There are some things about the nearing end of another school year for the kiddos that I’m looking forward to, and others, well, not so much. The upside to summer? Not dragging kids out of bed at dawn to argue, fuss and fight into getting ready to go to school. Most days in the dark since daylight savings makes sure we only get a finite number of days where we don’t feel like it is dark and dreary that early in the day.

The main downside to summertime for me is actually knowing that without fail, if we need anything from the grocery store, I will have to take all three kids with me. Keeping track of my kids in a grocery store is, as a dear friend of mine calls it, like herding cats. Willful, cute, cuddly, independent, infuriating little kittens to be exact.

Kayla is contained, but not happy about it, so she does her best to make sure she reaches every single thing on the shelves or in the basket and throws it out. Cole doesn’t stay with me so I have to shop and attempt to keep him from ending up out the door or who knows where (for real) and Aidan likes to ram the cart and ask for everything under the sun every 1.2 seconds. As bad as that is, it’s almost better than when the boys decide to ‘get along’ and ‘play’ – that involves fully on slip and sliding down the aisles in the store and giggling like maniacs. We get an awful lot of looks, thankfully most of them range from tolerant to amused to those few who must’ve had kids just like mine and are actually far enough removed from it to look on with fond memories.

I’m most definitely NOT there yet. In fact, to be honest, I can absolutely feel a migraine coming on and my blood pressure boiling. The rest of the day does NOT go well for us.

There are two reasons I’m telling you all this.

1) You know I love keeping it real here. After all that was the intent of starting this blog in the first place and in almost 5 1/2 years of blogging I like to give myself a reality check.

2) There is actually a solution available to me now! And if you live here in Utah in the Centerville to Eagle Mountain (and everywhere in between) area, there is a solution for you too.

Daily Goods!

What would it mean to you to be able to go online, shop for your groceries in mere minutes, and, here’s the best part, HAVE GROCERIES DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR!?

For reals.

Think about what that could mean. Go ahead. I’ll give you a second…

……..

………..

Yeah. I thought you’d like that.

That’s why I’m excited to give my local friends a chance at winning a full year’s membership for unlimited deliveries ($99 value). You just have to try this out! And actually, you can because they offer a free two-week trial membership. But seriously, when it works out to around $2 per week you’re going to see the savings.

Here are a few reasons should you give Daily Goods a try and other ways you could use it:

• Have your groceries delivered to your door
• Have groceries delivered to a loved one’s door who is in need (as long as they are in the delivery area
• You can still use your manufacturer coupons
• Share when you order on your Facebook and get 5% off your order – every. single. time.
• Late night, kids asleep and you realize you need something first thing in the morning? Have it delivered!
• Know someone in your neighborhood or care for someone who isn’t mobile or able to get out? Groceries brought to them.
• Single parent, or Mom or Dad on your own a lot, it’s valet service and an extra set of hands helping you out.
• For more hints, tips and inside info visit DailyGoods.com’s blog Thriving is Better

I’ve done the math on this for me. I grocery shop for one reason or another at least once a week and often twice with how the trips have to be chopped up for time or budget. That means driving there and back usually 2 times per week, which is actually about a 5 mile round trip or more from where we live. Add in time to get the kids ready to go, load up (remember, we’re herding cats here), referee the various arguments, drive to the store, unload, get into the store and try to contain everyone, shop, checkout line, out to the car, load up again, more referee, go home, unload kids, unload groceries and put them away. No joke, any grocery trip with all three kids is at least a two hour outing for us.

The alternative? 10 minutes on the computer. Groceries at my door at a time of my choosing in the delivery schedule, bags into my kitchen, put away. DONE.

It’s worth saying again. DONE!!

Isn’t that worth entering the giveaway and checking out Daily Goods right there?

So what exactly is Daily Goods? Well, in their own words:

DailyGoods is Utah’s favorite online grocery store. Our mission is to save you time by bringing you the freshest selection of produce, meats, dairy, baked goods, and groceries straight to your door. We are committed to providing an amazing experience on every order, which is why we have a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

We offer over 12,000 grocery and household items. Our wonderful local supplier relationships mean that we cut and prepare meat and bakery goods to your order, ensuring that they are fresher than anything you can buy at the store.

Want to know more? They have a nice FAQ on their website that pretty much covers all the bases. And if you aren’t sure you are in the delivery area, you can check that out right here.

They have a couple of plans and pricing levels, but either way you can take advantage of their two-week free trial to check things out. Once you use the service though you are going to love it!

{GIVEAWAY}

Enter below using Rafflecopter for your chance to win a ONE YEAR MEMBERSHIP ($99 value) to Daily Goods for delivery service + $25 free grocery certificate on your next order (certificate will be delivered with your first grocery order when you create your account). 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I had the ingredients for this recipe delivered to me for my trial run using Daily Goods. I often find I want to make something but am missing a particular ingredient. How nice to actually make my list, menu plan and shop all at once. I felt so organized!

I was able to shop on Daily Goods and have a nice pork roast brought to my door, along with some other items I needed, including a nice big bottle of mustard to make this Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce. It was so worth it! The first time I had a gold BBQ sauce was early last Fall after a friend’s afternoon wedding. We went to THE BEST BBQ place (which is unfortunately around an hour from home so not somewhere I can visit any time I want). It was amazing, but my favorite item of the night was the different sauces to choose from, in particular this golden, mustard based sauce that was pure, sweet and tangy heaven, especially on the pulled pork. I’m so glad I was finally able to come close to recreating it at home!

This recipe is a real winner. You just have to try it. The pork is tender and so flavorful. The sauce is such a nice change from the usual tomato based sauces. This recipe is ridiculously easy to make too. Just make the spice rub, put it on the roast, put it in the slow cooker with some onion and a bit of water and go about your day. The sauce takes about 5 minutes to put together later when you’re ready to eat and that’s all there is to it!

Disclosure: I was compensated by Daily Goods for my review ingredients and provided with a year’s membership. No other compensation was needed and my opinions are all my own.

Melissa at A Fit & Spicy Life was my surprise blogger for this month’s Secret Recipe Club. She seems like the kind of woman who juggles all the details life throws at her with grace and skill. When I feel grown up and balanced someday (truthfully that will most likely never happen) that is the kind of gal I want to be. Balanced and in tune with life and myself. As long as my wild and crazy children are letting me pretend I run my world (they are so kind to continue letting their mother believe her own delusions) I’ll just keep taking those small moments where I can get them. Like taking control of what we eat.

Honestly, sometimes I feel like that is the only area of our lives I really have some say in. So it’s no wonder that food and it’s role in our lives is so important to me. For this month’s recipe  I chose to make my version of Melissa’s Apple Agave Granola. It’s lightly sweetened and extra crunchy and clumpy. Normally I wouldn’t add raisins to anything, but my boys are the main granola eaters and they love them. Well, the small boys anyway – the large husband/boy hates raisins and in fact says it’s the only thing he won’t eat. Since I’ve seen him eat some things I’d consider pretty far out there I believe him (let’s just say there were lamb *parts* involved in the desert in Dubai in January and leave it at that shall we?).

I digress.

Back to small moments and control. Actually, I want to talk about the small moments and embracing them so we have a stockpile to draw strength from in those moments when we have no control and are swept away by what life throws at us. Sometimes it may just throw a few small obstacles in our path and others it throws up a brick wall.

As I was making this granola, I thought about what ingredients were going in to the recipe. Even more so I thought about what affect those ingredients would have on my children’s bodies, their moods, their growth, their health. I was grateful I have the means to provide good, healthy, nutritious food for them (even when they make me crazy and sometimes won’t eat it!). I’m humbled that it’s readily available and although we have challenges, we are so truly blessed and lucky. I think sometimes that the simple process, even of something that seems as silly as making granola, is one of my most favorite things to make because of the impact a simple, good-for-them meal can be. My two boys especially eat a lot of granola and I love that it is a wonderful vehicle for sneaking extra healthful things into their bodies.

This online life can be both very lonely and very rich and rewarding. In the past five years of blogging I’ve made amazing friends and learned so much about the world and people and myself in general. I think one of the main things that I’ve learned about myself is that I really want to be a good friend. I don’t always feel like I am or even that I can be, but when I can do something, even if it is small, I like to think that perhaps the smallest ripples can eventually make a difference.

When I recently worked on that #KraftFreshTake challenge I had the pleasure of working with a new found friend, Rosanna. She was fantastic to work with and made the experience a great one. In the midst of all that Rosanna let me know about some serious, typhoon sized challenges of epic proportions that a friend of hers was going through. You really can’t miss her story and the best way to find out how you can help is to read it straight from her. Please, please take a couple of minutes and pass this on if you can!

That is the situation I find myself in as I read the story of another woman and mother, on the other side of the country, who I don’t know and will more than likely never meet. This beautiful and inspiring woman was introduced to me by yet another lovely lady who I have only met through my blog. And yet, in my heart, because I can see a glimpse into her life, I feel touched, blessed and lucky. It makes me want to make sure others know her as well because there are important lessons to be learned and simple ways to help that can easily be given. Even just by sharing her story.

This was what I received and I hope that in passing this on to you we can all affect a ripple of help and love to send to this family.

Devorah is a 39-year-old mother of four who’s been challenged by enough heartbreak for many lifetimes. For years she suffered fertility issues and speech impediments, and battled against her young daughter’s tumor. Her home was totally devastated by Hurricane Sandy, and as she and her family faced the struggle of getting back on their feet, Devorah was tragically diagnosed with ALS just a few weeks later. The disease has no cure. She has been given 2-4 years to live as her body degenerates.

As you can imagine her family life is in total disarray, with insurance companies bringing little relief for mounting medical bills, necessary home repairs and crucial stem cell trials. More than emotional comfort, what Devorah really needs is to bring her experiences to the public eye, in hopes that her family will have the support they’ll so desperately need when she’s gone. 

You can read her full story here: My Story. 

We can’t spend our lives waiting for that perfect combination of things to go right and be what we expected. That’s why I really hope for a few things for you and your family this week, especially you Mom’s out there. I know I’m going to try to follow this little wish list myself (and although I’m writing this to you, I’m really talking to myself even more!):

1. Slow down. Childhood goes fast. Immerse yourself in those small moments with your kids. Even if they are making you feel crazy and there are a million things to do, try harder every day to remember that these moments that you dismiss in frustration are the ones that you don’t want to miss.
2. There is always enough time to be kind. Especially to your children. Life is hectic and busy, but we can’t spend all our time focusing on what we think needs to get done instead of enjoying the here and now.
3. Don’t take what you have for granted. It may not be what you expected or wanted, but it is amazing all on its own.
4. Reach out and help others because, especially when it is difficult, there is always a chance for you to learn and grow there. What a lesson and example to pass on to your kids! Much better than how to get all the laundry done and have a perfectly kept house.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes this week to give yourself some time to reflect on life and how precious it is. I know that is the gift I want this Mother’s Day.

Melissa’s Apple Agave Granola used whole nuts, chopped and apple pie spice as well as old fashioned oats. I wanted a granola that was clumpier and also wanted to use what I had on hand. That’s one of the great things about granola is it’s adaptability. I actually used some quick cooking steel cut oats and almond meal to help me get that clumpy texture. I also doubled up on the sunflower seeds and added some ground flax. I did increase the amount of agave to help this very lightly sweetened version appeal to my kids and also increased the amount of oil a bit to help with that texture. A splash of vanilla and the granola was complete. The only thing I would do differently next time, and I have noted in the recipe, was I forget that agave browns more quickly and I usually turn my oven temperature down. Though this was crunchy, dark golden and done in about 40 minutes, I would actually reduce the temperature next time to get a slightly lighter golden. While it was certainly not burnt, it was definitely well toasted. Depending on how you like your granola, adjust accordingly

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That title was a mouthful. Much like the recipe. In fact, I really wanted to call it ‘Caramelized Almond Vanilla Bean Baked Croissant French Toast’ – you know, kind of like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (and yes, I actually did know how to spell that without looking – BOOM!)

Frankly I wanted to just say “try to say that five times fast” for the first sentence of this post. I refrained. Barely. You may be guessing at this point that I am once again running around crazy with the kids these days, over caffeinated on my favorite white Monster and very little sleep. You’d be correct. Carry on.

Such restraint. It’s a miracle, I know! (Yes, sarcasm is one of the virtues I am teaching my children – both how to recognize it and someday wield it themselves – yep. Already regret that parenting decision.)

The title being shortened to something that wasn’t just packing the entire recipe into one line and not going completely mad, bonkers with the toppings was pretty much where my restraint ended with this recipe (and apparently this post!). What we have here is an amalgam of kitchen alchemy at it’s best. Sugar + heat + subtle flavoring = easy and over the top impressive. Just the way I like it.

Don’t get me wrong. You could totally make some killer fresh fruit topping choices here, like a mixed berry option or whatever you fancy, but I just didn’t see the need for it this time around.

Ever since I posted that recipe for the Sugar Crusted Vanilla French Toast long ago (which has been endlessly popular on Pinterest by-the-by) I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. There’s sugar, and butter, and baking and sweet, sweet, decadent breakfast involved after all. I’m nothing if not predictable in my love of sweet and decadent breakfasts.

The thing was, I couldn’t get out of my head how much I wanted to try making it again using croissants. Mini croissants in this case. You know. Flaky, buttery, tender croissants layered in a baking dish and soaked in an almond and vanilla bean custard overnight then drenched in a sweet, gooey caramel layer the next day. It seemed to me it would be like having the best of all worlds in one.

I mean, if you’re gonna go for it with the calories and decadence every once in a while, then go big!

** Winner Dishwashing Detergent Category. Survey of 50,138 people of TNS. 
†Based on the 2013 BrandSpark/BHG American Shopper Study, Oct.-Nov., 2012. Winners are determined by the highest scores based on appeal and repurchase intent, among entered products. For more information visitwww.BestNewProductAwards.biz

When I was recently invited to be part of the #FinishRiseandShine Challenge from Finish Dishwashing about trying out some of their new and improved dishwashing gel packs. I thought the challenge sounded pretty fun. I’m not gonna lie. I’m not a rinser. I’m a soaker. I’m a soaker and leave it over night so I can feel falsely productive and pretend I had the slightest intention of getting those dishes done any time soon kind of gal. I hate, no abhor, doing dishes.

Anywho. Here comes the Finish® Quantum® with New Power Gel 10-pack they sent me with an offer to buy me a new dish, pay for some groceries and have me create something decadent and messy for breakfast. Then they wanted me to load said messy dish into the dishwasher and ignore it until bedtime. No rinsing, no scraping and no turning the dishes on until the very last possible second.

Well, let’s face it. I would’ve done most of that anyway so why not take the challenge!?

Which brings us full circle back to the kind of recipe I’ve been known to ruin baking dishes with. Caramelized, baked on, ignored sugar and eggs.

Dish cleaning power gauntlet thrown. How did it do? Honestly? A picture or several is worth a thousand words isn’t it? I followed the challenge to a ‘T’ (like I said, easy since that’s my style of ignoring doing the dishes anyway.

Oh. And did I mention that we have such crappy, hard water that my poor little dishwasher is actually falling apart. I need a new one but have been dragging it out finding one. Anyway, our water is so awful that I actually have parts of the machine where the coating on the prongs is worn off.

This machine is no new fangled beauty. It’s a six year old workhorse that’s seen better days. And, no, I didn’t only load the special ‘challenge’ dish into the machine. I packed it just as full as I usually do. You know, because I don’t want to wash any more dishes by hand than at all humanly possible.

So. The verdict? I’d say the Finish® Quantum® with New Power Gel pack was a definite success, wouldn’t you? That picture above is indeed how the dish went into the machine.

I really did enjoy waking up to clean dishes. In fact, it actually put me ahead of the game for once on a busy morning enough that I was able to even sit down and have a little tea and toast for my breakfast. Which pretty much never happens. So, bonus and rock on!

As for the recipe, well, all I can say is, as a Mom, I wish that after I put this together the night before, at the very least, someone else would get up and put it in the oven while I sleep in. Not pretend sleep in either. But real sleep in where I am completely off duty till at least 9:45 am and all I have to do is get up and eat.

But even if that doesn’t happen, and that 9:45 is really more like 7:45 am at best, and I have to get up and put this in the oven myself… well, that’d be ok too.

DISCLOSURE: I was compensated for my participation and the materials and ingredients used in working on the #FinishRiseandShine Challenge and as always my opinions, recipes, and thoughts are 100% my own.

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club I got to take a tour of Christy’s blog, Life of a Modern Housewife. Her blog is not only fun, but also lots of healthy ideas and even workouts she shares. There were several recipes that intrigued me, but not surprisingly I still gravitated towards desserts. This Cream Cheese Pound Cake is on my list still for sure, but since we have been running around on our spring break her Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies really appealed to me. While I know I would love the original recipe with the blueberries and oat flour, I wanted to make a good ‘snack’ cookie that the kids would eat. I played around with the recipe and made a few modifications to use what I had on hand and make these look more like a treat to the boys.

Regardless, I can’t wait to try the original version too with some blueberries or even huckleberries. I’ll bet these make an awesome on-the-go breakfast cookie!

So, what modifications did I make? Well, I wanted more of a honey/almond/chocolate cookie, so I ended up using white whole wheat flour along with a bit of almond flour. Then I also added some almond extract and some honey along with using a muscabado sugar instead of the golden brown sugar (roughly the same type of overall flavor, but without the moisture which the honey could add back in along with some more flavor). For the chocolate I wanted to use a bar of Toblerone with crunchy salted almonds I found at the store last week. It was just right for a treat within the cookie without being overwhelming and really turning it into a dessert).

Next time I’d like to try adding some wheat germ and flax seed too. I think it would go really well in the cookie and would even give them a bigger boost.

You can check out the recipe roundup below for more great ideas!

Also, don’t forget to enter the giveaway for $100 American Express Gift Card from Kraft!

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As my journey through the #KraftFreshTake challenge is drawing to a close I’m excited to be able to offer up a fun giveaway for my readers. Who wouldn’t want to win a $100 American Express Gift Card? No one, that’s who! It really couldn’t be easier to enter. If you’ve been following along through my last few posts about the #KraftFreshTake program then you’ve probably already been thinking what you would do with the different flavors. Obviously, I had the ease of using ground beef and ground turkey respectively on my mind when I made the sliders and the glazed turkey meatballs. What would you make? Which variety would you use?

I’ve talked a little bit through my posts about what inspired my recipes using the Southwest Three Cheese variety of the #KraftFreshTake cheese and seasoned breadcrumb packages. What you should understand is that at the time this challenge started we were buried under ice and snow. All I could think about was being somewhere warm, balmy and with lots of sunshine. While my husband travels quite a lot, I am home with the kids and pretty much don’t get to travel at all. I’d like to, but life doesn’t always quite work out the way we want, does it? What I can do is dream.

During this challenge I was most inspired by images of the Southwest where it was warmer than here, sunnier than here, and had the flavors I love so much in abundance that could make me feel like I was almost having a little getaway. To celebrate that I created my own Southwest Sunshine board on Pinterest celebrating those images. I find the images of the Southwest perfectly magical and inspiring and hope you do as well!

As mentioned in my previous post, the recipe for the Strawberry Poppyseed Vinaigrette can be found at the bottom of this post as promised!

{GIVEAWAY!} #KraftFreshTake $100 American Express Gift Card

All you have to do to enter the giveaway sponsored by Kraft {#KraftFreshTake} is to follow the entry options in the Rafflecopter giveaway below. I want to know what inspires you when you look at the #KraftFreshTake varieties so there are plenty of chances to share, comment, follow and pin your inspiration to enter the giveaway (and even some you can do every day to increase your odds)! You’ll need to be a resident of the U.S. and be 18 or older to enter. Have at it!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCLOSURE: I was compensated for my participation and the materials and ingredients used in working on the Kraft Fresh Take program and as always my opinions, recipes, and thoughts are 100% my own.

Well, obviously this post didn’t happen earlier in the week as was originally intended when I wanted to follow up on the video I shared for my Shop-A-Long. I’ll spare you the gory details, but let’s just say that we have been going the sickness rounds at our house again (and again and again) this week in various forms. Or at least Kayla and I have. Which was enough.

Thankfully I had a break in the yuck to actually get in the kitchen for a couple days and fulfill some promises I had made to do some cooking for a friend who was moving this weekend. Since they are (unfortunately for me) moving far enough away that it won’t be so easy to get together for dinner she asked if I would make two of their favorite dishes for them to have for their meals while their kitchen was packed up. I’m glad to say that the meals were a hit and that a bonus recipe for the salad dressing in the pictures below will be coming out of that later this week. In her own words she said they are now obsessed with the strawberry poppyseed vinaigrette I made (honestly, I am too!).

Stay tuned too for another post soon about some exciting giveaway information and fun that will be coming your way from this #KraftFreshTake challenge!

In other craziness around our world we have excessive amounts of projects to work on for school that I’ll definitely be talking about more soon including a big science project and an equally big report on Native Americans (which I’m actually thrilled to do both because we have some fun things in mind and lots to learn). It’s just all happening at once, and right around Easter, Spring Break for the kids, trips for the husband out of town and lots of work time for him to be away from home. When it rains it pours you know!

I was exceptionally grateful that this second challenge recipe, using the items I shopped for in my little video of the Kroger Kraft Fresh Take Shop-A-Long I shared last Sunday was as simple of a recipe as could be.

Thanks to the Southwest Three Cheese Kraft Fresh Take {#KraftFreshTake} I’m using for my recipe challenges, these turkey meatballs were a breeze to make and couldn’t have been faster either.

The challenge from #KraftFreshTake this time around was:

• Must include a protein, vegetable and carbohydrate in the meal
• Meal can double as a packable lunch for your family
• Make the meal an easy weeknight creation

Challenge accepted.

Personally, I think I nailed it on all fronts.

I have to tell you too, I absolutely LOVED this recipe. I would absolutely put these into the rotation for meals since this definitely qualifies as easy weeknight fare. Plus, talk about flexibility! Want to use ground beef, chicken or pork instead of turkey. Go for it. It will work and still be complete awesomesauce. Want to leave the glaze off or use a different glaze? Why not! Want to make the meatballs, cook and freeze them for use later in your crockpot or make a big batch. This couldn’t be easier to double or triple, and since you can bake the meatballs instead of cooking them on the stovetop you can easily make a huge batch without extra work.

As for the rice portion of the meal, I was also thrilled with this recipe! I absolutely LOVE flavorful rice as a side dish, but when it’s just kind of MEH I really don’t love it. I need my rice to be a vehicle for an incredible flavor whollop. Since we haven’t been feeling well (ok, aka couldn’t breathe worth a darn due to insane congestion) spicy foods are my favorite, especially to help clear out the old sinuses. TMI? Sorry. True story.

The rice started out building the flavor with sautéed onions, garlic, red pepper, serrano chile and some fresh corn I cut off the cob, plus a few seasonings. After that was all sautéed I put it in a bowl to hold while I cooked the rice in the same pan. The rice was then sautéed itself for just a minute in a little olive oil before being simmered in a mixture of fresh roma tomatoes blended with some chicken broth. Once the rice was all cooked, the sautéed vegetables were stirred in and ready to serve. You could easily just make the rice or the vegetables as a separate side too! The vegetables would especially make an awesome side dish for any BBQ or picnic coming up.

Not that it needed anything else, but I’m a sucker for sides with my spicy food and love some refried black beans with some melted cheese on top. It was just a little bonus side dish. Incidentally, you could absolutely use a couple cans of refried black beans in place of the turkey and make a black bean vegetarian version of this and make some southwestern black bean patties. Just sayin’.

That said, the glaze for the meatballs was also super simple to make. The combination of cherry and chipotle is a tried and true favorite of mine, and this recipe reminded me why. The especially nice thing is that you can absolutely control the heat. Use as much or as little of the chipotle hot sauce as you want. Mine was right at the level where there was a little heat at the back of my throat. For those of us that like some spice, that was perfect. For those of us who aren’t as fond it was a little bit much. You could even skip the heat altogether if you want.

Since the meatballs were so easy and quick to make I didn’t mind a little chopping and stirring to make the rice. It was still all done and on the table in about 30 minutes, so that was fine with me. Especially for the results! Did I mention it was all made in one pot? Bonus!

As for the other part of the challenge, to make something that could easily be packed as a lunch. Well, we proved that too. And actually you could easily just take the leftover rice and meatballs and call it good. I wanted to change things up a bit though and make the meatballs into a sandwich that could be packed for lunch. I tried it warm, cold, room temperature (the things I do for you!) and it was fine all the way around (I actually preferred it just warm, not too hot, not too cold… just right! Just call me Goldilocks). Since I was making all that salad and salad dressing I decided to have my sandwich with the salad.

Overall, I couldn’t be happier with how this challenge turned out. I have a renewed love for ground turkey. I have a new favorite rice side dish recipe and I have something that makes awesome leftovers which mean I actually end up getting to eat lunch. I really hope you give this one a try!

DISCLOSURE: I was compensated for my participation and the materials and ingredients used in working on the Kraft Fresh Take program and as always my opinions, recipes, and thoughts are 100% my own.

Lately life seems to be a series of a whole lot of hurry up and wait with a side of changes. I’m pretty sure that none of that is a favorite recipe of mine. Every time I seem to think I’ve found my groove, something changes and just throws everything off again.

To help combat the new status quo with our family life and schedule I’ve been trying to learn to be more organized instead of my usual fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants method. I can’t say it’s going that well or that I’ve really perfected any part of that, but I am trying.

Would it shock you if I admitted that I am a TERRIBLE menu planner? I plan with the best of intentions, but my follow through often gets waylaid by reality. I think to myself, “this is the week I’ll make dinner as planned at least 3 times.” Then instead we eat a whole lot of peanut butter sandwiches, pancakes and grilled cheese or quesadillas, take out pizza, etc..

We do better on the weekends, but weeknights are a whole different ballgame. This little shopping trip is for the ingredients for my next recipe I’ll be sharing for the second part of the Kraft Fresh Take challenge I’m participating in. The challenge this time is for an easy, complete, weeknight meal that can also double as a packable lunch from leftovers.

I do occasionally make a plan and stick to it (like those sliders I shared not long ago for the first part of the challenge). It’s not the norm. I’m obviously not one of those fantastic guru bloggers who is organized to the hilt (I just keep hoping to somehow channel those amazing moms). I’m probably a lot more like you than you may think. We keep it pretty real around here all the time, which isn’t always pretty.

While I mentioned when I made the sliders that I don’t mind using helpful ingredient shortcuts sometimes, I’m not always good at thinking ahead.

There are pantry staples I like to have on hand that make it simpler and certain ingredients that really make figuring out a meal just that much easier.

I’m glad through this #KraftFreshTake program that I’ve found another one (and with so many varieties)!

I was explaining to the hubby earlier what my day looks like tomorrow and it got me thinking about how many days look just like this, or more often than not even crazier with a few extracurriculars and other doctors appointments thrown in for good measure.

Anyway, the day I did my shop-a-long video was actually a pretty common day in it’s chaotic glory. Shopping for the Kraft Fresh Take (#KraftFreshTake) Kroger Shop-A-Long video was fun and pretty painless. I especially love grocery shopping in the mornings when my brain isn’t quite as fried, the stores aren’t too full and I can enjoy the atmosphere of a well laid out, nicely lit and planned store.

Anyway, since it was my usual chaotic day (which you can read more about below if you really want to know what our whirlwind looks like) I ended up having all my ducks in a row that day to shoot the video, with the exception of actually getting to grab a shower that morning. Or do makeup. Or my hair. But let’s face it. It doesn’t get much more real than this!

So, please keep that in mind as you watch the video… ’cause it’s pretty unfiltered but I think you may end up being able to see some of yourself in there as well. (Funny enough, I may have felt more discombobulated by the fact that I was actually by myself for once instead of having to referee the kids the whole time, but a 20 minute video of me and the kids just wasn’t what I was going for here.)

Enjoy!

The day goes pretty much like this:

6:30 am – try to drag my sorry behind out of bed (most likely after another sleepless night due to allergies for me and coughing kids)
6:45 am – sure as heck better be up by now and getting ready to attempt to wake the sleeping Thing 1 – this will most likely involve grabbing some kind of caffeine to kick my morning off
7:00 am – hopefully he’s finally up, has had his ADHD meds (which I’ll be praying kick in!) and is finally at least trying to get dressed instead of arguing and flopping around his room
7:15 am – by now the flopping, flipping and stalling should be just about over and he should actually be dressed for school and ready to try to eat breakfast – in the meantime it’s take the puppy out and a little play time and breakfast for him too
7:30 am – most likely still sipping my caffeine while having to remind the eldest kiddo to take a bite of food every minute or two while trying hard to hang on to my temper as we head into starting to run out of time before leaving for school
7:40 am – out of time whether he has eaten more than 3 bites and time to get shoes, teeth brushing, back pack, coat, etc. and head out the door to be to school with no tardy and hopefully minimal stalling
7:50 am – take a deep breath before getting the next kids up – double header with the littles who both have to be to school for 9 am start times… schools that are 15 miles apart no less
7:55 am – grab clothes for the kid and wake Thing 2 and send him off to get dressed and start waking up – thankfully he wakes easily, if a little grumpy at times
8:00 am – while Thing 2 is dressing, it’s time to wake up the little sister pixie – usually getting all her stuff ready first which means get her allergy and thyroid medicine ready, make her cereal bottle, get diaper/wipes ready, outfit for the day and spare outfit for the backpack
8:10 am – Feed Thing 2 – sit him down to some breakfast while I scramble to wake the Pixie and get her ready to go
8:20 am – Get the Pixie her cereal bottle for breakfast and get Thing 2 finished getting ready (more teeth brushing, shoe and backpack finding)
8:30 am – Out the door with Thing 2 and the Pixie – drop Thing 2 off early at his preschool (thank goodness I can!) and hurry 15 miles away to the Pixie’s preschool for a 9am start time
9:00 am – special needs preschool for the Pixie with a little extra assistance in the classroom for the first 15 minutes before heading out
9:15 am – off to run errands – usually grocery shopping! All the grocery stores are at least 10 minutes from our house, so once I’ve shopped I have to make sure to have at least 15 minutes to head back and pick Thing 2 up from preschool by at 11 am – which with driving generally means I have about an hour to shop including checkout before heading to get him
10:45 am – head to 1st preschool pickup at 11am
11:00 am – hurry and drop off groceries at home, put away perishables fast before running right back out the door with Thing 2 in tow
11:30 am – pick up the Pixie from preschool, talk to teachers if needed (anywhere from 5 minutes to an extra meeting with teacher and/or speech therapist)
?? Depending on what happens the rest of the day we go home again, lunch for the kids (not always for Mom), online preschool for Thing 2 and a little extra speech therapy / play time with the Pixie. We usually have about a whole whopping 30-40 minutes of free time at this point before it’s time to head out and line up in the carpool to get Thing 1 again who gets out at 2:30. It’s then immediately home for homework, snack time, and time with the dog who has been living with scraps of time throughout the day when possible. Homework, on a good day is done by 4pm (there’s a lot of it and not nearly as much focus as needed). At this point it’s time to take the dog for a walk, and grab another little bit of free time before it’s time for dinner, a little free time for the kids while I clean, the bedtime bath and bed battle, and then finally some rest (or so they say!). Me? I’ll most likely be passing out at that point.

Obviously after a full throttle day like that (that usually makes sure I don’t accomplish anything that is actually discernible as ‘getting things done around the house’ – you know… the kind of day where your loving spouse asks what you actually did all day… yeah. Good times.

Anyway, on a day like that, dinner isn’t really always a high priority even though I wanted and intended it to be. So. Now that I’ve tortured you with a run down of my day you’re probably wondering why I just put us both through that.

My reasons are simple and finite.

1. I know that your day most likely doesn’t look all that different from mine – I know this because I actually do know other moms and there isn’t a harder working crowd to be found!
2. I wanted you to know how I was truly keeping it real when I made this video of my shopping trip to my local Kroger store (which will perhaps explain why I’m fully sharing an off the cuff, no makeup, no hair done, unscripted video with you)
3. I was pleasantly surprised that even though I was walking around with my camera making this video I ended up having a peaceful time because I had a plan and I knew I had some awesome ingredient shortcuts on my side.

I hope you enjoyed the video! I’ve shared the shopping list in the video as well, but I thought it would be fun to share it here too. What would you do with these ingredients? I’ll be showing you this week what I did with them so I hope you’ll check back in soon!

DISCLOSURE: I was compensated for my participation and the materials and ingredients used in working on the Kraft Fresh Take program and the Kroger Shop-A-Long, and as always my opinions, recipes, and thoughts are 100% my own.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013

Have you ever given any thought to what type of food you would eat every day of your life if you only had one choice? Or perhaps more specifically, what type of FLAVOR you would crave?

If you were to meander through the meal recipes here you would most likely discover that the bulk of them are probably along the lines of flavors from the Southwest / Mexico / Tex Mex world. Carnitas, enchiladas, tacos, chili, etc. are what I could eat every day and never get tired of it. The flavors of the Southwest are just an absolute party. And when you are completely over winter and in need of some sunshine, heading south in the kitchen is the best bet as far as I’m concerned.

I was recently invited to participate in a recipe challenge from Kraft using their Fresh Take products (#KraftFreshTake). I’ll admit, I hadn’t actually seen the Fresh Take products yet before and had to do some quick research. Once I did, three things happened almost simultaneously — (1) I took the challenge, (2) I started thinking about the flavors and *may* have gone a little wild, and (3) I thought it would be nice if the store had put up a big sign that said “take notice – killer shortcut ahead!”

It’s pretty simple. I love to cook from scratch, but there are certain types of shortcuts with ingredients I don’t mind taking and Kraft’s Fresh Take is perfect for it. I’m generally not going to make my own breadcrumbs, and will most likely have to buy cheese, spices, breadcrumbs and figure out the flavor combination for a particular dish. By the time I’ve either checked to see what spices I have on hand (which unless you use them pretty often can easily lose their impact on you), bought what is needed, plus the other ingredients, it’s easy to see how a grocery bill can get pretty high these days (and easy to understand why so many people don’t bother to branch out in their cooking).

Enter Fresh Take. Did I mention that it comes in a sturdy plastic bag of its own that you can easily just add your protein of choice to and shake to coat, bake it and call it dinner? I seriously love no clean up. It’s all together in one package that only cost around $4 total (and there were coupons right in the store). It has the good, shredded cheese from Kraft already in there, plus specially seasoned breadcrumbs. There are several varieties of the flavors and so, no surprise, when I got to choose my variety, I went for the Southwest Three Cheese. (You may be looking back up at the title and thinking about the fact that the recipe is for a FIVE cheese slider… yeah. I went over the top!)

So the #KraftFreshTake challenge will be a 4 part series here on the blog over the next few weeks including a great giveaway at the end! For my first challenge I received a ‘card’ which included the criteria for my first recipe to brainstorm. The criteria was pretty straightforward. As usual with me, what wasn’t as straightforward was reigning in all the ideas bopping through my head!

Here was my first challenge:

1. Must include one protein other than chicken
2. Meal can be made in 30 minutes or less
3. Have your family help you in the kitchen

What challenged me with this was narrowing things down to what I wanted to do. I’m a little bit of a rebel, which is probably a little hard to believe with how domesticated I am these days, but back in the day I was known to be a bit wild. When you consider I’m married to a guy who jumps out of airplanes for a living it probably gets less surprising.

Anyway, the package for the Southwest Three Cheese says right on the front to use it with Chicken, Pork or Fish…

So, obviously, I chose to use BEEF! Don’t ask me why. But I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. The thought process went something like this:

Cheese, spices a little breadcrumbs… that would be good with some ground beef – maybe a meatloaf – no, the kids don’t always like meatloaf.

Oh, but they love burgers! But I’d have to make them small. Sliders! Yeah, sliders. Mmm.

Southwestern… how about some green chiles from New Mexico. Oh! I could mix the green chiles into some cream cheese and STUFF the sliders.

There’s already three cheese – is that overkill? Ah. Who cares if it is!? Might as well further gild the burger and add some sliced pepper jack to melt on top. It’ll seal in the cream cheese. THAT’S FIVE CHEESES IN HERE! It’s a good thing these babies are going to be small-ish.

Hmm. Still thinking about meatloaf… I’ll glaze the burgers before broiling them so they get all saucy in the oven. Then add the pepper jack so it’s all melted.

There should be bacon. There should always be bacon.

DONE.

So it was dreamed up, and so it was done. Because these sliders are PLUMP I only made 8 sliders from 1 lb of ground beef, which was perfect for our little family. They look deceptively large because of the thickness of the stuffed burger, but the rolls are only about a 3-inch dinner roll so it’s a bit misleading. These were perfect kid, single serving size with a couple for the grown ups. It would be super easy to double up and make more. Add to that that these are fast to mix and make, take only a few ingredients, and can quite literally be mixed and shaped by a child, and this was a winner all around.

And the flavor? OH MY. These were SO good. I can’t even begin to explain and do them justice. Let’s just say that my 9YO non-eater ate two of them and LOVED them.

The beef is tender because of the cheese and breadcrumbs mixed in so it was easier for little mouths to eat. The surprise cream cheese layer inside with a little bit of green chiles mixed in gave the whole thing just a little extra kick of heat, but really weren’t too spicy at all.

Would I make these again? As soon as possible… and probably full size to fit even more of the cream cheese goodness in the center. And I was serious about the child labor help in making these. As far as I’m concerned burgers are one of the best ‘gateway’ meals for kids to learn how to help with. They love playdough and this isn’t much different. So, here Cole shows you the steps (and they may be slightly out of order at the end, but that is mom’s fault!)

DISCLOSURE: I was compensated for my participation and the materials and ingredients used in working on the Kraft Fresh Take program and as always my opinions, recipes, and thoughts are 100% my own.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I AM SERIOUSLY SO OVER WINTER. I’ve pretty much decided that if most everything I make reminds me of warmer weather then I can keep thinking Spring!

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club I was given Kate’s blog, Kitchen Trial & Error - which I think is a fantastic food blog name by the way! And it fits because it is a fantastic food blog! I kept coming back to a recipe she shared for Chewy Lemon Sugar Cookies though. You know, that’s not surprising considering my recent obsession with all things citrus, like the Meyer Lemon Meringues and the Wild Orange Madeleines that have been coming out of my kitchen!

Anyway, her description of the cookies was spot on for what I’ve been looking for to try and hack a favorite cookie of mine that a couple of local bakeries make. It’s a sugar cookie with just the right chew and texture that has broken and crushed lemonhead candies inside and usually has a little lemon glaze on top.

When I read the ingredients list for Kate’s lemon sugar cookies it reminded me of my favorite sugar cookie recipe (I’ll share that soon!) which also hascream cheese in the dough. Add to this that Kate’s cookies are all simply stirred together in a bowl and couldn’t be easier to make (or if you are like me and feel excessively lazy you could bust out the hand mixer).

I did change the recipe just a bit, mainly due to my laziness again (I hate partial leftovers so I fiddled with the fats to use whole portions of butter and cream cheese packages), and to add in the lemonheads and adjust a bit for high altitude and the flavor I was looking for.

These cookies were lemony perfection. I didn’t even get around to adding the glaze, but they didn’t really need it and stored so nicely. We even thought they were better the next day when the candy was no longer crunchy in the cookie at all (the candy pieces melt into the dough making little candy filled spots that can be a little crunchy depending on how much you crush the candy before adding it to the dough).

Please do bring some sunshine to your day and make these! And head on over to Kate’s blog and the other SRC club members links for lots of fantastic ideas!

Have you heard of Proust? Would you think me lame if I admitted that until I heard of a madeleine, I’d never heard of Proust? Well, I guess that shows my priorities doesn’t it. I had to learn about the cookie first. And let me tell you, I just finally read the famous excerpt from Proust about this (and finally registered it’s significance in my favorite Pixar movie Ratatouille) this past week when I was making these Wild Orange Madeleines again for the third time in a week. To be more accurate though, I had heard some of Proust’s quotes, just not really with his name. Obviously my education must have slacked/lacked somewhere along the way (or I did). Enough about that. If you want to read it you can find the particular section here (and I rather liked reading some of it myself before my pseudo-ADHD-by-osmosis-to-my-kids kicked in and I couldn’t focus to keep reading).

C’est la Vie.

I may or may not have been subliminally preventing myself from remembering to take all the pictures I wanted to have for this post and had to make the recipe over again (and again).

Yes. They are that good. And these are probably the best madeleines I’ve had or made. While I have a serious love affair going with my recipe for Dark Chocolate Madeleines, I also love a good citrusy madeleine.

Lemon is the usual flavor for a classic madeleine, but I decided to try making these a little easier and different by using a few drops of my Wild Orange Essential Oil from doTerra.

Yes, I am a doTerra advocate and have my own little side biz… why not, right? I can buy at a discount and get to have the good stuff I love on hand for the kitchen, bath and our family’s medicine cabinet. It’s a no brainer for me.

As I mentioned above with the link to that body scrub I shared a while back, this isn’t actually the first time I’ve even posted about doTerra on here. It’s been a while in the making, but I do want to start sharing more of those recipes and ideas here as well, along with hopefully a giveaway in the near future!

I have a profound affection for that Wild Orange oil though. I use it in recipes we eat, that Vanilla Citrus Body Scrub I make at home and even love just sitting and smelling it (incidentally it works awesome as a cleaning agent for the kitchen too). I wanted to see how the flavor would come through compared to using the straight up zest from an orange and I couldn’t have been happier with the results. These madeleines are citrusy, bright and just plain happy.

You know. If a cookie could be happy, I’m pretty sure it would want to taste like sunshine in the middle of winter and look like a seashell scooped off some distant, warm sandy shore… sigh. I have to grab another cookie. See? Even Benny wants one. (Poor pup. We have a very strict no human food for the doggie policy so no cookie for him!)

Incidentally, you may be looking at this recipe and thinking that you can’t make it because (A) you don’t have any orange essential oil (I did mention I could help with that though. Just sayin’) or (B) you don’t have a madeleine pan.

Don’t let either of those issues stop you. I’ve included the extra steps you can take if you want to zest a couple of oranges yourself (I’m nice like that) and even if you don’t have a madeleine pan you could always just use a mini muffin tin (sacrilege I know! Gasp!). Let’s face it. I’ve already taken some license with the recipe. Telling you to use a different pan isn’t going to be that big a stretch.

So, if you’re like me and these seemingly never ending doldrums of winter have got you down (seriously, why do I let a groundhog get my hopes up!?) then you should start busting out the citrus. And, hey, while you’re at it, make a tea tray for you and a friend and get all poetic and fancy on this recipe. Make it a special little afternoon occasion and treat yourself to some cheering up for no reason other than you deserve it. You may find that, even if you can’t find a friend to come over, you have a little one (my boys are seriously sweet!) who would be more than happy to sit down with you and take a couple of those seashell cookies off your hands.

You know. While looking at you with big green eyes and ridiculous lashes and looking very innocent (deceptive little hurricane!)

I’m lucky enough to have a darling little antique/collectibles thrift shop called Lost & Found Thrift (it’s near us in Bountiful) with the coolest owners around who helped me put together this tea tray, along with a few of my flowers from my hubby from Valentine’s last week and my favorite cow creamer that my Mom gave to me. You never know until you try just how much a little break can be therapeutic (even if you do have to make it for yourself)!

Speaking of breaks, I seriously didn’t mean to take one for almost the entire month of February! We had a busy month around here though with some pretty awesome, scary and sweet milestones at the Hanks house. This little lady turned three years old on Valentines Day, if you can believe that (I sure can’t!).

Immediately followed by a super busy birthday / classroom party day was her annual well check where we go through a barrage of lists and tests to see where she is at with her health (which is pretty dang good right now as a matter of fact so a big HUZZAH! for that).

The very next day after that the same little lady started preschool. That meant actually, really, getting dressed for the day, with her hair done, and sneakers on. And that Mom had to leave her with new teachers and other kids (she’s the only girl though!) for a whole 2 1/2 hours.

She loved it and couldn’t have been happier. Just her Mama had a hard time. As far as I’m concerned though, that is as it should be!

Those are a lot of serious and quick milestones for this mama to take and there may have been a fair amount of angst, stress, anxiety and other feelings bopping around in my head this month that were warring with my happiness for the good things. My baby is growing up. It is a good thing (yes, I am saying that just as much or more for my benefit than yours!). It is a good thing. It is a good thing. It is a good thing.

It is also a scary thing to think that she is out of my direct supervision where I can protect her. I’ve become more and more aware that the world is not always a kind place, and especially not to those with special needs. There is a not so small part of me that wishes I could whisk her away where no one could ever hurt her… but then I would be the one doing that, so instead I am working on my warrior mama facade and game plan. More on that in the near future!

Back to the cookies! I don’t know what else to say than, just make them! However you decide to do it.

Make yourself some madeleines. They will make you feel happy. They aren’t really that difficult to make and the steps are rather soothing with results that feel a little magical.

I love kitchen chemistry! Sprinkle them with a little powdered sugar, or glaze them with a little more orange glaze and enjoy. Although they are best on the day they are made, I honestly love them a few days later too. Especially if you are going to dip them in some tea or whatever your soothing, warm beverage of choice is.

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