Simple GAB

We have a winner!

Congrats to Amy, post #5, who has a good idea on how to start the day with a smile!

She wins  the Chocolate Cheerios® Gift Pack.

Yesterday was the 100th day of school.  Big whoop you say? Well it is pretty exciting to a Kindergartener.  They even received certificates proclaiming they are now 100 days smarter!

The homework assignment was to bring in 100 pieces of a small snack item to share.

Guess what Bubba brought in to share…

He was thoughtful enough to tell all his friends that we got these for FREE, and said they had to help his mom out by doing a review on them! So he kindly came home and reported back on the opinions of his class. Maybe we have a future blogger on our hands.

If you care to know, the Cheerios were a hit.  Oh and he also told a few children that he was pretty sure you can get coupons for them, too.  Chip off the old block.

(check out yesterday’s post for a link to coupons, recipes and a giveaway!)

My boys get very excited when they see either the mail carrier, the UPS guy or the FedEx guy come down our road…and since there are only three houses down our road the odds are pretty good that the truck will be  stopping here! This time it was indeed for us and we received another fun package from MyBlogSpark!

Inside was a box of the new Chocolate Cheerios®!

The boys were pretty excited because

A) they love Cheerios®

B) they love chocolate

C) they knew they could eat some right away

D) they knew  something else fun was sure to happen

So yes I let them hurry up and grab their favorite cereal bowls and dig right in. (I had to join them of course)   The Cheerios® were a big hit!  All of us thought that the chocolate flavor in these was better than some other chocolate cereals we have tried. Although I love chocolate, I have never found a chocolate flavored cereal that I like. These Cheerios®  seem to fill the bill.  Also I was happy to see that they only have 9g of sugar. (remember my recent post on Children’s cereals? )

A little more about the cereal from General Mills:

Chocolate Cheerios is low in fat, heart healthy*, has 100 calories per serving, contains at least 8 grams of whole grain per serving (at least 48 grams recommended daily), and is a good source of calcium and vitamin D. Made with real cocoa, Chocolate Cheerios can help your family start the day off right with a delicious and nutritious breakfast that is sure to make you smile!

*Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease. Chocolate Cheerios cereal is low in fat, saturated fat free and naturally cholesterol free.

Along with this box of new Chocolate Cheerios we were given some recipes that use the new Cheerios®.  They are all fun things you can make for Valentine’s Day!

Chocolate Cheerios® Marshmallow Hearts

Chocolate Hazelnut Marshmallow Balls

Strawberry-Chocolate Cheerios® Parfaits

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cereal Bars

They all sound good, but we chose to try the Chocolate Cheerios® Marshmallow Hearts first.  Oh how I wish I had thought of buying those Strawberry flavored Marshmallows that Bubba has been begging me for!

image courtesy of Cheerios®

Next we will definitely try the Strawberry-Chocolate Cheerios® Parfait!

image courtesy of Cheerios®

If you want to see even  more recipes using  Chocolate Cheerios® click here for the Chocolate Cheerios® site, and also you can find a coupon to save on your purchase!

Now all this cereal talk and making goodies was great fun for the boys, but MyBlogSpark also included some fun Chocolate themed goodies for Mom, too.  Check this out, there are some Chocolate themed bath products and a decorative chocolate brown bowl to store them in!  So Mom needs to head off to relax with some Chocolate bath salts and body wash.

Do you love Chocolate, too?

Does  a fun new cereal make you smile?

Need some relaxation?

You can win a Chocolate Cheerios Gift Pack courtesy of MyBlogSpark and General Mills.

Just post a comment below telling us about what you  and your families do to start your day off with a SMILE!

Deadline to enter is midnight EST on Monday, February 15, 2010.

Winner will be selected by a random drawing on Tuesday February 16, 2010

**Truth in Blogging Disclaimer:  We received a FREE box of Chocolate Cheerios® and the Gift Pack pictured above courtesy of MyBlogSpark and Cheerios®. As always we will provide you with our honest opinions of any product we review, no matter how we obtained the product.  See our About tab above to read more about Truth in Blogging.

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I have been told if you make meatloaf in a muffin tin it looks more appealing to kids, so I thought I would give it a try.  Bubba is not too fond of meatloaf at all so I searched high and low for a recipe I thought he would enjoy.  The one I found has both broccoli and cheddar cheese in it,  two of his favorite things. Besides adding cheese to meatloaf makes it a little more like a cheeseburger, don’t you agree?

We had just gotten a great deal on ground turkey so I decided to sub in the turkey for ground beef in this recipe from the website of my local grocery store, Hannaford.   Bubba was very excited to help make Muffins (a favorite food).  He measured and mixed, but when reading the nutrition info said ” there is not very much sugar in this, that is healthy, and there is a lot of protein”. Of course later when he tasted them he said “these are not like regular muffins!  I thought they were very tasty eating just plain, but the boys chose to try dipping in various condiments like Ranch dressing, A-1 steak sauce, and Barbeque sauce.  Hey as long as they eat them they can dip away!

The best thing about having any leftovers is they make a great grab & go breakfast!  Mr B&W took a few to work on a hurried morning and said they definitely hit the spot.   We are going to make a double batch and freeze them.

Cheddar and Broccoli Meat Loaf Muffins

Directions:

What Kids Can Do to Help
* Crack and beat eggs.
* Measure ingredients and mix together.
* Scoop mixture into muffin cups.

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with vegetable cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, use a fork or whisk to beat eggs until yolk and white are completely mixed. Add all remaining
ingredients and use a wooden spoon or fork to mix until well combined.
3. Divide mixture among muffin cups, about ½ cup mixture in each cup. Press mixture into cups.
4. Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes, until cooked through and browned on top. Let muffins rest in pan for 5 minutes. To serve,
run a knife around edge of each muffin. Use a fork to lift muffins out of pan and transfer to a plate. Serve warm.

May be refrigerated for up to 2 days, or frozen. Reheat in 350°F oven, 5 minutes for refrigerated, 12 minutes for frozen muffins.  (or you can reheat in microwave for 30-50 seconds depending on the power of your microwave)

Recipe courtesy of Hannaford fresh magazine March/April 09.

Click here for  a printable copy that includes nutrition information (when made with ground beef)

Let me know if you try these.

Have you made meatloaf in muffin tins? What recipe do you use?

To leave a reply when on the main page,  and the “Leave a reply” box below is hidden,  just click the green post # count button at the top left of the post.

What’s a busy mom to do? Some days getting the kids ready and out the door to school can be a whirlwind of activity.  I am so not a morning person,  therefore getting up at the crack of dawn on a school day to cook a full course meal is not happening!  My boys love the quick, and the easy, so cereal very often fills the bill.  If you saw my pantry you may be shocked to see no less than 25 boxes of cereal in it at any given time!

Now many of us probably struggle with that fine line between healthy breakfast and convenience.  Some studies have shown that kids do benefit from eating breakfast, performing better in school, so we know they need to eat something!  Cereals can be a quick way to get them to eat something before heading out the door.  Add some fruit on top or on the side and that is even better!  Here is a Cereal & Health guide provided by General Mills.

General Mills has recently committed to lower the amount of sugar in cereal advertised to children under 12  to single digit grams per serving.  In addition they are increasing key nutrients like Vitamin D and calcium, along with providing whole grains.

Some other cereal benefits:

• Ready-to-eat cereals, including presweetened cereals, account for only 5% of sugar in children´s diets.
• These cereals are often the #1 source of whole grains in a child’s diet.

• More frequent cereal eaters tend to have a healthier body weight and lower BMI measurements.

Recently I went on a quest to find some of the new lower sugar cereals to have my boys and I do a taste test.  We were provided some free coupons* from General Mills and MyBlogSpark in order to try some products.  In my area we did not find too many with the single digit grams of sugar, so I think either my store is still selling out of current inventory or the products have not rolled out everywhere yet.

One product we did try that has only 8g of sugar per serving was Berry Berry Kix, part of the Big G family of cereals.  Now my boys have never eaten Kix cereals before,  so they could not compare before and after taste, but I do recall having Kix myself long, long ago.  For me the taste was less sweet than I expected, but was satisfying. Actually I preferred it to the taste of some of the other children’ s cereals I have tried.  Of course I am not the target audience, but I suppose if Mom thinks it is not too sweet then it may pass muster and make it to the shopping list.  Bubba was the first to try it, and he really enjoyed it, no mention of it not being sweet enough! Score!  AJ is not a fan of corn cereal, so he did not really have strong opinion, it was just okay, no mention of not being sweet enough, but he probably will not eat it again.  He likes some of the other cereals better.

The other cereals we tried were still in the double digit grams of sugar range…Lucky Charms Swirled (11g), Cinnamon Toast Crunch( 10g) and the new Wheaties Fuel(14g).  All of them were big hits for Bubba, he especially likes Lucky Charms and the new Wheaties Fuel. AJ’s top pick was Cinnamon Toast crunch…although he loved the cool new packaging on the Wheaties Fuel boxes.  I thought the Wheaties Fuel tasted great, with a nice solid cinnamon flavor that was not overshadowed at all by a sugary taste.  Cinnamon Toast Crunch was less satisfying for me, both in taste and texture. I would choose the new Wheaties Fuel if I were looking for a cinnamon flavor. Younger children  are probably not the target audience for this cereal, though.

I did noticed on the shelves that Honey Nut Cheerios had 9g sugar, so even though they are not as heavily marketed to children, they may be another alternative. We will be looking to see if the lower sugar versions  of some more General Mills children’s cereals arrive soon in our stores.

If you want to try some of the General Mills cereals here you will find a  coupon for $1 off one of four children’s cereals: Trix, Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms or Cinnamon Toast crunch.

So is cereal a hit in your house? What kinds do you like?

Do you struggle with the sugar issue?  Have you noticed any of the new General Mills cereals in store near you?

*Disclaimer:  General Mills via MyBlogSpark provided us with coupons  good for free products in order to test some of their Children’s  Cereals, and asked if we would pass along our thoughts on the products.

Congrats to entry # 6, Heather-Hopelessly Flawed, winner of the “Tackle the Taste” Football themed gift pack.

Football season is getting pretty exciting with the playoffs in full swing and the Superbowl right around the corner!

If you are gearing up for some celebrations bringing together friends to watch the game, I have a few tasty appetizer ideas for you.

In our house having a casual appetizer spread for dinner on football Sundays is a popular option! Thanks to Old El Paso and MyBlogSpark we had a chance to make some new recipes featuring Old El Paso chiles*.

Check out our super cool football table decor*…makes it pretty festive, now doesn’t it?

We love chips and dip so my guys chose this great Green Chile Dip to go with their tortilla chips.  Super easy to make,  with just the right amount of spice for everyone to enjoy.  Old El Paso Green chiles add a lot of flavor with out adding too much spice.

I tried to hurry up a grab a plate before everyone else, but that darn photographer caught me…

Next up we made some Chile, Cheese and Bacon Quesadillas.  We used our George Forman grill to cook up the bacon, and then heated up the quesadillas on there as well.   I really liked the combination of the bacon with the chiles.  Now take these and dip into that Green Chile dip…oh my is that good!

There are a few other recipes from the Betty Crocker site that feature Old El Paso chiles that I want to try next. Most have a prep time of  less than 30 minutes each.  A few that look interesting are:

Black Bean Dip

Green Chile Cornbread

Taco Nachos

Skillet Nacho Chili

Slow Cooker Salsa Chili

Seven Layer Bean Dip

Right now is the perfect time to taste test some new recipes before  you gear up for the big game.

Here is a link to a coupon for .55 off a can of Old El Paso Green Chiles so you can try out one of these tasty recipes.

The chiles come in 4.5 and 7 oz. cans, are fat free and are less than 10 calories per serving.
A tasty way to spice up your dishes.

Old El Paso is generously offering up another “Tackle the Taste” gift pack for one of my readers!
This includes two free cans of Old El Paso green chiles, a ceramic football shaped serving platter, two sets of football themed plates, cocktail napkins, and football themed table runner!

You will get one entry into this giveaway if you leave a comment and let me know what you like to serve for appetizers on game days.

To get a second entry just link back to this post from your own blog and leave me a comment with the link to your post!

Deadline to enter is Wednesday January 20th, 12 midnight Eastern Time.

*Old El Paso and MyBlogSpark provided me with the chiles to make these recipes, along with a “Tackle the Taste” football themed pack for our table decor.

What’s a blog without a year in review post?? Probably infinitely more interesting and engaging, but WTH lets give it a whirl. Thanks to Heather at Hopelessly Flawed, and all those who joined in before her,  for the nudge to post.

So before the year is officially over I better get at it…

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

Started a blog, worked in the snack shack at baseball, grew garlic in my garden, painted cabinets, made freezer jam and bought a vehicle sight unseen via an internet auction.

2. Did you keep your New Years resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don’t really set any resolutions other than hey the holidays are over time to get back to reality, clean the place up and stop eating so many desserts.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes! My sister-in-law gave birth to my cute little niece Lucy, and my friend gave birth to a great little guy named Cooper!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Thankfully, no.

5. What countries did you visit?

Only those in my dreams.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

Focus.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory?  Why?

Dates, um no dates for me…well except for those random “date nights” Mr B&W and I have.

As far as dates on the calendar, well November 11 was memorable because AJ turned 11 on 11/11.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Keeping the budget in line and making it work.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not conquering the clutter monster.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Well no, unless you consider sore joints from too much shoveling an injury.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My new-to-me minivan. It’s loaded & it rocks. (and the boys can easily be separated)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

AJ had a great year with  High Honor Roll, a Baseball Championship, Sportsmanship Award and a golden Birthday.

Bubba deserves credit for a fabulous start to his first school year, and no trips to the principal, yet.

G-Man had a great internship and is poised to graduate on schedule and make 2010 memorable too.

Mr B&W gets kudos for keeping it all together and working his butt off for us.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Some real loser teenagers that think killing random people is somehow fun. UGH disgusting, appalling and depressing.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Money, what money?

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

My youngest starting Kindergarten and him being really into it.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

You Spin me Round (Like a Record Baby) by Dead or Alive.  Bubba sings and dances to it incessantly so it is now permanently etched in my mind.

17. Compared to this same time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
b) thinner or fatter?
c) richer or poorer?

Who said we were supposed to be keeping track?

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Play with the boys, listen, exercise, declutter, and finish all the projects I started.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Procrastinate.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

With my family at home, reveling in the magic and joy on their faces.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

I fall in love with my guys over and over when I look at their cute faces. I am sappy that way.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Well now that The Shield is over I’d have to go with House.  Although Survivor and Jeopardy are family must-watch TV shows.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

I don’t really go around saying I hate people.  But I am sure there are some bozos who probably deserved it, like pedophiles, wife beaters and psycho teenage killers.

24. What was the best book you read?

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, really makes you think about what you eat.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

That I play a pretty mean base on Guitar Hero World Tour.  Oh, and I don’t really know EVERY word to all the songs I thought I did.

26. What did you want – and get?

More time with my husband.  (isn’t self employment great?)

27. What did you want – and not get?

No snow.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

I did not see very many new movies, so the re-release of The Dark Knight would have to be it.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Officially I turned 47 this year, so yeah all I recall is the delicious Chocolate truffle cake with raspberry sauce.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeausurably more satisfying?

If it were 75° and sunny all the time.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

I embodied the Mom-on-the-Go style thanks to Angie at You look Fab.

32. What kept you sane?

Mr B & W  and those random margaritas.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I am not big on fawning over celebs, but I do enjoy watching Gordon Ramsey rant and rave.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

I would have to say healthcare. It bothered me terribly that so many people with coverage think everything is fine, which for them maybe it is, but seem to not care that many people do not have affordable healthcare, or any at all.

35. Who did you miss?

I miss G-man and AJ when they are not at home.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

AJ’s new social studies teacher! She is super nice and has a clue.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

Don’t drink wine with Shelly.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Another one Bites the Dust

Alrighty then, now it is your turn…go ahead it’ll make you think, and maybe grumble a little  too. Post to let me know you  joined in, and the Comment Luv will link you up.

Happy New Year!

If you have not done so yet you need to hurry on over to BJs.com to get your coupon for the free 60 Day trial membership! The last day is 12/31/09!!  If you cannot do that in time, then be sure to get a One Day Free Pass to check it out some other time.

I have been given an opportunity by BJ’s Wholesale club and General Mills through MyBlogSpark to get a free membership and spread the word !

After the trial you can continue with a new-member off that is $45 (can vary by club) and it includes a $10 coupon plus extra 2 months of membership. In addition you can receive:

• A Member Savings booklet with instant rebates and coupons worth more than $1000.
• More “sign up & save” coupons worth $117 in savings.
• Additional card for another member of your household.
• A no risk 100% money back guarantee on your fee if you are not satisfied.

Now that the holidays are winding down I am going to make some trips to BJ’s to see what they have in store for me. Some new General Mills items are hitting the shelves, so be sure to look for these items:

• Nature Valley Nut Clusters – 100% Natural, bite-sized clusters with granola, nuts and a touch of honey – and a resealable package which makes it great for sharing
• Progresso High-Fiber Soups – This 6-pack of soup is a great way to get your fiber with the great taste you know and love from Progresso
• Green Giant Complete Skillet Meal – A convenient and great tasting solution for a quick and delicious dinner for the family
• Pillsbury “Big Deluxe” Chocolate Chip Tub – Perfect for entertaining or as an everyday treat

I will be blogging again about my trips to BJ’s, so look for an upcoming post where you can tell me about your trip and be entered to win a BJ’s Gift Card!