For Christmas, my in-laws gave me a sweet book called Prudent Advice by Jaime Morrison Curtis. It is filled with wisdom passed on from a mother to her baby daughter. While I didn't agree with everything in the book, I certainly agreed with most of it and appreciated some things actually being spelled out. There were about 30 thoughts directed toward food. I thought I would share just a few of them below.

#5 Learn to love cooking if you can. If you can't, still have a few simple dishes that you can prepare well.

#61 Goat cheese is a good alternative to cream.

#189 Make tomatoes a staple of your diet.

#377 When you have people over for dinner, plan on a balance of foods you can make ahead of time and foods that need your attention at the last moment.

#385 Instead of spending money on premade salad dressing, spend it on a good vinegar wardrobe.

These are just some of the wise pieces of advice. We, too, have tomatoes in our house regularly. I have to say, although my mother-in-law has advised me of the goat cheese alternative, I have been afraid to try it. Perhaps I'll add that to the list of New Monthly Foods. I also try to find the balance for my meal when it's just the two of us eating. I like to have some dishes cleaned up before Paul comes home so we can do other things. And we're mostly of the buy-good-vinegar class, but Paul is a bit addicted to bottled Ranch. I'm glad to know we are mostly prudent.

Do you have some wise pieces of advice to share? This is the time. It's still January when you can think of efforts to improve the way you live. Please share in the comments below.