#Lawrys Contest and Giveaway: "A Fabulous Summer of Flavor" From Team Atlanta!

I love to cook, but during the school year I don’t always have as much time to devote to it as I should. I usually go with quick, easy, and healthy but not very inspired! Between running the kids to tennis and working on homework, there just isn’t a lot of extra time! Well, summer vacations for us mean that it’s time to slow down and put more effort into our cooking! We love grill out, use fresh flavors of the season and get a little creative!

I was lucky enough to be chosen by Lawry’s to work with a great group of Atlanta bloggers as part of their “A Fabulous Summer of Flavor” contest. My cohorts in cooking are Piera at Jolly Mom (our hostess), Lisa at Life with Lisa, Meghan at JaMonkey, Renee at Cutie Booty Cakes, and Dawn at My Home Sweet Home. We had a ton of fun getting to know one another and sharing a fabulous meal! Cooking is so much more fun when you do it with friends! So, what did we come up with for our Lawry’s inspired meal? Read on for the recipes and to learn how you can win these seasoning for yourself!

Our challenge was to create a 3 course meal consisting of an appetizer or salad, a protein or main dish, and a side dish. Our goal was to use Lawry’s Seasoned Salt Marinade, Lawry’s Balsamic Herb Marinade, and Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. Here are the recipes we used:

Garlic Knots

Ingredients:

Dough

1 3/4 cup warm water

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

1 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast

5 1/2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour

Garlic Coating

1/4 cup olive oil

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

6 cloves garlic, finely crushed

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

Parmigiano Reggiano

Lawry’s Seasoned Salt to taste

Directions:

Combine water, olive oil, sea salt, sugar, and active dry yeast in a large bowl. Mix to dissolve yeast.
Add flour and mix until well combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lint free towel and set in a warm spot to proof until doubled in size. At this point, you can refrigerate the dough for a few days if you want to make it ahead of time or go ahead and begin making the knots.
Divide the dough in two balls to make it easier to handle. Roll the dough into a rectangle about 5″x16″ and 1/2 inch thick. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the rectangle into 1/2? x 5? strips.
With floured hands, roll each strip back and forth to create a rope. Tie into a knot–over, under, and through– and place on sheet pan lined with a silpat or parchment paper.
Make the rest of the knots, cover pans loosely with a towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise before baking. You want the knots to double in size (approx.)
Preheat oven to 500° F. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden.
While knots are baking, make garlic coating. Gently warm olive oil, butter, and garlic in a small saucepan. Add chopped parsley and set aside.
Remove knots from oven, place in a large bowl and toss with garlic coating OR brush the coating on. Season with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt to taste and freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

White Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

Lawry’s Seasoned Salt Marinade

5 cloves of garlic, finely minced

3 Tbsp of olive oil

1 large bunch fresh spinach

1/2 small red onion, sliced thinly

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 recipe homemade pizza dough

Directions:

Marinade chicken in Lawry’s Seasoned Salt Marinade (overnight is best, but a few fours will work).
Cook chicken on grill pan until done and then shred.
Roll out pizza dough very thin and brush the top with olive oil and add minced garlic. Add fresh spinach, mozzarella cheese, red onion, and chicken. Don’t overload your pizza with toppings–it’s best to keep it light.
Cook your pizza on a pizza stone or quarry tiles in an oven that’s been preheated to 500 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown around the edges.
Recipe makes 2-3 pizzas, depending on how thin you roll out your pizza.

Balsamic Herb Tomato Salad

Ingredients:
2 pounds tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
1/3 cup Lawry’s Balsamic Herb Marinade
Parmigiano Reggiano

Directions:

Combine the tomatoes, scallions and marinade in a large salad bowl and toss to coat. Top with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Now, here is where I need your help!

This is a cooking competition and 25% of the scoring is based on overall community engagement with blog readers and Twitter followers! Team Atlanta wants to win but there are 10 teams of really great cooks competing. I think our recipes came out AWESOME and they deserve your support! So, by tweeting with the #Lawrys hash tag you help us win this competition and get yourself a chance to win, too!

Win It!

The Giveaway: Lawry’s has given me permission to give one of my readers a set of the three seasonings we used in this competition. Follow the entry methods listed below, one entry per method chosen unless otherwise stated. Leave a separate comment for each entry. You must be 18 and older and a US resident to win. Please make sure your email address is in your profile or in your comment so I can find you. I reserve the right to delete any comment that I deem inappropriate. Contest is open until midnight on August 26th, 2011

Mandatory Entry:

1. You MUST follow @turningclockback on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway using the hashtag #Lawrys so that your tweet can count!

Leave a comment here that you have tweeted and include your tweet link!

(one entry per day!)

Bonus Entries:

2. Leave me a comment here telling me what YOUR favorite way to use Lawry’s seasoning is or which of your recipes you would like to try it in!

Disclaimer: This post is part of a compensated campaign with The Motherhood and Lawry’s. The Lawry’s seasonings in this post were provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer and I was compensated for my time. All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

Now, want to see some more yummy pictures of Team Atlanta’s meal? Here are a few more pics to make you hungry to try Lawry’s on your favorite recipe!