How This Busy Mom Gets supper On The Table

You know the drill... You run nearby all day taking care of the kids, the household and your job and before you know it 7pm rolls nearby and you have no idea what to fix for dinner. That used to be me too. The explication was usually to sever everybody a bowl of cereal or call the pizza delivery guy. Not anymore. While I'm still just as busy as ever, I also comprehend how important it is to get ready a "real" evening meal for my family. Not only is it much healthier, we also end up recovery money we used to spend on takeout and we have come closer as a family. I wouldn't trade evening meal time for anyone in the world and neither should you. Here are my best tips for getting evening meal on the table even if you're as busy as I am.

Get everybody Involved

Meat Casseroles

One of my biggest secrets is that I don't try to be supermom and I don't try to get all done by myself. Of course this includes development dinner. In our house cooking is a house affair. My husband and daughter are in the kitchen with me, cooking, setting the table and cleaning up after along with me. It makes every step of the process much faster, and when I am running late and don't make it home in time to get evening meal started, the two of them can get started without me. Cooking together is also a great way for the three of us to bond.

Shortcuts Are Ok

Don't feel like you have to make all from scratch for it to count as a home-cooked meal. It's ok to take shortcuts. Some of my favorites are to use bagged salad that's already cleaned and ready to go, breadsticks and rolls that just need heating up and all kinds of canned soup or stews. There are also quite a few good freezing meal packs ready these days that you just cook in the pan or in your slow cooker. Whenever I do take the time to make things like soup, stew, casseroles or even meat loaf, I make several batches of the dish and freeze the remaining portions for an additional one day when I'm short on time. What counts is that you get a salutary meal on the table, not the whole of time you spent in front of the stove.

Plan Your Meals

Last, but not least, let me share my biggest inexpressive with you - I plan my meals. It's sooo much easier to get evening meal on the table, when you know exactly what you're going to cook ahead of time and have what you need at hand. Just sit down once a week with a pen and a piece of paper and write down exactly what you are going to make for evening meal each day of the week. Get your recipes out , and attach them to the list, then make a grocery list. It saves a lot of time only having to go to the store once a week and by attaching the recipes to the list of menus, other house members can get started on evening meal when you're running late.

How This Busy Mom Gets supper On The Table

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Safety Tips to Prevent Food Borne Illness This Summer

As picnic and grilling season is upon us much of our focus is on enjoying warmer weather and outdoor dining. But now is also a good time to refresh our memories on food handling safety and illness prevention from food borne disease. We can take two approaches to protect our health from food illness: kitchen cleanliness and proper food storage and food preparation.

Kitchen Cleanliness: even in a spotless kitchen cross-contamination can occur. Good housekeeping practice means immediately washing anything that comes in contact with raw meat using a cleaning rag that is dedicated exclusively to clean-up of instruments and surfaces that have come in contact with raw meat or poultry. Some restaurants use pink dish rags for work in areas where raw meat is handled and white cloths in areas where cooked food is handled. It is wise to confine the handling of raw meat to as small of area as possible, such as the sink, and wipe down thoroughly after meat preparation.

Meat Casseroles

A dilute mixture of warm water and chlorine bleach is an effective disinfectant for sterilizing surfaces where raw meat has been handled. For convenience keep on hand disinfecting wipes by Lysol or Clorox that kill 99% of bacteria. Use the wipes to clean counters and tools and then discard to avoid spreading bacteria and contamination from the cloth to other surfaces. I keep a spray bottle with 1/3-part chlorine to 2/3-parts water at hand to spray surfaces and wipe dry with paper toweling. Allow the chlorine mixture to set on the surface a few minutes before wiping clean and discarding the paper toweling.

Food Handling: Safe food handling begins at the time of purchase. In the best case meat or poultry will be used shortly after purchase, but if not should be stored between 28F and 32F in the meat compartment of the refrigerator. If the meat will not be used within two days it should be wrapped in a non-permeable plastic and stored in the freezer until use, but no longer than 6 to 12 months. Meat should only be thawed in the refrigerator, never at room temperature where bacteria, yeast, molds or viruses could develop.

E. coli is the best known of food borne bacteria and can live in meat and vegetables. In fact, any food can be contaminated with it: undercooked hamburger and roast beef, unpasteurized milk, unpasteurized cider processed from unwashed apples which fell on soil contaminated by the manure of sick cows, vegetables grown in soils fertilized with cow manure. There is no way a farmer, however careful and conscientious, can know which cow is contaminated and which is not. So it is up to the cook to prepare the foods they serve properly in accordance with safe food handling guidelines.

The US Department of Agriculture has prepared a list of Fahrenheit temperatures to which meat, poultry and eggs should be cooked in order to kill food borne bacteria. Temperatures should be measured with a clean instant-read thermometer inserted at the thickest part of the meat. Reference the table below:

Fresh ground beef, veal, lamb, pork: 160F

Beef, veal, lamb: roasts, steaks, chops: 145F (medium rare); 160F (medium); 170F (well done)

Fresh pork: roasts, steaks, chops: 160F (medium); 170F (well done)

Ham: cook before eating: 160F

Ham: fully cooked, to reheat: 140F

Poultry: Ground chicken, turkey: 165F

Poultry: whole chicken, turkey: 180F

Poultry: breasts, roasts: 170F

Poultry: thighs & wings: cook until juices run clear

Stuffing: (cooked alone or in bird): 165F

Egg dishes, casseroles: 160F

Leftovers: 165F

For more information contact the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-800-535-4555.

Fruits and Vegetables: Raw foods, such as produce, should be washed thoroughly under cool running water in an area free from contamination from raw meat preparation. Separate utensils and cutting boards should be used for produce and meat to avoid cross contamination.

Vegetables are best stored chilled to slow deterioration. Chilling of fruits and vegetables causes all metabolic activities, including respiration, to slow down. Most fruits and vegetables are best stored at refrigerator temperatures and in conditions where oxygen is limited. Store vegetables in the crisper compartment of the refrigerator, unwashed, until the time of use.

Safety Tips to Prevent Food Borne Illness This Summer

Kaye Bailey 2010 - All Rights Reserved

Kaye Bailey is an internationally recognized writer, speaker and weight loss surgery advocate. She is the author of the highly successful weight loss surgery back to basics plan: 5 Day Pouch Test and the 5 Day Pouch Test Owner's Manual. Her follow-up book, Day 6: Beyond the 5 Day Pouch Test, was published in December 2009. It provides guidance for long-term weight and health management with all bariatric surgical procedures. Ms. Bailey is known for her powerful "you can do this" manner and her belief in the power of personal responsibility. She is the founder of LivingAfterWLS, LLC parent company to the LivingAfterWLS.com and 5daypouchtest.com websites. Supporting both websites is the LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood, an online compassion-driven community for weight loss surgery, gastric bypass and gastric banding patients.

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