I’m a Winner!

Good stuff has been going on lately, and I’m overdue for a recipe time-out to tell you all about it. I never really felt like a lucky person. Good things didn’t seem to follow me around like they sometimes do for others. Or maybe it was that I chose to notice only the bad things. Since I started paying attention to good things, I realize that I have plenty of good fortune: wonderful friends, a loving husband, four living grandparents, and a good job, among other things. But last month I was extra lucky because I found myself winning things left and right! So of course I need to tell you about those and thank everyone who made it possible. 
First, there was a sample of Just Four Nuts from Blue Mountain Organics. Ok, so technically I didn’t win these, but I sure felt pretty special when they arrived in the mail. Blue Mountain Organics is a family of a few different product lines selling gourmet organic and raw foods. Their Better Than Roasted™ brand features nuts, nut butters, and snacks made of organic nuts which are soaked, sprouted and dehydrated. This process is known to produce a more healthful nut in which all the beneficial enzymes and nutrients are preserved, rather than broken down in a roasting process. I can tell you, they are tasty too! The Just Four Nuts blend contains walnuts, almonds, cashews and pecans and I was happy to swap out my usual almond snack for these on a few days. I think my favorites were the cashews or pecans, but that might also be because I don’t usually snack on those kinds of nuts so it was nice to have something different. But who am I kidding – they are all sweet and naturally delicious. Thank you Blue Mountain Organics!
Around the same time, I entered a giveaway on Brandi’s blog, Bran Appetit. The lucky winner was to receive a beautiful blue cast iron dutch oven. That lucky winner was me! I was beyond thrilled because I didn’t own anything cast iron. Of course, now I do. Cast iron cookware is known for it’s heavy weight, but personally I can’t get over it’s vivid blue hue. Talk about an extra perfect way to brighten up a dreary winter day with a hearty soup or stew! Thanks again, Brandi!
A while back, my friend Nicole from Healthy Chow had encouraged her readers to become Facebook fans and Twitter followers of Megafruit. I took her advice and soon couldn’t wait to try their special line of dried superfruits. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long. One day I found myself randomly selected as the winner of 10 packs of fruit AND a $100 lululmon gift card courtesy of Megafruit! I seriously couldn’t imagine a more perfect gift for myself. The fruit is tasty and I love that unlike other dried fruits, there’s no candy-like sugar coating. Unnecessary, when the the fruit is tasty enough on its own! And, so excited to use that gift card. Since I work out so much, I definitely make it a priority to have well-fitting, long-lasting workout geat and lululemon has just that. What a treat! You should become a Facebook fan and follow Megafruit on Twitter too – who knows what you might get!
And as if I hadn’t been lucky enough, I have one more prize to tell you about. I’ve been following Marla at Family Fresh Cooking for a few months now, and I always love what she has to share involving clean, healthy eating for an active family. When she announced a giveaway for a new cookbook called Squeaky Gourmet: Simple Clean Food, I was all over it. And, now it’s mine 🙂  Like it’s emphasis on food, the authors’ approach is also clean and simple. Straightforward, easy to follow recipes are accompanied by pie-chart-style macronutrient breakdowns and a great lesson on the benefits of clean eating and how to do it.  Most of the information was not new to me, but it certainly made me glad to see that my diet and cooking style is already very much in line with the clean eating philosophy. My only disappointment was the laundry list of things one can do with cottage cheese – the sadness being that someone beat me towards publishing it! Kidding. Again, this just validates what I already know about cottage cheese – it’s a fabulously healthy and versatile food – and I’m happy that others will get to learn this too. Thanks again, Marla!
Do you consider yourself a lucky person? Have you won anything recently? I hope I can spread the love and share a giveaway with my readers too, but so far no luck from any vendors so I  may have to sponsor it myself! What would YOU like to win from Cara’s Cravings? Are there any products I’ve mentioned that you really want to try?

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13 Responses to “I’m a Winner!”

  1. 1

    Sandi — May 8, 2010 @ 7:12 pm Reply

    That's great Cara!!

  2. 2

    preventionrd.com — May 8, 2010 @ 7:59 pm Reply

    Wow! I'd say you're riding a wave of luck for sure! Awesome prizes, especially that dutch oven! I really want one!!!I think I ride luck waves, it kinda comes and goes. There was like a 6 week period I think I won 5 giveaways! Since then, nada! Haha! I've been busting my BUNS at work with starting up our bariatric program and I kinda thought I might be up for an employee of the month award here recently, but nope! That's okay though, overall I'm lucky in life to be happy, healthy, and loved with everything I need and plenty more (cause we don't need much!)

  3. 3

    Lisa — May 8, 2010 @ 8:17 pm Reply

    Congrats on all your wins recently! Maybe you need to go out and buy a lottery ticket!I used to be really lucky and win a ton of contests as a kid (on the radio, coloring contests, guessing contests). I think somewhere along the road I lost all my luck because I don't win nearly as much as I used to. I need to start putting in more effort!

  4. 4

    marla {Family Fresh Cooking} — May 8, 2010 @ 8:54 pm Reply

    Oh what a happy post Cara. I needed to read this 'cause I am not feeling my luckiest today. I am so glad to see you are enjoying so many goodies & I am glad that you are enjoying the book you won on my blog. Have a wonderful weekend 🙂 xo

  5. 5

    Shanon — May 8, 2010 @ 9:44 pm Reply

    wow! you are a winner! that is awesome. that dutch oven is amazing! bonus is i think by you using it you get to count it as working out. …maybe not, but i still try!

  6. 6

    Mother Rimmy — May 9, 2010 @ 6:20 am Reply

    Congratulations! What a great run of luck. I hope it continues for you!

  7. 7

    Christie @ Honoring Health — May 9, 2010 @ 10:58 am Reply

    Wow, you are lucky!!

  8. 8

    Mary — May 9, 2010 @ 5:44 pm Reply

    Would you were closer. I could rub your head and have some of that luck roll off on me :-). You are on a roll! I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings…Mary

  9. 9

    Elina — May 10, 2010 @ 12:58 pm Reply

    Man, that's a whole lot of winnings! Lucky girl for sure 🙂

  10. 10

    Dawn — May 10, 2010 @ 1:43 pm Reply

    Holy moly, you go girl! That is SO awesome. I agree…sometimes I get away from focusing on the positive but when I do, things do seem to come back to me. Congrats!

  11. 11

    Brandi — May 12, 2010 @ 12:41 pm Reply

    lucky girl lately! :)I LOVE the color of that cast iron dish 🙂 I can't wait to see what you make in it!

  12. 12

    Nicole Chow - HealthyChow.com — May 26, 2010 @ 6:59 pm Reply

    NICE! Congrats, Cara! I am so happy for you. I think it's because you are a good person and are working on some great things, good things are coming your way. It's all about the Law of Attraction. Thanks for the shout out BTW. You are too sweet. I hope you are well. Glad you liked the Megafruit! They are an amazing company!

  13. 13

    Brandi — April 5, 2011 @ 1:20 am Reply

    lucky girl lately! :)I LOVE the color of that cast iron dish 🙂 I can't wait to see what you make in it!

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