by on December 18, 2014   •   132 Comments Giveaways

Bite this Book: Gatherings

Folks, I have one more cookbook giveaway for you to wrap up my Bite this Book series in 2014. It couldn’t come at a better time, as we are preparing for the holiday season and some of you might be quaking at the thought of hosting.

Canadian food writers and my friends Jan Scott & Julie Van Rosendaal have joined forces to bring us guide to making casual entertaining simple and accessible. Gatherings: Bringing People Together With Food is a beautiful cookbook full of helpful tips for real get-together from cocktail parties to potlucks, equipping you to go fourth and entertain with confidence.

I can’t wait to put Gatherings to good use over the holiday season. I’ll be hosting a handful of events and will be counting on this beautiful book to help me survive and thrive. Bookmarked already are the chapters: Weekend Brunch, Snow Day, Holiday Open House and Cocktail Party.

Read on for an exclusive interview with both Julie and Jan, plus a chance to win a copy of Gatherings: Bringing People Together With Food!

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by on October 23, 2014   •   Entertaining

5 Cheap Ways to Spruce Up Your Gathering & The Kitchn Cookbook giveaway

The brand new cookbook from the creators of the beloved The Kitchn blog was waiting for me when I returned home earlier this week. Oh joy!

I had met Sara Kate at Big Summer Potluck two years ago and I had the pleasure of hosting Faith here on the homestead last fall. These two kitchen geniuses teamed up to author The Kitchn Cookbook: Recipes, Kitchens & Tips to Inspire Your Cooking, a warm, inspiring cookbook that offers much more than just recipes (although the recipes are great, too).

If you like peeking into other peoples kitchens, you’ll love how this cookbook opens, with snapshots and stories of real kitchens around the country. Tucked in and around the features are solid, practical tips for setting up and caring for your kitchen. There is so much to learn here, whether your kitchen is tiny or too-large (is that really a thing?).

The next section is close to my heart: Stocking the Pantry and Planning Meals. This is the backbone of really cooking well. The authors guide you through the best set up so you can be prepared for my favourite part of the book: The Kitchn’s Cooking School! These 50 essential skills are so darn practical and well-written, I wanted to reach out and give both Faith and Sara Kate a virtual high-five.

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by on September 11, 2014   •   Giveaways

Bite this Book: Good Cheap Eats {giveaway}

If you’re a long-time reader, you’ll remember the name Jessica Fisher from our Eat Well, Spend Less series which she spearheaded for over a year. Jessica is kind of an expert on the topic.

Now she has released a new book (we loved her Make Ahead & Freeze cookbook) and it’s absolutely fantastic. Good solid home cooking for families like yours and mine.

Good Cheap Eats (the book) is inspired by Good Cheap Eats (the blog), which I’ve been reading for the past five years. Jessica helps families and busy parents find better ways to get economical and healthy meal options on the table without sacrificing good taste or good nutrition.

Good Cheap Eats: Everyday Dinners and Fantastic Feasts for 10 or Less follows this theme, with over 70 two- and three-course meals (200 recipes) that feed a family of 4 for $10 or less. Along the way, Jessica has included over 100 tips for stretching grocery budgets, making ingredients go farther, and getting the most flavor from budget-friendly ingredients. Amazing!

Read on for an interview with Jessica and a chance to win TWO of her cookbooks.

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by on August 5, 2014   •   Giveaways

Michael Smith’s Family Meals (giveaway)

You know we recently vacationed in P.E.I, a place where beloved Canadian Chef Michael Smith calls home. You can’t go far on the island without seeing his face in a bookstore window or on a poster.

I’m a big fan of Michael’s cookbooks, Fast Flavours is in regular rotation – and his latest, Family Meals, is right up my alley. In fact, it hasn’t left my kitchen since it arrived in the mail; that is entirely the point of the book.

With sections such as ‘Lunchbox & Snacks’, ‘ Cook Ahead’ and ‘Family Meals in Minutes’, it’s obvious Chef Michael is familiar with juggling the demands of a busy household and a career.  And while many family cookbooks deliver recipes to cook for your family, Chef Michael’s shows you how to have fun in the kitchen with your family. It’s a subject we love around here!

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by on May 29, 2014   •   Giveaways

Bite this Book: The Nourished Kitchen

The latest cookbook to take up residence on my kitchen counter is Jennifer McGruther’s The Nourished Kitchen.

With the tagline Farm-to-Table Recipes for the Traditional Foods Lifestyle, Jenny’s is actually a pretty close representation of how I cook for my family on a daily basis: wholesome, nourishing foods, sourced and prepared mindfully, with a nod to old world culinary traditions and techniques. I’m delighted to find new inspiration in The Nourished Kitchen.

The cookbook is a fresh take on unprocessed foods; 160 recipes prettily packaged alongside helpful headnotes and beautiful photographs. It is one I know I will reach for and cook from for many years to come.

Read on for an interview with Jennifer and a chance to win a copy of The Nourished Kitchen: Farm-to-Table Recipes for the Traditional Foods Lifestyle.

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