Special Announcement

Moms Gone Geek will be on a little hiatus for the time being while TheMacMommy and her family adjust to life with a newborn all over again. It won't be too long before Melissa will NEED to get her geek on and get back into podcasting again. We have a couple of shows on ice that still need to be produced and published so stay tuned and check back for new content soon!

Say hello to the newest member of the Moms Gone Geek team, Keagan Davis!

MGG 025 Geek Eats with Kat Curlee

Listen to this episode of Moms Gone Geek.

Grab yourself a snack and tune in to this packed episode where we discuss all things geek AND food with Kat and Dave Curlee of the shows "Cooking with Kat" and the new "The Kitchen Gadget Show." Who knew just how much tech and geek talk could be involved while discussing cooking! Discover your inner geek — on the other side of the screen — in the KITCHEN! Listen to the Curlees share their cooking tips, family stories, production techniques, favorite links and cooking tools — all this week on Moms Gone Geek!

Social Networks & Recipe Sharing

Cooking with Kat www.KatCurlee.com

The Kitchen Gadget Show www.KitchenGadgetShow.com

Facebook Fan Page www.facebook.com/CookingWithKat

Dave's Website: www.DaveCurlee.com

Kat on Twitter: @KatCurlee
Dave on Twitter: @DaveCurleee 

Meal Planning
Kat's Ten Back-to-School Meal Planning Tips That Can Save You Money

1. Make fewer trips to the grocery store—or fast food restaurants—and cut your fuel costs. Frequent trips to the grocery store waste time, gas and money. So, create your meal plans for the week and make all of your purchases in one trip to the store.

2. Eliminate wasted food that goes uneaten in your refrigerator. When you plan your meals you make better use of the food you purchase and reduce spoilage. For example, soups and stews are a great way to make use of extra vegetables, milk or cheese.

3. Buy fresh produce in season—when it’s cheaper. You’ll pay more for food purchased off-season so choose recipes that use seasonal ingredients.

4. Build meals around sale items featured at your grocery store. Take advantage of what’s on sale by searching our recipe database by ingredient.

5. Clip coupons and check store promotions for foods you buy on a regular basis. This is a money saving habit that can really add up over the long term.

6. Stock your pantry when items you can store in the cupboard or freezer are on sale. In addition to saving money up front, buying more of your kitchen staples when they go on sale will also ensure that you always have healthy food on hand for those nights when you don’t know what to cook.

7. Eat a healthy breakfast from home—decrease spending on expensive convenience foods eaten on the go or purchased from vending machines. Breakfasts do not need to be complicated. Having simple foods on hand, such as yogurt, whole-wheat bread, fruit and cereal, provide important nutrients often lacking in convenience foods.

8. Pack your lunch. Lunch and snacks prepared at home save money. Packing your lunch will keep you from feeling pressured to purchase expensive and often less nutritious meals or snacks from convenience stores, vending machines and restaurants. If you’re already making a lunch for your children, it only takes a few more minutes to make an extra sandwich or snack for yourself.

9. Buy in bulk. Purchase and prepare your favorite and frequently eaten foods in bulk—such as, purchasing two for one gallons of milk. Preparing dinner "in bulk" by doubling a recipe or adding another serving or two will cost very little extra and leave you with leftovers for lunches or another dinner later in the week.

10. Eat at home. Make time for family meals at home. Meals prepared at home are often more nutritious and less expensive than restaurant meals. In addition to providing your family with nutritious meals and cutting food costs, eating at home gives you the invaluable opportunity to talk to and connect with your family.

Creating Digital Cookbooks

DigitalCookbook.tv
PanDigital.com sells a Kitchen HDTV Digital Recipe/Picture Frame using Bon Apetite collection. Can be used as a counter top device or install it under cabinet.  

Favorite Sites

MealsMatter.Org
Hershey's
Kraft Food & Family
FoodTV
GroceryGame.com
Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller

Favorite Gadgets in the Kitchen

Sankotu Knife
Egg Slicer
Kitchenaid Mixer
Great Grandmother's Cast Iron Skillet

Kat's Favorite Tech Tools from a Mom's Point of View

iPod Touch!!! "I can keep my schedule, pictures, music, check weather, etc. It's my FAVORITE!"
"My notebook in my kitchen!"

MGG 024 Gone Geek with Allison Sheridan

Listen to this episode of Moms Gone Geek.

In this episode, we interview über geeky Mom, Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast podcast. (or the "Nosillycast" as my son, Lucian, likes to call it) We discuss how she's gone "the way of the geek" and what that means to her from a Mom's point of view personally and professionally.

Allison shares her stories about life as a geeky mom and how she's evolved into a popular podcaster with the support of her kids and her Soul Mate/Husband, Steve. You won't want to miss the sage advice she has to offer — all this week on Moms Gone Geek.

Subscribe to the NosillaCast Mac Podcast hosted at http://podfeet.com

Follow Allison on Twitter at http://twitter.com/podfeet

Go see Allison is speak at the BlogWorld and New Media Expo 2009!

"I'll be doing a talk entitled Podcaster Starter Kit where I'll walk through all the tools to get started and some advice on why you need the different tools. My talk is Friday October 16th at 11:30am!"

http://www.blogworldexpo.com/

Allison is listed as number 224

Other Podcasting Contributions by Allison Sheridan

Mac Roundtable at http://macroundtable.com

Mac Reviewcast at http://macreviewcast.com

Just how geeky do Moms get?

Before there was Excel or iCal, there was this thing called a pencil and you could draw a hand-made graph of your basal body temperature. This is helpful information to have when trying to conceive. Here is the graph Allison saved when they were trying to conceive their daughter. (Hi Lindsay, you weren't just planned, you were plotted!)

Allison's anecdote on the memory attached to this graph, "The best part though is that I flipped it over and on the back was a draft of a love note to my husband after we had become pregnant with "Orsen" telling him how happy I was with our life and how excited I was about the upcoming adventure. Lindsay's nick name in the womb was Orsen because of a joke by Dave Barry where he said, "Women who are pregnant often mention that they're eating for two, but they don't realize the other person is not the size of Orsen Wells."

MGG 023 PHR Follow Up with Lygeia Ricciardi

Listen to this episode of Moms Gone Geek.

In this episode we pay a follow up visit to a previous show topic: Digital Medical Records, also known as your PHR or Personal Health Record. We interview Lygeia Ricciardi from Clear Voice Consulting, LLC in Washington, DC about this increasingly interesting and timely topic. She has some fantastic insight and we encourage you to tune in to this episode and share with us your thoughts, experiences and ideas regarding digital medical records and the products that best serve you and your health as a PHR.

Follow Lygeia on Twitter

Lygeia also writes for Project Health Design

Topics

• What a PHR is, where and how you can establish a PHR such as health plans, health systems, employers and what functions they might have

• The relationship between EMRs (or EHRs) and PHRs and how in the future they will be increasingly linked together in ways that benefit patients and doctors alike

• How to choose a PHR, what to look for

• Medical Identity Theft - what can you do to protect yourself? Learn about an "audit trail"

• Potential benefits of PHRs and electronic health information like research, public health, quality improvement, genetic mapping

• The US Government's role in implementation and accountability regarding digital medical records

• The future of remote health care using technology like video conferencing or mobile applications

• Aggregating medical data and the implications and benefits it can provide

• The affect of policies, politics and regulations on Health Information Technology

Tips

• Ask your health care provider if or what kind of access you may already have to your information that might be able to be ported into a PHR of your choice

• If you're looking for a new doctor, ask ahead of time if they use digital medical records and if you might be able to use any of that information in your own PHR

Example: American Academy of Pediatrics Immunization Schedules

• Be sure to consider portability of the data you input into a PHR; Can you take it with you or move it somewhere else?

Some PHRs To Check Out

Mayo Clinic Health Manager powered by Microsoft HealthVault

My PHR

23andMe - At-Home DNA Testing service

Google Health