Go Picnic “Ready-to-Eat Meals” Giveaway

Are you tired of eating fast food when you need to eat on the go? I know I am, which is why I was thrilled when GoPicnic.com offered me the chance to review their products, as well as host a giveaway for them on my blog. I first heard of GoPicnic when I was vacationing in Chicago, and had wanted to try their meals, which my hotel offered as a to-go lunch option. Now that I’ve finally had the chance to taste their meals, I’m bummed out that I didn’t go with my instincts in Chicago, as I loved, loved, loved the products I tasted.

I received the Salami + Cheese: Classic Deli Meal, which includes Old Wisconsin Beef Salami Slices, Late July Organic Crackers, Copper Cowbell Asiago Cheese Spread, Sweet Perry Orchards Cashew Medley Fruit & Nut Mix and a Late July Organic Dark Chocolate Sandwich Cookie. This meal had 10g protein, 2g fiber, had 370 calories, and was utterly delicious, and sells for $4.99. I absolutely loved the Asiago cheese spread and was surprised at how good the cookie was, too. As you can see from my pictures, I added a pretzel roll to my meal, making it utterly filling.

I also received the Hummus + Crackers: All-Natural Meal, a balanced meal featuring Wild Garden Hummus Dip, Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers, Seapoint Farms Dry Roasted Edamame, Sweet Perry Orchards Baja Blend Fruit & Nut Mix and a Terra Nostra Organic Dark Chocolate Square. 24g protein and 12g fiber, 410 calories, and was also mouth-watering good. The Wild Garden Hummus Dip was the best store-bought Hummus I’ve ever had, and the crackers were out of this world good. It is a steal at the price of $4.99.

Lastly, I received the Parmesan Peppercorn Cheese Spread: 8 Pack (8 – 0.75 oz. cups), a delicious gourmet cheese spread that blends the flavors of Parmesan cheese and peppercorns together. While I enjoyed this cheese very much, GoPicnic is limiting me to offer only 2 meals for my giveaway, so I’m going with the other meals rather than this cheese. You may purchase this cheese is currently on sale for $3.99.

GoPicnic offers a variety of meals, ones that are all-natural, gluten-free, vegan, kosher, GMO free, and have no artificial flavors. Actually, all of their meals are made with no trans fats, no high fructose corn syrup, no added MSG, and have no artificial flavors or colors. Who wouldn’t want to eat something so healthy and tasty while traveling, or even on a picnic or as an alternative to fast food on any occasion? I know I would.

You may purchase GoPicnic meals on Amazon.com or at GoPicnic.com. If you aren’t into the whole online shopping thing, you may also purchase them at Costco, Cost Plus World Market and Wegman’s nationwide.

Ready to buy your own GoPicnic meals? Sign up to get 10% your order off here.

GO PICNIC GIVEAWAY – 1 LUCKY WINNER

RULES:

**Open to U.S. residents only.

**No P.O. boxes, please.

**Must include your email in your comment, unless you signed in to leave a comment with your “real” email.

**All comments must be separate to count as separate entries. For example, if you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, leave 2 comments, one with your Facebook name, and one with your Twitter name. Or, if you posted about the giveaway on your blog, leave 5 comments, all with the link to your giveaway.

**Please read the additional rules here.

HOW TO ENTER:

**Mandatory Entry: Go to GoPicnic.com and tell me what fun or interesting thing you noticed there.

+1  MORE ENTRY: Like Go Picnic on Facebook.

+1  MORE ENTRY: Follow me on Facebook. Make sure to leave your Facebook name in your comment.

+1  MORE ENTRY: Follow me on Facebook and share a link on your wall with the following comment I entered The Girl from the Ghetto’s Go Picnic giveaway here http://bit.ly/kRbz73. Make sure to leave a comment below with a link to your Facebook profile message, or at least with your Facebook name.

+1 MORE ENTRY: Follow @GoPicnic on Twitter. Make sure to leave your @Twitter name in your comment.

+1  MORE ENTRY: Follow me on Twitter. Make sure to leave your @Twitter name in your comment.

+1  MORE ENTRY: Follow me on Twitter and tweet the following RT @NerdGirlBlogger I entered the Ready to eat meals #giveaway by @GoPicnic here http://bit.ly/kRbz73. You can tweet 4x a day (Once every 6 hours) for even more chances to win. Make sure to leave a link to your tweet in a comment below.

+1 MORE ENTRY: Subscribe to my blog via email or Feedburner.

+1 MORE ENTRY: Enter one of my other current giveaways and tell me which one.

+1 MORE ENTRY: Comment here and tell me why you need to win this giveaway! Do you love eating? Have you tried Go Picnic meals before? Do you enjoy finding healthier meal choices, or, do you just love winning free stuff?

+5 MORE ENTRIES: Write about this giveaway on your own blog. Make sure to post a link to http://thegirlfromtheghetto.wordpress.com, and leave me 5 copies of your link via comment here.

Contest ends Sunday, July 3, 2011 at midnight. Good luck to you all!

Easy, Breezy Beautiful Pasta Recipe

I have been meaning to post this quick and easy pasta recipe for ages.  It is one of my favorites, and it is so simple to make, and more importantly quick to make.  You can make it from scratch, eat it, and be done with the dishes in 45 minutes.  So, enjoy summer (like I have been this weekend!) and keep this dish on your 30 minutes or less meal recipe file.

EASY, BREEZY BEAUTIFUL GARLIC PASTA

INGREDIANTS:

-2/3 to an entire clove of garlic (depending on how brave you are) finely chopped (Side note: DO NOT use minced garlic from a jar, ever in your life.  There is no taste like fresh garlic.)

-one 12-16 oz. jar of roasted read peppers chopped. 

-1/2 to 2/3 bunch of fresh cilantro, finely chopped.  (You can use the frozen cilantro from Trader Joe’s if you need to, but it just isn’t the same, and isn’t as pretty.)

-extra virgin olive oil.  (I don’t measure it out, sorry)

-a box of angel hair pasta.

-one 6 – 8 oz. container of basil feta cheese.

-one 6 – 8 oz. container of Asiago cheese, finely shredded.

DIRECTIONS:

As you are chopping ingredients, boil water for the angel hair pasta.  Cook as directed, but don’t overcook the pasta.  Al dente is the best.  Don’t forget to add salt before boiling the noodles.  An absolute must!  Add garlic, cilantro and red peppers to olive oil in a mixing bowl.  (Maybe a cup or two of olive oil, sorry I can’t be more specific.)  Add drained, cooked pasta, and mix together in bowl.  Add more olive oil if necessary.  Mix in feta cheese, add more olive oil if needed.  Mix half of the Asiago cheese, and more olive oil if needed.  Serve while hot, and top with remaining cheese if needed. 

This dish heats up beautifully for days afterwards, and by far, if my most favorite thing to eat during the summer, next to a medium Dairy Queen Chocolate Extreme Blizzard (made with chocolate ice cream, of course.)  Even if you aren’t a friend to cilantro, you will be once you eat this dish.  If I can make my picky 11-year-old eat this, you can at least try it.   

If you have a great summer dish for me, please feel free to share it in your comment below.  I’d love to hear about it.