By Nadine from Martinis for Milk

“Play Batman with me Mommy,” my almost-five-year-old son,Nate , calls to me as I’m caught checking my Blackberry again. I look up at him, wanting to make him happy, but completely clueless. “OK, but you’ll have to tell me HOW we play Batman.”

I have a dirty secret. I don’t know how to play with my kids.

While my husband creates intricate games and stories in moments, I seem to be missing that gene. But he often works nights, leaving me home alone with two kids under five. Here’s how I get creative with quality time.

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I love one-dish meals. Love them, love them. Less mess, less process, and if you have a good recipe, the result is tasty. Here are a few casserole recipes I’m planning to try in the next few weeks:

Real Simple: Baked shells and broccoli

Simply Recipes: Zucchini breakfast casserole

Rachel Ray: Retro-metro fancy tuna casserole

By Sherry of Chaos Theory

There are always rough transitional moments when the school year starts back up; getting up early and rushing everyone out the door, getting back to the grind of homework, and regular bedtimes to name a few.  However, one thing that always seems to strike fear into parents is the thought of having to pack a school lunch.  Many schools offer up hot lunches, but they’re not always appealing and the truth is they cost a lot more than a lunch you prepare and send yourself.

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The phrase 30-minutes or less has been stealing a lot of thunder in the cooking world over the past few years.  And for obvious reasons: the idea of getting a meal on the table in half an hour is completely appealing.  But sometimes those 30-minute recipes require you to move around at high speed the entire time, chopping, sauteing, sprinkling, stirring, and while you might get it all done in 30 minutes, you might also be exhausted at the end.  And your kitchen might look like a war zone, requiring more than 30 minutes of clean up.

This is why it’s also good to include roasts and braises in your weekly list of dinners.  They will almost always take longer than half an hour, but almost all of the needed time is hands-off cooking time, leaving you free to make other dishes, help with homework, get to that mountain of bills…or just watch a rerun of “Friends”.  I know which I’d pick.
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By Samantha from Back To Me

When we got pregnant I had a few fears about our impending bundle: the wee one would be colicky (check!), would rage against the car (dodged that bullet), and would be a bedtime h8r.  In fact, the sleep issue was the one I was most concerned about so I made sure to read up on ALL the sleep solution books I could get my water retaining hands on.  The main theme?  GET THEE TO A ROUTINE AND QUICK, WOMAN.  This was a no-brainer for me as it made complete and total sense.  Routines help kids feel secure, know what’s coming next and not throw them into a rabid frenzy with each bed time transition.  So that is what we did.

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By Metalia

Considering that I don’t celebrate Halloween (I’m an Orthodox Jew) I’m probably the last person that you’d expect to be writing this piece.

HOWEVER

We have a holiday called Purim that takes place a bit later in the year, but involves—nay, REQUIRES—awesome costumes, as well. I take a bit of pride in putting together what I think are good costumes for my kids every year, and what’s more, I’ve learned something new each year, and so with Halloween rapidly approaching, I thought I’d share a few of my best tips with you today.

1. Take advantage of your powerless kids while they’re young.

As time has gone on, I’ve upped the ante for myself, so to speak, to the point where I feel like I have to outdo last year’s costumes each time. However, for this first point, I’m going to take you back a few years, to my son’s first Purim. Being a new mom, I wanted to dress him in something cute and cuddly and soft, and I had bought him an adorable cow costume (HALF PRICE right after Halloween, thank you very much) a few months earlier. And really, if I tried to dress him in that today, I think he’d roll his eyes at me and/or throw a huge, “NO”-filled tantrum. But back then? Haha, sucker. Mama wants a cowbaby, and she is GETTING a cowbaby. There’s only so long that you can get away with this, so strike while you can, and fulfill all your vicarious costume wishes while they’re one or two years old.

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Image from Real Simple

Ground turkey is one of our regular protein staples, but I’ve gotten tired of the few things that I tend to make from it. Here are a few new recipes I am trying in the next few weeks:

Real Simple: Speedy sloppy Joes

Ellie Krieger: Mom’s turkey meatloaf

Simply Recipes: Mom’s ground turkey and peppers (lots of moms know how to cook ground turkey, I guess)

Do you have any favorite recipes for ground turkey?