And the Winners Are...

Numbers seven and forty-five, Beck and Yasharian! I have the screenshots of the numbers Random.org chose on my desktop, but I have NO IDEA how to post them. Please get me your info and Alisa will send you a bunch of vegan e-cookbooks!

Cereal and Elephants

My e-cookbook giveaway is here.

One Frugal Foodie's awesome cereal giveaway is here.

Enjoy Life Foods has a new blog.

The Food Allergy Support Group of Minnesota emailed me about a Food Allergy Resource Fair going on this Saturday in Hopkins, Minnesota. I have been to their beautiful state exactly once to visit a friend one October. We went to the first U.S. performance of this musical that was written and introduced by these guys and I saw Garrison Keillor in the audience. It was fabulous. And freaking cold.

Tomorrow I am going to the circus with hundreds of second graders. I'll just have to think about Water for Elephants to amuse and distract myself on the long bus ride.

Vegan E-Books Giveaway!

When I reviewed Hannah Kaminsky's Wicked Treats e-book, I asked Alisa if I could give away a copy, and she said "No."

Instead, she said I could give away TWO SETS of Hannah's FOUR vegan e-books:


Wicked Treats


A La Mode


Mission: Impossible Pies


Lunchbox Bites

I have all four of these e-books, and I cannot tell you what a perfect giveaway this is for this time of year. OK, I'll try.

Need some crustless pie recipes for Thanksgiving? Mission: Impossible Pies
Like your pies with dairy-free ice cream? Want to serve an easy dessert on Christmas Eve? A La Mode
Burned out on packing school lunches and out of ideas? Lunchbox Bites
Looking for holiday candy recipes? Wicked Treats can either be served as they are or slightly altered. I'm thinking that the Ghostly Vanilla Fudge will convert to Candy Cane Vanilla Fudge quite nicely....

*Many of the recipes are soy free or can be made soy free, and many are gluten free as well!*

To enter: Leave a comment here telling me which cookbook you are most excited about.

For one additional entry: Help to spread the word about this giveaway! Tweet it, share it on Facebook, or blog about it. Then come back here and leave a second comment telling me that you did!

Entries will close on Sunday, November 8th at midnight.

Spokesmodel

I bought a case of soymilk at Aldi today, as I often do. Ounce for ounce, Aldi soymilk is almost exactly half the price of Silk soymilk where I live. As I was leaving, an older gentleman stopped me to ask question after question after question about my case of soymilk. "What does it taste like? Why do you buy it? Is it good for you? I bet it's low in cholesterol and fat, right? You know, I had a neighbor in Texas who drank soymilk...." This exact same scenario happened the last time I bought a case of soymilk. Today I had an impatient toddler with me and was late for preschool pick up. And yet I COULD NOT not answer him, or just say, "Dude, it's wicked cheap. Go buy a quart and try it for yourself."

I had the same problem at second-grade orientation. I simultaneously resented being introduced as The Allergy Mom (my college friend D. suggests "Allergy B*tch on Wheels" as a more appropriate title) and being asked questions about ALL food allergies ("Are the pretzels I have at home processed in a plant with peanuts?") and yet could not SHUT MY TRAP when other parents were complaining about the new food allergy policies.

OBVIOUSLY, I don't mind talking about food allergy issues. I want our local stores to keep carrying dairy-free items, so the more people who buy them the better the chances of that happening. I want other parents to understand my daughter's situation. But I'd also like to go pick up a carton of soy yogurt and not have the lady in line behind me and the teenage checkout person play Twenty Questions with me about it.

I don't even know what my point is. Do you feel like the spokesperson for an issue? How do you handle it? Maybe I should start wearing a lapel pin:

I drink soymilk and you should, too! If you want! Or don't! Whatev! I gotta go.

Do you watch the Today Early Show?

I don't, and my neighbor told me that there was a dairy-free cooking segment on either yesterday morning or Monday morning. Did anyone see it? She couldn't remember the chef's name. I've been searching on NBC's site for about 10 minutes and have given up. That site is not organized at all, and if I have to sit through one more cooking segment clip with Kathy Lee Gifford bellowing things like: "VINO!", I'm going to be reaching for the vino.

Help?

EDIT: Marianne found it! On The EARLY Show! Thank you, Marianne! Oh, how I wish you were still blogging.... The recipes are for the lactose intolerant, but they all appear to be completely dairy free.

Odds and Ends

Christina has a birthday giveaway going on through Friday, October 30th. You could win two great cookbooks! (I own both these books and highly recommend them.) I won her last giveaway and am currently enjoying this cookbook and looking forward to this one arriving today! Thank you, Christina!

A friend of Alisa's designed this cool, circular, year-round poster calendar. Someone needs to get this for me my children for Christmas.


image courtesy of Earth Cycle Calendars

Scottish Twins and Marie each gave me a blog award. Thank you both!

Imagine my surprise when I found a Swistle gift package waiting on my porch the other day! Imagine my surprise when I found that my camera batteries were dead and I couldn't photograph it! But I'm sure you can imagine the richness: Shirts for Helen! Dishtowels! A Mother-in-Law Mug! Measuring spoons! Measuring cups! Lots and lots of paper goodies! A book! A pencil! Thank you, Swistle!
Edit: Swistle has a giveaway going on at her review blog right now.

Food Allergy Assistant found a recipe for homemade candy corn that she made dairy free.

And if you want some creepy Halloween reads, Beck is (fictionally) killing off beloved children's characters on her blog.

Corn Chowder

Katherine would take chicken noodle soup in her lunch every day if it were up to her. Here is our neighbor's attempt to add some variety. The notes are hers. I can't wait to try it.

Corn Chowder

4 cups water
2 packages of dry, dairy-free chicken noodle soup mix
1/2 C - quick cook rice (if you use regular rice, you have to cook it a lot longer)
1 Tbs - dried minced onion
4 cups of soymilk (you can use powdered soymilk)
1 can creamed corn
2 cups cut up, cooked chicken

Bring water to a boil. Add soup mix, rice & onion. Cook til noodles & rice are tender, about 20 min. Add milk, corn and chicken. Heat through stirring frequently but do not boil. This freezes well.