One thing I have always loved doing is cooking with my boys. They always say the kitchen is the home of the heart and I like to believe that’s true. I love the conversations and laughter we share around the kitchen table over a delicious meal and I absolutely love how excited the boys get when I tell them they get to help me cook. I have such awesome little helpers in the kitchen so, last week when it was super cold out, I knew it was the perfect time to do a little family cooking and warm our souls with a warm meal and laughter. I ran to Walmart and we grabbed the things we needed to enjoy Marie Callender’s pot pie and our favorite chili recipe!

You will need:
- Marie Callender’s pot pie {I got the family size chicken one}
- 2 pounds of hamburger meat {If you are wanting to make a smaller serving of chili, cut this recipe in half. We like making a lot at once to have plenty of leftovers!}
- 1 large can and 1 regular size can {15oz} of ranch style beans with sweet onions
- 1 can of Chili style diced tomatoes
- 1 can of Tomato paste
- Saltine Crackers
- Butter

After I got back, I asked the boys if they wanted to help me make the chili to go with dinner and they immediately shouted “yes!” The family size pot pie we got took a little over an hour to make so I popped that in the oven to let it cook for awhile before we started on the chili. When there was about 30 minutes left on the pot pie, I started browning two pounds of hamburger meat. Once the meat was done, the boys grabbed their chair, pushed it up to the stove, and patiently waited while I opened up all of the cans! After you have all the cans open, pour the hamburger meat into the pot.

After you and/or your little ones have done that, fill each can about 3/4 with water, and pour all of that water from each can into the pot as well! Bring to a boil and let boil for two minutes. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 10 minutes, stirring frequently!

Your delicious pot pie should be ready about the same time the chili is! Let the pot pie cool, butter some crackers {to dip into the chili because, its SO yummy that way}, scoop your chili into bowls, and sit down to get your bellies full and warm!

This is seriously an easy dinner and one the whole family can enjoy when it’s cold outside!

What is your favorite warm meal during these cold months?

Head over to Marie Callender’s facebook page to keep up with their delicious food and find more great recipes at Pot Pie Please!

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I don’t know about you, but I am sooo happy that my team won last night! We are huge football lovers in our casa and I can’t wait for the Big Game! One thing I am always sure to have on hand when we are watching the big game there is always yummy food and desserts! I don’t know about you but I tend to stress eat when I’m watching my team and things are getting close so plenty of food on hand is a MUST. Our boys are also reaching the age that they are interested in watching the game with us so I have to make sure we have plenty of things they like to eat as well. I wanted to try something new to make this year that all of us will love and I came up with two delicious parfait recipes!

If you are making both, you need to head to Walmart to get all of your ingredients. You will need:

- A big bag of Skittles®.
- A big bag of Starburst®.
- A bag of fun size SNICKERS®®
- Orange Jello & Red Jello.
- Whip cream.
- Graham crackers.
- Chocolate syrup.
- Marshmallow Topping.
- Mini Marshmallows.
- Instant vanilla pudding.

First up is the SNICKERS S’mores Parfait. I thought it would be great to put a yummy twist on S’mores by using SNICKERS instead of chocolate and I’m so glad it did. It turned out soooo delicious. For this recipe you will need:

- 6 Fun size SNICKERS.
- Chocolate syrup.
- Marshmallow topping.
- A few mini marshmallows.
- Whip cream.
- Instant Vanilla pudding.
- About 6 graham crackers.

First, make your vanilla pudding as the directions say on the box. After that is done, cut the six snickers into four pieces each.

Next, begin layering your parfait. For the first layer I crushed up 2 graham crackers to put in the bottom, then I added four pieces of SNICKERS, then drizzle on the marshmallow topping, put 2 good size scoops of the vanilla pudding on top of that, and then add whip cream.

For the next layer, I crushed up 2 more graham crackers, then I added 8 pieces of SNICKERS, drizzle on marshmallow toppings, add a few mini marshmallows, then 2 to 3 good size scoops of vanilla pudding, and then add your whip cream.

Next, crush up one graham cracker to sprinkle on top of the whip cream. Place 8 pieces of SNICKERS around the whip cream.

Last, add a bit more whip cream, a little bit more crushed graham crackers, top with chocolate syrup, and stick a SNICKERS in the top of the whip cream!

You are done! Your taste buds are going to love you for making that!

For the Starbursts & Skittles Jello Parfait. You will need:

- Orange and Red skittles.
- Orange and Red Starbursts.
- Orange and Red Jello.
- Whip Cream.
- A few yellow skittles.
- A few purple skittles.

Unless you have instant jello {I didn’t} be sure you allow plenty of time for the Jello to set. First you need to get 8 red starbursts and 8 orange starbursts. Cut each on in half. Then pick out all the red skittles and orange skittles. I promise, I was able to do that fast and it didn’t take long at all.

Once you have made the red jello and orange jello, pour the red skittles + starburts into the red jello and the orange skittles + starbursts into the orange jello. Let set in the fridge for 4 hours.

Now, when you pull the jello out after the 4 hours, don’t be scared of how it looks because with the candy in there, it really doesn’t look that great, but I promise it tastes amazing! Now, all you have to do is layer each one.

For the red parfait; Jello + whip cream + a few purple skittles. Jello + whip cream + a few purple skittles + 3 red starbursts on top.

For the orange parfait; Jello + whip cream + a few yellow skittles. Jello + whip cream + a few yellow skittles + 3 orange starbursts on top.

Ta-da, another delicious dessert done!

Now that you’ve seen the yummyness, which one do you want to try?!

A little bonus when shopping for the ingredients; From January 21-31, enter to win by purchasing 1 qualifying MARS Chocolate product and 1 qualifying Wrigley product at Walmart. All you have to do is snap a photo of the receipt to show proof of purchase and text or email to biggame@drvsusa.com. 14 winners will be drawn randomly at the end of the contest period (1 for each day of the contest), and will receive a $250 Walmart gift card! For more information on the contest, visit drvsusa.

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We are huge football lovers in this house. If our team is playing, you will find us watching the game at my in-laws house on my mother in law’s big screen TV or in the comfort of our own home, cheering our team on, snacking on some delicious food, and with our favorite drink in hand. This year we will be watching the big game from home since we finally have our twins home, BUT I put together a fun little idea that you can do at home with just you and your little family or for throwing a party on game day. I created a Mini Dr Pepper “bar.” We loved experiments with different flavors and the boys loved making their own drinks!

To make your own Mini Dr Pepper bar, head to Kroger and get:
- Dr Pepper, Diet Dr Pepper, and or Dr Pepper ten. {I used Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper.}
- Lemons and Limes.
- Cherry + the cherry juice.
- Vanilla flavoring.
- Any other flavors you think your guests will want to experiment with.

I simply cut up the lemons and limes, put them in a small dish, then I put cherries in another dish. If you are using this for a party idea, you will definitely need a bigger bowl to hold your extra ingredients! For our little family though, these small containers were enough.

Then, we poured Dr Pepper or Diet Dr Pepper in our cups and started adding the flavors we loved! I added cherries and cherry syrup to mine and it tasted SO yummy! We added lemon + lime with the diet Dr Pepper and that was good too!!

I can’t wait to use this idea for future parties, I really think people would love making their own flavor of drinks!

Are you a Dr Pepper lover? If so, what is your favorite flavor?! I’m down for some regular Dr Pepper anytime, but cherry Dr Pepper is my jam!

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With twins on the way and school fixing to start back up. I’ve been doing everything I can to come up with a good schedule for us and other little things that make life easier! One thing I’ve been working on, is quick and easy recipes for dinner and for after school snacks. Jay is always hungry right after school and while handing him a yogurt or fruit snacks works, I wanted to come up with fast and easy kid friendly snack ideas. Which brings me to my newest recipe!

What I love about these snack kabobs is you can cut up the grapes and cheese ahead of time, that way when you get home from picking up the kids, you just have to heat up the taquitos and bagel bites! I did it all at once and all total, it probably took me 10 minutes to make! I ran to Walmart and grabbed everything I needed for this quick, easy, and delicious recipe! I decided to try this recipe out on my boys and my nephew and it was a huge hit! They devoured the kabobs so fast and I did a little happy dance!
 

You will need:
- Delimex Taquitos
- Bagel Bites
- Grapes
- A block of cheese
- Kabob sticks
{not pictured is..}
- A couple of plates
- A cutting board
- A knife

First, gather everything you need. Start heating up the frozen taquitos and frozen Bagel Bites. {In the picture above, those items are still frozen}. I made five taquitos and heated up one whole tray of the Bagel Bites.

Next, start cutting up the grapes and cheese while you are waiting for the other ingredients to finish. I cut a pretty good size chunk out of the block of cheese, sliced it into 3 long/thick pieces, and then began cutting them into bite size pieces. For the grapes, I simply cut each grape in half. Once the Taquitos got done, I used about four of them and cut them into bite size pieces. When the Bagel Bites finished, I used three of those and cut them into bite size pieces as well.

Once I had all of the pieces cut up, I began assembling the pieces onto the Kabobs. I made three, one for each of the boys, but I easily could have made six or seven with what I had cut up. I put the food on in this order.

- Taquito
- Cheese
- Bagel Bite
- Grape
- Taquito
- Cheese
- Bagel Bite
- Grape
- Cheese

So, each kabob had two taquito bites, three pieces of cheese, two bagel bite pieces, and two grapes.

Last, finish up the rest of the kabobs, and then let your kids enjoy them! What I really like about this after school snack is it has a little bit of everything and the kids got full off it! Which is perfect, that way there is no snacking all the way to dinner! The Taquitos were delicious and the Bagel Bites are made with real cheese and homemade sauce and I think those were their favorite part of the kabob! This definitely makes for a perfect #AfterSchoolSnacks!

What is your kids favorite after school snack?

Before you run out and grab the ingredients, be sure to print out this coupon for the Delimex Taquitos and the Bagel Bites! You can also find more great recipes here!

I’m linking this post up to the Sunday Funday linkup!

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