Quilters and crafters enjoy recipes and often share them at quilting bees craft fairs and online groups.  They also compile cookbooks as fund raisers.
Also, they can put together e-cookbooks or CDs to give as free items to customers, readers, and blog/web site visitors.  This is one way authors have promoted their books and crafters their other products.
Over at Home Biz Notes, I described how I’ve been involved in creating free e-cookbooks as promotional giveaways for my books.  This was a project initiated by author/publisher Kathleen (Katy) Walls.
Check out the post, Developing a Free e-cookbook for PR, and learn more about the two …read more

Food & Wine magazine takes on the original white meat this spring with the release of Quick from Scratch Chicken Cookbook. I received a review copy, and this one is definitely a keeper!  There are hundreds of chicken cookbooks out there, so what makes this one special?

For one thing, the seasonings.  Food & Wine has made sure that even classic chicken dishes that made it into this book have the very best, very most up-to-the-minute spices and seasonings and techniques used to bring out the best in the flavors.  I made the Chicken Provencal (page 134) the first night.  Boring, …read more

Free to a good home – 2 copies of The Vegan Cook’s Bible!
For your chance to win one of these copies, leave me a comment below sharing your favorite non-meat meal. Mine is avocado on toast. Oh, yum!
The Vegan Cook’s Bible, by Pat Crocker,  is good for vegans and non-vegans alike. It features 250 recipes including Bulgar Asparagus Salad(it’s Aspargus season, you know!), homemade Candied Nuts (a healthy snack treat), Almond and Curry Brocoli Stir-fry (Ooh, I can use locally grown almonds for this one!), and Dark Chocolate Pudding (I have to have chocolate at least once a day).
The book …read more

Almost two months ago, I wrote about the Tamra Davis cooking show. Tamra is a busy mom, wife, director, who still finds time to cook her family healthy vegetarian meals. I found the cooking show to be very charming – especially loved her little boys – and I decided to order her cookbook.
It’s called, “Make Me Something Good To Eat,” and it’s full of recipes that she’s prepared on her cooking show. Recipes utilize common vegetarian food items like tempeh or seitan, but there are also a few seafood recipes, as well. Tamra does her best to cover the tastes …read more

This Mother’s Day, give your mom a fabulous prize pack of gifts that will last her a long time! Jorj Morgan, author of a wide range of cooking, entertaining and lifestyle books, including her latest book GORGEOUS: The Sum of All Your Glorious Parts, is offering one lucky winner this terrific gift set along with four of her books!
Included with Morgan’s books her Favorite Mother’s Day Fashion Ware: Kitsch ‘n Glam “Fresh Traditions” Apron along with these great kitchen gadgets from Williams-Sonoma. A total value of $500!

Cuisinart Mini Prep Food Processor
Round Cookie and Biscuit Cutters
Collapsible Measuring Cups
12” Long Silicon Edge …read more

My daughter, Sarah, and I are big fans of the tv show, The Biggest Loser. We’ve watched it for years as contestant after contestant arrived at the ranch to change their lives. It’s really a very uplifting show.
It works like this, players arrive, they are weighed, and put into teams. They work with a trainer, change their way of eating, compete in challenges, and lose weight.
Each week they are weighed again and if they have one of the two lowest percentages of weight loss, they might go home. I always feel bad for whomever goes home. I want them to be …read more

From my last trip to the Goodwill store, I found this huge book called, America The Majestic Pictorial Cook Book for only $2.
This picturesque book showing American sceneries accompanied by the States dishes was actually put together by a team from Sydney Australia. Mike Alberts, the managing editor explains why a group of Australians produced the book. He said a pitch was given to him during one of many trips in the US. He has discovered recipes written by Americans through out the years. The pictorial cookbook gives a reader references to which dishes represents a particular region.

Pregnant and lactating women have special nutritional needs in order to feed both mother and baby properly.  Vegetarian Mother’s Cookbook: Whole Foods to Nourish Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women and Their Families, by Cathe Olson is perfect for busy vegan and vegetarian moms. 
This book contains more than 300 healthy recipes, including options to make vegetarian meals vegan, changes for people with allergies, wheat-free, and soy-free. Some of the recipes are quick and easy, while others are perfect for plan-ahead, re-heat it meals. This handy cookbook also contains complete nutrition information, helpful shopping lists, and time-saving tips.  It’s a great addition to …read more

Congratulations to Lisa Taylor and Tiffany Rosson! Lisa and Tiffany are the winners of the 30 Minute Meals Cookbook from Diabetes Notes!

Image from: Cherie
I love getting new cookbooks, don’t you? I especially like recipes that make my life easier. So that’s why I especially like this cookbook, 30 Minutes or Less Favorite Foods. There are a lot of yummy recipes in here, and best of all the book has a lot of vivid pictures so you can see what each dish is supposed to look like.
I’ve got TWO of these wonderful books to give away to two lucky readers here. To enter to win, leave a comment on this post by Monday, January 5th. I’ll choose …read more