The Midlife Woman » dinner

The Best Meals Happen at Home with Publix

Kathleen — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:53:48 +0000

The Best Meals Happen at Home is a true statement and one that I personally support for a variety of reasons. I love to cook and believe there is nothing finer than a home cooked meal. After all, Food is a universal language. Many a problem has been solved around the dinner table. In fact, Hubby and I insisted the family eat dinner together. This afforded everyone time to share daily experiences. My boys, and the other youngsters that we helped raise, support family dinners now even though they protested at the time. It is rewarding and amazing to discover the true impact of our dinnertime rule.

So, when myblogspark offered the opportunity to join Publix, General Mills, Campbell’s and Unilever in this promotion I simply couldn’t refuse. Furthermore, personal experience has proven a delicious and nutritional dinner can be prepared both quickly and economically.

Looking for a super quick dinner recipe the kids will surely enjoy. Try this Best Meals Happen at Home featured chicken nugget recipe. Maybe give them a crazy name like Cheerios Chicken Bites. Serve these with your favorite chicken sides, a meal in less than an hour.

Crunchy Chicken Nuggets:

Prep time: 15 Min
Cook time: 25 Min
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups Cheerios^® cereal

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon mustard

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Directions:

Heat oven to 400°F. Spray with cooking spray or lightly grease 13×9-inch pan.

Finely crush cereal. Stir together cereal, salt, and pepper; set aside. In medium bowl, stir together milk, honey, and mustard until blended. Dip chicken into milk mixture; coat with cereal mixture. Place chicken in pan; drizzle with melted butter.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is golden and chicken is no longer pink in center.

Campbell’s, Bisquick, Bertolli, Green Giant, and Progresso provide magnificent product to stock up on and make the dinner menu is endless! Enjoy Chicken; try this Crispy Oven Fried Chicken. Fond of pasta, Bertolli makes this Baked Ziti a snap to prepare! Soups are a versatile base ingredient. Check out the flavor bursting, frugal Mac n Cheese and Easy Enchiladas recipes featuring Campbell’s soup. Then again, perhaps this Creamy Gourmet Chicken will excite your taste buds. See I told you the menu is endless.

In addition to the fast and easy recipes to entice your family dinner, visit BestMealsatHome.com to help your family save on groceries throughout the year. Simply register at The Best Meals Happen at Home and “Save BIG with exclusive store coupons and FASTastic Recipes”.

If that’s not enough to inspire you, there’s a $25 Publix gift card up for grabs too! General Mills through MyBlogSpark will help stock your pantry with this $25 Publix gift card.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling us your favorite quick and easy home cooked dinner.

For one additional entry, tweet this giveaway.

One winner will be chosen via random.org on Friday February 2nd. Good Luck!

“Disclosure: The Publix gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.”

The winner…. Allison – #15!

Kathleen

Hey, there I'm Kathleen. My friends call me Kathy; to my kids I'm Momia. Life has afforded me many hats: Mom, wife, sister, friend, business owner... and most recently a midlife blogger. From college to marriage and babies, in the midst of business and wealthy boomers, midlife retrospection validates this extraordinary journey called life.

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Florida New Years Day Feast – Grilling with GravyMaster

Kathleen — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:23:15 +0000

This post brought to you by GravyMaster. All opinions are 100% mine.

“GravyMaster® is NOT just for gravy” – An Overview

It once was a common misconception that gravy enhancer was generally used to augment color and season gravy. In fact, one Chow Hound forum contributor claimed, “I use Gravy Master because my mother, the gravy queen, used it. I just add a few drops to gravy to perk up the color and flavor. ” Today, products like Gravy Master do more than create rich colored gravy. Caramelize onions, sealing in natural juices, and enhancing marinades are just a few ways Gravy Master enhances recipes.

Another mistaken belief is GravyMaster and other gravy enhancer must be high in sodium. This is simply not the case. One teaspoon contains 120 mg sodium. The FDA claims, “The Dietary Guidelines recommend that the general population consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day (about a teaspoon of table salt).”

Ingredients as stated on the website include caramelized sugar, caramel color, water, hydrolyzed soy and corn protein, apple cider vinegar, salt and spices (onion, celery, parsley, and garlic). Sugar tops the ingredient list while the vinegar counters the sweetness. Sounds like a perfect balance to me.

Florida Holiday Dinners

Living in Florida allows for year round grilling, yeah! I dedicated heaps of time reading, testing, and rubbing, marinating since the purchase of our new grill. I learned that fruits are not only easy to grill but also quite delicious. Chicken breasts are a quick dinner and superb when marinated and then grilled with indirect heat. Locking in the juices is a must when grilling chicken, a task easily accomplished with GravyMaster.

In the process of reviewing GravyMaster, I found this amazing recipe for Orange Mustard Glaze.

Servings: 1 cup

Cook time: Not required

Prep time: Less than 10 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 cup orange marmalade

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup country-style Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed to measure

1 tablespoon GravyMaster®

Directions

Combine all ingredients.

Makes about 1 cup glaze

Good on pork, chicken, or ribs

Inspired by the GravyMaster Holiday Ham recipe and this glaze I began to imagine glazing and grilling a New Years Day Feast. Picture if you can, an Orange Glazed Holiday Ham paired with grilled pineapples, peaches and apples, a bowl of southern potato salad, and a basket of fresh biscuits. This image, my friends, is a Florida New Years Feast and definitely on my table New Years Day!

Tell me, what Holiday ideas or everyday Master the meal recipe tips do you have for using GravyMaster?

Kathleen

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TGI Friday’s Entrees for One | Sandwich Generation Dinner Solutions

Kathleen — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:54:44 +0000

This post brought to you by T.G.I. FRiDAY’S. All opinions are 100% mine.

TGI Fridays provided a wonderful dinner solution for us sandwich generation folks. Caring for my dad has put a huge limit on the family dinner outings. With TGI Friday’s new “Entrées for One,” our entire family can enjoy TGI Friday’s food from the comfort of our home. I never imagined it would be so difficult to plan a simple dinner excursion. Good days and bad days, weather conditions, and other senior moments can nix a family dinner date in a moment!

The variety of Entrées for One meals include something for everyone’s taste including Sizzling Chicken Fajitas, Sizzling Steak Fajitas, Grilled Chicken Mac & Cheese, Prime Rib Stroganoff, Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo, Loaded Chicken & Cheese, Cajun-Style Chicken Alfredo, Sesame Orange Chicken, Creamy Chicken Pasta Carbonara. Additionally, they eliminate running for take out too! Convenience at its finest would you not agree?

Sampling the Steak Fajitas entrée, it was nearly identical to the restaurant’s quality and the portion was a typical amount to feed one person. I added sour cream, guacamole, and a spoon of salsa for a complete Steak Fajitas dinner. Outside of my favorite toppings, everything for a fajita dinner was included in the package. Best of all, the meals are microwaveable and ready to eat within minutes.

I highly recommend trying out T.G.I. FRiDAY’S “Entrées for One”. The food is yummy, cooks up quickly, and everyone has a meal choice. Purchased on grocery day, they are the perfect substitution for those nixed family dinner outings!

“It’s time to shake things up in the frozen food aisle and rethink the possibilities,” according to Michelle Fuscaldo, associate director for TGI Friday’s Frozen Foods. TGI Friday’s has a Fun Freezer contest going on to promote their new “Entrées for One. ” They invite you and me to join their Fun Freezer contest, where you can enter to win fabulous prizes, including a home theater makeover. Simply “Like” them on Facebook, enter, and share a picture of your Fun Freezer mealtime. Somebody has to win so check it out; you might be one of the lucky winners!

Kathleen

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