A Two Book Giveaway! The Food Police and Appetite For Profit

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Intellectual honesty. Lots of us talk about it, but pitifully few of us practice it.

We read the papers we always read, watch the news channels we always watch, we keep going back to the same information sources online, all the while ingesting the same slant and bias until... we start thinking we aren't slanted and biased at all.

What's really happening, of course, is this: as we become more and more immersed in sources that reinforce our views, we become like a fish in water. Meaning: since the fish always lived in water and never knew anything else, it doesn't actually know it's in water.

Likewise, thanks to the friends and peers we find ourselves with and the "information" that finds its way to us, we all too easily forget we're in passively-chosen social, political and intellectual glass tanks of our own.

We're all in water too.

So today's giveaway is unlike any other you've ever seen. It's a giveaway of two books that approach the food industry from exactly opposite ideological directions: one is pro-government intervention, one is pro-free market. One is liberal, one is libertarian. One is aggressively anti-business and anti-corporation, the other actively celebrates what business and corporations can do to meet consumers' needs.

I want my readers to read both. Why? Because no side has a monopoly on the truth. I firmly believe that if you don't make a practice of curiously and open-mindedly reading the oppositional view on everything you believe... you're the intellectual equivalent of a fish in water.

So here's the giveaway: I'm giving away a free copy of Jason Lusk's The Food Police AND a free copy of Michele Simon's Appetite For Profit.

If you want to see summaries of each book's content, just take a look at my brief write-ups on both in my Voracious Reading Trial post. Conveniently, they're books #1 and #2 on the list.

Now, to enter is the easiest thing ever. Just leave a comment below with a book you'd recommend to ME. That's it! Your book recommendation(s) can be any subject you like: food, investing, fiction, I don't care. I just care that a reader considers it worth recommending. Make sure you leave some way for me to reach you (email, or a link to your site) in your comment!

I'll select the winner at random on Sunday, November 24, 2013 at noon Eastern Time. Good luck and let's start seeing those book recs!





How can I support Casual Kitchen?
Easy. Do all your shopping at Amazon.com via the links on this site! You can also link to me or subscribe to my RSS feed. Finally, consider sharing this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to Facebook, Twitter (follow me @danielckoontz!) or to bookmarking sites like reddit, digg or stumbleupon. I'm deeply grateful to my readers for their ongoing support.

Giveaway! Rotisserie Grilling

Readers! I've got two free Kindle edition copies of Mike Vrobel's new book Rotisserie Grilling and I'd like to give them away to two lucky commenters.

Mike is the author of the excellent food blog Dad Cooks Dinner, and he's taught me the majority of what I know about grilling. Now, he's officially an indie author with his comprehensive and easy-to-understand cookbook on the techniques and secrets of rotisserie grilling--a subject that, intriguingly, isn't really addressed anywhere elsewhere in the cookbook marketplace.

Mike's book covers literally everything: You'll learn how to set up your own rotisserie at home. You'll learn the pros and cons of different types of grills. You'll learn everything you need to know to make magazine-caliber meals out of rotisserie poultry, pork, beef, roasts, ribs and lamb. You'll learn the techniques of trussing, spitting (no, not that kind of spitting), salting, brining, dry and wet rubs, marinating--even "brinerating." And Mike also shares more than fifty of his top favorite rotisserie recipes.

In other words, CK readers are in for a treat with today's giveaway.

As always, I want to use this giveaway to help readers cross-fertilize and promote their own work, so here are the laughably simple rules to enter today's giveaway: Just leave a comment below with a grilling, roasting or barbecue recipe you'd like to publicize from your blog, and share a link to it in your comment! You'll get your work in front of all of Casual Kitchen's readers too.

It doesn't matter if the recipe you share is meat-based, veggie-based... or carbon life form-based. Baked potatoes, roasted veggies, secret marinades, recipes for steaks, shellfish or shrimp--I don't care. What I want are recipes, people! Get the word out on what you've written, and we can make this into a resource for everyone.

PS: If you don't have a blog, feel free to share a favorite recipe from the site of a blogger you follow. If by some horrible twist of fate you don't know any grilling, roasting or BBQ recipes, you can still enter: just leave a comment with your name and some way for me to reach you.

Once again, here are the rules:

1) Leave a comment below
2) Share a link to a grilling, roasting, barbecue or marinade recipe on your blog.
3) Sit back and enjoy while our readers cross-fertilize.

I'll make a random selection of the two winners on Monday, September 24, at noon Eastern time. Let's get to sharing recipes!




How can I support Casual Kitchen?
If you enjoy reading Casual Kitchen, tell a friend and spread the word! You can also support me by purchasing items from Amazon.com via links on this site, or by linking to me or subscribing to my RSS feed. Finally, you can consider submitting this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, digg or stumbleupon. Thank you for your support!

The Giveaway Winner--And Some Intriguing Bread Recipes

I've done the randomized selection, and the winner of the Henckels knife giveaway is....

Mary of Owlhaven! Congratulations Mary!

PS: For those of you who don't know her, Mary writes an inspiring blog about making the most of her resources while managing a household of ten (ten!) kids. She's also the author of two books: A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family and Family Feasts for $75 a Week.

Also, for any of you who are curious about my methodology for selecting the winner, I simply numbered the entries as they came in and used random.org to select a random winner.
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Now, onto some of the bread recipes that particularly caught my eye. The recipes that follow are ones that I hope to make in the coming weeks and months. It was extremely difficult choosing among so many great recipe ideas--and it may turn out that I make them all! Once again, I'm grateful to have such creative and resourceful readers.

1) Jon's Chocolate Beer Bread
Top of the list for two reasons: chocolate and beer.

2) Whole Wheat Flax and Oatmeal Bread from Amber's The Sassy Chronicles
These loaves look like works of art.

3) Jody's entry: Baby Chocolate Brioche
I really look forward to trying my hand at making these little guys!

4) Lady Di's Split Top Butter Loaf
Looks delicious and not too complicated for a bread-newbie like me.

5) Dwane Lay's No-Knead Bread
Looks interesting, particularly with the cornmeal flour.

6) KMAYs and her Flax and Sunflower Seed Bread
I really like the grains and texture of this bread recipe.

Thanks again, everyone, for your ideas and your participation!

Henckels Knife Giveaway

Readers! I've been the recipient of a giveaway item that I'm going to give to a lucky Casual Kitchen reader.

One of my 2009 goals is to spend time learning how to bake bread. And this giveaway, a free 8-inch J.A. Henckels scalloped bread knife (full retail value ~$100), donated by the good people at CSN Stores, ties into my breadbaking plans perfectly (CSN Stores is a Boston-based internet retailer that sells an enormous range of products--everything from kitchen items, to furniture, to mattresses).

Here are the rules: Leave a comment on this post with a favorite bread recipe from your recipe collection or your own blog, and make sure your comment contains your email address or a link to your site so I can reach you. If you don't have any bread recipes of your own, spread some good karma and name a favorite bread recipe from a favorite blog you follow.

I will pick the winner at random. And, I'll choose the most intriguing bread recipes--and then proceed to bake them over the coming weeks.

Good luck! This contest will close at 11:59pm Eastern Time on Friday, August 7th, and I'll announce the winner on Saturday, August 8th.

How can I support Casual Kitchen?
If you enjoy reading Casual Kitchen, tell a friend and spread the word! You can also support me by purchasing items from Amazon.com via links on this site, or by linking to me or subscribing to my RSS feed. Finally, you can consider submitting this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, digg or stumbleupon. Thank you for your support!