Sometimes this mom blogger gig is pretty cool. Yesterday, I was a contestant in a “no-cook” cookoff sponsored by Vons.
Eleven LA and LA adjacent mom bloggers competed to make a family meal for 4 for $25. We had 10 minutes to shop and 25 minutes to make our no cook meals. I ran around the store in much-too-high-high-heeled-boots like a crazy person on a game show. It was a blast. I chose to make a gluten-free mango/avocado salsa with shredded rotisserie chicken over a bed of brown rice.
Unfortunately, it sounded better than it tasted. When I made it at home, I tried the salsa a thousand times until it came out perfect. I also mixed the chicken with the salsa. Because of time constraints (but mostly because I wasn’t thinking) I didn’t test out the salsa enough and it was a little bland. I also forgot to coat the chicken in the salsa and the chicken was dry.
And then there was the rice. I used frozen O Organics rice, which tastes great thawed, unlike the bags of cooked rice that need to be microwaved to taste good. I tried to thaw the bag of rice by wrapping it in a towel and placing the hot rotisserie chicken container over the bag. The rice was still a little cold.
Anyhoo, I met some really cool mom bloggers and left with a bag of fabulous prizes. My favorite item was the zester that I will use in my role as owner/baker at Yvonne’s Gluten-Free Goodies. I really needed a zester, rubber spatula (I broke my last one) and bowls.
The reason for the event was to get the word out about their new everyday low prices at Vons and Pavilions. It was nice to see that prices are coming down and they’re carrying more organic items.
Almost forgot to mention the winning blogger, Erin Shachory, who made a chicken chipotle salad that was spicy and delicious, and a beautiful fig crostini.