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Family Dollar’s Just Add Family Event, Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs AND a Giveaway for $25 Family Dollar Gift Cards (4 Winners!)

July 30, 2015 by Sandra 39 Comments

I worked in collaboration with Family Dollar on this sponsored blog post and giveaway.

Family is special.

And family memories are treasures that last forever, which is why Family Dollar held its national “Just Add Family” contest this year. They wanted to give one amazing family the opportunity to receive an all expense paid family reunion for up to 100 guests! The winning family would also receive a year’s worth of free groceries from Family Dollar. How fantastic is that? 🙂

In case you missed it, the “Just Add Family” contest winner was recently selected from thousands of online entries, and the winning family was the Williams family of Chicago! They received the Ultimate Family Reunion with Celebrity Chef Pat Neely at Washington Park in Chicago on Saturday, July 11th.

The Food Network Star, Pat Neely, surprised the Williams Family on July 9th at their home, and the Just Add Family reunion took place two days later with Chef Pat Neely serving as grill master!

Because what’s a family reunion without good food, right? 😉

Grilled Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

One of the recipes Pat made for hungry guests was his classic grilled bacon wrapped hot dogs.

I recently created that recipe at home for my own family, and they loved it! Hot dogs are one of those super easy foods to grill, and adding the bacon and cheese only takes a small amount of extra effort that’s definitely worth it.

Here’s the recipe for Pat’s bacon wrapped hot dogs:

Pat’s Grilled Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

Ingredients

6 hot dogs
3 slices of bacon cut in half
6 hot dog buns
6 slices of Kraft cheese
black pepper
condiments of your liking (such as mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, and pickle relish)

Instructions

Preheat grill to medium heat using Hickory and Charcoal chips. Carefully wrap each slice of bacon around individual hot dogs. Cooking tip: Use wet toothpicks to hold bacon in place. Sprinkle with black pepper.
Place hot dogs directly over charcoals on grill for 3-5 minutes. Cook until bacon becomes crisp and hot dogs become plump. Place hot dog buns on grill face down to toast. Fold cheese in half and place over hot dog on grill for last 30 seconds of cooking. Remove buns and dress with condiments of your liking. Place hot dogs onto buns.

https://thesensiblemom.com/2015/07/family-dollars-just-add-family-event-bacon-wrapped-hot-dogs-and-a-giveaway-for-25-family-dollar-gift-cards-4-winners/

Food, Family, and Fun

Overall, the Just Add Family reunion with the Williams family was a huge success! They celebrated their time together, ate delicious food, and strengthened family bonds while creating memories they will never forget!

And now…an Opportunity to Win a $25 Family Dollar Gift Card!

Now that you know more about Family Dollar and how they brought a whole lot of happiness to one terrific family, how about the chance to win one of four $25 Family Dollar gift cards? 🙂

That’s right! FOUR of my fabulous readers are each going to win $25 Family Dollar gift cards!

How to Enter the Giveaway

Simply enter this giveaway using the Rafflecopter below. I’ve included options for extra entries, too!

This giveaway will run from now until August 7, 2015 at 12:00am. The giveaway is open to US Residents only, ages 18 years old and above. The winners will be randomly chosen. I will promptly send the winners an email notifying them that they’ve won, and the winners must respond within 48hrs. of the giveaway’s end. Otherwise, I will have to draw a new winner(s).

Enter Below
a Rafflecopter giveaway

What’s one dish you would bring to a family reunion?

5 Reasons to Love Relished Foods

March 22, 2014 by Sandra 6 Comments

This is a sponsored collaboration with Relished – a fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service
that delivers to roughly half the U.S.

I know I haven’t been around much lately. 😉

We actually went through a crazy move that seemed to go on forever. I was a stressed out mess during part of it, but thankfully, we’re finally settled now and mostly unpacked in our new home.

Life is back to normal, and I couldn’t be happier. After everything we’ve been through the past eight months, I crave normal living like never before.

I just want to cook, clean, homeschool my kids, and do laundry. Doing these things makes me incredibly happy right now. Does that sound crazy?

I don’t know…

What I do know is that in the midst of getting back to normal, I stumbled upon a service that I can’t stop talking about. It’s called Relished, and I’m completely impressed with this food and recipe delivery service. It’s just awesome!

Why?

Well, allow me to explain. 🙂

Top 5 Reasons to Love Relished Foods:

Reason #1: The only ingredients I needed to have on hand to put together mouthwatering meals were salt, pepper, oil, and water. All of the other ingredients were delivered right to my doorstep, and they were fresh coming out of the box.

They also stayed fresh for days in my refrigerator. I prepared three Relished meals in all with ingredients that came from one shipment.

Reason #2: Relished sends entire meals that are easy to prepare, and they come with step-by-step instructions, so there’s no guessing what to start cooking first or which ingredients go together.

The best part is that your finished meal looks just like the meal on the recipe card. (Below are the Sous Vide Short Ribs)

Reason #3: Relished has a scrumptious, diverse menu that changes on a weekly basis. I’m thinking the Kung Pao Chicken would be amazing to prepare for a date night with my husband in the near future. 😉

I love the colorful, fresh salads Relished offers on a regular basis, too.

Reason #4: I absolutely loved that while following the directions, I was learning how to cook foods I’ve never made in the past. I’ve never made quinoa or black lentils, but I know how to now.

I also roasted baby carrots in a way I never have in the past. Oh, they were so good!

Reason #5: Meals are full of flavor and just good! I’m not even kidding when I say that the meals I made with Relished foods taste far better than food served in most table service restaurants.

My husband is still talking about how much he loved the short ribs.

If I had to sum up my experience with Relished, I would have to say, it’s a convenient, doable, delicious way to make an awesome dinner for your family while spending less time in the kitchen and more time enjoying everyday (normal) life.

I can’t wait to place my next order. 🙂

UPDATE: You can use the code TheSensibleMom to save 60% off your first Relished order! This offer is good through March 31, 2014.

Relished is a Chicago based fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service that ships to roughly half the United States. Be sure to stop by their website to see if they ship to your area, and follow them socially here on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Recipe Video: Chicken Stuffed Peppers

October 26, 2013 by Sandra 2 Comments

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and their client.

I recently created a recipe video for chicken stuffed peppers using Kraft Recipe Makers Chicken Cacciatore. The stuffed peppers turned out wonderfully, and it was nice to have two whole pans of prepared food by the time I was finished taping. 🙂

That allowed for quick and easy meals this particular week.

Here’s the video:

P.S. Please excuse the clutter in the background. With all that’s going on with David and having to spend so much time away from home…well, I’ve wished for a cleaning lady more than once. 😉

Recipe: Healthy Tuna Salad Wraps

October 10, 2013 by Sandra 6 Comments

Life couldn’t possibly be more upside down these days.

I literally feel like I’m a million miles away from where life used to be…before the diagnosis and knowledge that my little boy has a rare disease. A disease that affects him physically in so many ways every single day. A disease that has already been the cause of four hospital admissions in just over two months.

Yes. Life is different, and sometimes I want to run and hide from it all. But I can’t. My little boy needs me, and the rest of my family needs to eat…so I’m not going anywhere. 😉

Healthy Tuna Salad Wraps
In order to keep up with all the changes that are taking place around us, we’ve had to keep meals super simple, even more so than in the past.

But it’s so easy for “simple” to turn into a not-so-healthy meal. One way I’ve avoided that when it comes to lunch is by making simple yet delicious tuna salad wraps.

Here’s the recipe for how to make these wraps:

Healthy Tuna Salad Wraps

Ingredients

2 cans Ocean Naturals Skipjack Chunk Light Tuna
1/3 cup black olives, roughly chopped
1/3 fresh tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup celery, finely chopped
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
lettuce
4-6 high quality wraps
salt
pepper

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix together tuna fish, black olives, tomatoes, celery, and extra virgin olive oil.
Season with salt and pepper and taste.
Lay a bed of fresh lettuce down on a single wrap, then scoop the tuna salad into the wrap and fold. Repeat this step for remaining wraps.

https://thesensiblemom.com/2013/10/recipe-healthy-tuna-salad-wraps/

Ocean Naturals Tuna
To create healthy lunch wraps, I use Ocean Naturals Skipjack Chunk Light Tuna. It’s without question the BEST tuna I’ve ever tasted. Ever. I wasn’t expecting the quality of tuna that came out of the can of Ocean Naturals. It’s tuna that’s good, good for you, and good for the planet because it’s wild and responsibly caught in the ocean.

It’s superior to other tunas — all the way.

If you buy a can of Ocean Naturals Skipjack tuna, you can learn more about where your specific tuna came from by visiting their website and entering the code on the can.

Who does that? Seriously, a great idea. I love that I can find out exactly where my tuna was caught. And psst…this could make for an interesting homeschooling lesson, too. 🙂

A little about the Tuna Salad in the Wraps
The tuna salad that I made for the wraps using the Ocean Naturals tuna is made without mayo. I was able to keep it pretty light but packed with flavor by incorporating various veggies in addition to a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. I think you’ll like it.

Mmmmm….
I can’t wait to get back home and put together another one of these delicious wraps!

What’s your favorite way to eat tuna?

If you’re interested in entering to win Ocean Naturals Tuna, then be sure to visit their Facebook page on Tuesdays for their weekly Tuna Tuesdays giveaways!

You can also find many more tuna fish recipes using Ocean Naturals Tuna on Pinterest.

main dishes

Grilled Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

Here’s the recipe for Pat’s bacon wrapped hot dogs:

Food, Family, and Fun

And now…an Opportunity to Win a $25 Family Dollar Gift Card!

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