sponsored — A Southern Fairytale

Date Night

April 22, 2010 By Rachel 70 Comments

Do you and your spouse have a date night? Seriously, do you?

Nathan and I don’t have a set date night. Between kickball, work, traveling, PTA, fundraisers, kickball, girl scouts, work etc… etc… etc… it seems like we can hardly fit a night at home together, much less a date night.

A few weeks ago I was contacted about working with Bertolli and doing a “date night that would sweep us away to Italy” seriously y’all, my fingers tripped over themselves saying yes when she mentioned CANDLES, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Wine Glasses, Silver and Andrea Bocelli.

Y’all know me, I’m not picky about food but, I’m also not a huge fan of frozen dinners but, I’m always up for trying new things and, she said pretty things to me about food and bowls and serving dishes and wine glasses; she knew my weaknesses.

The gigantic box arrived and while my kids burst our eardrums with the pop pop popping of the bubble wrap; I uncovered beautiful white dishes, two gorgeous red wine glasses, two napkins and sterling silver napkin rings, a wine aerator (had to google how to use it) a coupon for Bertolli, an Andrea Boccelli CD (I’ve mentioned him before, I love. love. love him) and a pretty orange candle. I shoved the coupon in my pocket and took off to the store.. goodnight y’all, the choices! I ended up using the coupon for one and buying two more because I simply. couldn’t. choose.

Nathan and I fed the kids early, put them to bed and then we lit the candle

and poured the wine (through the aerator)

oooooh! I forgot to mention! They sent me a wine pairing list! SWEET!

The first night we had a red wine because we made the Chianti Braised Beef and Rigatoni (I couldn’t find a chianti, so we had merlot.) The verdict, surprisingly good and filling. There could have been a bit more meat but really, for under $6 for the both of us and less than 20 minutes prep.. This will be showing up again.

Hands DOWN, mine and Nathan’s favorite dish was the Chicken Florentine and Farfalle. It has chicken, a creamy sauce, farfalle and spinach. Nathan kept trying to steal mine out of my dish.

The Chicken Florentine paired with a rosemary bread and a glass of pinot grigio while curled up on the couch next to my husband watching Bones in our pajamas was quite possibly one of the nicest and most delicious “date nights” ever.

We’re simple people, y’all You have to remember; he proposed while we were in our pajamas, studying for finals and I had a green cast on my left arm.

It’s not so much about the setting, as the company.

Now, for the good stuff:

Tell me your ideal date night: (the food, the location, the wine) and you’ll be entered to win the exact same “Date Night” Package from Bertolli that I received.

I’ll use Random Generator to choose the winner:

This contest is open from 10:47PM CST April 22nd, 2010 to 10:00 PM CST April 25th, 2010

First entry (mandatory) Tell me your ideal date night
Bonus: Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment with the tweet url
Bonus: Watch the embedded episode of “Into The Heart of Italy” and tell me something you liked about it. (worth 2 entries)

each entry must be a separate comment. only open to the US. valid email address must be provided for contact purposes

Filed Under: Food, Giveaways Tagged With: sponsored

Take Part

April 21, 2010 By Rachel 3 Comments

The smallest changes can make the biggest difference.

I don’t know about you, but I’m hearing that everywhere lately; from the Disney Channel, to American Idol, to the commercials celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

I fully believe that we should be the change we want to see in the world, stop waiting for someone else to pick up the slack for us and set the example for our friends, families and children. This is the lesson that I strive to teach my children every day.

Everyone can help change the world for the better, one step at a time. The American Express Members Project in conjunction with TakePart.com is bringing you the opportunity to make a difference and provide a platform to express your passion.

Find the charity that matches your passion on the TakePart.Com website and vote for them. Whether you’re passionate about the environment, health and wellness, education or arts and culture, there’s a charity on there that will fit.

Every three months the charity with the most votes in each category will receive $200,000 from the American Express Members Project.

If you aren’t a take action person, take 3 minutes out of your day, register, log-in and vote.

If you are a person who wants to see the change in person; check out the Volunteer tab on the TakePart.Com website.

No matter which kind of person you are, make sure that you share the TakePart.Com website with your friends via: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Your Blog or even E-mail.

I registered, logged in and voted for my favorite charities, will you?

What are your passions? How do you get involved?

Spread the word. Be the change.

This is a sponsored post supporting the Members Project from American Express

Filed Under: Everything Else Tagged With: sponsored

Cookies For Kids’ Cancer

April 19, 2010 By Rachel 23 Comments

I know that every Monday we do Mouthwatering Mondays and I share a recipe with y’all and y’all in turn, share your recipes with me and each other.

However, this week’s recipe is a recipe of a different kind. Something special that is near and dear to my heart. So, Mouthwatering Monday is on pause until next week and after you read this post I hope that you’ll understand why and that you’ll be inspired to create a ‘recipe’ of your own and share it with others.

Cancer.

It’s an ugly, scary word. It’s even uglier and scarier when it’s combined with the words kids, pediatric, children…

I’ve always known that kids get cancer, I see the commercials and the donation jars at the local Dairy Queen. However, it wasn’t until stumbling across Hope4Peyton and reading about Peyton and Anissa and Peter and Rachael and Nathaniel that it started to really touch me. Then, I met Anissa and became friends with her. It was then, listening to my friend’s fears and triumphs that Childhood Cancer became real for me. It had a name. A face. A person. It was real.

So, when I was contacted about working with Glad to get the word out about their partnership with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, I couldn’t say Yes fast enough. The campaign, called Glad to Give, is committed to raising money to support pediatric cancer research through bake sales.

Glad is spreading information about Childhood Cancer, sharing knowledge and opening eyes:

For example, did you know:

Pediatric Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among children in the U.S.
Every day, 36 children are diagnosed with Cancer
3 in 5 kids suffer long-term effects from Cancer treatments
1 in 5 children diagnosed with Cancer dies

Those are painful for me to write and even more painful to read when you realize those facts are about children.

So, today as part of my partnership with Glad to Give Campaign (yes, this is a sponsored post. But, the passion, the emotion, the feeling, the sentiment, the heart, the opinions.. those are 100% mine. Y’all know me. You know this) I am sharing my family’s recipe for caring, sharing and donating; not just money, but time.

There is nothing more valuable than your time.

In college, my sorority’s philanthropy was the Ronald McDonald House and I remember visiting there to put in our *hours* and being moved to my very core. I was a teenager and I remember walking in the house and being shocked. I’d expected a place full of sadness and despair and instead, I walked into a house full of hope and laughter and love. Strength the likes of which I had never even imagined, smiles where I couldn’t have believed smiles possible.

My children are still small, young and while our volunteering with them hasn’t gone as far as I envision it going, we’ve done/we do small things. Last year Princess went with my family to serve Thanksgiving to the homeless at the local shelter (Monkey and I stayed back because he was too young to take). There was a passion in their eyes when they returned along with a humility that we could all benefit from experiencing.

My children earn money for small tasks, they divide it into spend, save and donate. They get to choose where their money is donated. Every few months we go through their clothes (holy cow do these kids grow like weeds!), their toys, shoes etc… and they choose things to donate; they then decide where those items go.. the children’s shelter, Goodwill, Salvation Army etc…

I want my children to grow up caring, seeing beyond themselves and realizing that what may seem a small gesture to them, is actually the recipe to changing the world.

For more ideas on how to get involved like how to host your own bake sale, donate to the cause, or to enter your family’s recipe for volunteering, visit Glad To Give

In fact, if you visit and tell how your family gives back, you’ll be entered to win $1000; which you can keep, or donate to a good cause, like Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

I’d love for you to share with me how y’all give back and how you teach (or plan to teach) your kids about giving and sharing and caring.

Filed Under: Everything Else Tagged With: Family, sponsored

Create Your Day with Quaker

February 22, 2010 By Rachel 31 Comments

To participate in the Quaker Oatmeal Create Your Day program, I was compensated for writing this post regarding my Quaker experience. Quaker did not tell me what type of creations I should make nor did they require me to use any specific ingredients.

I love Oatmeal, heck.. I love food. If you were in the Niche Panel at Blissdom, you heard me say that.. multiple times

When I’m presented the opportunity to combine my love of food, my love of writing and my love for charity.. It’s like the trifecta of awesome. Quaker has once again thrown down the gauntlet and challenged us with the opportunity to have some fun and donate to amazing charity, Share Our Strength, by using our love of applications, social networking and food (hello.. another trifecta).

Quaker has created an application that allows you to Create Your Day. Go to their website and create the perfect breakfast for you, for a friend, your child’s teacher, your husband.. whomever you’d like. Using their application, answer a few questions and it creates a fun card with the ideal oatmeal to get them revved and ready for whatever lies ahead of them that day. It then allows you to share it via email or facebook. For every dish that you create (4 per day) through March 31, 2010… they will donate $1 up to $25,000 whoops… $25,o0o has already been donated!!! So they’ve upped the ante to $50,000.

Let’s make Quaker eat that $50,000 and up it to $75,000.

Please help me in this. No child, no family, no person in this country should go hungry.

Please accept this challenge. Take 5 minutes out of your day, once, twice, four times a day and have some fun and help Quaker help others.

What’s your favorite way to eat Oatmeal? The picture at the top of the post? That’s my oatmeal: Brown Sugar, Greek Yogurt and Walnuts with a hint of skim milk and butter.

Quaker has offered delicious and fun Create Your Day Starter Kits (Quaker Instant Oatmeal and a Place Setting) to two of my readers. To be entered:

Tell Me How You Start Your Day
(Bonus) Tweet this giveaway (4 times a day) Leave in a separate comment with the tweet URL
(Bonus) Use The Create Your Day app and tell me how many Days were created when you did yours. (see the hanging counter in the pic above) ****

I will pick two winners on Thursday, February 25th at 10:00 PM CST.

****When I Created my husband’s day: 28,000 days had been created.. that is $28,000 dollars for Share Our Strength.

congratulations to our winners! Lori and Brigid