I’m just dying to tell you all about our NEWEST and greatest club–it’s been a long time coming, but boy oh boy, it’s SO worth the wait!

Announcing (insert trumpet blast here): The Crock Cooker Club, y’all!

Seriously! You asked for it, you got it. Is that not awesome??

Just like our other clubs, the Crock Cooker Club is a $10 a month club, with the goodies you’ve come to expect from our very exclusive, very fun clubs.

Here’s how it works:

First up, you get 10 great, crock cooking recipes every month for a FULL year – the kind you would expect from SavingDinner.com. Second, you get an exclusive on these fab recipes–they’re not going to show up anywhere else, third…we do GREAT fun stuff for our Club Folks!

You can go the $10 a month route or you can pay for the year at $90 and save 30 bucks! How great is that?

It’s no secret that we like to do things big around here at Saving Dinner, and this is no exception! When you enroll in the Crock Cooker Club NOW, you’ll also receive all 3 volumes of our Crock Cooker ebook F*REE! That’s a bonus worth $111 absolutely F*REE! Since this bonus is so huge, we have to limit it to the first 100 customers, so act NOW and grab it before it’s gone!

Enroll now, get your super duper bonus and relax knowing dinner is DONE!

Love,
Leanne

By: Leanne Ely

Happy Tuesday, Y’all!

It’s time once again for Tricks, Tips and a Recipe. Today you’ll learn a tip, a trick and you’ll get a great recipe to try it out with. Neat, huh?

Don’t forget tomorrow is the radio show, Saving Dinner with the Dinner Diva! The show is on every Wednesday at noon EST and is almost always LIVE. Bookmark this page and show up tomorrow–www.blogtalkradio.com/flylady and remember you can call in LIVE with your questions–about food, cooking, nutrition, anything you can think of! If you can’t listen live, you can always listen to the archives and now you can even send in your questions and listen to Leanne answer them on a future show! Just email Dear Leanne at Saving Dinner dot com.

Today’s focus is on ALMOND MILK.

You’re probably wondering what exactly almond milk is. I bet you didn’t know you could even milk an almond! Well you really can’t but you can make a delicious healthy “milk” to be used to drink, or it can be used in recipes calling for milk.

You can buy prepared almond milk or you can make your own. Almond milk has no cholesterol or lactose and is completely vegan. Commercial almond milks are often infused with sugars and flavorings so fortunately it is easy to make your own. It is really beneficial to people who cannot or do not want to eat dairy and is a fabulous alternative to soy milk for those concerned about eating soy or who are allergic to soy.

Almonds are tree nuts while peanuts are legumes. If you’re allergic to peanuts that you won’t necessarily be allergic to almonds; often times people do not suffer the same allergic reaction to almonds that they do peanuts. But check with your doctor to make sure.

Here’s today’s TRICK:

Store your almond milk in a glass-sealed jar in the fridge and use within a week. Keep in mind that it is so easy to make you can make it as needed.

Here are a couple TIPS:

*Make vegan ice cream with your almond milk using your ice-cream maker.

*Add 2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice to your unsweetened almond milk to create a buttermilk alternative.

And your RECIPE:

Homemade Almond Milk

You will need:
* High Speed Blender
* Glass Quart Jar
* Cheesecloth
* Filtered Water
* Raw Almonds
Soak a pound of fresh raw almonds over night or for eight hours. You will need about 3 cups of water per cup of raw almonds. Almonds will swell so make sure to put in a larger container than you think you need.  After soaking place in high speed blender, blend until completely smooth and milky, can take about five minutes. If the blender gets hot, stop, let cool, then continue.

Strain in cheesecloth, saving the milky substance that is squeezed out. This is your milk. The dry substance left can be used in other recipes or thrown out. You may strain it once or twice depending on how smooth you want it. You may add more filtered water if you desire a less rich milk.

Store in a glass container in the fridge. Allow to rest for a day before use to have the best flavor. Some people put a pinch of sea salt at this point or sweeteners.

Extras: Add raw chocolate, raw honey, or other flavorings for an extra special

Eating Vegetarian? Try our Vegetarian E Book, it’s got great recipes for all 4 seasons!

By: Leanne Ely

Dear Friends,

It was 2 years ago that I finally came home from my volcanic cloud delayed Ireland trip. While being there was great, staying an extra 8 days not so much. Ireland is the land of my people; my grandmother was 100% Irish, born at the turn of the century, in 1900. Fire engine red hair and lovely brogue, Edna Finley was about as Irish as you can get.

Speaking of being as Irish as you can get, POTATOES are the quintessential Irish food. Here’s a recipe, enjoy!

Mashed Potato Casserole
Serves 6

2 pounds baking potatoes — cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (8-ounce) package neufchatel cheese (that’s low fat cream cheese)
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons whipped butter — melted
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Place potatoes in a saucepan; add water to cover, and bring to a boil.
Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until very tender; drain.

Combine potato, cream cheese and the next 3 ingredients in a bowl and mash your heart out.

Spoon into an 9 x 13 inch baking dish, lightly oiled; drizzle butter
over the top of the potato mixture. Sprinkle with paprika for color.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Per serving: 255 Calories; 11g Total Fat;
7g Protein; 2g Dietary Fiber; 27g Carbohydrate; 42mg Cholesterol; 227mg Sodium

Love,
Leanne Ely, your Dinner Diva since 2001

Eating Paleo? Try our Menu Mailer, it has new Paleo recipes each week!

By: Leanne Ely

Dear Friends,

Mount Rushmore has one of the most well known sights in America called the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. This granite cliff has several presidents’ faces carved into the side and has been visited by millions of people.

Another well-visited place should be your own dining room table, especially when you have Jack Fish on the menu!

This recipe is from Saving Dinner the Low Carb Way and one of MY FAVORITES!

Jack Fish
Serves 4

1 pound cod fillets — thawed if necessary (or other firm white fish)
Salt and pepper — to taste
2 medium tomatoes — chopped
4 teaspoons green onion — chopped
1/2 teaspoon basil
2 teaspoons butter
1/2 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place fish fillets in lightly greased baking dish. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. In a bowl, combine tomato, onion and basil; spoon over fish.

Dot fish with butter. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Turn off the oven. Sprinkle fish with cheese and return to oven just to melt the cheese.

Per Serving: 160 Calories; 5g Fat (30.0% calories from fat); 24g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 61mg Cholesterol; 143mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 3 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 1/2 Fat.

LC SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Serve with steamed broccoli and a big salad.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Add baked potatoes.

Love,
Leanne

http://savingdinner.com   FR*EE Menu-Mailer when you get our Daily Dish!

By: Leanne Ely

Dear Friends,

A favorite super healthy “fast” food favorite of mine is spinach. Not just any old bunch of spinach, but the stuff in a big plastic tub (I get mine at Costco). I use a ton of it during the week and eat it in a variety of different ways from salads, to side dishes and let’s just say, it’s a secret ingredient in my smoothies (shhh, don’t tell!).

It’s a quick cooking veggie (like I said, “fast” food!), 100% worthy of the title super food. Spinach is chocked full of all kinds of healthy nutrients, including a whole bunch of B vitamins, C & E, omega 3 fatty acids, glutathione, beta-carotene, alpha lipoic acid and too many minerals to name, not to mention all the phytonutrients—this is a food that will fight cancer, heart disease, cataracts and macular degeneration. This veggie has it ALL.

One thing to remember is to always buy organic spinach. This is one of the vegetables named by the EWG (Environmental Working Group) on their Dirty Dozen List (a list of foods with the worst pesticide overload. Others included are lettuce, potatoes, apples, strawberries, peaches, bell peppers, and more. You can google “dirty dozen”+EWG and get the full scoop).

Here’s a fabulous spinach salad with some unexpected ingredients, enjoy!

Double Blue Spinach Salad
Serves 6

1 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
3/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
6 handfuls of baby spinach (best way to measure!)

In a salad bowl, lay down the spinach first then add the rest of the ingredients. Toss well and serve, that’s it!

Want even more great salad recipes? Check out our Salad E books!

Fundraising

Saving Dinner Fundraising Assists a Variety of Organizations

By: Daniel Munns

Since our founding in the middle part of 2011, we have had the pleasure of helping out a number of different types of groups reach their fundraising goals. Participants in the Saving Dinner Fundraising program have included schools, booster clubs, church groups, teams, scouts and many other types of organizations working to help out a worthy cause. I wanted to take a chance to highlight a group, Fundraising for Michelle Gordon, that recently registered to use our program.

Michelle Gordon is a wife and mother of two young kids that lives in upstate New York. In February 2012, at age 34, Michelle was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. Michelle’s sister, Sandra Bratlie, helped create a website http://www.yeswecansir.com/ and signed up for our program in order to provide moral and financial support for her sister’s family. Sandra, being familiar with Saving Dinner’s menu-planning products, was excited to be able to raise funds through the sale of products she was familiar with.

Like many of the organizations using our program, Fundraising for Michelle Gordon will promote their Saving Dinner Fundraising page (see it HERE) through emails to supporters, advertising on their group’s Facebook page and website. Further, they are holding a benefit for Michelle and will use this event to kick off their Saving Dinner Fundraising drive.

We are thrilled to be helping organizations just like the one above raise funds. If you would like to learn how you could get started with your very own fundraising campaign, send us an email at info@savingdinnerfundraising.com and we can assist you.

In January, 2007 I realized a major goal in my life and became a part of an exclusive club—I became a New York Times bestselling author. Body Clutter, the book Marla Cilley and I poured our hearts out into, was the book and it was life changing for many, including the authors!

Fast forward to today and Marla and I are still at it and last Monday, did a groundbreaking webinar on Body Clutter. It helps to understand that you cannot organize Body Clutter anymore than you can your home’s clutter; it simply has to go. But to do that, you need to understand the underlying Body Clutter principle of losing the “fat” between your ears first so you can deal with what you’re sitting on!

To do this, we put together a webinar package of goodies to help our fellow Body Clutter sojourners along their way:

First up, there’s the audio version of the book (a $16.95 value), a Menu-Mailer subscription for a year ($47), the Body Clutter Control Journal (a $12.95 value), the Body Clutter Menu eBook ($37) and a bonus of the Body Clutter Release Contract; a tool that will give you permission to release the Body Clutter once and for all; its power is amazing!

All total, well over $100 if you were to buy everything above separately. But not today, today it’s just $37!  Way over half off for everything and great stuff you will use forever!

Listen to the webinar for added value (at no additional cost) and you’ll learn some great stuff. Here’s a link that will get you the replay: http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=29058654

Look, this is timeless information and yes, New York Times best selling-worthy. Don’t you owe it to yourself to finally fling the Body Clutter? –> $37 <–

Love,
Leanne Ely

PS: Use the low carb version of the Menu-Mailer when you get it…that’s what did the trick! You’ll find out more on the webinar, go listen now! Here’s a link that will get you the replay: http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=29058654

By: Leanne Ely

Happy Tuesday, Y’all!
It’s time once again for Tricks, Tips and a Recipe. Today you’ll learn a tip, a trick and you’ll get a great recipe to try it out with. Neat, huh?
Don’t forget tomorrow is the radio show, Saving Dinner with the Dinner Diva! The show is on every Wednesday at noon EST and is almost always LIVE. Bookmark this page and show up tomorrow–www.blogtalkradio.com/flylady and remember you can call in LIVE with your questions–about food, cooking, nutrition, anything you can think of! If you can’t listen live, you can always listen to the archives and now you can even send in your questions and listen to Leanne answer them on a future show! Just email Dear Leanne at Saving Dinner dot com.
Today’s focus is on THYME.

Thyme is one of those ubiquitous spices that everyone seems to have hanging out in their spice cabinets. What you need to know about thyme is that it is not just a spice that sets stews, soups and a whole slew of different foods apart; it’s good for you too! Full of vitamin K, iron, manganese and smattering of fiber too, fresh or dried it’s “thyme” to get thyme into your spice rotation!Here’s today’s TRICK:

Got fresh thyme? You can grow it like a beautiful ground cover! Just keep the flowers off and it will keep growing!

Here’s a TIP:

Pull fresh thyme off the woody stem by using your fingers to get the leaves off. It’s fun to strip the stems and kids love the task, so ask them for a hand!

And your RECIPE:

Fish Romano
Serves 6

3/4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon pressed red pepper (optional)
4 cloves garlic — pressed
6 each fish fillets
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup Romano cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
lemon wedges

In a large plastic, zipper topped bag, combine first four ingredients. Add fish, seal bag and marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes, turning bag occasionally.

Meanwhile, combine flour and next 3 ingredients in another large plastic zipper topped bag. Remove fish from marinade (discard marinade) and add them to the flour bag, close bag and shake to coat evenly with flour mixture.

In a skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add fish and cook 6 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve with lemon wedges.

Per Serving: 283 Calories; 6g Fat; 45g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 109mg Cholesterol; 237mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 6 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fat.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Serve with sautéed yellow squash, brown rice and big green salad.

Want new fish recipes and need to get dinner on the table fast? Try our 5 for the freezer fish menus, five great recipes that will help you get dinner on the table quick!

By: Leanne Ely

Dear Friends,

Italian food is some of the best food in the entire world. And while it seems the whole world is going gluten free, there are some who think that Italian is out of reach, au contraire!

This delicious Chicken Parmesan dish will work either way, so gluten free folk, don’t feel sad! Enjoy!

Chicken Parmesan
Serves 6

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, pounded flat
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs (or use gluten free bread crumbs)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (24 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce (your favorite)
3/4 cup shredded part-skim Mozzarella cheese
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
3 3/4 cups (6 oz.) wide egg noodles – uncooked (or use gluten free brown rice pasta)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large plastic, zipper topped bag, place 2 chicken breast halves at a time and use a rolling pin to flatten. Take turns with the chicken till it’s all flattened. (tip: easier to do if chicken if half frozen!)

In a bowl, place your lightly beaten eggs and in another bowl, the bread crumbs. Dip chicken in egg first, then bread crumbs to coat thoroughly. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat; add chicken. Cook on both sides until lightly browned and drain well on paper towels.

Pour 1/2 cup sauce into an 8-inch square baking dish. Layer chicken in the dish and pour about 3/4 cup sauce evenly over the chicken. Sprinkle with the cheeses and bake 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions and drain. Heat remaining sauce. To serve, place noodles on the bottom, spoon sauce over noodles and arrange chicken pieces on top.

Per Serving: 380 Calories; 9g Fat; 40g Protein; 30g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 163mg Cholesterol; 707mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 4 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Fat.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Sauteed zucchini with olive oil and garlic, add a spinach salad with thinly sliced red onion, mandarin orange segments and some pine nuts, tossed with vinaigrette. For an extra nutritional kick, add a bowl of baby carrots on the table to pass, too.

Love,
Leanne Ely, Your Dinner Diva since 2001
www.savingdinner.com
Get a FR*EE Menu-Mailer when you get our Daily Dish!

By: Leanne Ely

I am pretty much a stickler when it comes to deciding what to drink. The answer is always water and plenty of it. I get asked a lot about drinks—particularly, diet drinks, sodas, juices, etc. Everyone wants to drink something else besides water, especially now that summer is just around the corner! Well, I understand that. I drink coffee in the morning, so it’s not like I don’t understand what it is to have a particular fondness for a special beverage. But when it comes to drinking something with a meal you gotta go for water (and just a little; too much will dilute your digestive juices). And water in-between meals, too. Water itself is a nutrient in that it helps your body run optimally and helps you to absorb the nutrients you’ve taken in via your food. Important stuff, H20.

On the other hand, all sodas are liquid clutter that have no nutritional value whatsoever and cause tooth decay, obesity and disease.

It seems like schools are getting that connection are finally stepping up to the plate to protect our children instead of aiding and abetting the enemy. And to add insult to injury, yet another study came out implicating sodas in weight gain—both regular AND diet sodas!

Now listen, I know it’s getting hot outside and I know sodas go on sale in supermarkets all the time right now and I know you like them. But bear with me for minute. You have to read these statistics!

The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio ran an eight year study to study the effects of soft drink use. Sharon P. Fowler, MPH, who ran the study, had this shocking statement to say, “What didn’t surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity. What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher.”

Of the 622 participants—all of normal weight at the beginning of the study, about a third became overweight or obese.

For the regular soft drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

*26% for up to ½ can each day
*30.4% for ½ to one can each day
*32.8% for 1 to 2 cans each day
*47.2% for more than 2 cans each day.

But look at the increase for diet soft-drink drinkers!

*36% for up to ½ can per day
*37.5% for ½ to one can per day
*54.5% for 1 to 2 cans per day
*57.1% for more than 2 cans each day.

For each can of diet soda consumed, a person’s risk of obesity went up 41%!!!

One of the theories of why the difference may have something to do with trying to fool our bodies. We give them the sweet taste of a diet drink, but no calories. Another recent study showed that baby rats when fed artificial sweeteners craved more calories than baby rats fed real sugar.

Fowler says, “If you offer your body something that tastes like a lot of calories, but it isn’t there, your body is alerted to the possibility that there is something there and it will search for the calories promised but not delivered.”

She goes on to say, “People think they can just fool the body. But maybe the body isn’t fooled. If you are not giving your body those calories you promised it, maybe your body will retaliate by wanting more calories. Some soft drink studies also suggest that diet drinks stimulate appetite.”

The schools may be cutting off sodas, but it’s imperative that you do, too! I hope this is the needed push you need to help you make a decision to grab a water next time you’re tempted to go with a soda.

What do you do to stay away from soda? We want to know!

By: Leanne Ely

A few years ago (quite a few years ago, actually), a new cooking trend was born – Once A Month Cooking – OAMC for short. The whole idea was to spend a day cooking, freeze what you make, they reheat it as needed; sort of DIY Stouffers concept.
Great idea, soggy delivery. The proponents of this type of cooking said it only took a day to make a month’s worth of meals and you had “great” dinners that you could reheat anytime. The problem was that most of these dinners took on the watery characteristics of reheated casseroles and the flavor of the food was as lukewarm as their presentation. The other issue is time – a whole day for heaven’s sake! Who can literally take a day off from life to do this?

In the early 2000’s, a new version of OAMC was born and the result was dinner assembly franchises popping up like ground hogs in the spring. Everywhere you turned in suburbia you could find several types of these storefronts.

The idea of these places goes like this: come into their store, spend two hours or so assembling 12 to 15 meals from their already chopped veggies and pre-prepared ingredients, so all you have to do is put them together raw, label and freeze for cooking at a later day, thus removing the OAMC twice-baked casserole deal. The problem is it doesn’t come cheap.

So what’s a time stretched harried homemaker to do? Do it yourself, of course! There is a way to do this. Here’s how:

Find meals that can be assembled in their raw state, defrosted successfully, then cooked freshly. A good example of this is meatloaf. All you have to do is make your meatloaf mixture, shape it, then put it in a freezer zipper bag, mark the bag and date it, then on the day you want to use it, defrost it and bake it. You will never know that your meatloaf was previously frozen!

Here is a recipe that we have on our very first Twenty for the Freezer, a downloadable menu with 20 recipes that you assemble all at once, freeze and cook later as needed. When you have a freezer full of meals like this to choose from, you will say good-bye to the drive thru forever! Enjoy!

In a 1 gallon plastic freezer bag, mix and blend well together:

Mega Marvelous Meatloaf
Serves 4

2/3 cup dried stuffing mix
1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 pound extra-lean ground beef
1 1/3 teaspoons garlic powder
2/3 teaspoon thyme
1/3 cup ketchup
2/3 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Seal the bag and blend the mixture together by squeezing and kneading the bag.  Unseal the bag, starting at the bottom of the bag, roll the mixture to force out any air then seal the bag again.  Insert this bag into a gallon sized plastic freezer bag and place a copy of the recipe into the 2nd bag as well and seal it.  Place your label on the bag or write the name and date on the bag and place in the freezer.

When you want to have this meatloaf for dinner, thaw in the fridge overnight and then:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place meatloaf in a loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour or until done.

Per serving: 390 Calories; 24g Fat (55.7% calories from fat); 26g Protein; 17g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 133mg Cholesterol; 578mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 3 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 3 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Serve with mashed potatoes, steamed green beans and crusty whole wheat rolls

Note: To save storage space in your freezer, place blended ingredients into a plastic storage bag and roll it up to force out any air, then seal and place in freezer.

Our Freezer Menus are the best, pick some up today!

Fundraising

Schools Beginning to Focus on Healthier Fundraising Options

By: Daniel Munns

There is no denying that combating childhood obesity is a hot topic these days.  According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 17% (nearly triple the percentage from 1980) of children and adolescents in the U.S. are obese.  First Lady Michelle Obama has prioritized solving childhood obesity with her Lets Move! initiative, which is focused on providing healthier foods in our schools.  Further, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 has a goal of improving child nutrition, and has forced schools to re-evaluate the food they are serving to their students.

The Saving Dinner Fundraising team has discovered that this healthy push is making its way into the school’s fundraising choices.  In fact, many PTOs (Parent Teacher Organizations) we have spoken with are actually banned from using unhealthy food fundraisers such as cookie dough, doughnuts or even bake sales.

Many other organizations would prefer to use a healthier program to raise funds, however they have a hard time walking away from the food fundraisers they have used year after year.   While this is understandable as the funds raised are necessary for the schools these organizations are supporting, it is important to note that there are options out there.

Not only is Saving Dinner Fundraising a healthier fundraising alternative for schools, but the program also provides tools to help families prepare more nutritious meals.  All menu-planning products of the program have been hand-selected by Leanne Ely, C.N.C.

Any of you out there been told to find a healthier fundraising program for your organization?  Or have you been forced to send your kids out selling unhealthy food because that is what has always worked?  Share your thoughts with us on Facebook, we would love to hear from you.