Leftovers are encouraged

Mommy Tip of the Day: To save time at dinner make a double batch of a meal and freeze half. Then you can just reheat it on another night when you need a quick dinner.

I am always looking for a quick way to get dinner on the table without calling Pizza Hut. One of my standards, for quick dinners are Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals. She is fun to watch and has some great food. I highly recommend that if you don't have one of her cookbooks....or several of her cookbooks that you head out and get one right away. At the very least you should really check out http://www.rachaelray.com/ where you can find some of her recipes and lots of kid friendly recipes.

Another one of my favorite ways to make a quick dinner is to eat leftovers. Now, I am the first person to admit to an aversion to left overs. Thankfully my Husband take care of the clean out the fridge meals on a fend for yourself nights. The left overs that I am talking about is to make a double batch of something and then freeze half of it for another night when I don't feel like cooking. All that I have to do then is reheat, and it is only a little more work to make a double batch the first night.

Some of the easiest meals to freeze are chili, and spaghetti sauce. Lasagna always makes SO much more than we can eat, that it really is best to make in 2 small batches that I freeze half. Since I am such a Rachael Ray fan, I love her mini chicken cannelloni bake . This recipe makes enough to feed an army. You don't even have to double it to have enough for 2 meals especially if add a green salad and some warm crusty bread.

Zucchini is your friend

Mommy Tip of the Day: Zucchini is your friend. Shred Zucchini very finely and add it to all kinds of meals to boost your veggie content.

Lots of moms have a hard time getting their kids to eat vegetables. Thankfully that is not my problem. My girls will eat all kinds of plain vegetables. Never mixed in a salad or casserole, but plain, they will gobble them up. In my house, Mom and Dad are the ones with the problem with veggies. Actually we have a problem eating well in general. Not that we don't like them, it is just that our schedules don't work well to sit down and make a "real" dinner. The girls only want plain food which is easy enough to make, but I usually don't eat dinner with them. So this one is for the moms with picky eaters, or anyone else who wants to eat a little healthier.

I thought that I had a picky eater. It turns out that she will eat lots of things, she just wants them plain. Before I realized this, I was looking for all kinds of ideas on how to get her to eat more variety. One of the things that I found was a book called The Sneaky Chef. http://www.thesneakychef.com/ She suggested the idea of adding veggies in purred form and hiding it in foods that they already eat.

The most versatile veggie that I have found to "hide" is zucchini. It is really great to add into Spaghetti or chili. Shred it finely and add it when you are cooking the meat and/or onions. You will never know that it is in there.

My favorite recipe is for Chocolate Zucchini Muffins. I bake a bunch, then freeze them and bring them out for breakfast. (If they last long enough for me to freeze.) Here is the recipe that I use. I hope you enjoy it.

CHOCOLATE - ZUCCHINI MUFFINS OR BREAD

Mix together: 1 c. white sugar 1 c white flour, 1 c whole wheat flour, 1 c wheat germ 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon 4 oz. grated Hershey bar 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips

Mix separately and add to dry ingredients the following: 3 tsp. vanilla 1 c. oil 1/2 c plain yogurt 3 c. grated zucchini 1/2 c. nuts

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Makes 2 dozen muffins. For bread: Bake at 350 degrees. Makes 2 loaves. Bake for 1 hour.

*you can substitute 3 cups white flour for the white flour, wheat flour and wheat germ.