• ATHENOS Feta coupon
• ATHENOS Feta “Shape Up Your Salad” recipe booklet
• ATHENOS Feta water bottle
• Life Time Fitness 1-month membership
• Fit & Fresh salad container
• Built NY lunch bag <—dude! I wanted one of these things for awhile now!

Unlike me, Hila grew up with feta.

We always had feta growing up. My mom would you use in savory bakes dishes and in salads!

I had SO much fun reading everyone’s feta stories! SO fun! I’ve been racking my brain for another fun question this week. We talked salads, we swapped feta stories, now I want to know your favorite non-traditional way to use feta. If you really only use it on salads try to break out of your comfort zone and get creative. What else can we use this versatile cheese for?

To enter simply leave a comment with your creative feta idea before next Friday and I will randomly select winner from the comments and announce when I launched the next weeks giveaway.

Good luck!

• ATHENOS Feta coupon
• ATHENOS Feta “Shape Up Your Salad” recipe booklet
• ATHENOS Feta water bottle
• Life Time Fitness 1-month membership
• Fit & Fresh salad container
• Built NY lunch bag <—dude! I wanted one of these things for awhile now!

Beth shared a simple salad of cucumber, tomato, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and feta as her favorite way to use Feta in a salad.

This Friday’s Fabulous Feta Giveaway question is going to be a little different. As you may know from my posts, I’m a Feta newbie. It just wan’t something Mom bought growing up so I never really gave it much thought. We were more of a ricotta/mozerella family. That’s what happens when you have a full blooded Italian Mom. ;)

I know I’m not to only one who’s new to Feta so I want to hear your first experience with the cheese. Did you grow up with it? Try it for the first time recently? Have never tried it?? That’s cool too! I’m just curious as to how popular it is and I love reading everyones stories.

To enter simply leave a comment with your first feta experience before next Friday and I will randomly select winner from the comments and announce when I launched the next weeks giveaway.

Good luck!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I have partnered with ATHENOS Feta to serve as one of ATHENOS Change for the Feta Bloggers. I am compensated for my time commitment to the program, which includes blogging about my cooking experiences with ATHENOS Feta. I have also been compensated for the food purchased for my Change for the Feta creations. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Click here to see all my Feta Ideas!!

That being said, the competition was TIGHT! The husband and toddler made great sacrifice (*wink* *wink*) trying all the fabulous treats and my co-workers reaped the benefits of leftovers. Everyone loved everything, especially me!

OK, here goes.

The winner by one teeny weenie itsy bitsy point is….

Ya ready…

Drum roll please…

*tat tat tat tat tat*

VitaBrownie Pizza

It’s fun, it’s creative, it easy and it taste great! I mean a brownie pizza, COME ON! ;~P

Thanks for making the contest a lot of fun. I hope you guys enjoyed it.

The husband’s response was, “eh”. This type of muffin isn’t his cup of tea, but he ate one. Oh well, more for me!

• 1 package BlueBran VitaMix (Blueberry Bran Muffin Mix)
• 1 c water
• 1/2 cup egg substitute (like egg beaters)
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup drained, rinsed and chopped peaches (start with about 1 cup packed in water or light syrup)
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Lightly spray muffin pans to accommodate 18 muffins with olive oil spray.  (Be sure to use regular size muffin pans, not the mini’s or the extra large ones)

Mix all ingredients, pour into muffin pans (they will be almost full) and bake at 400 degrees for approximately 20 minutes. 

I made them last night and split the tasty results with a friend. Let’s just say Good stuff! Everyone enjoyed them except the toddler, he was a bit turned off by the look of them, but that’s fickle 2 year old for you.

• 1 package BlueBran VitaMix (Blueberry Bran Muffin Mix)
• 2 egg whites
• 1-1/2 cups water
• 8-oz tub Philadelphia Fat-Free Cream Cheese
• 6 Tbsps. powdered sugar
• 1 low-fat graham cracker sheet, crushed (2 squares or 4 rectangles)

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper baking cups.

Prepare according to package: In a large mixing bowl, combine VitaMuffin mix, egg whites and water. Blend well. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix fat-free cream cheese and powdered sugar to thoroughly blend.

Divide muffin batter evenly among the baking cups. Spoon the cream cheese mixture evenly on top of the batter in each cup. Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs over each muffin.

Bake according to package, about 25 minutes, or until firm.

Allow muffins to cool, then indulge your cheesecake craving in a lusciously light way!

I was really looking forward to making this one with the toddler but the brownies took so long to cool; he had to go to bed! That being said, the husband acted like a toddler when he saw it, so I guess that kinds counts as kid approved. He was like, “WOW, it really looks like pizza!”

Then we both proceeded to eat way more then a serving. It was just SO good. The brownie mix came out perfect in a round cake pan. The strawberry jelly and white chocolate made it all the more decadent. It was such a simple, fun idea that I would really like to bring to party or serve at a BBQ.

• 1 package of VitaBrownie Mix (Chocolate Brownie Mix)
• 2 egg whites
• 1 and 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup Smuckers Sugar Free Strawberry Preserves
• 1 oz. White Chocolate, shredded finely (I chopped it)
• 1 serving Strawberry fruit jerky, cut into 1-inch diameter "pepperoni" rounds (I used two Fruit Leathers)

Mix and bake the brownie mix according to package directions. 

Once brownies have completely cooled, top with preserves, white chocolate and strawberry "pepperoni".

Well after dinner the toddler and I hit the kitchen. We had a blast making them (he was able to help a lot) and the results were tasty! The addition of just 3 little chips and marshmallows really did make this delisciously gooey center!

Note from Roni: I had a few marshmallows peak out the top. Next time I make them, I think I’ll fill the cups a little less. It didn’t matter through they were still DELISH!

• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1 package Deep Chocolate VitaMix (Chocolate Muffin Mix)
• 2 egg whites
• 1 1/3 cups of water
• 36 miniature marshmallows
• 36 chocolate chips

Heat oven to 400 degrees

Place 12 paper cupcake liners inside regular size muffin tin. Spray each paper liner with non-stick cooking spray.

Prepare muffin mix according to package instructions.

Fill each muffin cup 1/3 full of batter. Place 3 miniature marshmallows and 3 chocolate chips in center of each muffin cup. Fill muffin cup with additional batter so the cups are 2/3 full of batter. Use a spoon to seal and cover the fillings inside the muffins.

Bake about 27 minutes, makes 12 servings 1 muffin each.

P.S. The husband just had another one! He said he may give up his Tastycakes!

So I chose Mary’s Chocolate Waffle cups. I thought they would make a fun Sunday breakfast treat for the toddler and I and they did. We had a blast!

The toddler had a hard time waiting for the cups to cool so we shared a warm one out of the waffle iron. He loved them like that (we both did). The husband waited and shared one with me. He gave it a fun ‘thumbs up’ and was surprised how much he liked the raspberry and chocolate together. I was just surprised he liked it! LOL

• 1 package Deep Chocolate VitaMix (Chocolate Muffin Mix)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups water
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 quart fresh raspberries or mixed berries of choice
• 1 cup low-fat/sugar-free whipped topping (optional)
• 12 fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)

Preheat non-stick waffle maker. In a large bowl, combine and mix all ingredients except raspberries, topping and mint.  Prepare waffles following waffle maker directions. When done, immediately drape each hot waffle over a custard cup (I used cup turned upside-down) a and allow to cool.  Waffle will form a cup. 

Fill each cup with raspberries (I used strawberries, raspberries and blueberries), top with whipped topping and garnish with a mint leaf. Chocolate cups can be frozen for later use.

Here are two pictures of us this morning. The first is of Ryan pointing to a waffle telling me he wanted one ad the other was his reaction after I told him I wanted a bite of his. Notice he almost pushes his plate off the table trying to get it as far away from me as he could.

We actually got 14 waffles but it will depend on your waffle maker. I’m still doing nutritional info for 12 servings just in case.

I will be emailing all the winners shortly but I wanted to give you a preview of the winning ideas. Hopefully, I’ll get the VitaMixes in time to make all these treats by the 16th! For now you get titles only but stop back to see each idea featured with the recipe, photos and the toddler (and husbands) opinion!

Ok, ya ready? Here goes…

• Gooey Surprise Deep Double Chocolate Muffins
• Raspberry Chocolate Waffle Cups
• VitaBrownie Pizza
• Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins
• Spicy Peach Bran Muffins

Don’t they just sound SO good! I can’t wait to try them!

Do you enjoy coming up with healthy food ideas as I do?

Now here’s your chance to show me what you got!

If you weren’t already aware, Vitalicious has new baking mixes. They are a great healthy alternatives to traditional mixes, whole grain, low fat and super healthy.

You can make them as is but with a little creativity you can make a host of different guilt free snacks and desserts.

I’ve used the mixes before to create ideas like…

• Surprise Chocolate Cherry Muffins
• Chocolate Raspberry Brownies
• Berry VitaMuffin Cake
• Halloween Brownie Bites
• Cobbler-ish Blue Bran Peach Tarts

Honestly, I love these mixes. They take the guesswork out of baking and allow you to be creative in their use.

So here’s the deal. I’m looking for your recipe ideas using any of the
VitaMuffin and/or VitaBrownie Mixes.

What’s in it for you?

Vitalicious is going to supply the winner with a $500 gift certificate for the Vitalicious products of their choice! How cool is that?!

In addition, the top 5 finalist will get there recipes showcased here on GreenLiteBites with a pictures, a write up, husband, toddler opinions and all. (Just what you always wanted!) ;~P

What are the rules?

• You must use a VitaMuffin and/or VitaBrownie Mixes as the basis of your recipe. The mixes can be purchases by clicking one of the links below…
  • Deep Chocolate VitaMix (Chocolate Muffin Mix)
  • VitaBrownie Mix (Chocolate Brownie Mix)
  • BananaNut VitaMix (Banana Nut Muffin Mix)
  • BlueBran VitaMix (Blueberry Bran Muffin Mix)
  • Not sure which to buy? Try them all with a sample pack!

Click here to purchase the mixes at my VitaStore

• Your idea should use healthy whole ingredients keeping nutrition, health and calories in mind.
• Recipes should strive to be less then 150 calories a serving. High calorie ideas will be lose points in the judging process.

How will the entries be judged?

I will review all submitted ideas and select 5 finalists. Over the course of a week or two I will bake and photograph each finalist’s recipe and showcase the idea in individual posts here on GreenLiteBites.

Judging criteria…

• Ease of preparation
• Taste
• Creativity
• Calories per serving

The husband, the toddler and I will taste test the top 5. I will then score each recipe on a scale from 1-5 in each of the judging categories. The toddler and the husband will each get a vote in the taste department. (The toddler will, of course, only be contributing a yay or nay ;~P)

How do I submit my ideas?

Email you contest entries to…

• vitamixcontest@greenlitebites.com.
• Subject: VitaMix Recipe Contest Entry.

Be sure to include

1. Name
2. Phone number
3. Ingredient list
4. Detailed written instructions
5. Approximate nutritional information

I’m sorry, I will not be able to personally respond to each entry.

Entries that do not include the minimum information listed here will immediately be disqualified. No warnings, no exceptions. (I do have a full time job you know!)

How many ideas can I enter?

I am not limiting the number of ideas you can submit. Just make sure you only submit one idea per email and each idea only once; submitting an idea more than once will not increase your chances to win. It will only cause me more work! Remember the full time job thing. ;~)

May I send a picture of what the recipe should look like?

Sure! However, I’d appreciate it if the photographs were somehow limited in size! Here is some info that may help.

What are the dates of the contest?

• The contest will begin today January 19, 2008
• Entries will be accepted until March 1, 2008
• Finalist will be announced March 8, 2008
• Finalist will be baked and photographed between March 08, 2008 – March 16, 2008 (I will be making each idea and posting them on GreenLiteBites)
• Winner will be announced March 22, 2008

How do I calculate Nutritional Information?

Good question! You can use a lot of the same resources I do. I use a combination of websites, nutritiondata.com, fitday.com, and sometimes sparkpeople.com to get the nutritional information of each ingredient. Then add them up and divide by the number of servings. Estimates are ok, I will verify the finalists nutritional info before posting.

What if I have a question?

Please post all questions in the comments. This way others can benefit from the response.

How do I stay updated on contest news?

Well, you can always come back here and check in or you can subscribe to the site and get email updates of everything on the site.

I’m super excited about this! Let me know if you have any questions.

Update:Winners Announced! Click Here!