12 Fast Family Dinners

Weeknights have become quite hectic for us. I've rounded up a list of fast family dinners to help make your dinner planning a little less stressful. If you have a favorite fast family dinner recipe, please link up in the comments.

Here's to a less hectic dinner hour!

Chicken Noodle Casserole at Premeditated Leftovers

Crock-pot Chicken Cheesesteaks at Finding Joy in My Kitchen

Crock-pot Shredded Beef Tacos at The Life of a Novice

Homemade Hamburger Helper at Kitchen Stewardship

(On the Go) Pizza Burgers at 2 Make Ends Meet

Spaghetti Carbonara at Big Bear's Wife

Spicy Sausage and Roasted Eggplant Pasta at Loving My Domestic Life

Summer Skillet Lasagna at The Cutting Back Kitchen

Tater Tot Casserole at Mommy Hates Cooking

Chicken, Black Bean, and Corn Tacos at Family Balance Sheet

Chicken, Green Bean & Squash Stir-Fry at Family Balance Sheet

Chicken, Black Bean & Sweet Potato Quesadilla at Family Balance Sheet

For more details on how to participate in upcoming round-ups and the complete schedule, refer to this post. The next round up theme is "Halloween Ideas: Recipes, Decor, Costume Ideas" on Thursday, October 6.


Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

Turkey Veggie Sloppy Joes

Are there recipes in your file that take you back to your childhood? My mom and nanny made sloppy joes a lot when I was growing up. But we didn't call it sloppy joes, we called it barbecue. I find that the word barbecue means different things to different regions. In my neck of the woods, barbecue and sloppy joes were the same thing.

Anyway...my nanny's recipe is very good, but I changed it a bit, by replacing the ketchup with a can of tomatoes. The recipe also called for two onions, but I used one onion and one red pepper and I added garlic. The biggest change however is the use of lean ground turkey instead of ground beef. We don't eat beef, so I replace all recipes that call for ground beef with lean ground turkey. The result was hopefully a little healthier, yet still very tasty. My kids loved it. This recipe doesn't taste like my nanny's, but hopefully I am creating my own tradition.

Turkey Veggie Sloppy Joes
adapted from my Nanny's recipe

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1-2 cloves garlic - chopped or crushed
• 1 medium chopped red onion
• 1 red pepper - or green, whatever you have
• 1 - 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 T. vinegar - I used white balsamic, because that was in my cupboard. My nanny probably used apple cider vinegar.
• 1 1/2 tsp mustard
• 2 T. Worcestershire sauce

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and add the garlic; saute for about 30 seconds.

Add the turkey, onion and pepper and cook until the turkey is browned. Break up the turkey into tiny pieces as it cooks.

Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until most of liquid had evaporated. There might still be some though. Stir frequently and make sure to scrap the brown bits that might be stuck to pan. I use a slotted spoon to put the sloppy joes onto the rolls.

Meal Idea
Turkey Veggie Sloppy Joes goes well with:

• Roasted Rosemary and Garlic Potatoes
• Purple Cabbage and Broccoli Slaw
• Homemade Sugar Free Applesauce

Print recipe for Turkey Veggie Sloppy Joes.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

This post is linked to: $5 Dinner Challenge and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

Working on My Time Management

My life has changed dramatically over the last 3 weeks. After a 6 year hiatus, I have gone back to work at our small business four mornings a week. I have worked behind the scenes all along from home, but now I am back in the office. For 6 years, my kids have dictated my schedule and now I am juggling working part time outside of the home, shuttling my kids to soccer practice, managing our home, spending quality time with my family, training for my first half-marathon in October, and finding time to work in my blog and other projects.

When managing my time, I am still a paper person, so when Mandi Ehman from Life...Your Way, let me review her package of more than 150 printables, I took her up on the opportunity. The collection of printables -- with new ones added each month -- are available to readers FREE on the Life...Your Way website, but Mandi also offers a convenient download pack for $7.

This pack includes all of the printables in one file, organized by category, as well as monthly emails with new printables.

Some examples of the printables, include a weekly action planner, goals worksheet, daily action planner, daily to-do list, cleaning checklists, menu planning pages, room planner pages to help you with redecorating rooms, information page for the babysitter, blank 2011 and 2012 monthly calendar pages and many, many more pages. I have already started to use the blank calendar pages to track my running workouts and I'll probably use them for monthly menu planning too.

Again, these printables are all available individually free on the Life...Your Way website or you can buy the convenient download pack of over 150 printables for $7, where they are organized by category, as well as monthly emails with the new printables. Click here to view more details

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

Disclosure - This post contains affiliate links that help support this site at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Family Balance Sheet! You can read the site's full disclosure here.

Tips on Cover Letter and Resume Writing

Are you currently searching for a job? Are you struggling with writing your cover letter? Do you need to update an outdated resume?

Please head over to Money Crashers, where I have recently written a series for them about writing a cover letter and resume.

• How to Write a Great Resume for a Job - Tips & Examples
  
• How to Write a Good Cover Letter for a Job Resume
  
• Top 21 Cover Letter and Resume Mistakes to Avoid

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Roasted Vegetables and Pasta Bake

This recipe was sent along with our CSA box recently and it is so delicious, especially with the fresh garden vegetables. You could use any vegetable that roasts well, just fill the tray up with what you like or have on hand.

Normally I would have used my own Roasted Red Plum Tomato Sauce for the 3 cups of marinara sauce that the recipe calls for, but I instead used Wegmans' brand Diavolo sauce that I recently received free as one of their promotions. It really added a spiciness to it and now I want to find a homemade Diavolo recipe to make myself.

Enjoy!

Roasted Vegetables and Pasta Bake

• 1 Pepper, any color
• 1 zucchini
• 1 yellow squash
• 1 eggplant
• 1 onion
• 2 tomatoes
• olive oil
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ pepper
• ½ lb penne
• 3 Cups marinara sauce
• 1 Cup mozzarella cheese
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• 2 Tbsp bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Chop all of the vegetables into 1 inch cubes or slices. Lay out flat on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and coat evenly. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper over the veggies. Roast vegetables for 15 minutes.

While veggies are roasting, cook penne in boiling water for 6 minutes. (DO NOT cook for 9 minutes, as per the box instructions. You want the penne to be undercooked.) Drain

In a large bowl or the pot that you cooked the pasta in, combine the roasted veggies, pasta, marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese and pour into a greased 13 X 9 baking dish.

Top with the breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 450 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly.


Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

This post is linked to $5 Dinner Challenge and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
.

Sign Up for The Home Depot Savings Newsletter

Sign up to receive emails about special offers, coupons, and promotions from The Home Depot.

Last fall, Home Depot sent a Buy One Get One Free coupon for spring bulbs. Since fall is a great time to plant bulbs, I took advantage of the coupon. I thought that was a great deal. I don't know if they'll send that kind of a coupon again, but I do receive their emails and take advantage of the coupons that I find useful.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

em>Disclosure - This post contains affiliate links that help support this site at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Family Balance Sheet! You can read the site's full disclosure here.

Image: Keattikorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

20 Apple Recipes: Cheesecake, Muffins, Applesauce, and Many, Many More!

Fall is my family's favorite season. We celebrate 3 out of 4 birthdays, our wedding anniversary and my husband celebrates the start of football season. We also get fired up for fresh apple pie. Every fall, we head to a local orchard for a family outing to pick apples, find our way through a corn maze, and enjoy the crisp fall air. If you enjoy apple season too, here are some delicious apple recipes from several of the web's amazing home cooks. I hope you enjoy!

Apple Bread at Mom Hates Cooking

Apple Crumb Pots at Family Balance Sheet

Apple Doughnut Holes at Slice and Dice

Apple-Ginger Eggrolls at Big Bear's Wife

Apple Fritters at Cutting Coupons In KC

Apple Gingerbread Cake with Homemade Whipped Cream at Family Balance Sheet

Apple Harvest Party and Apple Pie Cake at The Life of a Novice

Apple Pockets at Finding Joy in My Kitchen

Apple Squares (You Can Freeze 'Em!) at Kitchen Stewardship

Caramel Apple Cheesecake at Big Bear's Wife

Caramel Apple Dip at Jane Deere

Caramel Apple Muffins at This Mom's Happy Life

Cran-Apple Clafouti at The Greenbacks Gal

Crock pot Chunky Applesauce at 2 Make Ends Meet

Gluten-Free Almond Apple Pancakes at Kitchen Stewardship

10 Easy Steps to Homemade Applesauce at The Greenbacks Gal

How to Make Sugar Free Applesauce at Family Balance Sheet

How to Preserve Your Apples at Kitchen Stewardship

Seasoned Pork Chops with Apples at Create with Joy

Warm Apple Cobbler at Mom Hates Cooking

This is the first of a series of Fall themed Round Ups. For more details on how to participate and the complete schedule, refer to this post. The next round up theme is "Fast Family Dinners, on Sept 29.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

This post is linked to The Mommy Club - Share Your Resources at Crystal & Co and Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.

And the Winner of the Coconut Oil Is...

Commenter #5, Beth! Congratulations!

I emailed you on Monday and I have not heard back from you. I will send one more email and if I don't hear back from Beth by Friday, 8:30 am EST, I will randomly pick another commenter.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

How I Organize My Paper Files and Filing Cabinet

I haven't embraced a paper-free lifestyle yet. I still prefer a paper day planner over my google calendar. I still keep my favorite recipes in a binder instead of an online recipe portal. I prefer to read paper books over our e-reader. And I still use a filing cabinet for my office papers, instead of scanning them onto the computer.

Up until a few years ago, my filing cabinet was a mess. I filed our essential papers, but I wasn't purging at the same time. I finally purged and reorganized the cabinet a few years ago and I'm happy to report that I haven't regressed back to my old ways. Instead I've kept the cabinet organized and up to date. During that process, I researched and reported back to you how long you should keep your financial documents. If you haven't read it, it is one of my most popular posts.

A reader commented that my filing tips were lost in the post and she suggested that I write a separate post. I thought that was a swell idea. Thanks, Celia!

I've organized all of our major categories and then I use sub-files within each cateogry. I use hanging files with tabs and manila folders to divide my categories and sub-files, depending on the amount of documents that I am storing. On the front of the filing cabinet, I list what is in each drawer.



Major Category: Assets - I have sub-files for checking, savings, retirement. Although, I don't bother keeping month end statements any more, because our banks have that information on line for the last 5 years.

Major Category: Auto - I keep sub-file for each vehicle with the loan information or deed and service receipts.

Major Category: Insurance - My sub-files are Auto, Health, Health Savings Account, Home-Owners, Life.

Major Category: Legal Documents - I have sub-files for marriage and birth certificates, passports, and will.

Major Category: Liabilities - My sub-files are Credit Cards, Mortgage, Student Loan, Credit Score Info.

Major Category: Home improvements - I keep a sub-file for each major improvement project where I store the receipts, contracts, warranties, contractor information.

Major Category: Medical records - I keep a file for each family member.

Major Category: Professional Records - My sub-files include resume, employer records, degree records, etc.

Major Category: Taxes - I have a sub-file for each year.

Major Category: Education - I keep a folder for each daughter.

Keeping my papers organized has helped us find a needed document at a moments notice. It has saved us time and our sanity. I just have to remember to continue to purge and shred any unneeded papers.

Do you still keep and store paper files or have you gone completely digital? What is your method? Please let us know in the comments.


Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

This post is linked to Frugal Friday at Life as MOM.

Tomato, Zucchini & Rice Bake

This side dish is a great way to use up your garden vegetables. My whole family enjoyed it. The recipe came with our CSA box of vegetables last week. The temperature dropped around here, so I turned on my oven after a long, idle summer.

Play around with the spices and try different combinations. The next time I make this, I'm going to use Italian spices for a different twist.

Tomato, Zucchini & Rice Bake

• 1 Cup long grain brown rice, uncooked
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 2 summer squashes (zucchini and/or yellow), chopped
• 3 large tomatoes, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Cups homemade chicken stock or vegetable broth, boiling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add uncooked rice and saute until golden brown.

Place rice in a 13 X 9 casserole dish and spread the rice out evenly. The rice will also grease the pan. Sprinkle the ginger over the rice.

Layer the onions, squash and tomatoes over the rice.

Combine the garlic, soy sauce and broth. Pour the mixture over the rice and vegetables.

Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the broth is absorbed.

Print recipe for Tomato, Zucchini & Rice Bake.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

This post is linked to $5 Dinner Challenge.

Pineapple Zucchini Muffins (and my very first giveaway)

I love muffins. I bake a big batch and then store them in the freezer. This is great portion control for me. If they are in the freezer, I won't eat the whole batch in 24 hours. Instead, I enjoy at my leisure for breakfast or a snack with my coffee.

Most of my muffin recipes call for vegetable oil, but when Tropical Traditions sent me a jar of certified organic coconut oil to review, my wheels started turning. At the same time that I received the oil, I had more zucchini than I knew what to do with, so I baked up a batch of these Pineapple Zucchini muffins and used the coconut oil in place of the vegetable oil. The result was delicious. They have a subtle coconut taste and they smell so coconut-y. I am really enjoying snack time.

I enjoyed these muffins so much, that I am very excited to try the coconut oil in other recipes. The possibilities must be endless. I plan on perusing the Tropical Traditions coconut recipes on their blog for more ideas.

Pineapple Zucchini Muffins

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup coconut oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1 (10 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 3 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the eggs, coconut oil, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in the zucchini and pineapple.

Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Add to the zucchini mixture and stir until combined. Stir in the walnuts.

Pour into a greased muffin pan. This batter makes 24 muffins.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

Print recipe for Pineapple Zucchini Muffins
.

Welcome to my VERY FIRST Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. CONGRATULATIONS TO BETH!

Giveaway Details:
One quart jar of organic coconut oil will be given away to one lucky winner.

You have up to three chances to enter to win the coconut oil:

1. Subscribe to Tropical Traditions’ email Sales Newsletter, then come back and leave a comment telling me you subscribed. Twice a week you will receive the Sales Newsletters that feature weekly sales discounts, FREE product specials, FREE recipes, and much more.

2. Like Tropical Traditions on Facebook and then come back and leave a comment telling me so.

3. Follow @troptraditions on Twitter and then come back and leave a comment telling me so.

This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only.

I’ll randomly choose a winner at 6:30 am EST on Monday, September 12. Please use a valid email when commenting, so that I may contact you if you win.

Good Luck!

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• have updates sent to your email,
• through your RSS Feed
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower