Ok not exactly… let me explain.

The One Armed Cookbook is a book of yummy recipes that require no chopping. After I had my 4th baby, I was having a difficult time getting dinner on the table (gee I wonder why?!). Thankfully my sister had spotted this book and mailed it to me.

It’s only because of this book that my family ate dinner for the next few months! I love it and it’s on my must have list for all new Moms now. I recently gave a friend a copy – she’s having her first baby. I knew it would be a lifesaver for her.

We’ve all looked at (maybe purchased) cookbooks that promised “easy” recipes. Perhaps they featured recipes with fewer than 5 ingredients, maybe they were slow cooker recipes, or whatever.

But this one is different. These recipes can be made with just one hand (because your baby is in your arms – get it?). It also has a lot of tips to help you simplify meal planning with a new baby so you can actually eat healthy foods during that important postpartum period.

It wasn’t until I bought this cookbook that I discovered the joys of frozen, diced onions. I did not know that one could buy frozen diced onions in the frozen vegetable section of the grocery store! I know it sounds funny, but that one tip changed my life.

Check out The One-Armed Cook: Quick and Easy Recipes, Smart Meal Plans, and Savvy Advice for New (and Not-So-New) Moms

By Aurelia Williams, author of Finding More Family Time

Family time is becoming an activity that is rarely seen these days with both parents working and not enough time to spend with the kids. In many homes these days, children are booked with activities spanning from school, to sports to church and parents are busy with work. It seems that it gets harder and harder to schedule valuable family time.

Well, it’s time to change that. Even though life seems hectic and you may feel this just can’t be done; it is possible if you put your mind to it. Find at least one night a week where all of you can get together and do something fun as a family. If you’re new to the family night thing and don’t know what to do; here are some ideas to help you get started (and there are more in my instantly downloadable guide, Real Life Guidance to Finding More Family Time):

Play a board game - Scrabble and Monopoly are popular board games that the whole family can play together. You can have fun teaching your kids new words or how to count money, while having fun. Let your kids win once in awhile. They would like nothing more than to be able to win against their own parents and have fun taunting you about it as well. This will help them want to look forward to the next family night, so they can beat you again.

Fly a Kite -If the weather is nice, try going to your Local Park and flying kites. It’s a nice fun activity that doesn’t cost much to do and keeps your kids active, instead of them sitting in front of a T.V. playing their video games.

Play Sports – Spend some time outside and shoot some baskets or play catch with a baseball. Sports activities are a good way to get your kids and yourselves exercising. Sports make exercising more fun than doing a regular routine of walking or running.

Baking – If the weather is bad outside and you need to find something to do inside, spend that time baking cookies or brownies. You could try out a new recipe or just have fun making an old favorite. The kids can get involved with decorating the cookies if their too young to do much else. While you’re waiting for the cookies or whatever you’re making to get done, you can play a game of charades and act out your favorite things to see if everyone else can guess.

Scrapbooking – Have some fun photos of the family that you want to do something fun with? Scrapbooking is an excellent way for a family to get together and showcase those photos in a unique way. It’s a way for your children to use their creativity by creating the pages that the photos will be placed on.

There are many more activities a family could do together, but these will help you get started. Once you get into it, you’ll find your own activities to do. If you set aside the same night every week, for family time, such as Wednesday night; your family can plan a week ahead of time what you will do for the next family night. Make it a tradition and get the family back together again.

Need More Help?

Find even more family ideas in the Real Life Guidance to Finding More Family Time Guide. This practical guide will show you how to set reasonable expectations for all family members, balance work and life, get organized and more. Click here for more info.

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Finding low fat diet options when you head out to a restaurant can be difficult to do. Most of the time the menus are designed for what the majority of customers want or the ingredients are based on what is the cheapest way to create that particular dish. This means there are huge pitfalls when it comes to fat in restaurant foods.

There are some ways that you can find alternatives to high fat meals even if you are eating out. Look for fish dishes that are baked or grilled and not in butter sauces. These will usually be lower in fat than fried fish.

Grilled chicken is another good alternative and there is usually something on just about every menu that has grilled chicken.

If you are getting a sandwich ask for light dressing rather than the standard amount they place on sandwiches and if possible ask for a lower fat cheese. Most often white cheeses will be lower in fat than yellow. Choose real cheese over imitation cheese. Cheese slices usually have added vegetable and saturated fats.

Ask for your vegetables to be steamed many times people will do in restaurants what they do at home when cooking, fat will be added to the vegetables for additional flavor. This goes for grilled too but the fat added is usually lower. Seasoned vegetables usually have added fat as well.

Some establishments have been adding low fat menu options in order to keep up with the changing times. If this is the case choose from this menu. If you are unable to find anything that suits the low fat needs of your diet go with a regular salad and choose a low fat dressing. There is usually one or two options for this.

Buffets are a great way to be able to find low fat meal options because you are able to pick and choose. You may have some difficult if you go to an Oriental buffet. Choose dumplings, fried rice and meat dishes that have large amounts of vegetables or little sauce or ask for a meal from the menu instead. You will find if you ask for it to be cooked traditionally. You will end up with a lower fat dish. Oriental cooking unless it is adapted to more foreign tastes is usually incredibly low in fat.

These are just a few of the options that are available to look into if you are eating out. It is best to cook as much as possible or eat in when managing a low fat diet as this helps to control exactly what is going into the food however getting out is a good thing occasionally and in some cases as with work can not be avoided in these cases finding low fat alternatives will help you to maintain your lifestyle without compromising on you life.

Babywearing is a craze that has become very popular in the last few years. Is this just a trendy thing that the cool parents are doing these days, or are there real benefits to babywearing? Here are a couple of thoughts on how babywearing can make parenting a little easier.

One really nice benefit to your baby is that they get to stay close to you. They spend 9 months inside their mother’s body, where they hear your heart beat and your voice, and feel the rhythm of your steps. Moms who wear their babies often report feeling very connected to their babies’ moods and needs.

Another benefit is that the baby can easily be fed. Slings and pouches especially allow you to be ready at any moment for discreet breastfeeding. Dad can’t help with the actual breastfeeding, but he can enjoy special time and closeness with the baby (and give mom a little break!) by wearing his child.

Slings and wrap carriers are easier on your back than holding a baby in your arms, because they distribute the weight around your shoulders more evenly. And Chiropractors and Osteopaths agree that baby slings are better on baby’s spine than front pack carriers that place too much weight on the pelvis.

One more huge benefit of baby wearing is it gives mom the ability to do other things with her hands while simultaneously meeting baby’s needs – things such as housework, cooking, working on the computer and last but certainly not least – caring for other children.

After trying many styles of carriers, two of my favorites are the Moby and the Maya Wrap. If you’re confused about what style of carrier would work best for you, ask around at a parenting or breastfeeding support group. There’s a perfect carrier for every Mom.

By Aurelia Williams, author of Balancing Work and Family

The trend of moms working from home to be near their children has grown in the last couple of years. Now that they have found jobs or businesses to run, they’re starting to realize that working from home is not as easy as they thought it would be. The work they do is hard to separate form their personal lives, which makes it hard to schedule time for work responsibilities and home duties.

The workspace these moms use to do their jobs at ends up being a part of their household, so that makes dividing work and home life even more difficult to do – and one of the motivating reasons for creating my Balancing Work and Family guide. Imagine that your office is a part of the dining room, which also happens to be the room where you eat your meals as a family. How easy is it going to be for you to leave your work life to be with your family when the office is 5 feet away from the dinner table?

The realities of dividing work and personal life can get smudged for work at home moms. When that happens, one’s stress level is sure to rise, which could jeopardize one’s sanity. To prevent your sanity from leaving, you should find ways to ensure that separation takes place between your job/business and your family life.

Assess the current situation. Try to find an area, within your home, to have your office so that it won’t interfere with your family life. The home office needs a room with a door where you can be apart from the rest of the house. A den or a garage can be converted into office space that is exclusive to your business. Some people have resorted to placing their office in the laundry room, just because it has a door! When that is not an option, set up shop in your bedroom to keep it away from the family areas.

Organization is the next step. A messy desk can be a huge distraction when trying to work. Everything needs to have its place. If you worked in an office, your boss would not stand for a messy work space. There’s no difference when you’re office is at home and not at the worksite.

Use inexpensive organizing items, such as baskets with separate compartments to help organize the odds and ends on your desk. You can keep rubber stamps, letters, invoices, pens, pencils, and the like in here. Organization makes finding things much easier, which results in a more relaxed work day.

Keep your business phone separate from the family phone line. When using the same line, you run the risk of your children answering business calls or picking up the phone during a conference call. This causes your professionalism to fly right out the window and takes your customers or employers along with it.

The same goes for the computer. It’s best to keep your business computer separate from what the other family members use, but budgets don’t always allow for this. In that case, make sure that the business/job files and documents can’t be easily accessed by anyone but you. This will help prevent some of the stress that could be brought on by family members stumbling on a client’s important document and accidentally deleting them.

Be sure to use calendars or planners as they are very helpful when trying to keep track of business appointments or deadlines and family appointments. This will lessen the stress of setting up family appointments when you’ve forgotten about business deadlines you have.

Consider hiring a sitter on days you have a lot of work to do. Being a work at home mom gives you the benefit of controlling your own schedule. Having a sitter keeps the kids away from your office and gives you quiet time to focus on your work and gives your kids a chance to have fun without you feeling too guilty.

Mixing business with family in the home setting can be a major source of stress. Keeping the business side of your life organized and separate is crucial to success in keeping your stress levels down and your sanity intact.

Get More Help:

Working at home can be extremely rewarding, but it’s challenging. Get the help you need with Real Life Guidance to Balancing Work and Family. It’s your practical guide to tracking your time, setting priorities, learning to say no and achieving that balance you strive for.

(Want to republish this article? Click here to join the affiliate program)

Every day we hear of more things in our environment that can potentially harm us. If it’s not prescription drugs in our water, it’s hormones in our food. When we start having babies, we sometimes wish we could keep them in a bubble for the first few years of their lives. While we can’t control the outside world, there are some things that are in our control that can make a difference in our baby’s life.

Breastfeeding offers many health advantages for babies and moms. While the media loves to talk about the latest toxin found in mother’s milk, what they fail to report is that these same toxins will be found in cow’s milk, from which formula is made. Studies show that breastfed babies are less harmed by pesticide exposure and they also fare better when they are vaccinated, suffering fewer reactions. Breast is still – and always will be – best.

Another step you can take to safeguard your baby from excessive exposure to toxins is to use glass or BPA free bottles and cups. Bisphenol-A is a plastic additive that has been linked to cancers and other serious health issues and is being eliminated by some manufacturers and even banned in some areas. It’s impossible to avoid plastics entirely but it’s a good idea to reduce cumulative exposure.

We also need to be careful about what we put on our baby’s skin. Since skin absorbs what we slather on it, if we wouldn’t feed it to our baby, we probably shouldn’t put it his skin. Some ingredients to stay away from are: parabens, synthetic perfumes, talc and SLS (sodium laurel sulfate). The Earth Mama Angel Baby line of products are wonderful, and you can find other products in health food stores and online for baby.

Instead of worrying about the health dangers of the world we live in, focus on what you have the power to change for the better.

I went to a baby shower last weekend and ate this Asian Chicken Salad. It was so yummy and a twist on the same old salad with lettuce and tomato. Thought I would share the recipe here.

Asian Chicken Salad

Dressing:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons soy sauce or tamari
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons rice vinegar

Salad:
1 head iceberg lettuce, rinsed, dried, and chopped
4 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded
3 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
1 (15-ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
crisp chow mein or ramen noodles, crushed

Prepare the dressing ahead of time by combining the brown sugar, soy sauce, oil, and rice vinegar.

In a large bowl combine the iceberg lettuce, chicken, green onions, sesame seeds and oranges.

Let chill about 30 minutes.

Just before serving add the noodles. Pour the dressing on top of the salad, toss, and serve immediately.

Serves 6.