Category Archives: Contests

Progresso Panko Crispy Bread Crumbs review + coupons and a giveaway!

Contests, Food and Drink, New posts, , , ,

You’re a mom, therefor, you are a cook.. and a house cleaner, and an errand manager, and a pediatrician, and a tutor.. ok, I’ll stop now.
Back to being a cook.. I know you spend a lot of time in the kitchen both baking and cleaning.. why not switch things up a little and make the kid’s next batch of chicken nuggets with Progresso’s Panko Crispy Bread Crumbs? You will love them and so will your kids.. mine do!

What is Panko?

Why, it is yummy deliciousness! That’s what Panko is. Don’t quote me though because I’m not sure that’s the exact definition of Panko.
Panko is Japan’s secret ingredient for crunch. A flaky bread crumb with a coarse texture and jagged edges, panko imparts a delicate crispiness perfect for frying or baking. For nearly a decade, panko has been popping up on the plates of fine dining restaurants, but for the home chef, panko has been difficult to find. Not anymore. Progresso Foods introduces its newest gourmet bread crumb, panko, in two flavors, plain and Italian.

Panko breadcrumbs are great to use for baked chicken nuggets, fish, and as a crispy breading for meats and vegetables. 
No, I didn’t make the delicious looking Parmesan Herb-Crusted Turkey Scaloppine (recipe here) featured to the left here.  The food that I concoct bake doesn’t come anywhere close to looking that nice when I’m done with it but this is a great example of one dish you can prepare using Progresso’s Panko breadcrumbs and my readers deserve to see only the most beautifully prepared food on this site! 🙂

Visit the Progresso website to get more information about their Panko Crispy Bread Crumbs, great recipes complete with with pairings, and learn about their other products including Progresso broths which are 100% natural and use high quality ingredients to achieve a great homemade taste. They are fat free, gluten free, contain no preservatives, no added MSG and no artificial flavors. Progresso broth is available in chicken and reduced sodium chicken and beef flavors.

Progresso coupons

Available on ProgressoFoods.com is a coupon for $1.00*off any two Progresso products. At ProgressoBroth.com you´ll find a coupon for $.50 off a package of broth.

GIVEAWAY!

Enter to win a box of Progresso Panko Bread Crumbs, a carton of Progresso Broth, a measuring cup, slotted spoon, soup ladle and a sheet pan for baking!

Win a Progresso panko set

To enter simply tell me in the comments below what your are planning for a holiday meal.. any meal, whether you’re making it or not. Tweet this post and leave a second comment with your Twitter ID for 2 extra entries!
Entries accepted through December 24th. Contents of the prize package the winner receives may not be exactly what is seen in this photograph.
Thanks to Progresso and MyBlogSparkTM who provided TheMommyInsider.com with the products and prize pack!

KidzBop 16 & Christmas CD reviews and giveaway

Contests, Entertainment, Music, New posts, ,

My kids love music. whether it’s making music or listening to it. I prefer it when they are listening not making. It gets a little loud and when my 10 and 3 year olds try to form a band in the kitchen.

KidzBop Christmas CD

We’ve been listening to KidzBop 16 a lot lately and I’ll tell you why I’m very happy about that:

  • I recognize some of the songs (I don’t know whether that’s good or bad)
  • The kids love to sing along
  • The music is energizing for the kids and they have a blast dancing to it
  • KidzBop is great car music. It keeps me moving (awake) and the kids happy while in the car

KidzBop 16 songs include Circus and Boom Boom Pow. KidzBop songs and albums can be downloaded via iTunes. Here is the iTunes link for Boom Boom Pow Kidz Bop Kids - Kidz Bop 16 and from there you can listen to and browse other KidzBop songs.

Here’s the ITunes link to ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’: Kidz Bop Kids - Kidz Bop Christmas - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

GIVEAWAY!

We are giving 8 lucky readers a KidzBop 16 and KidzBop Christmas CD’s. Leave a comment below telling me what your favorite song is right now (any song/artist) and get 2 extra entries if you leave a 2nd comment with your Twitter ID AFTER retweeting this post!

Chipoupine Teddy Sweater review + a giveaway

Age 3-5, Baby & Kids Clothing, Contests, New posts, , , ,

Why Madelyn (3 years old) loves it

Similar to Madelyn’s favorite 3 year old blankie warmly regarding as Fuzzy, her new Chipoupine sweater is ultimately plush and comfy. She would wear it 24/7 if she could.
It’s like she’s wearing her blankie. This sweater will keep her warm in the coldest Atlanta weather.

Chipoupine fuzzy sweater

Ultimate Comfort

This sweater fuzzy inside and out. The stylish lining inside the neck area and arm cuffs adds to its whimsical Bjork’ish’ design. Not only do I love the big green dot on the sweater but my 10 year old loves it to and treats it like a great excuse for a Nerf target and chases Madelyn around house shooting at her. Don’t worry, he shoots the super light darts at her and isn’t allowed to get her from shoulders up. The over-sized arms are nice as they cover her arms well and keep them very warm. The 100% microfibre fabric lets Madelyn’s skin breathe.

Design

Madelyn is wearing the Sweater teddy turquoise. The low v-neck design is nice because like me Madelyn isn’t fond of high necks. For me it’s a claustrophobia thing.. not sure about her dislike for high necks though. Maybe it’s a toddler thing like socks with seams.. she doesn’t tolerate them at all.

Visit Chipoupine.com to see all of their kids clothing line.

GIVEAWAY!

Chipoupine is giving a lucky The Mommy Insider reader their choice of “Teddy” sweater (color and size) or “Russia” sweater (color and size).
If you don’t see the entry form here, click here to open the contest entry form, to enter the Chipoupine Sweater Giveaway.

Vote for our Corner Bakery Cafe Holiday Corner Catering Challenge photograph!

Contests, Holiday, New posts, , , , ,

We’d appreciate it if you took a moment to check out and vote for our photograph on Corner Bakery Cafe’s Facebook page. If our photograph gets the most votes then we get to select one lucky The Mommy Insider reader to win a Corner Bakery CafĂ© Holiday Catering Package. There are some great photographs!

Corner Bakery Cafe holiday catering

What’s this contest about?

The Mommy Insider Editor, Alicia, was chosen along with 11 other awesome bloggers in the U.S. to be part of Corner Bakery Cafe’s Holiday Corner Catering Challenge. The challenge required that we (the challenged bloggers) arrange food catered to us by Corner Bakery Cafe in a festive way. I went through a few ideas before settling on a Nutcracker theme which my kids LOVED! What they really love is that we have six more Nutcrackers to play with this year than last year. Greedy little kids! Unfortunately, two of the Nutcrackers Sebastian and I picked out were kicked out of the scene due to space issues.

About our party

We had a great party with a couple of families who put a lot of work into my son’s Cub Scout pack, den.. not sure which it’s called. They work hard to keep the Cub Scouts busy and I honestly don’t know how they do it with kids, work, and all. Thanks Kim, Jeff, Holly, and David for joining our Corner Bakery Cafe party and for waiting until I got my 1000th photograph before eating the awesome food!
The food was delightful. Crisp vegetables and delicious dip, sandwiches packed with juicy meat, cheese, & vegetables and deserts filled my dining room table with happiness.. for a little while at least. The food disappeared pretty quickly. The Baby Bundt Cakes were divine.. yum.. and the kids have never enjoyed my chocolate chip cookies (refrigerated dough) nearly as much as Corner Bakery Cafe’s. They could fake it.. or not.

How to vote and what’s in it for you?

Corner Bakery Cafe voteAt the end of the week, if our photograph has the most votes we will receive a Corner Bakery Cafe Holiday Catering Package to giveaway to one of our readers that is located within a Corner Bakery Cafe community. The package will include an assortment of freshly baked treats like the signature Cinnamon Creme Cake, boxes of the Mini Cookies and Baby Bundt Cakes along with a $50 catering certificate. What are you waiting for? Vote for our photograph now and help us win!

To vote go to the Corner Bakery Facebook page, select the “Holiday” tab, and click the “I like this” button below the The Mommy Insider photo.

Continue reading Vote for our Corner Bakery Cafe Holiday Corner Catering Challenge photograph! →

My review of the new Evenflo Symphony 65 car seat and a giveaway

Age 0-1 year, Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Contests, New posts, Travel, , , , ,

I know you’ve heard it a million times… 4 out of 5 car seats are installed incorrectly according to a recent NHTSA study.

On with the good news..
Evenflo Symphony 65 convertible car seat
Evenflo’s new Symphony 65 car seat features the exclusive SureLATCH system, designed to provide a super-fast, tight and safe installation every time with a simple Click, Click, Push.

My experiences with and thoughts about the Symphony 65

Latch System

With SureLATCH, the Symphony 65 car seat is properly installed in 3 steps. The SureLATCH is easier than our pre-Symphony 65 car seat with the latch system. I don’t have to put my knee in the seat and push down like I’m trying to squish an elephant in order to get the latches in and the car seat tight to the seat. If your car doesn’t have the Latch system, you ca install the Symphony 65 with the seatbelt and given that it is installed correct, it will be just as safe.

Infinite Slide™ Harness Shoulder Straps

I love this feature! I don’t have to take the seat cover off to re-lace the straps as Madelyn gets taller. The Symphony 65 car seat straps slide up and down on a rail system (Infinite Slide) and I can easily adjust the shoulder straps while Madelyn’s in the car seat. “The Infinite Slide Harness Adjustment System makes for easier height adjustment with no rethreading.”

Seat Tilt and Headrest Adjustments

Changing the tilt of the car seat is easy as is changing the height of the headrest. Both are one-handed operations.. unless you try to do both at the same time in which case you are a great multi-tasking mommy and I envy you.

Protection and Comfort

The Symphony 65 car seat features energy absorbing foam liner and side impact protection. The pieces in the headrest that round out for side impact protection also keep Madelyn’s head from falling to the side when she falls asleep in the car seat. Madelyn has enough room to sit ‘criss cross apple sauce’ as they say in school, proving that the Symphony 65 is a very spacious yet safe car seat. Great for long road trips. Comfort Touch fabric makes the seat both aesthetically and physically pleasing for the adults driving the car as well as for the child sitting in the seat. Energy absorbing foam liner.

Evenflo Symphony 65 convertible car seat

Cup Holder

A cup holder is something that I believe no car seat or stroller should be without. Madelyn can reach the Symphony 65’s cup holder unlike with our Britax.. which didn’t have a cup holder. Granted, the seat is almost 3 years old. Before using this car seat she had to put her cup in the actual seat’s cup holder but then couldn’t get it back out! You think she would have figured out that she shouldn’t do that, but she kept trying. The Symphony 65’s repositionable cup holder folds up small so it’s not in the way or bulky and best of all, Madelyn can reach it.

Age

The Symphony 65 accommodates children from 5-35 pounds and can be used rear or front facing. This could be the only car seat your child needs.

Design and Style

The Evenflo Symphony 65 is available in two stylish designs, one great for cars with a grey interior and the other for beige.

The Symphony 65 is larger than my old Britax which I think is fine but it doesn’t fit well in my husbands Volvo sedan which has bucket seats. In his car, the car seat comes within about 6 inches of the front seat so the person sitting in front of Madelyn may get an back massage in the form of tiny feet kicking the seat.
Buy the Evenflo Symphony 65 Convertible Car Seat at Amazon.com for $199 or less.

GIVEAWAY!

We are giving a lucky reader an Evenflo Symphony 65! Leave a comment below (jump link) telling me why you want to win a Symphony 65. Winner will be chosen at random. Entries accepted through December 17th. Re-tweet this post then fill out the comment form a second time with your Twitter ID for 2 extra entries!