This has to be the easiest dinner I’ve ever made. Thanks to my sister in law for introducing it to me and it’s been in my rotation ever since. This is such a great meal when it’s chilly outside, see what I did there? With only 5 ingredients, you can’t mess this up!
As a mom that has a husband that travels a lot I have made it my mission to always know somewhere near by where me and the kids can eat for cheap. Because lets face it, more often that not I'm exhausted by dinner time and it's just so much more convenient (hello, no dishes!)
Here are just some of our local favorites, where they either eat free or pretty darn cheap. If it's not free, I've posted the deal beside the restaurant. Most places require you buy an entree of course but some will even let you buy just a certain amount. Always check before you order. I called all of these locations myself to make sure they are still doing these specials!
Anyday-
Bruster's (kids under 40 inches get a free cone!)
Monday-
Sports Page (Coulwood location)
Midtown Sundries (Denver location)
Galway Hooker
Tuesday-
Salsaritas (Denver location)
Sports Page (Coulwood and Denver location)
Cantina 1511 (Charlotte, possibly Mooresville)
Moes (Northlake and Northcross locations)
Crafty Burg'r (kids eat for $1: 8 and under)
Joeys
Untouchables ($1.99)
McAlisters Deli
Wednesday-
Zaxbys- .99 kids meals with paying adult
Sports Page (Denver locaiton)
Gepettos ($1.99 buffet and BEST balloon man ever!)
East Coast Wings (all locations)
Firehouse Subs (all locations I believe, but Northlake for sure)
Giovannis
Thursday-
Lakeshore BBQ
Jersey Mikes
Sagebrush (day varies by location)
Earthfare
Saturday-
Harvey's (both locations before 4pm)
Sunday-
Firehouse Subs (locations vary)
Salsaritas (Denver)
If you don't see your favorite cheap or free place on this list please let me know when and where and I will add it! I hope I saved you some time and money!
Mother's Day is literally around the corner, May 13th if you need to mark it on your calendar and set a reminder! She's one of the reasons you're here so why not treat her to a delicious meal after allowing her to sleep in an extra hour or two than normal (take that hint!). Brunch is where it's at and I gave you great options by spotlighting some great spots in and around Charlotte for you to take her. To make you look super organized, I have included specials, times and addresses!
Webb Custom Kitchen:
In addition to serving their dinner menu all day, they will also be featuring
these wonderful Brunch and Dinner Features
. Brunch from 10:30am-2:30pm, and Dinner from 5pm to 9pm. 182 S South St, Gastonia, NC 28052
Draught Charlotte:
Offering a "Pop Up" Mother's Day menu that will offer a special brunch specifically for Mother's Day plus a bloody mary and mimosa bar with bottles of champagne on special. Bonus, they will have a DJ spinning beats dedicated to all the moms out there. 601 S Cedar St, Charlotte, NC 28202
Georges Brasserie:
Offering Brunch 10 am- 2:30pm and a special 3 course menu for Mother's Day Dinner, $48 and bottomless Mimosas. 4620 Piedmont Row Dr, Ste 110 Charlotte, North Carolina 28210
Epic Chophouse:
Offering Mother's Day brunch (10am-2:30pm) $28.95 Adults/$12.95 for children and dinner (2:30-7pm). Choose from fresh fruit and salads, fried chicken, prime rib, baby back ribs, seafood and more! See full menus and make reservations at:
104 S Main St, Mooresville, NC 28115
Peace N Hominy:
Open 7am-3pm and will be offering a Mother's Day Brunch. 403 E Catawba St Ste 200 Belmont, North Carolina 28012
The Cowfish
: Offering complimentary chocolate dipped strawberries to moms on Mother's Day.
4310 Sharon Rd, Charlotte, NC 28211
Gallery Restaurant:
Offering an elevated Mother's Day Brunch with live music, Bloody Marys and mimosas noon - 4 p.m. 10000 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy, Charlotte, NC 28277
Red Rocks Cafe
: Offering the Mother's Day Brunch Buffet from 10:00 til 4:00. Adults $36 and children under 10 are $13. (last I checked there's a few reservations left on
!) 8712 Lindholm Dr, Huntersville, NC 28078 and 4223 Providence Rd #8, Charlotte, NC 28211
Chillfire Bar & Grille
: Offering Brunch 10:30am-2:30pm 121 Cross Center Rd, Denver, NC 28037
I hope you find this list helpful and just remember, mom just wants to be seen and loved. If you can only offer her a handmade card and a homemade breakfast, I'm sure she will appreciate it just the same! And as I've said before, Mother's Day isn't just for your mother it's also for any important woman in your life that took time to invest in you! Being a mom is the best and hardest job I've ever had but I wouldn't trade it for the world! Maybe a week vacation to Maui, ha! Just kidding. Happy Mother's Day, ya'll!
Let me first start off with saying I DON'T BAKE. Not, that I can't bake, I just have always chosen not to. I've always thought there were too many steps involved and let's face it, it makes a big ol' mess! I've tried making Christmas cookies every year with my son and they always come out in huge blobs and my son decorates them anyways.
Just so happens our
is in the middle of a sermon series titled "
". It's a wonderful series about what the Bible says about controlling our emotions before they control us. All of the creative materials for this series has been made of fun emoticons. So this week we were signed up to bring snack for our eGroup (couples bible study) and I got the bright idea to make something emoticon themed! Y'all, I baked!! I made these adorable Emoji cookies! And if I can do it, you can too!
Ingredients:
1 pkg of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
1 egg
1 stick of butter
Flour (for non stick purposes only)
2 tubes of yellow icing
2 tubes of black icing
and whatever other color icing you want to use to decorate your favorite emoticons/emojis
Directions:
Pour mix, egg and butter into a large mixing bowl and use the medium setting on your hand mixer for 2 minutes or until it's mixed up well and doesn't stick to your hands when you pull it out!
Then, I rolled out my dough in small sections and cut 6 circles at a time. I will note that I put plenty of flour down on the cutting board and some on my dough and that helped the dough not stick to my rolling pin. I have a ton of cookie cutters but ended up using the top of a drinking glass to get these "mostly" perfect circles. I placed the cookies on a cookie sheet with non stick aluminum foil and set my oven for 350 and baked them for 6 minutes. Once they're done baking let them cool for at least 30 minutes before you start decorating. Once you frost them with the yellow icing you're going to want to wait about 10ish minutes to let the icing sit before adding any new colors on top. This is where YOUR creativity comes in and you can choose which emoji faces you love best!
Have fun and be sure to share your creations on social media and tag me @theplayfulmom so I can see your awesome creations!
*This post was not sponsored by any of the brands mentioned or photographed, I just loved these items and suggested them!*
I have been so crazy busy lately planning a wedding. No joke, it's a full time job in itself, how I thought I could balance everything else in life I have no idea! But with just 4 days until the wedding I decided I needed a relaxing dinner with a great friend.
I had the chance to experience Bonefish Grill's new menu with fellow blogger,
. We dined at the Huntersville location in Birkdale Village. I have been to Bonefish Grill many times before with my family and knew what I would normally order. I was pleasantly surprised by their new menu.
Their were many yummy martinis available to try but I started off with a glass of water and ordered a glass of Biltmore Pinot Grigio with my dinner. Jenn ordered the Fresh Watermelon Martini and she had rave reviews! I almost ordered one myself, and next time I totally will!
For starters, we shared the Wagyu Beef & Ginger Potstickers. Yes, they look as good as they taste! I even posted a photo of them on Instagram and captioned it "Enough to share but once you taste them you won't want to" they really are THAT good!
For my dinner I had the all NEW 13 oz Ribeye steak with Truffle butter. Oh. my. goodness. Yes, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I love a good steak and this by far was one of the best I've ever had. I recommend the truffle butter it gave it a whole other level of deliciousness! I also added the Crab Fried rice (totally worth the $4 upcharge). It had huge chunks of crab and the rice was soft and fluffy, great now I want some of that again too! The more I write the hungrier I get!
For dessert I tried the NEW S'mores Flatbread. It was absolutely delicious, an upgrade from your traditional campfire s'more for sure. The chocolate is very rich so I wasn't able to eat the entire dessert, this is something you could share!
I really enjoyed every single thing I ordered and for me that's huge because I'm a picky eater. The food was great, the service was awesome and my date was great too! It was just what I needed to recharge before the wedding!
If you're looking for a new place to check out for date night, girls night or just dinner by yourself, be sure to keep Bonefish Grill in mind and their fabulous new menu!
Bonefish Grill provided us with a $50 gift card to try their new menu. All opinions are my own, but I'm sure you'll agree!
I love to cook, but as life has it there are many nights when our schedules do not align or we are all just too tired to want to cook a meal. So I am always looking for more options for restaurants in the area. As a mom, I'm always looking for a family friendly atmosphere. We recently had the chance to check out The Melting Pot at Lake Norman. Our little guy had been baptized earlier that day and we were ready to celebrate.
I have been to The Melting Pot numerous times, but this was both of my guys first time! The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant and you get the chance to cook each course at the table yourselves. We previously went over the rules about how not to touch the pot or the burner and how to blow on the fondue so you don't burn your mouth. After the rules talk we had to look over the menu and choose our cheese, meat, cooking style and our chocolate. Once the cheese hit the table our son dove right in, he loved the hands on experience!
The other thing that I loved about The Melting Pot was how they bring out a healthy option with each course. First with the cheese we were offered apples and grapes, with the meat we were offered cauliflower, potatoes and broccoli, then with the chocolate we received strawberries and bananas. My son ate veggies with his dinner, SUCCESS!!
As we ate dinner my son looked up and said, "I love this place, I wish we could eat here all the time", that's when I knew we had a new choice to add to the list of options. This was before the dessert time! For dessert we ordered off the menu, by recommendation of our server and we got The Snickers! Yum! My mouth is watering, just thinking about it again!
Not only did we have incredible food and a fun time as a family cooking it, we also received amazing service. Zack was our waiter and he was great with our son, very friendly with us and knew the menu like the back of his hand! So if you think the menu might overwhelm you, rest assured the staff is knowledgeable and will be more than happy to help you make your decisions.
When most people think of The Melting Pot they think of a fancy night out with friends, prom date or even a couples date night. After our experience we want to add fun family friendly place to that list!
Now, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy it with your family! One lucky reader will win a $50 gift card to The Melting Pot Charlotte.
Please follow
ALL
the steps on the Rafflecopter form to be considered as a winner. Giveaway ends on June 20th at midnight and winners will be notified via email. Once we choose a winner we will give you 24 hrs to respond and then we will go to who's next in line.
