A Giveaway for #NationalCerealDay

There are a whole lot of national food holidays, some of them sillier than others. March 7 happens to be National Cereal Day. Seems legit, right?

To help me celebrate in style, my buddies at General Mills send me a sweet package to have fun with. Cereal, of course, but also a cereal spoon with the Cookistry name stamped in the bowl of the spoon.

Sweet, huh? It goes nicely with a bowl that has my blog name on it.

The cool thing about the gifts that General Mills sends is that they support small artisans. The spoons came from SweetMintHandmade.etsy.com. Go check 'em out! 

There were also photo booth props (glasses, lips, etc) from PartyGoodies.etsy.com. Fun stuff.

Plus, some coasters and placemats and noisemaker things. And a tee shirt. Ooooh. Another cereal tee to add to my collection. I swear, I can go out in a nice top and no one pays attention. If I'm wearing a cereal-related tee shirt, random strangers talk to me about their favorite cereals from childhood.

So anyway, I got my package, and you can have one, too. I'm making this giveaway super-simple. Just fill in the form and leave a comment on this blog post. No follows, likes or other stuff needed. Of course, if you want to like my blog on Facebook, that's cool. If not, that's okay too.

This is a quick giveaway, so enter NOW.

General Mills sends stuff to me at no cost on occasion and is shipping the prize to the winner.

ThermoPop (and a Giveaway!)

I've been playing around with a new toy in the kitchen: the ThermoPop made by Thermoworks, the some folks who make the Thermapen.

The ThermoPop is like the little sister to the Thermapen (okay, it could be the little brother, too, but mine is pink).

It reads the correct temperature in 3 to 4 seconds, it's splashproof, and the display rotates so you don't have to turn your head upside down to read the it.

The rotation isn't automatic - there's a button you press to change the display orientation, so it will face whatever direction you want it to.

It reads from -58F to 572F, which is a much wider range than I can imagine needing in the kitchen, particularly on the low end. But ... having such a wide range means it's going to be pretty accurate in the range I do use.

Oh, and the display is backlit, so it's easy to read. And you can choose to read the temperature in Fahrenheit or centigrade, there are nine different colors to choose from, and there's a sheath that the probe slides into, so you won't be stabbing yourself when you reach for it in the kitchen drawer. There's a clip on the sheath so you can clip the thermometer to your apron.

It's also kind of fun to say ... "Hey, could you grab the ThermoPop for me?"

Oh, and it comes in a nice box, so it's easy to wrap!

What's not to love? It does everything a normal cook needs, and it doesn't break the budget.

But you might not need to buy one. Here's a super-quick giveaway. US residents only.

Thanks to Thermoworks for providing a thermometer for me, and at least one for a giveaway (I might be giving away a second one later. Stay tuned!)

Thermapen and Cookbook #Giveaway

Thanks to the great folks at Thermoworks, I have a Thermapen to give away, plus I am supplying an autographed copy of Make Ahead Bread.

A Gift Basket for Mom - Or Dad. Or YOU. (Yes, there's a giveaway!)

I'm not a person who received a lot of gift baskets these days. But I've experienced the joys and let-downs of baskets before. They look marvelous until you unpack, and then you find that you're left with more packaging than product.

So when a company called GourmetGiftBaskets.com contacted me to see if I wanted to do a review and possible giveaway, I thought, "Aha! This is my chance to unmask the trickery of the gift basket industry!"

No, seriously, that's exactly what I thought. I might have even twirled an imaginary mustache and wiggled an eyebrow while thinking it.

And then THIS showed up.

Pretty, isn't it?

Here it is without the  plastic wrapping so you can see it a little clearer. 

Still looks impressive There's a lot of fruit and some stuff in boxes. Let's unpack it, shall we? It looks full, but we don't know how much packing material is under there, right?

Here's everything that was packed into the basket.

That's a freakish lot of stuff. There were two pears, two oranges, three red apples, and two green apples. The other perishable item was some Cabot cheddar cheese (the red item in front of the fruit). The container to the left of the fruit is a caramel dip for fruit, but I'm more likely to use it for ice cream. And there were crackers, candy, popcorn, cookies and other snacky things.

And here's the basket, without packing materials and with all the items piled into the basket.

I didn't do a great job of re-packing in an attractive way. but you can see how full it still is. Yes, there were packing materials, but not a huge amount. I mean, you don't want fresh fruit bouncing all around, and there was some padding in the bottom to keep everything in place and looking good.

I don't think I could have packed it all so neatly and securely with less padding.

And the basket itself has uses after it's empty. It would make a nice picnic basket or a display basket. It might be a little big for a bread basket unless you're serving a huge crowd, but you could store magazines in it, or towels and goodies in a guest bathroom. Or ... I'm sure there are other uses.

Want to see another one?

This is a wine basket with a bottle each of red and white wine.

This one was packed pretty full, too. Check it out!

The wines are real wines by real wineries that sell in stores - not some weird-branded mysterious swill. And then there are other wine-related noshes and nibbles, including a small wheel of cheese and a chub of sausage.

I have no idea what wine wafers are (the large item in the back), but that's part of the fun of a basket like this. You get to try things that you might not be familiar with.

Instead of a wicker basket, this one was a metal-mesh basket with a cloth liner and metal handles with wooden grips. The cool thing about sending an actual basket to someone (rather than a box of stuff) is that after all the edibles are gone, the recipient has the basket to keep and use.

Just like the first basket, this one had just enough packaging to keep things neat and tight and safe and nicely arranged - particularly important since glass wine bottles are breakable.

So I guess I was fooled, eh? These are legit gift baskets that aren't overstuffed with Styrofoam. I have to say that I was pleased that I was wrong.

Anther great thing about ordering from this company is that there are no surprises when you're choosing a basket. Each description lists of all the basket items, including the brand names and the weight (or volume) of each item. You'll always know exactly what will be in the basket. Exactly.

Since I was pleased with these baskets, I've got a GIVEAWAY for you. One lucky winner will get the basket of their choice priced at $69.99 or less. If you want to splurge on a bigger basket, you can use the credit and pay the difference.

But trust me, there are plenty of gift baskets to chose from for $69.99 or less. Check out the Mother's Day Baskets! And, if you're not into baskets, there are cheesecakes, popcorn tins, cakes, chocolate-covered berries, and a whole lot more.

The giveaway will run past Mother's Day, but there are Father's Day baskets as well, or choose something for an upcoming birthday, or a treat for yourself. Many, many choices.

I received gift baskets from this company for myself, and they are providing the product for the contest winner as well.

Earth Day, Lundberg Family Farms, Whole Foods, and a #LFFEarthDay #Giveaway

Earth Day is coming on April 22, and I've scored a little giveaway for you.

Lundberg Family Farms (you might think of them as that company that sells a lot of rice) is particularly proud of their use of biodynamic farming, which is "a holistic approach that aims to create a self-sustaining ecosystem within the farm."

They're offering one of my fans a bag of Biodynamic Organic Short Grain Brown Rice along with a $30 gift card from Whole Foods ... so you can add something else to that rice.

To help explain biodynamic farming, Lundberg Family Farms, Whole Foods and Demeter are hosting a Twitter party at 3:30 p.m., est on Earth Day (April 22). Look for them and for the hashtag #LFFEarthDay to join in the conversation.

If you're not familiar with them, Demeter USA certifies biodynamic farms and products, so they'll have all the answers you need.

Besides my giveway here, you can visit Lundberg Farms on Facebook and enter their Meet the Lundbergs photo contest for a chance to win more prizes and to learn something new about the Lundberg family.

Lundberg Farms sponsored this post and is providing product for the giveaway.

The Mill Fudge Factory Fine Spirits Fudge

Your mom called. She wants fudge for Mother's Day. And if it's got a little hint of hootch, she's okay with that, too.


I recently got a chance to sample the 1-pound box of Fine Spirits Fudge from The Mill Fudge Factory, and I've got some for you, too.

Before I got the offer, I didn't know anything about the company, but I figured fudge can't be bad, so I said yes first and researched later.

The company is more impressive than I expected. They were highly rated by the Cooking with Paula Deen magazine, and the fudge is made from scratch in small batches in New Hampshire. And the 1-pound batch of fudge came in a nice box tied with a ribbon. Nice for gift-giving.

So that's good.

This Baileys fudge is one of "Fine Spirits" fudges.
Photo courtesy of Mill Fudge Factory

They have a number of different types of fudge, but the one I got had spirits (are they friendly spririts?) in three of the four types of fudge - and this is the same collection you'll be getting, if you win.

The flavors in the Fine Spirits box are: Scottish whisky, Little bit O' Heaven (with Baileys Irish cream), Cabin Fever (with maple whisky), and Belgian chocolate.

I wouldn't refuse any of them. They're all very different from each other, with flavors added by the whiskies they're infused with - but they're not going to give you a blast of alcohol or even a little whiff - all you get is the flavor without the buzz, so if the kids sneak into mom's fudge, it's not going to be a problem.

Well, not a problem for the kids. Mom might have a different idea.

The fudge is smooth, with just a little bit of texture. The company makes a Scottish-style fudge, so it's not as silky as some commercial types of fudge. But it's not grainy either.

The fudge is best when it's fresh, or you can freeze it for longer storage.

The GIVEAWAY

For the giveaway, the company is asking that you sign up for their newsletter, which also automatically gives you a 10% coupon for everything on their site, so you can buy lots and lots of fudge for mom, and you, and daughter, and you, and daughter-in-law, and you, and grandma, and you, and granddaughter, and you ... or something like that.

If you want to sign up for the newsletter and get you coupon, and you don't want to enter the giveaway, you can sign up for the giveaway here: http://themillfudgefactory.com/e-news.

If you're entering the contest, there will be a code phrase you'll get after you sign up. You'll need that to verify that you've subscribed for the contest entry.

Mill Fudge Factory provided samples for me and will ship directly to the winner at no cost to me.  You can find them on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMillFudgeFactory
Twitter: https://twitter.com/millfudge
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/millfudge/

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!

Kitchen Buddies Silicone Muffin Cups #Giveaway

Silicone muffin cups, 2 of each of 6 colors

When silicone muffin cups first arrived on the scene, I was pretty skeptical. Paper liners were traditional and easy and cheap and they were what I was used to.

Silicone muffin cups are obviously more expensive than paper liners, but they're reusable, so if you bake enough cupcakes and muffins, they pay for themselves. Of course, if you win some, they don't need to pay for themselves, right?

Another objection I had to silicone liners was that I imagined that people would throw them away, just like they toss the paper ones. But I think that these days, people know they're reusable, so they're not as likely to throw them away.

But now that I've gotten used to having silicon muffin cups around, I'm hooked. For one thing, I can bake in them without using a muffin pan. I still do use a pan when I'm making a dozen cupcakes. But when I'm baking one or two, it's nice to just use the silicone cups.

Krusteaz chocolate chunk muffins cooked in silicone muffin cups.

And there are other uses for the silicone muffin cups. You can freeze things in them, use them for mise en place, or use them in the microwave. I actually wrote a whole post about what you can use them for, besides baking. And they're dishwasher safe.

So, when the folks at Kitchen Buddies asked if I wanted to give some away, I said heck, yeah. They sent me samples, and I compared them to other silicone cups I already have. They're a nice thickness - a tad thicker and some that I got free with a muffin pan, but still thin enough so you can easily turn them inside out to remove the muffins or to clean them. They're also slightly larger than some others I have, giving you a little more room for the cupcakes or muffins.

I'm giving away three sets of the silicone muffin liners - one to each of three lucky winners, but if you need some right away, you can find them on Amazon. And, to make the deal sweeter, if you use the coupon code P2IUU5XV, you'll get $3 off your purchase, making these super-affordable.

Just go to THIS LINK to find them, toss them in your cart, and use the code when you buy to get your $3 discount. It's good until March 31, 2015.

If you want to know more about the company, you can find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Product was provided at no cost to me; the manufacturer will be shipping directly to the winners.

Looly's Couscous #Giveaway

Have you missed me?


Yes, I've been MIA, but I decided to pop back in with a fun giveaway - Looly's Couscous. I received some samples, but so far I've only cooked the Thyme/Turmeric version. And, hey, it's couscous that tastes herby.

The colors are fun - dark and light - so it makes an interesting side. And this couscous couldn't be any easier to cook. Just add an equal amount of boiling water, stir, cover, and wait five minutes. Fluff with a fork, and you're ready to go. A perfect side dish when you have no time to even peel a potato.

But of course, you can add stuff to the couscous to make it even more interesting. Add some chopped onions, fresh herbs, goat cheese, chicken broth, tomatoes ... pretty much the sky's the limit.

But wait, do you even know what couscous is? A lot of people think it's a grain, but it's actually a teeny-tiny pasta shape.

The first time I tried it was when I was in my 20's in Morocco.

Well, not really Morocco. It was actually at Epcot. In a restaurant in the Morocco area. I had no idea what couscous was, but after we got home, I figured it out.

This is a bowl of cooked couscous.
You get the uncooked couscous, not the bowl.

So anyway, Looly's makes regular couscous and a gluten-free version, and I'll be giving away the same salad couscous I got, flavored with thyme and turmeric, as well as their breakfast couscous, flavored with cinnamon. I've never thought of couscous as a breakfast item, but it makes as much sense as flakes of corn or hot oatmeal.

Looly's wants you to know that they're "an innovative impact-driven healthy food start-up reinventing ancestral food and turning it into a trendy and Zero-Compromise™ Food Category. LOOLY'S products are Healthy (Unprocessed, High Protein, All-Natural, Gluten-Free), Tasty (based on traditional genuine recipes with a modern twist), Diet (Low Calorie), Convenient (ready in a few minutes, and, 'Boy! We have patented it!') while having a tremendous measurable and transparent Social Impact on the LOOLY’S artisans who handcraft it."

No, really, that's what they say about themselves. Me, I'm just here for the flavor.

One winner will receive one bag each of the two flavors. It's not as good as a trip to Morocco, I'll admit it. But you don't need a passport.

Note: Looly's provided product for me and will ship product to the winner at no cost to me.

Krusteaz Cookie Giveaway

Photo courtesy of Krusteaz

I bake from scratch most of the time, but even I have days when I want a quick fix and I don't want to look up a recipe (or make one up!) and I just want something fast, that I know will work. A good baking mix is great to have on hand for those sorts of personal emergencies.

The other time when I often use mixes is when I'm testing a new piece of bakeware. I want to know that any issues - sticking burning, uneven baking - is not the fault of some recipe that I randomly chose.

Lately, my mix of choice has been Krusteaz. I bought them in the past, then they sent some to me. I bought more (ooh! look! I haven't tried THAT yet!) and then the sent other stuff. I won't say I've tried every single one of their products, but I've tried enough of them to know that they're trustworthy. Even up here at high altitude, I get good results.

Now that it's cookie season (from the second it's not too hot to bake, until the time when it is too hot to bake - a season that lasts about 359 days) we're going to chat a bit about cookies.

They have a whole bunch of different flavors of mixes (of course) but they've come up with a bunch of different variations on using the mixes to make something a little bit different.

For example, you can use the Peanut Butter Cookie mix to make Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies and you can use the Sugar Cookie mix to make Chocolate Marble Cookies (click on the links to see the recipes.

I thought that using the Snickerdoodle mix to make Cinnamon Roll Cookies was particularly appealing. I guess I have a thing for swirled baked goods. In any case, the recipe is below.

Also below (hehe) is a giveaway of all three of the cookie flavors I mentioned - Peanut Butter, Snickerdoodle, and Sugar Cookie - so you can have your own emergency supply of cookies at your disposal.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Recipe & photo courtesy of Krustez; used with permission
Makes 36-40 cookies

For the cookies:
1 pouch Krusteaz Snickerdoodle Cookie Mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 egg
2 tablespoons Cinnamon-Sugar Topping (included with the mix)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

For the drizzle:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Blend the cookie mix, butter and egg until a dough forms. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and roll it to form a 12x8-inch rectangle.

Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mix and pecans over the dough. Starting with  the 12-inch side, roll the dough into tight log. Cover and refrigerate until firm.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees and have a cookie sheet standing by. They suggest a greased cookie sheet, but these days I use parchment or a silicone mat.

Cut the log into 1/4-inch slices and place them once 1 inch apart on your prepared cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes.

Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, make the drizzle:
Stir the sugar and milk together until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

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Gift Guide: Edibles (AND a Giveaway!)

Ho Ho Ho ... and a stocking full of ... food?

The great thing about being a food blogger is that people sometimes send me food to try. A lot of the time, it's snacks. Sometimes it's sauces or condiments. Sometimes spices. But the great thing is that quite often these are things that I might not have bought on my own. Sometimes because they're simply not available in my local store. Or the products are too new to be on store shelves.

These are great for gift baskets, grab bags, and stocking stuffers. Or for you, too. There's nothing wrong with giving yourself a little treat for the holidays

Here are some of my favorites.

Spiceologist Block

For your avid geeky cooking friends, the Spiceologist Block has spices in test tubes in a wooden rack for easy access and display. You can order a themed set, or choose your own spices. If you don't want buy a whole block of spices, you can pick and choose individual spices or rubs.

Orchard Choice California Fig Spread

The perfect gift for folks who love cheese and crackers with extras. The spreads can also be used for cooking, like this recipe for figgy chicken. Check the bottom of this post for a giveaway!

Feiny's Rubs

Here's an easy way to spice up meats and vegetables. A great stocking stuffer, or tuck a few into a gift basket. I wrote about them here.

Walker's Shortbreads

Perfect for snacking. Tuck a little bag into a stocking, or a larger package into a gift basket. Or fill a whole basket with shortbreads for you cookie-fiend friends.

Nocciolata

Chocolate hazelnut spread makes a lovely gift for your nutty chocolate lover friends. I used it to make ice cream in this recipe.

The Bacon Jams

Bacon spread in a jar. What more can you ask for? I used it to make corn chowder, but it's also pretty darned good spread on a sandwich, mixed into salad dressing, stirred into pasta or eggs, or used pretty much everywhere bacon is appropriate.

Nestle Delightfulls

Flavor-filled chocolate chips. A great stocking stuffer for your friends who bake, but they're also a great snack for your friends who'd eat them as a snack. Four flavors, and they're available at the grocery store, which is a great for last-minute space-filling in stockings or baskets.

Or, buy them for yourself and bake something. I made chocolate mint bars.

Nudo Olive Oils

Flavored olive oils are fun, or you can get your friends a really unique gift by renting an olive oil tree, and your friends will get all the oil from the tree's next harvest. I have a giveaway for this oil going on right here.

Piehole Whiskey

For adults only - three whiskeys with pie-themed flavors - cherry, apple, and pecan. The pecan is my favorite, but the others are pretty darned good, too. I'll be writing more about these later.

Wild Hibiscus Flower Company hibiscus products and 

Honey Ridge Farms whipped honey

This is just a small sampling of what you can find from these two companies, so go check them out. In the photo, we have flavored pyramid salt, tea, hibiscus in syrup and a really interesting flavoring in that blue bottle. You'll be hearing more about these later.

The honey in the photos is a whipped blackberry honey cream, but they have plenty of other flavors.

Smirnoff Sours

For adults only - a new drink from Smirnoff with a sweet-sour flavor. Perfect over ice. I wrote about it here.

Modern Gourmet Vinegars and Oils

These little bottles of oils and vinegars are the perfect samplers. Great for new cooks who aren't sure what they like, or open the boxes and toss a bottle into everyone's stocking as a little extra something. Or have them on hand for the holiday table to drizzle or dip different flavors.

Taste #5 Umami products

Umami is said to be the fifth thing we can taste, right after sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Your cooking friends will love the pastes that they can add to whatever they're cooking, while the jars hold seasoning you can add at the table.

Giveaway is OVER.

Nudo Olive Oil #Giveaway!

Olive oil is probably my most-used food item. I use it for cooking almost everything AND I often use it in baking. So when the fine folks at Nudo asked me if I wanted to host an olive oil giveaway here, I didn't hesitate for even a second.

Quite a few years back, I heard about their adopt-an-olive-tree program where you buy the oil from one tree in one of their groves. You pay ahead of time and get the oil after the harvest. I almost bought a tree ... almost ... but at the time, it was a little more money than I wanted to spend.

Instead, I bought some of their olive oils and other products. So even before this giveaway, I was familiar with them.

But, I didn't know the history of the company. To be honest, I don't feel like paraphrasing this because I'm feeling lazy and this is pretty well-written. So, this is what they have to say about themselves. Ha!

Introducing Nudo (http://www.nudoadopt.com/)! The brand began Back in 2005 after Jason Gibb bought and restored an abandoned 21 acre olive grove in Italy’s Le Marche. He and his partner gave up successful careers as TV producers to build a business in the Italian countryside, following a hunch that they’d enjoy being olive farmers. From their initial research it was clear that olive oil was a very crowded market, with a plethora of indistinguishable brands, low margins and consumer ignorance (some 20 years behind wines). Undaunted, they set off for to live in Italy, with little more than their one year old daughter, a pair of secateurs and an Italian dictionary.

They soon started their olive tree adoption program, which allows people all over the world to adopt an Italian olive tree and receive its olive oil. The program is a collaboration between artisanal olive oil producers in Le Marche, Liguria and Sicily with Nudo. Each olive farmer keeps responsibility for the care of their grove, and all the olive oil goes into the Nudo Italia adoption program. In giving financial security to the olive farmers, the program makes viable the traditional farming methods which, quite simply, produce the world’s best olive oil.

There are now adoptive parents all over the world, from Hollywood A-listers to ex-presidents. It is the perfect gift for the person who has everything. Today Jason works alongside the new owner, ex-theatre producer Katharine Doré OBE, who along with her 21 year old son Toby is restoring their groves in Liguria. Toby has autism so Katharine has had to carefully plan his whole life. But in the end, choosing a ‘career’ for him was a surprisingly easy decision thanks to his love of olives and everything to do with olive oil.

I got a sample pack (three oils) to try - lemon, garlic, and basil - all three flavors that I use very very very very often. Hmmm. That's one more very than oil, but I guess that's okay. I love the basil oil on pasta or drizzled onto tomato soup; the lemon on fish, chicken and just a tiny bit on salads; and the garlic on just about everything.

Want garlic bread? Just brush the garlic oil on the bread before grilling or baking. Try a combo of basil and garlic on chicken. Try a garlic and lemon on broccoli. Try lemon and basil on fish. Just keep trying them.

While I like these best as a finishing oil or for cold applications (like salad) in theory you could use them for gentle cooking. Like basil in your scrambled eggs, then mix in some tomatoes.

ONE lucky winner is going to get the same sample pack I got (depending on availability - if they improbably run out of something, they could ship a replacement.)

This post is sponsored by NUDO, who supplied the oils for me and for you.

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Stephens Hot Cocoa #Giveaway

Seriously, how can you say no to hot cocoa?

Well, maybe you can, but I can't. The nice folks at Stephen's Gourmet sent me three cans to try and it was about two seconds after I opened the box when I cracked open the first can - the Orange Creme. I have no idea why I decided to try that one first, since I generally don't like chocolate and fruit.

Much to my surprise, I liked it. Go figure.

Next I tried the Italian Amaratto, but I didn't drink it on its own. I made a less-strong cup of coffee in the morning and boosted the flavor with the chocolate. Another winner. But, like I said, how can you go wrong with hot cocoa?

After I got these, I realized that I used to buy this brand at a local store, but then it disappeared, and I hadn't looked for it for a while. So I was glad to see that it's still available.

By the way, this is the type of cocoa that you mix with hot water rather than milk, which is kind of handy, since it always seems like I want a mug of cocoa when the milk is running low.

So there we go. Hot cocoa. Three cans for me and three cans for one of you.

Stephen's Gourmet provided cocoa for me to sample and will be sending cocoa to the giveaway winner. Winner gets to choose flavors from among: candy cane, pumpkin spice, orange crème, cookies ‘n crème and amaretto.

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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.