When I got the opportunity to try out one of their Meal Soups, it was a no brainer.

Our family chose the Roasted Chicken and Rotini Pasta soup, we got 2 bags because each of these serves 2 adults.

To make our weeknight dinners more special I like to bake bread.

I know what you’re thinking, bread is not easy or fast…but it makes a meal feel so much more special when you have warm bread right out of the oven.

So I let my bread maker do most of the work. I just throw all of the ingredients in the bread maker for my delicious Honey Whole Wheat and set it to the dough setting.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/8 cup hot water
• 2 T soft butter
• 1/3 cup of honey
• 1/3 t salt
• 1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 c bread flour
• 1 1/2 t yeast

If I’m not going to make it right away I stick some sprayed plastic wrap over the mixing bowl after it’s done and put it in the fridge. An hour before dinner I turn the oven on spray my loaf pans and put the dough into them with a dish towel over to let them rise. 20 minutes before dinner I pop them in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes and we have warm delicious sweet bread to dunk in our soup.

The soup couldn’t be easier to make, you pour the bags into the pot, add a cup of hot water per bag and turn it to high, stirring occasionally until hot. The vegetables are delicious, the chicken was well seasoned and the soup itself was great. You can see from the picture below that the broth is frozen into cubes in the bag so you don’t get soggy veggies, you get good texture and taste.

I love dinners like this that you don’t have to put a lot of thought into, that way I can let the kids help set the table, or help stir the pot or help me get drinks without me trying to do 100 other things when they really need to be supervised in the helping. When the kids “help me make dinner” in any way, it makes it a lot easier when it actually comes time to the eating of the meal.

Another way I like to make weeknight dinners special is by using fun dishes. My kids (and I too, I must admit) LOVE eating soup out of these adorable bowls I actually found at a grocery store for a really great price. I mean how much more fun is it when you can eat soup out of a bowl that says soup? It’s lots more fun, trust me!

And the thing that REALLY matters?

My kids eat it.

With smiles on their faces.

And to any mom who has ever had a food squabble knows…nothing could make dinner more special than that!

Connect with Bertolli on their website, on Facebook and on Twitter for great deals, recipes and fun!

Disclosure: I was compensated for this post by Bertolli to participate in the Weeknight Meal Special Challenge via GigCoin. As always all opinions are 100% my own.