Country Crock makes Shopping for Veggies Fun {$25 American Express Gift Card & Veggie Shopping Kit Giveaway}

{This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations, Robyn!}

Although my husband grew up putting butter on just about everything (and still does), I always immediately only think of bread as the perfect pairing.

However, thanks to being introduced to Country Crock many years ago, around here we're all happy. If you open our refrigerator at any point, there is a large tub of it sitting front and center because it is just the thing for cooking, toasting and, a favorite of the kids, making vegetables even more delicious.

Instead of having to always work to hide veggies and sneak them into my kids' food, we happen to live in the place where carrots and broccoli are welcomed, even clamored for, as an accompaniment to nearly every meal. That's right, we live here:

Country Crock has the ability to bring to life a place where good habits are delicious and families are proud to serve vegetables. So although they know that shopping for vegetables can be overwhelming — they can come canned, fresh, and frozen, and in all shapes, colors and sizes — that doesn't mean that they can't still be fun.

On that note, Country Crock recently made shopping for vegetables entertaining as well as educational when they sent over a Veggie Shopping Kit full of everything we needed to get to the store and then cook up something tasty.

Right away Big Sister E was excited about the kid-friendly Fruit & Vegetable Peeler and the extra-cute Vegetable Scrubber (it has mini veggies all over the top) and was ready to cook.

As I looked over the four tasty recipes that Country Crock had sent along...

...my helper was more than happy to get to work coloring in the items that we needed to pick up at the store on our Reusable Veggie Shopping List.

After gathering our list and our reusable produce bags and shopping bags, we took off for the store. Although Big Sister E was excited about shopping with her list, Country Crock managed to make the trip even more enjoyable and educational with cute Aisle Assignment cards.

These 10 instructions had us talking about vegetables that were purple, started with a particular letter, and many more. They ended up being a lot of fun!

When we returned, it was time for a hearty recipe for dinner:

Crumb-Topped Roasted Tomatoes

• 4 Tbsp. Shedd’s Spread Country Crock Spread, melted
• 3 lbs. plum tomatoes (about 12), halved
• 1 large shallot or 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425°. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon Shedd’s Spread Country Crock Spread. Add tomatoes, then sprinkle with shallot, garlic, thyme and 1 tablespoon Spread. Season, if desired, with ground black pepper. Bake 50 minutes.

Combine remaining 2 tablespoons Spread, bread crumbs and cheese in medium bowl. Sprinkle over tomatoes. Broil until golden, about 2 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

Yum, right?

Country Crock really has made it possible to turn vegetables from a sometimes-ignored side dish into a much-loved main part of the meal and what parent doesn't love that? With 70% less saturated fat than butter, Country Crock ensures that veggies will not only end up nutritious, but also delicious, so pulling out that tub of Country Crock will always come in handy for fast and simple cooking.

And, thanks to their generosity, one person will be ready to reach for that tub after heading to the store to stock up on veggies, because...

One lucky person will win a Veggie Shopping Kit* from Country Crock!

*Veggie Shopping Kit will include: $25 American Express gift card for groceries, a coupon for a free tub of Country Crock, a reusable veggie shopping list, aisle assignments to make shopping educational, two shopping totes, two reusable produce bags, veggie scrubber, veggie peeler

To enter to win: Browse the great selection of recipes available from Country Crock and tell me one that you would like to try.

Extra Entries (available after the mandatory entry above is completed; please leave a separate comment for each entry in order for them to be counted).

1 Extra Entry (per method) if you follow Country Crock on Twitter and/or Like them on Facebook.
1 Extra Entry (per giveaway entered) - Enter any (or all) of the giveaways running on Thanks, Mail Carrier for the duration of this giveaway.
1 Extra Entry if you follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway by copying and pasting the tweet below and leaving me the link. Tweet daily for an extra entry every day!

#WIN a $25 AMEX Card and a Veggie Shopping Kit from Country Crock and @thxmailcarrier - make veggies fun! http://bit.ly/ukOEVi #giveaway

2 Extra Entries (per follow method) if you follow me publicly with Google Friend Connect, subscribe to my RSS feed, subscribe to Thanks, Mail Carrier by email, become a fan on Facebook, and/or add Thanks, Mail Carrier to your blogroll.
3 Extra Entries if you put my cute button up on your blog. Please leave an address where it can be found.
3 Extra Entries if you blog about this giveaway linking back to this post. Please leave an address where it can be found.

Giveaway will end on November 15th at 11:59pm CST. Do me the favor of leaving an email address or making absolutely sure it is visible in your profile, I have to have a way to contact the winner. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to contact me or respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

A big thank you to Country Crock for providing a Veggie Shopping Kit for me as well as for one lucky giveaway winner. The opinions shared are my own and honest and if you really need to see more, click here to see how I roll.