How to Cut A Watermelon...Easily

Happy Tuesday everyone!!!

Normally after a long weekend I would be sharing all of our weekending details with you - and believe me, ours was busy, busy, busy! However, today's post discusses a wonderful strategy that is sure to be useful during the upcoming months.

One thing I love about summer is the wide variety of fruits and vegetables available in the grocery stores, farmer's markets, and sometimes in our own backyard. Summer eating can be so easy and simple, yet healthy at the same time.

One of my favorite things to do when the weather is nice is to host or attend a BBQ with friends. I love socializing over a crisp cocktail while trying different dishes that were lovingly prepared (or bought - I've been there too). Sometimes life gets in the way and you find yourself scrambling to bring something yummy that doesn't require a million ingredients or take hours of your time.

When I find myself in a situation described as above, I have the perfect solution - cut up a watermelon!

Watermelon is a healthy snack, perfect for those with specific eating requirements, it's sweet enough for kiddos to devour, and to me it just screams "SUMMER!" Add it to a salad or use it to inspire an adult beverage - the possibilities are practically endless.

In the past I've always stayed away from this fruit because I am HORRIBLE with a knife and felt that I was wasting so much of the melon whenever I attempted to cut one up. That changed when I learned to carve the flesh in a grid like pattern....and for some reason that reminded me of Dexter. Yikes.

Take your watermelon and use a knife to cut horizontal and vertical rows across the flesh. The more "lines" you slice, the smaller the pieces will be. Be sure to cut all the way through until you hit the rind.

Once your melon has been cut, simply pull the pieces out. As you get closer to the rind, you may need to slice them off if you did not cut all the way down.

This method is so easy and eliminates the hassle of eliminating the rind. It's also a relatively clean process - the juice sits in the melon and doesn't leak over your counters, floors, children....

I do not have a melon baller so I have no idea if this is a quicker process, but assume that it is. If you do not have a melon baller or have a fear of knives, use an ice cream scoop to carve that melon up!

Once all the pieces have been plucked, enjoy a piece (or five) for yourself.

If you choose to douse a few with vodka or tequila and store them in the freezer for a rainy day, I won't tell as long as you invite me over! Haha.

Have you tried this a different way? Do tell. E has been wanting to "cook" with me lately and I love that this is something we can do together.

Cheers to a short work week!

*Linking up with Lindsay's Sweet World 

Plan to Eat: Meal Planner & Grocery List Shopper

After traveling last week for work, I was so relieved to have Monday off. A catch-up day around the house was absolutely what I needed, but in typical Monday fashion, not what I got. Instead, I spent the better part of my morning at the mechanic waiting on my car to be diagnosed. Adulting is the worst.

One of the items I needed to cross off my to do list was to meal plan/grocery shop. Since today marks the first day of round four for Whole 30, this was definitely a priority. Thankfully, I was able to plan compliant meals for the week and finalize my grocery list – all while sitting in the waiting room sipping on my coffee. Get ready, folks. You're about to be introduced to something that helps me function on a weekly basis.

One of my friends introduced me to Plan to Eat this past Black Friday when they were having a 50% off sale for yearly membership. After quickly scanning their site and gathering information from my friend, I decided to forgo the 30-day trial and sign up for the yearly plan. I am so glad I dove in headfirst!

Plan to Eat is an online meal planner app that works similar to Pinterest. You can manually import recipes into your account or take the Pinterest approach and scour the internet for delicious concoctions. When you find one you like, click the button on the browser (yes, you will need to download it to your computer, tablet, or phone) and it’s loaded to your recipes in Plan to Eat.

Once you have a solid base, you can begin to meal planning. It’s so easy – you literally drag recipes onto a calendar. As you can see, I primarily use mine for dinner or if I need to make any sauces, dressings, etc. for the week.

And, that’s not all….One of my favorite parts of this service is that the software automatically creates your shopping list based on the planned recipes.

Additionally, you can create a list of staples and add it to your shopping list as needed.

When ready, a quick export generates your shopping list to take with you on your phone. It’s simple to navigate the site and has helped me so much these last few months. Previously I was an eMeals user (I’m talking about for the first couple of YEARS after having E), but I truly love the flexibility of planning my own meals through Plan to Eat. It helps me stay organized which is part of my objectives for 2017.

If you are in need of a service such as this, I recommend trying Plan to Eat. They offer a trial and do not ask for credit card information before starting. The yearly fee is $39, which breaks down to $4.95 a month. Also, they will NOT automatically bill you once the subscription ends, which is almost unheard of based on many of my experiences. Click here to sign up: Plan to Eat 

Once an account has been created, it will automatically share my recipes with you. If you are already a Plan to Eat user, please send a friend request to AidibabyAU – I’m always in need of recipe ideas!

Plan to Eat has become such an important part of my weekly routine (no, I did not get paid to post this – I genuinely love it) and I hope that one of my five readers will enjoy it as much as I have!

Has anyone heard of this company before today? If you give it a try, please let me know what you think!

How to Ace Back to School Shopping

Throughout my many years in school, I always enjoyed starting a new school year. Sure it was exciting seeing new and familiar faces, meeting the teachers and discovering your schedule (or most importantly, who was in your classes), but what did I love most about the start of a new school year?

School supplies shopping!

Yes, I loved back to school shopping. I looked forward to getting my supply list and heading to Staples after the first day of class. #totalnerdalert

However, now that E has received school supply lists, I dread it.

What has happened to me? Maybe it’s because her lists are so basic or because it serves as another reminder that my baby is growing up, but I have no desire to fight the crowds over glue and finger paint. And guess what? You don't have to either.

The past two years, I have made back to school shopping the easiest process for our family. When we received the first supply list last year, I began to scour the internet. I did not have a lot of time to spend on my lunch hour trying to find the needed items or confirming that they were in stock. While I love Amazon, I quickly discovered that their pricing was on the high end for these standard items. Even though our Prime membership would provide free two day shipping, I started to look elsewhere. Much to my surprise, I wound up at Walmart (online, not physically). Here, I found all the items I needed at a much cheaper price.

When this year’s list rolled around, I decided to try the same process as last year. I immediately went to Walmart.com and found all of my items. I purchased them online and within a few hours, I received a text and email that half of my order was ready for pick up. The next day I received final confirmation that all the items in my order were available. I popped some Xanax (I kid, I kid) and headed out on my lunch break for the adventure known as Walmart. Last year, I sent J to pick up the items, but I decided to put on my big girl pants and prayed that I would have a pleasant experience.

My prayers were answered! When you order online, you go straight to the pickup counter at customer service. What does that mean? That means you skip the checkout lines and you bypass all the people waiting in line for customer service. You can imagine the looks I got when I proudly walked up to the counter. I had the friendliest employee who pulled my order. When we realized some items were missing, he ventured into the backroom and found the rest. As we confirmed my order, a few of the finger paints fell out of the box (it was not closed all the way) and this man apologized like it was his fault when it clearly was not. He bagged my items for me and just like that, I was headed back to work. By far, this was the easiest and most positive experience I have ever had at Walmart. In fact, I left a five star review on their Facebook page and plan to call the manager about their awesome employee. I know, I know. I’m still in shock over it myself.

If you have limited time, hate to shop or dread taking your kiddos with you (it is okay, we all have those moments), then this post is for you. Take a risk and place your order online for pickup. It’s quick, easy and you can price compare online! While I had success at Walmart, I know that Target also offers this option as well.

I’m sure as E gets older we will have our own back to school shopping tradition, but for now, this works for us. Surely I am not the only one who utilizes this option so if you have any tricks to share, let me know!