|
Here's What's New  
Guest post from Lauren of Mommy's Getting Strong When I was pregnant with each of my children, one of the things I did to prepare for the chaos of having a new baby was to make dinners ahead of time and freeze them. I didn't know too much about having kids, but I knew that I wouldn't want to be spending hours slaving over the stove when I had a newborn! Since that time, other chaotic seasons of life have demanded that I carefully meal plan or risk having nothing to eat for dinner. I’ve found that marinated chicken is by far one of the easiest and most time-effective ways to meal prep for the freezer, and I am constantly on the lookout for new flavor combinations to spice it up. Chicken freezes exceptionally well, and the extra marinating time in the freezer and as the meat thaws allows for the marinade to soak in and be extra flavorful. Here are my top 5 favorite make ahead marinating chicken recipes: This chicken is so flavorful and moist that it even elicited a compliment from my husband, who is usually less enthusiastic about grilled chicken. The citrus flavor is perfect for summer and pairs wonderfully with grilled or roasted vegetables. Though this one does take a little bit of extra prep work after the chicken is frozen, the flavor is worth it! Freeze the chicken in the marinade, and then when you are ready to eat it (or up to 3-4 days in advance), mix up the bruschetta topping. The topping can also be used as a salsa in wraps or pita sandwiches if you have any leftover. I like to make this seasoning mix and coat the chicken. I chop the chicken up into then strips along with some onions and peppers, and freeze them all together. The day of eating, thaw them all together and cook in a large skillet until the chicken is done. Voila! Though this is not originally a "freezer recipe," the marinade for this dish can be mixed up and frozen along with the chicken in a gallon-size freezer bag. The flavor really pops, and makes this a perfect dish for hot summer days! Though the ingredient list is fairly simple, these chicken breasts are delicious and savory. Fresh rosemary will add extra flavor, but dried can be used as well. The leftovers go great in a pita or wrap for an easy on-the-go meal. By pairing each of these dishes with vegetables, a salad, and a whole grain like quinoa or brown rice, you'll have a delicious and very healthy meal ready for your family in around 30 minutes! What are your favorite make-ahead freezer meals? Lauren Keplinger is a health and fitness enthusiast, as well as an Army wife and mom to 2 toddlers. She talks about meal planning, finding a healthy balance, and striving to meet your goals while juggling parenthood over at Mommy's Getting Strong.
photo credit Need printer ink? Visit CompAndSave.com for an exclusive $1 ink sale for Money Saving Mom® followers!  Making a chocolate birthday cake
Silas turned five this week! In typical Silas fashion, he walked into our room the morning of his birthday and said, “I can’t believe I’m five years old.” We can’t believe it, either! On the one hand, it seems like he was just a toddler a few months ago, and on the other hand, it seems like he’s twice his age. 
Silas asked to go to Chuck E. Cheese’s for his birthday… And he’s been looking forward to it and earning money for it for the past few months. {He LOVES to pay for things, so he asked if he could earn money to pay for part of the price of tokens for his party. Because he was so excited about doing it, we let him… however, we pitched in quite a bit of extra. :)} It was my first experience at Chuck E. Cheese’s. (Can you believe I’ve never been there before?) We ended up pretty much having the whole place to ourselves! Even with coupons, it’s nowhere near a frugal outing, but birthdays and memory-making are worth the occasional budgeted splurge!  
In other news, I am thrilled to have a washer and dryer again! Jesse did a lot of research on which set would be best and I’m really happy with the ones he decided to get. I’m also beyond thrilled to have a true laundry room! Our washer and dryer hook-ups have been in many places in our various houses: in the basement, in a bathroom, off the kitchen, or in the garage entryway… But we’ve never had a true separate laundry room. I’m envisioning all sorts of ways to organize and dress this place up to make it a little oasis. I figure that since I’ll be spending a lot of time in there, I might as well make it a welcoming haven. 
We did about five loads of laundry today to get all caught up and then had a laundry folding party. With everyone helping, it went really quickly! As I was getting Silas ready for bed tonight, I noticed something strange in his armpit. Upon further investigation, I discovered it was a tick that was attached. Ick! It hadn’t been there for longer than 24 hours (gratefully!) and we were able to get it unattached fairly easily. But it was still an eventful hour tonight! Growing up in the country, I’ve dealt with ticks before. But my kids had never seen one, so it turned into a science lesson about the different types of ticks, how they attach themselves to your body, what the risks are with ticks, and which ticks are the most dangerous. Now we’re all a bit paranoid! How has your week been? Did anything exciting or interesting happen at your house? Need printer ink? Visit CompAndSave.com for an exclusive $1 ink sale for Money Saving Mom® followers! 
One of the risks of renting a house without seeing it, was not knowing how the storage space would be. Since we’ve been blessed to have a basement in our last few homes, I was a little concerned about how we’d adjust to not having the luxury of a basement here in TN. Well, when we got here and saw the house for the first time, I almost squealed when I opened up this door off the kitchen and saw this amazing PANTRY!!! I had no idea this house had a pantry, so this was an incredible bonus. I know it might seem weird that I was so excited about a pantry, but because I spend so much time in the kitchen and like to buy in bulk, this felt almost like Christmas morning to me. (Yes, you can think I’m crazy!) 
My sister and I unpacked the kitchen on moving in day and just got everything into the pantry — we didn’t worry about getting it organized since we were just on a mission to get all the boxes unpacked that weekend. But I knew that one of the first organization projects I wanted to tackle was the pantry. 
Today, I had some time to head in there and organize. And it felt so good to get a sort of organized system for what I was going to store where. Things are pretty sparse right now since we tried to eat down as much of our pantry as we could so we didn’t have as much to move. But I’m looking forward to getting it filled up — and maybe even adding a few more shelves so we can have more storage in here. Have you tackled any organization projects recently? If so, tell us about them! Need printer ink? Visit CompAndSave.com for an exclusive $1 ink sale for Money Saving Mom® followers! 
I have a question regarding book publishing. I noticed that you recently published your second book and was wondering if you could give me some advice. I have a book idea that I'd really like to get published. I’m not sure where to start, though. The web sites I’ve read so far on book publishing have overwhelmed me. -Amy
Hi, Amy! That's exciting that you have a book idea and I love your ambition for wanting to get your book published! I don't want to discourage you with this post, but I also want to be honest and say that it's really hard to get a book deal if you haven't already established a platform online. Publishers have limited budgets and print capabilities. Meaning, they can only print and market a set number of books each year. 
There are so many bloggers and online entrepreneurs with really large followings in this day and age, publishers tend to like proof of your pre-established market before they'll even consider your manuscript. Publishers want to know that you have at least a few thousand (or more!) people who will buy your book without any marketing efforts from the publisher. They also need to know that there is a market for what you have to say. If you haven't already created and built that market, it's hard to convince them to put time and money into your project — especially when they have dozens of other manuscripts from authors who do have a pre-established market of 5,000 to 20,000 people or more. What does this mean for you? It’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that if you don’t already have an online following, you need to focus on building a platform before you pursue a publishers. The good news is that it’s never been easier to build an online platform. With social media networks and the power of viral marketing, everyone who has a unique message and a persevering spirit can build an online platform. 
How to Get Started 1. Read Platform by Michael Hyatt — This book will encourage you and give you a vision for how you can build an online platform without money, experience, or even connections. 2. Read my free ebook on How to Make Money Blogging — This ebook isn’t just about making money online. I share step-by-step help for setting up a successful blog and getting people to read what you have to say. 3. Start networking. One of the best ways to learn and grow is to network with others. Find those who are ahead of you, those who are right where you’re at, and those who are just starting on their journey headed in the direction you are. Develop friendships, ask questions, share ideas and advice. Relationships with others who are in a similar position are invaluable! 4. Jump out start doing things. The best thing you can be doing to get yourself closer to getting a book deal is to just start doing things. Many people have great ideas, but they never do much with those ideas. Go experiment. Try things. Make mistakes and learn from them. And keep trying and learning! 5. Keep at it! As I wrote about recently, I think the number one reason most people fail is because they give up too soon. You are going to struggle in the process. You are going to feel insecure. You are going to question why you are doing this. You are going to fail. But success comes to those who refuse to give up.
What advice and suggestions do the rest of you have for Amy? Recommend reading: How to Write a Book Proposal and Sell Your Book Like Wildfire. I wish I had read both of these books before I wrote my first book! Need printer ink? Visit CompAndSave.com for an exclusive $1 ink sale for Money Saving Mom® followers! | 
