Breakfast Made Easy

Eating Breakfast together is always a challenge for our family because of the different times that we each start our days.  On the weekends, we love to cook breakfast together. 

Thanks Johnsonville, breakfast was on them this week.  I received product coupons and a gift card to try the New Johnsonville fully cooked breakfast sausage.  All opinions stated are my own based on my personal experience. 

Every now and then, this mami gets a break.  My kids are great.  They help me cook Breakfast on the weekends.  Some weekends, they do all the cooking and I do all the eating. 

Johnsonville understands how important Breakfast is for families.  They have made Breakfast easier for all of us "on-the-go" families.  Introducing New Johnsonville Fully Cooked Breakfast Sausage...

These sausage patties are already cooked, all you need to do is warm them up for 40 seconds in the microwave.  Two patties of the original = 10 grams of protein  These are perfect for breakfast sandwiches.  This sandwich will fuel my family and have them ready for their day.

The new product line also includes sausage links and these warm up in the microwave in only 30 seconds. 

The turkey sausage links are only 70 calories per serving and have 8 grams of protein.

Since weekday morning breakfast is "on-'the-go", I use cups to serve my kids.  If they do not get done with it while at home, they can take it to go and finish it on the ride to school.  

I like that my teen can just pop these in the microwave and take them on the go.  Now, he can't say he did not have time for breakfast.  In less than a minute, he can have his breakfast ready.

This Mother's Day make it easier for your kids to make you Breakfast in bed with Johnsonville Fully Cooked Sausage.

By the way, did you have Breakfast already?  Remember Breakfast fuels your day, get started on the right foot by not skipping this meal.

Giveaway-Krusteaz Breakfast Night

***Disclosure-I received a variety of Krusteaz product and a $50 gc for review.  All opinions stated are my own based on my personal experience.

How many times a week do you eat a hot breakfast with the entire family?  Mornings are hard for us.  Everyone has their own schedule to keep.  Dinner time is when we can all sit down together.  But it can be stressful.  I am getting off from work, my teen getting off from school, daddy waking up and picking up the preschooler.  My husband and I work together trying to meal plan for the week and work out the schedule so that we can have dinner at a reasonable time.

One thing I do not do is mix meals.  It has been unheard of in our house to have breakfast for dinner.  But since my husband is barely waking up, this is his breakfast meal.  Since February happens to be National Hot Breakfast month we decided to mix things up.  Our family is having "Brinner" - breakfast for dinner.

We decided to make a simple recipe that we could enjoy and that would not take up a lot of time. 

Waffles with a side of Eggs and Weenies

Ingredients-
-Krusteaz Waffle mix
-1 eggs
-3 tbs oil
-2/3 cup of water

-5 Weenies
-5 Eggs
-1 tbs oil

Cooking can be a good bonding experience with your kids.  My daughter loves to help in the kitchen.  The Krusteaz waffle mix has really easy instructions.  My husband prepared the above ingredients for the waffles so my daughter to help.

Tip-Always start with the dry, then go with the wet.

 Tip-When working with smaller children, it is good to get a small stool so they can reach the counters. 

 Tip-Showing the kids how to hold measuring cups or how to pour, can save messes from even happening.

 Tip-First time cracking an egg can be hard for anyone.  My daughter dropped the entire egg in the bowl even after daddy had cracked it in half for her.  These moments are teachable moments.  We laughed it off when it happened.

 Tip-We love to practice counting when adding ingredients.

 Tip-We did not use our handheld mixer.  We decided to have my daughter hand mix.  She sat on her stool while mixing.  We did have to watch her and show her a couple of times on how to hold the bowl and mix at the same time.

We did not let her handle the waffle maker, or do any cooking on the stove.  My hubby did the cooking.

Eggs and Weenies

Cut the weenies into circles.  Cook these first, then add the eggs.  Easy peasy.

We added a little scoop of ice cream with sprinkles.  Our drink of choice was fresh squeezed orange juice.

Is Breakfast Night a tradition in your house?  If not, Krusteaz, wants to help by earmarking Wednesdays (or any day you like!) as Breakfast Night by providing you a Krusteaz Breakfast Night prize pack.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is for US only.  1 winner will be randomly selected.  The prize will come from sponsor.  The winner will have 24 hours to claim their prize.  Good Luck!

CLOSED***Giveaway-Mega Bloks

***Disclosure-I received a Mega Bloks Car Kit and 1 boxes of General Mills cereal.  Any opinions stated are my own based on my personal experience.

It's Saturday morning!  What is the first thing you do?  Grab some breakfast, maybe some cereal.  I have always been a fan of the free item inside the cereal boxes.  I loved collecting the collection.  Did you know General Mills has been consistently surprising American families with free prizes in cereal boxes for more than 80 years?  That is a lot of prizes.  My brothers and I use to fight over who got to keep the prize.  My mom made the rule of whom ever was serving themselves cereal at the time that it fell it, that is who it belong to.  Well General Mills for the first time ever is offering free customizable premiums for both boys and girls through a partnership with Mega Bloks.

To bring the family fun to live, General Mills partnered with Maker Dad – Mark Frauenfelder – to rev up the breakfast table with a Rube Goldberg style contraption seen in this video made entirely of General Mills Mega Bloks cereal boxes.


Each participating brand of General Mills cereals including, Honey Nut Cheerios, Reese’s Puffs, Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms, Golden Grahams and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, offers a free Mega Bloks car with a set of Hello Kitty and Power Rangers stickers and instructions to cut out a pattern to construct a cardboard jump from the cereal box. In addition to the Mega Bloks freebies promoting fine motor skills and construction play patterns for children, the offer leverages hot properties adults love too, like Hello Kitty and Power Rangers. In fact, Hello Kitty is celebrating her 40th anniversary later this month, and Power Rangers is an iconic brand that’s experiencing great growth at retail.

 Your kiddos will want to collect them all!  I know I do.  Want to win a exclusive Mega Bloks Collectible car kit, a sample of one of the participating General Mills cereal brands and a $50 Target gift card?

How to enter-

1)  Be a Blog Follower.  Leave a comment with your follower name and contact email. (1 entry)
2)  Leave a comment on your favorite General Mills cereal. (1 entry)
3)  Share on any social media platform.  Leave a comment with the link and don't forget to tag @GeneralMills and @Independentmami (1 entry/per share/per day)
4)  Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post dated in November.  (1 entry/per comment/per day)

This giveaway ends 11/25 at midnight.  Winner will be randomly selected and notified.  The winner will have 24 hours to claim their prize.  The prize will be sent out by sponsor.  US only.  Good luck.  

Denny's Build Your Own Pancakes is Back Review

***Disclosure-I received a Denny's gift card to sample menu.  All opinions are based on my own personal experience.

Do you eat breakfast?  You should.  Breakfast gets your day started, and if you have a good breakfast you will fuel that will turn into energy for your day.

We like to eat different things.  We are not all the same.  So when choosing a place to eat, it comes down to who has the most options.  Denny's has brought back #BYOPancakes.

You can choose from countless fillings and tasty toppings to create more than 300 possible “Build Your Own Pancakes” combinations.  

Select either a short stack (two fluffy pancakes) or a tall stack (three) and preferred mix-ins and toppings – ranging from glazed pecans and diced bacon to fresh strawberries, peanut butter sauce and, of course, chocolate chips.  All #BYOPancakes creations are served with two eggs cooked to order, two bacon strips or sausage links and choice of either hash browns, seasoned red-skinned potatoes or grits.

Of course, if you’re feeling a little indecisive, you are welcome to choose from one of Denny’s pancake creations, including the Sweet Pecana ‘Nana Pancakes, Red, White and Blue Pancakes, tasty Blueberry Muffin Pancakes, sweet Bananaberry Pancakes or the deliciously indulgent Peanut Butter Cup Pancakes.

This is a family favorite for us.  We love to make and build our own pancakes.  I personally love the Sweet Pecana 'Nana Pancakes, it is my favorite combination and also my daughter's.  I can never make up my mind so I go with what I know.  My son and husband love the Peanut Butter Cup pancakes.  It is always a lot of yummy food!  So what are you waiting for, this is only for a limited time.  Treat them kiddos to build your own before school starts and before this goes away.  The family will have fun building their own.

Denny's Skillet Platter Review

So what's for breakfast?  Don't feel like cooking....on the weekends mommy takes a break.  We load up the car and we go grab some breakfast.  One of the spots we always head to is Denny's. 

Denny's has a new menu - Complete Skillet Meals.  They are only $8.99.

The “Complete Skillet Meals” menu features affordable three-course meals.  Guests can enjoy more than 100 possible meal combinations to satisfy any taste and budget. With so many delicious options, diners will have trouble deciding how to start - a cup of hearty soup, a Denny’s garden or Caesar salad or seasonal fruit.  Next, choose from one of six delicious dishes including the Prime Rib Loaded Potato Skillet, Country-Fried Steak Skillet,Chicken Loaded Potato Skillet, Pot Roast Skillet, Bacon Chipotle Chicken Skillet and the Hash Skillet. Complete the meal with a tempting dessert - Mini Apple Crisp, Mini Banana Split, Pecan Pie or Denny’s famous Pancake Puppies® Sundae.  The limited time menu also features three breakfast options including the Banana Caramel French Toast Skillet, Western Skillet and the Fit Fare® Veggie Skillet.

My thoughts-These are the 2 menu items we picked.  The Western Skillet was my choice.  It comes with eggs, hashbrowns, peppers..mmmm.  The other skillet we ordered was the Banana Caramel French toast.  My kids love French Toast.  I asked for extra bananas for the baby.  I like that the food stays warm until you are ready to eat it.  I normally feed the baby first and then afterwards I can finally eat.  When I got ready to eat, my food was still warm.  It was so delicious.  The baby loved the bite size ham on my Western Skillet.  It was all very yummy.  Can't wait to go back and try the other skillets.

***Disclosure-GC provided to sample menu.  These are my honest opinions based on my own experience at my local Denny's.