* image These past few months have been busy for our family, especially since our oldest joined a local swim team. Between juggling our work schedules and balancing school with practices... we're all pretty wiped out. Although it's a lot of work, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. Preparing the holiday meal for our family fills my heart with joy, and I can't wait to get started. To make things easier for me, I don't deviate much from our first Thanksgiving as a family. The dishes I make are familiar ones, and the recipes for them live at my fingertips. Keeping the same menu year after year means I don't have to spend time researching recipes or planning a new one. Here are my tried-and-true Thanksgiving recipes, as well as my prep timeline for the big day!
Win tickets to the Food Truck Border Brawl (PA vs. NJ) at SteelStacks in Bethlehem on June 11!
I am being provided tickets to the Food Truck Border Brawl at no cost to me. ArtQuest will be providing the prizes for this giveaway and will be holding the winners' tickets for pick-up at the event. I did not accept monetary compensation for this post; however, this post does contain affiliate product links. Clicking on the links may result in my being paid a commission based on product sales. Regardless of commission, all opinions expressed in this post are my own. For more information, please review our site policies.
One of my favorite foodie films of all time is the 2014 movie Chef starring Jon Favreau. If you haven't seen it... It's about a chef who decides to launch a food truck business after a bad review leads to an epic meltdown on Twitter.
Now, I can't say whether the film necessarily had anything to do with it, but the food truck scene has simply exploded since 2014. I'm in awe of the variety of cuisines you can try from food trucks today, and I love it when a new truck has their break-out moment.
So when the team at ArtsQuest offered me a pair of tickets to the Food Truck Border Brawl (PA vs. NJ) at SteelStacks in June, I accepted their invitation to cover the event. PLUS, I arranged a ticket giveaway just for readers of Taste As You Go!
From ArtsQuest:
Some of the Garden State’s finest food trucks will go head to head with the Keystone State’s most creative mobile food eateries in the inaugural Food Truck Border Brawl. The event will feature eight food trucks from the New Jersey Food Truck Association going up against eight food trucks from the Greater Lehigh Valley Mobile Food Alliance and Philadelphia Mobile Food Association, with the winning truck taking home the “Best Overall Food Truck” Award and earning bragging rights for his or her state for the entire year.
The Border Brawl is the first event of its kind in the Lehigh Valley, and all proceeds from ticket sales will go to support ArtsQuest’s free music, arts, and education programming for the region, including Musikfest, the largest free music festival in the U.S.
Participating Food Trucks:
TEAM NEW JERSEY - #nomnomnomNJ
The Empanada Guy, Old Bridge, NJ
Chicken, Beef, Chorizo, Pork and Lobster Empanadas; Cuban Sandwiches; Sweet Fried Plantains; Tamales and Stuffed Potato Balls
Pizza Vita Pizza Truck, Summit, NJ
Award-winning gourmet wood-fired pizzas
Jersey Johnny’s Grill, Pequannock, NJ
Handmade Burgers, Texas Wieners, Italian Hot Dogs, Fried Mac & Cheese Wedges, Chicken Fingers, Fries, Chili Cheese Fries
My Four Suns, Hamilton, NJ
Beef, Chicken, Pork or Tofu Tacos; Beef, Chicken, Pork or Tofu Rice Bowls; the Mac and Che’; K-Town Hero; Dumpling Bowls; Totzilla; Suki Rolls and more.
Pompier (Pierogi Flats), Hightstown, NJ
Potato and Farmers Cheese, Potato and Cheese and Cabbage Pierogies; Barumba Bowl; Proziaka (Polish Flatbread); Kielbasa and more.
Surf and Turf Truck, Hamilton, NJ
Warm Lobster Roll, Chilled Lobster Roll, BLT Lobster Roll, Rosemary Steak Sandwich, Surf and Turf Roll, Spicy Tofu Roll
The Thai Elephant, Totowa, NJ
Pad Thai, Spring Rolls, Dumplings, Curry Puffs, Mango Sticky Rice
TEAM PENNSYLVANIA - #nomnomnomPA
Bonjour Creperie, New Hope, PA
Sweet and savory crepes including the Celso Crepe, made with fresh mozzarella, baby spinach, balsamic glaze and Roma tomatoes; and the Bella Crepe, with Nutella and fresh sliced strawberries and bananas.
Chick’n Cone, Mount Bethel, PA
Crispy Chicken Tenders with Signature Sauces, piled into a Waffle Cone; Clucked Up Fries
Cinnamini Donuts, Royersford, PA
Donut Fruit Trifle, Donut Ice Cream Sundaes, Mini Donuts
Nick’s Roast Beef, Philadelphia, PA
Roast Beef Sandwiches, Roast Pork Sandwiches and Gravy Fries
Oink and Moo BBQ, Philadelphia, PA
Brisket Sliders, Pulled Pork Sliders, Pulled Pork Tacos, Chipotle Chicken Tacos and Baby Back Ribs
Philly Fry, Philadelphia, PA
Specialty Fries including the Steak N’ Bake, Loaded Potato, Buffalo Bleu and Ultimate Crab
The Cow and The Curd, Philadelphia, PA
Wisconsin Battered Fried Cheese Curds with Signature Dipping Sauces
The Happy Pita, Downingtown, PA
Pitas, Falafel and Curried Sweet Potato Fries
Doesn't that line-up sound incredible? It's going to be hard deciding where to start eating once I get there!
If you want to attend the event, then you can buy your tickets herarte OR you can enter my ticket giveaway below for your chance to win FREE tickets!
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Food Truck Border Brawl Ticket Giveaway Details
I've partnered with ArtsQuest to offer you -- my fabulous readers -- a chance to win tickets to the Food Truck Border Brawl at SteelStacks in Bethlehem, PA on June 11, 2016.
ArtsQuest will be providing each of THREE (3) winners with the following:
One (1) pair of General Admission Passes***
TO ENTER: Leave a comment below telling me which food truck (from the list above) you'd stop at first.
This giveaway is open to US residents only and will close at 11:59 PM EDT on Monday, June 6, 2016. The winners will be chosen at random and announced here once the giveaway closes. The winner will also be notified via email. If a winner does not respond to the notification email within 24 hours, then another winner will be chosen from the eligible entrants.
THE GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. Congratulations to Dana, Sandy, and Trina! Please check your email to claim your prize!
The event is being held in Bethlehem, PA, so it will help if entrants are local to the area or will be planning to visit the Lehigh Valley that weekend.
*** Per the event website: "All general admission tickets include entry to the Food Truck Border Brawl, where 16 of the finest food trucks from Pennsylvania and New Jersey will do battle! There will be live music and other fun happenings TBA, but food is an additional cost."
