Woody's Gourmet Salts Winner...Cookwell Salsa Recipe Contest Deadline Extended...and a Whoopsies! Gourmet Whoopie Pie Giveaway!!

Lots of fun stuff to share today...so let's get right to it!! First off, I want to announce the winner of the Woody's Gourmet Salts giveaway from last week. Per the random number generator, the winner is:

#8 -- Kelly from the fantastic blog Eat Yourself Skinny

Congrats!! I'll be in touch to get your shipping information + which flavors you want to try, then I'll forward your information to Torbin at Woody's Gourmet!!

Second, I want to share some important and exciting news regarding the Spicin' It Up with Cookwell & Company recipe contest that I'm hosting with Cookwell & Company. A few of you have sent me e-mails asking for more time to submit a recipe. Since I don't have kiddos -- only a crazy orange cat named Lucy -- August didn't compute as back-to-school time for me. I know that many of you have been busy with all that entails. So...Brion at Cookwell & Company has agreed to extend the deadline for entry to September 15th. That gives you two more weeks to submit your creative recipes using red or green salsa as a main ingredient. Go here to get all the rules about the contest! Now everyone has a chance to enter the contest and win the fantastic prizes!!

Today is the last day of my August blog birthday celebration. I've had a great time showcasing some fun products, sharing some fun recipes, and celebrating the first year of The Weekend Gourmet. I'm going to wrap up the festivities with one more giveaway. I have a feeling that this one's going to be popular...

Whoopsies! Gourmet Whoopie Pies specializes in baking creative gourmet whoopie pies, which are essentially two cake-like cookies filled with a creamy icing. When I say creative, I mean it -- they have lots of fun flavor combinations! I was amazed when I saw all of the wonderful flavors they offer. Marcia at Whoopsies sent me a sampler of her delicious whoopie pies to try and share my thoughts with y'all. When the box arrived, I was immediately impressed with the logo and the cute way the box was decorated. As you know, I'm a firm believer that food needs to look good AND taste good! Then I opened the box and was blown away by the size and variety of the sampler box I received. 

My sampler contained the following flavors: Strawberry Blonde, Key Lime, Drunk Blonde (with bourbon in the filling!), Drunken Ginger, The Classic, Brittany (deep double chocolate), Rita, and Nut Job (a nut-filled cake with hazelnut filling). I'm not exaggerating when I said that I loved them all. Each pie is individually wrapped for freshness...and big enough to share -- if you're so inclined! The first one that I had to try was the Rita (margarita, to be precise). The flavors of tequila and lime were perfect...so good!!

My other favorites were the Strawberry Blonde and the Drunk Blonde...the bourbon in the filling gave it a little something extra that made me NOT want to share that one!! I was so impressed with these whoopie pies...it's evident from the very first bite that Whoopsies uses top-notch ingredients and ships their pies fresh. The texture was great...and the filling was perfectly fluffy.  I have to add that it was over 100 degrees the afternoon these whoopie pies were delivered, and they arrived in PERFECT condition. Thanks to Marcia placing two cold packs in the bottom of the box...with our brutal Texas weather, that was a major kudo!!

Now that I have your mouth watering, I know you want to do more than hear me talk about how good these gourmet whoopie pies taste. You want to taste them yourself! Whoopsies! Gourmet Whoopie Pies offers shipping nationwide at their website. And? One of you is going to have that chance to try these delicious whoopie pies for yourself. Whoopsies is going to send one of my readers TWELVE whoopies pies -- that's six each of two flavors!! To enter, simply visit their website to check out all their flavors. Then come back and leave me a comment telling me which two flavors you most want to try. 

For a second entry, like Whoopsies on Facebook. For a third entry, follow Whoopsies on Twitter. Please make sure that you leave a SEPARATE COMMENT for each entry...and don't forget to leave me your e-mail so I know how to find you if you're the winner!! Since this is a holiday weekend, I'll be accepting entries until Monday (September 5th) at 11:59 p.m. The winner will be announced early next week. Good luck...the hardest part of this giveaway just might be picking two flavors to try!!

I hope you enjoyed my month-long blog birthday celebration...I sure did! What are your plans for the long Labor Day weekend coming up? As for me...a bunch of nada...just hanging out at home doing some cooking and chilling out to escape the never-ending Texas summer of 2011!!!