I became a mom at a very young age — sixteen to be exact. Up until that age, my mother provided me with my daily meals. My mom couldn’t afford to spoil us with materialistic things, but one thing she did do was provide us with endless amounts of home-cooked food. Seriously, I did not know you could serve chicken in so many different ways — thank you, mama!
I received a quick dose of a reality after learning I was pregnant. I had to learn to cook for myself and for my unborn child — quickly. I refused to stand around and watch my mom cook her meals so I could learn. So instead of learning how she cooked her glorious meals, I opted for sandwiches. Which by the way, I can make in under 30-seconds. Trust me, I can make those suckers quickly!
Eventually, I moved out of my mom's house and started to live my adult life with my two-year-old son. This meant having a full time job, paying bills, buying groceries, and juggling all of these responsibilities at the age of eighteen. I learned that being an adult was hard and that I had to make sure my family ate. No matter what. Family first.
We cut our budget down as much as possible and one thing we started to do was bring our lunches to work. We survived off sandwiches for about a year. We would, of course, go out once in a while with family and friends but in order for us to do that, we had to eat sandwiches for lunch. Every day. I admit, it got boring, but we switched up the meats and toppings and at the end of the day, we were fed and we did not go hungry.
When my son, Jayden, started elementary school, I had to send him to school with a lunch and three snacks. I knew that Jayden was a picky eater (guilty as charged) so I told him he was having mommy’s sandwiches for lunch, plus a juice box, some fruit and one treat, he agreed.
Fast forward to present day. Jayden is eight (turning nine in a couple of months), and he packs his own lunches for school. You can bet that he makes his mama proud by making those tasty sandwiches. We were both so excited to be able to show off our sandwich making skills at the recent #FamilyFirst event hosted by Maple Lodge Farms and YMC.
Maple Lodge Farms is a 100% family owned Canadian company and just celebrated their 60th Anniversary! Staying true to their vision Maple Lodge Farms has always kept things simple, chosen natural ingredients for their products, and continues to build on their values, such as, humility, respect for family, and of course, that mama hustle! Very fitting that their motto is “Family First.”
Naturally, when we heard there was a little friendly competition taking place at the event, we jumped for joy. This competition was made for us since we have been creating and eating sandwiches for so long. If you already follow us on social media, you already know that...WE WON!
Jayden and I opted for visuals over taste. Which pretty much means that we wanted to create something appealing to the eye but not so much the stomach! Our "Happy Chicken Sandwich" was born. Initially, we were going for an Angry Birds theme, but one thing led to another and we turned our frowns upside down and made smiles with the Maple Lodge Farms' Oven Roasted Chicken!
We had such an incredible experience with at the #FamilyFirst event and it taught me to always educate myself and my son about the importance of choosing healthy and nutritious foods. Sandwiches will always have a place at our table!
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