Country Crock’s Spread the Love of Vegetables ($200 Giveaway & More!)

I consider myself very fortunate that my children love vegetables. I have always been fond of veggies and I hoped my love of vegetables was passed on to my children. I have heard horror stories from other parents who cannot get their children to eat any type of a vegetable. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with that. To make sure my kids appreciated vegetables I made sure to feed them veggies as soon as they were able to eat solid foods. My kids actually love broccoli, spinach, raw veggies and salad.

My kids have always loved to help me out in the kitchen. For their safety I try and keep them away from the stove and oven. I often let them do the measuring and mixing part of the recipes we are making. I only wish our kitchen was bigger so we had more room so both kids could help me at the same time.

Vegetables are a very important part of every meal. Sadly many adults and children so not get enough vegetables in their diet.

Country Crock has a fun new campaign going on that aims to make vegetables more delicious so that they appeal to every family member. Country Crock has 70% less saturated fat then butter. Butter contains 11 total fat with 7 grams of saturated fat (the ”bad” kind) per serving. Country Crock has only 7 grams of fat and 2 grams of the “bad” saturated fat per serving. Diets high in the “bad” fats (trans and saturated fats) leads to high cholesterol which increases the risk of heart disease.

Country Crock also has less calories then butter (100 calories per serving of butter and 70 calories per serving of Country Crock).

Country Crock goes so well with vegetables too. Mmm… I’m drooling just thinking about having a baked potato right now with steamed broccoli and a pat of Country Crock melting on top. Yummy!

Encouraging your children (and family!) to eat more vegetables is to make vegetables more fun and appetizing. Don’t just plop a scoop of spinach on a child’s plate and tell them to eat it. Instead add some extras to it to jazz up the taste a bit. You can also remind your children just how important it is to enjoy a variety of vegetables on a daily basis.

A fun way to encourage children to eat more veggies is to tell your children they need to eat the colors of the rainbow. If you think about a rainbow it has red, orange, yellow, green and purple. There are vegetables that come in each of these colors. For example beets are red, carrots are orange, corn is yellow, broccoli is green and eggplant is purple. In some ares you can actually purchase purple carrots too. Challenge your child to eat every color of the rainbow every week. Make it a game the whole family can play.

You can also incorporate vegetables into your regular recipes and find creative ways to serve them. For example, you can add shredded veggies to meals such as meatloaf, lasagna, rice dishes and pasta dishes.

Kids love to eat kabobs. Whip up some kabobs with a mixture of fruits and veggies. Kids will have fun eating them.

I personally keep a fresh supply of veggies handy in the fridge. I have found that my kids (and even my husband) are more likely to reach for some baby carrots or sliced cucumbers if they can clearly see them when they open up the refrigerator door. I always make sure to send my kids to school with fresh veggies too. My daughter especially prefers fresh vegetables over cooked ones. If I do cook veggies  I normally steam them.

Here are some of my kids favorite veggie recipes that we make frequently.

Beets in Balsamic Vinegar

- 2 cans of beets (use your favorite cut)

- 1 cup of Balsamic Vinegar

- 1 teaspoon of minced garlic

- salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Open both cans of beets and drain out the fluid. Pour the beets into a bowl

Add the Balsamic Vinegar. Use more or less then 1 cup (just enough so that the beets are almost covered in it).

Mix in the garlic.

Add salt and/or pepper to taste. Garlic pepper works great too.

Sweet Baby Carrots

- 1 pounds of fresh baby carrots (the pre-packaged ones work great)

- 2 tablespoons of Country Crock

- 1/3 of a cup of Orange Juice

- 4 tablespoons of brown sugar

Directions:

Put the carrots in a saucepan and cover with water. Let them boil until they are soft and tender.

Drain the water and return the carrots to the pan.

Add the orange juice to the pan and let simmer with the carrots for a few minutes on medium high heat.

Add in the remaining ingredients and continue to heat until everything is well mixed and the sugar and Country Crock is melted.

Serve with some of the juice from the pan drizzled on top if desired.

String Beans with Garlic and Lemon

- 1 pound of fresh, washed green beans with the ends cut off.

- 1 teaspoon of mince garlic

- 1/3 cup of lemon juice

- 2 tablespoons of Country Crock

- salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large pot add water (you can salt it if you like) and bring to a boil. Add in the green beans. Cook for about 5 minutes. Drain out the water and place the green beans in a large bowl to cool down (approximately 10 minutes).

In a small bowl mix together all the other ingredients. When the green beans are cooled pour the other ingredients on top and mix well. Allow the mixture and green beans to sit for a few minutes, then mix again.

You can serve this warm or refrigerate and serve cold.   

My family’s number one veggie dish is salad. My entire family LOVES salad. My kids even like to bring it to school and have it for lunch. My husband likes to add a can of tuna to the salad when he takes it for lunch. Salad makes a great side dish, lunch and even dinner if you add in some grilled chicken.

Veggies shouldn’t be something that children dread. Vegetables should be celebrated for their amazing varieties, tastes, colors and health benefits.

To find more family friendly vegetable recipes visit the Country Crock website, www.CountryCrock.com. You can also find recipes on their Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/CountryCrock.

Country Crock would love for you to have your own “Veggie Party” with your family (and even friends!) but giving away a very special “Spread the Love of Vegetables” giveaway. One lucky reader will win a $200.00 American Express (AMEX) gift card to stock up on healthy veggies. WOW!!! Two lucky runner-ups will win a special Veggie Party Kit valued at $115.00. The kit comes with…

- Country Crock samples

- Re-usable eco-friendly grocery tote

- Vegetable chopper

- Child size apron

- Gardening “How to” kit

- Vegetable recipes cookbook.

- “Today I Ate a Rainbow” kit (pictured below).

To enter please visit either visit the Country Crock Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/CountryCrock) or the official website (www.CountryCrock.com) and check out the delicious VEGETABLE recipes. Then come back here and comment on a specific vegetable recipe you would love to try.

For extra entries you can do any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment for each that you have done. Extra entries are optional.

- Subscribe to She Scribes. Both RSS and E-mail options are found on the right side bar.

- Connect with She Scribes on Google Friend Connect, also found on the right side bar.

- Earn one extra entry for each thoughtful comment you leave on a non-giveaway post here on She Scribes. Please read the post so you can leave an appropriate comment. You must include the URL of the post you commented on so I can verify. There is no limit to the number of entries using this method, providing the initial entry requirement is fulfilled. Comments MUST be on DIFFERENT posts.

- “Like” She Scribes on Facebook, www.Facebook.com/SheScribes.

- Follow Country Crock on Twitter, www.Twitter.com/CountryCrock.

- Follow She Scribes on Twitter (www.Twitter.com/She_Scribes) and tweet about this review/giveaway. Please include @She_Scribes in the tweet so I may see it too. This is limited to three tweets per day.

- Blog about this review/giveaway and please link back to both this post and the Country Crock Facebook page (Facebook.com/CountryCrock). Please include the URL of the post.

- Add my button (found on the right side bar) or my site URL to your site or blog roll. Please include the URL.

- Share this review/giveaway with others (Facebook, Digg, Technorati…). Be sure to tell me what you did and provide a name and/or URL so I can verify.

This giveaway is open to US residents and will end on May 25, 2011 at 11:59 PM (EST). The winners will be chosen using a random number generator from all eligible entries. The winners will be notified via e-mail and will have three days to reply with a name and mailing address (no PO Box) and phone number (shipping purposes only) or a new winner will be chosen in their place.

Would you like another chance to win? Check out the same giveaway going on at Being Alison’s blog, http://wp.me/p1rCM1-2dr.

Other great giveaways can be found on the right side bar under “Win It”.

Kimberly

*I received a Veggie Party kit and monetary compensation for this post. The opinions expressed are my own and were not influenced in any way. Country Crock will be providing the prizes.

Related Posts:

• June is National Iced Tea Month (Giveaway)
• Campbells AdDress Your Heart Campaign (Great Giveaway!)
• Voskos Greek Yogurt
• Bring FUN to Your Dinner Table with Perdue (Giveaway)
• Barber Chicken Grillables Review & Grill Giveaway!