Serves 4 as a main course, 6 to 10 as an appetizer.Nothing could be simpler, nothing could be faster, and in the summer nothing could make my younger son any happier. You can serve this as the main course, with a side of rice or potatoes, and a big salad, or they make great appetizers with two shrimp on smaller skewers. You can serve them as is, or a flavorful dipping sauce of chutney or tzatziki or even fresh salsa is a great accompaniment.

• 2 pounds raw jumbo shrimp (16/20) count, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
• Coarse salt to taste
• Juice of one lemon
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced

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I broke my foot a couple of weeks ago, and when it came time to make brownies for my older son’s end-of-year party my first instinct was just to explain my situation, back out, and offer to bring the napkins.  But then I thought, “well, Jack and Gary’s feet aren’t broken.”  I gave them an old, very simple brownie recipe I have been making since I was a kid, and showed them where the kitchen was.  They were quite enthusiastic about it, in fact, and in no time has whipped up a beautiful batch of these chocolately bars.  They doubled this recipe, and baked it in  9 x 13-inch baking pan, for 30-35 minutes, so feel free to do that if you have a bigger crowd to bake for.
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By Samantha Campen of Back To Me

I have been a full-time working mom for exactly two years. Finding someone to watch a piece of my heart was one of the hardest decisions my husband and I had to make, and not just because we were in a newborn sleep deprived stupor. Finding the utmost trust in another person to care for our child was a lesson in priorities, flexibility, and good old faith. We knew we wanted an in-home daycare, had a rough idea as to our budget, and had a travel radius based on where my office was located. I reached out to all my working mom friends who were a huge help but I still felt unprepared. Once we found our day home we were in love and were with her for two years until she decided to retire. ALERT! ALERT! ALL SYSTEMS DOWN! The fact that we were going to have to find someone ELSE to watch our now-toddler was a stress I didn’t expect to see again so soon. Here are a few things I’ve learned while lurching down the painful road to finding a great daycare provider.

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For those of us who are fans of the grill, from Memorial Day to Labor Day (and in some parts of the country, all year round), dinner = grilling.  One of the finer things to throw on the grill is a tender cut of beef, a serious steak.  You can give it some special treatment with a rub, you can make  sauce to serve over or on the side, or you can simply indulge the inner carnivore in yourself and buy yourself a first-class cut of meat rub it with a little olive oil, salt and pepper it, and cook it over high heat just until it gets those gorgeous hatch marks and it cooked exactly the way you like it.  Here is a recipe, or really, some basic guidelines, for a perfectly grilled steak.

- Get a great cut of meat.  If you have a butcher in your town, or your supermarket has a good meat section where they cut meat to order, skip the styrofoam encased packages in the refrigerated section, and go there.  Of you can buy USDA Prime Aged Beef, that’s optimal, if not go for Choice.

- Some fat is good.  Look for some marbling.  Porterhouse, T-bone, and rib steaks will have a good amount of fat, which is what makes steak juicy and flavorful.  If you want to grill up a super lean dinner, then go buy yourself a chicken breast.  Buy steaks that are at least 1 inch thick to prevent them from overcooking.
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