Cook'n Recipe Software {Review and Giveaway!}

Do you ever get so overwhelmed with all of your bookmarks and pins of online recipes? How about all those pieces of paper that have scribbles of recipes on them? I have tons and tons of recipes all over the place and Cook'n has finally helped me put some organization behind the chaos!


Some of my favorite features of Cook'n are:

• You can enter you own recipes AND add pictures!
• Use Cook'n to search and capture online recipes
• Create and organize cookbooks, and sort them by chapters to make it easier to find what you are looking for
• Search for recipes by what INGREDIENTS YOU HAVE ON HAND!! :)
• Change recipe servings sizes and it automatically re-figures the amount of ingredients needed
• MENU PLANNING!!!! :D
• The software analyzes the nutritional values of recipes

When you enter in the ingredients for your recipes, it helps you develop a shopping list, which is sorted by location in the grocery store, separating by produce, baking items, meats, etc! Any thing to help simplify life is a wonderful thing!

Once you get a decent compilation of all your favorite recipes, you can even print a cookbook :) The software can be a little overwhelming at first but the developer offers tons of great step by step tutorials and even youtube videos to get you started.


I even found this awesome Bloopers Reel, if you need a good laugh :)













Visit their site and check out all of the cool ways that Cook'n can help you get better organized and start cooking up a storm! They have given me a special promotion code to hand out to my readers that you can get 50% off !!  When you go to check out, simply enter mb-success in the coupon code blank.


I really fell in love with Cook'n. It is a great product and the company is very interactive and happy to help with anything that comes up.




* I was provided with a free copy of the Cook'n software in order to complete this review, but I was not compensated in any way. All of the opinions are my own. :)

Successful Saturday Link Up! {Week 6}

Welcome to Successful Saturdays!
This is the place where you can come and post a link to your blog to show us all something you did to be successful! It can be a recipe, a craft project, an organizational idea or pretty much anything (other than giveaways! sorry!)


In order to be fair, I have been thinking that I should probably share my successes with you! It's not always the big things :) The past month I have not been eating as well as I should. Occasional indulgences are good, but I Honestly gone over board with it! I am working on building my will power back up and I had my work cut out for me yesterday! We had some Chocolate Honey Bun Cake in the office, as well as an ice cream cake and some other cookie, and I didn't eat any of then :D WOOHOO!!!! I would love to hear how you did this week, with eating, cooking, crafting, etc!

Here's how it works:

-Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your recipe, etc!
-Please leave a link back to this post in your post and grab my button for your blog(please pass the word to your blog friends for more fabulous recipes & successes!)
-Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
-Please visit at least one others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.

<a href="http://successful2gether.blogspot.com/search/label/successful%20saturdays"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a400/angiewuest02/successful-saturdays.gif"></a>

Rainbow Cake

We went to NC to visit my Granny for her 75th Birthday party!

With us we took: Breakfast Pizza, Banana Nut Baked Oatmeal Bars and this most fabulous Rainbow Cake. I was going to go through and repost the whole recipe but I think the site where I found the recipe does a super awesome job with that :) It is SOOOO pretty and everyone loved it! The main jist of the recipe is a white cake mix, with diet sprite and food coloring. Easy and fun!!

Aunt Vivian (left) Granny (right) :D

Happy Birthday Granny!

Linked at : Mop it up Monday, Melt In Your Mouth Monday

Leftover Bread French Toast Casserole

Ever have stray hamburger or hot dogs buns, heels of bread left over? We don't often but occasionally we do. Or we might just go shopping, and accidentally smash some bread on the way home.



Printable Recipe
6 Burger Buns or 7 Hot Dogs Buns
9 eggs
6 tbs flax meal
2 1/2 tsp brown sugar blend
1 tbs cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 9x13 baking dish with pan spray.
Mix the flax, cinnamon, and brown sugar blend. Cube bread and toss with cinnamon mix. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, milk, and applesauce.  Combine the bread and egg mix in baking dish until coated. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until cooked through.

8 servings @ 6 PPV
6 servings @ 8 PPV

Wordless Wednesday :) Aunt's Heart < 3

click for larger view

get your own from Dazzles and Doodles!



Linked at : Mommy & We Wordless Wednesday, WW with Musing of a SAHM, WW with Practical Savings

Apple Pie Baked Oatmeal Bars

In preparations to go on a short trip and really just help clean out the pantry, I am working on some recipes to use up some things that have been in storage for a little while. It will be nice to come home and restock with new items :)

Ingredients:
2 Whole Cinnamon Graham Cracker Rectangles
1/2 cup oats

1 cup oats
3 tbs flax meal
1/2 tbs cinnamon

21 oz can apple pie filling Comstock More Fruit Variety
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Grind the graham crackers and 1/2 cup oats together. Combine in a mixing bowl with the remaining oats, flax meal and cinnamon. Puree approx 1/2 of the can of pie filling. Mix apple puree with milk and eggs in a separate mixing bowl. Once well combined, beat in the remaining fruit filling.  Mix the wet and dry ingredients until all oats are moistened and well distributed. Pour in to an 8x8 baking dish that has been sprayed with pan spray, bake 20-40 minutes or until cooked through.

Serves:
6 @ 6 PPV
8 @ 5PPV
12 @ 3PPV





Linked at: Newlyweds Recipe Linky, What's New Wednesday, Foodie Friday, The Latest Find

Successful Saturday Linkup #5

Due to a blip in my brain, we will be doing Successful SUNDAY this week :) I hope to get the linky tools stuff up to date by then! Thank you!


Welcome to Successful Saturdays!
This is the place where you can come and post a link to your blog to show us all something you did to be successful! It can be a recipe, a craft project, an organizational idea or pretty much anything (other than giveaways! sorry!)


Don't have a blog? Feel free to leave a comment below to let us all know what you have done to be successful this week!

Here's how it works:

-Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your recipe, etc!
-Please leave a link back to this post in your post and grab my button for your blog(please pass the word to your blog friends for more fabulous recipes & successes!)
-Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
-Please visit at least one others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.

<a href="http://successful2gether.blogspot.com/search/label/successful%20saturdays"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a400/angiewuest02/successful-saturdays.gif"></a>

Get Skinny Review and Giveaway PLUS $10 Amazon Gift Card

I was selected to a review AND giveaway of Get Skinny a Six Week Body Challenge is written by Scott Schmaltz. Scott Schmaltz is a personal trainer of over 10 years and has already co-authored a book The Couch Potato Family Edition book. I was very excited at the timing of this review. My gym recently closed and I have been using what I learned there that could be done at home as well as other work out videos. My absolute favorite part of this book was the exercise pictures and the step by step directions. Each week of the book 5-10 pages of pictures and directions for exercises that I can do at home with equipment I already have!!! Scott does a great job of breaking down how your posture should be and what to do for the work out as well as the recommended weights for both men AND women!! The plan breaks down what a man should do and what a woman should do or aim to do. Which is awesome for me since I know my husband will never pick up a book to read i can now reference back to this book for the information. I also impressed with the breakdown of the health components of the nutrients of food. SO many diets tell you what to eat and when with how much. Scott breaks down why you need the nutrients, the good, the bad, and how to move forward. So much of it is easy to forget it was a great refresher for me but I also love how I was able to sticky my sticky note tabs on these breakdowns for an easy refresher when I need that “reminder”. Menus are also given within the book using food easily found in any supermarket in the United States. The one thing I didn’t care for in the meal plan is to get recipes for the meals you have to go to his site to buy them. Well my first impression is that the book is a dry read the information is laid out in a way that is easy to use as a reference tool. I have taken sticky notes to my favorite workouts and also the nutrimental information to reference back to as well. I have gained a ton of refresher and new knowledge and hope you are able to as well!! Now for the fun part!!! I was given a copy of the book to review and one to giveaway!!! All the opinions in this review are of my very own thoughts and opinions on this book!! Enter on the rafflecoptor below- all entries will be verified.

Banana Nut Baked Oatmeal

My coworkers mom brought two bags of shelled pecans to the office this week :) I love them but I normally don't buy them because of the price and I will end up eating them all, since Ed can't eat them. The first thing I told Lisa I was going to do was make some Banana Nut Oatmeal. It took me a few days to get around to it, but it was worth the wait!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 banana, pureed (approx 185 g/6 oz)
1 Tbs brown sugar blend
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 oz pecans
1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
2 tbs flax seed meal

Preheat oven to 350. Combine 1oz pecans and 1/2 cup oats in food processor and grind. In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground oats and nuts, with the flax and the remaining 1 cup oats. Stir to combine. In a separate mixing bowl, be together the brown sugar blend, milk, eggs, banana puree and vanilla. Combine the liquid mix with the dry mix. Spray 8x8 pan with spray. Pour in the oatmeal mix and top with the remaining 1 oz of pecan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve and Enjoy :) Suitable for breakfast or a snack!

Makes 4 Servings @ 8 PPV
           6 Servings @ 5 PPV
           8 Servings @ 4 PPV
          12 Servings @ 3 PPV

Linked at Melt in Your Mouth Monday, What's New Wednesday, Show me What you've got!, Practical Saving's Foodie Friday, Heart Smart: Recipes for a Healthy Heart, Fit and Fabulous Friday,
The Kids are Grown Up, Now What? Recipe Linky, Mop it up Monday

Successful Saturday Linkup #4

Welcome to Successful Saturdays!
This is the place where you can come and post a link to your blog to show us all something you did to be successful! It can be a recipe, a craft project, an organizational idea or pretty much anything (other than giveaways! sorry!)


Don't have a blog? Feel free to leave a comment below to let us all know what you have done to be successful this week!

Here's how it works:

-Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your recipe, etc!
-Please leave a link back to this post in your post and grab my button for your blog(please pass the word to your blog friends for more fabulous recipes & successes!)
-Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
-Please visit at least one others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.

<a href="http://successful2gether.blogspot.com/search/label/successful%20saturdays"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a400/angiewuest02/successful-saturdays.gif"></a>

Fan Appreciation Giveaway {Winners Chosen!}

Good Morning :) A sincere thank you to all that participated!
I will be in contact with you soon regarding your prizes. If they have not been claimed by 11:59 PM EST 3/18/12, I will chose an alternate winner :)

Thank you again, and keep your eyes out for more great chances to win!
  Here are two more giveaways for your winning pleasure :)

win a free sock monkey koozie! through 

3/18/12

through 3/20/12

FIRST PRIZE: Handmade Cozy from Masquerade, $5 Amazon Gift Card from Penny Pincher Jenny, Custom Facebook Cover Picture by Dazzles and Doodles 

SECOND PRIZE: 1 Whole Insert Coupon Package from We Shop Deals 4 You, $5 Amazon Gift Card from Practical Savings, Custom Facebook Cover Picture by Dazzles and Doodles

THIRD PRIZE: $25 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate from Gricefully Homeschooling, Custom Facebook Cover Picture by Dazzles and Doodles

Neat Gift Idea: Birthday Chronicle {Review}

Personalized Gifts for Anyone, Anytime!

I was selected by Casie over at Because I Tried it! to do a review of one of her unique gift items, The Birthday Chronicle. This is an awesome, personalized gift idea. All you do is fill out the form with the name, email address, date of birth, headline and submit! I had one minor little blip in the delivery of my Chronicle, which only took about an hour and a half to arrive, and that was quickly recified, and I had the proper gift. I chose to have one made for my hubby, as his birthday is coming up in a few weeks!

Click to see larger 

:D  I know he will love it. It looks like a mini newspaper that features some interesting facts about the year and date of birth requested. This is a very affordable gift idea, that arrives in PDF format via email, suitable for print on an 8.5x11 page. Even a great idea for the procrastinators out there :) Who would have thought you could get a personalized gift, quickly for starting at $2? Not me! This is suitable for anyone born January 1, 1900 through December 31, 2010.

They offer free items often! To learn more about them, you should follow them at the following links:

Follow On Twitter

Be A Friend on Facebook

Klout

Join the Newsletter! 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Ham and Spinach Frittata

Ingredients:
8 eggs
1/4 cup milk (skim)
2 oz diced peppers ( I used red, orange, and yellow sweet bell peppers )
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 cup baby spinach, wilted
1 2 oz ham slice, cubed
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (2%)
1 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 9 inch glass pie dish with pan spray. Stir fry the onions and peppers together in oil, then wilt spinach in pan. Combine cooked veggies and dice until well distributed. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs with milk, then add in veggies and ham. Pour in to prepared dish and top with shredded cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through. Serve and enjoy!

8 Servings @ 2 PPV
4 Servings @ 5 PPV



Linked at : Foodie Friday, Fit and Fabulous Friday, Foodie Friday linkup, Fusion Friday,  The Latest Edition, Melt in Your Mouth Monday

Secret Recipe Club: Rothman's Fire Breathing Salsa

It's that time again! I took a few month's off from participating in the Secret Recipe Club, and I am so glad to be back. For those who may be unfamiliar, The Secret Recipe Club is a group of bloggers that all sign up to participate, and then we are each assigned a "secret" blog that we then pick a recipe from and recreate. It is a fun way to try new things and meet other bloggers. There are so many great food blogs out there, it can be hard to keep track :) This helps set aside a little corner of the blogosphere where we can connect, create and share.

For March's assignment, I was given Smells Like Brownies. Now, I search high and low for a name on her blog but couldn't find it, so I will call her SLB :) :waves: I did learn that she hates fruit :) But does love to cook! I had such a good time thumbing through her posts and had a hard time choosing :) Some of the other contenders were Ricotta Muffins, Spicy Tuna Burgers, and Quinoa Patties with Poached Eggs. I finally decided to make the salsa recipe since both Ed and I love the salsa  and I have been wanting to try my hand at it for a while.  Now this makes A LOT of salsa :) so make sure you have a fairly decent sized bowl for the final mixing!

Ingredients:
1 large Red onion
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
4 jalapeno peppers
2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup lime juice
3 large garlic cloves, minced

Combine the peppers (I left all the seeds in mine, just removed the stem), onion and cilantro in food processor and process until smooth. In a large mixing bowl combine the puree and the remaining ingredients, stirring well.

For best result SLB suggests to cover and let the salsa sit, refrigerated, for 2 days. Ed and I both tried it after it was mixed up and we both REALLY liked it. I can't wait for a second taste after the flavors meld together some more :) Thank you SLB for having such an amazing recipe on your blog and allowing me to recreate it!





Linked at: Cinco De Mayo Recipes

PennyPincherjenny Fit mom for life giveaway!!!

Review and giveaway sponsored by http://pennypincherjenny.com/ :)

I am so excited to bring you this review and giveaway!!! I was selected to receive a copy of Dustin Maher Fit Moms for Life!! I have had the chance to work with Dustin in his mommy blogger contest and look forward to participating in that next month. Being able to physically read and markup his book, (Yes I am one of those readers) has been a blast and it was extremely refreshing. I have been in a deep fitness rut/funk for a while and as I have shared with you before am currently trying to lose weight. If you haven't heard of Dustin Maher before I recommend his website (Click here) and you can read and see the results of his program.

There are SO many things to say about this book. The number one thing about it is it will tie into your life somehow, no matter your stage of your life. I really felt like someone was sitting there encouraging rather than lecturing me with how his dialogue is through the whole thing. His down home Minnesotan boy persona shines throughout the whole book and makes it an easy read. I have read so many books on the topic of fitness, weight loss, and what not that seemed like a drill sergeant or your dad was standing there telling you what to do.

The book goes into huge detail on so many keys to a healthy life!! These are the ones that really hit home for me personally.

• Planning!!! I can vouch that if I don’t plan it goes down the drain and I get nowhere!! Then, I wonder why I even bothered
• Recording progress!!! So often the change is little so that you will get discouraged if you can’t visually see yourself changing. You can look back and see the inches falling off on paper, the habits changing, and your abilities improving.
• Don’t be a slave to cardio and how to work out at home with weights affordably.
• The importance of me time (If you just laughed and said, "What's That?" it’s a sign this book is meant for you!!)
• It’s a way of life not a diet
• How to get the kids involved and how to help your children live a healthy life style without the “d word”
• What to eat and not to eat and how to work it into the schedule of a mom

Now what really makes this book hit home is the stories from Dustin’s clients. Moms, as a whole, relate to other moms' struggles so I loved being able to read how so many of these women were in my position and now look the way they look. When I first got the book, I had set it on the table (Face down for some reason) and happened to glance over. In nice red letters by Dustin’s face is “Who is taking care of YOU?”; that was a reality check for me.

Now for the fun part!!! I was given a copy of the book to review and one to giveaway!!! All the opinions in this review are of my very own thoughts and opinions on this book!! Enter on the rafflecoptor below- all entries will be verified.

Blueberry Plum Cobbler

I have been trying to find a recipe to use up the plums I purchased from the store earlier in the week and I came across this one over on Prevention.com. I didn't change it around too awful much. Ed and I were pleased with the taste of it, but I think that the plums need to be cut in to smaller pieces. Short of the long: If you like blueberries and plums, you will love this! :)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb plums, quartered and pits removed
1/3 lb blueberries
3 tbs brown sugar blend (splenda or other variety)
2 tbs flour

2/3  cup flour
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup milk
1 egg white, slightly beaten
2 tbs apple sauce

1/4 tsp sugar


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Spray 8x8 glass baking dish with pan spray. Toss plums and berries with 2 tbs flour and 3 tbs brown sugar blend. Put in prepared baking dish. In a small dish, mix the milk, egg white and apple sauce. In a separate bowl, mix the 1/8 cup sugar, remaining flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir the egg mix in with the flour mix to make a thick batter. Spoon over top of fruit. Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp sugar. Bake for 30-45 minutes. Serve and enjoy :)

Makes 6 Servings @ 4PPV

Featured on: The Latest Find (thank you!!)

Successful Saturday Linkup #3

Welcome to Successful Saturdays!
This is the place where you can come and post a link to your blog to show us all something you did to be successful! It can be a recipe, a craft project, an organizational idea or pretty much anything (other than giveaways! sorry!)


Don't have a blog? Feel free to leave a comment below to let us all know what you have done to be successful this week!

Here's how it works:

-Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your recipe, etc!
-Please leave a link back to this post in your post and grab my button for your blog(please pass the word to your blog friends for more fabulous recipes & successes!)
-Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
-Please visit at least two others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.

<a href="http://successful2gether.blogspot.com/search/label/successful%20saturdays"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a400/angiewuest02/successful-saturdays.gif"></a>

Thank you for being you :) {Giveaway}

Hi y'all! Angie from  Successful Together  here! Sometimes, it feels like I have been blogging forever ( I haven't ) and I love every minute of it. I love connecting with my friends and making new ones too. To show you just how much I appreciate each and every one of you, I am hosting this giveaway! I have had a few of my very special friends step up and donate some additional prizes. I hope you will check out their pages and say hello! Huge Thank you to Lorin of Dazzles and Doodles for my Giveaway Banner :) (and pretty much any other graphic you see floating around on my site)

Loving Sponsors (in no particular order):

Successful Together

Dazzles and Doodles
Masquerade
Penny Pincher Jenny

We Shop Deals 4 You

Gricefully Homeschooling
Practical Savings
Gayl Hales: Send Out Card Distributor (visit her site to make a FREE card!)

The giveaway will run from 12AM EST 3/9/12 til 12AM EST 3/16/12
There will be THREE winners :)
The prizes will be split up as follows: 
Limited to US residents only, please

FIRST PRIZE: Handmade Cozy from Masquerade, $5 Amazon Gift Card from Penny Pincher Jenny, Custom Facebook Cover Picture by Dazzles and Doodles 

SECOND PRIZE: 1 Whole Insert Coupon Package from We Shop Deals 4 You, $5 Amazon Gift Card from Practical Savings, Custom Facebook Cover Picture by Dazzles and Doodles

THIRD PRIZE: $25 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate from Gricefully Homeschooling, Custom Facebook Cover Picture by Dazzles and Doodles

a Rafflecopter giveaway

linked at:

Coconut Baked Oatmeal

Recently in the Weight Watchers Meeting room, we rolled out a new product and I was so happy to finally try it. Creamy Coconut Smoothie Mix. YUM! I think any protein powder would work here but this is soooo good, who needs to mess up a good thing? Not this chick!


Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup old fashioned oats
1 Creamy Coconut Smoothie Packet
4 Eggs
1/2 cup milk (1%)
15g or 2 tbsp shredded coconut


Preheat oven to 375. Spray 8x8 glass baking dish with pan spray.
Mix together the oats and smoothie mix. Separately mix together the eggs and milk. Combine egg and oat mixture, pour in to baking dish. Top with coconut and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. YUMMY!

4 servings at 6 PointsPlus each!

Cinnamon Raisin French Toast Casserole

:D The name says it all!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup old fashioned rolled oats
10 sliced cinnamon raisin bread, diced
8 eggs
1/3 cup super fine apple sauce (apple sauce pureed for smoothness)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp cinnamon


Preheat oven to 375. Spray 9x13 glass baking dish with pan spray. Toss bread and oats together, pour in baking dish. Mix the remaining ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl until well combined. Pour egg mix over bread and stir until evenly coated. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until cooked through.

makes 8 servings at 6 PPV each
           6 servings  at 8 PPV each
          4 servings at 12 PPV each

linked at Delicious Dish Tuesday