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.

 

 

School. Kickball. Work. Homework. Play. Life
Somewhere in between all of that, we’re supposed to fit in quality time, family time and healthy meals.

Go ahead, laugh. Sometimes I do.
One of my favorite recipes is pork chops with a dijon cream sauce, the only problem – it’s somewhat time consuming and with kickball starting – that’s 4 nights a week, at least! I need quick meals, delicious meals, healthy meals, most importantly though, meals that the entire family can and will eat.

 

 

When I was contacted about working with Hellmann’s for their Chicken Change Up Program, I knew immediately that this was the recipe that  I wanted to re-work into a new and delicious Time Saving post.  I went and picked out the yummy Hellmann’s with Olive Oil (my favorite), some boneless skinless chicken thighs and a few other ingredients and immediately jumped into the kitchen to get started.

I chopped up a couple garlic cloves, juiced and zested a couple of limes, whisked that together with some Hellmann’s with Olive oil and a little dijon mustard

I laid my chicken thighs out on a foil lined, rimmed baking sheet, sprinkled each thigh with fresh cracked pepper and then topped them with Hellmann’s mixture.

Those chicken thighs went into a preheated 400 °F oven for 17 minutes and my kitchen started to smell like a savory piece of heaven.

After 17 minutes, I pulled them out of the oven, let them rest for a few minutes while I plated up some steamed veggies and a dinner roll

 

Oh, ya’ll.

Y’all.  Y’all!

I may never go back to the old school way of doing this AGAIN.  The actual hands on time is under 10 minutes! The results were just so yummy!

 

This chicken is SO juicy and full of flavor and holy, yummy, deliciousness!  The creaminess of the Hellmann’s, the tang of the lime juice and zest and the savoriness of the garlic and dijon.  This is one of the most flavor packed, juiciest quick chicken dishes that I’ve ever made, especially considering it was baked.  Usually baked chicken is more like shoe leather, this …. this is mouth melting yummy.

 

 

Just FYI -

• 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.[1]

[1] NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void where prohibited. Hellmann’s Chicken Change-Up is sponsored by Conopco, Inc., d/b/a Unilever. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. & D.C., 18 or older. Begins 12:00 PM ET on 03/01/12 & ends 11:59 AM ET on 04/30/12. For official rules, visit the ‘Chicken Change-Up’ tab on the Hellmann’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hellmanns

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