Sheri's Blog

Everyday I read about the time parents and children spend together.  There is much debate over the time spent between parents and children.   How does one journal the time they spend with their children?  Many feel guilty about the lack of time they spend with their children and this puzzles me greatly.  So, as I have journeyed through life I believe that I have picked up a few thoughts regarding this matter.

I ask myself this question every week.  Why do people buy chicken that is cooked?
Every week my answer is:  they must want to save time.  If you are a cooked chicken purchaser this is for you!  STOP!  

So many recipes, even the ones in the MealEssence database require cooked chicken but there are many easy and time saving ways to do this yourself.  Read more....

I love it when the weather starts to cool down and the leaves start to turn.  It just screams, "cook" to me.  But more than that it screams, "bake."  The harvest makes it so much more affordable to buy fresh vegetables and fruits and the season makes it easier to find the time.  So, with fall approaching let's talk about baking.

It is so interesting to me that 10 months out of the year, we pay up to $2 per pound for tomatoes that really aren’t that tasty.  The other 2 months of the year, we enjoy very yummy tomatoes that Dave, my husband, grows in our yard.

Recently I spoke to someone that asked if MealEssence.com would have a "kid friendly" category of recipes.  She felt that a meal planning website should focus on menu ideas that kids would like.  I told her I would consider doing that.  After thinking it over I thought, "everything I cook is kid friendly - all food is kid friendly!"

In an earlier blog, May 26th – School’s out for Summer and so are the kids – I spoke of the busy summer schedule that mom’s maintain when their children are at home for the summer.  We love them and we enjoy their summer activities and no homework time, but after 100 days most of us are ready for school to start so we can get back into a routine, find a little breathing room, get the house back in order, and just get our lives organized for a while.

I love fresh green beans but I don’t love cleaning and snapping them.  I have been known to bring home a large bag of green beans and avoid it all week long.  Then just about the time I think, “if I don’t use ‘em, I’m going to lose ‘em”, I open the bag and find that they have rotted or molded or whatever they do in those plastic bags.  While I do like to save time, I do not like to waste money, and improperly storing food can waste a lot of money.   It is “produce time” when we enjoy eating those healthy fruits and vegetables and saving money because they are so plentiful.  Tomatoes fresh from the garden are the best but we need to properly prepare and store these goodies. 

Did I mention that I do not like the mess you make shucking corn?  We love fresh corn on the cob grilled or even just boiled but if you want to eat it you have to shuck it.  So, I have found it’s best to shuck corn when you bring it home from the store.   Store it in a zip locked bag ready to cook, it takes up less space and saves time later when you get ready to cook. 

What comes to your mind when you hear “Belgium waffles”? At the Risner house it’s just pure goodness.  We have created many memories around the table with Belgium waffles.  Many years ago while Dave was still in school, we lived near a wonderful restaurant that served Sunday brunch.  We would go there for special occasions and always ordered their Belgium waffles layered with cream cheese, strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream.   When we moved we began making them at home.  Every holiday, every large gathering, every brunch includes Belgium waffles; they are a Risner family favorite.  

In sociology, manners are standards of conduct that identify a person to be cultured, polite, and refined. They are like laws that set a standard for behavior, but there is no punishment if you break them other than social disapproval.   Wikipedia says manners are "highly susceptible to change with time, geographical location, social stratum, occasion, and other factors.”  Specifically, I would like to discuss table manners, the etiquette used while eating.

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So many reports, so little time.  I believe that investing a little time in a weekly plan will actually save time in the end.  In fact, I believe that the time I spend on Sunday afternoon or evening planning my week’s worth of meals saves me time in many ways throughout my week.