Ultimate Recipes Review & Giveaway

Sponsored by Tomoson.comIf you are in the market for a recipe e-book, look no further than the Ultimate Recipes e-book from http://www.cookingconnect.com/!  The book contains 5,000 recipes including 1000 Atkins Diet Recipes, 101 Camping & Outdoor Recipes, 101 Recipes for the Deep Fryer, 111 Egg Recipes, 120 Lip-Smacking Good Jam Recipes, 300 Chicken Recipes, 470 Crock Pot Recipes, 65 Tried and True Traditional Amish Recipes, Cat Heat Biscuits and Garlic Fried Chicken, Cheesecake Recipes, Chocolate Recipes for Chocolate Lovers and Many More.

When I first downloaded this e-book I was incredibly overwhelmed! There were 4 zip files to download and each one was FULL of recipes and photos and information.  I had no idea where to begin and I put off writing this review for a very, very long time because of this.  Eventually I said to myself “One Step at a Time” and sang some Jordin Sparks. (Whenever I am overwhelmed that song calms me down and tells me what to do to get through things – just take it one step at a time!)  I went through the PDFs one by one, zip by zip.

I’m not sure if the actual e-book comes as just one document, but what I was sent was a bunch of separate documents so it made things a bit harder for me to shuffle through – but I did it! 😉 There are a few recipes that I have no use for – specifically the crock pot recipes (I don’t have a crock pot) and camping.  But if you do have a crock pot and/or camp – there are 101 Camping & Outdoor recipes ranging from Hamburger Stew, to chicken, to fish, and lots more.  There are 470 crock pot recipes – lots of soups and puddings, some breads, dips, etc.  Coming in at 480 pages if you have a crock pot I think it would be difficult to NOT find something you’d like to make in here.

The first area I checked out for myself was the salads.  I’m trying to eat healthier – especially at work.  I am always looking for something that I can easily make in advance and bring to work for lunch so I don’t end up at Wendy’s or some other fast foot joint every afternoon.  I think I could try each and every salad included in this book and not have to worry about trying to same thing twice for many, many months.  The salads were broken down to Vegetables, Fruit, Fish, Meats, High Protein and Other.  Also included are recipes for several different kinds of dressings (my favorite!).  This ebook has definitely given me some ideas and I really need to start making an ingredient list…

Another area of the book that caught my eye was “gift jar” recipes.  These are always on lists for stocking stuffers, inexpensive gifts, what to get for people you don’t know well, etc.  All of these recipes sound delicious – lots of great cakes and cookies.  Some of which can even be cooked in their jars which is extra awesome. I’m not sure I have it together enough to makes some of these for this Christmas, but definitely next year I can see this happening!  Or maybe just during the year as well – as I’m always down for some cookies or cake. (Which is probably why I need to start eating healthier at lunch…)

The final section of the book I am going to focus on (If I kept going about all the sections of this book I would probably end up being here for a year – there is a TON of content) is PUDDINGS!  The fact that there is an entire PAGE for the table of contents – with 3 columns full of puddings is what intrigued me the most.  Potato pudding, Carrot pudding, Indian pudding, Honey Pudding… the list goes on and on (and on and on!)

One lucky ConcertKatie reader is going to receive the Ultimate Recipes Cookbook for themselves!

Mandatory Entry

Leave a comment with a recipe you’d like to try (It doesn’t have to be something that I mentioned as being in the book – just something in general)

Optional Entries

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(Include a link to the post and @Concert_Katie so I can see the tweets)

Contest ends December 14 at 11:59PM EST.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Get Glue October Part 3

(in order of how I earned them, not how they are present on the sheet)

Gossip Girl: Beauty and the Feast
Glee: Asian F
Modern Family: Door to Door
Grey’s Anatomy: What Is It About Men
EW.com Must List Level 1
Mobiler
Desperate Housewives: Watch While I Revise the World
EW. com Fall TV Walk-On
Dexter: Rituals
Check-In Rookie
Pan Am: Ich Bin Ein Berliner
Columbus Day
Gossip Girl: The Jewel of Denial
Lauren Alaina on GMA October 11
Hart of Dixie: Gumbo & Glory
Lone Wolf
Modern Family: Hit And Run
The Secret Circle: Slither
EW.com Fall Sidekick
Grey’s Anatomy: Loss, Love & Legacy

 

Get Glue October Stickers part II

Bones Shipper
Burn Notice Fall Premiere
Characters Welcome
Fear Net
Fear Net Free Movies
Nook
Psych Fall Premiere
Sarah Palin’s Alaska Premiere
Skyline
Skyline opening Weekend
Bones Supersquint
4-Hour Body Thinner
Essential Entertaining Playlist
Thrillist Fan
Thrillist Superfan
Tina Fey Kennedy Center
Unstoppable
Unstoppable Opening Weekend
Wired Fan
Wired Superfan

 

Slice Safety Cutter

The Slice Safety cutter is a great alternative to scissors for couponers or scrapbookers! The ceramic blade stays sharp, never rusts and is made with a finger friendly design.   The slice safety cutter safely clips, cuts and opens. Opens difficult packages, perfect for CDs or DVDs, scrapbooking, coupons or recipes.  It also has a build in key ring hole and magnet to keep it either with you on your keys or on the fridge in a handy place so it won’t get lost!

My favorite feature of the cutter is that you can’t cut your finger! (Well, maybe you can if you try hard enough but that is one challenge I am not about to try!)  One of my newer scrapbooking tools I have used only once or twice because the first time I tried to use it, I sliced my finger open.  It wasn’t a deep cut, more like a big paper cut, but man did that sting and take a while to heal back up!  With the Slice Safety Cutter, I don’t have to worry about accidentally slicing my finger open while I am trimming pieces for my scrapbook pages.

My second favorite feature is the key ring hole!  I am notorious for misplacing my scissors.  I keep saying I need to get a hook to hang them on when I am not using them.  I tied a string through the hole on the Slice safety cutter and hang it on the lamp near my scrapbook table when I am not using it. I also have a magnetic strip in my room for my magnet collection, but it isn’t close enough to be helpful.  But I did however try out the magnet on the strip and it worked out quite well for anyone who might want to keep theirs on the fridge or a magnetic strip closer to the scrapbooking table :).

As far as cutting, there is no problem going through glossy coupon paper or thin printer paper.  When it comes to scrapbooking, it doesn’t cut cleanly through thicker card stock. It also works great on photos.

slice™ Safety Cutter – Great for couponers

 I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Book Review: Why Men Hate Going to Church

Why Men Hate Going to Church is a book by David Murrow.  It talks a bit about why met dislike church, what their perceptions of church are (and why they may or may not be correct) and what might be able to be done in order to get more men at church services each week.  The thing that I found interesting was that this battle of a decline in men going to church services actually dates back as far to 1844, it is not a recent development, though perhaps it has gotten to be more of an issue in more recent years.

The next time you go to church – look around.  How many women are there versus men?  Is the ratio quite off?  The book mentions one preacher who believed that his church was even matched in men vs women.  Once the question came up – he counted.  Women outnumbered the men – 5 to 1.

Is it that men have better things to be doing on a Sunday morning than women? Or are church services just more geared towards women than men?

The book goes in to great detail about the difference between men and women when it comes to being spiritual and having a spiritual relationship.  This book was sent to me due to an error by BookSneeze, but I am quite glad I read it because it was an interesting look at the opposite sex, at least for me.  There are also plenty of graphs and research to back up a lot of the points.

About the Book

It’s Sunday morning. Where are all the men? Golfing? Playing softball? Watching the tube? Mowing the lawn? Sleeping? One place you won’t find them is in church. Less than 40 percent of adults in most churches are men, and 20 to 25 percent of married churchgoing women attend without their husbands. And why are the men who do go to church so bored? Why won’t they let God change their hearts?

David Murrow’s groundbreaking book has been completely revised and updated, with eye-opening research and a persuasive grasp on the facts, to explain the problem and offer hope and encouragement to women, pastors, and men. Why Men Hate Going to Church does not call men back to the church—it calls the church back to men.

About the Author

David Murrow is an award-winning television producer and writer based in Alaska. (You’ve probably heard of his most famous former client, Sarah Palin.) He is the director of Church for Men, an organization that helps congregations reconnect with the wold’s largest unreached people group.  The first edition of Why Men Hate Going to Church was an instant Christian best seller, with more than 100,000 copies in print.  His efforts have spawned articles in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Chicago Tribune, to name a few.  He has been featured on PBS, the NBC Nightly News, and the Fox News Channel, talking about the gender gap.  David is married with three children, two grandchildren and a dachshund named Pepper.

Book Review: A Different Kind of Hero

A Different Kind of Hero is a book by Leah Beth Evans.  It tells the story of a monkey that is named Tomagochi.  He is a resident of the rainforest along with some other animals – in particularly his friends Peshe the tiger and Mocho the Tucan.   Tomagochi is sad because he doesn’t think that there is anything special about him!  His friends try to tell him that everyone has something special about them.

Tomagochi realizes that his friends are right when he is put to the test.  The rainforest comes under attack by men with big equipment and axes.  Tomagochi leaps in to action to try and save the rainforest and realizes that he is special after all because he is brave!

This is a great book to teach children the lesson that everyone is special and the illustrations really bring all the characters and the story to life. It is sure to keep your child’s attention.

Buy links:
Amazon
Kindle
Nook
iPad

 

About the Book

The rainforest is under attack. One monkey is determined to save it. His name is Tomagochi.

He’s brown. He’s small. He’s plain.

But when a group of men enters the rainforest armed with bulldozers and axes, Tomagochi the monkey springs into action to defend his natural habitat.

While larger animals like Peshe the tiger run and hide, Tomagochi charges into battle. Will he be victorious? Join Tomagochi as he fights to protect his home and discovers just how special it truly is.

About the Author

Laura Beth Evans was inspired to write her story as a 4th grade student after studying about the rainforest. She continues to enjoy writing stories and poetry. However, he story A Different Kind of Hero has always been one of her favorites.

Colleen Gedrich’s Bio:
Colleen, a lifelong resident Throop, PA, earned a BFA in illustration from Marywood University in 2002. Since that time, she has worked part-time as a freelance illustrator specializing in animal-themed work. S

he enjoys creating her art using mostly watercolor and pastel. As a dedicat
ed animal rights activist and full-time program coordinator for International Society for Animal Rights (ISAR), Colleen lives her dream of joining her passions for animals and art to promote a more harmonious world with a touch of beauty. Recent works produced by Colleen include t-shirt and invitation designs,children’s book illustrations, and book covers. Colleen has also teamed up with her very talented artist mother, Kathy Holmes Gedrich, and paints murals for children’s nurseries.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Book Review & Giveaway: Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

I had mentioned this book on my blog before as one that I really wanted to read.  When I saw that Booksneeze was going to have it available, I waited up until 1am to make sure that I got it!  When the wrong book came in its place, I was pretty much devastated.  However, Booksneeze made it right and after a few extra days of waiting Heaven is Real arrived.

Heaven is Real tells “A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back”.  The book is about Colton Burpo, but is written by his father, Todd.  When Colton was 4, he was having bad stomach pains.  It was written off as the flu and a few days later he was feeling better and the family went on a trip.  While on the trip Colton got very, very ill and ended up spending some time in the hospital while the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with him.  He ended up going under surgery and while there – went to Heaven.

While driving past the hospital at a later date, his parents commented about his time there and Colton randomly mentions that the angels sang to him while he was there. (And that he asked them to sing We Will, We Will Rock You but they said no! haha)  Colton’s stories continue and he tells of his trip to Heaven.  Todd is a pastor, so he is rather well versed with the bible, but Colton, at only 5 years old at this point, isn’t.  He knows the basics that he was taught in Sunday School but his father says there is no way he could have previously known about what he is telling them he saw. (And most of what he says he saw his father can relate to bible passages telling the same)

The book was incredibly moving and while I read it all in essentially one sitting, I did have to put it down a few times because it was making me cry.  I’m not sure why, it isn’t exactly a sad story, but it was quite overwhelming at times.  This is a book I definitely recommend!

 

About the Book

Deluxe, keepsake edition of the best-selling book and true story of a young boy’s visit to heaven after life-saving surgery.

Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn’t know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.

Colton said he met his miscarried sister whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how “reaaally big” God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit “shoots down power” from heaven to help us.

Told by the father but often in Colton’s own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready there is a coming last battle.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

 

WIN IT!

One lucky Concert Katie reader will receive a copy of this book for their own collection!  Contest ends December 9 at 11:59PM EST.

Mandatory Entry

Leave a comment with a reason why you’d like to read this book

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Tweet once a day (you must be following @Concert_Katie for your tweet entries to count!)

Win It! 1 lucky winner will receive Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo from @Concert_Katie! Ends 12/9/11  http://tinyurl.com/7xaahaa

The Conan Blimp Badge

 

As part of the promotion for Conan’s TBS show, the “Conan Blimp” was made and it was flown around the USA and those who spotted it could check in to foursquare to get an exclusive Conan Blimp Badge.  Last month, Conan came back to NYC to do a weeks worth of shows and last Saturday on my way to Pennsylvania, I spotted the blimp somewhere in New Jersey and was able to check in.

As an extra special bonus, those who checked in on foursquare could also give their mailing information and receive a Conan Blimp Badge via snail mail – which I of course did.  It showed up about a week after I had requested it, which kind of surprised me because I wasn’t even sure that they had any left since I had checked in at the tail end of the promotion.

Travelpro Sweepstakes

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Book Review: Word Savvy by Nancy Ragno

I am calling this a Book Review, but really, word savvy is more of a guidebook that you should keep with you if you consider yourself in any way, shape or form a writer.  Minoring in Journalism in college, a lot of these words have been hammered in to my head, but a lot of them I still struggle with.  (effect, affect, for one!) For a while I tried to tackle some of the words I struggled with and practice using them until I think I’ve got it.  I’ll continue to do that, but having Word Savvy nearby will definitely help me make sure that I am choosing the right word, especially with the fill in the blank quizzes after the definitions and examples of the words. I may have to print some of these out and fill in the blanks in my free time and see how I do.

The book consists of 9 chapters –

1 – Avoid the No 1 Mistake of Today’s Writers

2 – Attacking the Wrong-Word Problem

3 – Master 76 commonly confused word pairs

4 – Conquer 52 commonly misused words

5 – Purge 25 no-no’s from your speech & writing (one of my pet peeves  – “could care less” is one of them!)

6 – Use tricky singulars & plurals with assurance

7 – Some surprising ways errors occur

8 – How to catch wrong-word errors

9 – Talk the Talk: Keeping abreast of buzzwords (very helpful if working on a resume!)

Anyone who is working on NaNoWriMo this month should definitely look in to getting this book and using it for when you are in the editing process (probably next month, right?) If you intend to get your book published you definitely want to make sure you are choosing the right words in your novel so that editors won’t think that you’re some sort of dummy 😉

Check out the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Word-Savvy-Right-Every-Time/dp/1599633035/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1320106118&sr=8-2

About the Author

Nancy Ragno is co-author of the language arts series, World of Language and its predecessors, Silver Burdett & Ginn English and Silver Burdett English. She earned her M.A. at New York University and is a former teacher, lecturer, and textbook editor.  In addition to her textbook series, she had written plays, biographies, and nonfiction for the midle grades and parts of numersous programs in language arts, reading, literature, speech, spelling, and social studies for major publishers.  Her biography is included in Marquis’ Who’s Who.

Originaly from Philadelphia, she currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee, where you may often find her at Close Encounter Village in the Knoxville Zoo, where she works as a volunteer, explaining bio-facts to visitors and assisting with there close up and personal” encounters with birds and small animals. Her interests include organize gardening, wild life research, and playing the bassoon. During her college years, she was first-chair bassooist of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, and she maintans her interest in music and support of local musical organizations, with special emphasis on the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

Visit www.wordsavvy-therightword.com for more about choosing the right word.

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