What's Cookin' & Giveaway!

*** Update: Blogger was down last week, and when their repairs were made all comments were deleted. So, I'm reopening this giveaway until Thursday, May 19th. ***

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of FRESCHETTA®. All opinions are 100% mine.

The sun is out, and spring is definitely heading into summer for those of us living in North Texas. The weather is starting to bring out it's heat (we're usually in the upper 90's nowadays), and the lovely spring storms too (muggy, anyone??).

So, what I'm getting at is, as I planned this week's menu my goal was 1 - not to heat up the house too much, and 2 - keep it easy.

Plus, I'm trying to spend every waking minute de-stashing my house. Simplifying our life seems so much easier than dealing with stuff.

 With that being said, here's what we're having for dinner this week

• Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and roasted asparagus
• Chopped Salad with grilled chicken
• Fajita's
• Quesadilla's (made with our fajita leftovers)
• Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (ciabatta, aged cheddar, peso, and arugala - LOVE!)
• Shrimp Macaroni & Cheese (Pre-Made Freezer Dinner)
• FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™ Chicken Bianca Pizza

Yes, I whole heartedly admit to buying pre-made pizza's and serving them to my family. They're FAST and EASY and DELICIOUS.  Recently, I was offered the opportunity to try one of FRESCHETTA's pizza's.

Picking just one was hard. I prefer thin crusts, and lots of veggie toppings. While Steve loves pepperoni and meat lover style pizzas on thick crusts.  So, we decided to try two - the FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™ Chicken Bianca Pizza and the Brick Oven Pepperoni  Pizza.

We were both pleasantly pleased and we'll definitely be adding them into our regular menu rotation/plan. (As a side note, I loved their packaging. No thick bulky box to try and cram into a space in my freezer. The packaging was thin and easy to open. Win!)

Fortunately for you, I was also given the opportunity to share a coupon with one of you for your own FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™Pizza - so that you can try one out for yourself! There are 8 different flavor varieties, so there's definitely something for everyone!  Visit freschettasimplyinspired.com to learn more about their eight great-tasting varieties, and find which flavor is simply… you! (P.S. I also get to send a bamboo cutting board with the coupon - SWEET!!)

Entering is easy! I know my time is precious, so I value yours too! Simply leave a comment on this post with your favorite summer meal idea. That's it! I'll choose a winner on Friday, May 13th.

P.S. Freschetta will be giving away $2 coupons towards the purchase of their pizza's on Facebook. Friend them to get in on that deal!
 

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of FRESCHETTA®. I was sent a coupon in exchange for sharing my opinion which is 100% mine.

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Email... Oh How I Love Thee...

Thank you to Yahoo! Mail for sponsoring this post about staying connected. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Email is a wonderful thing.

It's hard to remember my life without it.

For the record, I do remember a time (so maybe I was like...5) when email wasn't in existence. (No, really, it was more like my later years of high school. I remember when my mom first got a dial up internet connection into our home in Miesenbach, Germany).

But then, I moved to the United States, and thanks to the awesomness of the computer lab at school, I learned about the internet and even more about a wonderful invention called electronic mail.

Through this fantastic invention (do you remember when Vice President Gore claimed to have invented the internet? I still find that ridiculously hilarious!), I was able to maintain communication with my parents (who still lived in Germany), sharing my college experiences with them, and even more importantly - ask for more money.

As the years have gone on, email has been an integral part of my life.

Really, it has.

It's how my birth mother and I communicated when we were first united. I loved it because it gave me the opportunity to get to know her, but on my time and on my terms. It was easy and simple to do - just type out what I wanted to know, answer her questions, and hit send.

And then, wait for a response back.

No more stamps and waiting for the post office to get my envelope to me. Just boot up the computer and open my email program.

I've always used Yahoo! for email. It's always been good to me. A few years ago, I even upgraded my free email to Yahoo!Mail Plus so that I'd have more memory and less ads. It was worth every cent I spent on it (and continue to spend on it each year as I renew it).

10 years ago this past September 11th, I was traveling on my first (of many) solo business trip. My flight took off without a hitch and soon we were enroute. As we all know, and will forever remember, any flight in the air was grounded due to the tragic events caused by ruthless people.

During this time, it was near impossible to get a phone call out. Landlines were slammed, and mobile phones couldn't get connections out.

The one thing that didn't fail me, and that helped me get word to my huge family and friends was email.

Through email I was able to quickly share that my flight had been grounded, that I was in Atlanta, Georgia, and then relay my experiences with everyone, and in one message rather than having to replay the scene a gazillion times.

Email helped me maintain my sanity, and find comfort during a time of tragedy, stress, and loss.

To this day, the first thing I tend to do every morning, is check my email.

I can't imagine my life without it!!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad