When it comes to restaurants, I prefer a place with lots of option — including some healthy ones — and a nice, juicy steak. My husband, on the other hand, likes a good burger and a good buffet. And our daughter just wants french fries and a soft serve ice cream cone. There aren’t many places that offer all six of those things, but we did manage to find one, and it’s become our new favorite family restaurant.

That restaurant is Hoss’s Steak & Sea House, and we’ve actually been going there pretty regularly for a while. Those who live in Pennsylvania probably know Hoss’s for its family-friendly dining atmosphere and its famous all-you-can-eat soup, salad and dessert bar. During a recent visit, we also learned that October is Hossome Burger Fest.

Hossome Burger Fest is happening at all Hoss’s locations from September 29-November 9. The celebration includes eight burgers on the Hoss’s menu, including three new burger options. Each burger is priced at just $5.99 and includes endless french fries. (That’s right, ENDLESS french fries!)

The all-you-can-eat salad bar is the star of any visit. It’s a meal in itself, but it also includes a soup bar and a bunch of delicious desserts. What I really like about their salad bar is that they have a different “featured salad” every day. You can’t go wrong with any day of the week, but do yourself a favor and stop in for lunch on Wednesday for the Buffalo Chicken Salad or for dinner on Saturday for the Steak Salad.

While I was tempted to get a steak (maybe next time!), I chose the new Jalapeno Cream Cheese Burger. The burger has spicy jalapeño cream cheese infused with A-1 sauce, American cheese, sautéed onions, lettuce and tomato. Two words: Loved it!

My hubby opted for the Philly Steak Burger, which is a burger topped with chopped Philly steak and drizzled with Cheez Whiz and Dijon horseradish. He’s eaten about 10,000 Philly cheese steaks in his lifetime, and a burger that combined his favorite food with his second favorite food was a no-brainer for him.

Both burgers were AMAZING (the endless fries were nice, too!), and we’ll definitely be back at least once more before Hossome Burger Fest ends. We still have to try the Coney Island Burger and a few of the burgers on the menu. Plus my husband got a Hossome Burger Passport while he was there, which entitles him to a free burger if he buys four burgers before Hossome Burger Fest ends on November 9.

And no matter how many french fries you eat, you’ll definitely want to save room for dessert! The picture below is just a small section of the Hoss’s dessert bar. The Rocky Road Brownie treat you see below is probably the best buffet dessert you’ll ever eat!

Hoss’s Steak & Sea House has more than 30 locations throughout Pennsylvania and West Virginia. For a listing of locations, click here. You can also follow Hoss’s on Facebook for news, coupons and other fun stuff!

The post If You’re Looking For My Husband, He’s at Hossome Hamburger Fest appeared first on Motherhood on the Rocks.

Pasta is a beautiful thing. Quick and inexpensive to make, it’s a quintessential, classic meal.

Now, I don’t doubt that you already have a delicious pasta sauce recipe, or perhaps you really do love jarred sauce (Some of them are really good!), but nothing compares to a homemade sauce. There are so many misconceptions about making pasta and sauce though.

Pasta sauce should have a rich tomato flavor with subtle undertones of spices and herbs. It shouldn’t be overly acidic or sweet. I’ve been working on this recipe for over a year, and now my “former spaghetti-hating” daughter requests spaghetti at least once a week.

This sauce is easy to make. Although, it does take some time, it freezes beautifully for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. And it tastes even better the next day for leftovers or an easy lunch!

But as easy as spaghetti is to whip up for a quick dinner, it’s also easy to make mistakes while preparing it. Following are 15 cooking mistakes and their respective fixes that will take your pasta from yum to va-va-voom!

1. Not adding enough garlic – Add plenty of garlic, because garlic.
2. Overcooking or undercooking the onions – Sweat the onions well. Sautéing them just until translucent and soft (don’t overdo it) brings out the sweetness in the onions.
3. Overcooking the garlic – Add the garlic when the onions are just about done. Garlic really only takes a couple of minutes to cook. Overdo it and you’ll end up with a bitter garlic taste in your final dish, and no one wants that, right?
4. Not adding herbs at the right stage – When it comes to herbs, timing is everything. If they’re dried, toss them in while sauteeing the onions and garlic. This gives them time releases their natural oils, making them more fragrant and flavorful. If they’re fresh, they can be added toward the end.
5. Just throwing tomato paste into the sauce – Sautee the tomato paste for a minute before mixing it in. This helps to remove the tinny can taste and deepen the sweet tomato flavor.
6. Using the wrong tomatoes – Use San Marzano tomatoes, which are grown in the rich volcanic soil in Italy, giving them a sweeter and richer flavor. The difference is truly remarkable.
7. Not draining the beef – Allow beef (or any meat you add) to drain. Unless you want an oil slick on top of your sauce, this is an imperative step you don’t want to skip.
8. Throwing the beef into a dry pan – While we’re talking about the meat, add a little olive oil before throwing it in the pot. Doing this adds a ton of flavor to the meat. And you’ll be draining it anyway, right? So there won’t be extra oil.
9. Not adding butter – Adding just a pat of butter at the end, creates a smooth, silky finish. Never thought of spaghetti sauce as “smooth and silky?” That’s because you didn’t add butter.
10. Not salting the pasta water – Pasta has very little flavor on its own, which is why you should salt your pasta water. How much salt? One to two tablespoons per pound of pasta should do the trick.
11. Adding oil to the pasta water – Skip the oil, otherwise, the sauce won’t stick to the noodles. Just stir a few times to keep your pasta from sticking. Trust me on this one.
12. Rinsing the pasta – Stop that! Rinsing your pasta will remove the starch that helps the sauce stick to the noodles.
13. Not adding pasta water to your sauce – Add 2-4 tbsp of pasta water to your sauce. This little addition adds a great body and smoothness to your final dish. This will also help to thicken up your sauce, creating more noodle-coating capability.
14. Not allowing the pasta to finish cooking in the sauce – Drain the pasta about 1-2 minutes before it’s done and allow it to finish in the sauce.
15. Overdoing the herbs – Go easy on the herbs. Too many herbs and spices can easily overpower the delicate tomato flavor.

Spaghetti

 

Author: Motherhood on the Rocks

Print

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 Vidalia onion, diced
• 1 Vidalia onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, Minced
• 4 cloves garlic, Minced
• ½ tsp oregano
• ½ tsp oregano
• ½ tsp basil
• ½ tsp basil
• 2 6 oz cans tomato paste
• 2 6 oz cans tomato paste
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups water
• 28 oz can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes
• 28 oz can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1½ tbsp butter
• 1½ tbsp butter
• 1 package spaghetti
• 1 package spaghetti
• 2 tbsp water used to boil pasta
• 2 tbsp water used to boil pasta
• Parmesan Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese
• Salt and pepper
• Salt and pepper
• Olive Oil

Directions

1. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to pan over median heat
2. Season beef with salt and pepper
3. Cook beef until no longer pink
4. Place beef on a plate lined with paper towels and set aside, reserve 1 tbsp of oil
5. Sprinkle onion with salt and sautee
6. Add garlic when onion is translucent
7. Add basil and oregano
8. Sautee onion, garlic and herbs for 2 minutes
9. Move onion mix to one side of the pan and put tomato paste in other side, stirring tomato paste constantly for 1 min
10. Add beef and mix everything together
11. Add 2 cups water
12. Add tomatoes
13. Add sugar
14. Turn heat to medium low and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally
15. Add pasta water
16. Add butter
17. Enjoy!

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The post Momma’s Spaghetti Sauce (Plus 15 Common Pasta Mistakes) appeared first on Motherhood on the Rocks.

My daughter LOVES reading, and I love that she loves it! Nothing makes me happier than to see her curled up on the couch with a book in her hands. So, when I found out that I could earn books by buying some of our favorite food items at Walmart, we were both happy.

By the way, I’m not talking about those “send in 50 box tops and get one book” offers, either. I’m talking about a program that gives you one Scholastic book for EACH participating item you buy. Item’s like Kellogg’s cereal, Pop Tarts, Coca-Cola products, HERSHEY’S KISSES, Smucker’s jam and JIF peanut butter.

The program is exclusive only to Walmart and it’s called “Start School Like a Champion.” I’ve been earning books all summer long and, since we’ve got plenty of books at home, I’ve been paying it forward by donating my books to Caitlin’s Smiles — a local organization that creates craft kits for children in hospitals. (A few years ago, when our daughter had her appendix taken out, a Caitlin’s Smiles craft kit put a smile on her face while she was in the hospital.)

As our own soon-to-be six-year-old gets ready to start kindergarten, athletes are also getting ready for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. That’s why the Team USA sponsors Coca-Cola®, Kellogg’s®, HERSHEY’S, and J.M. Smucker have teamed up with Scholastic to create the Walmart exclusive “Start School Like a Champion” program.

For every purchase at Walmart of the participating products, you will be able to claim one Scholastic book. Now that’s what I call going for the gold! The offer is from June 29 through September 30 and you can claim up to 90 books! That’s a lot of books…enough to fill a book shelf like ours below.

Getting your books is super easy. Just follow these four steps:

1. Buy any participating Coca-Cola, HERSHEY’S, Kellogg’s, or J.M. Smucker products at Walmart between 6/29/16 and 9/30/16. For a full list of participating products, refer to StartSchoolLikeAChampion.com.

2. Join or log in to Kellogg’s Family Rewards.

3. Upload your receipt within 30 days of purchase.

4. Choose or donate your free book. (Yep, you can donate them directly to the charity or school of your choice!)

Before I wrap up this blog entry, I’d like to leave you with a short tutorial about how to make the ultimate reading nook for your little reader. It’s a little simpler than you might think and the reward — a tot who loves to read — is worth the effort!

1. Choose a spot that’s comfortable and one that your little one enjoys spending lots of time.

2. Make sure the space provides plenty of light.

3. Don’t forget the books! If you can keep the reading material within an arm’s length, you’re in good shape.

4. Also don’t forget the snacks! A juice box and some other snacks go a long way during those two hour reading sessions. Okay, she doesn’t read for two hours straight (I wish!). More like 15 minutes, which can seem like a blissful two hours to a busy mom!

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The post Start School Like a Champion: Buy One Product, Get One Free Book! appeared first on Motherhood on the Rocks.

When you’re the mother of a five-year-old, “me time” is rare. So, when you get it, you have to make the most of it. That’s why, in today’s entry, I’ll be sharing my fool-proof five-ingredient plan for how to relax and unwind after the kids are in bed.

As a coffee lover, the most important part of that “me time” routine is a hot cup of decaf dark roast. And, as a lover of all things tasty and simple, my go-to creamer is International Delight Simply Pure. I picked mine up at recent trip to Walmart.

You’ll find International Delight in the refrigerated dairy section, with the milk and other coffee creamers.

For me, the International Delight Simply Pure creamers are part of my daily coffee routine. They’re a simple addition to your coffee in the morning, afternoon and night. The Simply Pure line-up includes three tasty flavors: Caramel, Vanilla and Hazelnut. All three are a tasty reminder of how good a coffee creamer can be with one five ingredients.

What I love most about the Simply Pure line is that all of the creamers are made with five simple ingredients, including real milk, cream, and sugar.

And now, in honor of the five simple ingredients in International Delight Simply Pure coffer creamers, here are my five simple ingredients for getting some much-needed “me time” after the kids are in bed. If anyone has any other ingredients, leave a comment!

INGREDIENT ONE: GET A DRINK — A good drink is perhaps the most important part of “me time,” so be sure to plan ahead and buy your favorite beverage earlier in the day. For me, it’s coffee with International Delight Simply Pure Hazelnut, but your beverage can be whatever you’d like.

INGREDIENT TWO: GET A SNACK — This one is optional, but feel free to grab a snack while you’re relaxing. Go ahead and make it a good one. Something you’d never be able to eat while the kids are awake because they’d demand some of their own and then fight over who got the bigger portion.

INGREDIENT THREE: MAKE IT QUIET — Hear that? It’s called “silence.” Enjoy that peace and quiet while you go to your happy place. Maybe you put on some music, maybe you don’t. The choice is yours.

INGREDIENT FOUR: DO SOMETHING RELAXING — This one is completely up to you. Your “something relaxing” can be reading a book (one of my favorite “me time” activities), but it can also include taking a bath, doing some scrapbooking, or watching your favorite TV shows. Heck, you can even clean the oven if that’s what relaxes you. (If that’s your idea of “me time,” feel free to come to my place and clean mine, too.)

INGREDIENT FIVE: POUR ANOTHER DRINK — If you got the kids in bed early enough, it’s probably time for another drink. Go ahead and get yourself another one — you’ve earned it!

Which one would you pick for some “me time”?

The post Kids in Bed? Five Steps to a Simply Pure Night of Rest and Relaxation appeared first on Motherhood on the Rocks.

I’m a big believer in the power of pop-in-the-oven pizza. My family loves it because it’s delicious and I love it because it’s easy. But as easy as those meals may be, I do sometimes feel a little guilty about how effortless it is (I’m lying, I don’t feel guilty), which is why I like to add a little something extra to pizza nights by making a fun side dish to go with the main course.

That’s exactly what I did recently when I made my famously simple Easy Garlic Parmesan Knots to go with some Freschetta pizza. The garlic knots are made with just three ingredients: ready-made buttermilk biscuit dough, butter, and parmesan cheese (along with some seasonings). Wait, is that it? Yep, that’s it!

But first, the pizza. That’s the most important part! Of all the pizza brands (and there are many) my family is the biggest fan of Freschetta. My husband likes Freschetta’s Brick Oven Crust options and I’m a fan of the Naturally Rising Crust.

You can get both at most grocery stores, but I got mine at Walmart.

You’ll find it – where else? – in the pizza aisle.

What’s not to love about Freschetta pizza? It’s made with high quality ingredients with a crust that rises naturally with no artificial leaveners. The sauce is made with sun-ripened tomatoes and it’s topped with real provolone and mozzarella cheese, which is good because your life deserves real taste. And we can use a little more realness in our lives now and then. Real people, real experiences, and real things.

You should feel good about what you’re serving to your family, and Freschetta brings that authenticity to the table. Speaking of feel good about what you’re serving, here’s how to make those Easy Garlic Parmesan Knots.

Start by rolling out your pre-made buttermilk bisquits into 10-12 inch ropes. Allow the ropes to relax while you preheat the oven and mix up the garlic butter. If they start to shrink up, give them a little help by gently pressing each end into the baking sheet.

Next, combine 3 tablespoons of melted butter and half a teaspoon of dried oregano and dried parsley flakes, and 1 tsp of garlic powder in a small bowl. If you’re craving a little spice, sprinkled on some crushed red pepper, too. Next, tie the ropes into knots and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Then brush each knot with the yummy butter mixture and sprinkle Parmesan cheese over each garlic knot. You will need about 2 tbsp total of Parmesan to do this.

Pop the knots in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. After they’re done and golden brown, brush the warm knots with another tbsp of melted butter. They’re good enough to eat just like that, but feel free to serve them with some marinara dipping sauce like I did in the picture below along with some Freschetta Brick Oven Crust Roasted Mushroom and Spinach pizza.

Check out the Freschetta website for more pizza night inspiration. Also fell free to follow Freschetta on Facebook or Twitter for more pizza fun and deliciousness!

The post Best Dinner Ever? Freschetta Pizza and My Famously Easy Garlic Parmesan Knots appeared first on Motherhood on the Rocks.

To call my husband a “coffee lover” would be an understatement. He’s never met a coffee shop he didn’t like and he’s never met a cup of Kona Blend he didn’t love. He’s also a fan of iced coffee (mainly after noon, when he tried to avoid hot coffee). So, when he found out that we were asked to try out some SToK Cold-Brew Iced Coffee, he was pretty excited.

SToK — pronounced like “stoked,” as in “My husband was stoked to try this new iced coffee!” – is an iced coffee that’s cold brewed, slow brewed, and strong enough to fuel whatever creative fires you might need to keep burning. It’s available in Mocha, Vanilla and Black flavors in 13.7-ounch and 48-ounce containers. I picked mine up at Walmart.

You can find it in the chilled juices aisle.

My husband is creative for a living. He works in a busy advertising agency where his job is to come up with all sorts of fun and creative ideas for campaigns for his clients. Sparking that creativity often requires a jolt (or two) of caffeine.

When he’s not working on ad campaigns, one of my husband’s favorite hobbies is a GPS-guided treasure hunt called GeoCaching.

He embarks on local adventures with friends and family all the time. The GPS guides him to within 10 feet or so of a well-hidden treasure, which can be as large as a shoebox or as small as a pencil eraser.  There are literally thousands of geocaches hidden in our neighborhood (and likely yours).

As you can imagine, all of that treasure hunting requires energy, which is why he happily packed some SToK iced coffee on his latest geocaching journey.

He was super geeked out about having some iced coffee with him as he trekked through the woods. After all, geocaching can require lots of hiking and climbing, so the slow-brewed jolt of energy from the SToK was a welcome addition to his weekend excursion.

So, what does it take to be a “world class” geocacher like my hubby? Here’s a short tutorial from Mr. Adventure himself.

10 Things You Need to Pack For Your Own Awesome Geocaching Adventure

1. A bag or backpack (Because you can’t pack a bag without a bag, right?)
2. A GPS (You can’t geocache without a GPS. If you’ve got a smartphone, you’ve got a GPS.)
3. A flashlight (You might find yourself in some pretty dark places.)
4. A snack (Granola bar, trail mix, leftover chicken parm — geocaching makes you hungry.)
5. A small first aid kit (It’s not too dangerous, but you might fall down and skin your knee.)
6. Bug spray (Depending upon the season, the skeeters can get pretty bad.)
7. Sunscreen (My wife makes me take this, but I don’t use it. Don’t tell her that, though. Oh, wait.)
8. More snacks (This is mainly a me thing. I get hungry a lot.)
9. A pen (You’ll need this to sign the log book in each cache.)
10. A good drink (Need a suggestion? SToK iced coffee is my new geocaching drink of choice.)

By the way, did I mention that SToK is brewed slow and low to make your mind (and body) go? It’s also pure coffee, made with Arabica beans from Brazil and no weird, hard-to-pronounce ingredients.

Check out the SToK website for more information about the iced coffee that’s so strong it’ll wake your dreams up.

The post How SToK™ Iced Coffee Helped to Turn My Husband Into the Ultimate Treasure Hunter appeared first on Motherhood on the Rocks.

I’m a big fan of Rachael Ray for her simple, everyday recipes for my family, but I’m also a fan for what she’s done to help me feed my three cats, Harley, Bocca and Cupcake.

Most people know Rachael for her skills when it comes to making people food, but she knows a thing or two about healthy pet food, too. In 2007, Rachael began working with a team of pet nutrition experts to launch her line of Rachael Ray Nutrish® pet foods. The foods are made with simple, wholesome ingredients like real chicken and fish (which is always the number one ingredient).

Rachael Ray Nutrish® cat foods are dedicated to “Real Recipe. Real Ingredients. Real Good,” and never contain any “junk,” like meat by-products, artificial flavors or preservatives. In other words, the same qualities you look for in meals for your family are the same qualities you can rely on when feeding your cats!

But before I show you how much my fur balls love Rachael’s food, I wanted to show you how I help them work up an appetite with a cat toy you can make at home in about 15 minutes! To make yours, all you need is a large disposable food storage container, a sharp cutting tool (an xacto knife will do), a lighter, and some cat toys and treats.

First, cut three holes in the top of your container lid. I traced my holes using shot glasses and a black marker and then cut the holes out with the xacto knife.

Next, use your lighter to burn the edges of your cut holes to smooth them out. Then put your cat toys in the container, put on the lid, and let your kitties have fun with it! You can buy a bag of various cat toys for less than $5 at the grocery store, but also feel free to put any household odds and ends in there. Here are two of my trio checking it out (Cupcake and Bocca – Harley was being camera-shy).

Getting pics of them actually playing with it wasn’t easy. Case in point below. All blur!

After about 15 minutes of pawing at their new toy, it was dinner time. I dished up some Rachael Ray Nutrish® Grain Free Wet Food for Cats. Each flavor is made with real chicken or seafood. Never any grains, meat by-products, fillers or artificial flavors and preservatives. Just good stuff like vitamins, minerals and taurine for your kitty!

Rachael Ray Nutrish® wet and dry cat food varieties are available at a wide variety of stores (I got mine at Target) as well as on Amazon. Check out this tool to find a retailer near you. For more fun tutorials and cat-related goodies, be sure to follow Rachael Ray Nutrish® for Cats on Pinterest.

Rachael’s personal proceeds go to Rachael’s Rescue, which was created to help shelter pets in need. To date, she has donated over $14 million. This money has gone toward food, medical supplies and treatments for these unfortunate animals.

The post How to Make Your Own Cat Toy and Feed Your Cats Well With Rachael Ray™ Nutrish® Cat Food appeared first on Motherhood on the Rocks.

Has the past year been one of the craziest years of our lives? Yes. We found out just a few months ago that we’re expecting our second child (it’ll be a boy!). We’re also in the middle of the insane process of selling our house, followed by the hopefully less insane process of buying a new one.

Amidst all of that (mostly happy) madness has been one of the energy-savingest years in recent memory. I owe that savings to the folks at Project Envolve, which is sponsored by PPL Electric Utilities. They chose me as one of the lucky bloggers to bring you all sorts of energy-savings tips in a series of blog entries over the past 12 months, and that series ends with a bang today.

But it’s not all sadness. Summer is almost here, and that’s always a good thing, right? And, so, with summer upon us, here’s a look back at the top lessons from all nine of my previous Project Envolve missions. Enjoy, and be sure to visit the Project Envolve website or the PPL Electric Utilities’ Pinterest boards for more energy-saving tips!

1. Yes, you really can cook an entire day’s worth of meals in your microwave. Real meals, too, like cinnamon rolls and Spinach, Chickpea and Feta Pasta (below). (Source: “Giving My Oven the Day Off: One Day, One Microwave, Four Meals”)

2. Energy savings during the summer is easier than you think. Two easy energy-saving tips: Keep the temperature in the mid-70s (not need to keep it at a chilly 70 degrees) and keep your AC clean! (Source: “Dear Hubby: Please Read These Energy Saving Summer Tips”)

3. Just as the microwave can be used to cook an entire day’s worth of meals, so can your grill. We made breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert using nothing by the flame-broiled power of our Weber. Breakfast was the delish Avocados with Eggs you see below. (Source: “One Day of Grilling: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Dessert”)

4. Saving electricity while you’re on vacation might seem easy, but you’re probably not doing everything you can. Like setting your water heater to “Vacation” mode and unplugging things like the TV, microwave and coffee maker. (Source: “Six Ways to Save Electricity (and Money!) While on Vacation”)

5. You can save energy during the summer, and you can also saving energy during the cold winter months. Do this right now: Check your furnace filter and replace it if it’s dirty. Then send yourself a reminder to do that at least every other month. (Source: “I’m Dreaming of an Energy-Efficient Christmas”)

6. Speaking of savings during the Christmas season, it really is possible to decorate smarter and save money on all that Yuletide cheer. My #1 tip: Switch to LED lights. They use 90 percent less energy and last 10 times longer! (Source: “Have a Merry Energy-Efficient Christmas”)

7. Those Kill-A-Watt meters that tell you how much energy your electronic devices use (and how much you’ll save by using them less often) are one of the coolest gadgets ever invented. (Source: “How to Catch Your Breath After a Crazy Holiday Season”)

8. I said it in tip #3 and I’ll say it again here: Firing up your grill more often is a fantastic idea for four reasons: 1. It won’t overheat your home like an oven will, 2. It’ll save electricity (again, no oven), 3. Your husband will love it and will offer to do all the cooking (score!), and 4. The food – like chicken kebabs below — will taste great! (Source: “Five Things You’ll Want to Add to Your Spring Cleaning Checklist”)

The post Microwaves, Kill-A-Watts and Grillin’: The Top Tips From My Project Envolve Journey appeared first on Motherhood on the Rocks.

I love this idea!

I hate cleaning. It’s my least favorite activity, right up there with balancing the checkbook and eating glass. Plus I’m lazy (and busy). With a rambunctious 5-year-old, husband and slobbery dog, it seems cleaning is a never ending job. Although I should say my husband helps clean and all that jazz (shock collar training works!).

So I’m back with 12 cleaning tips to make it a little less painful, quicker and less daunting (by the way, wine and music also help). If you follow some organizational tips as well, it will make cleaning much easier, because it’s kind of hard to clean around random shoes, scattered toys and stacks of mail.

• Wipe it up – Keep a container of wipes in each room. That way you can spot clean. Toothpaste on the sink? TV a little dusty? Jelly on the counter? Grab a wipe and clean it up.
• Bleach the Bowl – Put bleach tablets in the toilet tank to keep it clean and sparkling between deep cleanings. If you have a pet who drinks out of the toilet, be sure to keep the lid down or the door closed.
• Dish it out – Load dishes right into the dishwasher instead of piling them in the sink. While you’re at it, get a dishwashing detergent that eliminates the need for rinsing or scrubbing.
• Clean while you cook – My husband swears by this tip, and who am I to argue with cleanliness? Instead of dealing with an overwhelming mess of dishes and slop on the countertops after dinner, take some time to tidy things up in between stirring the sauce and chopping onions.
• Iron No More – Every time I iron, I end up burning myself at least once. The iron hates me. Or I’m just really clumsy (probably the latter, but the jury is still out on this one). Put wrinkled clothes in the dryer with a damp towel to avoid tangoing with the damn thing.
• Fox the Socks Thief – I haven’t figured out which one it is, but either the washer or dryer eats socks. I’m assuming it’s some kind of fee for doing such hard work. Or a punishment for having to clean your underpants. I found placing socks in a mesh lingerie bag keeps them from getting eaten. No more mismatched socks hanging around.
• Eliminate Sorting – Use cold water to wash all your clothes. When you have enough for one load, throw it all in together (sans delicates and reds, of course). This does three things: eliminates the need to sort clothes, allows you to do a load of laundry every day or every other day (instead of heaping piles once a week), and using cold water instead of hot saves money!).
• Ice It – I tend to over-water my plants causing puddles wherever they sit – which is why I have ONE plant that sits on the windowsill over the sink. (Plus my black thumb tends to kill them). Use ice cubes to water plants. Throw in a few cubes and as they melt, they’ll soak into the soil without leaving watery-muddy puddles everywhere.
• Sweep Easy – Let your products do the work for you. The Swiffer SweeperVac for hardwood and linoleum floors is an excellent example. You can vacuum up pet hair and stray cheerios, while also getting the “crushed into dust” cheerio you stepped on earlier. Even better – the Hoover FloorMate SpinScrub Wet/Dry Vacuum. It picks up dirt and then cleans AND dries your floor in one fell swoop!
• Take Ten – At the end of each day, take ten minutes to do a few chores. Sweep the floor, wipe down counters and throw toys in a bin. Taking a few minutes each day to straighten up and spot clean helps to keep your house cleaner longer.
• Do a Deep Clean – A couple of times a month, do a deep clean. I think you’ll find it takes less time when you keep things mostly tidy.
• Delegate – Even young children can help by picking up toys, mating socks and sweeping.

The post 12 Cleaning Tips for the Lazy (Or Busy) appeared first on Motherhood on the Rocks.

And they were delicious! I think the topping really takes the cake (so to speak). And the meatloaf was very juicy.

BONUS: Cook time is only 30 minutes. That’s right. Half an hour. I love the smell of things baking, but it KILLS me to wait so long to taste the food wafting from the oven.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef or turkey
• 1 large egg
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup dried bread crumbs or tear 2 bread into tiny pieces
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons prepared mustard
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 8 slices of provolone cheese

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep the ingredients.

Combine ground beef, egg, onion, milk, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Be careful not to overmix or the meatloaf will become tough.

Coat a muffin pan with cooking spray and distribute mixture evenly into the pan. We made ours bigger, but you can easily make them into 8 “cakes.”

In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, mustard and ketchup. Pour over meatloaf and bake for 30 minutes. During last 5 minutes of baking, place provolone slices over each “cake.” Easy peasy.

And of course, the best part…

The Wine Guy Says: So, you’re making meatloaf tonight. Brings back memories as a kid when I thought everything in the kitchen was a vehicle created to transport ketchup into my system. How things have changed…with wine. And which wine to go with it? There’s a clue here in the title: meat. That almost always means red wine. (OK, sometimes it means beer, too, but that usually has the signal words of “grilled” or “fried” with it.)

Meatloaf is usually a pretty straightforward set of flavors, so this isn’t the time to be yanking that old Barolo out of the cellar. Go for something with lots of straightforward fruit, less complexity. My vote is for Zinfandel, but not one of those fancy single-vineyard designated wines. Just make sure it’s red (not pink/white). Make sure the kids are dressed for bed before dinner, since most Zins come in over 14% alcohol, some pushing up higher into Port realm.

“The Wine Guy” is Carl Helrich, owner and head winemaker at Allegro Vineyards in Brogue, PA. Check them out on their website, blog, Facebook, or Twitter. Or just stop by the winery for a tasting!

Recipe adapted from parenting.com and allrecipes.com.

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