Cars 2

State Farm was the lead sponsor for the movie Cars 2, which made me happy because I’ve been with State Farm since I’ve been driving (we won’t mention how many years that’s been). Anywho, a local agent, JD Snead (I have no affiliation and no perks for mentioning said agent, but come on! Does an agent get any cooler than this?) hosted a free screening of the movie for local families who had RSVP’d. A whole mess of our friends attended, it felt like a private screening with just our friends practically! We had friends from out of town visiting and they were able to join us (hence the yummy recipe included at the end of the post, what I made for lunch for all of us!)

It was so well organized and we felt like we received the red carpet treatment! We arrived to an orderly line in which our names were checked off and each child received an adorable Cars 2 shirt as well as a little goody bag with pencils, a decoder, etc. My in-laws joined us. Here we are below checking in, can you see little Allie’s car seat?I was so excited because the ONLY picture I captured the whole day was the one below (not the best, although it cracks me up that he’s holding his trains), but when I checked out JD Snead’s facebook page, he had some pictures of us on it! Lucky me!   After we walked through the front doors, they had the State Farm Good Neigh Bear awaiting us for pictures. Here’s Cooper’s reaction… We were told which theater to enter and when we walked in, as I mentioned, we saw friends galore!! My neighbor was sweet enough to snap the picture at the beginning of the post for me, thanks friend! And here’s the excited theater awaiting the feature movie! All our friends were in the upper right corner (probably close to the exit in case little ones couldn’t sit the entire movie), and I’m below the arrow holding little Allie. =) JD himself (who you can see in the far right of the picture) welcomed everyone and sang Happy Birthday to a little boy in the audience who was turning 4. What a fantastic host, here he is again… Cooper and I were so looking forward to this movie, and felt extra special that we got to see it for free (particularly since I had no idea how Allie would do, thankfully, she was an angel!). It helps to have a network of mommy friends to help find out about fun activities such as this going on in your area. If you’re not in SOME type of mommies group, I highly recommend finding one, or heck, start one yourself! =)

This was definitely a fun memory for our Cool Summer June activity.Oh yes, our yummy lunch following the hilarious and fun movie! The picture is from foodnetwork.com, it’s a Rachael Ray recipe (we were busy chasing all our kidlets after the movie, no time to take pictures of food). Here’s the recipe, I was able to do most of the prep ahead of time, so we just stood around the stove frying up the chicken.

Pecan Crusted Chicken Tenders

and Salad with Tangy Maple Dressing

Vegetable oil, for frying

1 ½ to 2 lbs. chicken tenders

Salt and Pepper

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs, beaten with a splash of milk

1 cup plain bread crumbs

1 cup pecans, processed in food processor to finely chop

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 orange, zested

Dressing:

¼ cup maple syrup 6 radishes, thinly sliced

¼ cup tangy barbecue sauce 6 scallions, trimmed and chopped

1 navel orange, juiced

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 hearts romaine lettuce, chopped

Directions: Heat 1 1/2 to 2 inches of oil over medium high heat. Season chicken tenders with salt and pepper.

Set out 3 shallow dishes. Place flour in 1 dish, eggs in a second and combine bread crumbs with ground pecans, nutmeg and orange zest in the third. Coat tenders in batches in flour, then egg, then bread crumb mixture. Fry tenders in small batches 6 to 7 minutes. Drain tenders on paper towels.

Combine maple syrup, barbecue sauce and orange juice in a bowl. Whisk in oil and season with salt and pepper.
Combine romaine, radishes and scallions in a large salad bowl or on a serving platter. Toss with 3/4 of the dressing. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste. Top salad with pecan crusted chicken tenders and drizzle remaining dressing over top.

June 25th, 2010