NEW Quaker Oats Soft Baked Bars

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Quaker Oats for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am so excited to hear that Quaker Oats has a brand NEW product called Quaker Soft Baked Bar. With only 140 calories and 5g of fiber it is the perfect wholesome food for a breakfast snack. I don't know about you, but I get so tired of coming up with fast and easy breakfast options for my two little ones. They literally wake up starving and they have no patience to wait on breakfast to be served. Breakfast bars have been our perfect solution in the past, but they are quickly tiring of the options I have available. When I heard about the Quaker Soft Baked Bars I was so excited, because you can warm them up and serve them as a hot breakfast meal. It reminds me of having a bakery in my home...but I don't have to be the baker. Yum! Please tell me these don't look delicious?!?!

The next time I go to the grocery store I am honestly looking for this box.

...or this box. I can't even choose a favorite to try first, because they both sound so good.

These two flavors of Banana Nut and Cinnamon Pecan bread are both made with real fruits and nuts. I can even imagine me grabbing one of the Quaker bars on the way out the door to work, for a healthy and nutritious start to my day. I need all the extra fuel I can get before my nursing shift. There is no telling when I will get a lunch break on some days. Goodness, these bars would even make a great morning snack at work. The possibilities are endless.

 

Summer of the Traveling Book Boxes

When summer was just around the corner, I began thinking about the long 3 months ahead of us, and the Texas heat. My son's can get a little bored without the constant stimulation of school, and it is hard to go outside in the peak heat of the day. I figured my friends might need some boredom busters too, so I dreamed up the summer of the traveling book boxes. It reminds me of the concept of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Have you read the story or seen the movie? It is precious.

My plan was to create multiple themed book boxes with books, games, activities, crafts, and entertainment ideas. We would trade out every 2-3 weeks and get a new box for our kiddos. I tried to make them light at first, so I could ship them back and forth. Then I realized everyone was truly close enough, that we could just drop them off.

I sent out an email to see who might be interested in my crazy plan. I received four positive replies back and I began creating my book boxes. My first book box was themed BUGS!

I sent a printed sheet with this picture and a listing of the contents and activities.

Bug Book Box Contents

·         The Very Ugly Bug by Liz Pichon

·         A Bug, A Bear, And a Boy books (please take a duplicate of one or two of the books and keep it for your collection. Make sure you leave at least one of each book behind for others to read. These are great first readers.)

·         Game: Bug Tic Tac Toe

·         Game: Penny Bug Race-Directions on back

·         Bug Toy-Keep one for your child. Great prize for one of the games

·         Activity-Bug Hunt. Put some dirt in a bucket and let your child dig through to find the bugs.

·         Bug Drinks-Fill bag with water or Gatorade and a few cleaned off plastic bugs. Place a straw in the bag and wrap a rubber band around it. See link for clear instructions:

http://greeneacreshobbyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/08/treasure-drinks-for-summer-fun.html

·         Small silver spider container to serve a snack or candy in for fun.

·         Lady Bug Craft-See sample. All supplies included. (Pipe cleaners, googly eyes, brads, paper and red and black marker)

·         Have fun! Make sure everything on this list is returned to the book box for the next child.

·         Let me know when you have worn out your book box and we will trade. I am hoping to trade about every 3 weeks and just meet up with you. Thanks! Michelle

    I found this great printable bug game pictured above from education.com. Click here to download for free. The first child to receive the bug box opened it to find...

Just remember, you can use any theme and any supplies you have at home. I did not purchase a single item yet to make these boxes. They all came from books and treasures I already had floating around my house, or that I printed off a website.

If the children enjoy these boxes, I would love to do them again next summer. However, I will have each parent design a book box and we will trade back and forth. Summer has just started, so it is never too late to start some traveling book boxes among your friends. Good luck!

 

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

It is already almost 100 degrees in Texas. At this point, I stay away from heating my home with the oven late in the day. Crock pot or slow cooker recipes are the perfect solution to this dilemma. Today I made slow cooker BBQ chicken drumsticks. They are easy (only 2 ingredients) and sooo inexpensive to make. I bought a package of chicken legs for $2.50, with 8 drumsticks, accompanied by a $2 container of BBQ sauce. I added a few sides and Voila!

Ingredients:

Chicken legs

Your favorite BBQ sauce

Directions:

1. Wash off chicken legs. Place in crock pot with 1 cup of water.

2. Cover with 1/2 container of BBQ sauce for approximately 8 legs.

3. Cook on low for 3-3.5 hours.

4. Enjoy!

(In case you have any doubts that these chicken legs are tender and juicy...look at what is running down my little one's arm! Napkin police quick!)

Not the best picture but hysterical! My 2 year old ate three of these. I would say they were a huge success!

Come Visit Me at....

Hi! I'm out today visiting Whatever Dee Dee wants for Terrific Tuesday. What is Terrific Tuesdays? The idea is to plan fun activities to do with our kids each Tuesday. It’s a day to drop what we are doing and focus one day of the week and spend some quality time with our children and to have a little fun, according to Diana at Whateverdeedeewants.com. I loved the concept, so I am over there visiting today. See you back soon!

You could be on Terrific Tuesday too. Here is a little information from Dianna.

What I am looking for in a Terrific Tuesday post

A Terrific Tuesdays post can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. It can be a game, craft, activity, etc. just as long as it involves something parents can do with their children. Make sure to include instructions, pictures, printables, etc.

Also include a short bio about yourself at the bottom of the post, feel free to include links and pictures to your blog.

How to submit a guest post for Terrific Tuesdays

Please submit your post in HTML form to dianna@whateverdeedeewants.com with Terrific Tuesdays in the subject line. If you need help with this let me know.

Cheater Chicken Parmigiana

I don't know if you all know what a "cheater" recipe is...but to me it is a fast short-cut to fix what should be a fancy and more time consuming meal. One of my go to "cheater" recipes is Chicken Parmigiana. The best part is my WHOLE family eats it. If you have little kids, you know this can often be a tough challenge. All kids are definitely born with unique and special taste buds...or a lot of attitude about trying new foods. Ha! Oh, and I forgot to mention this is inexpensive to make too.

Ingredients:

Spaghetti noodles

Spaghetti sauce

Chicken breast patties (see pic below)

Cheese

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven and hen cook chicken breast patties according to the directions on the box.

2. Cook your spaghetti according to package instructions.

3. Warm up spaghetti sauce in a small saucepan.

4. Dish spaghetti with sauce on plate. Top with chicken pattie and more sauce. Top with cheese which will melt quickly. (My preference is mozzarella, but I only had a mixed bag of cheese on hand this time)

5. Cross your fingers and hope your entire family enjoys it!

Tonight my husband, and our two boys, went to pick a bunch of peaches from a friend's peach tree that had too many. They are on vacation and the peaches would have gone to waste. We now have soooo many peaches. Our kids thought we went on a special field trip, and it made their night. For me, it is the simple things in life, like peach juice dripping down my children's faces as they devour a fresh peach straight off the tree that makes my day. I can't wait to try a new recipe out, so stay tuned.

Lingerie Shower Invitation

I shared the stock the bar invite a few weeks back, but if you will remember, I am having a lingerie party at the same time. I know...a little different...but I think it will be a blast! I almost find it strange that so many parties before you get married, to celebrate a life of togetherness, are separate. My husband agreed to help me throw both parties at once, so I will let you know how it goes.

Here are the lingerie invitations I sent out two weeks ago.

I started by using a small red bra from clipart with Ooooh la la underneath. The lingerie invitation wording was:

Something sexy,

Something sweet,

Something to knock Matt off his feet!

I printed these on cardstock I bought at Michaels. My invitations were the 4x5 size. Next, I used black cardstock to wrap around the invitation. One piece of black cardstock cut in half, made two invitations. I think it is easiest to see the steps in picture format below.

For the holes, I found a cute heart hole punch, but a circle hole punch would easily work. After punching four matching rows, I threaded the red skinny ribbon up the card.

I was very excited about how cute they turned out. These would also work well for bachelorette party invitations too. In case you missed the stock the bar party invitations...click here.

Hope you are having a great week! Mine is flying by so fast that I am wondering where it went!

Patriotic Party Ideas and Crafts

Do you need some last minute Memorial Day games or food ideas? Here are some from my past posts and a couple of new ideas. These are one of my favorites...Patriotic Jello Snacks. Just click on the links for the original post and instructions on how to make each of these patriotic treasures.

Patriotic Fruit Kabobs 

These are the fruit kabobs I made this year. I found these precious red, white, and blue marshmallows at Walmart.

Let little ones enjoy lighting up the sky for Memorial Day with this fun sparkler alternative. My sons are too young to safely use sparklers so I created these little star sticks (I can't call them wands because they are boys). I bought 8 glow in the dark sticks for $1 and added holographic stars on top. Simple and fast...just the way I like doing crafts!

Patriotic Bean Bag Toss

Patriotic Ping Pong Ball Toss

Patriotic Dish Towel

Patriotic Star Quilt

Patriotic Chair

Firecracker Chicken Nachos

Use a frisbee as a plate holder...and then let the kids play with them when the meal is done.

 I bought these patriotic flip flops on sale last year for 50 cents each. A bucket full would serve as perfect gifts for your guests.

I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day!!!