I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for Jif. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

As a busy mom, sandwiches are a saving grace sometimes.  But it can be easy to slip into a run of the same old thing all the time.  I swear I ate bologna (with just mayo) everyday for an entire school year when I was a kid.  Then I couldn’t look at bologna for a good long while.  But sometimes we just have to get a little creative and do something new with the classics.  Sometimes in our house it’s as simple as switching it up from PB on bread to making it a cup of PB and some graham crackers or making peanut butter quesadillas.

If you’re creative with YOUR sandwiches, check this out….now through November 8th, Jif Peanut Butter is running their Most Creative Sandwich Contest – challenging families across the country to create an original sandwich recipe that includes two tablespoons of your favorite Jif products! Parents and children with 6-12 can submit their original sandwich for a chance to win a $25,000 college fund and a trip to New York City!

Peanut Butter Rolls Sushi Style

I love this peanut butter roll which was a past contest winner. We are still trying to decide on what we could make to enter but you should head over and enter now before the contest ends on 11/8, be sure to read the entry rules first too!

Enter Jif’s Most Creative Sandwich Contest!

I participated in this sponsored campaign for One2One Network. I received monetary compensation and product to facilitate my post, but all opinions stated are my own.

Summer time means baseball, the beach and backyard gatherings with friends!  While I truly love getting together with friends and family, I tend to be the one that always volunteers to bring the chips to BBQs.  Between my schedule and pure lack of culinary skill, I don’t tend to attempt to get too creative with my snacks.  But thanks to Lay’s and Tostitos I stepped outside of that comfort zone for a recent family gathering and was amazed with the results.

Typically when I think of Tostitos® Scoops!® I think of a traditional salsa.  I’ll usually just grab a jar or two off the store shelf and consider it done.  But Frito-Lay asked me to try these Corn and Black Bean Bites.  Because the store was out of limes, I substituted lemon juice. And because my lack of culinary skills left me unable to properly CUT an avocado (instead I sort of mushed killed it) there was not avocado in my creation.  But it was still a BIG hit!  I am honestly not sure if I’ve ever had people ask me what was in something or how I made something before.  It was kind of cool!

Then came the even trickier, at least for me, challenge.  Make a bean or veggie based dip that would be good paired with Lay’s® Classic potato chips.  I don’t know about you but when I think of classic potato chips I’m not thinking of the healthiest of dips!  So I did some thinking and some searching and I came up with something I thought would fit the bill.

Recipe and photo from Kalyns Kitchen

It’s veggie based for sure….healthy, well healthier than some and you can adjust something to make it even healthier if you want.  This twice baked cauliflower recipe turned out AMAZING.  Honestly my biggest struggle was trying to find a dip that I thought went with the Lays Classic chip.  I think this one was perfect.  If you’ve never heard of it before, you can use mashed cauliflower as a substitute for mashed potatoes.  I hadn’t honestly tried it before this party and yes you CAN tell the difference.  Even with the cheese and bacon a slight cauliflower taste comes through.  But this dip was a huge hit.  It was awesome to hear everyone saying how good it was and telling others they HAD to try it.  I did add considerably more bacon than the recipe calls for because, I mean….it’s BACON.  But it was so good!

Not all chips are created equal! Look for chips made with simple ingredients, like Lay’s® Classic potato chips, made with potatoes, oils and salt, and Tostitos® Scoops!® tortilla chips, made with corn, oils and salt.

 Find more from Fito-Lay’s Online:

• Frito-Lay’s Website
• Frito-Lay’s Facebook
• Frito-Lay’s Twitter
• Frito-Lay’s Recipes Page

 Enter to win (1) $50 AMEX gift card

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Sponsored content: Happy Family presents Stories from the Bright Side

“Stories from the Bright Side” is a campaign that Happy Family is running throughout the summer that shines a humorous light on food and feeding challenges that parents have through sharing funny stories told by top bloggers that are then acted out by improv troupe the Upright Citizen’s Brigade.

We, as parents, have all experienced funny moments around food and Stories from the Bright Side is meant to make people realize that others are dealing with the same things we are!

Visit the Happy Family Facebook page and upload your own funny feeding story for others to see and laugh about(and also to check out other consumers entries).  There is a sweepstakes that is part of this contest where Happy Family will pick a funny feeding story to award $20K towards a child’s college education (the rules and regulations are on the Facebook page).

Being a parent is full of challenges, including many things you never even considered before kids.  When you learn you will become a parent for the first time you worry about so many things, but at least for me, learning to deal with what others thought about how I should parent, wasn’t even on my mind.  But that changes quickly as people seem to have no issue in telling a new or expecting mom exactly how she should do just about everything when it comes to parenting.  However, for me the most surprising thing was dealing with my own mom’s opinions.

Yes, grandma is a wealth of information and I depended on her a lot to help me overcome fears of doing everything wrong.  But times change and sometimes grandma’s ways become a little outdated as we learn more about children, medicine etc.  It was this idea that lead to MY funny feeding story.  At least, it was funny to me!

You see when my first born was about a year and half old he worshiped his grandma and grandpa.  He also had a sweet tooth unmatched by just about anyone but his mom.  So one evening while over at G&G’s for dinner, grandpa piled a plate full of food fit for an adult and plopped it in front of my toddler.  Now mind you, my son was a good eater.  He ate a great variety of food and healthy quantity but the plate in front of him was simply a ridiculous amount for such a tiny person.  But the boy gave it a good effort and got surprisingly close to finishing.  When he was showing all the signs that he was listening to his body and was done eating, I was ready to let him be done.  As someone with issues with food as far back as I can remember we were letting our kids listen to their own hunger signals and allowing them to stop eating when they were full.  But this went against the house rules of grandma and grandpa and their clean plate club.  As they coaxed and pushed my full toddler to finish his plate, he continued to nibble though he was obviously full. But it wasn’t until Grandma dropped the bomb, no dessert if you don’t clean your plate, that the trouble really began.  That was all it took for my lil man to attempt to clean his plate despite his tummy’s signals to STOP!  And it wasn’t kidding because within minutes, everything his little body didn’t have room for exploded back out on to his plate.  Of course, I felt horrible for my young child who now wasn’t feeling well.  But truth be told, I gloated whole heartedly on the inside because I had repeatedly told them he was full, that they’d given him too much and they were going to make him sick.  Thankfully, I was finished eating….but they weren’t.  Well after that they were!  And no one tried dessert that night.

Now maybe I’m a little twisted because I could see the humor in the situation, or maybe is karma, but nonetheless I saw it in the moment. Often times when we’re in the trenches of parenting we can’t always see the humor.  But when you look back I’m sure EVERY ONE has a funny feeding story to tell!

Enter Stories from the Bright Side at Happy Family’s Facebook page today!

Launched on Mother’s Day 2006, and founded and operated by moms, Happy Family™ is the first organic brand to offer a complete line of nutrient-rich foods for babies’, toddlers’, and kids’ growing bodies (Brands include: Happy Baby, Happy Tot, Happy Bellies, Happy Puffs, Happy Yogis, Happy Squeeze and more). Constantly innovating, Happy Family has been a pioneer in the industry, adding extra nutrition to its products—like Salba, the super chia, probiotics, and Choline for brain health—whenever possible. Happy Family has been consistently recognized for its dynamic team and its extraordinary growth and innovation, including winning Food Processing Magazine’s R&D Team of the Year, being named by Forbes as one of America’s most promising companies; and most recently, Shazi Visram, CEO and Founder of Happy Family, being named a member of the Young Global Leader Class of 2013 by the World Economic Forum. Happy Family believes that every baby deserves to be a happy baby. With every product sold, the company supports Project Peanut Butter, a nonprofit that feeds starving children in Malawi, Mali and Sierra Leone.

Visit the Happy Family store locator to find a store near you where you can use this  $.50 off Happy Family organic snacks and meals!

Visit Facebook

I have been compensated for sharing about the Happy Family Stories from the Bright Side promotion, story and opinions expressed are my own.

Recently while in Chicago I got to experience samples of Walgreens innovative fresh food and refreshments in celebration of the new fresh foods offered at select stores.  Walgreens is currently in the middle of its Up Market Fresh Bus tour in Chicago and wants you to come check them out too.

The “Up Market:  Fresh” bus’ daily location and featured sample menu items are shared via Twitter @upmarketfresh.  But here are some upcoming locations:

WalgreensStore
6800 Ogden Ave.,
Berwyn, IL 60402
Friday, August 9 – Noon–2 p.m.

Bud Billiken Parade
3405 S. King Dr., Chicago, IL 60616
Saturday, August 10–6 a.m.–10 a.m.

StreetFood Artistry
Zhou B. Art Center, 1029 W. 35thSt., Chicago, IL 60609
Sunday, August 11–11 a.m.–3 p.m.

Elvis Is Alive 5K
Lincoln Park Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum/Diversey Harbor
2430 N. Cannon Dr., Chicago, IL 60614
Thursday, August 15–6 p.m.–9:15 p.m.

Free tastings include:

• Juices  — Samples of nutritious, fresh-made juices made from a combination of fresh fruits and vegetables. “Skyline Sunset” is a featured juice and is a blend of watermelon, pears and oranges.
• Smoothie — The featured smoothie will be the “Da Bears Blend,” which is blended fresh from bananas, strawberries and orange juice.
• Frozen Yogurt –  Two premium, low-fat frozen yogurts will be sampled alongside a selection of toppings.
• Café – Visitors can receive free samples of a selection of coffees brewed using the same fresh roasts and barista quality techniques showcased at Walgreens.

I tried a little of everything but the Cafe (cuz I am not a coffee girl) and it was all delicious.  I am personally excited about the items coming to one of my local Walgreens because with our crazy schedule I can regularly be found wandering the aisles of Walgreens searching for an easy on the go snack for the kids and I.  It’s crazy how hard it can be to find healthier options for on the go but Walgreens is trying to make it easier for us.

In addition to getting to check out the Bus and the samples, I also had the chance to meet Danni Allen, most recent winner of Biggest Loser.  She is super super sweet and a had some great tips to share from her weight loss experience: