cayenne pepper until thoroughly mixed. Pour over the broccoli mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or up to overnight. About30 minutes before baking, remove the casserole from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature.

To bake the casserole:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Remove the plastic wrap from the baking dish and cover the dish with aluminum foil. Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese evenly over the top. Return the casserole, uncovered, to the oven and continue baking until the top is golden brown and puffed and the casserole is cooked through when tested with a knife, about 15 minutes longer.

Transfer the casserole to a rack and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Cut into squares to serve.

Recipe compliments of Emeril Lagasse.

Cooking notes:

• This is best prepared the night before and I ended up having to cook the casserole for 60 minutes covered, then 30 minutes uncovered.
• When they say a large bowl, they are not joking! All those ingredients take up a lot of space and in order to have the room to mix the ingredients thoroughly, you need a BIG bowl.
• Your 9×13 pan will be FULL when you place the first batch of ingredients into it.
• You could easily substitute leftover turkey for the ham or add a bit of crumbled bacon for extra flavor.

The Verdict:

I will definitely make this again! I absolutely loved it and my 15 year old son must have, too, because he came back for seconds. Of course, I could not get my older daughter to try it because she doesn’t tolerate large amounts of cheese and dairy well, and my younger daughter ate it but picked out the ham. My husband thought it was good, but for some reason, broccoli just doesn’t say “breakfast” to him. He suggested swapping the broccoli for potato and adding some sausage or bacon to the mix.

You can get the printable version of this recipe along with others from the book at the Macy’s website. Enjoy!!

Disclosure: I wrote this post on behalf of the Macy’s Culinary Council and have been compensated for my time and materials, however, all opinions are my own.

I have a confession to make. When it comes to movies, I’ll make time to watch an animated movie (especially ones by Disney or Pixar) any day over a “grown up” movie. Maybe it’s because I know I can feel good about the whole family hanging out together and having fun? Who knows, but when I was given the opportunity to get Cars 2 (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo) to review I was all over it! When the package arrived in the mail I was more excited than the kids about getting to watch it.

The whole Cars crew is back together along with some new friends. Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and his BFF tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix. The sub story has Mater getting caught up in an adventure of his own: international espionage! While I can’t say that Cars2 captured my heart as much as the original Cars movie did, we all laughed at Mater’s jokes and were mesmerized by the “googly” eyes and generally enjoyed the movie. And, don’t be surprised if you find me curled up on the couch watching again one lazy Sunday afternoon. Actually one of my favorite parts of the movie is the preview for the Spring 2013 release of PLANES. Oh. my. cute. Imagine the faces and attention to detail fo Cars but done using all different types and personalities of airplanes. I cannot wait!

Here’s a clip from when they were racing in Japan on a course that had both dirt and pavement:

Another way you can add to your Cars2 movie watching experience is by downloading these fun activity sheets for the kids:

So, have you seen the movie yet? If so, what did you think? If not, go pick up the movie tonight and make it a Family Movie Night – I highly recommend it!! 

Disclosure: I received the Cars2 movie to review but all opinions are my own.

I love to make sugar cookies, they are easy and people are always so impressed by them. One of my favorite times of year to make them is in the fall when the leaves are changing. Here is how to make your own fall leaf cookies that reflect the season.

First I make a batch of sugar cookie dough up. I make it the day before so it is a little easier to work with.

Karen’s Sugar Cookie Recipe

• 1 cup of margarine
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups of flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

Beat the margarine and sugar add the eggs, vanilla and milk. Beat in the baking powder and flour. Place your dough on to some wax paper or parchment paper, cover with plastic wrap and chill at least two hours (I chill mine overnight).

Roll out the dough to your desired thickness (you will need to flour your work space and your rolling pin. Cut out your shapes and bake 10-12 minutes at 350 until the edges of the cookies are slightly golden brown.

Let cool completely before icing.

Swirled Icing Recipe

• 2 cups of icing sugar
• 1tbsp vanilla
• ¾ cup of water
• 1 tbsp of cream of tartar
• Food coloring ( I used gel color for the orange and I used liquid food coloring for red and green)

In a bowl place your icing sugar, vanilla and cream of tartar. Add your water and mix it in to the icing sugar, if you find your icing is not “liquid-y” enough you can add more water, if you think it is not thick enough you can add more icing sugar.

I like mine the consistency of white craft glue but you may like yours thinner.

Take out ¾ cup of the icing and place it in a small bowl that you can dip the cookies into this will be the red and green bowl.

Color the remaining icing orange this will be the bowl you first dip your cookies into. If you have not worked with gel food coloring before, only add a little bit of color on a toothpick to your icing at a time. Use a clean tooth pick each time to add color to your icing with out contaminating the gel color.

 Next add a few drops of red and green to your bowl in different places in the bowl and swirl with a tooth pick.

Dip your cookies one at a time in the orange bowl of icing first. Then immediately dip in the red and green icing mix and place on a cooling rack over wax paper to dry. It will take at least 45 minutes for your icing to set. Repeat with remaining cookies. If you find you want more color to your red and green bowl you can keep adding drops of color through out the process. I added more red and green 4 times while making my cookies.

This recipe will make at least 5 dozen 2 inch cookies, but it all depends on the size of the cookie cutter you use.

These cookies look great on any plate, platter or in any lunch box. They are very easy to make and are always a crowd-pleaser!

By Karen Owen of KarenMomofThree’sCraftBlog

What do you get when you mix a Friday off school with 11 kids ages 9-16 plus one cool new movie on DVD and top off with fun party food and activities? You get one fabulously fun day (and Mother of the Day award)!!

We were given the opportunity to review the new Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides movie that just came out on DVD and were given all the goodies to have a fun, family friendly party to go with it.

I had fun decorating the table using a gray flannel bed sheet as a tablecloth, the bandanas that were in the party pack and added the treasure chest pinata as our centerpiece. Included in the party pack were stick on mustaches and eye patches – these were definitely a hit! You can get your own Pirates of the Caribbean 4 party supplies at Celebrate Express.

The kids had fun working on the jack-o-lantern together – although somehow they miscalculated the whole thing with the eyes and we ended up with a pumpkin that had just an outline of a face. After they gave up on the pumpkin it was time to go back in and watch the movie. Because we had 11 kids here, we ended up playing the movie in two different rooms. The older teens – who were all in 9th or 10the grade were in the playroom watching it and the younger group 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th grade watched it in the living room.

The synopsis of the movie goes like this:

From Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer comes all the fun, epic adventure and humor that ignited the original. Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. A tale of truth, betrayal, youth, demise — and mermaids! When Jack crosses paths with a woman from his past (Penélope Cruz), he’s not sure if it’s love or if she’s a ruthless con artist using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. Forced aboard the ship of the most feared pirate ever, Jack doesn’t know who to fear more —Blackbeard (Ian McShane) or the woman from his past. Directed by Rob Marshall, it’s filled with eye-popping battle scenes, mystery and all-out wit.

Well, it definitely earned its PG-13 rating in my opinion and while the high school kids LOVED the movie and really got into it, the younger group quickly lost interest and ended up going and doing their own things. I kind of went back and forth between the two groups and definitely saw scenes that would be disturbing to younger tween viewers – like the mermaid who grows fangs. Yikes! Of the 5 teens who watched the whole movie – which is 136 minutes long, 3 of them liked it better than the rest of the Pirates of Caribbean series, one said it was ok, and the other one thought it was the best movie ever and he was so into it he put headphones on so the other kids talking during the movie wouldn’t interrupt him.

Personally, I like the bonus features on the DVD like this one featuring the Legos best:

From the pinata to the pumpkin, the pizza, the movie and the mustaches, and even decorating some party favors, the day ended up being a huge hit!

Here are some printables you can use for your own movie watching party or just for some pirate fun!

Can’t get enough pirate goodness?

• “Like” the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PiratesoftheCaribbean 
• Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DisneyPirates 
• Visit the website and mobile site: www.disney.com/pirates

Disclosure: We received the movie party pack for review and to facilitate our Pirates of the Caribbean movie watching party, but all opinions of the movie are our own (well, those of the teens that came over to watch the movie )