Kodak Picture Books, Speical Offer and a Giveaway!

If you've visited the site lately, you've probably seen that I'm now apart of Food Buzz. It's this awesome website for food bloggers. They help out with promotions, ad space and they clue us in on some great new products. As part of their "Taste Maker" program, FoodBuzz teamed up with Kodak Gallery and offered us this awesome opportunity to check out they're photo books and all we had to do was blog about it!

Sample Cover

I decided that I would try and make a cook book style photo book and I couldn't believe how easy it was. When you start out, there are two options. The first is a quick style which after uploading your pictures, the site automatically places them into a book in chronological order. The second option is to do everything yourself. This is the option that I chose. It gave me such freedom! You choose everything from the color of your cover, or the color of your pages and the layouts. There are several page layout options from using just text all the way to up to having several pictures on the same page. I loved this! It meant that I could put pictures on page, and a recipes on the other! There is no software to download and the whole process takes just mintues. It really was super easy.

Now for the Speical Offer! Kodak is extending a great offer to my readers. They're giving you guys 40% off a medium or large picture book until the end of the month (8/31/2011). All you need to do to take apart of this offer is to click on the banner on the right hand side of my page. It's the perfect time to work on those pictures that have sitting in your computer forever! Save them to a beautiful photo book that you can pass down or hold onto forever.

And the giveaway? Well, since I'm quickly approaching my 2 year mark on GOC I had to do something right? So I created a recipe book and I want to give one away to you guys! It only has a handful of my favorite recipes, but I'm sure you'll treasure it. It's always a great start for what I'm planning to do in the future with creating a cook book for you guys. So, one lucky reader will be chosen at random to win this picture book. Plus, I'll even sign it because lets face it, signed copies of anything are pretty cool. How do you get a chance to win this? Well I'll tell you:

1. Follow GOC via google friend connect and leave me a comment telling me you do so.
2. "Like" GOC on Facebook and leave me a comment telling me you do so.
3. Follow my "tweets" via Twitter and leave me a comment telling me you do so.
4. Leave me a comment telling me why you'd like this small collection of recipes.
5. Leave me a comment telling me what your favorite on GOC is.

Make sure you leave separate comments for each entry. That means you have upto 5 chances to win!
Plus don't forget to take advantage of the 40% off offer by clicking the link on the top right hand side of the page.

Contests

There are no contests at this time.

Blogiversary Giveaway!!!!

August 25th marks my first anniversary. It was one year ago on that date that I started Goddess of Cooking. Since then I have shared over 100 recipes and how to's with you. What better way to celebrate then to give away a couple of my favorite kitchen tools??? I have five tools that I absolutely love to use in my kitchen and now you get the chance to own them too! So first let me show you what you could win, then I'll tell you just how you can win them!

First is a salt cellar:

This is acutally a new item for me. I was using just a regular spice container and every time I needed salt I would dump some into the lid so that I could grab a pinch or two. The salt cellar has made that so much easier! I just open the lid and my salt is right there, letting grab just what I need. Not a salt person? Use it for any spice you want!

Next item is a Mandoline:

I've had a mandoline for quite some time now. I use it for thinly slicing all sorts of veggies. It's grate for when you need thin sliced potato's for a gratan. This one has three different slice thickness as well as three different juliene thickness. 

Next up is a Potato Ricer:

If you have never used a ricer to make mashed potatos then you are going to fall in love with this tool! Not only does it mash cooked potatoes quickly but it creates a fine, smooth, silky texture that you can't get with an old fashion potato masher or even a hand mixer. It's great for making gnocchi too. I've also heard from people that use it to press the water out of frozen spinach that was thawed and even to evenly distribute ricotta cheese over lasagna!

A Citrus Squeezer:

This handly little tool works so much better then a juicer. With a juicer your really need some elbow grease to get the juice out plus they're a pain to clean. With this juicer, you just place your citrus fruit inside and give a squeeze. It keeps in all the pulp and seeds and gets every last drop of flavorful juice!

And the last tool in this great set is a micro-plane/grater:

One of my favorite kitchen tools by far. I have a thinner one that is more true of a micro-plane but I love these wider ones too. You can use these for grating chocolate, Parmesan cheese, nutmeg, zesting citrus fruits and even finely mincing garlic cloves. I use mine almost every night when making supper. 

So do you want to know how to win this prize pack??? Of course you do!!! Here's how you can get entries to win. 

Mandatory Entry:

- Leave a comment telling me what your favorite kitchen gadget is

Extra Entries: leave a SEPARATE comment for EACH entry.

-Follow Goddess of Cooking via Google Friend Connect (1 entry)

-Follow Goddess of Cooking via twitter @GoddessCooking (1 entry)

-"Like" Goddess of Cooking on Facebook (1 entry)

- Tweet the following: (1 tweet/day, 1 entry/tweet)

Enter #giveaway @GoddessCooking and win some awesome kitchen tools! http://bit.ly/9HPuoZ

Rules:

- Give away ends at midnight EST on August 24th 2010

- All entries must include your email address in the comment unless linked to your profile

- One winner will be chosen by random.org

- Only VALID entries will be counted

2009 Pumpkin Contest Entries

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake
Pumpkin Mousse
Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread submitted by Christi Mooney

2 cups pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 tbs veg oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp pumpkin spice
(sometimes I put just a tad more cloves in if I want it EXTRA spicey)

Preheat to 350F. In a large bowl, beat pumpkin, eggs, oil, water and sugar. In a medium bowl, mix dry stuff. Beat the dry mixture in with the pumpkin mixture. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake for 60 minutes or until knife comes out dry in center.


H A P P Y  C O O K I N G !!

Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Old-Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies submitted by Mellissa Horner-Richardson
Yield: 3 dozen

Ingredients:

2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 c butter(1 stick), softened
1 tsp baking powder
1 c Libby's 100% pure pumpkin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 lg egg
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
2 c chocolate chips

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 350* Grease baking sheets.
COMBINE flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in medium bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mix. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.
BAKE for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.


H A P P Y  C O O K I N G !!

Pumpkin Mousse

Pumpkin Mousse submitted by Kari Koepp

My mom gave me this recipe years ago. It really is good :)
 

2 Small pkgs  vanilla pudding
3 cups  Milk
1 can Pumpkin 14 ounce
1 teaspoon Pumpkin pie spice
1 cup  Cool Whip

With wisk beat together pudding, milk, pumpkin and spice. Fold in cool whip.  Refridgerate one hour :)

My mom gave me this recipe years ago. It really is good :)

H A P P Y  C O O K I N G !!

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake submitted by Malisa Shutt

This recipe uses gingersnaps which gives it a small bite and doesn't get overpowered by the cheesecake.You can use many toppings to garnish, my fave is caramel syrup, but you can use dark chocolate syrup,or whipped cream dusted with nutmeg and cinnamin. You can use light or dark brown sugar, with the dark giving it a richer taste.

 

Pumpkin Puree  375F  Makes 5 - 6 cups

2-  3-4 lb. pie pumpkins

Cut pumpkins into 5" pieces. clean out all the seeds and membranes down to the pulp.
Layer pumpkin pieces on a foil lined baking sheet, skin side up.

Bake for 1 hour,or until tender. Let cool. When cool enough scoop out pulp.
Place pulp in a blender or food processer.

Cover and puree until smooth.

At this point you can continue to the next part of the recipe or freeze the
puree for up to 6 months to use later in pies,cookies and any thing else
you need pumpkin for.

 

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake   350F            Makes one cheesecake

15oz. pumpkin puree (from first part)
1/4 cup butter,softened (do not substitute)
1-1/2 cup finely crushed gingersnaps
1-1/4 cup + 2 Tbsps. packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all- purpose flour
2 tsps. pumpkin pie spice
5 brown eggs, lightly beaten

* Before you heat your oven to 350F, place one oven rack on the bottom setting
and place a 13x9x2 pan filled with 1'' water on it.Then place the next rack on
the next setting up. Then heat oven to 350F.

* Meanwhile, in a bowl; stir together the crushed gingersnaps,butter
and 2 Tbsps pressed brown sugar until it makes a nice crumb.
Press the crumbs onto the bottom and about 1-in. up the sides of a 9x3
springform pan.When oven is ready bake crust for 5 min. or until firm.
Cool on a wire rack when done.

*To make the filling:in a large bowl, beat cream cheese and remaining
brown sugar until smooth.Beat in the pumpkin puree,flour and pumpkin pie spice
until combined. Add the eggs stirring them in by hand.

* Pour the filling into the cooked crust. Place the filled springform on a baking sheet
  on the top rack above the pan of water. Bake 1 hour or until filling appears
 set when gently jiggled.

*Turn off the oven; leaving cheesecake in the oven for 30min.
  (top may crack as it cools.)

* Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 min.Using a sharp knife, carefully loosen the
   crust from the sides of pan. Let cool 30 min. more.

* Slowly, carefully remove springform sides,using the sharp knife as needed.
   Cover and chill for 4 hrs or overnight before serving.

H A P P Y  C O O K I N G !!