6 weeks Baby!!

The many sides of Ruadhán in 30 seconds....




















Love you, sweet boy!

Super Star Speech-A Review

Product: Super Star Speech: Speech Therapy Made Simple
Price: 12.95$US e-book, 18.95$US-22.95$US print version

Morgaine started to speak very early and spoke very clearly with a large vocabulary. Over the past couple years, however, we've begun to have a harder and harder time understanding her. Having received many hours of speech therapy myself as a child, I started to feel that perhaps we'd have to look into that option for Morgaine as well. However, I continued to delay looking for a therapist as I was concerned about the cost aspect and my uncertainty over whether my concerns were founded. At just the right moment, I received Deborah Lott's Super Star Speech to review as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew.

Deborah Lott has spent many years working as a licensed speech pathologist while also homeschooling her children. She realized however, that such speech therapy may not be accessible to everyone for various reasons and graciously decided to develop a program that would be easy for parents to use in their own homes to help improve their children's speech. Super Star Speech begins with an articulation test to use with your children to help pinpoint their exact areas of difficulty. This is followed by activities to teach them how to properly articulate the sounds that they are having difficulty with. These activities are very much like I remember doing as a child so you can be guaranteed that you are giving your child the same type of instruction they would receive if they were seen by a speech therapist. In addition to this, there are many fun activities included in order to make this program enjoyable for your child.

After doing the articulation test with Morgaine I've come to realize that when Morgaine takes the time to speak slowly she can speak clearly. This was very much a relief to me and I was quite surprised to learn that her difficulty comes from having too much on her mind to say all at once. As a result, we did not use this program with Morgaine very much. I, however, was quite impressed with the detail of the program and the quality of the materials. I remember receiving programs guaranteed to improve my speech as a child and groaning about them. Both my child have hung out watching over my shoulder as I've looked at this program and are begging for speech therapy because "it looks like fun."

For 12.95$US the e-book is an exceptional deal. I would not hesitate for a moment to buy it, if only for the assurance that my child's speech is right on track. If some problems are identified then this e-book is such a valuable tool, especially for those that would have trouble paying for traditional speech therapy. In addition to Super Star Speech: Speech Therapy Made Simple, Deborah Lott has also created specific programs for various sound difficulties so be sure to check out her website for more details on these if you know which sounds your child has difficulty with. I think that Deborah Lott has blessed many families who couldn't afford speech therapy with this product and if your child is struggling I encourage you to check out her website to find out more.

**Any products reviewed by me as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew have been given to me free of charge in order for me to provide you with an honest review of the product and/or how we used the product within our family. I do not receive any other form of compensation for the reviews posted on this blog.

Friday Fav 5-May 28th

It's been a busy week here so it is time to slow down and look back on my favorite moments. Be sure to visit Living to Tell the Story to share your favorites from the past week.

1. Children who enjoy long car rides. We decided to take a spur of the moment trip to PEI for Victoria Day long weekend. The children all behaved really nicely in the car. Liam devoured a couple chapter books. Morgaine was full of imagination. Ruadhán slept, as always.
2. Enjoying a game of mini-golf at a beautiful PEI golf course. As a child I couldn't stand mini putt but I've found that bringing my own children is MUCH more enjoyable.

3. Taking out a bunch of books on gardening from the local library. I've been loving reading about various herbs and vegetables that I plan to grow in the above ground gardens Mike is preparing for me. I'm hoping for more success than last year!

4. Finishing up my last review for the year as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew. I'll be continuing on the voyage next year as a first mate on the Crew's third voyage but I am looking for to the month long break I'll have before the new year starts up again in July.

5. Taking the time to reread a book that was given to me at a time pf great change and the reminder that there are times when I still need space. This sentiment rang very true to me when the book was first given to me and is still important for me to remember today:

I needed "space"-distance from all the was pressing in on me. I needed a penetrating quiet inside, and I needed to hold that silence up to me ears, like an empty shell, and listen to the roar of my own life."

-Gregg Levoy

I need the reminder to slow down and be myself. To listen or what it is I really want or need. This week was the perfect time for that reminder.

A Budding Chef....

Liam has been begging me for months and months to open a cafe at our house. I told him that running a cafe would be lots and lots of work and having a baby around while setting up a cafe and serving customers would be hard (to which Liam replied, "We could keep the baby upstairs when there are people here, Mum") However, he has continued to ask about opening a restaurant and talking about how he is going to be a chef maybe when he is 8. As a result, I've decided to let the child open up his own restaurant and feed the family (hey, that's what homeschooling is about, isn't it?)

Yesterday was the official launch of Liam's Delisio Restaurant. Liam chose what he would like to prepare and wrote out his grocery list. He chose the produce he needed from the market and then did the majority of the food preparation himself while following the recipe. He worked well, and mostly stayed on task, to prepare us a lovely family meal.

Liam's Meatball Fusilli with Vegetables

The verdict: The meal was DELICIOUS, but Liam wants to try it a couple more times before he thinks it would be good enough to write down on his menu! Liam plans to write on his blog about his restaurant just as soon as he finishes his math work so be sure to check in tonight to see what he has to say.

Liam plans on attending culinary school when he is "10 or maybe 12" so I am sure that there will be many a yummy meal in our future!

Friday's Fave 5-May 21st

Join me at Living to Tell the Story as we share 5 highlights from our week. What were YOUR favorite things this week?

1. Surviving my first outing with the 3 children alone. While visiting in Sydney, Mike was invited to stay in town for a seminar so the children and I were left on our own for 3 hours and we survived to tell the tale. Supper out, a walk along the one of the main streets sight seeing and then reading together in the children section of the library. I was quite impressed with how easy it was.

2. FINALLY receiving Holistic Midwifery: Vol 1 in the mail this morning. I've already sat down and taken a good look over it BUT I cannot wait for some time to really devour it. I am a CRAZY lady that absolutely LOVES textbooks so I could not be happier.

3. Celebrating Liam's 7th Birthday on Sunday. Liam is turning out to be a fine young boy and I cannot believe that he is already 7 years old. Time has flown by.

4. Having the chance to see several of my friends. I still don't have a lot of friends that are local so having the chance to see several of my friends all in the same week was lovely. Running into a doula friend of mine was an added unexpected treat. I look forward to meeting up with these lovely ladies again in the next future.

5. Being able to freecycle/donate some of our old stuff and receiving some "new to us" stuff. I dislike waste so I'm happy that we were able to pass on some of the things that the children no longer needed and even get rid of a couple pieces of furniture that were just taking up space. I was also happy to receive clothing for all three children and the loan of a seat for Ruadhan. I really do have some wonderful friends!

Ideal Curriculum Review

Product: Month 1: Transportation
Company: Ideal Curriculum
Price: 30$US download, 55$US + 7.50$US/child print version

Many homeschoolers spend months, and sometimes years, looking for the ideal curriculum for their homeschool. They read reviews, they try different programs, they ask their friends what they use. I've only been homeschooling for a couple years now, and I to have searched high and low for the best program for us. I've come to realize that Liam is a workbook type of kid who also enjoys having ample time for free reading so all he needs is to be printed some worksheets from time to time and a library card. Morgaine is still quite young but I have started to search for things that she would enjoy. I'm not big on pushing academics but Liam was way beyond Morgaine at this age and occasionally I wonder if I'm doing too little with her. When I was asked to review month 1 of Ideal Curriculum's Pre-K program, I had high hopes that this would be a curriculum that would work well for her and we'd be set to start her Kindergarten year. Ideal Curriculum provides month long units that strive to teach language, reading, writing, math, and science in a sequential way through games, music and hands on activities. Each month follows a specific theme to help unify things. The theme for Month 1 one was transportation but other themes include weather, animals and the world around me. Sounds good!

Unfortunately, their statement that "95% of all children will not pick up academic skills on their own," was a bit of a put off for me. While I think children do need some guidance, most children learn lots just by exploring and asking questions without a lot of structure and formal learning (remember, we are talking PreK curriculum here). I was immediately filled with dread as I imagined my little 4 year old sitting at a a desk filling out repetitive worksheets. Thankfully, each lesson is kept short and for the most part do feel like play and not so much like work. The teacher manuals provide ideas for continuing each lesson throughout the day so that the learning can happen in a more natural way as you go about your daily activities as well. With music, written/visual work, and hands on activities (including full body movement for those really kinesthetic learners) there is a little of everything so whatever kind of learner you have they should benefit from this program.

While I thought having all three areas (literature, science, and math) provided in one package would be beneficial it was immediately clear that my daughter is at a different level in each area. In fact, I found that she would not benefit from either the literature or the math sections of the program very much at all. She is way beyond what is being taught in math section and the literature sections I found to be a little bit disorganized for my liking. Some parts seeming really simple for her abilities and other parts seeming to move ahead too quickly. While they touch on a number of important areas (letter sounds, sight words, print awareness), I found that the method of teaching these skills was a bit helter skelter and would not work well with my child.

The science unit of this program, though, I found to be really nice addition. Most programs I've seen tend to ignore science in the younger grades (most certainly in PreK-Kindergarten) and it was really nice to see that science was included and that the activities were not babied down and used proper scientific terms. The experiments are well demonstrated and the explanations are clear. This is the area where the theme of transportation comes into play and your student gets to experiment with wheels and axles and learn about different forms of transportation. I, however, still would find it hard to justify buying the program for the science or even the science/social science section independent of the other curriculum.

This curriculum is available for purchase for 30 dollars/unit (month) for a downloaded version of the program or 55 dollar/unit (month) plus an additional 7.50$US/child for a print version of the program. You can also purchase the entire year (9 units) for 440$US the print version or 240$US for the download version. We reviewed the download version and I found that there was a lot of back and forth between the teacher manuals, the children's workbooks and the other print material. I think that I may have enjoyed having all the material printed and ready for me. We were out of town without computer access for the majority of this review period and being unable to print any of the material, I had to flip back and forth between the different files repeatedly. Ideally, I would have been able to print everything before beginning. I would not be able to justify spending this money on a monthly basis for what is included in this curriculum. Even stretching the work over two months (which is possible as the program is quite flexible in that regards) I still would not be able to buy it.

I feel that this program is best suited to a classroom environment and would be ideal for an educational daycare or other such program. For a homeschool, at least mine, the cost is not justifiable. Many of the activities remind me of things that I did in Kindergarten or that I used when volunteering at a preschool a number of years ago. The activities are fun but really geared more towards a group of children in my opinion. The fact that the curriculum takes a multi-sensory approach is appealing and the whole body learning experience is great if you have a child that likes to be on the move so if that sounds ideal to you, I encourage you to visit the Ideal Curriculum website and check out their free week trial.

A Story of Scones and a Baby

My friend posted a scone recipe. Thinking that scones are pretty straight forward, I decide that they would be easy enough for me to make with the kids. Liam and Morgaine are more than willing to help, especially when I tell them that they will be the ones doing most of the work. Wee baby gets strapped into the ring sling so that I have two hands available should I need to jump in to rescue the recipe. For all of 30 seconds things go well. We pull out the flour, butter, and baking powder. Then looking at my two children working together in the kitchen, I get a feeling of warmth and happiness. However, as a new mother, feelings of warmth and happiness are often accompanied by the flow of breast milk. Ruadhán, smelling (and likely feeling) the milk, starts to wiggle around and make his wee baby grunts and well, of course my milk starts even more. Wet circles begin to form on my chest. The kids have by this point measured the ingredients and are waiting for a spice from the top shelf. Being notoriously clumsy, I remove wee baby from the carrier and lay him on the couch. He is quiet. All is well. I climbed on the chair and lean over to reach into the cupboard. The baby, realizing I am gone, SCREAMS....

Drip....

Drip......

Drip......

Drip........

There's breastmilk falling on my TOES!

The spice in question is nowhere to be found so I grab the next best thing, hop down, and run to the screaming baby who is now red with rage and has huge alligator tears streaming down his cheeks. I'm soaked, the kids are excitedly asking what they need to do next while jumping up and down, despite being in my arms, Ruadhán continues to scream. I grab the butter from the fridge, cut off a half cup chunk and toss it into the bowl and tell the kids to break it up with their fingers (hey, the recipe says we can use our hands). I sit with the baby at the table to oversee and nurse. The baby latches and then pulls off, the milk arches in the air and lands on the table just inches away from the mixing bowl. On then off. On then off. On then off. Meanwhile, the older two are letting the butter melt in their hands instead of blending the chunks of butter into the flour. It's time for me to rescue the recipe and besides the baby has no interest in nursing. Back into the carrier he goes. No sooner in, then he started to scream AGAIN! Just wanting the recipe done at this point, I take over. Toss in a couple eggs, get both hands into the mixture and bop around

Up and down......

Back and forth......

Side to side.....

Trying quite UNSUCCESSFULLY to soothe the now quite distressed infant.

Form a ball.....the baby SCREAMS!

Cut the dough.....the baby SCREAMS!

Place the dough on a baking tray....the baby SCREAMS!

Open the oven and place the try inside....the baby sighs and falls asleep!

The scones turn out magnificently.

All Liam Wanted Was.....

Chinese fondue, Yorkshire pudding, and and a can of peas (without carrots, please, Mom) for his birthday.







And that was exactly what he got!

Happy 7th birthday, my beautiful boy!!

Friday's Fave 5-May 14th

This has been a LONG week! To remind myself of the good things I'd meant to post a Thankful Thursday post yesterday but I didn't get around to it. Luckily this evening I was looking around on Facebook and noticed that a friend of mine posted a Friday Fave 5 post so I decided to join in on the fun as well. To see other Fave 5 lists be sure to visit Suzanne at Living to Tell the Story.

1. I am absolutely loving my new bookshelf (despite the fact that its construction/painting took place in my living room for the last two days). I am looking having all the children's homeschooling books in one place and having a home for all my beloved midwifery/doula/nursing books and yes, textbooks. It has been so nice to be able to empty a couple bins of books that have been hidden away since we moved here over a year ago.

2. I am so happy to have received some diaper covers in the mail earlier in the week (the AppleCheeks™ ROCK, Ilana!!). After shrinking all my wool covers earlier in the week the quick arrival of the new covers was appreciated. I am really happy to have received even more covers and some extra prefolds from another friend yesterday. I finally feel I have enough diapers to be able to say that I no longer have to keep a back of disposables on hand just in case.

3. I'm really, really happy that Ruadhán has apparently fallen into a deep a blissful sleep in my arms. It has been a really loooooong day of walking, cuddling and nursing him. We've been wide awake 4:30am. I was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to sleep again!!

4. I'm about to go get a cup of rich hot cocoa and sit of the couch to watch some mindless junk on television!

5. My son finished his grade two workbook yesterday and we got to print out the next level and he is over the moon and so proud of himself. I am excited and proud myself! Way to go, Liam!!!!!

(and posting these a looking for a category for this post reminded me that I actually used to post my Friday Favorite once upon a time! Might be a good habit to get back into!)

Wordless Wednesday-For Those that Haven't Seen Them

After Ruadhán's birth.... (they'll be added to the birth story this evening as well)

Look! I DO Take Photos!

Sure, I'm mostly taking the pictures because I got nice new Applecheek™ diaper covers in the mail and now Ruadhán has such a cute little bottom that I couldn't help grabbing a few shots. That works for all of you that just want to catch a glimpse of the baby, right? I'm really an action shot kind of photographer and babies don't really do much so he hasn't been in the spotlight too much, yet!



First attempt at "tummy time" and it's not too bad....



Looking puzzled. Why am I on the floor, Mum, and not in your arms?



Not bad, I could get used to this!



I think I'm loved....



No, I KNOW I am!

Everyone Loves a Good Lobster-Lobster Network Review

Product: Lobster Network Free Membership
Company: Optimized Consulting Inc.
Price: FREE!!

Lobster is great! Lobster is wonderful! Lobster is one of those things that you enjoy (maybe) once a year. What if I told you, you could enjoy lobster EVERY day? Well, now you can! Just not the the food kind. Through the TOS Homeschool Crew I've happily been introduced to a new networking site (and if you know me, you know I LOVE networking!) called Lobster Network. Lobster Network is the perfect place for people that like a good deal, or even FREE stuff. The idea behind lobster network is that people have stuff. Stuff that they would be happy to share, give away, or sell for cheap and Lobster Network allows you to do so for free all in one place. Lobster Network allows you to list your inventory (books, movies, tool, toys, etc...) and whether you are willing to sell, lend, or give the items away. While lobsters in general are great, it also stands for all the potential that this network can bring to you.

Just take a peak.....


By joining/creating local groups (communities) you are able to find items that are in your area. For example, my husband is a bit of a do it yourself type of guy. We are flipping a 135 year old home. Occasionally we run into problems when we realize that we need a tool that we do not own. Imagine being able to browse through your local lobster network and finding out that Billy from down the road has the exact tool you need to loan out, saving you money that you would use to buy a tool that you might only need to loose once. What's more, if Billy down the road doesn't have the tool that you need then you can but in a request for that tool and perhaps there is another local fellow that might have that tool.

As a homeschooling parent, I'm always looking for deals on curriculum. Sometimes I'm not sure if a certain program would work well with my family and don't want to spend a lot of money on a program that we might not end up using. With Lobster Network I'm able to borrow homeschooling material from other homeschooling families and try it out before committing to the product. Sometimes I can even find deals on homeschooling materials that other families are finished using,

That's not all! As a doula and aspiring midwife, I've collected a wealth of material pertaining to pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and babies that I am more than happy to share with my clients. With Lobster Network my clients can easily see which material I have available to lend out and I can keep track of where my books are without worrying (I am not typically organized and have lost several books since beginning my practice). The more I can educate families (and really, anyone would would like to read any of my books) the happier I am. I cannot wait to use Lobster Network for the purpose.

Now that you know a few of the things that Lobster Network can do, I want to let you know that not only does it serve multiple purposes but it is very user friendly so even a child could help you add items to your inventory list (hey, it could be a learning experience for them!). It is also easy to search for items, add friends and create communities. I really do feel that Lobster Network has the potential to be the next big thing in cyberspace and I am happy to be able to introduce my friends to this free resource. I am hoping to that you will all sign up by going to the Lobster Network website so that you will be able to savour some Lobster (Network) for yourself!

**Any products reviewed by me as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew have been given to me free of charge in order for me to provide you with an honest review of the product and/or how we used the product within our family. I do not receive any other form of compensation for the reviews posted on this blog.

Introducing.....

Ruadhán (Rowan) James M.

Birthdate: April 18th, 2010
Time: 3:48pm
Weight: 8 pounds 7 ounces
Length: 21 inches

Apparently, I'm not featuring the newest baby enough on my blog so by special request I've gotten around to posting his birth stats......and oh yeah, his NAME!!

This baby has been a blessing in so many ways. His birth has taught me to be more gentle with myself. In the days after he was born I had ample time to search my soul and find out what I really want from life. Ruadhán's "blissed-out" nature reminds me just to relax and live in the moment. The kids tender treatment of their baby brother reminds me how much I love them. I always knew that baby #3 was waiting out there for me (even when it felt like it was never going to happen) but I never knew how much on an impact adding him to the family would have on me. I am forever thankful and am looking forward to everything the coming years will bring.

(and I really did try to get some pictures to share tonight but the lighting in our house it just horrible so you'll have to wait for your photo fix)

Test only folks-Review to Follow Shortly

Happy Mother's Day

I wanted to write something inspired to celebrate today. I wanted to write about the joys that come with being a mother. I wanted to write about my own mother, who has been gone for far too long. I wanted to share the little special moments of being a mother to three children but today, what I am feeling mostly is how unbelievably HARD it is to be a parent. The worries. The wishes. The moments of "how could I have possibly said/did that?". The fears for the future. The differences of opinions. The (sometime outright) defiance. The "what if?". There are so many Mamas out there struggling at this time to give their children the best that they can and what I really want to say is THANK YOU!! If you feel that being a mother is the hardest job out there, if you feel your children's pain, worry about their futures, but rejoice in their little successes then you are being a good mother. If you are trying to do right by your children and your family then you are doing good enough. There's no such thing as perfection....

I'm wishing my good enough Mama friends a wonderful and blessed day....each and every day....despite how crazy hard it is!

Fit Mama Friday-May 7th

I'll admit it. I'm sitting here eating an ice cream cone as I type this. The ice cream isn't 100 mile and it certainly isn't healthy but it sure is good.

That being said, we did groceries yesterday and stocked up on all kinds of healthy stuff. Lots and lots of fruits and greens, asparagus, mushrooms, tomatoes and more. Nothing was 100 Mile BUT the local farm is now open so soon enough we will be able to start getting a bit more local food. By July or August it is my goal to be back on the 100 Mile Diet in full force. For those of you that haven't heard of the 100 Mile Diet or read about our earlier attempts at it here are a couple links.... Introduction to the 100 Mile Diet and Foraging: The Life of a 100 Mile Dieter. We only managed to follow this diet for the month of August last year. By the first week of September I was plagued with morning sickness and then fatigue set in so easy to prepare foods became key (though, I am ashamed to admit how heavily we relied on that stuff. This year there will be no pregnancies interfering with the plan but I'll have to get a good carrier in order to get wee baby on my back and "out of the way" so I can tend to my kitchen and all the foraging that comes along with eating local. I cannot wait!

The diet also gives one a workout rummaging through the forest looking for food (seriously, we did this last year!) so that will be a benefit (though we found our favorite places for a variety of berries already). As it stands right now the only exercise I am doing is marathon nursing, occasionally sucking in my tummy as I walk, and those lovely kegel exercises that one is supposed to do after having a baby. I hope to add in a few more tummy exercises next week. As suspected, I am indeed below my pre-pregnancy weight but there is some toning to do and I really need to get into the habit of working out. I like to eat and I am sure that once my appetite returns it will be really easy to start gaining weight (I tend to hold on to calories when I am nursing as oppose to using them up) so exercise is going to have to feature more regularly in my plans.

I hope that my other Mamas are doing well and getting out there this spring and enjoying the weather! Please check in with them at Got Chai? and leave a word of encouragement or two (and remember it is never too late to join in, too!)

Wordless Wednesday-If Only She Actually Needed Glasses

They suit her so well, don't you think?

Lesson Planet: A Search Engine for Teachers

Product: Lesson Planet
Price: 39.95$US/year
Additional Information: 10 day free trial available

I'm a little addicted to the Internet. I LOVE search engines. I appreciate being able to find just about anything online. I was happy to be able to review Lesson Planet as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew. Lesson Planet is a search engine designed specifically for teachers which allows you to search for lesson plans by topic and then narrow down the selections by rating, age/grade and method of teaching. With 225 000+ worksheets and lesson plans there is an abundance of material available.

I found that this search engine was quite easy to use. The material that I did find seemed to be mostly geared towards the age range that I was looking for and most everything came from reputable sites so I was not concerned about the information that I'd be sharing with my children. However, I did find that most of the lesson plans were geared towards a classroom setting and while they could be modified for the most part they were not lessons I would use in a home school environment. As things often change on the internet I also encountered quite a few dead links in my search and while they are easy to report (and hopefully have fixed) if I'd been particularly in a hurry I might have found them frustrating. As a Canadian, I found Canadian content to be severely lacking and for that reason in addition to finding the lesson plans much more geared towards a school setting, I would no really be will to pay the 39.95$US/per year.

Lesson Planet offers a free 10 day trial so I would encourage you to check that out if this search engine interests you. Please be sure to check out other Crew Members' reviews here as I know that there were several members who really liked this program and perhaps reading their reviews will give you a more balanced review of the product.

***Any products reviewed by me as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew have been given to me free of charge in order for me to provide you with an honest review of the product and/or how we used the product within our family. I do not receive any other form of compensation for the reviews posted on this blog.

Cooking With Sue Gregg

Product: Meals in Minutes
Company: Sue Gregg Cookbooks
Price: 9.00$US

As many of you who read my blog regularly might know, we are currently away from home because we needed to travel to have the opportunity to birth our baby with a midwife. We've been living away from home for the past month, but sweet baby has been born and I will be returning home to a freezer filled with healthy meals. Nope, the neighbours haven't been bringing casseroles (or I hope not 'cause they'd be getting rather gross sitting on our steps by now) but I managed, with Sue Gregg's help and Meals in Minutes to prepare several dishes to freeze before leaving.

After realizing that her family's chronic health concerns might be a result of a nutritional deficient diet, Sue Gregg started experimenting with nutritionally dense foods and whole grains. She start eliminating questionable foods from her pantry and has since begun teaching others how to eat the way we were meant to. Though several cookbooks Sue Gregg has made it her mission to teach us how too cook with whole grains, introducing such techniques as soaking and blending.

Meals in Minutes is a cookbook of make ahead meals that can be conveniently frozen and then pulled out as needed. Sue Gregg describes in detail how to cook with whole grains, the best canned/frozen goods/spices to purchase, and the best ways to thaw and reheat her meals. She then shares 25 recipes/meal plans with us broken down into the following categories:

• 5 Timesaver Meals


• 5 Convenience Meals


• 5 Quick Meals 5


• Make-Ahead Meals


• 5 Ready-to-Serve Meals

Each section comes with a grocery list for the week as well as suggested side dishes that could be served along with the recipe. While I was not initially fond of the format of the recipes (with the ingredients listed throughout the recipes as opposed to at the beginning of each recipe) I soon got used to the idea of reading through the whole recipe before beginning. I have not tried any of her meals from frozen as of yet but we have been happy with what we've tried freshly prepared.





The only real issue that I have with the recipes in the cookbook is that I do find that they rely a little heavily on canned/frozen foods and as a little bit of a "foodie" if I am going to cook from scratch I really want to cook from scratch and not have to pull out my can opener. All in all, though, these recipes were easy, healthy and turned out good. For 9.00$US you cannot go wrong if you are on the path to healthier eating (or want to be).

There are numerous free recipes on Sue Gregg's website so be sure to check them out and while you are there read more about her journey to healthier eating.

***Any products reviewed by me as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew have been given to me free of charge in order for me to provide you with an honest review of the product and/or how we used the product within our family. I do not receive any other form of compensation for the reviews posted on this blog.