Monthly Archives: September 2011

Recipe & Giveaway: Chicken Fajita Grilled Pizza with Ragu Pasta Sauce {Win a $200 Gift Card! – Contest Ended}

Contests, Food and Drink, New posts, , ,

Congratulations, Amie won this giveaway!

As you might know, I am a Ragu “Mom’s The Word On Dinner” Ambassador, and I’m very proud and excited about that as you’ll see in this post.

Being a Ragu “Mom’s The Word on Dinner” Ambassador gives me the opportunity to branch out with our dinner recipes and cook some delicious meals, one of which I enjoyed with my family this week.

This week’s fun Ragu recipe was Chicken Fajita Grilled Pizza with Ragu Sauce.

Grilled Chicken Fajita Pizza with Ragu Pasta Sauce

Here is the Chicken Fajita Grilled Pizza with Ragu Sauce with a few customizations:

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 large poblano or medium green bell peppers
  • 1 large red onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
  • 2 (12-inch) prebaked pizza crusts
  • 1-1/2 cups Ragú® Old World Style® Tomato & Mozzarella Pasta Sauce
  • 3 cups shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese (about 12 oz.)
  • 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
  • Customizations we made: 12 mushrooms, anchovies

Directions

  1. Lightly coat chicken and onion with oil, then season, if desired, with salt and ground black pepper. Grill chicken, onion and peppers, turning once, 8 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked and vegetables are tender. Don’t be alarmed when the peppers turn black while grilling. The skin will easily peel or slip off after cooling. Wrap peppers in aluminum foil; let stand 5 minutes, then remove skin and thinly slice.
    Thinly slice chicken; set aside. We also sprayed one dozen mushrooms with olive oil spray and grilled them.
  2. Grill top side of pizza crusts 1 minute; remove from grill. Evenly spread pizzas with Ragu® Old World Style® Tomato & Mozzarella Pasta Sauce, then evenly top with chicken, vegetables and cheese. Grill pizzas, covered, 3 minutes or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve, if desired, with additional heated Sauce and diced avocado.

My entire family enjoyed the pizza and my son even added a few anchovies to his three slices! My daughter enjoyed a couple of plain sauce and cheese slices while my husband put red peppers and onions on his slices.

This is a quick and easy meal to prepare and as you read above, pizza toppings can be customized for everyone in your family.

Be sure to visit the recipe section of Ragu’s website where you will find recipes for even the pickiest of eaters!

Connect with Ragu

Read my previous Ragu “Moms The Word on Dinner” posts here:

Win a $200 Gift Card! – Contest Ended

We are giving a lucky reader $200!

To enter, tell us your favorite pasta sauce memory or creative use of pasta sauce. It can be a recipe, something funny that happened with pasta sauce, or tell us how you use pasta sauce besides on pasta.
Get extra entries for following The Mommy Insider on Twitter and on Facebook.
Tweet this: “I entered to win a $200 gift card from TheMommyInsider.com & @ragusauce here: http://bit.ly/qibYd2 You can enter to win too! @mommyinsider”
Be sure to tell us what you’ve done in separate comments below.

Entries accepted through 11:59pm September 22nd. This contest is open to U.S. residents ages 18 and over only. No P.O. Boxes.

This Contest has Ended!

Disclosure: This is part of a campaign for which I am an Ambassador for the Ragú® Mom’s the Word on Dinner Program. Visit www.facebook.com/ragusauce to join the conversation.

Alicia Hagan, Editor

Review: Crest 3D White 2 Hour Express Whitestrips

Beauty & Skin Care, New posts, ,
Crest 3D White 2-Hour Express Whitestrips
Crest 3D White 2-Hour Express Whitestrips

What are some things you think about when you’re getting ready for an unexpected meeting, vacation, or family photograph?

  • What are you going to wear?
  • Do you need a hair cut?
  • Are your teeth white?

You may never feel like you chose the right clothes, purse, or shoes but you can do something about your teeth.  Now you can whiten your teeth quickly with Crest 3D White 2 Hour Express Whitestrips.  Yes, you read that right.. in just 2 hours!  If you find out about a meeting, speaking engagement, photo opp, or trip, Sunday afternoon, you can have considerably whiter teeth by Sunday evening.

Well, we’ll see how they work.  Stay tuned for a follow-up “After post”.

Update:  Here is my Crest 3D White 2 Hour Express Whitestrips “after post” with a before and after photograph of my teeth whitening results and an opportunity for you to win Crest 3D White 2 Hour Express Whitestrips so you can get pearly whites!

You will will find a coupon for Crest 3D White 2 Hour Express Whitestrips here and can learn more about them by liking Crest Whitestrips on Facebook.
What life event would you whiten for in just two hours?  Let us know in the comments below.

Disclosure: I am participating in a Crest 3D White 2 Hour Express Whitestrips campaign hosted by One2One Network. This is a sponsored post. The opinions here expressed are my own and were not influenced in any way.  You may not experience the same results.


Alicia Hagan, Editor

 

Talking to Children about 9/11

New posts, , ,

Talking to Children about 9/11 – Link to 911memorial.org resource

Every year, the attacks of 9/11 recede further into the past. However, for those of us who lost someone close or otherwise experienced that day – whether in person or on television – thinking and talking about 9/11 may still evoke strong emotions that transport us back to the tragedy and can jar emotions long forgotten. Current events, such as the death of Osama bin Laden, can do the same. Many others will have little or no recollection of the event itself, understanding its details and ramifications through the lens of a somewhat impersonal history and through media coverage of the event.

[Source: http://www.911memorial.org]

Our Barbie Princess Charm School DVD Party

Dolls, Gifts, , , ,
Barbie Charm School Party
Barbie Charm School Party

Huh?  What?  Umm..

Sit up straight.  Set the table correctly.  Say please and thank you.

These are all things that we try to get our kids to stop saying and start doing by teaching them manners and etiquette.  It’s nice to have a creative way to present a lesson in manners and we hit the jackpot with our recent Barbie Princess Charm School DVD party.  We got together with some friends and had our very own Barbie Princess Charm School Party to celebrate the upcoming release of the new Barbie Princess Charm School DVD coming out in the Fall.

Each guest (aka princess) was given a Tiara, a manners checklist, a table setting placemat, and a certificate of completion of Barbie Princess Charm School.  At the end of the party, all of the guests were given a Certificate of Completion to keep for completing Barbie Princess Charm School!  The girls were so proud!

Barbie Princess Charm School DVD
Barbie Princess Charm School DVD

We played games, practiced our manners, and learned to set the table correctly.  The girls were all

Plan your own Barbie Princess Charm Schoo party for the launch of the Barbie Princess Charm School DVD.  You’ll find all sorts of fun activities, games, and movie trailers on the Barbie Princess Charm School site.

Disclosure: This Barbie Charm School Tea Party was sponsored by One2One Network.

Review: Moon Dough™ Push n’ Pop Breakfast – Improved Formula!

Age 5-7, New posts, Toys, ,
Moon Dough - new and improved
Moon Dough Breakfast Push n' Pop Play Set

My 5 year old loves to play with Moon Dough™.  We reviewed the Moon Dough™ Barn play set a year ago and still plays with it.   The new, improved Moon Dough™ is easier to clean up, will never dry out, and is wheat-free and hypo-allergenic.

If you are not familiar with it, Moon Dough™ is a molding compound that is easy for little kids to use and shape as it is light weight and is not sticky and gooey.  The biggest difference with the new Moon Dough™ formula is that it doesn’t crumble.  This makes clean up quick and easy.  When my daughter is finished playing with her Moon Dough™ set, she puts the Moon Dough™ back in the supplied plastic zipper bags and tosses it into her toy basket.

Moon Dough Push n' Pop Breakfast play setThe Moon Dough™ Push n’ Pop Breakfast play set comes with 3 popper molds (waffle, toast, pancake), a play mat, 1 twist mold, and 2 packages of colored Moon Dough™.

What Madelyn says about Moon Dough:

  • I like it
  • And..
  • It’s super soft
  • and it’s easy “ta” use and easy to play with and clean up
  • My mom and me did a video..(deep breath).. and mmm..me and my mom played with it together
The Push n’ Pop molds are easy for my 5 year old to operate.  Simply push down gently on the mold and it will pop back up itself.  She found the twist mold easy to use to but it took her a few minutes to figure out that she can twist it to get the Moon Dough™ out.  She was trying to dig the Moon Dough™ out, so make sure you tell your child that he/she can simply twist the mold and the Moon Dough should pop right out.
To clean up Moon Dough simply use a small piece of Moon Dough™ and dab up the small loose pieces up and wipe with a dry cloth.
Moon Dough™ is recommended for children 3 and older.
You can buy Moon Dough™ from Amazon.com, Toys R’ Us, WalMart, and Target.  Set prices vary.
Learn more about Moon Dough™ on the Moon Dough™ website
Keep up with the lastest Moon Dough™ news by following Moon Dough™ on Twitter and Facebook.
Disclosure: I was provided with a Moon Dough Push n’ Pop Breakfast play set for review purposes by Team Mom on behalf of Moon Dough™.  My opinions in this review are 100% mine and were not influenced by the company.  I was not compensated for the review and was not required to write a review.
Alicia Hagan, Editor