If you’re a busy mum, or anyone, you might think it’s impossible to take care of your teeth, between the kids, work, and school, when do you have time for proper dental hygiene? You brush your teeth in the morning, but that’s about it. Fortunately, there are ways for you to take advantage of your busy schedule so that you can do more to protect your precious teeth and gums.

Mouthwash

Mouthwash is the basic first defense against plaque and gum disease. It only takes 30 seconds to kill off weak bacteria, so you can actually put some of this in your mouth while you get ready to hop in the shower. If you shower at night, do it at night. For mornings, swish some mouthwash around while you are getting the kids dressed or while you’re making their lunches. Dilute it with 50 percent water if it’s too intense for you. While 30 seconds is good, more swishing time isn’t going to hurt.

A good fluoride rinse without any fancy ingredients (i.e. whitening ingredients) goes a long way to protect your teeth. Using fluoride rinse at night before bed is especially important if you already have weak, loose, or discolored teeth. You can make this a sort of game with your kids if you like. Both mum and child can brush, wash, and rinse mouths before bed. This way, it doesn’t take extra time out of your already busy day.

Another good option for mouthwash throughout the day are those Listerine strips. Just pop one in your mouth, and it kills most germs that cause bad breath.

Floss

You should floss before you brush, but if that’s not possible, carry a small floss dispenser with you in your purse. Floss after every meal and rinse with some water. This should be relatively easy to do since floss doesn’t take up much space. While toothpicks and flossing sticks might seem easier, they’re also a bit more expensive and may not do a good enough job. Since you’ll have to dispose of used flossing equipment anyway, it’s probably best to stick with regular floss.

Toothpaste

Brushing is sometimes done as a separate activity from showering. However, one of the best ways to save time is to brush in the shower. This effectively combines two activities in one. Since you only need to brush for about 2 minutes to have a beneficial effect on your gums and teeth, you can brush while the water is warming up or while you’re wetting yourself down.

When you can’t brush during the day after every meal, you can do the next best thing: use finger tooth wipes. These things look like little gloves for your fingers, but they are textured so you can brush your teeth with them. When you’re done, you simply toss the glove.

Xylitol

Xylitol is a sugar alcohol. While sugar contributes to gum disease and tooth decay, xylitol actually inhibits it. This is why some toothpastes, candies, and gum use this as the sweetener. Try to find pure xylitol mints or candies to suck on during the day. It will help inhibit the growth of harmful oral bacteria. Alternatively, you can put about 10 ml of xylitol in a bottle of water and carry it around with you. Make sure the sugar alcohol is thoroughly dissolved before you start drinking it. Swish it around in your mouth and hold it there for a few seconds before swallowing it or slowly sip it throughout the day. Don’t consume too much of this at one time though, because some people report gastrointestinal upset when large quantities are consumed at once.

Claire York is a dental nurse and in her spare time she enjoys writing articles about health and well being. The Invisible Orthodontist.

Welcome to our latest ‘Balance Beam’ work life balance profile, brought to you by Christie Rigg from Wealth By Design.

We have had such great feedback to our ‘Balance Beam’ posts. It is wonderful to have an insight into what other organisation’s are doing and be inspired to think more about what we can do.

Do you have some work life balance insights or initiatives you would like to share? To have your organisation profiled in our ‘Balance Beam’ series, please scroll to the end of this post for further information.

Don’t forget to share this post with your followers and friends!

Title: Adviser

Company: Wealth By Design

Country: Australia

Website: www.wbdgroup.com.au

1. What are some of the work life balance issues your organisation faces?

The challenge is creating an environment that offers all team members suitable flexibility of both their work environment and the hours that they work, but still maintain a higher standard of service to clients. We are a very busy firm, so the additional challenge is to operate efficiency so the “overtime” for team members is minimised.

2. What work life balance initiatives do you have in your organisation, big or small?

• Making sure that tasks are covered by other team members if someone is away or on annual leave.
• 2 workflow meetings a week where work is evenly distributed based on the workloads of other team members
• Both formal and informal mentoring and an open door policy to enable everyone to stay on top of workload and be able to prioritise effectively
• Getting people to document both their professional and personal goals
• Leave days are available for those that are studying
• Time in lieu available where some overtime has been necessary.
• Flexibility in working hours to accommodate life events (exercise classes, personal training, active interests outside of work).
• Mobile and remote access that is disconnected while you are on holidays!
• Mutual awareness and respect – knowing when someone’s work/life balance is out of sync.

3. What have been the main benefits to your organisation of these initiatives?

Everyone remains motivated and focused and less stressed both as individuals and as part of the team. We have better efficiencies and spend our time more effectively.

4. Do you conduct any regular surveying or evaluation of your work life initiatives?

Yes, we have an annual team member survey and established performance management system. We all have regular catch ups to discuss work on the go and ask team members for their feedback on time management.

The development of a clear employee culture. This also helps with recruitment knowing the fit of a new team member.

5. What are some of your own personal work life balance and/or time management tips?

• Making sure that you work to your strengths – for me I know that I work better later in the evening rather than first thing in the morning.
• Having scheduled time for the work related things that I dislike doing as well as the social things that I like doing.
• Making and diarising time for things I enjoy outside of work.
• Trying to handle everything only once.

 6. What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I enjoy reading a great book, travelling and catching up with friends.

7. Tell us about your organisation. What are the key services of your organisation and what is your target market?

Wealth By Design has a focus on Small to Medium Enterprise and Time Poor Professionals. We deal with individuals as well as family businesses and larger companies and organisations who are looking for ongoing assistance to plan for the future and achieve their objectives.

8. What is your role within the organisation?

Senior Adviser

9. Other comments, tips or ideas:

• Effective diary management is critical
• We also include lifestyle planning for our clients and have a values based approach to planning – it is not always just about the money!

Abbie’s Comments: “I think many of us can relate to the challenges of trying to manage the work life balance of a variety of people in an organisation. It seems awareness and respect is a key aspect of managing this at Wealth By Design.”

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the Crows Foundation Ladies Luncheon. The room was full of energetic, happy, generous women; it was a wonderful afternoon.

The lunch was chock full of action, including an auction, a Liza Emanuele fashion parade, and a silent auction (which we were proud to contribute to). The highlight for me however, was the wonderful keynote presentation delivered by The Today Show’s Lisa Wilkinson.

Lisa was funny, inspiring and moving. She took us through the story of going from high school to ‘Girl Friday’ of Dolly magazine, becoming it’s Editor at the age of 21! She talked of how she moved to editor of Cleo (headhunted by Kerry Packer himself) and all the way to her current role as co-host on The Today Show. Lisa also told us the story (at length and in detail which I loved!) of how she met her husband, the well-known author and former Wallabies Rugby Player, Peter Fitzsimons.

In a room full of women, one of the key messages Lisa delivered  was to try to move beyond the idea that as women we should be able to do everything. Yes, getting up at 3am every week day (I shudder just thinking about it!) and having 3 children means Lisa has simply had to accept that she can’t do everything. From her speech I learnt that juggling all the balls is only possible, most of the time, if you keep on top of your communication. Lisa’s communication with her husband, her children and her work colleagues is crucial in ensuring she can manage some sort of work life balance.

The other thing that struck me was that whenever her contract comes up for renewal, it is her husband and kids who have the final say. Lisa said that as soon as they said ‘no more’, she would give up The Today Show. Simply, her family was the most important thing in her life.

In reading an interview with Lisa Wilkinson on MotherInc.com.au Lisa gave me some great insight into her views on work life balance:

“I’m like most mums who are either in full time or part time work or are full time mothers, you have your good times and your bad. I just manage the keep the balls in the air about half the time and as a mum that’s not a bad strike rate.” 

“When I started with the Today Show we thought it would be great because our body clocks would be more aligned as we were both getting up early. We thought we could balance it and essentially we thought we were making it work. But six months later we were both so tired at the end of the day so Pete gave up breakfast radio.”

And my personal favourite – “I have spoken with lots of other women who do breakfast radio and television and they have given me some advice. They have said the first six months you’ll feel like a superwoman getting everything done and in bed by 10.30pm. After six months you have to learn to make peace with yourself and realise you can’t do it all and you’ll be in bed by 7.30pm! I’m at that stage now and I’m learning that I don’t have to be in control of all the little details, that I can let other people take some of the slack.”

Often we see celebrities as far removed from us. We see them as either superhuman or so rich they can afford to hire people to help with everything in their lives. It is nice to peek behind the curtain and realise that for the most part they are just like us, with the same issues and guilt and balls to juggle.

Everyone on my table at the Crows Foundation Ladies Luncheon agreed that Lisa was just like she appears on TV – funny, self effacing and down to earth. A great speaker, and I imagine, a wonderful woman to be around!

P.S. Thank you to Adele Basheer from Intrinsic for the invitation to join her table!

I sit at my desk, iPad to my left, laptop in front of me, and a large monitor to my right. My iPhone is also at the ready, next to my physical notebook. Yes, I’m a bit of a gadget geek. I love testing out new software, having the latest Microsoft Office suite or trying out a new iPad app, and I especially love beautifully designed and visually appealing programs.

Today, I want to share with you some of the apps and programs I use on a daily basis to manage my time and keep me organised.

Wunderlist

My day revolves around my to do list and if ever I don’t have it with me or forget to look at (come on, we’ve all done that!) then I feel out of whack and am never sure if I have actually achieved anything that day. Previously I religiously kept my to do list in a notebook because nothing else did what I needed it to do, plus, I could take it everywhere with me. That was until Wunderlist. Wunderlist has three main benefits for me. (1). I can access it everywhere – my PC, my iPad and my iPhone. It is literally at my fingertips at almost all times. (2). I can sort it into days of the week lists, as well as Next Week and Ongoing. This was the main reason I used my notebook because nothing else allowed me to sort in this way. Now I not only have all the lists ready to go, but if I need to move something to another list I simply drag and drop! And (3) Wunderlist looks great! You can choose different backgrounds, but I have stuck with the default wood background. It is visually appealing and is a pleasure to use. BONUS – it is free! Yes, that is correct. You can download it here and it is free for all applications.

Outlook

On oldie but a goodie. I have learnt the hard way that I need to keep all my emails. Yes, all of them. Ok, not the spam, or every copy of all the e-newsletters I subscribe to (and then unsubscribe from when my inbox gets overwhelmed). However, I am often having to reference old emails, even ones from years ago, when a clients rings up and says “Remember when you did…….”. Hence, Outlook is my master filing cabinet, with client folders, business folders, personal folders all set up on the left-hand side so that I can drop emails in and keep my main inbox free. I also use Outlook to sync emails, calendars and contacts with my iPhone and iPad. At this point in time, I simply could not live without Outlook.

iCloud

An extension of Outlook for me is the new Apple iCloud. The most important factor of iCloud for us (although you can do many things with it such as sharing and saving documents, locating your iPad and syncing email) is sharing our calendars. Tim and I were getting into trouble when we were scheduling things into our diaries without checking with the other person. We don’t have a Microsoft Exchange Server so we were never able to view each other’s calendars on our own computers. We had to rely on luck or remembering to check with the other person before confirming appointments. This was difficult, unproductive and caused mistakes. Now we have iCloud. It has been a huge blessing! We can now see each other’s calendars on our computers as well as on our iPhones. We can have new bookings emailed to us if we want to, and we can edit and update each other’s calendar as well. Such a simple thing has made a big difference, especially as it is rare that we are in the office at the same time. I can see in the future that we will also share client calendars so that we can support them in managing their schedules as well.

Evernote

I first downloaded Evernote onto my iPad because it was one of those apps always in ‘Must Have Apps for the iPad’ lists. However, I never really knew how to use it. It wasn’t until I also downloaded it onto my iPhone and PC that I really got it. Now I love Evernote! It is like a digital filing cabinet for all those things you want to remember, important things you need to keep, or something you’d like to read later. My favourite way of using Evernote is to take photographs with my iPhone of things I will need to refer to, such as wedding invitations, my modem password, a document before I pop it in the post. I then send the photograph to Evernote, tag it with key words to help me find it again and that piece of paper can now go in the bin! There is a lot more you can do with Evernote, and I will be writing a dedicated post on the topic in the near future. In particular, I see this as a great option to work with clients in managing their important documents and records, and where we both have access to the information.

My Notebook

No, this isn’t as technical as the other items I have mentioned, but even with all the software out there, I still sometimes just need to use a good old-fashioned pen and a piece of paper. I have a lovely notebook that my Mum gave me a few years ago. The gorgeous red and cream cover slides off so you can refill it with another notebook as you need to. My notebook predominantly resides on my desk or I take it with me when I want to brainstorm, or won’t have access to technology but still want to get some work done. Leaving my notebook home or god forbid, losing it, isn’t quite the drama it used to be, now that I keep my to do lists and crucial information in my other programs. However, it is still next to me when I work to scribble notes whilst on the phone or noting something quickly while I think of it. Although I am trying to move to a more paperless existence, like the book versus ebook conundrum, I cannot imagine ever being completely without a notebook.

What productivity tools do you use? Apps, software, or physical devices? Share your tools below!

Last year was my first Mother’s Day. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I think I was just looking forward to breakfast in bed or some chocolates or a nice lunch out (incidentally I was given a great book by Adelaide author Jane Paech, A Family in Paris). I got something even better. What I felt was an amazing thankfulness that I had been lucky enough to celebrate Mother’s Day. I was now a mother. It was something I had always imagined, and at that stage I had been a mother for over 5 months. Yet it wasn’t until Mother’s Day that I realised in fact how very fortunate I am. On Mother’s Day, I was just happy to be a Mum. Full stop.

Later when I asked my Mum what her most memorable Mother’s Day gift had been (in preparation for a radio interview with Amanda Blair) I expected her to come up with something like our handmade gifts, or a family photo, or a day trip we took. Perhaps even the surf fishing rod Dad gave her (true story, although I think it was actually a birthday present!). But no, she did not give any of these answers.

What Was My Mum’s Most Memorable Mother’s Day Present?

My mum’s answer - the Mother’s Day she woke up and no one was home.

Yes, that’s right. There was no one there delivering breakfast in bed. There was no one with flowers or chocolates. There was no one trying to crawl under the covers and snuggle with her, fighting to see who got the best possie.

No one. At all.

This was my mum’s dream. In two words – peace and quiet. For a whole day.

It seems Dad had gotten us all up early, bundled us in the car and taken us somewhere. Mum had no idea where. She didn’t care.

Would You Dare Recreate My Mum’s Most Memorable Mother’s Day?

I’m not sure where Dad got the inspiration for this amazing Mother’s Day Gift. Perhaps mum had dropped a few subtle and not so subtle hints. I am sure in the tradition of my Dad, Mum never actually dreamed it would come true.

So what about the mum in your life?

Would the mum in your life (your wife, your sister, your daughter, your cousin) be overwhelmed if on Mother’s Day you simply snuck the kids out of the house and left her to it?

What about if you also left a pre-booked massage voucher on the kitchen bench next to some flowers? (Although, I can hear my mum say “I wouldn’t even want to have to go anywhere. Then I’d actually have to get up, have a shower, get dressed……..!”).

How about if you left some chocolates, a bottle of wine or her favourite tea, a pile of her favourite DVD’s and a new pair of Ugg Boots?

Sometimes the best gift is not actually a gift at all. In this case my Dad had truly given my Mum the gift of time. The gift of time all to herself. To do whatever she wanted. Whenever she wanted. No interruptions, no whining, no fighting.

I don’t think I will need  my Mum’s most memorable Mother’s Day recreated this year. However, I can imagine there will come a time when I will appreciate this just as much as my Mum. (Tim, perhaps bookmark this post for future reference!).

What is your most memorable Mother’s Day? What is your mum’s most memorable Mother’s Day? We’d love to hear from you. Please share in the comments below.

P.S. If all of this seems like a lot to organise, you know you can ask your personal concierge to help out!

As the guest blogger for Lifestyle Elements today I wanted to touch on time management with an etiquette spin and under this umbrella there is one of the most commonly asked questions I get: What time is on time to arrive for a meeting?

There is a saying I love “On time is late” and it is so true, however, you don’t want to be too early…. Hard one…. You want to show that you respect your meeting associate’s time by not being late, and at the same time, being too early can throw just a big a spanner in their day.

Time management in all our lives (both professionally and personally) is critical to being effective and if someone comes to a meeting too early then it can really throw you out. Some people may also have back to back meeting and being too early can mean they don’t get to change their head space from the last meeting to you. What does this mean? Well imagine if the meeting just before you was with a lawyer about a case they are involved in that is very petty and draining, you do not want that energy to flow on into your meeting and getting there like the early bird may not give them an opportunity to shift gears back to neutral….. You want them neutral and level-headed, not stressed and preoccupied.

10-15 minutes is too early as this time is usually used getting prepared for the meeting and you could potentially force the meeting to start on an unprepared or uncomfortable way. Not good (especially if this is your first meeting where making a great first impression is key to developing a great business relationship).

I would suggest that 5 minutes is a good balance of a little bit early but not too early!

If I find myself being too early for a meeting I will just wait outside or in the car before announcing myself so not to add any pressure on my meeting contact and start on that wrong foot.

Showing respect in this area and appreciating both yours and your contact’s time management needs through the day will ensure it will be a great start to your business relationship.

Danielle Di-Masi is a keynote speaker and business trainer. She specialises in business etiquette and all things around behaviours and human interaction; especially in building effective business relationships through connection and rapport. Danielle has worked and presented for some of the biggest companies and events in Australia and the US, such as Deloitte, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Qantas, University of NSW, Australian Graduate School of Management, Australia School of business, Golden Door Retreat and many others. Danielle has been a featured business expert for Cosmopolitan, The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, Body & Soul, Madison, Yahoo Small Business, finance and lifestyle, Knowledge@AustralianSchoolofBusiness, ABC Radio, 2UE Radio, Dynamic Business and for Channel Ten and Channel Seven. www.nextbusinessleaders.com  www.facebook.com/nextbusinessleaders

I’m always interested when I hear women talking about how little time they have for the everyday things … especially themselves!

Of course, I come from an era when women always had time! Although I do remember my mother rushing around to organise the house for when my father got home; she used to go out a lot!

The majority of these women (a particular socio-economic group) didn’t work, and the most tiresome task of the day was deciding what to prepare for dinner; unless you were really well-heeled and had a cook/housekeeper who made even that decision disappear in the steam of boiling vegetables.

For many women of that time, life was about Morning Coffee, Afternoon Tea, collecting the children from school, ironing the bread winner’s shirts and going to the hairdresser once a week for the obligatory ‘cast in stone’ helmet-head hairstyle which lasted, with nary a hair out of place, until the next week.

And yes, there were even more women who never experienced this type of life; whose every waking hour was spent trying to keep their family clean and fed and happy. And that was all they wanted … or was it?

Society has changed … dramatically. Think of what we have nowadays that hadn’t even been thought of 40 or 50 years ago! I remember my first mobile phone which closely resembled a house brick. And the first time I wrote a computer sub-routine was using a small card and a hole puncher; the card was fed into a slot and hey presto, some time later, the answer appeared … on another piece of paper !

Is it any wonder that women who, like myself, were brought up in that quieter, slower and (dare I say it?) more genteel era, are now looking around and thinking “this is very interesting!” We look at younger women in their thirties and forties and can’t help but see they are heading in the same direction. So what was Women’s Lib all about?!

Where do their dreams and aspirations go? What happens to their chutzpah and pizzaz? Why do they persist in following in our footsteps and making the same mistakes? What is the biggest thing we can pass on to the women coming up behind us … We can teach them to change  the one major, glaring, in your face, monumental boo-boo that so  many women seem to choose to make (I plead guilty!), which is simply refusing to acknowledge they are worthy and deserving of time spent on themselves.

Once a week it is crucial, to maintain your emotional balance, your physical well-being, your self-esteem and your values, to reward yourself  in some way, for having achieved so much. Every single week. And if you really want to take it to the limit, reward yourself once a day … even if it’s only sitting outside quietly sipping a cup of coffee or a glass of water (maybe wine?).

Take the time to be with yourself. Enjoy your own company. Take up Yoga or Pilates or just go for a walk every morning and enjoy the peace of the start of the day.

Can something so simple really change your life? Yes …

Be grateful for everything, big and small.

Smile … big smile … more often, more easily

And if you don’t think you’re old enough to take this advice on board, you will be one day. The legendary Sophie Tucker on the subject of growing old, said “all you have to do is just breathe” …

Born in London, Penelope Whiteley has travelled extensively. Her working life has been catholic to say the least; she has experienced a variety of incarnations ranging from medical student to Actress to Singer to software developer … and beyond! Penelope is an International Speaker and Educator, a Life Transition Coach and a Stylist. She works with women on an individual basis, runs workshops for groups of women ranging in number from 20 to 500. Her aim is to Age Disgracefully and she helps as many other women as possible to do the same! Penelope works to help women boost their self-confidence and step into their power! She has become the Queen of Mid-life Make Over … Penelope can be contacted at http://www.agingdisgracefullynow.com

We all have them. Or, if we don’t, we should get busy getting some. Yes, those crazy life goals where, on the one hand, you don’t believe will ever come true, and on the other hand, secretly can’t wait for!

Yes, you know, those goals.

I have them. Do you?

My first goal is to write a novel. Ok, ok, I’ll be honest.  It’s really to become a world-famous author, a New York Times bestseller a few times over, and to sit in my amazing writing room churning out novel after novel.

My other goals is to live in France for a year. There are a few caveats to this goal, the main one being, that I will be doing it with my family. And when I say ‘family’, I mean my husband and three children. Oh, did you know I currently only have one child?

Ok, so perhaps my third crazy life goal is to have three children. Yes, I said three (to all those people with two, three, or more children who are currently shaking their head and smiling knowingly, I’m intentionally ignoring you). We’ll see how I feel after I’ve had two.

So the big question is, how do I make these goals less crazy and more fathomable?

What I am currently striving to do is one small thing every day towards my goals. With my novel, it is simply writing. Yes, it is that simple, and then again, that hard. However, I am doing my best and have even started a Writing Prompts  board on Pinterest as an at-my-fingertips source of inspiration. *Please feel free to use and share if you so choose.

The ‘Living In France For A Year With My Family of 5′ is not quite so straight forward. What should I be doing? Learning French? Researching the cost of living? Hurrying up and getting myself pregnant? (Ah, no). Yes, all of these are possible, but are they currently the best use of my time, because let’s be honest, time is often the big factor. In the here and now there is always so much other important/urgent stuff to do that doing small things for a goal that we have for 5, 10 or more years in the future is often hard to justify, no matter what all the self-development gurus tell us.

‘The Rule of 5′

However, speaking of Self-Development Gurus, my regular go-to guru is Jack Canfield (I’ve mentioned him before in this post on Complete Delegation). His book, The Success Principles(TM): How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, is a regular source of inspiration for me, and I may have been known, on occasion, to refer to it as my ‘bible’. In relation to this post, I want to introduce you to his concept of ‘The Rule of 5′. I’ve included a video below of Jack explaining it, but let me give you an overview and get to the crux of how you can start achieving your goals (and mine too!).

The key to ‘The Rule of 5′ is to ensure that you do five specific things every day that move you toward your goal. Yes, 5 things. Every day! Jack quotes Ron Scoliastica, a teacher, who told him ”If you would go every day to a very large tree and take five swings at it with a very sharp axe, eventually, no matter how large the tree, it would have to come down.” My take away from this is, simply by doing 5 things a day, even if they are really small or quick things, you are going to be moving towards your goal, instead of standing still, or worse, moving backwards.

However, you also need to keep in mind to not always focus on the easy stuff. You need to do the hard, daunting, stomach churning stuff too, even if you only do this once a week. Could you make a phone call? Could you email someone you admire for advice? Could you pay for that online course you keep looking at? Could you arrange to meet a development coach? Could you share your goal with someone who may laugh at you, but who may also support you? Could you share your crazy goal with us, here, now, at the end of this blog?

For me at the moment, working towards my France goal doesn’t mean learning French or researching the best places to live in France. For me working towards this goal, is working towards another goal, of having a thriving, self-managing, profit generating business. This in turn means that when we are ready to live in France for a year we can leave the business in the capable hands of the people who work for us. It could also mean something equally as crazy as opening a French or European office. Just imagine!

Which is exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to imagine, and visualise, and picture these crazy goals becoming a little less crazy. I’m also going to work on ‘The Rule of 5′ and see what I can do each day to move towards these goals.

Are you game enough to share your crazy goals? Maybe you might want to also share some of your ‘Rule of 5′ ideas. We’d love to hear in the comments section below!

I don’t know about you, but after a busy day, I just don’t have the energy to spend a few more hours preparing dinner. Today we’re all so frantic dashing between family, work, keeping up with our blogs and social media profiles, and trying to keep fit and healthy, that cooking tends to take a bit of a back seat. We want food preparation to be quick and easy – and it can be – with the right recipes.

I have to admit I’m a big fan of salads and fresh herbs like parsley, coriander and mint. So my top five dishes are definitely skewed towards the salad end of the spectrum, with an emphasis on  colourful veggies. Besides being super quick to prepare, another plus of these recipes is that you can make these dishes with or without meat.

1) Vietnamese Noodle Salad

I’m always up for a Vietnamese noodle salad. The combination of tanginess and fresh ingredients gets me every time. It’s also very versatile in that you can easily add some fresh prawns or chicken  for meat-eaters.

Ingredients

1/2 small red onion (or one shallot)

3/4 cup (or a large handful) or roughly chopped coriander

3/4 cup fresh mint

1/2 small red chilli (could be less according to personal taste and the strength of the chilli)

1 packet rice noodles

2 carrots finely chopped

1 cucumber

handful of bean sprouts

a handful of finely chopped wombok (Chinese cabbage)

1/4 cup finely chopped unsalted peanuts

Sauce

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tsp fish sauce

1 Tbsp peanut oil

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 clove garlic crushed

Directions

Soak the noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes or until cooked. Drain. Rinse under cold water and drain.

Combine fish sauce, sugar, chilli and lime juice in a bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Toss noodles, beansprouts, mint, coriander, onion, peanuts and lime juice dressing in a bowl. Serve.

2) Prawn and Asparagus Pasta

Ingredients

1 garlic clove crushed

1 small red onion thinly sliced

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 long red chilli finely chopped

400 g fresh prawns, peeled, deveined

1 bunch asparagus, trimmed, cut into 2 cm sections

1/3 cup dry white wine

160g angel hair pasta

Method

The thing that takes the most time in this recipe is peeling and deveining the prawns. If you’re really short on time, buy a packet of frozen prawns that have already been peeled and deveined.

Cook pasta in a large saucepan until al dente. Drain.

At the same time, heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and cook the onion. Add garlic, a sprinkling of chilli and prawns. Cook until the prawns are pink. Add the asparagus and white wine. Cook while stirring for a couple of minutes.

Combine the pasta with the prawn mixture, toss and serve. Add salt and pepper or a squeeze of lemon to taste.

3) Beetroot, Goat’s Cheese, Walnut, Spinach Salad

This one is definitely on my summer-picnic-greatest-hits list, but it’s so easy to prepare, there’s no reason not to make it at home!

Ingredients

450 g can baby beetroot

100 g soft goat’s cheese, crumbled

3/4 cup walnuts

150 g baby spinach leaves

Dressing

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Method

Combine the lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl and whisk.

Wash the spinach leaves and combine in a salad bowl with the walnuts, beetroot and goat’s cheese. Add the dressing, lightly toss and serve.

4) Roasted Summer Veggies with Chickpeas

Ingredients

2-3 garlic cloves (leave skin on)

2-3 small red onions (leave skin on)

2 zucchinis

1 eggplant

2 red capsicums (or one yellow capsicum)

3 large potatoes or a handful of small ones

1 sweet potato

400 g chopped tomatoes

400 g can of chickpeas

- either small bunch of chopped coriander – or parsley

Method

Chop veggies (leave them chunky) and put them in a large roasting tin. Add a good dash of olive oil, sea salt and ground pepper, and toss. Spread into a single layer and roast for 45 minutes, turning the veggies a couple fo times until they’re roasted and the potatoes are cooked through.

Take the tin with the veggies, put it on the stove top on a low heat and add the tomatoes and chickpeas. Simmer and stir. Add the chopped coriander or parsley at the end as a fresh garnish. Serve.

5) Fresh Couscous Salad

This fresh and tasty salad just takes 15-20 minutes preparation time. The basics are super quick and you can add extra ingredients – depending on what you have in the fridge and how hungry you are. For added zing throw in some black olives, spinach or rocket leaves, haloumi, or chicken.

Ingredients

225g couscous

250 ml chicken stock or vegetable stock

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 a red onion or 1 shallot

1 Lebanese cucumber cut into small pieces

1/2 red capsicum, remove seeds, cut into small pieces

1 yellow capsicum, remove seeds, cut into small pieces

a handful of cherry tomatoes cut in half

handful of flat-leaf parsley or coriander chopped

2 Tbsp lemon juice

Method

Put the couscous in a medium sized bowl. Put the stock and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small saucepan and as soon as it starts to boil, take it off the heat and pour it over the couscous. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes.

Add a knob of butter to the couscous and fluff it with a fork. When the couscous has cooled, add the onion, cucumber, onion, parsley or coriander, capsicum, tomatoes and toss.

Louisa Peterson from Delivery Hero home delivery solutions for Australians. Louisa is a food, travel and lifestyle blogger who is trying to kick her chocolate addiction. When she isn’t blogging about all things food-related, she still enjoys hitting the kitchen to try out new recipes (especially if they’re quick and healthy!), travelling and going to the beach.

This post is inspired by Lana’s blog Dear sixteen-year-old me at Mamamia which features the book ‘Dear Me: More letters to my Sixteen year old self’.

Dear Sixteen Year Old Abbie,

I know you worry, a lot (“that’s an understatement”, I hear you say).  I just want to say that worrying is a real waste of time. The only benefit of worrying is to help you focus on what is important to you. The next time you are laying awake in your bed in the boarding house under your moon and star quilt, worrying yourself silly, I want you to ask your self two questions.

Firstly, is this situation really in your control? Can you do anything to change the situation? If no, then forget about it. If yes, then do something about it. Stop worrying. Do it.

Secondly, what is the worst thing that can happen? Imagine the worst possible thing that could happen. Is this likely to happen? If no, then forget about it. You know that anything else can’t be as bad, so what are you really worrying about? Go back to the first question. If yes, then prepare yourself, be ready.  Go back to the first question.

If you take the time to really think about these questions, then you will be able to focus on what is most important, and not the worry and the churning in your stomach.  I also want to pass on a little quote that I think will really help you,

“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Memorise this. Blu tac it to the red brick wall next to your bed. Write it on your purple and pink pencil case in liquid paper.

Worrying about what people think of you is the ultimate time waster. In the future, making the most of your time will become extremely important to you. Why not start now by eliminating the worry of other people’s thoughts and opinions. In the end, as long as you are happy with what you think of yourself, what other’s think is of no consequence. Remember, they’re probably not thinking about you anyway. They’re probably worrying about what people are thinking of them.

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Dumbledore (you will find our who Dumbledore is next year.)

Love 31 Year Old Abbie

P.S. You’ll do well in year 12 because you worked hard. Work hard. Do what you can. Go with your gut. Get a good night’s sleep.

P.P.S. Try not to take ‘Flabby Abbie’ literally. You’re not fat. You’re just changing shape. You’re becoming a woman. Get over it.

What would you write to your sixteen year old self?