I am more consciously aware of my body and fighting back. I am a rebel at times and will not be defeated (at least not without a struggle). I am eating healthier and exercising more often.

Vegetables are great and filling. You cannot go wrong there, so eat away vegetable lovers!  Fruit is excellent for you as well. For those of you with a sweet tooth you can even pretend that fruit is like candy. (Okay, maybe not like candy, but sweeter than vegetables.)

I was never a huge fan of yogurt, but could eat it happily for a few days out of the week. About two months ago, at the urging of my niece, I decided to try a popular fast food restaurants yogurt parfait and let me tell you, it was delicious and only 160 calories. I am sold on this and whenever I need something sweet I grab one of these healthy, but sweet treats!

photo credit: Siege N. Gin

Not too long ago, maybe about a year now, I have become quite fond of another hot beverage. To say that this hot, delicious beverage is good is an understatement. It is way past good, even shooting for the super fantastic category. French vanilla cappuccinos are in a league all of their own. There is one particular food chain that surpasses all others in my book. I am sure that I do not even have to mention names, but if you have not tried one of theirs, you must.

While looking for a recipe that will squelch my thirst for one of these things when I cannot get out I found this (http://www.recipezaar.com/French-Vanilla-Cappuccino-264750) recipe. I cannot vouch for this myself as I have not tried it yet, but I will. From all of the rave reviews that I am seeing, however, I am getting anxious to make one.

photo credit: Ewan-M

There’s hope and help for you yet. Here are 7 back-to-school lunch tips. Hey, I can’t come over and make your kids’ lunches for you, but these tips will surely make it much easier:

1. Make dinner do double-duty

You’re already in the kitchen preparing your family’s dinner, why not use that time to get a head-start on the next day’s brown bag lunches?

Make a double batch of meals that taste just as good “the morning after,” you know, like fried chicken. Or cook dishes that can be transformed into something “new”, such as pasta sauce that’s just as yummy as pizza topping (on ready-made crust of course).

To make meal planning easier, take a look at Dine Without Whine. It’s a monthly service for planning your family’s meals and grocery shopping.

2. Include lunches when meal planning

To do tip #1, you need to be more organized. This means including your kids’ lunches when planning your family dinners.

3. Let the kids participate

Lighten your load and teach your children some important life skills at the same time. Even small children can help prepare their lunches.

If morning is too stressful, then make this an after-dinner activity – which brings us to…

4. Make advance preparations

Do whatever you can do ahead of time. For example, cook in batches on the weekend, or put leftovers in packable containers the night before.

5. DIY fast food

Commercial packed lunches are attractive but unhealthy. But who says you can’t make your own? Buy your own colorful and attractive lunch boxes, such as a bento-style lunchbox.

Fill it up with a variety of healthy food. Think of mixing up foods with different textures and colors. And cut them up into small pieces so they’re easy and fast to eat.

6. Soup it Up

Soup makes a quick and healthy lunch. You can cook a large pot in the weekend and pack it in a thermos for a warm and satisfying lunch. Serve with whole wheat bread and some fresh fruit and you’ve got a complete meal!

7. Sprinkle in some fun

Sneak a little surprise into your child’s lunchbox once in a while. It could be a little chocolate treat, stickers, or a sweet note from you. Getting something unexpected makes lunch fun.

With planning and creativity, your children can have healthy, delicious lunches without too much work for you.

For meal planning help, go to Dine Without Whine. It makes meal planning a breeze, while helping you save time and money.

Then you’ll have time and energy for those school lunches.

photo credit: metatron1

It’s still possible to have pleasant family mealtimes even after school has begun. Check out these back-to-school dinner tips for busy Moms:

1. Have a meal plan.

The most important key to having relaxed family dinners even on school nights is having a meal plan. This will simplify both food shopping and meal preparation, and help you save money to boot.

If you need help, check out Dine Without Whine’s meal and grocery planning service.

2. Try freezer meals.

Cut down on cooking time by cooking large batches and then freezing them for future use.

3. Simplify your schedule.

With school comes extracurricular activities that could have you running – or driving around – like a headless chicken. Keep things to a minimum. Overloading children with too many after-school activities is not good for them. They need downtime too.

4. Get the kids involved in cooking.

Get some help by mobilizing your own troops – your husband and children – as your kitchen helpers. Cooking is an important life skill and now it’s bonding time as well.

5. Have an emergency plan.

No matter how well you plan in advance, something always comes up. Plan for that as well. Always have emergency supplies in the pantry so you can throw together a home-cooked meal at a moment’s notice.

It could be a frozen dinner you prepared during the weekend. Mine is pasta, a can of tomato sauce and whatever vegetables are in the refrigerator.

6. Post your family schedule.

Keep a large calendar on the wall where you can see every family member’s schedule at a glance. It will also help you plan activities around your family dinner times.

7. Set a routine.

Decide on an earlier dinner time, bedtime and wake up time and start following them a few days before school officially begins. This way, everybody’s adjusted when the real thing comes.

8. Stay flexible.

Sometimes you just can’t afford disruptions to your meal times. An occasional missed family dinner is no big deal – when you know you’ll have more throughout the week.

9. Consider school schedules.

Take note of school events and other activities in your family calendar – so you can plan your family dinners with them in mind.

10. Cook once, eat twice.

Every so often, cook a double batch of meals that can easily be transformed into another entree or side dish. For example, roast 2 chickens. Have one for tonight’s dinner. Chop up the other for chicken salad for later in the week.

11. Organize your kitchen.

If you haven’t done so yet, now’s the time to take stock of your kitchen. Make sure the items you use most often are accessible from your food prep area. Replace the tools that are broken, and get those gadgets that will help you get dinner ready faster.

12. Have a special meal.

Make Friday night Teen’s night – which means they plan and prepare the meal. That is, if you have teens or any child old enough to prepare meals. They’ll learn how to cook, you get the night off (from cooking), and everybody has fun. The only condition is: everybody has to eat what’s prepared.

13. Make it educational.

This idea is for preschool-age kids. Make or buy a special placemat with letter or numbers. Laminate it with Con-Tact paper so it becomes a wipe-off board. Use it only for dinnertimes.

14. More mealtime learning opportunities.

Plan some meals to coincide with specific topics your child is studying in school. For example, on the night after a field trip to a pioneer town, have a pioneer-style meal.

15. Celebrate school successes at dinner.

Celebrate school successes with a special family meal. Prepare the child’s favorite meal and prepare a nice dessert. It’s more important to have a meal that’s relaxed and delicious, than one that tool hours to prepare.

16. Nurture school relationships.

Get to know your children’s closest school friends by inviting them to dinner once in a while.

Follow these tips to make family mealtimes simpler, easier and more fun. For meal planning and grocery shopping help, go to Dine Without Whine.

Your monthly subscription includes a weekly meal plan with recipes for main dishes, side dishes, 2 desserts and 2 brunches.

You’ll also get a weekly grocery shopping list of everything you need to create the recipes. The list is categorized according to grocery sections, so your shopping will be easier and faster.

For a limited time, you can try Dine Without Whine for a penny. Click here to find out how.

Not many people cook oily fish, because they don’t know about this fun and exciting way to spice it up. Check back often for more exciting fish recipes. My favorite way to make grilled fish is to baste it with a sauce made of soy sauce, garlic paste, ginger paste, and a small amount of ground cayenne. I place the fish in foil and grill the fish till it is browned. At the same time, I grilled onions, garlic, potatoes, as well as ripe mangoes.

I cooked those till they trun brown which was followed by serving of fish in the middle of viggies and fruits and ginger soy sauce mainly on the top. The choice of fish is your decision, although keep in mind that a milder fish will help to enhance the vegetables and fruits. While cookong this grilled fish dish is easy and makes a person feel like a gourmet chef, the better choice would be the fish with the stronger robust taste. Serve this with a light, fruity white wine! My husband and several of his boating buddies have a fishing tournament every year.

They fish on Lake Erie and try to get perch and/or pickerel. A winner is declared after the fish is counted, but I don’t think there is ever a prize. Those people are having a fish fry at someone’s house where a large gathering of people will be invited. However, I believe that they are having this fish fry so that they can show it off later on. All of the participants come and bring their families. Everyone brings along a side dish of some kind. Then, some of the guys fire up their deep fryers and make deep fried fish and some onion rings and French fries, too. Fried fish taste great, but it may not be the best thing for most people to eat, in the middle of the summertime because of the heat.

And copious amounts of beer are flowing too, which can be a little too much for some folks to stomach. Not having an iron constitution myself, I opt for just a little piece of fried fish and just go crazy trying all the different side dishes!

Moving out a simple search on the internet will bring to you several fruit salad recipe. Incorporating the most common of the ingredients in them, these fruit salad recipes go a long way in providing that your body with the needed nutrients. The best part regarding these fruit salad recipes is that you can come up with an inconceivable number of variations with them and exclude fruits which are obtainable easily in the season. Also they go with approximately all kinds of dressings therefore making them all the more fun to make!

Fruit salad recipes are surely the ideal way to introduce the healthy nutrients of fruits into your body. This healthy as well as a tasty treat of fruit salad recipes are something that you absolutely must try out in your kitchen! garlic salad dressing is an old most wanted in the salad bowl. It provides significant health benefits and an array of delicious uses beyond the salad bowl. Garlic is a powerhouse of nutrients, and helps to keep off a number of diseases . There are a great a lot of dishes that may be improved with the use of that garlic salad dressing recipes. Garlic is also a natural antibiotic and by adding a single clove of garlic to your diet everyday you can end up lessening your cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

Packed with vitamins B6 and C, garlic also contains significant amounts of selenium, a trace mineral which helps control weight. It is also an outstanding tonic for the heart and cardiovascular function and is useful in reducing the inflammation of arthritis. Plenty of deviation can be done to the garlic salad dressing recipe to suit the salad element it will be used in. The garlic salad recipes therefore qualifies as an incredibly healthy salad dressing!

There are some of us who are responsive to wheat gluten and therefore find it a struggle to find gluten free recipe items. With time this problem too is not so big a question as there is present now several shops catering to gluten free products thereby take back to you the joy of eating tasty food! Gluten free food too has its own incredible variety and will aid you keep off your allergy symptoms by consuming this gluten free food!

If you want to reap the benefits of eating naturally-grown food but are running low on money, purchase organic varieties of only the most contaminated food, not everything on your grocery list. Known as the “Dirty Dozen” by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), these items contain the highest amounts of chemical residues: peaches, strawberries, apples, bell peppers, nectarines, celery, cherries, potatoes, pears, imported grapes, lettuce and spinach.

Conversely, the foods with the least risk of chemical residue are onions, asparagus, avocado, frozen corn, papaya, pineapples, mango, frozen sweet peas, cabbage, bananas, kiwi fruit and broccoli. You’re probably safe buying conventional versions of these foods.

If you’re able to buy everything organic, go for it. Organic food is much better for the environment in every possible way. During the summer you might be able to afford buying all organic produce via your local farmers market or community-supported agriculture (CSA) program. CSAs are farms that allow shareholders to buy a portion of their produce. Shareholders pick up their produce weekly and receive a much better deal than buying their veggies in stores. Some CSAs even have programs to assist low-income families.

Don’t let the prices get you down. There are plenty of ways to purchase organic food while having money to spare.

photo credit: Sbocaj

1. Encourage your teen to pack foods from at least three food groups. This could mean sandwiches, some carrot sticks, and piece of fruit. It could also mean taking leftovers from the night before, a salad, and fruit at the bottom yogurt. The key is to consider what your teen likes to eat and then purchase things you know they’ll like and that are healthy choices. If they pack a healthy lunch they are more likely to have the energy and mental clarity for the remainder of the school day. If they eat cafeteria food, or worse yet – get something from the candy machine, they may have an energy crash from sugar overload.

2. Ask your teen to go with you to choose the food they’d like to include in their lunches. Then, when you’ve returned home, suggest to your teen that they may want to begin preparing their meals for the week. They can place some items in paper bags in the fridge so they can finish filling them the night before school. This way the bagged lunches are ready for them to grab and go.

3. Instead of placing everything in zip top bags, you might suggest that your teen place some foods into small plastic containers. This will help keep those foods fresher as well as contain any liquids that may be part of the meal. One great meal idea for small plastic containers is to chop up left over chicken breasts, add chopped grapes and a little bit of mayonnaise to create a wonderful chicken salad to make any teen jealous.

4. Rather than making traditional sandwiches, your teen can create wraps instead. Use tortilla shells and spread a little bit of cream cheese on it. Cover it with shredded cheese, chopped chicken and shredded carrots. You have a fresh take on a sandwich. They may actually find they prefer the roll-ups instead of sandwiches made with bread.

5. Don’t forget to include fish for your teen’s healthy lunch. They can make a tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat bread or can add the tuna to a tossed salad. Either way they choose to eat them, tuna is a good choice for a healthy lunch.

School lunches don’t have to be boring to be healthy. In fact, your teen can pick and choose healthy alternatives to what is offered in the school cafeteria and make them at home. Maybe they won’t eat a healthy lunch box meal every day of the week, but replacing cafeteria food with a healthy meal from home can do wonders for their health, how well they concentrate in afternoon classes, and the amount of energy they have left when they return home.

1. Ask your teens to choose smaller portions rather than the super sized meals. Sure, they may feel like they’re getting more for their money, but those portions are way more than any adult would need for a day, much less a teen. If they must get the super sized portions, suggest that they share their meal with someone so they’re not eating as much.

2. Make the suggestion that your teen choose water or unsweetened tea to drink with their fast food meals as opposed to soft drinks. The drinks alone can add well over 300 calories to their meal’s total caloric value. When you consider a super-sized meal can add up to over 1,400 calories, that 300 for the drink can make a huge difference over a short period of time.

3. Many fast food restaurants are aware of the poor nutritional value of their meals, so they are beginning to offer healthier meals such as grilled chicken or larger salads with meat. While they would still be better off eating at home where they are able to control what and how much they eat, choosing healthier meals is still an improvement on their overall health.

4. If they choose to stay at home, you may want to teach them how to cook fast meals that still taste great. Asian foods are often stir-fried. These types of meals are both quick and nutritious. Because the foods are cooked quickly they retain more of their nutritional value.

5. There’s not much food that’s quicker to eat than fresh fruits. They’re packed so full of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that they’re hard to beat as far as being healthy. And since you can eat many fruits without peeling them, you can’t ask for anything faster. You will want to wash the fruit as soon as you get it home from the store to wash away any leftover dirt or residual chemicals. Once the fruit is clean, you can place it in a bowl where it’s ready to snag on the way out the door.

Every parent wants their teen to be healthy and happy. By encouraging them to limit their trips through the drive-thru, you can help them to stay healthier for a long period of time. They can cook meals that are quick to fix and still be healthy. They can also eat more fruits which they know are healthy and can be eaten on the run. These five ideas for fast food dinners are sure to appeal to your teen, so give them a try!

Grilled hamburgers are always a hit, but you may want to incorporate another of Dad’s favorites – blue cheese. While you’re preparing the two pounds of ground beef (preferably ground chuck), add ¾ teaspoon onion powder, 1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 ½ tablespoons horseradish (optional), salt and pepper to taste. Mix this thoroughly and then form into patties. Grill the burgers over hot heat until they reach a minimum of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Fix the burgers with your favorite fixings and enjoy!

Steaks are another grilling favorite and nothing could be better than a great grilled rib eye steak for Father’s Day. Mix together ¼ cup steak sauce and ¼ cup balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Add one clove or minced garlic and ½ teaspoon dried oregano. Combine this thoroughly and then pour into a zip top bag that holds the steaks. Let them marinate in the refrigerator for at least half an hour. Then grill for four to five minutes on each side.

Perhaps your dad prefers seafood. Why not grill up some spicy barbecue shrimp? The recipe is simple: ½ cup butter, 3/4 cup barbecue sauce, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 pounds of unshelled shrimp, ½ cup dry sherry, and cayenne pepper, black pepper, and garlic powder to taste. Toss the shrimp in the mixture and then prepare your grill. Be very careful when grilling the shrimp; you may need a fish tray or use skewers to keep the shrimp from falling through the grill. Cook for about four minutes on each side.

Barbecued ribs are another favorite. You’ll need six pounds of ribs, 1 1/3 cup ketchup, ¾ cup water, ¼ cup honey, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 4 teaspoons lemon juice, 1 small onion, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Mix all of the ingredients together except the ribs, and cook for ten minutes. Brush the ribs with sauce and cook the ribs over medium hot coals for about an hour.

Don’t forget about dessert! Why not prepare grilled pound cake with berries and ice cream. You’ll need one pound cake – already prepared or home-made, ice cream, and whatever kind of berries your dad likes most. Slice the pound cake and then heat each slice on a clean, hot grill for a couple of minutes or until you can see grill marks on each side of the cake. Remove the cake from the grill, then top each piece with a scoop of Dad’s favorite ice cream. Top it all off with ½ cup of fresh berries per slice.

Father’s Day comes but once a year. Try one or more of these five recipes for a special Father’s Day BBQ. With food like this, your dad may ask you to prepare the same feast next year.