reviews - Matthew's Puzzle - Autism Recovery, Gluten Free, Green Living Mom Blog

Cook’n Recipe Organizer Software Review and Giveaway

July 12, 2012 By Maryann

Cook'n Recipe Organizer

AND THE WINNER IS … Author: Sarah Yurga

I love food. As a youngster I remember watching Julia Child on PBS, and later Michael Lomonaco’s show. My parents and I would write down the recipes and then we would venture into the kitchen to work a little recipe magic. Cooking is in my blood and now that I have my own family I am always getting a chance to dream up something delicious. But with Matthew’s dietary restrictions I can’t always rely on my favorite cookbooks, and instead I spend a lot of time surfing the web looking for a good gluten free, casein free, soy free, sugar free…yada, yada, yada free recipe.

I have tons of recipes and websites bookmarked, but more often than not I forget to hit the bookmark key and then I have to remember my query term and what website the recipe was on. (yeah, I lose more recipes than I get.) Often I just forget that I used to make this killer flourless chocolate cake, and then the recipe is lost for years until someone reminds me how much they loved it, and then the search for that elusive recipe begins.

While I was at Brandcation I received a copy of Cook’n Recipe Organizer software. This is a super cool recipe organizer that allows you to pull recipes right off the web. It will parse the recipe and then store it in your recipe book you create in Cook’n. You can also enter your own recipes so you don’t have to keep reams and reams of paper recipes on hand. I love it because I want to start sorting through all my recipes and get them in some sort of order. I want to get all my GF recipes in one place, but I don’t want to lose any of my family recipes from my childhood (one day I pray my kids will be able to enjoy my mom’s Christmas cookies.)

Cook’n doesn’t stop there, it will take your recipes and give your the nutritional content based on the ingredients and number of servings! I think that is awesome, since it makes homemade foods easier to use on diets. I often found that when I needed to calorie count or when I was on Weight Watchers I relied on processed foods more since the calories, fiber and fat were already on the package. With Cook’n I can simply click a button and I get all that information from my favorite recipes! Cook’n also has a menu feature where you can set up your menus for the week and then ask it to print you a shopping list, this way you won’t forget the baking soda or the ginger. It will even organize your list by isle/department so that you won’t be walking back and forth throughout the store.

Folks new to gluten free living often ask me for my favorite recipes and Cook’n allows you to email your recipes to friends and family. I love sharing my recipes, but I HATE to have to type them out when emailing them. Cook’n makes it simple to share your recipes. It also allows you to print family recipe books. I think this is a great idea for Christmas or other holidays. It would also make a fantastic bridal shower gift.

Giveaway

Want to win your own copy of Cook’n? One winner will receive their own copy of Cook’n. To enter to win you must Like Cook’n on facebook, and leave them a note on their wall. Please come back and leave me a comment with a link to your Facebook comment. Make sure you leave me your email address so I can get in touch with you should you win.

Additional entries:

For each additional entry please leave me a comment with link if appropriate.

Contest is open to those 18 years and older. And the Winner is plugin will be used to randomly choose the winner. Contest will run from 7/12/12 to 11:59:59 7/26/12. Matthew’s Puzzle is not responsible for the contest and does not accept responsibility should Cook’n not fulfill/deliver product. Winner must claim prize within 48 hours of receipt of the email notification or a new winner will be selected.

I received a free copy of the software for review. All opinions are my own.

I Scream for Ice Cream

July 10, 2012 By Maryann

Ice Cream

I can not resist a good ice cream. No matter how hard I try to eat healthy and “real” food, I always have room for ice cream. My husband is the same way. It is truly our downfall. We have different tastes in ice cream as he likes flavors like banana and butter pecan and I’m more of a cookie dough and mint chocolate chip girl, but we both fell in love with the MAGNUM Double Caramel premium ice cream bars. They are made with scrumptious vanilla ice cream covered in chocolatey coating, caramel and Belgian milk chocolate. They were so good that I only got one from the box! The caramel is soft and rich and made the bar really a treat for adults, although I’m sure kids would love it too(they never got one!). MAGNUM also has Double Chocolate, Classic, Almond, White, Mochaccino, Mint and Dark. I don’t think I could choose which to try next, maybe Dark, no maybe White, argh I don’t know they all look so good. Mint, yeah, Mint!

My husband also has a weakness for Klondike bars. He has had this weakness for as long as I can remember. His favorite has to be the Heath bar, which he promptly bought without giving me a choice. That is OK, I like Heath too. But I think I may have chosen the Caramel Pretzel if given the chance. I love the sweet and salty combination. Klondike also has Rocky Road, Neapolitan (a favorite of the kids), Double Chocolate, Oreo, Reese’s, Dark Chocolate, Krunch, Mint Chocolate Chip and of course Original.

And what blog post about ice cream could be complete without discussing Breyers. Breyers was our ice cream of choice in my home growing up. My father loved their peach during the summer and butter pecan the rest of the year. My mother would make me ice cream sandwiches using their chocolate between two homemade waffles. This was the quintessential summer dessert. Oh the memories! When Matthew’s diet changed and he was allowed ice cream he would choose Breyers Vanilla. I liked that it didn’t have a ton of weird stuff in it.

For a cold treat on the Fourth of July, we decided to let the boys try Dora the Explorer Slow Melt Popsicle treats. I was kind of excited when I read they didn’t have artificial color in them so I grabbed a box even though it contained HFCS. But then I started reading the ingredients and wondered what they meant by “slow melt”. I found they had ice structuring protein, so I did a little research. I found a paper discussing Ice Structuring Protein in Unilever products. It spoke of a genetically modified yeast that is fermented and produces the Ice Structuring Protein. I do not endorse GMO’s and so I opted to not allow the boys to try this product.

The last product we got to try was the Good Humor Reese’s Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cup. They were really yummy. They tasted just like frozen Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, which is a good thing. My middle son saw my husband eating one and has been begging for one non-stop ever since. The magic of chocolate and peanut butter!

I was provided with free boxes of each product for review. All opinions are my own.

Lego Batman 2 PS3 Game Review

July 5, 2012 By Maryann

Holy Video Game, Batman!

Yeah, I know, that was kind of lame, but I couldn’t resist. Whenever I think of Batman, I think of Robin saying one of those cheesy holy-something-or-other Batmans. I loved watching that show. So I was pretty excited when I found out Lego Batman 2 DC Super Heroes video game was being released. My boys have loved the Lego PS3 games we already owned. They especially enjoyed the first Lego Batman game so I was sure they were going to love this one too.

They were jumping with anticipation as I loaded the game and got them their controllers. I let them have at it, like the old pros they are. The game is amazing, in true Lego’s fashion it makes Gotham City, Lex Luthor and The Joker fun and intriguing all at the same time. One of our favorite features is the fact that the boys can unlock other DC Super Heroes such as Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. The kids are so excited when they finally have a new character during free play.

They had a hard time with a few scenes and of course my husband was happy to jump in and help. He said it was a lot of fun to play. I like the fact that it is challenging, but not so hard as to make it impossible to succeed. This means the boys ask for it on a regular basis.

One of the other things that makes me like this game so much is that it has introduced the boys to Lego and DC Super Heroes. These are games, toys and characters that other children play with on a daily basis. Nico has taken such an interest in Batman and Legos that he specifically asked for a Batman Lego set for his birthday. And his uncle obliged with the Lego DC Universe Super Heroes Batwing Battle Over Gotham City which ties in with the game. Why would I be so excited that the boys loved a video game, you may ask. It is really simple. For years Matthew wasn’t interested in any sort of character or game and it left him deficient when talking to his peers. They knew all about the latest super hero or video game, but he was never interested. Then along came Lego PS3 games and Matthew’s eyes were opened to the wonders his friends had known about for years. Now Matthew talks about all sorts of Lego PS3 characters including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Robin (one of his favorites), and all the Star Wars characters (they have several Lego Star Wars PS3 games too). And best of all, he talks with his classmates and the other kids on the bus, because not only does he know who these characters are, but he loves playing with them. He even has taken to bringing some of the Lego characters in the car with him. It really helps with social interaction when he has something in common with the other kids. So in our how, Lego Batman2 gets 4 (or more) thumbs up. Stay Well.