Hidden Valley Ranch: Love Your Veggies

This giveaway is closed.

Today's featured company:
Hidden Valley Ranch: Love Your Veggies

A little more about them:
The Love Your Veggies™ Nationwide School Lunch Campaign is a nutrition grant program sponsored by the makers of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressings in partnership with the School Nutrition Foundation (SNF) and Produce for Better Health (PBH) Foundation. This May, the grant program awarded more than $500,000 in grants, divided into 51 grants of $10,000 each, to elementary schools across the country.

Each $10,000 grant will go towards supporting programs that help children gain increased access to -- and consumption of -- fresh vegetables and fruits during daily school meals.

The Love Your Veggies™ campaign was created to help schools implement a recent federally mandated local wellness policy that requires schools to develop and execute programs to improve their students’ overall health and nutrition.  The campaign also was inspired by findings from a study by the University of California at Davis and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, which showed that children consumed 23 percent more vegetables when paired with a moderate amount of ranch dressing.

Henry and the Hidden Veggie Garden:
Maybe you know a boy like Henry. He’s a typical American kid.  He likes television and video games, pizza and burgers.  But he doesn’t like his vegetables very much.  When Henry’s mother sees him hiding his veggies at dinner one night, she decides to show him just how much he is missing out on.  She takes him to visit relatives for a weekend on a farm.

The trip is a big change for Henry.  He makes friends with dogs, pigs and a shy horse.  His older cousin Huck shows him crispy, fresh foods he’s never seen before.  But Henry doesn’t always have the energy he needs to keep up with Huck and the other kids when they play outside, and he’s not sure what to make of the baskets of vegetables that everyone else seems to love.  Things begin to change when Huck lets him in on the underground secrets of a place hidden deep in the woods.

What they're giving away:
Three winners will each receive a package that includes an autographed copy of Henry and the Hidden Veggie Garden by Kimberly Williams-Paisley (of Father of the Bride and According to Jim),  a cooler totebag, and a bottle of Hidden Valley: The Original Ranch Lite Dressing.

How you can win:
Please visit the official Love Your Veggies site and check out their suggestions for helping your kids love their veggies. Then come back here and tell me which suggestion you'd like to try with your own kids.

Who is eligible:
You must have a US shipping address.  You don't have to be a blogger to win, just supply a valid e-mail address.

When the giveaway ends:
Tuesday, July 8.  I'll e-mail the winner(s), and results are always posted here as well.  If the winner doesn't respond within four business days, a new winner will be drawn.

Comments

[jennifer plante]

all good ideas but the adventure is my favorite, did this with my step kids when they were young, they loved it and learned at the same time, now well into their teens, they still recalled the adventures we took

[Betsy]

I like the idea for Veggies on a Stick! We do need to eat more!

[Amie]

My girls both eat veggies pretty well but I have to agree with Betsy that Veggies on a stick would be a hit...after all they look more like Popsicles :-).

PS We freeze our veggies for that cool effect :-)

[Stretch Mark Mama]

This is right up my alley. I'm currently trying the "dip" one, as obvious as it is. My kids are 6, 4, and 2 and they've never had ranch dip with their veggies before this summer. And it's working! (Amazing!)

[Kathleen Holt]

I'd like to try Veggies on a Stick. I bet my daughter would have fun with that!

[Beth/Mom2TwoVikings]

I'll have to agree with previous posts - the veggies on a stick is a likely hit around here!

[Marilyn]

Veggies on a stick are cute!

[carol]

I would like to try Veggies on a Stick. What a great and fun way to eat!

[Danielle DiPasquale]

this is a great prize, would LOVE it~

[Amylou]

I'd have to agree that veggies on a stick is by far the best suggestion.

[Kathie]

I seriously could use this. my kiddos need to eat more veggies. we even planted a little garden so they could be involved. we'll try veggies on a stick from the site next time.
www.maddymoo.com/kathieb.htm

[Beth @ A Quest for Relevance]

My kids would probably enjoy the "Play with your Food" option. They're creative little buggers!

[Tabitha]

We do pretty well with eating veggies here, but I've always wanted to be creative with the kids food, so I think the faces sound fun under playing with food. My children are still very young, so they would probably enjoy this!

[Jaime]

Go For a Dip works a lot with us - I really should do it more often!

[Louise Brouillette]

Veggies on a stick looks good

[susan varney]

veggies on a stick actually sounds like fun

[Sandy]

Fun ideas! Some of my children are more likely to eat their veggies if they have dip to dunk it in. Using bagels to be creative looks fun. We might try that!

[HopiQ]

This is great! It would be fun to try new veggies and learning geography, so we might do the Adventure.

[Margot]

I love the idea of playing with your food and making a game out of it. I have two toddlers and right now food is all about exloration and fun. My husband and I are always making faces or animals out of the things we give them to eat.

[Julianne]

My kids like their vegies, but Vegies on a Stick is very cute.

[Roseann Kies]

Veggies on a stick? How clever!

[Knitterevans]

I think the veg out sandwiches are MY favorite, but the kids would like the veggies on a stick...

[Heather]

I'd like to expand the # of veggies the kids eat (especially my oldest who is 5 and PICKY) so I would try this one:
Veggies on a Stick – Grill up delicious veggie kabobs. Give kids chopped-up chunks of assorted veggies, such as summer squash, red onions, mushrooms, asparagus and green peppers, add their favorite seasonings and allow them to create a customized BBQ veggie creation.

[Shannon Baas]

veggies on a stick.

[Stephanie]

For me my kids love the dip, but sometimes I can get them to eat it without the dip, so I make little veggie bags up for them, put them in a fridge and when they are hungry they can go get a snack, or I put them all in a tupperware container, it really lets them have the control over the snack.