Donate A YA Review for the Holidays and Win!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

This giveaway is now closed!

Have you had the pleasure of meeting Reagan at Miss Remmers’ Reviews?  I hope you have!  Reagan is going to school to be an English Teacher and her blog has a wonderful theme, it is all about finding great reads to draw Young Adults into the pleasure of reading.  When Reagan told me about her plan to find YA reviews throughout the blogesphere I knew I wanted to help her promote this.  🙂

All you need to do to participate in this is go over to Miss Remmers Reviews blog and connect your great YA review to her Mr Linky.  Check first to make sure she does not already have the review and that she doesnt have it on the schedule… but if you are the first one to offer her a review of a YA book, this would be a great help to her to continue her encouragement to get Young Adults to find books they enjoy and start planting that “need to read” seed in their hearts.

I am so excited about Reagan is doing that I would like to add to her challenge.  Anyone that connects over at Miss Remmers Reviews with a YA review (or two, or three…) let me know here (in the comments) what book review you linked her to on your blog.  For each review you link her to, let me know on a separate comment here and I will choose a winner using random.org on December 24.  If I have 20 comments here with book reviews you have offered Reagan to use I will give away a $10 gift card to Amazon.  If I have over 30 separate comments of reviews given to Reagan, I will make it a $20 gift card.  *Remember – each comment is to let me know that you did sent her a book review link and what that book title is for me to count your comment in the giveaway.

Because I can send the gift card by email to you, this giveaway is open world wide!

I hope many of you will do this!  Most of us have read a YA that we have enjoyed, by allowing it be posted at Miss Remmers Reviews she is linking it back to your blog as well as letting YA’s that may not be big readers yet know about the real enjoyment you can get out of reading.

Thank you everyone for helping out a fellow blogger and making great reads available to others!

** You must connect over at Miss Remmers Reviews first with your YA link..then come back here and let me know what YA book review you gave her.

Healthy Bread In Five Minutes A Day by Jeff Hertzberg MD and Zoe Francois

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day
100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients
By Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., and Zoë François
Published by Thomas Dunne Books
October 2009; $27.99US/$35.99CAN; 978-0-312-54552-9

From the authors of the groundbreaking Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day comes a new cookbook filled with quick and easy recipes for healthy bread

Their first book was called “stupendous,” “genius,” and “the holy grail of bread making.” Now, in their much-anticipated second book, Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., and Zoë François have taken their super-fast method and adapted it for the health-conscious baker, focusing on whole grains and other healthier ingredients.

The method is still quick and simple, producing professional-quality results with each warm, fragrant, hearty loaf. In just five minutes a day of active preparation time, you can create delectable, healthy treats such as 100% Whole Wheat Bread, Whole Grain Garlic Knots with Parsley and Olive Oil, Black-and-White Braided Pumpernickel and Rye Loaf, Cherry Black Pepper Focaccia, Pumpkin Pie Brioche, Chocolate Tangerine Bars, and a variety of gluten-free breads. And many of the recipes are 100% whole grain.

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day will show you that there is time enough for home-baked bread, and that it can be part of a healthy diet. Calling all bread lovers: Whether you are looking for more whole grains, watching your weight, trying to reduce your cholesterol, or just care about what goes into your body, this book is a must-have.

In My Opinion:

While I openly admit, I dont eat a lot of bread products day to day, I do enjoy a really good bread.  really good bread to me is a hearty bread loaded with flavor, grains, fruit, vegies…. those are the ones I find hard to resist.  What I discovered in this book, Healthy Bread In Five Minutes A Day was a whole book full of recipes as well as tips to make just the kind of bread that I would find hard to resist.

I thought Thanksgiving would be a great time to create one of the mouth watering recipes from this book.  On page 145 I found just the recipe, 100% Whole Grain Maple Oatmeal Bread?  Sound good?  Good didnt even begin to describe it!  Using whole wheat flour and old fashioned oats, I followed this recipe step by step to make a delicious tasting and smelling bread that filled the house with a pleaseantness that had my whole family wanting to know – when do we get to eat it?

For a person who doesn’t really do anything slow… this was a lesson in good bread making.  I need two hours to let the dough rise and collapse.  On the bright side of this, the bread dough can be made up to seven days in advance and kept refrigerated until you are ready to bake – so a fresh loaf could be at your fingertips!

The end result was a good looking loaf of bread that I was pleased with and the flavor of maple and cinnamon made for a “skip the pie” worthy treat.

Author Bios

Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., coauthor of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients, is a physician with twenty years of experience in health care as a practitioner, consultant, and faculty member at the University of Minnesota Medical School. His interest in baking and preventive health sparked a quest to adapt the techniques of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for healthier ingredients.

Zoë François, coauthor of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients, is passionate about food that is real, healthy, and always delicious. She is a pastry chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America. In addition to teaching baking and pastry courses nationally, she consults to the food industry and is the creator of the recipe blog http://www.zoebakes.com. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two sons.

The authors answer bread questions at their Web site: http://www.healthybreadinfive.com.

I received my review copy from FSB Associates

Virtual Cookie Swap

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)9 Comments

For the past 12 Days I have drooled over recipes that Kathy from Bermuda Onion and Julie from Booking Mama have put up on the blogs.  Today they are asking that we join in on this recipe swap by writing our post and linking here.

Here is one of my favorite cookies that can not sit in my home because I could eat them all!  I learned this one at a cookie exchange class a friend and I attended a few years ago where we all met in a huge kitchen in a school and each made 20 dozen of a recipe they gave us, then we all got to take home one dozen as well as the recipes.  It was a lot of fun!

 

Cookie Surprise

1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. softened butter
1 c. peanut butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 c. flour
1 bag of mini Snickers (must be mini – not fun size!)
Cream together sugar, brown sugar, butter and peanut butter. Add vanilla and eggs. Mix well. Add baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and flour; mix well.  Wrap dough around each mini Snickers bar, forming a ball.Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Virtual Cookie Swap (2nd recipe)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)15 Comments

For the past 12 Days I have drooled over recipes that Kathy from Bermuda Onion and Julie from Booking Mama have put up on the blogs.  Today they are asking that we join in on this recipe swap by writing our post and linking chocolate recipes to Booking Mama and traditional cookies to Bermuda Onion. Both sites are offering a copy of The Christmas Cookie Club book to one lucky winner who submits a recipe!

This is a recipe my grandma used to make when I was a kid.  This is a second recipe being submitted for the Virtual Cookie Swap.


Favorite Sour Cream Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups chopped fav. nut (optional)

Directions:

1.

In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Then stir in the sour cream. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, stir in the nuts. Cover this and refrigerate for 1/2 hour.

2.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3.

Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Morning Meanderings…

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Good Morning those of us who Are still at home at 8 am!  🙂  I havent been the Black Friday shopper for many years.  I actually used to love working it.  When I worked as a Department Manager at Wal-Mart this was my favorite day fo the year to work.  I absolutely loved to watch the people run in and just grab random things!  We were not allowed to work any new freight on this day, so basically you just watched the craziness and helped customers…. well, I liked that!  It was also a day you worked from 4 am to noon.  Then off you went to do your own thing.  I found being on the other side, “the shopper” I really didn’t enjoy as much and only did it twice.

Thanks to online shopping… I can sit right here in the comfort of my own home and click away at whatever I am looking for.  One of the places I will be visiting today is Christian Books.com they are having a huge sale and I browsed it the other day and they have many wonderful reads around $2 each, I encourage you all to check it out.  There are books, cd’s, gifts, movies….  really some great ideas there.

I will also be on Amazon today.  I have to get my book club read yet for December as well as the two secret santa gifts I need.

Other than that today I am finishing up the book Thanksgiving At The Inn.  I also have a couple posts to do – one is the Cookie Swap post that has been going on at Bermuda Onion’s and at Booking Mama’s .  You should stop in a t both sites – they have posted some incredible cookie recipes and the fun is continuing today as they are encouraging us to post ours as well!  🙂  My other post will be the one I meant to put up yesterday (but was having way too mych fun playing Trivial Pursuit on the wii with my boys and then watching the new Star Trek movie) Healthy Bread….

So uhhh… yeah.  Cookie recipes…. and then healthy bread.  🙂  Perfect!

My question this morning is do you do any online shopping?  Any great sites you could share here?

9 Dragons by Michael Connelly Audio Giveaway

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)40 Comments

This giveaway is now closed.

Thanks to Anna With Hachette Audiobooks, I have three copies of this audio to give away!  I have read this book and I am thrilled to have a chance to listen to this on audio!

LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life.


Available in CD and Digital Download formats.
Listen to an excerpt.
Visit MichaelConnelly.com

How to Enter?

1)  Leave a comment here with a motto you like.  In the book, Detective Harry Bosch’s motto is, “Happy is the man who finds refuge in himself.” (you must answer the question to be entered in this giveaway!)

Bonus Entries!!!

2)  Subscribe to my email to this blog (upper right sidebar) and receive 2 additional entries!  Let me know you did here on a separate comment – entries that say they are subscribed and are not will be deleted.

If you are already a subscriber let me know in a separate comment and you will receive 3 extra entries!

3)  Blog or tweet about this giveaway and let me know by leaving the blog link or tweet link here on a separate comment and you will receive an additional entry.

4.  Follow this blog and let me know on a separate comment and you have an additional entry as well!  :)

That’s is!  You can do the first entry alone or as many bonus as you choose.  Giveaway is open to USA and Canada only.  Winners will receive the audios from Hachette.

Giveaway ends December 16

Permission Slips by Sherri Shephard Audio Giveaway

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

This giveaway is now closed.

Thanks to Anna With Hachette Audiobooks, I have three copies of this audio to give away!  This will be a greta one to listen to next trip I take alone to the cities or to the cabin.


ABC’s The View co-host Sherri Shepherd speaks honestly about her life, her family, and her struggles. As she relates her life experiences, she will also share the things she’s learned along the way.


Available in CD and Digital Download formats.
Listen to an excerpt.
Visit SherriShepherd.com

How to Enter?

1)  Leave a comment here with one of your favorite things you like to do to unwind. (you must answer the question to be entered in this giveaway!)

Bonus Entries!!!

2)  Subscribe to my email to this blog (upper right sidebar) and receive 2 additional entries!  Let me know you did here on a separate comment – entries that say they are subscribed and are not will be deleted.

If you are already a subscriber let me know in a separate comment and you will receive 3 extra entries!

3)  Blog or tweet about this giveaway and let me know by leaving the blog link or tweet link here on a separate comment and you will receive an additional entry.

4.  Follow this blog and let me know on a separate comment and you have an additional entry as well!  :)

That’s is!  You can do the first entry alone or as many bonus as you choose.  Giveaway is open to USA and Canada only.  Winners will receive the audios from Hachette

Giveaway ends December 21

Say You’re One Of Them by Uwem Akpan Audio Giveaway

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)42 Comments

This giveaway is now closed

Thanks to Anna With Hachette Audiobooks, I have three copies of this audio to give away!  I am so excited to get into this one soon!


Each story in this jubilantly acclaimed collection pays testament to the wisdom and resilience of children, even in the face of the most agonizing circumstances.

“Each one of these stories left me really gasping and profoundly moved.” – Oprah Winfrey

Available in CD and Digital Download formats.
Listen to an excerpt
Listen to the Interview with Uwem Akpan.

How to enter?

1)  Leave a comment here of a title of an Oprah Book Club Book you have read.  If you have not read one, what one peaks your interest. Here is a list to look at of Oprah’s Book Club Picks (you must answer the question to be entered in this giveaway!)

Bonus Entries!!!

2)  Subscribe to my email to this blog (upper right sidebar) and receive 2 additional entries!  Let me know you did here on a separate comment – entries that say they are subscribed and are not will be deleted.

If you are already a subscriber let me know in a separate comment and you will receive 3 extra entries!

3)  Blog or tweet about this giveaway and let me know by leaving the blog link or tweet link here on a separate comment and you will receive an additional entry.

4.  Follow this blog and let me know on a separate comment and you have an additional entry as well!  :)

That’s is!  You can do the first entry alone or as many bonus as you choose.  Giveaway is open to USA and Canada only.  Winners will receive the audios from Hachette

Giveaway ends December 20

Lovely Bones Audio Giveaway

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

This giveaway is closed.

Thanks to Anna With Hachette Audiobooks, I have three copies of this audio to give away!  I am currently listening to this in my home and it is being read by the author, Alice Sebold.

It is a story of unspeakable tragedy and loss, but also of abiding love and even joy. With its astonishing force, THE LOVELY BONES has captured the hearts of millions of readers around the world.


Available in CD and Digital Download formats.
Listen to an excerpt.
Watch the movie trailer.
Visit the official movie website at LovelyBones.com.

How to enter?

1)  Leave a comment here of where or when you are most likely to listen to an audio book (you must answer the question to be entered in this giveaway!)

Bonus Entries!!!

2)  Subscribe my email to this blog (upper right sidebar) and receive 2 additional entries!  Let me know you did here on a separate comment – entries that say they are subscribed and are not will be deleted.

If you are already a subscriber let me know in a separate comment and you will receive 3 extra entries!

3)  Blog or tweet about this giveaway and let me know by leaving the blog link or tweet link here on a separate comment and you will receive an additional entry.

4.  Follow this blog and let me know on a separate comment and you have an additional entry as well!  🙂

That’s is!  You can do the first entry alone or as many bonus as you choose.  Giveaway is open to USA and Canada only.  Winners will receive the audios from Hachette

Giveaway ends December 18

Morning Meanderings…

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

I was up early (Coffee Cup too!) to start the traditional prepping of the bird.  I always go all out for this day even though it is just the four of us, Al and I, and our two boys, Brad (21) and Justin (19).   Since we have such a small family I think I over compensate with days like this.  I have a 24 pound turkey.  Don’t laugh….. ok, laugh.  I make a big one so the boys have left overs to take home and eat all weekend long.  What else is on the menu?


I have shrimp and cocktail sauce  (something to snack on throughout the day!)

Mixed nuts and M & M’s mixed in… (another mindless snack item)

I am making broccoli cauliflower salad with grapes (so ym and I make it light w FF Mayo and Splenda)

Sweet Potatoes (are a must!  And I have a new recipe this year that calls for FF Plain Yogurt blended in… sounds really good!)

Cheesy broccoli

warm whole grain dinner rolls and bread out of the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day (review on this book yet today!)

Turkey stuffing (the boys love this!)

Carrots and vegie dip

I think that is everything.  We have the new Star Wars movie to watch this afternoon and I have Trivial Pursuit for the Wii.  Should be a good day.  We dont really have any traditions… just hanging out together.  Next month Brad goes into the Navy (on the 14th) so this is a bitter sweet holiday for us…. and my job of course is to hold myself together… ha ha.

I am so thankful for my family, my faith, my friends.  I am thankful for our health.  I am thankful for all the things that my eyes are open to in this world and  the heart to want to do something about it.  I am thankful for all of you, for the conversations and the friendships developed through talking books.

How about you?  Any traditions today?  Any fun foods or plans?  I would love to hear what you do!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!