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7 Ways to Beat the Heat in the Kitchen

July 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s been brutally hot here this summer. Like much of the country, we’ve had several days when the temps either hit the high 90s or passed 100 degrees. It’s much too hot inside to stand over a hot stove for too long and similarly, too uncomfortable outside to monitor the grill. Eating out is an appealing option (who wants to cook in this weather?) but it can get pricey day after day. So what do you do?

I’ve worked out a few strategies to get through the summer without breaking the bank. Follows are seven ways that I’ve found to beat the heat in the kitchen this summer:

  1. Invest in a rice cooker. We recently bought the an Oster Rice Cooker. It costs less than $20 online. I knew it made rice (of course) but it does a lot more… You can steam vegetables, make oatmeal and cook entire “one pot” dinners without heating up the kitchen. It works in 15 to 20 minutes for most dishes, a little longer for others (like pinhead oatmeal).
  2. Have an indoor picnic. One of the easiest meals for me to make is also one of the favorites in our household. We often do a European-style dinner with cheeses, crackers and meats – it’s an indoor picnic! In addition to the staples, I supplement with a variety of fresh vegetables (favorites include cherry tomatoes, celery and carrot sticks and cucumber slices) and fresh fruits (whatever we can find in season). I use this as an opportunity to get rid of leftovers, too – whenever we have a few pieces of something like pizza that’s too little for a whole dinner, I’ll cut it into bite-size hors d’oeuvres pieces and put them on a tray. Easy, fast and no reheating required!
  3. Don’t be afraid to open a can. Canned foods have gotten a pretty awful reputation as of late which is unfortunate. While I agree that some canned foods can be high in sodium and over processed, there are some pretty decent options out there. Don’t overlook canned goods as a quick, cool fix for dinner. An easy, inexpensive option is a simple pasta salad made with tuna and fresh vegetables. You can also make a more upscale pasta with canned tuna; our family loves a variation similar to this recipe at Epicurious.
  4. Have breakfast for dinner. You know those eggs you throw together in 5 minutes in the morning? Or that oatmeal you made in the rice cooker (see #1)? Why not serve those dishes for dinner once in a while? My friend, Kristin, calls this “brinner” and serves it as her house just to shake things up. In addition to being a fun alternative to a more traditional dinner, breakfast tends to be less labor intensive than most dinner dishes – a quick dish tends to mean less heat on the stove. Or go completely oven free: chop up some fresh fruit to serve with a variety of cold cereals or turn on the waffle maker and cook up some buttermilk waffles. Your kids will love it, trust me.
  5. Use a crock pot. I’ve been a fan of the slow cooker/crock pot for as long as I can remember. My mom used to throw Sunday dinner in the crock pot just before we left for church. When we got back, we were ready to eat. It’s an amazing concept. Don’t get fooled into thinking it’s only for soups and stews: there’s practically nothing that you can’t make in a crock pot from casseroles to desserts and it won’t heat up the house.
  6. Rely on a quick bread. I make a lot of bread. I no longer use a bread maker to do it (though I’m not judge-y if you do, I just find it easier not to), I use our KitchenAid Stand Mixer to knead the bread and then let it rise on the counter before popping it in the oven. But breads in the oven tend to take at least half an hour to 45 minutes – a great way to heat the house in winter but not so welcome in summer. I refused to take my husband up on his suggestion to buy bread all summer and instead, switched over to quick breads. A bread like Naan (my 7 year old’s favorite) only needs 5-8 minutes in the oven. Other flatbreads require similar timing – freshly baked bread in a fraction of the time!
  7. Think outside of the box. Rethink the way that you view food. Soup doesn’t have to be hot – try a chilled gazpacho. Similarly, pasta can be served cold or room temperature. Leftover steak or chicken can be served cold on a salad. And cold sesame noodles make a great main dish. Don’t be afraid to try new flavors and new, chilled twists on favorite dishes.

Those are a few tips from my kitchen. Now, you tell me: how do you beat the heat in the kitchen?

Filed Under: food and drink, home and garden Tagged With: , , , ,

Family Traditions

June 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s funny how cutting back on expenses can sometimes reap unexpected rewards…

In our case, we spend way too much money eating out. There are a host of reasons. I work, my husband works and the kids are busy with after school activities. It has become very easy to swing by one of our local eateries and grab a quick bite – far easier than dashing home to cook. It has also become a huge money suck: eating out is one of our biggest expenses.

To be fair, I love to cook but I also enjoy eating out. The kids consider it a nice treat, too. As a result, I think it has taken some of the shine off of eating at home. And that needed to change. So I tried to think about how I could make eating at home fun for the kids – and for me – again. The answer? Make it a family tradition.

Now, every week, we have Pancake Sunday at the house. Every Sunday that we’re at home (and even when we’re on vacation when we could swing it), we make pancakes. I usually rely on my handy dandy King Arthur “Simple but Perfect Pancake” recipe but I try to vary what I make depending on my mood and the season. Sometimes, the variations are a hit (kids loved the pumpkin and maple pancakes) while other times, they’re a flop (thumbs down on the potato and onion pancakes). Sides could be anything from berries to bacon – or nothing at all. The one constant: pancakes.

It has become a lovely family tradition.

The savings are also pretty significant. Today, I glimpsed at the brunch menu at our local eatery. At $18.95 each for adults and $9.95 each for kids, with tax and tip, that works out to nearly $85. At our local diner, we can get by with about half of that. But the ingredients for pancakes are just a few dollars. And the time with the family: priceless.

Do you have any family traditions that double as a cost-cutting measure?

Filed Under: food and drink, personal finance Tagged With: , , ,

Tuesday Tax Tip: Contacts, Glasses and Other Deductible Medical Expenses

June 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Most taxpayers understand that the cost of visits to the eye doctor are considered medical expenses. But what about contacts and glasses? Those costs can really add up, especially if you’re buying them for the whole family (my entire family of five wore them).

Here’s the answer: if you itemize your deductions, you may include the cost of contacts and glasses as medical expenses in addition to the cost of your visit. You can also include the cost of getting to and from your visit, including the costs of transit, mileage and parking. Click here for a list of additional medical expenses which may be deductible.

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Each Tuesday, I’ll post a family-related tax tip. It’s not meant to be too much to digest, just a tasty little tax morsel. If you have a suggestion for a future tip or a topic you’d like to see covered, drop me a note.

 

Filed Under: personal finance, tax Tagged With: , , , ,

To DVR or Not To DVR?

June 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I’ll be honest: we don’t review each and every bill that comes into the house. Our lives are busy and more often than not, if it looks okay, we take it as a sign and just pay it.

The other day, however, I looked at our cable bill. I mean, really looked at it. And I was quite appalled.

We pay a staggering amount of money for cable, phone and internet. It’s supposed to be some kind of package deal with Comcast and you and I both know that those are made to be as confusing (and expensive) as possible.

I checked out my bill the other day. Internet and phone each run about the same. It’s the cable that’s killing us, more than the combined phone and internet per month. Included in our package is DVR. Now, I have to say, I enjoy my DVR. The kids know how to work it and it allows us to shuffle their viewing schedules around to what’s appropriate for us. If a show comes on that’s two hours long and they only have one hour to watch, voila, we record it and they have something for the next day.

There’s a value there. But how much?

Here’s the math: $15.95 per month works out to $191.40 per year. That’s a lot of movies.

I checked the recordings to see what it was we were hoarding these days. We’re currently on a Harry Potter kick at the house. We have movies 1-6 on DVR. We also bought the DVDs. The set on Amazon.com – Harry Potter Years 1-6 Giftset (Full-Screen Edition) – now retails for just over $40.

The rest of our DVR is a mishmosh of Dinosaur Train and random seasonal Disney movies (at least two of which, Princess Protection Program and Another Cinderella Story, we also have on DVD).

All of this, of course, leads me to question how much of the DVR is truly useful and how much of it is pure laziness. I tend to believe it’s the latter.

I don’t believe in cutting corners to save a few dollars if it creates more work in the abstract. And again, the DVR has been a great tool for many a rainy afternoon. But I am beginning to think it’s over-hyped in our house, that maybe we wouldn’t actually miss it when it was gone. So I’m throwing it out there to you guys. Does a DVR have value for parents? Tell me about yours:

QuestionsView Results

Filed Under: entertainment, TV and movies Tagged With: , , ,

Try a Meatless Monday

June 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

My family loves meat so getting them (especially my husband) to give up sausage, bacon or hotdogs permanently is never going to happen. However, going veg once in awhile not only saves on calories, cholesterol and fat grams but on your grocery bill as well. So with this in mind, we’re trying to go meatless once a week at our house – for the health of our family and our finances.

While I tend to lean towards vegetarian options on a regular basis, it can be difficult to create vegetarian meals that appeal to the meat lovers in my family. With that in mind, I asked guest blogger (and vegan fitness guru) Sally Andersen to offer a few tips to make Meatless Monday easy. Here’s what she had to say:

The Meatless Monday campaign was not designed to ask you to starve yourself, subside on salads, or hate Mondays more than you already do. It was created with support from Johns Hopkins’ School of Public Health to encourage Americans to reduce their meat consumption by 15 percent, with the goal of personal and environmental health improvements.

But for most of us, meat has always played a major role in our meals. Even this dedicated vegan was once a believer in the meat/grain/vegetable breakdown for putting together a “healthy” dinner.

Everyone makes life changes in their own way. For some, food may never have been a major aspect and therefore dietary moves can be made without a second thought. But for others – the majority of us – food is connected to memories, gatherings, rituals, comfort, and more; thus, it is difficult to break ties. After all, we are only human.

Deciding to give Meatless Mondays a go should be an easy decision (especially if you read over the Why Meatless? section of the Meatless Monday site), but learning to make it work might take a little more thought. And that’s where I come in, offering my tips for making Meatless Monday an easy, fun and healthy choice.

1. Alter meals that already some of your favorites. Love chicken parm? Try making it with eggplant or a vegan chik’n cutlet.

2. Realize that all food contains protein. Don’t get hung up on needing to replace the meat. Instead, add more vegetables and grains. Check out the Vegetarian Resource Group’s Protein in the Vegan Diet chart to find out how much protein is in a serving of broccoli (4g), spinach (5g), lima beans (10g) or your other favorites.

3. Similarly, realize that you can eat a lot more! As you increase your vegetable intake, you also increase the amount of fiber and vitamins and decrease the harder to digest stuff. Your plate can be twice as full when it’s just a bunch of fresh veggies. Some nights, I fill a sauté pan with nothing but vegetables, oil and spices and eat as much as I want.

4. Discover new protein sources. Vegans and vegetarians eat more than just tofu in place of meat. Try any variety of beans, lentils, tempeh, veggie burgers and mock meats or my favorite, seitan, for a meat substitute in your usual dish.

5. Search the web for new and interesting recipes because if there’s one thing vegans and vegetarians like to do it’s take pictures of their food and share the recipe! Veg Web is an extensive, easy-to-search database of recipes.

6. Above all, remember that every vegetarian meal you eat makes a difference for your health, for the environment and for the animals. The average American eats about 100 animals per year, which breaks down to roughly one-fourth of an animal each day. Do Meatless Mondays for a month and you’ve already consumed one less animal!

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Thanks, Sally, for the guest post!

You can find out more tips for eating and living well at Sally’s Fitness Page on Facebook.

Filed Under: food and drink, going green, health and fitness Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

National Trail Day

June 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Saturday, June 4, is National Trail Day.

National Trails Day has been around since 1993. The purpose of the day is too call attention to America’s 200,000 miles of trails which provide access to the natural world for recreation, inspiration and education.

According to the Outdoor Industry Association’s annual Outdoor Recreation Participation Study for the United States 2010, 40 million Americans hike and backpack, 22 million Americans paddle, 7 million mountain bike, 5 million rock climb, and 4 million trail run.

My family loves the outdoors. We hike, we bike, we kayak, we camp. Those are great activities to do together as a family. It gets the kids outdoors (and thus, away from the TV) and moving. Plus, most of time, it’s free to do these things – and hiking, at least locally, requires no special equipment.

For a list of events near you, click here. Many of the events are free or low cost.

To celebrate the day, there’s also a coloring contest. You can find the picture to be colored here (downloads as a pdf). One winner will be named in each age category: Age 5 and under; Age 6-7; Age 8-10; Age 11-12. Prizes: Winner’s coloring contest submission and photo will be printed in American Hiker Magazine. Each winner will receive a prize pack with items from our sponsors: The North Face, Merrell, and REI. More information is available at the American Hiking Society’s website.

Entries must be postmarked by August 1, 2011. You can mail them to: American Hiking Society NTD Coloring Contest 1422 Fenwick Lane Silver Spring, MD 20910 or scan and email to: hsable@americanhiking.org

Filed Under: contests and fun, health and fitness, outdoor fun Tagged With: , , ,

Running For Your Life

June 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Two years ago, I was putting on a jacket and couldn’t quite button it in the front. I quickly checked the tag and noted the size, an 18. I hung the jacket back up where it still hangs today.

I made the decision that day that I needed to get healthy. I mean, I was relatively healthy for a fat girl (no blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol or other serious issues). But I was still fat.

Weight has always been a problem for me. I know folks say it’s hereditary all of the time but truly, the DNA is stacked against me. My father is large and my grandfather was somewhere pretty north of 300 pounds when he died. Not the best odds.

I talked to a few other moms and we started walking. Sometimes there were two of us, other times, three. On the weekends, there were as many as five. The moral support was great. After a few months, I felt better. And I looked better.

But then the curse of the parenting schedules intervened. Soccer and dance and tee ball and all of those other things combined with work meant that not everyone could walk at the same time. And one morning, one dreary morning, I found myself alone at the start of our loop. I was tired (it was early) and I wasn’t in the mood to walk. I told myself that I just had to do the loop and then I was done. And as I looked ahead, I thought, what if I ran it? It would be faster. And so I picked up the pace. I didn’t make the whole loop. Or even half of it. I couldn’t even run a quarter of the loop: a half mile was simply too far for me to run.

The next morning, I tried again.

And again.

And eventually, I ran a mile. And then I ran another mile. I was a runner!

I signed up for an 8k, the first race I ever ran. I ran it alone, with no family there to cheer me on (far too early). It was cold and I was scared. What if I didn’t finish? What if I was last? I called my mom, nearly hysterical that morning. I wasn’t sure that I could do it. My mom asked me which of my friends were running with me. I said none. So, she reasoned, you’re already ahead of them. She was right. I ran.

I didn’t finish last. But I also didn’t finish close to first. I was very definitely in the last half of the runners. But I didn’t care. I finished.

I signed up for another race and started training on my own.

This year, I ran the Broad Street Run. It is a 10 miler. Yes, a 10 miler. And I ran it as a size 6.

I have lost 60 pounds. That’s a whole kid.

I didn’t do anything fancy. There was no weight program, no personal trainer. I didn’t go to classes at a gym.

I just ran. As I felt better, I was more conscious of what I was eating. I actually eat more now than before, but I eat better. Lots of meals and healthy snacks throughout the day to avoid overloading at dinner (more on that in a future post).

I run almost every day now. I’m not going to lie and talk about how much I love it. I like it but I’m not a natural athlete and it’s still a struggle for me.

But I feel better. I look better. I can do more things with my kids.

And it didn’t cost an arm and a leg.

 


I bought a nice pair of running shoes to start. I got my first pair at the department store but after I had problems with my knee, I went to a running store and got fitted for a nice pair of Brooks sneakers. Now, I run almost exclusively in Brooks.

 

 


I used to run in an old tee shirt and pants but as I got faster, I found that cumbersome. And when my pants started to fall off, it was time to get something new. Since I’m short, I love capris. The tighter fit pant is actually comfortable and not too revealing. The dri-fit from Nike is also nice because I sweat (yes, girls sweat) a lot and it dries nicely.

 

 


My latest purchase is a running skirt. I don’t feel comfortable wearing shorts to run, I’m way too self-conscious. But I love the idea of shorts. The running skirt is very forgiving – and super cute!

 

And that’s kind of it. A few running outfit pieces here and there… but no mandatory equipment, nothing fancy.

I did have a Garmin wristwatch to time my runs and check my heart rate, etc. It was cool but I lost it. And it wasn’t cool enough to replace.

After I lost the Garmin, I just tracked my runs – for free – on dailymile.com. I’m a big fan of dailymile.com – I also sync it to Facebook.

 

I run with my iPod touch because I absolutely have to have music when I run. I have a workout playlist that I switch around from time to time. Here’s what’s on it currently:

  1. Always – Blink 182
  2. Back in Black – AC/DC
  3. I Will Follow – U2
  4. Check Yes Juliet – We the Kings
  5. Crazy Train – Ozzy
  6. New Classic – Drew Seeley
  7. Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
  8. The Saints are Coming – U2 and Green Day
  9. Come With Me – Diddy
  10. It’s On – Demi Lovato
  11. Mercy – Duffy
  12. Ray of Light – Madonna
  13. Lose Yourself – Eminem
  14. Closer to the Edge – 30 Seconds to Mars
  15. All I Do Is Win – DJ Khaled
  16. Rolling in the Deep – Adele
  17. Forget You – CeeLo Green
  18. Under the Pressure – Queen and Bowie
  19. We Made You – Eminem
  20. Thriller/Heads Will Roll – Glee
  21. Go West – Pet Shop Boys
  22. Tell Me – Diddy and Christina
  23. Raise Your Glass – Pink
  24. Runnin’ Down a Dream – Tom Petty
  25. Holding Out for a Hero – Bonnie Tyler
  26. Rocky Theme
  27. All Fired Up – Pat Benatar
  28. Fighter – Christina Aguilera
  29. Break the Ice – Britney Spears
  30. Till I Collapse – Eminem
  31. Beat It – Fall Out Boy
  32. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
  33. The Final Countdown – Europe
  34. I Love this Town – Bon Jovi

For my last birthday, my husband got me a Nike+ which syncs with my iPod Touch on my runs. It keeps track of how far I ran and how fast I did it. Keeping track of my runs helps me set new goals.

And that’s it.

Running is great because it is so flexible. It can be solitary or you can run with friends. You can run in the park, on the street, on the track… or mix it up. You can buy fancy running gear or just slip on a pair of sneaks and sweats.

No matter how you choose to outfit yourself, the important part is to get moving. Just a few steps. And then a few more the next day. Before you know it, you’ll be running – for your life. And that’s a good thing.

Filed Under: health and fitness Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Bake and Go Muffins

June 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Breakfast tends to be a challenge in my household. I get up early in order to get in some quick exercise but when I get back, it’s pure chaos. There are lunches to be made, kids to get dressed, a dog to be walked and fed and hopefully, adults to get ready.

It’s easy enough to throw a bowl of cereal on the table (and goodness knows, I love cereal) but that gets boring for the kids day after day. I like to bake but don’t have much time to whip up something fancy in the morning. Then, I ran across a recipe in The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion: The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook (which I highly recommend, mine is all gunked up from heavy use) which I modified slightly for my family.

The batter will keep for a week, so I mix up a batch on Sunday night and put it in the fridge. In the morning, I take the batter out and preheat the oven, first thing, while I go for a run, write or do whatever I plan to do before the kids get up. I scoop out just enough batter for muffins for the day and pop them into the oven. Twenty minutes later: voila! Freshly baked muffins! With a cup of juice or milk, it tends to make the kids pretty happy.

Bake and Go Muffins

1 c. wheat flour
2-1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 stick (8 T) butter
1 c sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract, optional (I may skip or change this to another flavor, like lemon, depending on what I put in the muffins)
1 c Greek yogurt
3 c blueberries, raspberries or blackberries*

* You can also easily substitute other fruits, including chopped apples, mashed bananas and reconstituted raisins. Try throwing in some nuts or coconut for a change, too. The recipe is pretty forgiving so don’t be scared to experiment.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Lightly grease as many muffin cups as you’re planning on using. I actually grease the pan and do a quick shot of Pam (or similar spray) inside the paper liners, too, because it makes it easier for the kids to peel.

Whisk together your dry ingredients and put them aside.

In your mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until smooth, then mix in the vanilla and yogurt until smooth.

Add about half of the dry ingredients and mix well. Then add the other half, and continue to mix until all of your dry ingredients have been completely incorporated. When it’s smooth, add your berries (or other fruits, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.). When I add berries, I usually stir by hand or I switch my Kitchenaid attachment from the beater to the paddle so that it doesn’t completely smush the berries. It’s totally a texture thing for me. I like to bite into whole berries.

Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full and bake for about 20 minutes (sometimes up to 24 minutes if the batter hasn’t come up to room temperature before you put them in the oven) or until a cake tester or knife comes out clean.

Take them out of the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Then, pop them out of the muffin tin and onto a rack – don’t skip this step! If you leave the muffins in the pan to cool completely, they’ll get soggy.

From start to finish, the whole thing takes me about an hour, including the preheat. And it’s not a labor-intensive hour. The actual standing and mixing only takes about 5-10 minutes. The rest is waiting so you can pack lunches, have a coffee, whatever you have to do.

Nutrition information varies, depending on your mix-ins, but if you make 16 muffins, they work out to about 275 calories per muffin.

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Making your own muffins takes a little more effort than picking them up from the grocery but the taste is worth it. It also tends to be less expensive since you’ll have most of the ingredients on hand (berries tend to be the exception but we keep frozen on hand year round). If you pro-rate the ingredients out, I figure it costs about $4 for the whole batch, or 25 cents per muffin. With a little bit of coordination, you can save time and money in the morning!

Filed Under: food and drink, recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Tuesday Tax Tip: Child Support is Tax Neutral

May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Child support can be tough to figure out when it comes to custody and support agreements. The tax treatment of child support, however, is very clear: child support payments are neither deductible by the person making the payments nor taxable to the person receiving the payments. The payments don’t affect your federal income tax picture at all so they’re often referred to as tax neutral.

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Each Tuesday, I’ll post a family-related tax tip. It’s not meant to be too much to digest, just a tasty little tax morsel. If you have a suggestion for a future tip or a topic you’d like to see covered, drop me a note.

Filed Under: personal finance, tax Tagged With: , ,

Welcome to Parenting Cents!

May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This isn’t your parents’ personal finance site.

ParentingCents is a site about making smart choices without sacrificing your own sense of self.

Sure, we all want to save for our kids and get the best deals where possible. But not every parent has the time to create a mini-farm to grow all of his or her own produce, raise chickens, knit sweaters from scratch. We have busy lives and occasionally want a little time to ourselves, too. It’s about finding a balance.

On ParentingCents, we’ll share our parenting tips on lifestyle, education, travel and vacation and fashion and shopping – all with a personal finance twist.

You can find out more about who we are here. And thanks for stopping by!

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