What do beets, carrots and parsnips have in common? Sure, they're all root vegetables, but they're also part of the exotic line of root vegetable chips made by Hardbite!

You've probably seen Hardbite Chips in your local grocery stores. Their crunchy chips are found inside unique black bags decorated with images of distinct landmarks in British Columbia, Canada. Why BC? Because Hardbite is produced out of Maple Ridge, from potatoes and root vegetables sourced from local farmers in the area. Their snacks are a wonderful Canadian product, and even received support from some of the Dragons on Dragons' Den.

After a successful launch of their Parsnip Chips, Hardbite introduced their beet and carrot chips this fall. Drop'N Mad Beets beet chips are a beautiful crimson red colour, and being lightly salted they are a sweet and savoury chip. 18 Carrot Gold carrot chips are golden orange and have a distinct, slightly sweet carrot flavour.

So what exactly makes Hardbite Chips so great? The company takes pride in the fact that their products are

• Locally produced in Maple Ridge
• All natural - each chip bag has a short list of ingredients that you will recognize!
• Verified Non-GMO by the Non-GMO Project
• Trans Fat, cholesterol and gluten free

What I love about these chips is that you can taste the natural flavour of the vegetables in the chip. The chips are processed in small batches and hand-turned to ensure the highest quality. And given that the chips are made from root vegetables, they're a low carb, guilt-free snack! If you don't like vegetables, at least you can get some of your daily vegetable servings in chip form. Of the three flavours, Drop'N Mad Beets is my favourite - I love the earthy sweetness of the beets! Each bag of chips comes in a 150g size and can be found at many grocery stores across Canada and the US. To find these chips near you, you can use the store locator here.

In the spirit of the holiday season, Hardbite has offered one of my readers the opportunity to try these new root vegetable chips! Check out the full giveaway details below, this giveaway is open to all my Canadian readers. Happy holidays and happy snacking!

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THE GIVEAWAY

One Hardbite Prize Pack

Mandatory Entry: To enter, tell me what your favourite root vegetable is by commenting on this post! Please make sure you leave a valid email address in the giveaway widget as this is how I will be contacting you.


ADDITIONAL ENTRIES

1. Follow me via Twitter (@littlmissandrea) (+1)
2. Follow Hardbite Chips on Twitter (@Hardbite) (+1)
3. Tweet about the giveaway: "Check out @Hardbite's new root vegetable chips! Win a prize pack from @littlmissandrea" and link back to this post (+2)
4. Follow me via Instagram (@littlmissandrea) (+1)
5. Visit my Facebook page, and share the giveaway post (+3)


a Rafflecopter giveaway


This giveaway is open to anyone 18+ years of age in Canada. You have until December 18th to enter and the winner will be selected by random and be contacted via email. Good luck!

Yeah, you must think I'm crazy making potato chips in the microwave. Or on the flip side you might think I'm a genius, and you'll want to be making these with me!

I've been on a bit of a potato kick lately. I'm loving making potato wedges, breakfast hashbrowns, roasted potatoes, you name it. I love my carbs. So one day I was craving chips, and of course, when you crave something SO badly and can't have it, your mind will not stop thinking about it.

So then I started thinking of alternatives, but nothing was satisfying. So I decided to try something out, and surprisingly it worked. Thanks to my microwave! So yes, these are a great quick fix if you're craving some chips, and what I love about them is that they are quite healthy since they are made without oil - you need nothing except the potato itself, and some seasoning if you please.

They're not made with an energy efficient process, and you may want to argue that I am consuming huge amounts of radiation - go with your gut and do what you want. But these are a quick fix for perfectly crispy chips when I'm craving some and I love them. Let me know your results if you try these out!


{Sriracha Variation}
Microwave Potato Chips

1. Wash and slice a potato into thin rounds (1/8 to 1/16 of an inch thick). I use a mandoline for this process, but a sharp knife will work as well

2. Place the slices into a bowl of ice cold water for 3-5 minutes to soak. Afterwards, rinse them off until the water becomes clear

3. Dry the potato slices with a cloth or paper towel

4. Prepare a large plate lined with a paper towel, and place the dried potato slices on the paper towel, ensuring the potato slices are not touching one another

5. Season the slices to your liking (I like garlic salt!)

6. Microwave the potato slices for 3 minutes. Remove them from the microwave to flip them over, and microwave again for an additional 2 minutes. The potatoes should be golden brown & crispy, ready to enjoy.

*Depending on the size of your potato, you may have to microwave 2-3 batches in order to prepare chips from a whole potato
*If you have an inverter microwave, I would decrease the microwaving time by 30 seconds!