Thankful: A Roundup

This picture was taken a little over a month ago. When I walked by this house recently, not much was left of these beautiful flowers. Just some greyish brown leaves. I'm thankful that I took this picture when I did. Time really flies by.

Time is something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. There's just not enough of it. Even though we got an extra hour last weekend! For the first time in a while, I no longer have the luxury of a flexible schedule, so I'm trying to do the most with the free time that I have. This article is helping me do better with my mornings.

One of the perks of this blog is learning about lots of new foods, books, restaurants, and more. Over the last several months, there have been many things that I planned to try and blog about, but I just didn't have the time to do the posts as I had planned. I was feeling rather frustrated by this. But I meditate now and sometimes I get these flashes of inspiration. That's what happened recently. So instead of feeling frustrated by what I didn't get to do, I've decided to be thankful that I have all these cool things to tell you about.

Since it's almost Thanksgiving and I'm thinking about gratitude, I decided to do a roundup of everything that I've wanted to share with you for a while. I don't accept many of the products that are offered to me, so when I do, I am genuinely interested in them and hope that you will be too. So here goes!

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Farmer's Garden by Vlasic: I don't eat pickles all the time, but I do like to keep them on hand, because sometimes nothing goes better with a turkey burger or a sandwich. I was looking at the labels of many pickles in several grocery stores and was disappointed to see corn syrup and many artificial ingredients in them. I ended up not buying any. Soon after I got an email with information about Farmer's Garden pickles by Vlasic. I was very happy to try them, since they have no artificial coloring, flavoring, or corn syrup. They are very good, taste and look quite fresh, and remind me of something homemade. Plus I really like the mason jar containers. I'll be saving them and using them again! Reuse and recycle!

Romertopf Clay Bread Baker: Bread baking is one of my favorite things to do. Sadly, I barely baked bread from scratch last year. But since bread baking season is here again, I hope to do a lot more this year. I was really happy to learn about Romertopf clay pot cooking. The plan was to bake some homemade cinnamon bread, which I've never tried before. I still plan to make it and am looking forward to seeing the difference baking bread using a clay baker.

Dearie by Bob Spitz: This past summer, many of us Julia Child fans paid a special tribute to her life. She would have turned 100 years old on August 15th. I am so glad for her life and always love learning more about her. The book Dearie, gives new insight into Child's  life and I'm cannot wait to get a chance to dig into the pages.

Slushed! by Jessie Cross: When I first heard about Slushed!, I was really happy about it. I still am. It's a pretty cool. Pun intended! Beautiful pictures and fun recipes that combine liquor and ice cream. What's not to love? Also, it was written by a local food blogger, The Hungry Mouse. At the beginning of the summer, the ice cream maker was put in the freezer, all ready to go. I was so excited to use this cookbook! Then it didn't happen. I made some pops, which were quite good, but not photo worthy, so I didn't blog them. Then the summer was over.  *sigh* Maybe next year.

Lidia's Favorite Recipes by Lidia Bastianich: I absolutely adore this woman! I love her show on PBS, Lidia's Italy. Her holiday special last year was just wonderful. From looking on the website, I see that she did a wedding special that I missed. Will have to watch it! Italian food is my favorite, so when I got a chance to get her new cookbook, how could I say no? So far, I have not had a chance to go through it, but I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully I'll be blogging some recipes from it before the New Year!

The Old Farmer's Almanac Everyday Baking by Ken Haedrich: Everyone has heard of The Old Farmer's Almanac. Especially when it comes to weather. I've mentioned it a million times. But I never knew they had cookbooks! Learn something new everyday! So I was curious to see what it was like and try some recipes. Well, not yet. But I hope to soon!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and hug a veteran today! I'm going to see my parents in a little while and will definitely wish my father a Happy Veterans Day. Thank you to all of you who have served!

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Disclosure: All items were provided free from their respective companies. Thank you!


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