A trip away with the family can sometimes feel like even more like work rather than a vacation for us moms. But, good news, it doesn’t have to be! After years of traveling with my family of 5, there are a few tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way to help me prepare beforehand, and to pack smarter and lighter, so we can enjoy the quality time together that we intended to.
1. Bring some instant eats. To avoid yucky airplane food (re: fake stuff wrapped in plastic) bring your own. Get a dose of leafy greens, with a side of calcium, magnesium, iron and fiber, all with a delicious “chip” taste and crunch. Kids can polish off an entire bag - it’s that good.
2. Use your reusables. No matter where you’re off to, smart and reliable reusables will take you from A - B to C and back again. Pack your Klean Kanteen bottle in your carry-ons and fill at the airport (after going through security of course), and you’ll never have to worry about waiting in lines for a pricy, sugary soda. Plus, staying hydrated during air travel helps fight fatigue and helps fight the munchies too.
3. Multi-purpose care-to-go. Less is always more, but even more so when you’re traveling, and multi-purpose products make for lighter luggage and a lighter (travel) footprint. The worldTRIO comes with a shampoo, body wash, conditioner, moisturizer and all-purpose balm (all in 3 little bottles!) that are safe and effective for the entire fam. They can be used interchangeably on both skin and hair, and all three “travel” bottles are under 100ml so you can even pack them in your carry-on.
4. Smart takeoff toteables. Choosing the right luggage and travel accessories is just as important as choosing the right destination. I use Nau’s Lightbeam Tote because it can transform from a backpack, to a single strap shoulder bag, to an organizer bag inside a suitcase, making it the ultimate all-in-one travel bag for moms. This featherweight tote doesn’t weigh you down on your travels, and bonus, it’s made from 100% recycled polyester.
5. Clean lightweight luggables. You won’t have to worry about leaving this travel essential behind. Berryplus laundry soap is only 55mls (under airplane liquid standards), yet this highly concentrated small bottle (think the size of your cell phone) effectively cleans 20 loads of laundry. Small and lightweight, you can pack it in your carry on, and know that this tiny lifesaver will come in handy at some point during your travels.
Elbert Hubbard said “No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.” I think he may have just needed a great travel guide to help him plan ahead.
Lisa Borden, owner of marketing firm, Borden Communications, offers a holistic approach to consciously marketing responsible brands and services. She encourages everyone to be their own expert by offering new perspectives, and helping them find the clarity to uncover simple solutions to daily challenges. She claims that she is not a coach, a consultant, or a concierge, but rather a strategic blend of all of these roles - working to increase efficiencies, revenue, health and happiness. As a consultant to small businesses, corporations, non-profit organizations, school groups and individuals as well as a dynamic campaign and brand ambassador and motivational speaker, her message is always clear. Every action and every dollar matters and has an impact - so we’d better take each step wisely. Together. Follow Lisa on twitter @LisaBorden.
Valentine’s Day is once a year, and not to be a mood killer, but don’t you think that we should be celebrating those we love everyday (and not just your “significant other”)? Not that I don’t give my kids all of the love and attention they need daily (ok, as a working mother of 3, I’m the first to admit that I live with guilt every minute about not giving them enough), but there’s no day more perfect to do something special as a family than on Valentine’s Day.
Taking a few extra moments to consider the activities we do together and the things we buy for one another will mean the world…to the world. Try one (or more) of the following 15 ideas:
1. Greetings of Love. Make cards for one another from what you have in your home…old magazines, scrap paper, how about that artwork brought home from school that you are not keeping? (seriously, if you have school aged-children, you will know that I’m not an evil mother…there is only so much space we have and so many things that we can classify as precious!). Or, of course, send your love via email.
2. Pack a Loveable Lunch. Whether you’re sending the kids off to school, or planning a picnic in the park, packing your healthy homemade meal in a safe (and irresistibly cute) lunch bag means less waste, and happy, smiling kids.
3. Build a Snowman. What better way to spend time with the family over this loveable holiday than to come together for some good ol’ fashioned team work? I bet you didn’t think a snowman could be local and organic did you?
4. Coco Loco. You can never go wrong with chocolate treats. Well, actually, you sort of can. Make sure to look for organic and fair-trade labels. When labeled “organic” you can be assured that your chocolate hasn’t been sprayed with synthetic ick. When labeled “Fairtrade”, it means that farmers were given a fair price for their cocoa. Here is the absolute best chocolate in the world – www.chocosoltraders.com – I could write an entire article on why it’s the best, but you’ll have to check out their website and try it for yourself.
5. Buy the whole bush! Most cut flowers are grown in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia and can be heavily sprayed with pesticides, fungicides and herbicides (with toxins that are banned in fields in Canada!). And we thought flowers were supposed to signify beauty and purity?! When buying flowers make sure to source local and organic ones, you’d be surprised to find out what’s growing in your own backyard. I love My Luscious Backyard’s organic selection. You can also go out with your family and buy a plant, a sprouting kit, or an indoor herb garden (organic, of course). You can have fun planting them as a family and it can be a reminder of something you did all together. However, if you aren’t blessed with a green thumb (mine is actually black), hire a farmer. They make it easy and fun to pick the freshest, most local and organic veggies and you can plan an entire meal around what’s growing right outside in your very own backyard.
6. Create a holiday cocktail. I’m referring to one the entire family can enjoy.Choose fresh, local, organic and colourful fruits and veggies and create a delicious smoothie or juice to enjoy. We have plenty of great drink ideas in our 2011 Drinking Guide. Get each family member to create their own “signature” drink (and have their own signature reusable glass straw too).
7. Screen something. Choose a delicious (and healthy) snack – here are some of my favourites - and cuddle up under a comfy organic throw to watch a movie as a family. Choose the latest release or go with old family footage.They can be great for laughs and good memories. (Combine this activity with #8 too!)
8. Pop it up. Pop local organic popcorn (our family favourite is http://www.naturesorganics.ca/. If you are curious why you shouldn’t ever eat microwave popcorn, then what you should be screening (see #7 above) is King Corn but maybe not with the kids!).
9. Experience it all. Experience something new or old together. Go to the museum or other attractions. Go mini-golfing or bowling. Get tickets to a concert or play. www.kidsaroundcanada.com is a good place to start looking. If you combine your outing with a meal, choose a restaurant with a local and sustainable menu. You cannot believe how many exist, are affordable and offer favourites like pizza or burgers if your kids are picky eaters…however, make it an opportunity to find a new food to love…something colourful perhaps?!
10. Dress up or dress down. Dress up your table and yourselves or, dress down and get down on the floor. Spread out a blanket and have an indoor picnic and prepare a local family dinner together. I know, this is a stretch for some to imagine, but trying to plan it (and stick to it) could become a fun project.
11. Light it up. While enjoying a special family meal (see #10 above), set a calm mood (what family doesn’t need more of that?) with 100% beeswax candles with cotton wicks. Rest assured knowing you’ll be dining without the black soot and fumes (think diesel exhaust while you eat and drink, ick) from standard paraffin, lead-wicked candles. Keep your indoor air clean, and your family-time moments pure!
12. Read a Good Book.Well I’m bias since I wrote the Alphabet of Avoidance but it’s a fun, inspiring, and perspective changing read that not only identifies what we should be avoiding in order to live healthier lives, but also includes simple (and not overbearing) solutions to immediately replace the “bad” with someone better, or even, nothing at all.As a family, you can read one page a day and make a simple change (or if you’re ambitious, you can read the entire short book in an hour!).
13. Have a pillow fight. As you’re tossing your pillows around (and resting your head on them at night) make sure your pillows are safe and are not made from synthetic materials.Your family could be sleeping on toluene, formaldehyde, and other nasty chems. As Annie Leonard from the Story of Stuff exclaims - there’s got to be a better way to stop your head from catching on fire while you sleep than dousing your pillow in flame retardants”.Although replacing your favourite worked-in pillow may seem challenging, swap it in for one that’s made from organic wool or organic rubber.It’s a better change for your loved ones.
14. Be playful. Play that doesn’t harm the earth, provides fun and games for the whole family, and learning a thing or two , is what family time is all about. Our family loves Anouk’s board games and puzzles.Each one is designed in Toronto with passion, and made with FSC certified paper and veggie based inks.
15. Take another shot. Take tons of digital pictures throughout the day (use as many cameras as your family has – no, not an encouragement to go out and buy more), and make a collage, an online album, a screensaver from it. There is nothing like my family’s smiling faces to brighten a moment.
However you decide to celebrate this day with those you love, make it memorable and get to the heart of the matter. Even when caught up in the hustle, bustle, routines and chaos on every other day, may your days together be full of fun, laughter, kindness and love…for your loved ones and our world.
Lisa Borden, owner of Borden Communications, takes a unique approach to holistically marketing eco-intelligent living and working. Some of her favourite titles (from a long list) include: Catalyst for Change, Enthusiastic Philanthropist, Inspiration Agent, Strategist + Catalyst, Mother of 3 and Wannabe Organic Farmer. You can follow her on twitter @LisaBorden or learn more about her and her business at www.bordencom.com.
March “break”…for whom? And from what? Taking the kids somewhere warm on a mid-winter break might be a release from school learning for them, but for parents it can be a time where we actually learn some lessons of our own. Some of the amazing things I’ve learned on tropical March breaks include:
• The inverse law of sunscreen: the more likely you are to get every inch of junior’s soft baby white skin covered in SPF50, the more likely you are to find yourself burned to a crisp. You used up half a bottle and none of it made its way to you.
• Baseball hats self-implode and disappear out of the “hat” box in your front cupboard, which you remember to scrounge through minutes before you leave for the airport. Never fear; these hats will mysteriously reappear when you are going through the winter tuque drought. And don’t worry – you can buy a great summer hat for only $29.95 from a beach vendor.
• Yes flip flops are adorable for a four year old. However, they can’t walk more than three steps every five minutes without them falling off. And you’re in a hurry to get to the store to get more sunscreen and that darn hat. Come on!
• You can be a nice Mom and allow for “vacation bedtimes”, but be forewarned that the concept of “vacation sleep-ins” is totally foreign to any child under the age of eight. Congratulations – they’ve stayed up later and now they’re cranky at 2:00 in the afternoon. Not really a win/win – more like a whine/wine (them the former and you, the latter. It’s vacation, after all!).
• Go ahead, cut up that healthy, nutritious, attractive, messy overpriced watermelon and put it out for the children as a mid-afternoon snack. The perfect food for a hot, dehydrating day. That is, until, Junk Food Mom arrives from down the beach and pops out a bag of salty potato chips. BE her. Take the title of “good mom” (according to the kids, anyway), as a vacation treat. Make them eat some broccoli for dinner later. Due to their 2:30 pm nap, they’ll be up for hours anyway, so you’ll have time to force it down them.
• Shopping for summery clothes in a wintery clime is not fun. They won’t be on sale, chances are slim you’ll find the right sizes, and if by chance you do, these summer clothes won’t actually fit them later on in the summer, making your C.P.W. (or Cost Per Wear) extremely high. Again, that beach vendor will be more than happy to help you out.
• Apparently, it does matter what colour suitcase each child is allocated. The red one is better. It just is. Prepare to buy a new black one, and leave the red one at home because “If you can’t settle this between you, NO ONE is getting it.” No one does.
Once they’re firmly ensconced back in school after the break, just like trigonometry these key learnings will fade to an unpleasant memory and you’ll be free once again to focus on the things that really count…like why the school bus driver insists on arriving precisely 12 minutes late every day the first week back. It didn’t take a math genius to figure this out; you just know it, because you were counting it down. Just like those days left til summer vacation, or as I like to call it, March Break, On Steroids.
Ever since I started baking, I searched for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Admittedly, it has led me to some gems, which I enjoy making and serving to delighted family members and guests. In fact, I reached the point where I stopped my search … until now.
A friend recommended the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for the perfect chocolate chip cookie and I had to try it.
The results … delicious! I would share one, but they didn’t last past the day in our test kitchen.
“Mom, I’m hungry!” That seems to be the Battle Cry of the Child during March break. For the week that my two boys have off during March, it seems like no matter how much I feed them, they still insist they are hungry. True enough my 9 year old can out eat me right now but it’s probably more to do with the increase in activity they experience during this week than anything else. This is a week where they are not chained to their school desks and are free to run amuck doing what little boys do, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. In order to get them to sit still for 28 seconds while I clear the rubble, I serve them Crispy Chicken Chunks with Honey-Mustard Dip for a snack or with a salad for dinner. This homemade version is a fantastic alternative to the pre-packaged frozen variety as you can control the salt and fat content. Enjoy your time with your kids this March Break, I’m told these years go by fast….yeah, right!
Crispy Chicken Chunks with Honey-Mustard Dip
Makes 8 servings
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 10-12 minutes
1. Stir together mayonnaise, mustard and honey in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 425F.
3. Cut chicken into 1-1/2-inch pieces. Combine flour, parsley, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper in a plastic bag. Add chicken pieces, a few at a time, to the flour mixture. Close the bag; shake to coat chicken pieces. Set chicken aside.
4. Combine beaten egg and milk in a bowl. Place crushed crackers in another bowl. Dip flour-coated chicken pieces, one-fourth at a time, into the egg-and-milk mixture. Roll the pieces in crackers. Place in a single layer on a large ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until chicken is no longer pink.
5. Serve with dip and your child’s favourite cut up vegetables or salad.
Nadine Hughes is the creator and owner of, The Cook’s Companion and The Menu Companion, through which she offers kitchen consultations, menu planning services as well as private cooking classes for adults and teens throughout Southern Ontario. She is also an award winning author.Pick up a copy of her latest cookbook “The Groove Mamma Goes Gourmet – Easy Ways To Put The Fun Back Into Entertaining” (awarded Best Canadian Entertaining Cookbook at the 2009 Gourmand Cookbook Awards) for $7.98 at www.groovemamma.com
Our friend Debbie shared her ‘time saver’ lunch box packing tip yesterday, and of course we have to pass it on.
When Debbie’s kids come back from school, she empties their lunch box. At the same time, she asks them what snacks they want for the next day. She then either puts in the snacks, or prepares the sancks and places them in the refrigerator, to quickly add in the morning.
Why we like this tip …
a) There are no complaints about the snacks packed from the kids who have chosen them.
Rejoice, rejoice the new year is here! A new start to the year can bring a much needed new way of eating; mind you anything would be a new way to eat after how I munched and sipped my way through the last few weeks of 2010! My promise to myself in 2011 is not to necessarily change what I eat but how much of it I eat. It’s all about the portion power! Portion control is a great way to keep your weight down but still maintain the foods you love. Just like the old saying, “everything in moderation”, taking control of what you put on your plate will help to keep your eating habits in check. Here are a few tips to help keep your perspective on portion control in perspective!
1. Find yourself with leftovers? Congratulations first of all that you didn’t eat the whole thing on the first go around! Second, try portioning the leftovers into individual serving sizes instead of one larger container. That way when you chose to either reheat or defrost and reheat, you will more likely only eat the one portion.
2. Portion out the wicked! Whatever your wicked food is; mine are salty snacks like potato chips, take the time to portion our small servings in zippered bags or containers. When you feel like a snack, you’ll be more likely to only eat the single serving rather than the whole bag!
3. Teeny tiny tummy! Have smaller mini meals during the day but more frequently instead of 3 large meals. We can sometimes find ourselves with 8 hours between lunch and dinner which causes overeating when you do finally sit down to eat. Better to eat 5 mini healthy meals per day to help curb hunger and cut down on overzealous eating!
4. Out of sight, out of mind. After you have portioned your serving, don’t keep the remaining leftovers on the table or within sight. Often I find myself reaching for the serving dish after my first helping, just because; just because I can see it, just because it’s there and just because I can. Don’t tempt yourself and keep it out of sight or immediately portion out the leftovers and place in individual serving containers in the freezer.
5. A trick of the mind! Put away the grande dinner plates and use smaller ones. You’re more likely to fill a large plate without thinking about the portion size but use a smaller plate and your portion size will automatically reduce.
Nadine Hughes is the creator and owner of, The Cook’s Companion and The Menu Companion, through which she offers kitchen consultations, menu planning services as well as private cooking classes for adults and teens throughout Southern Ontario. She is also an award winning author. Pick up a copy of her latest cookbook “The Groove Mamma Goes Gourmet – Easy Ways To Put The Fun Back Into Entertaining” (awarded Best Canadian Entertaining Cookbook at the 2009 Gourmand Cookbook Awards) for $7.98 at www.groovemamma.com.
I enjoy baking for family and friends, but have recently decided to try and ‘lighten up’ when looking at ingredients (at least some of the time).
My weekend search for inspiration led me to a Cooking Light Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe that was absolutely delicious. Further, the cookies are still soft and fresh-tasting two days later!
