McDonald's Favorites Under 400 ... and a giveaway!

Have you seen the new "Favorites Under 400" menu at McDonald's? I have to say, I'm a bit excited about it - especially since some of MY favorites are on the list.

So what is the "Favorites Under 400"? Well, in an effort to put calories "front and center" for some of their most popular menu items, this is just one way McDonald's is offering nutrition information to help consumers make choices that are right for us. All the "Favorites Under 400" items will be grouped on the menu so we can find exactly what we're looking for.

Some of the items on the list include Egg McMuffin, Filet-O-Fish, medium fries, and Fruit 'N Yogurt Parfaits. Personally, I'm excited to see the Egg McMuffin on this "under 400" list - that's my "go to" breakfast sandwich (with a Diet Coke...don't judge me!). Of course, I always "special order" mine without Canadian bacon...so maybe it's less than 400 calories? :)

As an added bonus, select items from the "Favorites Under 400" menu contain a game piece with a code to enter the "Win When USA Wins Gold" contest. Check out the full details here.

And because I want my readers to enjoy their favorite under 400 ... I am giving away coupons to FIVE lucky readers. Each winner will receive a coupon for ONE free Premium Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich, ONE free Egg McMuffin, and ONE free Fruit 'N Yogurt Parfait. Coupons are valid at ANY participating McDonald's in the United States.

The rules:
1. To enter, you MUST use the Rafflecopter form below.
2. Contest starts at 12:01 am August 2 and ends at 12:01 am August 9.
3. All winners will be notified via email. Therefore you must include your email address in your blog comment.
4. Prizes will be mailed via US mail.
5. Contest open to US residents only (the coupons are only good at participating US McDonald's.)

Good luck!

8/9/12 UPDATE: Four winners were chosen from the Rafflecopter entries. Because I had 5 sets of coupons to give as prizes, I'm also sending one to commenter AubreyLaine too. Congrats to all the winner. Enjoy your Favorites Under 400! 

Disclosure: McDonald's of NW Ohio provided the coupons for the giveaway. I received three sets of coupons for my own personal use. No other compensation was provided. All thoughts are my own.

Who Makes You Smile?

Think about that for a minute - who makes you smile?
Your kids? Your spouse? Your parents?

Well, what if you could win a fabulous trip to New York City just for showing off your smile?

Yep. You read that right - all you need to do is share a photo of yourself and someone who makes you SMILE at http://www.topdentists.com/smile/ , write a brief caption (140 words or less...just like a Tweet!), and then ask your friends, family, and anyone else you can find to vote on your photo by February 24!

Five submissions with the most votes will be eligible for the Grand Prize - the winner and ONE guest will get an all-expense paid trip to New York City, $1,000 spending cash, AND a professional photo shoot! (The top three entries within 100 miles of Troy, MI; Philadelphia, PA; Aventura, FL; Austin, TX; and Beverly Hills, CA will be judged for five regional prizes).

The winners will be announced on March 16!

The contest is running now through February 24 so enter today: http://www.topdentists.com/smile/

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post in any way. I just wanted to share it with my readers!

You say tomato, I say tomahto

A few weeks ago, during a particularly bad week, I received an unexpected e-mail in my inbox.

It was an e-mail asking me about tomatoes.
Red Gold Tomatoes to be exact.

Now I'll be the first to admit I don't normally buy canned tomatoes.
I'll buy tomato sauce, but only when I'm making chili. Otherwise, I'm not a big canned tomato buyer.

But I was intrigued by (and appreciative of) this e-mail, and when the sender asked if I'd be interested in receiving a PR kit with some of their products and a cookbook, I said "YES!"

A few days later I came home to a big box sitting in my foyer. "Holy cow! That's a lot of tomatoes!" I thought. Silly me. I had forgotten that the PR kit was going to contain more than "just" tomatoes.

Let me say this - the kit is the coolest thing E.V.E.R.

The kit was a large metal canister that looked just like a can of Red Gold Tomatoes. It was filled with three cans of tomatoes (three different varieties), two recipe books, a totebag, magnets, a limited edition toy truck (which my nephew loves!), recipe cards and a media CD with more recipes and a few videos.

See here:


So far, I've used two of the cans of tomatoes - I used the Petite Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies to make a queso dip (with Velveeta, of course) for a Halloween party. And last weekend I used the Petite Diced Tomatoes to make Spicy Tomato Bread.

Oh my gosh...that bread was delish.
(Yes, the recipe called for crushed tomatoes...but all I had was diced and it was still great)!

And now dear readers I want to share with you.

We're all busy - struggling to get dinner on the table, spend time with the kids, get the laundry folded before the weekend (when we just end up rewashing the clean stuff because it's still in the basket...), and not lose our sanity in the process.

I want to make cooking dinner easier for YOU!
I want YOU to enjoy some very yummy Red Gold Tomatoes.

From now until Saturday, November 6 at midnight (EST), leave a comment and include your e-mail address (so I can contact you!). And then, one winner will be randomly drawn to win a Red Gold Tomato kit, and one winner will be randomly drawn to win a cookbook.

Yes, it really is that easy!
So...what are you waiting for?
Post those comments!



(Note: While I did receive a PR kit, I was under no obligation to write this post or sponsor this contest.)