At the heart of the Family Eats Four Pillars is Planning. It is an essential element to everything you tackle in the kitchen, from what to eat and how much you spend at the grocery, to frustration-free meal preparation and gathering together for mealtime. Without Planning, your efforts to Purchase, Prepare and Partake (the other Pillars) are left to chance.

In this week’s installment of Ten for Tuesday, we offer up 10 Tips for Meal Planning Success.

1. Crack Open Your Cookbooks: I have a huge bookshelf filled with cookbooks, and I still find myself in a rut, preparing the same meals again and again. But, when I venture into my cookbook shelves for a bit of reading, I find lots of inspiration for new recipes that prove to be great additions to our list of favorite recipes. Take the time to revisit your cookbooks every time the season changes. Or, if you’re more adventurous, choose one new recipe to try each month.
2. Learn How to Make Sauces and Marinades: Investing the time and energy in learning how to make sauces and marinades will help you spruce up old recipes, leftovers, and the ubiquitous chicken you seem to always be preparing. With a good knowledge of creating these recipe-changing sauces and marinades, you’ll be more confident in the kitchen, and more excited about making mealtime more delicious. Read up about sauces in marinades in your cookbooks, take a local cooking class, or watch a video or two on You Tube. Your tastebuds will be happy you did.

   

3. Have the Right Tools on Hand: It may not sound like a tip for meal planning, but if you have the right tools on hand, it makes meal preparation go much more smoothly. Nothing is more frustrating than to find yourself in the middle of a recipe, and not have the proper tools handy for use. So go ahead, update your tools, and make sure they’re handy and ready for use . .  then get cooking.
4. Consult Your Weekly Schedule: I find that it is essential to check our family schedule before planning our weekly meals. This allows me to better plan each meal according to what is happening on that specific day. For instance, we don’t return home from gymnastics on Mondays until 5:30, which is when the kids are ready for dinner. For that night, I usually plan a meal that can be prepared ahead of time, and kept warm until we arrive. Other nights, if one of us is out of town, or heading out for a business dinner, I alter the amount of food I prepare that evening (which also helps save time and money).
5. List your Family Favorites: With a big family like ours, someone is always declaring that they don’t like what I’ve made for dinner. While I can’t accommodate every taste on each night, I do know which meals are the most liked by the most members of our family. By asking everyone what their favroite meals are, I lessen the stress of hearing the complaints, and at the same time, everyone feels as if they have a say in what is being served throughout the week.
6. Know How Much You’ll Eat: Knowing how much meat your family will consume at dinnertime,  or how many apples you will go through in a week, will help with your planning for shopping. It will also help cut down on food waste, and be helpful in planning leftovers.
7. Plan Your Weekly Meals: Now that you know your weekly schedule, and the favorite family recipes, it’s time to plan your weekly meals. That includes planning lunches, snacks, and leftovers. As I plan, I keep in mind how long meals will take to prepare, and match the easily prepared ones with busy evenings.
8. Have a Stocked Pantry: A well-stocked pantry filled with rice, beans and other grains along with other essentials including pasta, dried fruits, and nuts will give you the versatility to create many meals and snacks throughout the week.
9. Make a Shopping List: Create a shopping list according to what you will be preparing that week. Don’t forget to include any items that you may be running low on in your pantry, and also check to see if you have any leftover fruits, vegetables, or herbs in the fridge that can be used for the weekly meals. Be sure to stick to that list when you head to the store.
10. Ease the Burden: Get everyone involved in the weekly meal planning, purchasing and preparing. If you all take part in this weekly event, you’ll be more likely to gather together to enjoy mealtime together. That’s what the Family Eats Four Pillars are all about.

You can enjoy our previous Ten for Tuesday post, Ten Summer Recipes.

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We’re always looking for a ways to reign in our spending when it comes to food. Purchasing is one of the Family Eats Four Pillars, but is often one that creates a lot of strain on our pocketbook. From time to time, I need to revisit our weekly food costs to determine which adjustments I need to make to ensure I stay within my budget. If your weekly food costs are to high, read on to learn about 10 ways to get your food costs under control.

1. Review your current food costs

Do you even know what you are spending weekly on food? This includes every small trip you make to the grocery to pick up ingredients for dinner, take-out meals or snacks; as well as dinner enjoyed out at a restaurant. If you don’t have a handle on what you spend weekly, this may take a few weeks to figure out. Pay attention to how you eat and where you purchase your meals, then jot it down in a log. What is also helpful is keeping receipts so you can see exactly what you purchased and how much each items costs.

2. Create a weekly food budget

Take the time to review your purchases and decide where you are spending extra money on food. The next step is to decide what a reasonable food budget would be for your family.

3. Stock up on bulk foods

It is time to head into the kitchen to take stock of what you have in your cupboards/pantry. Bulk foods are a great way to save money. By having foods such as grains, legumes, and  nuts on hand, you’ll find it much easier to decide to make meals from scratch.

4. Gather your recipes together

What are your tried and true basic recipes? What are family favorites? And, which are the recipes that you want to try? Gather together recipes for main meals, lunches, snacks and desserts, then decide on how you will store them . . . in a notebook, digitally, or in an old-fashioned recipe box. Having a collection of recipes to choose from gives you inspiration to create meals at home, and will help curb the desire to head out for take-out because you have no idea what to prepare for dinner — a great way to save money!

5. Plan a weekly menu

Use your collection of recipes to create a weekly menu. By having an idea of what you are going to prepare, what ingredients you will need, and a general idea of costs involved is a great way to help lower the amount of money you spend each week on food.

When creating your menu, refer back to the weekly budget you have set, and pay attention to potential costs for meals. Meat is usually most expensive, so planning a weekly menu filled with expensive cuts of meat will certainly not keep you within budget. Mix up your weekly menu and pay attention to portions (our next tip).

6. Review Portion Control

This is an essential step to have a handle on, not only for your health, but for your pocketbook. There are many online guides helping with portion size, including this one from WebMD.

Years ago, I didn’t pay attention to portion size. I simply bought 2 steaks, cooked them up, and my husband and I ate whatever was on the plate. Once I began to think about cost, I realized that I was serving up way too much food for myself.

Knowing portion sizes are also helpful in planning how much you will purchase, which leads me to our next tip . . .

7. Create a shopping list

and shop for only what’s on your list

Don’t stray from this list, and don’t be tempted by something you see on the shelves. Purchasing only what’s on your weekly shopping list will help you stay on budget.

8. Shop only once a week

Quick trips to the market are the fastest way to add to your weekly food costs. Make a deal with yourself and only head to the market if you are desperate for an ingredient to prepare a meal that you have already planned. If you have a well stocked pantry and have armed yourself with a collection of recipes, you should definitely have something to whip up for dinner.

9. Don’t shop hungry

This is a ‘no brainer.’ You already know that you buy more when you’re hungry!

10. Compare stores

Once you get in the habit of shopping with a list, and paying attention to your budget, you’ll be able to easily compare shopping at different stores. Several years ago I did just this, and it was an eye-opener. It truly helped transform they way — and where — I shop.

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Move beyond the barriers to eating well, and dive into this week’s Ten For Tuesday post: 10 Tips to Change the Way You Think About Mealtime

1. Gather up a good list of recipes.

Chances are that your recipe collection is in a bit of disarray. You’ve ripped recipes from magazines and stuffed them in strange places. You have a pile of cookbooks that have a few dog-eared pages, while others go virtually untouched, unread, and un-cooked.

Take control of your recipes, and build your own collection of easy-to-access favorite recipes. By having them on hand, you’ll find that you’ll be more likely to cook if it is easier to find recipes that you know you, and your family, will love.

For those of you who like to save things online, there are several free online sites that allow you to save your own recipes.

This post from Simple Bites will help you get started.

3 Simple Ways to Store Online Recipes from Simple Bites.

For those a bit more low-tech, create a filing system. Copy recipes from cookbooks, slide them into a plastic sheet protector, and place them in a three ring binder. Divide the recipes into sections that are workable for you – ex., breakfast, lunch and dinner; beef, chicken, vegetarian; desserts, snacks, and meals. When you prepare a recipe, make notation as to how well you all liked the recipe, any changes you made to the recipe, or any problems that occurred during preparation. This will make for easy reference when you make it again.

2. Gain an Understanding of Basic Cooking Techniques.

Anyone who has read Julia Child’s memoir My Life in France will know that it took a bunch of dedication and a lot of trial and error to learn how to properly cook. You may not have the time to head off the Le Cordon Bleu, or experiment endless times with a recipe until you find perfection, but to find success in the kitchen, you will need a basic understanding of cooking techniques.

Learn how to make sauce. Learn how to prepare simple meals with few ingredients. Learn how to bake. Learn how to whip up a meal with the ingredients on hand. Learn how to make a sauce.

Head on over to YouTube and search for some great educational videos. Read cookbooks and experiment. Get in the kitchen with your Mom or friends who know how to cook. Or, take a class at a local cooking school or kitchenware shop.

3. Tap into your Inner Adventurer.

You’ll never get out of the old rut unless you decide to step out of your comfort zone. Go ahead and try one new recipe each week. Try preparing a themed meal from a cuisine you haven’t already tried – Indian, Vegetarian, or Thai, for example. Once you get the adventurer spirit into play, you’ll find that things are so much more enjoyable when you’re in the kitchen.

4. Make Something you Often Buy

So many of us are label readers and are well aware of all those extra unpronounceable ingredients that go into making some of our favorite foods. In an effort to cut back on those undesirable ingredients, take a look at what you find yourself buying frequently and decide to make it yourself. Start simple and move on from there – Instead of buying them, make blueberry muffins, granola bars, bread, pasta sauce, salad dressing, fruit leathers, or waffles. Once you get in the habit of making foods you might otherwise buy, you’ll realize how tasty home-made foods can be — and, you’ll be saving money as well.

5. Plan. Plan. Plan.

The biggest reason you’re not making it happen is because you haven’t taken the time to plan. Planning is an essential step in the process of changing your ways (and the first of the Family Eats Four Pillars). Plan weekly meals. Plan your shopping. Plan when and how you’ll make the meals. And, Plan to eat together as a family at least once a week.

6. Eat Whole Foods

Nature’s best come in whole varieties. Eating food in its natural state, means all those vitamins, minerals and nutrients will be intact. When food is processed, many of the nutrients are removed. With whole foods you get all the nutrients a food has to offer, the way nature intended them to be enjoyed.

Eat an apple. Chomp on Veggies and a homemade bean dip. Cut back on processed foods. Shop for bulk grains.

7. Ask Questions, Pay Attention and Beware of Marketers promoting the next food craze.

Years ago when the No-fat food craze hit the shelves, so many of us jumped on the bandwagon assuming that this was the answer to all our bad eating habits. Then, one day, someone took the time to ask questions. Someone took the time to look at the label. Someone took the time to really investigate how healthy – or rather unhealthy – these no fat foods really were. Don’t get caught up in the next food craze; Take the time to investigate before jumping on board.

8. Have a Bit of Willpower — and Stop to Think.

When we hear the word ‘willpower’ we often think of dieting. But I’m talking about the willpower needed to stop and think before you buy. Stop and think before you eat. Stop and think before opting to head to the drive-thru. If you just stop yourself and ask, “Is there another way I could do this?” you just might realize that there is a better way! (For a bit of inspiration, refer to No. 5).

9. Set Goals – Take Baby Steps 

You can’t make the transition from convenience foods to home made foods overnight. Set goals, and take baby steps on your adventure to meet those goals.

10. Find a Balance As with anything in life, a balance is essential. Eat healthy, but also let yourself indulge. Plan for meals on the go, but don’t beat yourself up when you find yourself with only fast-food options from time to time.

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The Federal government estimates that there are about 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually — the equivalent of sickening 1 in 6 Americans each year. And each year, these illnesses result in an estimated 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. Although everyone is susceptible, some people are at greater risk for developing foodborne illness including pregnant women, young children, older adults, and those with weakened immune systems.

From buying food, to preparing and storing, it is important to take food safety seriously. This week’s Ten for Tuesday post features Ten Food Safety Tips to help prevent foodborne illness this summer, and throughout the year.

 Ten Food Safety Tips

1. Wash Thoroughly. Wash your hands, wash your produce, and wash your surfaces. Keeping a clean environment will help cut down on any food borne illnesses and that starts with clean hands. Wash your hands with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food. Rinse all your fresh fruits and vegetables under running water, even those with skins and rinds that you won’t be eating. And, wash all surfaces that are to come in contact with food – before and after preparation. Also, be sure to clean the lids of canned food before opening.

2. Put groceries away as soon as possible. Raw meat, poultry, seafood, eggs and produce that requires refrigeration should not sit at room temperature for more than 2 hours. That limit is shortened to one hour if the temperature is above 90 degrees F.

3. Marinate food in the refrigerator. And, don’t reuse a marinade that has come into contact with raw food unless it is first boiled. Bring soups, sauces and gravies to a boil when reheating.

4. Don’t thaw food on the counter. Food must be kept at a safe temperature during thawing. The safe ways to defrost food include: in the refrigerator, in cold water, and in the microwave. Food thawed in cold water or in the microwave should be cooked immediately.

5. Don’t rinse your beef, pork, lamb or veal before cooking it. Many of us have been taught to rinse our meat or poultry before cooking it, believing that we are removing the bacteria and making it safe. However, there are types of bacteria that can be easily washed off and splashed on the surfaces of your kitchen. Failure to clean these contaminated areas can lead to foodborne illness. The key to destroying foodborne bacteria is cooking (or baking, broiling, and grilling) at the proper temperature.

6. Help prevent cross contamination by using several cutting boards. Use one for fresh produce, and a separate one for raw meat, seafood, or poultry. And, be sure not to place cooked foods on a plate or board that held raw meat, seafood, poultry or eggs.

7. Use a cooking thermometer. You can’t tell if food is properly cooked simply by looking at it. Instead, use a food thermometer to ensure proper cooking temperature has been reached, and know the USDA guidelines for safely cooking meat, poultry and fish. Visit the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service for more information. Here is a Safe Cooking Temperature Chart

8. Pay attention to the refrigerator. Cold air must circulate around foods in order to keep them properly chilled, therefore make sure you don’t over pack the fridge. Wipe up spills immediately (especially those from thawing meats) to reduce the growth of Listeria bacteria. And, clean out the refrigerator frequently.

9.Properly store leftovers. Perishable food, whether homemade or take-out, should never be left out of the refrigerator or freezer for more than 2 hours. In hot weather – above 90°F/32°C – return items to the refrigerator after one hour. Use shallow containers to store cooked foods in the refrigerator or freezer to encourage rapid, even cooling. Your refrigerator should be 40°F/-15°C or below for safe food storage. Use a refrigerator thermometer to make sure the temperature is right. Storage Times for the Refrigerator and Freezer.

10. Buy local. There has been increased scrutiny on the safety of many foods. Recently, pre-packaged salad greens caused an outbreak of flu-like symptoms in Nebraska and Iowa, and hundreds reported a Hepatitis A infection that were linked to imported pomegranate seeds from Turkey. While there is no assurance that foods from local sources are always safe, the fewer steps between source and table, the less chance of contamination. Further, when you look a farmer in the eye at farmers’ market or drive to he fields where your food comes from, the food is no longer anonymous.

These, and other great food safety tips, can be found at the FDA website as well as Component Design Northwest, the Time and Temperature Company.

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Over the past few months, I have been researching and writing about the toaster and toaster oven categories for a Consumers Digest article. During this time, I have spent countless hours speaking with product managers, industry professionals, and testing product first hand.

The article, Bread and Butter Choices: Top Rated Toasters and Toaster Ovens, can be found in the current September/October issue of Consumers Digest. But I thought it would be fun to present some of the information I uncovered about the categories right here on Family Eats.

With that in mind, if you are looking to upgrade to a new toaster, or are a first-time buyer, I hope you’ll find today’s Ten for Tuesday post helpful.

10 Things to Think about When Purchasing a Toaster

1. What are the essential features to look for in a toaster?

Some consumers desire a basic toaster that browns at a few different levels. But today’s toasters do so much more, allowing consumers to toast a variety of different types and sizes of breads, as well as the ability to reheat, defrost, or even keep warm. To get the most out of a new toaster, look for toasters that have several browning levels, extra-wide slots, and functions that include bagel, defrost, reheat and cancel.

From there, consumers can opt for toasters that have additional features such as a toast boost, which lifts the toast a little bit higher out of the slots making it easier to grab; LED lights, digital functions including a progress indicators; independent toasting in separate slots, warming racks, and smart heat sensors, to name a few.

 2. How does the bagel function work?

The bagel function is designed to toast your bagel to perfection, toasting the inside of the bagel while warming the outside. To do this, the cut side of the bagel should face in, allowing the heating elements to toast the inside of the bagel. At the same time, the outside heaters are turned off so that the outside of the bagel is warm, and not toasted.

3. I like the idea of a wide slot toaster, but will the toaster evenly brown my bread, bagels, and waffles?

Wide slot toasters are now widely available at all price points. These are designed to accommodate bagels, frozen waffles, or thicker slices of artisanal bread that might not otherwise fit in standard toaster slots. To ensure even browning on both sides, look for toasters that are equipped with self adjusting slots, which are designed to grab (or cradle) the food being toasted, guiding them into the center of the slot so that both sides are evenly placed between the heating elements.

4. What’s up with the long slots?

The long-slot toaster functions to allow you to toast artisan sliced breads, which are often longer than traditional loaf breads purchased at the store. The long slot can also accommodate four slices of bread – expanding the versatility of the toaster.

5. How does the Reheat or Keep Warm function work?

The reheat button allows you to lower the slice back into the slots and reheat without re-toasting. Similarly, a toaster’s “keep warm” button, your toast will be warmed in the toaster for up to 3 minutes after the toasting process is complete, without any further browning, because the feature generates low heat. You can cancel the function at any time.

6. I’ve seen toasters without any levers. How does that work?

The lever-less function is a handy function that has appeared on a couple of higher end toasters, including the KitchenAid, Cuisinart, and Breville. The idea is simple, with the push of a button, the carriage is automatically lowered or raised into/out of the toasters slots for browning.

7. Are there any new innovative features in the toaster category?

Some manufacturers offer toasters with interchangeable color panels to cater to your changing color choices in the kitchen. Further, some units have a feature that allows the user to lift up the toast to take a peak at the progress of toasting — all without canceling the timer, or a sandwich cage for cradling sandwiches within the slots. As mentioned previously, the automated lever is also an innovation that is now available on toasters.

8. I can purchase a toaster at $20 with the same features as one that is priced at $80. Why should I spend more money for the same features?

Generally, the higher the price, the more features, style, and durability you will get. Higher priced toasters will be manufactured with better materials, more precise heating elements, and digital functions. Especially if you go with a brand name, the higher priced models will feature smart heat sensors to ensure consistency from slice to slice, multiple functions, digital displays that include a countdown function that lets you know when your toast will be ready. Still others include a warming cage that pops up atop the heating elements to warm morning pastries.

9. Does it really matter about style? When it comes to style, it is all about personal preference. If you are storing the toaster in a cupboard, then styling might not be as important as if you were keeping it on the counter. There are many different style combinations and colors available making toasters a true showpiece on the counter. Other style considerations include your design to create a coordinated look in the kitchen. Black with stainless accents might coordinate with your larger appliances. Or, if you desire to create a breakfast collection of small kitchen appliances (i.e., How does that toaster look with my kettle or coffee maker?) there are several companies including T-Fal, Panasonic, and Bella Housewares that offer small kitchen appliances with the same look. For those who simply like a showpiece on the counter (as opposed to a coordinated look), bright colors, interesting designs (think Dualit, Bodum, and Bella).

Also, adding a stylized toaster is a great way to add an element of design without having to re-do your entire kitchen.

10. What’s coming down the road?

Keep an eye out for Dualit’s toasters with a patented Climate Sensing Toasting Cycle. This new feature calculates the temperature of the toaster and the surroundings to derive the precise toasting time for the bread. An upcoming Black+Decker toaster will feature a until that toasts in half the time using a fast toasting cycle designed to create the perfect crisp while not drying out the bread.
 

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Today is Tuesday, and that means it’s time for our Ten For Tuesday. For this week’s post, we turn to the Whole Grains Council for a bit of inspiration. In case you don’t already know it, but September is Whole Grains Month. Every year the Whole Grains Council celebrates with special events and promotions all month. You can visit the website to search for resources that can help you learn more about incorporating more whole grains into your diet —  from a list of products that have earned the Whole Grains Stamp, to recipes, tips, and more. You can start with Whole Grains 101, then read on for a list of:

10 Tips to Help you Get More Whole Grains into your Diet

(You get a dozen of tips this week!)

***Courtesy Oldways and the Whole Grains Council

1. Substitute half the white flour with whole wheat flour in your regular recipes for cookies, muffins, quick breads and pancakes. Or be bold and add up to 20% of another whole grain flour such as sorghum.
2. Replace one third of the flour in a recipe with quick oats or old-fashioned oats.
3. Add half a cup of cooked bulgur, wild rice, or barley to bread stuffing.
4. Add half a cup of cooked wheat or rye berries, wild rice, brown rice, sorghum or barley to your favorite canned or home-made soup.
5. Use whole corn meal for corn cakes, corn breads and corn muffins.
6. Add three-quarters of a cup of uncooked oats for each pound of ground beef or turkey when you make meatballs, burgers or meatloaf.
7. Stir a handful of rolled oats in your yogurt, for quick crunch with no cooking necessary.
8. Make risottos, pilafs and other rice-like dishes with whole grains such as barley, brown rice, bulgur, millet, quinoa or sorghum.
9. Enjoy whole grain salads like tabbouleh.
10. Buy whole grain pasta, or one of the blends that’s part whole-grain, part white.
11. Try whole grain breads. Kids especially like whole grain pita bread.
12. Look for cereals made with grains like kamut, kasha (buckwheat) or spelt.

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This week, our Ten for Tuesday post highlights some of Mom’s dessert creations from the past two weeks.

1. Strawberry Whipped Cream Roll: Mom loves to whip up cakes in the afternoon, and with a fresh supply of strawberries purchased from the West Side Market, what better time than now to use the strawberries before the kids goggle them up. Here, she used the Red, White, and Blue Cake Roll recipe, substituting with only strawberries and homemade whipped cream

2. Great-Grandma Petkovich’s Walnut Cookies didn’t last very long in the house. With just a few ingredients, and easy preparation, Mom was able to whip these cookies out while the kids were in the pool. To make them even more delicious, she turned a dozen or so into sandwich cookies, spreading homemade strawberry jam between two.

3. Listy – Angel Wings: I always loved when Mom made listy – but it was only for a very special occasion. Our visit didn’t warrant such an occasion, but when I spotted some Angel Wings during our visit to Gallucci’s, I knew that we just couldn’t pass them up. Need I confirm, that they didn’t last the afternoon. Click here for our family recipe.

4. Cream Pastry Squares: To me, this dessert is one for a special occasion, so, when I spotted the puff pastry sitting on the cooling racks, I wondered what prompted this dessert. Apparently it was nothing more than a summer visit from the family. What made it even more enjoyable, was that the kids never spotted the cream pastry on the counter, so the adults were able to enjoy an extra piece of the dessert before it was discovered by the kids!

5. Citrus Cutout Cookies: Always ready to dig through her extensive collection of cookie cutters, Mom created these lemon flavored cookies using a Martha Stewart recipes. She then used her mother’s diamond cookie cutter, frosted them with  a neon yellow and added crumbled chocolate toffee as an added touch.

6. Dried Apricot-Walnut Bread: This is newer recipe to Mom’s arsenal, and one that I’m glad I had the chance to try. At first, I wondered whether any of us would like it, but the dense, fruity flavor suited my morning coffee perfectly. As for the kids, they surprised me and didn’t bat an eye when eating it.

7. Apple Fritters: Grandma used to stand over the stove and fry up these delicious fritters for a Sunday afternoon visit. I was pleased when I spotted Mom in the kitchen before the kids did, as I was able to sprinkle a few with cinnamon and sugar and consume them before the smell of the fritters reached the noses of the kids.

8. Poor Man’s Strudel: Every home baker should know how to make a strudel, as the versatile recipe lets you fill it with anything you have on hand, from fruit preserves to nuts and cheese. Surprisingly easy to make, this recipe is one that has been in the family for decades.

9. Butter Fudge Brownies: This is a recipe that both my Mom and Aunt made throughout my childhood. It’s chocolate flavor, topped with a delicious sugary ‘frosting’ still stands the test of time decades later. My favorite way to enjoy them is chilled, but warm is just as delightful.

10. Drobni: This fruit pastry has been a standard in our family. Filled with your favorite preserves or even nuts, these small pastry/cookies are hard to resist. Sprinkle them with powdered sugar before eating, and enjoy with your morning coffee or afternoon tea.

We hope you enjoy this week’s Ten for Tuesday. Join us every week for our Ten for Tuesday posts, and visit us in between for other tasty posts.

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