Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve all heard it: “Aw, Mom, chicken again?” Show your family that chicken doesn’t have to be boring. With these easy, flavorful and family friendly recipes, they’ll never complain about chicken for dinner again!

1. Honey, Lime & Sriracha Chicken Skewers

These chicken skewers marinated in honey, lime juice and Sriracha are every bit as good as they look — and if you haven’t tried Sriracha, the Asian hot sauce named after the coastal city of Si Racha in Thailand, this is the perfect recipe to taste just how delicious it is. GET THE RECIPE

2. Spicy Chicken Thighs with Sweet & Tangy Honey Glaze

In this recipe, chicken thighs are seasoned with garlic, chili powder, cumin and smoked paprika and then broiled with a sweet and tangy honey glaze. It’s delicious, family-friendly (it’s not too spicy), and incredibly easy to prepare. GET THE RECIPE

3. Peruvian-Style Chicken with Green Sauce

This is my take on Pollo a la Brasa, the delicious spit-roasted chicken made popular by so many Peruvian restaurants. The chicken is first marinated in olive oil, lime juice, garlic and spices, and then oven-roasted until tender, juicy and crisp-skinned. The accompanying green sauce, which gets it’s color from cilantro and jalapeño peppers, is spicy, creamy and downright addictive. You can put it on virtually everything, and it even makes a fabulous dip or salad dressing. GET THE RECIPE

4. Grilled Moroccan Chicken

This is an easy and incredibly flavorful way to prepare boneless skinless chicken breasts. I can’t claim it’s authentic, but the spices — an aromatic blend of cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, ginger, paprika and coriander – make it taste decidedly Moroccan, and it also goes wonderfully with couscous. You might think it sounds too exotic-tasting for picky eaters, but I can tell you that even small children seem to love it. The best part is that it only takes minutes to prepare, and there’s barely any clean up. GET THE RECIPE

5. Easy Chicken Curry

In this family-friendly Indian dish, thinly sliced chicken breasts are sautéed with curry powder and simmered in an aromatic, slightly sweet curry sauce thickened with Greek yogurt. You can have it on the table in 30 minutes — or in the time it takes to make some basmati rice — and the cooking method ensures that the chicken comes out reliably tender every time. GET THE RECIPE

‘Vamping’ is the latest tween lingo bound for the English language dictionary. You probably haven’t heard the word, but as a digital parent, its very likely that you know what it refers to. If you have a tween or teen in the house, see if you can get a quick primer on this latest Internet and social media fad.

The hashtag ‘#vamping‘ is used by kids and teens camping out like vampires on social media — think Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp, among others — late into the night, unbeknownst to parents. The phenomenon is so widespread that school administrators, academics and the media have taken note. Busy schedules during the day, a craving for unstructured activity, good old peer pressure and a tendency to mimic parents’ habits are all attributed as reasons for young users to jump on the bandwagon.

“According to a recent poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, more than half of 15- to 17-year-olds sleep about seven hours a night, 90 minutes less than the minimum recommendation,” writes Laura Holson in the New York Times. “With myriad electronic ways to socialize, gossip and explore hobbies, tech-addicted teenagers are getting even fewer hours of sleep.”

Of course parental controls like Mobicip can help limit Internet usage late into the night by setting up time limits. But experts suggest that a more effective parenting approach may be to disallow the use of electronics in the bedroom after bedtime. Sounds like a no-brainer? Easier said than done! Mainly because parents themselves have a hard time switching off at night!

An apple a day keeps the sex doldrums at bay.

According to a new study, women who eat one to two apples a day experience better overall sexual function as well as higher arousal and satisfaction than women classified as having “no regular apple consumption.”

At the end of June, Senate Democrats and House Republicans separately presented plans on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the act into law as a measure to help colleges and universities. It is the major law that governs federal student aid, and in its initial inception, it increased federal money to universities, created scholarships and provided low-interest loans for students. It currently spans a wide range of topics, from loan limits to accreditation.

The act has been reauthorized nine times, with the most recent authorization from 2008 expiring at the end of 2013. Six years ago, Congress wanted to hold colleges and states accountable for rising tuition costs, to stop student loan abuses, to make applying for federal student aid easier and to help students make better decisions in regards to higher education.

While some goals were met, tuition costs continue to rise and for the first time in history, student debt has surpassed consumer debt at $1.2 trillion. While both political sides have their own distinct ideas in regards to reauthorization, there is some common ground. In fact, just a week earlier, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander and Democratic Sen. Michael F. Bennet outlined a bill – dubbed the FAST act — to reduce the 108-question Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to just two inquiries that would fit on a postcard.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, while this isn’t the first time that simplifying the FAFSA has been suggested, this radical proposal makes a point. Both sides seem to understand the benefits of eliminating a cumbersome bureaucracy and removing a hurdle that discourages low-income students from tackling a complex FAFSA, keeping them from pursuing higher education.

While some states and educational institutions rely on data collected on the FAFSA, supporters of the new bill argue that a streamlined process could provide information as early as a student’s junior year in high school, which would allow for better overall educational financial planning. The bill also could reorient federal student loan programs into one each for undergraduates, graduate students and parents, and it could reduce loan repayment options to two — an income-based plan and a 10-year plan.

It’s clear this goes hand-in-hand with the reauthorization of Higher Education Act. EdCentral looks at key areas of reauthorization reform, including better consumer information and simplification of processes, accountability, financial aid, education preparation and competency-based demonstration programs.

How these key areas are addressed will be debated by both political sides, and Inside Higher Ed looks at how each is approaching these areas. The Democrats want a comprehensive reauthorization, while the Republican approach is more piecemeal.

For example, Republicans say college leaders should be responsible for controlling costs, not the government. They also want to promote innovation and single out competency-based education — which focuses on learning, not seat time — and direct assessment programs as examples. The Republican plan also aims at repealing or blocking portions of President Obama’s changes, such as the college ratings system and state authorization regulations.

Democrats want to hold colleges responsible for how successfully graduates repay loans and for poor student outcomes. In addition, the proposal would reduce the percentage of revenue that for-profit colleges receive from some federal sources and prohibit those funds from being used on advertising and marketing.

Meanwhile, Inside Higher Ed reports on the U.S. Department of Education’s annual rankings of the most and least expensive colleges in the country, released on June 30. Interestingly enough, this list is a result of the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, created in hopes that it would “embarrass” schools into keeping costs down. However, there’s no proof that the list had the desired effect, as a number of institutions appear on the list year after year.

In the current discussion regarding reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, some lawmakers are calling for the list to simply go away. On the other hand, Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised the list, citing the ability of families to make informed decisions about “the single most important investment students can make in their own futures.”

As we analyze what has and has not worked in the past and discuss what can be done in the future, it’s clear that there is no one easy solution. We will keep an eye on what will happen, as it will take many months before anything actionable is developed.

In the meantime, College of DuPage continues to take action in regards to the fact that community colleges have the highest two-year default rate among all institutional categories. While the local economy is starting to recover, COD continues to increase its efforts to reach out to students who require extra support to stay in school. COD hosts student loan education programs that focus on retention issues for keeping students in school, making the most out of their time here through involvement in student activities and providing counseling to ensure their investment in education provides a strong ROI. We understand cannot sit idly and wait for solutions to come. While politicians hammer out the details of the FAST Act and the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, both of which will have an impact on us, we must always be looking for ways to help our students succeed. For example, College of DuPage offers a new 3+1 program that enables students to earn their bachelor’s degrees on our campus through partner universities at a significantly reduced tuition cost. In addition, we are targeting the adult population with a Fast Track program and offer free Career Services opportunities, programs to enhance their current career skill sets, and a fully staff Learning Commons to assist all students at all stages of their educational experience at COD.

Community colleges remain the best value out there in terms of receiving a high quality education for a reasonable cost. I am currently working with community college presidents throughout Illinois to explore the prospect of offering specialized bachelor degrees at our colleges that will open even more doors to the attainment of higher education. The future is bright and College of DuPage will continue to move forward on initiatives that assist President Obama’s goal in having more college graduates in the U.S. than ever before.

With anticipation and excitement I will greet them after a week away with her father for the first leg of their summer vacation. But how much do I focus on what they are doing now, without me and if they are having fun?

When my kids go away to visit my ex-husband, their father, the older they get the more I feel a stray. The emptiness in the house is loud and forceful. I try with all my might not to take it in; to hold my breath and not to inhale the stale desperation that lives and grows with every moment of their absence. Their visitation sometimes feels like I am in training for the ultimate separation -their life beyond living with me.

I look at the pictures of them playing that I took before the clock struck 12 today. I think about the activities this morning and all the life that filled the space now stark and barren. Their stuffies still on the couch; do I go and hold them? Will that bring me closer to the boys now gone? How much do I focus on the memories in my head or do I turn to the endless list of to do’s, put aside?

I tell myself that have to embrace life, my work and use the time I have, without my children, while they are elsewhere. Today I know they will be back in a week and when they come back I will have adjusted to the silence in the house and the sound of the clicking of the typewriter will become the new music to my ears.

These past several days I have left piles of my own work to attend to their games and practices and lunches and meals and their laundry and shopping excursions and ball throwing and play dates and summer homework; they have been my sole priority these past few days.

I want my boys to come first, and more and more so as I feel that they will be gone for good soon. Its days like today that make so aware of this reality that it hurts. The older they get, the more they grow, and the more I feel their absence when they visit their father. The visitation forces me to feel the inevitable pain and loss of their ultimate separation as one day soon they will enter adulthood and leave for good.

With all my might I remain in the present, and block the image pushing into my mind of them moving out permanently and not returning on Thursday of next week as planned. I am thankful, grateful even for my cognition, my brain that propels me away from the feelings of despair, and from focusing on the loud silence and instead makes me look at the pile of papers neglected while the boys have been attended to these past few days. I know all I need to do these next few days to care for me. The part of me, that is separate from them and I am thankful for this.

I love my sons, I love them more than ever and as they get older I seem to want to be with them more, and while they may need me more they have less time for me; appropriately so I am surpassed by other wants like friends, sports, music and even technology.

I accept this and it’s with that acceptance that I turn to the pile of work on my table and I’m thankful , thankful for that part of my life, the part of my life that lives and will always live while their life is moving each day one more step away from me. I am grateful for the separation training and time to develop my own life and goals during their visitation with dad, for how else can I view it today?