Earth Hour 2008 - Fine Family Dining by Candlelight

On March 29, my family and some close friends joined other families and individuals across the world in making a statement about our environment and our role in it. We were part of the thousands (hopefully millions) who as part of Earth Hour 2008 turned off our electricity from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. to emphasize our ability to change our behaviors and find solutions, like conserving energy, to help reduce the damage we are doing to our environment.

I’m not always that punctual when it comes to meal preparation, yet on that night everything was done by 7:40 p.m. The Tilapia fish in herb and butter sauce, pasta, brocolli and tossed salad in Raspberry Wine Vinaigrette - all complete, nothing overcooked or burned (miracle!!).

My family and guests were seated by five minutes to 8…my son lit the candles as and we sat down to one of the most enjoyable dinners and conversations we’ve had in a long time.

Detatching ourselves for an hour from some of our unnecessary creature comforts like TV, video games, radios, etc. meant that a lot of us had to make plans to do things differently…like planning to eat together at the same time in one room in order to share the candle light. It was like we all couldn’t get to the dining table fast enough. And while I’d love to say the urgency was related to my scrumptious cooking, I think it had more to do with the notion and excitement that we were doing a very little thing that was part of a big thing for our world.

We were activists by candlelight! We all should take 60-minutes like this more often don’t you think?

Tags: Family Life, Featured, Green Living, Menu Planning, New Urbanism

Hot Summer Cooking Tips for Busy Moms, Hungry Families

Okay I’ve got a treat for you. I know it’s summer, it’s hot, you have so many outdoor activities going on, you’re exhausted  and cooking is the last thing on your mind. Here’s the treat:  I’m going to share with you the means to getting your secret weapon for dealing with the awful question “What am I going to cook for dinner?”  The secret is a resource called “Menu Planning Central.”  This resource, started and managed by some very savvy moms, provides not only planned menus but the shopping list as well!

I have even better news.  You can win one full year’s subscription to this service by entering a contest being held by a great mom and business owner that I’ve recently come to know.  Her name is Nell and you can visit her blog to read more about the contest. The deadline ends September 15.

Tags: Family Life, Menu Planning, family life, menu planning