we have a winner!

Thanks to everyone who helped celebrate my one year blogiversary last week. I had my friends at random.org select a comment to win their very own jar of made by mike granola. The winner was the lucky comment #13 that belonged to Jane. Congrats Jane! The granola of your choice is on its way.

made by mike’s one year blogiversary

I’ve been blogging for a good many years. About a year ago, I changed the direction of my blog to focus on food and photography. I re-branded my blog’s identity to made by mike. What you might not know, is how I settled on made by mike. It all goes back to a batch of granola I made in January of 2010.

If you’ve every received treats from me, you know that they don’t typically come on a paper plate or wrapped in a napkin. All of my years of Martha-devotion have taught me that presentation is always key in any gift. So usually there’s a clear plastic bag or crisp white box with an orange ribbon attached.

When I made my first batch of granola to give to friends I designed some inserts to go into the jar caps. I included the name of the granola then added a line, “made by mike.” That’s when it hit me that that should be my blog’s focus and title. It’s too bad that some putz had purchased madebymike.com, and just sits on it and doesn’t use it for anything. But alas, I own madebymikeblog.com….a small victory, I guess.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this first year of made by mike and are looking forward to the next as much as I am. In honor of my granola inspiration, I’ll be presenting three recipes in the next three days. That’s a preview of the trio below. On top there’s the Coffee, Hazelnut and Banana Granola. The bottom row from left to right has Cherry Almond Vegan Granola (I made this for a local vegan bake sale to benefit Japan relief.) and finally, Pistachio-Apricot Granola.

As a special gift to one of my blog readers, if you’ll take but a moment to comment below on your favorite post from this past year, I’ll pick a random comment and send to you a jar of your choice of made by mike granola. I’ll pick one winner after 5 pm on Friday, April 1, 2011.

Enjoying my blog? I hope that you’ll consider becoming a fan on facebook or that you’ll follow me on twitter.

cappuccino brownies – everyday food challenge

My partner Greg has declared this, the best brownie ever. And who am I to disagree?

This post marks my tenth week of my Everyday Food Challenge. Ten weeks and at least one recipe from each of the first ten issues of Everyday Food Magazine. It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve been very excited by all of the new followers to the blog, my facebook page, and twitter. But back to the Cappuccino Brownie for a moment. What I liked most about the recipe was the addition of several spices that really rounded out the flavor combination of the chocolate and espresso. These brownies really pack a kick. Don’t even get me started on the chewy fudge-like texture. And yes, fellow co-workers, these will make an appearance at work on Monday…while supplies last.

Last week I mentioned a special prize in honor of my tenth week with the challenge. Leave a comment below with the name of your favorite chocolate-centric dessert by Friday, August 13 at 5 pm Eastern-Time, I will randomly select one comment and send you a copy of Everyday Food: Fresh Flavor Fast. Sorry, contest open to United States residents only, one comment/entry per person.

we have a winner!

Thanks again for all of the visits and for following me as I begin my Everyday Food Challenge. Earlier in the week, I asked for your favorite tip for getting a week night meal on the table, or the name of your favorite quick dinner recipe. Twenty-one of you commented with your wonderful tips and recipes.

I went over to random.org and had them pick the lucky winner, which just happened to be Jean’s comment #6. Congrats Jean! I’ll contact you shortly for your address, and we’ll get that subscription to Everyday Food started pronto.

On Friday I received an email from my new friend Loretta, the Marketing Manager at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (yeah, I just name dropped). She told me about a great resource for Everyday Food subscribers. It’s an on-line index of every single Everyday Food magazine recipe from 2003 – 2009. It’s quite amazing, and I can see it coming in very handy. So there’s another free benefit of subscribing to this terrific little magazine.

my everyday challenge

I’ve extolled the virtues of this handy and wonderful little magazine for years.  It’s one of the few magazines in publication that I own every single issue of.  And I cherish all 73, and counting. Each issue of Everyday Food, from the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living, is packed with simple, easy and elegant recipes that can help all of us get a nutritious and delicious meal on the table every day. So while I was perusing my latest issue, I decided that I have all these magazines, it’s time to showcase them. My new challenge is to cook at least one recipe a week from my archive of Everyday Food. Beginning with issue #1 and working my way forward. To kick off the challenge this upcoming week, I will be making the cover recipe from the first issue, originally published in January 2003, tomato and olive penne. It’s a simple 25 minute pasta recipe from start to finish. I’ll feature this recipe in a post later in the week.

As an extra added goodie to this new challenge, I’d like to throw in a little give-away. If you’ll take a few moments to tell me in the comments section of my blog about your favorite tip for getting a week night meal on the table, or the name of your favorite quick dinner recipe, you’ll be entered into a random drawing for a free one-year subscription to Everyday Food. Your comment must be posted on my blog, not facebook.  The contest will end at 5 pm, eastern time on Friday, June 11, 2010. Good luck!

donate and get granola

My partner Greg has joined a team for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life on Friday, June 11 – Saturday, June 12. Greg is participating in honor of his father who lost his battle with cancer several years ago. You can make a donation by clicking here.  Anything you can give would be appreciated.  Greg’s goal is $100.  I think we can do better than that. Donate $15 or more, and I’ll send you some of my homemade maple nut granola as a thank you. Just comment below that you’ve donated and I’ll get that right out to you.

and the winners are…

So the number picking didn’t happen at nine this morning. I was on the road getting a few last-minute things for tomorrow. But winners were eventually picked. Congrats to Jane, Michael and Allyson.  You’ve won a calendar.  I’ll be getting those out to you this weekend. Thanks for checking out my blog.

it's give away time!

Hey, did you hear? It’s almost the end of the year. (That was an accidental rhyme, by the way.) I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who’s been visiting my blog. Since I moved it to its new location last January, I’ve had over 7,000 visits. While I’m no Huffington Post or Perez Hilton, I’m pretty proud of that. To thank you loyal readers, I’ve decided to give away three of my 2010 calendars that I put together this fall.

Here’s how this will work:

• Leave a comment on this blog post. Begin, and end if you wish, that comment with a number between 1 and 1000. All you need to do is leave a number, but if you want to leave a comment too, that’s great. Please don’t repeat a number that has already been selected by someone else.
• On December 24th, at 9 am (in Akron, Ohio) I will use one of those snazzy random number generators on the web to pick three random numbers between 1 and 1000.
• The three closest numbers posted in the comment section will get a calendar mailed to them on December 26th. Just in time for the new year.
• You don’t need to leave your mailing address in the comment section, I will email you for that if you win.
• Some of you might already have one of these calendars. Want a second one to line the bird cage or give to someone else? Leave a comment and a number.
• One last thing. If you leave a particularly nice comment with your number. And your number isn’t randomly selected. I may still be inclined to send you a calendar. I’m just sayin’…