The Midlife Woman » books

New Panko, New Cookbook – Progresso & Chef Chiarello Giveaway

Kathleen — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 06:11:35 +0000

Born of an Italian mother, cooking was a huge part of growing up. The fall season marked the start of home made pasta, soups, and the greatly anticipated holiday feasts. The aroma of fresh bread on a cold Saturday morning or the visions of fresh pasta strung across wooden spoons are tender childhood memories. Mom inspired a passion and zeal for home cooked meals.

My Blog Spark sent this offer, “If you’d like to participate in this Spark, we will provide you with a gift pack including one package of Progresso Lemon Pepper Panko and an autographed copy of chef Chiarello’s new cookbook: Michael Chiarello’s Bottega. We will also provide you with an additional gift pack to give away to one of your readers.” Given my history in addition to being a fan of Progresso, Panko breadcrumbs, and Italian food prompted a jubilant yes, yes, and oh my gosh AUTOGRAPHED too, oh YES!

Progresso is one of my favorite brands. Moreover, after discovering Panko breadcrumbs preparing my crunchy oven fried chicken became easier than ever. Substitute fish for chicken, use the new Lemon Pepper Panko crumbs for creating a reduced fat fish fry, yum! The Progresso website has an entire section of recipes, tips for cooking with Panko breadcrumbs, and videos from Chef Chiarello.

Crispy Seafood Salad, Mama Chiarello’s Stuffed Eggplant and Turkey Scallopini and Squash Ravioli with Cranberry Brown Butter are just a few Michael Chiarello’s recipes that use Progresso’s Panko to make flavorful family meals.

Be sure to check out the Progresso’s Wine and Dine with Chef Michael Chiarello Sweepstakes. Now through December 31, enter to win a trip to Napa Valley to attend the Spring Bud Break Party, an annual dinner and wine tasting event taking place on May 7, 2011. The grand prize includes two tickets to the party, roundtrip airfare and hotel accommodations. Visit www.progressobroth.com for the sweepstakes rules and entry form.

Most of you know Bottega is Chef Chiarello’s Napa Valley restaurant. In September, his cookbook Bottega: Bold Italian Flavors from the Heart of California’s Wine Country was released. The Michael Chiarello’s famous restaurant dishes, written to prepare at home, are the basis of this Italian cookbook. The book is hard bound, with gorgeous photographs of the restaurant and the food, heavy weight glossy paper, and chef’s notes. Each page is embellished with one vertical graphic side border, an elegant effect to say the least. What is more, as promised the authentic autograph is on the title page woo hoo!

The introduction is beautifully written, an inspiration as well as purposeful advice and insight on Chef Michael’s cooking philosophy. Throughout the book, Chef Michael tells a story linking to the photos or recipes. Much of what he tells includes family and friends. There is an entire section dedicated to ingredients entitled The Pantry. Here the ingredients are described, tips on storage, and personal preferences explained. From snacks to antipastos, pastas, meats, fish, side dishes and desserts everything needed to create a full course Italian family feast is included this cookbook. I can not wait to try the Pesto Arancini (risotto balls) stuffed with fresh mozzarella and the Ricotta Gnocchi recipe!

You can purchase a copy of Bottega: Bold Italian Flavors from the Heart of California’s Wine Country or enter for a chance to win a copy.

Main and mandatory entry – Visit Progresso’s Panko Pantry Tips or Signature recipes. Leave a comment telling us what recipe or tip you liked/learned/will try.

1 Extra Entry – Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway, include @WomanMomFriend and #myblogspark in your tweet. Comment with tweet link. One tweet per day.

1 Extra Entry – Follow me on BlogFrog. Comment with your user name.

One winner will be chosen via Random.org Tuesday Nov 16 10:00pm EST. Good luck!

Finally, a note for the FTC, as a MyBlogSpark member General Mills provided me with this awesome prize package that included my favorite Progresso Panko breadcrumbs and an awesome cookbook, which I just adore. I really enjoyed offering this giveaway and blogging about it, OK?

Congrats to Tina!

Kathleen

Hey, there I'm Kathleen. My friends call me Kathy; to my kids I'm Momia. Life has afforded me many hats: Mom, wife, sister, friend, business owner... and most recently a midlife blogger. From college to marriage and babies, in the midst of business and wealthy boomers, midlife retrospection validates this extraordinary journey called life.

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Operation Beautiful – One Woman, One Post It Note

Kathleen — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 04:31:23 +0000

The RAMBO Alert read,” Operation Beautiful: Join a movement that will help women around the world embrace their bodies and love themselves for who they are! Can one Post-It note change the way women view themselves?”

My Answer, YES it can! Caitlin Boyle started a movement that truly did change the self images of women around the globe. I came across the website Operation Beautiful this past March. Caitlin is an awesome woman with a magnificent message. Overwhelmed with inspiration by the testimonies written there, I was moved to participate. Taking part in a blog hop themed Serving Others, I shared my first Post-It note.

Can you imagine how excited I was to receive a copy of Operation Beautiful to review?

The seven chapters of hope and inspiration by and for women begins with Caitlin Boyle, the teenage girl who suffered from depression, a college girl who lacked self confidence, and a finally a wife whose inability to find happiness within instigates the first Post-It note. Repeating positive mantras, Caitlin knew that being and doing positive things made her feel lighter, happier, at peace.

In the beginning of chapter two, Fat Talk, Sarah talked about being so displeased with her body that she contemplated suicide and wrote a suicide note. She went to class only to find Operation Beautiful notes everywhere. She tore up that suicide note and is now an advocate of children who have similar struggles.

The book goes on to cover family and friends, fitness, food, faith, and moving forward. In chapter three, Catlin talks about ones body image. That image reflects the feeling of our lives in general, noting that relationships with family and friends are the biggest outside influence. What a true and powerful thought that is.

One of my favorite sections in chapter 6 is titled A bridge. “True happiness requires just one thing: faith. Faith is a bridge….” WOW, this is so true in every aspect of the word faith, religious or otherwise. A powerful book, like I said earlier.

Throughout the book women tell of their personal shortfalls, self esteem issues, and self image problems as they found or wrote to that one Post-It not. In many of the cases, Operation Beautiful changed their lives. Knowing you are not alone in a struggle is often more than just comforting; overcoming it becomes a quest, an inspiration, and in this case, a movement.

I believe Operation Beautiful is what we are called to do and be; that is caring, compassionate, and loving to others and ourselves. Pick up a copy, I am confident it will inspire, uplift, and motivate you to love both inwardly and outwardly.

Caitlin Boyle appeared on the Today Show August 5^th. You can check out the interview here.

A special thank you to twittermoms for the blog opportunity and to the penguin group for furnishing the book, Operation Beautiful.

Kathleen

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Want to be a $100,000 blogger?

Kathleen — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:47:20 +0000

Want to be a $100,000 blogger? That is a silly question. While everyone who blogs may not expect to make a hundred thousand, who would say no to that question, I’m just sayin’.

Given the opportunity to download and review the FREE eBook “Six Figure Affiliate Blogging” sparked a quantity of real interest for me. The author Zac Johnson had 15 years invested in working internet marketing. Mr. Johnson claims after just three years of blogging, his site became another six figure a year project.

Taken directly from the intro, “This “How to be the Next Six Figure Affiliate Blogger” guide isn’t about creating a blog on affiliate marketing, or getting lost in the “make money online” get rich schemes. Instead, it’s about finding a blogging niche and using affiliate marketing to generate revenue from that blog.”

That paragraph really got me thinking this eBook was legitimate. Don’t you want to make money blogging, I do. And, I just hate those MLM and get rich quick scams. As a result, I started reading.

The book includes an introduction to affiliate marketing, explaining the what, who, how to, and where aspects. The next few sections discuss blog planning, domain names, blogging platforms, and themes are discussed. In the final three chapters, profitability, monetization, and moving to the next level are explained in detail. Two bonus chapters, interviews and resources, help to identify with the idea that one can make a living through blogging and affiliate marketing.

Some of what I read was a repeat of common blogging tips. I found the section on choosing your niche to be very clearly written. In fact, it is the clearest explanation on niche selection that I have ever read. Zac asserts to the eBook having something for every blogger and I have to agree. The business model that combines affiliate marketing with blogging is a brilliant one. The techniques are easy to understand and manageable. While I don’t expect six figures, I gained a whole host of valuable information and insight. I plan on reading it again. Do yourself a favor, download the eBook, and read it. I’ll bet you find something useful!

Kathleen

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