06 Mar

Winner: Cookbook Giveaway Extravaganza

Posted by Michelle as Giveaways | 10 Comments

Congratulations to the winner of the Cookbook Giveaway Extravaganza:

Commenter #1,364, Christina. The first food blog she ever visited?

“I’m a huge Pioneer Woman fan! So she’s the first blog. First site though was Epicurious. Thanks!”

Congratulations, Christina, enjoy cooking and baking from your new stash: The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, The Foodie Handbook, and The Sweet Life in Paris!

Thanks for entering, everyone!

01 Mar

Cookbook Giveaway Extravaganza! Win FIVE Books!

Posted by Michelle as Giveaways | 1,876 Comments

 

See that stack of books there? They are sitting patiently, waiting to find out where their new home will be. They have yet to be open, and they will all be going to ONE OF YOU! Yes, you heard me right – all five books are being given away to one lucky reader. What do all five of these books have in common? Some of you may have already guessed this, but they are all written by food bloggers and were published in 2009. It was a big year for food bloggers and I thought it would be great to highlight each of the newly published books, and showcase what some food bloggers have been up to. And then of course, continue the celebration and give them away to one of you!

Keep reading »

21 Feb

Winner: King Arthur Flour Giveaway

Posted by Michelle as Giveaways | 2 Comments

Congratulations to the winner of the King Arthur Flour White Whole Wheat Flour and the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook :

Commenter #76, Tiffany. She shared her favorite brownies:

“I won’t turn down even a boxed-mix brownies, but my favorite is to go to a potluck and see brownies with nuts on a plate. I never put nuts in brownies at home since hubby would be so disappointed.”

Congratulations, Tiffany, enjoy the new flour and the cookbook! Can’t wait to hear what you bake up from it!

Thanks for entering, everyone!

17 Feb

Secret Ingredient Brownies + King Arthur Flour Giveaway!

Posted by Michelle as Brownies and Bar Cookies, Giveaways | 613 Comments

I think you all are very well aware that I absolutely adore all things butter, sugar and chocolate. You may also have noticed that there aren’t healthy substitutes on this site, such as butter substitutes, using applesauce in place of oil, or Splenda instead of sugar. There is a very good reason for that – I simply don’t believe in it! I believe in the pure enjoyment of delicious desserts made from natural, high-quality ingredients that bring out the best flavors in a dessert. I’ve been asked how it’s possible that I’m not severely overweight since I do so much baking and run this website. Well, another thing I believe in is moderation. It all boils down to this – if you want to eat dessert, I believe you should eat the best dessert you can afford, health-wise. Whether it be a luxurious piece of dark chocolate, a chocolate chip cookie or a piece of cheesecake. If I’m craving chocolate, a fat-free, sugar-free pudding cup probably isn’t going to cut it, but a 1-ounce piece of smooth chocolate very likely will. Where am I going with this? While my philosophy is not to bow to substitutes to make yourself feel better about eating dessert, I don’t necessarily eschew making things that are naturally good for you either.

So, what is the secret ingredient in these brownies? White whole wheat flour.

How am I not a hypocrite? Using white whole wheat flour is an attempt add something to the diet (whole grain) as opposed to taking things away and replacing them with lower-quality ingredients that can compromise the final product.

Keep reading »

30 Jan

Super Peel Pizza Peel Winner

Posted by Michelle as Giveaways | 5 Comments

Congratulations to the winner of the Super Peel Pizza Peel:

Commenter #89, Monica, of ABCs of My Life. She shared her worst pizza disaster:

“This looks wonderful. We eat pizza often and I usually make it because of my son’s allergies. My one pizza disaster was during a birthday party. I made my son a pizza on a pre-cooked crust and put it under the boiler to melt the cheese. I forgot to check it and it came out of the oven on fire. Luckily I had another crust on hand.”

I have to say, I feel such a kinship with you all after reading about syour pizza disasters. I feel I have experienced it all – ingredients burned to the bottom of the oven, a misshapen pizza plopped onto a stone, pizza folding in on itself, a stone cracking mid-bake. One thing is for certain – no one is alone in their baking miseries, and we’re all in this kitchen adventure together!

Thanks for entering, everyone! Stay tuned for more great giveaways!

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25 Jan

Giveaway: Super Peel Pizza Peel

Posted by Michelle as Giveaways | 383 Comments

Raise your hand if you love (or even like) pizza. No doubt many of us share a love for a great big slice of pizza full of favorite toppings. Sometimes there is nothing better than kicking back on a Friday night and waiting for the doorbell to ring and seeing dinner appear before your eyes. Sometimes, though, there is nothing more satisfying that pulling a homemade pizza out of your own oven and feasting on it. A perfect crust that you can top with the exact amount of sauce and cheese that you prefer and your favorite toppings. While I am a big fan of the classic pepperoni pizza, gourmet-style pizzas have become all the rage lately.

No matter your pizza preference, you are sure to love this Super Peel Pizza Peel by EXOProducts. I mentioned it before the holidays in my list of 10 Gift Ideas for Foodies. I had seen rave reviews about it on Amazon, and then found out that it comes highly recommended from Cook’s Illustrated. Anytime I am ready to buy new equipment for my kitchen, I always read the CI reviews first, so this was a big plus for me right off the bat.

Gary, the inventor of the Super Peel, contacted me after the holidays to find out if I received one and when I said I hadn’t he offered to ship me one and if I liked it, to provide another for a giveaway. Well, let me tell you – it totally rocks and my pizza making is a million times better! If you’ve ever tried to “toss” a pizza onto a hot stone, you are all too familiar with the troubles that can ensue. And of course shaping one on a cold stone and putting it in the oven totally defeats the purpose of the stone. So, the long and short of it is, the Super Peel is nothing short of awesome and you need one. Therefore, I have taken Gary up on his offer and am giving one away to a lucky reader chosen at random!

Deadline: Thursday, January 28, 2010 11:59pm EST

Required: Your email address. You must fill out the email address portion of the comment form (it will not be published) or I will not be able to contact you should you win.

How to Enter: It’s simple! Leave a comment on this post and answer the following question:

Have you had a pizza disaster? Tell me about it! If not, share your most wretched baking disaster.

For Extra Entries: Tweet about this giveaway (@browneyedbaker), post about it on your blog, or post about it on Facebook. Then come back and leave a separate comment with a link to your Tweet, blog post, or Facebook post for a possible 3 extra comments & entries.

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09 Jan

Winner of the Digital Kitchen Scale Giveaway!

Posted by Michelle as Giveaways | 3 Comments

Congratulations to Commenter #267, Patricia of Late Bloomin’ Heirlooms, whose New Year’s resolution is:

“My goal is to create and prepare more meals using our heirloom vegetables and fruits then publish our results for our market friends.  The scale would come in mighty handy.”

Congratulations Patricia, enjoy your new EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale!

06 Jan

New Year’s Giveaway! EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale

Posted by Michelle as Giveaways | 409 Comments

Maybe your New Year’s resolution is to eat better/smarter/healthier. Or maybe your New Year’s resolution is to bake by weighing ingredients instead of using measuring cups *ahem*. I would certainly encourage you to adopt the former, if you haven’t already! As I have gone on and on about before, I am a HUGE proponent of using a scale to weigh ingredients instead of scooping them into measuring cups, which can account for some drastic differences in quantities. No matter your New Year’s resolution, this scale is sure to be a great asset in your kitchen.

The folks at EatSmart were kind enough to send me a Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale to try out before offering one to all of you, and I made sure to give it a work out. You can weigh ingredients in grams, kilograms, ounces or pounds which is great since most recipes that originate pretty much anywhere but the U.S. list ingredients using metric measurements. As an added bonus for those of you that are watching what you eat, the scale comes with a book of conversions for hundreds of common foods. Once you weigh the food, you multiply its weight by the accompanying number in the book, and that will tell you how many calories are in whatever you just weighed.

As I have mentioned before, I have been using the Escali Pana Volume Measuring Scale for over a year now, and since I have heavily promoted it in the past I felt compelled to do a comparison between the two. The biggest difference is that the Escali scale has over 500 ingredients preprogrammed with accompanying codes so if, for instance, you need 2 cups of all-purpose flour but don’t want to look up how many ounces or grams is in a cup, you set the scale to “volume” and input the code for “all-purpose flour” and add flour until the display reads 2 cups. You could then toggle to ounces or grams to see how much is there for future reference.

Aside from that, there are minimal differences and while I do love the Escali scale, I am more than happy to recommend the EatSmart scale to anyone who needs to weigh kitchen ingredients.

Since I always beg you to weigh your ingredients, I am now giving you a tool to make it happen! See the details below on how to enter to win an EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale. I will choose one lucky winner at random, so be sure to get your entries in! Good luck!

Deadline: Thursday, January 7, 2010 11:59pm EST

Required: Your email address. You must fill out the email address portion of the comment form (it will not be published) or I will not be able to contact you should you win.

Restrictions: Due to shipping restrictions, this giveaway is only for those with U.S. mailing addresses. My apologies to international readers!

How to Enter: It’s simple! Leave a comment on this post and answer the following question:

What is your New Year’s resolution?

For Extra Entries: Tweet about this giveaway, post about it on your blog, or post about it on Facebook. Then come back and leave a link to your Tweet, blog post, or Facebook post for a possible 3 extra entries.

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11 Dec

Congratulations to the Winner of the Kitchen Aid Mixer Giveaway!

Posted by Michelle as Giveaways | 7 Comments

Nothing says Happy Holidays like a shiny, brand-spankin’ new Kitchen Aid mixer!

Congratulations to commenter #394, Angela of Spinach Tiger, who has reason to start celebrating the season. Get ready to start your baking motor, Angela! Her favorite holiday recipe:

“My favorite dessert for the Christmas Holidays is White Christmas Ice Cream Bombe. I make it every year and this year i did it with a homemade pomegranate sorbet. My link: http://bit.ly/8jBa2H”

What a gorgeous dessert! Congratulations again and Merry Christmas Angela!

A genuine thank you to all of you who took the time to dig up your favorite recipe and share it with everyone. I read every single entry and have saved countless recipes to try in the future. It was so much fun to learn about so many different types of traditions.

A great big thank you also goes out to Sam’s Club for sponsoring this sensational giveaway. Sam’s has a ton of great resources on their website for organizing all of the little details of the holiday, especially when it comes to food and entertaining. They have 10 different appetizers for under $10, a guide for helping you organize your holiday meal complete with wine pairings, and tons of suggestions for food-related gifts.

Many of you have expressed interest in homemade food gifts this year, and I thought you may find this video useful. Cookbook author Nicole Aloni provides readers with tips on getting the most out of your holiday baking and how to put together fantastic homemade gifts that your friends and family will be drooling over.

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03 Dec

Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer Giveaway!

Posted by Michelle as Giveaways | 556 Comments

If you feel the need to pinch yourself, go ahead, I’ll wait… I assure you, you’re not dreaming. I am so excited to be giving away the Kitchen Aid mixer that you see pictured above! This is a Kitchen Aid 5-Series Bowl-Lift Stand Mixer with a 450-watt motor (take THAT, bagel dough!) that comes with a newly designed dough hook that handles 20% more dough than the previous models. Droooool. What an amazing Christmas gift this would make! Or, perhaps, a pat-on-the-back gift to yourself

Now, because this giveaway is a bit of a biggie and because this is my favorite time of year, I want to celebrate all of the great food that so many people make during the holidays. So, here is how you can enter to win this awesome mixer:

If you DO have a blog: Between now and midnight next Thursday, blog about your favorite holiday recipe. Is it your Grandma’s famous cookie recipe, peanut brittle that everyone fights over, perfect scalloped potatoes, the best mug of hot cocoa? Whatever it is, I want you to share it! Once you blog about it, come back here and leave a link to the post so that everyone else can check out your recipe too. The idea here is to share all of the wonderful recipes that are unearthed during the holiday season.

If you DON’T have a blog: Don’t worry, you didn’t think I’d leave you out, did you? If you don’t have a blog, leave a comment on this entry telling us what your favorite holiday recipe is and either include a link to the recipe if it is somewhere online or include the actual recipe with your comment.

Deadline: Thursday, December 10, 2009 11:59pm EST. The winner will be selected at random using Random.org.

Restrictions: Due to shipping restrictions, this giveaway is only open for those residing within the continental United States. My deepest apologies to my international readers!

For an Extra Entry: Tweet about this giveaway, and then come back and leave a link to your Tweet for a possible second entry.

Good Luck!

Disclaimer: Giveaway sponsored by Sam’s Club

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