PinkTogether 2011...Support Breast Cancer Awareness Month...A Cookie...plus a giveaway!

Ooey Gooey Chewy Cookies...Totally Good!

By now, you must know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I actually saw pink waste receptacles as I was driving down the street the other day! Truth be told, I'm kind of a skeptic when it comes to some of these causes...who's sponsoring them? Where does the money go? So when General Mills contacted me to see if I was interested in promoting this program, I had to do a little research. First, I asked some friends who have been touched by breast cancer what their thoughts were, and then I checked out the Pink Together website. All of the friends who I asked were very supportive of the pink theme in general--they felt that it was a good support mechanism for people undergoing breast cancer treatment. As for the Pink Together program, it is actually pretty impressive. Here is the deal:

• Visit PinkTogether.com to share your personal story and messages of hope and read about others’ personal journeys. To encourage personal connections, General Mills will donate $1 to the Komen organization for each Message of Hope that is sent to someone who has shared their story on PinkTogether.com (up to $25,000) during October. This is in addition to a $2 million donation General Mills is making to the Komen organization.

• This year, for the first time in its five-year history, at PinkTogether.com consumers can choose how $1 million of this donation will be shared between two important Komen programs: the Treatment and Assistance Program, which assists women in securing care they otherwise may not be able to afford, and Prevention Research, which helps unlock the keys to preventing breast cancer. Visit PinkTogether.com from September 19, 2011 through April 14, 2012 to make your choice. Results will be announced on Mother’s Day 2012 – Sunday, May 13.

• Meet the 2011 Pink Together Survivor Ambassadors, and hear their amazing stories of courage and survival on PinkTogether.com and the Pink Together YouTube Channel.

• General Mills will also be turning the packaging of participating products pink in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October.

My story is this: My MIL was diagnosed with breast cancer over 11 years ago at the age of 78. She had a recurrence 3 years ago. Now, thanks in part to medical research funded by organizations such as this, she is an 89 year old breast cancer survivor. Her mother had breast cancer and her daughter has breast cancer. With that family history, I am afraid for my own daughter.

To give us a little incentive, General Mills has offered a prize package giveaway for one of my readers. This prize package will consist of :

• A 16 oz. box of Total cereal
• VIP coupons valid for one box of Cheerios and Multigrain Cheerios cereal and one cup of Yoplait yogurt
• Betty Crocker Living with Cancer Cookbook Pink Together Edition, which includes a collection of more than 150 delicious recipes with complete nutrition information and a 32-page Pink Together Survivor Ambassador bonus section that shares inspirational personal stories of survival as well as recipes
• Water bottle and removable silicone awareness bracelet
• Drawstring sport backpack
• Rhinestone ear buds

My MIL is enjoying the cookbook immensely. She has earmarked several of the recipes for me to make and talked it up so much that my sister-in-law ordered one for herself.

Before we get started on the giveaway specifics, I did promise a cookie. These delectable bites were made with the box of Total cereal that came in my prize box.

Health food? Probably not. A little healthier? Absolutely.

Ooey Gooey Chewy Cookies

Printable Recipe 

And now for the giveaway, just leave a comment telling us how breast cancer has affected you or someone you know, or just share what your thoughts are about the Pink Together campaign ( I, for one, like how you can vote on how the money is going to be used). Be sure to leave the comment on this blog post, not on the Pink Together page. For an additional entry, go ahead and "like" the Pink Together page...or just go check it out.  

Disclosure: The Pink Together prize pack, information and coupons have been provided free of charge by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Btw--I'm totally trying out this Rafflecopter app. as a way of keeping track. Let's see how it works....the contest will run until 12:00 AM EST on Oct. 16th. If I can't figure out the Rafflecopter, I'll use random.org.

Just leave your comments the normal way and then click on the check marks to indicate that you did the two  things. :) Leave me some info, too, so I can find you if you win.

No Bake Cookies

Another hot day in Minnesota. Give me a few months and I'll be complaining about the cold. To be fair, we've been setting some records for heat around here. The hard thing about it is that I hate the thought of turning on the oven to bake anything. But we need treats. What is a girl to do?

Luckily, I remember a recipe from my past. We won't mention how long ago I first encountered them, but I'm thinking we used to get these in the high school cafeteria for dessert. I know I did try to make them once when I was in college and they didn't turn out all that great...they were kind of grainy. The recipe I'm thinking about is a no bake cookie....aptly named No Bake Cookies.

Now, I didn't remember exactly how to make these things. I knew they had peanut butter, chocolate and oatmeal--and they tasted more like candy than cookies. You know those haystack candies that come in a box of bon-bons? Yes--those are the ones---these "cookies" remind me of the haystack candies. So, I did a little search on the Internet.....

You know what? There are about a thousand No Bake Cookie recipes out there. Yikes. I decided on the one from allrecipes.com for a couple of reasons. First, no less than 19,500 people have saved this version...wow....and second, there is some very good advice to be had from the comments.

So here is the recipe, with a link to my source:

No Bake Cookies

Printable Recipe

1 3/4 cups white sugar 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup butter 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 cup peanut butter (I used smooth) 3 cups quick cooking oatmeal 1/2 cup shredded coconut (this is optional) 1 teaspoon vanilla In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in peanut butter, oats, and vanilla. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper. Let cool until hardened.

Something I learned from all of those comments on allrecipes.com.....get all of those ingredients together. Once the mixture boils, there isn't much time to get everything in there.

The recipe says to drop by teaspoons. That seemed tiny to me, so I used my cookie scoop. Much easier, no?

Check out this pan. My sister found it and gave it to me when she was downsizing. It comes from my dad's bakery. I heart this pan....

One of the suggestions was to add coconut. I did this.

And the best suggestion...the key to them not being grainy or crumbly....bring the mixture to a full boil and set your timer for 1 1/2 minutes. Perfect!

There you have it. Treats for a hot Minnesota day. Enjoy.