Not surprisingly, KFC has realized that selling all fried chicken does not fit with the way that most Americans are eating these days (or at least WANT  to be eating). As a result, they have released Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

I was lucky enough to live in one of the test markets for the new Kentucky Grilled Chicken and have had it several times. Except for those every-now-and-again times when I just completely crave fried chicken, I was quite satisfied with the grilled chicken. It definitely has the KFC seasoning/flavor. I’m really picky about fast food chicken. I won’t even eat the so-called grilled chicken breasts at places like Wendy’s and McDonald’s. They just taste like rubber to me. But the new KFC is different. It’s almost more like I made it at home. Or the kind that you would find in the deli at your grocery store. And then you get to choose from all of those yummy KFC side dishes.

The downside is that it isn’t cheap. Healthy rarely is. So be sure to sign up for the KFC coupons on their site. It’s definitely worth it to sign up!

(Edited: Looking for the Free Grilled KFC deal mentioned on Oprah? It expires on May 6 but you can click here!)

We have been on vacation for the last week and that meant lots of fast food and processed foods. I’m ready to get back into the grind and start making family meals again. I set out to find some quick and easy recipes to add to my collection. I like to plan all of my meals at the beginning of the week and go grocery shopping one time for everything. This helps keep my grocery costs down plus lessens the chance that we will eat out because I can’t find anything to fix.

A big hit at our house is Lasagna. If you find the right Lasagna Recipe, you can even make some minor modifications to it like using low fat cheeses. Or make the pan the night before and put it in the fridge. Then pop it in the oven to bake about an hour before dinner time. We always serve our lasagna with salad and a loaf of multigrain bread. That ensures we get some extra fiber with the meal.

Although cooking for the family does take a little time, you will be so satisfied when you sit down to the meal. And with a dinner like lasagna, you are almost sure to have some leftovers–a perfect lunch the next day!

I’ve been putting up Wordpress blogs for years. In fact, I recently converted the whole Helping Moms Connect site to a Wordpress blog. They are easy, configurable, and FREE. Plus, they have great Search Engine Optimization capabilities. But I got tired of looking for free Wordpress themes. Most of them were either too hard to customize or broke with the plugins that I wanted.

When I launched Chocolate Picnic, I decided that I was willing to pay a little to get a better them. After searching for days, I decided on the Thesis Theme. It was affordable and customizable. Plus, I saw that I would be able to get support.

A few months later, I was launching another new site and started looking around for themes again. After a lot of searching,  I stumbled upon a theme that I liked and clicked on it to order it. I vaguely recognized the name and started looking through my other sites. Sure enough, I had come across Thesis again for a totally different site and loved it again!

Each of my sites with Thesis is different. Some of them have the picture on the left and some the right. I use different numbers of columns. I customize with pictures from istockphoto. Then I play with the color formatting. It’s a beautiful thing.

In the end, I upgraded to a Developer’s license so that I could use Thesis across all of my different sites for the cost of only two licenses. I highly recommend Thesis and Wordpress to those of you who are looking to set up a low-cost but customized blog. You’ll be amazed at the Search Engine Optimization that you will get (which equals free traffic!) and you will want to launch even more sites.

Having just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I now find myself in that same position as all others who have been taken in by “The Boy Who Lived.” Will there be more Harry Potter books? The bad news is that there are no new Harry Potter books on the horizon. The closest that we have to hope is that there will be an Encyclopedia of sorts written sometime in the next 10 years that gives more information about all of the characters.

In the meantime, if you have not checked out the three “supplements” to the Harry Potter series, you need to hit Amazon. The first two are made to look like textbooks from Hogwarts. “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is a collection of creatures both mentioned in the series and new. The second, “Quidditch Through the Ages,” is a history of Quidditch. Both are written by J.K. Rowling under pseudonyms. You can get the boxed set for about $10 under the title Harry Potter Schoolbooks: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them/Quidditch Through the Ages (Hardcover).

More publicized was the release last year of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a book which figured prominently in  the final Harry Potter installment. The standard edition of the book not only contains five fairy tales but also commentary by Albus Dumbledore. The notes contain backstory about Potter-ish staples such as magic wands, Muggles, and the Dark Arts.

All three of the books above were written for charity. While I am sure that they will not give Harry Potter fans the same feeling as the 7 series books, they are sure to entertain and provide more background information for those of us who can’t get enough.

I happened to catch about 5 minutes of the Today show this  morning on accident. (I don’t usually watch tv while I am working during the day) Hoda and Kathie Lee were showing an item called the “GoGirl.” They were both really grossed out by it, but I thought it was wonderful!

The GoGirl is described on its website as a “female urination device”. Basically, it lets girls pee standing up. I’m one of those people who hates public restrooms and port-a-potties just about worse than anything in the world. I could absolutely see myself using this. And imagine having it on camping trips?

The only place that I have seen so far that you can buy the GoGirl is directly from their website (www.go-girl.com). For $5 you can get one in a little bag with toilet paper. Perfect to keep for an emergency.

About three years ago, my husband and I made the decision that I would leave my corporate job and start my own Internet company. It wasn’t a hard decision to make because the money was going to be about even and he was carrying all of our health insurance benefits at his corporate job. Over the years, we have not even paid much attention to health insurance because he always had good coverage through his employer.

All of a sudden two weeks ago, he was called into a meeting and told that his company was closing. He would be given a little notice time and some severance, so we were only moderately worried about him finding another job. But we were paralyzed with fear about health insurance. COBRA was going to be over $1000 a month for our family of four! How could we manage in this economy with him losing his job AND that kind of health care cost?

After the initial shock wore off, I decided to search online for health insurance plans. I figured that I would only be able to get so far before I had to give out my information and would then be contacted by a bunch of sales people with quotes. I didn’t have a choice. I had to find out what we were facing. Thankfully, I found eHealthInsurance.com. I was able to put in basic family stats and our city and find many different health insurance plans. I didn’t have to give any contact information at all and was able to compare the many different plans that they had, including our current Anthem plan.

One of the other cool features at  eHealthInsurance was the ability to put in our own doctors and see which plans covered them. There was also a rating system for each plan as well as visitor feedback. We found plans everywhere from $100 a month to $1200 for our family of four. We found names that we knew and trusted as well as brand new names. Although the prospect of having worse health insurance coverage than what have now and having to pay more for it is a little frustrating, my husband and I could not be more relieved to actually be able to sit down and look at options and run numbers without committing to anything. It is totally free to check out.

So if you are one of the tens of thousands of families facing the prospect of losing health insurance or are a family that has already lost your health insurance, at least go and check out eHealthInsurance.com and see what they can do for you. It’s a first step to gaining control of your situation.

One of my very favorite gifts to receive is a box of chocolate covered strawberries. Because our closest Godiva is at the airport, I end up getting them delivered. However, I recently discovered that not all chocolate covered strawberries are the same.

I’m not going to name names, but I think this is important information. The last time that you shopped online for chocolate covered strawberries, what was the actual description of the product. Did it include the word “chocolate”? I’ve been noticing that many of them don’t. Most say things like “hand dipped strawberries” or “covered strawberries.” Chocolate isn’t mentioned when you look closely. Why is that? Because it isn’t real chocolate and the FDA won’t allow them to say “chocolate covered” unless they truly are.

I talked to the owner of ccberries.com to get the scoop. Apparently most companies use a candy coating rather than chocolate. In order to be called “chocolate,” the coating must contain cocoa butter…and a lot of cheaper coatings do now. Instead, they use vegetable oil. Yuck!

So if you are looking for chocolate covered strawberries this Valentine’s Day, get your facts straight and make sure that you are getting what you pay for. Read descriptions of products called “hand dipped strawberries” carefully and check out their ingredients. Find sites like ccberries.com that actually sell the real deal.

One of my favorite merchants has teamed up with my favorite vacation destination! CelebrateExpress.com (BirthdayExpress.com) is giving away a 5 day, 4 night vacation for 4 to Walt Disney World.

Here’s some additional information from their site:

It includes magical Disney accommodations and tickets to all four Walt Disney World Theme Parks every day of your stay. Plus, we’ll even throw in BirthdayExpress.com party favors, and enough pixie dust to make your memories last a lifetime!

The contest ends March 31, 2009 and you can click here to enter.

Here’s a new contest that is sweet enough to eat! Enter the Hershey’s Kisses Wishes with Kisses Contest and you could win a prize valued up to $10,000. You have to submit your Valentine’s Day wish, and you might win it.

You can enter by visiting www.wisheswithkisses.com. The official rules state that you need to submit: an essay of 150 words or less describing how HERSHEY’S KISSES Brand Chocolates can make your wish come true to show your love and affection for that special person in your life. Essays can be in English or Spanish.

Entries must be submitted by February 16, 2009.

Another Super Bowl means another year of highly talked about Super Bowl commercials. One of the ones that I am hearing the most about already is the Cash 4 Gold Super Bowl commercial that is featuring Ed McMahon and MC Hammer. In fact, it’s already airing hours before the Super Bowl and even showing up on Youtube.

If you haven’t seen these Dollars for Gold and Cash for Gold offers yet, they are pretty simple. You fill out their web form to get an envelope in the mail from them. You send your broken jewelry to them (they pay the postage) and then they send you a check for it. Now, I wouldn’t go sending thousands of dollars in jewelry to them. But if you have some old necklaces and rings that you know for sure you will never wear again, it doesn’t hurt to send it in and make a little extra money.

I have MANY friends who have used these companies and not a single one of them reports being taken advantage of. In fact, most of them said it was a great experience and they would do it again. Here’s one of the Cash4Gold.com Super Bowl Commercials. Kind of cute! I think my favorite part is Ed McMahon’s gold toilet.

By the way, Cash 4 Gold’s competition, Cash for Gold USA, is now running a “Super Bowl special” where they are giving an bonus of 20% on your gold this week only. I don’t know and MC Hammer. In fact, it’s already airing hours before the Super Bowl and even showing up on Youtube.