Spring break started out awesome. Knowing that we would be at wrestling practice every night this week, I even thought I would make a big batch of chicken for tacos and quesadillas during the week.

4 organic chicken breasts? Check.
1 cup of fresh roasted green chilies? Check.
1 cup of fresh salsa? Check.

All I had to do was carry the full crockpot over to the island where I left the chopped onions, add them in, and turn the crockpot on. Carrying the onions to the crockpot might be messy, and since I was running late that morning, I wasn’t looking for messy.

I took the ceramic inside out of the metal heating part of the crockpot and added my onions. As I lifted the bowl to put it into the heating unit, it started to slip. I put my left hand under the bowl to steady it and as I did, it shattered into my hand.

Yup. Into.

I sliced my pinky and my ring finger, but the gash on my pinky was pretty deep. Like, I could see inside my finger deep. *gag*

Me: Michael, come. here. now. please. I need help.

Michael: What?! What’s wrong with your hand?

Me: I cut it. Just help me get the food off of the floor. There is raw chicken all over.

Michael: Can I see it?

Me: See what?!

Michael: Your hand. Can I see it?

Me: Michael {as I’m cleaning the floor and counter with one hand}, you can see whatever you want after you help me.

Michael: Are you not showing me because it’s… bad?

Jack: What happened? Mom?! {in his so sad panicked Jack voice}

Me: I’m ok, but can you take my slippers into the tub and rinse them off?

Jack: Is that blood?!?

Me: No, it’s salsa. I dropped the crock lot and salsa fell onto my slippers.

Jack: Are you sure?

Michael: Mom, can I see it now? Is it really deep?

Jack: Mom… Is it bad?!

This is how it went until I finally convinced Jack that the salsa wasn’t blood and showed Michael the inside flesh of my finger.

Did I mention that I was also watching the three little girls across the street, ages 3, 5, and 6?

I decided quickly that I didn’t have time for stitches and called a friend over to help me play nurse to myself. Thankful for the medical glue that my SIL gave us, we glued my fingers back together.

All was well. Except I just wasted $20 worth of food and a lot of my time.

Four hours later the glue decided to quit working.

Steve brought home butterfly bandages and we re-wrapped my fingers.

The next morning, the big cut had opened again. I re-wrapped, but it didn’t help. Every time I moved my hand, my fingers split open again.

Do you know how much you move your pinky on a daily basis?!

Thankfully, Kelly brought me some steri-strips. They are like a very strong piece of tape that you use as a bandage.

Also? She brought me a splint so that I would stop moving my fingers and opening the cut back up.

If it weren’t for my friends, I tell ya’.

Now? I look like a bit of an idiot.

It’s overkill, right? But it works.

This was my first freak accident. I can’t even explain exactly how it happened. Dinner, a crockpot, a cut, a splint. Crazy.

Someone make me feel better. I want to know about your freak accidents…

Go.

I added a new tab up there to the right… do you see it?

It says “The Kitchen.”

It’s a new section of Our Crazy Boys that will have recipes, gluten free musings, and possibly even some gossip girl talk – all things that you would hear if you were to hang around my kitchen for the day.

I’ll let you know when I update it, or you can keep tabs on it by clicking “The Kitchen.”

(pssst… you should go click on it now…)

And the winner is… Kate! Congrats, Kate! I’ll email you to get your mailing address!

Seriously.

Ask Lynn. I sent her some last year, and she’s the kettle corn expert.

If Steve gave me a bag of Angie’s Kettle Corn for Valentine’s Day, I’d be the happiest girl in Tucson.

Really.

Especially since cutting gluten out, I’m Angie’s biggest fan.

And guess what they just came out with?

Valentine’s packs.

You know, so you don’t have to be another one sending your kid to school with candy on Valentine’s day.

You can send your child to school with a gluten free, clean (only 4 ingredients!) snack.

Last week, Jack had a bag of Angie’s kettle corn on our way to soccer practice. I told him how this year we were going to give them out at school instead of valentines, because they came with cute name tag stickers. He said, “or we could keep them and eat them all..”

Great minds think alike, huh?

Michael even loves it:

…though I was instructed to not “fill out the stickers. Or even put the stickers on” his bags.

He won’t even let me put notes in his lunchbox anymore. :(

Anyway, I have a fun giveaway!! Angie’s is giving a Valentine’s pack away to one of you!

To enter…. (this is the fun part…)

I, for once, am making it all about the facebook – since most of you are on it.

1. “Like” Angie’s Kettle Corn. You’ll get fun updates from Angie, and you’ll be able to see the random fun photos I post on their wall :)

2. “Like” Our Crazy Boys. Where else can you get snippets about the boys, links to posts, updates about my Momtourage and DinnerTool articles, and random questions now and then?

Don’t have a facebook account? Well, ok. I won’t judge you. Leave me up to two comments and tell me something that you like to do for Valentine’s Day. I promise I won’t email you and try to get you to open a facebook account.

Leave a separate comment for each “like” because trust me, giveaways are much easier when everyone leaves separate comments.

Ready? Set? Goooooo!

Small-ish print: I was provided with a Valentine pack of Angie’s kettle corn. Then we ate it and I had to go buy more for Jack’s class. Even if I wasn’t provided with kettle corn, I would have posted a giveaway because I want you to all love Angie’s as much as I do. I will choose a winner via random.org on 1/30 and will notify via email. Good luck!  

I have recently been battling some food allergy/intolerance issues. Actually, it’s an intolerance, but people tend to think if it’s not an allergy, it’s not serious.

It’s serious enough to send me to a few different doctors, and it’s serious enough to cause me lots of pain and discomfort, so it’s serious to me.

When I eat gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye), I get sick. I was tested for Celiac disease (a severe gluten allergy) a couple months ago and my results were negative, but my body isn’t tolerating it. This is common with a lot of food allergies, so my allergist told me to just cut it out completely. I wish it were that easy, but it seems that not eating gluten is doing some crazy things to my body. Also, gluten is hidden everywhere. I have resorted to packing a cooler full of foods that I know are gluten free to take with me everywhere I go.

One thing I have been able to eat that doesn’t make me sick is this oatmeal. I first had it about a month ago when Dayna made it for me (she’s pretty amazing, and her daughters? OMG CUTE!!). I came home from Dayna’s determined to re-create it.

Baked Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

4-5 cups oats (or gluten free oats)

1 cup brown sugar

2 apples, diced with the skins on

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

I stick all of these ingredients into Suzie, my Kitchenaid mixer, and then pour them into a pie plate. The mixture looks pretty wet, but it’ll be perfect when it’s done baking.

Cover the oatmeal and cook for 25ish minutes at 350 degrees, then uncover for 10ish minutes. After it sits on the counter for a few minutes, the oatmeal shouldn’t be too wet inside. If it still looks wet, stick it in the oven for another 5 minutes or so. One batch will last me several days. If your oatmeal seems a little dry, add some milk to moisten it back up.

I have been enjoying my oatmeal with a cup of coffee, but I’m sure it’s good with milk or OJ :)

In Arizona, there really is no fall. No autumn. The temperatures drop a little, but there are no leaves changing color yet. That happens around Christmas.

So, we make fall. We find it.

We light candles (Michael is my designated candle lighter, and Jack is the candle blower-outer).

We open the windows and pretend it’s cool outside even though it’s still too warm.

We find fun activities to do… like popping indian corn on the cob.

We bought small cobs of unpreserved/untreated corn (smaller cobs pop better).

Soak them in water for about 30 minutes before popping.

Place one cob at a time in a small paper bag, fold the top to close. Press the popcorn button on the microwave and listen for the popping to slow.

Some of the popcorn pops right off the cob, and some pops on the cob. I melted some butter, put the cobs and loose popcorn in a bowl, and tossed it a little with salt.

The boys approved :)

We find fall by watching football. Well, the boys watch. I take pictures of them watching football.

We play tricks on each other every once in a while, too. Not because it’s fall, but because we can.

And since it’s Arizona, we go out for ice cream. And sometimes, I let the boys order whatever they want.

Even if it’s a huge sundae that I know they will never finish.

And on our way home, we turn the seat warmers on in the car and pretend that we are freezing.

Because then I don’t miss fall so much when Grandma Teetsie sends me pictures like this one:

Because we find our own fall here.

I came across this great new (to me) magazine called Yum Food & Fun For Kids and saw one of my favorite recipes, but in a jar! Perfect for gift giving, I thought.

The original recipe is for Tidy Mom’s Pie in a Jar, but I changed it up a little. I made apple crisp and used larger jars because, you know, you can never have too much apple crisp. I also made a few of the jars gluten free!

Apple Crisp In A Jar Recipe (*GF substitutions)

5 cups apples (I used golden delicious)

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup rolled oats (or *gluten free oats)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup flour (or *Pamela’s baking mix)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup softened butter

10 oz. canning jars (makes about 4)

*As a rule, oats are gluten free, but the areas in which they are grown may have been previously occupied by wheat. It’s safest to use gluten free oats if you have a wheat allergy.

And quickly, have I told you about the amazing Pamela’s Baking Mix? Since I stopped eating gluten, Pamela’s makes it possible for me to enjoy baked goods like pancakes, apple crisp, and breads with my family or company when they come. My kids can’t taste the difference when I use Pamela’s in pancakes, and I haven’t had one complaint about my pumpkin bread that I have made with it!

Moving on… :)

Wash the apples (Yes, I wash them even though I am going to peel them. I admit to having quirks.)

Core the apples the best you can – I kept missing the bottom core!

Skin and cut the apples. I don’t worry about getting every piece of skin off – just the majority of it.

Ask your little helper to use small cookie cutters and make at least two different shapes using a thin apple slice – enough for each apple crisp you are making. It’s for health reasons. I’ll explain why later. Soak the shapes in water while you finish the recipe so they don’t brown.

Add the sugar (or have your helper do it) and stir well. Set the apples aside.

Combine oats, baking mix or flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and slowly add in soft butter. Trust me on this one – don’t melt the butter or try to add in cold butter. It just doesn’t work well.

If you are splitting the recipe and making some crisps gluten free and some with flour, make sure to keep them separated!

The end product should look beautiful like this:

Fill each of the jars with apples. Fill half of each jar with apples. If you fill the entire jar (like I first did) you won’t have enough room to put lots of the oats in. So fill halfway.

Layer oats mixture, another layer of apples, and more oats on top. Fill the jar as much as you can because you’ll be surprised at how much it sinks during baking, making you think that the recipients will rename your gift “Half of an Apple Crisp in a Jar.”

Get out those shapes and stick one shape on top of the crisps without gluten, and another on the crisps with regular flour. We used pumpkins for gluten free apple crisps, apples and pumpkins for crisps with flour.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes. I just looked for browning.

And viola! Apple Crisp in a Jar. I refrigerated these for a night, then put them and some mini containers of vanilla ice cream (to fill the other half of the jar that had settled) into a big cooler bag and brought them to the school for the boys’ teachers.

What’s something fun you have made for a teacher? I need more ideas!

—–

This post is linked with Cindy’s Made By You Mondays, Elaine’s Miss Elaine-ous Monday, and…

We have a bit of an issue with food in this house.

I eat too much of it, and my kids don’t eat enough.

That’s not true. Michael doesn’t eat enough.

SO, we have been supplementing his breakfast with some sneaky calories.

He doesn’t seem to mind, and the rest of the family reaps some benefits, too.

In addition, I’m the Mom who gets breakfast requests from friends who sleepover. {Thankyouverymuch}

“Um… Becca, can you please make smoothies tomorrow morning? Please?”

“And, um… can I have a granola bar? Can you give my Mom the recipe?”

Do you know how happy this makes me??!!

No, you probably don’t. Because you don’t know that normally, I am not allowed to make breakfast.

I make a mean dinner, and some some pretty great lunches. But in the morning, Steve won’t let me near the kitchen.

Confession: I make horribly flat pancakes and soggy waffles.

Movingrightalong.

I thought I’d share my recipes with you. Along with some Pioneer Woman-esque pictures. A gift, if you will.

Feel free to give me something in return.

Yummy Strawberry and Banana Smoothies

Cast of characters:

Frozen strawberries

*optional – Yogurt – any kind.

Protein powder (I use unflavored soy, but I won’t try to control your smoothie… use what you like)

Milk – 2% is pictured, but we use whole milk for Michael and Jack.

Bananas

A few notes:

I showed you two types of yogurt because I know that yogurt is a very personal kind of thing ;)  Well, it is around here. I like the YoPlus (even though it has some added sugar) and the boys like the unflavored or vanilla.

What I love about this recipe is that it can be easily adapted for people who don’t need all of the extra calories and fat of whole milk and mucho protein powder. And you can easily make multiple (different) smoothies at the same time.

This recipe should adapt well to any blender/smoothie maker. I’m pretty bad at taking exact measurements when I make anything (no, that’s not what was wrong with the waffles and pancakes). Just look at the pictures and adjust the ingredients to fit your taste.

Here we go…

In the bottom of the cup/blender, etc. pour 6-7 small strawberries (or 4-5 of the hughmongo Costco sized ones).

Add one container or 2-3 large spoonfuls of yogurt. (And next time, make sure Jack moves his hands out of the picture)

Pour milk to the top of the strawberries.

Add 1/2 the amount of one serving size of protein powder (for a regular smoothie) or twice the amount of protein powder (if you need to gain a little weight).

Break up a banana and add it in there (and maybe a few extra strawberries to make it thicker).

I have a favorite smoothie maker (that also works for making awesome salsa). We just ordered our second one last week because our 2 year old one just started to die…

*affiliate link*

I’m a little controlling “by the book” when I add the ingredients. I stick to the order listed because I have found that there is less protein powder stuck to the side of the cup when I follow this order. But do what you want, I’m not going to control your smoothie (unless you’re making it in my house. then I might get a little weird).

If the blender isn’t blending well, you probably need to add a bit more milk. Test it out, and drink it up. 2 servings of fruit right there…Yum.

“Mom’s Really Good Granola Bars” (named by Jack, not me)

Cast of characters:

3 cups oats

2 tablespoons “healthy chaser” (I use ground flax seed, but you could also use wheat germ, 7 grain cereal, etc.)

1/4 cup protein powder

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon chunky peanut butter (Costco brand organic creamy pb is yummy, too. Your choice. I’m not controlling your granola bars.)

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon honey

1/4 cup chopped almonds/walnuts/cashews

1/4 cup dried cranberries and raisins, cut in half (or any other dried fruit)

1 cup bear naked granola (or any other kind you like, or not. you can skip this ingredient)

Some notes:

You could substitute chocolate chips for the raisins and cranberries, or for the nuts. This recipe is really flexible.

Sometimes I toast the oats and nuts on 400 degrees for about 13 minutes, but I haven’t been able to tell if it makes a difference. If I have time, I do it. If not, I don’t.

Here we go…

Put peanut butter and honey into a pot, and heat it on low until it melts together.

I use a handheld chopper to chop the almonds and walnuts and a knife to chop the cranberries and raisins because they are so sticky.

Pour oats, flaxseed, protein powder, nuts, raisins and cranberries, and granola into a large bowl.

If you’re using chocolate chips and you decided to toast the granola, you should let it cool down so the chocolate doesn’t melt. But if you have picky kids and you need to trick them into thinking that they are eating chocolate granola bars you could let it melt and change the color of the whole granola bar. Not that I have ever tricked my kids into thinking they are eating lots of chocolate when they in fact are not.

Pour the melted honey and peanut butter  into the bowl.

Let your 9 year old helper use Suzy, your beautiful mixer:

Or you could do it the old-fashioned way (how I used to do it before Suzy came into my life) and get out a wooden spoon and stir, stir, stir.

But this way is much more fun.

While Suzy was mixing away, I grabbed a 9×9 pan (well, stone, because I have no pans. Only stones.) and lined it with some parchment paper.

Pour the mixture onto the parchment paper:

And cover it up with another piece of parchment paper.

If you have a small rolling pin (this might be where I have to admit my Pampered Chef addiction) you could use it to flatten down your granola bars. If you don’t, you could use your hands. As Darcie shared with me last night, you could also use a wine bottle. Hmmm… if your wine bottle is too big, I bet a beer bottle would work just fine.

But your husband may or may not give you a weird look.

After your granola mixture is nice and flat, throw the top piece of parchment away and use the bottom one to lift out your granola onto a cooling rack.

Push the granola into a nice firm square on all sides, then let it sit and harden for at least an hour.

I use a pizza cutter to cut my granola bars.

And I store them in a ziplock container in the pantry. They last for about 1 week, but you could get a little more time out of them if you store them in the refrigerator.

Oh, and if you bring some into your co-workers every once in a while, you get lots of smiles!

Completely irrelevant fact about my kitchen: After proof-reading this post, I realized that everything except for Suzy and the blender are from Pampered Chef. Hmmm…

—–

This post was originally published on 2/21/2010 and is one of my top five viewed posts.

I still make these smoothies and granola bars for my family, and they still love them :)

Last month, our local Chick-fil-A held parties for their “best guests” and one of my favorite managers (I say one of because they’re all amazing) Diane chose me! Chick-fil-A threw a party for me and 20ish of my closest friends!

Eileen and I in our firefighter cow hats, because we are all. about. fun.

The kids LOVED the cow.

My dear friend Eileen and I started meeting there with our little ones every 2 weeks or so about a year ago. We both work part time and wanted to get together and chat while the kids played. If you know me at all, you know that I’m not a big fan of fast food. Chick-fil-A is one place that I’ll happily take the boys. They have several healthy options on the menu and the best sweet tea in Tucson (in my opinion :)

Except for Shyla. Her and her Mom were stuck in the play area until the cow went home.

I invited several friends and their kids, and we had a blast. You might even be able to spy Chelsea and Karen if you look hard enough :) It was great to sit and chat and watch the kids play. The staff acted as waitstaff and wouldn’t let us get in line or pay for anything. One of the managers, Dave, came out and payed a few games with the kids and even the kid cow made an appearance. It was quite a day, and the only thing missing was our favorite employee, Robert.

Thank you Diane! You made our day!!

Do you have a local Chick-fil-A that’s as great as ours?

This post is linked to Amanda’s and Wordful Wednesday carnival. Have you linked up yet?

You know what this is, right?

It’s the Spinning Circle Of Doom.

If you’re on a first name basis, you can call it SCOD.

I do.

I  unknowingly welcomed it when I downloaded Lion on my pretty little computer last week, and I don’t want it here anymore.

I think Apple should warn those who need to be protected from themselves people like me when they attempt to install a really, really big operating system onto a computer without a lot of memory. But since they didn’t, it seems that I have single-handedly rendered my computer almost inoperable.

I can’t upload photos.

I can’t access a web page in less than 1 minute.

Per page.

I can’t play with Picnik. That makes me sad.

So be patient with me, while my beloved UPS man brings more RAM to my house.

While we wait for the Man In Brown, I’d love for you to go visit the blogs I am reading right now :)

—

I have been feeling pretty awful for the past few months and as an experiment, I stopped eating gluten to see what would happen. Within a few days I felt almost 100% better, and I’m not planning on changing my eating habits back any time soon. Here are some helpful blogs I have found:

The Gluten Free Diet has been a great resource for all things gluten.

I found Mom Off Track because of her awesome gluten free post yesterday, and have been having fun poking around her blog.

I have made Jesse’s Stuffed Zucchini twice in the past week, and plan on making it again soon. Her blog, The Happy Go Lucky Vegan is full of great recipes. And even if you’re not vegan, go check it out. I add chicken to a lot of her recipes.

Udi’s Gluten Free foods is a great resource. They’re active on social networking sites and love to interact with their customers. My friend Jo-Lynne of Musings Of A Housewife, who has been a great resource to me, is also working with Udi’s to help people learn more about going Gluten-Free.

Life hasn’t been all about food here, though…

My friend Karen has started a new blog (in addition to her “old” blog, Desert Deals Diva) – it’s fun and lighthearted – take a look at Chica Ramblings.

My friend Val has been a blogger (at heart) for a while… she just didn’t have her blog started yet. Now she does! Go welcome her at Mom Gone Mad, please!

You have two days left to enter Vicarious Chelsea‘s Ice.com giveaway… Today is her birthday, too – so wish her a happy day when you enter.

I have been reading Jen’s blog, Our Daily Big Top, for almost as long as I have been blogging. Her oldest boy is Michael’s age, and we became instant blog friends. Though she lives right where the earthquake hit yesterday, her and her cuties didn’t feel a thing. You should go read about what they were doing when the earthquake hit.

That’s what I have for now. I promise to be much more talkative after the UPS man comes to visit me.

Update: Congratulations, Jo-Lynne! You won the box o’ Angie’s Kettle Corn. If you lived closer, I would invite myself over to share :)

I have been asked this a few times in the past couple of months, and I thought it would be fun to have it down “on paper” somewhere. I wish I had a post like this to read from my “three years ago self.”

My family doesn’t eat as healthy as they could. I often compare myself to Jo-Lynne, Darcie, and Alysa. I shouldn’t, but I do.

Jo-Lynne doesn’t feed her family boxed cereals. She buys local raw milk. She bought half a cow from a local farmer rather than rely on the grocery store. Instead of buying bread and granola, she makes her own. You can read a short post about her transition to whole foods on her blog.

Darcie doesn’t write as much about her whole food journey. But throughout the two years that I have known her and been a guest in her house, she has taught me just as much as Jo-Lynne. Darcie spends every Sunday in her kitchen making granola bars, bread, and chicken stock for her family. She limits the amount of (organic) milk and (100% orange) juice her kids drink, and sends warm lunches to school with them.

Alysa is my go-to gal for recipes and food tips. She single-handedly got my boys – all three of them – to eat soup, something I have been trying to accomplish for the past 5 years. She is also the one who gave me the recipe that made my family like love brussel sprouts. And every Saturday, I can count on Alysa’s facebook page to explain whatever crazy fruit or vegetable we found on our Bountiful Basket (more on that later).

These three ladies have inspired me.

In the past two years, I have…

-stopped buying fruit snacks, hot dogs, fruit juice (with the exception of orange juice), processed lunch meats, and frozen snacks (think pizza rolls) for my kids.

-stopped buying anything “light.” No reduced fat, sugar free (that means they just add artificial sweeteners instead of real sugar), or low calorie anything.

-weaned myself off of soda. I have never been one to drink diet sodas, but about one year ago you could find me drinking a minimum of 2 Cokes a day. I’m down to about 1/2 can a week. I have started drinking homemade sweet tea or iced tea, about 12 ounces a day.

-reduced the amount of boxes, metal cans, and “pop cans” that I buy. I still buy brown rice in a box, and canned tomato sauce. I’m dying to cut that out, but can’t justify the hour long drive to Whole Foods to buy one thing. The “pop cans?” That’s my fancy word for the Pillsbury rolls. About once a month, I’ll make a recipe that calls for the crescent rolls or biscuits for the boys (all three of them) and make something different for myself, because I just don’t care for them. I also buy Goldfish, Cheese-Its, and crackers for the boys to bring to school.

-started reading labels. If it has Monosodium Glutamate or High Fructose Corn Syrup in it, it doesn’t come into my house.

-admitted that my family does not need meat, veggies, and starch every night for dinner. Our usual dinner is grilled chicken, 2-3 veggies, and a fruit.

-started cooking and eating “clean” whenever I can. Clean eating = fewer ingredients. I challenge myself to buy foods with no more than 3-5 ingredients. When I cook, I try to stick to no more than 10 ingredients total. I usually only hit that number when cooking something big, like lasagna or lettuce wraps.

-started buying fruits and vegetables from Bountiful Baskets, a food co-op. For $16.50, we get a basket of fruit and a basket of vegetables each week. The contents of the baskets are always a surprise, and we have at least doubled our fruit and vegetable consumption because of them.

These?

They’re my “loose food rules.”

If the boys come home with a package of fruit snacks from school, or we go to Costco around lunchtime and they ask for a hot dog, I’m ok with that. It only happens once every six months or so. I’m not looking to ban foods, just to reduce them. I ate all of this when I was little, and I turned out relatively ok.

Snacks are apples or carrots and peanut butter. Bananas. Pretzels. Treats are ice cream, chocolate, and natural chips and popcorn (as opposed to ice pops, sour patch kids, and Doritos).

And I’m the first one to admit that…

-my kids are allowed to drink a soda when we go out to eat.

-they would easily use an entire bottle of maple syrup with their pancakes in the morning if I didn’t physically remove it from their hands.

-they get (a reasonable sized) dessert after dinner about 4 nights a week – if they eat a decent meal.

-though I cringe at the thought, they drink Gatorade after being outside all day or during wrestling practice.

-we still eat frozen pizza (no delivery in our neck of the woods) about once a week.

See? It’s a balance. It has taken a little over two years to get where we are.

Right around the time I started thinking about writing this post, I was approached by Angie’s Kettle Corn. They asked if they could send me a few bags of their product -no strings attached – and I agreed (kettle corn? me? It wasn’t a hard sell).

Every weekend at our local Safeway, a local man sets up shop and sells fresh kettle corn. If Jack and I are anywhere in the vicinity of the store, we go grab a small bag. It’s just one of those things you can’t pass up. To be honest, I didn’t expect much of the bagged kettle corn… we have fresh here, why would we buy it in a bag?

Jack and I were the only ones home when the box of kettle corn came, and we *may have* told Michael that only five bags were sent instead of six. Jack and I ate an entire bag throughout the afternoon. It was that good. My thighs thanked me for sharing the rest of the kettle corn with some friends (and keeping one bag for Michael). I easily could have eaten it all. After posting that on their facebook page, they quickly replied that it happens often, and it’s not abnormal. :)

I asked the company if they would be willing to spread the kettle corn love with my readers, and they agreed. I thought it fit nicely into this post, as Angie’s Kettle Corn is made with only four ingredients: corn, oil, sugar, and salt. I can pronounce them all, and that makes me happy. I have since purchased some more of the kettle corn (caramel flavored) for Michael because he loved it that much. The boys were so excited to take some into school for a snack.

I’m giving away one box (filled with a variety of bags) of Angie’s Kettle Corn to one reader. I would love for you to leave me a comment telling me what your family likes to snack on. Healthy or not, I want your answers :)

Giveaway will close next Sunday, May 1 at 8 p.m.-ish.

If you can’t wait that long to try it, find a store near you that sells Angie’s Kettle Corn.

I was not compensated for this giveaway and review. Angie’s Kettle Corn sent me some snacks to try and I asked to share the love with you :)