For the past two weeks, I have been completely LOVE deprived. And the symptoms of depleted levels of LOVE were starting to surface. My smile was not as beaming. The sight of a laughing baby was starting to make me mad. This is what happens when you spend your spring break in Mexico, and therefore 1667 miles away from Denver and the Love Pad. It was a rough week.

After applying aloe vera to my entire body (a common tradition after my Irish skin is exposed to Mexican sunbeams), I headed off to Love Grown to get my LOVE on. I was pumped! If the sheer fact that I got to come back to work wasn’t exciting enough, I was pleasantly surprised by a welcome from Maddy and Alex on my way in.

And while I have also been LOVE deprived, getting back in the swing of things (aka reality) also put me in the sleep-deprived category. Thankfully Love Grown knows how to take care of one of their own. Oh the simple things.

For the rest of the day, I plan on drinking 2 to 10 more cups of coffee, relishing in the awesomeness of the Love Pad, possibly watch a Bieber music video on YouTube, and blog a little bit more about how much I love the LOVE.

Did I mention I love the LOVE?

-Laura the Love Bomb

The below was taken directly from the blog THE NEW ME:

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A few weeks ago, the nice folks at Love Grown Foods emailed me and offered to send along a few bags of their granola. First, I was confused. Why would someone offer me free stuff? I’m not a famous blogger and I have a modest (but awesome!) readership. Then I thought, well. Why not? Once I read a bit about the company I realized I was, after all, their target market and that this was a company I could get behind. So I said yes to the granola and was excited when it arrived at my door!

Love Grown Foods was founded by Alex and Maddy, who met and fell in love while attending the University of Denver. “Both of the young entrepreneurs have a great love for the outdoors, an enthusiasm for active lifestyles, and are passionate about health. With Alex’s business knowledge and Maddy’s talent for healthy–yet delicious–cooking, it made perfect sense to start a health‐food company. With drive and excitement, Love Grown Foods was born.” Sounds delicious to me!

I was sent three bags of granola to sample – Raisin Almond Crunch, Sweet Cranberry Pecan and Cocoa Goodness. Of the three, Sweet Cranberry Pecan was my favorite – the salty nuts and the tart cranberries complemented each other perfectly. The Raisin Almond Crunch came in at a close second, and surprisingly the Cocoa Goodness was third. I liked the chocolaty granola, but it was a little sweet for breakfast (my preferred granola eating time). I think Cocoa Goodness would be great as a yogurt topper for an after dinner dessert, however. Yum. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!

Granola is one of my favorite foods. In college, I was known to bring a plastic bag to the dining hall and clean out their granola station, smuggling it back to my dorm room under my coat. I like to make granola from scratch, but I don’t always have the time or the energy. Love Grown Food’s granola is an excellent alternative – it’s tasty, healthy and kept  me full until lunch. Definitely worth a try!

This is the first time a company has contacted me about freebies and reviews, and when I decided to accept the granola I had to make a deal with myself. I decided that I would only accept things IF they were from companies I supported and believed in, IF they fit in with my values, morals and the general theme of my blog, and IF I could somehow pass a prize on to my readers. Love Grown Foods passed the test! And so, I would like to give away one bag of Love Grown Food’s Raisin Almond Crunch to one lucky reader. There are two ways to enter. (If you do both, you get two entries!):

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite way to eat granola.

2. If you’re on Twitter, tweet the following: I entered to win Love Grown Granola from @TheNewChrissy and you can too! http://tinyurl.com/668zkao

You have until Tuesday, March 31 to enter. I’ll announce the winner Wednesday morning. And this contest is open to anyone, any where, so don’t be shy!

The below was taken directly from the blog THE CRISPY COOK:

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I used to really like granola, but after cracking a chunk of molar off one morning while chomping on some, I turned to other breakfasty items (turns out the cracked molar was from clenching my teeth at night; who knew?).  Then the old man got the celiac thing, so since most granolas contain non-certified gluten-free oats, we just haven’t had it around. Oats don’t contain gluten per se, but they tend to be contaminated with gluten from the milling and processing of wheat, rye and barley, so you must buy certified gluten-free oats to avoid getting glutened.

Enter Colorado-based Love Grown Foods and their bewitching troika of Gluten Free Granolas: Cocoa Goodness, Raisin Almond Crunch and Sweet Cranberry Pecan.  Whoa!  They are really tasty.  Love Grown sent me a free box with a bag each of these three varieties and a couple of little packets of Raisin Almond Crunch (perfectly sized for tucking into the lunch sack with some yogurt for a delicious parfait later on).

The Crispy Crew and I all really enjoyed them. I’ve tried some other gluten free granolas, and they were alright but not praiseworthy. However, these three varieties from Love Grown are in the gourmet category, full of delicious ingredients, like little chocolate chips in the Cocoa Goodness, a hint of cinnamon and nutty little sunflower seeds in the Raisin Almond Crunch and pecans and dried cranberries in the Sweet Cranberry Pecan.  The Love Grown granolas are sweetened with agave syrup and are terrific when partnered with some thick Greek-style yogurt for a healthy breakfast or snack.  Even my persnickety teen daughter who typically doesn’t like yogurt or granola scarfed down most of the Cocoa Goodness bag on her own in this fashion.

The good news is that not only can I heartily endorse all three flavors of the Love Grown granolas to you but the company has courteously agreed to send a box to one of you containing a bag each of each granola flavor. Just leave a comment below and I’ll randomly pick a winner from them after April 5, 2011. This giveaway offer is limited to U.S. residents.

In the meantime, you can check out the Love Grown website to find out detailed information about ingredients, where to buy these tasty cereals and find out about their Love for Love promotion for Facebook users, where you can receive a package of their dee-licious granola if you post some pix and comments on the Love Grown Wall.

Happy Chomping!

The Below is taken directly from blog EVERY LITTLE THING:

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“….As stated in this post, I wanted to reach 100 Google followers and 300 Twitter followers, and I’ve done both (mostly because you guys are awesome!), so it’s time for a giveaway!

Ÿ       Free of Refined Sugar
Ÿ       Free of High Fructose Corn Syrup
Ÿ       Free of Trans Fats
Ÿ       Free of Hydrogenated Oils
Ÿ       Free of Artificial Flavors
Ÿ       Free of Preservatives
Ÿ       Free of Gluten
Ÿ       Free of Genetically Modified Ingredients

For this giveaway, check out their website and tell me which flavor you’d most like to try. That’s all you have to do! I encourage you to follow me on Twitter, add me on Google Connect, like my Facebook page and all that, but all you have to do is leave a comment

Woohoo, awesome granola! Good luck!”

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Read all of Stacy‘s blog and be sure to enter the GIVEAWAY!

I cease to be amazed by how much LOVE one can have. (And I am not talking about our Oat Clusters & Love…though that is delicious too.) With the launch of Love Grown Foods nationally, we have been overwhelmed with the most incredible support from every direction, on every level. Alex and I always wanted to start Love Grown Foods out of the desires to spread health and wellness to others…not thinking about what we would get in return. Since this adventure has begun only 2 years ago, I feel we have gotten more out of it than our consumers!

I always knew we would have the opportunity to make lasting impacts on people we meet, the kids we teach, the moms we support…what I didn’t know, was that all of those people would have an even greater and more profound impact on me. My heart continues to smile as I–time after time again–radiate pure joy simply because of the people who support and encourage us.

Tonight we had the great honor of eating dinner with some of our dearest (*new*) friends who we now simply adore and love. Vicky, Kent, Pam, and Paisley are 4 of the nicest people we have ever met. It makes sense, though, because Vicky is Triple S’ mom (Stroller Strides Sarah). Quick history–Sarah met Alex at the Stapleton Farmer’s market last summer and introduced us to Stroller Strides (which we LOVE to support). Sarah is full of LOVE and energy and a true joy and instantly she, her amazing husband Tom, and their little one Breck became some of our most favorite people (not to mention some of our biggest supporters). When we found out that Sarah’s mom and brothers live in AZ we knew it was a merging of the Heavens and that Alex and I would most definitely need to arrange a meeting!

We walked into Vicky’s house to find LOVE GROWN BUTTONS and a LOVE GROWN BUCKET OF LOVE!!! Vicky–who makes Martha Stewart look like an amature–had made LOVE GROWN LOLLIPOPS (recipe coming soon) and “I LOVE ELBY” buttons! She even had one of our LOVE NOTES that we had sent her a while back saved! Talk about inspiring, my heart simply melted (and my taste buds jumped for joy)!

The six of us went to dinner (Pam and Paisley live down the street, but the two families are practically like one giant family living in two houses…and they are all so amazing). We ate at Joe’s Farm Grill (which in and of itself was fabulous) and chatted and delighted in one another’s company.

(Check out their “I LOVE ELBY” BUTTONS!)

Alex and I left dinner overflowing with LOVE. To meet people who encourage you to do what we are doing…and who make long hours and long days seem doable and even easy…is the greatest gift that Love Grown Foods has given us. We have been touched by so many incredible people and simply cannot say it enough: THANK YOU. FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS (and endless buckets of Oat Clusers & Love) THANK YOU TO EACH AND EVERY PERSON THAT BELIEVES IN US AND WHO IS HELPING US SPREAD THE LOVE OF LOVE GROWN FOODS.