In our recipes section we’ve been showing you how to make your own condiments.  In this post we’ll tell you reasons why you might want to follow our recipes!

Of course, we all have our favorite condiments. We keep buying the same ones because, well, they are our favorites. But how many of us skip reading the ingredients or nutrition labels. Most!  Why?  Because we are busy and we probably don’t actually want to see what’s really in there.

If we’re not happy with the ingredients we find printed on the label, does that mean we have to give up eating tartar sauce, ketchup, or mayonnaise in order to eat healthy? Perhaps not. Let’s take a look at some of the well-loved condiments found in most kitchens, and a few alternatives so we can continue to enjoy our favorite condiments without quite so much guilt:

Ketchup

This is one of those convenience foods that everyone knows is unhealthy, but everybody loves. We dip our fries, cover our hamburgers, and drown our meatloaf in ketchup. Can we choose something else? Yes. Most ketchup is made with a base of tomato paste. Thin a can of tomato paste with a little water and apple cider vinegar, mix in some sprinkles of dry mustard, cumin, cinnamon, and salt until you get the consistency and taste you like. Keep this in the refrigerator for the next time you get the urge for ketchup. Of course, you can add as much salt and sugar as you like; the object is that YOU get to decide how much. You are also eliminating the preservatives and high fructose corn syrup.

Mayonnaise

Here’s another all time favorite convenience food. If we mix it into our macaroni salads and slather it on our sandwiches, we know what we’re eating; and it’s not healthy for us. Yes, you can buy low fat varieties, but you’re still left with sugars and preservatives. How can you easily grab a substitute? With a few simple ingredients including yogurt, lemon juice, mustard, olive oil, and egg, you can create a mayonnaise that is tasty and healthier. Keep it in a sealed jar in the refrigerator and enjoy it without sabotaging your healthy diet.

Yellow Mustard

What’s a healthier alternative for yellow mustard? This is actually a trick question since yellow mustard right out of the jar or squeeze bottle is just about as healthy as you can get in a condiment. Fat free, gluten free, virtually no sugar or salt, this is one condiment you can eat in good conscience. As a matter of fact, consider switching sandwich spreads from mayonnaise to yellow mustard.

Cocktail Sauce

When the second ingredient in a packaged food is high fructose corn syrup, you know you’re off to a bad start. This condiment is supposed to be tangy, spicy, and a tiny bit sweet. You can mix together a simple sauce with ingredients you probably already have, minus the corn syrup. Just whisk together a blend of tomato paste, horseradish, and garlic. Sweeten it with a drop of molasses, and add tangy flavor with lemon juice and white vinegar. You can skip ingesting almost a quarter of a day’s allowance worth of salt, in addition to skipping all the preservatives. Keep a bottle of this in your refrigerator and you’ll never miss the additives one bit.

Tartar Sauce

This condiment is all about a nice tangy flavor. But, do you need all those calories and fat to get good taste? Even if you limit your serving to two tablespoons, depending on the brand of tartar sauce, you are ingesting around 130 calories just from fat. So, you want tangy flavor without all the fat? Try yogurt. Leave yogurt draining overnight through cheesecloth in a container in the refrigerator. To make tartar sauce, mix some relish or pickles, chopped fine, and flavorings like dried mustard, chopped parsley, salt, and pepper into the thickened yogurt. Adjust the flavorings to your liking and enjoy with your favorite grilled fish.

Taco Sauce

This is a relative newcomer in the condiment regulars, but it’s becoming more and more popular, what with people making more tacos, wraps, and huevos rancheros at home. Jarred taco sauce tends to be high in sodium, but relatively low in calories. This is a condiment that you can probably make a bit healthier, but it may not be worth the effort. However, once you get a good recipe together for taco sauce, you can tweak it a tiny bit to make great salsas as well. A simple taco sauce would include ingredients like tomato paste, vinegar, onion, green chilies, paprika, garlic, and lemon juice. Add a little sweetness if you like with a drizzle of honey.

Reaching for condiments is such a habit for most of us, we never think twice. We all have our favorites, and that’s where the problem usually starts. With a few simple recipes made from ingredients you have handy, you can create condiments just as tasty as the prepackaged kinds, only healthier, and maybe even better.

Transform Everyday Fast Meals Into Healthy Meals

The average American eats six convenience foods daily. If it is fast, edible and requires little-to-no preparation or clean-up, people will go out of their way to get to it, just to save a little time. If you are a family on-the-go, you understand the importance of convenience food. The faster, the better.

The thought of “convenience food” usually paints mental images like the ones seen in advertisements today. Cars pulling in and out of drive-thru lanes, stopping in for a quick taquito at the local gas station, or even the dreaded “quick snack” vending machines at work. The fact is, there is a healthier way to eat while still keeping the same convenient mindset. Let’s examine some of the healthiest convenience foods you can enjoy at each meal so you can stay healthy while on-the-go:

Breakfast

Many studies show breakfast to be the most important meal of the day. By skipping breakfast, your metabolism never gets up to speed and you feel like you are ten seconds behind (or more) for the rest of the day. But, breakfast is one of the most-skipped meals due to the inevitable rush to get out the door. Who’s got time to make eggs, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, hash-browns, and all those goodies? Instead, breakfast for many often consists of a processed block of dough and powdered sugar, simply because it’s more convenient. The biggest meal of the day doesn’t have to come in a greasy paper bag.

Why not start the morning off right with a breakfast burrito? Three minutes in the microwave, ding, and you are dining in style with a good amount of fiber and protein and not all the empty calories. Or, plan ahead and make pancakes or waffles and freeze them. There are hundreds of recipes from whole grain to low-carb to gluten free. Warm them up in a toaster or skillet, add peanut butter and banana slices, and you have a well rounded breakfast in just minutes.

Fruit and cereal bars are also wonderfully healthy, convenient breakfast foods. Grab a banana, an apple, and a cereal bar, and head out the door. The fruit is packaged by mother nature and ready to travel. And don’t forget a cup of milk or juice. Throw that fruit and milk in a blender and you have a delicious, healthy breakfast in a mug. If sitting down to a full course breakfast doesn’t fit with your morning’s schedule, that’s alright; you’ve got a healthy meal on the run with these few simple foods.

Lunch

In the healthy, convenience food arena, lunch is typically boring. A salad. Why not spice up your lunchtime with some instant couscous with tuna and whole wheat crackers? You get a healthy meal with protein, omega-3s, and fiber. Or, how about a bean, cheese and rice burrito? Quick to heat up and packed full of fiber and protein, it is the perfect lunch for the active adult. The fiber will keep you full and the protein will give you the energy to make it through the day.

For a bigger lunch, spring for a salad with vinaigrette dressing – hold the cheese and croutons. Your local grocery store will most likely have packaged salads in a great selection to satisfy any lunch craving. Put a couple slices of grilled chicken on top and you have a filling meal that will carry you the rest of the day.

If you prefer a light lunch, try yogurt with frozen fruit; a rich source of calcium, protein, and antioxidants. You can even mix this lunch up before you leave home, throw it in your refrigerator at work, and the fruit will thaw in the yogurt and be ready for you to enjoy at lunchtime.

Snack

It is amazing how far a handful of trail mix will go. Not only is it convenient to grab and go, but it is full of healthy foods such as nuts and dried fruits. If your snack needs a little more ‘umph,’ you can try some carrots with hummus, tabbouleh salad or even a couple stuffed grape leaves.

The idea behind your afternoon snack is to give you a little boost through the midday blahs. Choosing a snack that picks you up instead of weighing you down is the smart thing to do. You can make your own trail mix, veggie and dip, or fruit plate so you control the ingredients and the nutrients they provide. These smart snacks will help you zip through the rest of the day.

Dinner

The last meal of the day should be comforting, nutritious, and filling. While it is usually not a great idea to go to bed on a full stomach, a hearty dinner is a great way to end the day. Using a can of clear broth or stock to make soup or stew is a great choice for healthy and convenient meals. A simple soup made with mixed frozen vegetables and brown rice in a pot of broth is just as convenient as opening a can of prepared soup.

You can crank up the nutrition while keeping the convenience by adding a can of black beans to the soup. Corn gives soup or stew a great crunch while mushrooms or garbanzo beans round out the meal and add extra nutrition. In other words, you don’t have to stand over the stove for hours simmering soup for it to be delicious and nutritious; a few cans can make a meal.

There are many canned options that are now offered in low sodium, reduced fat, and no sugar varieties. The healthier choices now available have taken away the unhealthy aspect of opening up a can of something for dinner, and don’t we just love that convenience!

Convenience food does not have to mean drive-thru or gas station. Finding healthy convenience foods for families on-the-go is not a difficult task. Grabbing a simple banana is convenient; putting two cans together can be healthy if you buy the right cans. Finding the healthiest convenience foods is simple if you look around your home and read the labels before you buy.

A Guest Post by Tawra Kellam
http://www.LivingOnADime.com

A reader asks:

Got any inexpensive ideas for Easter gifts for the kids? Also, do you have any ideas that would focus on the real meaning of Easter and not just bunnies and eggs?

Easter is a great time of the year to celebrate, especially if you have the hope that comes from Jesus Christ and His resurrection. Here are some ideas for Easter gifts. Try some of them and if the creative juices start flowing, make up some of your own!

Easter Baskets:

You can find inexpensive Easter baskets at garage sales and thrift stores. I never spend more than .25 for one.

If you don’t have Easter baskets, you can also use:

• Plain wicker baskets
• Baskets spray painted an Easter color
• A cute straw hat
• A pail for the sandbox
• A bowl wrapped in tissue paper
• Paper sacks that the kids decorate. Cut out pictures from magazines or use stickers. Glue or stick them on and then paint or color around them.
• Any sort of plastic storage container. These often can be used later for storage.
• For a "family" Easter basket, set a nice plate on the table with Easter grass and goodies arranged on the plate or platter. This is great when you have older kids.

Fillers for Easter Baskets:

• Buy candy after Valentine’s Day at half price and keep to fill Easter baskets.
• Make Easter cookies in the shapes of bunnies, eggs, crosses or any other Easter shape that comes to mind and decorate.
• Popcorn Balls or Rice Krispie Treats colored in pastel colors.
• String Froot Loops onto yarn and tie to make a necklace.
• Don’t fill baskets. Instead put jelly beans and candy in plastic eggs so the kids can fill their own baskets. You can also put nickels, dimes, toy soldiers, bugs, stickers, barrettes or hair ribbons in the eggs. Hide them outside or in the house if you live in a climate where it’s usually cold on Easter.
• Make coupons for getting out of chores, staying up late one night, having a friend over for a sleep over or a special dinner that they like.
• Include like new books purchased at garage sales or thrift stores.
• Homemade slime, play dough, sidewalk chalk, bubbles or the ingredients for crystal gardens.
• Wacky crayons- Crayon pieces melted together in a muffin tin to make a "big" crayon.
• Flower seeds that the kids can grow
• Mini-stuffed animals purchased at garage sales or on clearance the year before.
• Paper dolls or coloring books. There are many available on the Internet that you can print yourself.
• For teenagers, put these items in baskets: lotions, soaps, suntan lotions, fingernail polish, movie tickets, tickets for getting out of a chore, ticket for $5 worth of car gas, clothes purchased on clearance and of course lots of candy!
• Leave a trail of jelly beans or candy kisses from their rooms to their Easter baskets.

• Easter Kisses

  Put some Hershey Kisses or chocolate chips in a plastic bag and attach the following poem:

  This cute little bunny has hopped all day
  Been delivering baskets for the holiday.
  His paws are so tired and his little nose itches.
  He left you something special-something to fill all your wishes.
  These cute little hugs and Easter kisses.

• Put 1 Pound Jelly Beans into a bag and attach this poem:

  RED is for the blood He gave.
  GREEN is for the grass He made.
  YELLOW is for the sun so bright.
  ORANGE is for the edge of night.
  BLACK is for the sins we made.
  WHITE is for the grace he gave.
  PURPLE is for His hour of sorrow.
  PINK is for our new tomorrow.
  A bag full of jelly beans colorful and sweet,
  Is a prayer, is a promise, is a special treat.

• Easter Carrot Treats

  Buy disposable plastic decorating bags and fill them with orange jellybeans or cheese balls. Then stick some green Easter grass in the top of the bag (leave some hanging out) and secure the bag with a rubber band and then ribbon so that it resembles a carrot.

Jill Cooper and Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the authors of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook. Dining On A Dime will help you save money on groceries and get out of debt, by cooking quick and simple homemade meals. For free tips & recipes visit 
http://www.LivingOnADime.com

I hope you’re having a great week!  I can’t believe Halloween is just 4 days away!  Nov. is almost here!?!  How did that happen?  Anyway, do you have any big plans?  Our little town has Trick-or-Treating Friday evening, so we’ll do that (no school Friday) and then Sunday our church has Trunk-O-Treat night.  Fun times!  Ryan is a Punk Guitar Player, Christian Brain-Man, Dane a bat, and Annika a butterfly. 

I wanted to take a minutes to share some Halloween Resources with you! 

Halloween Party Recipes Kids will Love

Halloween Fun Recipes & Party Games Ebook

I hope you have a great rest of the week, and do comment letting me know your Halloween plans! 

Christine

P.S.  If you haven’t joined us on Facebook, head over! 

Hey mommies, this resource if for you to pass off to dad!   Print it off and let him pamper you! 

http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/mother-day.pdf 

Included are simple crafts he can do with the kids, and very simple recipes he can make with the kids for your special day.  Make it easy for dad to take over and let you have a break on Sunday!  If dad isn’t around, these are fun things you can do with your kids and make it easy on yourself with some easy recipes for the day. 

From one mom to another, I wish you a very wonderful weekend!  I’m not positive what we are doing yet.  Church in the morning, then I think we may go look at camper trailers (we’re thinking of maybe getting one at some point) and maybe to a big nursery towards Chicago that some friends recommended.  I guess it is quite the place!  I’ll have to check and see if they are open on Sundays.  Do you have any fun plans?

Christine
”The Menu Mom”

Cindo de Mayo is just around the corner! (May 5th)  Do you do anything special to celebrate?  Our kids LOVE tacos, so we have a tradition of having them on Cinco de Mayo.  My husband and I have taco salad with the taco meat, refried beans, lots of lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, corn, sour cream, sweet peppers &  olives (for Matt, olives are yucky in my opinion).  Here is a free Cinco de Mayo e-book for you with some great history and recipes for the holiday. 

Enjoy!
Christine

Can you believe it’s here…the last celebration of the year? We’re upon the milestone year of 2010 – that used to just to be something we heard about in science fiction novels and movies.
 
We’re planning a fun evening at church this evening with a service and then homemade pizza, games and fun!

If you are planning on staying in tonight (Or having a couple friends over) here are some fun ideas for the whole family:

- Slumber party. You don’t have to invite people over to sleep in the living room in your PJs. Have a family slumber party. Clear space in your biggest room. Everyone can bring their sleeping bag and pillow to spend an evening in the living room. Make snacks, watch your favorite movies and watch the ball drop, somewhere, together!

- Game night. Bring out your board games, electronic games and party games for a rip roaring good time until everyone falls asleep. If you have a karaoke machine, play some musical games while you laugh at each others musical talent (or the lack thereof). Or if your family has moved into the 21st century, RockBand will do the trick.

- Light up the sky. Shoot off a few fireworks to celebrate the New Year. Of course…be safe and obey all your local laws.

- Make some crafts. It will be a night of celebration, so you can take the day to make some crafts to use later on that evening. Create noise makers. You can use plastic eggs and rice or beans. Fill the eggs and then seal them with glue. Once it dries, paint the outside with festive colors. Another idea is party hats. It’s never a party without hats. Use construction paper, streamers, markers and glue to fashion a special hat to ring in the New Year.

- Prepare a special meal. Since the family is altogether, make dinner together. Each person can contribute their favorite dish to the meal. We haven’t gotten into fondue too much at our house YET…  but I hear that is a lot of fun if you have a fondue pot! 

Other Ideas
- Host a small party. Invite guests to your home for an impromptu New Year’s Eve party.  We did this last year.  It doesn’t have to be elaborate, just call your neighbors or close friends and find out what their plans are.  If they don’t have any – invite them over.  Play some games (we like train domino’s) share some simple snacks and let the kids play & watch movies.

- Teen New Year’s Eve party. If you are not in the mood to throw a party, your teenager might be. Instead of waiting up for them to come home (and worry about them out on the roads), host the party in your home. Brainstorm with your child as to what the menu will be and how to decorate. They can give you some pointers there. If the parents want to stay, create a room with food and games for you guys.

- Movie night. This is a great idea for a group of friends or dating couples. Each person can bring a movie that they want to see. It can be of any genre or you can request holiday movies. Each person can also bring a snack for the evening. Just remember to turn to the ball dropping at midnight.

Whatever you do…have fun. You don’t need to buy a fancy dress, spend a ton on tickets and a cab ride home. Stay home, stay warm and have a great time!

C-

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!  You share good food and good times on that special day of the year, but, what happens to the food once the meal is over? Well, I’ve got 8 ideas for you and hope they’ll come in handy.

- Make soup. Soup is a very comforting and warming dish when the temperature begins to dip. Using chicken or beef broth, you can use your leftovers to make some chicken noodle soup, turkey noodle soup or even beef stew.

- Freeze them. Freezing means that you can enjoy your Christmas fare at anytime. If you use plastic storage bags, make sure that they are freezer bags and write the date of freezing on the outside. When you divide food into portion sizes then you can thaw out only what you need.

- Send guests home with food. Why keep all the bounty to yourself? Load up on reusable food containers (in festive colors) so that each guest can take home some food for later.

- Make a salad. Green salads can be so boring sometimes. Add a slice or two of turkey, beef, chicken or ham to spice it up. Leftover meats make great salad toppers.

- Breakfast additions. Omelets are fun to make. Even more fun than making them is adding different items to them to see what kind of combinations you can come up with. Use leftover Christmas dinner fare to decorate your omelet. Ham can be diced to use as an omelet add-in. Leftover vegetables can also be cut up to sprinkle inside an omelet.

- Stir Fry. Did you have steak for Christmas dinner? (That’s what we had – hubby was out BBQing in the snow!) Cut the leftovers into thin strips. With a few stir-fry vegetables you have created a new dinner meal. If stir fry is not your cup of tea, you can make lo mien, fried rice and other Asian dishes that include steak. Or if you had the traditional turkey, go wild with turkey chow mein.

- Casseroles are always a hit. Who doesn’t love a good casserole? With Christmas dinner leftovers, you can whip up a casserole for any meal. With breakfast, combine ham, veggies and shredded cheese with egg for an after Christmas treat. For lunch, use some turkey, rice, cream soup and vegetables for a midday meal. For dinner, try chicken, vegetables, noodles and cream of chicken soup for an easy all-in-one meal that takes less than an hour to cook.

- Create a pie. This is not the sweet treat but a dinner pie. Turkey or chicken and even beef can be placed inside a crust with tons of delicious veggies to make a pot pie your family will love.

I know it can be overwhelming when faced with all that leftover food, but hopefully these ideas can make sure nothing goes to waste.

C-

So let’s get to the heart of the matter here. Christmas is in 3 days (two if you celebrate on Christmas Eve!)  Do you know what you are serving for dinner? Everyone thinks of the traditional ham or turkey with all the trimmings as the must-have meal, but there are other options.

You can still have a delicious meal without slaving away all day.  Really!

Ideas:

* Don’t have a lot of guests? Try oven-roasting a whole chicken or even chicken pieces.
* Take a walk on the wild side with a crockpot recipe the family loves. Even a pot roast can be cooked with a Christmas flair by topping the roast with cranberry sauce. Yes, cook the roast with the cranberry sauce on top and sprinkle a little onion soup mix for extra flavor.
* What about a Christmas pizza? A simple idea that can get the family involved. Choose a Christmas-themed pan shape (Christmas tree, bell, etc.) and go for it.
* Our Family often has lasagna Christmas Eve.  I do it the super simple way.  No cook noodles, spaghetti sauce with hamburger added, a bit of cottage cheese, and shredded cheese – layer cook & you’re done.  
* Appetizers can be simple. A veggie or meat plate. You can even purchase these fresh items, pre-cut and arranged.
* Don’t go overboard with side dishes. If you’re making them yourself, you don’t have to have EVERYTHING. Just make bigger batches of a few vegetables and other items. They WILL satisfy a hungry crowd.
* But better than making less is getting OTHER people to make it. Enlist all your guest to bring a side dish. Unless they have a specific dish they really want to make, be bold and tell them what to bring. It’s easier for everyone involved.
* Chop vegetables, get the bird ready and do other kitchen prep the night before. Enlist the help of family members while everyone enjoys a glass of wine or a hot buttered rum…or two.
* Don’t be shy about asking for help on the big day. Your guests are perfectly capable of basting, slicing, setting and more.

The important thing is to enjoy the day. Entertaining can be fun, but if you’re running around the kitchen all day, sweating up a storm…it can lose a bit of its lustre.

LOVE this!
C-

I’m Invisible!

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response,
the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I’m on the phone
and ask to be taken to the store.
Inside I’m thinking, "Can’t you see I’m on the phone?" Obviously not;
no one can see if I’m on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the
floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can
see me at all. I’m invisible. The invisible Mom.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this?
Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I’m not a pair of hands; I’m not even a human being. I’m a
clock to ask, "What time is it?"

I’m a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?"
I’m a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the
eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude
– but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be
seen again. She’s going, she’s going, and she’s gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the
return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a
fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed
in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together
so we ll. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I
looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could
find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a hair clip and
I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling
pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped
package, and said, "I brought you this." It was a book on the great
cathedrals of Europe . I wasn’t exactly sure why she’d given it to me
until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte , with admiration for the
greatness of what you are building when no one sees."

In the days ahead I would read – no, devour – the book. And I would
discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after
which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great
cathedrals – we have no record of their names. These builders gave
their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made
great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building
was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit
the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a
tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man,
"Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that
will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it." And the workman
replied, "Because God sees."

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was
almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I
see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you
does. No act of kindness you’ve done, no sequin you’ve sewn on, no
cupcake you’ve baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over.
You are building a great cathedral, but you can’t see right now what
it will become."

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a
disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my
own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn
pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great
builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will
never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be
on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could
ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing
to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don’t want my son to tell the friend
he’s bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My Mom gets up
at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes
a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table."
That would mean I’d built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just
want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to
say to his friend, to add, "You’re gonna love it there."

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if
we’re doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world
will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that
has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.
Great Job, MOM!