This post is written by me on behalf of Tyson Foods, Inc. All opinions are entirely my own. This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #StockUpMakeSmiles #CollectiveBias

My kids went back to school last week and with the craziness that is the school year and sports and music, we want to do all we can to make the prep part of our lives a little easier so we can be a little more in the moment with all the crazy fun things we do.

Having a few time-saving dinner ideas are always a sanity saver for the nights things don’t go as easy as we want. A quick meal that my kids love that takes minutes to make? Chicken Parmesan on a Stick. Because everything is more fun on a stick. The key to making this quick meal is having Tyson® Chicken Nuggets or  on hand in the freezer–they’re always crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside and are our go-to brand.

You can find them next to the freezer aisle in the deep open freezers at Walmart.

Five-Minute Chicken Parmesan on a Stick

Ingredients:

• Tyson® Chicken Nuggets or Tyson® Crispy Strips
• Soft Mozzarella Cheese
• Fresh Basil Leaves
• Spaghetti Sauce

Now for the magic! The actual cooking part of dinner is what makes it so hard on full up schedules during school. If you’ve got time, pop the chicken nuggets in the oven and cook according to the bag. If not (my usual state of being), put them in the microwave.

As for  how many to cook? Each kid usually eats about 6-8 nuggets in my house, so I just cook that many and put whatever’s there on a stick.

If you can find the little individual balls of mozzarella–great! If not, get the soft mozzarella that comes in one giant ball and slice it up in thick chunks.

Heat up about half a cup of spaghetti sauce per kid. Microwave, stove, however you want to do it.

While the sauce is heating up, use a bamboo skewer to thread on a nugget, then cheese, than leaf and repeat.

Put the sauce and skewers on a plate and serve! Personally, I count the tomato sauce as a vegetable (think pizza), but you can pop on a few broccoli or carrots to round out the meal if you wish.

Dinner in less than 5! Done! And if you want to save money on this five minute meal, read on!

Better than a 5-minute meal? Easy rewards for shopping.

Went I went to Walmart to pick up my Tyson® Chicken Nuggets, I used this fun app called Shopkick. You seriously don’t HAVE to buy anything to use it and get rewards, but there are big payouts when you do. Right now, with Shopkick you can get  up to 600 kicks when you buy three (3) participating Tyson® products (includes chicken nuggets, chicken strips, Any’tizers® Snacks, Grilled and Ready® items, Hillshire Farm® Lunchmeats, and Jimmy Dean® frozen breakfast items.)

The way it works is you turn on the Shopkick app, then walk into the store. You get points for JUST WALKING IN THE STORE. How easy is that???

Every store has offers associated with it. You can walk through and scan the promo items for points, or you can purchase the items on offer and submit the receipt to Shopkick with a few pictures. You’ll get a 5-minute dinner AND a gift card to show for it! WIN!

Racking up the points is easy, and the payouts start at a pretty low point level so you don’t feel frustrated scanning your life away in the store all the time. Once your points are gathered, you can choose gift cards from all kinds of great stores.

How to get Shopkick and Points for your 5-Minute Chicken Parm

To download Shopkick just click the link here. Type in your phone number, and they’ll text the app link to download it. A few clicks and you’ll be ready to shop!

I like easy–easy meals, easy shopping, and easy rewards. Chicken Parmesan on a Stick, Tysons Chicken and Shopkick all totally fit the bill for an easy back to school.

Related Ideas

Ad: Family Meal – Gluten-Free Chicken Bruschetta with Tyson’s