By Britt Reints of Miss Britt

When I was asked to write a post about remembering birthdays and other important dates, I have to admit that I laughed. Hard. You see, I am kind of notorious among my loved ones for forgetting birthdays. Thank God my husband’s birthday is on the 4th of July or I’d likely be doing “please forgive me for forgetting your birthday again” favors for the rest of my life.

Of course, the problem, I realize, is not that I forget birthdays. I know when my best friend’s birthday is; it’s December 17th, exactly one month before mine. The real problem that needs to be solved is remembering to recognize these important dates on the actual day they occur. Realizing, for example, that it is December 17th ON December 17th. Even better? Remembering that these dates are coming and being prepared when they arrive.

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Slow-simmered beef stew is one of the best things about cold weather cooking, but it takes forethought, and if you find yourself craving stew without the luxury of a few hours, then you can still achieve stewiness by simply using a more tender and faster cooking cut of meat.  Sirloin is a great solution, and while you can buy it in chunks, pre-cut for things like kebabs, it’s usually cheaper and better to buy a 1-ish inch thick steak and cut it into cubes, trimming off fat and gristle as you go.

This is great served with mashed potatoes, steamed potatoes, or egg noodles.  Feel free to add various vegetables in place of the zucchini, such as broccoli, yellow squash, or asparagus when spring rolls around.
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By Shauna Glenn, author of Relative Insanity

You know how these days we’re all busy…Too busy to shower…Too busy to shave…Too busy to eat sitting down…Too busy to pee…

Really, I could be here all day. You get the point.

Truth be told though, we do it to ourselves. We extend our reach until there’s nothing more to give; we say “yes” when we should say “no;” and we’re always first to sign up for whatever some overachieving volunteer leader needs us to do. And then we wonder why we’re exhausted and drunk by four in the afternoon every day.
OK maybe you’re not drunk, but I am.

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Many of us don’t think of scallops and kids on the same breath.  But really — like chicken –  scallops are such a nice blank canvas for all sorts of flavors, from mild to intense, that there’s no reason not to give it a shot. And the texture is pleasingly firm.

This is the simplest of kebabs, and as we all know, food on a stick gets given more of a chance than food not on a stick, so skewering up something new may earn it a place on your menu of dinner options.  Try to find dry scallops, as opposed to wet, at the fish counter.  Wet scallops are commonly treated with preservatives, and they have absorbed water making them weigh more (and consequently costing you more) and also preventing them from searing up nicely. Dry scallops are not soaked in stuff, and caramelize beautifully during cooking.  Serve these with rice or orzo.
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By Maria of BORED Mommy and The Bad Moms Club

School is starting up again, which means one thing. Play dates.

I’m not a fan.

I didn’t mind them when they involved my baby, cooing in his stroller, while my girlfriend and I talked it
up. Technically NOT a play date as there was only one child there – mine - but to me, that’s a good play
date.

I hate them more than I hate celery. And Miley Cyrus. And a fork in my near-sighted eyeball.

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