I’ve really been enjoying working with my new Blendtec Designer Series Blender, as it is a cut above the blenders that I’ve used before and is good for a lot more than just mixing up fruit smoothies. The people at Blendtec were kind enough to provide an extra Blendtec Blender for me to giveaway to one lucky reader, so now is your chance to put your entry in for a chance to win!
Cold winter weather prompts many of us to spend extra time in the kitchen cooking and baking, but the springtime might be even better baking weather. As things warm up, all kinds of things come in to season and that makes me want to bake even more. If you’ve been experimenting with some springtime recipes, you should consider entering your creations in Rodelle’s Spring Sweepstakes. This contest is sponsored by Rodelle – my favorite producer of vanilla, as well as other amazing baking ingredients – and by KitchenAid. The grand prize winner will receive a KitchenAid® 5-qt. Stand Mixer & an incredible gift set of Rodelle’s gourmet baking ingredients.
I’m extra excited about the contest because everyone who enters will get access to Baking’s Best Basics, a great recipe app that I worked with Rodelle and KitchenAid to create! The app should work on any mobile device and features lots of go-to recipes for everyday baking, putting great basics at your fingertips for every occasion. I can’t wait for all of you to try out those recipes for yourselves – but entering the contest is the only way to access the download at the moment, so submit those spring recipes!
The contest runs until May 31st, and you can enter via the entry form on Rodelle’s site, where you can also get the full rules for the contest. Unlike some other contests, this one encourages photos and videos of entries, so don’t forget to snap a picture of your creation.
If you’ve brought your tablet into the kitchen, chances are good that you’ve gotten a smudge of batter, a bit of dough or a dusting of flour on it. I recently picked up a nifty Belkin Cabinet Tablet Mount and found that keeping my iPad up off the counter keeps it much cleaner – and it is much easier to read when it is up at eye level. Since I know that I’m not the only who likes to keep my tablet handy in the kitchen, I decided to give away a Belkin Cabinet Tablet Mount! The easy-to-use mount adjusts to fit just about any kitchen cabinet set up and it folds flat for easy storage. I use mine with an iPad, but the mount will fit a variety of different tablet sizes and styles. It will even work with a case in place (unless your case is extra thick), which means that you don’t need to do anything special to use this in your kitchen.
To enter the contest, just leave a comment below telling me what you use your tablet for – or what you would like to use it for – in the kitchen. I use mine to make it easy to reference recipes from my favorite food blogs and flip through digital cookbooks, but you could use it to watch tv shows or even cat videos on YouTube while you’re doing some baking. The possibilities are endless! The contest ends Friday night at midnight (a.k.a. 12:01am on 03/02/2013) and one winner will be randomly selected from the entries. Don’t forget to fill in your e-mail on the comment form (it will not be made public), as that is how I will contact the winner, and good luck!
Update: This contest is now closed. The winner will be announced shortly. Thanks to everyone for participating!
We have all had disasters in the kitchen before. Whether you added salt to a batch of cookies instead of sugar, stepped away from the stove to answer the phone and ended up with kitchen full of smoke, or discovered too late that your cousin put a frozen turkey into the oven for Thanksgiving dinner without defrosting it first, something as gone wrong at least once or twice in every kitchen. Sometimes, these disasters end up turning into something positive (sea salt caramels, anyone?) and turn into a tradition. Other times, they turn into a funny story that you and your family laugh about for years to come.
The Rodelle Challenge invites home bakers to share their best, worst and funniest baking moments for a chance to win a great prize. Rodelle, which is a company that makes some of my favorite vanilla products, has teamed up with KitchenAid to sponsor this annual contest. Six winners will receive a year’s supply of vanilla, cocoa and other baking ingredients AND a KitchenAid stand mixer just for sharing their baking stories. The contest runs through January 5rd, so any memorable baking moments that come up before the end of the year will be just in time to enter.
Of course, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that none of you will have any culinary disasters this holiday season, and that every baked good that comes out of your kitchen turns out to be perfect. But in case something goes wrong, don’t forget to snap a few pictures and enter the 2012 Rodelle Challenge, because you might end up with a brand new stand mixer for your trouble and that will make for a very memorable holiday.
If someone handed you the keys to a car, told you to take few days off and go for a drive, where would you go? Your answer to this question depends a little bit on where you live and what is around you, as some people might want to spend some time visiting family and friends nearby and some might want to leave town for a real road trip. For me, the answer is to take a drive to Napa – which is just far enough away from my home in Southern California to feel like a real vacation and is where you can find some of the best food and wine in the country.
