April 11, 2010

Banquet Frozen Dinners: Try them, you’ll like them!

My son, Dawson, is a picky eater.  He has his favorites: chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, broccoli, mac & cheese, corn on the cob, and chocolate milk.  If given the choice he’d eat those frozen kid’s meals with the mini corndogs and child-sized slices of pizza every day, which would be very costly.

Recently we were asked to Banquet home-style frozen dinners.  I went to the grocery store and was amazed by the variety.  Chicken nuggets, fish sandwich, salisbury steak, beef stroganoff, swedish meatballs, macaroni and cheese and so many more.  The price was right at about $2 or less; a perfect meal in a pinch.  That day the store had them on sale for $1 apiece.  I picked up one chicken nugget meal, which had sides of corn and mac & cheese, as well as a swedish meatball entree.

These meals are so easy to make.  They cook in the microwave in about 3-5 minutes depending on package instructions.  Dawson devoured the chicken nugget meal.  I was impressed.  I sampled one of the nuggets and they taste much better than the kid’s meal variety.

Banquet also offers family-sized entrees, but the grocery stores in our town do not carry them so I was unable to sample these or make note of the variety.

Banquet has been making their frozen dinners for over 50 years.  Through the end of April they are giving away more than $1 million worth of redeemable cash prizes.  Look for Banquet frozen dinner meals with the “Thanks a Million” logo on the box. Each of these specially-marked packages will contain a special game piece, either one of over 16,000 redeemable cash prizes worth anywhere from $10 to $100,000, or a Banquet coupon.   You get a great quick meal and a chance to win prizes!

We like the Banquet frozen meals and you will, too.

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This post was written as part of a blog tour sponsored by MomCentral.  We received two coupons for a free entree for sampling purposes.

April 9, 2010

Updates and a Call for Advice

Oh my golly, kids.  I’m seriously contemplating hanging up the keyboard.  I cannot seem to get my butt over here to blog on a regular basis.  I don’t know what the deal is.  Truthfully, I spend so much time living and being and doing and seeing, instead of writing.

Writing was my passion, once.  That flame has long been put out.  Perhaps it happened when I stopped working online.  Maybe I just don’t feel motivated.  I don’t know.  I do know that when I think about quitting I get very sad, because this blog was my place for so long.

I suppose I just need to go with the feeling and see what happens.  I shall rethink this later.

Tonight I went out to dinner with my bestest (as Dawson would say) friend ever.  Miss ‘Manda and I had fajitas (okay, she had fish tacos, I had fajitas) at El Mezcal, our favorite little Mexican restaurant.  Amanda is expecting her first child in July and we discussed baby names and baby registries and breastfeeding and every other baby related topic one can think of.

My friend has not had much experience with children and she had lots of questions about cribs and changing tables and if childbirth really is as painful as they say.  I’m no expert but I did try to fill her in on the good as well as the not so good.  I gave her as much honest information as I could without scaring the pants off her.  Then a light bulb went off!  Since I know so many awesome parent bloggers I decided to ask you for your help.

Share your parenting advice with Amanda in the comments.  What is one thing you think she really needs to know?

April 4, 2010

Easter Reflections

I cannot believe that it is April already. I feel as though Easter has crept up on me. When I was young the season of Lent seemed so long. Now I realize that time is moving quickly; too quickly for me to grasp.

My babies are growing up! Dawson will be six years old in five months. Owen is six months old in two weeks. Each day is so special to me. I savor every moment I can with my boys.

We spend our mornings cuddling in “the big bed” and we often read stories while lounging there in the middle of the day. Dawson is learning how to recognize words in books. Yesterday he read the word “fox” without any prompting and spelled it out. I am so proud of him.

Owen is developing his personality each day. He smiles often, and he has learned how to use his hands; he now grabs for anything in sight. He is also eating solids twice daily now. He’s one hungry baby, too! Rice cereal is his breakfast favorite, and then later in the day we alternate between vegetables and fruits. His favorite is an apple-banana-pear concoction that Gerber makes.

We spent Easter at my parents’ house. Dawson was so excited to participate in an egg hunt that Grandma and Grandpa the Easter Bunny had set up just for him.  He loved hunting for eggs all around the lawn and in the woods by Papa’s house.  My mother was having a lot of fun just watching Dawson’s excitement.  I loved taking photos of the adventure.

My favorite part was when Dawson was running around, searching for the multi-colored eggs.  He went to the front yard near the ditch and yelled, “Look!  I think I see a blue one!”  When he realized it was not an egg after all he said, “Aww, man!  It’s just a beer can!”  The whole family burst into laughter.  It was the funnies thing I’ve heard in awhile.  I get such a kick out of the things that Dawson says.

Owen was the center of attention when he wasn’t sharing the limelight with his big brother.  Uncle Nathan and Aunt Becky took turns holding the little man.  He was so cute when wearing his bunny ears, too.

The best part of Easter (aside from the delicious food) was celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ with family.  I have come to appreciate these moments more and more as time goes by.

Last Monday I celebrated the Passover Seder with friends and had a wonderful time reading from the Mishnah (and the children asking the four questions), drinking the four cups of wine (mine was pure grape juice since I’m still nursing), and eating matza.  I especially loved the Charoset.  I don’t remember ever eating anything similar.  The Charoset was made of chopped apples, nuts and cinnamon (from what I tasted, that is, I don’t know the official recipe).

Another interesting part of the meal was bitter herbs or Maror (horse radish) and greens (we had green onions, parsley and celery) dipped in salt water and then eaten.  The horse radish was rather strong, I could feel it in my nostrils, but delicious just the same.

While I was raised Catholic, and still practice the religion today, I truly appreciated the Jewish customs.  I realized that aside from the differences in customs, there are many connections between the two faiths.  I was grateful to be able to connect to the heritage in this ritual.

Now a week later, celebrating Easter with my family truly completed the circle.  After dinner at my parents’ we watched a documentary on the History Channel about Jesus and the suffering he endured by being crucified.  It’s difficult for me to put it into words, but I truly felt His presence these last few weeks.  I have come to understand so much, and still yearn for more knowledge on Catholicism as well as Judaism.  I’m eager to learn more.

(I still can’t believe it’s April! Where has the time gone?)

Happy Easter to you all!