Food | That Bald Chick

I don’t like that, Mommy!

August 11, 2010 By Virginia

Mister has found a new favorite phrase… “I don’t like that, Mommy!”

Most typically uttered at the dinner table, when I put his dinner in front of him. Before he even takes a bit… “I don’t like that, Mommy.”

How in the world can he know he doesn’t like it if he hasn’t even taken a bite?

Ugh.

Tonight, I served peas with dinner.

“I don’t like that, Mommy!” Mister bemoans when I put his plate down.

To which I reply, “Mister, you haven’t tried it yet, which means you can’t say you don’t like it. Why do you think you won’t like it?”

“It’s green.”

Excuse me? It’s green? It’s yucky because it’s green? You can’t eat it because it’s green?

Great.

Now I have two green haters in the house.

He certainly doesn’t get his food color snobbery from me!

Of course, the last six days of this week, the food he claimed not to like was not green. It just so happened that tonight he had a comeback when I asked him why he didn’t like it.

So, I am at my wits end.

Now what do I do? Did you have a food color snob in your home? Is it just a phase? How did you conquer it?

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Food, Mister, Toddler

Mediterranean Chicken from Good Earth plus giveaway

July 27, 2010 By Virginia

***Please Note–This Giveaway Has ENDED. ***

Please see Winners page for winning entrant information.

Ever had one of those days where things got crazy busy and before you realized it, it was dinner time and you hadn’t even thought of dinner yet? I had one of those days recently, and fortunately, Good Earth came to the rescue. You see, I had signed up for MyBlogSpark and received an opportunity to review a new Good Earth dry dinner kit and agreed. The kit came, and I took it out to photograph it, then I put it back in the box and set the box in the pantry.

Then all chaos broke loose on my day about a week later. So, when dear hubby got home and asked, “What’s for dinner?” I thought, no better time than now to try out the Good Earth kit.

So, I grabbed the box, my non-stick pan, and my noodle pot.

About the product…The Good Earth dry dinner kits are similar to other boxed dinner kits, in that they include everything you need to make a meal with the exception of the meat. 100% whole grain, no trans fat, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives, no MSG – just add meat and, voila! Dinner is served. Good Earth dry dinner kits offer a selection of four delectable meals: Mediterranean Chicken with angel hair pasta, Spicy Citrus Glazed Shrimp with angel hair pasta, Herb Crusted Chicken with mushroom risotto and Tuscan Chicken with penne pasta. We received the Mediterranean Chicken kit to review. Because it was already dinner time, I took a shortcut and used leftover chicken breast that I had in the fridge instead of preparing fresh chicken breast.

In the noodle pot, I prepared the enclosed pasta.

Once I had both finished, I had to decide. The box said you can serve the meat mixture as a topping or mix it all together. Knowing my husband, I decided to mix it all together.

I served it with some steamed apples that I did in the microwave real quickly. Note- I served ours on our normal dinner plates, because the kids would have thrown fits if we had special plates and they didn’t.

What I thought… Not only did dinner look good, it tasted good. The blend of spices with the whole wheat pasta and chicken was perfect. And I felt good about serving it. A tasty dinner that is healthy, too? Now that, I can serve. The dry dinner kit instructions were incredibly easy to follow, and it only took about 25-30 minutes from the time I opened the box until the time I set the plates on the table. It’s a good thing, too, cause my family was H.U.N.G.R.Y!

What I would change… I wouldn’t change anything about the dinner kit that we tried. I would love to try the other flavors, but I know the mushroom risotto will not fly in our home. LOL.

How I rate it…

For ease of use and taste, I give the Good Earth dry dinner kit a healthy 5 out of 5 hearts.

Where you can buy it… Good Earth dry dinner kits are available at grocers nationwide.

Win It… Good Earth and MyBlogSpark would like to give one lucky Lady V dZine reader the same gift pack that I received, which includes a Good Earth Mediterranean Chicken dry dinner kit, two sets of bamboo flatware, two bamboo dishes, a bamboo utility board and a 100% recyclable grocery tote.

Mandatory Entry: Simply comment on which new flavor of Good Earth dry dinner kits you would like to try

***Please note- this must be done before any bonus entries will count***

Contest Specific Bonus Entries:

1 bonus entry- Comment with a flavor you would like to see Good Earth offer that is not already offered.

Additional bonus entry options…

1 bonus entry- Follow my blog publicly via Google Friend Connect (see right side bar) and comment with your profile name.

1 bonus entry- If you are a fan of my page on Facebook, let me know in the comments for an extra entry in each contest (please leave your screen name) .

1 bonus entry- If you follow me on Twitter, let me know in the comments for an extra entry in each contest (please leave your Twitter profile name).

1 bonus entry- Tweet this contest, including @ladyvdzine and leave your tweet link (may be done once per day). You may also include the hashtag #contests or #giveaways if desired.

Feel free to use this tweet: RT @ladyvdzine #Win a Good Earth dinner kit, bamboo flatware and reusable tote http://bit.ly/aDWCbj #win #giveaway

1 bonus entry- Follow my blog via Networked Blogs (see right sidebar) and let me know your username.

1 bonus entry- Subscribe to my blog via e-mail and/or RSS and leave a comment with the address you signed up for. To avoid spam bots, please use the yourname[at]emailserver[dot]com format for your address. (1 entry each)

1 bonus entry- For each of my other current giveaways that you enter. Please leave a separate comment for each, telling me which one’s you’ve entered.

1 bonus entry- For each of my non-giveaway posts that you leave a RELEVANT comment on. Comment back with the post link to receive credit.

1 bonus entry- E-mail the contest post to at least three friend and CC me as virginia[at]ladyvdzine[dot]com then comment back saying that you did.

1 bonus entry- Share the contest post on your Facebook wall and comment back with a link to the share (may be done once).

1 bonus entry- Share the contest post on StumbleUpon, DIGG, Delicious, or Technorati and comment back with a link to the share (may be done once each).

10 bonus entries- Blog about the contest, including a link back to the contest post. Leave ten separate comments including a direct link to your blog post (not your home page).

Be sure to visit my Contest Rules and Bonus Entry Options for even more additional entry options.

Good luck!

The fine print…

Contest open to the US. Contest ends at 11:59 p.m. CST on 08/10/2010. Winner will be selected randomly. Winner will be notified by email and will have 72 hours to respond with mailing address. If no response is received from the winning entrant, a new winner will be selected. Prize pack, information, and giveaway have all been provided by Good Earth through MyBlogSpark. I received the aforementioned prize pack to facilitate my review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own and are based upon my experience. Your experience may differ.

Filed Under: On the Menu Tagged With: Food, Giveaways, Reviews

Random Recipe- Easy Taco Salad

July 15, 2010 By Virginia

When I was a kid, my Mom used to make the BEST taco salad. While I don’t remember exactly how she used to make it, I thought I would try my hand at making an easy taco salad.

What I used

1 pound ground meat (I used venison, but ground beef or ground turkey would work just as well)

1 bag nacho cheese chips (I used Aldi brand)

2 cups shredded cheddar

1 bag spring mixed greens (I used Aldi brand)

1 packet taco seasoning mix

Light Sour Cream (I used Aldi brand)

First, I browned the ground meat and prepared it according to the taco seasoning mix instructions. Because I am not a fan of spicy foods, I only used half of the seasoning packet. While the meat was simmering, I crushed up half the bag of nacho cheese chips and set the other half bag to the side for later use. Then I cut up half the bag of Spring Green Mix into bite size pieces. I layered the nacho cheese chips and spring green mix in the bowl, first the chips, then the greens and repeated. By that point, the ground meat was done. I dumped the seasoned ground meat into the bowl, added two cups shredded cheddar cheese, and tossed. I served it with light sour cream on the side.

My husband LOVED it. Of course, all the kids wanted to eat was the sour cream, so they had blueberries and bananas for dinner.

Next time, I will use the whole packet of seasoning mix, as I don’t think it would be too overpowering mixed in with all of the other ingredients.

Other things you could add in include tomatoes, olives, and black beans.

What’s your favorite taco salad recipe?

Be blessed,

Virginia

Filed Under: On the Menu Tagged With: Food, Random Recipe

Oscar Mayer Thrill of the Grill Party plus giveaway

July 5, 2010 By Virginia

We recently hosted an Oscar Mayer “Thrill of the Grill” party to kick off grilling season, thanks to House Party.

I was really excited when I received our party pack. Check this out! It came with coupons for free hotdogs, a huge bottle of Simply Heinz ketchup, coupons for savings off of Simply Heinz ketchup, a new pair of tongs for my grill master hubby, pot holders, paper products and fun party favors, including Oscar Mayer soft balls, Frisbees’, and wiener whistles.

Mister and Sister were really excited about the Simply Heinz ketchup…

Oscar Mayer Select hotdogs are uncured and are made with no nitrates and no nitrites (except those naturally occurring in celery juice) and NO preservatives. The Selects come in choices like Angus Beef and Hardwood Smoked Turkey franks. I have to admit, I had to make several trips to my local grocer to get the Oscar Mayer selects for our party… because they kept running out! We enjoyed the Oscar Mayer Select hot dogs with all of the usual barbeque fixings, including baked beans, potato salad, spinach dip, etc. I was previously never really a fan of all beef hotdogs… just didn’t care for the flavor. But I HIGHLY recommend the Oscar Mayer Selects Angus Beef hot dogs. They were YUMMY.

Then, while the adults sat around and chatted, the kids had fun playing with the wiener whistles, the soft balls, and in our wade pool. I learned the hard way that giving a Frisbee to a 2 year old is perhaps not the best idea…

A fun time was had by all, and we are very thankful to both Oscar Mayer and House Party for giving us the opportunity to try the Oscar Mayer Selects.

Win It…And now, because we had an extra goodie bag left over, you can enter to win your very own little Oscar Mayer Thrill of the Grill prize.

Prize will include:

1 (one) Oscar Mayer frisbee
1 (one) Oscar Mayer soft ball
1 (one) Oscar Mayer wiener whistle
2 (two) Coupons for a free pack of Oscar Mayer Select hot dogs (up to $5 value each)- expires 8/31/2010
1 (one) Coupon for 75 cents off Heinz ketchup- expires 9/30/2010

Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment telling me your favorite hot dog toppings.

***Please note- this must be done before any bonus entries will count***

1 bonus entry- Follow my blog publicly via Google Friend Connect (see right side bar) and comment with your profile name.

1 bonus entry- If you are a fan of my page on Facebook, let me know in the comments for an extra entry in each contest (please leave your screen name) .

1 bonus entry- If you follow me on Twitter, let me know in the comments for an extra entry in each contest (please leave your Twitter profile name).

1 bonus entry- Tweet this contest, including @ladyvdzine and leave your tweet link (may be done once per day). You may also include the hashtag #contests or #giveaways if desired.

1 bonus entry- Follow my blog via Networked Blogs (see right sidebar) and let me know your username.

1 bonus entry- Subscribe to my blog via e-mail and leave a comment with the address you signed up for. To avoid spam bots, please use the yourname[at]emailserver[dot]com format for your address.

1 bonus entry- Subscribe to my blog via RSS and leave a comment with the address you signed up for. To avoid spam bots, please use the yourname[at]emailserver[dot]com format for your address.

1 bonus entry- For each of my other current giveaways that you enter. Please leave a separate comment for each, telling me which one’s you’ve entered.

1 bonus entry- For each of my non-giveaway posts that you leave a RELEVANT comment on. Comment back with the post link to receive credit.

Be sure to visit my Contest Rules and Bonus Entry Options for even more bonus entry options.

Be blessed,

Virginia

Lady V dZine

Contest open to the US. Contest ends at 11:59 p.m. CST on 07/20/2010. Winner will be selected via random.org. Winner will be notified by email and will have 72 hours to respond with mailing address. If no response is received from the winning entrant, a new winner will be selected.

FTC Compliant Disclosure- I received a prize party pack from House Party to host my own Thrill of the Grill party. No other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own and are based upon my experience. Your experience may differ.

Filed Under: Giveaways, On the Menu, Reviews Tagged With: Coupons, Food, Giveaways, Reviews

Funky Monkey Snacks Review and Giveaway

June 30, 2010 By Virginia

Do you have trouble getting your kids to eat a variety of foods? Like I sometimes do? If our kids are what they eat, then mine are quickly becoming hotdogs and cheese. But, recently, we had the opportunity to try Funky Monkey Snacks, and the kids love to see that little monkey come out at snack time!

About the product…

Funky Monkey Snacks were created to bring delicious healthy snacks to everyone. There are a TON of delicious snacks on the market, but few that are delicious AND healthy. Funky Monkey steps into the gap and combines the great taste of fresh fruit with the satisfying crunch of your favorite snack. In doing so, they provide convenient full sized servings of fruit in a freeze dried package that will tickle your taste buds.

Funky Monkey Snacks are all natural and are gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy free, peanut and tree-nut free, and contain no added sugars, preservatives, flavors, or colors. Using a proprietary method of freeze drying fruit, full slices of real fruit are used to make this crunchy snack with three servings of fruit in every ounce.

Funky Monkey Snacks are available in seven funky flavors…

Applemon™ (Freeze-Dried Apple and Organic Cinnamon)

Bananamon® (Freeze-Dried Organic Banana and Organic Cinnamon)

Carnaval Mix™ (Freeze-Dried Organic Banana, Organic Pineapple, Apple and
Papaya)

JiveALime® (Freeze-Dried Organic Pineapple and Organic Lime Juice)

MangOJ™ (Freeze-Dried Mango and Orange Juice)

Pink Pineapple™ (Freeze-Dried Organic Pineapple and Guava)

Purple Funk® (Freeze-Dried Organic Banana and Organic Açai)

Funky Monkey Snacks are USDA certified organic and are kosher.

What I thought…

We received all seven flavors of Funky Monkey to sample. The fruit does indeed pack a crunch. My husband and kids absolutely loved the Funky Monkey Snacks. I enjoyed them, as well. My favorite flavor is the Purple Funk, which is freeze dried organic bananas with organic acai. As you know acai is all the rage right now, and with good reason. It is a YUMMY food packed with good for you stuff. Mister really liked the Applemon (freeze dried apple and organic cinnamon) and Sister really liked the MangOJ (freeze dried mango and orange juice).

What I would change…

The Funky Monkey Snacks are delicious as they are. I would love to see additional flavors added to their line.

How I rate it…

Lady V dZine gives the Funky Monkey Snacks a crunchtastic five out of five hearts.

Where you can buy it…

Funky Monkey Snacks are available on Amazon and at other fine local retailers such as Target and Whole Foods.

Win It…

The fine folks at Funky Monkey have generously offered to give one lucky Lady V dZine reader a full case of Funky Monkey (all seven flavors) and a t-shirt!

Mandatory Entry: Visit the Funky Monkey site and comment back here with one thing you learned that is not mentioned in this post.

***Please note- this must be done before any bonus entries will count***

Contest Specific Bonus Entries:

1 bonus entry- If you like Funky Monkey on Facebook, comment on their homepage and tell them you are visiting from http://thatbaldchick.com, then comment back here with a link to your share.

1 bonus entry- If you follow Funky Monkey on Twitter, tweet them that you are visiting from @ladyvdzine, then comment back here with a link to your share.

1 bonus entry- Sign up for the Funky Monkey newsletter and comment back here with the e-mail address you used to sign up.

Additional Bonus Entries…

1 bonus entry- Follow my blog publicly via Google Friend Connect (see right side bar) and comment with your profile name.

1 bonus entry- If you are a fan of my page on Facebook, let me know in the comments for an extra entry in each contest (please leave your screen name) .

1 bonus entry- If you follow me on Twitter, let me know in the comments for an extra entry in each contest (please leave your Twitter profile name).

1 bonus entry- Tweet this contest, including @ladyvdzine and leave your tweet link (may be done once per day). You may also include the hashtag #contests or #giveaways if desired.

1 bonus entry- Follow my blog via Networked Blogs (see right sidebar) and let me know your username.

1 bonus entry- Subscribe to my blog via e-mail and leave a comment with the address you signed up for. To avoid spam bots, please use the yourname[at]emailserver[dot]com format for your address.

1 bonus entry- Subscribe to my blog via RSS and leave a comment with the address you signed up for. To avoid spam bots, please use the yourname[at]emailserver[dot]com format for your address.

1 bonus entry- for each of my other current giveaways that you enter.

1 bonus entry- For each of my non-giveaway posts that you leave a RELEVANT comment on. Comment back with the post title or link to receive credit.

1 bonus entry- E-mail this contest post to at least three friend and CC me as virginia[at]ladyvdzine[dot]com then comment back saying that you did.

1 bonus entry- Share the contest post on your Facebook wall and comment back with a link to the share (may be done once).

3 bonus entries- Grab my blog button (right side bar) and display it on your blog. Leave three separate comments including a link to your blog where I can find the button.

10 bonus entries- Blog about the contest, including a link back to the contest post. Leave ten separate comments including a direct link to your blog post (not your home page).

Be sure to visit my Contest Rules and Bonus Entry Options for even more additional entry options.

Be blessed,

Virginia

Lady V dZine

Contest open to the US. Contest ends at 11:59 p.m. CST on 07/13/2010. Winner will be selected via random.org. Winner will be notified by email and will have 72 hours to respond with mailing address. If no response is received from the winning entrant, a new winner will be selected.

FTC Compliant Disclosure- The marketing team for Funky Monkey graciously provided me with a selection of Funky Monkey Snacks to facilitate my review and is providing the prize for the contest winner. No other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own and are based upon my experience. Your experience may differ.

Filed Under: On the Menu, Reviews Tagged With: Food, Funky Monkey, Giveaways, Review, Snacks