Giveaway: Lawry's Complete Meal Ideas Gift Pack

Tonight, I walked into my house, and my stress level immediately went down. Why? I had the foresight (and time) this morning to put a pot roast into the crock pot so that dinner was waiting for me when I got home.

Do I or can I do that every night? Unfortunately, no. Do we sometimes have PB&J for dinner (and by "we" I mean everyone in the house except me since I don't like peanut butter) some nights? Ummmm, yes?

It isn't that I don't love to cook. Cooking and baking are things I adore, but some days and nights, I don't have lots of time to marinate meat and make an elaborate meal. I was recently sent some Lawry's seasoning packets in the mail to try out as a solution to some of those issues.

When I'm tired and uninspired, I chose one of the packets at random to try out. Interestingly, the additional ingredients needed for each of these four packets are all things that live in my kitchen, meaning I needed to make no runs to the store - always a bonus.

In examining the ingredients on the packets, I was happy to see that there weren't a ton of ingredients, and not much I couldn't pronounce. Garlic, brown sugar, salt, basil, red bell pepper, onion, and the like are all things that I was happy to see listed as ingredients in the packages. The chicken marsala does have corn syrup in it, which we avoid, but that was the only one.

The Sundried Tomato and Garlic Chicken? Easy and no stress. Mix dry pasta with olives and raw chicken breast in a 13x9 baking dish. Mix water, the packet and canned diced tomatoes. Pour over the chicken stuff and mix. Cover with foil and bake. Ta da! The other three recipes are just as easy, and pretty tasty.

I will admit that they are saltier than I would make them were I doing them from scratch, but I tend to undersalt my food. Each serving contains about 300-450mg of sodium, not counting what is in the additional ingredients. That isn't bad and is more a reflection on how little salt I use.

My overall reaction? I loved having something to inspire me on days when I'm tired and just can't think of anything that sounds good. Could they taste better if I were to make them from scratch? Yeah, probably, but those are the days where I'm not making anything from scratch! Given that these have a MSRP of $1.09 per packet, I'm definitely going to keep a few of these around for those days when I need some help.

Sound good? One lucky reader will receive a Lawry´s "Complete Meal Ideas" gift pack that includes all four of the new Lawry´s seasoning mix varieties - Asian Style Beef & Broccoli, Chimichurri Burrito Casserole, Mediterranean Sundried Tomato & Garlic Chicken, and Tuscan Style Chicken Marsala with Garlic & Basil - in addition to a marinating dish.

So what do you have to do to win the Lawry's complete meal ideas gift pack? First of all, let me stress that you must follow all the rules. If you do not follow the rules, your entry will not count!

This contest is open until Wednesday December 15 at 7pm CST. I must have a valid way to reach you, so leave me your email address in your comment or be sure your profile has your email address visible. No duplicate comments will count. This giveaway is open to US residents age 18 and older. Winners will be selected via random.org and must respond within 24 hours of being notified by me or I will select a new winner.

Mandatory Entry: What would you do with your "free" time if you didn't have to make dinner tonight? (Bonus brownie points if you answer "Read Honest & Truly! of course!)

Bonus Entries (leave a comment for each entry - if you put it all in one comment, I'll count it as one entry):

1) Earn one additional entry for following me on Twitter and tweeting this contest with the following tweet: "Need a help with dinner? Win a Lawry's complete meal ideas gift pack from @honestandtruly http://bit.ly/hWSxtQ" (leave a link to your tweet as your comment and make sure you do all the steps!)
2) Earn one additional entry by following this review blog publicly via Google Friend Connect.
3) Earn one additional entry by following my “regular” blog Honest & Truly! publicly via Google Friend Connect.

Good luck!

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a gift pack as described above for review purposes from Lawry's through MyBlogSpark. I received no compensation, and all opinions expressed are my own.