It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is almost here already!  That being said — I am cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner this year, so I am all about finding all the help I can get.  While looking for some ideas and recipes, I can across Better Homes and Gardens and found that they have a lot of helpful information.  They have an excellent tasty recipe section that has cranberry sauces, holiday salads, spice-rubbed turkey, turkey stuffings, and even a wine guide just to name a few.  They also have a lot of crafts and decorating ideas. You can make the Wheat Centerpiece, Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids, Thanksgiving Day Cards, Tic-Tac-Toe, and the Wild Turkey.  We can’t forget the Turkey Roasting Guide which is what I really need.  Best of all, its free!  The roasting guide helps you figure out defrosting and cooking instructions for your turkey, as well as chicken, beef, pork, and other large cuts of meat. You can even select the time you want to serve your meal and get a personalized cooking schedule.

If you are looking for some great ideas for Thanksgiving, make sure you check out Better Homes and Gardens.  I know I am glad I did!

With food costs going through the roof this year, it definitely effects the bottom line of most households.  I know that a typical run to the grocery store for my family on four runs us over $200 (and I have two little ones).  I can only imagine how much it costs those who have larger families or teenagers.  I am already seeing articles in our local papers about how the food pantries are having such a high demand, and it is not even the holidays yet.

One of the many ways people are making ends meet for their households is doing some debt consolidation. Now, debt consolidation isn’t going to erase your debts. However, it does allow you to get a lower interest rate on the debt you are carrying. By consolidating everything at a lower interest rate, you will have a lower monthly payment. You can do this by using a low interest credit card, getting a loan, or using your home equity (which just became much harder in this recession).  You also are able to make one payment a month instead five or ten to other places (just think how much you’ll save on stamps).  Debt consolidation also doesn’t hurt your credit score like bankruptcy can and does.  Actually, if you close the accounts that you consolidate together, it most likely will help your score.

Now, I highly recommend for items like grocery shopping not to charge them. You really don’t want to be paying interest on high priced groceries if you can help it.  Stop charging on the cards and make them for emergency use only until you get them paid off.  If you can, make more than the minimum payment.  You need to do what you have to do for your situation.  However, in these tough times, people are choosing between heat and food which is a choice that no one should have to make.  Hopefully, people can look at their situation and figure out how to make ends meet to get both.

Now, this is a very simple recipe since this was the first time I made this! We fed 6 adults and two kids with this and still had leftovers. It is not spicy, so everyone should be able to eat it (I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old so spicy is out of the question here).

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion chopped
2 cups of elbow macaroni
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
2 15 oz cans of tomato sauce
1 46 oz bottle of tomato juice (this can actually be smaller however that is what I bought)
1 pkg of chili seasoning

Brown ground beef and onion together and drain. Also, make the elbow macaroni noodles as directed on the box.

In the meantime, put the diced tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato sauce, and chili seasoning into a stick pot and stir together. Pour the beef and noodles in when done. Stir. Bring to a boil, then cook on low until you are ready to eat. Add in the tomato juice when and if you feel like the chili is becoming too think. I ended up using about 23 oz of the tomato juice, because we ate this during a football game.

You are able to add whatever topping you like when serving. I personally did shredded cheese while my husband added hot sauce, shredded cheese, and oyster crackers.

Would you like a healthy snack for your children?  Would you like a healthy snack for yourself?  If so, the EnviroKidz organic crispy bars is what you are looking for. EnviroKidz Crispy Rice Bars comes in two new flavors – Lemur Peanut Choco Drizzle (chunky peanut butter and peanuts with chocolate drizzle) and Penguin Fruity Burst (’marshmallowy’ taste with colourful bits of fun fruity bursts). These low fat bars are made from whole brown rice.  They are low in sugar and sodium.  They have no trans fats and are a great gluten free option.  Now, the Fruity Burst bars were a tad sweet for me.  However, Madison (my 4 year old) inhaled them.  Now, the Peanut Choco Drizzle were saved for mommy.  I had quite the chocolate craving when we got these, so I ate those myself.  They were super good, took care of my chocolate craving, and were healthy.  I’d much rather give these to my kids than most of the snack foods that are out there.  I’d rather eat one of these instead of a candy bar.

Now, I would love for you to try these and have arranged for 2 lucky winners to get a box of each flavor of these bars.  Here what you can do to enter:

Each one of these things will give you one entry:

1. Leave a comment on this post. I want to know why you would like to try this or tell me something about any of the other products Nature’s Path makes and looks interesting to you. One comment only please and let me know everything you did for your entries in that comment.
2. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify.
3. Stumble this post. If you don’t know what Stumble Upon is, please read Lori’s post at Blogging Cents. She explains it extremely well.
4. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc.

For 5 additional entries,

1.  Blog about this on your blog.  Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
2.  Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
3.  Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed
4. Add my badge to your sidebar:

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Good luck!  This contest will end Sept. 17, 2008 at 8:00 PM CST and is only available for US and Canada residents.

Jason’s Deli is available nationwide. However, this review is being done on the Jason’s Deli in Oak Lawn, IL. (This review is also being posted over at My Road Less Traveled By.)

I went with my two kids on a Thursday night about 6 pm by myself. (Needless to say, my hands were full). I found that staff there the most helpful. When you walk into the door, there is someone there to greet you and let you know how this all works (since this was my first visit, I was pretty clueless). She got me a highchair for Will (my one year old), so I didn’t have to hold him while we were standing there trying to figure out what we wanted. The high chair had wheels, so I was able to roll him around quite easily and get him where we needed to go. I was able to take a menu, sit down with the kids, decide what we wanted, and get back into line, so we could order (which is what I did). Ordering was painless. After you order, they give you a number and your drinks, so you can go sit down. They then bring your food to you when it is done. The restaurant is a very open concept. You can see where they make the food. Another thing that impressed me was that the apples and apple juice that I ordered with the kids meals were organic. Also, everything that they serve is free of artificial trans fats and MSG! I personally found the prices quite reasonable. Granted, it would have been cheaper to take the kids to McDonalds, but we would have been hungry an hour later (and this was not all that more expensive either! Maybe a couple of dollars is it!) They have an excellent kids menu too! If you can’t find something for your little one off their kids menu, they are too picky. They even have a dessert menu! Madison (my 4 year old) wanted an ice cream cone, but since she didn’t finish her food, she didn’t get one, so I can’t comment on how good their ice cream is. Our food came quickly and it was good. The sandwiches were much bigger than I expected! There was always somebody walking around cleaning off tables or checking on how you were doing, so you could definitely get help when needed (for example, 2 napkins just doesn’t cut it when you have 3 people and 2 of the 3 are under 5!). I easily was able to get more napkins for us.

The food was great (and healthy!). The service was great! Jason’s Deli also has a blog which makes them stand out even more for me! If you are looking for a great alternative for fast food, you definitely need to check out Jason’s Deli. It is a five star place in my book!