Tips For Strengthening Family Relationships at Dinner:

1. Involve kids in the preparation.  Meal time is bound to feel more stressful if you are doing it all solo.  There are tasks for kids of all ages – even my not quite two-year-old can help lay out the napkins and silverware on the table.  Not only will you get some help in the kitchen, the kids will love feeling involved.

Allison Ruth, mama to three hungry girls, blogs at Some the Wiser where she takes life as it comes and tries to learn a little something as she goes. Whether she’s baking bread, sewing, or contemplating the fate of socks gone missing in the laundry, she looks for the peace and creativity life offers to everyone who is paying attention. Living life deliberately isn’t easy, she admits, but it helps when you have good things to eat.

Fast forward many years to when we had kids. Being that we both loved milk, we naturally assumed that we would have milk-drinking kids. And, as planned, our oldest followed in our footsteps. But then, we had child number 2 and everything changed. He is a water boy! He can’t down a glass of milk to save his life. We scratched our heads and wondered what we could do to ensure he drank an adequate amount of milk.

8 Tips for Getting Kids to Drink Milk

Here’s some things that helped our kids drink more milk:

1. For kids that prefer water or another beverage, entice them to drink a small glass of milk before giving them their preferred drink.
2. Choose meals you can add milk to: cereal, cream of wheat, oatmeal, etc.
3. Add extra milk to their bowls of cereal.
4. Identify special snacks that are perfect with milk and offer only milk as the beverage with that food. Some desserts, for examples, go perfectly with milk. When we have brownies and chocolate chip cookies, my youngest guzzles the milk!
5. Don’t be 100% set on having your child drink milk alone. Find ways to serve beverages that have milk in them: shakes, smoothies, and even chocolate milk are ways to disguise the milk flavor if your kids absolutely don’t like it.
6. Model the behavior. Drink milk in front of your kids!
7. Explain the benefits of drinking milk to your kids.
8. Make it fun! Get big crazy straws, having milk drinking contests, offer rewards, and take pictures of your family with milk mustaches.

Now excuse me while I make my way down to the expo hall at BlogHer, where I’m excited to join the #gotmilk team, get a picture in my milk mustache, and hopefully, enjoy a big glass before diving into the BlogHer fun this weekend!

Want to follow the fun online? Visit http://search.twitter.com and type in #gotmilk #blogher11 and check out the Milk Mustache Campaign page on Facebook or @MilkMustache on Twitter.

What are your tips for getting your kids to drink more milk?

I always love to bring something just a little different when I am invited to a party.

The way I feel about food is the same way women feel about clothes—you never want to be caught wearing the same thing as someone and you want attention. I am an attention hog when it comes to my food. I love hearing their surprise and exclamations.

So, I am going to let you in on my little secret recipe, but I better never see you at a party I am attending—DEAL! You will get a lot of attention when your friends take a bite out of this exotic Sweet and Spicy Thai Salad.

This salad has a little of everything—the sweet from the pineapple, the spicy from the chilis, and the crunch from the cabbage and almonds. This is a sure fire way to get attention at your next get together.

Dressing

• 2 Tbs Sweet Chili Sauce
• 2 tsp Rice Vinegar
• 1 tsp Fresh Grated Ginger Root
• 1 tsp Fresh Minced Garlic
• 1 Tbs Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• Juice of one lime
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in serving bowl and whisk.

The Salad

• 2 cups cubed Pineapple
• 3 large Cucumbers, peeled, seeded and cubed
• 1 Chili Pepper minced (If you want to venture into the world of true Thai cooking look for a prik kee noo pepper, but be warned these little puppies pack a punch)
• 1 cup shredded Carrots
• 2 cups shredded Cabbage
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds

Add all the veggies to large mixing bowl and toss. Garnish with slivered almonds.

Pork BBQ Ingredients

• 5-6 pound Pork Picnic (aka Boston Butt)
• 4-5 Tbs your favorite BBQ dry rub (we like Head Country)

Instructions

• The night before, rub your butt (the pork one that is) liberally with the dry rub.
• Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Now is that easy or is that easy?
• The next morning, place the pork, fatty side down, in a crock pot.
• Cook on low 10-12 hours until fork tender.
• Once cooked, take two forks and pull apart. Shredding the pork.

The Drunken BBQ Sauce Ingredients

• 1 bottle of your favorite beer
• 1 small onion diced
• 1-2 Serrano peppers, diced (add more for a spicier sauce)
• 1Tbs olive oil
• 1 cup your favorite BBQ sauce (again we like Head Country)

Instructions

• In a skillet heat oil over medium heat.
• Add peppers and onion, cook till onions are soft and translucent.
• Add bottle of beer.
• Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer. Simmer till beer has evaporated by half.
• Add 1 cup of BBQ sauce, and bring back to a boil.
• Once it starts to boil again remove from heat and blend till smooth.

Simple yet flavorful pork picnic! Put some of this pork on fresh soft yeast rolls with a little drunken BBQ sauce for an melt in your mouth sandwich. Cole slaw, baked beans, and sweet tea – now you have a meal your family will love.

Learn more about mealtime memories and ways to mix up your recipes at this week’s Twitter party sponsored by Hormel SPAM. For more information and to RSVP, click here.

The Prize

One lucky winner will receive the following:

• 1 FLIP Camcorder (Flip MinoHD–1 hour)
• 10 cans of SPAM^® product
• 1 pair of SPAM^® flip-flops
• 1 SPAM^® T-shirt

Entry Requirements

For a chance to enter and win, please complete the following two requirements and leave a separate comment for each, including links to your original tweets.

1. Visit the SPAM website, check out the Meal Makeover section to see some of the recipes creative cooks are concocting in their home kitchens, rate your favorite recipe, and then come back here and leave a comment on this post letting us know which recipe you rated.
2. Tweet the following:

• Participate in the #Hormel Meal Makeover Challenge & Recipe Exchange 4 a chance 2 win $1,000 http://bit.ly/alZDZu PLS RT
• GIVEAWAY! Enter 2 win a Gift Basket from #HormelSPAM, including a FLIP camera (ARV $250) http://bit.ly/cSBlOM #gno PLS RT

Extra Entries

The following four entries are completely optional and will earn you one extra entry per item for this giveaway. Leave a separate comment on this post for each completed entry.

1. Follow @momitforward on Twitter.
2. Follow Mom It Forward on Facebook at http://facebook.com/momitforward.
3. Become a Friend of Mom It Forward’s Google Friend Connect (see box in right sidebar).
4. Subscribe to the Mom It Forward RSS feed (click on orange heart at the bottom left on the homepage).

Terms and Conditions

No purchase necessary to enter. Giveaway ends at midnight ET Thursday, August 12, 2010. See all terms and conditions here.

Party Topic

This Tuesday night, join the Mom It Forward community here at a #gno Twitter party sponsored by Hunt’s and focused on mealtime moments and family togetherness. The party goes from 9-11 p.m. ET (8-10 p.m. CT, 7-9 p.m. MT, and 6-8 p.m. PT). Click here to check out this week’s amazing giveaways for, count them, FIVE lucky winners!

Party Details

• What: Girls’ Night Out (#gno) Twitter party (Click here to learn about #gno!)
• When: Tuesday, August 3 from 9-11 p.m. EST (8-10 CT, 7-9 MT, & 6-8 PT)
• Where: Party with us here on our very own Custom Tweetgrid! (Use hashtags #gno and #HuntsHighFive.)
• Topic: Mealtime Moments and Family Togetherness
• Who: Brand Panelist: TBD Community Panelists: @alisonlewis @bloggymoms @colorado_mom @goodlifeeats @peekatmypaper @soulfulparent @wearsmanyhats Moderators: @jylmomIF @Dadventurous @troypattee and @momitforward
• Party Favors: Click here to enter for a chance to win the Hunt’s Ultimate Summertime Party Basket or a $50 Visa cash card.

RSVP

Use Mr. Linky below (enter the twitter URL and your twitter ID (e.g., http://twitter.com/jylmomIF).

Note: Mom It Forward accepts paid sponsorships for most #gno Twitter parties. During the parties, brand sponsors provide tips, techniques, expert advice, and information on party topics. Mom It Forward is grateful for the giveaway prizes, coupons, and discounts that sponsors also provide to the Mom It Forward community in conjunction with #gno Twitter parties.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

And this week, Hunt’s wants to help two lucky families have a High Five moment with all the items necessary to plan the Ultimate Summertime Party.

The Prize

Five people have the opportunity to get a High Five from Hunt’s in this week’s giveaway.

• Two grand-prize winners will receive an Ultimate Summertime Party Basket (ARV $375), including:

$100 Target gift card

BBQ set

Hunt’s 100% Natural Ketchup

Box of party invitations

George Duran Cookbook

Badminton set

Decorative place mats and table cloth

Fun party glasses

Decorative lanterns

Beverage bucket

• Three runners up will each get a $50 Visa cash card.

Entry Requirements

For a chance to enter and win, please complete the following three requirements and leave a separate comment for each:

1. Visit the Hunt’s Ketchup website, check out the News & Promotions section to learn about Hunt’s $5,000 family vacay giveaway. Then, come back here and leave a comment on this post, sharing your family’s ideal vacation spot.
2. Tweet two of the following:

• Chat mealtime memories & family togetherness @ #gno Twitter party w/Hunt’s 2NITE (9-11 ET)! http://bit.ly/b8dBJ9 #HuntsHighFive PLS RT
• GIVEAWAY! Enter 2 win the Ultimate Summertime Party Pack from #Hunt’sHighFive (ARV $375) http://bit.ly/bbgD2M #gno PLS RT
• Share ur fave fam memories in Hunt’s photo contest 4 chance 2 win $5,000 fam vacay! Ends 8/5 http://tiny.cc/rijlz #gno PLS RT

Extra Entries

The following five entries are completely optional and will earn you one extra entry per item for this giveaway. Leave a separate comment on this post for each completed entry.

1. Visit Hunt’s Ketchup website, check out their recipes, and leave a comment on this post, sharing which recipe you’d most like to make your family.
2. Follow @momitforward on Twitter.
3. Follow Mom It Forward on Facebook at http://facebook.com/momitforward.
4. Become a Friend of Mom It Forward’s Google Friend Connect (see box in right sidebar).
5. Subscribe to the Mom It Forward RSS feed (click on orange heart at the bottom left on the homepage).

Terms and Conditions

No purchase necessary to enter. Giveaway ends at midnight ET Thursday, August 5, 2010. See all terms and conditions here.

Now think for a second about what gets in the way of achieving that on a regular basis. If you’re like me, quick and simple meals are never quick or simple enough, meal times are rushed, and while I’d love to have all sorts of meaningful conversations with the family during meal time, we are usually lucky to get a home-cooked meal and even luckier to get conversation with it.

But… statistics show the importance of family togetherness during meal times. So, this Tuesday, we are fortunate to have Libby’s and Feeding America along with other #gno gals to share with us their fabulous tips for making the most of meal time. Have lots to share? Want to learn? Or, want to connect for a little girl power? Then, join us this Tuesday for #gno.

And, don’t forget to enter to win one of our amazing giveaway going on this week.

What: Libby’s is sponsoring this week’s #gno Twitter party (Click here to learn about #gno!)

When: Tuesday, September 15, 9-11 p.m. EST

Where: Party with us on our custom Tweetgrid. (Use hashtag #gno.)

Topic: Family togetherness and meal times

Who: @feedingamerica @goodlifeeats @hannahkeeley @janemaynard @savorthethyme @rockinmama

Party Favors: Click here to check out this week’s giveaway sponsored by Libby’s.

RSVP: Please leave your Twitter ID in the comments to follow and be followed (on Twitter, of course!) by other #gno gals. The best format is as follows: http://twitter.com/jylmomIF.

10 Delicious Ways to Make a Difference This Week

Service doesn’t have to be bland or boring! Spice it up. Sweeten the pot. Make it delicious. Think of people that need a little love and touch their heart by going through their stomach during this week’s Summer of Service Challenge, sponsored by Campbell’s. How? By making and sharing a tasty treat, including one or more of the 10 ideas listed below!

For more ideas, join us for a great Girl’s Night Out (#gno) on Twitter this Tuesday night. And, please share a comment on this post with other ways to serve others by sharing a tasty treat.

1. Make some baked goods—cupcakes, cookies, bread, muffins, etc.—and take them to a neighbor.
2. Take a meal to someone in your community that is sick or needs a night off from kitchen duty.
3. Spend one-on-one time with your children by having a cooking class with them to prepare dinner for the family! For a special treat, do a craft activity beforehand to make paper chef’s hats.
4. Have a family activity where you make a tasty treat together, such as suckers, decorated sugar cookies, chocolate-dipped strawberries and pretzels, etc.
5. Have a couple’s night in! Invite your closest friends over with their significant others for a fondue party. Play the newlywed game no matter how long everyone has been in their relationship.
6. As a family, choose another family that needs some love or an act of kindness/service. Drop off an anonymous treat on their doorstep with a nice card telling them how much you love them.
7. Organize a girl’s night out with your closest girlfriends and have a progressive dinner where you rotate houses during the meal, starting with appetizers, moving on to salad, heading to the main course, and ending somewhere else for the dessert.
8. Treat your spouse or close friend to a dinner at his or her favorite restaurant!
9. Make your family’s favorite meal and decorate the table special just for them. Devote the evening to family time by turning off phones, TV, etc.
10. Make your children’s favorite cookies, making a different batch once a week until you’ve made all of their favorites. Don’t forget to include your favorite as well!

How Will You Give to Others This Week?

• What other ideas do you have for sharing a tasty treat?
• How has touching other’s hearts by going through their stomach made a meaningful difference this week for you? For others?

How Else Can You Make a Difference This Summer?

Make a meaningful difference this summer by taking the Summer of Service (SOS) Challenge. Here’s how you can participate:

• Commit to do one act of kindness/service based on the week’s challenge.
• Leave a comment with ideas relating to the week’s challenge as well as your experience(s) performing it.
• Grab the SOS button in the sidebar and put it on your blog or social networking site.
• Enter to win each week’s giveaway. Check out this week’s prizes from Campbell’s.
• Join #gno this Tuesday on Twitter to connect with other Mom It Forward moms about the challenge.

You may recall I announced a Wisconsin blogger’s get together awhile back. The event was to be part of a campaign put together by the lovely ladies at Mom it Forward and would raise money for a great charity that helps Kenyan woman start their own coconut oil extraction business. Those oils are then sold to a company that make them into lotions, soaps and other products.

Besides, it’d be a lot of fun, yo.

I’ve planned a lot of events, and never have the details fallen into place so easily. It was like putting together a preschooler’s jig saw puzzle.

Easy peasy.

One great blogger offered to have the event at her house. Another owns a great online store and donated a gift card for our raffle. Early on, I had a lot of people excited that something local was being planned and looked forward to meeting other “imaginary friends” in person.

But somehow when it came time to collect registrations for the event, the numbers, well…trickled in. In the end, only three of us lovely ladies met for dinner this past Saturday.

Boy, did the rest of you miss out!

Carrie S., Carrie C. and myself (an honorary Carrie for the evening) met at Trattoria Stefano in lovely Sheboygan, Wisconsin and laughed ourselves silly.

It really was a great time. And who would have thought that in a small Wisconsin city, in a teeny little restaurant one could find such GREAT FOOD?!? Honestly, the prices were comparable to that of one of the chain crap restaurants, only Trattoria Stefano featured salads with “organic farm raised Norwegan salmon” and other entres with so many delicious ingredients that our server stood for five minutes at a time reciting them back to us.

(I translated after he left: “A salad with fish, a dish with some meat, and one with noodles, sauce and more meat.”)

We sampled the silky and yumma-licious lotions from Basa Body. (And found that despite how delicious it smells, the chocolate mint soap still tastes like soap if you take a bite. Thanks for that, Carrie S.)

And we laughed.

And enjoyed the fact that there were no little short people yelling, “MOOOOOM!”

And then we saw this guy and the night just got *thismuch* better.

Yes, that’s a full grown man in a nice restaurant wearing a Snuggie. (Who rocked because he didn’t bat an eye when we took his picture. And then told his wife, “You married THIS!” which was super awesome because we all concurred that was something our husbands would say.)

So, big thanks to the Carries for joining me for a super rad evening. Thanks to Basa Body for the lotion and Mom it Forward for organizing such a great chain of events for a great charity. And huge thanks to Angie of Good for the Kids for the raffle prize.

The rest of you — well, we hope you’ll be able to join us next time!

Just a few finishing thoughts:

1) Buying a product from Basa Body or donating $20 to The Pope Foundation (the charity that trains Kenyan women to start their own oil extraction businesses) between now and May 12 enters you to win one of three great gift cards, including a $250 Disney Gift Card, a $150 Amazon.com Gift Card or a $100 Target Gift Card! Click here for more info, or visit the Basa Body site or click on the widget in my left side bar to make a donation. You can still win!

2) If you don’t have money to donate right now, check out Mom it Forward’s “10 Ways to Donate to Charity Without Spending a Cent” article. Good stuff.

3) If you’re ever in Sheboygan, I highly recommend Trattoria Stefano or its “sister restaurant” across the street (owned by the same folks). Their menu was impressive and their prices budget friendly. Plus they let us sit and be all loud for nearly three hours and never once gave us the evil stink eye.

4) Come back on Friday – I’ll be giving away some of the Basa Body lotion. And, no, it doesn’t smell like coconuts.

Reposted with permission from Mommy Always Wins.