Most of the stuff I try out is okay, but with few exceptions, I haven’t found much that I want to make over and over… or even again.
I need some recipes that can’t be beat – but that are easy/quick enough for weeknights and that my kids will eat. (Hey, I’m a poet and I don’t know it.)
Any suggestions? What do you make with recipes you have memorized? What are your go-to meals? Your kids’ favorites?
I don’t have many, but I do have a couple to share (some of which I have mentioned before!).
The Pioneer Woman’s fresh green beans. I made these a LOT this summer, and they are fantastic.
The Pioneer Woman’s Fresh Green Beans.
And also the Pioneer Woman’s bacon-wrapped jalapeno thingies.
The Pioneer Woman’s bacon-wrapped jalapeno thingies
Sam saw these on my computer screen and said “Oh, not those things again.” They weren’t such a hit with the kids, but the adults? They inhale them. Just don’t put them (and the associated tooth picks) under the broiler. They will burst into flames. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
So anyway, back to my original question. Anyone have recipes to share?
This post is brought to you by Kellogg’s and The Motherhood, and I’ve been compensated for my time. However, all opinions are my own.
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Breakfast (and sometimes snacks. And also dinner) in our house include one main ingredient – cereal. I’ll be honest, I’m not one to whip up seasonally-themed Pinterest-esque pancakes, especially on a school day. Actually even the thought of making pancakes on a school day makes me laugh.
In full disclosure, I don’t even feed my kids breakfast on school days. I leave that to my sister to handle after I drop them off at her house. But I do participate in one way – I provide the cereal for her to feed them. And I’m perfectly comfortable with this arrangement.
Kellogg’s knows we’re busy, but they also know we want to get some good things into our kids’ bodies – including fiber. Kicking off the day with a fiber-ful breakfast helps get the recommended amount in every day, and Kellogg’s offers more ready-to-eat cereals that are a good source of fiber than any other brand. And we’re not talking Bowls Full o’ Twigs, either – Kellogg’s Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, and Mini-Wheats all have between 3-6 grams of fiber, and kids will gobble them up.
We got a Love Your Cereal package in the mail the other night, and despite the fact that we’d just finished dinner, Sam had to have some Froot Loops.
He also loved Toucan Sam!
Kellogg’s want YOU to Love Your Cereal too, so they’ve given us a Love Your Cereal kit to give away. The kit includes:
— 3 Boxes of Kellogg’s cereals (one box each of Frosted Mini-Wheats, Froot Loops and Apple Jacks)
— My Plate Game: a fun way to introduce and reinforce skills related to My Plate and healthy living.
— Toucan Sam plush toy
— Mini Wheats Soaking Cereal Bowl
— Tony the Tiger Spoon Set
Here’s how to enter:
Leave a comment on this post. Easy enough, right?
Optional 2nd entry: Tweet about this giveaway (you can copy and paste this): “Enter to win a @Kelloggs_US Love Your Cereal Kit from @momminitup @jennyitup http://bit.ly/GNqzDj #LoveYourCereal” and leave a comment on this post with your tweet URL.
Optional 3rd entry: Click to re-pin our pin of this post! Then come back here and leave a comment on this post with the URL of your pin.
ONE winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday, October 16, 2013 at 6pm EST. Good luck!
(Click here for the official rules from Kellogg’s.)
In case you haven’t been inundated with pictures of apple picking and pumpkin patches on Facebook noticed, it is officially fall… time to break out the jeans, sweaters, boots, and slow cookers.
I’ve been using a slow cooker regularly for a long time, and while I love the convenience of having dinner ready when I get home from work, I’ve shied away from lots of recipes that require extensive prep work. (At least I’ve shied away from them after the infamous spaghetti chicken incident of 2010.) To me, the point of using a slow cooker is that, well, you use the slow cooker, and only the slow cooker! However, that theory seriously limited what I was able to make.
Until, that is, this magical small appliance appeared on my doorstep.
Cuisinart 3-in-1 Cook Central
The Nimus 2000. I mean, the Cuisinart 3-in-1 Cook Central. It is a slow cooker, yes, but it’s more than that – you can also brown, saute, or steam food right in there. No extra pans required.
The first thing I tried was chili. I programmed it to heat up to 400 degrees…
And browned the hamburger and onion right in the slow cooker itself. After that was done, I just switched it over to slow cook and added the rest of the ingredients. Extremely convenient!
I’ve used the Cook Central a number of times since then, and here are some things I’ve noticed:
– The pot is long and shallow – at first I didn’t think it was going to hold nearly as much as my old slow cooker did. However, after I actually put food in there, I was pleasantly surprised by how much it would hold. As it turns out, it holds six quarts, just like my old one. I wanted to make sure to mention that because I may have passed over this whole contraption at first glance because of my misconception of its size.
– The cooking pot is removable (HUGELY important for clean up!) and it’s nonstick aluminum – I’ve been impressed at how easy it is to clean each time I’ve used it. I don’t use the slow cooker liners anymore, because there’s no need. Nothing sticks to the pot! It’s also dishwasher safe (thank goodness).
– I love that it automatically switches to “keep warm” after the designated cooking time expires. Not all slow cookers do that, and I think it’s a great feature. In fact, it will stay on “warm” for up to 24 hours.
– It’s pretty. I love the stainless steel look and the blue backlit LCD display.
The combination cooking feature has prompted me to expand my slow cooker repertoire – earlier this week I tried this recipe for shredded beef tacos. Before, I wouldn’t have given it a go because of the need to sear the meat (I know I am lame, but it’s true). Since I could do it all in the slow cooker, though? I gave it a shot, and it was delicious.
The 3-in-1 cooker and I will be spending a lot of quality time together this winter!
To learn more about all of Cuisinart’s products, head over to their website and follow them on Twitter!
