I learned of Leanne Ely many years ago when she self-published a wee little cookbook called The Manic Housewife. The recipes (and the advice) were so wonderful and practical that I continue to use many of them to this day!

She’s come a long way! With an armload of published books, an exciting e-zine called Healthy-Foods and a fabulous service called Menu-Mailer, she is indeed a busy lady. Let’s chat with her about how life looks in her kitchen.

TOS: Leanne, one of my biggest challenges in homeschooling is not the teaching part—it’s all the other stuff. The cleaning, organizing, shopping, and COOKING! Help me! How can I make this aspect of my life better?

LEANNE: I think every mom on the planet has been discouraged trying to keep up with the responsibilities in her home. When you add homeschooling to the mix, it seems impossible. Not only do you feel like an utter failure, but when your husband comes home and asks you how your day went, you’re gonna unleash on him!

The key to getting organized for me was FlyLady. Her website, flylady.net, turned my whole world on its end and showed me how to make my life happen fifteen minutes at a time. When I started the whole FlyLady thing, I had just finished my first book, Healthy Foods. That was in September 2000. My house was a disaster, our schooling was all over the house—I hated myself for how out of control everything had become. Then I found FlyLady.

At the time I was the food columnist for my local newspaper in North Carolina and I did feature work as well for the paper. When I found out Marla Cilley (the FlyLady) lived so close to me, I went up to interview her for a feature on a bizarre snowy April day in 2001, and we became great friends in about an hour. I gave her my book and started writing for her (I write a column called “Food for Thought”). FlyLady’s system keeps the house clean, and I’m in charge of the food. Having my home organized gave me TIME that I didn’t know I had and opened up more areas of creativity both for my schooling and for my writing.

TOS: Tell us about the books you’ve written.

LEANNE: Saving Dinner, Saving Dinner The Low Carb Way, Saving Dinner for the Holidays with two more Saving Dinner books on their way—Saving Dinner Basics due out in the summer and Saving Dinner the Vegetarian Way due this fall. All are with Ballantine. I co-wrote a book called Body Clutter with Marla Cilley, AKA the FlyLady. That book we self-published, but Simon and Schuster bought it and it will be rereleased January 2007.

TOS: What is Menu-Mailer and how can this benefit our readers?

LEANNE: Menu-Mailer is a subscription- based service that gives you a healthy menu, the recipes and side dishes and the itemized grocery list to go with it. It is delivered in a clean, PDF format each week to your inbox or you can log on … to pick it up. Essentially, it is an organizational tool. It’s what your mom did when you were growing up—write up a menu for the week, make the corresponding shopping list, and post it on the fridge. Menu- Mailer is the same thing, only I’m doing it, not your mom.

TOS: You have some other things you do in your “spare time.” Ha! Tell us about them.

LEANNE: “Ha!” is right! Well, I work out, run, hang out with my kids, and go to the beach as often as possible. I would add that I read and sleep on occasion, too.

TOS: Let’s get down to some nitty-gritty. Give us a crash course in menu planning 101.

LEANNE: Simple—what is your family’s eating style? What do they like? What do you want them to eat? Make time to gather this information (a family meeting is a good idea) and then make your menu. You might want to ask for 14 meals, then rotate them with appropriate side dishes. The thing to keep in mind is balance (you don’t want chicken every night!) and HEALTHY. These little people’s health is YOUR responsibility, and it DOES make a difference what you feed them. Chicken nuggets and drive-throughs don’t cut it.

TOS: Now I have a plan. What do I do next?

LEANNE: Implement it! Get the kids involved—every age and stage except infants can participate. Start with the grocery store—teach them how to choose produce. Have them wash veggies and cut them up (supervised!). Let them help you. Get the child that hates salads to make a salad and watch him eat it—hands-on nutrition like this teaches them ownership and gives them a sense of accomplishment.

TOS: Any tips for organizing our kitchens for efficiency?

LEANNE: It needs to make sense—put your baking stuff all together, put your pots and pans all together, etc. Clean out and get rid of the kitchen clutter and knick-knacks. Make your kitchen a place of efficiency by making sure the stuff you have in it all works for you. Arrange and rearrange till you get it how you like it.

TOS: How can our readers learn more about you?

LEANNE: There is a bio on my website, www.savingdinner.com, if they feel they need more info, but honestly, I’m quite boring so I think they have all they need right here!

TOS: You’re a riot! Thanks for sharing with us. We’ll wait to see what you come up with next!

Christine M. Field, TOS’s Resource Room columnist, practiced law for eight years before becoming a full-time mommy for her four children. Her husband serves as Chief of Police in Wheaton, Illinois. She is a freelance writer and the author of several books about homeschooling, adopting, and more. www.HomeFieldAdvantage.org www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/ChristineField