This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #TysonMovieOffer #CollectiveBias Here I’m sharing 3 Simple Recipes to get Kids to eat more Veggies and a special offer for the The Peanuts Movie. Buy ANY TWO (2) specially marked packages of Tyson® Chicken Products or State Fair® Corn Dogs and you can receive up to $9.00 toward one child admission to see The Peanuts Movie Only in Theaters.
One of my favorite memories from childhood is reading about happiness from the perspective of members of the Peanuts Gang. We had quotes from Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Linus decorating our bedroom with statements like: “happiness is… a warm blanket, daytime and nighttime, and anything loved by you.”
These friendly characters helped each other through school days and holidays with a spirit of helpfulness and encouragement — and Blue Sky Studios/Fox Entertainment is launching The Peanuts Movie, only in theaters, on November 6, 2015.
Protein Powered Snack for Kids
In honor of Charlie Brown and friends, and to celebrate the movie launch, I’ve created some fun snacking options for families with 3 simple recipes to get kids to eat more veggies. These recipes are a creative kid-friendly snack or meal option using Tyson® Chicken Nuggets. You can also easily use Tyson® Dino Nuggets or Tyson® Chicken Strips for these recipes.
My five-year old loved these flavor combinations, and if you have picky eaters the way that I do, I believe these ideas will help you too. Plus, by trying these easy recipes for protein powered snacking, you can take advantage of $9.00 off toward one child admission to see The Peanuts Movie when it arrives in theaters soon. As Snoopy would say, “happiness is … getting a free movie ticket.”
3 Simple Recipes to get Kids to eat more Veggies
Sometimes putting a creative twist on a family favorite is all it takes to get kids to try new things. The chicken nugget gang I’ve created includes broccoli shreds, carrot shreds, shredded cheese, pimentos and black olives. I also tried making different edible containers for the chicken nuggets and vegetable combinations to see which one my kids liked best. I used spinach wrap, a flour tortilla taco boat, and phyllo dough.
Ingredients for the Chicken Nuggets Gang
- 1 2 lb. bag of Tyson® Chicken Nuggets (regular and/or dino)
- 2 Large spinach-flavored flour tortillas cut in half
- 1 Sheet of phyllo dough defrosted
- 4 Tortilla mini taco boats
- 1 Bag of shredded carrots
- 1 Bag of Shredded broccoli
- 1 Cup of shredded cheddar cheese (mozzarella tastes great too)
- 1 Small jar of pimentos
- 1 Small can of black olives
Directions to create the Chicken Nuggets Gang
1. Load your “boats” into a cupcake pan. I cut the spinach wraps in half and tucked them into a cupcake pan. For the flour tortilla taco boats, I folded them gently and fit them into the cupcake pan. For the phyllo dough, I cut the sheet down to sit to fit the cupcake pan and only used half of the layers of dough for each boat. Your phyllo dough will need to be defrosted to do this. You can defrost a sheet with less than a minute in the microwave if you need to. If not, you’ll need to plan ahead and place the phyllo dough on the kitchen counter to defrost two hours ahead of time.
2. Defrost the Chicken Nuggets. Depending upon how many of these you are going to make, you’ll need to adjust your defrost settings on your microwave. The chicken nuggets need more time to bake than the boats need time to toast, so you’ll need the nuggets to be almost warm going into the boats. To be sure the nuggets are ready, defrost them and squeeze them in the center to check for softness. If the nuggets feel soft to the touch and are no longer frozen, they are ready to go into the boats. For the nuggets featured here, I defrosted them on “defrost” for three minutes on a dinner plate and flipped them half way through the cooking cycle at 1 1/2 minutes. Microwave ovens vary greatly. If you’re just creating 4-6 nuggets you’ll likely only need 45 seconds to defrost them – and I always recommend flipping the nuggets over half way through the cooking cycle.
3. Fill and bake the boats. I placed two nuggets into each boat and baked the batch in the oven on 375 for 10 minutes. The phyllo dough takes the most time but keep an eye on the spinach wrap as it tends to brown quickly – you may need to take them out part way through baking. The baking will set the shape of each boat container creating a cup for the ingredients. They come out crisp and crunchy – a great accompaniment to the savory veggies and melted cheese.
4. Add cheese. Immediately upon removal from the oven, sprinkle on the desired amount of cheese. I used shredded cheddar for these photos but when my family and I sat down to eat these, I added a slice of mozzarella cheese on top – and it made something akin to a chicken nugget mini pizza boat – oh.so.good.
5. Decorate your nuggets. I inserted shreds of broccoli and carrots as “hair” for my chicken nugget faces and I laid pimentos and olives on top to create eyes and a mouth for each character. My son has never tried pimentos or olives before so this was a great way to introduce him to some new foods.
6. Serve and enjoy! You can make up stories about these chicken nugget characters, try adding honey mustard or ranch dressing, or have your child create their own member of the chicken nugget gang as a means to get him or her to eat it. Whatever you decide to do, have fun and enjoy a protein powered snack or meal together.
Did we eat more veggies?
My five year old did not eat the pimentos or olives in the end, but he did eat all of his chicken nuggets. Of the three types of “boats” offered, he liked the phyllo dough best. The victory with this meal was that he ate all the broccoli and carrot shreds and he at least tried some new things – the pimentos, olives, and spinach-flavored wraps. I’ve read that you often have to get kids to try things several times before they adapt and ask for it by name – so I’ll keep trying to add more variety to my kids’ diets by inventing new things like the chicken nugget gang along the way.
Where can you find Tyson® Chicken Nuggets?
This special offer: “Buy ANY TWO (2) specially marked packages of Tyson® Chicken Products or State Fair® Corn Dogs and you can receive up to $9.00 toward one child admission to see The Peanuts Movie Only in Theaters” is available on Tyson® Chicken Nuggets (regular and/or dino), Tyson® Chicken Strips, or State Fair® Corn Dogs. Look for specially marked packages. I found everything I used in these recipes at Walmart. You can find the Tyson® Chicken Nuggets in the frozen meals section in the Walmart freezer case.
Learn more about The Peanuts Movie
You can learn more about The Peanuts Movie and the special offer for a $9.00 off admission price by visiting these links:
- Tyson Promotions including details about tickets to The Peanuts Movie.
- Fandango Rewards – this is where you enter your reward codes to redeem your $9.00 credit towards a movie ticket.
- Have kids? They’ll love this The Peanuts Movie trailer.
Have any tips to share?
Have any tips for getting kids to eat more veggies? What flavor combinations work for your family? Leave a comment below and join the conversation. I always love hearing from my readers.
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If you liked this recipe for my tasty Chicken Nuggets Gang, you may also like:
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