Pressure Cooker -Healthy eating while saving time & money

Usually, in order to save time & energy and prevent using convenience foods (like "instant" rice, rice/pasta mixes, frozen dinners, etc), I plan ahead and cook in advance several things at once.

One evening this week, dh was jonesin' for "chinese" food. Needless to say, as I am exhausted by these last days of the school year, I had not planned any further ahead for the evening meal than thawing out precooked chicken. In addition, I had not prepared the usual container of precooked brown rice that we keep on hand in the fridge. I did not want to hold up dinner by having to wait the traditional 45 minutes to cook brown rice.

Then I remembered that using the pressure cooker can save time with brown rice. I dug out the pressure cooker and quickly researched cooking instructions. Indeed, the pressure cooker, cut the cooking time down 1/3. Using a pressure cooker, helps to retain nutrients sometimes lost while cooking with traditional methods. :)
Here are some helpful links about pressure cookers & recipes:
Dollar Stretcher
Presto (my brand)
Miss Vickie's Pressure Cooker Recipes
Fastcooking.ca

Also, check out Rocks In My Dryer blog which hosts the weekly, Works For Me Wednesday!

Earning "screen" time

Our son has many pursuits--playing with friends, going to school/kindergarten, drawing, "riding" his skateboard, playing with Legos, catching bugs, watching TV, and playing his video game. Of course, like many other children, if we allowed him to - he would stay in front of the screen (TV or video) for hours on end. So we devised a system whereby he earns his "screen" time. We have a dry erase chore chart (a clearance treasure from one of my CVS trips). It has all of the days of the week listed horizontally across the top and blank spaces vertically for the numerous rows. For each chore or activity he completes he earns a check which equals 15 minutes of screen time. He has the following categories:

-earning/keeping his "happy face" behavior at school
-feeding his dog
-keeping his room clean
-repeating his weekly Bible memory verse
-reading at least one book
-completing at least one workbook page (this is beyond regular homework)and
-other (we use these for extra occasional activities we deem important--like learning to spell his last name, learning his phone number, helping with a special chore, etc.).

For each 15 minutes of screen time he uses, we cross through a check on the chart. He can bank time and choose how he uses it (after homework is done and also, we stress getting outside playtime before playing in the afternoon.) Now he eagerly reminds us that he needs to do his chores!

Check out Works-for-me-Wednesday ideas at Rocks in my Dryers' blog for more ideas to fight kids summer boredom!