This Mama Cooks! On a Diet

Check out my latest giveaway: V8 V-Fusion juice

I’m giving away a case (8 large bottles) of V8 V-Fusion Passionfruit Tangerine juice this week over at This Mama Cooks! Reviews.

Not only is the juice delicious, but it offers a full serving of both fruit and vegetables in every serving.

Check it out and enter!

Review: R.W. Knudsen Sparkling Essence

Want to try R.W. Knudsen Sparkling Essence for FREE? Enter my Win 4 four-packs of R.W. Knudsen Sparkling Essence giveaway!

My family is currently enjoying the first of several bottles of R.W. Knudsen Vita Cranberry juice that I scored at my local discount grocery store. I love their juices, too - see my reviews of their Just Black Currant and Organic Sensible Sippers. However, I feel that drinking juice, even when it’s yummy and organic, doesn’t seem worth  spending Weight Watchers POINTS. Juice has too many calories and if I’m drinking several POINTS worth of something, I might as well have a glass of wine and get a little buzz for my POINTS.

Well, I’m happy to find out that R.W. Knudsen just release a new zero calorie carbonated drink – Sparkling Essence^TM. Their sparkling spring water drinks are flavored with organic lemons, cooling mint, whole blueberries, and fresh cucumbers – and are fantastic!  

Zero calories and lots of taste

When I showed my husband the Organic Cucumber Sparkling Essence, he wrinkled up his nose and said, “Gross!” After trying it, he remarked, “That is amazing.” Both of us agreed that the cucumber was unique, very refreshing and highly addictive. Drinking one you felt like you were at a fancy spa and doing something healthy for yourself. It was so good that we told the kids that they were NOT allowed any – for grownups only. (Though I did give them a few sips and they liked the drinks as well.)

The Organic Mint and Organic Blueberry Sparkling Essence were also terrific. The only one I was disappointed by was the Organic Lemon since it didn’t seem as special as the other flavors. Each drink is certified organic has no calories, added sugar, or artificial ingredients.

I was sad when I finished my last Sparkling Essence. (R.W. Knudsen sent me four four-packs to try.) Having one with dinner really made the meal much more special than having a plain glass of tap water.

So I’m looking forward to when my local grocery store starts carrying them. In fact, the next time I’m at King Soopers, I’ll special order some cucumber and mint Sparkling Essence, if I don’t see them on the shelf. Yes, they’re worth the special effort.

To find out where R.W. Knudsen products are sold near you, use their store locator.

Win a year's supply of Campbell's Chicken & Stars soup

I’ve been so busy that I never had time to post about my trip to the Campbell’s headquarters in Camden, NJ last month. I was impressed by their efforts in making their products – from soups, Prego, Pace, Pepperidge Farms and V-8 – healthier and how dedicated they were to making life easier for moms. (You can learn more about their Global Commitment to Responsible Advertising and their commitment to offering healthy and nutritious products and providing safe, high-quality and convenient products on their corporate website.)

Read about the event from some of the other bloggers who went:

Mom Advice	Busy Mom Reviews
Sugar My Bowl	The Debroff Debrief Part 1 and Part 2
Mom Views	This Full House Reviews
Table For Five	Because I Said So Reviews Part 1 and Part 2

So what do you get out of my trip, dear reader? Hopefully some recipes soon (I swear). But even more fun, a chance to win a year’s supply Campbell’s^® Chicken & Stars kids soup (reduced sodium) and a cute Campbell’s thermos!! (NOTE: a year’s supply is 24 cans.)

Here’s how you can win:

Quaker Start with Substance campaign - help me feed the hungry

I’m participating in the Quaker Start with Substance campaign to get a case of Quaker oatmeal for the Tri-Town Food Bank*, but I need your help!

1. Go to the go to Quaker Start with Substance site and click on the link to get to the Quaker Oats Facebook page. (While you’re there become a fan and visit and fan Share Our Strength’s Facebook page, too.)
2. Scroll down, find, and download the image of the Quaker Man (the link is on the right side towards the bottom).
3. Print it out, take a photo or video of yourself or your family with the Quaker Man. Then upload it to Quaker Facebook page.
4. Then come back here, and leave a comment with the link to your Facebook picture submission. The blogger who gets the most reader submissions within 24 hours will win the opportunity to select a hunger charity of their choice to receive a $5,000 donation made to the charity by the Quaker Oats Company.

Workout DVD winners

Thanks to everyone who entered my Win a Warner Bros. "New Year New You" kit and get SIX workout DVDs contest and signed up for my RSS feed and email newsletter.

Here are the winners…

• Angie of Losing It and Loving It
• Dani’ of Bee-Mused
• Julie of Booking Mama

Congrats everyone! Hopefully the videos will be enticing enough to get you away from your blogs.

Win a Warner Bros. "New Year New You" kit and get SIX workout DVDs

Is your New Year’s resolution to try a new exercise and fitness routine? Or maybe you’re interested int trying out some new workout DVDs. Thanks to the folks at Warner Bros. I’m giving away three “New Year New You” kits, which includes these six DVDs:

Lisa Rinna: Dance Body Beautiful-Learn & Burn AND Lisa Rinna: Dance Body Beautiful: Jive, Jump, Ballroom Bump

The hip new workout method created and choreographed by “Dancing With The Stars” competitors and fan favorites Lisa Rinna and Louis Van Amstel is the ultimate fitness DVD series.  Encompassing totally unique routines that are super fun and easy to follow, you can do these dance fitness body blasting workouts anywhere or anytime – no partner needed!  So get up! Get moving!

Skinny Bitch Fitness: Boot Camp AND Skinny Bitch Fitness: Body from the NY Times Best Selling Authors of the Skinny Bitch books

Welcome to Skinny Bitch Boot Camp where only the strong and healthy survive!  Make no mistake – a Skinny Bitch is a healthy one. Stop letting life pass you by! You can have the body and life you’ve always dreamed of! So get off your butt, and get ready to have it kicked into shape! Each workout segment is packed with solid conditioning exercises that will define, tone, and strengthen your muscles and get your heart going.

Abs of Steel: Sculpting and Toning AND Buns of Steel: Sculpting and Toning

This intense abs training regime will help you achieve amazing abs and buns of steel!  Cutting edge moves designed to shed inches and sculpt your torso from every angle are so intense your workouts will be shorter, yet much more effective. Variations are shown to allow you to work at a mild, intense, or ultimate pace depending on your fitness level or how you feel from workout to workout.

See below for the rules on how to enter my contest to win one of three “New Year New You” kits.

Stonyfield Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt winner

Thanks to everyone who entered my contest to get five cups of yummy Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt to try out courtesy of Stonyfield Yogurt.

My winner is Gudrun of Kitchen Gadget Girl.

Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt has become so popular that you may have problems finding it at your local store this month. Stonyfield is switching to a larger production facility, which is causing the supply backup.

If you’d like to be notified when Oikos Greek yogurt is back at your store, sign up for an email alert and to get a free coupon from Stonyfield.

By the way, we used Oikos yogurt on our potato pancakes last night. (I found an about-to-expire supply at my local grocery discount store.) Not only was it delicious, it has none of the fillers of low-fat or no-fat sour cream. Any time a recipe calls for sour cream, I’ll be using plain, no fat Greek yogurt instead.

Win Stonyfield Farm Oikos Greek Organic Yogurt

I’m giving away five 5.3 oz. cups of yummy Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt to one lucky winner!

You have until midnight MT on December 11, 2008 to enter.

This is a great opportunity to try out Stonyfield Farm’s new Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt. It comes in plain, vanilla, honey and blueberry. It’s delicious, healthy, and oh so addictive. I love it and know you will, too.

See below for the rules.

Butterball winners and Thanksgiving meal plans

What a bunch of turkeys – not! Here are the winners in my Win a Butterball turkey for Thanksgiving contest:

• Shannon of Charming Bitch
• Jen S.
• Yvonne of The Low Carb Band-It
• Kimberly of Cooking with Kimberly
• Deborah W.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I’ll be posting my Thanksgiving menu here in the upcoming days. (Click here to see previous years’ Thanksgiving recipes.)

I’m trying to plan a mostly healthy Thanksgiving using two books – Dr. Bowden’s Healthiest Meals on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What Meals to Eat and Why and Dave Grotto’s 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life with a little help from Bon Appetit and O magazines.

For the turkey, I’ll be making Dr. Bowden’s Citrus-Stuffed Herbed Turkey, but we’ll be smoking it. (I’m saving my “practically cooks itself” Butterball turkey for Christmas.) As for the rest, stay tuned!

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Win a Butterball turkey for Thanksgiving

Last year the Denver Post dining critic Tucker Shaw held a blind tasting of turkeys to find out if there were any differences between supermarket brands and the more expensive natural varieties. He had two Johnson & Wales University students cook up six turkeys, then had a panel of food writers, family members, chefs and colleagues rate the birds. (You can see the full article at Turkey taste test.)

The winner? Butterball turkey!

Jorge de la Torre, dean of education at Johnson & Wales University who oversaw the taste test, said for inexperienced cooks going with a Butterball turkey is a safe bet. That’s because they’re in effect pre-brined and have more fat than the natural birds.

Thanks to the folks at Butterball, you can see if their turkeys are as good as they claim by entering my contest below to win one of five Butterball turkey gift checks good for one Butterball Turkey!

If you don’t eat turkey or are planning to go organic this Thanksgiving, enter anyway. If you win, donate the turkey to your local food bank or a family in need.