U Follow Me I Follow U Friday Blog Hop

Hi Blogger friends! Each week I cohost several blog hops and then when it gets to Friday I forget to host my own, U Follow Me I Follow U hop!  It is a very simple one.  I just ask that if you stop in to link up today that you Follow ME and leave a comment on how you follow me. Then I will do the favor and visit, comment and follow you.

I do pick someone to feature from the link up list and this week I'm featuring a sweet blogger, Rio who is the blogger at MommyMindSpa.  She has some wonderful post over at her blog which range from Weight Loss Wednesday to Daily Mom-ME Moments. Stop on over and give her a visit today. You will surely get a MommyMindSpa if you read some of her post.

So, thanks for the visit! Remember to link up, comment and follow (all my ways are on my right side bar GFC, Facebook, Twitter, etc) and also go visit MommyMindSpa. Someone who links up will get picked to be my next featured blogger. I hope it is Y-O-U!

REMEMBER you can link up anything you want! So if you have a post that you want visited, a giveaway featured, twitter, facebook, etc just link it up!

Link up Breakfast and Brunch Recipes with Gooseberry Patch

(click for my Crazy Breakfast)

Eggs & bacon sizzling hot, muffins warm from the oven,
buttery pancakes...we LOVE breakfast! And it doesn't have to
be sunrise for us to enjoy it, either. Breakfast for dinner is one
of our favorite ways to end the day!  

What's YOUR favorite Breakfast or Brunch recipe?
Share it in today's Recipe Round-Up!

Here's one to inspire you from 101 Easy Everyday Recipes,
this week's Cookbook of the Week!

Apple-Stuffed French Toast
This recipe was shared with us by longtime contributor, Wendy Paffenroth of Pine Island, New York. With an amazing aroma and divine flavor, it's what breakfast is all about!

3 apples, peeled, cored and
    cut into chunks
1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
cinnamon to taste
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. milk
1 t. vanilla extract
8 slices wheat bread
Garnish: maple syrup

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine apples, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cover and microwave on high for 5 minutes, until apples are soft. In a separate bowl, stir together eggs, milk and vanilla. Spray a griddle or large frying pan with non-stick vegetable spray and heat over medium heat. Quickly dip the bread on both sides in the egg mixture and place on the griddle. Cook until golden on both sides. Place one slice of toast on a plate; put a scoop of the apple mixture in the middle. Top with another slice of toast. Drizzle with maple syrup. Makes 4 servings.

 

Since we're sharing photos from the Easy-Breezy Breakfast chapter of our new cookbook - have you voted yet? - this seemed like the perfect time for you to share your best too!

Link up YOUR favorite Breakfast or Brunch recipes
below and, if you're joining this hop, link back here
by using our handy button below.

Want to add this hop to your OWN blog?

Be our guest...just click here to get the code. 

Alexa Blog Hop! Improve your blog ranking

 

*IF YOU stop here today, please leave a comment so I can come visit you. In your comment tell me how you are following me, all the links are on my right side bar, I will follow back!

If you’ve been participating in our Alexa Blog Hops the past few weeks, you have probably seen a significant improvement in your Alexa rank. If you are a new blogger looking to decrease your Alexa rank & gain new GFC (Google Friend Connect) followers, please participate.

You will need to install the Alexa Toolbar on your browser. it only takes a few seconds! There are toolbars for Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. (for those that are worried, don’t be this is NOT an additional toolbar, just a little “A” icon that will show up in your toolbar) FYI- if you don't use the toolbar you won't see your ratings decrease.

The Alexa Toolbar will allow you to keep track of your daily Alexa Traffic Rank- which will give you an idea of how your blogging efforts are paying off. you can also use it to check out the Alexa Rank of any website.Your Alexa Traffic Rank will most likely fluctuate daily and the lower you are the better.

Here are the rules:

*Download the Alexa toolbar.

*Add your blog name & URL to the linky list below.

*Then, follow any blogs on GFC that interest you (be sure to leave a friendly comment on their blog letting them know that you are a new follower so they can follow back!) if you are already a follower of their blog, just leave a comment asking them to visit you for the Alexa hop!

*Feel free to grab the Spearmint Baby Blog Hop banner & post on your blog to get new people involved. (the more new people the better!)

* Please note that I keep this blog hop open all week so you have plenty of time to visit all of the blogs on the list.

Be a sweetie and follow the Blogs that are the hosting this Hop: We have Spearmint Baby and her 3 cohosts me, SusieQTpies Scraps of Life, Kelly’s Lucky You, & Our Family World. THANKS! We do follow back. 

Friendly Wednesday Blog Hop! Come link up

Welcome to Feeding Four's Friendly Wednesday Blog Hop! I'm glad you're here!

 

*If you leave a comment to let me know how you are following me I will follow back!

 

How to Participate:

Follow the hostesses located in the first and second spots - Feeding Four (click to visit and get the blog hop button) and SusieQTpies Scraps of Life Blog (This is ME!). If you want me to follow you back, please leave a comment letting me know how you are following me and I will follow back. All my ways to follow are on my right side bar- Email, GFC, Facebook, Twitter and Networked Blogs.

• If you want, create a new Friendly Wednesday blog post on your own blog and be sure to use the button provided on the side bar if you want to!

• Enter your information into the linkup below.
  

• Follow all the other blogs you want. This is a great way to get more followers!

While you are here, check out my TASTY recipes in the tab labeled "SusieQTpies Personal Recipes" and giveaways/deals on right side bar! Have a great day!

Cucumber Cilantro Salad Recipe and The Part-Time Vegan Cookbook

Just recently I got the chance to review the cookbook The Part-Time Vegan: 201 yummy Recipes That Put the FUN in Flexitarian by Cherise Grifoni

In The Part-Time Vegan: 201 Yummy Recipes That Put the Fun in Flexitarian (Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, March 2011) you'll discover how to go vegan without feeling any obligation whatsoever. But a warning: the mouthwatering recipes may have you transitioning to full-time much sooner than you anticipated!

Non-committal? Curious? Or just want to sprinkle a little meatlessness throughout your daily routine? Newbie veggies will find recipes so fresh, colorful and inventive, you won't even miss your meat - while seasoned herbivores will love the new spins put on dips and appetizers, pasta, soups and desserts! 

What's not to love when you're eating:

• Purely Vegan Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread
• Lean, Mean, Black Bean Guacamole
• Very Vegan Potato Pesto Salad
• Spicy Roasted Tomato Soup
• Roasted-Garlic Mashed Taters
• Spanish Artichoke and Zucchini Paella
• Barley Pilaf with Edamame and Roasted Red Pepper  

Tofu doesn't have to be a four-letter word...and seitan, TVP and tempeh will be your new BFF! No matter why you want to go vegan - whether it's for health, the planet, or some other worthy reason - this cookbook makes sure you have fun in the process!

********** 

I planned several recipes from this cookbook. My daugher's asked if we were going "vegan" now that I have this cookbook. I told them no but this cookbook is full of tasty recipes and perfect for summer time lighter meals. So far so good on all of the recipes. Here is one of the first ones we tried. It is very light and refreshing.

Cucumber Cilantro Salad (click to print)

Ingredients

4 cucumbers, diced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced small
1 cup soy yogurt, plain
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

Simply toss all ingredients together, stir, and chill in the fridge for about 2 hours. Toss once more before serving.

More recipes to come soon from this tasty cookbook! If you can't wait, check Amazon or your local bookstore.

How to Teach You Kids Healthy Competition

 How to Teach Your Kids Healthy Competition
By Todd G. Buchholz,
Author of Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race

Back in 1986, an American minister named Robert Fulghum wrote a best-selling self-help book called All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. The book was filled with entertaining essays about sharing, cleaning up, and inspiring tales of Mother Teresa. Fulghum busted some myths -- for example, that merely possessing Y chromosomes gives a man the knowledge to connect jumper cables. I thought back to my kindergarten class at the Shark River Hills Elementary School, a pretty scary name for a school. What I remember most is a kid named Chuck hitting me on the head with a wooden truck.

Around the time Fulghum enjoyed his breakthrough literary hit, schools around the country began to focus on self-esteem and emotional intelligence. Who cared whether a kid could do algebra if he felt bad about himself? Who cared if a kid understood how electricity flowed through wires if he did not have a knack for the feelings of others? What was to blame for our children's failed egos and blustery dispositions? According to many experts, it was competition. The solution: call in an exorcist and free the schools of competitive demons. No more spelling bees. No more class ranks. No more bright red slashes on test papers marking wrong answers. No more keeping score at soccer. A school in Massachusetts encouraged jumping rope -- but banned the rope. Not all schools adopted all of these techniques, of course, but the trend was real.

My children are being educated in this new world. When my middle daughter was in kindergarten and playing on a soccer team, my mother made the terrible mistake of asking her the score. She replied, "Grandma, we don't keep score. But if we did, we're winning three to two." You really can't fool the kids, but you can waste their time and frustrate them.
Now, I'm not an angry, interfering Little League parent who screams at the coaches or at my child. 

My priority for sport is fun. But there's a downside to the noncompetitive, pro -- self-esteem environment. First of all, it doesn't make kids happier when they know their efforts are unscored, as if the game didn't matter. Second, and more important, it robs them of the natural pleasures that come from excelling and improving.

Here are some tips for teaching your kids about healthy competition. The first two tips focus on the upside of losing. You can't get kids excited about competing if their teeth are chattering in fear.

TIP#1: Let your kids know that even you lost some games along the way. Tell them your favorite story of tripping into the swimming pool at the big match, or dropping your clarinet in the marching band competition. You may have felt bad at the moment, but you learned valuable lessons, right?

TIP #2: Deal with the sore loser syndrome. How? Laugh. Before a game or match, tell each kid he must show up with a joke -- to be told after the competition is over. Who gets to tell his joke after the game is over? The kid who comes in last. That way the loser gets the best laugh and the "atta-boys" from everyone else.

TIP #3: Encourage your kids to try diverse activities. Let your kids experience the thrill that others get when they gear up for a spelling bee, a science fair, or a track & field meet. No one expects the spelling bee winner to also win first prize for the pole vault.

TIP #4: Borrow this idea from golfers -- the handicap. It's okay to say, "Josh, you usually win the 100 yard dash by two strides. Let's give everyone else a two stride lead, and really test you!"

TIP #5: Teach kids to compete against themselves. Competition isn't always about beating someone else to the finish line. Challenge your kids to learn Italian and then save up for a trip to Rome or to Little Italy in Boston.

Sooner or later your kids will realize they're in a competitive world. But they don't have to see it as "dog-eat-dog." If you equip them with the right attitude, they'll see it more like puppies playfully rolling over each other on the grass, trying to get a paw up on the other. That's not such a bad way to start life, is it?
© 2011 Todd G. Buchholz, author of Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race

Author Bio
Todd G. Buchholz, author of Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race, is a former White House director of economic policy, award-winning teacher at Harvard, managing director of the Tiger hedge fund, and was a fellow at Cambridge University in 2009. He is also a founder of Two Oceans Management, as well as coproducer of the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit Jersey Boys. A regular contributor to NPR's Marketplace, he appears monthly on PBS's Nightly Business Reportand his book New Ideas from Dead Economists is used in universities throughout the world. Buchholz has also written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Reader's Digest. He lives with his wife and daughters in Southern California.
For more information please visit http://www.toddbuchholz.com and follow the author on Twitter

30 Days of Deals & Giveaways #4 FREE copy of Cookouts Veggie Style!

Move over hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, and barbecue chicken! VEGGIES are the new main attraction at cookouts this summer!

From now until Monday July 4th, enjoy the Cookouts Veggie Style! ebook by Jolinda Hackett for FREE for Amazon Kindle, Sony eReader, or from the Google and Apple iTunes eBookstores.

This eBook contains 225 vegetarian (and some vegan) recipes that are fresh, fun, colorful, and most importantly delicious. Incorporate these meat free meals with other traditional cookout dishes OR create a revolutionary veggie spread for your Fourth of July extravaganza!

Download this eBook for FREE and get started on recipes like Halloumi Skewers with Lemon Parsley Chimichurri (yum), Cajun-Rubbed Portobello Caps (delish), Fiery Chipotle Butter Corn on the Cob (mmm! mmm!), and so many more!

To view and download the full, FREE copy of Cookouts Veggie Style!, please visit:

Amazon Kindle: http://amzn.to/iQssgn

Sony eReader: http://bit.ly/jWJYiE

Apple/ iTunes (preview): http://bit.ly/msbC9o

(I want to apologize for Day #3 Mixbook giveaway. Apparently the code expired before it was suppose to. I'm very disappointed in the way they handled their free coupon code. Sorry for any inconvenience that might have caused you. I will be including this on the post. )