Lest you think I am joking, we have to buy the SAME cereal bars with the GREEN shiny package as that is his favorite color. (Seriously. The child picks his breakfast food on the color of the wrapping!) Then to take it even further it has to be served on a paper towel. A WHOLE paper towel. Did you ripe a corner off the towel? PUT IT BACK! It won’t do. No plate, no bowl, not off the table. On a WHOLE paper towel. Then, we must unwrap the cereal bar for him. If there is a CRACK or god forbid, a BREAK the whole morning is ruined. It simply won’t do.

Now before you go lecturing me on giving in to such crazy demands, note that I do not always play along. Most times we force him to eat broken or cracked ones anyway and occasionally we push him on the towel issue. I do admit that I am aware of his sensitivities and on most days I go along with this one. Let’s face it, I am not ready to do battle at 7 am. It would not start the day out on the right foot. And I also choose my battles, more often than not, this is NOT the one I choose.

I digress. So as you can imagine, coming up with a replacement cereal bar was going to be a challenge for me. I started buying Barbara’s cereal bars first as I wanted to see if he would go for a cereal bar that was better for him, without shiny green packaging. If you have never had Barbara’s Apple Cinnamon cereal bars you might not know that their packaging is mostly brown with one small green strip. I presented the cereal bars to him (without the others present) and he actually was convinced to take one and try it. I was impressed. Then he ate it. And LIKED it. Another win for me.

From here I added some of the shiny green cereal bars to the cereal bar basket we have because we needed to use them up and I wanted to see what he would choose. (Yes, I experiment with my kids, don’t you?) What happened next SHOCKED me. He chose the Barbara’s cereal bars over the shiny green one. He continued this until they were gone and all that were left were the shiny green packaged ones. And then he did something I NEVER would have dreamed, he yelled at me because I didn’t have the kind he liked! SCORE! And score one for Barbara’s too!

As much as he loved the Barbara’s they are still expensive. I also wanted to find a way to make them myself. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to make a bar because the only way to do that would be to cut the bars and then my son would view them as “broken” so I decided on a cookie using my muffin tin. I slaved away one day praying over them as I went.

I presented them to the kids at breakfast as an alternative to their cereal bars. To my shock and amazement they LOVED them. I mean really LOVED them. As in every time they want a snack now Isaac will say, “I have a good idea, how about a blueberry cereal bar COOOOOOKKKKKIIIIIIEEEE!” And I am all dancing to the kitchen on my happy euphoria cloud. This child and that food item were my greatest challenge and I just defeated Goliath. It is an AMAZING feeling. I hope that your kids love these as much as mine do!

Homemade Cereal Bar Cookies

Author/Source:

Tricia @ Onceamonthmom.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1. 5 cups oats, ground (or oat flour)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (I used fresh milled hard red wheat)
• 1 cup white flour (I used fresh milled hard white wheat)
• 1 cup sucanat (brown sugar if whole foods isn’t your gig)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1.125 cups (9 ounces) organic jam (I used blueberry and apple)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients, except the jam, together in a large bowl. It is easiest to do this with your hands. Go ahead, get a little dirty! Once it is mixed well together and crumbly add half of the mixture to each of 18 muffin tins. Press the mixture into the muffin tins creating a bit of a lip as you would for a pie. Add in 1 Tablespoon of jam on top of each “crust”. Next, with the remaining mixture create 18 equal size balls. Smash each of the balls into a circle large enough to cover the top of each “cookie”. Add the disc to the top of the “cookie” and press the edges to meet the sides of the bottom dough. Bake for 20-25 minutes until slightly browned. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes and then gently remove to a cooling rack. (I inverted a cookie sheet on top of the muffin tin, flipped the muffin tin and then turned the cookies over to cool a bit longer. Be warned, they are very soft when warm).

Freezing Directions:

Follow directions above but allow to cool completely. Add to a gallon freezer bag and freeze. To serve: Allow to thaw overnight or place in a microwave and heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Be careful as internal contents will be very warm.

Servings: 18 cookies

Disclosure: I was not compensated nor was I asked to write about Barbara’s cereal bars. My family has found them to be enjoyable and I just thought I would share.

Kelly is still off snuggling her newborn so I told her to be confident in letting me take the reigns this week as we get started with grains/breads. I am not the keeper of the knowledge but I am a newbie to this process like many of you. I am learning, learning, learning and sometimes that is the best place to be to “teach” and encourage.

Homemade Pizza Dough

You may or may not be like me. You might be like me if the mere mention of using yeast in culinary pursuits causes you to break out in a cold sweat. Yeast? Oh no, I can’t do that! I mean, it doesn’t like me. In fact, it hates me. It just plain scares me. Yeast is the one ingredient in my kitchen that gives me nightmares. A baker I am not.

But a few months ago when we decided to take this journey for Get Real I realized I was going to face my fear. But what should I start with? Nothing too complicated and nothing that was going to cause me to take the fetal position in tears if it didn’t work out too well. Kelly suggested pizza dough. I thought, I *might* be able to handle that. So I went for it.

Turns out, it was a SUCCESS! Score! I actually was able to make yeast rise! And the dough? The dough and the pizza were amazing. I was ready to conquer the world of bread baking. Okay, maybe not, but it did give me the confidence I needed to continue trying out increasingly more difficult breads.

And that is what you need to! If you are nervous about your bread making abilities it is time to tackle them head on. And think outside the loaf to begin with. There are so many variables in creating a loaf bread that I think it is best to tackle something easier to start. Let me first mention, that if you have older ingredients, several months or more, you should go buy NEW! If there is one thing that I have learned it is that I can not find success with stale ingredients. And most of the ingredients needed in these recipes are dependent on being FRESH!

Homemade Tortillas

Here are a few suggestions on items to get under your belt apron:

• Homemade Pizza Dough -
• Homemade Pizza Dough
• Gluten Free Pizza Crust
• Whole Wheat Pizza
• Tortillas -
• Homemade Flour Tortillas
• Whole Wheat Tortillas
• Tortillas
• Whole Wheat Tortillas
• Sweet Bread -
• Gluten Free Banana Bread
• Pumpkin Walnut Bread
• Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Now, some of you have likely already conquered your inner bread baker. Congrats! That means that you get a little bit of a break this week as we ease ourselves into bread making. Perhaps you would like to get ahead a little and start tackling some of the resources that our blog partners have available for you to discover. A little later this week we will begin discussing the nutrient differences in already milled flours versus fresh milled flour, the different types of whole grains that can make up bread grains (and how not to pull your hair out in confusion), we will talk about gluten-free breads, and we will dabble a bit in sprouting and soaking and all that jazz. It is an action-packed month!

Some other resources you might enjoy. (Just be careful not to overwhelm yourself with information. Be comfortable in knowing where you are at and moving up 1 level for right now. You will experience more confidence and more sustained learning in doing so. When you are confident at that level you can begin learning and start moving to the next).

• Is Your Flour Wet? Soaked, Sprouted and Soured guide from Kitchen Stewardship
• Sourdough A to Z eCourse from GNOWFLINS

February Week 1 Action Item:

February Get Real:

Please take a moment to thank our guest authors and sponsors by clicking over to their sites and/or liking them on Facebook and/or Twitter.

Yes, I know that I don’t need to dress to impress but let’s face it, it will be nice to get out of my missing knee jeans, bacon stained t-shirts and crocs for a few days. And I would really like to feel confident and stylish when I do so.

Thankfully, Lands’ End has seen fit to be my style savior for this particular event by sponsoring me to the event (EEEK! So excited). And I would like to make them proud to have clothed me for the event. And well, have I mentioned that my fashion sense is a bit lacking? Okay, but it bears repeating!

So here is where YOU come in! Want to pick what I should wear to the conference? Come on you know you want to! Please! Lands’ End is providing the duds so I enlisted my good friend Amy to assist with the pairing of ensembles. She has done an amazing job putting some Lands’ End outfits together on Polyvore and we have posted those to a Lands’ End Blissdom Conference Wear Board on Pinterest. Here is what I would LOVE for you to do:

1. Go to the Lands’ End Blissdom Conference Wear Board on Pinterest. (Not on Pinterest? Send me an email that you need an invite and I will send you one).

2. Like up to 3 day wear outfits, 1 evening outfit, and 1 girls night in outfit that you think I would look good in. And feel free to leave comments as well.

3. If you are super creative and are already on Polyvore, feel free to throw together an ensemble and send me an email with the link and I will pin it to the Pinterest board for others to vote on.

That’s it. Early next week I will take a look at your favorites and make my final selections. I will report to you what seems to be the most popular and then when I am at the conference I will chronicle my fashion while at the conference. It will be like you are right there with me! And who knows, maybe I will feel generous with some Lands’ End gift cards and share the love with some randomly selected participants.

Sound fun? I hope so! I really do need your help!

In case you need to know a few of my “vital” statistics when it comes to fashion, here they are:

• I am about 5 foot 1.5 inches and petites are usually a must in most things.
• I’ve got the standard “mommy middle”.
• My favorite colors to wear outside black, brown and grey are dark green and salmon.
• I will wear heals but you will most often find me in flats or a slight heal.
• Anything else you need to know?

Disclosure: Lands’ End is compensating me for my attendance at Blissdom and is providing me with some of their clothing line to review; however, this idea for involving YOU and PINTEREST  is totally my own! I hope you enjoy it. All the opinions in this post are mine, want to know more about how I facilitate reviews, view my full disclosure policy!

Sunday is our normal posting day for Get Real but since we have started on a new month I wanted to give you a little update and to let you know where we are at thus far and where we are headed for the next month. We continue this week with recapping our January journey. If you haven’t done so, please do. Also, you pledged in January you will be receiving an email with information on re-pledging (no worries, you don’t have to fill in all the same info again) for February. We are taking this series seriously and are helping you to keep track of where you have been and where you are going.

Also, we want to thank our guest blogger for January, Lisa Leake of 100 Days of Real Food for teaching us and encouraging us to create new pantries focused on Real Food. We also would like to thank our sponsor, Ziplist for helping to make those pantry lists and new grocery lists easier with their application. We LOVE Ziplist. And you didn’t think I forgot about the $200 grocery gift card giveaway to a pledged member did you?!

The winner of a $200 Grocery Gift Card courtesy of Ziplist is Dana Stoerkel (Pledge #296)

3,533 pledged participants in January!

As for February, as we embark on our journey through grains we have some wonderful leaders. First off, we have Jo-Lynne of Musings of a Housewife who has been a whole foodie for some time. She is going to walk us through some simple ways you can get started baking your own breads. She is wonderfully down to earth and one of the most approachable bloggers I have ever met so I know that you are just going to love having her along for this leg of the journey. And if bread making scares you, I am SURE that she can  help you face your fears.

We also have Bread Becker’s as our company sponsor and they will be introducing more to the idea of milling your own grains to prepare breads. This might be for those that have tackled their fear of breads so don’t worry too much if you aren’t quite to this point yet. However, Bread Becker’s has some eye opening information about grains that I am sure that you will both enjoy and find fascinating. They also have a wealth of resources available on their site including training videos which is the main reason that they are our sponsor for this month. You will undoubtedly feel more confident about baking breads having watched some of their classes.

And did I mention that Bread Becker’s is going to be giving away a grain mill or a mixer (winner’s choice) to a pledged February participant? Make sure that you get pledged (and yes, you have to renew your commitment this month) for February. (It is a just a few short questions for returning pledges).

So let’s roll into February with a commitment to get our hands doughy and our counters floured as we dig deeper into Grains/Breads.

For a detailed explanation of what is meant by “diet” we have a post explaining what we mean. If you are new and not sure how to get started we have a wonderful series starting with 5 easy steps to get you on your way to once a month cooking. Good luck!

Menu

• Below is a linked list of items we have hand selected for this menu. The links below are to the original recipe. We include these so that you can get a look at what you might be preparing and to give these wonderful blog authors some traffic (they work hard to create great recipes). However, to see our freezer cooking adaptions and to alter the servings to meet the needs of your family you will need to VIEW and PRINT the printable Diet February 2012 Recipe Cards.
• The Diet menu is designed for you to enter the NUMBER OF PEOPLE you are cooking for. The menu will yield you approximately 6-10 breakfasts, 8 lunches and 16 dinners. Throughout the month you will be eating each entree 2 times. No, this is not enough to feed you for every meal, but it should be enough to get you most of the way, after all, we still do eat out or eat with friends on occasion. If you are willing to eat the same meals up to 4 times each month (lunches and dinners) you can double the number of people that you are cooking for and you will get the quantities needed for each. For more details and examples please see the printable Diet February 2012 Recipe Cards first page, instructions.
• Having trouble using the Recipe Cards or YELLOW BOX? See this post!

Breakfasts

• Carrot Cake Muffins
• Pink Grapefruit Smoothie
• Healthy Breakfast Hash

Lunches

• Chicken Bruschetta Quesadilla
• Waldorf Chicken Salad
• Mini Turkey Meatloaves
• Spring Tuna Wraps

Dinners

• Creamy Italian Beef Casserole
• Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili
• Mojo Pork Roast
• Thai Basil Turkey Meatballs
• White Lasagna
• Loaded Baked Potato Soup
• Crockpot Hamburger Casserole
• Stovetop Chicken Fajitas

• Printable Diet February 2012 Recipe Cards

**Indicates meals that require NO COOKING on your OAMC BIG DAY aka “throw and go” meals, perfect for the family who needs to adjust to just do the quick meals!

Grocery List

• Included in this spreadsheet you will find a listing of all the items you will need to complete your Diet February 2012 OAMC BIG DAY by area of the grocery store. For more instructions on how to use this, go here.
• Diet February 2012 OAMM Grocery List

Instructions

• These are the step-by-step instructions you will need to quickly and efficiently approach your OAMC BIG DAY. After all, if you are going to be in the kitchen for awhile, you best make the most of your time.
• Diet February 2012 OAMM Instructions

Labels

These customized labels are designed specifically for this menu. They contain the name of the dish and serving instructions for preparing the dish on your serving day. They make preparation of the dishes hassle free and staying to your eating plan a cinch.

These labels are designed to be printed on Avery 8163 or equivalent! Readers who didn’t have labels available suggested just printing them on paper and taping them.

• Diet February 2012 Printable Labels

Pinterest:

Are you a person that likes to see the menus visually? Perhaps you should check out the February 2012 Diet Menu via Pinterest to see the yummy goodness you will be cooking up on this menu. Not sure what Pinterest is all about, check out what Once A Month Mom has to say about it.

Facebook Fan Party:

OAMM Facebook Fan Page Party – Month February 12th 2012, 9:00 pm – 9:30 pm EST – We will be able to chat via video AND messaging during the event through FACEBOOK! How cool is that? We will be talking about the current month’s menus, answer your burning questions about freezer cooking and have fun getting to know one another. You can also see other past recordings from that tab as well. This is a great way to meet fellow Once A Month Mom’s or get your questions answered as you get started.

Instructions for viewing live-stream:

• Go to the Once A Month Mom Facebook Fan Page.
• Click on the “FB Fan Night” Tab on the left side margin.
• Hit “view live recording” – If I am live streaming it will show you what is happening in progress. If I am not live streaming at the time, you will have the option to click through other videos that I have recorded in the past.
• Enjoy!

Test Cooks

Each month we have some wonderful volunteers who “test” out the menu prior to publication. They do an amazing job of helping to eliminate confusion and mistakes. They may not catch everything but they sure do catch A LOT! If you are interested in test cook, feel free to volunteer. Here is a little bit about this month’s test cooks:

• Katherine Lansden – Katy’s Easy Kitchen
  
• Katherine Rodman – As a grandmother and teacher at a local state college, my time is full. I love having my freezer full so I can spend time on family, freely serve last-minute needs of families in my community, and still have time to read or do art work and yard work.

Get Started

Are you new to Once A Month Mom or once a month cooking (oamc) in general? If so, you might want to spend a few minutes (or hours) on the Get Started Series. If you are in a real hurry to catch on we have written some simple steps for getting started. Welcome!

If you are feeling abundantly blessed and generous feel free to donate. And don’t forget you can always go back and use February 2011′s menu if you are looking for something different!

• Included in this spreadsheet you will find a listing of all the items you will need to complete your Diet February 2012 Once A Month (OAMC) Mom BIG DAY. You can make a copy of this list and customize it for yourself and your family or use it as is.
• Printable Diet February 2012 Grocery List

Having trouble using the Grocery List or YELLOW BOX? See this post!

Google Document of Instructions – DIET February 2011 OAMM Menu

Instructions

Day of:

Designed to be printed on Avery 8163 or equivalent! Readers who didn’t have labels available suggested just printing them on paper and taping them.

Sample Label

These labels are PERFECT for counting calories, nutritional intake or Weight Watchers Points! Just place the label on your items BEFORE you freeze them. Then on your serving day, reheat according to the directions and easily keep track of your nutritional intake.

The labels come two per recipe to a sheet with five recipes on each sheet. If you are only cooking for 1-4 people you will need 1 copy. For every 4 people you will need a second set of labels. For example if you are adjusting your recipe cards to 6 people you will need 2 sets of labels. If you need extra labels for some reason print out a set of the blanks to use. Make sense? I hope so! Enjoy

• Diet February 2012 Labels 1
• Diet February 2012 Labels 2
• Blank Labels

This round it was time to review the Mazda 5. Honestly, after reviewing the Odyssey and the Sienna I was highly skeptical about my enjoyment level of this vehicle. It is smaller, doesn’t have all the nooks and crannies for all the junk equipment that I need for the kids and doesn’t ride as high. (I’m short so I have a short vehicle complex too). So I reluctantly took it for a spin on Black Friday to give it its first full test.

My thinking in taking it for Black Friday was that it had lots of trunk room, similar to the van; but was zippier than the van meaning that I could slid in and out of parking spots and the traffic madness that is Black Friday with less effort. I was also hauling a couple other adults and the sliding back doors seemed like a plus in that department too. Turns out, it was the best decision I could have made!

Mazda5 Cargo Room - Black Friday extraordinaire!

The vehicle, despite being the size of a car, not a van, handled beautifully. I loved that I could zip in and out of parking spots and run errands in a way that I couldn’t with the van. I also didn’t feel like I was just a little ole car like I thought I would coming from the mini van that I usually drive. And the cargo space? Well, see for yourself. We fit two bicycles, not yet assembled and a myriad of other purchases in the trunk without making the seating uncomfortable.

I absolutely LOVED the third row seat! It wouldn’t be the most comfortable for a long trip but the main reason we purchased a van with only 2 children was that we could never transport others’. That problem is solved in the Mazda 5. And it has the cool sliding back doors just like a mini van!

After my positive experience on Black Friday I drove it absolutely everywhere for the week. It even snowed that week and I had no apprehensions about taking it out and about. Again, it handled very well.

And if you don’t believe me, how about this for a true story? While we had the vehicle we had some friends inquire about it as an option they were considering for their next vehicle purchase. So we did the decent thing and invited them over for dinner and to go for a ride in it so that they could see what it was like without the influence of a sales person. After all, I’m not making commission if Mazda sells a vehicle! Turns out that they loved it as much as we did and went and purchased one around the holidays. Nice. And you are welcome Mazda!

So if you can’t tell, I highly recommend this vehicle if you are in the market for one of this size for your family. (The price tag is reasonable too). I have it at the top of our list of vehicles to replace our current sedan and that says A LOT as I am usually very loyal to my friends at Honda and Toyota.

Disclosure: I received a vehicle with gas included to test drive for the week to conduct this review. All the opinions in this post are mine, want to know more about how I facilitate reviews, view my full disclosure policy!

If you missed out but wanted to join, you are in luck, we recorded it! Here are some items that we covered so you can gauge whether you want to watch or not.

• New Once A Month Mom Features – Mini Menus & Get Real
• January grocery sales trends and in season produce
• Getting started with freezer cooking questions.
• The Plan a Fabulous Party {without losing your mind} ebook from Giving Up on Perfect and a 50% discount code!

Nothing says “comfort” to me more in the winter months than a slow cooker creating tantalizing fragrances as it warms up a pot roast for dinner. Not that you can call 50 degrees in January in Ohio Winter. Not that I am complaining. In fact, I would be incredibly thrilled if it weren’t for my sinuses being so stubborn about not liking this weather. I digress.

Rosemary Pot Roast . . .the night I made this dish I stuck bread to baking in the bread machine and when my husband came home he practically salivated upon entering the house. And it was as pleasing to the taste buds as it was to the olfactory senses. And considering it took me all of 10 minutes to prepare and set in the slow cooker, I would have to say that it was a huge success.

Rosemary Pot Roast

Author/Source:

Give Every Night New Flavor (coupons available through 1/31/2012)

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, cubed
• 3 small baking potatoes, cut into 1.5 inch pieces
• 1 large onion, cut into 1.5 inch pieces
• 14.5 ounces Hunt’s Diced Tomatoes with Rosemary & Oregano, undrained
• 10.75 ounces condensed reduced fat and sodium cream of mushroom soup
• 0.5 cups water
• 2 Tablespoons Hunt’s Tomato Paste
• 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
• 0.5 teaspoons salt

Directions:

Spray inside of 4 to 5-quart slow cooker with cooking spray; set aside. Trim excess fat from beef; discard. Cut beef into 1-1/2-inch pieces; set aside. Combine potatoes and onion in slow cooker. Top with beef and remaining ingredients. Cook on HIGH 5 hours or on LOW 10 hours or until beef is tender.

Freezing Directions:

To freeze, assemble all ingredients in a gallon freezer bag making sure that the potatoes are on the bottom and covered with water to prevent browning. Freeze. To serve: Thaw. Place in the slow cooker. Cook on HIGH 5 hours or on LOW 10 hours or until beef is tender.

Servings: 6

Disclosure: I received compensation, Kroger promotional items and ConAgra products from ConAgra Foods to conduct create this recipe. All the opinions in this post are mine, want to know more about how I facilitate reviews, view my full disclosure policy!

This Post will be linked at:

• No Whine Wednesdays at Food on the Table
• What’s on the Menu Wednesday at Dining with Debbie
• Recipes I Can’t Wait to Try at At Home with Haley
• What’s On Your Plate at Good Cheap Eats
• What’s Cooking Wednesday at Turning the Clock Back

There is nothing my husband enjoys more than a Mexican dish. The closer it is to tacos, the better the dish! So when I saw this quick and easy meal from Kroger and ConAgra foods I knew it was going to be a winner with our household. What I also loved about it is that it had enough substance to be filling but no meat! Let’s hear it for inexpensive meatless dishes!

I had this ready, mixed and on the table in under 45 minutes. Fantastic! And this recipe is also easily freezable as well. I made mine in 2 8×8′s with the intention of sharing with a friend in need very soon.

You can also win a prize package worth $50 complete with Kroger and ConAgra food products. The prize package includes:

• $25 Kroger gift card
• Recipe Cards
• A Variety of ConAgra products

See below recipe for ways to enter to win!

Bean Enchilada Casserole

Author/Source:

Give Every Night New Flavor

Ingredients:

• 10 ounces red enchilada sauce
• 12 ounces frozen whole kernel corn
• 16 ounces Rosarita No Fat Traditional Refried Beans (coupons available through 1/31/2012)
• 12 soft corn tortillas (6 inch)
• 15 ounces black beans, drained, rinsed
• 14.5 ounces Hunt’s Petite Diced Tomatoes, undrained
• 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 13×9-inch baking dish (or 2 8×8-inch) with cooking spray. Spread half of enchilada sauce in bottom of dish. Cook corn in microwave according to package directions, using minimum cook time. Spread about half of refried beans on 6 tortillas. Place tortillas, bean-side up, over sauce in dish, overlapping to fit. Stir together remaining enchilada sauce, corn, black beans and undrained tomatoes in large bowl. Spread half of corn mixture over tortillas in dish. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Repeat layering with remaining refried beans and tortillas, corn mixture and remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake 35 minutes or until hot in center and bubbly around edges. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting into 8 pieces.

Freezing Directions:

Prepare according to directions above except do not preheat oven and do not bake. Instead, once assembled, cover with foil and freeze. To serve: Thaw. Bake 35 minutes at 350 degrees or until hot in center and bubbly around edges. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting into 8 pieces.

Servings: 8

Here is how you enter to win:

1. Leave a Comment telling me which recipe from Give Every Night New Flavor looks like one your family would love.

Additional ways to enter:

2. Tweet this contest – use @onceamonthmom & #KrogerRecipes. (Maybe something like: Win some groceries and make life easier w/great recipes from #KrogerRecipes & @onceamonthmom – http://bit.ly/yE0bcQ) And don’t forget to leave a comment below stating you have done so.

3. Subscribe to the Once A Month Mom blog via RSS or email. Let me know that you have done so. Of course, if you are already subscriber make sure you leave that too.

4. Follow @ConAgraFoods on twitter. Leave a separate comment stating you have done so.

This giveaway ends Saturday, January 14 at NOON (EST).

Disclosure: I received compensation, Kroger promotional items and ConAgra products from ConAgra Foods to conduct create this recipe. All the opinions in this post are mine, want to know more about how I facilitate reviews, view my full disclosure policy!

This Post will be linked at:

• No Whine Wednesdays at Food on the Table
• What’s on the Menu Wednesday at Dining with Debbie
• Recipes I Can’t Wait to Try at At Home with Haley
• What’s On Your Plate at Good Cheap Eats
• What’s Cooking Wednesday at Turning the Clock Back

The good in that is that I have added a tremendous team of individuals, and now friends, to Once A Month Mom making it a fun and exciting place to spend my time. Which brings me to the purpose of this post. We are *sort of* in a growth spurt again. Sort of.

There are various times of the year when I really feel like we need to add to our staff. We also are always on the lookout for great readers/writers who have an interest in joining our team. And occasionally, life happens and we need to replace a writer. So we come to you, because the best Once A Month Mom contributing writers are readers themselves!

If you have ever been interested in working on a blog that you didn’t have to do all the start-up work for, you like creating menus and you like interacting with a team of adults, we would love to learn more about you. We have some immediate needs on the staff as well as some more long-range needs as well. So no matter your interest level, let us know. Here is how this works:

• Email us and we will respond to you with details of writing position(s) as well as an application.
• Read over the details and fill out the application, if still interested.
• Wait for an update from us in early January 2012 as to whether or not we have a need in your interest area or whether we are waiting until later in the year.

It is just that easy! We hope that you will consider joining us and no matter what, look forward to getting to know you in the new year.

I know, I know, I am posting this just days before Christmas arrives. You already have presents to wrap, holiday dinner to bake, more shopping to do AND your in-laws just arrived. I’m sorry. We just came up with this new tradition late last week and only got around to implementing it this week. The good news is if you want to do it you likely have all of the ingredients in your kitchen.

Tessa rolling her dough diligently.

See Tessa, my precocious 2 year old, is in love with every dog she has ever come in contact with. Isaac has always loved animals but Tessa loves them in a whole different way, especially dogs. Next door to us live two small pups who have become her fast friends. Every time they go to the potty they look over to see if our children are out and about. Any sign of my little ones and those dogs come running with their eager tongues. My children react much the same. If those dogs are anywhere around when we are trying to leave the house you better not even try and put them in the car before they have had time to do some petting. Especially Tessa.

Now add in the fact that I have been racking my brain trying to come up with some things my kids could make (without driving me insane) for others and to really learn the gift of giving. After all, that isn’t an easy concept to teach to a 2 and 3 year old that are always anxiously awaiting their own gifts. So when the idea to make dog biscuits for all our furry friends crossed my mind I just knew it was the activity/gift giving experience I was looking for. So we set to work.

We chose bone, christmas tree, candy can and round shapes for our biscuits.

I found a recipe I wanted to tweak, they each got their own mixing bowls, and we set to making two batches. (We are friends with about 8 dogs, family included, by my count). Tessa LOVES to eat dough these days so having a recipe that I wouldn’t mind her getting in her mouth was important. And we have had our fill of human cookies so I loved the fact that this wasn’t something they would want to eat.

The kids had so much fun mixing the dough, rolling the dough and using their cookie cutters to make “dog cookies”. We talked about the dogs we were making these for and they were so excited along the way. And yes, Tessa ate some of the dough along the way.

After they were done and cooled Isaac helped me wrap them by cutting the ribbon and helping me place them in their bags. We are so excited to deliver these to our furry friends this weekend! I can’t wait to see their faces as the dogs eat their “cookies”. And I am hopeful that this experience will help them to understand a little more about the spirit of giving, without causing me to lose my mind.

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

Author/Source:

Tricia @ Onceamonthmom.com

Ingredients:

• 1.25 cups flour
• .50 cups oats
• .5o Tablespoon baking powder
• .50 cup creamy organic peanut butter
• .50 cups milk
• 2 Tablespoons applesauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium to large bowl mix all of the dry ingredients. Next, add all of the wet ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Place the “dough” onto a piece of wax paper (or parchment paper) and then add another sheet on top. Roll the dough out so that it is about a half inch thick. Remove the top layer of wax paper and using cooking cutters cut shapes. Using a spatula to help them hold shape, remove your shapes to a cookie sheet for baking. Continue reforming and rolling the dough until it is all used. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool and serve (or wrap).

Freezing Directions:

You can freeze the shapes or dough prior to baking or you can continue to bake and once cool, place them in a gallon freezer bag to freeze. To serve: Thaw cooked “cookies” or defrost dough and follow baking directions above.

Servings: ~12 biscuits

What do you do when some of your closest friends aren’t within driving distance of your home? Does it mean that you can’t have a girls night out? Does it mean no holiday celebrating? It shouldn’t!

In this day and age we have so many technologies at our fingertips that carrying on a Girls Night In is completely feasible. As we approached this holiday season I knew that I wanted to have a Girls Night In with the seven ladies I spend the most time with online each and every day, Once A Month Mom contributing writers. The real question was how and what?

After much deliberation I settled on a theme, the date and the party needs. All of which YOU can easily pull off with your friends as well! And I highly encourage you to do so, especially if some of your dearest friends are worlds away.

Here is what we did:

• We set a date – I checked with everyone to see when the most people would be available and accessible online.
• The setting – we are used Skype as I have an account where we can video conference all at the same time. Skype has a pay as you go plan as well so you could do this with your friends. You could also use free services like Google Groups that allows you to do this at no cost. Everyone needed a webcam but that wasn’t a problem, as all my participants do.
• The food – I had been racking my brain to think of something fun we could do together and still eat, because every good party includes food, right? I was surprising my party goers with the food so I couldn’t tell them ahead of time. So I had some Once A Month Mom mugs made, researched a cake in a mug recipe, and set about acquiring the ingredients to pack in a box (details coming VERY SOON).
• If your participants know they are participating then you could decide on food you want to have at the party and purchase the ingredients prior to the party. There are so many ideas with this. You could even all think of a recipe and send the ingredients to the other members for making that food. It would be so much fun!
• The party – we made our  cakes in a mug and had a decorating contest, we played games virtually just as we would have had we been in person. We played Christmas music, wore tacky sweaters, hats and more. And generally, had a great time!

So just because you don’t live in the same city as your besties doesn’t mean that you can’t have a good time! Sometimes the best nights are the nights spend IN having as much fun as you would have OUT!

Remember to check out Duncan Hines’ website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

Disclosure: I received compensation to write this post. All the opinions in this post are mine, want to know more about how I facilitate reviews, view my full disclosure policy!

I am NOT a baker. My sister inherited that gene. I try my best but I simply have a difficult time. And this brilliant new cookie recipe was attempted twice before I threw in the towel and went for Pam’s Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe to which I knew I had all the ingredients on hand.

But let’s not fault the mixer for my lack of baking skills. And let’s not be fooled, not even an amazing mixer can save someone with an affinity for making cookies into pancakes. No matter how much it costs! But the mixer IS amazing.

This is a new model put out by KitchenAid. I believe it to be the perfect size for once a month cooking. In addition to making cookies I have made a double batch of pizza dough with this mixer with ease. And have you seen that pizza dough recipe? Over 12 cups of flour for a double batch? That has to be a powerful mixer! And the color, Cinnamon Gloss? It is absolutely, positively gorgeous. Put a big bow on it and it is ready to be under the tree.

My husband also decided to take this moment to do a photo session of the kids cooking with me. They had a blast. And as you can see, Tessa was our quality control staff member. Clearly the chocolate in use passed the test. Now I just need to teach her fractions so that she can help me not over measure ingredients.

I am not a crafty person, I clearly am not a decent baker either. But freezer meals? That is MY domain. Gifting meals can be a bit tricky but can be wonderful none the less. Don’t underestimate the gift of making a busy family a home cooked meal. And let’s not forget pregnant moms, moms with a new baby, someone who just had surgery or an older couple (singleton) who find it difficult to navigate the kitchen these days. These are among the many that REALLY appreciate this gift you have of making freezer meals. It is great to have meals ready for an emergency that occurs in a family. No running to the store for ingredients, I only have to go as far as the freezer. It is such a relief to a family experiencing a crises.

I always feel like my meals need a little dressing up so I recently did just that to my meals. To the casseroles I punched holes in the sides (recommended to do BEFORE you freeze the meal) and then when the meal was frozen and ready to go with a friend, I threaded it with some ribbon and tied bows around it. I also sent preparation cards and labels with each of the meals (not pictured) so that there was no guesswork on their part what to do with the meal.

If you are making meals in gallon ziploc bags or plastic containers there are almost always holiday themed ones that you can use. Or if you would like, set the kids to adding festive stickers or messages to the bags/containers, on the outside, before you freeze them and add a personal touch. Then the whole family can get it on the activities.

After you have decided that you will gift a meal and to whom, the next question is what to gift. Here are some of my favorite meal combinations to have on hand for friends and family during the holiday season and just about any time.

Traditional Meals:

• Salad, Oven Country Steak, Freezer Mashed Potatoes, Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Salad, Chicken Parmigiana, Vegetable, Garlic Butter Knots, Oatmeal Apple Pie Bars

Whole Foods Meals:

• Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Oven Potato Fries, Refrigerator Rolls,  World’s Greatest Cookies

Diet Meals:

• Salad, Lightened Up Crispy Cheddar Chicken, Skinny Monkey Cookies

Gluten Free Dairy Free Meals:

• Salad, Gluten Free Dairy Free Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chili, Gluten Free Dairy Free Brownie Mix

Vegetarian Meals:

• Salad, Chickpea Pot Pie, Spooky Apple Pizza

Don’t forget that we are throwing you a Virtual Christmas Party this coming Sunday evening December 11th at 9pm Eastern Standard Time! We will be LIVE broadcasting some holiday cheer as we talk about preparing for the holidays, great recipes and freezer cooking. Oh, and I mentioned that we were giving away presents too, didn’t I? Well we ARE so don’t miss out! Here is what you need to know and what you should “bring” to the party.

What to “Bring”:

• A link(s) to your favorite holiday recipes: cookies, drinks, appetizers, side dishes, main dishes, and desserts.
• Yourself dressed in your favorite holiday attire: hats, scarves, sweaters, earrings, whatever you would like.
• A beverage of choice: cocoa, apple cider, egg nog, coffee, or ?

What to DO before then. . .

• RSVP on the Facebook Page (not sure if you are coming yet, hit “maybe”).
• Enter the Show Us Your Cookies contest with ANY picture with cookies in it.
• On the night of the party, follow these directions for joining us!
• Go to the Once A Month Mom Facebook Fan Page.
• Click on the “FB Fan Night” Tab on the left.
• Hit “view live recording” – If I am live streaming it will show you what is happening in progress. If I am not live streaming at the time, you will have the option to click through other videos that I have recorded in the past.
• Enjoy!

What we are giving away. . .

• $100 Cheryl’s Cookie Gift Basket
• 3 copies of Smart Sweets from Kitchen Stewardship
• Once A Month Mom ebooks
• and more. . .

See you then!

Get Started Basic Steps

1.  Pick which Menu BEST suits you. Here are links to explain a little more about each one.
• Traditional
• Diet
• Whole Foods
• Vegetarian
• Gluten Free Dairy Free
• Baby Toddler Food
2. Pick the month you want to cook.
• New menus come out  the 1st of every month. If you cook that month’s menu you will get a menu that is based on that months sale items and seasonal produce. You most certainly could choose another month if you would like though.
• Menus are built for you to purchase your grocery items throughout the month and then cook at the end of the month and eat the meals the following month for maximum savings. You can just purchase all at once though. Whatever works best for you.
3. Print Your Documents
• Grocery List
• Instructions
• Recipe Cards
• Labels
4. Shop
5. Cook

Time Commitment

Each type of menu and each monthly menu varies in the time it takes to do from start to finish. In addition, your efficiency and quickness in preparation, cooking and clean up is also variable. However, we usually estimate the following as average times needed.

• Shopping – 2-3 hours in total
• Night Before Preparation (Chopping, etc) – 1-2 hours
• Cooking the Day of – 6-12 hours

Cost

The cost is also variable. Factors for this menu include region of the country, access to sale goods, produce crops, and use of coupons. It also varies by size of family. For a family of 4 for *most* of our menus you can expect to pay somewhere between $150-$300 for all the ingredients for all of the meals. It usually averages between$2.50-$6.00 an entree for 4 servings.

Additional Resources

We have outlined a TON of resources for you this month. As I mentioned earlier it can take you hours to look through everything. We highly recommend any and all of these posts but thought we would outline all of them throughout the series here. Hopefully you will find one or more of them useful to you.

Testimonies – How OAMM contributing writers do oamc cooking

• Tricia – OAMM Extraordinaire
• Pam – Traditional Menu
• Kelly – Whole Foods Menu
• Kristi – Vegetarian Menu
• Angela – Gluten Free Dairy Free Menu
• Jimmie – Diet Menu
• Melissa – Baby & Toddler Food Menu
• Lisa – Floater

General Resources

• Saving and printing google documents
• Basic equipment to have on hand
• Extra equipment to have on hand
• Basic equipment for making baby food
• How to make smaller mini-menus
• First foods for baby
• The life of a Once A Month Mom menu
• How to use a Foodsaver for freezing
• What to do with kids during oamc
• How to do a group meal swap

Shopping/Budgeting Resources

• Saving money on your once a month cooking
• Budgeting for once a month cooking
• Stocking your pantry list
• How to use Ziplist
• How to use Ziplist to create a custom grocery list for a menu you create
• Shopping for oamc when on food assistance

Food Preparation and Storage Resources

• What you CAN and CANNOT freeze
• Freezer containers
• Freezer inventories
• Making your own baby food
• How to freeze and store baby food
• How long do meals last?
• How to thaw frozen meals

Adjusting to Space Issues

• OAMC in a small kitchen
• OAMC in a medium or large kitchen
• OAMC with an apartment freezer
• OAMC with a side-by-side freezer

Please tell me that your December is as action packed as mine! Cooking? HA! If it isn’t in the freezer ready to go, it isn’t happening. Between the cookie baking and holiday gatherings with friends and families I not only have little time to cook, we are barely around enough to eat that which I have cooked. This week we are relying heavily on the slow cooker and the freezer for meals but we have a ton of holiday celebrating that is beginning so we will be eating away from home quite a bit too.

Speaking of celebrating, we are celebrating here at Once A Month Mom with a “Show Us Your Cookies” Virtual Christmas Party! Please join us this Sunday, December 11th at 9:00 pm as we have some festive fun and pass around some cookies. It is a great time to get all of your holiday cooking questions answered and to get ideas for meals you can store in your freezer ahead of the family arriving.

**Also note that we are starting our Chillin’ for the Holidays series which includes holiday cookies all week long this week, a Show Us Your Cookies Photo Contest and RSVP for the Once A Month Mom “Show Us Your Cookies” Virtual Christmas Party!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday -

• Toddler Lunch – Toddler Pizza Cups, carrot sticks, applesauce
• Dinner - OAMM’s Favorite Pot Roast

Toddlerific Snack Cups

Tuesday -

• Toddler Lunch – Fish Sticks, California Vegetable Blend, Blueberries
• Dinner – leftovers

Wednesday -

• Toddler Lunch – PB&J, whatever else we can find
• Dinner – Slow Cooker Cheese and Broccoli Soup, Bread Bowls

Thursday -

• Toddler Lunch – Mac & Cheese, broccoli, bananas
• Dinner – Out to dinner at one of our favorite places, Melting Pot!

Friday -

• Toddler Lunch – Chicken Nuggets, cheese crackers, corn
• Dinner – Carry In Dinner and I haven’t decided yet what I am carrying.

Saturday – Lunch – leftovers/sandwiches

Dinner – Cashew Chicken, Rice, Egg Rolls

Sunday – Lunch – House Church – something with a hole – any ideas on what I should take?

Dinner – Pesto Chicken Shells with homemade pizza dough breadsticks

For more great Menu Plan Monday menu planning ideas visit orgjunkie.com!

We will still be bringing you daily content though, don’t worry. Read more about what is in store this month if you have missed those posts.

Also, if you are planning on doing some freezer cooking this month these past menus might come in handy and are still seasonal or relatively seasonal:

• Traditional Menu – December 2010, December 2009
• Diet Menu – January 2010
• Once A Month Mom Holiday eCookbook
• Create Your Own Menu Series

Now she has come out with an AMAZING ebook dedicated to impressing God’s Word into your Christmas season. Truth in the Tinsel is an advent experience for you to craft with your children each day of the month leading up to Christmas Day. It is an amazing guide with wonderful crafts to do with your children.

It is laid out in such a way that you can simply print the supply list, gather the materials you need and begin teaching your children. The crafts are simple but super cute and the message is one that is too widely missed during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

I have my list printed out, my materials gathered and I am anxiously awaiting December 1st to start the crafts with my 3 year old son and 2 year old daughter. We are taking a preschool homeschooling break so this is perfect for that season as well.

Truth in the Tinsel also has a Facebook Fan Page where purchasers are sharing their ideas and their experience along the way. Join in or simply stop by to get ideas for implementing the ebook in your family.

The ebook is reasonably priced at $4.99 but until midnight tonight (11/29/11 midnight) you can get it for 20% off when you use the code: ONCEAMONTHMOM.

Here are some other details about the ebook that you might find beneficial:

• Truth in the Tinsel Website
• Truth in the Tinsel Facebook Fan Page
• Truth in the Tinsel Frequently Asked Questions

Survive Before 5: Toddler Meals for Your Busy Days

This Once A Month Mom eCookbook is going on sale like it has never been on sale before! The originally $7.99 eCookbook is going to be on sale at the following times at the indicated prices when you use the indicated discount code:

All times indicated are EASTERN STANDARD TIME – NO CODES NEEDED, prices will be adjusted automatically:

• $1.00 – 1 hour (9:30 am – 10:30 am)
• $2.00 – 2 hours (10:31 am – 12:30 pm)
• $3.00 – 3 hours (12:31 pm – 3:30 pm)
• $4.00 – 4 hours (3:31 pm – 7:30 pm)
• 7:31 pm to INDEFINITELY – a NEW price point of $4.99
  

Grocery University

This tutorial on how to grocery shop while saving money can save you EVEN MORE MONEY than your once a month cooking does. Carrie’s videos and guides make grocery shopping easy. And when the product is discounted this much (only happens 2x a year) you can’t help but purchase it. After all, you can most likely recover the cost in just one grocery store visit!

Here is the sales price (regular price $24.95) at given times breakdown. I have listed the times in EASTERN STANDARD TIME – no codes needed, prices will be adjusted automatically:

• 2 AM – 7 AM – $5
• 7 AM – 8 AM – $6
• 8 AM – 9 AM – $7
• 9 AM- 10 AM – $8
• 10 AM- the rest of Monday – $9

Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule

Normally $4.99 this guide to creating a cleaning schedule perfect for your family. For Cyber Monday it is only $3 (50% off) with code Holiday2011.

If you would like to read my full review of this ebook visit this post.

Feast in 15

A quick and easy guide to getting your dinner on the table in 15 minutes or less. Full of great recipes and helpful hints to save you time in the kitchen. Normally $4.99, through Cyber Monday it is only $1.99 when use code THANKSGIVING when checking out. Get your copy today!

Heavenly Homemakers

ALL Heavenly Homemakers ebooks are on sale through the end of the day Monday for 25% when you use the code PINKFRIDAY at check-out. The discount is on your entire order.

She has a bazillion ebooks for you to choose from. She even has gluten free and whole foods ebooks. There are some holiday packaged books as well, so look closely to see if your favorite ebooks are wrapped up in a package deal.

Chillin’ for the Holidays

Each week starting this week we will have holiday food themed weeks. All the foods will be freezer friendly; hence “Chillin’” and we will hopefully have great ways for you to link up your favorites in each category as well. So get your whisks ready, we are going to be Chillin’ for the Holidays!

Weekly Schedule:

•  Cookies
•  Do It yourself gifts
•  Appetizers/Side Dishes
• Main Dishes/Desserts

Show Us Your Cookies

November 28-December 11 – upload a picture of the holiday cookies you are making to the Facebook Fan Page. they do not have to be OAMM recipe cookies, any cookies are good. The night of the Virtual Christmas Party (see below) we will be doing something fun with those pictures!

How to Upload Photos:

• Go to the Once A Month Mom Facebook Fan Page.
• On the left side margin, click on “Show Us Your Cookies“.
• Follow the directions for entering the contest.
• Select a picture from your computer and type in a description. (For your description, if there is an internet link to the cookie recipe you used, please include it. If not, no problem. Also be sure to tell us about the cookies – who you made them with, how you made them, how many years you have been baking them, etc.)

Facebook Fan Christmas Party

We don’t have new December menus but we still want to hang out with you so we are throwing a Virtual Christmas Party to celebrate the season. Join us here for a night of merriment and discussion of once a month cooking. Be sure to upload your Christmas cookie photos and get your festive attire ready! December 11, 2011 at 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.

Despite the great number of you that do this there is no easy (or inexpensive) way to build a system so that you can do that. Without going into a HUGE explanation of why and boring you out of your mind, just understand that we are constantly exploring the options and if we ever come up with a feasible and affordable solution we will most certainly pursue it.

It seems that the greatest challenge is the grocery list. The recipe cards and grocery list are created separately so there is no way for you to simply remove recipe ingredients from the list. We know this isn’t the solution you are hoping for but we do have a few suggestions about how you can use Ziplist to create your mix and matched menu grocery lists. I think that you will find that these work fairly well and will save you time and cutting and pasting in the future.

There are 2 methods you can use but either one of them will require the Ziplist Recipe Clipper. Here is a video and instructions for first installing it.

Ziplist Recipe Clipper

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1. Go to your Ziplist account (see how to start one if you don’t have one).
2. Go to the Ziplist Recipe Clipper Page.
3. Drag the Recipe Clipper icon to your browsers toolbar.
4. Your done!

Now that you have the recipe clipper you are ready to explore the two methods we have outlined. There are pros and cons to each of these methods so make sure that you review them to figure out which is going to work best for your needs.

Method #1 – Clicking through Menu Links

Pros

• easy to use the Save Recipe button icon on Once A Month Mom.
• pictures associated with your recipe box recipes.
• very minimal cutting and pasting.

Cons

• not all websites we draw recipes from have Ziplist resulting in some cutting and pasting.
• no control of serving sizes (we adjust all of these for you on the OAMM recipe cards).

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Method #2 – Using Once A Month Mom Recipe Cards

Pros

• adjusting serving sizes to match your families needs.

Cons

• no pictures associated with recipes in your recipe box.
• A LOT of cutting and pasting, Ziplist doesn’t recognize this formatting.

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