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Chick-fil-A New #grilledlove
May 12, 2014 By
I was invited to visit my local Chick-fil-A and try their new menu items.
#grilledlove
Recently a group of friends and I was invited to Chick-fil-A for a tasting event for their new Grilled Chicken items.
Our table was set up and ready for us with flowers and placemats and little cow stuffed animals. After we were served the biggest drinks offered and were spoke with the owner of the store, our food was brought out to us one by one.
First up was the Grilled Market Salad. I already love this salad and I get it all the time. The only difference for my was I tried it with the Zesty Apple Cider Vinaigrette. I usually eat it with the Avocado Ranch Dressing. But I wanted to be adventurous and try new things! 🙂 The Grilled Market Salad comes with grilled chicken breast served on a fresh bed of chopped Romaine lettuce and baby greens, topped with shredded red cabbage and carrots, crumbled blue cheese and a mix of red and green apples, strawberries and blueberries. It is absolutely delicious!
Market Grilled Chicken Salad
Next up was the Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich. A boneless breast of chicken, marinated with a special blend of seasonings and grilled for a tender and juicy backyard-grilled taste It’s served on a toasted multigrain bun with Colby-Jack cheese, smoked applewood bacon, Green Leaf lettuce and tomato. Served with Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce. Again, I would never have added the sauce, but man was that good!
ChickfilA-Grilled-Chicken-Club-Sandwich
Now how did we eat of this food? We didn’t. We all had a few bites then placed them in out to go bag and went on to the next item. It was all so good it was hard to stop eating!
Next up was the Grilled Chicken Cool Wrap. I’ve had this before and knew how tasty these are but several of my friends have never tried it!?The wraps come with grilled chicken breast, nestled in a fresh mix of Green Leaf lettuce with shredded red cabbage and carrots and a blend of shredded Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses, tightly rolled in a flaxseed flour flat bread. And Avocado Lime Ranch dressing is recommend with it. I love that stuff!
Grilled Chicken Cool Wrap
All the while the owner and assistant manager were there with us telling us about each item and answering any questions. We were told that some new and exciting breakfast items would be coming soon. Also be on the look out for new coffee and iced coffee. I love iced coffee in the summer.
Chick-fil – A has some popular items that are gluten free such as their grilled market salads, chicken, fruit cups and waffle fries.
Grilled Chicken Nuggets
More food comes along – Grilled Chicken Nuggets. Now I’m a big fan of the original but I have to say, these are now my favorite besides the Market Salad. The nuggets are marinated with a special blend of seasonings and grilled for that tender and juicy backyard-grilled taste the Grilled Chicken Sandwiches come with.
Then the last item to come was the Grilled Chicken Sandwich. Just like the Grilled Chicken Nuggets, this was wonderful! Served with the Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce, it was amazing!
Grilled Lovin’
After we were pleasantly stuffed we got a tour of the kitchen. They showed us all of the “real” ingredients they used, no bagged salads or powdered lemonade here.
Inside we were greeted by…
Fresh Ingredients
Did you know that Chick-fil-A cups are recyclable? They are. In the store they have a cup only bin where you can recycle them. Awesome!
Recycle those cups!
We got to see how the chicken comes in frozen, then gets de thawed and finally ready to be ready and breaded or grilled. We saw how boxes and boxes of fresh lemons were stored and ready to be squeezed for fresh lemonade. They really do make everything fresh.
Some of the group received a dessert and we all walked out with a bag full of goodies.
In that bag of goodies was a beach towel, a hat, a Tervis Tumbler, a small stuffed cow and some awesome gift cards for free grilled Chick-fil-A!!
I was given a few extras to pass along to my readers!!
A big shout out to our local Chick-fil-A for inviting us to taste the New Grilled Menu Items – Visit them at -https://www.facebook.com/CFAMarshLanding
State Farm Neighborhood Assist
May 11, 2014 By
I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for State Farm. I received a promotional item to thank me for participating.
For most of my life I’ve worked full time while raising children. Volunteering was not really something I had time to do or made time to do. But many years ago my husband and I made Thanksgiving dinner and made plates and took them around to the homeless on the streets. Then we volunteered to clean up a park with my son. Pretty soon we would always be out cleaning up the park. I stared looking around for places where I could get my son into volunteering but many places will not let children help.
Then we moved and I did not go back to an office job, but stayed home and worked. I had more time and started volunteering at school and with a local organization. A year later I started my own non-profit group, Helping Hands of Nocatee, Inc. I wanted a place, within my community, that I could get my children and other children involved. I want them to learn that serving others is important and to see that others do not have all that we have.
It’s been about nine months since we started. We raised over $1000 in food and money for a local homeless shelter in St. Augustine, The St. Francis House, in November. In December we raised over $1000 in toys and items of need for another charity, Pie in the Sky.
Helping Hands of Nocatee, Inc
Then we cooked and served dinner at the St. Francis House in January. I love that my kids were able to help cook and serve. They each had a good time and learned some things that day.
My children have been involved since day one. My six year daughter loves to help out the most!
Making crafts at the nursing center.
In February we took a group of children down to a nursing home and made Valentine’s Day crafts with the residents.
Then last month we had a big event Paws for a Cause to help a local pet rescue, Wags & Whiskers. It was great to see lots of helping neighbors and children of all ages coming out to help.
We continue to come up with ideas and ways to get then children involved in helping others.
Communities across the United States and Canada answered the call from State Farm to help create a positive impact in their community and submitted 4,000 causes as part of this years State Farm Neighborhood Assist. Now the top 200 causes have been selected by the State and they need your assist to help vote them into the top 40. From April 28 through May 16, anyone who has the free State Farm Neighborhood Assist Facebook application can vote daily for their favorite cause, or causes, and help bring $25,000 to the top 40 vote getters.
If Helping Hands of Nocatee, Inc were eligible in the State Farm Neighborhood Assist voting I would build a basketball court in my neighborhood. The older kids do not have much to do here but run around. This help get them organized and they would able to be active without getting into too much trouble.
There are many great causes to vote on. I voted for a Neighborhood Impact in Florida that will help buy computers for children and adults that don’t have access to one. It will also provide a civic kitchen and a recreational area for the kids. This is a great way to bring the community together and help those that need help.
It’s great to see how many people are helping put together ideas for helping others. From the infographic above I see that Florida is number 2 in submitting ideas!
Have you voted yet? What cause would you vote for?
Keep Good Going…
May 9, 2014 By
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of New York Life for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
The Happiest Daughter Campaign –
Every family has challenges. You may not think they do but they do. Growing up was sometimes hard for me as two of my older siblings had issues with drugs and alcohol. Then when I was 25, I lost my oldest brother from cancer when he was 31. My older sister continued to have issues with alcohol and my other brother was in and out of jail from drug problems.
But I took all this in and tried to get my stepsons to choose wisely (didn't always work, they have to learn on their own sometimes). My husband went through some problems of is own which was hard on myself and the boys. Then we lost our stepson in a car accident and two years later we lost my sister from liver damage. My husband has continued his struggle with abuse and all the while I was raising my 2 children and trying to keep things in order. Sounds like a lot and it is. But I know we always had food and a roof over our head. We always had cars that ran and money to buy necessities. There was a time when we did not go out to eat or the movies much but I think all of this "stuff" made me who I am today.
It sucked when it happened, but I have two wonderful children and my stepsons have grown and learned from their mistakes and my husband is doing better, although he does have Multiple Sclerosis. I am able to stay home and work and I've started a non-profit and am on the PTO board of our new school.
Life is hard sometimes but it is what you make of it. And I worked hard for the life I have and I wouldn't have it any other way. Mother's Day is this Sunday and my mom has also been through a lot. She lost two of her children and still goes on and has a great life. She is thriving and very active in her community. She has taught me to move forward and enjoy life because you never know what will happen.
Keep Good Going or Celebrating Good is about the idea of perpetuating the personal good that positively affects everyone in your life (your family). It’s the good you want to pass onto others you care about—in big or small ways—because you know how it can positively shape their life experiences. Good can be what you teach (what your children learn) – the good they want to pass onto their kids.
The Keep Good Going Life Lessons are welcome nuggets of wisdom and insight that are derived from life experiences. They are often simple, but always profound because they touch on the truths that hold life together. They are personal (not social or community) good, about you and those close to you. New York Life is also showing how they perpetuate the good through a digital billboard, which captures and tallies in real-time all of the moments of family good around Mother's Day! New York Life wants to bring even more good to Mother’s Day by allowing you to upload photos of you and your mom and share Tweets with something you’ve learned from her.
Learn more about how New York Life can help you and your family Keep Good Going
Breakfast in Bed for Mother’s Day
May 8, 2014 By
Check out Breakfast in Bed for Mom
by anne crane at Foodie.com
I’ve never had Breakfast in Bed before. Not sure I want to eat in my bed, actually. But it would be nice to have a fabulous breakfast made just for me on Mother’s Day! Now I know my husband would be glad to make me breakfast on Sunday. He is such a sweetheart and he loves to cook and he’s good at it too!! But we are going down to visit my mother and have breakfast at her community center. They are offering a great breakfast and it’s free for mothers and only $5 for everyone else. It’s all you can eat and it’s pretty good. We’ve gone to other breakfasts there.
Happy Mother’s Day!!
Are you going to breakfast on Mother’s Day?
