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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

Muffin Tin Monday- Best Chicken Salad Under the Sun

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I am part of the Swanson’s Mommy Blogger Challenge. The challenge was to come up with a recipe using Swanson’s canned chicken. I decided to make a try and make chicken salad with a twist. What did I come up with? It is called Fruitful Chicken Salad. My family has been eating a lot of it as I try to tweak the recipe.

JDaniel even ended up with some of the chicken salad in his tin. He also had sunlight peaches, mandarin oranges, and cheese pieces on the top row. Besides the chicken salad, he had goldfish swimming in jello on the bottom. The fish inflated a little as the jello set. I thought they looked icky. He loved them.


Please take a moment to check out the Fruitful Chicken Salad recipe and enter the giveaway I am hosting for cans of Swanson Canned Chicken.

Happy First Day of Summer!

Great Posts I Came Across This Week- June 19

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Each week I travel around the internet visiting blogs. Here are a few posts that I loved, learned from, or gave me great ideas:

 

Mom Related Posts:

 

Dancing in the Rain wrote a beautiful post about taking care of a sick child at night called The Sun Does Rise! The photos she chose to go with the post are wonderful.

 

I’m a Full-Time Mummy had a great post called It’s Not Fair. I really needed to read this post this week.

 

Just Beautiful Posts:

 

Dropped Stitches wrote of the simple things in life that make her happy. She called the post They Make Me Happy.

 

Child Relate Posts:

 

Quirky Mama wrote 40+ Tips for Road Trips with Toddlers and Preschoolers. This is a wonderful list that covers it all. While you are on the Quirky Mama check out her Edible Paint post too.

 

No Time For Flashcards has a great post on a Travel Sized Craft Box. Her idea of using an old cloth placemat in the box is genius.

 

Connecting with Other Bloggers:

 

The Online Nanny Diaries is hosting a giveaway for a $60 CSN GC. If you tried to win one here and didn’t, this is a great site to enter for a chance to win.

 

Swanson’s Mommy Blogger Recipe Challenge and Giveaway ( 4 winners)

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I was invited to participate in the Swanson Mommy Blogger Challenge. Each blog in the challenge was asked to come up with a recipe using a can of Swanson’s chicken. If I can be up front and honest with you, I am not a much a cook. I have just gotten to the point where I can follow a recipe and experiment with it if I don’t have all the right ingredients. The moms in my playgroup know that to come up with this recipe I bounced every ingredient past them. My friend from playgroup Heather emailed me back and forth a few times with ideas too. This recipe for Fruitful Chicken Salad is really simple and may already be something that you make at home. For me this is a new recipe and creates something both my guys wanted seconds of.

 

Below the recipe, you will find a place to leave a comment/entry/ voting area.
What did you say? Well, if you leave a comment is counts as a comment in a giveaway tied to Swanson’s chicken. Five people will receive coupons for free cans of chicken. Each comment also counts as a vote for my Fruitful Chicken Salad. There are five bloggers in the Swanson Mommy Blogger Challenge. The blogger with the most comments/ votes can win $250.

 

Fruitful Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
2 cups red grapes

 

2 cups of cut cantaloupe

 

¼ cup plain non-fat yogurt

 

½ cup Vidalia onion salad dressing (I used Ken’s)

 

1 cup walnut halves

 

1 large can Swanson’s chicken
1 bag of spring salad greens

 

1 packet of Splenda or another sweetener or honey

 

2 tablespoons of honey

 

Cooking spray
Directions:
1. In a small bowl mix the sweetener, yogurt, and Vidalia onion salad dressing.

 

2. Flake the chicken with a fork in a small bowl and add to the dressing mixture to it.

 

3. Toss cut fruit in a medium-sized bowl.

 

4. Pour chicken and dressing in with the fruit and mix so that all the fruit is covered. Set salad aside to work on the walnuts.

 

5. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

 

6. Spray a metal cookie sheet with baking spray and then spread walnuts evenly across the pan.
7. Sprinkle the walnuts with honey and bake them for ten minutes.
8. Remove the walnuts from the oven and let them cool before mixing ½ the walnuts into the salad.

9. When serving the salad, place it on a bed of lettuce. Sprinkle a few on the remaining walnuts on the top of each person’s serving.

This salad serves 4-6 if used as a main dish.

Would you like to win a can of Swanson’s Chicken? There will be five winners.
Here is how:
*Tell me you would like to try the salad or make something of your own with Swanson’s Chicken. (1 entry)
For extra entries do any or all of the following leaving a separate comment for each entry.

 

* Tell me what one of the ingredients is in your chicken salad. (1 entry)
* Visit http://entertainingescapades.blogspot.com/) and tell me something that you learned. ( 1 entry)
*Write about this giveaway with a link back to it on Facebook or another social network site. (1 entry per social network)
*Enter another giveaway that I am hosting. (1 entry for each giveaway you enter)
*Leave a comment on a non-giveaway blog post. (1 entry)
*Follow my blog. Leave me a comment saying that you now follow or that you already do. (1 entry)
* Follow me on Twitter. (1 entry)
* Twitter about this giveaway with a link back. Copy and paste: SwansonsBloggers Challenge@JDaniel4’sMom(1 entry per day)

 

* Subscribe to my blog. Leave me a comment saying that you have subscribed or that you already do. (1 entry)
*Add me to your blog roll. Please leave a link to your site. (1 entry)
*Add my button to your blog. Please leave a link to your site. (1 entry)
*Leave a comment on Mom Loop. (1 entry per comment)

This giveaway begins June 18th and ends July 18th. That is 14 ways to win. The winner will be chosen by using the random number generator at http://www.random.org/.This

Disclaimer: This giveaway is being sponsored by Swansons. I was sent a can of chicken and $10 to purchase groceries with.

 

When the Garage Door Goes Up, Steer Clear of the Kitchen Door!

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When the garage door goes up, it mean Daddy is home. JDaniel listens for the noise the door makes as it rises. Once the noise stops he races for the kitchen door. It must be a wonderful feeling to hear him shouting, “Daddy! Daddy!” as my husband walks in the door.
I know there are some days when he is exhausted and would just love to go lay down for a minute or two. Once you have jubilant two year old hugging on to your legs that just isn’t possible. If we are upstairs playing, he might have a chance to bolt to our bedroom and rest for a minute or two before the door is flung open and a little face appears before the bed to welcome him home.
It wasn’t always this way. JDaniel has always raced for the door, but it wasn’t because he was excited about his daddy. Oh! He has always adored him, but Daddy coming home signaled dinner time had arrived. We wait until 6:30 p.m. to eat dinner as a family. JDaniel used to greet his dad with, “Dinnertime! Wash hands!” This is not the most welcoming greeting.
What made the change? I started giving him an afternoon snack. It isn’t anything big, but it is enough to satiate my little guy’s appetite a little.
“Daddy! Daddy!” has to be a better greeting to hear. We will be listening tonight for the door to rise. When it does, steer clear of the door. JDaniel is on the run!

Muffin Tin Monday- Dad Lunch

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Muffin Tin Monday- DAD lunvh Muffin Tin Monday doesn’t have a theme this week. I decided to create a lunch based on the blog’s theme which is Father’s Day. JDaniel loved the fact he was having a “Dad” lunch.

What is “Dad” lunch? You have chicken breast cut into a D, a cantaloupe A, and a cheddar cheese D in the first row. The second row has peaches set out in a D, an A made of raisins on cottage cheese, and a tortilla D.

JDaniel loves cottage cheese right now and peaches. The other foods are old favorites. I think Dad would have liked this lunch too. He would have wanted the peaches to be fresh though.

 

Six Giveaway Winners!

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The Tomato Shack Giveaway was won by dgood. Verymarried, cdziuba, lisa, jerseygirl137, Tamara B have all won an Alouette Brie cheese.
I want to thank all of you for entering the giveaways.

Great Posts I Came Across This Week- June 12

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Each week I travel around the internet visiting blogs. Here are a few posts that I loved, learned from, or gave me great ideas:
Child Related:
Havin’ Fun Yet has a fun clothes pin idea for counting called Clothespins. This would be a easy counting tool to put together. I bet you have all the things you need to make it at home.
Monkey See Monkey Do has a wonderful idea for making shadows with potato chip lids. She tells you how to create it in her post The Lion and the Mouse and Some Shadow Fun.
I am still looking for ways to use all those plastic Easter Eggs I gathered a few months ago. I found a fun idea on Child Central Station called Easter Egg Caterpillars.

The Picky Apple did an wonderful Gardening Sensory Bin. I think JDaniel would love to have one of these.

Recipes:
5 minutes just for me has a wonderful recipe for Ugly Cookies. These look great!
Mom Related Post:
Amaria’s Blog has a wonderful post on her daughter composing her first musical piece. The post is called Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord.
I Needed to Read This:
Totally Tots had a wonderful post called Intentional. It really reminded me that if I want JDaniel to understand God’s good news. I needed to act like it was good news.
Connecting with Other Bloggers:
Muffin Tin Mom is having a Muffin Tin Monday Swap 2010. This looks like a lot of fun.
Mariann Johansen Ellis is giving away a set of her bird prints. All you have to do is leave a comment. I love her work.

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