Progresso Recipe Starters Second Chance Review

 

After our experience last week with Progresso Recipe Starters, I decided that I might just give it a second chance. I am glad that I did!  Originally, I was able to try out the Basil free as a Bzz Agent, but this time I opted for the Creamy Roasted Garlic with Chicken Stock. 

I have had my eye on the Chicken Enchilada recipe on the Progresso website, so I decided that we'd try it out.  It was super easy to make.  If you'd like to try it out here is what you'd need:

Ingredients

• 1 can (18 oz) Progresso™ Recipe Starters™ creamy roasted garlic with chicken stock cooking sauce
• 1 can (4.5 oz) Old El Paso® chopped green chiles
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 cups diced deli rotisserie chicken
• 1 can (15 oz) Progresso® black beans, drained, rinsed
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (4 oz)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 8 flour tortillas (8 inch)
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)

Garnishes, If Desired

• Chopped green onions or avocado
• Lettuce
• Chopped tomatoes
• Additional sour cream 

We followed the instructions given: 

Heat oven to 350°F. In small bowl, mix cooking sauce, chiles and cumin. 

Spray bottom of 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1/2 cup sauce mixture in bottom of baking dish. 

 In medium bowl, stir together chicken, black beans, Monterey Jack cheese, sour cream and 1/2 cup sauce mixture.

Spoon about 1/2 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas; arrange, seam sides down, in baking dish. Top enchiladas with remaining sauce mixture. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese. Spray sheet of foil with cooking spray; cover baking dish with foil, sprayed side down.

Bake 35 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 to 10 minutes longer or until hot and cheese is melted.

Top with avocado or green onions. Serve with lettuce, tomatoes and additional sour cream.

We thought this was super yummy! We will definitely make it again. It was great for the entire family. Big Bro took a few bites and exclaimed, "delicioso!".  I think he has been watching too much Dora.  We enjoyed it so much that we almost ate the entire pan. 

 I loved the fact that it was super easy to make.  I think the Creamy Roasted Garlic gave it the kick that it needed.  Want to know more about Progresso Recipe Starters? Visit Progresso and find recipes to make the dinner rush a little easier!

Want to help spread the Bzz about new products?  Visit BzzAgent and find out more. 

Progresso Recipe Starters Review

 

Trying to prepare dinner with three little ones running around can be quite challenging these days. Recently,  I was given the chance to try out the new Progresso Recipes Starters from Bzz Agent, and I jumped on it!

Anything to make my life a bit easier!  I was given the choice of five different flavors:  Creamy Parmesan Basil Sauce, Cream Three Cheese Sauce, Creamy Portabella Sauce, Creamy Roasted Garlic Sauce, and Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce.  I settled on the Creamy Parmesan Basil Sauce.

Next was trying to decide what to make with it!  Remember, I am a frozen pizza kind of mommy, so really anything that takes a lot of effort can be a bit intimidating.  Progresso made it easy for me...I found a recipe on the back of the can! There are also many recipes available on their website. 

This was actually very simple to make!  It took less than 30 minutes to make, which makes me a happy momma.  Here was my end result...

So what do I think about Progresso Recipe Starters? 

Well, I wasn't blown away with the Creamy Alfredo Chicken.   It was okay. Not disgusting...but nothing spectacular.  I like the idea of the recipe starters.  I think they would save the average person time in the kitchen, but I am not sure that it would be something that I would purchase frequently.  I have picked out a few other recipes from the Progresso website that I am hoping will be a big hit.  The Chicken Enchiladas look tasty.  Then, I will wait for a sale and combine it with a coupon.  Speaking of coupons...anyone want 75¢ off a can?  I have a few coupons left to share! 

Note:  I was given a can of Progresso Recipe Starters for free to sample as a Bzz Agent.  All my opinions are truly my own.  No compensation was given. 

Ready or Not...Should We Go?

We had to make a big decision this summer...Should we send Big Brother to kindergarten or wait till next year?  Big Brother turned 5 the middle of June.  He is such a bright, active, sweet little boy. He loves to be a big helper of mom's. He has a great imagination and memory.  He is aware of so much.  He knows all his ABC's, can count to 20, can do simple addition. If fact after reading the 71 Things Your Child Needs to Know Before Kindergarten, we realized that he can do most of those things.   So why was it such a difficult decision on whether or not to send him to Kindergarten?   After many prayers, thoughts, and discussions we felt that our sweet little boy was just not ready to be a Kindergartener.  With the exception of his handwriting difficulties with left handedness, he is academically ready.  Emotionally, maybe mom wasn't ready, but he just wasn't quite ready either.  So, we decided that we will do preschool for one more year. 

I am pretty sure everyone was happy with this decision!  We also loved these cute little 1st day of school signs.  We'll be using the cute Kindergartener one next year! 

Whatcha Eatin'? September 10, 2012

The last couple of weeks have been a bit crazy, so I didn't get a chance to post our menu.  Last week, I was a bit spoiled and my hubby cooked 4 out of the seven days.  The other three days I used our crock pot which really made dinner easy for me.  We had some of our favorites:  Salsa Chicken, Bacon Ranch Chicken and Pot Roast.  This week I thought I get back to the menu planning business. 

Here is what we have planned:

Monday: Creamy Chicken Alfredo, Steamed Broccoli, Side Salad (This recipe is from the back of the Progresso Recipe Starters can.  I have the chance to try it out for free as a Bzz Agent.  I'll share my results with you soon!)

Tuesday:  Meatloaf, Party Potatoes, Corn

Wednesday:  Cheeseburger Soup, French Bread

Thursday:  Taco Pizza, Mixed Fruit

Friday: Sloppy Joes, Mac & Cheese

Saturday:  Dinner Out

Sunday:  Family Get Together...I'm bringing a Veggie Tray.

What are you eatin' this week?

I am linking this up at Organizing Junkie's blog.  Join me and get inspired by other bloggers!

Summer Fun at the Park!

We've been a bit quiet over here because we have been playing hard this past week!  We have been enjoying this somewhat mild weather and been trying to get outdoors as much as possible.   Therefore, I haven't been keeping up with the housework, so blogging has been shoved aside.  I had a little time this morning, so I thought I'd share with you some fun pictures from our trips to the park this week.

On Monday, we enjoyed a hour or so running around our local park.  It's in the perfect location, at a dead end street and right next to my brother's house.  The kids had the park to themselves which was nice for mommy.

Little Bro in the Big Boy Swing

Baby Sis loves when Big Bro pushes her

Don't look down...

Weee!

Uh-Oh!  Traffic jam!  

Drink Break!  

Tuesday, we met up with some cousins and friends at a bigger park and enjoyed chasing the ducks, catching fish, swinging and playing! 

Baby Sis made a new friend with this little girl.  The little girl followed her everywhere she went.  

She LOVED the water and wanted to walk right in!  

My nephew caught this fish with his bare hands!  His excitement was priceless!  

 The big kids...

and the bigger kids!

What summer activities have you been enjoying?

Whatcha Eatin'? Monday, August 13th

Wow...we had a wonderful break from the heat this weekend!  We were able to enjoy a nice cookout with family Sunday night.  I got a break from cooking a big meal and brought Cheesy Potatoes.

 My favorite! 

Monday night after our dinner of Chicken Tortellini Alfredo & a Dinner Salad, we enjoyed the cool weather with a little family time playing football....basically we chase the person with the ball.  It was so cool that I even put long sleeves on the kids.  Crazy!

This rest of this week is going to be a simple menu.  I am trying to eat using things I already have in the pantry, so we aren't getting too creative.

Tuesday:  Salisbury Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Rolls
Wednesday:  Creamy Italian Chicken, Rice Green Beans
Thursday:  Dinner out
Friday:  Tacos, Mixed Fruit
Saturday:  Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup 

Enjoy your week!  I am linking up at Organizing Junkie's Blog...join me! 

Family Night with Kroger

This is no secret...I love Kroger.  I have been shopping for groceries from Kroger since I was married seven years ago.  One thing I have noticed is that the Kroger brand is almost always as tasty as the name brand products. Therefore, I was really excited to have the opportunity to try out some new Kroger brand products for being a Bzz Agent!  I was also super excited to have our first official family night!

As a Bzz Agent, I was sent this awesome kit filled with great information about four fabulous new products that I would be reviewing.  It also included a full size sample of the product or a coupon to purchase the full size product for free.  Talk about awesome!!!

This arrived...and then I bought these with my coupons...

With our little children, I knew that our family night may not turn out the way I had planned it, but I knew that we would have fun.  

We started our family night out with a little appetizer....Layered Taco Dip!  This is one of my favorite taco dips that my sister-in-law shared with me.  Usually I would buy the Tostitos Scoops chips, but we were able to use the Kroger brand Cupz for our dip.  The chips do not taste a bit different from the name brand and they were perfect for scooping up the delicious dip. 

 While we munched on the dip, I cooked the pizza in the oven.  As A Frozen Pizza Kind of Mommy, I was completely excited to try out the new Truly Awesome Pizza with a Multi-Grain Crust!  I usually serve frozen pizza to my lovely family once a week. We all love pizza and love trying new brands.  We have purchased the self-rising crust Kroger brand pizza and love it, so we had high hopes for this.  Maybe I overcooked it, but we were not thrilled with the taste.  The crust was a bit too dry and grainy.  The cheese, although "real cheese, it tasted a bit funky.  We must be used to the "fake" stuff.  We think that we will stick to the self-rising Kroger pizza for now on. 

However, the other Kroger products did not disappoint!  The Zero Calorie Vitamin Water was tasty!  The boys enjoyed it so much, that I was only able to get a couple of swigs before it was gone.  We followed up our dinner with a REAL Fruit Bar outside in the heat. I even let Baby Sis enjoy her very first official sweet treat.  I love the fact that these bars are truly real fruit. They were delicious!

Boy, am I glad that we were outside!  Although the strawberry fruit bars were delicious, they were messy and melted very quickly.  So instead of going inside to play puzzles with the kids, we decide to switch things up a bit and let the kids get cleaned up in the sprinkler,  What a perfect way to end the almost perfect night!  

We can't wait to enjoy another family night and I am sure we will have plenty of Kroger Brand products there! 

Note:  I was given the products in this post to try for free for being a Bzz Agent.  All opinions are truly my own and no compensation was given.