The other day, I found myself in the frozen food aisle of my neighborhood grocery store.  I say “found myself” because I hadn’t been in that section for a while. Although still very much a working mom (once a mom, always a mom, no matter how old your "kids") cooking for my now adult children has been limited to the occasional Sunday dinner or weeknight eat-and-run “drive-by.“

But turning into this aisle, teeming with young, capable-looking moms with restless kids at their heels or in rattling grocery carts, brought back memories. Oh, the challenges working moms can face in just getting dinner on the table for hungry, sometimes persnickety, younger children! Preparing a healthy plate of kid-friendly food while balancing, energy, smart menu choices and the hours of a perpetually too-short day isn’t always easy!!

But I found the holy grail of good food my kids would love. Chicken nuggets were always a go-to family meal in my house. Crunchy on the outside with warm, tender chicken deliciousness on the inside, they were my secret weapon that helped make my fruit, vegetable, and grain side dishes go down without a fuss. It didn’t matter how much my kids would play with this seemingly enthralling finger food (and, actually, new research shows that “playing with food” can be a good thing, if it helps kids eat right), what mattered most was that they actually ate it with enthusiasm, effortlessly getting the protein benefit that brands like Tyson Foods snuck into each trans-fat-free serving.  

As I walked the length of this grocery aisle with its steamed up refrigerator glass doors, I noticed my holy grail had found its way into the hands of today’s young, working moms. I smiled to myself with pride, because looking back on the ups and downs of raising healthy, happy kids,  I had not done half bad. In fact, with the help of family-friendly brands like Tyson Foods, I had done just fine – and, so it seems, have many other smart, savvy moms.

**********************************

Free Plate!
Bring the idea of balanced meal to life with this colorful plate. Just purchase 3 specially marked packages of Tyson® Chicken Nuggets, and enter the codes at www.facebook.com/TysonChickenNuggets.

Free plate requests must be received by March 31, 2013.  Offer valid while supplies last (limit 10,000 plates). Offer limited to US mail addresses only.  Collect three (3) unique codes from inside specially marked packages of Tyson® Chicken Nuggets (printed on the back of the package in red), and go to www.facebook.com/TysonChickenNuggets to submit a request and for the full official rules.

Visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TysonChickenNuggets