Blog Posts by Team Mom Staff

We all have our own special -- and sometimes wacky -- tricks to keep the germs at bay, but do they really work? Away We Grow host Diane Mizota chats with pediatrician Nikki Nourmand, who de-bunks several myths about the common cold.

Not so, says Nourmand. Rest and fluids are essential to recouping from a cold. But high doses of vitamin C are "kind of a big waste of money" because it doesn't provide a huge boost to the immune system.

Related: The scoop on children's vitamins

Myth: Chicken soup will speed your recovery.

Says Nourmand: "So, I don't know if chicken soup will help you get better faster, but it's excellent for symptomatic care." You can count on the the broth to soothe a sore throat and make you feel cozy.

Myth: You shouldn't let your kids drink milk when they have a cold because it causes mucus.

You don't have to avoid dairy when you're sick with a

Chocolate truffles in a bowlIt's holiday season, which means lots of good food--and, of course, dessert. Chef Jill Davie joins Easy Does It host Ereka Vetrini for some sweet talk about easy-to-make no-bake desserts with only three ingredients.

Check out these three great recipes:

Grapefruit sorbet

Ingredients:
• Frozen grapefruits
• Orange blossom honey (or other high-quality honey)
• Fresh mint or basil

Let grapefruits thaw for an hour before cutting. Remove both sides of the grapefruit, then using the tip of your knife, work around the outside to remove the rind. Dice the grapefruit, working around the center of the fruit. Then take the fresh mint to make a chiffonade by rolling the leaves into a cigar shape and then drawing your knife to make little strips. Layer the grapefruit and the mint in a glass or bowl and drizzle honey on top.

Related: 8 easy desserts that anyone can make

Truffle bombs

Ingredients:
• Toasted nuts
• High-quality cocoa powder
• Agave nectar

Place the nuts in a food processor

Mom feeding baby with bottleFor some moms, nursing is second nature. For others it can be a struggle. Suzanne Barston, author of Bottled Up, joins Away We Go host Diane Mizota to discuss how the way babies are fed has come to define motherhood-and why she believes it shouldn't.

"There is so much more to being a mom than whether you feed a child from your breast or a bottle," says Barston. "It's really limiting to bring it down to a biological function." She shares that she had personal struggles with breastfeeding with her son. "I really wanted to breastfeed, but we sort of met with every single natural disaster with breastfeeding that we could meet with," she says.

Related: Formula feeding vs. breastfeeding: The pros and cons from a mom who's done both

"Ultimately when I switched to formula," says Barston, "I just felt a colossal failure. I felt like I'd done enough, but everything I read made me feel like there was more I could have done. And I just found that there was so little support for formula-feeding

Save money with flight-booking secretsWouldn't it be nice if someone would tell us the secrets to getting the good deals? On Easy Does It with Ereka Vetrini, CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg exposes flight-booking secrets the airlines don't want you to know about this holiday season.

Greenberg notes that everybody makes the same mistake when it comes to searching for deals-starting with an online search. "You go right to the Internet because you think all the available inventory is on the web. Guess what? Not even close," he explains. All the inventory that's on the web, Greenberg says, is the inventory that the travel providers have chosen to make available. Instead, he tells Vetrini, travelers should pick up the phone and speak directly to the airlines so that they can negotiate the best deal possible.

Related: The best time to book flights

As for the best time to make those calls? Greenberg says that's between midnight and 2:00 a.m. in the time zone in which your airline is based. And he says that once you are

Must-have apps every parent should downloadMost of us can't live without our smart devices or the apps that make a parent's life better, but which are worth downloading--and who has time to figure all this out? Away We Grow host Diane Mizota welcomes TechMama Beth Blecherman, who is here to help.

It can be overwhelming to sort through all of the parenting apps that exist. Blecherman says that it's essential for parents to plan ahead if they want to have everything at their fingertips. She suggests finding easy apps "and not just the trendy, cool apps-apps that fit within your lifestyle."

Related: Holidays in a snap with apps

Essential parenting apps that every mom should have

Blecherman recommends the following apps for busy moms:

AboutOne. This is a family-friendly toolkit that works as a full management system. "It's like having your home file cabinet with you," says Blecherman. House inventories, information from school, and even your kid's artwork can all be scanned in to become easily accessible within the app.

When it comes to adding a personal touch to your home, filling up an empty wall with art can be a daunting task. You want to spruce it up, but have no idea where you should start. Expert decorator Carter Oosterhouse tells Easy Does It host Ereka Vetrini how to make blank walls en effortless work of art.

VIDEO: How 5 minutes of calm can change your life

Some home owners choose to wait a long time fill their empty walls as they wait to discover the perfect pieces of art. But it's more likely that the walls stay bare because people are scared of making mistakes, says Oosterhouse, an HGTV host and author of Carter's Way: A No-Nonsense Method for Designing Your Super Stylish Home. "I think it's so overwhelming because it just stares at you," he says. "And it's a blank wall and people look at it and they're like, 'Ugh what should I do? I don't want to mess it up, I don't want to put something on there that I'm gonna regret.' And they just they don't have the guts to just do something to

Easy Does It host Ereka Vetrini asked viewers to share their cleaning secrets. Check out our favorite tips!

Cleaning pots and pans. Tracy Stubel from Kentucky uses salt and lemon to scrub the bottom of copper pans. The reason it works is because salt is a natural abrasive so it won't strip the copper off. Another viewer submitted an old- fashioned tip of using wood ash (which you get after a log fire has burnt out), to clean stainless steel pots and pans and utensils. The ash soaks up the grime and oil.

Cleaning blenders. Sabrina from Westchester suggests that after emptying the blender pitcher, you add a bit of water a couple drops of soap, switch it back on let it blend and it will clean it right up. Then rinse the dish with water and i t just needs to dry off.

The best cleaning tip? Get your kids to help you!Cleaning stains from coffee pots. Magda Cruz from San Diego fills the empty coffee pot with ice, lemon slices and two tablespoons of salt

Thanksgiving is all about getting together with family to make memories. Traditions expert Meg Cox joins Away We Grow host Diane Mizota to talk about the importance of honoring old traditions and offers some ideas to create new ones.

Cox, who recently published The Book of New Family Traditions, says that while traditions are an opportunity to celebrate with your family, they also give children a sense of identity and security. "...There's so much love and sharing and gratefulness at Thanksgiving. It's great to carry on traditions that your grandmother did, but it's also great to have new ones that are focused on the way your family really is." Cox knows one family who has a turkey parade before dinner. They place the turkey on a platter and march around the house banging pots and pans. "Everybody's involved and everybody's celebrating, and it's like a little party. It's really a great moment before you sit down and have the meal."

Create new Thanksgiving Day traditions with your family.Traditions can also be used to help