Playdates in the Kitchen: Family - Fun at Home

Over the last couple of months, I have been looking for ways to entertain my little ones while sharing my love for food and cooking while not feeling like I've been sucked into the Kiddie-ville land of random ball shaped foods.

Recently, we received a copy of Kitchen Playdates by Lauren Deen (Chronicle Books). It's a beautiful book with bright, detailed pictures and clear, detailed instructions. As a cookbook aficionado, I loved it, but after trying it realized that some of the recipes are a tad expensive and a touch too-exotic and "adult" for my little ones, 2 year old and 10 months. So I tried the recipes out on some of my favorite mamas and papas and they were hits!

Kitchen Playdates is a great starting point for some rockin ideas and fun way to entertain in a family-friendly way.

Available for purchae at www.amazon.com or www.chroniclebooks.com

CM Reads Review: City Walks with Kids DC - Enjoy the city like a tourist, only better.

We were looking for something fun and cheap to do with our kids, without leaving the city and without a lot of planning.... enter City Walks with Kids DC, a glove box keeper. City Walks actually makes it easy to pick a card, pack a diaper back and just go.

City Walks with Kids DC by Ingrid Roper Catron is a keeper for our family. It's a day trip in a box, well actually about 50 kid-friendly day trips with maps in a box. Each card is chock full of information for an easy family outing: 4 to 5 stops, touristy and local haunts alike plus a fun place for a treat and little snippets of trivia to make the trip lively. Our favorite component is the tri-fold map that connects all the trips together and prevents our favorite habit of getting lost in a city that we love.

It's a must for new families in the area or natives that have never been around to see the sites.

Available for $14.95 at www.Chronicle Books.com

CM Reads: Jude Deveraux's Return to Summerhouse

I am a reader, always have, probably always will be, and when it gets hot outside, I love to curl up under the ceiling fan and read. Now that I have little ones, nap time is a time to squeeze in a few pages between laundry, blog posts and dinner prep.

One of my latest reads is Jude Deveraux's Return to Summerhouse, available in our Amazon Store and at local booksellers nationwide.

This is the story of three women, Amy, Zoe and Faith, unexpected friends in need of healing, that come together with the help of Madame Zoya to step back in time to undo a tragedy of the past. The journey to the 18th century teaches them about love, healing, friendship and the power of choices.

Return to Summerhouse was a fast, satisfying read that tugged my heartstrings that made me smile in the end.