This kid friendly salad bar, sponsored by NatureRaised Farms®, is an easy way to prepare a balanced meal for your family without sacrificing taste and quality.
Family dinners, love ’em or hate ’em, your kid has to eat. Before Maverick, I was… what you would call… a kitchen goddess. I could wield a knife like nobody’s business, and meal plans were no match for my military precision. Oh, you want me to use my food processor, mixer, and a variety of pans for a single dinner? Chump change.
Now?
If it’s not in the slow cooker by 11am, it’s not gonna happen. Regardless of what day it is, it suddenly becomes pizza night. Yanno, because there’s an app for that. An app that has my credit card and previous order saved. Zero effort required. I’d let my toddler order it but I think we all know how often the pizza man would show up at my house.
But sometimes, when my other half is keeping Michael from carrying Maverick to the opposite side of the house, I dig deep and find that elusive second wind. Yeaahh buddy, we’re eating right tonight!
And as I’m putting together my kid friendly salad bar, I’m like, “It’s so pretty. I should write about this. What if people think it’s too complicated? Is it too complicated? Nah, it just looks different. Different isn’t the same as complicated, right? I’m going to write about this.”
I don’t always get around to writing about what I consider family dinner victories because… mombie, but I do write it on my wall of things I should write about. The wall, also known as the blogging equivalent to the mountain of laundry that has claimed the top of your dryer as its new home. Speaking of laundry, you should put away your clothes, after you save this post for later, and come put mine away. Just sayin’.
Michael is oblivious to the different types of greens so I started my salad bar with romaine, spinach, and a basic lettuce. Simple enough, right? His love for chicken salads makes eating right a lot easier than it should be at his age.
Then, I added a bit of easy protein by cutting up NatureRaised Farms® Gluten Free Grilled Chicken Breast Strips and NatureRaised Farms® Southern Style Chicken Breast Strips. In case you haven’t heard, NatureRaised Farms® chickens are raised with no antibiotices and a 100% vegetarian diet. Their motto ‘Doing What’s Right, Right from the Start.®’ helps me feel good about the product I’m putting on the table.
Maybe it’s just me, but I have a an absurd amount of vases, bowls, platters, anything and everything found on the clearance endcap at Target. The blue bowls pictured above? Target. The white bowl full of peppers? Target.
If you asked my husband, he would say I have a problem. I like to think of it as being thrifty. Amiright, ladies?
If you bleed ranch dressing, go ‘head and skip this step.
I’m on a major bruschetta bender, so when I saw this Italian bruschetta grilled chicken salad, I knew a balsamic dressing was making its way into my salad bar. How could it not? One day Michael will choose something other than ranch dressing. Until then, I will continue to provide different dressings for the nights I feel like invoking the one bite rule. Yanno, when my second wind includes the energy required for said rule.
The beauty of a kid friendly salad bar is the lack of bad choices while encouraging independence with a brand that works for our family and all that jazz. He thinks he’s making his own decisions buuuuttttt, joke’s on him.
Now if only he was a little better at cleaning up all of his ranch dribbles.
Oh, and don’t worry about the dishes. More times than not, second winds do not allow for dishes. Colorful and disposable is where it’s at!
What is your favorite recipe using NatureRaised Farms® Chicken?
And because I know you need a valid excuse for a Target run, there will be a 15% off Cartwheel offer running 10/25-11/7. See, I’m helping Target addicts everywhere. You’re welcome!
Social post & recipe is sponsored by NatureRaised Farms® Chicken but all comments and opinions are organically my own.
