Chick- Peas in Chunky Tomato Sauce...and Red Gold Giveaway

I'm truly happy to announce to you, that I have the most amazing 100 % all natural tomatoes to have had the privilege of trying, almost exactly one year ago, when I won the beautiful giveaway pack, from my friend Wendy, @ Weekend Gourmet.

I did not even know that our local Publix Supermarket in West Palm Beach carries the Red Gold tomatoes, when I suddenly discovered it, yesterday! More importantly, I got my "six pack" ...no, I don't mean a six pack "abs"...not even nearly, or my six pack of "beer"...although beer would go nice with my Chick- Peas in Chunky Tomato Sauce, made with the Red Gold Tomatoes, that I received the "six pack" of different 6 type of their wonderful tomatoes.

I must tell you, that this is a truly Vegan dish, made with dried chickpeas (garbanzo) that have been soaked, and slowly cooked till it became just the right crunchiness on the outside, and al-dente on the inside, and the tomato stew, slowly cooked with Red Gold Crushed Tomatoes, and combined with Red Gold Stewed Tomatoes, that looked and smelled absolutely fresh, ruby red, and "heavenly"! Served over Israeli Couscous, an you've got yourself a satisfying Vegan/Vegetarian dish, or a side dish with any type of meat, if you prefer it that way! The best part...I get to share these "six pack" of tomatoes with the winner of this giveaway!

 I think it's always helpful to learn about the nice people, behind their products, so I wanted to share this with you...read on!

We are tomato people…people who grew up where tomatoes grow best - Tomato Country.
Red Gold began as a family business in 1942. Sixty-some years and three generations later, we still concentrate on growing tomatoes and using them to make over a hundred different products. Day in and day out, we pursue our mission, “To produce the freshest, best-tasting tomato products in the world.”
We harvest our well-tended fields at the moment when tomatoes are at their ripest, and carefully treat those tomatoes with the respect they deserve until they're tightly sealed and on their way to you.
You might be surprised how passionate we can be about tomatoes.
Learn more about Red Gold and our people

Now you can understand a little better...so let's get on with the recipe, and the giveaway. All you need to do is to follow my blog...if you haven't already...no facebook, foodbuzz, twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin, required to follow, since I'm the worst active blogger in all those. Can't even remember when I tweeted about something, but I will for sure tweet about RED GOLD Tomatoes!...and indeed, it's worth its weight in GOLD. Couldn't have come up with a better name for these amazing 100% natural tomatoes; and by now, all of you who know me from comments, know that I am sincere about my feeling of things, and this is one of them!
Cristy, at Red Gold contacted me by e-mail if I would like to participate in this giveaway, and you couldn't get me fast enough to say YES!

Please leave a comment, and mention what you would like to prepare with Red Gold Tomatoes...I will post all the six types that I received, and certainly there are a lot more products...this are just six, of the many!

Red Gold Petite Diced Tomatoes

Red Gold Diced Tomatoes Chili Ready

Red Gold Petite Diced Tomatoes, with Green Chilies

Red Gold Tomato Sauce

My favorites:
Red Gold Crushed Tomatoes

Red Gold Stewed Tomatoes








You've got till Monday, Feb. 27, 2012 @ 11:00PM Eastern Standard Time to enter, and I will announce the winner on Tuesday... just make sure you are following my blog...I will be sure to follow you back as well on your blog.
I will use Random generated number for the winner! Sorry, only U.S. and Canada are eligible for the giveaway!

Spaghetti Con Aglio e Olio=Spaghetti With Garlic and Oil

Exactly one week ago, I was in such a daze, and so helpless seeing my sweet daughter Lora in so much pain and going through a major surgery like that was not something any of us were expecting, but fortunately she had all the love and support from family, and friends, and all her and my friends through both of our food blogs, as well.

Thank you so much to all of you dear friends for your kind words of caring, and support throughout this past week!

I should be cooking up a "storm" and baking something fabulous, but she has her amazing mother in-law Teresa from Como, Italy there, to cook and bake every day. They have not had store bought bread in the two weeks because Teresa has her trusty cup of "starter" in the fridge to make fresh homemade breads and rolls every day. As I mentioned before, I always have the basic herbs, and spices on hand, and I'm virtually never without fresh parsley, basil, and of course fresh garlic. A nice quality of spaghetti, and a good chunk of imported Parmigiana Reggiano freshly shaved, will make a gourmet dish that does not require anything else...perhaps a side salad, and a nice piece of crunchy bread.

Sicilian Puttanesca Sauce...and a Winner!

It's been a trying 3 days for me...trying to scan photos on my scanner, which is a Canon, flatbed, from ten years ago. I do have another newer model, from HP, but that is at least six years old, as well. That particular one, the scanner does not work. I'm trying to be this "self help" computer tech, and it' taking a toll on my patience already, figuring things out. Well, everything is working on the old scanner...lucky for me, I saved the soft-ware to upload the program, now, just a matter of time, how to upload the scanned Sicilian precious photos that I wanted to share with you. I will probably have to resort to my daughter's scanner later, to upload them. I made this pasta the other night at my daughter's house, and it was a huge success, even with the little ones. I have never seen a 4 year old child eat anchovies, black olives, capers, at all, and here I have my little "snow white skinned" blue eyed  Mediterranean grandson, who eats just about everything you put on his plate, especially foods, such as this, and wants a second helping. Something about Puttanesca, which derives from the word "putana=whore," really does have a history behind this famous sauce, does not mean actually, that putanas, where actually cooking it.