Couscous Salad

The theme for today's "Works for Me Wednesday" is easy summer recipes. This is the salad I took to our cooking club Saturday and it was a big hit.

This salad takes about 15 minutes to make. Chop your vegetables and herbs while the water is boiling.

2 packages couscous (I used Parmesan flavored)
1/2 pint cherry or grapes tomatoes, halved
1 large cucumber, peeled and diced
4 green onions, sliced
juice of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp olive oil (or to the desired consistency)
2 cups parsley, chopped
2 cups mint, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the couscous according to the package - takes about 5 minutes once the water is boiling.

Put cooked couscous in a large bowl and fluff with a fork. Add tomatoes, diced cucumber, green onions, lemon juice and olive oil. Mix well. Add parsley and mint, salt and pepper. Mix and season to taste.

Refrigerate so flavors can combine. Usually served cold or at room temperature but could be served warm.

Would be excellent with feta cheese as well.

For more easy summer recipes, visit Kristen at www.wearethatfamily.com

3/50 Project

A friend shared this website with me last week and I've taken a look at the project and talked about it with friends.

In this economy, small, locally-owned businesses are struggling to remain independent, offer the same good prices, and stay afloat. I especially appreciate local restaurants, local bookstores, and local farmer's markets, and can do my part to frequent local stores much more than I currently do.

Supporting my community - that Works for Me. For other tips, visit Kristen's site.

Protecting Your Dining Table

My boys receive a lot of arts and craft kits for their birthdays and Christmas. They really enjoy doing all sorts of projects and they are great to have handy to pull out during the cold winters of Indiana.

I keep these projects in a cabinet in the kitchen since many of them have ingredients that I don't want downstairs where we have carpet. But I also don't want to damage our kitchen table with the slime, glitter, glue, gel, etc. that come with these projects. So I have a simple solution.

I have $1 plastic tablecloths tucked away with the crafts. One will last us a year. I just shake it out in the grass and fold it back up, ready to be used next time. And the table is still in perfect condition!

That's what Works for Me. For more great ideas, check out Kristen's site. http://www.wearethatfamily.com/2009/02/wfmw-meal-planning-helpers.html

Kids Journals

When we were expecting Thomas, we received great advice from our Executive Director at work. He suggested we get journals and write to our little one(s) each month.

Mike had heard about this at a recent couple's baby shower he and his wife attended and wished he had been writing to his sons all along. I headed to Barnes & Noble that afternoon and picked up a blank journal. The next day we had our ultrasound and found out we were having a boy! I started journaling to Thomas that day. And have been for 9 years this month.

With Brennan, I started journaling right after he was born. The boys sometimes ask for me to read excerpts from their journals to them at night. I'm on their 3rd journals now. Their birthday month I ask them about their favorite things (foods, tv shows, books, movies, friends, classes...) and they help me with that entry. I haven't turned the journals over to them yet - I will wait until they are much older and maybe have responsible wives who will put them somewhere for safekeeping!


I try to write a few pages every month and am pretty good about it. There have been times where I've skipped a few months and I miss so much! I love going back and re-reading old entries.

David also has journals for the boys with this own approach. I hope the boys appreciate the tales from their childhood when they have their own little ones at home.

And that Works for Me! For other great tips, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.