Have a great recipe for organic, locally-grown carrot tzimmes or grass-fed brisket just like Bubbe used to make? The Jew and the Carrot, a blog dedicated to food and Judaism, has issued calls for recipes for its first Rosh Hashanah dinner challenge. What to do? Send in your greenest, most sustainable recipe for traditional Jewish dishes, complete with tips and photos. The winner will receive a copy of Aromas of Aleppo Syrian Jewish cookbook; top three winners will have their recipes featured on the blog.

Do you make amazing grilled lamb chops with gremolada? Out-of-this-world ribs with tamarind-Jack Daniels sauce? Burgers so good your friends say you should open a concession at the football stadium? Submit your grilling recipe with a short video demonstration (three minutes max) to Mario Batali's Ultimate Grilling Challenge for a chance to win a ton of great (and some just plain weird) prizes.

Submissions are due July 30 and the contest winner will be announced in October on The Rachel Ray Show. The grand prize winner will receive a VIP weekend at Texas Motor Speedway including a pre-race tailgate party with Mario Batali and Rachael Ray at the Dickies 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Semi-finalists will console themselves with $500 worth of Mario Batali The Italian Kitchen products and a year's supply of VIVA paper towels (though apparently two rolls a month is a lifetime supply). Quarter-finalists receive a bunch more Mario swag, including - get this - His n' Hers Mario Crocs (AKA, the only thing more embarrassing than riding a tandem bike).
$1.00 will be donated to The Food Bank For New York City for every entry received.

The contest is intended to promote the portly redhead's new Italian Grill cookbook. The book goes universes beyond burgers and hot dogs, with recipes for grilled flatbreads, vegetables and pizzas as well as meat. Think grilled Guinea hen breasts with rosemary and pesto, grilled baby octopus with olive-orange vinaigrette. Italian grilling, as Mario explains, never involves thick, sweet barbecue sauces or salty, soy- or Tabasco-based marinades. It rarely involves more than olive oil, wine, citrus juice and herbs and spices. Though, as he admits, the recipes in the book are not pure Italian, they are somewhat influenced by America's grand grilling culture. We are, after all, the country that invented the backyard barbecue.

Remember Hydrox? AKA "kosher Oreos?" Well, after a long hiatus, these chocolate sandwich cookies are back for a limited time in honor of their 100th anniversary. The Kellogg Company, which produces Hydrox, have launched an "America's biggest Hydrox fans" essay contest, with a grand prize of a trip to New York and a six-month supply of cookies. The contest ends July 14; see Hydroxcookies.com for details.

Personally, I'm thrilled. Growing up in a Jewish, though non-kosher, house, there was always a jar of Hydrox in the pantry. My mother, a native New Yorker, simply preferred the soft, appealingly grainy creme and firmer cookie of her own childhood snacktimes to the slightly larger Oreo. Eventually I too came on board. Now, with Hydrox gone, I sometimes try to substitute various "organic" sandwich cookies and Trader Joe's Joe Joe's. But they're never the same!

So you think you can cook?

I can't, and I know it. But does that qualify me for world renown? Maybe, if I gather my gumption and enter the American Egg Board's second annual search for the Worst Cook in America.

Why the American Egg Board is hosting such a contest perplexes me a bit. I mean, for those of us who are challenged in the culinary arts, eggs are relatively forgiving fare. Even I can make scrambled eggs. I can make an omelet. I've even taught myself how to make a decent Tortilla Espanola (although it took many tries).

I love to read Is My Blog Burning? so that I can stay updated on all of the contests circulating around the blogosphere. I'm usually shy about participating (though I did enter a cupcake contest just once), but I think it's great when people create dishes and posts for the sake of the blogging community, and I love to see the results. Anyway, Is My Blog Burning? alerted me today to a contest called Haiku That Blog, in which contestants write a haiku poem about a particular blog and one lucky winner receives a fabulous prize. The blog for the contest is Lunch Bucket Bento, which I'd never seen before, but it looks adorable.

The contest got me thinking, however, about haiku for Slashfood and food blogging in general. I wrote three. My favorite is this one (note: for an English major, I was never very good at writing poetry):

Read it for Breakfast,
Lunch, Dinner, and in between
Slashfood – keeps me fed

As much as you'd love to twirl around the kitchen either 1) without ever making a mess to begin with or 2) have an assistant follow you around cleaning up your spills as they happen, we know that that kind of fantasy just doesn't exist. Kitchens are supposed to get messy.

Bounty (the paper towel people) knows that, and is giving away a $30,000 kitchen makeover to a lucky winner who enters their contest, the One Sheet Challenge. All you're supposed to do is put a sheet of Bounty Paper Towel to the test on a mess in your kitchen, then share the details at www.onesheetchallenge.com. Go ahead! It never hurts to enter! (I'd do it myself except that I live in a rented apartment!)

We always love a good giveaway here at Slashfood, and even if we're not the ones who are doing the giving away, we still like to let our favorite Slashfoodies know about other opportunities.

ThisNext.com is giving away a set of stainless steel cooking utensils from Tovolo.com on their site for participating in their weekly contest. Since summer entertaining is right around the corner, this is the perfect time to stock up on highly-heat-resistant silicone and stainless steel utensils. Here are just a few of the goods in the prize package, but head over to ThisNext.com for the details on how to enter:

• Stainless Steel Hemisphere Measuring Cups with handles that are also measuring spoons
• Silicone Spatula with a stainless steel handle
• Stainless Steel Perforated Colander
• Stainless Steel Double-Sided Measuring Spoons
• Silicone Trivets
• Stainless Steel and Silicone Barbecue Brush

With it being Spring and all, perhaps you're feeling a little...garden-ish? If that's the case and your feelings are manifesting themselves in the way you eat, then maybe you should eat a Gardenburger!

The folks who make Gardenburger (the brand of vegetarian and other dietary-preference foods) are sponsoring a contest once a month in which the prize is a Gardenburger t-shirt (not that we're all that excited about a t-shirt), and free food! The contest is a photo contest -- not a recipe contest, so you don't even have to be all that creative in the kitchen. Contestants just have to dress up their Gardenburgers within the theme of that particular month, take a snapshot, and upload the picture to the Gardenburger Flickr pool. Gardenburger will pick the winners from there.

Eating healthy, and a chance to win! We like the sound of that!

We hear Paris is great in the Springtime! Unfortunately, we're just a blog, so we can't give away a five-day trip to Paris, but we sure wish we could!

Instead, we have five, yes five, copies of The Ethnic Paris Cookbook to giveaway to five of our very deserving Slashfood readers.

The Ethnic Paris Cookbook is a new cookbook (so new, it was released on March 19!) by Charlotte Puckette, a Cordon Bleu trained chef, and Olivia Snaije that offers a tour through the exciting culinary landscape of Paris, covering recipes from regions as diverse as North Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan, and more, all with a Parisian twist. Special features include a guide to top ethnic restaurants, markets and shops in Paris.

We're giving away one copy every day this week. Just look out for the post each day at about noon, and all you have to do is leave a comment. We'll randomly pick a winner each night. So leave us a comment for the first copy!

** The winner from the previous giveaway of The Art of the Tart is Michelle. Michelle, if you're reading, please check your email for a note from me so we can get you your cookbook, you saucy little "tart," you! **

Also, a few notes from our ever-so-loving legal department: 1) one entry per person (duplicates will be disqualified), and 2) all cookbooks will be sent to the lucky winners within 10 business days of the end of this Giveaway.

Maybe it's the fact that St. Patrick's Day is coming up in a few days, or maybe we just feel lucky to have so many readers here at Slashfood. Last week, we had so much fun hearing from all of our readers, that we're doing the same thing this week by giving away a copy of The Art of the Tart:Savory and Sweet by Tamasin Day-Lewis to one lucky reader.

Last fall, Nicole mentioned the book as one in her Cookbook of the Day series and called it "the perfect book to illustrate the fact that tarts do not only have to be for dessert." You're telling me! Porcini Mushroom and Red Onion and Spinach and Anchovy Tart? If you win, you've got to make that!

So go ahead. Test your luck. Just leave a comment on this post. You have until midnight tonight!

** Last week's winner of The Weekend Chef is Amie. Amie, if you're reading, please check your email for a note from me so we can get you your cookbook and you get cooking.

This one is for our most beloved Slashfoodie. We're giving a gift to our favorite reader!

Okay, not really.

We are giving away a copy of The Weekend Chef: 192 Recipes for Relaxed Cooking Ahead, the cookbook that Slashfood earned in January for being named the Best Group Food Blog by the Food Blog Awards. But we're not going to play favorites. How could we? Haven't we all learned to love each and every one of our readers equally?

So we're just going to choose a winner at random. All you have to do is let us know you're here with a comment on this post. No need to be witty. Rant. Rave. Make a suggestion. Just say "Hello." Whatever you're moved to say, say it!

You have until sundown today. Maybe later if we decide "sundown" in Hawaii.

"There's nothing like putting yourself through a lot of pain for no reason."

Truer words were never spoken - especially not if you're an amateur about to enter a Jalapeño-eating contest sponsored by the International Federation of Competitive eating, pitting yourself against professional gurgitators. The contest was held on Sunday at the State Fair of Texas and included 6 amateurs against pros Rich LeFevre, Sonya Thomas, Pat Bertoletti and Erik Denmark. Jalapeños are a particularly difficult food to eat because, although they are small, they can be quite painful. Some eaters reported a loss of feeling in their faces and a general dizziness, in addition to sickness, after the competition was over. The pros used some tricks that they picked up on the circuit, including drinking Pepto Bismol before the competition and using milk, rather than water, to dull the burn of the peppers' oils. Unsurprisingly, the well-prepared pros came out on top:

• First place: Rich "The Locust" LeFevre, 247 jalapeños
• Second: Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, 239
• Third: Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti, 226

For comparison, the amateurs seemed to average around 50 or so.

Mentos may once have been known as "the freshmaker," but we now know them best for the reaction that occurs when they are submerged in Coke. To cash in on their newfound glory, Mentos has created the Mentos Geyser contest, where entrants will compete to see whose homemade geyser reigns supreme. The videos must be no longer than 2 minutes and have to feature a regular Mentos (not sugar free) being dropped into "a plastic bottle of a carbonated beverage of any brand." There is a video tool kit available to contestants, which contains the Mentos logo, jingle and other graphics that might be useful. Entries must be submitted to YouTube by September 30th, 2006.

Prizes include up to 1000 iTunes downloads, a year's supply of Mentos (320 rolls) and various Mentos merchandise. Not to mention that everyone will have the chance to watch people making soda fountains of their own.

May the best geyser win!

Most chefs are very proud of what they do. They are used to working under a lot of pressure and the best chefs are the ones who thrive under it. Pressure and pride make a fiercely competitive person, whether they're competing to prove to themselves that they can do better or they're trying to prove it to others. We've seen aspects of this on Top Chef, but these elements are what make the Food Network's new show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, work.

The premise is this: Bobby Flay goes around and finds someone who is the best (or one of the best) at what they do. He challenges them to "throw down" and compete in a one-on-one culinary competition to see who can make the best product. The competitions are judged by different "experts" in each show.

In all honesty, I didn't expect the show to be any good. But it was.

Kids come up with some interesting ideas. How about a Blueberry Syrup Waffle Popsicle, or a Caramel Apple Carnival Pop? These are two of the winning flavor combinations from last year's Flavorologist contest.

If your son or daughter is between 6 and 12 and has his own ideas about what ice cream should taste like, he or she is eligible to enter this year's Nestle's Flavorologist contest. By submitting an original flavor combination for a frozen popsicle, a flavor name and description of the appearance of the popsicle, along with short "resume" describing their experience playing with foods, they could win a batch of custom popsicles! There are 10 winners and included in each prize package are a $1000 US savings bond and a school ice cream party. One grand prize winner will get a behind the scenes factory tour and an all-expenses paid trip for 4 to California.