Giveaway: Muir Glen Limited Edition Reserve Tomatoes

2011 Muir Glen Limited-Edition
Reserve Tomatoes Gift Pack with dish towel

Time for a giveaway! I was at the Natural Products Expo in So. Cal in mid March, and thought it would be nice to go to my favorite companies and see if they'd give me something to giveaway on my blog. I love Muir Glen products. Besides my own bottled tomatoes, Muir Glen is my go to organic tomato products. I especially like the fire roasted tomatoes! Perfect in so many recipes.

Anyway, back to the story! I met Brit at Muir Glen, and she was delighted to help me out. The giveaway is an awesome gift pack of 2011 limited-edition Reserve Tomatoes. This pack includes:

• One can each of Reserve Harvest Sunset Organic Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes and Dice Tomatoes
• One can each of Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies and No-Salt added Diced Tomatoes
• A recipe booklet featuring a variety of cuisines created by award-winning chefs from around the country and a coupon for $1 off any purchase of Muir Glen Organic Tomatoes

Here's what you need to do....

Go to www.muirglen.com and check out their recipes. Leave a comment on this post telling me which recipe you'd like to try.

For additional entries:

Post this contest link on facebook, and post a comment that you've done so.

Twitter this contest with the link and use @foodgrecipes and post a comment that you've done so.

Post this contest on your blog, and post that you've done so (with link to your post).

Be a like a Boy Scout, and do a good turn. Post a comment of what you did!

OK, there you go. This contest will go until Saturday April 14, 2012 at 2:00 Noon MST. I'll use random.org and find a winner. Make sure you check back on Saturday around 2 pm to see if you are the lucky winner. You'll love the Muir Glen Tomatoes and the dish towel is so soft and perfect for hand drying dishes!  

Deidre Hall Cookbook Contest

Here is a picture of Deidre, the chef at Green Valley Spa, and Lynne in front of a cool blender/cooker by Cuisinart that they used during the demo.

True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 5 Result: 5 The winner of the cookbook is Dee! I'll get that sent out to you tomorrow. Enjoy!

Kitchen Closeup by Deidre Hall - Contest and Book Review

I had the opportunity to attend a cooking class at Green Valley Spa last Friday night featuring Deidre Hall (Days of Our Lives) and her friend, Lynne Bowman. My friend, Trish, had asked me the day before if I wanted to go with her. I quickly went to Deidre's website (just googled and found it), and after reading there that she mentioned Dr. Oz, Jamie Oliver, etc., I decided that this would certainly be worth the class fee.

I have to say, that initially, I wasn't sure what to expect. After all, what exactly would I learn that I didn't already know? What do most people know about nutrition anyway? I was pleasantly surprised with almost everything about the class. With Lynne talking about the food aspect of things, and Deidre cutting/chopping vegetables in preparation for the recipes (and playfully being the helpful side-kick), it felt like being in the home of a dear friends. It was lovely. No preaching, or lecturing; just the sharing of recipes and philosophies of eating good, nutritious food.

The focus was on a plant based diet. Three fantastic recipes were prepared and we were allowed to sample them all. I will prepare each of the recipes again, but I totally fell in love with the Red Pepper Soup. Fantastic! The recipe is so simple to prepare, you can hardly believe that it can be so delicious. If you are a follower of my blog, you know how I love organic, fresh vegetables. I'm a big fan of Swiss Chard, spinach and kale. But I have never seen a recipe for soup like this before. Just getting this recipe was well worth attending the class for!

We were given a copy of the cookbook for attending. It is a delightful, easy read. I sat down one morning after tending to the dogs, green smoothie in hand, and read the entire book in about an hour. I will get a few extra copies and give them as gifts to some of my BFF's. It's that kind of book. The recipes I've tried so far are dynamite.

Part way through the class, I realized just how wonderful the recipes were, and asked if I could get a book to give away on my blog. Not only did I get the book, but it is signed for the winner by both Lynne and Deidre! You'll love it, I promise! I also asked if I could share a recipe. Again, the answer was yes. I'll post the Red Pepper Soup in a separate post.

For the contest, you need to go to Deidre's website here. Click on the Amazon.com link in the lower right hand corner. This will bring you to the book on Amazon, where you can click on the "Click to LOOK INSIDE" link on the top of the picture of the book. Look through the book, and tell me what looks interesting to you, and why you'd like to win a copy. Simple as that!

• 
  One entry for doing the above and posting a comment.
• You can have another entry for posting the link to this post on your blog, and linking back in another comment on this post.
• A 3rd entry if you share the link on twitter with the name of the contest and share that with me in a 3rd comment. Or post it on your facebook page and comment.

Contest will go until Monday February 7, 2011 at 6 pm.

What's new in the kitchen? Blend It Up Southwest Spice Blend CONTEST

If you've been reading my blog, you know that I love my VitaMix. I've had it for 20+ years and use it 3-4 times a week. I was at Costco a few weeks ago when they were doing VitaMix demonstrations. While making a taco soup, they used a spice blend made by Blend It Up. Anyway, I really liked the flavor of the soup, so, I bought the Blend It Up Southwest Spice Blend.
You can imagine my excitement, when I met the person who produces Blend It Up! Here is the exciting part......... he has given me some product for a contest!



I will be giving away 3 containers of Southwest Spice Blend from Blend It Up. Here's what you need to do; make a comment on this post telling me your favorite southwest food. I will take comments until Saturday Dec. 20, 2008 at 12 noon MST. I'll use random.org to select my winning numbers. Tell all of your friends to enter!

Also, if you make an order with Blend It Up (click here and it will take you to their web site), mention the Little Red Hen, and you will receive a gift! What is not to love about that!

Menu Planning and CONTEST

Today's topic, menu planning, is really all about getting yourself organized to cook. Do you ever hear yourself saying, "I don't know what to make for dinner!"? You are not alone, especially if you hear yourself saying this about 30 minutes before everyone expects to sit down to a meal. So, half of the battle is to decide, in advance, what you are going to make for your evening meal.

• First, select a menu planning template from off of the internet. I found a cute one on http://www.futuregirl.com/ that you can download for free. If I could show it here, I would. If only I was techno-savy...sigh! Or, Google menu planning template for more free options. You can also just get some paper; draw a line down the middle. Make 6 vertical lines across the paper as shown on the picture.

• Second, make a list of meals that your family enjoys. Ask your family to help you make the list. You will be surprised with what everyone comes up with! At this point I consider what I might need to use up that I have on hand. I also consider what is on sale at the grocery store.
• Third, fill in the left hand column with each dinner menu.
• Fourth, create your shopping list from the meals you have planned, along with other staple items you might need. I keep my shopping list where everyone can see it, so that if they see we are out of something, they write it down. Click on the picture below for a close-up. You'll notice I only plan dinner. For me, breakfast and lunch items are easy and I always have those items on hand. You may want to plan all of your meals.

Do you have a favorite menu planning template? I’d love to hear what you do that makes menu planning fun for you. While we are at it, it is time for a contest. Just make a comment on this post, and I will be giving away a fun menu planning, recipe package. Share this with your friends or on your blog.

CONTEST! Favorite Kitchen tools!

This is just a reminder to enter my contest for silicon muffin liners and potentially a cookie dough scoop. Just go read my blog entry from Wednesday and make a comment about your favorite kitchen tool or favorite muffin recipe. I will randomly select the winner using an online number selector. I need 15 comments on that post to include the dough scoop....what are you waiting for...call all of your friends!!!

CONTEST! Favorite Kitchen tools!

I love cooking and baking, and over time have discovered some neat tools to use that make the job easier. The first tool to talk about is the handy cookie dough ball scoop. You can get these inexpensively at Bed, Bath and Beyond (under $5) and other stores that carry kitchen utensils. The cool thing about the dough scoop is that you get a uniform cookie every time. It was tough getting these pictures, because I'm right handed, so if it looks a bit funny...sorry! You scoop the dough into the scooper, level it off on the bottom, then push the top outside of the scoop (it is flexible which enables the dough to come out easily) with your thumb. Here is the finished product, yummy chocolate swirl cookies. See how nice they look?

My next favorite product is the silicon muffin baking cup. I love these....so easy to use and to clean. Gone are the days when you have to grease and flour muffin tins, or hope you have paper cupcake liners in your cupboard.

I made some oatmeal muffins (after I finished baking the cookies) to demonstrate. Above the dough is in the cups. Notice you don't have to have these in a muffin tin. They stand up on their own without the need of a tin.

Here is the finished product.....so good......so easy.....everyone needs some of these if you bake your own muffins. I just pushed the muffin out after they came out of the oven. They come out nicely with little stuck to the sides when hot or cooled. They wash easily. I just put them upside down on a dish towel to dry. Stack to store. You can get the silicon muffin cups in a variety of sizes and shapes. I got these particular ones in Target. They were $1 for a container of 6, which is a great deal. I have seen them in TJ Maxx for about $5 for 6. They had larger cups and some square ones, too.

OK, the contest is this.......leave me a comment on my blog...this thread (yes, please do tell your friends to share!) telling me a favorite kitchen tool that you like to use, or a recipe for a favorite muffin recipe. I will send you 12 silicon muffin cups! If I get more than 15 comments, I will include a cookie dough scoop! How fun! Yes, if you are from outside of the US, I will try and ship to you also, or send you a Betty Crocker recipe pamphlet! Contest ends on Tuesday Oct.14th, 2008 at 12 noon MST.

Tomorrow I will post the oatmeal muffin recipe. It uses yogurt!