Everything Else — A Southern Fairytale

When I Grow Up

11:49 AM ByRachelFiled UnderFamily, Sponsored

“Rachel, I don’t want you to grow up” – Granny, to a young me

my response

“Why Granny, Won’t you love me when I’m bigger?”

I don’t know how old I was at the time of that conversation, and I don’t remember her response to me, but now that I have my own children – I completely get it.

They want to grow up so fast

And I want them to stay small

They want to zoom through childhood and do it all…

I want to hold them and protect them and shelter them

It’s inevitable as we reach the end of this school year that the kids are already talking about next year.

NEXT YEAR when I will have a 3rd grader (the oldest grade in our Elementary School) AND a kindergartner!!!

Be still my heart

We talk about what their goals are, what they want to learn and accomplish and do over the summer and the next year and that inevitably leads to the ‘When I..‘ conversations.

When I’m a 3rd grader, I will know multiplication

When I’m a kindergartner I can show my teacher how I can read and I’ll get to do PE!

When I’m in High School

When I get married…

When I’m a Mom…

When I’m a Dad…

When I Grow Up

I go along with them and we play ‘When I Grow Up’

When Princess grows up she wants to be a veterinarian-dolphin trainer-teacher-mom-writer-artist!

Monkey wants to be everything his Daddy is.

I make them laugh when I tell them that when I grow up I want to be a photographer, writer, friend, mom – because in my mind I am still not grown up.

They find that really amusing

After every When I conversation I tell them that they can be anything they want to be and their Daddy and I will do everything we can to support them and help them achieve their goals and grow into the people the are destined to become.

Right now we’re doing our best to give them the foundation they’ll need to become those grown ups.

Independence.

Strength.

Confidence.

Love.

Thank you, Hallmark, for choosing me as one of their “Life Is A Special Occasion” bloggers and allowing my life and stories to be a part of their Life is A Special Occasion program. While I am compensated for my work with Hallmark as a Life is A Special Occasion ambassador, everything posted is original and real and from our life

37 Comments

Baked Honey Mustard Chicken Tenders

11:05 PM ByRachelFiled UnderMain Dishes, Poultry, Sponsored

These honey mustard marinated, cornflake and parmesan crusted, baked chicken tenders are the 2nd recipe I’ve made and am sharing with y’all as a part of my participation in the Hellmann’s Chicken Change Up program.

Last month, I talked about our busy lives and shared with y’all my time saving Baked Chicken with Cream Sauce recipe that I made using Hellmann’s Mayonnaise.

It was easy, delicious, and best of all – quick!

This month for my Hellmann’s Chicken Change Up recipe – I’m talking about Picky Eaters and sharing a crazy delicious chicken tenders recipe that will have your pickiest eaters licking their fingers and asking for more.

Don’t shake your head at me or roll your eyes. I’m serious.

My daughter stuck her nose in the air and straight up told me… I’m not eating any chicken that you make with cereal.

(Cue me grabbing my hair and checking for 27 MORE gray hairs at the attitude and stubbornness that surely have my dad laughing and making snarky comments about karma.)

Monkey, in all his peace-making-everyone-happy way, told her to just try one bite to make Mom happy.

(Cue my heart bursting)

For once, I actually followed a recipe to the letter (I know!) and I must admit, I’m rather pleased with the results – and the kids were, too!

Even Little Miss Nose in The Air LOVED these and asked if she could help make them next time. And there WILL be a next time.

W. I. N.

Want this Picky Eater pleasing recipe?

Of course y’all do

Baked Honey Mustard Chicken Tenders

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Approximate Time: 20 minutes

Baked Honey Mustard Chicken Tenders

Delicious cornflake, parmesan coated chicken tenders marinated in a honey mustard mayonnaise sauce. Perfect for little fingers and picky eaters.

Ingredients

6 Tbsp Hellmann's Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Honey Mustard
1 lb, boneless skinless chicken tenders
1 1/2 C cornflakes, finely crushed
1/4 C grated Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

Pre-heat Oven to 425°F
In a small bowl, combine Hellmann's Mayonnaise and Honey Mustard - whisk and divide in half
Place one half of the Honey Mustard/Mayonnaise mixture in the fridge (covered, for dipping)
Crush the cornflakes (in a food processor, a plastic bag with a rolling pin, however you get them crushed/processed) and mix them with the Parmesan Cheese and place in a shallow dish.
Toss the chicken tenders in the Honey Mustard/Mayonnaise mixture to coat and then dip them in the cornflakes/parmesan mixture until fully coated.
Place on a wire rimmed/vented broiler tray over a baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes (or until chicken is fully cooked, do not overcook)
Serve with the other half of the sauce for dipping.

http://asouthernfairytale.com/2012/04/11/baked-honey-mustard-chicken-tenders/

As if this Picky Eater pleasing, easy to make recipe wasn’t enough…

Thanks to Hellmann’s and the One2One Network, I have a Picky Eater Pleasing Giveaway, too!

I actually OWN a Puzzle Sandwich Cutter and use it frequently – my kids LOVE IT.

This Picky Eaters Giveaway includes:

Deceptively Delicious Cookbook
Substituting Ingredients Cookbook
Match & Munch Puzzle Sandwich Cutters
Kid’s Bento Box
Kid’s Chopsticks

I got to choose the giveaway that I wanted to do, and this is the one that I saw and immediately though – “I want ALL OF THAT!”

Congratulations to Greta for winning!

~~Want to win this wonderful Hellmann’s Picky Eater Pleasing Giveaway?~~

Each entry MUST be left in a separate comment:

There’s a total of 6 possible entries!!!

~~(MANDATORY entry) What’s your favorite Picky Eater Pleasing Recipe?~~

~~Which item in the Picky Eater Giveaway MOST appeals to you?~~

~~Share this giveaway on your favorite social media outlet – twitter, facebook, pinterest and share the link in the comments (up to 4 entries for this one)~~

The Giveaway on My Blog is now closed – but y’all still have until April 30th to enter into the Hellmann’s Chicken Change Up Sweepstakes!

From now until April 30, 2012, parents across the country can participate in the Hellmann’s® Chicken Change-up by trying one of the featured Hellmann’s® chicken recipes, sharing their recipe reviews and providing their own advice for managing dinnertime obstacles. After participating, consumers can enter into a sweepstakes for the chance to win a $5000 grocery store gift card and other daily prizes

This Contest is Now Closed.

This giveaway is open from 10:00 PM CST April 11, 2012 to 12:01 AM CST April 17th, 2012. Winner will be chosen by Comment Contest Plug-in and will have 24 hours to respond or an alternate winner will be chosen.

This is a sponsored post. Hellmann’s product and additional incentives were provided to me. All opinions stated are my own.

49 Comments

Blackened Chicken Alfredo (The quick and easy version)

12:36 AM ByRachelFiled UnderMain Dishes, Sponsored

I have yet to figure out WHY, but for some reason February and March kick our family’s collective tails.

Just when we start to feel like we’re getting our feet back under us again…

BOOM!!!

It’s kickball season and that consumes 4 to 5 nights a week.

Between kickball, school, work, and just living life… March to May make me feel like I’m living in one of those cartoons where the clocks all have hands that are spinning at a crazy fast pace and everything is in fast forward. I feel like if I blink, I’ll have missed a day, a week, a month of life.

Would I trade a hectic, often sweaty, dirt filled, fast paced minute?

Hell No.

I will however, accept any and all advice, help, aid and anything else that makes our days easier.

WAIT FOR IT... (HIMYM reference)

One thing that I try to do even amidst all the crazy, is make sure we eat well, and that doesn’t mean paper bags and drive thrus.

I want real food.

Food that comes from my kitchen, and that’s a hard thing to do when schedules are colliding like kids in a bumper car ring.

If I don’t want it to be drive thru, if I haven’t planned enough for the Slow Cooker, and sandwiches just won’t do… I’m not left with many options.

Unless I want to throw one of those frozen skillet meals together and let’s face it, I’d rather not because I’m not a fan of frozen meals.

THERE.

I SAID IT.

They are always lacking, Lacking, flavor, texture, taste, substance…. you name it, they’re usually lacking it.

USUALLY being the keyword. As of about a week ago, I ate my words and I blame Zatarain’s.

Apparently March is frozen food month.

WHO KNEW?

Zatarains knew and they sent me a box filled with a whole bunch of CRAZY frozen deliciousness.

I was hesitant, but I threw caution to the wind, especially when I saw the Ready in 10 minutes on the front of the bag.

I tossed the Blackened Chicken Alfredo into my big skillet with a bag of frozen veggies (we were hungry and I wanted to make this stretch), put the lid on it, cooked for 5 minutes, removed the lid and stirred and cooked uncovered for about 8 more minutes until it was all bubbly and Nathan was hovering around the stove drooling.

I have to tell y’all, the smell was amazing.

The taste… pretty damn good.

Nathan actually stood at the counter and ate this out of the serving bowl.

This would be straight up delicious as is.

The addition of the frozen veggie blend and crushed red pepper flakes just takes it to a heightened level of deliciousness.

I’m curious now – do any of y’all doctor frozen meals? If you do, what do you do? What are your favorite tricks?

DISCLOSURE: I’m a Zatarains Krewe Member/Ambassador.

I received a box of frozen meals from Zatarains. I chose to cook them and I chose to write about this meal. I am compensated for my participation as a Zatarains Ambassador, but all opinions, ideas, recipes and thoughts are my own unless otherwise stated.

13 Comments