Where Slow Food & Whole Food Meet Cookbook Release + Slow Cooker Giveaway!

I’m so happy to announce the launch of Where Slow Food & Whole Food Meet Cookbook today! It’s a great book for a great cause!

Whether you’re looking for a simple dinner to make on a busy weeknight or a comforting meal for Sunday supper, Where Slow Food and Whole Food Meet has your meal planning covered. Over a month’s worth of slow cooker dinner recipes including Lasagna and Sweet and Spicy Carnitas. All of these original recipes have been created by talented food bloggers especially for this slow cooker cookbook. The food bloggers’ passion for slow cooking is demonstrated in the beautiful photography and delicious recipes they have contributed to this cookbook, a cookbook that we hope will hold a special place in your kitchen for years to come. 

I was invited along with some other bloggers to contribute a Slow Cooker recipe for this cookbook which is focused on healthy slow cooker dinners for families to enjoy.  What did I made for this? Macaroni and Cheese With Sugar Snap Peas! You’ll have to get the cookbook to get the recipe though! 

Click HERE to purchase a print copy of Where Slow Food and Whole Food Meet. All proceeds will benefit Second Harvest Food Bank.

The cookbook is full of swoon worthy photos and recipes that invite you into Fall and Winter.  I’m a big fan of slow cooked meals, especially on chilly evenings, so I am pretty excited to make a bunch of these.

Some of my favorites that I’m already bookmarking include:
Italian Beef Sandwiches
Creamy Chicken and Veggies
Autumn Apple Chicken Sandwiches
Broccoli and Cheese Potato Soup
Pumpkin White Chili
Chicken Burrito Bowls
Tex-Mex Scalloped Potato and Carrot Dinner
Chinese Chicken and Broccoli

The cookbook also gives great slow cooking tips and ways to make your dollars go a long way with these recipes.  Here are some tips that I loved:

Stocking Up On Pantry Staples
Most of the items that are partially used in a recipe fall under the category of Pantry Staples. Tese are things like oils, vinegars, spices, rice, grains, and canned goods. Having a well-stocked pantry will help keep recipe costs down. Unfortunately, attaining a well-stocked pantry is an expensive prospect. A more affordable way to get there is to do it gradually. Find a recipe that calls for 1 or 2 staples that you don’t already have. Add that recipe to your meal plan for the week and put the new staples on your list. If you include 1 or 2 new staples every week, you won’t need to spend a great deal extra at one time and will slowly !nd that you have more items on hand with which to make meals. Making the same recipe again a couple of weeks later will ensure that you use the staples and get value out of them. Or, you can look for other recipes that use the same ingredient

Maintaining Your Pantry
Once you have a stash of pantry items, create a Running Low List to put alongside your regular grocery list. Add pantry items to this list before they run out so that you don’t have to buy them immediately. Instead, you’ll have the freedom to watch for sales and coupons. When a “Buy One, Get One Free” or other sale happens on an item from your Running Low List, buy it if you can. This is particularly useful when thinking about expensive pantry items like olive oil and some spices. Even for less expensive items, the savings add up over time.

I make a list on my chalkboard door as soon as any items are running low and I keep a strong lookout for sales.  If I know something is usually expensive and I see a great deal I might buy 2 of them.  I was buying these small bottles of sesame oil from my local store and then I saw a giant bottle of the same oil for half the price of the small bottle (are you following me still?) in Chinatown so I bought it right away. I saved major bucks!

Here is a fun video that was made for the cookbook too!

Click HERE to purchase a print copy of Where Slow Food and Whole Food Meet. All proceeds will benefit Second Harvest Food Bank.

September is Hunger Action Month, a nationwide campaign mobilizing the public to take action on the issue of hunger. We’ve been mobilized and we’re hoping to mobilize others. 46 million people in the United States deal with hunger issues, including 12 million children and 7 million seniors.  We wanted our book to help in a big way and we hope you help support it!   Feeding America food banks from across the country are giving the ebook version as a free gift to their donors. If you make a donation you will be given the ebook as a free gift. Donate right now and get your free ebook by clicking here. Here’s the link http://www.feedhopenow.org/cookbook

To help get the word out about hunger in America and our cookbook, some generous sponsors have jumped on board.

Together, San Miguel Produce http://www.sanmiguelproduce.com/, Grimmway Farms http://www.grimmway.com/ and Old Oak Farms by RPE Produce http://www.oldoakfarms.com/ are making some big contributions to help end hunger. They are each contributing food to their local food banks AND they are giving $5 for every print copy of the book that we sell.   That’s in addition to the proceeds from the book that are already going to the food bank! 

GIVEAWAY!!

Each participating blogger is giving away TWO print copies of the book. Enter below and visit all the blogger links to go and enter on each of their blogs.

I’m also giving away  Hamilton Beach Set & Forget® Programmable 6 Quart Slow Cooker which I can tell you is awesome!  All of these slow cookers have been generously given by Hamilton Beach so thank you!  Enter to win this below as well!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway is only for US Residents.  Giveaway ends September 30.

In addition to copies of the books and slow cookers, the co-editors of the book, Christine and Jennifer, are also giving away one prize of free carrots for a year from Grimmway Farms, one prize of free greens for a year from San Miguel and a potato prize pack from Old Oak Farms by RPE Produce including 40 pounds of potatoes and 1 Bamboo Bowl, 1 cutting board, 1 pepper mill, 1 measuring spoon set, 1 recipe booklet, 1 about potatoes booklet.    To see all the amazing bloggers who participated in this cookbook and to see where you can go to enter again and again to win all of these amazing prizes, visit Christine and Jennifer’s blogs.

 Tell me in the comments – are you excited for Slow Cooker season?