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Weekend in Pictures

Went on a walk to see what flowers we could find in our complex. We have many beautiful ones on the grounds. My son will fake sneeze anytime he sniffs a flower, hes a silly one!

Played a new outdoor game by the pool, ladder ball. My son loved that we were throwing balls at an object for fun! He did land some in the bushes and almost hit me a few times but it was fun.

Watched Men's College Gymnastics on TV. My son was using the top of the couch as a pommel horse lol. This is his landing pose with arms up in the air.

Practicing swimming in the pool with floaties on. I am so hoping in the next few weeks we can attempt more in the pool with no floaties. I wanted him to learn to swim by the end of this summer. He has mastered swimming with his head under the water, just need more paddling and kicking at the same time. We will get there.


We had a good weekend relaxing at home and spending time together. We are trying to enjoy the summer we have left. Thankfully it does not get cold until about October around here.

What did you do over the weekend?

Super Silly Saturday

While out shopping at the dollar store for craft supplies the other day I told the boys they could each pick out one thing, after all everything is a dollar. To my surprise they picked these supper silly glasses and they cannot get enough of them, wearing them every chance they can! I thought for sure they would pick out something like a car, action figure or rubber snake. To my surprise they went with these classic funny glasses! Nice.

How about you? When was the last time your children surprised you?

Quick Family Meals with Kraft Recipe Makers Meal Kit #KraftRecipeMakers #shop

Before I was working full time I enjoyed spending time cooking, cleaning and even folding laundry. My son would hang out playing or watch a movie while I took care of household stuff. Now as a full time working Mom I realize that its ok to have the house a bit messy and unfolded laundry. I no longer need a meal to take 2 hours to make it to feel like its a luxurious meal. Now every moment I have not at work I want it to be spent with my son. I love seeing his little sweet face when I get home from work. He always has a million things to tell me and show me about his day. For dinner I want to be able to have quick family meals that I can make and feel like I have made a quality dinner without it taking time away from being with them. I often seek out new products that are meal kits to save time on cooking. I am headed to Walmart to find a new product Kraft Recipe Makers for our pool party we are planning.

We are planning to have a little party for our family and friends at our complex pool. Our families have been taking turns cooking dinner for each other and I wanted to serve some good food for everyone on my day off of work but not take all day to do it. Since we are serving Tex Mex Chicken fajita flavors I planned the menu around a Mexican inspired theme. Living in California we have access to a lot of great Mexican food and there is a wide variety of items available at our local Walmart on the Hispanic aisle. I found some great items to add to our party to make the dinner simple and delicious. 

The Kraft Recipe Makers comes with two sauces. One to simmer the meat and veggies in and the other to finish the meal. The Tex Mex meal kit has easy to follow step by step instructions. So easy! I omitted the rice in the steps for my fajitas since I plan to serve white rice with cilantro and lime as a side dish.

I cut up the chicken breast and added the Lime Fajita simmer sauce in a saute pan. I like that I can make the whole meal in one pan. Makes it a simple clean up after dinner.

Once the chicken was cooked I added the veggies and the rest of the simmer sauce to the pan. 

Once the vegetables have cooked and absorbed the flavors of the simmer sauce I added the second sauce of Chipotle Tomato to finish the dish. I made the cilantro lime rice, cut up the cantaloupe, packed up the chips, drinks, cookies and headed down to the pool to have our party. 

The Kraft Recipe Makers Tex Mex was a big hit! Everyone enjoyed the flavors of the chicken and vegetables. I served the chicken and veggies in a hard shell taco and soft tortillas so our guest could enjoy the flavor with different textures. Guest even had seconds and the kids loved it. It was the perfect flavor combo for our outdoor fiesta! We spent the rest of the night eating the cookies, playing darts pool side and watching the meteor shower that was happening that night. A perfect day with family and friends with little time spent in the kitchen to make a great meal. I will be buying the other flavors to serve next time its our turn to cook. One neighbor said she makes an excellent chow mein noodle dish that I could pair with the Kraft Recipe Makers Sweet and Sour Chicken. #KraftRecipeMakers

You can see my shopping trip at Walmart to find Kraft Recipe Makers in my Google+ story and connect with Kraft Foods on Facebook.

Easy Recipes for Family Meals with Oatmeal from Smart and Final #ChooseSmart #shop

For my family I like to save money when we shop for groceries. I think if we can save on food we can have money for extra things and fun adventures. I look at a sales ad for a store, check my coupons and plan a weekly meal list based on the deals. This week we are shopping at Smart and Final for items on sale to make easy recipes for family meals. I see that the First Street brand has many items on sale and a $2 off offer when you buy 4 participating products. We always buy First Street items and Smart and Final so I decided to plan a day around eating Oatmeal since my son loves it and it is on sale. 

My little shopping buddy always likes to help pick out items in the store. We plan to have Fruit and Cream Oatmeal with grapes and orange juice for breakfast, Oatmeal Cookies and peanut butter cookies for lunch at the park and Oatmeal crusted chicken for dinner with friends to watch some movies. We have a very fun day planned. My son convinced me in the store well insisted is more like it that we change my plan from Oatmeal Raisin cookies to Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies with almonds. He loves chocolate!

For Breakfast we are having Blueberry Fruit and Cream Oatmeal with banana slices on top, green grapes that we got a great deal on and orange juice. A healthy and easy start to the day.

When we were in the store and my son realized we were making cookies it was all he could talk about until we made them. He always likes to help in the kitchen. Sometimes its just trying the ingredients for quality control of course. I have many First Street baking items already in my cupboards so I only needed to buy the Quick Oats and Chocolate Chips. I have always loved making cookies from scratch. As a teenager my family would ask me to make my awesome chocolate chip cookies, it always made me feel special to bake it for them. For my son I add the oatmeal for texture and the health benefits.

I made simple First Street Peanut Butter Sandwiches topped with green grapes to serve with my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip with Almonds Cookies. We had a mini picnic at the park benches in between my son playing in the splash pad and playground. We recently found this park and we love it. On the hot summer days we are able to have him play in the water. My son even shared some of our cookies with a few kids at the park. He wanted to pet their little dog and offered a cookie for a pet. He is a smart cookie!

When we got home from the park my son was exhausted from playing in the sun. While my son took a nap I planned out the dinner I was going to make for a few friends that were coming over to watch some movies. I am making Oatmeal Crusted Chicken and serving it with spinach couscous.

For my recipe I pulsed in the blender the quick oats and spices so the oatmeal would stick to the chicken and cook more evenly. My son was awake by the time I was ready to use the blender and loves to help push the button. Next I dipped the chicken in an egg wash before covering it in the oatmeal crust. I drizzled the top of the chicken with butter before going into the oven to help the oatmeal brown. You can use your favorite spice mix like I did or add the ones directly from the recipe. My spice mix contains all the spices on the ingredients list.

Oatmeal Crusted Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 cup regular oats
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
• 1/4 teaspoon dried summer savory or parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 egg
• 4 Chicken Leg Quarters
• 2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Combine oats, salt, and next spice ingredients (salt through pepper) in a food processor or blender, process until oats are finely chopped. Place oat mixture in a shallow dish; place egg  in a medium bowl. Dip chicken in whisked egg, and coat in oat mixture. Place chicken in baking pan and drizzle butter over chicken. Bake at 450° for 45 minutes or until done.

We had a wonderful day spending time as a family enjoying meals, a day at the park and movie night with friends. My recipes we all planned around a simple ingredient that was on sale. Have you had a day with one ingredient as your meals inspiration?

You can see my shopping trip at Smart and Final by reading my Google+ story. Connect with Smart and Final on Facebook and Twitter.