Blog Posts by SheSpeaks

Julie Grice is a blogger who shares her wisdom with us at SheSpeaks.

A Simple Lentil Soup

In most parts of the country, it is definitively soup season. If you haven't already, prepare yourself to wake up to frost on the lawn more and more often. To ward off the cold, try a bowl of one of these soups for dinner tonight.

I'm especially excited about the mulligatawny soup. Though that may be because of the "Soup Nazi" episode of Seinfeld...

• Butternut and Acorn Squash Soup from Tartelette
• Carrot Apple Ginger Soup from Joy the Baker
• Chicken Mulligatawny Soup from Food Republic
• Chickpea and Carrot Crockpot Soup from Savvy Eats
• Creamy Chicken and Brie Soup from How Sweet Eats
• Curried Butternut Squash Soup from Shutterbean
• French Onion Soup from Elly Says Opa
• Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup from Sippity Sup
• Holiday Soup For the Soul from Oh She Glows
• Lentil and Root Vegetable Soup from Cannelle et Vanille

Lisa Ghisolf is a blogger who shares her wisdom with us at SheSpeaks.
YUMMY POPCORN

It's the holy grail as new movies keep getting more expensive: Seeing a new movie before it is released, for free. And surprisingly, it's not that difficult to find them. Something to keep in mind: Screenings are usually only one night, so you should be flexible with dates, and arrive an hour early. Below are my links to the best sites:

• Film Metro is a great site for new screenings; you should sign up for emails to find out before others do as these disappear quickly. I tend to use junk email addresses with free services so I don't get more spam in my mailbox.
• Wild About Movies is one that you can print passes off of, but you seem to have to go through many pages to get to the right page. You can also sign up for emails.
• Fatwallet is great for general deals and freebies, in a forum format. It takes a bit to get through all of the postings, but I tend to start at the last page and search

"Diary of a Mad Woman" is a blogger who shares her wisdom with us at SheSpeaks.

Woman cooking with her apron on.

The HEART of Cooking contains over 170 recipes from over 130 of your favorite authors.

Many of the authors are New York Times bestsellers and USA Today bestsellers.

Each recipe is accompanied by a short blurb about the author. Several of the recipes contain personal stories as to how the recipe came about.
Stock is running low. So buy one for yourself and your family and friends. Your purchase is tax-deductible, since Snap4kids, the Special Needs Assistance Program for Kids is a 501(c)(3) organization. Proceeds benefit children with special needs, especially the physically challenged.

For a limited time, Snap4kids is offering SheSpeaks members a discount. To order, please go to Snap4kids.
The cost is $10 per book, shipping is included. However, international orders will be charged shipping, based upon location.

So order a cookbook today, for a good cause.

Go to

Joanna Francis is a blogger who shares her wisdom with us at SheSpeaks.

blogger photo

Is there anyone out there with school aged children that have trouble getting them to eat breakfast before school? None of mine will eat for me, especially my middle daughter, she is 9 and has Autism. She will eat breakfast at school and I have no problem with paying for it if she will eat it.

The last few weeks she has been asking me to pick her up from school. I told her no and began to explain why school is important. Of course she didn't care to hear any of this and began yelling that she wasn't going to school. So I started asking questions trying to figure out what the problem was and I finally got it; she is hungry during the day. So I asked her, "Aren't you eating breakfast"? She said that they rush her to finish to get to her classroom.

If any of you have any experience with a child who has Autism you know that rushing them can cause a major meltdown. The problem is her bus gets her to

Julie Grice is a blogger who shares her wisdom with us at SheSpeaks.
podcast

I adore podcasts. Ask to see my iPod, and you will find that at least 90% of its contents are episodes of podcasts instead of music. Except for during the holidays, when I listen to seasonal music all day, every day.

I listen to podcasts when I am cooking alone, doing the dishes or cleaning. When I walk to the grocery store or the post office, I almost always have my headphones on. I'm sure I look a little odd sometimes when I start laughing out loud at a comedy show.

As a food blogger, it seems only natural that I listen to quite a few podcasts that are food-related. Here are three of my favorite food podcasts.

Let's Get Real

Chef Erica Wides knows that not everyone can (or wants to) raise her own chickens or go to the Farmers' Market multiple times a week. Instead of preaching an all-or-nothing approach, she offers way for you to start incorporating more "food" and less "foodiness" into your life, as

Gina Badalaty is a blogger who shares her wisdom with us at SheSpeaks.
The special needs of biracial children are simple, yet most impactful.

I realize that many of you who are special needs parents may think I'm crazy to suggest that you simplify your life and, in fact, I once agreed with you. The paperwork, the phone calls, the management of your child's staff is all overwhelming. The life of the parent of a child or with special needs is filled with so much "extra" that you often feel like if you drop one thing, the rest will come crashing down.
Well, I'm here to tell you it won't. I took my cue this week from the parents I know from my community who are raising neuro-typical children. We are very close with this family and the mom is always asking us to pray that she makes it through her schedule. I know they could benefit from slimming down their obligations, and I'm convinced most special needs families can do the same.

How? You'll never simplify your life if you don't first sit down and consider your priorities. Realize that if you are

Jeanne DeLasalle is a blogger who shares her wisdom with us at SheSpeaks.

Kim Kardashian

I don't know about you, but I cannot get enough of this Kardashian mess.

The whole thing is like watching a train wreck, you just can't look away. I am no expert at marriage, who is? But 72 days? Really? How on earth can you not even try to work on something that you promoted to the world so much.. I did it for love not TV blah blah blah! If her life is a franchise, she better hire some new PR, quick. I feel the backlash has begun for her already.

And poor Kris Humphries...had to find out like the rest of us, via TMZ. She didn't even let him know she was filing papers and he didn't see it coming? Did she make millions off this scam...I dunno!

Do you think the whole marriage was just something for TV?

All I know is, I can't wait to see what happens from here!

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Grocery Store Aisle

Blame it on "mommy brain", a toddler meltdown, or just plain forgetfulness - whatever the reason, most moms know that walking out of a store with an unpaid item is not always intentional.

iVillage calls the phenomenon that makes thieves out of well-meaning moms "Stealing via Stroller". They report about a mom who was banned for life from a New York City grocery store after forgetting to pay for a bottle of milk she left in her stroller and off the conveyor belt.

Sound harsh? That's nothing compared with the latest reports about the parents who were arrested and had their child taken away after forgetting to pay for a sandwich. The Today show reports about the day Nicole Leszczynski wishes never happened.

Both Nicole and her husband, Marcin, had just moved from California to Honolulu and were out getting groceries with their 2-year-old daughter, Zofia. While shopping at their neighborhood Safeway, Nicole (who was 30 weeks pregnant at the time) began feeling dizzy and