Make Week: Make Food + PlanetBox Giveaway

Welcome to day two of Make Week! If you’re just joining us, make sure you check out yesterday’s post for an inspiring guest essay from Sarah Baldwin and a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to her wonderful store Bella Luna Toys. Today’s giveaway is from PlanetBox, makers of stainless steel lunch containers. PlanetBox delivers “lunch transportation for the green generation.” Make sure to read to the end to find out how to enter.

Today’s theme is “Make Food.” I love to cook (and eat!) and learn new recipes. Cooking and eating can be one of the most powerful ways to draw a community together – whether it’s family, friends, or some of both.

There is something significant about sitting down together to break bread and share a meal. Invite someone over for a meal this week, and cook it together. Afterward, let yourselves linger there. Don’t rush to clean up or head off to another activity; savor it.

Photo by Iwona Erskine-Kellie

If you need some inspiration, check out Simple Bites’ articles on Fondue for the Whole Family, Party Menu Planning, and Entertaining & Clean-Up, then browse around for other great recipes and tips.

Cooking, Kids, and TV

If you have little ones, cooking can be a challenge, and many mamas rely on the TV to help get them through dinner prep in order to get the food on the table. Believe me, I’ve been there a few times myself. Here are some ideas for alternatives to the TV in that scenario:

• If dinner prep can wait until your hubby or wife gets home, perhaps your children could play with one parent while the other makes dinner. This could become their special time together.

• Do as much prep earlier in the day as you can; nap times are great for chopping veggies and setting meats to marinade.

• Use crock pots. No prep time needed; dinner is ready at dinner time. See great crock pot ideas here, here, and here.

• We purchased a Learning Tower from Craigslist, and our daughter loves to stand on her “command tower” and help mama cook.

• Simple Homeschool has a great article about involving your children in the kitchen.

Photo by woodley wonderworks

PlanetBox Giveaway

–This giveaway is now closed.–
Today’s giveaway is from PlanetBox: Lunch Transportation for the Green Generation. PlanetBox is a very cool company that makes stainless steel lunch containers for kids and adults. The compartments eliminate the need for zipper sandwich bags, thereby reducing waste. PlanetBox also offers two stainless steel round dishes with lids for things like yogurt or salsa, plus magnets to personalize the outside of your PlanetBox, and cloth carrying bags. The winner will receive one PlanetBox Complete set, which also includes one set of magnets, one Big Dipper, one Little Dipper, and one cloth carrying bag.

Everyone has three chances to win. Choose one or all three!

1. Visit PlanetBox, and then answer this question: Which set of magnets and which color carrying bag would you choose if you won?

2. Subscribe to Simple Organic by email or in your feed reader. Leave a separate comment letting me know you’ve subscribed, or are already a subscriber.

3. Follow @simple_organic and @planetbox on Twitter and tweet the following. Leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet.

Enter to win a PlanetBox Complete lunch container set from @planetbox at @simple_organic in celebration of Make Week! http://bit.ly/bMGOzk

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.  It will end this Sunday, April 25, at 11:59 p.m. CST. The winner will be announced Tuesday, April 27. I hope you win!

Make Food

I can’t wait to hear how TV Turn-Off Week is going for all of you. I hope you were encouraged by yesterday’s essay from Sarah Baldwin and my ideas for “Make Believe.” Here is another PDF for you to inspire you with some alternatives to TV. Remember, if you print it out, use the back of some other paper, or old scratch paper.

Bon appétit!