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Dallas Fort Worth Homeschooling Mom of 5

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RAQ: What Do You Make for Dinner When You’re Short on Time? (and a giveaway!)

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Ah yes, the age-old question.  What is good to make for dinner that is tasty but fast?  You’d think that being a SAHM would mean that I have endless hours to throw a meal together, but I don’t!  I am constantly out and about with my kids and often find myself hurrying home to get dinner going so the hubster is able to eat the second he gets home.  That doesn’t always happen, of course, and sometimes I get lazy and just pick something up on the way home.  That’s a big waste of money and a huge problem considering how much food we have in our house already!!

Our biggest dinner disasters and dinner drama is usually when I try to get clever and put a bunch of random things together in a soup.  Unfortunately, that’s usually something I pull on a hot summer day when it’s over 100 degrees outside and NO ONE wants soup. haha  

I recently tried some yummy stuffed chicken breasts called Seasoned Selects and wanted to share with you!  They are from Barber Foods and they come raw (or you can buy the fully-cooked variety, but I have never tried those), but stuffed and seasoned and ready to pop in the oven.  We tried the Broccoli and Cheese and the Cordon Bleu varieties.

They were soooooooo good.  I popped them in the oven while I was making some green beans on the stove and preparing some fresh fruit.

The kiddos ate them with no fuss and they were delicious!!  Each stuffed breast was 250 or less calories and were seasoned so well.  They just sort of melted in our mouths…. YUM!

Barber Foods has some delicious meal options!  They were a huge hit for us and I think I’m going to stay stocked with a few boxes in the freezer for those crazy nights when I want to eat something that tastes like it took forever to make (but didn’t!).  It’s also much cheaper than taking the entire family out to eat!!

WANT TO WIN???
I’m able to provide one winner with a generous $25 Visa giftcard and a FREE food product coupon for Barber Foods!  YUM!!!
This contest is open to US readers and will close on 3/31.  PLEASE leave your email address so I can contact you if you’ve won!

Mandatory Entry (this must be done before any other entries will count)
*Share your wackiest dinner time drama or disaster!

Extra Entries (please make a new comment for each entry)
*Visit the Barber Foods website and tell me which product you’d like to try.
*Visit this recipe page and tell me which side dish you’d like to make to go with it!
*Like Barber Foods on Facebook and tell them Jenn’s RAQ sent you!
*Tweet this giveaway with this: “I entered to win @barberfoods at @JennsRAQ by sharing my #dinnerdrama – you can win, too!  realandquirky.com – Ends 3/31”
*Enter any of my other giveaways! (one extra entry per giveaway)

(I was provided with samples so that I could complete this review.  However, all opinions and pictures are my own!)

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About Jenn L

Jenn lives in Fort Worth, Texas with her husband and 5 children. She is definitely real and quirky in person and on the internet. Jenn has been homeschooling her kids since 2009.

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Comments

  2. crystal says

    sorry i forgot to share my disaster….. humm…..

    let’s see where to begin. i’m always burning water!! lol. we often boil water for things like oatmeal, hotdogs, tea ect. i’ll throw it on low and do other things while it’s getting ready if i have time to spare. well i often forget about it and let the water evaporate away thus causing a horrid smell in my casa and scalding my pans 🙁 lol! not good, not good at all.

  3. terriavidreader (IN-USA) says

    My worst dinner disaster was having a thawed turkey and planning my whole family Thanksgiving dinner, but the day before our water softner flooded the entire kitchen/hall/dining and living rooms during the night because it caused a backup in the pipes. Totally ruined a hardwood dining room & kitchen floor and took 4 days to dry out. Then the machines used to dry things made it 95 degrees in the house! Never want to repeat that!

  4. suchcakes says

    Early in my marriage, I decided to throw some stuff together in a casserole, one of those “everything on the left side of the fridge with chips on top” kind of things… Which usually turns out okay, and it was the WORST thing I’ve EVER tried to eat… My poor husband valiantly tried to eat it, but I told him he really didn’t have to… He seemed relieved… 🙂

    kansaswolf@hotmail.com

  11. JC says

    The wackiest dinner time drama, I burnt the big bird on Thanksgiving. We had only side dishes for all guest.
    tcarolinep at gmail dot com

  16. Mami2jcn says

    The wackiest disaster I had at dinnertime was almost slicing off my finger when preparing a meal for my husband when we were first married. Luckily it was able to be stitched back up, but I realized then and there that I was a disaster in the kitchen.

    mami2jcn at gmail dot com

  19. Mami2jcn says

    I like Barber Foods on Facebook with my username Mary Happymommy and I told them you sent me-http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150110935296762&id=100000611160195

    mami2jcn at gmail dot com

  21. mnkristy says

    My most recent meal disaster was a recent Jambalaya that I made. It called for 2T of chili powder. Well, apparently the chili powder that I had (from the Mexican section and not the spice section) is super-duper spicy. So the Jambalaya was really inedible. It was so dang hot our mouths were burning. I went through a box of tissue eating that meal. I learned my lesson about that chili powder…less is best.

  22. Heidi says

    Well, I tried making white chicken chili once and it didn’t turn out right. It was sooooo gross so we odered in!
    homesickforheaven2 at yahoo dot com

  23. Manda says

    Ugh. I tried to make a shortcake just last week using a spring form pan. Yeah. BIG fail. The springform wasn’t tight and then whole cake just fell through the cracks! Disaster! Thanks for the chance!! amanda nowlin at hotmail dot com

  30. Kwyndawn says

    The first time I ever made a wedding cake it was a topsy turvy with 3 tiers….9 layers total! Anyway, I had been baking ALL day and placing eat layer on the table to cool while I made more. I would have been done much earlier in the day but when I went to the bathroom my 3 year old decided to eat the middle out of 3 layers! It was about 1am the day before the wedding and I was almost done when i feel asleep and completely burned the last layer. My husband had to run to the store for more ingredients just so that I could finish. He woke me up about 3am and I only got about an hour sleep before I had to wake up and ice the WHOLE thing for the big event. That was definitely my worse disaster!

    P.S. The cake turned out fabulous!

    kwyndawn(at)hotmail(dot)com

  31. Kwyndawn says

    The barber foods website is down. But from reading the other posts I already know that I totally want to try the brie and apple stuffed chicken. That sounds so yummy.

    kwyndawn(at)hotmail(dot)com

  34. Karen says

    Ha! We just bought a new oven and I haven’t figured out how it cooks yet and I burnt a cake I was making for my Dad!
    Thanks, Karen
    lemontart5kb at gmail dot com

  35. Karen says

    I would like to try the chicken cordon bleu – we love that at our house!
    Thanks, Karen
    lemontart5kb at gmail dot com

  37. Lara N. says

    Wackiest dinner drama: I was hosting a dinner party for my ESL students in Japan (English as a Second Language), and was putting the finishing touches on the food, while my husband finished washing the floor in the living room, where we’d be eating. We had half an hour until the guests arrived, and suddenly, this huge casserole dish of rice pudding (Japanese people are shocked to see rice in a dessert) LEAPED off the table and splatted upside down on the floor! Luckily the dish didn’t shatter, and since the floor was freshly clean….we scooped it back in, sprinkled cinnamon on top, and served it for dessert!

    lara at twiceblessedlife dot com

  39. Lara N. says

    The fennel and orange salad would be a great side for the Scallop and Lobster stuffed chicken breasts! Something light to balance the richness of the main entree.

    lara at twiceblessedlife dot com

  42. Amy W. says

    I had to make our Thanksgiving dinner for the first time this year myself and I melted the cooking bag to the bottom of the turkey and roasting pan and burnt the rolls. cwitherstine at zoominternet dot net

  48. mhoward says

    I don’ know about wacky, but I served raw chicken by mistake once. I didn’t realize I had accidently turned off the oven, when I stopped the timer for another dish I was cooking.
    The outside of my casserole looked done, but when I started to serve atthe table, it was just pink and gross inside.

  51. Anonymous says

    I tried to make my husband his favorite cake for his bday. I still don’t know what I did wrong but the cake ended up in the garbage because it was so bad. Thanks!
    shakenafist at yahoo dot com

  55. kellyr78 says

    My wackiest dinner time drama is that I am mostly vegetarian, and my husband eats mostly meat and starches… and I have 2 picky preschoolers. I have to cook multiple dishes because they eat chicken and turkey while I don’t, and we all like different things. Plus, I don’t like cooking!

    KellywcuATyahooDOTcom

  57. kellyr78 says

    I would like to make the Simple & Delicious Angel Hair Pasta to go with it, everyone in my family would eat that.

    KellywcuATyahooDOTcom

  72. Little Miss Sunshine says

    We tried to make “Blackberry Chicken” once – not from a recipe or anything, just kind of threw some stuff together. It was the nastiest thing I’ve ever eaten, and the blackberries turned the meat a pinkish, raw-looking color.

    Fortunately, most of our experiments turn out significantly more edible than that.
    lmsunshine33ATgmailDOTcom

  81. Allison says

    Our worst dinner disaster was making this really long and involved recipe of lemon-basil pasta. I still don’t know what we did wrong, but it was completely gross tasting and so we heated up chicken nuggets in the toaster oven for dinner instead lol.

    kitraz13 at hotmail dot com

  83. Flufferwuffer says

    Wow, I really don’t have any wacky disasters that top anyone else’s (yeah I read them!). I prefer baking to cooking and I’ve never really messed up (recipes I screw up on turn out edible!). Now that I think about it, I tried making homemade donuts once…they turned out DELICIOUS but they were so greasy from the oil that I went and threw them all up!

    flufffreebies@hotmail.com

  86. Niecey says

    Wackiest dinner time drama was my 14th birthday when the family got in a HUGE row over where we should go to eat. Worst family feud I can recall. Hours later, after much screaming, yelling and fighting, we ended up eating a burger from McDonalds. Not the best birthday ever. Funny to look back on now though, now that we’re all ok.
    nieceyd(at)gmail(dot)com

  92. ArtsyChaos says

    OK.. the other night everyone was hungry but I didn’t feel like cooking. So pasta sounded easy but my husband hates tomato-based recipes so I boiled the pasta, added cheese and cream cheese and various seasonings. Kinda bland… so I got a bright idea (NOT) and added a can of chili. Please don’t try this recipe! It was terrible. Funny thing was my youngest dished out a big bowl and kept saying “Mmmmmm!!” haha I’m normally a very good cook! 😀

    hiwendyhi at yahoo dot com

  98. Deb K says

    My dinner disaster was when I made my first turkey and forgot to take out the bag with the neck and giblets..Oops!

    deb55106{at}gmail{dot}com

  109. Jackie says

    I once invited my parents over and made chicken parm. We had our salads, and when I served the chicken, it wasnt fully cooked. I had to put in back in the oven. I was so embarassed!
    jackievillano at gmail dot com

  118. candy says

    I was boiling a couple of eggs one day and was so busy with the phone and door I forgot until I heard a pop and the eggs were all over the place and my son who was about 3 at the time said that was funny can you do it again. lol wilcarvic
    [at]gmail[dot[com]]

  121. lewalk says

    Oh duh, sorry. I did the wrong one first. Lol. I’m tired and trying to finish entering all your awesome giveaways. I have messed up so many dinners before. I burn tons of stuff. I accidentally added red beans to our red beans and rice one time that was spiced with jalapenos. Yea, it was nasty. I have made things before with potatoes in it and they didn’t get done. Of course, I have made things that weren’t completely done. Ugh. My poor family.

    lewalk(at)hotmail(dot)com

  130. M's giveaway blog says

    Hmmm, my worst dinner disaster was when I made a swiss steak recipe that could cook in the microwave. You were supposed to cover it and cook it for 30 min. I covered it with plastic wrap–bad idea! The plastic wrap quickly melted and the meat was charred black before I knew it! I tried it again with a glass cover and it worked perfectly!

    maurine08(at)earthlink(dot)net

  149. esluka says

    our oldest scarfing down balck olives one thanksgiving at a friends house,then we sit to a wonderful spread only for him to say “Dad… I think I’m gonna…….” (PUKE) all over the table! We ate what was served at the far end in the other room. so embarasing!
    erinnsluka@gmail.com

  151. Toesthattwinkle! says

    I once made a whole dinner then put my meat somewhere and couldnt find it LOL I was distracted and put the plate of meat in a random spice cabinet!
    toesthattwinkleblog(at)gmail(dot)com

  159. jayedee says

    the worst, i think, was the time i tripped coming in from the grill (the door is in the laundry room) and watched as my huge london broil flipped (in slow motion i swear it) and landed int the litter box! it was a true ‘calgon take me away’ moment!!!

    ntiveheart@gmail.com

  167. Mari says

    We were stuck at the airport due to bad weather, and the food court was closed. We had to get soup and candy bars out of a vending machine for dinner.
    So not healthy!

    runningmatey at hotmail dot com

  171. Jennica and Preston says

    I had some family members visiting from out of town and was making baked spaghetti. When I went to drain the noodles my hand slipped and all the noodles fell out into the sink, half of them down the disposal.
    pjnpatterson(at)yahoo(dot)com

  179. Anonymous says

    my wackiest dinnertime disaster was when I was first married & made a “new” recipe one of my sorority sisters gave me. IDK what I did wrong, but it was a slimy, gooey, nasty disaster. Let’s just say, that’s the ONLY time in nearly 11 years of marriage my husband has flat out refused to eat something (I did too), and requested that I never make it again!

    onecrypticmama AT yahoo DOT cmo

  181. Anonymous says

    i’d make the Baked Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms- that’d be a huge hit here!
    onecrypticmama AT yahoo DOT com

  183. Jessica says

    I was making a bbq chicken recipe for some friends and I doubled the recipe half way through preparing it so i left out 1/2 cup of brown sugar so the bbq wasnt thick when it came out it was very soupy…yuck…
    jbuxton09@gmail dot com

  188. Rebecca Graham says

    I had company coming over and I put a pork roast in the oven. When I went to get it out, I realized I had not turned the oven on so we had to go to KFC for dinner.

    rhoneygtn at yahoo dot com

  193. Just Coupons says

    Disaster. Trying to make a quick dinner of nothing more than frozen pizzas and I ended up with a miserable 3rd degree burn from the oven on my arm (I hit the top heating element…) Ouch!

    JustCoupons(at)Triad.rr.com

  200. Christina F. says

    Wackiest drama/disaster? I think when I didn’t follow the recipe directions exactly ( thought I could get away with it) and dinner ended up tasting yucky…everyone complained about it and I let them not eat it because it was gross:) annejk112233(at)yahoo(dot)com

  205. Michelle says

    Just the other day my friend was making dinner for everyone – roasted chicken, and was using a glass roasting pan..yep, it exploded! all.over.the.oven. lol

  215. janetfaye says

    My worst dinner disaster was when I served a Turkey for dinner and the Turkey was frozen in the middle.

    janetfaye (at) gmail (dot) com

  220. Saving Mama says

    It seems that the more I try to plan for dinner the more a disaster happens. I will not have the perfect ingredients. Dinner time is hectic at our house and most of the time I feel frazzled. Thanks for entering me!
    Stacie
    savingmama at live dot com

  223. Saving Mama says

    I like Barber foods on facebook (stacie dennis frost) and told them you sent me! Thanks for entering me!
    Stacie
    savingmama at live dot com

  225. Holly says

    My biggest dinner disaster was trying to make a new recipe for shredded bbq chicken in the crockpot and I read the recipe wrong and put an entire lemon instead of 1 slice. The chicken was horrible! It was lemon flavored with a little bbq chicken.
    hollyrh at gmail dot com

  226. Sarah says

    My wackiest disaster was when I had the in-laws over and was reheating the homemade soup I had made that morning. All of a sudden it started smoking and the bottom of the soup was burning black and I couldn’t see it because the rest of the soap was covering it. It tasted absolutely horrible so we had to order pizza. Of course my father-in-law thought it was great with the “smoky flavor” and ate it! It was so embarrassing. The dog wouldn’t even eat it!
    sarahsparks79(at)yahoo(dot)com

  231. candy says

    I made this romants Day and we set down to eat I gotten gotten these steaks that were stuffed and rolled and they were tied together I went to cut the string on mine and sliced my hand open and had to get 12 stiches. We had McDonalds instead wilcarvic
    [at]gmail[dot[com]]

  234. Yona Williams says

    I have fried a turkey breast twice for Thanksgiving and I didnt use a turkey fryer. The first time I ever tried it (damn you John Madden), I actually used kitchen tongs that were hooked to lower the turkey breast into a pot full of hot oil – NOT the smartest thing to do. The oil sprayed everywhere. I am surprised I didnt burn the apartment up. Let’s just say that Im retired from frying turkey BTW – it taste delicious.

    Email: yona(at)pricelesswriters.com

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