Category Archives: fabulous friday

December 18, 2011

They Draw & Cook, a Giveaway!!

Happy Sunday friends! Today we have a very special treat for you.

We want to introduce you to the brother sister team of Nate Padavick and Salli Swindell. In February 2010 they launched They Draw & Cook with 8 recipes illustrated by friends and family. There are now almost 1,900 recipes by close to 1,000 artists around the world.

Winter Warmer Soup by Sarah Ward from Sheffield, UK http://gingerbred.co.uk

Their goal was to turn food into art and art into food and their experiment quickly became an online sensation. Thousands of visitors frequent their blog monthly and can play with the interactive world map of over 1900 recipes, submit an original recipe of their own, or “Dial-A-Dinner” for different suggestions on what to cook.

This October, They Draw & Cook; 107 Recipes Illustrated By Artists Around the World was released.

They Draw & Cook is loosely organized into recipes suitable for breakfast followed by appetizers, main courses, desserts, and drinks. Make a meal a swanky or simple affair by flipping through this cookbook for inspiration, but expect company while you cook with every recipe’s pithy cast of characters combining two parts wit for every part instruction.

And as if that wasn’t enough, a calendar, complete with recipes and illustrations was also just released! The calendar is made of 12 ribbon-tied extra thick pages that are 17.5 x 7 inches. When the month is over you can cut out the recipe and keep it forever!

This is the perfect gift for the food and art lover on your list this holiday season.

We are so thrilled to be teaming with Salli and Nate; they are generously giving away a copy of They Draw & Cook, a calendar and two (TWO!!!) fine art full-size recipes of YOUR CHOICE printed on fine art archival paper!!

To enter to win this amazing prize package you must do the following:

Comment on this post what you love most about Nate and Salli’s work.

For additional entries,

1. Follow They Draw & Cook on Twitter.
2. Follow Where Women Cook on Twitter.
3. Submit an original recipe to They Draw & Cook.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

Giveaway closes Wednesday, December 22, 2011 at 11:59 CST.

Of course while it is not necessary for entering the contest, we would love for you to take a moment and “like” They Draw & Cook, Where Women Cook and Jo Packham on Facebook! Good luck!

UPDATE: CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR GIVEAWAY WINNER, MICHELLE KONDRICH!

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October 13, 2011

The Southern Women’s Show - Great Giveaway!

This week our fearless leader and her amazing team are in Orlando at the Southern Women’s Show.

To celebrate, Where Women Create is giving away an amazing prize pack.

A year subscription to Where Women Create AND Where Women Cook magazines (ERV $160)

A $100 Visa gift card

A TCC Swag bag filled with $200 worth of FABULOUS crafty goodness, including the brand new, HOT OFF THE PRESS, Where Women Cook Celebrate! book, a Where Women Create paper weight (created just for us by the amazing Jill Schwartz), a TCC necklace custom made by The Vintage Pearl and an exclusive TCC/WWC T-shirt!

An assortment of fabric from Riley Blake

A complete set of Hot Glue Gun Helpers from Cathie Filian

This package is worth over $550!

You must go to Where Women Create to enter.

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August 15, 2011

On The Front Burner with Shauna James Ahern; The Gluten Free Girl and The Chef

This week we are featuring Shauna Ahern of The Gluten Free Girl and The Chef. Shauna was first brought to my attention when one of my good friends had to start eating gluten free. She was raving about this fantastic website that was giving her recipes she could actually use! With 1 in 133 people diagnosed with Celiac Disease, this eating style is a way of life for many people. Shauna makes this way of life a lot easier with her great recipes. Please help me welcome Shauna James Ahern.

Hi. My name is Shauna James Ahern. I am alive.

I have been alive since August of 1966. Or, should I say, I have been on this earth since then. I haven’t always been alive. For much of my life, I felt lousy. Low in energy. Sick and sometimes depressed. I didn’t know why.

Still, I survived. And I laughed deep from my belly, in most moments of the day.
(Well, except for those six months in the seventh grade I was so embarrassed of my loud laugh that I forced myself to let out only a tiny heh.) I adore being here. I am constantly amazed by life and frequently struck by the absurdity of it. Mostly, I’m grateful.

And I’ve been writing about all of this from the moment I could pick up a pen and put words on the page. I’m a writer. I write about little moments of being awake in the world. Sometimes, I write to remind myself to wake up.

And now, at the heart of everything I do, and the monikers of which I’m most proud? I am the wife of my tender-hearted, hilarious husband and the mother of our darling daughter.

Oh, and by the way, like millions of humans in the world, I have to live gluten-free. I have celiac disease, although I chafe at the word disease. Being diagnosed with celiac changed my life, in ways that I could never stop listing. Now, I am no longer low energy, prone to falling ill, or depressed. Now, I am free. Now, I am alive.

And I don’t miss gluten at all.

taken on April 20, 2005 — ten days before diagnosis

taken in early June, 2005 — one month after being gluten-free

In the early spring of 2005, I was terribly ill. My body required 18 hours of sleep a day, my stomach ached all the time, and I could barely move without hurting. Doctors ordered one medical test after another, and none of them yielded answers. (The low point is when I endured a colonoscopy and endoscopy on the same day. Bleh.) All I could eat was soft bread, chicken noodle soup, and crackers. No one understood why I was so ill.

It had been a hard few years. In the winter of 2001, I suffered pneumonia for the sixth time in my life. In the beginning of 2003, I required emergency abdominal surgery for a fibroid tumor that had grown to the size of a grapefruit. In the winter of 2003, I was t-boned by another car, in a terrible accident that changed my life. My body reminded me, every day, how lucky I was to be alive, with pain from the injuries that didn’t go away. Just as I was starting to recover, I fell into that crisis of 2005.

It started to feel like I would never be well.

When I received the official diagnosis — you have celiac — I clapped my hands and said yes! The naturopath was a little surprised to see my celebration.

I’m not the only one who had to fight her way through the medical system to receive the correct diagnosis and become healthy for the first time in my life. Americans have to wait an average of 11 years, and many doctors, before finally being diagnosed. It is estimated that 1 out of 100 Americans has celiac disease. Only 3% of us have been diagnosed.

We have to change this.

After I was diagnosed, I felt reborn. I became a self I had never been before.

And I started writing about it. About amaranth and quinoa, ume plum vinegar, how to braise a lamb shank, and the life of food I began to live. I wrote to teach, to lead other people to the awakeness I was feeling. I love the fascination of the human body; I dissected cadavers in high school. (It was for an advanced biology class.) And yet, I had never heard of the condition that had been commanding me all my life.

I did the only thing I knew how to do. I began to write.

And thus, this website was born.

Since starting her blog in 2005, Shauna has written two books, Gluten Free Girl and Gluten Free Girl and The Chef.

These books are a must for anyone who loves good food and can not eat gluten. Stay tuned this week for amazing recipes, tips, and photography from Shauna, The Gluten Free Girl.

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July 13, 2011

Nectarine & Raspberry Cobbler

We are so thrilled to share another amazing recipe from Todd and Diane of White on Rice, with you today. Go ahead and indulge in the bounty’s of summer, and make this amazing cobbler!

Nectarine (or Peach) & Raspberry Cobbler Recipe

You easily substitute peaches or blackberries in this recipe and it will still be utterly divine. Since nectarines cling to their seeds, it is easier to cut all the slices while the nectarines are whole (if you are comfortable holding the nectarine up in one hand and slicing it with the other) then peeling the small individual slices off of the seed. Makes about 1 10″ cobbler. 1-8 servings -see post.

2 lbs (910g) ripe Nectarines, sliced in 1/4″ wedges-skin on
cinnamon sugar to taste (1 part cinnamon, 3 parts sugar)
1/2 lb (225g) fresh Raspberries

Cobbler Topping
1 c (160g) all-purpose Flour
pinch of Sea Salt
2 t (10g) Baking Powder
2 T (30g) cold unsalted Butter, cut in small chunks
just over 3/4 c (195ml) Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 400° F

1. Put nectarine wedges in a bowl and gently toss with cinnamon sugar. Add raspberries and gently pack into a baking dish.

2. Sift together flour, sea salt, and baking powder in a med. bowl. Add butter and pinch butter with flour until it is the size of small peas. Pour in heavy cream and mix to form a soft dough (be careful not to over-mix).

3. Pinch the dough into small flattened chunks and place in random or artistic piles (should look rustic) on top of nectarines, leaving a little room around the edges for the juices to bubble and allow the peaches to peak through. Sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar on top.

4. Place in oven and bake for approx. 30-40 min or until top is golden. Set aside for at least 30 min. before serving to allow to cool and for juices to absorb into crust. Serve with ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

Be sure to head over to The Creative Connection Event and register for Todd and Diane’s class, Photography to Boost Your Creative Voice (Basic Digital)

Friday, September 16, 2011
Teacher: Diane Cu and Todd Porter
Time: 2:30 pm - 4:30 pmRegistration code: FPM

The exploding world of digital photography can be overwhelming. Understanding the basic principles will help boost your confidence as a new photographer and encourage you to find your creative voice. Learn essential concepts of lighting, composition, and the basic equipment you will need to achieve the perfect photograph. We’ll also be discussing online photo management and some elementary editing.

Remember to enter to win a Nikon Coolpix Digital Camera and a copy of Cristina Ferrare’s book, Big Bowl of Love! Giveaway before Thursday, July 12th!

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July 11, 2011

On The Front Burner: White on Rice and Cristina Ferrare talk about food and photography at The Creative Connection. (And get a chance to win a digital camera!)

This week we are going to be highlighting the stories, recipes and photography of a keynote speaker and the teachers of two of our classes at The Creative Connection Event that is happening in just 60 days! And we have a GREAT giveaway for you, too!

NOW…please help me welcome Todd and Diane of White on Rice.

Hello & Chaò, we’re Todd and Diane. Welcome to our world of photography and food behind the kitchen, behind the scenes & behind the lens. We’re photographers, travelers and gardeners. Fueled by our love of local culture, people & rich heritage, we document powerful stories from around the world. We celebrate good food, great conversation, green gardening and traveling. For us, our lives have always been about love, family, friends, sharing, exploring & food. These four essentials of survival brought us together & eventually became the basic ingredients to molding our different backgrounds and personalities into one balanced dish.

We cook, consume and create from childhood comforts that our forefathers passed on through our heritage. But, we are not bound by it. Open to feeding both inside and outside our cultural comfort zones, we believe food holds few boundaries; so long as we understand and give respect/recognition to its origins. After many frustrations, failures and success, we continue to evolve at the stove and in our personal lives. We love our job. Of course there are always challenges that come with each project we photograph or film, but at the end of the day we are always thankful for the wonderful people that we work with and Cristina Ferrare is one of those wonderous souls that help us love our job to no end. Last year Cristina selected us to photograph her new cookbook, Big Bowl of Love, which is also the title of her cooking show on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Currently, we are shooting the photos for a jewelry book.

Todd and Diane will be teaching two photography classes at The Creative Connection Event; Photography to Boost Your Creative Voice (Basic Digital) and Edible Images: Food Photography and Styling That Make People Want to Eat Your Photographs. Hurry over today and sign up for this amazing opportunity to learn from two extremely talented artists.

Todd and Diane’s BLT Spring Roll. Looks delicious doesn’t it?

As Todd and Diane mentioned, they were the photographers for Cristina Ferrare’s new book Big Bowl of Love. We at The Creative Connection are thrilled to announce that Cristina is one of our fabulous Keynote Speakers.

As an accomplished author, television personality, entrepreneur, actress, motivational speaker, blogger, wife, mother, and grandmother, Cristina Ferrare dishes out yet one more curtain call: hosting her own show for OWN: the Oprah Winfrey Network. Cristina Ferrare’s Big Bowl of Love features celebrity guests along with members of Cristina’s family and friends who serve up great ideas for all kinds of real-life situations. Cristina recently joined the “Oprah family” as a regular contributor, featuring Oprah’s favorite meals, and hosting a series of web cooking classes for Oprah.com—preparing delicious meals for families on tight budgets and little time.

Cristina is a New York Times bestselling author of Okay, So I Don’t Have a Headache, Cristina Ferrare’s Family Entertainment, and Cristina Ferrare Style. Her most recent book, Realistically Ever After, is a humorous view of finding happiness when he’s not Prince Charming, you’re not Snow White, and life is not a fairytale. Cristina has just completed her fifth book, a cookbook that came out in April, 2011 entitled A Big Bowl of Love.

Cristina lives in Los Angeles with her husband, seven children and four grandchildren.

We are so pleased that Cristina will be speaking at The Creative Connection’s keynote welcome dinner and also signing her cookbook at Autograph Party!

We are so excited about this weeks features that we are giving away 2 amazing prizes!

First, a Nikon Coolipix L22 12.0MP Digital Camera. This will be very useful when attending Todd and Diane’s class!

Second we are so happy to give one of you a copy of Cristina’s book, Big Bowl of Love. We know you will love it as much as we do.

RULES OF THE GIVEAWAY AND THE WAY YOU CAN IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING!

To enter, leave a comment below telling us what class you would be most excited to take and why during Mary Jane’s Farm Day at The Creative Connection.

FOR ADDITIONAL ENTRIES (Look at all the chances you get to toss your hat in the ring! Whee!):

*Follow @wherewomencook and @thecreativeconnection on Twitter (1 entry)

*Tweet about this contest (1 entry)

*Facebook about this contest (1 entry)

*Sign up for the Where Women Cook newsletter (2 entries-leave 2 comments)

*Blog about this contest and mention THE CREATIVE CONNECTION (2 Entries-leave 2 comments)

*Have a WWCOOK button or link on the sidebar your blog (2 Entries-leave a link to your page on each comment)

*Have THE CREATIVE CONNECTION EVENT button or link on the sidebar of your blog (2 Entries-leave a link to your page on each comment)

*Post a Comment on THE CREATIVE CONNECTION BLOG (1 Entry)

Remember to post separately for each additional entry and please only post the amount of entries allowed. Also, make sure we have a way to contact you. This contest ends on Thursday, July 12th at Midnight (MST), so make sure to get your comments in by then.

One more thing … Facebook rules are ever changing, so we aren’t requiring you to like our Facebook page but we sure would appreciate it. It not only makes it easier for you to find out about the great giveaways we have going on coming up but it also means that good cooking karma will bestow bread that always rises and souffles that never fall on you!

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November 8, 2010

Fabulous Friday by Where Women Create

Check out the Fabulous Friday giveaway this week on the blog of our sister magazine, Where Women Create! This week’s featured giveaway is party gift sets from TomKat studios!

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November 6, 2010

Potluck: Loralee’s favorite things giveaway

There is a huge and fantastic giveaway going on at my blog (Loralee’s Looney Tunes) in honor of my birthday and to give Where Women Cook a little boost in the Social Media world.

Here’s what is in the goody bag for one lucky winner!

A GUSSY Tote Bag ($68)

gussybag