The SPAM® Meal Makeover Challenge

I've been spending some time with Hormel products lately.  It started with a handful of microwaveable lunchy things that I could prepare quickly at work and eat at my desk on days when I had a heavy workload.  Poking through the shelves at the supermarket was quite a revelation to me - Hormel has a huge selection of heat-and-eat lunches that contain no high-fructose corn syrup and are fairly low-calorie - and yet are filling and satisfying, like the Dinty Moore Italian Vegetable Stew I wrote about back in May.  Since then, I've found the Hormel label wrapped around a bunch of decent chilis, some extremely high-quality lunchmeats, and the absolutely best ready-to-eat bacon on the market.  (Most of these items are in the publishing queue for the blog and will be coming up soon.)

And so it was that when Hormel contacted me and asked me to give SPAM® another look, I agreed.

I've long been an occasional SPAM® user - traditional SPAM®, that is, you've seen me poke fun at some of the other various SPAM® varieties that Hormel has introduced over the years - but the folks at Hormel sent me a bunch of different SPAM® to sample and experiment with.  You see, Hormel runs a Recipe Exchange on their SPAM® website for SPAM® fans to get ideas and share their own original recipes.  And right now, the Recipe Exchange is hosting a Meal Makeover Challenge to raise an awareness of SPAM®'s versatility.

A brand-new Meal Makeover Challenge is now open, calling for recipes using SPAM® and noodles.  The rules are pretty simple:  Come up with an original recipe using SPAM® and noodles or pasta, upload it to the Meal Makeover Challenge, and become eligible to win a cool $1,000.

Click Here to go right to the Meal Makeover Challenge, read the full rules, and submit your recipes.  As a special bonus, the first 500 entrants will also receive a promotion code for a free SPAM® T-Shirt!

To sweeten the pot a little, I'm going to add a prize drawing of my own, for this awesome SPAM® branded spatula and hand-glazed ceramic SPAM® trivet.  Hey, I can't match the thousand bucks that Hormel is putting up, but I can give you a shot at some cool swag.

Here are the rules for the Dave's Cupboard / SPAM® Trivet & Spatula Drawing:

Send me an email  - daves.cupboard [at] gmail.com -  with the words "trivet and spatula drawing" in the subject.  The email will be your entry into my drawing.  One entry per person.  Entries will be accepted for the duration of the SPAM® and Noodles Meal Makeover Challenge.

From all entries received, one winner will be drawn via RANDOM.ORG to receive the SPAM®-branded spatula and trivet.  Winner will be announced in a blog post here, and notified by email.

Odds of winning will depend upon the number of entries received.  Entrants will be able to confirm their valid entry by visiting a RANDOM.ORG  link to be provided at the end of the drawing.