Blogging will be light this week as I prepare (and recover from) Thanksgiving. Enjoy your family and I'll see you next week!

Since 1980, the U.S. has seen an increase in bankruptcy filings of 320 percent and the average American family has over $4,000 in credit card debt. Yeah, we need to do a better job teaching our kids about money.

The Bible tells us to be good stewards of what God gives us, including money. It also tells us to stay out of debt, not to care deeply about material goods and money, and to freely give what we have. As Christian parents, how do we teach our children these things in a nation that's billions of dollars in debt, where many seem to love money more than anything else, and where giving is often considered something necessary only for "the other guy"?

One way to begin is by giving your child a piggy bank. Although any piggy bank is better than none, I like The Money Savvy Pig (pictured above). This simple but clever bank has separate coin holes for saving, spending, charity, and investing. The money for each of these separate "accounts" is accessible through it's own hole, found in the pig's legs. I do wish that instead of "investing" it had a "tithing" section - not that I'm against investing, but for smaller kids, at least, the difference between investing and saving is a bit subtle.

Another alternative is the ABC bank. This isn't pig-shaped, which might be a drawback if your kids are young, and it isn't as comprehensive, which is a drawback if your kids are older. However, it does encourage saving and charity.

Finally, you could just set up a few clear glass or plastic jars. Have your child make sticker-signs for each: Spend, Save, Charity, Tithe. Simple as can be.

Of course, no bank will alone do the job. We need to explain to our kids why we need to save and give away - repeatedly. And (the hardest part of all, perhaps) we have to let them see us modeling the behavior we hope to instill in them.

It's also important to begin early. Although most experts suggest age five as a good time to begin learning about money, many four year olds show an interest in coins. Embrace that interest and set up a piggy bank. And while you teach the basics of coin and money types, give your child small jobs to do around the house so they can earn something to put in their bank. These jobs should be above and beyond what you normally expect them to do around the house, and you needn't give large sums of money. For a four year old, for example, earning just five or ten cents is a thrill. It is only through practice children can learn good stewardship with money.

I'm always looking for ways to make the holidays more meaningful for our family, and a few days ago, I ran across a (new to me) Thanksgiving idea I want to incorporate this year. Over at Mommy Life, author Barbara Curtis says every Thanksgiving she gives each member of her family five kernels of corn, representing the rations the Pilgrims had for the winter of 1623 - the year after the first Thanksgiving.

After the feast, more settlers arrived in the New World and the Pilgrims soon discovered they didn't have nearly enough food for everyone to make it through the winter. According to the Pilgrim's own account (written by William Bradford), they survived by eating a few grains of corn as their daily ration.

For children who've never known what it's like to be truly hungry, those five kernels of corn on their plate can really bring the suffering of the Pilgrims home. Once you've explained this bit of history to everyone, and allowed them time to comment on what it would be like to live on so little food, pass around a cup or bowl and allow each family member to place a kernel in it, while telling everyone something they are thankful for. Then end with a family prayer of thanks to God.

We think our four year old has Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD); at the very least, she functions more happily if she has plenty of light in the winter. This means we keep lights turned on every day, all day throughout the dark months. Keeping the electric bill reasonable during this time, then, is a concern. But here are a few ways you and I both can use our electricity more efficiently.

* Always turn off the lights when you leave a room. Teach your children to do this from the moment they are tall enough to reach the light switch.

* Don't let your dishwasher go through the dry cycle. Let the dishes air dry, instead. This can save 15 to 50% in electricity.

* If you use electric heat and your children are old enough it doesn't pose a safety problem, leave the oven door open after you're done baking. It will help heat the room.

* If you heat with electricity, heat only the rooms you're in and put on sweaters and socks so you can keep the temperature cooler.

* Refrigerators are just behind air conditioners in home electricity use. If you have an older refrigerator, try to replace it with a new, more efficient one.

* Turn off the television when you're not sitting down and watching it. Get out of the habit of having the tv on as background noise.

* Up to 95% of the electricity used by a washing machine may go to heating the water. Wash everything in cold, unless it is covered in dirt or feces.

* Clean the lint from the clothes dryer after every single load; it takes clothes longer to dry if the lint trap is even a little dirty. Or, if you live in a dry climate, use a clothesline.

* Try placing two dry hand towels in your dryer. This may reduce the drying time of your wet laundry by 20 minutes.

* Some power companies offer cheaper rates during certain times of the day. Give your power company and call and see if this is true in your area. If so, you can save significantly by washing dishes and clothes during these hours.

Candied orange peels are an easy-to-make goody traditionally seen around Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you've never eaten them before, expect a treat! They are sweet, and not at all sour or bitter. Make a large batch and give some away as gifts. (Over at Martha Stewart, there are instructions and free clip art for packaging candied citrus peel for gifts.)

What You'll Need

Peeler (optional)
Saucepan
Wire cooling rack
8 oranges (or 6 grapefruits or 10 lemons or limes)
6 cups of sugar, plus more for rolling


How to Make Candied Orange Peel (the Easy Way)

Using a peeler, carefully peel strips of orange rind away from whole oranges. Try to make the strips about two to four inches long. (Keep the oranges in a Ziplock bag and consume them separately within a few days.)

* Place 6 cups of sugar in a saucepan and add 3 cups of water. Stir and place over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar completely dissolves and the mixture boils. Add the orange peel strips and reduce the heat to low. Use a pastry brush dipped in cool water to wash down any sugar crystals that form on the sides of the pan. Simmer until the peels are translucent, about 40 minutes. Cool the peels in the sugar-water syrup for at least 3 hours, or overnight. Remove the peels with a slotted spoon and wipe off excess syrup with your fingers. Roll the peels in sugar and dry on wire racks.


Or the Old Fashioned Way

Cut the ends off the orange, then cut the fruit in half lengthwise. Insert the tip of a knife between the fruit and pith, about 1/2 inch deep. Repeat on the other end, following the shape of the fruit and keeping the peel in one piece. Gently pull the fruit away from the peel with your fingers.

Place the peel in a pot and fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes (40 minutes, if you're using grapefruit peel). Drain peel and soak in cold water until cool enough to handle.

Using a melon baller, scrape the soft white pith from the orange peel without tearing the orange part of the peel. Cut the peel into 3/4 inch wide strips.

Proceed as above, beginning at the asterisk (*).

At the end of a long day, does making dinner sometimes seem impossible? Do you order pizza? Grab take out? Prepare a highly processed meal, like macaroni and cheese? I completely understand and have been there many times myself. But with a little preparation, you can ensure those I-don't-think-I-can-cook nights end up healthier and more economical.

The real trick to quick, easy, affordable, and healthy meals every single night is your freezer. And no, I'm not talking about those seemingly impossible "cook once a month" plans.

Try this plan of action:

After you read this post, take a few minutes and remove every single thing from your freezer. If any of the food looks freezer burned or otherwise questionable, toss it. Then make a list of everything else and put place it back inside in some way that makes sense. For example, you could put all the vegetables in one location, all the meats in another, and so on.

Next, plan meals for a week or two that will use up everything in your freezer. As you consume the food, cross it off your list.

Now you can make your freezer really work for you.

Begin by taking a few hours one day to cook meals that can easily be frozen. This includes any type of casserole, chili, stew, soup, spaghetti and meatballs. (For more ideas, visit Recipe Link.) Allow the food to cool, then transfer to freezer containers and freeze. For casseroles, be sure to line the pan with waxed paper before putting any food inside. Then, once the food cooks and cools, place the pan in the freezer. Once the food is frozen, remove the casserole from the freezer by lifting the waxed paper. Then you can transfer the casserole to a freezer bag.

If you keep a list of the meals available in your freezer, then cross off items as you consume them, you'll quickly know what's available to you on nights you don't feel like cooking.

Great, you may be thinking, but where do I find the time to prepare all those meals? If you can't imagine taking a few hours to prepare meals for the freezer, try this: For every meal you cook fresh, cook double, then freeze the extra. It really isn't much extra work, and doesn't add much time to your cooking.

You can also freeze more than just complete meals. When you cook rice, for example, make at least double. Allow the extra to cool, then chill it in the refrigerator. When it's thoroughly chilled, put it in containers in the freezer. Then, instead of cooking up Minute Rice (which has very little nutritional value) at your next meal, just heat up your frozen rice and serve it. This also works well with meats; fry double the hamburger, allow it to cool, and place in the freezer. Then the next time you want to make fresh chili (for example), all you have to do is toss the frozen hamburger in the pot and heat it up with the rest of the ingredients.

Whenever possible, be sure to freeze food in portion sizes. That means instead of freezing cooked chicken in a full one pound bag, break it up into small bags suitable for one meal, for example.

Also, be sure that whatever type of containers you use, they are freezer-appropriate. After you place food in them, remove as much air as possible. These two simple steps will keep the food fresh-tasting.

And always, always mark the container with information about what the food is and when it was frozen. I don't recommend using freezer tape for this purpose, since, in my experience, it sometimes falls off. A Sharpie pen on freezer bags works best for me. To avoid lots of small, slippery bags from floating around in the freezer, try using boxes or tubs to hold specific types of food. For example, keep all the casseroles in one container, all the pre-cooked meats in another, et cetera.

It affects one out of every eight infants. It's the leading cause of newborn death in the United States. Each year, half a million American babies struggle with it. In a majority of cases, doctors cannot say why it happens. "It" is prematurity.