Cinco de Mayo - I Stand Corrected

I get a lot of reader email and comments on a weekly basis.

I received one today after I sent out an email "blast" to my newsletter list regarding a couple of new Freebies we have available for Cinco de Mayo and Mother's Day. Here it is in it's entirety:

Dear Tracy,thought I'd let you know that Cinco de Mayo IS NOT Mexican Independence Day. I am some what bothered that a web site that provides so much info wouldn't research first their info. F.Y.I. Mexican Independence Day is the 16th of Sept.

In my email, I had indicated that Cinco de Mayo was, in fact, Mexican Independence Day. I stand corrected (thanks to Margaret Puente). She's correct, Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexican Independence Day, but - according to Wikipedia "is a national, but not federal, holiday in Mexico which is also widely celebrated in the United States. It commemorates the victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin over the French occupational forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862."

I like to keep my readers informed with CORRECT information and I appreciate when a mistake is brought to my attention. My sincere apologies if my error offended any of my readers.

Thank you, Margaret, for keeping me on my toes - I promise to be more diligent in my research and presentation :)

Since this has come about, I decided to begin a new policy. I'm calling it the "Take Your Foot Out of Your Mouth Tracy" award. I'm going to reward anyone who will bring to my attention an error in facts or research that has been published on this blog or the Mom's Niche website.

Margaret will receive one of our Mom's Niche prize packs filled with all kinds of goodies.

Thanks again Margaret for bringing this to my attention and congratulations for being our first award recipient!

We Have Recipe Challenge Winners!

Finally, the votes are tallied and we have the winners of our Mom's Niche Recipe Challenge! All of the the winners and their winning recipes are published below. Why don't you use these and make a nice dinner tonight?? :)

Appetizer Winner - Patty
Shrimp Bacon Bites

Ingredients:
1 cup cleaned cooked shrimp (about 16)
1/2 clove garlic, slivered
1/2 cup chili sauce
8 to 10 slices bacon

Directions:
Mix shrimp and garlic; pour chili sauce over mixture. Cover and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, several hours.

Cut bacon slices into halves. Cook bacon until limp; drain. Wrap each shrimp in bacon piece; secure with wooden pick.Set oven control to broil and/or 550 degrees. Broil with tops 2-3 inches from heat until bacon is crisp.

Entree Winner - Revka
Revka's Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken:
2 c. crushed saltines
1 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. pepper
8-10 chicken breasts
1 1/3 c. evaporated milk
1 c. butter, melted

Sauce:
2 cans Italian-style stewed or diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. Italian seasonings
2 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1 tsp. salt

Directions:
Chicken:
In large, resealable bag or a shallow container, combine saltines, cheese, paprika, and pepper. Dip chicken in evaporated milk, then shake or dredge in saltine mixture. Pour butter into bottom of two 13x9 baking pans to coat. Arrange chicken, skin side down (if you left the skin on). Bake at 350F for 60-70 minutes or until chicken juices run clear, turning after 30 minutes. (I usually don't turn the chicken.) Top with sauce (recipe included) and Parmesan cheese.

Sauce:
Combine all ingredients in a pot and heat through.

Dessert Winner - Andrea
Quick Chocolate Cherry Pie

Ingredients:
1 graham cracker pie crust
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14oz) can condensed milk
½ teaspoon salt1 (21oz) can cherry pie filling
8 maraschino cherries, stemmed

Directions:
Place the chocolate chips, condensed milk and salt in a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir continuously until blended through. Mix in the cherry pie filling and mix well. Let cool slightly and then pour intro prepared pie crust. Chill for approximately 3 to 4 hours and garnish with the maraschino cherries.

Congratulations to our winners! You will all be notified by email and our Mom's Niche Prize Pack filled with all kinds of goodies will be sent directly to you.

Thumbs Up Thursday - Busy Mama's Guides

This week's Thumbs Up Thursday goes out to Kristy Shreve Powers - she's definitely a Busy Mama! She provides Busy Mama Guides as blog posts. They come in small increments so they can be read and digested easily and quickly - before the baby has time to pull that lamp down on top of himself!

One particular post that caught my eye was this one:
Kristy Shreve Powers: Busy Mama's Survey Question: Do Your Kids Watch TV?
Thought provoking stuff - check it out and also check out the comments left by quite a few people.

You want my take on TV for kids? Well - I grew up watching TV. Sesame Street had just come out...Mr. Rogers was very popular...and who can forget the ever-popular Electric Company? Love Morgan Freeman to this day! All of these shows I mentioned are educational shows too. I think there can be fair balance between the good stuff and the crap on TV.

We limit our older 2 kids to one hour per day on their own - they usually make choices like That's So Raven, Digimon and the like. The rest of their TV time is spent with us as a family. We'll watch American Idol, Survivor or some other popular Reality Show.

The younger one takes delight in watching Sesame Street (love it!), Dora and Barney. When she was 2-1/2 years old, she started counting to me in Spanish. We're not a bi-lingual household, so I know she learned it from Dora. That's pretty cool! I can appreciate the things that she learns from these educational shows - like counting (in English and Spanish), colors, letters, songs and some good solid values. A lot of us are not fans of Barney, but you've gotta admit he does teach a lot of great stuff!

Let me know your thoughts on TV watching - I'm curious to know what you do in your house!

p.s. - I'm still up on the Top Momma site - thanks to all of you who have been voting for me :)

Day 2 - Top Momma!

Alright! My goal was to last a day and I did...baby steps, right?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, go HERE and see my pic on the front page of the Top Momma website. You stay on this front page by people clicking on your pic. Check it out and vote for me :)

Okay - next goal...you got it, stay up there for today!

Please Vote for Me!

I'm a Top Momma!

Click Here and click on my picture to vote for me.

The goal is to stay on the front page for as long as possible. I'm shooting for a day :)

Heads Up - ALL Entries Due Tomorrow

Just wanted to give you a heads up - all entries for the Mom's Niche Recipe Challenge are due TOMORROW, March 12th!!

If you've got a favorite entree or dessert - get it in to share with the rest of us.

Top Entrees will be listed in the 3/14 Mom's Niche News for everyone to try. The desserts will follow in the 3/28 issue. All GRAND PRIZE winners and their winning entry will be featured in our special Easter issue of Mom's Niche News on April 11th.

Mom's Niche Recipe Challenge

We are looking for some good recipes...no, we're looking for some GREAT recipes.

Mom's Niche Recipes is looking for your FAVORITE recipes in the categories of:
Appetizers
Entrees
Desserts

Entering is SO easy...follow the 4 steps below and you're on your way!

1. Go to the NEW Mom's Niche Recipe website

2. Register your name and email address to become a user on the site (we will NEVER share or sell your personal information)

3. Submit your favorite recipe in one of the 3 categories - you can submit in all 3 categories if you like!

4. In the "Description" section - be sure to type "Mom's Niche Recipe Challenge"

That's it. Three semifinalists in each category will have their recipes published in the Mom's Niche Newsletter for all of the subscribers to make and try for themselves. The subscriber's will VOTE on the best recipe in each category and the winning recipes will be published again in the Easter issue of Mom's Niche News! Each of the winners in the three categories will receive a great Mom's Niche Prize Pack filled with goodies!!

Please see all of the official rules below:

DEADLINE FOR ENTRY:
Appetizers: February 26. 2007 - 11:59pm EST
Entrees: March 5, 2007 - 11:59pm EST
Desserts: March 12, 2007 - 11:59pm EST

ELIGIBILITY:
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. VOID IN PUERTO RICO AND WHERE PROHIBITED by law.. Contest is offered to residents of the United States and District of Columbia ("U.S."), 18 and over at time of entry.

HOW TO ENTER:
Contest will begin on Friday, February 16, 2007 and have three distinct deadline dates per category (see above).

Entries can be made only through the Mom's Niche Recipes website. Entrants must register as a user on the site to be able to submit a recipe for consideration. (MomsNiche.com has a STRICT policy never to share or sell personal information - i.e. name and email address.) Entrants are eligible to submit an entry in each category if they so desire.

NOTE: in the "Description" section - entrant must type "Mom's Niche Recipe Challenge" to be considered for entry.

JUDGING:
Initial semi-finalists in each category will be judged by MomsNiche.com. However, the final winners in each category will be determined by subscriber's popular vote.

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY:
By participating in this contest you agree to and are bound by these rules. In entering, you give MomsNiche.com permission to publish your entry in the Mom's Niche News biweekly newsletter and on the website. By participating, entrants agree: (1) to the Official Rules and the decisions of the judges and popular vote, which shall be final in all respects; (2) if a winner, grant MomsNiche.com all right, title and interest in and to the entry, worldwide, and to the use of entry and winner's name and/or likeness for advertising, promotional, and publicity purposes in any media without compensation, or right of review or notification, and agree upon request, to provide documentation in writing to confirm the foregoing; and (3) if a winner, to grant MomsNiche.com the right to post name and entry as a winner in the Mom's Niche News newsletter and on the website.

WINNER NOTIFICATION:
Winners will be be notified via email and in the Mom's Niche News newsletter. We will also send the winning list out to our mailing list. All winners must provide a U.S. mailing address to be able to receive the Mom's Niche Prize Pack. Shipping costs will be incurred by MomsNiche.com.

YOU Could Be the Next American MOM Idol!

My friend, Amanda, over at contestformoms.com is having a singing contest in the fashion of American Idol. She is a HUGE American Idol fan and thought this would be a fun contest to run for moms all across America.

It runs for a month and just started yesterday, so you have plenty of time to enter. All you have to do is make a video or a sound bite of yourself singing your favorite song. She'll be giving away prizes for the best AND worst singers and also some random prizes will be drawn too!

Check out all of the official rules here...and have some fun!!

Do You Have a Home Business?

I am a proud prize sponsor for a cool contest just for entrepreneurs that I want to tell you about. Check out the cool gift bag on the right ---------->
You can see that and all of the other cool prizes here.

Doing Business in Your Bathrobe Day is coming on February 12th, 2007 - a day to celebrate the freedom of owning your own home business! This holiday was established to recognize the hard work and dedication it takes to be an entrepreneur. It's an internationally national holiday to call attention to the millions of home business owners who have waved goodbye to the corporate rat race and settled into a better quality of life. We felt it was high time to recognize the efforts and dreams of entrepreneurs.

And already one mom has gotten a TV story for her business from it. Tracy Ebert, from Virginia, already sent out the local press release and got calls from one TV station, a print publication, one online resource! Way to go Tracy! (Wait a minute...that's me!) You heard it here first...stay tuned for more details...

So don't miss this chance to get free publicity for your business:

Go to the website here and check out all of the great publicity opportunities for your home business!

Finally, don't forget to send a picture of you working in your bathrobe and it'll get posted it on Webmomz! I've got mine up :) Send that to kristie@webmomz.com and put "Bathrobe picture" in the subject.

This contest is sponsored by Webmomz.com and International Bathrobes.