Even Saving Dinner Can't Help Me Today!

I think that if you hold your ear really close to your monitor you will hear the saws, the hammering and the grunting that's going on in the kitchen.

No, The Normanator has not commandeered the room to prepare dinner. We are getting new kitchen counter tops and with the expertise of the plumber, the carpenter and The Normanator the job is being done properly, loudly, and much too slowly for Mother Connie!

Change is hard, even when invited. We have had to become accustomed to living without our customary routine, food, and even cleanup has taken on a new dimension. Oh, my stars and garters!

The Saving Dinner crew can help you make changes when it comes to meal prep. They specialize in helping you make interesting menus with a budget firmly in mind. Leanne Ely calls herself "The Dinner Diva" and is frugal, creative and knowledgeable about nutrition, food prep and all things dinner.

I wonder just what Leanne would do for dinner tonight if she were here? I guess we will just have a picnic and eat the fresh spinach and radishes The Normanator brought in. The stove still works, so I can cook some protein. But tonight it might be crowded, with the carpenter, the plumber and me all shoulder to shoulder!

Who will be saving dinner at your house tonight? click here

Connie Baum

Will YOU Choose Health?

According to comedian Conan O'Brien:

"McDonald’s is reporting that despite the bad economy, their domestic sales were up last month. Which just goes to show you a great thing about our country – you’re never too poor to get fat."

We laugh about that. If we did not laugh, we would weep. People, for whatever reason, do not understand the correlation between what we eat and how well we feel, how well we function.

Conan's joke reminds me of the fellow who ate only McDonald's food for a month and lost his boyish figure as well as his good health. I doubt McDonald's EXPECTS us to depend on them for ALL our dietary intake...

Why are we turning to fast food in this downturned economy? Cost cannot be the ONLY factor... ...Theories abound. Some people think it's because people are too lazy, too busy, too ignorant...others feel that cost IS the only factor.

For my money, it has always seemed to me that if we KNOW better we will DO better.

If people are taught, with love and care for others' feelings, that helper products used in foods we make at home are loaded with junk that works against good health, they will avoid those products. If people understand the value of whole foods, organic foods, homemade foods, they will appreciate the value of making different choices.

Sometimes people, kids especially, are sure they do not LIKE certain foods. I can appreciate that. I won't eat grapefruit, so I totally relate. But I also remember being TOO LAZY to cut the skin of thee sliced tomatoes my mother served. But eventually I DID eat tomatoes and found out they are delicious.

Maybe, if we encourage one another and coax our kids in firm and loving ways, they will understand that ketchup is not the only source of tomato goodness. I could cite other examples, but I'm sure you get my drift.

Parents are working, so fewer households have stay-at-home moms or dads now than in earlier generations. People are dreadfully tired. They are hungry. They feel impatient. It's no wonder and it's no surprise that those same people take the quick and easy way around food prep! It's not fair to malign them, under their circumstances.

WHAT IF those of us who do know better would offer to hold hands with those who wish to learn? Wouldn't it be fun to make a relationship with a person, a couple, a family and show them what you know about making a meal? Wouldn't it be fun to share a meal with someone to become better acquainted and share your knowledge and experience with someone who would be willing to learn?

I would offer you the challenge of finding a neighbor, someone in your church or someone in your kids' school who would benefit from your gifts of love and teaching.

If YOU are eager to learn about eating with health in mind, you can click on any of the ads on this page for immediate assistance. If you would likd to find out more about cooking, food prep, shopping and feeding your family you will love these folks and their experience: The Dinner Diva and Kristen Suzanne .

Connie Baum

No Cooking? NO KIDDING?

By now you know what a health nut and foodie I am. You know I love to cook and I am all about healthy eating habits...

Some of you have complained to me that you don't LIKE to cook. Even those of you who do enjoy food prep and were pleased to have consulted with The Dinner Diva -continue to roam the aisles of the grocery store, hang from your cupboard doors, and poke your head into your fridge to answer the family's cries, "WHAT IS THERE TO EAT?"

I have such exciting news for you!

How would you like to have access to 400 ways to eat raw foods?

Now, don't you roll your eyes! I can hear you groaning, thinking it is just awful to think of veggies and fruits and no steak dinners! I know. You have a picture in your head of what Thanksgiving Dinner looks like and it does not include freshly squeezed wheat grass!

But I know about this Raw Foods Chef who has been a competitive body builder and she has proved by using raw foods and developing programs based on raw foods that you can be really healthy and it's not a lot of bother! Impressive, don't you think?

Her name is Kristen Suzanne. She is a beautiful woman with a real zest for life. She is devoted to helping us feel great, have more energy, and live longer. WHAT A CONCEPT!

Kristen is eager for us to have sound nutritional content, featuring phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. And she stresses the importance of COLOR!

Does Kristen's message sound like an echo of Mother Connie's? If it does, then you know why this is such good news!

Please do yourself a healthy favor ASAP and meet Kristen Suzanne !

Connie Baum

What Is There To EAT?

I'm no different from you. I like to take the easy road. Doesn't everybody? But when the family wants to know what is there to eat, well, I'm just glad I have a plan: SavingDinner.com and you owe it to yourself to click on her site and see what all is there.

Leanne Ely has become my new bff - best friend forever. "Why?", you ask... Well, because she has taken all the heavy lifting out of food preparation. She is the next best thing to having a sous chef in your very own kitchen!

This Wonder Woman of Culinary Craft popped up while I surfed the net, looking for anything that would make home care better for my family. She was 'living' on one of the pages of Maria Cilley's "FlyLady" website. There were generous offerings about how to stretch an ole dead chicken, easy ideas for nutritional, low cost fare for anyone's dinner table. I was intrigued...and hooked on Leanne's easy ways in the kitchen.

Her own website is chock full of how-to videos, recipes, menu plans, tips and ideas. Her ad appears on this page. You can click on that banner or you can click on any of the underlined blue print on this page. Your family may not clamor for every single idea she has there but if you only find one or two gems, you'll feel as if you've won the lottery!

Whether you are wrestling with the daily care and feeding of a brood or if you are just another foodie you will have a good experience by clicking here and visiting The Dinner Diva!

Connie Baum

Eat Your Vegetables!

Here's news you can use: Baby carrots are not good for you.

I know, I know, my mother told me the same thing your mothers told you: that carrots are good for you.

Not baby carrots.

Those cute little carrots in the handy packs that feature easy-to-use veggies are not what they seem to be. While they appear to be small carrots, in reality they are really crooked or deformed root veggies that are crammed into a machine that shapes them into "COCKTAIL CARROTS" or "DESIGNER CARROTS". Sidebar: Who makes UP these fancy names? End Sidebar.

That's not the worst of it. Here is the really bad news: After the machine gets the carrots to look just so---they are dunked into a bath of water and chlorine. The chlorine is, ostensibly, to preserve them. Remember, these pieces have been skinned, so they are even more receptive to the toxic dose of chlorine.

Chlorine is a highly poisonous agent. It is a known carcinogen.

If you have ever bought these little goodies you know that they get a white film on them after sitting in your fridge for a few days. This is the chlorine oozing out! YUCK!

We ingest vegetables to maintain our good health. Knowing that baby carrots are not really what they appear to be, from now on, we will all be wise to choose from the selection on the produce counters of organic carrots, if we do not grow our own products. That will be the surest way of saving our well being and Saving Dinner !

For more information about clever ways to provide health enhancing, nourishing, interesting meals for your family please look at The Dinner Diva's website: Saving Dinner .

And, please, DO eat your vegetables!