We are in the preliminary stages of planning our Thanksgiving day here and for me and my girls that means choosing which tablecloth and napkin set, we’ll use this year.  We all have our favorites and it really won’t matter to me which ones we choose as long as they are clean and wrinkle-free.  I love table linens and was fortunate enough to be gifted some vintage tablecloths from my Grandmother in Law and three handmade doilies from my Grandmother. 

The fact that she crocheted these doilies herself make them even more special to me, so I decided early on to bring them out only during the holidays to preserve their beauty. Sadly, there was a staining mishap the last time I had them out. I didn’t realize there was a stain until the next day, so it set in and I was afraid it may never come out until I remembered, I’m a Biz Stain Fighter Ambassador! Read on to see how you can prep your holiday linens with Biz just like I did. 

Sunday dinners hold a special place in both my husband and my hearts. Memories of dining at our grandparents homes, surrounded by lots of family members; tables stuffed with so much good food it was certain no one left hungry or without leftovers!  Even though time and distance keeps us from having Sunday dinners with our extended families often;  we preserve these family traditions and pass them on to our daughters with home-cooked Sunday dinners. Thanks to today’s post sponsor: Publix #PublixVivaItaliaSale, I whipped up my tasty take of Chicken Cacciatore last night and my family loved it!

Let me say right up front- this is not a traditional Italian Chicken Cacciatore recipe. This is one I’ve changed and perfected over the years using as many ingredients as I have on hand. For instance, in summer, I’m looking for dishes to use up my zucchini and yellow squash so there would be no need for me to use frozen bagged vegetables like Green Giant's in my Cacciatore dish.  

Sunday dinners are perfect for “raid your pantry” type meals, so don’t be afraid to try out new flavors or products in a dish. That’s how I found out that adding Progresso reduced sodium creamy tomato with Basil soup to my sauce imparts a light and flavorful creaminess my family enjoys with less calories and sodium! To make this an even healthier dish, I use chicken breasts rather than skinned chicken thighs.

Ingredients:

Serves 6

Directions:

In large, lightly oiled skillet brown salt and peppered chicken breasts till cooked. I cut my chicken into medium bite size pieces for faster cooking time.  

While chicken is cooking, chop up mushrooms, garlic and onion.

Once chicken breasts are cooked, pull from pan and set aside. Deglaze pan with red wine, then add onions, garlic and mushrooms. Lightly brown.

Next add fresh or frozen veggies to pan, sauté till al dente, about 10 minutes.

Put water with a bit of oil and salt on to boil.

Now that veggies are mostly cooked, add to pan tomatoes with juice, Progresso creamy Tomato and Basil soup.

Add chicken back to sauce. Stir until well covered.

Add Rosemary and any additional salt and pepper needed.

Simmer sauce for 15 minutes while pasta cooks.

Drain pasta, drizzle with olive oil. Cover.

Plate pasta, cover with Chicken Cacciatore Sauce.

Manja!

This hearty Italian style Chicken Cacciatore dish is a delightful Sunday family style meal! I served a loaf of Pillsbury French bread with our dinner that I’d picked up while shopping at Publix. You can save a $1.00 off any 3 Pillsbury breads and $2.00 off Publix fresh chicken and more when you shop the #PublixVivaItaliaSale in store and by visiting www.readyplansave.com to download coupons. Be sure to check out their great recipes while you are there too and you’ll be serving up smiles with your Sunday dinners as well.

Win it!

Thanks to our Sponsor, Publix, one lucky winner will receive a $10 PayPal cash transfer so they can go shop the #PublixVivaItalia sale and serve up something Italian soon.

Terms:

No purchase is necessary to enter using the Rafflecopter from below.  My WAHM Plan is responsible for prize fulfillment.  To win, you must have a valid PayPal email account. Winners will be notified by email used on entry form and have 24 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.  This giveaway is not associated with nor endorsed by Facebook, Twitter, or any other social channel. 

Good luck!

Disclosure : I am a member of the Tennessee State Fair's blogger outreach program and received complimentary tickets to facilitate this post.

Saturday, September 14^th couldn’t have been more picture perfect here in middle Tennessee.  It was a warm, almost fall day where you want to spend as much time as possible outside. Thankfully for us, we had the Tennessee State Fair to attend.

If you haven’t been to the Tennessee State Fair in a while, boy, are you missing out! First of all, the venue is huge with all sorts of events to attend. The online scheduler was a handy tool for us. Still, we got sided tracked by another event and wound up missing Hedrick’s racing pigs!

Even though we missed those cute pigs, we got to meet a real sweet young lady and her Black Ram Yearling.  

She was kind enough to let me take her picture. Even Lovey liked me and decided it would be okay for me to take a photo or two.

They went on to win first place in the Ram yearling event! 

Lovey wasn’t the only animal we got to meet. There was sweet Caesar, the softest, sweetest rabbit we've ever petted. 

My youngest daughter wanted to adopt Caesar. My oldest daughter would have settled for any of the rabbits there. But, it wasn’t in the cards.

Next up, we walked through the calves and cows and found ourselves in the poultry building.  I can’t remember the last time I saw so many roosters and hens and fowl of every type in one building like this. Tennesseans showed up and brought their best animals to the fair for our enjoyment and for a prized ribbon or two. 

 After having our fill of the sights sounds and smells of the critters, we made into the Creative Arts Building. We found all manner of creative arts being represented.

Here are a few pictures of our favorites:

 Finally, before the kids burst, we went to the ride section, or Thrill zone.  There were a lot of rides to choose from this year. The Ferris wheel, a fair favorite no matter where you live, was a must. The Tennessee State Fair placed the Ferris wheel up high on the hill, so when you are on it, you got a beautiful 360 degree view of Nashville.

The girl’s favorite ride was Mouse House.  Calm enough to take the little ones on, with just enough twists and turns to keep it fun for the big kids and adults riding along. My Husband loved Mega Drop and Fire Ball too. For me, my joy was in the watching all the happy people around my happy family. If life is getting you down- go to your state fair. It will take 20 years off you!

By now, we are getting hungry and thirsty and there were tons of vendors to choose from serving up everything from corn dogs to turkey legs and of course, funnel cakes! 

We rode and walked and played and laughed our way through the day and before we knew it, the crowds slowly started switching from family and kids to the Saturday night couples and singles vibe and we knew it was time to head home. 

We didn’t get to see the entire fair, but that’s okay. We’ll be back next year.

As we were walking back to the car, my husband was drawn to the sound of racing cars. They look like a lot of fun to watch, so we are thinking of bringing the girls up to a race. 

Want to join us? The dates are below.

Thanks Tennessee State Fair for giving us of super fun Saturday! Has your state had it's big fair yet? Did you go? Leave a comment and give a shout out to your fair.

Disclosure : I am a member of the Tennessee State Fair's blogger outreach program and received complimentary tickets to facilitate this post. All opinions are my own.