Ad: How to Have a Fun & Easy 2-Step Dipping Valentine's Day Family Meal . . . Double-Dipping Required! #LuvTyson

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This #LuvTyson Chicken Tenders shop has been compensated as part of a Valentine's Day social shopper amplification for #CollectiveBias and its advertiser.  All opinions expressed are my own.

My husband and I have a date night about once a year and it rarely falls on Valentine's Day.  That is the one day of the year when most of the adults whom we trust to watch our children have their own big plans.  If this happens to you as well, why not make the most of it by have a fun Valentine's Day family meal?  (Romantic candlelight dinners are overrated.)  Since I only do "easy" when it comes to meals, let me show you how simple it would be to create a special kid-friendly dinner for Valentine's Day!  First, you'll need a food that all your children love.  In our case, this would be chicken tenders.

You may think that chicken tenders are just an everyday food, but it transforms into something fun when you introduce the concept of 2-step dipping . . .

"2-Step Dipping" is when you dip your chicken tender into a sweet or tangy sauce and then dip it a second time into something crunchy and savory!

Our Valentine's Day family meal had 6 components . . . 

• Chicken tenders plus 3 sweet/tangy dips and 3 crunchy/savory dips
• Cheese and crackers with heart-shaped pepperonis (cut with kitchen shears)
• Valentine's Day themed plates and napkins
• Chocolate roses
• A red drink (ours was 70% lemon-lime soda & 30% pomegranate cranberry juice)
• Valentine's Day cookies

I found everything I needed at Walmart, including the disposable dipping cups with lids, Valentine's Day stickers (for just $1), 12" paper doilies, chocolate roses ($1 each), everything we needed for dipping, the ingredients for our red drink and our own special dipping sauce, Valentine's Day Peanut M&Ms for our cookies, and of course the Tyson Original Batter Dipped Chicken Breast Tenders.

Be sure to look for a coupon in your February 9th Sunday morning paper for Tyson Batter Dipped Tenders!

There were several things to prepare, but most of them were quite easy.  Our 7 year old daughter was able to help with some of the prep work, such as placing the Valentine's Day stickers on the dipping cups, filling the dipping cups with some of the sauces, and placing the lids on the cups.  We had some stickers leftover, so we wrapped the chocolate roses in a Valentine's Day napkins and secured them with napkin rings we made with the stickers and wide curling ribbon.

For the 2-step dipping, we used two sauces that we have enjoyed dipping other things into in the past.  Then we made a 3rd dipping sauce of our own.  We also crushed 3 of our favorite savory snacks.  What we ended up using for dips were . . .

• Wise Onion Rings (crushed)
• Barbecue corn chips (crushed)
• Cashews (crushed)
• Honey
• Cocktail Sauce
• Soy Honey Lime Sauce (Recipe below)

RECIPE:  Soy Honey Lime Dipping Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup low sodium soy sauce

2 to 3 Tbsp honey

1 tsp lime juice

Step 1.  Pour soy sauce into a small mixing bowl.

Step 2.  Add lime juice, blending it into the soy sauce.

Step 3.  Add honey one tablespoon at a time, stirring to completely dissolve the honey in the soy sauce before adding the next spoonful.  (Taste the sauce before you add more honey.)

I have to say that our children had a blast with the 2-step dipping!  Since they each had their own set of dips, they could experiment with various combinations.  Some of the favorites were the cocktail sauce or the honey with the crushed barbecue corn chips.  Our Soy Honey Lime Sauce tasted great with the chicken tenders, but the solid dipping ingredients did not adhere to it as easily as they did to the honey and cocktail sauce.

Now I want to know what ingredients you would use for your 2-step dipping family meal!

10 Tips for an Easy Low-Stress Family Breakfast (#FinishRiseandShine)

Thank you to Finish for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon and for providing a gift card so we could purchase supplies and ingredients for our #FinishRiseandShine breakfast.  All opinions expressed are my own.

With Mother's Day and Father's Day coming up, you may be aspiring to surprise your spouse or your parent with a family breakfast.  If the idea of preparing a big breakfast by yourself (or with your children for that matter) seems daunting to you, then you must read on to see how easy it was for us to make this tasty family breakfast for the Finish Rise and Shine Challenge.  Simply following one or more of these tips will make your meal preparations that much easier.

Tip #1:  If you are planning on serving bacon as part of your family breakfast, make it the day before and store it tightly covered in the fridge.  I usually line a cookie sheet with tin foil and bake the bacon in a single layer. The next morning, you can just reheat it quickly in the microwave.

Tip #2:  Choose one easy recipe to make in the morning.  Checkout my recipe for Easy Bacon & Scallion Cornbread.  If you have prepared the bacon ahead of time, the prep time for this cornbread is less than 10 minutes and it will bake while you prepare the rest of the meal.

Tip #3:  Serve microwavable breakfast sausages.  If you have bacon waiting to be reheated, just cook the sausages in the microwave for 1 minute less than called for.  Then add the bacon to the plate and microwave for an additional minute.

Tip #4:  Choose one or two beverages that everyone in your family enjoys.  My husband had coffee, but our 3 children and I had hot cocoa.  It was easy to make with just a little hot water.  We usually only give the children half a mugful because they can never finish a whole one.  I highly recommend that you try your hot cocoa with a dollop of vanilla ice cream in it.

Tip #5:  Use dollar size microwavable pancakes.  They are quick to heat up and you won't be required to cut pancakes for each child.

Tip #6:  Just so you are not feeling too guilty about all the grease and salt, fill a bowl with fresh fruit.  We served large strawberries, but grapes or blueberries would work well also.

Tip #7:  Fill your plate with some of everything in case your family eats all the food before you even get to sit down at the table.

Tip #8:  Remember to take a photo of your family enjoying this meal you've prepared to preserve the memory.  Also, there is no need for them to know how easy it was for you to put this breakfast together, so you can show them the photo in the future to remind them about how much you slaved over a hot stove for them.

Tip #9:  Leave the breakfast dishes for later and go enjoy time with your family.

Tip #10:  Before you go to bed, load all the dishes into your dishwasher, so you can let it run overnight.

(Click any photo to enlarge)

What made this last step possible for me is the Finish Quantum Power Gel.  To be honest, when I agreed to take the Finish Rise and Shine Challenge to leave our breakfast dishes until bedtime, I was extremely skeptical.  Our dishwasher is old and I always rinse off the dishes before I load them.  My regular detergent is actually the bottled Finish Gel.  It works pretty well, but there are some things it will not get out, such as dried hot cocoa, lipstick on stoneware, and sometimes dried melted cheese.  I had very strong doubts that this little Finish Quantum packet I popped into the detergent well would get out the dried cornbread mix, the dried syrup that nearly fused our stacked plates together, and especially the dried hot cocoa inside the mugs.

Can I tell you how floored I was the next morning?  Everything came off the dishes . . . even my arch nemesis, the hot cocoa.  Not only that, my dishes actually shined!  All I could think about was how much time and water I could save from now on just by using the new Finish Quantum.

What is your arch nemesis when it comes to getting your dishes clean in the dishwasher?  I'd love to know what it is and if you are able to get it clean without rinsing and only using the Finish Quantum Power Gel.  Get your FREE sample of Finish Quantum (1 per household), take the #FinishRiseandShine Challenge, and share your results on the Finish Dishwashing Facebook page.