Lily and Val Keepsake Recipe Book

What do you do with your family recipes?

If you're a blogger, you probably post them online. But if you're a normal human, what do you do with them?

My mom had a lot of recipes that she made regularly - oxtails in a zesty tomato sauce, pork shoulder steaks with bell peppers, spaghetti sauce, tomato soup ... lot of them. She made them from memory and adjusted by taste.

As she got older and didn't cook as much, she started forgetting how she made some things. As she got grumpier, she refused to give me any of the recipes. So I had to recreate them from memory.

Moms who want to keep their favorite recipes might want a pretty place to put them. Like the Keepsake Kitchen Diary from Lily and Val.

It would also be nice as a gift for a new bride, with recipes from different family members. Or just a good way to collect personal recipes for personal use. Or a way to collect recipes from friends.

Recipe pages are on the left, and the facing pages are for collecting memories - where you first tasted it, when you first made it, and a list of other times the recipe was made.

There are tabbed pages to separate categories of recipes, and there are pages with useful information, like volume conversions.

But mostly, it's a nice place to write down recipes that you want to keep. Or give away.

Who's it for: Recipe savers.

Pros: It's nice for saving or for giving away.

Cons: No way to add or move pages from one section or another

Wishes: It would be great if extra pages were available to add to the book.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook #GIVEAWAY

Read more about the Mad Men Finale Party here, and grab some recipes, too.

To celebrate I'm giving away a copy of this book!

Well, technically, the publisher is giving it away. But you know what I mean.

Party info here.

Enter to win!

Blueberry and Cream Cheese Buns from Make Ahead Bread

To help send my book into the world in grand style, I enlisted the help of the bloggers (past and present) from Virtual Potluck, who all said yes and baked items from my new cookbook.

And there's a GIGANTIC giveaway, as well.

You'll find  the Virtual Potluck posts here:

Theresa from Foodhunters Guide to Cuisine

Rachel from Rachel Cooks

Marnely from Cooking with Books
Jay from Bite and Booze
Shelby from Diabetic Foodie

Heather from Farmgirl Gourmet
Milisa from Miss in the Kitchen
Vanessa from Groovy Foody
Matt from Thyme in Our Kitchen

Tara from Foodie

Susan from 30a Eats

Donna (that's me) from Cookistry

But I figured you might like to see what the cookbook looks like (I know a lot of people love browsing inside a book before they buy), so I've got a recipe pulled straight from the book for you to enjoy.

My book, Make Ahead Bread, is available for sale on Amazon. If you'd like an autographed copy, you can order one from Barbed Wire Books.

For the giveaway, we'd like to thank our sponsors who generously offered some fantastic prizes:

• Taunton Press, the publisher of Donna's book, is supplying a total of 12 copies of Make Ahead Bread, one to each winner.
• Magimix is giving one winner a Magimix 3200XL 12-Cup Food Processor in Brushed Chrome.
• WÜSTHOF is giving one winner a CLASSIC 9-inch Double Serrated Bread Knife 
• SilverStone is giving one winner a 5-piece set of bakeware (11x17 cookie pan, 10x15 cookie pan, 9x13 covered baking pan, 9x5 loaf pan and 9-inch cake pan) in the winner's choice of red or blue.
• King Arthur Flour is giving one winner a rye bread baking kit.
• Duralex is giving one winner a 9-piece set of mixing bowls.
• Harold Import Company is giving three winners a made-in-the-USA hardwood baker’s rolling pin (It's the baker's pin, with no handles.)
• Microplane is giving each of the 12 winners an Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter.
• GIR is giving each of the 12 winners a silicone scraper.
• King Arthur Flour is giving each of the 12 winners a coupon for a bag of flour of your choice (good at your local supermarket) and a plastic bench scraper.
• Walker's Shortbread is supplying cookies to three winners.

There will be a total of 12 winners, with three bigger prizes and nine more really great prizes. And yes, all winners get a copy of my book. You'll find even more details about the prizes here.

In addition to supplying items for the giveaway, a special thanks to Taunton Press, Silverstone, Microplane and WÜSTHOF for supplying products for all the bloggers to work with.

Giveaway is OVER!

Do you want to know more about the sponsors? You can find them on their websites and social media, here:

Taunton on Twitter and Facebook.
Magimix on Twitter and Facebook.
WÜSTHOF on Twitter and Facebook.
SilverStone would like you to follow Pots and Pans on Twitter and Facebook.
Duralex on Twitter and Facebook.
GIR on Twitter and Facebook.
Harold Import Company on Twitter and Facebook.
Microplane on Twitter and Facebook.
King Arthur Flour on Twitter and Facebook.
Walker's Shortbread on Facebook.

This event is sponsored by multiple companies, all listed above. I want to sincerely thank them for their amazing generosity.

The Baking Bible AND a Silicone Bowl from Rose Levy Berenbaum

Hello, cupcake!

This was baked from a recipe from Rose Levy Berenbaum's new cookbook, The Baking Bible. 

I have more info about it over on COOKISTRY.

And the cupcake recipe HERE.

AND! You can win an AUTOGRAPHED copy of the book, 

AND a nifty silicone baking bowl.

Go! Look! WIN!!!

FIVE Cookbooks from Quirk! #Giveaway

It's a cookbook-palooza giveaway from QUIRK. They're offering my fans FIVE cookbooks from their many wonderful titles.

Check them out:

First is Madeleines. I wrote about it right here. 

Check out the recipe for peanut butter madeleines!

Next is the Hello Kitty Baking Book. 

I made little cheesecakes from this book that were really good.

Oh! Sprinkles! I wrote about it here.

Now we have Winter Cocktails. Oh yum! I wrote about it here.

Woof! Woof! Fancy hot dogs in Haute Dogs. I wrote about it right here.

Pretty awesome collection, right? Something for you, and maybe even one or two to give away - Christmas is coming, right? GIVEAWAY IS OVER.

I received these same books from the publisher, one at a time, for reviews. The publisher is supplying all five to one winner.

Want an AUTOGRAPHED copy of Make Ahead Bread?

Yup, I'm giving away a copy of MY cookbook. 

Gosh, I never thought I'd be saying THAT!

And I'll autograph it JUST FOR YOU!!!

Not feeling lucky? You can buy it here.

OH! And since I'm shipping it, Canadians can enter too! Hi, up there!

Cookbook #Giveaway - Back Around the Table

Check out the mac and cheese recipe HERE, then enter to WIN. GIVEAWAY IS OVER.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book for my own use, as well as supplying a copy for this giveaway.

Make Ahead Bread is HERE!!!

I was going to publish a recipe today, and a giveaway.

But then this guy showed up.

He was carrying a heavy box.

And when I opened the box, I found these.

Yes, that's my name on the cover.

Look at that! Wow! It's real!

I've been completely useless since these showed up, and if I finished writing the post, it would probably not be in English. And I'd probably make a terrible mistake and give away a small hippopotamus or something like that.

So instead I'm going to tell you that you can buy the book directly from the publisher - and they have a PDF version as well, if you're that sort of person.

Or you can pre-order on Amazon and you should have the book by November 4.

If you want an autographed copy, I am making arrangements with my local bookstore to arrange that, so it's easier for everyone. When I have details, you will know. Or you could contact them directly and ask. They won't have books until after the Nov. 4 release date, but if they know they have books already sold, they'll know how many more they need to order.

TOMORROW there will be a recipe and giveaway.

Today, I celebrate!

Cookbook #Giveaway

Want cookbooks? I have FIVE to give away to one lucky winner. Well, technically there are four cookbooks, and one book about food.

Here we go. These are not sponsored. The books are from my personal collection and I will pack and mail these to the winner. Good luck!

Art of Baking Bread 

by Matt Pellegrini 

(AUTOGRAPHED by the author)

I wrote about the book here. This is more than a cookbook, this is a a whole lot of how-to's about baking bread, from kneading to forming to ... well, all of it. Great for new bakers and for the more experienced. And the recipes are pretty awesome, too.

This particular copy is autographed by the author.

The Big Book of Pies and Tarts 

(Betty Crocker)

Pies and tarts. Tarts and pies. You get the idea. Paperback.

Emeril's Potluck 

by Emeril Lagasse

Dude's got a lot of books. Lots and lots and lots of books. This is one. Maybe one of his more obscure, but still typical Emeril. Hardcover.

Betty Crocker Cookbook

(The Boxtops for Education version)

Betty's got a lot of books, too. This is the 11th edition of this one, in a hardcover with a ring binder inside, which makes it nice for keeping pages open on the kitchen counter. The Boxtops for Education version has all the same content as the regular 11th edition with some extra stuff. A great basic cookbook with good reference information. Everyone needs at least one of this type of cookbook in their collection.

I wrote about this edition of the book here and here.

A Short History of the American Stomach

by Frederick Kaufman

The title tells it all. Food in America. Chomp-chomp. Great for trivia buffs and people who like to read about food history. Obviously. Paperback.

Giveaway is over

The total current reasonable value of these five books on Amazon (depending on the seller) is about $88; full retail is higher ... but no one pays full retail, right?