Sunday, July 4, 2010

Awards,GIVEAWAY, Bites Around the Blogosphere, and PB&J French Toast

Rather than overwhelm with six separate posts, I'll keep this in one long post. :)

First, to my American friends, happy Independence Day! We celebrated with fireworks and fun last night. Here are a couple pictures:

Picky Eater dancing to one of the bands before the fireworks display


Bayberry got a cell phone and is in love with it. She spent her spare time playing with it, taking pictures, sending texts, and calling her friends. Ahhh...this has just begun. Thank goodness for unlimited texting plans.

The fireworks were great. Fort Benning really knows how to put on a patriotic display. We had a great time. We ate total junk, and my face, hands, and overall wellbeing are feeling it today. Time to get back to the business of real foods.

Next, I'd like to take a moment to thank several people for honoring me with an award over the past week. I know I've been absent quite a bit, and I apologize. My family needed me, and that's always going to be my first priority. Anyway, on we go.

Thanks to Chocoholic for giving me this award!
I am happy to pass this award along to some folks who are always here for me, supportive, commenting, and friendly. They have helped shape this blog into what it is, and I'm proud to offer them this award in return.




  1. Keli at Feeding Four

  2. Michelle at Girl Gone Granola




  3.  Samara at Link Adventure
Those bloggers are great women with talent. I encourage you to go check them out. Ladies, thank you for your support. I'm just lil' ol' me, cooking and hoping others like what I offer. You make me feel so good about it. I'm all warm 'n fuzzy. :o)

Another award I've been presented:

Thanks, Jenn and Mandy, for this award. :) I'm doubly blessed and doubly honored.

When presented with this award, you're supposed to:
  1. Thank the person(s) who presented it to you.
  2. Sum up my blogging philosophy, motivation and experience in 5 words:
    Real food for real people
  3. Then, choose other bloggers to share this award. I choose:

************************
And now, drum roll, please...

A new giveaway to celebrate my wonderful 200 public followers! Yay!

Many months ago, I won a pay it forward giveaway over at Girl Gone Granola, and she sent me some delectable delights from her neck of the woods. In accepting my winnings, I promised to pay it forward, and host a giveaway of my own with the same rules. So Michelle, thanks again. Big warm hugs go out your way. Here's my pay it forward.

What You Can Win:

a box of goodies! Foods made in my area AND some non-food items made by local soldiers' wives. For sure, this giveaway will include some local honey, pecans, and peach preserves. What else will be in the box? It's a surprise!

How You Can Win it:

Only one way: Since this is meant to be a thank you to my public followers, you must follow via Google Friend Connect (over on the right side of the blog). There's no need to comment here -- I'll put all of my Google followers into a spreadsheet and use Random.org to draw a winner on Friday, July 9th.


Hungry? I know I am, after all that good news! How about some more frugal foods? Let's get on with the business of Bare-Bones Meals!

Day Five

Breakfast: Peanut Butter & Jelly French Toast
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Corn chowder in the slow cooker

Peanut Butter & Jelly French Toast (picture to be posted later today)

What You Need:
  • 2 slices of bread per person
  • natural peanut butter
  • all fruit jam
  • 2 eggs per person
  • a splash of milk
  • a dash of cinnamon
  • a bit of butter, margarine, or oil for the pan
How it's Done:
  1. Make a peanut butter and jam sandwich for each person eating breakfast. Cut them each in half.
  2. Beat eggs with milk and cinnamon. Dip sandwich halves in this egg mixture, coating well.
  3. Fry on a hot griddle until browned underneath. Flip and finish cooking.
  4. If desired, you could sprinkle with powdered sugar, but it's delicious as is. The peanut butter oozes out the side. YUM.
And finally, let me share with you some of the best fourth of July recipes and  posts I've seen this week:
 
Strawberry Hand Pies from Jen at Beantown Baker
 
Blue Raspberry Patriots by Dawn at Beat Until Fluffy
 
Lots of patriotic cookies at Cookie Crazie
 
Haniela's 4th of July Peppermint Patties
 
tons of GREAT posts at Hoosier Homemade
 
Patriotic Star Frame at Inspiring Creations
 
...More to come. For now, I'm off to finish my grocery shopping. :)
 

10 comments:

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

Thanks for the award Michelle! And CONGRATS to you for your award winnings!! I hope that I am lucky enough to win the give away :) I want homemade peach preserves!!

Rachel (Diary of a Recovering Chocoholic) said...

I love french toast! I can't wait to try this twist on it. I'm excited about the giveaway!

Anonymous said...

Michelle! Thank you so much for giving me the Blogger with Substance Award, that was so sweet of you! But not as sweet as that peanut butter and jelly french toast recipe, yum! yum! Hey, let me go grab your button!

Ooooo, and I'm a public follower, I hope I win the the food basket too!!! Woot, woot!

Haupi
http://hauplight.blogspot.com/

Out of the Box into the Kitchen said...

yum! the french toast sounds great!

thanks for the award! and id love to win too!

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for the award Michelle! I'm honored that you think my blog is good enough to receive it. Oh, this is going to be a popular giveaway, I would LOVE to get just the things you mentioned as a gift! :) Good luck to everyone.

Yenta Mary said...

Mazal Tov on the WELL DESERVED awards!!! That gift basket sounds amazing, too ... :)

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for the award Michelle! I have enjoyed your blog so much, I'm glad I can be there for you!!! Congrats on your own awards, as you deserve them!
Can't wait to win all your goodies...hehehe..I mean I WANT to win all your goodies!!

Samara Link said...

Well, thank you! I'm so glad my little comments here and there keep you feeling encouraged. What you're doing is awesome! I should be giving you an award for supplying me with all these fabulous recipes. :) Thanks again! Now, I'm going to go check out those links to the 4th of July fare you posted. Take care and enjoy the rest of the long weekend!

Anonymous said...

On behalf of FGG, thank you so much for the great shout out! Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go make some PB&J french toast! ;)

Unknown said...

Thank you for the award!

yeah!!!

Melanie
Going Green with Noah

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