As we all know, eating whole grains is important to our diets. In our house we have been working hard to introduce the kids to more whole grains, you know, whole grains that taste good to them and they have absolutely NO CLUE that what they are eating is filled with whole grains!

General Mills has pumped Cheerios®, Lucky Charms®, Cinnamon Toast Crunch®, Honey Nut Cheerios® and Total® with whole grains and my kids don’t even realize that what they are eating is good for them!

General Mills has also made it so whole grain is listed as the first ingredient when you look at the side of the box indicating that whole grain is the first and most prevalent ingredient.

To help with choosing products with whole grain, General Mills developed “Fast Lane for Whole Grain,” an online educational game. Consumers can navigate virtual grocery store aisles and identify products that have whole grain as the first ingredient, with the option to enter a sweepstakes to win one of each of the 50 cereals with the white check. Make a commitment to add more whole grain to your diet by simply pouring a bowl of cereal with the white check including Cheerios®, Lucky Charms®, Cinnamon Toast Crunch®, Honey Nut Cheerios® and Total®. For more information on the importance of whole grain and a chance to enter the “Fast Lane for Whole Grain” sweepstakes, visit www.WholeGrainNation.com.

According to Dr. Travis Stork, emergency room physician and host of “The Doctors,” identifying whole grain products can be challenging. Shoppers can look for nutritional cues on the front of the box, but they need to read the ingredient list to know if they are getting enough whole grain. Ingredient lists detail ingredients in order of prevalence, and if the words “whole grain” are followed by a grain like wheat or oats, it means the food contains more whole grain than any other single ingredient. Here´s how to determine if your cereals have whole grain as a first ingredient:

With all the health messages facing grocery store shoppers, it can be confusing to translate what appears on food labels into nutritional needs, and hard to determine which foods have a meaningful amount of whole grain. Dr. Stork has some additional recommendations to help you include whole grain easily into your diet. They include:
Start Early! The Dietary Guidelines recommend people get at least 48 grams of whole grain in their daily diets. Get a jump-start on the day´s nutrition by incorporating whole grain into your morning routine. For instance, when choosing cereal make sure whole grain is listed as the first ingredient. One easy choice is cereal with the white check, which have more whole grain than any other single ingredient.
Make Simple Swaps. Choose whole grain versions of the foods you love. Great options include whole wheat pasta and whole wheat bread or even whole grain crackers. Also, try different types of whole grain. Use brown rice instead of white rice as a side dish at dinner or popcorn, which is a whole grain, for a snack.
Don´t Judge a Food by Its Cover. The front of food packages provide good nutritional cues, but don´t forget to read the ingredients and check the nutrition label and side labels for additional health information. Cereals with the white check even include the amount of whole grain per serving on packaging.

The great thing is, The Megalomaniac Mommy along with General Mills wants to make sure that your family is getting enough whole grains so we have teamed up and are giving away a prize pack that will contain 5 boxes of General Mills cereal with the white check!

If you would like to enter to win use the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Last month, we had the pleasure of reviewing Volume 1 of Switched At Birth on DVD. We have been fans of the show since it began airing on ABC Family and are thrilled that it has returned to the air this month and introduced us to Volume 2.

With the show now airing Volume 2, we are excited to announce that we are giving away a copy of Switched At Birth Volume 1 to one lucky reader of The Megalomaniac Mommy!

Enter using the Rafflecopter form below.
Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

With the Holiday season approaching rather quickly, I know there are a lot of people out there making delicious holiday treats, hosting cooking exchanges and preparing for the holiday. Since we don’t have a lot of extra time right now to prepare holiday treats and sweets while we are preparing for the arrival of our latest bundle of joy, we decided to participate in a Chex Party Mix-change instead.

We spent a large portion of last evening making yummy Chex snacks to share with our friends and family during the holidays.

First we started with a simple Chex Mix with the ingredients as follows:

3 cups Corn Chex® cereal
3 cups Rice Chex® cereal
3 cups Wheat Chex® cereal
1 cup honey roasted peanuts
1 cup bite-size pretzels
1 cup garlic-flavor bite-size bagel chips
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

We melted the butter in a microwave safe dish and then mixed all of the ingredients together by shaking in a large paper grocery bag.

Once everything was mixed together, we spread it out on a cookie sheet and baked at 250* for 1 hour while mixing it up every 15 minutes.

It turned out soooo good, I actually like it more than the stuff you get in a bag at the store! We also made a big batch of Chex Muddy Buddies too and have been looking at other recipes that we plan to make. Chex has a huge assortment of recipes to fit everyone’s needs including Gluten Free.

With several Chex Party Mix recipes that can be made in just 15 minutes and Sam’s Club stores providing you with everything needed to host a fabulous party, there’s no excuse to not call on family and friends for a celebration.

The great news is we are giving one lucky reader of The Megalomaniac Mommy a chance to have their own Chex Party Mix-change thanks to the folks at Sam’s Club, Chex Party Mix, General Mills and MyBlogSpark.  The lucky winner will receive one $25 Sam’s Club gift card and one box of Chex cereal.

Here’s how to enter!

For additional entries:
1. Follow me on Twitter for 1 entry. Leave a comment with your Twitter ID.
2.Tweet about this giveaway then leave me a comment with the link to your tweet. This is SUPER easy is use the Twitter icon located at the top of this post.
3. Subscribe to my newsletter and leave a comment with your email address for 2 entries.
4. Subscribe to The Megalomaniac Mommy via a reader for 2 entries.
5. Follow me on Google+ for 2 entries.
6. Like The Megalomaniac Mommy on Facebook for 2 entries.
7. Follow The Megalomaniac Mommy on Networked Blogs (at the bottom of this page) for 2 entries.
8. Grab my button and add it to your page and leave me the URL for your page for 3 entries.
9. Like Crayola on Facebook and let them know The Megalomaniac Mommy sent you for 2 entries.
10. Vote for The Megalomaniac Mommy on Picket Fence Blogs for 1 additional entry by clicking on the logo below.

 

This giveaway will begin on December 8th 2011 and end on December 22nd 2011 at 12 NOON CST and is open to US Residents Only. Winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond and claim prize. For more information on giveaways hosted by The Megalomaniac Mommy, please read the Policies page.

Disclosure: The Sam’s Club gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by Sam’s Club, Chex Party Mix and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

You can host your own Chex Party Mix-change too!  Feel free to download the invites, tips and ideas and packaging plans below and your party is sure to be a success.

Download (PDF, 3.12MB)

Download (PDF, 2.1MB)

Download (PDF, 1.42MB)

Tomorrow night, December 2nd 2011, at 8/7 C NBC will air the latest family movie from Walmart & P&G for Family Movie Night.  The latest movie is Game of Your Life.

I recently had the pleasure of pre-screening the film thanks to modern technology for allowing me to watch via my computer. We are big fans of Family Movie Night in our house and have loved all of the movies that Walmart & P&G have introduced us to but this film in particular is definitely something that will capture the attention of the boys in our house….the gamers. Yes, the Hardworking Hubby and Zman are both big on gaming and as much as I hate to admit it, Tatertot has already taken an interest in gaming too!

You can read the synopsis of the film on the right side of this post.

I personally found it to be a very good movie and can’t wait to share it with the entire family this Friday night. Family Movie Night is a regular thing in our home and I love it even more when we have an original movie to watch.

This film has a great cast, Titus Makin Jr., Nathan Kress, and Lea Thompson to name a few.

If you have a gamer in your family this movie is sure to capture their attention!

In addition to this awesome movie announcement, we are also excited to announce an awesome giveaway with it as well! Once lucky reader of The Megalomaniac Mommy will win their choice of Kinect Sports Season 2 or Dance Central 2 for the XBOX360 AND a tin of candy and popcorn!

Here’s how to enter!

For additional entries:
1. Follow me on Twitter for 1 entry. Leave a comment with your Twitter ID.
2.Tweet about this giveaway then leave me a comment with the link to your tweet. This is SUPER easy is use the Twitter icon located at the top of this post.
3. Subscribe to my newsletter and leave a comment with your email address for 2 entries.
4. Subscribe to The Megalomaniac Mommy via a reader for 2 entries.
5. Follow me on Google+ for 2 entries.
6. Like The Megalomaniac Mommy on Facebook for 2 entries.
7. Follow The Megalomaniac Mommy on Networked Blogs (at the bottom of this page) for 2 entries.
8. Grab my button and add it to your page and leave me the URL for your page for 3 entries.
9. Like Crayola on Facebook and let them know The Megalomaniac Mommy sent you for 2 entries.
10. Vote for The Megalomaniac Mommy on Picket Fence Blogs for 1 additional entry by clicking on the logo below.

 

This giveaway will begin on December 2nd 2011 and end on December 16th 2011 at 12 NOON CST and is open to US Residents Only. Winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond and claim prize. For more information on giveaways hosted by The Megalomaniac Mommy, please read the Policies page.

Disclosure: I received a “Game of Your Life” viewing kit from P&G and Walmart in exchange for my honest review and opinion.