Family Safety Online - Tips Every Parent Should Know

 Keeping kids safe online does not have to be too time-consuming. The devices, apps, and programs can help you a lot, and you can keep track of any online profiles they have if you know their passwords. Here are some top tips and strategies for keeping your children safe when they use the family PC or any other online device. They can help keep your information safe too.

Make A Kids Profile On Your PC

This is a top tip for both of you. Create a user profile just for your kids and lock out certain elements or remove programs you do not want them to have access to. This lets you keep your profile too, and it can remain untouched. You can check on your kid's profile and web browsing history and also install monitoring programs if you wish.

Protecting them in this way also protects your PC activity and your private documents and email access. You may enjoy playing some classic casino games online at Jackpot Casino or play their live casino games. Having a personal profile means they do not have access to your gaming, personal documents, or programs, protecting everyone.

Keep The Screen Where You Can See It

Parenting requires a lot of different delicate balances. You want your children to grow up to be confident and independent, but you also need to keep a careful eye over them to protect them from danger and threats. This is true online as well as in the physical world. 

Make sure you can get a parent’s eye view of the screen from a distance. Give your kids a little leeway and let them do what they want to do on the computer but keep checking what they are up to. When things get loud or go quiet, that is usually a sign they are up to something they should not be. 

Communicate With Them

Talk to your children about online safety and let them know they have to take care when using the internet and the computer. This should include both communicating and interacting with strangers online, avoiding some common pitfalls. They need to be careful what they click on.

Kids are as vulnerable to spam and malware as the rest of us, and a little education goes a long way. Teach them some basic safety rules, and lay down some ground rules for online behavior and how to act around the PC.

No Social Media Until They Are Teenagers

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media services have age restrictions on accounts. A good rule of thumb is to not let your kids join a social network until they are a teenager. Even kids' versions of apps and websites can make them vulnerable to online threats.

When they do get old enough, you will have to decide how to introduce your kids to social media. Facebook is a good first step as you can monitor their profile more easily and keep an eye on their friend group.

Follow these steps, and you should have plenty of control over your young children’s online activity without having to stay over their shoulders. Their self-confidence will benefit, and so will your time management.

How to Plan the Perfect Date Night at Home

 

Image Pixabay CC0 License

Spending quality time with your partner may be something you do not get to do often. Relationship experts recommend that couples spend 70 percent of their time together and 30 percent apart. But, when you are constantly busy, achieving this balance can take time and effort. Many people find that juggling parenting, working, and all the chores mean they have very little spare time to enjoy time alone with their other halves. So, on those rare occasions when you get to spend some time together, it is a great idea to make the most of this opportunity. 

Planning a date night is the perfect way to enjoy some together time with your significant other, but making restaurant bookings in advance and deciding where to go can be a hassle. If you want to avoid trying to make arrangements and would prefer to save some cash, then planning a date night at home is the perfect solution. Read on to discover how you can plan the perfect date night at home:

Choose the Perfect Meal

It wouldn’t be date night without a delicious meal to enjoy. Preparing tasty food for you to eat is a great way to make your date night extra special and one of the most important elements of your evening. But deciding what to cook can be tricky. You do not want to choose a recipe that will require you to spend most of the evening stuck in the kitchen trying to prepare a complicated meal. However, you do not want to make something so simple that it does not feel special. If you are in doubt about what to cook, pasta is always a great choice. Preparing an extra-special pasta meal, such as this salmon pasta recipe, will enable you to create something delicious without spending too much time in the kitchen.

Prepare the Room

Setting the scene is vital when you plan to stay home but want to make the evening extra special. Tidying up the space is a great place to start. It is impossible to relax in a messy space, so having a quick tidy around the room will make a big difference. Next, you may want to create some atmosphere. Lowering the lights and using candles is a great way to make the room feel ready for the occasion. Lighting some candles will instantly help you to feel more relaxed. After all, who doesn’t enjoy a candlelit meal?

Plan Some Conversation

If you and your partner rarely spend time alone together, you want to make sure that the occasion is enjoyable. Thinking of some conversation starters ahead of time will help to ensure you don’t wind up talking about the kids all evening or arguing about chores. Or, even worse, you each spend your evening gazing at your phones. To avoid this situation, you could start by reminiscing over good times gone by or discuss exciting plans for the future to ensure the conversation keeps flowing and you have a great night.

5 Quick Tips for Reducing Cooking Times at Home

 Two women cooking noodles - Image Courtesy of Pexels

Reducing cooking times is more than convenient. It can also save you money in the kitchen. Over time, you have probably developed habits that increase your cooking times. So here are a few quick tips to help you overcome long times in the kitchen and save you some cash.

Use Modern Devices

Gadgets in the kitchen, such as electric mixers, are a godsend for saving time when preparing food. Yet there are also many timesaving and energy-efficient devices for cooking. Please don't snub your microwave. It uses almost no energy and is excellent for cooking frozen vegetables and reheating sauces. Also, air fryers (see this recipe for sweet potato fries made in an air fryer) are becoming popular because they cook as well as in an oven for a fraction of the cost.

Cut Chunks into Smaller Pieces

It can be a lengthy process to cook some cuts of meat. And slow cooking will help some things, like cheaper cuts of meat. Still, a recipe could tell you to cook a whole piece of meat or fish. But if you cut the food into smaller pieces, you can often make it faster. Cooking boneless chicken or meat will also cut down on the time it takes to cook. For example, you could quarter a chicken into pieces. If you do this, the cooking time will drop from 1 hr and 20 min to about 45 min.

Use Pan Lids

This is a simple step that often gets overlooked in the rush of making dinner. When there's a lid to keep heat in, your food will cook faster. Make it a point to cover pots and pans unless the recipe says to cook the food without a lid. This will cut down on the time it takes to cook the food. This is also a great way to help bring liquids to a boil, which is a step in many recipes such as cooking corn. And if you don't do this when you boil water for pasta, you'll be wasting money.

Defrost Food First

Adding frozen ingredients to some cookbook recipes makes them even easier to make. There's nothing wrong with this, either. But if you want to shorten the time it takes to cook, defrost the meat or vegetables before you add them to the dish. If you cook something frozen, it will take a lot longer. It can also be risky if you aren't careful. The outside of your meat can look cooked, but the middle can still be raw. This can cause severe food poisoning and illness.

Preheat Pans and Oven

Not preheating the oven and pans is another common mistake in the kitchen. Even though most recipes don't need it, it helps cut down on cooking time. When you put cold food into an oven or pan, the temperature drops in the area. Also, some foods won't caramelize as well, like meat chops. And you will mess up a steak completely. But most foods only need a few minutes to cook on the stove in a frying pan and not much more in the oven if cut into pieces.

Summary

Reducing cooking times in the kitchen gives you more to do the essential things. And it can save money. You can use cooking gadgets, cover pans with lids and always preheat.

Nashville Hot Chicken Fried Potatoes

Let me tell you about the tastiest way to make fried potatoes ever. If you like the flavors of Nashville Hot Chicken, then this is the place for you! These Nashville Hot Chicken Fried Potatoes are so good that you are going to crave them all the time. Luckily, they are easy to make and are a cheap and delicious side dish to so many dishes.

My son, sweet Rolf, is 12 years old now. He is only about 2" shorter than I am. His feet are twice the size of mine. He is so beautiful... but he has an appetite like no other. But, he is PICKY. I am always looking for ways to fill him up, and if I can get him to try something new, then that is wonderful. 

I tried this tasty and easy fried potato recipe for a side last week and my family loved it. Even Rolf. He has asked me to make these again already. You only need 5 ingredients to make these and they taste so good! Let me tell you how I made these.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons of Nashville Hot Chicken Seasoning (I like The Spice Lab's version)

1/2 cup - 1 cup Buttermilk 

1/2 cup of flour

1 -2 large potatoes

Oil for Frying

Directions:

Slice your potatoes using a slicer like pictured above. You want them to be thin.

Pour the buttermilk over your potatoes. If you are only making one large potato, use 1/2 a cup. For more potatoes, add more buttermilk.

Add 2 tablespoons of Nashville Hot Chicken seasoning to the buttermilk.

Gently toss so that the potatoes are completely covered with the buttermilk and seasoning.

Allow to rest in the fridge for an hour.

When the hour has passed (this is so important for the flavor!)

Mix the flour and the remaining 2 tablespoons of hot chicken seasoning.

Stir.

Dredge the potato slices through the flour.

You can just make a single layer of potatoes on a plate or something as you work your way through the slices of seasoned potatoes.

Pour your oil into a saucepan. 

Heat over medium heat for a few moments until the oil is hot enough to fry. I am sorry, I have no idea what temperature I had this oil. I just know how to fry potatoes in oil after all these years in a kitchen. HA!

I guess, I would say, I treated it just like I would fried chicken?

When the potatoes were nice and crispy, and golden brown, I pulled them out of the oil to drain on a paper towel. Use a slotted spoon!

Repeat with remaining potatoes, and these are the end results.

They have that whole spicy chicken vibe, but they are just potato slices. 

They are SO GOOD! 

These would be great for satisfying a fried chicken craving on a potato budget.  But, they are also just a great way to make potatoes super enticing on the side of any meal.

If you try this recipe, I hope you LOVE it! Be sure to save this to your pinterest food board. It would be great if you would share this recipe on social media.

Find more of my tasty food ideas here:

Cake Mix Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Fool Proof 3 Ingredient Biscuits
 

Unique Nacho Recipes

 Are you looking for some easy meal ideas to get dinner on the table in a flash? Lately I have been LOVING nachos! The whole family will eat them without complaint, and there are so many ways to prepare them. You could serve nachos every week without repeating a recipe if you really wanted to!

I don't know about you, but just thinking about all of the cooking I have ahead of me in the coming weeks is enough to leave me overwhelmed. I like Thanksgiving; who can resist pie and turkey with all of the trimmings? But. Hear me out. I am over cooking these epic feasts already! I never want to eat it after cooking all morning, and the mess is enough to make me want to cancel dinner and stay in bed.

This year, I am going to give myself a BREAK before Thanksgiving and take the easy out for as many meals as possible. My meal plan for the month includes some very basic plans like soup and grilled cheese, crock pot chili, and of course, we are going to have nachos a few times.

I gathered some of the recipes I want to try the most to share with you. These are unique and easy. I am sure your family will love them all. 

Blackened shrimp nachos by Ask Chef Dennis 

I really want to try this recipe because I love shrimp and often keep a bag in the freezer for easy meals. With the price of everything being so high these days, I love that I could make these with what I have on hand, switching out the veggies for what I have in the fridge. 

Waffle Fry Nachos by Dinner at the Zoo

This is a delicious twist on fries and nachos! I have a feeling my kids would love to mix up the toppings to get all of their favorites in there. 

Mexican Street Corn Bacon Nachos by The Forked Spoon

This recipe mixes up so  many good ingredients like corn, tomatoes and avocado to make a really delicious nachos that your family will gobble up!

Green Chile Nachos by Homemade for Elle

These are colorful and just the thing for someone, like me, who LOVES green chile flavor! I would probably add some olives and maybe onions to the mix too!

Loaded Cauliflower Nachos by I Hacked Diabetes

These are perfect for eating a lighter, yet totally satisfying meal. I don't know if my kids will love this recipe, but my waistline will thank me for taking a lighter route at dinner a night or two when I am faced with all of the epic holiday desserts to come my way.

Crispy Loaded Jalapeno Nachos by Crayons and Cravings

If you love jalapenos, then you are going to want to dig into this recipe! Crispy jalapeno nachos look incredibly appealing to me. I LOVE spicy food!

Nachos Deluxe by Ann's Entitled Life

This recipe is loaded with good things! And it looks just messy enough to be fun to eat! I would add some fresh veggies to the top of this plate!

Which of these nachos would you try first?

While you are here you might like to check out 12 Lasagna Recipe You Will Love or My Copycat Cracker Barrel  Chicken and Dumplings recipe.