family eating — MomStart

Why Do You Really Cook Vlog

August 12, 2011 By Momstart 27 Comments

At the Hillshire Farm’s Booth at Blogher this year they were asking bloggers to tell their dirty little secrets on camera. They wanted to know the truth behind what motivates you to cook for your family. So my friend Crystal (Simply Being Mommy) and I (MomStart) jumped in the booth and shared our secret motivations behind getting dinner on the table. Watch…..

I think every mom of younger kids constantly hears the words I’m hungry. It’s the worst at say about 5:00 PM when my own stomach starts grumbling and I have no idea what to make. The kids are at my feet and I want to just run to the nearest fast food place to get something quick. But that’s unhealthy, costly, and unrealistic. So I cook for my family.

I actually enjoy cooking and when I do I know that I’m helping to teach my kids good decisions about food. I have all the control and know the kids are getting everything their body needs, vitamins and what not. I cook because I enjoy cooking, to save money, and to feed my kids healthy food.

Why do you cook?

Thank you Hillshire Farms for presenting me with this fun opportunity at Blogher.

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: Cooking, Crystal, family eating, Hillshire Farms, Simply being mommy, Why do you cook?

Family Meal Time at Red Robin Review & Giveaway

March 10, 2011 By Momstart 362 Comments

Eating out is one of our little indulgences that we have as a family every now and then. One place that every member of the family can agree on is Red Robin. One thing about Red Robin that keeps us coming back every time is that we like so many things on the menu it never gets old. My husband usually orders the Royal Red Robin, it’s the tasty hamburger with an egg on it. Red Robin’s Royal Burger is topped with hickory-smoked bacon, American cheese, crisp lettuce, tomatoes and mayo and crowned with a fresh fried egg. It’s delicious, you really should try it next time you head on over to Red Robin!

So back to my husband, he is the one that is the least likely to switch to something different, so I was quite surprised to see him order Clucks and Fries. But I really wanted to have some of them, I always need to remind myself to ask him what he’s going to have before I order. Every time I see what he’s having I have food envy. I enjoy what I have too, I just want what he’s eating.

Clucks & Fries

My children usually order the cheese burger, but they have also tried the mac and cheese, Pasta & veggies, grilled chicken. The kids always split something and have water to drink. Their favorite part of every meal at Red Robin is the melon, eating it all the way down to the rind. Of course, while we wait on our meals at Red Robin, we have color time and conversations about how our day went. Even Miles and Zoe get a turn telling everyone at the table what they did that day and if they had fun, or what Zoe learned at school.

I am the one that is willing to try anything on the menu. I love trying new things when they bring in new treats to the menu. The Grilled Chicken Pesto Pasta and the Grilled Chicken Alla Caprese are two of my favorites. I also enjoy eating the Whiskey River BB@ Chicken Wrap and the Gourmet Burger Banzai Burger with a side of BBQ sauce, but last night, I was in the mood for Mushrooms and Swiss.

Enter to Win:

15.00 Gift Card to Red Robin

To Enter:

Leave a comment telling me what you like to eat at Red Robin

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This giveaway ends March 28th. I received samples to facilitate this review. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Filed Under: giveaway, personal Tagged With: family eating, family time, giveaway, red robin, restaurant

The Great Stuffing Debate Giveaway

November 23, 2010 By Momstart 604 Comments

Today I was sitting around the table with my neighbors and this conversation actually came up. My neighbor was asking me if I had ever heard of The Great Stuffing Debate, and I smiled because I knew I needed to write this post.

How do you cook your stuffing? Do you cook it inside the bird or outside of the bird? One of my neighbors actually cooks it in the turkey and then takes it out and cooks it even more outside of the turkey. They claim that you can’t get the right flavor without cooking it inside of the bird. Oh, and to top that off, what do you put in your stuffing? Mine changes from year to year!

EVERYONE AGREES that it’s not a proper holiday without stuffing. But EVERYONE DISAGREES about what should be in that stuffing. Bread crumbs or cornbread? Dried fruit? Nuts? Sausage? One person’s “yum” is another’s “yuck!” And where there is conflict, there is wicked comedy just waiting to happen.

I like to make my dressing outside of the bird and I make a lot of it separately. It all starts with a package of corn bread mix and changes every year. I put different stuff in my dressing depending on what I have on hand and what sounds good to eat. Last year I put pecans in it and this year I will not. It’s crazy because I know two years ago I loved pecans in the dressing and then last year I thought it was AWFUL. So yeah, I see why there is a great stuffing debate, since I can’t even keep one recipe straight.

My Stuffing Recipe

Package of corn bread

egg
milk

Package of stuffing mix
Swanson Chicken Broth
2 cups cooked Sausage
1 pkg fresh Mushrooms
3 Hard Boiled Eggs

Directions:

Make the corn bread, Boil The Eggs, Cook the sausage, or use already cooked sausage

Crumble up the corn bread

Pour out the dressing into a bowl, add 1 package of mushrooms, add 3 diced hard boiled eggs, add the crumbled corn bread, add the sausage and gently stir

Place it in a 9 by 12 pan

Pour 2 to 3 cups of Swanson Chicken Broth over the mixture, making sure everything is moist, and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

I’ve never written the recipe down, and I wish I had my grandmother’s recipe. She makes the most awesome dressing including parts of the turkey, and celery and onions. I just LOVE it, but I make something closer to what I hope my husband will eat, even though he doesn’t like it very much.

What I really Question is, do you even have stuffing with your Turkey. My husband doesn’t like it because he doesn’t like what most people put in it.

Find even more information at The Great Stuffing Debate!

The Debate Center – Weigh in on questions that gauge stuffing preferences and other related topics.
In the Kitchen – Use the stuffing spinner to find the perfect stuffing – from traditional to adventurous and everything in between – as well as other holiday recipes, cooking tips and techniques, substitution solutions, and leftovers ideas.
Stuffing Skirmish – This humorous video shows what happens when good people do bad stuffing. Watch the family dynamics unfold as two very different sides of the family – with equally different views on stuffing – come together for the holiday feast.
Fun Stuff – Get ready for the Turkey Dance! The Swanson CGI turkey does the tango, dances like Elvis and takes a trip to the 70s. Choose a favorite and share with friends and family via email, Facebook or Twitter.

Enter to Win:

150.00 Visa from Swanson in celebration of the Great Stuffing Debate

To Enter:

Leave a comment here telling me what you like in your stuffing.

Extra Entries:

Follow me on twitter & Follow Swanson on Twitter & Tweet: The Great Stuffing Debate Answer: What do you put in your stuffing? for 150.00 #Giveaway http://bit.ly/gTfXRb PL RT

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This giveaway ends December 13th. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

M80 contacted me on behalf of Swanson Broth they provided me with a gift card to cover the costs of Thanksgiving and are providing the gift card for the winner.

Filed Under: giveaway Tagged With: family eating, Food, giveaway, stuffing, swanson, Swanson Broth, the great stuffing debate

This booth is saved for a family

October 23, 2009 By Momstart 22 Comments

My family went out to eat tonight because we were running errands all day and I didn’t want to cook. I’m tired and need to take it easy until after I have surgery so we went out. My sister in law is visiting us so we total five.

We chose Red Robin because it is a very family friendly restaurant, usually. The food is good and you can get fruit and veggies instead of fries. When we arrived it just started pouring down rain. So we ran inside and they welcomed us in but then after they asked how many we had in our party they got a little quite and upset.

“We have three adults and need two booster seats”

FIVE

It took two of them to decide where to put us even though there was plenty of seating because we got there before the dinner rush even started. I think it was between 4:30 and 4:45. Each corner in the restaurant had a round booth so that makes four corners. Only one of them was in use.

The greeter told the person who seated us where to put us but she replied..

“I’m saving that for a FAMILY”

Umm, what are we?

I think a mom, a dad and aunt and two children qualifies as a family right. My husband told me the statement made him a little sad because he thought it was quite obvious that we were a family. What could have been the disqualifying factor, were we not big enough?

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: family eating, red robin