Healthy entrees under $3 per serving

EatingWell.com has a collection of healthy budget-friendly recipes. All of the recipes are below $3 per serving, much less than eating out.

Food allergies in the breastfed child

Angela at Breastfeeding 123 is conducting a poll on food allergies in the breastfed child. She also has some additional questions that you can answer in the comment section.

I am interested in learning more about the challenges breastfeeding mothers face in this situation. So if you have anything to contribute, please stop by and vote. I don't know when the poll will be closed.

Are you a Registered Dietitian? Do you have a Blog?

Calling all dietitian bloggers for the first RD Blogfest!

In celebration of National Registered Dietitian Day, March 11, 2009, Monika and I are organizing an RD Blogfest. A Blogfest, also called a blog carnival or synchroblog, is an event when a group of bloggers write a post on their own blogs about a particular theme or subject. The bloggers also link to the posts from the other blogfest participants. It is a unique way to share a common interest and connect other bloggers, while increasing traffic to your blog.

If you have been considering starting a blog, then now is a good time to do it.

Email RDbloggers AT gmail DOT com for further details.

Some memorable valentines day moments

I am pretty random at celebrating Valentines Day. But when I do, it is usually something pretty silly. There have been some other memorable moments on this day, so why not write them here?

1996: A friend of mine felt sorry for me when he heard no one sent me a valentine. When I got home, I was met by a dozen ascii roses like this: @>-->--
... we've been married for 10 years now.
1998: Strung hearts off of the ceiling and wrote fun things on them. Played John Paul Young's "Love is In the Air" upon entering the room.
2002: One of the most fun valentines day was when I made heart-shaped cheeseburgers and played the cheeseburger song from veggie tales as my husband walked through the door.
2003: We ate Gyros at a small Greek "restaurant" (there are maybe thee tables), while watching the line to get in the Italian Restaurant next door.
2004: My 14 month old son started walking across the room, and even mumbled "I Love You".
2006: I was 4 months pregnant with my third child, and I hadn't felt her give me a real kick yet. On this day, while talking to my friend Margaret. I said, "I'm wondering if I should be concerned". Right then the baby kicked! Many times, and didn't ever stop!
2008: My sister-in-law presented Stan and me with a reservation at a local Brazilian restaurant.
2009: Yesterday, my 6 year old made a valentine after storytime and gave it to Ms. Anne, the children's librarian. Today my two year old presented us with a stomach virus!

I really should be sleeping...

On the topic of sleep, I haven't slept well the past few days and tonight I was simply too tired to study. Then I decide to check my blog reader and read one post. That one post got my juices flowing about something that I decided to write it down. It's an idea I have been developing over a period of time, not one I can see to fruition, but one that I felt compelled to finally put into writing. It will eventually be posted here on this blog.

Anyway, I just wanted to confess my inability to motivate myself to go to sleep early :-)

Goodnight!

If you have the luxury to sleep in...

I am hoping my long-standing profile picture will be soon changed. I started this blog sleep deprived and am ready for that to be a thing of the past. I used to be part of the mommy club whose kids would wake up bright and early (like 5:30-6am), but since we moved to Ohio, my kids have started sleeping in as late as 8:30. But the problem I was faced with was that when we started the day that late, I wouldn't be productive. Once we get through the morning routine of getting dressed, making beds, eating breakfast, and starting household chores (not to mention homeschooling), I have to stop for lunch.
I have been trying to get up earlier. This has worked well for me in the past, but lately my body has been out of sorts so I have had a much harder time making myself get out of bed earlier (I may go into detail about that sometime later). So as I was accepting the fact that I had to accept that my body was telling me it needed more rest, I had to adjust to how I would be able to get it all done. After lunch I would get really tired and I just felt unable to do much, let alone think. Naps (when I got those) weren't working for me either.
So this week I decided I will try to get to bed early, and take advantage of the kids sleeping in to sleep in too. So far it has been working well. I have been functional in the afternoons and have been able to catch up with some studying in the evening.
So, if you are fatigued and have the luxury to sleep in, then do your body a favor and get the much needed sleep.
But first, get to bed early.

The Peanut Butter Mess!

By now, you probably have heard of one product after another being recalled because of the salmonella outbreak in peanut butter. Here's a list that is updated frequently:
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm

Pretty much, if you are eating a product that contains peanut butter, no matter from where you got it, you better check the list first. This goes for candy, granola bars, cookies, etc.