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Dinner time FUN with The Pasta Shoppe

*This is a sponsored post on behalf of The Pasta Shoppe. Product was provided in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts, opinion, and photo’s are my own*

Dinner Time Fun

Getting my kids to eat sometimes is like pulling teeth – something we’re becoming quite familiar with lately as well. One kid might like it, but then everyone else won’t touch it. I even try hard to have a little something for everyone on the plates. Dinner time has not been a fun occurrence in our house as we beg, bribe, and demand that our kids eat something relatively healthy.

One thing I know they will all eat though is Pasta. Lots and lots of pasta. Have you ever read the book More Spaghetti, I Say! ? Those are my kids, except they never get sick of it…never… My pasta was boring though…toss it in a pot, add some sauce, done. Same thing every time we eat pasta – only now I’m the one who’d rather have something different, while the kids and Mark are happy.

Not the greatest photo, but the pasta here is a Spinach Basil Garlic Angel Hair, shaped into little nests. Cutest pasta nests ever with a boost of healthy…the kids didn’t know what hit them.

Then I found The Pasta Shoppe. So many goodies, I actually got excited about having pasta again because they gave me the recipe with the pasta, and most come with a seasoning mix as well. Pasta has once again become something everyone will eat, and even I enjoy.

When our box of goodies arrived, Mark had been pretty sick with a chest cold and what beats a cold better than Chicken Noodle Soup? Luckily for us there was a box of Chicken Noodle Soup mix just waiting for us.

Mark gave this soup a thumbs up, and even had a second bowl. I loved it as well, while the kids were so so…but mostly because, GASP, I added peas to the soup. The little chicken pastas were too adorable, I just had to line them up on the side of my bowl.

I don’t know how it keeps coming up, since I’m not really a football fan, but here I go talking about the BYU and UofU rivalry again. They had their big game a couple weeks ago (same day I got the pasta actually), and so I of course shared this picture on Instagram (I’d love for your to follow me there @adelinapriddis!) and Facebook…

I thought for a minute I should host a last minute football game for all my friends and family. Instead I decided to hold onto the pastas for another occasion – our church’s Relief Society Broadcast Dinner. I had signed up to bring a salad, and thought a little mix would be fun.

The Collegiate pasta’s come with 3 recipes, and a vinaigrette dressing mix. It was light, and so good. We had quite the turn out to our dinner, so the only comment I overheard, was from an older lady who loved the bright colors of the blue and red pasta. The bowl was cleaned out when I left.

We still have a couple more packages to try including ABC, Music, and Halloween shapes. I can’t wait to use the ABC pasta with Princess R during our school time.

School Fundraising

The Pasta Shoppe loves helping out your school with their Fun Pasta Fundraising. You can earn between 40 and 50% from orders all going back to your school. I love a good school fundraiser, but those ones we did as a kid always seemed like random items overpriced. Not so with Fun Pasta Fundraising. Everyone loves Pasta, and their prices are pretty decent as well. I’m heading to a PTA Board Meeting this Friday, and will be presenting all the info to our president. I’m hoping this will be one to catch on, because pasta is something I can get behind. If you’d like more information on getting your school in on some Pasta Fundraising visit their website here.

Gluten Free Pasta

For all my gluten free friends out there, The Pasta Shoppe has not forgotten you! They don’t have a lot yet, but they do have a few selections of gluten free pasta made in a dedicated Gluten Free Facility so you won’t have to worry about contamination.

Pasta Giveaway

The Pasta Shoppe wants to send a package of Pasta goodies to one of my readers!!

All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

A few rules before you get started…
This giveaway is open to residents of the Continental US. Sorry Alaska and Hawaii.
You must be 18 or older to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

October 2, 2013
Mario Birthday for a Girl

This past weekend we celebrated Princess V’s 7th birthday. Themes for the day had constantly been changing throughout the past month, so when I realized we were in the week of her party, I needed to get a set theme. I wasn’t too surprised when she asked for a Mario Party. We recently bought Mario Party 9 for the Wii, and it’s all I can do to keep them off it during the week.

A fun little story, when I took Princess V to pick out her very first lunchbox she was met with a hard decision. Did she pick the Disney Princess lunchbox, or the Mario lunchbox. Eventually she chose Disney Princess, but pretends that Princess Peach is just hanging out inside the castle on the background.

Since I like to throw parties last minute and on a tight budget, these were her decorations. Mark has made it a point to collect the Mario dolls, when we first found Princess Peach in an airport in Japan. We’ve just slowly added to the collection.

The balloons were so simple. I used red balloons for the Piranha flowers. A large V cut out from white paper, and given teeth, then some circles to surround them. Took all of 5 minutes. If you’re really feeling ambitious, you could add some white clouds to the blue balloons. I actually tried painting some on, but it didn’t work out too well.

Later these balloons can be used for a party game. Each child pretends to be a character, while one child (or a parent) is the flower. You want to avoid being hit by the “Piranha”. Lots of fun!

Mark headed to partyland during lunch one day to pick up some more themed supplies – Mario Plates, napkins, and a pink tablecloth. He also picked up some white gloves to send home with all the little girls, so they can dress up like Princess Peach.

Lastly we come to my absolute favorite part – the cupcakes!

For the cupcakes, we went simple, yet tasty. We used Pillsbury Strawberry cake mix for the batter. I swirled Pillsbury Pink Vanilla Funfetti frosting across most of the top, and then edged it with Pillsbury’s Hot Pink Vanilla Funfetti. This gave them the look of Princess Peach’s dress. Now you may be thinking the crown is made from fondant, but you know what? Fondant really isn’t all that delicious, and I hate making stuff only to toss it out later.
So what did I do? I made them out of something much more tasty – Tootsie Fruit Rolls. I mean really, they taste better, hold up just like fondant, and have a myriad of colors and flavors to choose from. I used the Lemon flavor for these. Each roll is cut into 4 slices. Using a knife slightly indent the center and then use your fingers to shape the points on the crown.

Happy Birthday Princess V

September 24, 2013
Sweet and Sour Chicken Nuggets #FoodieFriday

What a crazy week it has been! School and homework are in full swing here. My poor kindergartner loves going to school, but she really struggles with the homework. Not because she can’t, but I believe she’s just exhausted by the end of the day, and the thought of writing the same letter over and over again can be tiring for a 5 year old.

So I’ve resorted to making meals that are kid friendly, still healthy, but are especially FAST! I just don’t have the same time to spend making meals completely from scratch every night anymore. Thanks to Success Rice, Tyson Chicken, and Kraft Recipe Makers, I found a great solution that was incredibly simple to whip up.

*I was provided with a box of Success Rice for review. All thoughts, opinions, and recipe are my own*

What kid doesn’t like chicken nuggets right? My kids also are pretty fond of rice – surprising because as a kid, I couldn’t stand it. So I thought to myself one night while the kids were whining over their homework and Prince L was screaming because dinner wasn’t on the table – Self, I said, What can you make fast that everyone will love, but is also a nicely balanced meal?

I opened the cupboard, fridge and freezer, and realized I had recently purchased some pretty quick foods – Kraft’s Sweet and Sour Recipe Maker – Tyson Chicken Nuggets – Boil-in-a-Bag Success Rice – and of course a freezer overflowing with zucchini. Yep, sounds good to me. Sounds amazing to me actually!

I was pleasantly surprised at how well Success Rice Boil In Bag turned out. I struggle cooking rice. Half of it is still hard, it’s too mushy, and always always the pan is left with a layer of rice stuck to it. The boil in a bag method kept my pan much cleaner, and it turned out quite fluffy.

Ingredients
4 bags Success Jasmine Rice
1 box Kraft Recipe Makers Sweet and Sour Chicken
15-20 Tyson Chicken Nuggets
1 cup chopped Zucchini
14oz can sliced pineapple

Directions
Cook the chicken nuggets according to the package direction.
Meanwhile, boil the rice according to package directions.
While the rice and chicken are cooking, open the Sweet and Sour sauces. Follow the directions here as well, with the recipe included, but omit the chicken completely in the first few steps. Also instead of adding peppers, you’ll be adding zucchini; and instead of pineapple chunks I used sliced pineapple, which I chunked myself.
Finally, add the chicken to the sauces, and serve over Rice.

Seriously oh so good. The kids couldn’t get enough of the chicken nuggets and rice, though did a good job at avoiding that zucchini (it just keeps showing up in dishes…).

~FEATURES~

Chili Cheese Dog Mac N’ Cheese

from Love Bakes Good Cakes

Another kid friendly and quick school night meal!

Avocado Crostini

from Joyful Healthy Eats

This would be my kind of lunch, or quick snack between running the kids to and from school. Prince L will probably steal all the avocado though.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

from Little Bits

I made these this week. YUM. But don’t leave out the extra chocolate chips. Even if it means running to the store last minute, put in the chips. The texture of these is so perfect!

Foodie Friday happens every Thursday night.
Join Simple Living and Eating and I each week as we share a new recipe, and browse all of yours!
This is a FOOD PARTY, please only link up food related posts.

An InLinkz Link-up

September 13, 2013
School Pictures using PicMonkey

I love the tradition of taking “First Day of ___ Grade” photos with the kids. It’s something we can afford to do and keeps memories alive for years to come. Use this Picmonkey tutorial to make the best out of your photos! This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated when you click on and purchase through them.

Here’s the kicker, we don’t have the money nor the space to buy full props to really make some of those amazing pictures you see. So I turned to my trusty photo editing friend, PicMonkey, to make our First Day school pictures pop just a little more while sticking to a budget. I hope you enjoy this tutorial.

Raw, Unedited Photo.

A simple Auto-Adjust and Crop take out any unwanted visuals (like naked babies climbing stairs) and give you a more vibrant color. From here you can play with the color brightness, RGB Levels and more but I’m usually pretty happy with the auto-adjusts setting.

For the First Day School pictures, I like to browse around PicMonkey’s School U theme. I grabbed a chalkboard shape it overlay and played with the color until I was satisfied. To make it look more natural after adding the overlay, in the little edit box that pops up with it, there is an eraser button. Using that I very carefully erased the part of the chalkboard covering her thumb. Voila! An instant home made chalkboard that needs no space in your home.

To finish up, I used the Eraser Dust text to write our First Day Of… on the chalkboard.

Let’s do it again, but this time I’ll show you inside the super simple editor.

Upload your photo into PicMonkey’s photo editor. On the very to left is an icon with 3 lines and dots. This has your general editing tools – crop, rotate, contrast, etc. Click that to find the auto adjust and cropping tools.

For this one, I chose to use an effect on top of the color adjustment. At the bottom left you’ll see an apple. This has the different themes. Once in there choose School U. For Princess C I added the yearbook effect which made the brick behind her a little less harsh and put a slight yellow tint to it.

Instead of a chalkboard overlay, I thought Princess C had the perfect pose to add a shield. Black was a bit hard though, so on the right is the item edit box. Here you can play around with the colors of different items you add to your photo. You can choose colors straight from your photos too!

Finally, add your First Day of __ Grade and Export to your computer.

I hope this little tutorial helps some of you. Picmonkey has a FREE version, but for only $7.99/month ($3.99/month if you pay yearly) I find the Royale version to fit all my photo editing needs. I use it on an almost daily basis.

If you have any questions on how to use Picmonkey, I’m more than happy to help you out! Just shoot me an email, or leave a comment.

September 11, 2013
Family Photo Shoot

So about a month back, before we moved, but while in the process of changing careers, I asked an old friend from high school to take our family pictures. I was extremely pleased with what we got. Especially since after driving 2 hours for this shoot, I realized we had completely forgotten the clothes I wanted us to wear. Thankfully Mark’s parents had recently given us some Japanese dresses for the kids and they were in the back of the van. I hope you enjoy a little glimpse into our family life.

By far the best family picture here! All the girls were yelling “EW”

Gorgeous Princess V.

Princess C just slays me with this smile! I’ve got another one of her but hiding a little more behind the fan as my facebook profile picture.

Perhaps you can understand my days just by this one photo alone. Princess R.

Sisters. Sisters. There could never be 3 better sisters.

and then there was Prince L. My handsome and cuddly buddy.

Father and Son. Let the good times roll.

We ended the shoot at a little ice cream parlor. If you can’t tell by the hair, we got caught in a torrential downpour at one point.

Come Back Soon!

August 27, 2013
Quick and Easy Pack Lunches

I can’t believe I’m going to have two kids in school this year! Where did the time go? Princess V is headed to first grade and Princess C to Kindergarten. With a first grader, it means I’ve got to think about school lunches now. I’m not big on getting school lunches – so for the most part she’ll be taking a pack lunch. Of course, I’m sure we’ll periodically let her eat at school, I’m not that set in my ways. It will just be reserved for special occasions.

School starts tomorrow here! Where did our summer go? I had all these fun plans, but I don’t think we got to any of them. We did however move, and are still settling in. Unpacking has been put on a slight hold though, while I get ready for the girls to start school. We’re pretty lucky here in that the elementary schools provide all the supplies, so we didn’t have to purchase anything for the classroom. That left me with a nice little budget for school lunch items. Even better, was while we were unpacking I realized we bought some tubs that would be perfect for storing all our lunch items – making it a quick and easy job to pack lunches.

I’ve got one more container I need to unpack, and then I’ll really be ready. But right now this is going to get use through the first week or two of school. I’ve left sandwich stuff, and fruit and veggies out of them for now, but in the future I’ll put the bread and peanut butter and honey into it’s own tub. For now this is what I have.

With Mark working a regular 9 to 5 type job now as well, I get to make him lunches as well. It makes me excited! This makes it both easy for me to make lunches, but also for Mark to grab a lunch in case I forget, or am not feeling well (as was the case this morning).

I’m stuck on ideas other than sandwiches (and I need to figure out if we have a no peanut policy at our school), but after browsing pinterest, I know I’ll be able to make some awesome lunches for Princess V this year. Peanut Blossom’s 30 days of lunch ideas is going to be my first stop before the next grocery trip I make.

How are you getting ready for back to school?

You can find this and other posts linked up at these fun parties

August 20, 2013
Are your Kids Safe

I was thinking about the news this week. One particular national news I almost decided to share my thoughts on, but to be honest, the emotions I’ve seen around the Internet…I don’t want to go there here.

There have been a couple smaller and local articles that have been pulling at me, though, and making me re-evaluate just how safe and aware I am of my kids.

When leaving with a babysitter, have I effectively communicated all the information needed? Are my children safe at a park alone? Are they even safe in my front yard, or my parents un-fenced backyard?

Think About It!

These 3 questions lay heavily on my mind because they all made the news this last week. The first article was about a baby found alone in a stroller on the sidewalk – but that was blatant poor parenting as the mother had no explanation as to why she left her child. News like this makes me so sad!

Let’s move on, though, shall we? I’m writing under the assumption that most of you are good parents who wouldn’t leave an infant alone, outside at 5:30 am.

Case 1

Earlier this week, another headline hit me of a 2-year-old found wandering around alone. There were no missing child reports and no way to identify the child’s parents. So the news got his picture out looking for anyone to recognize him. Thankfully, his babysitter did!

This was just a sad miscommunication. Mom and son were new to the area, and Mom got up early and left for work – under the assumption that she had asked the family she was living with to watch her son that day. But Mom didn’t tell anyone when she left. Son got up after Mom and went outside as well. When the babysitters awoke and couldn’t find the boy, it was assumed other arrangements had been made.

TIP 1: Always, Always make sure you and your babysitter are on the same page, and never leave the child until the babysitter is aware of where they are. I’m sure this Mom is just so happy her son was found safe!

Also, look into clothing labels. I know there’s products out there that attach to the inside of clothing with a name/address/phone number. You never know when it might be needed.

Case 2

12 and 8-year-old sisters were playing alone at a park, after 7 pm. A man dressed in black with a mask attempts to kidnap the 8-year-old – after the tried running away first. The 12-year-old managed to hit the man in his mouth, at which point he backed off, and the girls made it to a friends house.

Mom taught the girls safety, and what to do in this type of situation.

Tip 2: Teach your children about safety. They are never too young to learn to run from strangers, and fight back if in danger. Have a “safe house” designated around any areas you frequent. A “safe house” would be a friends house, an elderly couple in the area, or an acquaintance you trust. Show your kids the safe house, and remind them they can go to them anytime they feel they are in danger.

Case 3

A man abducts a 5-year-old from her grandmother’s front yard with the promise of ice cream. As a neighborhood search commences, a 15 year old boy and his friends are given the description and begin their own search. When they spot a girl matching the description they begin following the car on their bikes. The abductor stops and lets the girl out before taking off.

Tip 3: Teach your child stranger danger. Never accept candy, gifts, or promises from adults you don’t know, and never get in a stranger’s vehicle. I think this was a happy ending because a search was put under right away. So if your child is outside playing, either be with them or check on them frequently!

Think About It!

Could any of these have ever happened to you? We had an incident just last week that made my heart race. We were getting family pictures taken at a local free garden (Thanksgiving Point). After pictures, we stopped in an ice cream shop for a little treat, and to get out of the rain. Mark had to run across to another shop for an ATM, and I thought he had Princess R with him. When out of the blue a stranger told me my daughter was stuck in the door on the other side of the building….WHAT?! Mark had told Princess R to go back to mommy, he would be right back while I thought he was taking her with him. She ended up following Mark but getting stuck in the heavy doors. It could have ended so much worse. We failed on communication!

With the recent stories, I plan on paying a little more attention to my kids whereabouts, as well as teaching them these same tips I’ve shared here. I know we’ve talked about them before, but it never hurts to repeat it.

July 18, 2013
Chocolate Strawberry Baked Oatmeal #FoodieFriday

Thanks for coming by Foodie Friday! Today my cohost Diane has a Kale Eggplant Stew you should check out!

Ever struggle to feed your kids oatmeal? I know when I was a child I really did not like oatmeal. My mom always tried to make it appealing with fresh fruit, or cinnamon and milk. No matter what though, my gag reflexes always kicked in when trying to eat oatmeal. Thankfully my taste buds have refined themselves as an adult, and I actually enjoy oatmeal now. I can not eat it plain though.

Unfortunately, my kids have taken after me and struggle eating the sticky stuff. I’ve tried a multitude of ways, including fun fruit parfaits, but nothing could get them to eat it. That is, until I baked it. Princess V is the only one that still fights me on oatmeal, while the other 3 gobble it up and even ask for more. According to Princess C “3 is good Mom. Can I have one more?”

Of course Princess V’s reaction was a bit more dramatic when after some screaming and wailing, I sent her back to bed, she uttered the words “You’re going DOWN for this!” Well, I must be parenting right, but I think some TV shows need to be turned off for awhile…Avatar, or very possibly the old Sonic the Hedgehog we’ve recently introduced the kids to. And by the way, I saved her oatmeal for her and still made her eat it once she calmed down and apologized.

I’m still feeling a win on this with 3 out of 4 kids liking it

Chocolate Strawberry Baked Oatmeal

adapted from the cookbook Beyond Oatmeal: 101 Breakfast Recipes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup Almond Bark Shavings

1/3 cup Strawberry Jam

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×9 baking pan

Combine all the ingredients except the jam in a medium bowl. Pour into the prepared baking dish, and spread out. Add dollops of the strawberry jam on top, or spread it into an even layer.

Bake for 25 minutes. Serve and Enjoy.

~FEATURES~

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal

from Julia Kendrick

I will for sure be trying this one out next! Peanut butter is more Princess V’s thing, so maybe she’ll like it better.

Steak Sandwich Stackers

from Lady Behind the Curtain

These would be perfect for a Memorial Day get together. Perfect little bites, with a lot going on!

Sweet and Spicy Pineapple Slaw

from This Gal Cooks

Add a little twist to summer bbq’s with this side.

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May 24, 2013
Little Monster Behavior Chart

Part of being a parent is disciplining your children when they make wrong choices, or have bad behavior. It is also setting an example so they know how to behave and can easily choose right from wrong.

We have been struggling with getting our kids to behave kindly, and well, just in general behave. I hope it’s not just me that struggles with kids pushing their boundaries, but I know in public I see much better behaved kids than my own. Last week as I lost control of my own behavior and acted shamefully in front of my kids I knew I was failing. I was failing as a mother and example to my kids. I cried to Mark that night, and even though I know I’ve succeeded in some areas, this one was becoming too much for me.

Mark, as always had a brilliant plan. So I sucked up my tears, and set to work creating a behavior chart for little miss Princess R. At 3 years old and in the middle of the pack, she seems to push boundaries the most. I crossed my fingers and just hoped that this chart was going to do the trick.

The basic idea was to have a chart with an item that could move up and down according to her behavior. Good behavior moves up the chart, bad moves down. I wasn’t sure how I was going to create it at first, but it soon came all together. I started on picmonkey to get my basic design (right click to print your own)

I printed our chart on card stock to have a nice solid background for the movable piece on the side. Next I made a slit with an exacto knife down the right side of the chart. Finally we attached a paper flower from My Memories Suite with a decorative brad.

If you do not currently have My Memories Suite, you can use code for STMMMS37783 $10 Off the program download.

Once the flower was attached we used some Zots to stick the chart up on the wall.

It’s been a few days since we have implemented this chart for Princess R, and the effects have been stunning! Not just for her either – but for me as well. Instead of losing my cool, and raising my voice, I calmly ask Princess R if we should move her to the Little Monster or up to the Ribbon. Princess R is just that – a Princess. She is not a Little Monster.

We still have our days of tantrums and Doing it Her Way, but they are calmer, we listen to each other better, and our overall behavior has stuck between the Happy Face and The Ribbon. Once we stay at the Ribbon Princess R will be allowed to pull a treat from our very coveted Treasure Box. Today looks like it will be a Treasure Box kind of day.

May 21, 2013
Disney Planes Coloring Pages

We are so excited for Disney’s new movie Planes! Every time we see a preview the Princesses start getting all excited, and shouting

It’s Cars! It’s Cars!

And then I try to explain to them that, no it’s like Cars, but it’s planes. They were made by the same people. To which my kids have now decided to call this new movie

Cars Planes!

August 9th is a long way off still, but I know this is one we’ll be going to the theater to see (and we don’t make it out to the movies often with 4 kids…). So in the meantime, I’m very excited that Disney has put together some coloring pages for the kids to enjoy.

Just click on the image and you’ll be taken to the coloring pages you can print out.

May 8, 2013