Vegetarian Slow Cooker Cookbook Giveaway!

I love my slow cooker.  Love it.  I also really love vegetarian foods. However.....vegetarian foods don't always love me.  I received this book; The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, from my mother in law as a Christmas gift, but as I went through the pages I realized, as I had feared, I wouldn't be able to enjoy most of the recipes because they contained FODMAPs ( my mother in law, Dee, also got me a non-vegetarian slow cooker cookbook, which I plan to use very soon, and often).  I am able to modify a lot of my favorite recipes to contain less FODMAPs  but most vegetarian recipes have FODMAP ingredients as their core ingredient, and for the main source of protein, therefore they are more difficult to modify.

I thought about returning the book, but then I thought NO WAY! I want one of my loyal readers to get this book!  I mean, it's a wonderful cookbook, with some fantastic recipes from all around the world.

In order to enter this giveaway all you have to do is tell me your favorite vegetarian source of protein.  Easy!  For an extra entry you can Tweet this giveaway (and include me in your tweet; @CandidRD) or "Like" my Facebook Page (check in out on the right side of my blog), and let me know you did.  I will announce the winner next Wednesday, January 9th.

Good luck, and thanks for reading!

The Candid Rd

NOTE: I love comments!  But, be sure to come back to read any replies to questions or comments, as they do not go directly to your e-mail.

Eat Right With Color! And, "Complete Bar" Winners

Can you believe it's MARCH?! Am I the only one who feels like the years go by faster every year? I swear by the time I'm seventy a year will last one day. Anyway, happy March, and happy NATIONAL NUTRITION MONTH! This month's theme is "Eat Right With Color", which to me means it's time to start focusing the importance of coloring your plate with all the varieties of fresh fruits and veggies that our Mother Earth has to offer! Take advantage of all the different colors of produce, such as red (cranberries, red peppers, strawberries), green (spinach, kale, asparagus), purple (eggplants, blueberries), orange (sweet potatoes, pumpkins, carrots) and so many others. They all contain different nutrients, each providing very special and unique powers, which work together to help protect the body (and plant!) from various diseases.



Here are some of my favorite colorful and nutrient-packed recipes from this past year;

Drool Worthy Avocado Chicken

Spinach Pesto

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Tempeh Sloppy Joes

Butternut and Acorn Squash Soup

My Favorite Kale Side Dish

Summer Salsa

This year, as the Public Relations Chair of The Columbus Dietetic Association, I had a mission to create a helpful pamphlet that could be used to find in-season produce and uses for those produce. Here is the final product!


Inside there a list of the in-season produce for summer, winter, fall and spring, plus a list of ideas for how to use some of the more uncommon produce.


And of course each season has two simple and delicious recipes.


We are selling these pamphlets to friends and family. All profits will go towards dietetic scholarships and future CDA events. I thought about selling these on my blog, but then decided not to. I may do another giveaway soon and have this and one of my Complete Bars be the prize. It really depends on how well we do at selling these things. I hope people buy them! I worked really, really hard on creating them (and I am not known for my creativity...).

And now it's time for me to announce the giveaway winners....

CONGRATS to Lauren of Foodtrainers, and Erin of The Healthy Apron!!!

Please e-mail me your address (GCsmiler19@yahoo.com) and I will send your prize asap.

Question: What's your favorite green, red and orange fruit and/or vegetable?!

Here are mine;

Green: broccoli

Red: Strawberry

Orange: Sweet potato (pumpkin is a very close second!)

Nothing beats sweet potato + almond butter (except for maybe.. sweet potato + walnut butter!)

"Complete Bar" Giveaway!

I haven't hosted a giveaway on my blog for quite some time. I was going to wait until April, which is my two year "blog-iversary" but I was recently asked to make about twelve batches of my granola bars for an upcoming Columbus Dietetic Association meeting so I thought I could give some away as a blog giveaway!

Do you remember when I posted about my granola bars a while back? I asked you to help me come up with a name for my bars and while "Candid Bar" was the top choice, I decided to go with "Complete Bar".

COMPLETE BAR
"It's a complete and balanced meal....in a bar!"

Calories: ~ 310

Fat: ~15 grams (1.3g saturated)

** A full day’s worth of Alpha Linolenic Acid (essential fatty acid) **

Sugar: ~ 12 grams

** Only 3.5 grams are from added sugars, the rest are from the prunes **

Fiber: ~ 6 grams

Protein: ~ 10 grams

Good source of iron!

One-half serving (cup) of fruit!

12 grams of whole grain!

INGREDIENTS: prunes, oats, walnuts, almonds, molasses, peanuts, puffed wheat, cinnamon, potassium sorbate*, salt, cayenne pepper

* used to preserve the prunes

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

There will be two winners of this giveaway.

Each winner will receive 2 of my Complete Bars and 2 Odwalla Bars

To Enter

1) Leave me a comment telling me what you look for in a snack bar (1 entry)

2) Tweet this giveaway by copying and pasting this; @CandidRD is giving away a sample of her homemade Complete Bars! [Link]
(2 entries)

3) Follow my blog, or tell me that you're already following my blog! (2 entries)

4) Mention this giveaway on a blog post (2 entries)


This giveaway ends one week from today (March 1st)

Our First Party Was a Hit!

How was everyone's Fourth of July?! Nick and I had our first party and I have to say it was quite a success. We spent the entire day getting together all the last minute details, such as putting up this lovely blue canopy, which was meant to provide shade. Hmmm...didn't really do much in my opinion.





Last week we purchased some patio furniture, which we love. We'll be painting the chairs soon just to spruce them up a bit.




At a party with people in the age group of 17-35, cornhole is a must. I dominate at this game. Has everyone heard of this? Or is this just a midwest thing?



I didn't take many pictures, I guess I was too busy drinking, making guests happy, and mingling (we had about 27 guests). I was glad I got this picture though, with me in the middle, my friend Renee on the left, and my mom on the right. This was pretty early so I was more into the whole picture thing at this point.



Renee is my friend from high school and college. There is only one word to describe Renee and that's HILARIOUS. She bought us this cheese cutting board, with some cheese and crackers for our party. You see what the fruit is on the cutting board? It's an artichoke. When we were in high school we had to bring cans in for the canned food drive and I brought in three cans of artichokes. I had no idea they were about 4 times as expensive as most canned goods, I just knew I didn't like them so I figured I'd grab them and give them away (sorry mom!). Our teacher, Mrs. Leonard, completely yelled at me and said, "ARTICHOKES?! Why would you bring ARTICHOKES to a canned food drive?! It's an acquired taste!"
Oops. I mean, why not?! It's a canned food drive!! Who says I can't bring artichokes?! Needless to say, I love artichokes now, and I would never give them away!




I only took pictures of the pretty foods, such as this giant tray of fruit. It was so fresh and delicious. My aunt made a lemon yogurt dipping sauce for the fruit and it was the perfect combination.



And of course my watermelon salsa! It was a hit (especially for the bugs, ewww).



I filled my plate with a cheeseburger and pulled chicken. I wasn't in the mood for beans (I didn't have Beano at my service) and I was just craving some protein!




The best food creation was made by our friend Pat Dappen. She made this amazing sheet cake and used blueberries, raspberries, and vanilla icing for the stars and stripes. Yes, this cake tasted just as good as it looked. Maybe even better!



Late night, after all the adults were gone (hehe) we sat around the fire and had a few good laughs, and drinks. We made S'mores and we got in a heated conversation as to which way is best to roast a marshmallow. I was pretty much the only person who didn't say "BURN IT TO A CRISP!". I'm sorry but I don't like burning my marhsmallows (if I can help it)! What about you?

We all got a kick out of teaching Smita, one of my good friends from school, how to make a S'more. She had never had one before so we had to make her first experience spectacular! I think she liked it. I mean, how can you not like a S'more?!

Oh yeah, my parent's new dog Scarlet showed up too. What a cutie.

Overall the party was a blast. I drank too much and ate too much, but I had a great time with my family, friends, and neighbors. Nick and I look forward to doing this again next year.

GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

Sassy of Agapi Mou

and

Ally of Sweet and Savory

CONGRATS!

Coming Up

I'm leaving for Pittsburgh today because tomorrow at 12pm I start my first day of training. I'll be sleeping in a hotel this entire week, and then I'll come home for the weekend, only to go back to Pittsburgh the following week (I'll be doing this for eight weeks!). I think next week we get to start staying in condos instead of hotels, and I'm fairly sure I'll be getting a roommate. It's sort of like college again! Similar to college, I'm anticipating being very busy so I may be taking a short blog break, but who knows. I may or may not be posting while I'm there, it depends on how much free time I get. Tomorrow I hope to post a recap of my pre-Pittsburgh food preparation for the week. You can see what a psycho RD does for her boyfriend when she goes out of town.....

Thanks for reading everyone! Have a great week :)