Hi everyone,

Starting this week, I’m going to be featuring one deserving mom on the site every week! Let’s face it—sometimes being a mom can be a thankless job. As I mention in The Mommy Diet, if you want to be the healthiest and happiest mom you can be, it’s important to focus on yourself and take time out of your busy schedule to relax, regroup, socialize, exercise, and even pamper yourself. So think of this new weekly feature as an opportunity to reflect and share your thoughts, struggles, and joys with other mothers.

Check the homepage every Monday for a new Mom of the Week question and be sure to leave your response in the comment section below. From your responses, I will select one member to spotlight as our Mom of the Week . The winner’s photo will appear on the homepage for the duration of the following week. I think this will be a fun way to share our experiences as mothers and to give some attention to all that mothers do for their families and friends!

This week’s question: What’s your secret to having it all?

xo
Ali

P.S. If you’re not a mom, please know that it is not my intention to make you feel excluded in any way with this new feature. I hope you will add your response (as most of the questions will apply to everyone!) and remember that anyone can be featured as our Community Member of the Month! ; )

Hi everyone,

It’s time to announce this month’s standout community member! It was a tough choice, because so many of you stepped up to my challenge and started sharing more. (Thanks! I've loved hearing from you!)

That being said, this month’s winner went above and beyond to interact with everyone in the community. She shared her personal recipes, provided feedback and advice when others posted questions in the forum, and left lots of fun, thoughtful comments below the daily posts.

So congratulations, JMS (a.k.a. Janine Smith). You’re our Community Member of the Month!

Janine and Richard were high school sweethearts and have been married for 37 years!

Janine has shared everything from beauty tips and tricks...

"Use Preparation H for puffy eyes...just make sure you only put it on any puffy bags you might get when tired UNDER your eyes and not in the eye.  It is amazing how this works for reducing the swelling. Also, take your white or light shadow and put it in the center of your lid covering 1/8 to 1/4 inch from the center of the crease vertically to the lid. This makes your eyes POP!" :-)

...to her own tried and true family recipes:

Family Shepherd’s Pie

2 lbs hamburger or ground turkey
1 lg pkg frozen peas
1 lg pkg of frozen corn
1 lg sweet onion
1 lg can or 2 small cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 lg batch of mashed potatoes

"Add the following into a warm skillet: hamburger or turkey, onions, 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (DO NOT add milk or water), salt and pepper, and cook. In a casserole dish: make a layer of mashed potatoes, then add your hamburger mixture, then one package of frozen peas, and a package of frozen corn in the middle, then mashed potatoes on top and seal it all the way to the edge (LIKE FROSTING A CAKE!). Cook at 350 for about 45 minutes and then I broil for a few minutes at the end to get the potatoes nice and crispy. This is delicious and LOWER in fat then the regular recipe because of the soup AND A REAL FAMILY PLEASER!"

Janine is a mom of three and feels blessed to have six grandchildren in total.

Individual Pizzas

"The whole idea is that each person gets to assemble their own pizza with the items they like…how fun is that? Begin with package of tortillas…you can also change it up a bit by using english muffins or Trader Joes spinach pizza packets (my favorite!).

Cut up the following ingredients and place EACH item in a SEPARATE little glass bowl all lined up on the counter top: green peppers, red peppers, onion, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, fresh basil and oregano, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, sea salt, pineapple, ham, turkey sausage, low fat pizza cheese and bomboli sauce (use tomatoes paste or any kind of pizza sauce)…the sky is the limit! Once they are assembled, cook at 350 for 9 minutes."

Baylei and Makena, Janine's precious grandkids. How cute are they?!?

And I love the advice Janine gives at the end of this recipe for anyone with young children or picky eaters:

"When kids are too young to make wise choices, I put everything I want them to have in the food processer and mince it… I then let the kids add the pizza sauce and when they have their heads turned, I add the mixture and tell them to put the cheese on...they love these quick and easy treats!" ;)

Little Violet.

Janine, it's obvious from your profile that you really adore your "grandbabies," as you call them! Baylei Noel, Makena Rylie, Addisen Rose, Colten Lee, Nathaniel Madden and Violet Noel are so lucky to have you in their lives. Oh, and as for your adorable "mini-me" granddaughter (below), Janine—please tell her I am flattered by the comparison! ; )

Baylei does seem to have a little Sami Brady in her!

“My granddaughter watches the show with me sometimes and thinks she looks like Alison enough to be her next daughter. I am not kidding. She is so set for the part... What do you think? She wants me to bring her to Day of Days to meet her. I swear she LOVES her lol...she keeps saying how her eyes are just like Sami's and her hair is the same color. She kisses the screen when Ali comes on…too funny!"

I was sorry to learn that Janine's mom passed away last year. This is such a lovely photo of them.

As a thank you, Janine, you’ll be receiving a personalized copy of The Mommy Diet.

Want to be featured as our next Community Member of the Month? Get involved and start sharing! You can start by filling in your profile information and uploading personal videos and photos to your profile. You can also post your thoughts, feelings, questions, and success stories in our forum and in the comment section below my daily blog posts.

Congrats again, Janine!

xoxo

Ali

Hi everyone,

I’ve been reading all the great advice, tips, and questions that so many of you have graciously taken the time to post in the AlisonSweeney.com forums. As I bounced from one interesting discussion thread to another, I couldn't help but take note of the success story posted by one particular user, Eleni Helen Giannarapis:

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to share my husband's success story. Before Christmas my husband and I decided to become more conscious about what we ate, we are both pretty healthy eaters to begin with, but we wanted to be better (healthy heart awareness). Anyway, for FOUR weeks I made some slight changes in our diets and by the end of the month my husband was down 8 pounds!!! Here is what I did:

1. No refined foods--no sugar, white flour, etc.

2. Instead of his usual cereal for breakfast he had goat's yogurt (apparently easier to digest than cow's milk) and blueberries, or any other berry.

3.  For lunch he would have a greek salad, with olive oil, tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese, and oregano. Also, I would pack him some carrots and an apple or pear or both.

4.  For dinner we would always start out with a HUGE salad--the salad dressing I made was just olive oil and raspberry vinaigrette.  And our side was tons of veggies and 3/4 cup of BROWN RICE, PLUS a protein.

5.  Our staple protein was primarily fish--but we would have chicken breast as well---NO RED MEAT AT ALL (also no pork).

6. I would grill, steam or bake everything---NO FRYING!

7.  I NEVER USED SALT---Just Mrs. Dash and fresh herbs

8.  Twice a week we would eat a baked potato

9.  No pop!

10.  Almonds and fruit were great snacks!!!

My husband and I feel great and the weight loss was just an added plus!! Here's to healthy living!!

P.S. I will post our favorite soup recipe that is soooo easy to make and super good for you!!!

And as promised, Eleni later posted her favorite soup recipe:

FRESH MUSHROOM SOUP WITH PARSLEY

1 tbsp. sunflower oil

3 shallots, chopped

8 oz. mushrooms, sliced

2 cups vegetable stock

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

2-3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the shallots and saute for 5 minutes (until soft). Add the mushrooms and cook gently for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in stock and season with the pepper, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes (veg. should be tender). Cool the soup by removing it from the heat and just wait a bit. Then puree the soup with either a hand-held blender or in a food processor until smooth. Stir in parsley and gently reheat the soup when you are ready to serve it. Enjoy!!!

Eleni's profile is also chock full of great information about her and her family. I learned that she loves, loves, loves to play and coach soccer, and that she and her husband live in London, Ontario, Canada, where they both work as high school teachers and are the proud parents of a 7-month-old girl, Sophia.

So now that you know a little bit more about her, I'd like to name Eleni Helen Giannarapis our first Community Member of the Month! As a thank you, Eleni, you’ll be receiving a personalized copy of The Mommy Diet.

I encourage all of you to share your stories, because we’ll be giving away fun prizes and choosing a Community Member of the Month to highlight each and every month!

You can tell us about yourself in a number of ways, including simply filling in your profile information, uploading personal videos and photos (like the pic above of Eleni's daughter!) to your profile, and posting your thoughts, feelings, questions and success stories in our forums and in the comment section below each blog post.

I am excited to find out more about all of you and I think having a community member featured monthly is a great way to get the ball rolling on all the sharing!

xo

Ali