Publix 'The Best Meals Happen at Home' Blog Tour + $25 GC Giveaway!

A busy weeknight doesn’t have to mean fast food for dinner! Publix knows that the best meals happen at home, so they are excited to help you enjoy family mealtime without having to stress about what to prepare or spending hours in the kitchen. Stop by Publix during their “Best Meals Happen at Home” event to find great savings on some of your favorite products. Be sure to visit BestMealsatHome.com to find fantastic recipes, which can be cooked in 30 minutes or less, and your family is sure to love.

Take advantage of great savings on some of your favorite participating brands during the “Best Meals Happen at Home” event at Publix from January 26th through February 1st. As of Jan 26th look for in-store for coupons that will be valid through February 15th!! This event is a couponer's dream come true!

Want even more savings?? Visit BestMealsatHome.com to sign up and receive emails with weekly recipes and coupon offers that will help you save up to $200 this year, and it offers some super delicious sounding recipes.Family dinner might never be the same!!

To kick-off the great savings and enjoy valuable time around the dinner table with your family, Publix invites you to try one of the delicious recipes that you can find at BestMealsatHome.com, which uses Cheerios® to make....
 

Crunchy Chicken Nuggets:

Prep time: 15 Min
Cook time: 25 Min
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Cheerios® cereal 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper 
• 1/4 cup milk 
• 2 tablespoons honey 
• 1 tablespoon mustard 
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted 

Directions: Heat oven to 400°F. Spray with cooking spray or lightly grease 13x9-inch pan. Finely crush cereal. Stir together cereal, salt and pepper; set aside. In medium bowl, stir together milk, honey and mustard until blended. Dip chicken into milk mixture; coat with cereal mixture. Place chicken in pan; drizzle with melted butter. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is golden and chicken is no longer pink in center.

How delicious does that look?!?!? How EASY does it sound?!? As a mom who's going to college full time, with two kids in extra curricular activities,  I love finding new, quick, and tasty recipes everyone will love.

Sign up, and encourage your friends to save by signing up, as well. Share "The Best Meals Happen At Home" Facebook page with all of your friends! And the next time that you're at Publix, make sure you keep on the look-out for the in-store coupons that are available, and are good until the 15th of February!

Our friends at MyBlogSpark and Publix has offered a $25 Publix Gift Card to one lucky winner to celebrate this money saving, family dinner-saving event.

Follow the instructions in the widget to enter. If it hasn't loaded properly, please click on the title of this post and let it load. Contact us with any technical difficulties.


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What Kind of a Camera Do YOU Have??

With Baby #3 on its way, the hubster and I have been discussing getting a new camera.

My horrible-mom confession is that since my camera broke a year or so ago, I haven't replaced it, which means I took less pictures of the family, unless it was on my cell phone.

So.. I'm not looking for anything expensive.. Just an affordable (but not "cheap") point and shoot that takes clear pictures. Perhaps with good sports/movement setting, (my kids are always on the go!), and one that takes good indoor pics, as we're going to be having the new baby.

Show me, or tell me what you have!

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Baby Shopping Help

So, you may have seen some of Lauren's posts about her peculiar case of "I have no idea what's the wrong with me" suddenly equaling a surprise pregnancy. If you haven't, well, now you know. It's come as quite the surprise for Lauren and her family, but imagine all of her friends surprise as well! We can't wait to shop, but we need your help!

Lauren's starting all over again, as her littlest is going to be 6 by the time the new peanut makes its arrival. Although it hasn't been "forever", there's still a ton of time between her middle child and the new baby. There's so many cool products that have come out in the meantime that help to make a parents life easier. You know the products I mean- the ones you think you may not have survived the first year without??

So.. if you've had a baby any time in the last year or so, what super-amazing-couldn't-live-without products did you have? Please share with us!

Also, if you're currently expecting, share with us which product you've seen/heard of recently that you can't wait to try.

If you're a veteran mom, or like Lauren starting over again, we'd love to hear which products you thought were a waste of time or money.

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Happy New Year, 2012!!

Wishing you and your family the very best year ever, filled with an abundance of blessings, new and exciting opportunities, and fresh beginnings! From our family to yours, Happy New Year!

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Kool-Aid Recipes, Community Events

This post brought to you by Kool Aid. All opinions are 100% mine.

Did you drink Kool-Aid when you were a kid? I remember the fat ol' Kool-Aid Man with his smile bouncing down the street with kids in 80's trendy clothing, wanting to be on that commercial. I remember when they first came out with the color changing mix, and thought it was the coolest thing ever! It was always a special treat for me, and brings me back to a  time in my life where things were simple.

Living in Florida, it's important for my kids to stay hydrated when they're playing outside all year long. I'm very blessed with kids that are satisfied with regular H2o, but I love surprising them with a pitcher of Kool-Aid, just like my mom did when I was a child.

Over the years since I've introduced them to Kool-Aid, the kids have picked their favorites, (Alex likes the Blue Raspberry & Abbie loves Kiwi Strawberry), but the one thing they love doing even more is freezing Kool-Aid into ice cubes, or special-shaped cubes using our unique trays.  This summer they realized they could take their ice cube and put them in other flavored Kool-Aid drinks and come up with their own special concoction after the cubes started to melt. They thought it was hysterical and came up with a ton of different varieties. We usually stock up on the packets, because all you do is add sugar, and honestly, the price is unbeatable. They always look forward to having Kool-Aid, because it is a special treat.

Growing up I used Kool-Aid as temporary hair coloring, but what I didn't realize was that there are tons of [functional and] delicious recipes made with Kool-Aid!  From fruit smoothies to delicious desserts, (Key Lime Margarita Pie?!), click here to discover some amazing Kool-Aid Recipes.
Kool-Aid is also very active within the community. They have teamed up with KaBoom! and helped to provide  playgrounds for underprivileged children.

To learn more about this program, or to help contribute, be sure to visit the Kool-Aid Facebook page. Here, you can learn about current programs, activities, get coupons, and learn more about the product. Over the summer, Kool-Aid even hosted a 'Noches de PeliKoola' event for their Hispanic consumers. If you have a few moments, go check it out, and LIKE them, so you can be kept in the loop about any special events or exciting recipes to use Kool-Aid.

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Good Riddance, 2011!!

It seems to me that Facebook and Twitter are blowing up with tons of talk about New Year's resolutions... Do you make a resolution?

I can honestly say I've made a resolution maybe a handful of times, and every year I did, I didn't follow through. For example, one year, I made a resolution to lose weight. I gained more weight that year than I had in several years put together. :/

Every year, I set new goals for myself; my life, my business, my family, my home. I plan to seek God more each year, and I think that I'm making baby steps there, but other than that, I don't really "resolve" to do anything extraordinary. I also don't necessarily start it on January first.

I guess I luck out with a January birthday, but I find that every year right before my birthday I really take a step back and look at my life. This year, I'm planning on working on my blog more. I want to really show my personality more- instead of writing strictly reviews and giveaways, I want to share some of my stories with my readers.

I have some girlfriends that tell me that I should be a comedian because of the stories I tell... the sad part is that the stories I convey are real-to-life stories of the crazy things my dysfunctional [extended] family or kids put me through. Honestly, I'm a good story teller, but I really couldn't make up half the stuff that goes on in my world. I think that I'm going to also post some fun contests where you- my readers- can participate. After all, I want to make sure that I'm not the only lunatic mom going through the stuff that I am. I think everyone needs that camaraderie, no? (If this is a bad idea, I'd appreciate the feed back, btw.)

So as the hell-acious year formally known as 2011 is making its getaway, I ask you this: if you set goals for your family/self/life/business/etc., how do you do it? Do you physically make a list? Do you file it away in your brain under "goals"? Do you make it known to the world?

I have so many dreams and goals for my life in 2012, and I can't wait to see what this New Year holds for our family, and for you, as well.

P.S.
If you're celebrating this weekend, be safe and don't drink and drive. Find your nearby pregnant friend, and ask them to be a designated driver. If you don't have one of those, know your limits, and don't be embarrassed to call a cab.

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Kids Foot Locker New Year $50 GC Giveaway...Wait, Are Those Muppet Sneakers?!

Banamana! I love the Muppets. Always have. When I got a Happy Holidays email from our friends at Kids Foot Locker, I knew that I had to share these SUPER cute Muppets inspired Adidas with you all!

Unfortunately, they are only available in Kermit (shown above), Fozzy, Gonzo, and Animal, and only in kids sizes. Oh the shame!

BUT, that doesn't mean that the kids can't properly rock these sneaks!! During the school break, the kids want me to take them to see the new muppet movie. I can't wait. Our kids have always known who the muppets are- we're old school parents who bought old videos from Amazon and Ebay, so our kids grow up with cartoons that we enjoyed when we were little. They know who Rainbow Brite is and the original Underdog, as well as Tom & Jerry. They've been playing the Muppets Party Cruise on our Wii (via a game cube game we got off of Ebay for super cheap) since we got our Wii! Needless to say, I think that might be our one splurge over the vacation.

I personally love the Kermit Adidas best, the Animal ones are awesome, too, but they're high tops. I never really was a fan of high tops. I wish the Fozzy ones weren't pink- Miss Piggy is strictly pink. Or red. But the Gonzo the Great sneakers are flippin' adorable!!

These sneakers come from Toddlers sizes through Little Kids sizes and run from $38 to $65. Although the larger sizes are a little more expensive, our friends at Kids Foot Locker have offered us $50 in gift certificates for our readers to win!

Not interested in the bold Muppets colors? That's ok. Kids Foot Locker has a ton of shoes for kids from infant through Big Kids size 7. Kids Foot Locker gift cards are valid at any Foot Locker family store, including Ladies Foot Locker and regular Foot Locker locations.

Kids Foot Locker always carries the latest and greatest products, like the Reebok Zig sneakers, the Adidas Muppets Sneakers, as well as Nike, Jordan and more! Plus, right now you can get free shipping on any purchase of $50 or more using coupon code IP22VR54 at the checkout!

Want to win up to $50 in Gift Cards to Kids Foot Locker?

Here's how:
Leave a comment below sharing what sneakers are your favorites at Kids Foot Locker. If you don't have kids, tell me what your New Year's resolution is! Fill out the widget below to lock in your official entry, and earn extra entry opportunities.

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