WINNERS of The Pioneer Woman Cooks and CUTE aprons are.....

WoooHOOOO! Are you ready? Drum roll...pleeeezee. Thank you drummer boy! The winners of the Pioneer Woman Cooks signed cookbooks and aprons are:

#1 Cookbook & Cowgirl Apron

the Segard Family said...

We will be snowboarding in Colorado!!

December 20, 2010 9:24 AM

#2 Cookbook &Christmas Apron

SarahinSC said...

Awesome giveaway! I'll be spending Christmas with family!

December 20, 2010 8:44 AM

#3 Cookbook

Diane said...

Adorable Apron... Sheila, your Mom did a fantastic job!! (perhaps she could sell a few for the 'tour' next year??). I will be sitting back, eating, drinking egg nog, and fellowshipping with family. Oh, I'll also be keeping my eye on Marlin as he keeps his eye/nose on the food :). Love you.

December 21, 2010 9:25 AM

Please shoot me an email leaving your full name and contact information, and we will get your winnings off to you quicker than you can say Frohliche Weihnachten! or Feliz Navidad!

Thanks for sharing what you are all up to over Christmas I loved reading all your comments!

Many blessings!

Hugs to you all!

Luv Ya,

the Reluctant Entertainer GIVEAWAY

Would you consider yourself someone who enjoys entertaining in your home? Or would you rather be a guest in someone elses home? Are you envious of people who make entertaining seem easy? Do you make excuses as to why you never have anyone over? Are you putting way too much pressure on yourself?! I have the perfect book for all of you.

Because we are heading into the time of year when parties and entertaining are on the forefront of everyones minds, I thought it would be the perfect time to giveaway a copy of the Reluctant Entertainer by Sandy Coughlin. The Reluctant Entertainer is easy to read, you can open it up to any page and find useful tidbits of information for entertaining and life in general. Sandy has also included delicious easy recipes throughout the book that are tried and true! She also has a wonderful blog with many tips to help us stay focused and keep us from getting caught up in the things that can distract us from enjoying our guests.

Did I mention that Sandy signed the copy of her beautiful book? Well she did!

Maybe the word "entertaining", in itself, FREAKS you out. Does it make you feel like you need to put on a big wooHOO party, where everyone is laughing and having the time of their life, a night they will never forget with fabulous food and the house looking gorgeous with nary a speck of dust anywhere. If entertaining makes you feel anxious....this book is here to help.

The Reluctant Entertainer is a book that helps us remember that we need to connect with others, getting together/entertaining is about the people, the conversations, and really taking the time to get to know your guests. Even if that means ordering take out together.

Guess what, your house does not have to be spotless! Guess what else, you don't need to apologize for a less than spotless house or a less than 5 star meal, because chances are your guest will NEVER notice the small imperfections and if you do apologize you will just be bringing something to their attention that they had not noticed in the first place....you will be putting the focus on yourself and not focusing on enjoying your guests. This book is packed with information and wisdom that will make any "reluctant entertainer" feel at ease and start to be less reluctant when it comes to having people in their homes.

RELAX, let's quit putting so much pressure on ourselves.

Do you come from a background of entertaining?

I do. If you would call it that. I grew up in a very, dinky home. (That would be small or tiny...some people live in apartments that are bigger than the house I grew up in. We didn't even have a garage.) My mom had a electric stove and very little counter space. But some of the best meals anyone ever had came out of that kitchen, because she was focused on the people and not what we didn't have but what we did. I never really thought about it until I was married and had kids and someone asked me where I learned to entertain. I shrugged and said "I dunno, my mom I guess". But I was thinking to myself....my mom never entertained, what am I sayin'. She did, we just called it "havin' people over". "Come on over....sure there's plenty....", that was and is my mom's attitude. She kept it simple. Fried chicken, Bar-B-Q chicken....lots of chicken, nothing fancy, but always made with love. And let me tell you our house was not only dinky it was messy, I love you mom, but one thing my mom is not is a neat freak....but I don't think anyone ever notices(because my mom doesn't), they are too busy eating and laughing and enjoying each others company.

Fondue on Christmas Eve with my Seestor.

I realize that I am blessed to have been raised in such a home, and that many of you may not have someone that modeled how to be hospitable. However, I still put undo pressures on myself at times. The Reluctant Entertainer will help you conquer some of those unnecessary pressures you put on yourself and start enjoying having others into your home. I would like to have people over more, but because of Kenny's schedule our "havin' peeps over" has been on the down swing lately. So you know what I do then, I let my kids entertain. Sleepovers, play dates, I invite girlfriends over for appetizers. These are all forms of entertaining. You can even bring someone a meal, stay a minute to visit, let them know you care.

Fun baking play dates.

I can't say enough about this book or Sandy. She is such a sweet lady. The Reluctant Entertainer would also make a super gift. This is a book that even the most seasoned hostesses will find useful. And as always you know I don't giveaway stuff just to give it away....I give it away because I love my readers and I want to share the things I love with you!

Here is how you can WIN a copy!!! Leave me a comment below:

1. Let me know are you a Reluctant Entertainer? Why?

2. OR do you entertain easily with out stress....and if so WHO taught you that...or does it just come naturally?

ONE COMMENT per person please unless....

you share this GIVEAWAY on your FACEBOOK page or TWEET me, then comment again and give me the link. You have until Tuesday midnight to comment, then I will unreluctantly announce the WINNER on Wednesday! Wahaha ha hoo! I can hardly wait.

Luv Ya!

GIVEAWAY WINNER and a look back on my first year.....

In honor of my 1 year Bloggiversary I am announcing YVONNE, come on down.........you are the lucky winner of Jaden Hairs Steamy Kitchen Cookbook and a Redletterwords 12x12 cafe mount print!!!

Yvonne, you can find my email in my profile over yonder....send me an email with your full name and mailing address and Dee at Redletterwords and Me/Myself/&I will send you your print and cookbook.

Every time I do a giveaway, I hate picking a winner. I procrastinate, a little bit, take lots of deep breaths. Go to the bathroom 5 times. Get a snack. Why? I think it's because I hate to pick just one winner. I want you all to win. I always hated being the team captain in gym class too, so much pressure!

I absolutely loved hearing what each of you enjoy serving your guests. I wish that I could come sit down with each of you and eat every single one of the meals you described.

It's been an amazing year. I will never regret listening to my heart and my friends and starting Strawberry CAKE. Thanks to all of you who encouraged me to start writing. I love cooking, and it turns out I don't mind writing either....so in that another blog was born.

I will never forget how I actually felt just before I clicked on the "publish post" button for the first time. I thought I was going to puke. I was so worried that if someone would happen to read my blog, they would scrunch up their face and shake there head and never return.

I just revisited my first month of blogging. Jeez-Louise....I didn't even post a picture, well because we still had dial up! And my camera stunk! Way back then (1 year ago) if I were to post a picture it took about the time it takes me to make beds, fold a load of laundry, and unload the dishwasher to post one stinkin' picture! Kenny gave me a new camera for Christmas and shortly after that I started using an air card to get a faster connection...kinda...if the wind wasn't blowing and the sky was clear, I could upload a picture or two. I live in Michigan, remember, the land of wind and clouds. It took a trip to the Ranch for me to figure out the joys of satellite internet. The day I returned, I was on the horn with a satellite service , and they were here the next day planting a giant dish outside in my shrubs....hey! a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

A bowl of barfy looking pumpkin seeds was my first post that included a picture. You would think I would have gone for something a bit more appetizing....like perhaps a picture of Strawberry Cake.....nah...let's take half a day to post a picture of slimy seeds. I told you I'm a numb skull.

It's interesting to see what posts received the most reaction from readers. Of course all of the Sheila & Ree posts were very popular. My highest traffic was on this post, because Ree gave me a shout-out on her Facebook page....and my blog went BEZERKO. We were on a road trip out East at the time, my phone started ringing off the hook. I was ignoring it....I was on vacation. Finally I answered to a freaked out Big D, gasping for air and trying to tell me Ree had given me a shout out on Facebook. Hokey Pete!

This post also got a bit of a reaction.

Some of my recipes that people seem to feel strongly about are:

My Favorite Mac-n-Cheese

Saturday Morning Traditions

Cobb Guacamole

Pumpkin Spice Donut Muffins & these Donuts

What really matters, is not the volume of comments or visitors to my site, but when someone, says, "thanks, you made me smile today". I gotta tell ya those comments get me right in the tear ducts. I really, really feel blessed to have you all in my life. Thanks for reading. Here's to another year!

Cheers!

STEAMY kitchen + REDLETTERwords=GIVEAWAY!!!

This Friday is the ONE year Anniversary of my first post on Strawberry CAKE.

Yipee-WOOhoo!

Because I luv ya, I wanted to do a GIVEAWAY, and it turns out it's going to be a double whammy! I still cant believe that anyone besides my first two commenter's (thank you Heather and Big D) even reads this stuff..... I want to say Thank You for coming over here, it makes me so happy when you do.

I am a huge fan of Jaden Hairs blog Steamy Kitchen. She has great recipes that are delicious, quick, and easy. I was a total geek when I got to meet her last week in San Francisco.

She was so sweet, she didn't mind my geek-a-tude at all. I was the first one at the book table, just in case her book sold out, and she very graciously signed two copies. One for YOU and one for ME!

We LOVE any type of Asian food in this house. Chinese, Sushi, Thai, you name it, my kids love it! Look at my boys they are looking through my new cookbook deciding what I should make first. Luke thinks I need to cook every recipe........maybe I will eventually.

Goof-ball! Who's kid is this?

More goofballs, oohing and aahing over all the yummy pictures and recipes.

The Steamy Kitchen is only the first part of my the giveaway! The second part is this print from Redletterwords!!!!

12x12 cafe mount

My friend Dee is so sweet (maybe because of all the goodies she eats over here at my hacienda). When I told her I was doing the Steamy Kitchen Cookbook giveaway she said "Oh! I want to give you my new print to giveaway with it!". I was driving when she told me, I nearly went bumping over the curb I was so excited.

The verse on this print is from Hebrews 13:2. I love this verse, it reminds me of my Grandma telling me about how during the depression, even though they barely had enough to feed their own family, they never turned anyone away that happened to show up on their doorstep during dinner time, because they might be an angel!

This would look fabulous in your kitchen or dining room, I just know it! It's a good thing Dee will be sending the winner the print, because if I got my grimy paws on it it may never get to the winner.

Ok enough blabbin....here's what you need to do to be eligible to win:

1. Leave a comment below telling me what recipe you love to make when you have guests over. One comment only please.

*** if you want more than one chance to win....***

-Twitter this giveaway and mention @lstrawberrycake in your tweet

-link this giveaway to your FaceBook page

-Check out Redletterwords site and have a look around, tell me what your favorite print is in your comment!

Because I am a night owl, I will take comments until 12pm Friday night! Then I will pick one winner randomly to win Jaden Hair's Steamy Kitchen Cookbook AND the above 12x12 cafe mount print from Redletterwords.

Hugs to you all!