If you’re up for making a quickie toy for your toddler to push around, read on to find out how to make a doggie rolling toy from a simple paper plate.

Materials:

• flimsy paper plate
• markers or crayons
• scissors
• hole punch
• drinking straw
• two small empty spools

Instructions:

1. Fold the plate in half. Draw the outline of the profile of a dog’s head and body on the plate so that the fold will run down the center of the dog’s back. Cut out and decorate your dog with markers or crayons.
2. Hold the front legs together and punch a hole in them 1/4 inch from the bottom. Do the same for the back legs.
3. Cut the drinking straw in half. Slip one piece of the straw through a hole in the front leg. Put a spool over the straw, then put the straw through the hole in the other leg. Even out the straw and trip so 1/2 inch sticks out from each leg. Repeat this process for the back.

Now your dog will stand up on the spools. Give him a little push and watch him roll.

Extra fun variations:

• Make other four-legged creatures like cats, cows, or horses.
• Make two roller toys and race them. Which is faster, the tortoise or the hare?

This post is reprinted from Make These Toys: 101 Clever Creations Using Everyday Items by Heather Swain by arrangement with Perigee, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., Copyright (c) 2010 Heather Swain.

I scheduled this post before my baby arrived. If you are reading this while nursing, rest assured that I am also either unsnapping my nursing bra or just snapping it back up. Or maybe feeling too lazy to bother clicking it back in place.

As such, I’ve collected the combined wisdom of many rookie moms to create a nursing cheat sheet for myself. Feel free to use it.

We live in Berkeley where breastfeeding isn’t so much a “choice” or a “lifestyle” but a “requirement.” I can only say that comfortably in hindsight.

I know there are many parts of the world where you feel this same assumption and there are others where the expectation is the opposite. If I remember correctly, Whitney was a breastfed California baby and I was a formula-fed Ohio baby. Of course in the seventies, we probably both had whole milk and even ice cream before we turned one. (And by “remember” I’m going by what my mama told me, not the actual memory of not nursing)

Our experience aside, breastfeeding is a very personal, individual choice. And once you make your decision to do it (or even not to do it), you are likely to face challenges. I’m talking about your milk supply, your modesty, your baby’s knack for nursing (or taking a bottle), your willingness to pump, other people’s support or criticism and on and on.

The most helpful book that guided me on the path to breastfeeding success was The Nursing Mother’s Companion. Between two different nursing babies, I had nearly every obstacle listed (mastitis, infection, blisters, etc.). Each of my dramas was dealt with in a straightforward manner in the book. And I plan to keep it handy again.

Here are several fantastic online breastfeeding resources from our guest blogger, PhD in Parenting.

Here are a few related rookie mom posts/tips/activities:

• Whip ‘em out (funny and supportive video)
• Tips for nursing in public
• Tips for pumping and our community pumping project
• Think with your melons (exercise your super power!)
• DIY nursing bra from a regular bra (with tutorial)
• Cut up your bra (helpful tip)
• Yoga moves to ease back strain from nursing

Any other advice or tips to share with me? I’ll take ‘em.

Most breastfeeders agree that a nursing pillow is a must-have in the first months of motherhood. Whether your loyalties lie with My Breast Friend or the Boppy, you may find that you need to wash the slip cover eventually. Having an extra Boppy cover is not a bad idea. Crafty mamas — or crafty grandmas — might enjoy making their own.

Here are some helpful tutorials for making your own Boppy and/or cover.

Make Baby Stuff shows how to make a basic U-shaped pillow.

Hannah is a Palindrome used the pattern from Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing for Baby book

This pattern was also used by Dee Wilcox to make the pillow she shared on her blog.

And Huckleberry Prairie made one that looks like a donut. (Not removable, but cute idea.)

Amy McCready is a parent on a mission. After reaching the end of her own rope with conventional methods of discipline with her preschool-aged sons, she got serious about finding alternatives. Fast-forward a dozen years. Now she can hardly remember the last time she raised her voice to yell and she wants all parents to feel the same relief. We are grateful to have a guest post from her today sharing some useful tips from her new book: If I Have to Tell You One More Time…

It’s truly a desperate parent that utters the words, “If I have to tell you one more time…,” but we’ve certainly all been there. Which means we’ve all faced the helpless feeling that follows: now what?

Here are five tips from the book, If I Have to Tell You One More Time… you can begin using right away:

1. Give your kids the attention they need. Think of your children as having an “attention basket.” If you don’t proactively keep it stocked with positive attention, they’ll fill it with the negative attention they get from whining, clinging, acting helpless, and all the rest. Simply spending one-on-one time daily with each child, doing what they want to do, will really help cut out these frustrating misbehaviors. Chapter two of my book gives parents step-by-step instructions and helpful tips for how to incorporate this kind of positive attention into their busy days, even while managing other kids.

2. Watch the “ordering, correcting and directing!” Every time we tell our kids to remember their lunchboxes or take their elbows off the table, we set ourselves up for power struggles. Let’s face it, no one likes to be told what to do or how to do it, not even kids! So it’s no wonder they’re likely to fight back. If you can limit this type of communication, you’ll get more cooperation in general. The book has 23 tools to help you do just that.

3. Give your kids some power. Remember the attention basket? Each child, from toddlers to teens, also has a “power basket” that needs to be filled in positive ways lest we face misbehaviors like tantrums, backtalk, attitude, bedtime and mealtime battles, and more. Provide positive power to your kids by offering choices and decision-making opportunities throughout the day. To a toddler, power means choosing between a Batman and Spiderman toothbrush. To a teenager, it can be allowing him to decide which restaurant the family goes to on Saturday night.

4. Ditch the rewards. Dangling a treat in front of your kids when you want them to behave a certain way seem harmless enough, right? Unfortunately, by rewarding the desired behavior, it says loud and clear, “I have no confidence you’ll ever do (X) unless I give you a treat or reward to do it.” Plus he’ll insist on another reward next time. By giving your children rewards, you’re essentially training them to demand “what’s in it for me?” whenever they’re asked to help out or put effort into something. Numerous research studies conclude that rewards do more harm than good, but don’t worry, If I Have to Tell You One More Time teaches you with step-by-step instructions to motivate positive behavior.

5. Practice the 5 Rs of Fair & Effective Consequence. Let’s face it, consequences are sometimes required to help kids learn important lessons—but they need to be structured appropriately to be effective. To ensure that your kids really learn important lessons, the 5 Rs of Fair & Effective Consequences are a must! The first R is to REVEAL the consequence in advance. Let your kids know your rule or limit up front and clearly communicate the consequence they’ll face if they choose to push the limits. By revealing the consequence in advance, you empower your child to make the appropriate choice or experience the effects. The remaining 4 Rs are equally important and are covered in detail in the book.

More about the book:
If I Have to Tell You One More Time… The Revolutionary Program that Gets Your Kids to Listen Without Nagging, Reminding or Yelling, from Amy McCready, presents a nag- and yell-free program for compassionately, yet effectively, correcting misbehavior. Simple and concise, this program offers 23 proven tools with step-by-step instructions on how to use them, when to use them and even the words to say to put an end to backtalk, tantrums, homework battles, whining, sibling rivalry and more. (Find the book on Amazon).

Help a military family:
When you purchase your copy of If I Have to Tell You One More Time… you can “pay It forward” to a deserving military family. For each book sold, Amy McCready, in partnership with Blue Star Families, will donate Positive Parenting Solutions Online training to military moms and dads who sacrifice every day to protect our country.

+++
Thanks again to Amy McCready for sharing these nuggets of wisdom. I long for the day when I no longer remember the last time I yelled (or repeated a simple instruction five times!). We’re excited to share another webinar from Amy at the end of August.

Do you see images like this perfectly presented toy shelf and get excited?

How about this one?

Imagine yourself lying in bed at night, touching your hand to your collarbone, knowing that no necklace in your collection had been left tangled, sliding your fingers toward your lobes, breathing deeply as you fantasize that no earring is unmatched.

This is not healthy, my friends. Looking at images of perfectly labeled bins, color coded closets, and uncluttered shelves may be taking a toll on your self esteem. And I see you, paging through the Pottery Barn catalog, or maybe it’s West Elm, thinking, I’m not good enough. If only my home resembled these spaces, life would be worth living.

A mom at preschool says to me, “You are so on top of everything!” and I cringe inwardly, knowing that Julian needs to have his hearing tested and months have passed since I last saw the slip of paper reminding me who to call to schedule an appointment. My home office does not look like this.

Sarah Welch and Alicia Rockmore, the authors of Pretty Neat, have helped me identify the problem (the first step toward recovery, isn’t it?): We have internalized a definition of organization that resembles perfection. Letting go of that, and embracing imperfection, will allow us to solve organizational challenges in a way that is tailor made to our own individual thinking styles and personal challenges.

Some of us are motivated by deadlines, some by accountability to others, and some simply can’t think with clutter around them. But most of us, when we think about getting organized, feel like it has to be done all at once. And then we are paralyzed.

What I really like about Alicia and Sarah’s book is that it is packed with exercises and anecdotes from both the authors and other folks who seem outwardly so successful, but are able to reveal their “good enough” approaches to different areas of their lives.  The advice can all be put into action as baby steps.

An example of shifting one’s goal from perfection to imperfection is to abandon the notion that a desk should have nothing on it’s surface and instead embrace the task of going through everything on the desk once per month. Action? Put a recurring event in your calendar to tackle your desk every third Thursday.

After reading this, I immediately thought that I should do a monthly purge for my car as well.  I couldn’t find a single lightweight sweater or sweatshirt in my house the other day, so I decided to leave the house without one, and risk being chilly. Guess what, when I got in the car, there were four poorly treated cardigans lying about. Whoops!

So while I will probably continue to look longingly at every catalog from the Container Store that lands in my mailbox, I know that the real solutions lie in my behavior.

Do you have organizational-related fantasies? Impossibly high standards? An obsession with overpriced but very cute storage containers? Have you changed any behaviors recently that have helped you get more organized?

P.S. Check out Pretty Neat: the buttoned-up way to get organized and let go of perfection (which was given to me by the authors) and read their daily tips at ButtonedUp.com

I sat down to write an essay for the e-book “Stories I’ve Only Told my Mom” and I struggled.  I was aiming to document a personal experience between myself and my mother — one that was telling about our relationship. What could I talk about that wouldn’t overly embarrass one of us?

Hmmm, I stared at a blank screen for a while. Then I started writing. Little stories, big stories, emotions, stuff I totally wouldn’t share, and stuff that made me laugh poured into my tiny laptop.

Though aiming for a 750-word essay, I was now staring at 2,400 words. Oops. My two trusted editors, Alec and Whitney, helped me find the one funny, telling (but not too telling) story in the bunch.

My short story is about a very special day in eighth grade that I’ve relived over and over for years. And about my mom’s unwavering generosity and creativity. And yes, it’s less than 1000 words.

And now? Well now my little story, More Than a Bad Hair Day, is all grown up. It is part of a 16-essay anthology, compiled by Sarah Bryden-Brown, alongside amazing writers sharing their own poignant, thought-provoking, and occasionally hilarious short stories for their mothers.

Awesome, right? Please buy it for yourself, your girlfriends, and your own moms! For $4.99, you can get it on any digital platform or even print out the pdf and tie it with a ribbon. Or directly on Kindle.

Who else is in there? These fine women:

Laura Mayes  – Blog con Queso
Susan Petersen – Freshly Picked
Meg Keene – Practical Wedding, Reclaiming Wife
Katie Allison Granju -  mamapundit.com
Amber Doty – The Daily Doty
Heather Spohr – The Spohrs Are Multiplying
Catherine Connors – Her Bad Mother
Brittany Gibbons -  Barefoot Foodie
Michelle Horton – Early Mama
Meagan Francis – The Happiest Mom
Monica Bielanko - The Girl Who
Liz Stanley – Say Yes To Hoboken
Amy Thompson – Progressive Pioneer
Jane Roper – babysquaredblog.com
Erin Loechner – Design for Mankind

I’m very proud to be included among them. I hope my mama will be proud too.

Meagan Francis was inspired to write about being a happy mom when she didn’t feel represented in the typical modern-mom banter: parenting is hard, we miss our spontaneity, and ouch, I just stepped on a Playmobil pirate. And her book is for real.

Known online as The Happiest Mom, Meagan provides a roadmap for being happy that is authentic, sensible, and realistic. She pinpoints a few sources of perceived unhappiness for moms and then invites us to self-diagnose. Is it possible that we are lonely? Disorganized? Bearing an unreasonable amount of childcare duties? If those are the issues, then let’s dive into those and find relief.

For the isolated moms, she addresses how to find friends, including tips for shy moms; for the mom who is always in a panic before she leaves the house, there are strategies to reduce key loss and botched family scheduling; for the mom who is doing all the parenting, some tips for balancing the scales.

If it sounds like this book is best for a veteran mom, I’d agree. A rookie mom of one baby who is not yet juggling preschool potlucks with science fair projects and soccer practice may not relate to many of the examples in the book. (If this is you, you’ll still get a lot out of Meagan’s blog, The Happiest Mom, but I’d buy the book for a friend with two or more kids.)

Take a look at my own before-and-after inspired by The Happiest Mom.

One of the 10 secrets to enjoying motherhood in the book is Make your bed. Make your bed is a metaphor for taking care of the little things that make you feel crazy and overwhelmed.  It may not be your bed, but rather papers on the kitchen counter.

For me, it is the bench in our entry way. I also want to be clear – in case my mother-in-law is reading – that most of the disorganization and annoying stacks of clutter in my house are my own doing.

When I get out of the car with the kids in the afternoon, I am usually carrying my purse, Scarlett’s lunchbox, Julian’s backpack, a few art projects, some school notices, and some snack wrappers or napkins from the car. As soon as I open the door, I dump it all on the bench. We all kick off our shoes “near the bench”, and over the next few minutes I put some of the stuff away. Then it looks like this:

For the next 24-hours, I am annoyed whenever I walk in the front door, because the bench is not the zen welcome I want it to be. It looks like a living breathing to-do list. Meagan advises that we identify the housekeeping tasks that make the most impact on our moods and prioritize those. (Messy garage? Who cares!) I’ve concluded that I need my nightly chore to be a bench purge so that when I walk in the door, I don’t immediately feel that I’m drowning in stuff.

Ahh, that’s better. I now crown myself a Happier Mom.

When I told Meagan, who I have the pleasure to know, about how even though the shoes should actually go in the closet, this just works better, so those cubbies are always going to have more shoes than is aesthetically pleasing, she responded:

Sometimes we get stuck in the “shoulds” even when they don’t actually help streamline our lives.

For example, when we bought this house there was a cabinet upstairs that I decided would be a perfect place to store board games and crayons/markers/paper and craft supplies. For many months I kept those things in the upstairs cabinet, and then I’d have to make the trek up and down the stairs each and every time anyone wanted to play Sorry or draw or color or glue. Then I’d feel annoyed about it being such a hassle to play games and draw/color/glue and the end result? Everyone played fewer games and spent less time drawing, coloring and gluing! Finally I moved all that stuff down to a little sunroom off of our dining room that doubles as a home office. It doesn’t look as neat and pristine in there anymore, but who cares? I couldn’t believe how long it took me to make the connection that if I have something that’s important to me or makes my life better or less stressful–whether it’s getting out the door faster or playing games with my kids–it makes sense to set up my life and home in such a way that that activity or feeling is as easy to achieve as possible. Duh, right?

That woman’s a genius!

Buy the book on Amazon to get your hands on some of these other gems, included in the text: How to go from panic to peace, Trust your gut, Five ways to blow off busybodies, How to say “No”, and some courage to shed the fear of other people judging you.

Behind the scenes, Heather and I declared 2011 the Year of the Video. We even had a parade and gave each other red envelopes.

And in keeping with the lunar new year references which you may or may not be getting, we are pleased to share the first video we made with the folks at Momversation, Tiger Mom.

You might also notice that we’ve added a bar to the top of our website that has links to videos of interest. I just watched an interesting one about a minister’s wife who trained to be a body builder after surviving breast cancer. It’s in the Women’s Issues section.

Gung hay fat choy!

Shauna James Ahern sent me a copy of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef (a love story) in anticipation of Thanksgiving (a very glutenous, gluttonous holiday if ever there was one). She hopes to spread the word that gluten-free baking is tasty and fun to share with those that we love. Check and check.

Last week, we celebrated Veteran’s Day with two days off from school and an excellent (gluten-free!) baking project: chocolate peanut butter brownies.

Holden told me, “Mommy, I like being your big grocery store helper; I wish I could be 146,000 feet tall so I’d be the biggest helper there is!”

Sweet, right? Of course, as a giant, he couldn’t fit in the store, but his heart is in the right place.

After our scavenger-hunt-like search for Xantham gum ($13, ouch) and our argument over whether unsweetened chocolate could be delicious if enough sugar was added to the recipe, Holden and I enjoyed our baking adventure: we got to use fun gadgets that I didn’t remember I owned such as the food scale and the double boiler; Holden was very responsible for dumping, mixing, and swirling; together, we whisked and licked beaters.

The result? Super tasty but a little less pretty than Shauna’s own picture. Is it okay to blame my five-year-old peanut butter swirler that we didn’t achieve the picture perfect image below? Sorry, kid. I love you anyway.

chocolate peanut butter brownies by shauna james ahern

Thanks to Shauna for sharing her recipes with me. Make sure to check out her book, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef (a love story), if you find yourself cooking for anyone with Celiac Disease. I’ll be sharing my brownies and Xantham gum with my friend, Sarah, if I can stop eating them long enough.

Danny (AKA the Chef) and Shauna invited many many bloggers to their Thanksgiving feast. If you want to check out the other dishes (not made by five-year-olds) and get inspired to cook, bake and roast a full-on Thanksgiving, visit glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com. Oh yeah, and she’s also giving away a ton of prizes:

• 3 copies of their cookbook
• a collection of all the gluten-free flours necessary to bake from their coookbook
• a grab bag of spices and oils that might be necessary
• a baking package, including jelly roll pans, a Silpat, tart pans, etc.
• and finally, a KITCHEN AID MIXER!

I am among a posse of bloggers who tested her recipes Shauna’s gluten-free recipes this week. See what everyone else thought about the gluten-free Thanksgiving dishes:

Andrea’s Recipes | gluten-free pumpkin scones
Not Without Salt | gluten-free chocolate biscotti
Zest Bakery | warm pumpkin polenta with goat cheese
The Mommy Bowl | gluten-free bread
Smith Bites | gluten-free celery root soup with cashew cream
White on Rice Couple | Turkey Sloppy Joes on Rosemary Rolls
What’s Gaby Cooking | gluten-free molasses cookies
Kitchen Gadget Girl | gluten-free pumpkin strata
Tiffin Tales | gluten-free Thanksgiving torte
Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom | gluten, dairy and egg free crescent rolls and cinnamon rolls
Eat the Love | Gluten Free Maple Sweet Potato Cheesecake with Gingerbread Bottom
Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes | gluten-free sourdough rosemary rolls and gluten-free mincemeat cookies
The Art of Gluten-Free Baking | gluten-free pumpkin pie
Sophisticated Gourmet | cranberry-almond-coconut macaroons topped with chocolate
Cook 4 Seasons | gluten-free pumpkin mousse
Cook It Allergy Free | Cornbread and (Shauna’s) Crusty Bread Stuffing
Lexie’s Kitchen | dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, no-bake pumpkin pie filling
Recipe Girl | an entire Thanksgiving menu, gluten-free
Two Peas and Their Pod | gluten-free apple cranberry crisp
Gluten-Free for Good | gluten-free cherry cobbler
My Madeleine | butternut squash soup.
The Sensitive Pantry | gluten-free brown sugar hand pies
Art and Lemons | gluten-free rustic squash tarts
Bellalimento | Gluten Free Pumpkin Roll with Mascarpone and Nutella Filling
Mom Food Project | an entire Thanksgiving, gluten-free
Gluten-Free Easily | candy carrot coins
Dish Towel Diaries | kale Caesar slaw.
A Baking Life | gluten-free gingerbread cake
Glugle Gluten-Free | gluten-free pumpkin muffins
Wenderly | sweet and savory prosciutto cups
Cannelle Et Vanille | sweet potato and crabapple clafoutis

I received a free copy of Perfect One-Dish Dinners; All You Need for Easy Get-Togethers a few weeks ago and took it for a spin. Recipes are sized up to serve 6 to 12 hungry eaters so they are great not only for a weekend dinner party but also if you and your partner can do “one big cook” and get ahead for the rest of the week.

Each dinner recipe includes a suggested side dish and dessert. Like a friend, Anderson gives helpful suggestions about shortcuts and steps that can be done in advance. I don’t know how to explain this without sounding cheesy here, but I found her tips refreshing and helpful.

This week, Rookie Dad Alec and I tried a couple different dinner recipes from the One-Dish Dinners cookbook in the hopes that I would be able to share one positive experience with you. Both were so good that I wasn’t sure which one to talk about.

The Quick, Creamy Lasagna was simple (for lasagna!) and so delicious that everyone had seconds (or thirds). Alec prepared it one day in about 30 minutes and I baked it the next (for about 45 minutes). To make this meal more practical for rookie parents, I suggest preparing the lasagna during nap or after bedtime, and pulling it back out an hour before dinner. We made the accompanying salad from the arugula in our garden (now I’m just bragging). I think even Whitney would like it.

The Spicy Coconut Shrimp Stew was quick and easy. In fact, the long pole (as we geeks like to say) was the sticky rice. Anderson’s instructions and my husband’s skills in the rice-making department made sure that our rice was perfect. The shrimp was delicious despite my one major error (use thawed shrimp, not frozen, people!). And the recipe was fast enough for a weeknight (as long as you start the rice before playing the two episodes of Curious George).

I made a list of all the meals I still want to try from this cookbook. Next up: One-Pot Penne with Spinach-Feta Balls. If we can clear off the dining room table from toys, crumbs, and art projects, we may try to use this book for its intended purpose of improving our social life. If not, we’ll keep using it happily for cooking large.

Related Rookie Mom Activities:

• Activity #21 Make dinner after dinner
• Activity #188: Cook and freeze

Disclosure and a second opinion: I was given a copy of this book when I volunteered at La Petite Soiree (a BlogHer Food party) a few weeks ago. In a virtual dinner party of sorts, you can read what some other (real) food bloggers experienced with their Sunday Suppers not at my house:

• DadCooksDinner.com
• RecipeGirl.com
• ArtofGlutenFreeBaking.com
• KitchenGadgetGirl.com
• MyBakingAddiction.com
• Wenderly.com
• BluebonnetsandBrownies.com
• TheSensitivePantry.com
• WhatsCookingBlog.com
• TwoPeasandTheirPod.com
• WhatsGabyCooking.com
• Bellalimento.com
• SmithBites.com
• MyFavoriteEverything.com
• FoodForMyFamily.com
• Savor The Thyme
• Ivoryhut.com
• DineAndDish.net
• GlutenFreeGirl
• Picky-Palate.com
• TickledRed
• SheWearsManyHats.com
• WhatWereEating.com
• SugarCrafter.net
• GoodLifeEats.com
• HowTo-Simplify.com
• Steamy Kitchen
• Celiacs in the House

I just finished my four week experiment based the Stocked Kitchen cookbook and I rate it an enthusiastic one thumb up. I embraced the system fully in order to take advantage of the promise: maintain the master shopping list ingredients and be able to make any recipe in the book. I lived according to the guidelines in the book and had mixed results.

What I liked:

• I loved shopping once and being done for the week. No mid-week “honey, can you pick up X?” trips. No being caught off-guard by potlucks, dinner parties, or camping trips. Truly awesome.
• We discovered new go-to foods. This cookbook included mostly recipes we had never tried. I discovered that my son loves ham, and he likes ham and cheese tortilla roll-ups for breakfast and lunch!
• We found new options for potlucks and dinner parties. I loved the Greek Roll-Up (flank steak with spinach, bread crumbs, and feta) and ate all the leftovers during the course of one week. My foodie guests enjoyed the Empanadas too. The Asian Cole Slaw is sweet, delicious, and EASY for a potluck.
• The dessert section is versatile. From the basic stock, we made Lemon Bars (delicious but wrong texture because of user error), Chocolate Peppermint Bars, and Apple Pie Bites. There are many more we still want to make.
• Most meals had simple prep. If you’re home with a baby and can make use of the naptime windows for prep, you would be in great shape.

What I didn’t like:

• Most meals took too long to make. While the prep for most meals was very simple, once you factor in the cooking time, I struggled to get the dinner on the table in time. Once, I had to make an entirely separate meal after letting the boys extend their allotted TV-time and the food still wasn’t ready.
• What, no side dishes? The authors would be doing readers a HUGE favor by suggesting side dishes to accompany the main dishes. I found myself lacking a veggie more often than not because I was too focused on making the main.
• Over-reliance on canned goods. I am concerned about BPA exposure and the freshness of ingredients. Canned corn? No thanks.
• My family didn’t like enough of the food. Unfortunately, I have a refrigerator full of leftovers that my family doesn’t want to eat. If, based on the table of contents, you can tell you’ll like the dishes, the system is pure genius. If you live with a bunch of picky eaters or food snobs, it may backfire.

Bottom line:

The simplicity of the grocery list and the approach is phenomenal. I am happy to have this cookbook in my arsenal, but I’m not ready to fully embrace the Stocked Kitchen lifestyle because the specific dishes didn’t quite make the cut with my boys. If it were just me and Alec, we could go on eating chili mac for a while before we grew tired of it, but not our children. (I think we have the only two kids on the planet who won’t eat macaroni and cheese.)

P.S. Now that I’m done with the official part of the experiment, I’d still like to try a few more of the dishes: Ham Corn Chowder, Peanut Noodles, Bacon Wrapped Shrimp, and Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip.

Depending on your taste buds and your willingness to delegate meal planning, I strongly encourage you to give it a try, if only to be inspired by the systematic planning and management of your dinners.

My kitchen counter when I started the experiment

Related links:
Stocked Kitchen experiment, week one
Stocked Kitchen experiment, week two
Stocked Kitchen experiment, week 3.5
Stocked Kitchen book on Amazon
www.thestockedkitchen.com

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of the cookbook for my review. All groceries were purchased by me. The opinions expressed here are mine and I’m a meal-planning, chicken-raising food snob with two sons who don’t eat macaroni and cheese.

I continued on with my Stocked Kitchen experiment and I have to admit that I like these authors bossing me around. It feels a little bit like when my mom came out to “help” with the new baby and she did everything wrong differently but it was so nice to have the help.

Just like last week, this week threw a bunch of surprises at me and I didn’t have to go to the grocery story. Ok, once I sent Alec for milk and bread over the weekend, but that was it. Pretty terrific.

The weekly report
I haven’t been to the store yet since last Monday and it’s Wednesday.

• Monday: We cooked a great stocked dinner complete with Apple Pie bites for dessert. They were very simple to prepare, the boys helped. Dinner included Tomato Artichoke Pasta with Shrimp.
• Tuesday: As the last day of preschool for Holden, we celebrated at a friends’ house. They fed us pizza. We also had an ice cream party at Fenton’s. No sk cooking.
• Wednesday: As the first day of kindergarten, we celebrated by going anywhere Holden wanted. He chose Caffe Trieste for sandwiches and quiche (oh yeah, and cake!). During the school day, Milo and I baked chocolate chip banana bread from another cookbook.
• Thursday: We made Macaroni & Cheese from the sk (not Karen’s recipe, shhh) and Lemon Butter Broccoli. Disaster! Me and the little boys did not care for the mac&cheese for our own reasons — I found the yogurt-based sauce too sour and my guys just don’t like mac and cheese — and none of us enjoyed the too-tart broccoli (though we all ate it).
• Friday: Date Night! Kids had eggs. We had burgers.
  
• Saturday: Carb-heavy delight of Baked Penne and Baked Sweet Potatoes. Due to my children hating melted cheese (WTF?) and my perfectly-reasonable dislike of cooked peppers, only Alec was satisfied. Again.
• Sunday: Feeling lazy, ordered pizza. Stuffed our faces for Family Movie Night of Kung Fu Panda.
• Monday: Dinner out at Picante.
• Tuesday: From the stock, we had Grilled Moroccan-style Marinated Chicken breasts with stove-top broccoli (our own way) and quinoa. Everyone happy!

*sk means on the Stocked Kitchen list.

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book and I am letting it guide my life for a month because I think the authors are list-writing geniuses!