If you’ve ever wandered through a gourmet specialty food shop you know what a sight to behold a piece of roasted vegetable lasagna can be.  Here is a pretty simple way to make it from scratch and for a fraction of the cost.  First you have to roast some vegetables, and you can use any combination you like or happen to have; sliced red, yellow, or orange peppers, portobello mushrooms, onions, zucchini, etc.  I arrange them on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and roast in a 400° F oven for about 15 minutes.  Make extra to keep in the fridge for wraps and quesadillas during the week.  The kitchen smells amazing already! To make it a meal, serve with caesar salad and garlic bread.  Read the rest of this post...

I was relieved when my kids reported they would need to bring their own snack to school each day this year.  I resolved to send freshness everyday, following Dr. Sears’ The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood list of amazingly nutritious, energy providing snacks – a complex carbohydrate with a protein.  I started with so many great ideas: ham and turkey roll-ups with cheese cubes, mini whole wheat bagels with cream cheese, tortillas with peanut butter, trail mix.  I even made peanut butter banana chocolate chip bread with whole wheat pastry flour.  Read the rest of this post...

This month we share sites that solicit your best recipes and may pay you big money!  Entering recipes in these online contests is quick and simple, you just need to put your best ones out there, and we would love to know when one of our readers does secure a victory.  Here’s a list of upcoming contests and their deadlines:  Read the rest of this post...

• The first upcoming deadline is October 12, 2009 for www.smuckers.com, share a family recipe (and a short essay) using 1/4 cup of one of Smuckers many products and you could win a trip for 8 people to Walt Disney World!
• The next deadline is October 24, 2009 for Better Homes and Gardens, www.bhg.com/recipes/win-money/, where you can submit recipes for veggie burgers and cereal cookies and bars – 2 $400 winners, 2 $200 winners and 10 $50 winners, with a chance for $10,000 at a future date!
• Finally, French’s www.frenchs.com/Contest offers a grand prize of $25,000 for the best recipe using one of their mustard, worcestershire, or fried onions products – deadline, October 31, 2009.

At the grocery store today, I saw the ever-present mountains of soda. This time of year, they are covered in halloween decorations, but usually they encourage you to throw a football party or celebrate March Madness. The pile that caught my eye consisted of Pepsi products which, I will admit, I enjoy from time to time. Today there was a new box – a retro looking beverage called Pepsi-Cola Throwback. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the fine print: the cool thing about Throwback is that it is made with natural sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup!  Read the rest of this post...