Without fail every Monday I get to work, check Twitter and am reminded by foodies across the country that it’s “Meatless Monday.”  I inevitably, do a big sigh and realize my lunch sitting in the office fridge contains meat.  “I’ll do it next week, “I tell myself.  And the circle repeats itself.  I guess it’s kind of like how you never schedule a potluck at work on Monday because people will inevitably forget over the weekend, well that’s me about Meatless Mondays.

So what is this new food trend?  According to the Meatless Monday website it is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health.  The food trend is international and it is scheduled for Monday in hopes of starting you off fresh for the week.  Their ultimate goal is to help you reduce your meat consumption by 15% for both personal and global health.  So who is talking about Meatless Mondays? Tweets just this week have come from Whole Foods, Cooking Channel, Food Network and Cooking Light-even Iron Chef, Mario Batali is suggesting recipes!  One of my favorite local vegetarian bloggers @nicolenavratil does a great job tweeting about MeatlessMondays and even hosts a Sunday night veggie chat (maybe that’s how people remember!).

So it’s Thursday and I’m thinking about Meatless Monday.  Either I am days late or…days early in making my Meatless Monday dish!  Let’s go with days early!  I wanted to create a recipe that was easy (something I could do in my crock pot) and gourmet (risotto).  Another element was making sure my 2 year old would like it too.  When I made it for her I called it “mini spaghetti” and after that the bowl was gone!

Since I live in the frozen tundra of Minnesota, we don’t have beautiful fresh tomatoes all year long.  So I use a lot of canned tomatoes and I have to say that Red Gold Tomatoes are probably my new favorite.  Even before you have a taste, visually they are so much different than standard canned tomatoes. Because of my new found love of these tomatoes, I am offering you a chance to win a Red Gold tomato prize pack filled with awesome Red Gold products.  The contest will run from Thursday, December 8, 2011 to Friday, December 30, 2011.  You get so many wonderful things here-a new Meatless Monday recipe, a crockpot risotto recipe and a chance to win some great prizes! Good luck!

Here’s the many ways you can enter:

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Ingredients:

1 ½ cups Arborio Rice

2 TB Onion (minced)

¼ cup Butter

¼ cup Olive Oil

1 tsp Sea Salt

¾ cup white wine

4 ¼ cup Vegetable Broth (32 ounce box)

1 can (28 ounces) Red Gold Petite Diced Tomatoes (pureed)

1 tsp Italian Seasoning

½ tsp Garlic Salt

1 tsp Smoked Paprika

2 TB Brown Sugar

Parmesan Cheese (fresh)

Basil (fresh)

In a crock-pot add rice, onion, butter, olive oil, salt, wine and broth.  Stir to combine.  Cook on high 1 hour 45 minutes.

While risotto is cooking, in a small saucepan add pureed Red Gold Tomatoes, Italian seasoning, garlic salt, smoked paprika and brown sugar.

Once risotto has finished cooking, combine with tomato puree.

Top with fresh parmesan cheese and basil.

Makes 8 ½ cups