Posted by alisa on January 20, 2011 | 2 Comments
Today my rambling is captured in a couple of other locations. Please head over and checkout my posts:
Attune Foods Guest Post – You can read about my healthy living goals and share yours in the comments! And of course, I couldn’t resist sharing a recipe there. Check it out!
Dairy Free & Fit – I’m back, and now posting close to daily on Dairy-Free & Fit. You can see my two most recent posts today, what I’m up to, and let me know your thoughts.
Posted by alisa on January 1, 2011 | 15 Comments
Wow, that title sounds so impressive doesn’t it?
I have joined the Attune Foods team as a Brand Ambassador, which means I will be involved in some of their activities on their blog, via twitter, at events, etc. It won’t change thing much around here (except for the cute ambassador button on my blog and such), but I wanted to give you all a heads up!
Earlier in 2010 I tried, and loved the attune chocolate probiotic bars (I mean, who doesn’t love eating chocolate in the name of health?), and became further interested when they bought up my favorite cereal manufacturer, U.S. Mills. I’m no longer a big cereal eater, but love using the Erewhon brand (one of the formerly U.S. Mills, now attune brands) for cooking, baking, etc., as they are organic, low sugar, use brown rice, etc. So when they asked me to come on board, I was happy to give it a go.
Look for me in the coming months on their blog, and check out their full product line. You just might recognize a few things! Oh, and if you are a cereal eater, the Erewhon Strawberry Crisp Cereal (gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegan, etc.) is soooo good – in my totally unbiased opinion. Seriously.
Have you tried any attune or formerly U.S. Mills foods?
Posted by alisa on December 5, 2010 | 17 Comments
Tidbit #1 – Tony bought me this little netbook to replace my ailing laptop this week. Isn’t it cute! Though they say a netbook can’t replace a laptop, this one seems to work great for me. It’s faster than my old computer, and since I use a monitor and keyboard when at my desk anyway, it works for my needs. Now I can take this baby to the kitchen for working on recipes! With saran wrap protecting those little keys of course.
Tidbit #2 - The wonderful Heidi of Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom is giving away two copies of my book, Go Dairy Free (not gluten-free, but lots of gluten-free and gluten-free adaptable recipes!) on her blog. Each winner will also receive an OXO good grips potato ricer too! You must enter by Tuesday, Dec 7. Check it out here.
Tidbit #3 – My Chocolate Peppermint “Oreo” Crispy Treats are in this new Free Christmas e-Cookbook. Check it out. Like Smart School Time Recipes it is an instant download.
Tidbit #4 – Speaking of Smart School Time Recipes, it was just featured in the AllergySense newsletter! A pleasant surprise to me. Still spreading the word of healthy free recipes!!
Tidbit #5 – My recipe for Tender Squash Dinner Rolls (from Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook) is also featured in the ebook A Bountiful Vegan Thanksgiving - which is also practical for the holidays this month of course! Oh, and the rolls, heavenly! I was honored when Nava (author of said ebook and many, many cookbooks) told me that she used that recipe as inspiration for a challah recipe in her upcoming cookbook (due out next year), The Vegan Holiday Kitchen.
Tidbit #6 – I was surprised yet again, this time when Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook was featured in Allergic Living’s 2010 Gift Guide (so honored to be alongside Gluten-Free Girl & The Chef)! Christmas is coming early this year for me. Anywho, the gift guide is awesome, so many fun and high-quality ideas. Just may be gifting myself a few items from there! Definitely check it out.
Tidbit #7 – There are more recipes to come this week and this month (but you probably knew that) … tasty potatoes, cupcakes, some cookies, hmmm … we’ll see!
Tidbit #8 – The Naturally Frugal Challenge has wrapped up and below are the delicious dinner recipe entries and the winner of the awesome baking prizes!
Autumn Harvest Soup with Pumpkin Dinner Rolls from The Stockpot
Caribbean Coconut Rice w/ Garbanzo Beans & Veggies from Loves Veggies & Yoga
Spiced Pumpkin Oatmeal from The Urban Luddite
Indian Curry Stew Stuffed Turban Squash from Making Food and Other Stuff
Peanut-Miso Sauce Chicken from Me
… and THE WINNER:
The Ultimate Autumn Quiche from The Urban Luddite
Thanks to Anne and Donna at Fab Frugal Food for hosting this challenge (I would say co-hosting with me, but they did all the work!)
Posted by alisa on November 29, 2010 | 5 Comments
I will leave that up to you! The people who put on the Fitness & Health Bloggers Conference in Boulder, Colorado (going on its second year) have nominated me as a potential speaker at the event! They’ve asked me to help spread the word on the voting, so please do head over to cast your quick vote here - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CJ2TYJD (voting ends Nov 30, 2010)
You don’t have to register or be an attendee to vote, it is open to the “potential” audience for the conference at this time. My topics are the very first two. Not that you have to pick mine … but, if I win there may be a Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffin recipe forthcoming. Yeah, I’m so not above bribery.
I’m a bit bummed they don’t want me to speak on dairy-free living and how to cater to special diets with fit blogging in mind, but perhaps I can somehow work that into the talk, no?
Posted by alisa on October 30, 2010 | 17 Comments
I’ve never been one for build up or creating a buzz, I just get in there and do things. So when I decided on the new name and theme for this blog, I just sort of, well … did it. So to help prevent confusion, I am hereby announcing that One Frugal Foodie is now officially, Alisa Cooks!
Don’t fret, all of your One Frugal Foodie links will still work, I’m not abandoning that website name nor the links (email subscriptions and rss feeds will still work seamlessly!). But, I’ve got to be honest, I was no longer feeling the theme with One Frugal Foodie. I am frugal, but first and foremost, I am a foodie. I wanted the opportunity to offer you more from my kitchen, beyond just the frugal-oriented bits. Plus, it is time for me to de-lurk as an author and as the founder of Go Dairy Free. My work is already out there and now I want to be more accessible (about me section to be updated shortly).
We just did a redesign on the blog a few months ago, so no big new look … for now … just a humble name change and a blogger on a new mission, but still with lots of delicious recipes. I did update the About Me page though. I hope you like the new name!
Just to clarify my circle of sites, and what they have to offer:
- Go Dairy Free – Website addressing all things dairy-free, news portal, information, reviews, recipes, etc., etc., etc. Established way back in 2005 (yeah, ancient in internet years)
- Alisa Cooks – Formerly the One Frugal Foodie blog … recipes from my kitchen to yours
- Dairy-Free & Fit – My second personal blog (just getting warmed up), this one more topic oriented on food, fitness, and health
Stay tuned, more to come soon … in the form of God’s gift to food kind, chocolate and peanut butter.
Posted by alisa on September 20, 2010 | 11 Comments
Smart School Time Recipes has been downloaded by well over 25,000 people since its release on September 1st! Of course the release date was the big one, but between 500 and 1000 copies are being downloaded every day. Thank you to every single one of you for taking an interest and helping to spread the word. And of course, thank you to all of the wonderful contributors!
Update: Smart School Time Recipes is now available via Amazon Kindle and iBooks / iTunes for your iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone!!
It is FREE for your iPad. Amazon required a minimum of $.99 (wouldn’t permit free), but for 125 recipes all with photos – still not bad at all!
- iBooks / iTunes link to Smart School Time Recipes (FREE!) – U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany
- Amazon Kindle link to Smart School Time Recipes ($.99 – sorry, that was the minimum, free wasn’t permitted!) – U.S., U.K.
It will remain free (and of course available worldwide via the download on this site), and as you can see I’ve added it to my side menu bar (don’t the two books almost look like they are dueling?). Please feel free to tell others so we can spread the word of healthy eating for kids and adults with recipes – 125 free natural food recipes that is! The information and download page is here.
I’m super excited too, as I am going to New York for the first time ever to be a panelist at the Self Publishing Expo. It will be over my birthday, a fun gift I think, if only my husband was going to be there though. Fortunately, I will see him the night of my birthday … I’ll be flying back in time for dinner. Alas, I only have time to stay in NYC for a weekend, but I will consider it a preview, and hope to go back with my husband next year. Plus, I will be meeting a very special person in New York for the first time. More on that later …
I’m also going to attend BlogHer Food in San Francisco in a few weeks. It is my very first blogger event (I’ve never even done a blogger meet-up since there seem to be virtually no food bloggers in Nevada – please pipe up if you are here!). Are any of you going?
I’ve also been added to a new blog database, Healthy Living Blogs. Check it out to list your own blog – and if anyone else is blogging from Nevada, please join, I’m lonely in the Nevada section of “blog by location!”
And last, but certainly not least, I owe a ton of blogger love to some amazing people. I know I am forgetting some people, as the list goes back about a month (and I missed thanking some people online earlier too!), but please know that I am so appreciative to every single one of you. This year I have had a little less time for online socializing due to some health issues in my family, but have been doing my best to keep up with One Frugal Foodie and Go Dairy Free … and am hoping soon to be able to dedicate more time to Dairy-Free & Fit very soon. Okay, enough of my own rambling. Thank you for brightening my days to …
Katie for making me an amazing custom shopping bag. I absolutely love it and use it for all of my shopping trips – especially since we walk to purchase groceries. She sized it just for my petite little self and even used my favorite colors. Oh yeah, and when not in use, my little monster cat loves this bag …
River of Wing it Vegan for this adorable handmade pouch. It is perfect for holding coupons and cash and stashing in that handmade bag from Katie, no?
Averie for all of the Terra Chip loot that I won on her blog Love Veggies and Yoga. It came complete with a large martini style serving dish and some recipe ideas. Very cool …
Deanna of The Mommy Bowl for a big Nana’s Cookie Basket. Seriously this package was so much huger than it looks. It was filled with all types of their gluten-free, fruit juice sweetened cookies and bars and even a “Bite Me” cookie T-shirt that fits my husband …
The Healthy Apple for a whole bunch of single serving Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter. You can bet that is going on my next road trip!
Katie and Lori for the awesome cookie swap! We all agreed not to snap photos of the cookies since it was challenging to create gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free cookies that we all considered great successes. Nonetheless, I loved the cookies and can’t wait to give it another go!
Amy of Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free for this awesome review of my book (so glad you liked the stuffed peppers!) and for asking me to guest post, Asian-spiced Kabocha Squash anyone?
And of course, thank you all for popping by my blog. I hope you all continue to enjoy my recipes, whether in Go Dairy Free or right here on the blog (well over 100 recipes now!). Another recipe coming up in a day or two, so stay tuned.
Posted by alisa on July 31, 2010 | 19 Comments
Don’t forget to enter the three cookbook giveaways going on through tomorrow night!
I always hesitate on doing these when I’ve been tagged, thinking “does anyone really want to know?” But, in all honesty, I love reading them, so I thought I should give back. Thanks to Sarena who tagged me for this darling meme. Actually, I’ve been tagged for a few others in these past few months, but I’ve been bad about keeping track. Please except my apologies if you tagged me and consider this my bloggy contribution …
The Rules: Tell 10 little known facts about yourself and then pass it on to 3-5 other bloggers!
My Facts:
- I love to puzzle. I am a very left-brained person, so doing visual jigsaw puzzles helps to relax me and defocus by forcing myself to use the other side of my brain. I’ve actually found it helps a ton to switch modes like that. I’m very into 1000 piece puzzles – not too hard, but challenging enough. My husband buys me a new one every couple of weeks at Target. I really need to find a puzzle exchange!
- I’ve never, ever dyed my hair. I always wonder though, because every time I ask someone what color their natural color is, they say “it’s about like yours.” It makes me wonder if I have like the worst hair color ever! But I know most are fibbing, because I’ve never met that many people with my hair color (darker blonde). Once in a while people ask me if I do dye it because I get very blonde highlights after time in the sun. Oh another weird hair fact, my hair has been the exact same color my whole life. From birth until now, not even a wee bit of darkening.
- My husband and I spent one month in Chile for our honeymoon and three months in Argentina for a wee sabbatical later on. Even though we spent more time in Argentina, it isn’t really some place we want to go back to. But we both absolutely loved Chile. I think Columbia is next on the South America list.
- I haven’t used an alarm clock in well over ten years. Okay, once in a very blue moon I need to use one to make sure I catch a flight or something (perhaps once or twice a year?), but otherwise, we wake up naturally. I always hear people say they couldn’t do that with work, but we actually shut off the alarm clock when we were working corporate jobs in the Bay Area. We retrained our internal alarms during a week’s vacation, and boy did it make all the difference in the world! I stopped having afternoon slumps, and I swear, we were never late for work!
- My long term dream is to have a boutique hotel in the Caribbean. My husband and I always seek out boutique hotels wherever we travel. Of course, Katie would help me lay out a garden to grow food for the hotel, all of the meals would be dairy-free, and Meghan would probably hook us up with some great yoga and health classes for guests.
- I am really lost on what to have for breakfast lately. Oats feel too heavy, cereal too fluffy, toast and hearty muffins sit a bit heavy, and smoothies just haven’t sounded good. I’m really just craving my brown rice cakes with nut butter frosting if anything, but I’m plum out of the rice cakes I love, and they aren’t on sale. Yes, there are differences in rice cakes. Any ideas for other good breakfasts sans grains?
- My husband and I each grew up in the northwest, but have fallen in love with the desert. We both feel so good in the wide open space, looking at the beautiful landscapes, and enjoying the warmer weather.
- On that note, I’ve always felt weird about telling people I live in Nevada and Las Vegas (right now we are actually in Lake Tahoe on the NV side, but Vegas was our home for quite a while, and a place we will probably go back to). I don’t know why, but it makes me feel like people might judge me, assume I am a crook or something. Truthfully, people who are from Vegas are some of the nicest, friendliest, most down-home people I have ever met in a large city, and I really liked living there. Everything from the awesome terrain for hiking and biking year round to the great restaurants and entertainment. More contrast then I have ever seen. Guess I will just have to get over myself!
- I hate coffee, but drink pots and pots of hot tea (mostly herbal) almost every day … even in the summer … in Las Vegas. Seriously.
- I really dislike cooked stone fruit or fruit with meat / savory dishes. My husband is the same way. Seriously, it is torture trying to use up all of these apricots and peaches the CSA is sending since the only way we like them is raw in hand (but they are ripening waaaaay too fast) or in smoothies (freezer is absolutely full now with frozen fruit). I made a crumble, and smothered it in vanilla “ice cream,” which made it okay for both of us, but really, we still didn’t like the fruit itself.
Okay, not completely sure who has and hasn’t done it, but I’m going to tag:
Posted by alisa on February 21, 2010 | 14 Comments
As my husband and I were checking out in the Whole Foods line-up, I spotted them, miniature dark chocolates from Lake Champlain. I inquired on the price and the checker responded, “59 cents … they are really good.” My husband piped up with a stern “You don’t need that right now.” Don’t worry ladies, it wasn’t a weight implication, he just knows how we both seem to be at constant battle with our sugar cravings. I backed off, knowing he was right.
But time passed, as we stood and waited … the checker made a major error when scanning in some items, and we ended up being “those people” who hold up the line … when it is really busy, of course. And isn’t it ironic that when the lines are piling up, the manager is nowhere to be found to override a simple charge? Regardless, the checker was very apologetic, and she must have seen me ogling those chocolates the whole time, because just as we were leaving, she handed two of them to my husband and said, “Here you go. These are for your patience.” My husband thanked her and said that his wife would be very grateful. He knows me all too well.
I know, just a 59 cent item, but it did mean the world to me … both the excellent customer service (thank you Whole Foods, we shall return) and getting to discover these marvelous chocolates. I had never sampled Lake Champlain before, and though I tend to like dark chocolate that is 60 to 70%, this 80% chocolate was heavenly. It was smooth, deep, rich, and had just the right amount of sweetness. Some really dark chocolates are too chalky and bitter for my tastes, but these were seriously soothing. Yes, my husband graciously gave both of those chocolates to me, and I confess that I didn’t hesitate to take them!
This is not frugal chocolate mind you; it is a splurge. But, when you are watching your pennies, those $.59 minis are extremely satisfying! Just wanted to share, as I assume a few (okay quite a few) of you are dark chocolate fans like me. So what is your favorite brand / type of chocolate? Do tell! I think we would all love to know.
Sorry FTC, this review is on Whole Foods, and I will be buying these chocolates with my hard earned cash (for a special treat of course) in the future.
Time for dessert …
Posted by alisa on October 7, 2009 | 17 Comments
Wow, it was a very special birthday indeed. Okay, I know some of you are waiting for the giveaway winners, so we will start off with that. Our old and new home is …
The picture in the giveaway is from the top of Diamond Peak ski resort, overlooking the lake on the North Shore. I really expected more people to guess Lake Tahoe, but only four of you did! Though, the other guesses have helped me add a ton of “to visit” places to my list. So, the winners of the Sweet Vegan E-Cookbook Collection are:
Jen Fernandez – The first person to guess correctly!
Jenna – Comment #84 (selected by Random.org)
Nora – Comment #24 (selected by Random.org)
Congratulations ladies! For everyone else, you can pick up any of Hannah’s E-Cookbooks for just $5 a piece via her popular website, Bittersweet. Trust me, you will want the delicious crustless vegan pie recipes from Mission: Impossible Pies for the upcoming holiday season.
I typically stick to food alone on this blog, but thought it would be fun to share a few blips from my birthday and our first few days back in Lake Tahoe. It just so happened that Squaw Valley threw an Oktoberfest celebration in honor of my birthday (just humor me, okay?) …
But what made the event even more special was that one of my good friends announced that she was engaged. That photo I showed you, from the top of Diamond Peak ski resort, was where her boyfriend (now fiance) proposed to her that very morning on a hike. Lets just say I have never seen anyone so excited about an engagement, ever (anyone who happened to be at the event at Squaw surely heard her yells of excitement at some point during the day!). She is an amazing person, and he is a chef (could she have chosen anymore wisely?), so needless to say I am beyond happy for her …
After the wonderful day of celebrations, I arrived home to find some sweet gifts. Chocolate Emporium sent me some of their truffles and Halloween chocolates to review for Go Dairy Free, but they surprised me with a special chocolate bar right on top of the package (how did they know?) …
And speaking of the sweetest vegan, Hannah sent me a huge batch of her wonderfully rich and decadent homemade (dairy-free) fudge (recipe in My Sweet Vegan I believe), and she spiked it with big chunks of crystalized ginger, since she knows what a big ginger fan I am …
Oh, and did I mention it snowed? Yes, it seems the past three years have been rather warm in North Lake Tahoe, but we show up in the beginning of October, and it snows … go figure …
If you are all about the food, stick around, I have hoards of recipes that just need to be typed up for viewing, cooking, and eating pleasure … more tomorrow!
Posted by alisa on September 2, 2009 | 8 Comments
We interrupt this regularly broadcast blog to announce …
I am going to be on Martha Stewart Living Radio tomorrow!
It is there “Everyday Food” radio show with host Betsy Karetnick. The time slot is scheduled for 12:15pm EST (lunchtime!) on Thursday, September 3, 2009 (tomorrow!), and will broadcast on Martha Stewart Living, Sirius XM Satellite Radio, Sirius channel 112 and XM channel 157.
I will be talking all things dairy-free, my book and beyond, so tune in if you can and please, wish me luck!
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