Tag Archives: Giveaway

PRODUCT REVIEW, GIVEAWAY

gomacro macrobars

I have been eating GoMacro macrobars for YEARS!  I think the first time I ever tried one was over a decade ago.  First off they taste amazing, and secondly the ingredients are so simple and there is nothing unrecognizeable in them.  I was recently sent a tray of their GoMacro minis (mini versions of their full bars) to try and there were lots of flavors that were new to me.

Just check out the nutrition information / ingredients in the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip bar (my favorite):

Go Macro Nutrition Info

I especially love these bars for endurance athletic events or hikes.  I would much rather get my energy from these bars than from a gu of sorts and there is an awesome ratio of fats / carbs / proteins versus being purely carbs.

I am particularly partial to GoMacro’s Protein Pleasure (PB choc chip), Protein Replenishment (peanut butter), Sweet Rejuvination (cashew butter), Protein Paradise (cashew caramel), and Balanced Goodness (granola and coconut).  I can honestly say that I like all of their flavors (they have 11 flavors in all) with the exception of Prolonged Power (banana and almond butter)… I am generally not a fan of banana products and only like ACTUAL bananas or banana bread, so I am not really sure that I am the best judge of that.  In addition to those mentioned above, they have:

  • Protein Purity (sunflower butter and chocolate)
  • Wholehearted Heaven (almond butter and carob)
  • Sweet Revival (sesame butter and dates)
  • Sunny Uplift (cherries and berries)
  • Morning Harvest (apples and walnuts)

The texture of the bars is very similar to a caramel…soft and chewy.  These bars are not dry like a lot of other bars out there nor are they chalky like many vegan protein products tend to be (win, win).

gomacro-table-1GoMacro also prides their products on being:

  • Organic
  • Gluten-Free
  • Vegan
  • Kosher
  • Non-Gmo
  • Soy-Free

GIVEAWAY

 

WINNER IS “KRISTYPANTS” http://instagram.com/kristypantss

 

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THE CHEF AJ EXPERIENCE – Cooking Class and GIVEAWAY

Chef AJ and Julieanna Hever recently contributed a Guest Blog for Veggie Grettie where they showed us how to make Chef AJ’s Hail to the Kale dressing (click here to view the post).  Earlier this month I was contacted by Chef AJ and invited to attend one of her cooking classes.  It was great fun to meet Chef AJ in person.  She is wacky, zany, full of life, passionate, knowledgeable, friendly, and kind.  Interesting fact – Chef AJ was once on Johnny Carson playing two flutes with her nose while standing on her head and blowing bubbles out of her nose (I told you she is wacky)!!!

Chef AJ has been a vegan for over 30 years, but has only been a “healthy” vegan for the last 7 years.  During the class Chef AJ took a moment to tell her story and explain why she is so passionate about eating a whole foods unprocessed plant-based diet.  She explained that her typical day was filled with big gulp slurpies (embellished with 8 pumps of vanilla syrup), Dr. Pepper, sugar, pastries, and other forms of JUNK with the occasional serving of steamed broccoli on the side.  Eventually it caught-up with her and her health suffered in a major way.

In January of 2003 (There is no way to say this delicately) she went in to the bathroom to have a bowel movement and ended-up with a toilet filled with blood.  With a strong family history of colon cancer and bowel obstructions she finally woke-up after finding out that she had multiple nasty adenomatous pre-cancerous polyps in her sigmoid colon.  Her colon was so ill that they were not even safely able to remove the polyps.  This was her official wake-up call.

Chef AJ sent herself to the Optimum Health Institute in San Diego (Their organic gardens pictured above) for a total body overhaul.  She ate a 100% organic raw diet while there and it wasn’t easy as she suffered mass withdrawal symptoms within the first 3days .  Despite the discomfort of withdrawing from sugar, oil, and salt (what she deems the “Evil Trinity”) she committed to the program and 6 months later she had the colon of a newborn baby without having surgery or taking meds…what a testament to this way of life!

Chef AJ knew that this was the lifestyle for her and enrolled in culinary school at the Living Light Culinary Arts Institute in order to learn how to make health promoting food as palatable as possible.

The class she that I attended focused on just that.  Chef AJ teaches classes out of her home in Sherman Oaks with the goal of teaching her health promoting ways to as many people as possible.  In the picture below she is channeling her Johnny Carson days while performing a song about health (her sous chefs are also back-up singers / dancers).

During the 3 hour class I attended she made:

It’s Easy Being Green Smoothies loaded with kale and mint…my new favorite green smoothie ingredient

Nutrient Rich Chocolate Smoothies,  fresh almond milk (forgot to take a picture!)…

Nutrient Rich Smoky Black Bean Soup where she added all the veggies WHOLE to a pot of water and then just used the immersion blender at the end (Why didn’t I ever think of that???…MAJOR time saver!)

Raw Dream of Tomato Soup

One of my favorites…Hail to the Kale Salad

Fresh Banana Ice Cream in her Champion Juicer that was so creamy and amazing (I need to get me one of those!).  I have made this in my food processor and it is really good, but NOTHING like what the Champion Juicer makes.  It was crazy good.

Chocolate FUNdue…so good.  I make this regularly and keep it in my freezer in single serve cups otherwise I will eat it all in one sitting!  The picture below is the FUNdue in the processing stage.  It is such a great dip for fruit, truffle filling,  or sauce for desserts.

And last but not least, her version of a very popular Starbucks drink, a Caramel “Fake”iatto (I also forgot to take a picture of this!)

I was also sent home with a giant slice of her German Chocolate Cake that was eaten before I even had a chance to take a picture of it!

To learn more about classes with Chef AJ click here.  I believe she does not have any classes on the schedule at the moment because she is traveling to promote her new book, however you can check back regularly for updated class listings.

* GIVEAWAY * GIVEAWAY * GIVEAWAY *

Chef AJ’s Book Unprocessed

Chef AJ generously provided me with a signed copy of her book Unprocessed as a giveaway.  To enter the giveaway simple leave a comment at the end of this post about either of the following topics.  One entry per comment, so you have LOTS of chances to win…enter as many times as you’d like.

1.  What was your own personal health wake-up call?

2.  Ask me a question for my Ask Grettie column on Chic Vegan.  You never know…your question might be featured!

BONUS ENTRY

If you are not an e-mail subscriber of Veggie Grettie, become a subscriber, leave a comment in the comment section that you are now a subscriber, and that will count as an additional entry.

The giveaway winner will be announced Sunday, October 9th.

Organic garden picture courtesy of Optimum Health Institute

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Filed under Books, Contests, Cooking Demonstration, Education, General Vegan, Giveaways, Vegan, Vegetarian

BLISSMO SKIN ORGANICS GIVEAWAY ENDS MIDNIGHT

Just a quick FYI that  Blissmo contacted me to let me know that we have had enough sign-ups for the giveaway to go live.  Entries will be cut-off at midnight tonight PST.  I will announce the winner tomorrow.

Good luck!

Gretchen

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BLISSMO GIVEAWAY – Skin Organics Skin-dulgence Package

blissmo 

We have an awesome giveaway from Blissmo today!  Today Blissmo will be giving one of my readers a Summer Skin-dulgence package by Skin Organics. 

The package includes: 

– 2 oz Cucumber Sage Calming Mist

– 1.7 oz Pomegranate Daytime Protection

– 0.5 oz Super C Vitamin Cocktail

– 1 oz Papaya Gentle Eye Peel 

HOW TO ENTERClick here to go to the Blissmo Website and sign-up for Blissmodaily deals be a (This is a required step for entry for the giveaway).  Once you have gone to Blissmo and signed-up, please come back to this Veggie Grettie post and leave a comment telling me you have signed-up for their daily deals.

DISCOUNT – If you are itching to buy today’s product and don’t want to wait to see if you’ve won, Blissmo is offering the same package as the giveaway for 57% off today. Blissmo has also offered Veggie Grettie readers an additional 5% off (use the code “trybliss” at checkout).

To learn more about Skin Organics click here.

Please note that for the giveaway to “go live” there will need to be 40 Blissmo sign-ups.  The winner will be selected at random.

Skin Organics image courtesy of skinorganicsaw.com

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