What I Whipped Up

Welcome back!

All too often my husband changes my menu plans.  I plan each week’s menu, go buy all the ingredients and then mid week or sometimes over the weekend my husband changes my menu.  Either he wants to grill my hamburger meat rather than my making meatloaf or he decides he wants the meal I was planning for a dinner for a lunch and it throws me all off.  That has happened this week and all I had left was chicken, so I got creative and came up with something different as my husband gets bored of chicken quickly.

Yesterday, I tweeted about my dilemma and got a variety of ideas, the one I finally settled on was Buffalo Chicken strips. I didn’t like the exact recipe I was given so I searched for  another.  The one I found was much simpler and I went with it.  The result was yummy.  These are finger licking good. 

What do you do when you need a new recipe?

Photo Credit: tumtats blog

They Gotta Be Real

I really do love cooking.  When my husband and I married I made it somewhat of a game.  What’s for dinner? I always knew because I’d planned it out.  I love to do that, and my husband loved it.  He also loved that I didn’t mind cooking every night, in fact he now almost insist upon it.  And a meal, well that would mean at least 1 meat and 2 veggies, or a veggie and potatoes.

Yes,  I married a meat and potatoes man.  The only thing I didn’t get about my meat and tators man was this, he wanted instant potatoes.  What the heck?  I was raised on the “REAL” thing.  I don’t like mashed potatoes unless they are real peeled and smashed Idaho white potatoes.  I can’t tell you how many potatoes I peeled while my husband and I were dating because I grew up in a home where potatoes were an integral part of every meal and if my husband to be was coming over we usually peeled a whole bag.  Yes, you read that right, a whole bag of potatoes, usually the 5lb. size bag.

You see, my daddy is a potatoes man.  He says, “You can’t mess up a good potato.“  Mashed, au gratin, baked, scalloped, boiled, stewed, fried, you can win my daddy’s heart with a good potato.

So, when I got married and my man wanted to boxed flake variety I was a bit disappointed, but for years that’s what we ate when we had mashed potatoes,  I found the only thing I liked about them was that they were quick and for a newly-wed college student that was helpful.  That and they were cheap.  So, I guess that’s why I gave in, but now I have gone back to my roots and so therefore tonight we’re having the real deal.

What about you?  Do you settle for the flakes or have to have the real?

Let’s Get Back to the Table with Libby’s

Growing up there wasn’ t a single night I can remember that we didn’t sit around the dining table for dinner.  Now a days that isn’t as prevalent a case in most American families.  Libby’s canned vegetables is promoting Get Back to the Table.  Here are just a few reasons having dinner at the table with your family is a good idea:

1. You Could Get an A+: Research shows that children who eat dinner with their families five or more times a week are more likely to have higher grades in school – regardless of gender, family structure or economic status (1).
2. It’s Easier to Say No to Drugs: According to the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, frequent family meals have been linked to a lower risk of smoking, drinking and using marijuana. When you spend more time with your kids at the dinner table, it’s easier to spot changes in behavior and develop a better relationship with them (2).
3. Good Conversation Builds Confidence: Researchers at Emory University found that pre-teens whose parents tell family stories at dinner have higher self-esteem and get along better with their peers during their teen years (3).
4. Eating at the Table Means Eating Better: A University of Minnesota study found that kids in families who watched TV while eating meals together had a poorer diet than children whose families ate together around a table. Boys who watched TV while eating ate fewer vegetables and grains and drank more soft drinks while girls who watched TV ended up eating fewer dark vegetables and more fried food (4).
5. It’s Good for Girls: Studies show that teenage girls who ate five or more meals per week with their families were less likely to resort to extreme dieting measures such as self-induced vomiting, diet pills or laxatives. This was true regardless of socioeconomic status, body mass index or family connectedness (5).

Libby’s provides delicious canned vegetables that is sure to compliment any meal you can create.  You can find a 50 cent coupon over at the Get Back to the Table website to save on your next purchase of Libby’s canned veggies.

There is more….over on the Get Back to the Table website you can enter to win a chance to win backstages passes to see Sara Evans.   And here on our blog you can at least win a CD.  To enter to win just leave a comment here on the blog by Monday night, Sept. 23 12 midnight CST.  The winner will be drawn at random and announced on Tuesday, Sept. 24th.

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