CONGRATULATIONS to Frances Owen! Her name was drawn at random from the comments below to win this great prize pack. Stay tuned because the great folks at Nestle aren’t done yet! There are more great prizes coming up, including a color Nook! Thank you to everyone who entered this and to all of you for being such a great part of the Southern Plate Family.
Gratefully,
Christy

 

School is back in session and with it the ebb and flow of life settles into a new pattern yet again. As my kids advance in grades it seems each year gets more challenging than the next. Homework gets harder, that’s for sure! WOW, they sure do teach a lot more these days than they did when I was a kid! I can still help with our youngest’s homework and I’m the go-to gal when it comes to English and Literature for both kids but when it comes to my son’s math work, I send him straight to daddy. You see, I have a firm belief that math should involve numbers. When folks start throwing letters of the alphabet in there, I’m out. 

We have a different challenge this year, though. As I juggle school schedules and car pooling, I’m also juggling running a website and all that entails, a Facebook page, and a large volume of emails. But to top it off, I’m writing my next book and adding in a wonderful new job with Southern Living. Ironically, in the midst of everything I do (which is centered around food) my biggest challenge lately is getting supper on the table each and every night. It is so very important for all of us to come together at the end of the day around the dinner table, though. Our family time and dinner conversation are what keeps us connected and close in a world that presents far too many opportunities for families to drift apart.

So I’m getting creative. I used to do once a month cooking but as someone who enjoys getting to spend a little time in the kitchen each week and knowing that I like to tailor each day’s meal based on what we’re in the mood for, that just doesn’t appeal to me right now. So I’m developing my own meal prep strategies and they’re really working out well. I’m using my slow cooker at least a few times a week (We eat a LOT of slow cooked meals when I’m busy). I also sometimes double suppers I make and freeze one for another day. I’ve started using several other dinner prep tactics to make sure we have a freshly made meal that everyone loves to sit down to every night. The bonus of this is that I’ve come up with some great ideas to share in my next book that are really working for us, but most importantly, I’m falling into a rhythm that allows us to sit down to supper each night regardless of how crazy our schedules get.

So my Back To School Resolution has been to conquer the challenge of finding time to make supper in the middle of a very busy schedule and so far, I’ve really been happy with my progress. I’d love to hear your back to school resolution as well!

Nestle is offering a great prize pack to one lucky member of the Southern Plate Family!

Simply leave a comment on this post to be entered.

You can just say “hi” if you like or you can tell me what your School Year Resolution is.

Prize Pack Includes:

• $25 Mastercard rewards card
• $20 in School Supplies

AND

Coupons to receive FREE Products from:

• Stouffer’s
• Toll House Morsels
• Carnation Breakfast Essentials
• Nesquik
• Tombstone Pizza
• Ovaltine

The winner will also receive a Family Dinner Box of Questions to help facilitate fun dinnertime conversation and a Nestle Family Coupon book. 

 

But guess what? I win, too! Nestle is giving me a collection of Reading Is Fundamental books valued at over $350 to donate to my kid’s school library. YAY!!! 

 

Be sure and leave a comment below to be entered into my giveaway!

Contest Closes Friday, September 9th at midnight central time. Winner will be notified and announced on this post and on my Facebook page on Saturday. 

You can also join me on my Facebook Page and on Thursday I’ll be answering some of your questions on the Nestle Family FaceBook page!

For more great chances to win, visit my friend Jyl’s blog by clicking here. She’s hosting a giveaway as well! 

Also be sure and check out A Daily Dose of Toni, who will be posting for Nestle later this week!

 

Disclaimer: I have not been financially compensated for this post, I just really like the folks at Nestle and I love being able to give stuff away to you. Nestle is providing the prize pack and my son drinks so much of the Carnation Breakfast Essentials that I think I should buy stock in the company. It’s all good, though. Poor kid eats everything that isn’t nailed down and is growing like a weed, but still has ribs poking out so I figure he can use all the vitamins and calcium he can get at this point. I killed a giant spider on my porch this morning, just thought you should know that. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I know I will now that the king of all spiders is no longer residing just outside my front door. I hope he doesn’t have loyal followers who might want to avenge his death….