Relish Review & Giveaway

I was recently contacted by the owners of Relish! Menu Planning website to see if I was interested in reviewing their website. I have *long* been trying to get better at menu planning, so of course I jumped at the chance. They provided me with one month's access to their site so I could really get a feel for how it worked. Below is my review!

Being good at menu planning is a skill. You have to set aside time to plan out your weekly dinners and shopping lists, and sticking to it can be tricky. When I've done my own weekly menu planning in the past, I've been *so* happy with the results....I love knowing that I have a week's worth of delicious dinners planned, and that my one or two grocery trips have procured all the ingredients I need for the week. It's a satisfying feeling. However, I'm not great at remembering to do it, and even when I do remember, sometimes picking recipes can be overwhelming. Enter Relish!, the meal planning website!

Their concept is simple: have a list of varying recipes that subscribers can pick from, then compile the recipes (and the shopping list!!) into an easy to print PDF format. Their execution of this idea is fantastic. To begin, there is a list of 15 or so dinner recipes, and you check off the five you are interested in. There are vegetarian options, seafood options, and traditional meat options ( they even have a gluten-free menu planning site!). Then, you can go print off the menus and best of all, the shopping list! The shopping list is wonderful; the ingredients are separated into sections that include things you probably already have in your home, things you may have in your home, and then the rest of the ingredients. Each ingredient also has a letter designation next to it that corresponds with the recipe that it's for; that way, should you decided not to make a certain recipe, you can easily find the ingredients and cross them off the shopping list.

Each recipe has been tested and tried to make sure it's tasty. There are kid-friendly options as well as lower-calorie recipes, and nutritional information is provided for each recipe. There's even a way you can save your favorite recipes so you can add them to any weekly menu! Also, there's a freezer recipe section that allows you to print out recipes that you can stock in the freezer. I'm telling you, the layout and design of this site is really great.

The two things that I thought could be improved upon are recipe variety and also good use of leftovers. For frugal use of leftovers, maybe something along the lines of being able to choose roast chicken as a meal, and then have a subsequent meal made from the leftovers, like chicken enchiladas, soup made from the stock of the chicken bones, etc. Or have grilled steak one night, and then choose a steak salad recipe for another night. As far as recipe choice, I would have like slightly more options to choose from. The selection is still pretty good, but a few more would have been even better. Sometimes I found myself choosing meals that didn't sound all that appealing just so I could finish out my 5 recipes.

All in all, though, I think this is a good website with a great idea and wonderful execution. And.....Relish! has provided me with a one year subscription to their website to give away ($58.80 value)! Awesome!

Here's the skinny:
How to enter: leave a comment on this post telling me what you are making or having for dinner tonight (I'm a total food voyeur and I'm always looking for ideas!). I'll close comments at 11:59 p,m. mountain time on November 20th, 2009 and I'll have random.org pick a number for a winner. I'll email the winner (so leave your email in your comment or make sure I can access it via your profile!!) and they will have 48 hours to get back to me, if they don't, random.org will draw a new number. One comment per person, and entry is limited to those with US shipping addresses. Good luck!


***Comments are closed and a winner has been chosen! Congratulations to number 10, I'm Anitra!!***

My Little Pony: Twinkle Wish Adventure DVD review and giveaway!

****Contest closed, winner chosen, details at bottom of post*****
We just received 2 copies of the upcoming release, My Little Pony: Twinkle Wish Adventure DVD: one to review and one to giveaway! I'll give you my review first, and giveaway details will be after that. First, let me tell you a little more about this DVD. From the website:

"All the ponies can’t wait for the Winter Wishes festival where the Wishing Star grants each pony one special wish. But when the Wishing Star disappears, they go on a journey to find it. But will they make it back in time for the festival? Join Pinkie Pie and all her pony friends on their journey as they discover that friendship can make wishes come true!"

It will be available for purchase on October 13, but you can win one now, from moi! Lemme review it, and then I'll get to the good part (free movie!).

Lila enjoyed the movie, but me....eh. I mean, there was nothing wrong with it, I just found it a little cutesy and nothing special. There are some shows and movies that I love watching with Lila, shows that I find smart and cute and funny and enjoyable for all age levels, and this one doesn't quite fit the bill. I guess my best description is that it's nothing above average; a lot of children's tv is like that, in my opinion, so this is nothing unusual. However, like I said, Lila enjoyed it, so it was a hit there! I'm sure kids around her age would enjoy it very much. Her favorite parts were the songs; she liked those the best by a long shot. And the songs are catchy, I'll give them that! Another thing that I did like was the color of some of the scenery....beautiful muted pastels in some of the scenes, very nice to the eye! Also, there are a whole bunch of extras on the DVD, including all the songs that are in the movie as well as different activities (coloring sheets, a letter to Santa, things like that).

Should you want to purchase this DVD from Toys R Us, Shout Factory has nicely provided a coupon for you to print out (click to make it bigger):



Now, would ya like to win your own copy for a little one in your life? Read on!

How to enter: leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite movie from your childhood. I'll close comments at 11:59 p,m. mountain time on October 7th, 2009 and I'll have random.org pick a number for a winner. I'll email the winner (so leave your email in your comment!!) and they will have 48 hours to get back to me, if they don't, random.org will draw a new number. One comment per person, and entry is limited to those with US shipping addresses. Good luck!

(oh, and I have two favorite movies from childhood: The Last Unicorn and an obscure anime version of Swan Lake)


***And the winner is....#57, Tiffany819! Thank you all so much for participating!***

Book Giveaway!

****Contest is closed, winner announced below****

My poor impulse control is resulting in a giveaway! We went to a used bookstore today, which is one of my all time greatest pleasures. I looooove bookstores in general; the smell, the look of all those beautiful books lined up together, the sound of rustled pages turning.....and used bookstores have the added bonus of a sense of discovery and treasure-hunting.....you never know what you'll turn up in a used bookstore. Oh, on a side note, if you are ever in Denver, do yourself a favor and visit the Tattered Cover bookstore. There are several locations but I like the one downtown, across from the train station, the best. It's truly a reader's delight.

I find it hard to not buy books, especially when they're such a bargain (used book store!!!), but Justin is becoming a little frantic about our book situation. We desperately need more bookshelves, as the ones we have are stuffed full and overflowing. It's driving him nuts. I knew if I came home with an armload of new (used) books he'd wince. So I kept myself to one cookbook and one Colorado "off the beaten path" guidebook, and the others I bought with the purpose of giving them away to one of you! I win, because I got to buy books and feed my addiction, and you win, because someone is gonna get three new (used) books!

Here's what you win:

One person will win used (but in very good condition), hardcover copies of

Jacques Pepin's Table

"Low on drudgery, high on joie de vivre, Jacques Pepin's Table showcases Pepin's inimitable cooking and teaching style, presenting more than three hundred recipes from all three seasons of the popular Today's Gourmet series, along with complete menu and wine suggestions, and more than a hundred instructional tips and techniques on everything from butterflying chicken breasts or peeling asparagus to freezing and then baking a souffle. A nutritional analysis is provided for each dish, as are comments on the nutritional value of various ingredients. Gorgeous food photography and hundreds of Pepin's own delightful drawings are interspersed."

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

"Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters. The letters are all addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor," and they plunge her into a world she never dreamed of — a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fate connect to an inconceivable evil hidden in the depths of history.

The letters provide links to one of the darkest powers that humanity has ever known — and to a centuries-long quest to find the source of that darkness and wipe it out. It is a quest for the truth about Vlad The Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the legend of Dracula. Generations of historians have risked their reputations, their sanity, and even their lives to learn the truth about Vlad the Impaler and Dracula. Now one young woman must decide whether to take up this quest herself — to follow her father in a hunt that nearly brought him to ruin years ago, when he was a vibrant young scholar and her mother was still alive.

"

The Mapmaker's Wife by Robert Whitaker

"A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon

The year is 1735. A decade-long expedition to South America is launched by a team of French scientists racing to measure the circumference of the earth and to reveal the mysteries of a little-known continent to a world hungry for discovery and knowledge. From this extraordinary journey arose an unlikely love between one scientist and a beautiful Peruvian noblewoman. Victims of a tangled web of international politics, Jean Godin and Isabel Gramesón’s destiny would ultimately unfold in the Amazon’s unforgiving jungles, and it would be Isabel’s quest to reunite with Jean after a calamitous twenty-year separation that would capture the imagination of all of eighteenth-century Europe. A remarkable testament to human endurance, female resourcefulness, and enduring love, Isabel Gramesón’s survival remains unprecedented in the annals of Amazon exploration."

How can you get your mitts on these books? Easy peasy! Just leave a comment on this post telling me what you are currently reading, or the book you last read. I'll close comments at noon mountain time on May 26th and I'll have random.org pick a winner. I'll email the winner (so leave your email in your comment!!) and they will have 48 hours to get back to me, if they don't, random.org will draw a new winner. One comment per person, and entry is limited to those with US shipping addresses. Good luck and happy reading!

******Thank you so much to everyone who participate! I had a blast, and loved finding out about what you all are reading. And now, the winner is........entry #59, Angela!