Time to announce the winners of the $100 ProFlowers gift card giveaway! Drum roll, please…

Liberti, who said: “Nothing beats a beautiful bunch of fresh flowers! YAY!”

and

Mawa, who said: “I’m a mom with a mom and with a daughter who is a mom too”¦hope it’s me this time!”

Congratulations!  If you are not one of the lucky winners…don’t worry, you’ll get another chance! And you can click here for a 15% discount at ProFlowers…there’s still time to order for Mother’s Day!

Here’s a snapshot of dinner preparation hour in the Maynard home: Mom trying to get food on the table as quickly as possible, Cate & Anna playing in their room.  Rarely do I figure how to get Cate involved in the food prep process (Anna is still too young).  I know Cate loves helping me cook, but I’m usually in a rush and not creative enough to get her involved.

Last night we had english muffin pizzas. She helped me “chop” (with a butter knife, which she THINKS is a sharp knife) mushrooms for the pizza and strawberries for the salad.  She helped put toppings on the pizzas and adding ingredients to the salad.  I could tell she was in HEAVEN, so happy to be at my side, cooking like her mom.

It’s pretty easy to get kids involved with baking since there is lots of dumping and stirring.  But what about other types of cooking, especially at dinnertime?  I would love to get Cate more involved with cooking, beyond cookies and english muffin pizzas.

So, a call to all the parents/aunts/uncles/grandparents/friends-to-little-ones out there: Please share your fantastic, safe, and fun “Cooking wth Kids” tips!

You have until Midnight PT TONIGHT to enter the ProFlowers giveaway. It’s free.  What are you waiting for? Click here to enter!

This is my new favorite yogurt – European style from Trader Joe’s.  I like it better than the Greek style, even.  It’s not as thick as Greek, but it’s smoother.  Absolutely PERFECT for frozen yogurt. I may be facing addiction once again.

Okay, menu time!

MONDAY:
– Meatball subs
– Salad

TUESDAY:
– Chicken Masala (TJ’s simmer sauce)
– Naan Bread (from TJ’s frozen section)
– Salad

WEDNESDAY:
– English Muffin Pizzas
– Salad

THURSDAY:
– Breakfast for dinner or leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Eat out

SATURDAY:
– Hamburgers on the grill
– Fresh Fruit
– Sweet potato fries (discovered these last week in the TJs frozen section…so good!)

SUNDAY:
– Soup of some kind
– Crusty bread

Bring on the menus! I browse your menus EVERY WEEK when I’m planning things out. I’m grateful so many of you share each week – thank you!

Be sure to enter this week’s ProFlowers giveaway, if you haven’t already.  It’s a good one!

This giveaway is now closed.  Thank you!

One of my favorite things about having this blog is knowing that when a holiday is coming, I’ll find a ProFlowers box on my porch with yet another beautiful or tasty thing to share with you…and that all of you will get a chance to win a $100 gift card to use on their site.  It’s a win-win-win-win-win!

Mother’s Day is just a few weeks away (can you believe it?!?!).  If you send your mom this Monet’s Garden bouquet, she’ll be thanking her lucky stars she raised you so well. Seriously, this is my most favorite ProFlowers bouquet so far.  It smells wonderful, the mix of flowers is gorgeous.  Basically, I’m in heaven right now.

And now, for the giveaway! TWO lucky, random TWFD readers will each win a $100 ProFlowers gift card…to spend on dear mother.  Or yourself…don’t worry, I won’t tell.

Just leave a comment on this post by Midnight PT, Wednesday, April 29. Only one entry per person, please.  Two winners will be randomly-selected and announced next Thursday, April 30.

Be sure to visit the ProFlowers site through any of the links on this post to receive a 15% discount.

Good luck to all!

Happy Earth Day, everyone!  It’s actually perfect that it’s Earth Day because I was going to write about Project Tandem this week, and they are ALL about the environment.

What is Project Tandem?  Nate’s cousin, Morrigan, is currently on an 11,000 mile bicycle ride across the United States.  She and her colleague, Alan, are collecting “overlooked stories of everyday Americans and their opinions and actions regarding the environment.”  Mo and Alan are about 7,000 miles into the trip and happened to ride by our neck of the woods this week.  Yea!

We met them at the Half Moon Bay Coffee Company for breakfast (this place was good and affordable, by the way).  Sadly, I ate the biggest breakfast…but I’m not the one biking 1000’s of miles. Shoot.

It was so good seeing them and really fun to hear their stories from the trip.  I can’t wait until the Project Tandem documentary is complete…it’s going to be awesome!  To read more about their trip, find out how to donate, and more, visit their website.  They are also updating the Project Tandem blog from the road.

Look at those bikes!  Morrigan is carrying 90 pounds of equipment, Alan 110 pounds.  I can barely ride a bike with just myself down the street! (That’s kind of not a joke…I tried to ride a bike for the first time in a long while last year and what they say is NOT true…it was absolutely not like riding a bike! How embarassing.)

Now go do something nice for Mother Earth.  Maybe Morrigan and Alan will catch you at it as they ride by your town!

I don’t normally just send you off to another website, but today I’m going to because it’s a good one!  Click here for meatless meal ideas from Everyday Food. (Photos from Martha Stewart.)

I’m not a vegetarian and I don’t plan on becoming one.  But I have thought a lot about eating less meat lately…both for economic and environmental purposes.  Seriously, if we all ate less meat the impact on the enviornment would be huge.  But I won’t get into that.  Needless to say, I’m excited to incorporate more meatless recipes into my dinner repertoire.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

I was {finally} going through pictures from my dear friend Karen’s baby shower last November (yes, I’ve held on to them a little long).   I forgot how beautiful the cheese was at that party.  Seriously, look at that cheese!

On to the menu for the week!

MONDAY:
– Pork chops (we didn’t eat them last week)
– Rice
– Salad

TUESDAY:
– Chicken Salad sandwiches
– Fresh fruit
– Chips

WEDNESDAY:
– Tacos

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Frittata

SATURDAY:
– Eat out

SUNDAY:
– Meatball Subs
– Salad

Alright, people.  The holidays are over…get back to planning and let’s see your menus!  Remember, we accept all kinds of menus here at TWFD.  It’s called equal opportunity menu planning. 😉

I only have three batters in my lunchtime line-up: PB & Honey/Jam, Chicken Salad, and Grilled Cheese. PB & Honey is batting around 1000 right now, which I suppose is good for his career, but I’m kind of sick of him stealing the spotlight.

Even when I’m not in a PB & Honey rut, I dread lunchtime.  I always have…in college, at work and at home. It’s just hard to come up with something fast and easy but still tasty.  Oh, and I suppose healthy would be good too!

Do you get in a lunchtime rut?  Or do you have some great lunch ideas?  I need inspiration (and I’m probably not the only one)!  Lunch is three hours away…so get your comments up here stat!

Seriously, someone take away the Easter candy.  Specifically these Chewy Sweet Tarts.  What could be better?  Well, besides the Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs, of course.  But they’re gone already, and I have NO idea where they went.