It seems like football has always been a part of my life in some way or another. My mother and father both loved the sport as well as all my aunts and uncles. It did not help that we had relatives who were professional football players and when it was football time we had to watch them on TV or if they were down for a visit, play football in the yard at my dad or aunt’s house.

Football was always a part of my life. Even as I got older and my brother would throw Sunday football parties where i served as the chef and the bartender. They loved my chili by the way

Now my 17 year old plays and although my sport is basketball, I enjoy football somewhat. Most of all I love supporting him in any way I can.

So imagine my surprise when I was contacted to join in on a tailgating contest. Frito Lay wants you to enjoy football season and the cool thing is that they want you to do it with healthier recipes.

This will be a fun contest where you can tell us about your healthy recipe using a Frito Lay product. You don’t have to have made the recipe yet. Just share one with us that we can vote on. You can even post pictures if you want to.

For example I made a seven layer dip made with fat free sour cream and cream cheese along with 2% shredded cheese and fat free bean dip. Of course it had fresh veggies too….tomatoes, lettuce, green onions and olives (wait I think that olives are fruit because they have seeds…ahh well). I served the dip on game day with a bag of Tostitos and a bag of Fritos!

At any rate if your recipe is chosen you will win a cool Tailgating Party Kit that includes Yummy Frito Lay chips, a cool Football Dip and Chip mix and a $25 American Express gift card that you can use to buy the ingredients for your recipe. Pretty cool huh!

Here a pic of the Tailgating Kit:

Here are the contest rules:

• Share a recipe on your blog with either a video or written post (do both and get an extra entry).
• Recipes must include a Frito Lay product like chips used for dipping, Tostitos used as a base for a Taco Salad or even a Frito Pie.
• Special Notice: If you do not have a blog, that is ok. Just tell me about your favorite Frito Lay product and you will get an entry into the contest.
• Make the recipe as healthy as possible as we are focusing on healthier choices.
• Come back here and share the URL to your post so that we can see them.
• Tweet for extra points with the hashtag #tailgatingfun

Contest ends Friday October 23 and the winner will be announced on game day October 25. Prizes are shipped directly from Frito Lay.

**Note: I received a part kit as well but I was not paid and additional fee to host this giveaway.

I am so excited about this opportunity to help spread the power of reading. I have hooked up Hachette  Book Group for some cool book giveaways. For each give away I do, 5 people will be blessed with a great weekend read that will encourage, enhance, and enlighten you.

This month’s Book is the soon to be released Loved, edited and complied by singer/author Rebecca St. James. Loved is a compilation of stories about the love of God, forgiveness, and even acceptance of self. Each story reveals the amazing love of God and the miracles experienced when women accept Christ.

This is the perfect weekend read for anyone who struggles with experiencing God’s love, feeling wanted, and wondering just what it means to accept Christ.

The contest rules are simple. Just do two of the following and you are entered. You will also receive an additional entry for each additional action you take:

• Tweet about the contest with the hashtag #momunplugged
• Join the Mom Unplugged Fan Page and let me know you are there by writing on the wall.
• Write a blog post about your struggles with knowing God’s love and link it back to this post.
• Join Mom Unplugged Google Friend Connect
• Comment about why you would like to read Loved.
• Subscribe to the Mom Unplugged RSS Feed

Here are some more specifics of the contest:

• Five people will win a copy of this fantastic book
• The contest is open to US and Canada residents
• Books will be sent directly from Hachette Book Group
• The contest starts September 24, 2009 and ends Monday September 28, 2009 at Midnight EST.

I am very excited about this giveaway because once again it something just for You. It will give you time to relax, release and spend come time taking care of you.

Here on Mom Unplugged I don’t write about food much at all.. But I have to say that I have loved Sun Chips ever since they first hit the market. Sun Chips hit the bill when you want something yummy and healthier than your average chip.The coolest thing about Sun Chips these days is that they are also green.

If you know me, then you know that I am a green living momma and as much as I can I try to support all things green. My family tries to do the “green thing” whenever we can. That is why I was so excited to find out that Sun Chips now packages their chips using materials made from compost.

I just love that! I also love that you can win $20,000 with your Green Effect idea through a contest sponsored by the Frito Lay folk.

I think any ideas we have concerning the health of our environment needs to be heard. The contest ends June 8, 2009 and if you are interest, give it a try.

In the mean time I have a cool give away to offer the Mom Unplugged readers so be sure to enter. The contest is an Eco Bag and some yummy bags of Sun Chips. Eco Bag are great for shopping and they look good on your arms too. They come in various colors so there is noway you can choose the color you want. I love my natural colored eco-tote.

I am not going to ask you to jump through hoops to enter. Instead, here are the simple rules:

• Comment about one thing you think we can all do to make the environment a better place.
• Subscribe to the Mom Unplugged RSS Feed (ok this one is optional).

That’s it. This contest will only last through Sunday June 7, so be sure to leave a comment.

The winner will be announced Monday, June 8.  This contest is opened to US Addresses Only.

I don’t post about a lot of contest and maybe I should because there are some really cool ones out there. Anyway I came across a contest that all women should love. Handbag Planet is giving away 24 bsags in 24 hours. Now I love a good purse because it gives me a chance to buy an outfit and some shoes to match.

So check out the contest at Handbag Planet today and pick you bag!

I was supposed to announce the winner of the Pear Budget Lifetime Membership on Tuesday but things just got in my way. You know things like LIFE! Anyway, I am happy to announce the winner of the contest and she is….Drum Roll Please!!!!

REBECCA! Congratulation Rebecca, I will be contacting you with the code for your prize!

Thanks to everyone who participated. All 4 of you

What will the next contest be? Oh who knows…just stay tuned!