Because Facebook doesn’t show all of our followers all of the awesomeness all of the time we have . . .

We are so ready to get our summer on, and we are NOT just talking about the  flip-flops, vacations, and poolside cocktails either. Nothing beats summer eats! Bar-B-Qs, fresh salads, and anything off the grill are on the menu. To that end, we were talking food this week.

We shared some recipes

Ellen’s Watermelon Salsa

All of our friends celebrate the season that lets Ellen bring this to every occasion. You’ll be the hit of the next pool party with this one!

Erin’s Lazy Girl’s Greek Dip

Nothing says summer like dishes that can be pulled together in about 20 minutes. This will be a go to recipe all summer long. Healthy, delicious, nutritious. YUM!

And Erin’s Lazy Girl’s Black Bean Dip

You know what? Be a hero and just make a double batch.

And then chicken, chicken, and some MORE CHICKEN!

Chicken will never be boring again. Seriously, there are a lot of chicken recipes in here! Click Away!

But it wasn’t all just about food.

We shared about our Mother’s Days.

And we gave you even more books to check out!

 And then there was this funny ecard you all loved!

Hopefully, one of these dishes will solve your What-do-I-bring-to-the-holiday-party dilemmas.

Are you in The Sisterhood yet? We always have room for a whole gaggle more. Just one click of the badge and you’ll be hanging with us in no time.

In fact, you can follow us in all of these places.

Our Pinterest Boards take hours of our time! Commit to wasting a couple hours checking them out.

Follow @SensibleMoms on Twitter

Want our blog posts delivered directly to your inbox? Follow us on Bloglovin. It is SO easy even your four year old could do it! In fact, let your four year old do it. They gotta learn this stuff young!

Have a Great Holiday Weekend!

-Ellen and Erin

By Ellen Williams Erin Dymowski

Why do they want dinner ? Every. Single. Night. While that is tongue in cheek, it’s no joke how monotonous finding new and tasty options for meals can be. Well, friends, we have gathered a collection of recipes that will change your life! Hmmm, seems we have crossed over from tongue-in-cheek to hyperbole, but these recipes will rock your dinner time.

Healthy French Country Crockpot Chicken

THIS, this right here, is our best, most clicked recipe. This is the crockpot recipe for people who claim they don’t like anything that comes out of a slow cooker. See how easy it really is and make sure to make a bunch because we have a new recipe for using the leftovers.

Click for the recipe.

It saves so much time to make multiple meals from one batch of cooked chicken. This recipe is packed with vegetables, but it’s so savory and cheesy, too.

Chicken and Veggie Baked Spaghetti Casserole

Ingredients

1.5 cups of shredded chicken, beans, peppers, and tomatoes from Healthy French Country Crockpot Chicken

6 ounces whole wheat or whole grain thin spaghetti noodles

1 cup onions, chopped

1 cup zucchini, chopped

1 cup red pepper, chopped

1¼ cups fat-free cottage cheese

4 wedges Light Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb Cheese (cut into small pieces)

1 (14 oz) jar of pasta or spaghetti sauce (We like Vodka Sauce)

½ teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

⅓ cup shredded Parmesan cheese for the top

(If you feel so inclined you can add a small spaghetti squash also, but this requires a little more prep – Preheat oven to 375 degrees. With a sharp knife, cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds with a large spoon. Grease the bottom of a baking pan lined with foil with olive oil, and place the spaghetti squash halves face down on the pan. Bake for about 40 minutes or until squash is tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Scrape the flesh out of the rind using a fork.)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 7 x 11 inch baking pan or Pyrex dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Cook spaghetti noodles and drain.

3. In the meantime, in a large bowl, add onions, zucchini, and red bell pepper. Cook in microwave 3-4 minutes until soft. Drain any liquid. Stir in pasta sauce, crockpot chicken, Italian seasonings, black pepper, and, if desired, the spaghetti squash.

4. In another bowl, combine cottage and cheese wedge pieces. Mix well. A whisk works well for this task.

5. To assemble casserole: Spread a small amount of sauce (about ¼ cup) on the bottom of pan. Spread half of spaghetti noodles on top of sauce.  Cover with cheese mixture and spread evenly over pasta.  Cover with ¾ cup pasta sauce.  Add remaining noodles.  Finally spread remaining sauce.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese evenly over top.

6. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes until hot and browned.

7. Let sit for about 15 minutes to set. Leftovers freeze well.

But there is MORE!

We have enough recipes to last you through the entire month. No need to serve a boring dinner again.

And STILL more!

These wings are baked so they are so much better for you than the take-out kind and the sauces just send them over the top!

By Ellen Williams Erin Dymowski

We’re having deja vu here. Last year, we asked our kids what they thought of us. To summarize, Ellen’s kids thought she looked like this:

Erin’s kids thought she looked like this:

My Kids tell me I look like Betty Crocker

Yeah, that’s right. One of us got the better end of that stick, but nobody’s keeping score. Jealousy is an ugly thing even when you just can’t help it, and especially when Fate seems to treat one Sister like a princess and the other like, well, the ugly stepsister. Apparently,  Fate wasn’t finished doling out the special treatment either.

This year, Ellen didn’t have just a great Mother’s Day. She got an amazing Mother’s Day weekend. Friday night was tennis, wings, and a movie with her crew. Cue the Hallmark moment. Paint this, Norman Rockwell. In other news, I was busy decorating a gym for the eighth grade dinner dance.

But that’s not all. Ellen hates with the burning of a thousand suns going out to a restaurant to eat on Mother’s Day. The bad eggs combined with being crammed in like cattle and the inevitable case of food poisoning that results is a recipe for familial armageddon in her book. So her family, in deference to her wishes, all went out to eat on Saturday which is not only sheer genius, but a lovely gesture that proves she has not just been grumbling to herself the last 14 years. She had a lovely lunch with her girls and her mom and managed to avoid being felled by salmonella or e.coli.  Call Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

But the creme de la creme was her Sunday. Her Day of Blissful Nothingness began with her sleeping in way past her usual time when she was awakened to her family making her breakfast. At this point, her day morphed into the Day that Shizz Which Never Gets Done Got Did which any mom will tell you is way better than any old coffee mug or perfume. Her husband Frank who could be described as Husband-of-the-Year but never Mr. Handy-Around-the-House was in rare form. He trimmed bushes, pulled weeds, and even took out a small bush. Yes, Ellen did feel the tremor in the universe, but she decided to take it for what it was, a Mother’s Day miracle.

This is what a perfect Mother’s Day looks like!

Aww, shucks.

Erin’s Mother’s Day was, well, slightly more earthbound. We keep it real here.

On Friday night, Steve asked me, “So what do you want for Mother’s Day?”

Them’s words that make a woman wanna grab her gun and get moving!

Less than 48 hours until the big day and we’re still talking gift ideas!?  Hmmmmm.

So I countered with “A dog. Or a trampoline.”

Two soccer games, one track meet, and a middle dinner dance later, on Sunday, we were pointing the minivan westward to visit my family. After the 10th trip to pack the car, the crew was waiting for me with a beautiful plant for the front porch.

Aww, shucks.

But nothing says “I love Mom” like a trampoline, so we were on a mission. Because we live in the middle of a county with more cornfields than shopping malls, we stopped just long enough in the “big city” (Google Frederick, MD to really appreciate my hyperbole) to pick up our trampoline. As the men were loading our 400 pounds of trampoline into the trunk, they said, “Good luck getting that out!”  That is exactly the kind of humor we’re looking for when we’re driving with 7 people 4 hours round trip in 1 day. It’s the kind of math that makes you long for the days of algebra.

The rest of the afternoon was spent cousining at my parents’ house.  The following is a montage of images from that day.

We call this one, “Baby Licking Window”

We call this one, “Pile O’ Kids”

We call this one, “Twirly Girls”

I call this one, “Mama Love”

In many ways, the whole day was the sweet, cracked family moment I have come to expect. But when we got home, I got my real gift. My boys armed with headlamps and flashlights worked from the moment we got home into the night to set up my present for me. In case, you were wondering, true love looks like this. . .

Hope you all had a lovely Mother’s Day!

Erin and Ellen

By Ellen Williams Erin Dymowski

Because Facebook doesn’t show all of our followers all of the awesomeness all of the time we have . . .

Mama Mia! This week we talked about being moms a lot. Not all that surprising because we began the week with the Mother of all holidays, but still. We usually keep our uterus-toting, estrogen-pumping ways on the down-low.

Seriously though, we hope that each and every one of you had a lovely Sunday. Whether your morning was mostly runny eggs and homemade cards culminating into a day that looked pretty much like every other day or one where your family got their shizz together and made you queen for a day, we hope you all had a chance to sit back and marvel at this job we call Motherhood.

We sure did. This week in The Sisterhood, we  . . .

Partied Like Rock Stars

Sort of.

We told you just how lucky our moms are to have us! And you all LOVED this, so you must be equally legendary in your own right. Rock on!

Then we imagined what our band names would be.

Then we brought out the chips and salsa and Sour Patch Kids, because. . .

We ended the week with 4,100 Followers! 

So we shared an card you all loved to show you that we love you just for who you are!

Maybe it’s because we made sure that you got a good gift for Mother’s Day with our  . . .

Whatever the reason. . .

Thanks for being here! Stick around!

Then we offered some stellar recommendations for your summer reading. . .

Then we shared some wonderful stuff from other Moms on the webz. . .

Starting with Kim Bongiorno at Let Me Start By Saying. She is having a great giveaway to celebrate reaching 10,000 fans on Facebook. If you aren’t already a fan, you should be. She is one of the nicest, most talented bloggers. If you’re already a fan, you know what we we’re talking about. So head on over there, check her out, and join in the fun.

Then we shared this pitch perfect card from Tara at You Know It Happens at Your House Too. If you haven’t checked out her funny blog, well, you are missing something. Doesn’t this card just sell itself?

And then we shared The Pregnancy Game version of Would You Rather from Hilary at The HillJean: Because my Life is Fascinating. We think you’ll love her blog’s mix of cynical and sweet as much as we do. Check out this funny, but painfully real game. She is right there with you in the trenches, are we right?

Overall it was the perfect week to celebrate Moms.

So we’ll leave you with your FAVORITE Facebook post from this week.

Have you joined The Sisterhood yet? No worries. We always have room for one more. Just one click of the badge and you’ll be hanging with us in no time.

In fact, you can follow us in all of these places.

Our Pinterest Boards take hours of our time! Commit to losing a couple hours checking them out.

Follow @SensibleMoms on Twitter

Want our blog posts delivered directly to your inbox? Follow us on Bloglovin. It is SO easy even your four year old could do it! In fact, let your four year old do it. They gotta learn this stuff young!

Have a Great Weekend!

-Ellen and Erin

By Ellen Williams Erin Dymowski

We are itching to get our summer on, but this spring keeps punking us. Flip-flops on Friday and now back to Polartec. Whatever.

We are thinking ahead of the warm, languorous days to come. The relaxed pace, the warm breeze, the easy outfits, and the time to really dig into some good books. We love to read, so the thought of days to just curl up by the pool with a cocktail and a great book is our idea of time well spent.

If you are like us, you love suggestions for what to read. Here are a few books that delighted us this past year. Read on, friends!

1. The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

This book was a perfect piece of lite lit. A lighthouse keeper and his wife find a baby in a boat and, rather than call the authorities, raise her as their own. Despite such a dramatic set-up, the book never crosses over into schmaltzy cheese. In fact, the author deftly balances their sense of isolation and longing with their understanding that they have done the wrong thing. Nobody in this book can help themselves and the author makes each character sympathetic and understandable. This is not a look at crazy, but a reflection of just how far we will all go for what we love. Not bad for a page-turner.

2. The Vow by Wendy Plump

Wendy Plump is a cheater. She is also a completely open, honest, almost uncomfortably real writer who talks candidly about her broken marriage and all of the ways she and her husband failed each other.  Plump is exceptionally good at rendering images and drawing you into a world you hope you never have to enter. Her heartbreak becomes a mesmerizing read with each clever turn of phrase. In the end, you are left with hope for the age-old institution of marriage even in light of all of the ways it didn’t work for her. Unputdownable.

3. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

This is a book for those who want to get lost between the pages. Towles evokes a time and place in his portrayal of 1930s Manhattan that would be fun to visit in and of itself, but he adds the wonderful character Katey Content to this tale and we are transported. Katey is the plucky, lucky every-girl who is trying to make something of herself. When random events change the course and temper of her future, we recognize Katey and root for her.  We all have been that girl on the cusp of possibility. A wonderful, buoyant novel about coming of age.

4. The Emperor of Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Yep. We are recommending a non-fiction book about cancer. Don’t hate us or ignore us. This book is a behemoth, but so infinitely readable, you’ll forget you are reading the history of cancer and get wrapped up in the stories between the pages. If you love a little non-fiction with your beachside cabana, this might be the one for you.

5. The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler

We devoured The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo books one summer. If you thought those books were literary crack too, this is definitely a book for you.  If not, we’ll try not to judge you for that, but you should move on to #6. Kepler opens this book with the grisly murder of a family. There’s only one surviving witness, a little boy. Erik Maria Bark, the hypnotist, is called in to help find out what happened. His intervention unleashes a terrible chain of events that makes for an intense but satisfying read.

6. When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson

Oh, man, this book is chock full of crappy, crappy things that happened to people. There is murder, a terrible train crash, a drowning, and some domestic violence thrown in here too. But don’t let that stop you.  Atkinson has created some unforgettable characters here in this pseudo crime drama/pseudo thriller. She controls the pace of the novel so well that you have time to really get to know all the characters and marvel at the ways each story touches each other.

7. I Just Want to Pee Alone by Kick-Ass Bloggers

A compilation of essays on motherhood from some of our most favorite bloggers on the web, this book made us wish this had been around when we were new moms.  How great it would have been to have these stories not only for commiseration, but to lighten us up so that we could find the funny in the sheer ridiculousness that is parenting small children. Hilarious, tender, and true, this book is a reassurance that imperfection is normal. And it goes great with cocktails. Or so we have heard.

8. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Absorbing, interwoven stories and beautifully drawn characters help you travel back and forth over 50 years in this tale. You won’t mind the trip a bit. In fact, you will be drawn into this world. From the lovely actress to the soulless movie producer, from the novelist to the innkeeper, each character dreams deeply improbable dreams and you can’t help but be carried away with them. Summer is the perfect time for day dreaming and this book fits the bill.

9. Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead

Poor Winn. His daughter is getting married at the Kennedy-esque family compound, and his world of privilege is unravelling. He’s a man with everything but true happiness, and the three day extravaganza is primed to turn into a spectacle rather than the refined affair he desires. A lesser author might have made this story into a tragedy, but this book is laugh out loud funny. Even as Shipstead takes on the world of the well-bred with a sharp, biting wit, you will be swayed by her sidesteps into the heart of desire, the obligations of love, and what we must never surrender for fame, fortune, or a seat at the country club. This is funny with a super sized helping of smart, and it goes down smooth.

10. Moms Who Drink and Swear: True Tales of Loving My Kids While Losing My Mind by Nicole Knepper

When we stumbled upon the blog, Moms Who Drink and Swear, we kind of pictured a gang of moms tossing back beers and yo-ho-hoing like merry wenches à la Pirates of the Caribbean. When we delved deeper, we found a sharp-witted, hilarious writer who refuses to worship at the altar of perfection. Nicole Knepper, a smart, educated woman who is a girlfriend’s girlfriend, serves up a heaping dose of “this is the real motherhood” in her new book. Chapters such as “Making New McFriends” and “Dinner is Like Herpes” will have you nodding along while laughing to the point that people will feel obliged to ask, “Are you okay?”

Here’s to a summer full of good books, cold drinks, and happy memories!

-Erin and Ellen  

After we published this, we found out that two of our favorite bloggers  Michele at Old Dog, New Tits and Mel at According to Mags were grooving on the same wavelength. They have a super-fun link-up called Ketchup with Us and this week their prompt is “What book is on your bedside table?”. If you need even more great suggestions or have a few of your own, check them out! You won’t be sorry!

By Ellen Williams Erin Dymowski