Win Big For your Family And School By Cooking With Your Kids

This #BensBeginners shop has been compensated by #CollectiveBias, Inc. and its advertiser, Mars Incorporated. As always, all of my kitchen opinions for this #UncleBensPromo are my own.

A few years ago my life changed when I was sitting in a fast food drive-thru lane. Beyond the obvious irony of it being anything but fast; I had just realized my children knew the take-out menu better than me. And people…they couldn’t even read yet. 

Like so many, my days still blur by like the speed of light. While that does give reason to grab food just as quickly, I’m still proud we cook more at home now. That the kids ask more for what’s in the fridge rather than what they can’t discern thru a car window. And it’s why I’m always thrilled to get them in the kitchen to cook with me.

Which leads me to chatting you up about this awesome giveaway from Ben’s Beginners™. To celebrate International Cook With Your Kids Day on October 15th, you can enter to win $15,000 for your family and up to $30,000 to child’s school for a cafeteria makeover. All for only getting into the kitchen with the family and whipping up some delicious dishes! In addition to that, I have another fun sweepstakes to enter today below!

#UncleBensPromo Sweepstakes

What I love most all this is it plays right into my theory that your time in the kitchen doesn’t need to be complicated. One way I avoid take-out on busy days is using a slow cooker. A perfect way to start cooking with your kids, I like it most because it (typically) utilizes the use of frozen or shelf stable favorites. Many of which incorporate ready-made ingredients for children to use safely with supervision.

For example, an easy recipe to crock up on a chilly day is this Garden Vegetable & Pulled Chicken Soup using Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice. So on a recent grocery trip, I snapped up a the Garden Vegetable variety and also earned cash back using ibotta on my smartphone. The ibotta offer, exclusive to Walmart, offered back $0.75 off Unvle Ben’s Ready Rice products. And at this time, it’s the only receipt based savings website/app that I use.

Getting back to the kitchen table, you’ll see just how easy it is for the kids to help pour in all your fixings. So spoon in your 2 tbsp of Chicken Base (you could also substitute 2 cups of chicken stock) and combine with 2 cups water.

With this base whisked into a buttery hue, we can add the frozen pulled chicken. Always a staple in my freezer now, this is great in soups to sandwiches. Here, I’ve used 2 heaping cups of white breast meat. But as with the veggies, this soup is to taste. So feel free to add less if you want a soup that is less dense.

Next up, I add in 2 cups of a mixed bag of frozen peas, carrots, corn, and green beans. All great veggies, and the perfect combination for introducing the kiddos to some healthier-for-you additions.

Give it all a good stir and set the slow cooker on high for 2-4 hours or low if you won’t be returning for 6-8 hours. This casserole style 2.5 quart can actually have my soup warmed on high in about an hour. So as always, look to your instruction manual for the best warming times. You won’t need to add the Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice until later or it will absorb all your chicken stock.

Now that the family is back and ready to eat, go ahead and microwave the Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice for 90 seconds. Then go ahead and mix in your Garden Vegetable rice into your slow cooker.

At this point, the soup is actually ready to eat. But I let the rice meld for 10-15 minutes for best flavor. Then it’s ready to be bowled up and served!

Now that you’ve gotten a good look what we made, it’s your turn! Make sure to check out the Ben’s Beginners™ website as well as this specially made social hub with even more great recipe ideas. All to get you inspired to cook up great food and fun with the family! Now…what are you going to dish up on International Cook With Your Kids day?